Editorial Notice — Regarding the Homily on the Meeting of Christ

787 SPURIA. were fed, this one ate the tips of herbs: that one wore a sheepskin, this one camel's hair: that one was austere and apt to reprove, and this one likewise: that one rebuked Ahab, the king of the Jews, and Jezebel his wife: "You are the one," he said, "who subverts Israel and the house of your father" (3 Kings 18:18): so too John Herode and Herodias: "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife" (Mark 6:18). "And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children" (Luke 1:17). What is it, "To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children?" The fathers of the Jews, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, and all the just, when they saw the people prone to sins and easily fornicated with strange gods, they turned away from them as being such. But from the time that John preached the baptism of repentance, many were turned to God. When, therefore, they perceived that their own fathers were turning to God, they too turned their own hearts to them, and this is it, "To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, to make ready a perfect people for the Lord" (Ibid.), acceptable; of which David the prophet foretold, saying, "This is the generation of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob" (Ps. 23:6). ^B Zacharias, the old man, is still astonished at the conception of the wonderful boy: he still hears of that unusual birth with indignation; neither does he wisely consider within himself that the potter and creator of the womb can renew a worn-out one: and because of this he has fallen into the precipice of unbelief. For when the angel said: "Behold, Elisabet your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John," Zacharias resists the words and says: "Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days." Whence, he says, shall I be certain and sure? What kind of proof for this promise can you finally offer me? Show me now also the rod which, as in the time of Aaron the high priest, has blossomed: then indeed I will believe you that old age can also produce the fruit of a little child. "For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days" (Luke 1:18). Your words are indeed good and pleasing, but the promise is hard to believe. You promise me a son as if you were a matchmaker, hope after hope, to be sure; the flower of my age has passed: I have consumed all the time of my youth without bringing forth any fruit: when I have become 788 as a dry log, do you then compel me to bring forth fruit? I walk through the market with a bent body, and I can no longer look up to the sky: old age drags me to the earth that is related to me; for I am earth, and to earth I shall return: I am barely able to advance the step of my feet, and two feet do not suffice for me to walk; I carry a staff as a substitute for a third foot: for no son has been given to me up to this point, by whom I might be led by the hand; I am a movable tomb and a walking corpse. How then, from this time, will a son call me father? "For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days." When old age leads me to the grave, am I then to ascend the bridal chamber and beget a son, when the sun of my youth has set for me? And I am worn out with many years, and the womb of Elisabet is withered and dead. Whence, therefore, shall I know this? "For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days." And the angel answering said to him: "I am Gabriel who stand before God: and I am sent to speak to you, and to evangelize these things to you; and behold you shall be silent, and shall not be able to speak until the day in which these things shall come to pass, because you have not believed my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time." "And behold you shall be silent, and shall not be able to speak" (Ibid. v. 19, 20). I wish to do something, and you inquire, how? I have determined to produce a miracle, and you seek the reason and method? But you curiously examine the beginning of my works. Is any word impossible with God? Tell me, whence was Isaac born? Did not his father Abraham, an old man, beget him, and call Sarah, an old woman, his mother (Gen. 18)? You, being called to the same expectation, why did you not receive my words as he did? Wherefore, "You shall be silent, and shall not be able to speak, because you have not believed my words": I shall bind your tongue, which moved itself to an immoderate response: in the organ and member with which you committed sin, in that you shall also be punished: "For by what things a man sins, by the same also he is tormented" (Wisd. 11:17). Therefore, "You shall be silent, and shall not be able to speak, because you have not believed my words": being able to speak, you did not believe my sayings; being silent, await my words, "Which shall be fulfilled in their time" (Luke 1:21). For things which are impossible among men are possible with God. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. ^C

IN THE PRAISE OF THE CONCEPTION OF SAINT JOHN THE PROPHET, PRECURSOR, AND BAPTIST

Moses the great, that servant of God, the head of the prophets, the traveler of the sea, the charioteer of the air, the dispenser of the manna, the lawgiver of God, who was cast out by his mother, and saved by the enemy, this man, such and so great, built a tabernacle for the people of Israel according to the likeness which he had been taught by God on the mountain. And indeed he had made all those holy and sacred things which were contained within the inner partition; but what was the innermost was inaccessible and impassable to them, called the Holy of Holies. To this pattern of the tabernacle Solomon also built a temple; which not only in the value of the material and the variety of the art, but even in the very appearance of its structure, eclipsed all temples that are seen on the earth: so that they might never burn with a desire for those things which were among the Egyptians. And indeed that temple builds a likeness of the whole of this universe, both of that which falls under the senses and of that which is understood by the mind. For just as here are the earth and the heavens, and the intermediate space, this firmament: so also God ordered it to be made: and when He had divided this temple into two parts, and had spread the veil in the middle, it permitted that which was outside the veil to be approached by all: but that which was within, it was inaccessible to all, and to be seen by no one except the high priest alone, as had been commanded by the angel, with Moses speaking, so that...

you might say to the children of Israel: "In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls" (Lev. 16:29); this refers to the feast of Tabernacles; for it was then, during the feast of Tabernacles, that once a year the high priest alone would enter into the Holy of Holies to offer incense. Therefore, on this feast of Tabernacles, Zechariah also entered ^A to offer incense according to his priestly course, and he saw the angel standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; because your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John; and you shall have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great before the Lord, and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to prepare for the Lord a people made ready" (Luke 1:12-17). Do you see a promise exceeding prophetic power? This prophecy of Zechariah bound and loosed his tongue; for it bound it when the birth was being awaited, and loosed it when the birth had taken place. O, the wonder! John, from the womb an evangelist, from the belly a worker of wonders, a companion of the desert, and a fellow-dweller with the angels; he who is after the Law among the prophets, a second Elijah, and a most truthful herald, driving away error by the zeal of the Spirit, the forerunner and baptist, who says: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2); the son of Zechariah, and the offshoot of the barren woman, and the perfect achievement of the people’s prayers; the genuine initiator of repentance, and the advocate of believers who confess; the fulfillment of the Law, and the leader of grace, and the refutation of the impiety of the Jews; the confirmer of heavenly dogmas, and the impartial judge of the people's sins; he who was born of a barren womb beyond hope, and who, by the grace of Christ who brought water from the rock, became a bridegroom-leader; the charioteer of the Jordan’s currents, and a mediator for the cleansing of sinners; the foreknower of the incomprehensible mystery, and the prophet of the presence of the Invisible One; this is John, who was born according to promise to Zechariah in extreme old age. O the wonder! For behold, the leapings in the womb of John are shown in the works, which he signaled. The world saw the exultation which the forerunner depicted with his feet in the womb. But what honor shall we pay the righteous one, being surrounded on all sides by his accomplishments? For he is evangelized while being carried in the womb, he works miracles while being born, he makes progress while being trained in the deserts, he is fed by the Spirit while being led forward, he mediates between Law and grace, he preaches a baptism of repentance, he baptizes the Master as He approaches, he beholds while baptizing the glory of the Trinity, and he testifies to the Truth by grace, crying out as he points to the One prophesied, ^B confessing Him as Master, and as mightier than himself; he leads the believers to Him, instructing the crowds in what is profitable; he admonishes the tax collectors who are being baptized, he rebukes Herod who is acting illegally, and he receives the end after being blessed. With what words, then, shall we marvel? What tongue shall we move in these matters? What of these things do we pass over, and what shall we have the power to say concerning them? For the sea of praises is great, and the breadth of his accomplishments is vast; the very experience of the facts alone astonishes those who speak. But let Zechariah now come, the father of the righteous one, who was condemned by his silence and again uttered a voice; he will recount his own story to us most clearly: how he spoke when his tongue was restrained, how John is born, and the decree of the angel is loosed, how the punishment is taken away, and the healing comes. For the evangelist, introducing the short announcement to Zechariah and Elizabeth his wife, ^C signifies first their designations, their nature, and their worth; then he brings in praise of their way of life and the trophy of their benevolence, in which he also shows the condemnation of silence and recognizes the loosing of eloquence.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

SPURIA.

^A ...the office of the herald precedes the event: the Lord approaches, and the servant is sent before him. But why do I anticipate the proclamation of the wilderness, when another, quite singular and great voice of the prefaces is available to me? There are, indeed, works of the first importance which are superior to these words. For when the Baptist was still dwelling in his mother’s womb, still wrapped in the shackles of nature, still swathed in maternal bands, he proclaimed by a certain herald’s cry the Lord’s own coming. *It happened,* he says, *that when Elisabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb* (Luc. I, 44). He is not yet born, yet he speaks with leaps and gestures; he is not yet permitted to cry out, yet he is heard through his deeds; he is not yet taught to live, yet he announces God. *Others have labored, and we have entered into their labors* (Joan. IV, 38): the prophets crying out gave their predictions, nor did they cease even when struck; the company of the patriarchs found itself in peril; tyrants opposed them as if drawn up in battle array; kings waged war; the people were ignited with wrath; the whole world set itself as an adversary to the struggles of the righteous; on one side they were set before tribunals, on the other they were torn to pieces by scourges; on all sides were torments and tortures. John, in the midst of the great misery of this life, came and happily announced the end of the winter, and while still bound in the swaddling clothes of nature, he showed us the salvation of spring, and hastening to proclaim with his voice Him ^B whom he had pointed out with his own feet, he violated the very laws of nature and struggled to break through its boundaries; for he knocked upon the womb of Elisabeth as she was slow in giving birth; he leaped, and at once danced and felt indignant that he should be held in the fetters of the womb; he cried out against the period of the months; he shook the matrix as if it were an unjust prison, and with his leaps he seemed to say such things as these, addressing Elisabeth: "You do me injury, O mother, who are slow to give birth, you who detain the joy of the world and forbid the forerunner to come forth. You carry a prophet enclosed in the womb; you hold back the royal guard; you impede the swift runner of religion. You do me injury, O mother; you do not know the things that are to come, you are unaware of the things that will be. The light is here, break forth into the dawn; the sun is rising; let the morning star therefore shine forth; the Word is at the doors, and now there is need of the voice; the bridegroom is near; it is right, therefore, that the bridal chamber should now be opened in the Jordan; there is need of blood, that the world may be redeemed, and it behooves me from afar to point out the Lamb with my finger. The human race is entangled in the bands and shackles of sin; He has come who shall release the shackled. ^C There is need of an herald and a messenger, so that all, being warned, may go out to meet the Lord; and yet you hold the Forerunner in the womb. Come, therefore, to your mind, O mother; recall that Adam is held in the underworld, that Eve has been groaning for so many ages; for the blood of Abel still cries out and sets forth the same case against Cain, and the very elements groan along with him. For this reason you have been entirely delivered from the misery of the barren, that a barren woman might point out the Virgin’s son; for this reason I leaped in the womb, so that the devil might no longer dance his dances in the world." Such things, then, did John, not yet born, signify to Elisabeth by his leaps. *But the time for Elisabeth to be delivered was fulfilled, and she bore a son, and her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had magnified His mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child and called him by the name of his father, Zacharias; and his mother answering said: "He shall be called John." And they made signs to his father as to what he wished him to be called, and asking for a writing table, he wrote, saying: "John is his name." And all wondered. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue, and he spoke, blessing God* (Luc. I, 57-64). ^D Thus the child is born, and at the same time the father’s voice returns; for so is the voice of John signified as crying out; since the name itself expressed the effectiveness of the voice. "For I am," he says, *the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, make His paths straight* (Joan. I, 23). For when he was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he revealed the Creator to the creatures, and with fingertip extended indicated the Maker to all, crying out with a great voice: *Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world* (Ibid. v. 29). *Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance; and do not begin to say among yourselves: "We have Abraham as our father." For I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham* (Matth. III, 8-9). But why does our speech here go further, along with the fervent zeal of the infant himself? Let us now, if it seems good, for a while restrain our tongue, which has rejoiced enough and more than enough with the young child. For it is truly praiseworthy to measure an exposition with time, and to delight ourselves, as if with delicacies, in the things that have been said, but to await the following contemplation. For the Baptist did not violate the laws of nature with his leaps, but he himself also awaited the convenient time, as one who well knew that it would come to pass that for our sake the Lord would after him fulfill this, crying out: *The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas* (Habac. II, 14); and, *From the rising of the sun even unto the going down, my name is glorified; and in every place a clean sacrifice is offered to my name* (Malachi I, 11). For now there is not, as in the time of the Law, one temple which receives sacrifices and which alone glories in them; but in the whole world the churches praise the glory of God with sincere piety. There a pontiff was once for every year, and he was a mortal man, and filled with all sin; but now we have received the pontiff of our souls, Jesus Christ, *who did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth* (I Petr. II, 22). *For we have*, he says, *a great pontiff who has passed through the heavens, our Lord Jesus Christ* (Hebr. IV, 14), to whom is owed all glory, honor, and adoration, with the Father and the most holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

TO THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE MOST GLORIOUS LADY OUR THEOTOKOS.

Again a happy messenger of joy, again evidences of liberty, again a calling back, again a return, again an announcement of gladness, again a deliverance from servitude: the angel speaks with the Virgin, since also with a woman...