A He who is renowned in the heavens, Samuel, came to be, surpassing man even—a zealot for the angels; for it was necessary, I believe, that the wheat of prayer should appear in such a form, excelling others in goodness and in the virtues of his way of life, and surpassing those before him as much as those who prosper in grain excel the rest in the fields. With this, David repelled so many and such great wars, not wielding arms, nor brandishing a spear, nor drawing a sword, but being walled about by prayers; with this, Hezekiah quickly put the multitude of the Persians to flight. And while they brought engines of war to the wall, he walled the wall with prayers; and the war was brought to an end without weapons—through prayer, with the trumpet not sounding, the army remaining quiet, weapons not being moved, the earth not being stained with blood—with prayer being sufficient for the terror of the adversaries. Prayer also saved the Ninevites, and quickly repelled the wrath being brought from heaven, and quickly corrected a life that had been corrupted among men.
B For it has such strength and power that, although the Ninevites had lived their whole lives shamefully and wickedly, when prayer entered the city, it quickly changed everything and brought with it temperance, justice, friendship, concord, provision for the poor, and all good things. For just as when a queen enters a city, all wealth must necessarily follow, so too when prayer enters a soul, every virtue enters with it. For what a foundation is in a house, that is prayer in the soul. And it is necessary that, having fixed this first as a foundation and a certain root in the soul, everyone should diligently build upon it temperance, and gentleness, and justice, and provision for the poor, and all the laws of Christ, so that, having subsequently lived according to them, we may attain the good things in the heavens, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
SPURIA
MONITUM
Although this homily is not altogether inelegant, it nevertheless displays quite a few signs of spuriousness, namely the very frequent antitheses and other ornaments of diction foreign to Chrysostom. On this account, it has been rightly cast among the Spuria by Henry Savile and Fronto Ducæus, the latter of whom speaks as follows concerning this same discourse: "Two homilies attributed to Chrysostom have been published by Aloysius Lipomanus, and are found in Surius, vol. III, in the lives of the Saints, concerning this subject: the style of this one is more similar to those than to the character of his other works. One begins, 'Festi celebrandi,' p. 795; the other, 'Benedictus Deus,' p. 799. In the former there is a passage from which, by collation with this one, one may suspect something is missing: 'an aerial traveler, a runner in human form,' perhaps inserting 'a winged creature or bird,' as if it called the angel 'a winged creature in human form,' just as it said there, p. 794, 'a man...'"Homily on the Oracle concerning Zechariah, and on the Conception of Elisabeth.
Nothing is insubordinate to the Master’s decrees; for all things yield and serve the divine command. For He says, "He set a command, and it shall not pass away"; for He who established the whole at the beginning by His Word, is also able to transform his creations again by His Word. He once spoke for the waterless rock to become flowing; and it immediately erupts with rivers of water: "For He struck the rock, and waters flowed, and rivers were flooded"; and the rock, dry and previously untasted of water, became a fountain of rivers and a mother of waters; for nothing is barren to which God commands fruitfulness. C He, then, who once changed the barren rock into a pool, also commanded the sterile Elisabeth now to be revealed as the mother of a child, and showed the fruitless to be fruitful, and her who was weighed down by old age as a young, newly-wed bride. When she was hastening toward the grave, then she was being adorned for childbirth; when old age had withered the body, then God renewed the womb; and that which it had lost on account of time, it recovered through the Creator; and that which youth had lost, old age sought after; when she had become a neighbor to death, then she was named a mother of a child, and, surpassing the years of a grandmother, she fell into maternal care, and was carrying an infant in her arms, she who needed a staff for walking due to old age; and the old woman felt the firstborn child, and the barren one miraculously gave birth, so that a virgin giving birth beyond nature might be believed. Both are new and paradoxical; for a barren woman and a virgin are unexpected mothers. But the herald of this paradoxical birth was sent to the elderly Zechariah, the archangel Gabriel; and standing on the right of the altar, he appeared to him: "And Zechariah was troubled," it says, "seeing, and fear fell upon him." For he saw what he had never seen: D fire speaking, an incorporeal man, an intangible form, an incomparable spectacle, a vision unmatched, an aerial traveler, a runner, a winged creature in human form; and seeing, he was troubled. But seeing him troubled, the angel banished the fear with auspicious promises: "Do not fear, Zechariah, because your supplication has been heard, and your wife Elisabeth will bear a son to you, and you shall call his name John; and there shall be joy to you and gladness; and many will rejoice at his birth." Do not fear, Zechariah; I have not come brandishing fear, but I have arrived as a herald of joy to you. What joy? "Your wife Elisabeth will bear to you a son, and you shall call his name John"; he, as the morning star, will shine upon the world and will drive away the darkness of ignorance, calling upon the Sun of justice. "For he who comes after me has become before me, of whom I am not worthy to loosen the strap of the sandal." And he himself will go forward in the spirit and power of Elijah. The spirit of Elijah dwelt also in John; for the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; and in almost everything we find John similar to Elijah. The one resided in the mountains, and this one spent his time in the desert; the one was fed by ravens.