ADMONITION ON THE HOLY MARTYRS DOMNINA, BERNICE, AND PROSDOCE.
A ...remaining as virgins, which, though it may be passed over in silence in the former account, yet agrees with what is said: where Chrysostom, inquiring why Domnina anticipated the trial, and cast herself into the river with her daughters before standing before the judge, answers that she did so that no one might corrupt the virginity of the daughters: by which it is insinuated that the judge or tyrant had cast eyes of desire upon the daughters of Domnina. Of the year of this delivered homily we have been able to discover nothing as yet.
To this sermon on the holy women, Chrysostom prefixes the remainder of the previous discourse, where it had been asked why John alone of the Evangelists had spoken of the four-day Lazarus: but after he brought forward the reason, he discoursed on Lazarus not a little in his accustomed style and mode of oratory. However, this homily appears to have been pronounced extempore, like many others which are of equal brevity.
ON THE FOUR-DAY LAZARUS, AND ON THE HOLY MARTYRS DOMNINA, BERNICE, AND PROSDOCE.
B Why do the Evangelists not always describe the same things? The resurrection of Lazarus gives credence to the resurrection of Christ. — Formerly, beloved, in weaving for you the multi-colored crown of spring, and portraying the season of the year as if on a tablet of discourse, we showed not only groves flourishing and meadows budding and breezes hastening toward revival; but we also declared our own nature to be receiving, at this same time, the symbols of the resurrection; and seeking an argument suitable to the season, we brought forward the revived Lazarus. But, unable to complete our promise in the first attempt of the discourse, we concluded the speech; and having, before all, inquired for what reason Lazarus, while omitted by the other Evangelists, was recorded by John alone, we said that the Holy Spirit, anticipating suspicion of fiction, permitted the Evangelists not to describe the miracles of the Savior by assembly and agreement, but enabled one to leave something for another, making it a clear proof that the Gospels were not written by them basely, nor by preparation, nor by signal, nor for the sake of favor, and so that all things, when the manifest appears to be lacking, might clarify the uncurious truth. But these matters having been sufficiently prepared for us then, let us consider what is the opportune need for the miracle of Lazarus among the Evangelists. For the Savior, having often spoken to the disciples concerning the passion, and observing them shuddering at such a report, and suspecting it to be of weakness rather than of economy, and trembling as if agitated by human reasonings, therefore, as the passion was already approaching, and the cross was about to be fixed, he raised Lazarus who had died, that he might teach them by deed that the passion and the cross were not of weakness, but that he might persuade those present that he commands even death, and calls back the soul released from earthly bonds. And by a certain design he undergoes the voluntary death, perhaps also prefiguring in Lazarus the resurrection after three days, and by the short term of the stay under the earth comforting the fainthearted, and necessarily loosening the fear of the disciples at the threshold of the cross, and showing that what was granted by him to another would easily exist for himself also, through these very works refuting those who doubted, and in such a way attaching voices to events, and speaking almost through the things he did: "I have nowhere left the assumed humanity unmixed with divine action, but now as man, and now as God I [act], in one way showing the nature, in another confirming the economy, and teaching to attribute the humbler things to the humanity... C ...to the disciples, to the Evangelist.
this is, and by the power over passions, declaring that the passions were voluntary. As God, through the fast and abstinence of forty days, I restrained nature; but afterwards, as man, I hungered and grew weary. As God, I calmed the raging sea; as man, I was tempted by the devil. As God, I cast out demons; as man, I am to suffer for men. But lest you suspect that this happens through infirmity, before death arrives, I call back the one held by death to life; and after I have declared the power and operation of the divinity, then I lay down the ancient debt of humanity; after I have loosed the bonds, then I am bound by bonds; and by the very things themselves I demonstrate that I have the power to lay down my life, and that I have the power to take it up again A (John 10:18). This is the Savior's doctrine exhibited by the works themselves; for if it were not this, and if He had not in a certain way concerted His miracle at the tomb of Lazarus, He would by no means, after the infirmity of Lazarus had been announced to Him while He was on His journey—for, He says, His sisters sent to the Lord, saying, "Behold, he whom you love is sick" (John 11:3)—would by no means have delayed after such a message. But just as He acted toward the centurion and the Syrophoenician woman, when He healed the son of the former though absent, and the daughter of the latter likewise absent, so He would have acted toward Martha, who was indicating the sickness of her brother. But now, of set purpose, He waits until B he dies; the delay is made longer, and He defers His coming out of providence, so that He might display the victory won over death even before the contest of death; and He stays for three days, so that the reality of death might be manifest. And while the Jews are present, He commands the tomb to be opened, so that He might render them, who were pushing Him, witnesses of the miracle; and through prayer and the invocation of the Father, He raises Lazarus, so that He might not seem to be acting against the laws of the Creator. And look at the thing as altogether stupendous: He did not say, "Lazarus, revive," but what? "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43), speaking to things that are not as though they were, so as to show to those present that He Himself is the God of the living and not of the dead; so as to demonstrate that the divine command can be delayed by no obstacle, and at the same time to call back to the memory of those present Him who said: "Let there be a firmament," C and "Let the waters be gathered into one collection," and "Let the earth bring forth the herb of hay," and "Let the waters bring forth the creeping things of living souls" (Gen. 1:6, 9, 11, 20). "Lazarus, come forth": and this for the greater and firmer faith of those gathered, so that the wrappings and the bandages might testify to the death, and the obedience without delay, and the fear restrained by nothing, might preach the Lord's authority. "Lazarus, come forth": and he who was bound arose, and the corpse felt, and the dead man obeyed, and the bound man ran, and the one who was lamented leaped. Why does the Savior now make use of a loud cry? For the evangelist says: "When He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth'" (John 11:43). Perhaps by the cry He indicated the future resurrection; for "The trumpet shall sound," he says, "and the dead shall rise" (1 Cor. 15:52). While many D things abound for me to say upon this argument, I am dragged to another, and I am compelled to come from tomb to tomb.
On the holy martyrs Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdoce.
It is fitting that the tomb of Lazarus be compared with other tombs; nor, as it seems to me, is the death of the women celebrated at the tomb itself inopportune. There is the tomb, and here also is the tomb; but the open tomb of Lazarus declares the power of Christ, while the tomb of the women, though closed and yet working, preaches the grace of Christ. There, the dead man runs from the tomb above nature; here, the women run to the tombs beyond nature. There is a sign of divine power; here, proof of a noble soul. There, Lazarus exits the gates of death; here, the female race boldly approaches the gates of death. There, after death is the resurrection; here, it is life. There, death is violently plundered; here, death is openly trampled. Him, death hurriedly restored, having taken the loan of life; or rather, as it says, "Women received their dead from the resurrection" (Heb. 11:35), so God commanded; these, however, passed from a temporary life to perpetual life, the mother and daughters, who have gathered us today: the mother, pious, who bore the child, and the daughters, free from birth-pangs; the mother who loosed virginity toward the birth of virgins, the mother who bore chastity, the mother who brought forth virgins according to the natural law. The tyrant who everywhere brings war upon the pious, who turns the sword to the blood of his fellow-tribesmen in barbarian slaughter; that tyrant who persecutes Christ, whom he cannot see; the tyrant who trusts that through the sheepfold he can plunder the Shepherd Himself; the tyrant who attempts to shoot at heaven, who envies the kingdom of Christ being extended—was this, who was persecuting and celibate, and those inaccessible virgins, who were struggling. Money was being plundered; the fatherland was being left behind. Soldiers—breakers of walls, who were compelling men to adore the image of Nebuchadnezzar according to the interpretation of the mind—were dragging these lovers of modesty and decorum (Dan. 3). But what the Babylonian furnace did for that triad of martyrs, here also, loosening the bonds of body and soul, He dismissed the souls free so that they might fly to heaven. That serpent undertook the matter, who pursued Eve in paradise, who circumvented simple and innocent manners; he, when he saw the river turned into a pool of the bath, and the channel imbued with the divine Spirit, pursuing those blessed ones even to that river, was repulsed by those waters mingled with spiritual fire; and revolving his pride in his mind, he was lamenting the fall of his old engines. He was beholding women, once opportune and fearsome for his deceits, now boldly struggling against death, and the heel, which he wished to supplant, he was watching jumping from earth to heaven. But after we have sufficiently pursued the praises of the trophy-bearing women, and have added what is useful to the argument, and have adorned the old tomb with the new tomb, and have joined the wondrous resurrection with the abiding death, and have proposed examples to men and women for virtue and piety, after we have shown the famous passing and the desired resurrection, let us give thanks to Christ, who has the power of life and death; to whom be glory and empire, together with the Father and the holy and life-giving Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.MONITION REGARDING THE HOMILY ON THE HOLY MARTYRS AND ON THE ONE WHOSE ARGUMENT IS: "THAT ONE OUGHT NOT PREACH FOR POPULAR FAVOR"
AThat this sermon concerning the holy martyrs does not refer to the preceding discourse, it was a matter of principle not to separate it from the previous one, because he pursues here the theme begun regarding those who communicate unworthily, as we have already said, being led by the occasion. In what year Chrysostom had both homilies, we are not able to attain even by conjecture. This much alone, from the second homily, which has the title *That One Ought Not Preach for Popular Favor*, we seem able to ferret out, namely, that both were delivered after the *Homily on Lazarus*. For the holy doctor says concerning Lazarus in number 3: "And what need is there to go through the whole parable? For you know the whole history, the cruelty of the rich man, how he did not make the beggar a participant at [his] table, and his need and hunger, with which he was perpetually harassed." These things indeed seem spoken after the sermons on Lazarus, although I would not dare to affirm it. But in what year the sermons on Lazarus were delivered, is likewise uncertain, as we have seen in the Monitum on those same ones.
Fronto Ducæus edited the Latin interpretation of both.
WHEN THE BISHOP HAD GONE AWAY TO CELEBRATE THE DAY OF THE MARTYRS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, A SERMON WAS DELIVERED IN THE CITY ON THE MARTYRS, AND ON COMPUNCTION OF HEART AND ALMSGIVING.
B1. Yesterday was the day of the martyrs, but today also is the day of the martyrs; and would that we might always celebrate the day of the martyrs. For if those who are mad about the theaters, and who gape at the horse races, never take their fill of those shameful spectacles, much more ought we to have an insatiable desire for the festivals of the saints. There is a diabolical procession, here a Christian festival: there demons dance, here angels celebrate: there the ruin of souls, here the salvation of all who are gathered. But do those things have some pleasure? But not as much as these. For what pleasure is there in seeing horses running at random and for no reason? But here you see not a yoke of brute animals, but ten thousand chariots of martyrs, and God presiding over these chariots and driving the road to heaven. CFor that the souls of the saints are the chariot of God, hear the prophet saying: *The chariot of God is ten thousandfold, thousands of them that rejoice* (Ps. 67: 18). For that which He bestowed upon the heavenly powers, this He granted also to our nature. He sits upon the Cherubim, just as the psalm also says: *He mounted upon the Cherubim and flew* (Ps. 17: 11); and again: *He who sits upon the Cherubim and beholds the abysses* (Dan. 3: 55). This He also granted to us in turn: He sits upon them, He dwells in us: *For I will dwell and walk among you* (Lev. 26: 12; 2 Cor. 6: 16). They have become a chariot, let us become a temple. Do you see the kinship of the honor? Do you see how He brought peace to things above and things below? Wherefore we are no different from the angels, if we are willing. But as I said at the beginning, yesterday was the day of the martyrs, and today is the day of the martyrs—not those among us, but those in the countryside; or rather, even they are with us. DFor city and country are separated in worldly affairs, but in the matter of piety they share and are united. For do not look to their unpolished speech, but to their philosophizing mind. For what harm does the unity of language do me, when the things of the judgment are divided? And what harm does the diversity of language do me, when the things of the faith are joined? By this reasoning, neither is the country inferior to the city; for they possess equality in the pinnacle of good things. For this reason also our Lord Jesus Christ did not dwell only in the cities, leaving the countries empty and desert, but He traveled through cities and villages, preaching the Gospel and healing every sickness and every infirmity (Luc. 7: 21; Matth. 4: 24). Our common pastor and teacher, imitating Him, has left us and run to them; or rather, he has not left us by going to them; for he went to the brothers who...
are A there. And just as when the festival of the Maccabees is celebrated, the entire countryside pours into the city, so when the festival of the martyrs who rest there was being held, it was necessary for the whole city to transfer itself to them. For God has not placed martyrs only in the cities, but also in the very villages, so that from the days of the feast, a necessary occasion for commerce and conversation with one another might be given to us; and indeed, there are more in the villages than in the city. For God has bestowed more abundant honor upon the inferior part (1 Cor. 12:23), because that part is weaker; therefore, He has deemed it worthy of greater support and cultivation. For those who inhabit the cities enjoy constant teaching; but those who live in the countryside do not enjoy such plenty.
God has consoled the poverty of teachers B by the abundance of martyrs. He has arranged for more martyrs to be buried among them. They do not hear the tongue of teachers perpetually, but they hear the voice of the martyrs resounding from the tomb and speaking to them, which possesses far greater power. And that you may understand that martyrs possess greater power even while silent than we who speak: many often, while speaking to many about virtue, have effected nothing; others, however, even while silent, have accomplished many great deeds through the integrity and splendor of their lives. Thus, the martyrs have done this far more, not by sending forth a voice formed by the tongue, but that which resonates much more clearly from the deeds themselves than that which is brought forth by the mouth, with which, indeed, they address the whole human race, using these words: "Look upon us, what evils we have suffered. For what have we suffered, we who were condemned to death and obtained eternal life? We were deemed worthy to lay down our bodies for Christ's sake, whereas if we had not stripped ourselves of them now, a little later we were destined to lose this temporal life of theirs even against our will. If martyrdom had not come and taken them from us, the common death of our nature would have seized us and would have utterly dissolved us." Therefore, we do not cease to give thanks to God, that by His benefit it has befallen us to use for the salvation of our souls a death that was in any case destined to be met, and that He has received from us as a gift, and as a kind of supreme honor, that which was of necessity owed. But indeed, torments are troublesome and bitter. Yet they are borne for a brief moment of time; the pleasure, however, that is acquired through them lasts coeval with the everlasting ages; nay, even for a brief moment of time the torments are not troublesome to those who look toward the future and aspire to the President and Remunerator of the contest. For even the blessed C Stephen, because he beheld Christ with the eyes of faith (Acts 7:55), for that reason did not look upon the showers of stones, but in their place was counting rewards and crowns. Therefore, you too turn your eyes from present things to those that are to come, and you will not feel even a brief sense of evils.
2.
These things and more the martyrs say, and they persuade us much better than we do. For I, indeed, if I were to say that torture has no trouble in it, am considered little worthy of belief while I speak thus; for it is nothing difficult to philosophize in words in this way. But the martyr, sending forth a voice bursting from the very deeds themselves, has no one to contradict him. And just as is wont to happen inside the baths, where the basin of warm waters is boiling, and no one dares to descend—as long as those who sit at the edge of the bath encourage one another with words, they persuade no one; but when one of them either lowers his hand or, having relaxed his foot, has confidently immersed his whole body, although silent, he will lead those who sit in the higher place, far better than those who make many words, to dare to leap into the bath—so too it happens with the martyrs: here, in place of the bath, the pyre of water is set forth. Therefore, those who stand around outside, even if they encourage with D countless words, do not move them very much; but when a martyr has lowered not his foot, nor his hand alone, but has cast his whole body in, then the very experience of the facts impels them more vehemently than any exhortation or counsel, and drives fear from the minds of those standing around.Do you see how the voice of the martyrs, even when silent, is more powerful? Therefore, God has left their bodies to us; therefore, although they once conquered, they have not yet risen again, but have indeed undergone the contests for such a long time, while they have not yet obtained the resurrection, not yet—on account of you and for your benefit, so that when you have set that athlete before your eyes, you may be aroused to the same course. For they indeed suffer no detriment from the delay, but this occasion brings to you the greatest benefit. For they will receive it later, even if they do not receive it now; whereas if God had taken them from the midst, He would have deprived us of much exhortation and consolation, which is perceived by all people from the tombs of these saints. And you prove the things that we say by your own testimony. For often, no matter how much we might threaten, coax, frighten, or encourage, you are not so moved and aroused with such alacrity of mind to pray; but when you have betaken yourselves to the church of the martyrs, with no one counseling you, solely by seeing the tomb of the saints, you have poured forth copious fountains of tears and burned with no mediocre fervor while praying. Yet the martyr lies mute with the utmost silence: what, then, finally is it that pricks the conscience and brings it about that the sources of tears leap forth as if from a fountain? It is that you contemplate the martyrs in your mind, and the memory of the things done by them is refreshed for you. For just as poor men, when they see other rich men established in dignities, surrounded by a retinue, heaped with many honors by the Emperor, while they recognize their own poverty better from the prosperity of others, they groan; so we too, when we remember how great a confidence the martyrs have before the King of all, God, and with what splendor and glory they shine, and remind ourselves of our own [index: entries preserved]
we observe their abundance, we are pained and grieved, discerning how far we fall behind them; and this is what causes the tears. For this reason God has left our bodies here, so that when the crowd of affairs and the multitude of worldly cares cast a thick darkness over our mind, whether from private or public business (and there are many such), we may leave the house, go out of the city, bid a long farewell to these tumults, and retreat to the martyr’s shrine. There, let us enjoy that spiritual breeze, forget our many preoccupations, take delight in the silence, commune with the saints, entreat their Arbiter on behalf of our salvation, pour out many supplications, and laying aside the burden of our conscience through all these means, return home again with great spiritual refreshment.
The reliquaries of the martyrs are nothing else but sure harbors, and fountains of spiritual streams, and treasuries of wealth that are inexhaustible and never fail. And just as harbors, receiving ships tossed by many waves, settle them in safety, so too the shrines of the martyrs, receiving our souls tossed by worldly affairs, settle them in great calm and safety; and just as the springs of cool waters restore bodies that have grown weary and scorched, so too do these cool the souls that have been burnt by perverse passions, 654 extinguishing by sight alone illicit desire, gnawing envy, boiling anger, and anything else of that sort that might be troubling us. And they are better even than treasuries of great wealth. For treasuries of money provide many dangers to those who find them, and when divided into many parts, they grow smaller by distribution; but here, there is nothing of the kind, for the finding is without danger, and the division is without diminution, quite the opposite of material treasures. Those, as I have said, by being fragmented become smaller; but this, when shared among many, then shows its own abundance all the more. For such is the nature of spiritual things: it grows by distribution and becomes greater by division. Not even delightful meadows, providing roses and flowers to those who view them, are so pleasant as the tombs of the martyrs, providing to the souls of those who view them a certain unfading and indestructible joy.
3. Let us therefore touch those reliquaries with faith, let us warm our mind, let us stir up lamentations. We have sinned many and great sins; for this reason we have need of much healing, of intense confession. The holy martyrs shed blood; let your eyes shed tears; tears are also able to quench the fire of sins. They had their sides raked, they saw executioners standing around; do you do the same to your conscience. Seat reason to judge upon the throne of an incorruptible mind, bring all your sins into the middle, set over these transgressions fearsome thoughts, punish those perverse inclinations from which the sins have arisen, and let them be raked with much intensity. If we thus practice judging ourselves, we shall also escape that fearsome tribunal. For that he who judges himself now, and demands of himself strict accounts for his sins, will not pay the penalty at the coming time, hear Paul saying: "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged" (1 Cor. 11. 31). For he was finding fault with those who were unworthy participants of the mysteries, and thus he said: "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." And what he says is this: just as those who crucified Jesus, he says, so even those who participate unworthily in the mysteries shall pay the penalty. And let no one judge these to be an exaggeration of the word. The body of the Master is a royal garment; and both he who rends the royal purple and he who soils it with unclean hands have committed an equal outrage; wherefore they are punished alike; so too it is with the body of Christ. The Jews indeed tore it with the nails on the cross, but you in your sins, and with an unclean tongue and mind, have done the same. For this reason he brings in the charge, saying: "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, 653 and many sleep." Then, showing that those who demand of themselves the accounts of their sins here, judging themselves for their transgressions, and no longer falling into the same, will be able to snatch themselves from the future judgment, from that fearsome and inexorable sentence, he added, saying: "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged; but when we are judged of the Lord, we are chastened, that we should not be condemned with the world."
Let us therefore rake our mind, severely rebuking the intemperate thoughts; let us wipe away our stains through tears—great is the fruit of these lamentations, great is the consolation and solace. For just as there is great punishment for laughter and dissipation, so too does constant lamentation produce consolation. For "Blessed," he says, "are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5. 5). "Woe unto you that laugh, for you shall weep" (Luke 6. 25). For this reason also Paul, although he was not conscious of any sin, spent his whole time in tears and laments. Who says these things? That blessed man himself: "Three years," he says, "I ceased not night and day to warn everyone of you with tears" (Acts 20. 31). He for three years, we perhaps not even one month; he nights and days, he on behalf of other men’s sins, we perhaps on behalf of our own transgressions; he conscious of nothing against himself, we perhaps because of our heavy conscience. And for what cause does he weep? Why does he not teach and exhort only, but also add tears? Just as a tender-hearted father having an only son fallen into sickness, not accepting the medicines of the doctors but pushing them away, sits by him, coaxes him, kisses him, embraces him, and endeavors to bend him with every sort—
[LATIN COLUMN] persuade them to seek the remedy for their disease through the medicine of repentance: in the same way, Paul, embracing all the faithful scattered throughout the world like an only-begotten son, when he saw many fallen into sin and gripped by the incurable diseases of the soul, and then seeing that they would not admit the remedy of rebuke and chastisement, but would repudiate it and shrink away, kept them back with tears, so that when they saw him groaning and lamenting, they might be moved by his very appearance to bring to him the medicine, and, having shaken off their sickness, might recover their former health; for this reason, admonishing them, he was always weeping. B Tristitia secundum Deum (Tristesse according to God). But if Paul takes such great care of the sins of others, how much more is it fitting for us to exert ourselves in the correction of our own? For great is the power of sadness according to God, and it is most profitable; which when Isaiah wished to explain to us, he spoke thus—or rather, God through Isaiah: *“Because of sin I have grieved him for a little while”* (Isa. 57. 17). Not even as their sins deserved, he says, did I exact the penalty from them. For in rewarding right actions, God exceeds the measure with His gifts; but when sins must be chastised, in His excessive kindness He punishes the transgressions with a slight pain: and as if to hint at this in this place, He said, *“Because of sin I have grieved him for a little while,”* and *“I saw that he was grieved and walked sorrowfully, and I healed his ways”* (ibid. v. 18). Do you see how great and how ready is the profit of repentance? When I had chastised him a little for his sins, he says, since I saw that he had become sorrowful and sad, I even forgave that slight punishment; so prompt and ready is God to be reconciled to us, and He seeks only a very slight occasion. Let us, therefore, offer Him an occasion for His love toward us, and strive to keep ourselves free from sins; and if by chance we should be tripped up at any time, let us quickly arise and weep vehemently for our transgressions, so that we may obtain the joy according to God. For if, because he was grieved and walked sorrowfully, he reconciled God to himself, what will not he accomplish who even adds tears and calls upon Him with the greatest intensity of soul? I know that your mind is inflamed, but in order that this ardor may not grow cold when we have gone out, but that we may foster it within ourselves, let us do this. The field of your mind is fertile; it receives seeds and immediately produces ears of corn, needing no delay or time; but I fear your enemy. The devil does not enter the church. The lamp of the mind is doctrine. Outside the church stands the devil, since he dares not enter this holy fold; for where Christ’s flock is, the wolf does not appear, but stands outside because he fears the shepherd. If we have departed from here, let us not immediately give ourselves over to untimely meetings, or idle conversations and useless occupations; but while the memory of what has been said is still fresh in us, let us hurry home, and with wife and children let each one sitting down ponder carefully what he has heard. But if you do not want to return home, gather friends among yourselves, and calling them into the communion of what you have heard, sit down privately, and let each one, bringing forth what he was able to hold in his memory, initiate another reading of sacred doctrine, so that you do not seem to have been present at this assembly in vain. For the commandments of God are a lamp: C if indeed *“The commandment of the law is a lamp, and light, and life, and correction, and discipline”* (Prov. 6. 23); furthermore, he who lights a lamp does not sit in the marketplace, but hastens home, lest by the onrush of the winds the fire be extinguished, or long delay consume the flame; let us surely do the same. The Holy Spirit lights His doctrine for us; having departed, therefore, and being filled with the sermon heard, whether we see a friend, or a relative, or a servant, or anyone else whatsoever meeting us, let us pass by, lest if we talk with him of useless and superfluous things, the fire of doctrine be extinguished for us; but let it flourish in the mind as in a house, and, lighted as in a candelabrum, let it illuminate all things that are in the house. For it is absurd if we cannot bear for our house to be at evening without a lamp and light, yet we see the soul to be destitute of doctrine. Hence many sins are born in us, because we do not quickly light the lamp of the soul; hence it happens that we offend every day; hence it happens that we comprehend many things rashly and perfunctorily in our mind, because, once the reading of the divine word is heard, before we step out from the vestibule of the church, we immediately cast them away, and with the light extinguished, walk in darkness. D No house is to be adorned, but the soul. But if by chance these things have happened before, let them not happen any longer henceforth; but let us always have the lamp lighted in our mind, and rather adorn the soul than the house. For this one remains here, but we depart carrying that one with us; therefore, more care should be lavished upon it. Now, indeed, there are some so unfortunate and miserably affected that they adorn their houses with golden ceilings, and with tiles on the pavement, with flowery paintings, with the splendor of columns, and with all other things, but they leave the soul in a worse state than a deserted inn, filled with mud, smoke, and much stench, and completely abandoned. Moreover, all these things happen for the reason that the lamp of doctrine is not kept perpetually alight for us; therefore, we despise those things that are fruitful, while we diligently apply ourselves to those that are of no value. These things have not been said by me to the rich only, but also to the poor. For even they, when they frequently adorn their houses according to their means, permit their soul to remain neglected and abandoned; for which reason I propose a common doctrine to both, admonishing and advising that, having despised the affairs of this life, we confer all our study upon the care of spiritual and fruitful things. Let the poor man look upon the widow who contributed two mites (Luke 21. 2), and let him not think that poverty offers an impediment to the business of alms and kindness. Let the rich man set Job before his eyes, and just as he possessed all his goods not for himself, but for the poor, so let him also do: for he bore it patiently to be deprived of them for this reason, that before he in fact stripped...
A and courageously bore their loss, since even before the trial of the devil he had practiced renunciation of them. You, too, therefore, despise present wealth, so that if it is someday taken away, you may not be pained. Spend it to good purpose when you have it, so that when it is removed, you may have double the profit: both the reward laid up for you from the excellent expenditure, and the philosophy acquired from this contempt, which will be useful at the time of their absence. For money is called *chremata* [things used] precisely so that we may use it for a necessary purpose, not so that we may bury it; it is called *ktemata* [possessions] so that we may possess it, and not become possessions of it. You are the master of much wealth; do not, therefore, be a slave to it, of which God made you master; you are not a slave if you spend it to good purpose, but not if you bury it. Nothing is as unstable as wealth; nothing is as changeable as prosperity. Since, therefore, the possession of it is uncertain, and it often flies away from us faster than any bird, and leaps away more ungratefully than any fugitive, let us use it to good purpose for the time that we are masters of it, so that by establishing good things from the uncertain money, we may inherit the treasure laid up in the heavens; which may we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
THAT IT IS FULL OF DANGER BOTH FOR THOSE WHO SPEAK AND FOR THOSE WHO HEAR TO PREACH FOR FAVOR; AND THAT IT IS USEFUL AND THE GREATEST JUSTICE TO ACCUSE ONE’S OWN SINS.
B α'. I think I struck you sufficiently the other day, and inflicted a deeper wound: therefore it is necessary to heal it today, and to apply milder remedies. For this is the best manner of treatment, not only to cut, but also to bind up wounds; this is the admirable law of teaching, not only to rebuke, but also to exhort and to console. This is what Paul also commanded: *Reprove, rebuke, exhort* (2 Tim. 4:2). If someone merely exhorts all the time, he makes the hearers more slothful; if he only rebukes, he makes them more callous; for, not being able to bear the burden of continual reproofs, they immediately run away. Therefore the manner of teaching must be varied. Since, therefore, the word bit into the mind of each one more severely on the previous occasion, we need milder teaching today, and it is necessary to drip the mildness of the word, like oil, upon the pains caused by the reproofs, after first reminding you of those reproofs.
We read to you the other day the law of Paul concerning the participation in the mysteries, laid down for all who are initiated. And the law was this—for nothing prevents reading it again even now: *Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup* (1 Cor. 11:28). Those who are initiated know what is said, and what the bread is, and what the cup is. *For he who eats and drinks,* he says, *unworthily of the Lord, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord* (Ibid. v. 27). We read this law to you; and we also explained the meaning of the utterance. We said what it is, *he shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord*, that he will pay the same penalty and undergo the same punishment as those who crucified Christ. For just as those murderers, he says, became guilty of the blood, so too these who partake of the mysteries unworthily; for this is what *he shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord* means. That which was said seemed to have great exaggeration and the threat seemed unbearable; we added also an argument from an example that has much coherence. For just as, I said, whether someone tears the royal purple, or stains it with mud, he has insulted the king who puts it on in like manner; so too here, both those who put to death the Lord’s body, and those who receive it with an unclean mind, alike conduct themselves insolently toward the royal garment. The Jews indeed tore it with [their] cross, but he also stains it who receives it with an unclean soul; so that even if the forms of lawlessness are different, yet the insults are equal.
This struck many, this disturbed many; it bit the conscience of the hearers, or rather, not of the hearers only, but also of me who am speaking before you; for the teaching is common, the wounds are common; therefore I apply common remedies. This was a work of God’s philanthropy, that both the speaker and those who hear should be subject to the same laws, share in the same nature, and that each one should be equally responsible when he transgresses. For what reason? That he may perform the rebuke with proportion, that he may become sympathetic to those who sin, that by remembering his own weakness he may not make the reproof unbearable. For this reason God did not bring angels down from the heavens and set them over human nature as teachers, so that they, on account of the superiority of their nature and their ignorance of human weakness, might not make the reproofs against us too unsparing; but He gave mortal men as teachers and priests, men compassed with infirmity, so that this very thing—that both the speaker and the hearers are subject to the same laws—might be a bridle to the speaker’s tongue, not allowing him to make his accusations beyond measure. And that this is true, Paul himself, who laid down that law, also taught us the reason, by saying thus: *For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men, able to have compassion on the ignorant and wayward* (Hebr. 5:1, 2). Whence and why? *Since he himself is encompassed with infirmity.* You see that infirmity becomes a pretext for sympathy, and the kinship of nature does not allow the one who commands to ever fall into excess, even if he contends vehemently? But why did I say these things?