771 A received the request of the elders, not out of fear for himself, but accepting the faith of the centurion. And so, he went with them. Perhaps he was walking at a slower and more leisurely pace B, not to delay the bestowing of the benefit, but to allow time for the interior affection of the centurion to be revealed, so that he might make public an unshakable faith to rebuke the unbelievers, and that he might manifest a sincere, pure, and unfictional purpose. For when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent his servants to him, saying: "Lord, do not trouble yourself; for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof" (Luke 7:6). From the first impulse of his soul, he sent the elders, but after he had done this, he did not rest. For meanwhile, reflecting on how great was the difference in dignity, he sends servants beseeching him and saying: "Do not trouble yourself; for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof." O the prudence! O the watchfulness of the centurion! C God, hidden in man, did not escape him, nor did the only-begotten Word, wrapped and concealed in a body, escape him. He sees the temple, and perceives Him who dwells within it. The Lord in the office of a servant did not escape him, the King in the guise of a captive, He who is small in infinite magnitude. Therefore, Jesus immediately marvels and bears witness to his supreme faith, and to the urbanity of his spirit by which he said to the Savior: "I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof." How he was like Peter, stunned at the catch of fish, and from this understanding His great virtue, then beseeching Him and saying: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8). But others who were looking at Peter did not know, and he knew that which is recorded in Leviticus: "Leprosy," it says, "lying upon one makes him unclean who falls into the disease" (Lev. 13:2). D Now, similar to leprosy are impetigo, vitiligo, and white spots. To distinguish these diseases is difficult, especially at the beginning of the sickness; for which reason the law wants the priest to be skilled in these matters. The law therefore leads the priest into the house of him who is being examined; and when he has judged there to be leprosy, he declares everything that is in the house unclean. For this reason, many first empty their house, and then call the priest. Since the blessed centurion knew these things, he fled from the arrival of the Savior. "I am not worthy," he says, "that you should enter under my roof." Many are under that roof: I know my sins; I refuse, therefore, your presence as a judge before I cleanse myself. I know that you are the prince of all priests, and the high priest of the Father. "I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof." Heaven is your throne, the earth your footstool; what house will contain the Immense One? I do not have a heavenly house that you should enter under my roof; I do not have royal halls to receive the King of heaven. How shall I receive under a roof Him, "who covers his chambers with waters" (Ps. 103:3)? How will a vile lodging receive Him who "measures the heaven with his palm" (Is. 40:12)? What roof will contain Him who contains the whole heaven and earth together? "I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof." As a benefactor, I snatch at your entry; as a judge, I fear your presence. You are the explorer of souls, the examiner of reins, the searcher of the heart, and the 772 judge of sins. I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. I fear for myself. "Say therefore a word, and my servant shall be healed." Does it not seem to you that he who says, "Only say the word," clearly knows that "by the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the host of them" (Ps. 32:6); and that all things were made, are held together, and are administered by the Word? For the man, illuminated by divine thought, as soon as he saw God in a body, knew that this is the Son of God. "Say only a word," he says. I know what the wise Solomon foretold about you: "Neither herb, nor mollifying plaster healed your people, but your Word, O Lord, which heals all things" (Wis. 16:12). "Say only a word." I know whose Word you are, and how much virtue you possess, and that you have perfected all things by a word. The Father did not have labor pains when He begot you, nor do you have labor pains while creating. "Say only a word." For your Word has the strength of perfecting all things, not beating the air, but signifying your will. "Say only a word": give the sign, so that those who hear may become more certain. See his prudence; he asks that the arrival be deferred, yet does not limit the knowledge; for he bears witness to His knowledge, and asks that He not travel along the way. This truly wise thought receives another, greater one. For thus does the man progress from virtue to virtue, so that among him the riches of worthy senses abound, renewed by the accessions of speculations. "Say only a word, and my servant shall be healed." "For I also am a man set under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it." I know, he says, that you have come to us as the Lord of all power, as one of us. You have come to where we have come, having power over all things, as the holy David says: "By your ordinance the day continues, for all things serve you" (Ps. 118:91). You sleep, and the sea is stirred up; you arise, and the waves are stilled; you call the dead, and he obeys faster than a living one. "Say a word, and my servant shall be healed." "For I also am a man set under authority." This declares that the free movement of the soul does not impede it from proceeding to better things. "I have," he says, "soldiers under me." He calls soldiers those truly diverse and various thoughts lying hidden in a man; for the blessed Paul is accustomed to call these soldiers. "I delight," he says, "in the law according to the inward man: but I see another law, warring against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin" (Rom. 7:22-23). These—he says—I have under me; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes, and to another, Come, and he comes; I am not commanded, but I command my thoughts. And perhaps the centurion is called such, as a prince and commander of his affections, so that he may exhibit to us such power and perseverance against brutish affections; may it be our lot to attain this, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and imperium, now and always, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
CONCERNING THAT WHICH IS WRITTEN: "THE SOWER WENT OUT TO SOW HIS SEED" (Luke 8:5)
The virgin soil, plowed by the help of oxen by skilled farmers, receives the seeds, and holding them in its clods, first germinates the herb, then raises the stalk, and finally brings forth the full grain of wheat in the ear. Then the farmers, seeing the conspicuous harvest of ears, celebrate the hope of their labors, and sincerely beseech God that He might preserve the fruits of the apparent goods without loss. For often, as summer approaches, when the farmer rejoices from a hope that is almost certain, either the scorching south wind winnows the ear, or rust corrodes it, or the caterpillar devours it, or the hail strikes it, and ruins the outcome of good hope; so that the farmer, pressed by much sorrow, and carrying the sickle into his tabernacle, macerates himself with pain from the unhappy outcome of the summer. But when the temperate air produces a beautiful and ripe ear, and the crop, whitening like the hair of old men, ripens, awaiting the summer harvest; then the rustics, palms with sharp sickles outstretched, add labors to labors, and fulfill its desire and hope with a happy outcome: then, with other animals resting at home, the ox alone, with a joyful gait, with fierce eyes, goes to the threshing floor. And the other animals, indeed—goats, pigs, sheep—which have not submitted their necks to the yoke of the plow, by their own pressing conscience, approaching the threshing floor servilely, steal a bundle of ears: however, the ox alone, extending a free tongue, confidently snatches the fruits of his own labors. Have you seen there those who cut with a sickle? Have you seen the field fruitful in ears, the threshing floor, the ox? Thence transfer the discourse to the ecclesiastical order, and you will see the preached agriculture in the mystery of the Church. "He went out," he says, "who sows to sow." For we heard that just now in the gospel: "He went out, who? Christ, He went out from..."A having come into the world from heaven. For Christ is the sower, the divine Word is the seed, humanity is the field, the apostles are the oxen, the cross is the plow, harmony is the yoke, and sweet love is the strap that braces the necks of the apostles. "He went out who sows to sow." Christ went forth, not that He might reap, but that He might sow; for the seeds of the resurrection were not yet sown in the hearts of men. "He went out who sows to sow," not wheat, not barley, not millet, nor any other of the earthly things, but faith in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the hope of the resurrection, love toward God and men, sincere and undistinguished. Christ the sower went out from the paternal loins, He who is in the bosom of the Father, and came to us, just as He Himself says in declaring: *I went out from the Father and have come* (Jo. 16. 28). But He went out from the Father, not separated from Him, while yet being with us. The sower went out, that He might root out the tares that had been evilly sown in the souls of men by the devil. For *every plant*, He says, *which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted out* (Matt. 15. 13). The sun of righteousness went forth, that He might cast the light-bearing rays of His divinity into the hearts of men who were darkened. The shepherd of the sheep went forth, that having sown the salt of piety, He might season the grass of the legal letter as food for the sheep; the sower went forth, having the ten yokes of oxen, that He might make B one vessel, and having sown six *artabae*, might make three measures. Speak now, O Isaiah, do not be silent! For "ten yokes of oxen shall not make one vessel." The ten yokes of oxen are twenty oxen; the ten yokes of oxen are the twelve logical apostles of Christ, and the seven whom the apostles chose. Who are these? Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch (Acts 6. 5); and the apostle who farmed everything from Jerusalem even unto Illyricum (Rom. 15. 19). These ten yokes of oxen wrought upon the field of humanity the confession into Jesus, who assumed our earthen vessel of the body. And that the divine Word calls the incarnate sojourn of Christ a "vessel," listen: When He was about to go to His passion, His disciples say to Him: *Where do you want us to prepare the Passover?* And He said to them: *Go into this city, and a man will meet you carrying a vessel of water, and say to him: The Teacher says, with you I keep the Passover. And he will show you an upper room furnished, and there prepare the Passover for us* (Matt. 26. 17, 18; Marc. 14. 13-15). Who is the man carrying the vessel of water, or who is the city into which He sends them, or what is the upper room that is furnished, it is necessary that you should inquire and understand. The man carrying the vessel of water is John the forerunner of Christ, proclaiming Jesus, who assumed our vessel of/the body, having in Himself the water of baptism. By "upper room furnished" He speaks of the rest that will be in the heavens for the saints after the resurrection. "Go into this city"; not into the old synagogue of the Jews, where the old law fermented in old wineskins; for they offered vinegar C mingled with gall to the Lord (Matt. 27. 34); but go into the new city, into the new Jerusalem, where the new word, where the new grace of the Spirit causes the new wine of faith to spring forth in new wineskins; not where the old passover, but where the new resurrection; not where the lamb is sacrificed, but where Christ is born; not where the old leaven, but where the heavenly bread is perfected upon the cross. For ten yokes of oxen shall not make one vessel. But where ten yokes of oxen labor, that is, the apostles (for the apostles were likened to oxen, as Paul witnesses to me saying: *It is written*, he says, *in the law, You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? But He says it for our sake* [1 Cor. 9. 9]); where, therefore, these ten yokes of oxen labor, they make the confession into Jesus, who assumed the vessel of our body. And "he who sows six *artabae* shall make only three measures." Has there ever been such a poverty of farmers, that six *artabae* being sown, they should make only three measures? But let us seek the mind of the Scripture, beloved, let us enter into the inner veil of the letter, and the divine knowledge of the Spirit will meet us. "He who sows six *artabae* shall make three measures." The six *artabae* are the New Testament; that is to say, the four evangelists, the Acts, and the Epistles. These six *artabae* the one who sows in a soul, makes the three measures, the confession into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Christ the sower went forth, not of bakers, but of life-giving faith; not D barley for the fodder of irrational beasts, but nourishment for the breath of men; not millet for feeding birds, but the divine Word, glowing and fiery, likened to a grain of mustard seed, vehemently warming our souls toward piety and prudence. The sower went forth to sow. And some fell beside the path, and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air came and devoured them; others fell upon the thorns, and the thorns choked the sprout; others fell upon the rocky ground, and because it had no root, having sprouted, it withered immediately. Those beside the path are the Arians; the thorny ones are the Eunomians; those upon the rocky ground are the Macedonians. And understand accurately, beloved. The sower went forth to sow; and some fell "beside the path." He did not say, "on the path," but, "beside the path." What is the path, if not altogether Christ who says, *I am the way and the truth* (Jo. 14. 6)? Those, therefore, beside the path are the Arians. They are not on the path; for they are not orthodox; nor yet again far from the path, as Gentiles or Jews, but beside the path; that is, beside Christ, beside the right faith. Their confessing Christ is what makes them to be near the path; their denying Christ to be the Son of God is that which keeps them from being on the path. Therefore the birds of the air, having come down, that is, the spiritual forces of wickedness, gather the divine Word from their hearts, and make them empty of right faith entirely. The thorny ones are the Eunomians; for they have in themselves the thorns of blasphemers; and they sprout the grass of faith, indeed, but they do not finish the stalk of the confession. Their confessing Christ is that which makes them sprout the grass of faith; but their saying again that He is a creature and a product is that which causes the stalk of faith to wither. For by the Hellenic dogmas of creature-worship they prick and choke the word of truth, making it fruitless and entirely void of right faith. But those upon the rocky ground, these are the Macedonians. The Scripture did not say that some fell upon the "rock"; for the rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10. 4); but "upon the rocky ground." They are neither good earth—for they are not orthodox—nor are they rock, that having been chiseled by teachers they might build the temple of God; but what? They are porous. There is a nature of stone, by name "porous"; it is neither earth, nor is it a solid stone; softer than stone, but harder than earth. Their confessing the Son of God to be in essence like to the Father is that which makes them to be softer; their denying the Holy Spirit is what makes their hearts to be hardened; they are therefore neither good earth, that they might sprout in flour and adorn the order of faith; nor solid rock, that they might guard the confession into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit unshaken and unmoved. And they receive this word, and they sprout; but immediately they dry it up and cool it, because they do not have the roots of reasonings in the depth of the spirit. These, even if they confess Christ to be the Son of God, by denying the Holy Spirit, they do not even have the Son, with the apostle witnessing to me and saying: *If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His* (Rom. 8. 9). The rest, he says, fell upon the good earth, and it gave fruit, and some yielded thirty, some sixty, some a hundred (8. 9. Marc. 4. 8). This is the good earth, the heart of the orthodox, which is outside—
as a body, patient. A Such a one is blessed three times over: he is glorified on earth, he rises from the dead, and he rests in the heavens. Whoever is such as this is honored in three eminent orders; he has done thirty, so as to be in the heavens; sixty, so as to be among the angels; a hundred, so as to be with God. Such a man is meek, quiet, humble, merciful, patient, righteous, and a stranger to the world and to this life; he appears in this life only as an image, but he dwells in heaven in heart and in works. But others among those who think heretically, according to their own wicked opinion, construct a ladder of blasphemy with their words. What do they say? Faith in the Spirit produces thirty, faith in the Son produces sixty, faith in the Father produces a hundred; they are ignorant that while they wish to diminish the Holy Spirit, B they are trying to exalt Him. For they place the Spirit before the Father and the Son, saying: “He who believes, by believing in the Spirit produces thirty,” and thus they place the Spirit before the Father and then before the Son, and they put the Father as third. But we, thinking the contrary, say the contrary. For he who believes does not believe first in the Spirit, but in the Father. He who believes in the Father produces thirty; he who adds faith in the Son doubles the number and produces sixty; he who puts on the Holy Spirit has fulfilled the hundred, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
On the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and on Almsgiving
After the assumption of our Lord Jesus Christ into the heavens, while the disciples were gazing into heaven, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, saying: “Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come again in this same place, as you saw him going into heaven” (Acts 1.11). Come, beloved, I will announce to you what his second coming will be like, a coming terrible and horrendous, which will convict every spirit. For the sign of the Son of Man will appear first, upon which the Jews crucified him, borne by angels and shining like lightning; and before it, the archangel Michael shall sound the trumpet, C awakening those who sleep from Adam until the consummation of the age. And the dead shall rise, as if from sleep, from their tombs, just as the apostle Paul said: “The trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise incorruptible, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Cor. 15.52). And the angels shall gather men from the four ends of the earth into the valley of wailing. That valley shall be moved, and judgments shall be revealed. A river of fire, full of immortal worms; bitter and unmerciful angels; the works of each standing in a circle, convicting the sinner. Therefore, the heavens shall be changed, and the earth shall be empty, and the glory of all things shall pass away like a shadow. Riches and all things shall perish, they shall fail like smoke: when the stars shall fall from heaven like leaves; and no one shall help another, nor shall he be helped by another; not a father his son, not a mother her daughter, not a brother his brother, not a friend his friend, not a master his servant, nor a servant his master; neither riches, nor silver, nor gold, nor precious clothing, nor houses with golden ceilings; but the works of each shall be bare, whether they be good or evil. And the heavens shall be opened, and behold the Son of God coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory: he shall descend into that heavenly Jerusalem, and into that incomprehensible Sion. And twelve thrones shall be set, of the twelve apostles and his disciples; and behold, he himself appearing like lightning from the East to the West; and because of his terror and threats, the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll. Then all the earth shall be shaken, the mountains shall be filled with dung, rivers of fire shall be prepared to receive the sinners, the worms with gaping mouths shall be like dragons, and all, thirsting for the blood of sinners, shall be tormented without end. Those shadows have no light. Consider, therefore, brothers, that day, terrible, great, and illustrious. For even the angels, who have sinned in nothing, think of that day with trembling: how great, then, is the trembling that shall seize sinners on that horrendous and D terrible day? Then there shall be bitter weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let no one, however, think that one might conceive of that day as in a mental delirium. For I know many who say that such will be the judgment, as if one were being tormented in sleep. Do not be deceived, O humans: for he who is tormented in sleep only imagines it; but his body and soul rest in bed. On that day, however, the body cannot be separated from the soul; but they shall go together to that tremendous judgment, where the books of works have been opened, the Judge accepts no person, the judgment is immutable; and with great glory he shall call all by name to judgment, and we shall all stand bare. There, there is no oratorical speech which may win the cause, no eloquence, but an examination of works. No use of gifts there, no advocates; but all shall bear their own burdens. There old age is not credited, no splendor appears, nobility is not sought; there the beauty of the face does not sway the Judge; but the dignity of virginity and other virtues entreats the Judge born of a Virgin. There great and small are judged with an equal balance. Often, however, in that judgment, children condemn their parents. For if you have children, and do not keep equality among them, but enrich one and hate another, then you shall pay the penalty. Then a servant stands before his master with confidence, and a maid before her mistress, and a disciple before his teacher. For here all are judged in the tremendous judgment, children with parents, wives with husbands, and the works of each are made manifest. Therefore the blessed apostle Paul, knowing these things, commands all things to all, saying: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; and fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. Servants, obey your masters” (Eph. 6.1, 4, 5); “masters, render to your servants what is just and fair. Husbands, love your wives; wives, fear your husbands” (Col. 4.1; 3.19); so that we may all stand blameless before the horrendous tribunal of the Lord Jesus Christ our God. Let us therefore shudder at that day, in which the shepherd is to separate the sheep from the goats, and shall place the sheep on the right, and the goats on the left. Then the King shall say to those who are on the right: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25.34, 35). Consider that joy and confidence before the angels, prophets, and apostles; “For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink,” etc. Come, you blessed of my Father, receive heavenly things for earthly, eternal for temporal. You clothed me; I, in truth, clothe you with eternal glory: you gave me bread; I, in truth, give you the food of paradise: in elections and offerings of fruits you brought us fruits; and I shall make you companions of the saints: you gave me cold water to drink; and I shall introduce you into paradise. Brother, when you hear these things, what do you expect, why do you delay to bestow your goods upon the needy and upon the churches? Rather, you are giving to God himself, as he says: “If you did it to one of these my least brothers, you did it to me” (Ibid. v. 40 and following). Whoever, however, have persecuted the poor, they have persecuted Christ; and therefore he shall set them on the left: and just as they persecuted the poor, so also the Lord shall persecute them, saying: “Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and you did not give me to drink,” etc. Consider that shame before the assembly of angels. If anyone here has been convicted of sin before a friend, how does he cast down his face? How does he refuse to go out? How is he ashamed before friends, neighbors, and kin, because of the shame of an open fault? Consider that shame, where numberless angels, orders of prophets, choirs of apostles, the assembly of martyrs