the legislator for fasting is effective: nor does he eat bread, nor drink wine; for he was satisfied with food such as it was, that he might teach the law to the legislator. But he also indicates how harmful drunkenness is to one who opposes the fast; consider what was done by Moses, and what was done by the people, and you will find the power of the fast. Above, Moses was receiving the law, and below, the people were overturning the law. Having been grieved, Moses shattered the law, not deeming it reasonable that the law be entrusted to the drunken, and that the oracles be handed over to minds weighed down by wine. See how much harm drunkenness does in opposing the fast. But again, the fast, having set right such a great evil, using the same days, again recalled the law. A He left a memorial for us for the security of life and conduct, perhaps intending in this way also to indicate a mystery: that the first legislation would be idle, being shattered because of the unbelief of the former people; but the second was effective, being given everywhere, as the second people faithfully received the second law, and observed it together. And Elijah, having fasted for forty days, and having traversed the desert with one meal, did not feel fatigue; for the fast sustained him, lightening the labor; and after the fast he saw God, as much as it was possible for human nature to understand. B He saw the incorporeal, not with bodily eyes, but by understanding the invisible with his heart, according to the purity of the soul. For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Having fasted in this way, he closed heaven against the intemperate and those who consume their own lives in luxury, so that what they did not choose by their own volition, they might learn by being disciplined through the fast of famine, and know how beneficial the fast is, and the work it displays in time of luxury. Daniel, too, having fasted for three weeks, and not having tasted desirable bread, having come into the lions' den out of zeal against the intemperate, taught the lions there to fast. For the wild beasts were made ashamed by the faster, becoming tamer than the rational beasts, and they closed their own mouth, not daring to touch the holy body. For C as if placing a weapon against his own body, the fast, and having fortified his whole self through it, he led astray the eyes of the lions, not displaying a human body, but an angelic one. And the three youths in Babylon, not wishing to participate in the lawless table of the king, but to follow the fast according to the law, having entered into the ignited pyre of the furnace, extinguished the flame, having worked the furnace into dew instead of fire through the fast; and the fire dared to touch those inexperienced in the fast (for it consumed all the surrounding Chaldeans); but it withdrew from those in the habit of the fast, not being able to touch their body. For there was not any matter in the body, since the fast had made it spiritual. Similarly, the Ninevites also, having fasted, warded off death; for having persisted in fasting for three days, D having transformed eternal punishment through these few days, they have left eternal praise for the world. See, beloved, how much the fast avails when performed with prayer and works. For fasting and petition are born from death; but righteousness is above both. Fasting is both the destruction of death and the redemption from wrath; fasting is the purification of the mind, the companion of temperance, the gymnasium of piety, the yoke of righteousness. Fasting knows how to make the poor man rich; for it does not allow him to spend unseasonably, providing the sufficiency of what is needed. It also knows how to make the rich man a manager of his own possessions, not allowing him to spend fearlessly; fasting also knows the prime of youth. It teaches a bridle for foods, it puts on temperance, and wisely guiding it towards piety and chastity. It also knows how to make the elderly wise, and to keep the bond of the mind pure. Fasting also keeps the body healthier; for it is not weighed down by foods and does not receive the material for illnesses, but being lightened from edibles, it becomes robust for the reception of graces. For this reason let us fast, beloved, that we may attain the spiritual gifts. He who is fasting also tutors the soul towards piety, taking the care of the soul as an image of bodily temperance, so that just as he abstains from the foods entering from without, so also from the evil thoughts ascending in the mind. For if, he says, the spirit of the one having power should ascend upon you, do not leave your place, for it will stop the sin. Just as now you abstain from foods, not tasting them, so abstain from sins, changing your ways. Do you fast, not touching wine? Fast also by abstaining from wickedness; for evil knows how to produce a greater drunkenness in the soul. Do you fast, not touching meats? Fast also by abstaining from slander, so that through it you do not eat the flesh of your brothers, tasting their very bodies. For true fasting is the abstention from sins. Do you hear the Prophet saying: Did I choose this fast, or a day for a man to humble his soul? 1848 But what? Loose, he says, every bond of injustice, dissolve the knots of violent contracts; break your bread for the hungry, bring the homeless into your house; if you see the naked, clothe them. This, beloved, is the true fast, acceptable to God, and life-saving to man, and pleasing to all. Following this is the possession of the heavens, and the truthful promise of the Master. For see what He adds: Then your light will break forth early, and then you will cry out, and He will hear you; while you are still speaking, He will say: Behold, I am here. Do you see the great gifts of the fast, and how much piety it holds, so as to move God Himself to approach human nature? Fast, therefore, remain in prayers, in assemblies, in admonitions, not being absent from the congregation, as is the custom of some; nor in business or in courtrooms for the whole day; so that you may not gather money, which you ought to have scattered; or pursue your brother, whom you ought to have been treating. You came at evening, or at the ninth hour, not that you might fulfill the purpose of the fast, but that you might fill the craving of your belly. And do not think that you are drunk because you abstain from wine for the sake of being sober, while being filled with wickedness, so that you may not hear, Woe to those who are drunk, not from wine! But drunkenness is not a companion of the fast, but an enmity and an opponent. That we may arrive at the hope of the resurrection prepared for us, there enjoying the laid-up good things, and here rejoicing in those expected in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
CONCERNING THE SON OF THE WIDOW
And it came to pass afterwards, He was traveling to a city called Naim: and His disciples were traveling with Him, and a great crowd. And as He drew near to the gate of the city, and behold, a dead man was being carried out, an only-begotten son to his mother, and she was a widow (Luke 7.11, 12). All things were full of misery, and of much sympathy. An only son having been released from the present life, the sweetest mother was crying out, that I was born a mother, from whom death has harvested the pains of childbirth. The vine had one cluster, and the storm of death shattered this; she possessed one staff, and death, the common one, took this away. The woman was without protection, and with the staff removed, she saw no life for herself. Henceforth she had no consolation, with the only one lost. Being seized by multiple grief, and that inconsolable; no one could alleviate the sorrow; tears were flowing like streams, the grief upon the woman was intolerable. She contemplated the form of her son, her bowels were being torn with love. And she remained entirely a widow, she [was] entirely in the most wretched state; and she was bereft of her husband and only son. Verily, it was a miserable state for the widow, full of mourning, of weeping, of calamity. No spectator spared tears; there was groaning, and one could not find one who was mourning the first, the dead son, and the widow, the living [one]. And one might ask, is the widow living? Even if she seemed to live (for I speak according to the present life, not the future one), she was dead. For the widow in reality, if she is wealthy, the pain diminishes this for a short time, hence she is refreshed by something, her wound is cured, the pain is alleviated, she is strengthened by abundance, meanwhile
she is deprived of the fruit of her labor. She sees the branch, and embraces the root; she possesses the cluster, and loves him who planted it; she has a part, and considers it the whole; she embraces the living, and does not abhor the dead; she considers the son’s appearance, and represents to herself the image of the father. B And while the youth lives, the widow endures the storms of life more gently; but if it happens that, while the mother is alive, her son dies, and bids his mother farewell, and runs to his father—that which happened to this widow—then she receives the whole pain at once. For as soon as the only son of the widow mentioned died, she, having put on mourning garments, began to utter reckless words, rebuking God as if he were unjust, and addressing him with blasphemous words as if she had suffered violence: "Was my son alone a burden to the world? Others are in distress because of numerous offspring, and for me alone my only one is snatched away. I, a wretch, am living, and my husband and son are dead. Who will console me hereafter? Who will look upon me? I seemed about to receive some confidence from him; for it was enough for me if I were called a mother. My father left him to me tenderly and without resources, and I, a widow without patronage, applying my hands to work, fed him with care, prepared double and triple garments for him, and paid the wages to those instructing him; and now, when I hoped to reap blessings from him, I receive a hail of temptations. O the pain! But I have devised what I shall do: I shall be buried with my son; of this I inform my envious ones; my relatives were devouring me because I had a grown son. Grant me permission, all you who envy me my offspring: I now anticipate the sepulcher of my own son; it would seem ridiculous to me if I were still to live." C While this widow was crying out with pain, Christ our God—who foresees all things, who knew all things before he did them, for: *Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I sanctified you* (Jer. 1:5)—immediately arriving, turned her tears into joy, he who made the gate of the city of Nain a church, and the bier of the dead a sacrificial altar. For where the gift of resurrection is, there is the ornament of the altar; and where the hands of the Word of God are extended, there the measure of resurrection is finished; for that exit was a place of sacrifice, and the carrying out was a bringing back. For what does the evangelist say? *But seeing her, Jesus—that is, the Savior, the Word of God, Christ—was moved with compassion, seeing her.* Seeing what? A widow bereft of her son and husband, an old woman, bent, mourning, tearing her hair, sprinkling her head with dust, dimming her heavy eyes, tearing her unbecoming garment, beating her breast exhausted with groans, and no longer able to cry out, finally become frantic. D Seeing her in this state, Jesus was moved with compassion for her, and approaching, said to her, "Do not weep." But she, given over to mourning, since she did not know well who had arrived, having cast aside her mourning, answered the Lord: "Do you say 'Do not weep'? What consolation will you bring me now? If you were to move the whole world for this cause, you will not give me any comfort." [index: entries preserved]
[GREEK COLUMN] 713 SPURIA. σκου, καὶ τὸν θάνατον καταπάτησον. Σοὶ λέγω, ἐγέρ- θητι : μή βραδύνῃς πρὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν· Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις. Ἐκάλεσα τὸν Λάζαρον ἐκ τάφου, καὶ οὗτος εὐθέως ἐξήλατο τοῦ μνήματος, ὡς τε πάρτην ήμεραν κατασαπεὶς ἐν τῷ μνήματι, καὶ πολλὰ των σπλάγχνων ὑπὸ τῶν σκωλήκων πεπορθημένος. Αλλ' ἡ φωνὴ τῆς ζωῆς τὸν νεκρὸν ὀσφράνασα εἰς εὐ ας μίαν τὴν τῶν σαρκῶν ἀνεχάλκευσε λύσιν, καὶ γέγονε μήτρα του κειμένου τὸ μνῆμα. Σοὶ δὲ προσφάτως ὁ θά νατος ἐμεθόδευσε · σοὶ λέγω, μὴ βραδύνῃς πρὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν· Ἐγὼ γὰρ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις. Νεκρός ὑπὸ ἦρχεν ὁ θεωρούμενος, καὶ ὡς ἀκούοντι τ· τεθνεῶτι δια ελέγετο ὁ Κύριος. Πότε νεκρὸς ἀκούει ; Καὶ τί φησιν ὁ Δεσπότης ; Σοὶ λέγω, ἐγέρθητι καὶ εὐθέως ἀνεκάθ ισεν ὁ νεκρός· ὥστε οἱ θεωροῦντες [85] ὄχλοι εγέ- νοντο ὡσεὶ νεκροί, πρῶτον μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν, δεύ- τερον διὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Διὰ τί γὰρ μὴ κατεπήδησεν, ἀλλ' ἀνεκάθισεν ; Ὅπως ἂν ἀνεπισκίαστον τὴν ἀνάστα σιν θεωρήσωσιν οἱ πάντες, καὶ μὴ φαντασία γνωρισθῇ τὸ γινόμενον. Μονονουχί λέγων πρὸς αὐτούς· Εγώ ὑμᾶς πληροφορῶ τοὺς ἀκηκοότας, ὅτι ἐκεῖνος αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ πρὸς βραχὺ ἀποθανών. Καὶ ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἐπελάβετο τοῦ τεθνεῶτος, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν ζώντα τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ. Ἡ δὲ λαβοῦσα τὸν υἱὸν, ὑπὸ χαρᾶς καὶ ἀπιστίας συνείχετο · χαίρουσα μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ παιδὸς ἀναστάσει· ἀπιστοῦσα δὲ τῇ διανοίᾳ τῶν πραγμάτων. Μετὰ σπουδῆς τὸ γύναιον ἀκριβῶς τὸν ιἱὸν κατενδει, ταῖς χερσὶν ἐψηλάφα, ὀφθαλμῶν θέσεις διερευνώσα, ὀσφρήσεως, χειλέων, μετώπου, καὶ τοῦ παντὸς προσώπου την διατύπωσιν· εἶτα τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τοὺς πόδας, καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ὅλον τὸ σῶμα · καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν διελογίζετο λέγουσα· 'Αρα, φησί, μήποτε πλα Κατὰ Ἰουδαίων εἰς τὸν ὅριν τὸν χαλκοῦν· καὶ εἰς τὸν 794 νῶμαι ; μὴ ἄλλον ὑπὲρ ἄλλου κρατῶ ; μὴ πρὸς παρα. μυθίαν τὴν ἐμὴν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ πένθους ὑποστολὴν, καὶ πρὸς τοῦ ἄλγους ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ μου τὸν θάνατον ἐσορίσατο ; καὶ ξένον τινὰ ὡς οἰκεῖον παρέδωκεν Ιη· σούς, τὴν ἐμὴν ὀδύνην ἐπικουφίσαι βουλόμενος; Ουδένα τοῦ γενομένου κέκτημαι μάρτυρα · οὐκ εἶδον τοῦτό ποτε, οὐκ ἄλλος τῶν σὺν ἐμοὶ τεθέαται · οὐδέποτε ἐπὶ κλίνης ώφθη νεκρὸς ἐγηγερμένος. Αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν υἱὸν λα δοῦσα, διελέγετο λέγουσα - Λέγε μοι, φησί, καὶ μὴ δειλιά- σῃς, εἰ σὺ αὐτὸς ὑπάρχεις ὁ υἱός μου· εἰπε, γινώσκεις με; γνωρίζεις με τίς εἰμι ; οἶδας εἰ ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ τεκούσά σε Ἐπιγινώσκω τοὺς χαρακτῆρας, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ πιστεύω τῷ πράγματι · βοᾷ ὁ ἐφθαλμός, ὑπογράφει ἡ κόρη, κηρύτ τε: τὰ βλέφαρα, ἡ ἀκοὴ, συμφωνεί, μαρτυρεῖ τὸ τῆς οσφρήσεως διατετυπωμένων μεσότοιχον, τὰ χείλη πλη ροφορεί, αὐτὴ ἡ ἡλικία προτρέπεται. Κίνησον γλώσ σαν, ὦ φίλτατε, εἰπέ μοι τὰ τοῦ βίου τεκμήρια. Η χαρά μοι χειμῶνά μοι ἐκίνησε · βλέπω σε, καὶ συνέχομαι ἐγώ σε ἐπ' ἀγκάλαις ἐβάστατα, ἐγὼ μαζοῖς ἐμοῖς ἐθή- λασα βραχὺν ὄντα. Λέγε μοι, τέκνον μου, σὺ ὑπάρχεις ὁ υἱός μου ; καὶ μὴ δειλιάσῃς με. Αλλ' ὡς ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις τὴν πληροφορίαν ἐδέξατο, καὶ ἡ πενθήσασα ὑπο ή έστρεψε χαίρουσα, καὶ ἡ θρηνούσα δοξάζουσα τὸν Θεόν, τῇ δεξιᾷ χειρὶ τὸν παῖδα κατέχουσα, καὶ διὰ τῆς πα λεως πρὸς πάντας πορευομένη βοώσα μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ : Μεγαλύνατε τὸν Κύριον σὺν ἐμοὶ, καὶ ὑψώσωμεν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό· ὅτι τὸν ἐμὸν νεκρωθέντα ἀνέστησεν, ὅτι τὴν παλαιὰν ἄμπελον ἐχαράκωσε, καὶ τὴν μὴ μητέρα πάλιν μητέρα ἐποίησε, καὶ πηγὰς δα- κρύων εξέκοψε και δοξάσατε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ὅτι αὐτῷ πρέπει δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Αμήν.
Against the Jews, on the Bronze Serpent; and on that, "He gave him a name which is above every name" (Phil. 2:9); and on that, "For because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself" (Heb. 6:13)
A 1. The Word of God, brethren, as we have often said, is simple indeed, clear, and manifest to all, and full of much light; but because He has various operations, He receives various names, so that He is often called light, and life, and lamp, and torch, and sword, and river, and fountain, and blade, and axe, and door. He accepts these names in proportion to His benefits, in order to enlighten the thoughts of the hearers, and to raise our mind from things among us to things above us. Hence our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the fountain of wisdom, in conversing with the people, has used parables, teaching things above the world from things in the world, the invisible from the visible, the divine from the human. And sometimes He brings a parable of a vineyard, sometimes of fishing, sometimes of a net, at other times of leaven, just as today, conversing with the Jews, He said: "A certain man had two sons, and he said to the first, 'Go, work in the vineyard'" (Matt. 21:28). Since these things are practiced among us, and we are conversant with them, He leads us toward the super-celestial wisdom; as He was saying also in the previous one; for on yesterday's day the Savior was saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard." Yesterday He introduced the parable of the vineyard, and today the same. It is necessary also to note those times at which the Master of the vineyard went out. He went out, he says, early in the morning, and about the third, and sixth, and ninth, and eleventh hours. Five times of the calling appear: early in the morning, third hour, sixth, ninth, eleventh. Nothing useless is with God. For He who threatens that "you will give an account for every idle word" (Matt. 12:36), the very fountain of wisdom itself would not have used an idle word. The divine school therefore teaches us now that God calls at various times. The Master is the same, He has the same vineyard, but He makes the call at different times according to the different generations of men. The day is the same, the Master is the same, the vineyard the same; the times are not the same, but early in the morning, third, sixth, ninth, eleventh. When did He go out early in the morning to hire laborers? By morning He calls the beginnings of the divine creation. It was morning, because Adam was created; for in the beginnings the aeon had just newly raised the sun, just newly the beauty of the moon and the order of the stars was shown. Early in the morning the Master went out to hire. Whom first of men did He hire? Adam. He placed him in paradise to work and to keep it. The first time, therefore, is from Adam until Noah, this is one calling, one time. And at that time indeed Adam was hired for work, Abel for the work of virtue, Seth and Enoch, who was translated because of surpassing virtue. Until Noah was the first time of the calling. When Noah appeared, the time of the third hour, He went out again to hire. For the first generation having been destroyed because of lawlessness, the race of men again needed a second calling. He introduces laborers for the second time into the vineyard, those from Noah until Abraham; the second calling. Observe precisely, I beg you: the first hour, those from Adam until Noah; the third hour, those from Noah until Abraham; the sixth hour, those from Abraham until Moses; the ninth hour, those from Moses until Christ; the eleventh hour, those from Christ until the end. For just as the eleventh hour is the end of the day, so also the time of the presence was the end of the ages. For just as the eleventh hour hurries the day to an end, so the time of the presence hints at the consummation. Therefore the apostle Paul says: "These things, brethren, happened to them as types; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11). And also the wonderful thing: the first ones were hired, the second, the third, the fourth, and at the end the fifth; and the wage was not given to the first until the last arrived; but they endured the toil, while they had not yet received the wage. For God did not wish to give the wage to the first until the fruits of the Church should arrive, and He commands the steward: "Give from the last unto the first." That God deferred not giving the wage to the first until the last should come, Paul testifies, saying in the Epistle to the Hebrews. He mentioned Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the patriarchs, and other prophets and righteous men, and adds: "And all these, having been attested through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect" (Heb. 11:39-40). Just as here,