Sentences and Excerpts

shakes the snow like wool; this little child freed our forefathers from Egypt through the rod of Moses; this little child cut the Red Sea asunder and led the people through it as though through a grassy plain; and having rained down manna in the desert, He bestowed upon them a land flowing with milk and honey as their inheritance; this little child prepared this temple to be raised on high by our fathers; this little child, proposing oaths to Abraham, said: "Multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore" (Gen. XXII, 17). The prophetic chorus, offering up supplications concerning this little child, said: "Stir up thy power, and come to save us" (Ps. LXXIX, 3). Do not, because He is a little child, take offense at the child. He is the same, both a little child and co-eternal with the Father, without beginning. He is the same, both numbered by years and beyond genealogy. He is the same, both a little child stuttering and the One who grants wisdom, mouth, and eloquence: the one [aspect] because of His birth from the Virgin, the other because of the incomprehensibility of His subsistence; since Isaiah also indicated this, saying: "A child is born to us, a son is given to us" (Isa. IX, 6). The one implies "is born," the other "is given." The one [corresponds] to what is seen, the other to what is understood. ^B

VII. The witness of Anna

VII. These are the prophecies of Anna; these are the excellent words of this woman; these are the famous deeds of the widow—of her, I say, who was a widow indeed, who exchanged her life well; who sent her husband on ahead and received the Lord. She lived with her husband for seven years, completing a week of years from her virginity, and in the seventh year she ceased from the intimacy of a husband. She kept her week well; she kept her Sabbath well; she well apprehended the Lord’s day of grace. Anna adopted the pattern of the turtle-dove. She did not consign her husband to oblivion; she did not rescind her first faith; she did not invite an offender into her bed; she did not impose the yoke of a singular marriage upon another. She kept the deceased in her memory as if on a bed, as though he were still living; she did not stain the bridal linen. The rebuke of Paul did not graze her, when he says: "But when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation, because they have rejected their first faith" (I Tim. V, 11-12). Truly worthy of condemnation is she who buried the memory [of her husband] along ^D with the spouse joined to her by God, and especially when a child or children are present, for which reason the law of marriage was itself established; if

^A however, a young widow lacks a child, it is reasonable that she should hasten toward a second marriage, spurred by the desire for offspring. Since the blessed Paul also, when advising this, said: I desire younger widows to marry; ^B then, showing what the addition of a second marriage contributes, he added, saying: I desire younger widows to marry, to bear children, to manage the house. Thus, the addition of a second marriage concerns the procreation of children; but when children are present for a widow who rushes toward marriage, such seed is henceforth superfluous, as the rational harvests contend against one another.

VIII. Let us return, then, ^B in our discourse to the previous argument. What, then, does the evangelist say next? For it is better that we should keep to the present commentary. You just heard the evangelist Luke saying how Simeon said to the Virgin: Behold, this one is set for the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against; and a sword ^C shall pierce through your own soul also. What is this, indeed: And a sword shall pierce through your own soul also? Listen cordially and intelligently: when Simeon had spoken clearly to the ears of the Virgin, saying that he was set for the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against, perhaps the Virgin, as the mother of the Lord, took it ill, and moved against Simeon, addressed him thus: You do not know what you are predicting, O man. Are you announcing mournful things ^D concerning Christ? Do you not know the conception of the child, and as though it were a common birth, do you indicate a sign of contradiction? There is no ruin in him, but great exaltation, and much humility for the use of those who obtain the benefit. Why then do you not bless, but instead say: Behold, this one is set for the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against? But Simeon said to the Virgin: It is enough for you, O Virgin, that you are called mother; it is sufficient for you to have been found a nurse of him who nourishes the whole world. It is a great thing for you that you carried in the flesh him who carries all things. Christ who had his dwelling within you now, he himself has arranged that I should speak this concerning him now: Behold, this one is set for the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel. For the fall, indeed, of the unfaithful Jews; for the resurrection, however, of the believing Gentiles. Behold, this one is set

^A for the fall and resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted: he calls the cross a sign which shall be contradicted. Why? Because on the cross itself, many of the unfaithful brought forward contradictions against the Lord, mocking Him both in word and deed, giving Him vinegar to drink, offering gall, placing upon Him a crown of thorns, piercing His side with a lance, smiting Him with their hands, and crying out with reproachful words: "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." ^B Simeon, therefore, interpreting this, said: "And for a sign which shall be contradicted." For many contradicted; both Peter denied Him, and all the apostles were scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Therefore, in the sign of the cross, the heart of the Virgin herself was filled with sorrow; wherefore she also said: "Why did I not die before? Why have I reached this day?" I have remained a Virgin, and I am pierced with pains greater than a mother's bowels. These infinite thoughts of the Virgin, Simeon called a sword, as they were wounding her inward parts and bringing scandals, just as the Lord also foretold: "All of you will be scandalized in me this night." Whence Simeon also added, saying: "And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." See how Simeon called those infinite thoughts a sword, as wounding the inward parts, as touching the reins and the marrow. ^C The Virgin Mary fell into these, not yet knowing the power of the resurrection; and that the resurrection was near, she did not yet know. Whence, after the resurrection, it is no longer a two-edged sword, but joy and exultation. Therefore, Simeon called the sign of the cross a sign of contradiction, at which time the sword of thoughts pierced the Virgin. But one might surely say: "Whence is the proof for us?" From the very teachings of the Lord. Hear Him saying: "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights." ^D You see how the passion of the cross was called a sign, not only in the New Testament but also in the Old? For the old things very strongly harmonize with the new. Why? Because one and the same God is He who ordained those things and dispensed these. And who shall be a witness to these things? The Lord Himself. Hear Him saying in the prophet Ezekiel, to the angels who are the reapers, when announcing the universal consummation, thus saying: "Spare not with your eyes, and have no pity on the old man, neither the young man, nor the virgin, and the child, and the women, kill to destruction. But those who have the sign

^A upon their foreheads, do not touch." Behold the sign of the Old and of the New [Testament]; for it is the Cross itself which saves the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and power, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.

ORATION III.

On the Four-Day-Old Lazarus.

I. Bring forth again into the midst the evangelist John; for it is good to consider the firstfruits of the resurrection. For you heard him just now saying: "Six days before the Passover, ^B Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead." Do you see the firstfruits of the resurrection prefigured in Lazarus, which the faithful people recognized? The crowds recognized it, and the high priests reviled it, turning the miracle into an occasion for envy. Truly they envied the raised Lazarus, since after his resurrection, which you heard of, they took counsel to kill him. Do you see the excess of envy? Whom the Lord had raised, they thought to kill, not realizing that even if they should kill him, ^C it would be easy for the Lord to raise up his friend again. They took counsel to kill Lazarus. Nothing so stung the Jews as the resurrection of Lazarus. This one miracle they were unable to slander. The illumination of the man blind from birth they had slandered, saying: "This is he"—"No, he is not, he is like him." They had slandered the raising of the daughter of Jairus, saying that she had been overcome by a deeper sleep, and had not been given over to a total death. They had slandered ^D the resurrection of the only son of the widow, saying that he had feigned death, and had not been swallowed up by the tyranny of death. They had slandered the withered fig tree, saying that it had withered as if cut, and not dried up by the Dominical command. They had cast slander upon the changing of water into wine, saying that it was already a matter for those intoxicated at a banquet, who did not perceive the mockery. Only the resurrection of Lazarus they could not manage to slander. They saw Lazarus himself: the man was prominent; they had been companions to the funeral procession; they had seen the tomb sealed; they had comforted according to custom, as at a funeral rite and banquet for the dead. They had comforted Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus. They knew he had been there for three days, accurately placed in the monument, and that he was a four-day-old corpse, his limbs dissolved on every side, his flesh diminished, the binding of his sinews torn apart, his entrails scattered, his abdomen poured out. Having been witnesses to these things, as they saw the resurrection of Lazarus suddenly sound, whole, shining as if from a lathe, [possessing] an entirely youthful, vigorous, and radiant appearance, they were disturbed. They came near to breathing their last, not finding pretexts,

how they might calumniate the resurrection of Lazarus, since the work of Christ brought this about. ^B

II. But what is this art of the Lord that prepared this? Hear it in a few words. When Lazarus naturally put off the present life, the Lord was not present in Bethany with bodily eyes, though He was present everywhere by means of His divinity, and filling all things. For after four days from the burial of Lazarus, Jesus came to Bethany to bring the resurrection of His friend onto the stage. Whence, when He had arrived in Bethany and Martha, the sister of Lazarus, heard of it, she ran, hastened, and fell down in supplication, offering a petition in the manner of a heretic. ^C For she spoke rashly to the Lord, saying: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." The Lord Himself, being an ocean of long-suffering, answered, saying: "What are you saying, Martha? You call Him Lord, and yet you do not recognize the Lord? Was I not here? Wait a little; for you shall soon learn from your brother. For your brother will rise again. I forgive you, Martha; for you are drunk with grief. As if He had said to her: 'He who is drunk wanders from what is good; when you are sobered, then you will be wise. For your brother will rise again.'" But Martha, having conducted herself thus with human words, answered the Lord, saying: "I know that he will rise again in the last day." The Lord said to her: "Why are you alarmed, Martha? Why do you defer the resurrection to distant hopes? The Resurrection is speaking to you, and do you argue about the resurrection? I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." ^D

III. While the Lord was conversing in these terms, the whole city of Bethany almost ran together at the Lord’s arrival, not to marvel, but to laugh. For they had no hope that a man four days dead could rise. What, then, did the Lord do? As He saw such a multitude run together, and that they were worthy ones to whom faith might be held, and suitable so that by the raising they might bear witness to Him, He answered them and said: "Where have you laid Lazarus?" Was the Lord of the place ignorant of the place? He knew the place, but He arranged the method so that all, being compelled, might follow Jesus, in order that, having witnessed the resurrection with their own eyes, they might become heralds beyond all doubt. "Where have you laid him?" And they who had been asked said to Him: "Come and see." And as Jesus was walking and hastening to the tomb, the crowd that followed behind pondered among themselves, saying: "Why does this man wish to see the tomb of Lazarus?"

^A If He is the Son of God, He will raise him. For we do not know about those recently dead whom He raised. Whence then shall we know? If they were truly dead, He will raise this man, and we shall gain the knowledge that He is truly the Son of God. Whence also Martha, yielding herself to such words, approached the Lord, saying to Him: "Where are You going, Master? Why do You wish to see the tomb of Lazarus? Why do You stir up our pain? Why do You awaken our mourning? Why do You wish to see the tomb? You will gain nothing from it, Master; he is already stinking, for he has been dead four days." But the Lord said to Martha: "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" Are you telling Me, "He is already stinking"? Your sister anoints Him with ointment, and you yourself become darkened by unbelief? I wish to see the tomb of My friend.

^B IV. Having said these things, the Lord proceeded to the tomb, and as He approached the tomb, ^C as soon as He saw the monument, He immediately wept. What was the need for Him to weep, He who was about to raise him? The Lord wept, seeing that He managed all things wisely. For He wept at the tomb so that He might make public the opinion that those who accompanied Him held concerning Him. Whence also, when the crowds who were following saw Him weeping, again suffering in a human way, they began to dispute among themselves and say: "See how He loved him! Could He who raised the dead and gave sight to the blind not have caused that this man also should not die, if indeed He loved him so?" But the Lord, as He saw them still speaking in a human way, answered them: "It was a light thing for Me to keep the life of Lazarus, just as with Elijah and Enoch, but none of you would have known that by My will the life of Lazarus was preserved. For this reason, I allowed him to be swallowed up by death, so that you might learn accurately that I have power over life and death." And immediately the Lord said to them, as you all know clearly: "Roll away the stone." See how He managed all things wisely, establishing them as accurate witnesses of the resurrection of Lazarus. "Roll away the stone." He permitted the disciples to move mountains by a word, and yet He would not roll away the stone Himself? But, as I said, managing all things wisely toward a useful end, He said to the Jews: "Roll away the stone," so that from the very odor of the bier they might learn that he had putrefied and had not been stolen. "Roll away the stone." And when they, murmuring, had rolled it away (for the foul odor of the corpse bit at them); when those present had rolled away the stone, the Lord immediately cried out, saying: "Lazarus, come forth." It is the Master who calls: let no one contradict. "Lazarus, come forth; give assurance to your sister Martha that I command, and do not entreat. Lazarus, come forth." Before I descend, run through and declare within yourself the pledge; in Me, however, is that which is perfect. "Lazarus, come forth."

^D ...in that sweet exchange of the proposal alone. Therefore, before I seek the underworld death, be a herald to men; of your own resurrection as firstfruits, and of my own as one perfected; indeed, as his.

^A But do not think that the Lord uttered many voices. He spoke once, and him who He had fashioned, He raised. For He did not weep as Elijah did, nor did He hesitate as Elisha did. With a monosyllabic voice He awakened him who was sleeping near Him, saying, "Lazarus, come forth." The word was one, but the miracles were diverse. The Lord merely called out, "Lazarus, come forth," and immediately the flesh was replenished, the hair grew back, the joints were reconnected, the veins were refilled with pure blood. The underworld, struck from beneath, sent Lazarus forth. The soul of Lazarus, being held in custody and entreated by the holy angels, was fused back into its own rightful place. ^B And the most glorious thing of all was that, although he was bound hands and feet and on his face with burial wrappings, he walked without hindrance. Therefore, the Lord commanded the crowds present more forcefully, saying, "Unbind him, and let him go." Behold the Lord's stewardship, and how He orders all things wisely. For the assurance of those present, He said, "Unbind him, and let him go," just as you rolled away the stone, and pointed out the tomb, and perceived the stench, and unbound the grave-clothes—the one, keeping them as a blessing; the other, keeping them as witnesses. If the chief priests and the Pharisees, being incredulous, claim that Lazarus did not rise, show them the grave-clothes; exhibit the burial cloths as the paralytic exhibited his mat. But we, carrying the palm branches, let us say: "Hosanna in the highest; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." To Him be the glory and the power, with the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and forever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

ORATION IV

^A did He refresh us. For when He is entertained by Zacchaeus, and reclines together with men, and enjoys our drink and table, all things are transferred into joyous discourse. For who, seeing the Creator of heaven and earth entering the house of the publicans and harlots—or of those who had committed unspeakable deeds—or seeing Him who provides the fruits of the earth receiving human bread with His hands; or the Giver of the grape-clusters blessing the wine-presses in the communion of the drink [(57)]—who would not rightly judge such an occurrence a festival and a holiday? This is truly a festival; this is truly a joy of angelic hospitality, to see the Master with His servants, God with men, the Judge with the liable, all enjoying a common table. For He came to earth for this reason, not leaving heaven desolate, and became man without divesting Himself of being God, that even while sailing the sea, He might rescue from the abyss of sin those who are tossed by the storm of this worldly sea; and by going around villages and cities, and running to and fro through the narrow lanes and byways, He might bring back those wandering at the crossroads like sheep without a shepherd to His own flock. For He Himself is the one seeking the lost sheep, having left the ninety-nine and come to search for the one. Indeed, He sought the one; not despising the many, nor preferring the one to the multitude. Nevertheless, He left the ninety-nine; for it was right that they should safely abide in the fold; but He went forth seeking the one, so that it might not become ^B prey for the devil. For a sheep without a shepherd is a meal ready and prepared for wild beasts; and a soul without a seal is easily plotted against by demons. Whence, recently, He snatched Zacchaeus like a sheep from the mouth of a wolf, and joined him to the fold, and deemed him worthy of a seal [(60)]; for just as a shepherd, contemplating the capture of a straying sheep, allows the tamed animal, so that it might draw back ^C to the free pasture... ^D

ORATION ON THE SINFUL WOMAN

^A desiring to save, allows the tamed animal to roam, so that, being fully at pasture, he may draw in the prey that has leaped away. Thus also the Word of God left the flesh which He took from the Virgin, like a sheep in the pasture, at the table of Zacchaeus, in order that, by the common law of the banquet, having drawn it for fellowship with Himself, he might secretly join it to His own flock.

^B But the Pharisees, not understanding this, murmured, seeing Him eating with tax collectors. But let those men be torn like old wineskins; for they cannot receive the new word of doctrine. Let us, however, follow in the footsteps of the lover of mankind, the Shepherd; for He who joined Zacchaeus the tax collector to the rational flock of the apostles, He Himself also, having drawn the sinful harlot, who was a worker of a myriad evils, out of the throat of the devil like a little lamb, restored her to the inviolable fold. And that you may know both the love of Christ for mankind, and the senselessness of the Pharisees, and the repentance of the sinful woman (61), I shall set before you those very evangelical sayings; for if you attend to the flow of the reading, you will easily grasp the sense of the interpretation.

"He asked," it says, "one of the Pharisees for Jesus, that He might eat with him; and having entered into the house of the Pharisee, He reclined." O ineffable grace! O unspeakable love for mankind! He both feasts with Pharisees, and does not cast off tax collectors; and He receives harlots, and speaks with the Samaritan woman; and He deems the Canaanite woman worthy of a word; and He permits the woman with the flow of blood to touch the hem of His garment, and is not ashamed. For He is a Physician, handling all diseases, that He may benefit all, the evil and the good, the ungrateful and the grateful. Whence also now, having been invited by the Pharisee, He enters into a house indeed full of evils. For where a Pharisee is, there is a dwelling-place of wickedness, a lodging-house of sin, a receptacle of arrogance. But even with the house being in such a state, the Lord does not disdain to arrive. And rightly; for just as the sun is not harmed by casting its own rays upon the mire, but on the contrary, it even purifies the inherent stench, itself suffering no insult; so also Christ, as the Sun of righteousness, occupies every polluted and profane place, and consumes the foul-smelling sin with the rays of His goodness, suffering no insult, nor diminution, nor defilement, according to the nature of His divinity (62).

^C Whence He immediately gave consent to the calling Pharisee, being calm, silent, leaving his manner of life unrebuked. First, indeed, that He might sanctify those who were called—the one who called Him, the arrangements of the house, the affairs of the manner of life.

Furthermore, since the harlot was about to approach, and to display that heated and burning manner of repentance, for this reason He quickly nods assent to the Pharisee who invites Him, so that before the eyes of the Scribes and Pharisees, while they mournfully lament their own sins, He might teach ^B them how sinners, grieving over their sins, ought to propitiate God. For behold, He says, a woman in the city, who was a sinner (*Luke 7:37*). A "woman"—that fragile nature, the first net of the devil, the introduction of error, the teacher of transgression; she who was made for help, but was revealed as an enemy; she who was by nature good, but by the choice of the will was shown to be bad; she who displayed the beauty of the tree, and lost paradise. And behold, He says, a woman in the city, who was a sinner, bearing the burdens of Eve, weighted down by many evils. I shall speak of the abundance of her former ways, so that you may know the magnificence of her repentance.

IV. God, having taken a bone from Adam’s side [*Gen. 2:21*], and having fleshed it out, made Eve, whom, having named also "woman," He gave as a helper to Adam. But after the sin [*Gen. 3:6*], and the transgression of the law, and the being cast out of paradise, and the receiving of death as the penalty; so that the human race might not, consumed by death, perish utterly, marriage campaigns against death: so that the one might sow, and the other reap; that the one might prune, and the other might sprout. And that it was after being subjected to death that the grace of marriage was given, is evident from the fact that Adam, after the departure from paradise, was coupled with Eve. For it is written that, after the going out from paradise, then Adam knew his wife [*Gen. 4:1*]. Before the sin, therefore, there was virginity, keeping the tunic of nature without stain. But after the transgression, after the sentence of death, marriage was introduced in its place, so that it might conquer by overflowing the fountain of death, and overcome by yielding harvest the harvester of nature. Since, therefore, the law of marriage was given for the preservation of the race and the increase of nature, God embedded pleasure in the male; but the female He endowed, as if with a certain artful enticement and love-charm; not for enticements to intercourse in the manner of a harlot, but so that they might be lawfully joined in matrimony. Whence the lawful union of marriage is honorable before God. But that which is performed for the sake of pleasures is subject to death. For it is honorable

in all, and the marriage bed is undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Those women, therefore, who join themselves lawfully to men for the sake of procreating offspring are without blame; as were Sarah, and Rebecca, and Rachel, and whoever else follows them. But those who, by the argument of pleasure, provoke young men to lust, being such as violate the temple of God, are delivered over to destruction. For "if any man," he says, "defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy" ^A; among whom was also she whom we have here before us, the sinful woman. For, like one exposing her nature for sale in a shameful way, and reddening her cheeks with external dyes, and striving by art to appear beautiful, she incautiously led young men astray, and thrust them into the abyss of fornication, dragging them into debauchery.

V. ON THE REPENTANT WOMAN

V. I say these things, not to lampoon her for what she did before, but praising her, so that one may see how she has suddenly become what she is. For I say who she was formerly, that I may show who she has become now; I speak of the transgressions of her sin itself, that I may show the fruits of her repentance. But she, who did not use her body blamelessly before—trapping some with her curls, ensnaring others with her tears, bewitching others with her guile, and calling all from every side into the abyss of debauchery—changes her shameful and voluptuous love into a divine and heavenly philter. For as she saw Jesus—at one time freely conversing with the Samaritan woman, at another receiving the Canaanite, elsewhere proclaiming the theft of the woman with the issue of blood, and here eating with publicans, there entering the houses of the Pharisees—she reasoned with herself: "If He receives harlots and sinners and publicans, how long shall I, driven by an unruly ^B frenzy, continue to draw from the sea of sin? My youth does not remain, my beauty does not remain; for all things pass away, all things wither, and flowers, and lilies, and the beauty of faces. What, then, shall I suffer for what I have done? For already I contemplate the fire of Gehenna, already repentance lays hold of my soul, because, in my zeal to appear beautiful for the ruin of young men, I used to run through the streets of the city, through the marketplaces, through the crossroads, having my feet as a net, and my tongue as a dragnet. Oh, how many young men have I charmed, casting around a gaze full of shamelessness! For, adorning myself for the destruction of the spectators, at one time I built up my head with intricate braids, at another I let wandering locks of hair fall from my crown onto my forehead. At other times I would redden my cheeks, and line my eyes with stibium. And at other times I would shed floods of tears, acting as a flatterer to drive the soul to ruin. What, then, shall I be after these things? What physician shall I find ^C for these countless passions? If I speak to men of my own affairs, my words are useless to me...

^A But shall I hide my evils? Yet I cannot escape notice. For whom could I escape, not being able to escape God? Where, then, shall I flee, finding the Judge everywhere? Him who is invisible, but who everywhere convicts me of my evils. One hope of salvation remains for me, one provision for life lies before me: to know Jesus, and to run to Him. For He who welcomes publicans will not reject a harlot; He who eats at the common table with the Pharisees will not repel the tears of a sinner. Since, therefore, I knew that He was staying with Simon the Pharisee, I shall approach Him. But what shall I ask when I approach? The health of my eyes? But that grace is temporary. To be freed from disease? Truly, that is a small achievement, for eternal death is more grievous than the present. I shall let go all things of the body; ^B I shall seek the healing of the soul. For I shall find one relief from the evils hanging over me, if I see the Judge, if I anticipate the time of punishment. I shall emulate Rahab the harlot; I shall follow the virtuous manner of that woman; for God requires nothing else from us but a change of purpose (68).

VI.

^A but she also portrayed the beauty of repentance through her bearing. She wept, as one who had laughed much, washing away her evil laughter with noble tears; and with the drops from her eyes, she was washing away the filth from her cheeks, so that in the things in which she had sinned, in those same things she might also find her defense; and in those things in which she had acted wickedly, in those same things she might propitiate the Lawgiver. For just as David washed away with tears the bed which he had defiled in an unlawful embrace—"For I will wash," he says, "each night my bed; with my tears I will wet my couch"—so too did she. Using the very eyes with which she had dragged many among the youth into dissipation, she released fountains of tears, washing away the stain of sin that is difficult to wash, providing for herself the tears as a laver of repentance. For she offered these tears as if they were water, while invisibly she received ^B remission from Christ.

Moreover, not only imitating but even surpassing Abraham, she washed the feet of Christ. For he, having placed a basin, washed them with water and wiped them with a linen cloth; but she, not having drawn water, but having released fountains of tears, washed the feet of Jesus. And taking care lest she do an injury to those chaste feet with her sinful tears, she let down her braided hair as if it were a linen cloth and wiped the feet. And it was possible to see the little woman, completely and in every way, bending toward the care of Jesus. For her eyes from above, like fountains, were sending forth streams of tears; but her soul, as if a basin placed beneath, was receiving the drops distilling from the feet; her hair was wiping them away, fulfilling the form of a linen cloth; her hands, pouring out the ointment of the alabaster jar, were anointing the divine feet, honoring ointment ^C with ointment; for "ointment," he says, "poured out—thy name."

VII. Did you see how the sinful woman, who was devoid of divine laws, overcame the ungrateful mind of the Jews? They indeed sought to attack him with stones; but she refreshed him with sweet-smelling ointments. But the Jews, as ungrateful, as foolish, and as mindless, repaid evil for good, treating with hostility the cornerstone with stoning; but she anointed with ointment the feet of him who was about to stand for her sake all ^D the day upon the scaffold of the Cross. And why do I say that she overcame the ungrateful people of the Jews, when she has surpassed the whole choir of the saints? For she received a grace which kings did not receive, which potentates did not attain. "For the kings of Tharsis and the isles shall bring gifts, and all the kings of the earth shall worship him." And indeed, according to the prophet, they both gave gifts and worshipped from afar; but not one of them kissed the feet of Jesus. For how could they? The Magi came, having taken the star as a companion of their supplication; but they brought their gifts from afar, not being ignorant of the measure of their own station; "for," [he says], "heaven is my seat, but the earth…"

^A is my footstool." Therefore, let the woman be praised, as one who has received the honor of the whole earth; as one who has touched the immaculate feet, whose dust the nations and the tribes shall lick, according to that which is said: "And his enemies shall lick the dust." She touched the immaculate feet; she shared the body of Christ with John. For he, indeed, reclined upon his breast, for he was about to draw divine doctrine thence; but she anointed the feet that walked for our sake. Furthermore, Christ, who does not judge sin, but praises repentance; who does not punish things past, but proves future things, having committed to oblivion the evils of her past life, honors the woman and praises her repentance; He justifies her tears, and crowns her purpose.

VIII.

^A then, O Pharisee, dost thou accuse the Master who loves mankind, who weighs the balance of goodness equally for all? And why, as you strain out the gnat of the woman, do you swallow the camel of your own evils? And how is it that you wish God to be long-suffering toward you, but stern toward her? Why do you provoke the Judge in the crimes of others, while asking for pardon in your own? Why did you and Judas conspire to tempt the Lord? For you, indeed, as if pure from filth, by slandering the man for his sins, judge God to be ignorant; but he, as if a lover of the poor, is indignant, saying: "To what purpose is this waste of the ointment? For it might have been sold for much, and given to the poor." O, the ungrateful mind! O, the ungrateful ways! Do you call the reverence of Christ a waste, O Judas? And do you call an empty expense that which proceeds to the honor of God? ^B

IX. How much have we given of what we have received? Let us calculate, from the time the world was created, how many rivers of mercy flow from His nature, and God does not reckon abundance as a loss. How many fragrances does the earth put forth? The rose, and the lily, and storax, nard, and myrrh, and the others from which good ointment is prepared; and God does not consider these a waste. And do you murmur that a small alabaster jar of ointment was poured out upon the feet of Christ? Did He receive it for free, that you murmur? He received the ointment, and showed a way of repentance. He received tears, and stopped the spring of sins. What "waste" is there, then, if the woman was saved, for whom paradise was closed? ^C But this grieves you, Judas? With good reason; for her salvation also grieved the devil. For he knew that from then on the human race would turn to repentance; and he is bitten and pained, no longer having a net with which to hunt men. Whence he incited even you to murmur. "To what purpose," he says, "is this waste? For it could have been sold for much." You are already trading, Judas; you are already meditating betrayal; the beginning of evil enigmas. But Jesus does not rebuke his disease; He does not expose his avarice, so that He might not drive away the coming betrayal; but He says to all: "Why do you trouble the woman? Why do you reproach the woman for past evils?" ^D

^A Let no one hinder the salvation of the woman; let no one trouble her who with ointment has washed the feet that walked upon the earth for her sake. For you always have the poor with you. Receive Me also with the poor. For your sake, though I was rich, I became poor, so that you might become rich by My poverty. You kill Me, and I do not accuse; she gives Me over to burial, and do you murmur? For in pouring this ointment upon My body, she has done it for My burial. Are you not ashamed, therefore, Judas, that she, being a sinner, honors Me with ointments; while you, being an apostle, insult Me by selling Me? And the woman indeed prepares things for the tomb, but the disciple delivers Him to death. The woman is a sinner, I know; but she had nothing else to offer Me but a fountain of tears; making the fountain benevolent to the fountain. ^B But you also analyze, O wretched one, the ointment, saying it is worth three hundred denarii; you analyze it, not so that you might praise her magnanimity—in that she consumed all the wealth garnered from evils upon the price of the ointment—but so that by murmuring you might show into what a dire evil you have fallen, having suffered such a loss. But it would be no great matter if you were distressed at the loss of three hundred denarii, since, having received thirty, you betrayed Me, the Lord. "For what," he says, "are you willing to give me, and I will deliver Him to you?" Wretched man! Does a slave sell his Master? The order is inverted; and I indeed redeem you from sin with My own blood, and do you sell Me for thirty obols? And then does a man sell God? If it be granted that he sells Him, who is the buyer? And for how much will one purchase God? And why do you make the transaction so cheap? Does one sell God in the form of a man for thirty pieces of silver, as if He were a slave, as if a barbarian? If you had discernment, distinguish how much you make the indwelling God worth, and how much the visible man. "What," he says, "are you willing to give me?" What do you wish to receive? For they have nothing to give that is worthy of God. And they weighed out to him, it says, thirty pieces of silver. Does one sell a physician who heals for free for thirty obols? A physician, I say, who gives sight to the blind and raises the lame to run. I say these things, so that I might instruct your mind, that you cause trouble to the woman; that she honored Him who is free among the dead, even before His death, as if He were dead; that through the ointment, she foreshadowed the grace of the burial and the resurrection. But the memory of this woman, wherever the Gospel shall be preached, is indelible. He spoke, and the deed so came to pass. ^D For the ointment of Aaron and that of Eleazar has ceased, and the horn has gone silent. But the alabaster jar of this woman extends to the whole age, having the fragrance of memory that never runs dry.

X. And thus indeed to Judas; but to the Pharisee who was murmuring, Christ spoke in this wise: Simon,

^A I have something to say to you. O ineffable grace! O inexplicable kindness! God and man converse together, and He sets forth a problem, a rule of loving-kindness, dissolving his malice. For, He says, "Simon, I have something to say to you; which I said to none of the ancients, not to a patriarch, not to a prophet, not to a lawgiver. For then indeed, they sought 'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,' demanding what is just; but since you cannot bear what is just, I introduce grace in place of the law, and I will tell you an ineffable mystery." But he says: "Teacher, speak." "Two debtors were owing to one man." See the wisdom of God. He keeps silent about the woman, so that he may not handle the response deceitfully. "One," He says, "owed five hundred denarii; and the other, fifty." The character of the narrative is fearsome. Our life is a ledger, invisibly writing down both thoughts, and actions, and the wandering glances of the eyes, and the movements of the soul; but the kind Creditor solves the fear, He who tears up the bonds of sin: and not merely tearing them up, but also smoothing them away ^B with the waters of baptism, so that not a trace of a letter or syllable remains to become a monument of past evils. Since they had nothing, He says, to pay back, He forgave both. Have you seen a kind creditor? How He lends, but does not take back? How, though ungratefully treated, He does not grow sluggish; but His hand is stretched out to those who ask? "Since they had nothing," He says, "to pay back, He forgave both." He released them because they did not have, not because they did not wish. For it is one thing not to have, and another not to wish. What do I mean? God seeks nothing from us but repentance. Hence He desires that we should always rejoice and run to repentance. If, while we desire to repent, the multitude of our sins renders our repentance weak and ineffective, we do not pay the debt not because we do not wish, but because we do not have. Therefore He says, "Since they did not have": in order to show that, seeing them wishing to pay the debt through repentance, but unable to do so because of the multitude of their sins, He, as a kind Lord, forgave them—not from the act, but from the intent, to free the debtor from the obligation. "Since they had nothing, therefore, to pay back": ^C without scourging, without insulting, without torturing, He forgave them both.

XI. Who, therefore, ought to love Him more? Simon answered and said: "I suppose it is he to whom He forgave the more." Behold the craftiness of the Pharisee. As he saw himself already cornered by the argument of truth, he inserted "I suppose," fearing to give an absolute answer. Furthermore ^D

the Lord did not examine his intention, but snatching at his answer, He says to him: "You have judged rightly." And turning to the woman, He said to Simon: "Do you see this woman? She is a sinner, to you indeed forbidden, but to Me made whole? I entered into your house." For the house is yours, and not Mine; a house that is full of reproach. "You gave Me no water for My feet": for My feet, I say, dirtied for your sake; feet tired by labor, so that I might free those who labor and are burdened from toils and distress. You offered half-honor: for you admired the things that are above, but did not care for the things below. But you, indeed, gave no water for My feet; but she, sending forth fountains of tears from her eyes, wiped away the stain of her own sin. "You gave Me no kiss"; and would that even Judas had not, he who wrought betrayal with a kiss. "But she, from the time she entered, has not ceased to kiss My feet." "You did not anoint My head with oil; for the oil of the sinner shall not fatten My head." For how could he have honor for the head, who had neglected the feet? "But she has even anointed My feet with ointment." For it says: "Your name is ointment poured out." Poured out, not spilled. For because the vessel of the Jewish mind was rotten, for that reason the ointment was poured out of your alabaster jar onto My feet, that through Me the fragrance of grace might be channeled to the Gentiles. For which cause I say to you: "Her many sins are forgiven; for you, although you received Me under your roof, neither honored Me with a kiss, nor cared for Me with ointment; but she, many of her evils having been consigned to oblivion, has honored Me, as if with a double cup tempered from tears and ointment."

XII. Let us therefore call the woman blessed, she who covers over the evils of Eve: that sinner, that harlot, that reconciler of good things, to whom the judge Himself became an advocate; she who with tears overcame the mourning of judgment. As many as are present, emulate what you have heard; and do not imitate the pleasure of the harlot, but her lamentation. For pleasure was the parent of lamentation and grief; but grief procured an exit from evils. Therefore, wash your body not with water, but with tears; anoint your members, not with ointments, but with chastity,

^A so that you may attain the same glory; sending up glory to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world; to whom be glory, and honor, and worship, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for the ages of ages. Amen.

ORATION V

On the Day of Holy Saturday

I. We celebrate today the sepulchral feast of our Savior. And He, indeed, among the dead below, is dissolving the bonds of death, filling Hades with light, and awakening those who have fallen asleep; but we leap for joy upon the earth, setting the resurrection of Him before our eyes in our meditation, and we no longer fear corruption, ^B lest it should prevail over incorruptibility. "For you will not allow," it says, "your holy one to see corruption" (Ps. xv, 10). And perhaps the Jews and Greeks mock our philosophy; the former expecting another Christ, while the latter shutting up their hopes in tombs, concerning whom the prophet aptly says: "Their graves are their houses forever" (Ps. xlix, 12). But those who now mock shall lament (for they will lament later, looking upon Him whom they pierced and insulted) (Zach. xii, 10); but we, weeping, will temper this passion with joy. Did death snatch the Lord Christ? But it will not keep Life with itself. Did it devour Him? It devoured Him in ignorance, but it vomited forth many with Him. Willing now He is detained; but on the morrow, having despoiled Hades, He will rise. Yesterday, being crucified, He darkened the sun, ^C and at midday night supervened; today death is paralyzed, having received a strange corpse; yesterday creation mourned, seeing the madness of the Jews, and put on darkness as a garment of grief; today the people sitting in darkness have seen a great light (Isa. ix, 2). Yesterday the earth was shaken, and took counsel about flight, and threatened to gape open for the inhabitants; the mountains were rent, the rocks were split, and the temple, as if alive, was laid bare, having rent its garment, showing through the things that happened to it that the holy things had been violated. Inanimate things perceived the outrage, but those who dared these things possessed souls devoid of perception. The elements were indignant, and nearly abandoned their order, and would have brought about the confusion of the universe, had they not perceived the will of the Creator, that He suffered not against His will.

^D II. O new and unexpected things! He who stretched out the heaven by His word is stretched out on wood; He who bound the sea with sand is bound with bonds; He who bestowed fountains of honey is given vinegar to drink; He who crowned the earth with flowers is crowned with thorns; and He whose head is struck with a reed is He who once punished Egypt with ten plagues—

and covered the head of Pharaoh with the waters. ^A His face, which the Cherubim cannot bear to behold, is spat upon. And while suffering these things, He prayed for those who were crucifying Him, saying: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." With goodness He overcomes malice. Christ undertakes a defense for the killers of Christ, studiously seeking their salvation. He washes away their crime by pleading their ignorance. He does not take it bitterly that He became a mockery of their madness. He endures their drunkenness, and in His inclination toward the human race, He calls them to repentance. Why say more? Having derived no fruit from His goodness, they shut into a tomb Him whom nothing in the universe of existing things can contain. They set seals, guarding our liberation; and fearing the resurrection, they station soldiers as guards at the tomb. Who has ever seen a dead man guarded? Or rather, who has seen a corpse attacked in war? Who has heard of the exit of life being brought upon anyone, and then striking fear into its perpetrators? Who does not cease to be anxious about an enemy, once he has taken away his life? Who does not dissolve his enmity, satisfied by the death of his adversary? ^B Why are you still shuddering at the one you have removed from your midst, O Jew? Why do you fear the one you killed? Why do you dread him who has departed from the living? Why are you afraid of the one who has been put to death? Why does the one you crucified torment you? The slaughter itself promises you security. Be of good courage. If He who died is a mere man, He will not rise; if a mere man, you acted rightly in crucifying Him; if a mere man, what He said remains untrue: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." If a mere man, He is held by death; if a mere man, why do you seal the tomb, O senseless one? Wait for the third day, and you will see the refutation of your own madness. Cease to toil in vain, and you will see the outcome of events. Cease to rage against the truth. Cease to wage war against God, and by waging it, wounding yourself. Cease to insult the Sun of justice, thinking that you can extinguish His rays. Cease, I say; nor contend to block the fountain of life. Cease to weary the prefects. ^C Cease to make words about the guard. Cease to traffic in lies for yourself, and cease stirring up armed men. Do not labor in vain; do not expend your wealth on impiety, and do not imagine a victory against God. Do not give the soldiers a reward to say one thing rather than another. Do not leave the crowd to watch at the tomb. Do not place your trust in weapons. Resurrection is not prohibited by arms, it is not hindered by seals, it is not coerced by soldiers, it is not stolen by bribes, but it is attained by faith. Have you not seen Lazarus recently shaking off death like sleep? Have you not seen how he walked forth with his very burial cloths, as soon as he heard the voice, "Come out"? Have you not seen how the dead man followed the command, and the bond did not restrain him? Have you not seen how the voice harmonized with him whom death had dissolved? He who was able to do those things will be able to do these things as well; He who raised the servant is Himself raised by much more. He who gave life to the one who had rotted, does not ^D

leave Himself dead. ^A But indeed the blindness of the Jews is great, and though seeing the miracles, they do not see. *They have eyes, and do not see; they have ears, and do not hear* 46. For the God of this age has blinded their hearts, so that the *Gospel of justice* 47 might not shine upon them. But let us for the time being leave those to their unbelief; we, however, with the faithful woman around Mary, refashioning for ourselves in our minds the sepulchre of the Savior, let us say: *They have taken away our Lord, and we do not know what they have done with Him* 48. To Him be the glory, with the immaculate Father, and with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

OF AMPHILOCHIUS BISHOP OF ICONIUM

SYNODICAL EPISTLE

^B Before the letters sent by your charity were brought [to us], rumor had already brought to us [tidings of] your sincerity in the faith, and your constancy in the face of dangers, and your fortitude in suffering for Christ, and the ardor of your love towards God, and, finally, your firmness in the hope of things to come. But after we also received the letters of your piety, we recognized in very truth the character of an apostolic Church, the zeal of good shepherds, and the untiring study that befits true Christians. ^C For the fact that you neither calculated the length of the road, nor brought forward your questions disparately, but rather made your inquiry collectively by way of letters, has filled us with great hope that, as you wrote with one voice, you will also receive our reply with unanimous consent; and we have accepted the concord in your letters as a kind of prelude to a more perfect harmony. And we did indeed desire, with all reverence, to receive the most admirable and worthy-of-all-honor Bishop Basil, to be present at our synod and to have him as a companion, or rather as a leader in the writing of letters to you. But because a serious bodily illness kept him [from coming], it belongs to your perfect love not to despise in any way the letter of our mediocrity. Nor, indeed, [is it fitting] for your holy Church...

^A to be deprived of that voice; but having his treatise specially composed for this topic, we hold him speaking with us in writing.

What, therefore, is the answer to the inquiry? We acknowledge the holy council of the Nicene Fathers as a truly catholic and apostolic council, and we guard the faith that was set forth by the Fathers at that time as immovable, and we pray that it may remain unshaken for all time. ^B It was, however, more necessary for the Fathers at that time to expound more fully on the dogma of the Only-Begotten; since they were striving with all haste to excise the heresy of Arius which had newly sprung up, immediately destroying its first seeds before the thorn could grow completely harsh. And as the question concerning the Holy Spirit was being passed over in silence at that time, they added nothing more on this account. However, to those who have read with understanding, the doctrine concerning the Spirit contained in that faith will seem sufficient. For they taught that, just as one ought to believe in the Father and the Son, so also one must believe in the Spirit, ^C bringing in no other nature whatsoever into the divine and blessed Trinity, nor cutting off anything from the Trinity in that exposition of faith. But since Satan, having recently undertaken to shake the Churches, has cast doubt into some regarding the Spirit, it is necessary that we return to the fountain of faith, from which the Fathers gathered at Nicaea also drew when they made their exposition of faith.

What, therefore, is our perfection of faith? The tradition of the Lord, which, after He had risen from the dead, He commanded to His holy disciples, enjoining: *Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit* (Matt. xxviii, 19). It is clear that we have received the command not only to baptize in this way, but also to teach in an equal manner. So that, by this precept, both the disease of Sabellius is shut out, through the three hypostases purely delivered to us; ^D and the mouths of the Anomoeans, the Arians, and the Pneumatomachians are stopped; with three persons and hypostases indeed declared, but one nature and divinity confessed. Wherefore it is right for us to baptize in the way we have been taught, and to believe as we have been baptized, and to glorify as we have believed. For after pondering many things in our mind, and turning our thoughts in every direction, we can find nothing intermediate between the Creator and the creature. Wherefore, if we sever the Spirit from the divinity, we must necessarily number Him with the creatures. But if we should be so bold as to call Him a creature, which is possible

Spirit, we divide Him, or is it of necessity ^A to number Him among creatures? But if we should dare to call Him a creature, how is it possible for Him to be united in baptism? We denounce polytheism in such a way as we do atheism, and we proclaim neither three principles, nor three gods, nor three different natures; but, acknowledging the Father as the beginning of all things, we do not deny any of the three hypostases, bringing forward the dignity of the holy Scriptures and testimonies to prove each point. But since a detailed discussion of these matters exceeds the measure of a letter, we believe that your Charity will be content with the sum of our exposition and will supply the rest from itself: For "give," he says, "an occasion to a wise man, and he will become wiser;" and we consider that we have written these things sufficiently. To these it is enough to add a brief exhortation. For we exhort you, that you remain sons of peace, so ^B that you may fulfill the apostolic command, being of one mind, of the same opinion, and sharers in the sufferings for Christ. Do not permit the evil one to disjoin what is beautifully connected, nor make yourselves more easily captured by the wolves through dissension, confirming their desires. For we have learned how many struggles you have endured for the sake of orthodoxy. Having therefore overcome the threats and pressures brought on by the adversaries, give no opportunity for dissension; lest hatred, if it finds a place, should gradually creep in and cause you great precipices. But it is right also in the doxologies to glorify the Spirit together with the Father and the Son, and to understand this, that those who commit the unforgivable sin through blasphemy against the Spirit, ^C in vain decline communion with the Arians, because certainly they will be condemned with them. But we pray and hope that you, keeping the body of the Church undivided and without contention, may pass the remaining time of your life peacefully in the present age, and gloriously stand at Christ’s judgment seat in the day of judgment.

SENTENTIAE ET EXCERPTA - SENTENCES AND EXCERPTS

OF OUR HOLY FATHER AMPHILOCHIUS, BISHOP OF ICONIUM — SENTENCES AND EXCERPTS

I. *From Theodoret, Dial. III, Opp. tom. IV, pag. 166.* *From the oration of holy Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, On the Son.* For when Peter had said, "Both Lord and Christ," ^D

God has made him," he added, ^A "This Jesus, whom you crucified, him God raised from the dead." But it was the man who died, not the divinity. And he who raised him is the Word, the power of God, who said in the Gospel: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Therefore, when it is said, "Both Lord and Christ God hath made him," regarding him who was put to death and rose from the dead, it refers to the flesh, and not to the divinity of the Son.

II. From the same, from the Oration against the Arians.

And that I may not prolong the speech, I ask you briefly, O heretic: Did He who was begotten of God before the ages suffer, or Jesus who was born of David in the latter times? If then the divinity suffered, you have spoken a blasphemy; ^B but if the man, as the truth holds, why then do you not ascribe the passion to the man?

III. From Cyril of Alexandria, book *On the Right Faith*, Opp. vol. V, part II, near the end, p. 50, and Council of Ephesus, part I, vol. III of the Councils, p. 683.

From the book of Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, On the Generation of the Lord according to the flesh.

Truth is known, grace has come, and life has appeared; the Son of God, who is the Word from God, became flesh for our sake, in order that He might recall mortals to eternal life and raise them from the dead. The Creator of all, who existed before every creature both visible and invisible, as immortal coexisting with the Father ^C and the Spirit alone; behold, today He is born for us from the Virgin without any sin, and without the operation of any human being, that is to say, of any man.

From the Council of Ephesus, part II, act. 1, vol. III of the Councils, p. 1065. Also from the Council of Chalcedon, part II, act. I, vol. IV of the Councils, p. 1145. From Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium.

For since the same is King and God, and tasted death for the sake of the dispensation of the passion, the gifts of the mysteries are signs. The Magi offer gold, recognizing Him to be King. They offer incense, for they know they are offering it to God. They offer myrrh, because of the death in the mystery of the passion.

From the Council of Chalcedon, part II, act. I, vol. IV, p. 1145. Also from the same.

For if He had not been born according to the flesh, you would not have been reborn spiritually. And if He had not deigned to take the form of a servant, ^D you would not have gained the glory of adoption. For this reason the heavenly One descended to earth, so that you who are on earth might be led up to heaven.

^A For this reason Christ emptied Himself, so that we all might receive from His fullness. His death became your immortality. The passion of the Master became the exaltation of the slave. But you turn that benefit into an occasion for blasphemy.

IV.

From the Elements of Damascenus Rupefucaldus.

Of the blessed Amphilochius, from the treatise on "The Lord created me."

Of the same.

V.

From the Elements of Damascenus Rupefucaldus.

Of the same, on Isaiah.

VI.

^AAmphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, from his first sermon on that text, "Concerning that day and hour" — for he composed two treatises on this.

When, however, it says, "Neither the Son, except the Father," it is not misrepresenting the ignorance of the Son, but explaining the cause of the knowledge. For since all things that the Father has are clearly the Son's, the Son would not have the knowledge of these things unless the Father had the knowledge. But surely the Father does have it, and therefore the Son also has it, as is acknowledged. For Scripture is accustomed to use the particle "except" sometimes in a negative sense; as it is written, "No one knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him; even so the things of God no one knows, except the Spirit who is from God." At other times, it employs "except" to provide a rationale for things that were expected to happen but did not come to pass; as when it says, "Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and we should have been made like unto Gomorrah." Since, therefore, He did leave us a seed, we have not become as Sodom, nor indeed have we been made like unto Gomorrah. And again, "Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul would have well-nigh dwelt in hell." Since, therefore, the Lord helped me, my soul did not dwell in hell. And that which follows is akin to this: "Unless the Lord had been with us, when men rose up against us, they would have swallowed us up alive." Since, therefore, the Lord is with us, it is evident that they did not swallow us up alive. So it is here as well: "Neither does the Son know, except the Father." Therefore, since the Father knows, it is acknowledged that the Son does too. He stated, therefore, the cause of the knowledge, and did not falsely attribute ignorance.

VII.

^CFrom the same, from his discourse on that text, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me."

Do not, therefore, attribute the passions of the flesh to the impassible Word. For I am both God and man, O heretic: God, as the miracles attest; man, as the passions declare. Since, therefore, I am God and man, tell me, who is it that suffered? If you say that God suffered, you have spoken blasphemy; but if it was the flesh that suffered, why do you not attribute the passion to that to which you ascribe the fear? For when one suffers, another does not show fear; and while the man is being crucified, God is not perturbed. ^D

VIII. From the same royal codex: Collected by Barlaam.

^A From the passage: *“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”* He increased in stature, his body being brought to its full maturity according to nature. In wisdom, for the sake of those whom he was shaping unto wisdom. In favor, by which we, being recreated, make progress, certain in faith that those things spoken by him concerning our hope will be fulfilled. With God: for he brought to completion the work of the Father, having assumed flesh and having redeemed us. And with men: because of their migration from idolatry to the knowledge of the divine Trinity. In these ways, then, he increased, and he truly does so. For he did not—according to what the senseless imagine—advance from something worse to something better.

^B IX. From the same royal codex. By the same, on the passage: *“Destroy this temple.”* And the temple of the body was destroyed at the time of the Passion, for the three days of the burial, according to his own will; and again he raised it up and was united to it by an ineffable and unspeakable Word—not having suffered mixture in it, nor having cast off the flesh, but preserving in it the unconfused property of two diverse natures according to his essence.

^C X. From the same, from the discourse on the passage: *“The Son can do nothing of himself.”* Who, then, was the Adam who was disobedient in the heavens? And who is the first-formed man who was fashioned from a heavenly body, contrary to the first? But the one who is from the earth was fashioned from the beginning; the one from the earth was disobedient; the one from the earth was assumed. Therefore, the one from the earth was also saved, so that in this way the reason for the incarnation might appear both true and necessary.

^C From Saint Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, from the discourse on the passage: *“The Son can do nothing of himself.”* After the Resurrection, the Lord shows both things: that the body is not of such a kind, and that this [very body] is what rose again. Recall the history to memory. The disciples were gathered together after the Passion and the Resurrection, and while the doors were shut, the Lord stood in their midst. He had never done this before the Passion. But was it not that Christ could have done this even formerly? For all things are possible to God. Yet he did not do it before the Passion, lest you should think the incarnation consisted in empty appearance and opinion; or lest you should think the flesh of Christ was spiritual, or had descended from the heavens, or was of a different substance than our own. For certain people, imagining all these things and thinking that by these ^D means they honor the Lord, fail to realize that under the pretext of thanksgiving they are actually blaspheming, and are attributing the charge of falsehood to the Truth. Besides the fact that it is a lie, it is entirely irrational.

^A entirely foreign. For if He assumed another body, what is that to my own, which is in need of salvation? If He brought flesh down from the heavens, what is that to my flesh, which was taken from the earth?

*Ibid., page 101.*

Of the same, from the same oration.

Therefore, not before the passion, but after the passion did the Lord stand in the midst of the disciples when the doors were shut, so that you might know that even your animal body, having been sown, rises as a spiritual body. But so that you might not again think that it is some other thing that rises, when Thomas disbelieved the resurrection, He shows him the prints of the nails; He shows him the traces of the wounds. But was He not able to heal Himself, especially after the resurrection, He who had healed everyone even before the resurrection? But by the fact that He shows the prints of the nails, He proves that it is He Himself; but by the fact that He enters when the doors are shut, He shows that it is not of such a nature. It is Him, indeed, in order to fulfill the mode of the dispensation, having resurrected the dead body; but it is not of such a nature that it should again be subject to corruption, or again succumb to death.

*In Theodoret, Dial. III, ibid., page 166.*

Of the same, from an oration on the text, *The Son can do nothing of himself.*

For it could not be that Life should be circumscribed by corruption. Wherefore, the divinity was not in any way dragged down to suffering. For how could it? Rather, humanity was renewed unto incorruption. For it is necessary, he says, for *this mortal to put on immortality, and this corruptible to put on incorruption.* Do you see how accurately he speaks? "This mortal," he pointed out as if with his finger, so that you might not think the resurrection was of some other flesh.

*From a manuscript codex of R. P. Sirmond.*

Of Amphilochius, from a treatise on the text: *The Son can do nothing of himself.*

For if he who had sinned once or twice in the present age was delivered to sickness for thirty-eight years, who would doubt that those who have spent their whole life indulging in license and pleasures are to be punished eternally?

XI. *In Theodoret, Dial. III, ibid., page 165.*

Of Saint Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, from an oration on the text: *Amen, amen, I say unto you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life.*

Whose, then, are the sufferings? The flesh's. Therefore, if you assign the sufferings to the flesh, assign to it also the humble words; and to Him to whom you ascribe the miracles, attribute the sublime words. For God, producing miracles, justly and deservedly speaks of sublime things, and things congruent with His works; but man, who suffers, rightly utters humble things, and things convenient to his sufferings.

XII.

Distinguish for me, then, the natures—that of God and that of man. For man did not come to be by a falling away from God, nor did God come to be by an advancement from man; for I am speaking of God and man. When, therefore, you attribute passions to the flesh and miracles to God, you necessarily, even if you are unwilling, distribute them: the humble words to the man born of Mary, and the elevated and God-befitting words to the Word who was in the beginning. For this reason, I sometimes utter elevated words, and sometimes humble ones, in order that, through the elevated, I may show the kinship of the indwelling Word; and through the humble, I may make known the infirmity of the humble flesh. Whence, at times I say that I am equal to the Father, and at times that the Father is greater; not fighting against Myself, but showing that I am God and man—God by reason of the elevated things, but man by reason of the humble ^B ones. And if you wish to know how the Father is greater than I, I spoke according to the flesh, and not according to the person of the Godhead.

XIII.

Exposition on the text: “He shall receive of mine, and shall declare it unto you.”

It appears again in the form of a fiery tongue; perhaps bringing to the world that fire which You said You had come to cast upon the earth. For this too You foretold, that it would receive from You, and would most clearly expound to the disciples the promulgation of all Your commandments. And the grace of the Spirit of truth, who belongs to the Paraclete and the Author of life, which You said proceeds timelessly from the Father—Him most truly, Your divine Spirit, that immaculate grace, I implore, the blessed procession of the Father, uncreated, longed-for, and co-eternal again with the Son and with God the Father, in the eternal ages.

XIV. Among the fragments of Facundus Hermianensis, book XI, chapter 3, page 761.

In a certain Sermon, says Facundus, the beginning of which is, “Bring, today we reach certain discourses”; speaking of that which is said, *I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God*, ^A he says: “He is common, the Father; the Father of Him, indeed, because of nature, but our Father because of grace. Common, however, is also God; but He is our God, because He brought us out of non-existence into being; but His God is [the Father] according to the flesh.” For He Himself formed Him in the Virgin, He Himself anointed Him in the Jordan, He Himself preached Him, He Himself glorified Him in the Passion, He Himself raised Him from the dead, He carried Him up into the empty cloud, making Him worthy of the right hand. For He who ascends to the Father has all these things, not He who is in the Father. And in this place let him be accused, because he does not say that He who is in the Father is the same as He who ascends to the Father.

XV. From the collection of Barlaam, in a royal manuscript codex.

To Seleucus, nephew of the general Trajan.

I believe in one God, known in three persons: the cause and maker of all things, unbegotten, incomprehensible, invisible, unthinkable, uncircumscribed, immutable, invariable, immortal, not subject to passion; one principle without beginning; and I say that He is in no other way capable of suffering; for the divine nature is utterly immune to passion. For I speak of one God, who is truly God, fleeing the polytheism of Hellenism. But that the one [God] is known in three persons is the overthrow of Judaism. For I confess ^B the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and the Spirit in the Son and in the Father. Moreover, I worship Jesus Christ, co-eternal with the Father according to his divinity; not younger than the Father, neither in substance nor in the mode of existence, regarding his deity. Likewise also [I confess] the Holy Spirit. For indeed I say that the Son was begotten without time and without beginning, always co-existing with the Father according to his divinity. But I believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from God and the Father. And I do not call the procession of the Spirit generation; nor do I call the generation of the Son procession. But when the sequence of what is said requires it, I speak of one God, not denying the hypostases, but by the name of God indicating the community of substance. But when ^C I say consubstantial, I do not speak of the consubstantiality of one person, but of three, I say: of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; for one person is not called consubstantial with itself; but Father, Son, and Spirit are. But the distinction is observed in the persons, not in the substance. For these—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are names of the mode of existence or relation, not of the substance absolutely. What, therefore, is of the Father, the name God will declare; what, however, is of someone, the name Father. To be even of some God, is to be God: but that this one here is of someone, [is to be] the Son: similarly also the Holy Spirit. Of those whose being is the same, of them the substance is one. Let these things be said, according to my ability, concerning the consubstantial Trinity. And these things thus far concerning ^D the consubstantial Trinity.

SENTENCES AND EXCERPTS.

From the same collection of Barlaam, in the royal codex. Anastasius Sinaita also has it in his *Hodegos*.

^A *From the epistle of Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, to Seleucus.* The nature that is assumed suffers; but that which assumed it remains impassible. Moreover, God the Word appropriates to Himself the human sufferings of His own temple, not by undergoing any passion; I say, He appropriates to Himself the cross and death, and whatever else is considered to have been done about Him in the economy, God Himself appropriating and making them His own, while Himself suffering nothing.

*From the epistle of Amphilochius to Seleucus.* But since the natures result in one person, the impassible [nature] appropriates the things of the passible [nature].

*Cited by St. John Damascene, in the book against the Jacobites, tome 1, pp. 423, 424, Paris edition, 1712.* ^B *From the epistle of the holy Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, to Seleucus.* Thus I confess Christ to be God and man, the Son of God, one Son, of two natures, passible, that is to say, and impassible, mortal and immortal.

*And after a few words:* I say one Son, of two natures, without confusion, without change, without separation. Christ, the Son of God, therefore suffers, not in His divinity, but in His humanity. That is, God suffered in the flesh; but the divinity by no means suffered in the flesh. Away with this hostile and blasphemous opinion, you wretch.

*From the same collection of Barlaam, ms.* ^C *From the epistle of Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, to Seleucus.* If they say that it is of one substance, ask them: How then do you say that Christ is impassible according to his divinity, but passible according to his flesh? For whatever is of one substance is wholly similar; for it is either wholly impassible, or wholly passible.

*From the Elements of Damascene of Rupescissa.* ^D *From the epistle of the blessed Amphilochius to Seleucus.* The discourse was regarding the union: and that those ought to be anathematized who dissolve the union of the natures from the womb; furthermore, those who conceive of this ineffable and arcane union by way of confusion or change. For just as separating the union is alien to orthodoxy, and outside of truth and life, so also is confusing the natures, I mean the divine and the human, alien to Christianity.

XVI. *From the manuscript codex of Fr. Sirmond.* *From the dogmatic epistle of Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, to Pancharius.*

^A I have rejoiced concerning you, most approved sir. He is truly impious and alien to the truth who does not call Christ the Savior and Creator of all, both in terms of the two natures of which He consists, endued with the power of free will, and effective, and free from all necessity.

XVII. *From the Elements of Damascenus Rupefucaldinis.* *From the epistle of the same, which he wrote to the Suadrenses, concerning the Holy Trinity.*

One divinity is announced most especially in Moses: in the prophets, a duality is preached most abundantly; but in the Gospels, the Trinity is manifested: this is more in keeping with the succession of times and generations, reasonably adapted for knowledge and faith. Moreover, the knowledge of it is immortality. But adoption arises from faith in it. Nevertheless, it first declares the ordinances of the flesh, like the outward decoration of the temple, waking them up in Moses: after these, it narrates the second justifications of the soul, as if adorning the *Sancta* in the other prophecies; ^B and thirdly, it sets in order the justifications of the spirit, as if it were the propitiatory and the *Sancta Sanctorum*, its own dwelling, in the Gospels. Moreover, it has a holy tabernacle, a holy temple, and the just law as their companion. In it dwells one immense divinity: one ineffable, inconceivable, incomprehensible, inexpressible, invisible divinity; who alone knows herself; and who manifests herself to whom she will, raising up witnesses to herself; predestining and predetermining them: to her own glory and faith once again, making them one. These three are the heavenly, the terrestrial, and the infernal. *From the same epistle.*

He who does not confess three hypostases and persons in one substance. Furthermore, I do not speak of any other substance besides the divinity; nor any other divinity besides the substance: but because we seek the matter exactly in this way, we call it substance; so that such a deceiver may not argue that this is one thing and that is another.

XVIII. *From the Nicene Council II, Act V, p. 1014, vol. VIII of the Councils, Venetian edition/Labbe.* ^D *Of Saint Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, concerning the false superscriptions of the heretics.*

We have deemed it just to lay bare all their impiety, and to make their error publicly known; since they also put forward certain books bearing the superscriptions of the apostles, by which they deceive the more simple. [And after a few words: For we shall show that these books, which those who have fallen away from the Church bring to us, are not the Acts of the apostles, but the writings of demons.] And after other words: These things, indeed, the apostle John...

^A would not have said, writing in the Gospel, that the Lord says from the cross, "Behold thy son," in such a way that from that day on John took Mary into his own home. How, then, does he say here that she was not present? But there is nothing foreign in this. For just as the Lord is the Truth, so the devil happens to be a liar. For he is a liar, and the father of it; and when he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own. And these things, indeed, regarding the lie.

XIX. Reliqua Amphilochiana excerpta quæ superant. Ex catena in Joannem. ^B Amphilochii. Not because the Son of Man descended from heaven, but because He who descended, the Son of God, He Himself ascended having become the Son of Man, He said by way of assurance: "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven." For the flesh, after the resurrection, having become impassible and immortal through its communion with God, escaped from passion. For it is honored with the same session, indivisibly with Him. Therefore, Paul also said: "He who descended, He is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all things."

Apud Anastasium in Hodego, cap. 10. Amphilochii. For into one person, just as your holiness also teaches, the two natures have come together; which we confess to exist and to be preserved in Christ immutably and indivisibly.

XX. Ex Elementis Damasceni Rupefucaldinis. Amphilochii. ^C When the Apostle considered the angels as certain pedagogues or tutors appointed over men, he called them as witnesses.

XXI. Ex iisdem Elementis. Sancti Amphilochii episcopi Iconii. God is so called, because He has placed all things under His own power and protection; or due to *theein* (to run), which is to run, and to move, and to govern, and to give life to all things.

XXII. Ex Euphemio Antiocheno, ap. Photium, Biblioth. cod. CCXXIX, p. 790. ^D Sanctus quoque Amphilochius Iconii episcopus ita ait: Apparet certe divinos Patres nostros consubstantialem asserere Patri Filium secundum divinitatem, et consubstantialem Matri secundum humanitatem; duplicem quoad essentiam sive naturam, non duplicem quoad personam.