A B C D
ON THE BETRAYAL OF THE SAVIOR, AND OTHER MATTERS
3 But tell me, you who raise the question, how Christ proceeding from a closed womb did not destroy the seal of virginity, just as from virginal Adam the virgin Eve proceeded. For the Theotokos Mary, not knowing a man, gave birth to a man; the first-formed Adam, not knowing a woman, brought forth a woman. But to give birth while a virgin, even if it is paradoxical, yet it holds to reason, inasmuch as the womb and the matrix are naturally the predetermined path for those born; but in the case of Adam, all things are strange. For who has seen a man born from a rib? And when did a rib provide fruitfulness? God cast a sleep upon Adam, so that he would not be pained by the removal of the rib; yet his bonds were put to sleep; for nerves are the bonds of nature. And Daniel is a witness, saying, *And I saw the vision, and I fell; and the bonds of my loins were loosed* (Dan. 10. 8, 9). How then did He remove the rib, which was secured by the law of nature, woven with nerves, joined with flesh, and united with veins? How did He tear it away? How did the rib come out and Adam remain whole? How? He who loosed it knows; He who loosed and bound it. For if another had bound it and another had loosed it, there would be an inquiry; but if He who fitted it together also loosed it, and He who fashioned the rib from the earth took away the rib, He alone knows how He loosed it, He who also alone knows how He composed the harmony of the members. Just as then even after the removal of the rib Adam remained whole, so also after the emergence of the infant the Virgin remained incorrupt. For neither was the harmony of Adam’s members damaged by the taking of the rib, nor was the seal of virginity insulted by the child’s emergence. For just as with us, if someone wishes to loose a foreign bond, he destroys it and hacks it to pieces through inexperience, but he who bound it looses it without effort (for he knows the harmony of the things he bound); so also God, who fitted it together, who tightened it, who knotted the body, knew the bonds of the nerves, and how He joined rib to rib, and joint, and member; and from the things He had bound, He skillfully and most wisely lifted a rib, and did not diminish Adam. The only-begotten Son of God fashioned Him in the Virgin, and He did not destroy the virginity in the fashioning, nor did He destroy the womb by proceeding through the womb. Tell me then, O sage and expert, what is easier: for a virgin to give birth and after giving birth to remain a virgin again; or for a rod to be ensouled into an animal, and from an animal to become a rod again? How was the rod of Moses transformed into a dragon? How did the inanimate receive a soul, how did the motionless creature crawl upon the earth? And how did it again become a rod from a dragon, recognizing its own nature? For at one time it was a dragon from a rod, and at another time a rod from a dragon. Just as then the rod of Moses, O man, by nature was a rod, but by dispensation a dragon; so also Mary by nature was a virgin, but by dispensation she became a mother, so that the Magi of the Chaldeans might believe, just as, so that Egypt might be afraid, the rod became a dragon. Therefore, that the inhabited world might be saved, did you not want the Virgin to be revealed? Yet, when earthquakes occur, walls are divided and joined; when Christ was being born, the womb was not opened, and again it weaves itself together. And indeed in earthquakes walls are so divided as to threaten death; and they are so united that not even a trace or mark of the division appears; but in that incorrupt birth, did you not want the womb to be loosened for the honor of the One being born, and to come together and be united and recover the shape of virginity by the power of the One who works? And do not tell me: "Whence did the body receive flesh and blood, without seed being present?" For it is possible to learn from the things among us that which is above us. And call to my aid the sons of painters as an example of what is said, who often paint plants and trees and meadows and rivers, and when they do not have nature working with them, they force by the art of mixing colors to present the images of things. For they make a river, not borrowing a stream from rivers, and they form a man, not begging anything from human nature. Just as then painters through colors paint both a man and a spring and a river, not taking anything from a spring or river or man; in the same way the Holy Spirit also shone into the Virgin—not with colors, but by His will—and fashioned an ensouled man, not borrowing seed from human nature for the structure of the One being fashioned. God took dust from the earth, and not by human hands (for the nature of Deity is simple) shaped Adam as He willed; but the Holy Spirit did not take dust, nor did He allow seed to be deposited by natural law, but only by shining, He fixed bones and stretched nerves, and set up ears, eyes and tongue, hands and feet, soul and mind and reason and word—even if the sons of the heretics be unwilling. For just as those who lean over a mirror see an image of themselves rising up to their sight from the shapeless matter, an image often smiling, or weeping, and moving, and changing in various ways, and imitating the shapes of the living form; so also the Holy Spirit shone into a pure mirror, the stainless body of the Virgin, and completely created a man—not by the law of nature, not by time, not by human seed, but by sight alone, by a certain intellectual and holy power He moved the Virgin toward labor, weaving the infant within her as if it were a garment, for the salvation of men. These things then are so; but let us send up glory for the things mentioned to Him who for us became man, because to Him is the glory, and to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
ON THE BETRAYAL OF THE SAVIOR, AND OTHER MATTERS
1. I wished to bring to an end the contemplations on the cross, not as having exhausted the thoughts, but expounding what is possible to the faithful. For the word is not idle toward the explanation of the divine oracles, but what is said is measured by human power, not as if the power itself were sufficient to grasp it, but as God provides; not as much as the Giver is able to give, but as much as the receiver is able to hold. For just as a mother to an infant being nourished with milk is herself able to provide more, but it has not the strength to receive it; so also it is not impossible for God to provide greater and super-cosmic wisdom, but we are unable to receive it. For dwelling in a mortal body, we should attribute the explaining of the words; but we must not commit it to human faculty, as if human ability were sufficient for understanding, but as if [granted] by God; not
according to the magnitude of the Giver, but according to the capacity of the receiver. For just as a mother can indeed offer bread to a suckling infant, but the infant cannot use it, so it is not impossible for God to offer supernatural and greater wisdom, but we are unable to grasp it. For since we dwell in a mortal body, we receive knowledge congruous to mortal nature. God therefore told us nothing according to the perfection appropriate to Himself, but moderated His words to the measure of our infirmity. A Therefore the Savior used to say: "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" (John 16:12); and elsewhere the Savior says to Nicodemus: "If I have told you earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12). Let us say, then, with God’s help, as much as human faculty can bear. But the length of the day is cut short for us, as we wish to contemplate further; it is cut short, I say, by the reading of the Gospel. But that shall be said at another time; let us now speak of the things that were done on this day.
Today Christ, on this fifth day of the week, in the evening before the passion, washed the feet of the disciples, and performed the Passover figured in the Law, and delivered the salutary mystery of the passion; so that we might truly say that the word of truth is not cut short for us: for that narrative looks to the cross, and thus the rule is kept. Let us come, therefore, to the sequence, cutting away those parts, so as to bring a certain taste into your Christ-loving souls. How the traditions concerning our sacred mysteries are to be understood, let us explain with a brief and clear demonstration. The Savior says to the disciples: "You know that after two days the Passover is coming; and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified" (Matt. 26:2). Often the Savior predicted this to His disciples, at once showing that He knew He was not fleeing, nor, as one who foreknew, was He turning aside; but at the same time He was calming the souls of the apostles, so that, prepared and forewarned, they might escape perturbation. When a matter is known beforehand, a sudden contingency brings no perturbation. This is what David also predicted: "I was prepared, and I was not troubled" (Ps. 118:60). This is why the lightning teaches the mind before the thunder, so that the anticipation might dissolve the greater fear. Thus also the Savior, so that they might not be suddenly troubled by the passion, predicts it, even going so far as to reproach the apostles, and saying after the resurrection: "These are my words which I spoke to you, that it is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things" (Luke 24:44). He reproached them because they had not comprehended the goal for which He had predicted these things to them. "I have told you," He says, "so that you may not be scandalized" (John 16:1); yet trouble overtook you. "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified" (Matt. 26:2). You will nowhere find the Savior mentioning the passion without introducing a human person, and as if He were speaking of someone else. He did not say, "I shall be delivered," but "The Son of Man will be delivered up, that He may be crucified." You will nowhere find the Savior [speaking of Himself as] delivered up, but "The Son of Man will be delivered up"; and everywhere He speaks as if of another. But when He speaks clearly of His divinity, He says: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). He does not say, "I and the Father who sent me," but "I and the Father are one"; and, "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). B And John, how surely he speaks! Lest anyone should think that that moment was present by necessity, see with what affirmation he speaks: "Knowing that the hour had come, that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own, He loved them to the end" (John 13:1); as if to say, He exhibited perfect charity. "And after supper, rising, He laid aside His garments, and girded Himself with a towel, and put water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet" (John 13:4-5). Let heretics be ashamed. If they hear the Savior saying, "I do the will of my Father," they immediately say... [Note: The text here reflects a lacuna or scribal transition as the flow shifts to the description of the Lord pouring water].
...and put water into a basin, He who poured the nature of waters into rivers, fountains, and seas. C Imagine the disciple sitting, and the Lord bent over and looking at the knees, to whom bends the knee of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. The humility of the Savior extinguished all pride: that modesty extinguished all arrogance. Concerning you, therefore—as it is said in Isaiah regarding our pride: "Why is earth and ashes proud?" (Eccl. 10:9)—consider the Lord bending Himself to the feet of His servants and washing them. How can these things be spoken, or how can they be kept silent? Speech does not suffice; silence accuses the ungrateful spirit. What shall we do, when we cannot tell it? He began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel. He left not even one form of ministry behind. He did not permit water to be poured by others, while He Himself washed; nor did He wash Himself, and others wipe. And He seems here to open a certain stupendous mystery to the disciples. "Having loved His own," he says, "He loved them to the end," says John. And after supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Him, "rising, He laid aside His garments" (John 13:2). He did not say this without cause, but to show that, when the traitor had already meditated betrayal, the Savior nevertheless did not hesitate to wash the traitor's feet; He knew his deceit, and yet He washed [them]. What then? Is there respect of persons with God? God forbid. There is not always respect of persons between the injured and the injurer. If the injured honors the injurer, it is not respect of persons, but humility; but if the injured secretly works evil, while in appearance being well-disposed, that is hypocrisy. Take an example from the very thing. Judas, who was betraying the Lord, knew that it was an impiety: for to Him whom he was plotting against, he offered a kiss. But the Savior was honoring the falling injurer, which was not injustice, but an excess of humility, which God both praises and men admire. Do you wish to see an example? Look at Joab, the commander of David's army. He both honored Abner, another commander, with words of friendship, and secretly pierced him in the loins with a sword; he called him brother, and killed him like an enemy (2 Sam. 3:27). Therefore, hypocrisy is an evil. But when he who has been injured treats the injurer with a benefit, the matter is worthy of praise. Jacob feared his brother Esau, and begged God, saying: "Deliver me from the hand of my brother, lest he come and kill me" (Gen. 32:11). But when he sees him, he honors him and says: "I have seen your face, as if one saw the face of God" (Gen. 33:10). But when he saw him as an enemy and a murderer, God, knowing that he did not speak thus insidiously, but to escape the ambush, spared him. Thus, if anyone brings forth words of friendship, not out of deceit, but to escape deceit, God is not on that account indignant; for He Himself is his teacher: "A soft word turns away wrath" (Prov. 15:1). When, he says, the devil had already put into the heart of Judas to betray the Savior, the Savior, wishing by kindness to overcome his ungrateful spirit, and by gentleness to loosen his arrogance, washed his feet. I do not so much marvel at the Lord offering His own [kindness] (for gentleness was His own work), as [I marvel at] him who was full of deceit. With what spirit did he offer his feet? How did he see the holy hands of the Lord moving around his feet? How did he not grow numb? How did he not shudder? Yet that clement nature bears it patiently. It seems, however, that He washed him first. Why? Unless He had washed the feet of the traitor, but after He had washed others, had left him out, this would certainly have been foreign to the Savior, and hence Judas would have taken a handle: "He separated me, He alienated me; He washed everyone's feet, but condemned me." With what spirit could I be with Him? God saw the contrite heart, and did not wish, being himself already contrite, to crush him further. That is indeed indicated by this: "A bruised reed He will not break" (Matt. 12:20). Yet He washed the feet of the disciples. D He came last to Peter. But while He was [washing] others—
he reflects on the dignity of the Lord, and the abasement of men; the abasement of men and the glory of Him who is everywhere celebrated; and he determines [in himself] not to accept it. The Saviour came to him, and he says: "Lord, do You wash my feet?" (John 13:6)? You, who raise the dead, who cleanse lepers (for that "You" has great power); You, whom I testified to be the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16). If I had spoken from ignorance, a human suspicion might have occurred; but since You confirmed my voice, saying that "My Father in heaven revealed it to you," do you endure to wash the feet of a servant? "You shall never wash my feet." What, then, did the Saviour do? He dissipated his voice. "What I do," He says, "you do not know now, but you will know hereafter," meaning: you do not know the purpose of the One who is doing it. He did not yield, but having heard these things, he says: "You shall never wash my feet." He showed a soul harder than adamant. And the Saviour brought His own fire, and made the adamant soul softer than wax. So, He says, you are both unyielding and contentious; I will dissolve your objection: "If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with Me." And the unyielding and contentious one says: "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." He was depriving [himself of] the head, and gave it back with interest.
The character of Christians is not unyielding; a Christian ought not to have a contentious character; he ought not to be versatile for the sake of plotting, but adaptable for the sake of virtue—such as he ought to be: cheerful in a time of cheerfulness, and sullen in a time of grief, as Paul says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, fast with those who fast, weep with those who weep" (Rom. 12:15). For this is what Paul says: "Whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). Nothing, therefore, did the unyieldingness of Peter profit; for it was dissolved, as also [that] of another. When Christ came to be baptized by John, the Baptist says to Him: "Lord, I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" (Matt. 3:14, 15). The Saviour says to him: "Suffer it now. Do not be contentious, do not resist, because the decision is divine. Do not expose the dignity before the time; allow Me to fulfill the order, and to show truly that I took on man, so that through the true man I might raise up the true God." To those words "Suffer it now," the evangelist immediately adds: "Then he suffered Him to be baptized" (Matt. 3:15). He was contentious as a pious man, and he obeyed as a lover of God. So also Jeremiah was contentious with God: "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I know that I am younger" (Jer. 1:6). And the Lord said to me: "Do not say, 'I am younger,' for to whomever I send you, you shall go" (Jer. 1:6, 7). The vigor dissolved the unyieldingness. Again, Moses was unyielding, saying, "Appoint another; for I am weak of voice, and slow of tongue" (Exod. 4:10). But He did not yield.
3. But let us return to the matter at hand. The Saviour says, "If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with Me" (John 13:8). In this we ought to know that God is the portion of the faithful, and the faithful are the portion of God. For instance, the whole world is God’s, but God knows the faithful. The whole world, He says, was created by Me, but nothing matters to Me, except the portion of the faithful. For this reason the faithful cried out, as David: "The Lord is my portion in the land of the living" (Ps. 141:6, and 15:5); and again: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance." And Mary, sitting at the feet of the Master, heard the teaching, and the Saviour says: "Mary chose the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:42). Do you see that God is the portion of the faithful? It is necessary, then, to show where the faithful are the portion of B God. Moses says: "When the Most High divided the nations, He dispersed the sons of Adam; He set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God, and the portion of the Lord became His people Jacob" (Deut. 32:8, 9); because the whole world was His, but only the people Jacob heard Him. So also the prophet Amos says: "And I saw, and behold the Lord called for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great abyss, and it devoured the portion of the Lord," meaning the people. "And I said," he says, "Cease, O Lord, from Jacob, for he is small," meaning: Do not consume us (Amos 7:4, 5). These things have been said because of the Saviour saying, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." God, therefore, is the portion of the faithful, and the faithful are the portion of God. Peter says, "Lord, not my feet only will you wash, but also my hands and my head." Peter thought C that that washing was a forgiveness of sins, and he wanted to receive forgiveness through his whole body. But it was not a forgiveness of sins, but a subject of piety. Then the Saviour says, "He who has been bathed does not need to wash, unless it be his feet; you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 13:10). But these things have this state. And when He washed the feet and wiped them, having taken His garments, He sat down. He kept the form of a servant, and from then on He reclines as Master. And He says with authority, "Do you not know what I have done to you?" (John 13:12), meaning: Did you not understand? Do you not say, "The Lord and the Master"? And you say well; for I am. Here He reveals the authority. He cast off the form of a servant, and introduces the form of God. "Do you not say, 'The Lord and the Master'? If then I, the Lord and Master, washed your feet, how much more do you owe [it] to one another to wash [each other's] feet? For I have given you an example (see that it was a subject of piety), so that, as I have done to you, you may also do to one another" (John 13:13-15).
4. These things having been done in this way, His disciples approach Him, and say: "Lord, where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" (Matt. 26:17, Mark 14:12). Behold the foreknowledge of God. He says, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him wherever he goes, and into whatever house he enters, say to the householder: 'The Teacher says, My time is near; at your house I am performing the Passover with My disciples.' And he will show you an upper room furnished" (Mark 14:13-15, Matt. 26:18). He keeps two things: He equips the apostles to ask the householder, and so that they do not understand that He is ignorant of the place, He says to them: "He will show you a large upper room furnished." If you foretell the place, why do you say to the disciples, "Ask about the place?" Before we ask, we have learned. Yes, He says, it is fitting for Me to foretell as God, and for you to ask as men. Nowhere does Christ pass on the mystery in lowly places, but on the mountain, or in an upper room; for there is no lower room D with Christ. For this reason, when the apostles were receiving the coming of the Holy Spirit, they were gathered together in an upper room. Then, He says, He sent two of the disciples to prepare the Passover. And who were they? Peter and John. Why did He send Peter and John above the twelve? Peter was the one who confessed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). John was about to preach, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). He sends the foundation of the faith, and the son of thunder, so that in the foundation He might fix the mystery of piety, and in the son of thunder He might flash the commandments of justice. Why again does He send Peter and John? So that it might be shown that the gift [of the mystery pertains] to both honorable marriage and virginity, and those who are in honorable marriage, and those who are in virginity living well, become participants in the Passover. He sends virginity and honorable marriage to prepare the Passover for Him; just as on the mountain He stood Moses and Elijah [with Him], the one shining from honorable marriage, the other from virginity, so that honorable marriage and virginity might appear standing by Christ. "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you" (Luke 22:15). He is not compelled by necessity, the passion is not involuntary. But the intention is voluntary. If the Master, while benefiting us, said, "With desire I have desired," what should we say? You anticipate our voices, Master, You anticipate our sins, and You shine forth with benefits. We owe it to say, "We desire to see the Passover," and do You anticipate [us]? Does a spring ever desire the thirsty, or the thirsty the spring? Does a table desire the hungry, or the hungry the table? It befits us to say that of David: "In the way that the deer longs for the springs of water, so my soul longs for Thee, O God" (Ps. 41:1). But since the mystery of the Saviour is set before us, the passion itself the glorious one, the handing over of the passion itself, it is necessary to yield in speech to the time, so that both we who are thirsty may partake, and the faithful may be confirmed, and those who are about to be enlightened may receive the pledge, and the faithful may be guarded. Do not, under the pretext of the gift, break the course of the fast. Just as one who is traveling the long road, and because of the...