hose who are burdened with labors—"you offered the honor by halves, having admired the things above, but not having tended the things from below. But you indeed gave no water for my feet; yet she, pouring forth fountains of tears from her eyelids, has wiped away the filth of her sin. You gave me no kiss; would that Judas had not given one either, he who betrayed me with a kiss! But she, from the moment she entered, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil: for 'the oil of the sinner shall not fatten my head' (Ps. CXL, 5); for how could he have honored the Head, who had neglected the feet? Yet she has anointed even the feet with ointment, as it was expressed in prophecy: 'For your ointment,' it says, 'is an evacuated name' (Cant. I, 2); evacuated, not spilled. For because the vessel of the Jewish judgment was filthy, therefore the ointment was evacuated upon my feet from your alabaster jar, that the grace of sweet odor might flow from me into the nations. Therefore I say to you, 'Her many sins are forgiven': because you, when you received me as a guest, did not honor me with a kiss, nor adorn me with anointing; but she, who obtained the oblivion of many evils, has honored me with both tears and ointments, as if mixing a double chalice. Let us, therefore, call the woman blessed, who covered the evils of Eve; that sinful harlot, who brings forth blessings, who showed the ways of repentance, who revealed the law of kindness, who had the Judge Himself as her advocate, who overcame the lament of judgment with tears. As many of you, therefore, as are present, imitate what you have heard, and emulate the harlot's weeping, not her pleasure. For pleasure indeed brought forth weeping, but weeping brought forth salvation. Wash, therefore, your body, not with waters, but with tears; anoint your members, not with ointments, but with chastity; clothe yourselves, not with a texture of silk, but with the incorruptible garment of continence; that you may obtain the same glory, sending forth grace to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. To Him be glory, honor, and adoration, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
On that: Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me (Matt. XXVI, 39). On the Great Friday.
The teachers of the Church are not unlike a mother who loves her offspring, who refuses no labor to nourish her most beloved children. For just as she, bringing forward the breast, offers the perennial food of milk to the beloved infant: so also the Church's teacher, bringing forward the breast of his own mind to the children of the Church, exhorts them to suck milk with the desire of the soul; and just as a mother, after the infant has ceased sucking milk, resolves harder bread into crumbs, and bringing in vegetables seasoned and softened by fire as food, ministers life to the tender infants: so also the teacher, after the instruction of divine sermons, as if having put aside milk, cutting with the sword of the Spirit the bread of the Word, which is difficult to explain, and gathering together the various interpretations and speculations of the Scriptures into one mixture of doctrine, imparts the food of the Word, tempered, to his children. Therefore, beloved, after we have nourished you in days past with easy discourse, as if with milk, let us lead you to the speculation of doctrine, the Holy Spirit seasoning the food of the discourse for you. Now the bread of the Word is set before us on the table of the Scriptures thus: Why did our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to undergo passion and death for the life of all, when He approached the glorious cross, say: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me"? For many, not understanding the goal of wisdom, nor attending to the treasure hidden in this saying, impute fear to Him. But come, let us also, beloved, converse with Him as infants, so that we may translate into ourselves His meanings as if we were infants. Let us say to Him, therefore, not as perfect ones, but as infants: "Why, Lord, do you come to be martyred and crucified for us, and fear and pray thus: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me'? If you emptied yourself, taking the form of a servant, with no one compelling you, why now do you pray and say: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me'? And yet you were constrained and hastening to drink this cup, saying: 'I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I constrained until it is accomplished' (Luke XII, 50)? And you who were constrained and hastening to drink it, now you refuse and say: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me'? Were you ignorant that you were about to suffer death for us? And yet you were saying: 'The Son of man must be betrayed and crucified, and on the third day rise again' (Matt. XVI, 21). Why, therefore, when you have arrived near the cross, do you refuse and say: 'If it is possible, let this cup pass from me'? And if you wished this, why did you rebuke Peter when he would have restrained you? For you were saying: 'The Son of man must be crucified and buried, and on the third day rise again.' Peter, however, was saying: 'Far be it from you, Lord; this shall not happen to you': to whom you, indignant, said: 'Get behind me, Satan, you are a scandal to me, because you do not savor the things that are of God, but the things that are of men' (Matt. XVI, 22-23). If, therefore, you rebuked him then for speaking human things, why now do you seek that which he wished to prevent and say: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me'? We learn that you are the Creator of visible and invisible things: for you healed diseases by the touch of your hand, you strengthened the dissolved bodies of the dead with a word, you dried up the fountains of blood through the fringe of your garments, you satisfied five thousand men from five loaves, you commanded the winds and the sea, and all things obeyed you with trembling; and that Opificer of so many miracles, who loosed death, do you now fear death and say: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me'? If you fear death, in whom at length shall we have hope of life? If you fear death, how do you say: 'I am the life and the resurrection' (John XI, 25)? For life and the resurrection will never fear death. What does that mean which you say: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me'? Are you ignorant, you who know all things before they come to pass? Are you ignorant whether it is possible for this cup to pass? And how were you saying: 'No one knows the Father, except the Son' (Matt. XI, 27)? And you know the Father, than whom nothing is greater, and yet do you not know if the cup can pass? Why does Paul also say: 'There is no creature invisible in his sight: but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him' (Hebr. IV, 13); and again: 'For the word of God is living, and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart' (Hebr. IV, 12). If, therefore, no creature is invisible in his sight, but all things are naked and open to his eyes, how do you now, as if ignorant, say: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me,' unless there is some hidden mystery in the word? It does not become you, Lord, such a saying: for you are God, the Son of God, the Word, wisdom, virtue, light, the sun of justice, the immortal fountain, eternal life, the resurrection for us who have died by sin. 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.' O, how difficult is the saying, how arduous, how obscure! O how cramped and how many men does it exercise! Teach us, Lord, this mystery of your word: for we are yours, and we have believed in you. Let not Eunomius be lifted up in his blasphemy
A or Arius swell with pride, as if they had found words of blasphemy that hiss against the truth. But let all foreigners not rejoice: for the yoke of him who strikes us has been broken. God is with us. Know, O nations, and be defeated. For if you prevail again, you will be defeated again, and whatever counsel you plan, the Lord will scatter it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things: *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me* (Matt. 26:39). O cup full of life and immortality! Those who receive Eunomius and Arius, having clouded it with their own ill faith, give drink to their neighbor with treacherous subversion, they who think the sweet mixing of the mysteries within it to be bitter, and who do not fear the voice of "Woe," the Scripture saying: *Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink of treacherous subversion!* (Hab. 2:15). *Woe to those who call the bitter sweet, and the sweet bitter; who put light for darkness, and darkness for light; who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent before themselves!* (Isa. 5:20-21).
But we, beloved, receiving the cup of our Lord, let us drink in the teaching that fills it with the desire of our soul. *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.* Not as you think, O Arius, is our Lord cowardly, or does he say these things fearing death; for how could he have been afraid, who has the power to die and not to die? For he says: *I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again* (John 10:18). For if he were being compelled by someone, you would rightly call it cowardice; but now he says himself, *I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again*; that is, I am not compelled by anyone, since he also said: *I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again*; but just as I emptied myself, taking the form of a servant, with no one compelling me, and I built my own body. *For wisdom has built herself a house* (Prov. 9:1)—in the same way, I am able also to raise up my body, loosened by death, through life. For I am he who says, *Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up* (John 2:19).
Therefore, I say these things not out of cowardice, nor fearing death, *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me*, but putting forth a word of hidden mystery. This bait is a lure for the devil; I must hook him with these very words. The devil saw me performing many signs, that I healed diseases by the touch of a hand, that I put legions of demons to flight by a word, that I wiped away the sores of lepers like dust by the word, that I straightened paralyzed knees by my voice, that I rebuked the winds and the sea, and all things obeyed me in terror; and from these very deeds, perceiving me to be the Son of God, he understood that, "If I am crucified, he is destroyed; if I go down to the underworld, I shall shatter his iron bars and break his bronze gates." And having seen these things, he flees in fear of setting up the trophy of the cross, which is invaluable to me. What then do I do? B Like a wise fisherman, I pretend to be cowardly, I pretend to fear death, and I say: *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me*, so that he, thinking me to be a cowardly man from such lowly steps of mine, avoiding death, may hasten to set up the wooden-fixed mystery of the cross in the middle of the earth, as he thinks, against me. I must then, like a wise fisherman, devise a trick against him; I must endure all things for the life of all. For if he devised from the beginning the destruction of Adam, much more shall I devise for the salvation of all. With treacherous words he deceived Adam; with divine words the treacherous one shall be deceived. C *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.*
Unless the fisherman, when he lets down the hook into the sea, sometimes keeps the worm [on the hook], and sometimes shows it as if fleeing, pulling it back by his hand, the fish do not jump. I have placed on my hook the worm of the body; I have let down the hook hidden in the worm of the body into the depth of this life; unless the worm is moved as a worm, the one who is supposed to be hooked does not approach the hook. I must therefore fashion myself as a worm, and speak: *For I am a worm, and no man* (Ps. 21:7); so that he may run and touch the hook, and be dragged by me, and the thing written in Job be fulfilled: *And you will draw the dragon with a hook* (Job 41:1). I become as a man who is cowardly, I become as one fleeing death; I say, *My soul is sorrowful even unto death* (Matt. 26:38); I say, *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me*. Hearing these words, he rejoices and is glad; for he hastens to do the things against me. When he hears, *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me*, he rejoices; and what does he say to himself? "He is also a man. I swallowed Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs, and the prophets; I will swallow him too. For behold, like a man, he is cowardly; he is a man; I will swallow him." Let him swallow me as a man, and he will find me in his belly working as God. D *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.* Let him swallow the leaven of the body, and he will find the unquenchable coal of the divinity burning him terribly from within; *For I came to cast fire upon the earth* (Luke 12:49). *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.* I will speak as a lamb; I do not want him to see the glittering sword of the divinity, so that the wolf may not flee. Let him swallow me as a lamb, and he will be pierced through by the three-edged sword from within; *For I did not come to bring peace to him, but a sword* (Matt. 10:34). *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.* I hide the shepherd God in the lamb of the body; I do not want to reveal the shepherd God, so that the wolf may not flee; if he sees the shepherd, the wolf departs. I will speak as a lamb. *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.* I will speak as a lamb not having a shepherd; *for I became as a man without help*. Let him swallow me as a lamb, and he will be shattered by the shepherd within through the rod of the cross. He will chew the mustard seed, and find the pungency of the divinity terribly tormenting him; he will chew me as a man, and will find the firm rock shattering his teeth violently, so that he may learn no longer to chew men; and that which is written will be fulfilled: *And God will shatter his teeth in his mouth* (Ps. 58:6). *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.* If he knew what kind of cup this is, which I renounce in irony, he himself would have prayed for it to pass; for it is a goad against him, but to mine it is salvation. When he swallows me, then he will perceive who he swallowed; when he sees for my sake the sun being darkened, the day being obscured, then he too will be embittered; and that which is written will be fulfilled: *Hades below was embittered at meeting you* (Isa. 14:9). *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.* Do not therefore be scandalized, you who hear such words spoken in wisdom; wait and you will see the outcome of my words, and then you will marvel at the wisdom of my words. He thinks my trick to be foolish; and he does not know that *the foolishness of God is wiser than men* (1 Cor. 1:25). He thinks from such things that I am extremely weak, and he does not know that *the weakness of God is stronger than men* (1 Cor. 1:25). He does not know that I indeed drink the cup, but he will be made drunk and darkened, while mine shall be awakened and rise. Now he rejoices hearing these words of mine, *Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me*; but when he swallows me, when he sees the rocks being split, and the monuments and the tombs being broken open, and that one himself being torn, and the dead leaping up and jumping into the heavens, then he will repent and mourn over the things in which he now rejoices. He does not know that the trap which he sets, he sets for himself, and he himself will fall into it, according to that which is written: *He dug a pit, and hollowed it out, and he will fall into the ditch which he made* (Ps. 7:15); he does not know that the cross he intends to set up is, for me, a bridal chamber, but for him a cross; for me, a bedroom, but for him death. O cup, goad of the devil, banisher of demons, cleanser of sins, workshop of life, propitiatory of sinners, cup of immortality! *Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.* The wretch knew that whatever I said, came to pass; he heard me saying: *I thank you, Father, that you heard me; and I knew that you always hear me* (John 11:41-42). But now, since I prayed for the cup of death to pass, so that he, not thinking through my prayer that it is passing
the cup of salvation, the cup of immortality! But yet not as I will, but as Thou [wilt]. The unhappy one knows that all things I have said have been done: he heard one saying, "Father, I thank Thee, because Thou hast heard me; now I knew that Thou hearest me always" (John 11:41, 42). But now, because I have prayed that the cup of death might pass [from me], lest he think that by my prayer the cup was going to pass and become more sluggish regarding the business of the cross, I make the outcome of the prayer doubtful and say, "But yet not as I will, but as Thou [wilt]." To my Father I assign the power of death; although I have the power to lay down my soul and have the power to take it up again. I hide my divine dignity with rational coverings; I conceal the power of my divinity with human words; I say, "Not as I will, but as Thou [wilt]." B That blind one does not know that my will and my Father's will are one: "For all things whatsoever the Father hath are mine" (John 16:15); and, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). "But yet not as I will, but as Thou [wilt]." He will suspend the grain of wheat, and when he swallows me, he will see himself being strangled by a threefold cord. But perhaps some one of the audience will say: "Therefore did Christ mock the devil? Was it lawful for Him to mock him?" To whom we shall answer: Read the Scriptures, and you will find the Father Himself saying to Moses: "Seest thou how I mocked the Egyptians?" (Exod. 10:2). Thus, the Lord also mocked the devil and the demons. For it was fitting that he should be derided as a fool and one speaking magnificently and saying: "In my strength I will do it, and in the prudence of my hands I will take away the boundaries of the nations, and I will plunder their whole globe like a nest, and I will take away as those that are left behind, and there shall be none who will resist me" (Isai. 10:13, 14). It was fitting, therefore, that both he and the demons be mocked, so that Christ might show that those who thus boasted were more foolish than children. They certainly did not know what they were doing; for "if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory" (I Cor. 2:8). Moreover, the prophet foretold concerning this dragon that he would be mocked, saying: "This dragon which Thou hast formed to mock him" (Ps. 103:26). But C lest by extending the speech too far, we appear to hinder those who wish to bring forth the sense of the Scripture more clearly after us, let us here impose an end to our sermon in silence. For we have undertaken this chapter to be treated, not as if we could omit nothing, but that we might discourse according to our ability and give an opportunity to those who are studious: "Give an opportunity to the wise, and he will be wiser" (Prov. 9:9). But you, beloved, gathering from the Scriptures those things that can confirm these words, explain more fully the things that are more difficult to grasp. For the Lord our God did not refuse the cup of death for fear, as we have said, but by divine dispensation, so that from my very minimal words and sentiments, and from your labors, glory may be rendered to Christ, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
CONCERNING THE PARABLE ACCORDING TO LUKE, WHICH IS THUS: A CERTAIN MAN WAS DESCENDING, AND FELL AMONG ROBBERS (Luke 10:30).
Truly according to the divine Apostle, "They that run in a race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize" (I Cor. 9:24). The priest ran today, the Levite ran, and the Samaritan alone received the prize. For he ran without labor and passed by those who had come and run before him; for the things that those who had been taught the law had not done, the stranger did rightly. For they, seeing a common nature perishing in another, shut up the bowels of mercy, and with eyes closed passed by him lying there like a dead column, just as that rich man once [passed by] Lazarus thrown at his doors; but the Samaritan, the unbeliever—nay, more faithful than the priests—forgetful of his own affairs, comforted the stranger, and putting aside his urgent business, hastened to cure the wounded one, and fulfilled the law which he had not known, and performed all things that were of the law. "For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these, not having the law, are a law to themselves: who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them, and their thoughts between one another accusing them" (Rom. 2:14, 15). What then does the evangelist say? "A certain man was descending from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers: who also stripped him, and having laid on stripes, went away, leaving him half-dead. And it happened that a certain priest was descending by the same way: and seeing him, he passed by. Likewise also the Levite, when he was near the place, as he came and saw, passed by. But a certain Samaritan journeying, came near him, and seeing him, was moved with mercy: and approaching bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine; and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he brought out two denarii, and gave to the innkeeper, and said to him: Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, when I return, will repay thee" (Luke 10:30-35). Let us learn, therefore, what Jerusalem is, what Jericho, who the robbers are into whom he fell, what the garment is which they took off him, what the stripes are which they laid upon the man, and why they went away leaving him half-dead; who the priest is, who the Levite, who the Samaritan; what the oil, what the wine, what the bandages, what the beast, what the inn, who the innkeeper, who the two denarii, what the supererogation which he promised to repay, what the return of the Samaritan. Who, therefore, is the man who was descending from Jerusalem to Jericho? Jerusalem is paradise, Jericho is this world; the man who was descending from Jerusalem to Jericho is our first parent, Adam: for falling from paradise, he descended into Jericho, that is, into this world. And coming, he fell among robbers; that is, among the wicked, bloodthirsty demons: who, stripping him of the garment of immortality which he wore before the sin, clothed him with fig leaves. Why with fig leaves? Because the fig is rough and bitter. But because after sin the roughness of things and much bitterness fell to him, therefore he was clothed with fig leaves. "And having laid on stripes," that is, the sorrows of this life. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread; and: Thorns and thistles shall the earth bring forth to thee; and: In sorrows thou shalt bring forth children" (Gen. 3:17, 18, 16). These are the stripes of the soul. "And went away, leaving him half-dead." For Adam, having transgressed the law of God, was neither among the living, nor altogether dead, because he had not altogether denied God. "And it happened that a certain priest was descending by the same way." He did not say, by chance, but by divine providence. For "by chance" is when someone arrives unperceived and fortuitously; "by divine providence" is when someone has done something through the providence of God. Here, indeed, the priest descended by that way through the providence of God, "and seeing him, he passed by." And likewise the Levite. Who is that priest, who the Levite? The priest is the Mosaic law; the Levite, the prophetic word. They, therefore, came through the providence of God to cure him who had been wounded by the robbers: but when they could not cure him, they passed by. These, therefore, not being able to raise him up as he lay, the Samaritan comes, who is the Lord Christ, the guardian of our souls; for Samaritan signifies guardian. Therefore he says: "A Samaritan journeying came." Nor did he say, "Came to him," but, "Came near him"; that is, bearing flesh as he did, subject to bodily suffering as he did, but without sin. "And seeing him, he was moved with mercy upon him, and approaching bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine." What are the bandages, what the oil, what the wine? The bandages are the precepts of Christ; the oil, the holy chrism; the wine, the mystery of the faith. Through these three