and I did not pay attention; they testified against me, but I laughed. I read and I acknowledged; I did not lack faith, but in negligence, and sloth, and despondency, and in distractions, and in turmoils, and in the surging waves of luxury and extravagance, and leaping with joy, and indulging in pleasures, I consumed my years, and my months, and my days in transitory, and corruptible, and earthly things, laboring and toiling and struggling; never taking to heart, or considering, what fear and trembling, and struggle, and necessity the soul has to behold when it is separated from the body. For there come upon us heavenly armies and powers; and of the opposing powers, the princes of darkness, the world-rulers of wickedness, the toll-collectors, and auditors, and tax-gatherers of the air. And with them is the manslaying devil, the potentate in malice, whose tongue is like a sharpened razor; concerning whom the prophet says: “The arrows of the mighty are sharpened, with the coals of the waste.” And he lies in wait as a lion in his lair, the great dragon, the apostate, the abyss, the one who opens his mouth, the prince of the authority of darkness, he who has the power of death, and in a way, the judgment, seizing the soul, bringing forward and calculating all things I have committed in deed and in word, those done in knowledge and in ignorance, transgressions and sins, from youth until the day of the end in which I was overtaken, searching them out henceforth. B What fear and trembling do you suppose the soul has in that day, beholding those terrible, and wild, and fierce, and unmerciful, and untamed demons, standing by like dark Ethiopians, whose very appearance alone is more grievous than any punishment—upon seeing whom the soul is stirred, trembles, is pained, is disturbed, and shrinks back, fleeing to the angels of God? The soul, therefore, is held by the holy angels, passing through the air and being raised up, and it finds toll-houses guarding the ascent, and gripping, and hindering the souls that are ascending. C Each toll-house brings forward its own sins: one, that of slander, whatever was done through mouth and tongue by lying, and swearing, and perjury, and idle talk, and foolish talk, and vain talk, and gluttonous excesses, and dissolute drinking, and excessive laughter, and unseemly things, and indecent and improper kisses, and wanton songs. But the holy angels who are leading the soul present, in their turn, whatever good we spoke through mouth and tongue: prayers, thanksgivings, psalms, odes, hymns, and spiritual songs, readings of the Scriptures, and whatever good things we sent ahead to God through mouth and tongue.
The second toll-house is the sight of the eyes, and whatever is committed through unseemly gazing, and curious and unbridled looking, and deceitful nods. The third toll-house is that of hearing, and whatever impure spirits receive through this sense. The fourth is the toll-house of smell, and of sweet-smelling ointments, and of the pleasure of smell, which for women...
who are actors and harlots is appropriate. A The fifth toll-house is that of whatever wicked and harsh things have been done by the sense of touch of the hands; and the remaining toll-houses of vice: of envy and jealousy, of vainglory and pride, of bitterness and wrath, of quick-temperedness and fury, of fornication and adultery and effeminacy, of murder and sorcery, and of the rest of the God-hated and wicked deeds, which it is not possible to recount in detail at the present hour, but let them be reserved for another occasion. In brief, in the same manner, each and every disease of the soul and sin has its own publicans and tax-collectors following in order. The soul, therefore, which sees these things and greater and more numerous things besides, what fear, and trembling, and quaking do you think it possesses, until the sentence is passed and its liberty arrives? That is the hour full of pain, of peril, and of groaning, and inconsolable, until it sees what is to be the outcome. For both the divine powers and the countenances of the impure spirits stand by: of which the latter bring forward the wicked deeds, the former the righteous ones, whether anything was done in word, or in deed, or in thought and mind: while meanwhile the soul standing in the middle examines these things tremblingly and fearfully, until from its own actions, and deeds, and words, it is either condemned and bound, or justified and set free (for each one is bound by the chains of his own sins). And if it is found worthy, having lived piously and having lived in a way pleasing to God, the angels take it; and thenceforth it proceeds without care, having the holy powers as fellow-travelers, according to that which is written: "The dwelling of all those who are happy is in thee." B Then that which is said is fulfilled: "Pain, sorrow, and sighing have fled away." Then, having been delivered from those wicked and corrupt and terrible spirits, it proceeds into that ineffable joy.
But if it is found to have lived in negligence and licentiousness, it hears that most terrible voice: "Let the ungodly man be taken away, so that he may not see the glory of the Lord." Then days of wrath, and of affliction, and of distress, and of anguish seize it, a day of darkness and of gloom; then the holy angels of God, having abandoned it, those Ethiopian demons seize it, and beating it mercilessly, they drag it down to the earth, and having torn it apart, they cast it down, bound with unbreakable chains, C into a dark and gloomy land, to the lower parts, into the subterranean dungeons and prisons of Hades; where the souls of the sinners who have long ago fallen asleep are shut up, as Job says: into a land dark and gloomy, into a land of eternal darkness without light, nor is there the life of mortals, but eternal pain, and unending sorrow, and ceaseless weeping, and unceasing gnashing of teeth, and wakeful groanings; there is woe, woe continually, there "alas, alas!" they cry out, and there is no one who helps; they cry out, and there is no one who delivers; it is not possible to describe that distress of things: it is not possible for a tongue to express the pains of the souls lying there. No mouth of man could declare that fear and terror: no lips of man have sufficient power to tell of their state and their wailing. They groan continually
and without ceasing, but there is no one to have mercy. They cry from the depths, but there is no one to listen. They lament, but there is no one to deliver. They call out and beat their breasts, but there is no one to be moved with compassion. Where, then, is the jactance of this world? Where is empty glory? Where is luxury? Where is enjoyment? Where is squandering? Where is vanity? Where is repose? Where is the world? Where is wealth? Where is nobility? Where, then, is delight? Where is the vigor of the flesh? Where is that false and useless beauty of women? Where, then, is that impudent and shameless boldness? Where, then, is the adornment of garments? Where is the impure and filthy pleasure of sin? Where is he who considers the abominable couch of men to be a pleasure? Where are those who anoint themselves with perfumes and ointments and are perfumed? Where are those who drink wine with timbrels and harps? Where, then, is the contempt of those living without fear? Where is greed, and the love of money, and the unmercifulness born from them? Where, then, is that inhuman pride which disdains all things and considers itself to be something? Where, then, is the empty and vain glory of men? Where is lust and wickedness? Where is power and tyranny? Where, then, is the king? Where the ruler? Where the governor? Where those in authority? Where are those who boast in an abundance of wealth, and do not have mercy on the poor, and despise God? Where B are the theaters and the spectacles? Where, then, are those who are puffed up, and those who are moderate, and those who live without care? Where are soft garments, and soft and delicate beds? Where are the high buildings and the breadth of the porticos? Where are those who lived without fear? Then, seeing, they will wonder and shudder, and, struck with amazement, they will wail; having been disturbed, they will totter. Tremor shall seize them, and pains as of a woman in labor, and by a forceful spirit they will be crushed and brought to nothing. Where, then, is the wisdom of the wise? Where is the eloquence of the orators and their vain wiles? Woe, woe! They have been disturbed, they have tottered like a drunkard, and all their wisdom has been swallowed up. Where is the wise man? Where the scribe? Where the debater of this age?
O brethren, consider what manner of persons we ought to be when we render an account one by one for what we have done, whether great things or small; for we shall give an account to the just Judge C even for an idle word. What manner of persons ought we to be in that hour? And if we find favor before God, what joy will receive us when we are set apart at the right hand of the King! What manner of persons ought we to be in that unutterable joy, when the King of kings says with gladness to those on his right hand: « Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. » Then we shall enter into the possession of those good things, « which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him. » Thenceforth we shall be free from care, no longer trembling with any fear. Let us consider both these things and the everlasting torment of the guilty;
A for when they are brought before that fearful tribunal, what shame will seize them before the just Judge, having no word of defense! What confusion will seize them when they are set apart on the left hand of the King! What darkness will fall upon them when he speaks to them in his anger, and in his wrath terrifies them! When he says to them: «Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.» Woe! Woe! What affliction, and pain, and distress, and fear, and trembling will seize their souls, when there is a cry from all the heavenly powers, saying: «Let the sinners be turned into hell!» Woe, woe! What a song will they utter, lamenting, weeping, wailing, and mourning, as they are led away cruelly to be tormented for endless ages! Woe, woe! What is that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, which is called Tartarus, at which even the devil himself shudders! Woe, woe! What is that Gehenna of unquenchable fire, B burning and not giving light! Woe, woe! What is that sleepless and venomous worm! Woe, woe! How dismal is that outer darkness, and remaining forever! Woe, woe is me! What are those angels who are over the torments, cruel and merciless! For they reproach them and upbraid them severely. Then those who are tormented cry out intensely, and there is no one to save them; for they shall cry out to the Lord, and he will not hear them. Then they shall know that all things of this life were vain to them; and what here seemed to be good and full of joy will be found to be more bitter than gall and bitter poison. Woe to the sinners! When the righteous stand at the right hand, and they are afflicted; when the sinners weep, and the righteous rejoice; when the righteous hold festival, and the sinners lament; when the righteous are in calm, and the sinners in storm and calamity. Woe to the sinners! C When the righteous are glorified, and they are condemned; woe to the sinners! When the righteous are filled with every good, and the sinners, being in need, groan. Woe to the sinners! When the righteous are glorified, and they are reproached. The righteous are in sanctification, but the sinners are in burning; the righteous are praised, but the sinners are bewailed; the righteous are in the mansions of the saints, but the sinners are in eternal exile; the righteous shall hear: «Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.» But the sinners shall hear the: «Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.» The righteous into paradise, D the sinners into the unquenchable fire; the righteous enjoy luxury, the sinners are consumed. The righteous dance, but the sinners are bound. The righteous sing, the sinners lament. The righteous the Trisagion, the sinners the thrice-wretched. The righteous the song, the sinners the chasm. The righteous into the bosom of Abraham, the sinners into the torrents of Belial. The righteous into rest, the sinners into punishment. The righteous are sprinkled with dew, the sinners with flame. The righteous shall be delighted, the sinners shall grow old in sorrow. The righteous shall be exalted, the sinners shall melt away. The righteous shall be carried up, the sinners shall be weighed down. The righteous shall be cherished, the sinners shall be blackened. The righteous shall be satisfied with good things, the sinners shall be harassed.
A The sight of God shall nourish the righteous, the sight of fire shall grieve the sinners. The righteous are vessels of election, the sinners are vessels of Gehenna. The righteous are gold refined in fire, and tested silver, and precious stones; the sinners are wood, stubble, hay, the fuel for the fire. The righteous are the wheat of the kingdom, the sinners are the chaff of destruction. The righteous are chosen seed, the sinners are the tares of the fire. The righteous are divine salt, the sinners are rot and stench. The righteous are undefiled temples of God; the sinners are temples polluted by demons. The righteous are in the bridal chamber, the sinners are in an infinite chaos. The righteous are in the appearances of light, the sinners are in the darkness of a storm. The righteous are with the angels, the sinners are with the demons. The righteous dance with the angels, the sinners lament with the demons. The righteous shall possess the midst of light, the sinners the midst of darkness. B The righteous shall be comforted by the Comforter, the sinners shall be punished with the demons. The righteous stand by the Lord’s throne, the sinners stand in the punishing darkness. The righteous behold the face of Christ always, the sinners always stand before the face of the devil. The righteous are initiated by angels, the sinners are initiated by demons. The righteous offer intercession, the sinners offer incessant lamentation. The righteous are above, and the sinners are below. The righteous are in heaven, and the sinners are in the abyss. The righteous are for eternal life, the sinners for the death of destruction. The righteous are in the hand of God, the sinners in the place of the devil. The righteous are with God, the sinners are with Satan. Woe to the sinners when they are separated from the righteous! Woe to the sinners when their deeds are stripped bare and the counsels of their hearts are made manifest! Woe to the sinners when the secret combinations of the mind are exposed, and the assents to evil thoughts are weighed in the balance, and the intention is scrutinized! Woe to the sinners when they are hated by the holy angels and held in abomination by the holy martyrs! Woe to the sinners when they are cast out from the bridal chamber! Woe to the repentance of that time! Woe to the affliction of that time! Woe to the distress of that time! Woe to the tempest of that time! It is terrible to be separated from the saints; it is more grievous to be separated from God; it is shameful to be bound hand and foot and cast into the fire; it is miserable to be sent into the outer, murky darkness, to gnash the teeth and to waste away; it is heavy to be punished without end. It is evil to have the tongue inflamed; it is heartless to ask for a drop of water and not to receive it. It is bitter to be in the fire, and to cry out, and not to be helped. Insuperable are those jaws, immense is that vortex, where he who is enclosed and detained can neither escape nor flee; the wall of custody is insuperable, the guards are cruel, the prison is dark, the bonds are unbroken, the chains are unshaken; the ministers of that flame are dire and fierce; the scourges applied for punishment are heavy; the claws are firm and unbroken; the sinews are hard; the pitch is murky and torrent-like; the sulphur is foul-smelling; those fiery chambers are there; the pyre is unquenchable; the worm is putrid and venomous; the judgment is inexorable; the judge is unconquered by grace; the defense is inexcusable; the faces of the great are pierced with awareness; the nobles are faded; the kings are beggars; the wise are unskilled; the orators are foolish and rejected; the rich are demented; the false flatteries of writers are not heard; the craftiness of the malicious is manifest; the guile of the fraudsters is transparent; there is a foul odor of the avaricious; the hypocrisy of persons is open; they are whipped; they are impostors: all things are naked and revealed before them. Woe to the wicked: profane, criminal, and impure are they in the sight of God D
A How defiled are their souls! How their bodies do stink from lust and debauchery! How they have defiled their bodies and stained their souls, not having preserved the garment of holy baptism! How shamelessly and brazenly, through dissipation and drunkenness, they have served the vinegar-vessel of the belly, the wineskin of the stomach—not following self-sufficiency and temperance, but committing their very wealth to it, wallowing in pleasures like swine in the mire, they have consumed their days and years being tossed about in filthy reasonings, in vile thoughts, in idle talk, and in theatrical songs! How they have altered their heart through hardness, not taking into their mind the compact with Christ and the renunciation of the devil! How they have strayed from the straight path, walking in the darkness of ignorance, and yielding themselves to the sleep of sloth, have plunged themselves into the gulf of Gehenna! How they have been alienated from the light of the virtues, loving the darkness of sin, through walking in the broad and wide path of the B trodden path of wickedness! How they have forgotten the coming of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ, and his many and inscrutable benefits, having been cleansed by the water of divine baptism and the Holy Spirit, and adorned with the oil of gladness! But for the sake of a small, hateful, and frivolous pleasure, they have made void such and so great gifts, and have been enslaved to the spirit of fornication and adultery. Woe to those who have abandoned the adoption, and followed the pleasures of the world! Woe to those who follow the associations of the world! Woe to those who love the darkness of sin! Woe to those who leave the light of truth! Woe to those who walk in the night of sin! Woe to those who abandon the day of the knowledge of God! Woe to those filled with the evil habit of laughter! C Woe to those who adorn themselves in order to wound souls for the sake of companionship and lust, and—the hook of the devil being the reality, not the adornment—it is to be held in hatred by those desiring, striving, and wishing to be saved. Woe to those who slander one another. Woe to the contumacious, the contentious, and the turbulent. Woe to those who swear for the sake of pleasure. Woe to the perjurers; woe to the gluttons, whose god is the belly. Woe to the drunkards! Blessed, however, is he who here despises and humbles himself for God’s sake, and condemns and judges himself; for he is exalted by the supreme God and praised by the angels, nor shall he stand among those on the left in the judgment. Blessed is the man who perseveres in supplications, endures in fastings, rejoices in vigils, struggling against sleep and warding it off, D bending his knees to proclaim the praises of God, beating his breast, striking his face, lifting his hands into the air, raising his gaze to heaven toward the Lord, thinking of Him who sits on the throne of glory, and who searches the hearts and examines the reins. For this man enjoys eternal goods, and becomes a son and brother and friend and heir of God. His face will shine like the sun in the day of judgment, in which the heavenly kingdom shall be revealed. He who loves the truth is found to be a friend of God; but he who perpetuates lies is a friend of demons. He who hates deceit is delivered from misery. He who endures adverse circumstances is crowned as a confessor before the throne of Christ. He who murmurs, and bears adverse events with resentment, and who, through the weariness of troublesome things, utters curses, he errs,
and has deaf senses. He who is mild, humane, and modest, is praised by God, declared blessed by angels, and celebrated by men. He, however, who is bitter, irascible, and prone to bile, is detestable to God; his food is a cluster of bitterness of the demons, his wine is the venom of dragons, and his drink is the irremediable poison of asps. Those who are pure in heart shall see the glory of God; but those who are of soiled mind shall look upon the devil. Those who do vicious things, and think wicked thoughts, and plot evils against others, exclude themselves from divine communion. Those who moisten their faces with rouge, and streak their cheeks with white lead, and whiten themselves, and adorn themselves before a mirror in order to incite and entangle men in wickedness and base desires and satanic loves—they shall not be found godly in the day of judgment, but shall be tormented as contemners of the commandments of God. Those who assume a beauty not their own shall be deprived of the beauty of paradise. Those who delight in the fall of others cast themselves down. Those who covet the things of others betray and lose their own. The vainglorious, the proud, and those who study to please men shall be condemned with the devil. Hypocrites shall be punished with Satan. Those who nourish the body beyond measure kill the soul with hunger. Those who sin knowingly, and without any force being applied, and do not return to health, shall be tormented with the unfaithful. Those who say, "Let us sin in our youth, and in old age we shall return to a saner mind," are deluded and mocked by the demons; and because they sin willingly, it is not granted them to return to health, but they are cut down in their youth by the scythe of death: as Ammon the king of the Israelites, who even provoked God with his wicked attempts and profane thoughts. For those who say, "Let us sin today, we shall do better things tomorrow," have C vanished in their thoughts, and their foolish heart is darkened [*], while they both corrupt and defile the body, and contaminate the soul, and wrap the mind in darkness, and make the reason turbid, and infect their conscience with mud; and that which they had today, they have lost, and they have squandered the morrow. For those who neither weep on account of a fall into fornication, nor mourn because of the mud of adultery, nor lament the sink of male intercourse, nor wail for effeminacy—they can neither perform penance for past sins with their whole heart, nor correct the future. For those who do not seek what they have lost do not even retain what remains. Those who neglect to have the interest perish for themselves lose even the principal. Those who do not labor prudently, and are not sober in their supplications, are overcome by wicked thoughts; being overcome, they serve a wicked habit, unwilling and resisting. Those who do not keep watch soberly to celebrate God are carried away. Those who do not keep watch to hear the divine scriptures, but have given themselves over to the sleep of sloth, they shall be excluded with the five foolish virgins. Those who cast away the weapons of sobriety are supplanted by lechery, and are destroyed by the adulterous lust of sin. Those who have not kept the commandments of God are [tormented] by the de...
with Satan. Those who have surrendered and defiled their body, and B polluted their soul, and darkened their mind, and clouded their intellect, and befouled their conscience, have been robbed of the morrow. For those who do not weep for the fall of sexual immorality, and do not grieve for the mire of adultery, and do not mourn for the stumbling-block of sodomy, and do not wail for effeminacy, cannot repent with their whole soul for their past sins, nor correct those for the future. For those who do not seek what they have lost, have not even regained what is being saved. Those who do not reckon the mixing of the dough are also deprived of the main portions. Those who do not labor prudently and keep sober in their prayers are taken captive by shameful thoughts; and those who are taken captive, serve evil habit against their will and desire. Those who do not wakefully keep vigil in the psalmody are robbed. Those who do not watch in the hearing of the divine Scriptures, but give themselves up to the sleep of sloth, shall be shut out with the five foolish virgins. Those who cast away the weapons of fasting are tripped up by gluttony and killed by the sins of the adulterer; those who have not kept the commandments of God are wounded by demons and condemned to the hell of fire. Those who distance themselves from the Church and from communion become enemies of God and friends of demons. Let every sect of the godless heretics be put to shame, let the race of the unbelievers be covered in confusion, let the synagogue of the Jews perish, let the impure mouths of the God-denying Hebrews be stopped, when He who tests the hearts and probes the kidneys, and is sharper than any two-edged sword—piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of meditations and thoughts—takes his seat to judge. Then, indeed, then He will not look upon just a few out of many, but will behold all revealed, nor will a sheep’s skin be able to cover a wolf, nor will the whitewash of works be able to hide the inner thought; for there is no creature invisible to the Judge, but all things are naked and laid bare to His eyes.
Wherefore, let us not fight against the commandments of God with human C affections, but let us subdue spirits of empty vainglory; let us rise against the devil for battle, let us clarify our intellect for sobriety, let us put the thoughts of sin to sleep; let us acquire undistracted prayer, a sober mind, an upright intellect, a clean conscience, perpetual continence, unfeigned fasting, love without partiality, uncorrupted purity, undefiled temperance, guileless humility, unceasing psalmody, reading free from vainglory, pride-free bending of the knee, assiduous supplication, a pure life, true prayer, hospitality without murmuring, grateful endurance, and non-boastful beneficence. Let us banish irascibility, let us drive away anger, let us abolish sloth, let us kill fury, let us destroy sadness, let us remove avarice. Let us not fear this common reaper of the human race, death, but D that destroyer of men; for death, in the proper sense, is not that which separates the soul from the body, but that which separates the soul
from God. God is life; but he who is separated from A life is dead, having lost his former boldness just as he has lost life. And because death, the devil, the father of death, stands as a strong adversary arming himself, in order that he may wrestle us down and break us during these holy days, and may say: "I have conquered the soldiers of Christ," by showing the beauty of women and hanging them by their ears, and having plunged them into vainglory and gluttony, I have seized them by the hair of their virtues, and having tripped them with desires, and tickled them with wine-drinking, I have pushed and cast them into the pit of fornication;—let us not, then, bring joy to the unclean demons, since our God is the salvation of all and the destroyer of demons. Since, therefore, we too are entangled in bodies, and are subject to death, let us compete bravely so that we may overcome the unclean demons. For if we have fear in our heart, and carry the remembrance of death in our soul, all the demons arm themselves against us; but they will find us stronger than a wall, as if battering us with rams, because our Lord is with B us; for to Him belongs glory, honor, and power, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
*The following homilies or fragments of homilies of Cyril were first published by Cardinal Angelo Mai in the* Bibliotheca nova Patrum, *tomes II and III. Rome, 1844-45, in-4°.*
HOMILY XV. On the Incarnation of the Word of God.
1. Deep and great and truly admirable is the mystery of C religion, and most desired even by the holy angels themselves; for the disciple of the Savior says somewhere, concerning those things which were spoken by the holy prophets about Christ, the Savior of us all: "Which things are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into" (1 Pet. 1, 12). And indeed, as many as have looked into and understood the great mystery of religion, when Christ was born in the flesh, giving thanks on our behalf, said: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2, 14). For why should they not be filled with joy, D when they saw the Savior and Redeemer of the world born of the holy Virgin, who indeed even keep feast over one repentant sinner, as the Savior says (Luke 15, 10)? The multitude of the holy spirits therefore exults on our account. And what is the cause of this thing? The incarnation of the Only-begotten, the birth in the flesh, the abundance of kindness toward us, the magnitude of incomparable mercy. The blessed Isaias indeed says: "Death has swallowed up..."