correct the artisan, the sea does not borrow a stream from a spring, a river does not need a basin; the pure is not cleansed by a type, the condemned does not absolve the judge. A I ought to be baptized by you. Mortality does not stir up life; a sickness does not heal a physician. I recognize the humbleness of my nature: for there is no disciple above his master, nor a servant above his lord. The Cherubim do not approach me with trembling; the Seraphim do not cry aloud before me the most holy hymn; I possess no heavenly throne; no star foretold me; I have not the voice that creates all things. Moses, the servant, was deemed worthy to see the hindermost parts, and how shall I dare to touch the spotless head? Why do you yield to me those things which surpass me? I do not have a palm capable of baptizing God. I ought to be baptized by you. I was born from a barren woman; yet at your command, nature did not gainsay it. Then, while I dwelt in the place of birth, and could not even speak, I borrowed the lips of my mother: but now, how shall I not proclaim as God him whom the virginal ark contained? Am I, like the Jews, blinded in mind? I know that you, while being Lord, took on the form of a servant so that you might be the physician of our form; I know that you appeared as what you were healing; I know that you became the rock of faith to those who have obtained mercy. But I am not hindered by visible things from seeing intellectual things: for I am mortal, and you are immortal God; I am from a barren woman, but you are from a Virgin. I am indeed the first, but I am not greater than you who came after me; I went before preaching, but not to baptize such as you. I know you are the axe laid to the root; I know the vinedresser of the unfruitful plantation of the Jews; I know the scythe applying itself to the ailments of the soul; I have said that a fountain of cures is approaching. For what place shall I find devoid of your miracles? You cleansed lepers with a word, you dried up the fountain of blood by the touch of your fringe, by your command alone you made the paralyzed man firm, the crumbs of the Canaanite woman nurtured the daughter through your miracle, you gave the blind man the use of his eyes; and why do you ask that I should lay my hand upon you? B I ought to be baptized by you. You who look upon the earth and make it tremble (Ps. CIII, 32); you who walk upon the waters as upon a pavement; you who allowed the harlot to wipe your feet, and granted her the remission of sins; how shall I dare to touch your adorable head, I who, when preaching, have often cried out: "He who comes after me is mightier than I, of whom I am not worthy to unloose the strap of his sandal (Mark I, 7)?" Refrain, O Lord, from the shower of your condescension; for I endure no more, and I am submerged by it. What does Christ say to him? "Suffer it now: for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness." Suffer it now. As voice to the Word that is served, as servant to the Lord of servants, as soldier to the King, as clay to the Potter. Fear not the command, but have confidence: baptize me, that I may liberate the world. I shall be delivered to death, that I may vivify dead nature. You, being ordered, shrink from extending your hand, yet the Jews will not hesitate a little later to deliver me to death. Suffer it now: for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. Before the ages, out of benevolence, I decreed to save the human race: I have become man for the sake of man. What is it great, if the Son of Man comes to baptism? For I have not despised the work of my hands; I am not ashamed of the earthly nature. What I was, I have become, while the nature remains immutable. Suffer it therefore for now. The enemy of the race was cast out from the heavens, he was driven from earthly things, now he has hiding places in the nature of waters. But I have come to drive him from there also, as the prophet cries: "You crushed the head of the dragon in the waters" (Ps. LXXIII, 14). Suffer it now. The tempter approached me as if I were a man, and I allow this, that I may expose his weakness: for I shall say to him: "You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (Matt. IV, 7). O new miracle! O incurable grace! Christ contends, and I carry off the prizes; he fights with the devil, and I obtain victory against the devil; he crushes the head of the dragon in the water, and I am crowned as a legitimate athlete; he is baptized, and I lay aside my filth; the Holy Spirit comes upon him, and bestows upon me the remission of sins; he is declared by the Father to be the beloved Son, and I, through him, am made a son of God. For the heavens were opened to him, that the domicile of the one baptized might appear, and the Fatherly voice testifies to him saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear him" (Matt. C XVII, 5). To whom be glory and power always, now and unto all ages. Amen.
ON THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
When, after the icy winter, the vernal heat shines forth, then the earth puts forth flowering green grass, and trees are adorned with leafy branches, the air is the more joyous for being illuminated by the sun, and the entire chorus of birds, flying through the ether, sounds out with melodies. Then also the herdsmen and shepherds who dwell in the mountains, having gone forth from their huts, change their faces into a better aspect through the pleasantness of the air, and vying with the songs of sweet-sounding birds and the varied sounds of pipes, soothing the senses of their sheep, they lead the lambs to pasture at a slow pace. Then also the farmer, after he has sharpened his scythe with a whetstone in his hut, proceeds to the vineyard, that he may prune the useless branches of the vine. Then also sea-faring sailors, seeing the tranquil sea, having left the land, trusting their souls to timber, water, and wind, being carried joyfully on the back of the sea, cross over without fear. In short, that I may not be too long in the very introduction, every art, every care, looking toward the use of human life, in serene air, without hindrance, applies itself to its tasks. Come then, since Christ was born to us as a heavenly spring from the womb of a Virgin, and has dissipated the cold and stormy clouds of the devil, and has awakened the sleeping hearts of men from the smoke of ignorance, let us stir our hearts to heavenly and blessed glory. But the generation of Christ, shining with divinity, checks the course of my tongue and draws me to itself. For when I speak of the infant born from the Virgin under observation, I behold the Virgin pregnant without the work of a man, and a virgin after the birth, I investigate the matter more curiously, and when I do not find the manner, I seal it by faith. For how would it not be a wonder, and would it not have surpassed every mind, that a virgin should have given birth, and been found a virgin after the birth? That she gave birth, the born infant proves; but that she remained a virgin after the birth, the very nature of her body taught. See therefore the visible and invisible mystery, which is grasped and not grasped, which is touched and yet not found. For who was not seeing and not touching both the infant and the mother? Who, indeed, seeing the mother a virgin, and the infant the son of a virgin, can find the mystery by investigating more curiously? O mystery truly heavenly and earthly, of him who was held and not held, seen and not appearing! For such was he who was born today, Christ, heavenly and earthly, who was held and not held, seen and was invisible: heavenly according to the nature of divinity, earthly according to the human form; who was seen according to the flesh, invisible according to the spirit; who was held according to the body, [and] could not be held as the Word. But Christ, indeed, the almighty God, as he willed, D appeared born to his own world: but the Virgin pregnant stupefies my mind the more, because the Virgin had not descended from heaven, but was beheld from the seed of David; consisting not of Spirit, but of body and soul, she conceived in the womb; and that swelling of the womb argued it, and no sower appeared of the infant included within. For he inhabits heaven and was working the infant mystically in the virginal womb. According to nature he was being born, and midwives were handling the infant and the virginal womb with their hands, and they were not finding corruption, as in other women: for it was God who, through the...
according to nature, and midwives were handling the infant and the virginal womb with their hands, and they found no corruption, as is the case in other women: for it was God who was coming forth. B O burning bush which Moses saw on the mountain, and which was not consumed! O Virgin Mary, bearing and not corrupted! O stone which Daniel saw cut from a mountain without human hand! O virginal mother of an infant, and sacred child of an unwed mother! Where are those curious examiners? Let them tell us how the Virgin gave birth to an infant without a man, and having given birth, was not corrupted. And if the manner is unsearchable, since He was born of the Spirit, much more unsearchable is the ineffable birth of the Word from the Father. But you believe; and yet you scrutinize whether she was corrupted in giving birth; but you are accusing God when you say: "If the incorruptible Father was corrupted in begetting His Son, according to your folly, much more would the Virgin, being of corruptible nature, have been corrupted in giving birth." But if you yourself testify that the Virgin was not corrupted in giving birth, believe much more that the incorruptible Father was not corrupted in begetting the incorruptible Son. But leaving aside the babblers, let us hasten to the theological heralds. *When Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king.* C Necessarily the Evangelist notes both the place and the time, so that he who disbelieves in the birth of the Savior according to the flesh, by seeking the place and time, may find the reality of the truth. For he who looks into the chronographers regarding the reign of Herod will find the time, and he who seeks the place from the indication concerning Bethlehem will find it. For if in worldly contracts, signatures are inscribed, and months are counted, and days are indicated, and cities are demarcated for the sake of the accuracy of what is said, how much more is it necessary, when the salvation of the whole world has been born, that the accuracy of both the place and the time be known to posterity! And Matthew indeed recounts the birth of Christ according to the flesh in this way; but Luke, for the sake of the accuracy of the times, adds also the census that took place then for the first time. For he says thus: "In the forty-first year under Caesar Augustus, a decree went out from Augustus to register the whole world. This was the first census. And Joseph also went up from Galilee into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be registered with Mary, who was betrothed to him, being with child" (Luc. 2. 1-5). Luke notes the first census that occurred, at once to fix the time accurately, and to intimate a greatest and hidden mystery from the manifest. For he calls it the first and violent census, that the human race should be registered. For when Christ was born, and the flesh was henceforth being deified, and the devil was being cast out, and death was being destroyed, it was necessary for the souls of the righteous and the names of the faithful to be registered in the books of the heavens, while below Caesar commanded it, and above the Father commanded the angels. Therefore, the Lord also, bringing this good news to His disciples, said: "Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you, but rejoice that your names have been written in the heavens" (Luc. 10. 20). *But when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod, behold, there came wise men from the east saying: Where is the newborn king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him* (Matth. 2. 1-2). Woe is me! I am overcome by these miracles, I am held fast by these sights, and my tongue does not find what to say first, or what to omit. If I contemplate His birth, I am struck with wonder that, before the child comes forth from nature, He performs signs. For is it not a great sign that, after giving birth, the virgin should remain a virgin, and that heaven, while silent, should speak through a star? And for those who thirst to see the One born, He sends a star as a fellow-traveler and points out the desired infant. And Matthew indeed makes mention of the wise men having come from the east; but Luke of the angel; for he says: *And there were shepherds abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they feared with a great fear. And the angel said to them: Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people; for there is born to you today a Christ the Lord in the city of David. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men* (Luc. 2. 8-14). D Christ is born, the things of earth are joined to the things of heaven, and so angels dance with men, shepherds abide in the fields, and wise men worship, the heaven is lit with torches, and the earth bears its shining fruit upon the manger. And then was fulfilled that which was written on the earth: *Truth sprouted from the earth* (Ps. 84. 12). For the Truth is Christ, who says: *I am the way and the truth* (Joan. 14. 6). "From the earth," that is, from the Virgin, He sprouted according to the flesh. And I ask from where the wise men, having been taught concerning the star, used it as a guide toward the finding of the child they sought. It was not, as some have imagined, that the star was a deceiver, and that the wise men were not seeking a true child. For how, if the star were a deceiver, would it have shown forth the truth, Christ? For having reached that point, it ceased its journey. And how also would the wise men, if they were not proceeding in truth, have brought Him such offerings from the fruits of their own labors, which signified His divinity and humanity, and fulfilled the prophetic word: *He shall live, and there shall be given to him of the gold of Arabia* (Ps. 71. 15)? Nor again, as the mythologists say, is there a star rising for each of the men being born; these people do not even know the astrology fabled among the Greeks. But perhaps such people think that they themselves are Christians; to whom we shall say: O philosophers, if this were so, what you say, tell us, how, when Adam and Eve were the only two humans, was the heaven full of the same stars? And when the flood occurred, and all men perished in the water, were the same stars there, neither falling, and with the same chorus of stars prevailing, was Noah alone with his three sons and their wives? But it is necessary to attend to the Scriptures, and to understand the mysteries. For Balaam was a certain prophet, whom the king of the Moabites summoned to curse Israel as they were coming out of the land of Egypt; since those whom he blessed were blessed, and those whom he cursed were cursed; who, having come near the camp of Israel, and having ascended to the top of the mountain, having seen Israel encamped, took up his parable and, prophesying, said: *A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise out of Israel; and he shall crush the leaders of Moab, and shall plunder the sons of Ammon* (Num. 24. 17). These wise men, therefore, stemming from the lineage of Balaam the prophet, following after his books and his prophecies, and understanding that whenever a star arises, then the man also shall rise, clearly the King of the Jews, who shall not only crush the leaders of Moab, but shall also grind to dust and winnow all the kingdoms of the devil, according to Daniel, they watched for the time; and having seen the star rising as a stranger among the others, they knew it to be the one prophesied of old, and following it, and having found the One born, they rejoiced, having found the fulfillment of what was prophesied. But you, O listener, understand the wise men to be types of the nations who turned back from the impiety of error, not led by the perfect light, but, as if by a glint of light through John, as through a star, led to Christ born in the flesh. For see for me also the star having come as far as the child, and having stood still on its journey. For John too, like a star, having shone forth with his preaching, and having pointed out Christ, saying, *Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world*, ceased from his journey; for he said: *He must increase, but I must decrease* (Joan. 3. 29, 30). And having come, he says, the wise men *found the child and his mother, and falling down they worshipped him* (Matth. 2. 11). For it is necessary for those who approach Christ from a Gentile life, first to fall from the height of impiety, and thus, as if being moved from the earth, to confess the birth of Christ according to the flesh, and then thus gradually to look upward toward His heavenly divinity. And having opened their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh; gold as to a king, frankincense as to God, myrrh as to one who suffered for our sake. And Christ received the gifts, not needing them himself, but benefiting those who brought them. For by receiving gold, He turned them away from avarice; by receiving frankincense, He removed them from idolatry; by receiving myrrh, He took away the death of the soul. If we ought to weigh another mystery, let us speak accurately. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh they offer; as the Scripture says of Him: *To Him every knee shall bend, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal*
another mystery, let us speak accurately. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh they offer; as the Scripture says of Him: *To Him every knee shall bend, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal* A beings, in their gifts they prefigured the future; in gold, signifying the glory which the angels of heaven bring; in frankincense, the supplication of earthly men; in myrrh, the supplication of souls detained in the underworld. Since one who approaches Christ must obtain three virtues, which the Apostle mentions: faith, hope, and charity B (1 Cor. 13:13); with the treasures of their hearts opened, they offered faith, like shining gold; hope, like sweet-smelling incense; charity, like myrrh binding together the members of the Church. And having received a response in their sleep not to return to Herod, they returned by another way into their own country (Matt. 2:12). For it behooved those who had once approached Christ not to return by the same tracks of impiety; but, practicing chaste faith and deeds, to depart from the serpent, the slayer of men, into the inheritance of Christ. For to Him indeed belongs glory for ever and ever. Amen.
ON ZACCHAEUS THE PUBLICAN
Those who love good things differ in no way from the thirsty, O beloved; for while they do not find what they seek, they are inflamed by an even greater thirst for the desired object. At night, they imagine the desired fountains as if they were thirsty; but by day, wandering from place to place, looking around with roving eyes, they seek those things which they crave in their hearts. And just as travelers in the burning hour traverse a waterless land, pressed by thirst, and look around to see if there are fountains, and often climb hills where a fountain is held to be; and if they see it from afar, they rejoice, and with quickened step hasten toward it, until when they arrive, they slake their thirst: such are men who love Christ. For by day they seek for themselves the desired Christ through good works; but at night they converse with Him through prayers, and in their sleep they imagine themselves walking with Him: and if they think they see Him from afar, they rejoice and exult, just as those who are thirsty do when they find the desired fountains: and, having awakened, they wish to sleep again, that they may enjoy the same visions while asleep. Such was Zacchaeus, whom the reading of the Gospel just now set before you. For see me him running, burning with divine zeal, and climbing into a tree, and looking around for Jesus, that he might behold the fountain of life. And seeing the Lord, Zacchaeus calmed his eyes indeed, but inflamed his heart with a greater desire. *Jesus entered*, it says, *and was passing through Jericho. And behold a man named Zacchaeus: and he was a chief publican, and he was rich: and he was seeking to see Jesus, who he was* (Luke 19:1-3). Behold the man’s desire, O beloved. *And he could not see for the crowd, because he was small in stature. And running ahead, he climbed into a sycamore tree, to see Jesus, for he was about to pass that way* (Luke 19:4). Zacchaeus, small in stature, but great in the prudence of the Spirit, was seeking to see Jesus: he desired to see God bestowing heavenly things upon men: he was seeking to see the creator of the angels, and the administrator of heavenly light walking with human steps: he was seeking to see how the sun of justice, sitting in the cloud of the body, might illuminate the eyes of the hearts of the faithful; he was seeking to see God Jesus, the good likeness, the desirable thing, the sweet name of Jesus, by whose name the reality itself is signified: he desired to see the purple lamb, whose blood redeemed the world, and whose fleece from Adam until the end shall cover the naked; he desired, as a captive soldier, to see his king; as a sheep, his shepherd who was wandering; as one who was darkened, he desired to see the light; he desired to see the herald of piety, who did not have the sweetest condiment of divine knowledge: he was seeking to see, as an infirm man, health; as a hungry man, heavenly bread; as a thirsty man, the vivifying fountain: he was seeking to see Him who gave life to the priests, and had raised Lazarus from sleep. O divine love! O good concupiscence! O love equipped with golden wings, or rather, that transfers to heaven the soul of him who possesses it! Now divine love, which lifts him from the earth, made him climb into the tree: it no longer allows him to look at earthly things, or to mingle with men; but looking toward divine charity, he was receiving heavenly things: from these he hastened to those, and having climbed the tree, he was looking for Christ, and in his mind was ascending above the cloud. And seeing Christ, Zacchaeus was saying appropriately: *To Thee I have lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in the heavens* (Ps. 122:1). Zacchaeus saw the Lord, he was all the more inflamed with love: Christ touched his heart, and he was made one from another; from a publican he was inflamed with zeal, from an infidel he became faithful, and from a wolf he became a sheep marked. Who thus loves father and mother, who thus loved a wife or others, as Zacchaeus loved the Lord, as can be proved from the deed itself? For he gave all his own good things to the poor for Christ’s sake, and to those whom he had defrauded, he restored fourfold. O good deeds of the disciple! O moderate and divine virtue of the teacher, which leads to action from the mere sight of Jesus! The Lord had not yet instructed Zacchaeus with a word, but he was seen only by the one desiring, and the virtue of faith was drawn upward from the heart of the desirer. Something similar happened in the woman with an issue of blood. For approaching the Lord, and seeking health from Him, she did not wait for Him to touch her with His hand, but approaching herself, she secretly touched his fringe; and the power of healing was drawn from the one she touched as if from a sponge. And Zacchaeus indeed did this unknowingly, moved by divine zeal, and burning with spiritual love he hastened to the sycamore tree: but the Lord, having perceived something mystical, said, *Descend* (Luke 19:5). I know your soul; I know your holy love: Descend: remember Adam hiding himself naked under a fig tree: but you, if you wish to obtain salvation, do not hasten to the sycamore. It behooves Me to render this sycamore dry, and to plant another tree, the cross. That is a good tree; hasten to it with your soul: for from there you will be cast promptly toward the heavens. In this tree [of the sycamore] the serpent is entangled in the leaves, in this he is hidden, there he nests. Hasten, descend before he hisses at your soul, as he did to Eve, when he persuaded her to taste the sweet pleasure; hasten, descend: while I am present, descend: for when I am seen, he is restrained. Hasten, descend: I do not wish to leave you in the sycamore; I do not wish you to perish, for you are My sheep, you have hastened to Me. Hasten, descend, and make haste to your house; there it behooves Me to rest: for where faith is, there I rest; where love is, thither I go. I know what you are about to do; I know that you are about to give all your good things to the poor, and first to those whom you have defrauded, fourfold to be restored. Among such men I willingly lodge. And Zacchaeus hastening descended, and went into his house, and received Jesus: and full of joy, standing he spoke; not walking, not sitting, but standing, that he might declare the immutable purpose of his soul; standing he said, while fervent in Spirit, he was debating with an irrevocable sentence: for he knew where he was sowing, and where he was about to reap; and he said: *Behold the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone, I restore fourfold* (Luke 19:8). O pure confession proceeding from a pure heart! A confession not subject to shame, offered to the glory of God, subject to no shame, breathing Adam, flourishing with justice, with which justice may the God of all deem us worthy, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.