and dost thou know that I know thee? When I was hidden in my mother's womb, and not having yet found my exit because the time was not complete, I saw thee in the womb of the one who bore thee, whom thou wast bearing; and I recognized thee; and when I was unable to speak, I shouted through the mouth of my mother: "Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:43). There I did not err, and now shall I not attain to knowledge? I ought to be baptized by thee, and dost thou come to me? The Lord answers, as thou hast just heard: "Suffer it for now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15). Suffer it for now; thou knowest not what thou sayest; I know what I am doing. Thou seekest that the glory of my divinity should be revealed to thee; it is not yet the time for this; all things are good in their proper time. Thou speakest the truth, but faith is not held toward thee; for the nation of the Jews is indeed incredulous; didst thou not call them a generation of vipers? Why, then, dost thou wish me to be revealed to them? They do not accept thy testimony concerning me; they regard thee as suspect regarding the office of the Forerunner. Suffer it for now; they shall receive a greater testimony. Suffer it for now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. John replies: In what way, Master? Then the Lord: Just as I am circumcised that I might fulfill the law, so am I baptized that I might confirm grace. If I fulfill a part and leave a part, I leave the dispensation mangled. I must fulfill all, that hereafter Paul may write: "Christ is the fullness of the law unto righteousness for everyone who believes" (Rom. 10:4). Suffer it for now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Suffer, John, the nature of water to be sanctified; I must fulfill all. If I do not receive baptism from thee, a king will not deign to be baptized by a poor priest. Suffer it for now, suffer that the Father may cry out from on high: "This is my beloved Son," not that the Jews might call me a carpenter’s son, but the Son of the heavenly Father. Suffer it for now, do not oppose Adam; I am the second Adam, who wish to wash away the filth of his sins; if I am not baptized, how shall he be purified? Therefore, I, being thirty years old, am baptized, adopting his age, so that through that which pertained to him, that which is mine might be confirmed. Suffer it for now, that the word of the prophet might be fulfilled: "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters" (Ps. 28:5). And the spectacle was terrible. John trembling touched the head of the Master, and the angels looked on as the heavens were opened; and the Spirit of grace in the form of a dove flying to the head of the Master, was renewing the right hand of John. The multitude stood by, greatly doubting, and saying to one another: "Who is this?" From here, answering the crowd, the Father cried out to him who was asking, "Who is this?" and said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: listen to him." The Begetter testifies to his love for the Son by crying out, that thou mayest learn the Creator's affection for the world, who for such servants delivered up the Son, for the hateful the beloved, for sinners the sinless, for the inglorious the glorious. Therefore, let us celebrate with glory the Lord who has appeared, with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
NOTICE REGARDING THE HOMILY ON THE MEETING OF CHRIST
Anyone of refined taste will grant that this homily is unworthy of Chrysostom. For there are many things here, especially toward the end, that are inept and childish. Rightly, therefore, was it relegated among the Spurious in previous editions. The Latin interpretation is by Fronto Ducæus.ON THE MEETING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND ON THE THEOTOKOS, AND ON SIMEON. ORATION
Not only does our Lord Jesus Christ clothe himself in flesh, but he is even circumcised according to the prescription of the law, that he may remove every occasion for Jewish incredulity. For he comes to the law for the sake of the law, that through faith he might free the disciples from the law; and he assumes flesh, and is circumcised with the Jews. He enters into communion of flesh, he enters also into communion of circumcision; he confirmed the kinship, lest they deny Christ to have risen from the seed of David, whom they were expecting; he showed the token of kinship. For if, when he was circumcised, they said, "We do not know whence he is" (John 9:29), if he had not been circumcised according to the flesh, they would have had a specious occasion for denial. "After the eight days were completed, that the child might be circumcised" (Luke 2:21). "After the eight days were completed": for the law orders the circumcision to be done on the eighth day; and when the eighth day arrives, the physician proceeds into the midst, and takes up the iron, and practices his art, and the sabbath ceases on account of the circumcision. Let us therefore question the Jews: The sabbath is a rest; it is a day of perfect vacation; for what reason does the eighth expel the seventh? Why does the eighth surpass the seventh? But the Jews indeed do not know Jewish matters at all; but the Church of Christ knows Christ and the Jewish documents. For the child is circumcised on the eighth day, because the Lord's resurrection was to be the circumcision of the whole world on the eighth day. For why did Moses not command them to circumcise on the sixth day? Why not on the ninth or tenth? The eighth day is therefore illustrious and clear, the day on which the Lord rose. If anyone, therefore, does not believe in the resurrection, he is uncircumcised in heart, and through incredulity is alienated from God. But circumcision itself is the true knowledge and understanding of faith. Therefore, most beloved, circumcision is handed down to the faithful in place of holy baptism; but the holy baptism of Christ is a figure of the resurrection. Pass, therefore, from the flesh to the spirit, and from the corporeal to the mystical anagogy of the Spirit, and there thou shalt find carnal circumcision, but here spiritual, and the purgation of sins. The eighth, moreover, is the circumcision, the eighth also is the resurrection; but baptism is the figure of the resurrection. Therefore, a progress is made from small things to greater; from corporeal things to those which are more spiritual. Let the Jews, therefore, draw near, and make progress; for progress is to be made from carnal things, and one must not stick in them. And our Lord Jesus Christ, indeed, who "did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it" (Matt. 5:17), was circumcised with the Jews. The evangelist therefore says: "Those eight days were completed that he might be circumcised, and his name was called Jesus; which was called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb" (Luke 2:21). For we indeed receive names after the infant is brought forth by childbirth; but the name Jesus was imposed before he was born; for he was before he was conceived.A And when, he says, the days of their purification were fulfilled, according to the Law of Moses. Of what purification? That of Mary and Joseph; for the Law commanded the woman who had recently given birth to be purified, to observe the days, and to be restricted from leaving. When, therefore, the days of purification according to the Law of Moses were completed (although the Virgin had no need of it, yet the Law was being fulfilled), they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord. Where there was bodily purification, he says, "according to the Law of Moses," but where there is the presentation of the Holy One, he says, "as it is written in the Law of the Lord"; not that the Law of Moses was not the Law of the Lord—for whatever the prophet speaks, conversing with the Holy Spirit, he does not speak himself, but the Lord suggests it—but yet, because the purification had a bodily type, he says, "the Law of Moses"; and because the first-born was being presented, he says, "according to the Law of the Lord," honoring the one being born: As it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord." This word, therefore, and the whole Law, and the cause of the Law, were established for the sake of the one who was about to open the womb. For all the first-born of animals and men never actually opened the womb, but were merely first-born; but when the Virgin gave birth, He alone opened the womb. See, then, the disposition of the entire Law for the sake of the One who was about to be born solely from a virgin. How was it possible for the Jews to understand this? For being carnal, they are very far from understanding the thoughts of spiritual perception. B Then they went up to offer a sacrifice, "according to that which was said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons." And these things also happened typically according to the Law, so that nothing might be lacking for the fulfillment of the Law. These are legal riddles; but let us come to the evangelical exposition: "And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and that man was righteous and devout; and the Spirit of God was upon him." This man had been promised by the Holy Spirit not to finish his life until he had seen the Christ of the Lord. Simeon was an old man, and he was awaiting the gospel; he remained in the temple, saying inside himself, "Wherever he may be born, he will surely come here." He came in the Spirit to the temple at that very hour when the parents were bringing the child. He had often come, but for a private reason; but then, being led by the Holy Spirit, he comes opportunely for the fulfillment of the promise. He received Jesus in his arms, and blessed God, and said: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart, O Master, according to thy word, in peace." From where do you depart? From the life-struggle; for matters are sorrowful, and this life is a prison. He truly wished to be released; but if anyone considers the departure from here to be a loss, that person is not yet perfect in faith. Nevertheless, he said: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart, O Master, according to thy word, in peace." For He who was about to make peace with the world had arrived; the peacemaker has come, He who joins heaven to earth, and makes the earth heaven through the gospel teaching, has arrived. Simeon says: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart, O Master, according to thy word, in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation," he says. What is it that he says? For previously I believed in my mind, and I knew it by reasoning; but now my eyes have seen it; and what I expected in my heart, behold, my eyes have seen accomplished. And what? "I have seen," he says, "thy salvation." Which? "Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples," not of one people, nor of Israel alone, but before the face of all peoples; for the One born is a teacher for all. "A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." Because of the light? Because the Gentiles were in darkness; because the darkened Gentiles were illuminated. C "A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." There is glory, and there is revelation; there is the beginning of teaching, and here the consequence of learning. "The glory of thy people Israel." But surely one will say: And where are the Israelites? You have Peter, you have Paul, you have John, you have the three thousand, you have the five thousand, you have the Church of Jerusalem, you have those from the Jews who have believed; for in those who believed was the nation. For unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have been born as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah. For God also says: "Yet I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Thus, the seed of faith was preserved in the people, and the whole people did not perish; God forbid! Nor were all the Jews corrupted; since even now in this blessed state and calling, many are called, but few are chosen. For Christ called the whole world, and prepared the holy feast of the Gospel. But when He comes in the second coming, He enters and makes a selection, and examines those reclining; and if He finds one of those reclining not having a wedding garment, He says to him: "Friend, how did you enter here, not having a wedding garment?" And He will cast him out, as we heard in the Gospels. So there was a selection there, and a selection will take place here. For because we have been called, we should not immediately become arrogant, as if we had attained the perfection; for let the fall of the first be a security for us. Thus, beloved, even the people did not all perish, nor were they all corrupted, nor did they all disbelieve, nor did they all persecute the apostles, but three thousand believed through the apostles, besides women and children; and a Church of ten thousand men was formed in Jerusalem while the temple was not yet destroyed, nor the Jews yet cast out, nor Jerusalem yet brought down. The Church was built, and John's words became a manifest truth: "He must increase, but I must decrease." Therefore, Simeon, being a prophet, says: "The glory of thy people Israel." For the meeting of the Expected One was the glory of those awaiting it; and Joseph and Mary also glorify what is said: an angel brought the good news, the Magi recognized it, the shepherds heard, the armies of angels danced, a star indicated from above, Simeon prophesies, Anna the daughter of Phanuel prophesies, the earth rejoiced, heaven spoke through the star, the Magi denied the tyrant, the shepherds worshipped the chief shepherd, all recognized Him, the mother saw, Joseph heard; they trembled at the things taking place, and they understood the outcome of the events. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother: "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against." For whom for the fall? Clearly those who disbelieve, those who speak against, those who crucify. For whom for the rising? Those who recognize and gratefully confess. "And for a sign that is spoken against." What sign is spoken against? The sign of the cross, which the Church knows to be the salvation of the world, which the Jews hate, which often heaven also proclaimed. But the sign is spoken against, so that the truth may be victorious; for without contradiction, complete victory does not happen. Therefore it was necessary for the contradiction to be introduced, so that the Judge, by longsuffering, might present the vote through the whole age. Therefore he says: "And for a sign that is spoken against; and they who disbelieve speak against it. And you also," he says, "you who think you are a mother; so you will be proof against temptation, since you confessed that you are a mother, since you gave birth to Him, since you thought of lending Him your womb? For your belly became a vessel of the operation of the Spirit. So will you be proof against temptation?"
A Nothing. But when you see Him on the cross, when you see Him suffering for the world, when you see His hands stretched out on the cross and fastened with nails to the wood, then you will begin to doubt and say: "Is this He of whom the angel spoke to me? Is this He in whom the miracle of my conception consists? Being a Virgin, I gave birth and remained a virgin; why is He crucified here?" And a sword shall pierce your own soul also. Therefore, no one was free from temptation, according to the prophecy of Simeon. Peter, the prince of the disciples, denied Him three times; the other disciples, having abandoned Him, fled. For the shepherd did not need the help of the sheep while driving away wolves, nor did the athlete need helpers, but all had gone away; Christ alone hung like a ram. Therefore, a sword also pierced His soul—that is to say, trial and a certain hesitation of mind—"and a sword shall pierce your own soul also, that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." Therefore Jesus suffers to refute unbelief, and to confirm the steadfastness of the believers. B Furthermore, the sign is spoken against, so that those who speak against it out of malice may be confuted. For if the truth had not been subjected to any human contradiction, piety would never have been put to the test; but the permission of contradiction makes it tested by the choice of truth. The sign is spoken against: for if it were not so, how could martyrs have been proven in persecutions, who, while they contended, were declared victors through patience? And see how much contradiction has been of benefit, since it has made not only faithful ones, as one might perhaps suppose, but also martyrs of those who have advanced even to torments and death, and have given a specimen of the grace of Christ. When, therefore, Simeon says, "He is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against" (Luke 2:34), it must be noted that neither is resurrection forced upon anyone, nor does He Himself work ruin, but He is set for ruin to those who have stumbled at the stone of offense; but for resurrection to those who have believed of their own will; for He is set, as if to say: "Light arises, so that those who are healthy may see; but those whose eyes are sick, flee the splendor of the light all the more." C How, moreover, would these who have fallen have been worthy of reproach, and those, on the contrary, have risen having good hope of their own will, if the sign had not been spoken against? Why does Simeon say, "And for a sign which is spoken against"? So that contradiction might not deter those who believe. For even the truth which is according to God is spoken against, God surely permitting it: for no one could speak against it unless God permitted it; but it is necessary that it be permitted, so that those who are tested may become manifest. For there will be a time when there will no longer be a place for contradiction: for when the sign shall shine forth from heaven, then every knee shall bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and finally every tongue shall confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10). For as long as the sign itself only appears, and it is also only a sign, while He who is designated is nowhere seen, the sign is spoken against; but after He himself who is designated shall have been revealed in His second coming, no one will any longer dare to speak against the sign, when He who was designated shall arrive with manifest divinity against those who speak against Him. D Then, indeed, those who have received the sign will be heaped with glory by Him who is designated; but those who have spoken against the sign will be condemned by Him who is denoted; and it will be the end of contradiction, the end of error, the end of doubt, the end of unbelief; but the beginning of rewards and crowns—which may it be our lot to receive, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.
NOTICE TO THE HOMILY ON THE PREPARATION DAY
Those who, before us, have taken the trouble to edit the writings of Chrysostom have rightly placed this homily among the Spuria, and we agree with them; and all who have even lightly touched upon Chrysostom’s style and manner of speaking will likewise agree. The Latin interpretation is by Fronto Ducæus.ON THE HOLY AND GREAT FRIDAY
Our contest of fasting is now finished, and it has ceased at the cross; for what other end was it fitting for the victory to attain than to be terminated by a trophy? For the cross is a trophy, once planted, but which always puts demons to flight; for where are now idols and the slaughter of useless animals? Where are temples and the fire of impiety? It has been extinguished; all things have fallen by the power of one holy blood. The cross is therefore a power much potent, an invisible weapon, a medicine lacking in matter, a fountain of quenching for labors, a glory without disgrace; so that, although I may say other infinite things about Christ, although I may make the listener astonished by recounting six hundred miracles, I do not boast in those so much as in the cross. This will be made clear by a self-evident example. Jesus came forth from a virgin: it is a great miracle to surpass marriage and to renew nature; and yet, if the cross had not existed, the first virgin of paradise would not have been saved by the works; but now, at the time of the cross, the first woman is saved, who cures the ancient evil with new bounties. For a dead man was raised in Galilee, but he died again; but I, having been raised from the dead through the cross, cannot any longer succumb to death. Jesus sailed the sea, God in a small boat; the wood served for a day: but I have received an eternal wood, a good one, using which in place of a rudder I shall repel the fluctuations of spiritual malice. Five thousand were nourished under one sign of the cross: where then are the leftovers of the food? How shall I, who am not present, receive the leftovers of those who are present? For there were twelve baskets of fragments which remained: clearly a congruent grace. Christ is crucified, and we are always nourished, and we seek again, and there is more that remains; for the grace is unharmed. Let the day which gave birth to the light be praised, through which other days were called to joy. How by this pact? Listen. Today Adam was formed, on the sixth day; on this day he bore the divine form; today a small world was constituted in the world, today man, the governor, seized the preeminent rudders of human nature, the prince of all living creatures;In Holy and Great Friday
A Today voluntary mandates are undertaken, today He is cast out of paradise, today again He is introduced. O day of weeping and at the same time void of all sadness, and of evening—or rather, yielding delight to all, and healing many! It is with great pain that I confess to you that these calamities occur to me: hearing that Adam, a citizen of paradise, had been cast out of his paternal home, he who had been nourished without agriculture, who had lived in delights without rain, or the labor of a hoe, or toils, or fatigues for the sake of life, always rejoicing in ever-flourishing trees, moving from flower to flower, from fruit to fruit, having need follow his desires, yet lacking nothing—I have wept often for such blessedness, seeing it fallen; for the suffering was novel, and touching our own race. But since I have encountered the Gospels, and I have taken hold of this day (for that was already one, and so is this), I have lost my grief, and I am clothed in white with the word, and I say to myself and to you: Pain, grief, and groaning have fled; the old things have passed away, behold all things have become new. For just as the children of physicians heal serpentine wounds, pouring out from them the antidotes, and having prepared them, waging war against the suffering by the very causes of the pain; so too our Savior used all the sources of evil for good, making the bitter sweet, turning the bile into healing, turning the sting of death against itself, changing the harm of the wood into salvation, taking the day that frightened the world, and returning the day that gladdened the world. Do not trust me, but your own eyes; look at the present church, and cease from contention against us. It is the day of the cross, and we all rejoice, and we fast from evils, and we are purified in all things, both within and without. This is the argument of the feast, this is the mode of joy. I speak of small miracles of the power of the cross: look toward the circle of the inhabited world, how many villages, how many cities, how many places, how many nations, how many islands, how many rivers, how many shores, how many races and tribes, and tongues of barbarians; they all fast because of the cross, having crucified their passions by its power; and for many the night is released, and the labor of the fast is not released. And now why have we all gathered to hear something about the cross, and fill the church, and push one another, sweating, laboring—we who are often deemed worthy of priority before judges, yet stand gladly before Jesus? Because Jesus also stood for our sake, that He might stand against the currents of wickedness. What then was done today? Lest the miracles of this day simply pass us by. It was B already light, the very break of dawn, and He is led bound in his hands into the praetorium of Pilate. What kind of hands? Those capable of healing the blind, capable of curing the lame. And fingers were bound with fetters, which had fashioned eyelids, and the healer of nature was held back from fulfilling the work of his own art. These things are returned to the Lord. He was bound who binds the waters in the clouds, He who looses the fettered in courage, He who grants remission to the captive; He was bound who loosed Lazarus from the bonds of death; He was led into the praetorium, He who is escorted by myriad angels. He stood before Pilate, He who has heaven as his throne; and He endured being dragged by the creatures, the Creator by the creations, the fashioned by the fashioner, the maker by the made. What then of these things? What happens? And they, he says, did not enter into the praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. O the great lawlessness! They work the murder of injustice, and they refuse to enter into the praetorium, keeping themselves from being defiled, they who are already defiled, loosening the sheep for the sheep. Thus did the Judge of the whole inhabited world wait? He waited for witnesses, He who is the witness of souls; having fashioned, and yet being judged; and men sat judging, but God stood, and standing He was silent, standing by the portals of men, He the Lord of the heavenly gates. Pilate asked, perhaps more humanely than the Jews. Why do I say perhaps? The things done will show the truth: What accusation do you bring against this man? Who has any charge against God? For I am compelled to utter the words of Pilate. For Jesus was silent, the Word not wanting for words, but that He might not by his response unbind the crown of the cross. And did He who possesses nothing desire possessions? Of houses not his own, He who never had where to lay his head? Of money, He who stripped even his own disciples to the waist? Not having a donkey, He acquired one not his own, that He might bless your children. Offer a pretext, fabricate one, kill justly. The Jews answered him: If this man were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him to you. A great proof of things, an indefinite verdict; declare the wickedness, and do not mislead the listener. Pilate says to them: Take him you, and judge him according to your law. A grateful judge who put the burden upon the head of the Jews; you take a sharer in your wickedness. The Jews say to him: It is not lawful for us to kill anyone. How then did you kill Isaiah, how Zechariah, how each of the prophets? But it is not for you to kill, not because you do not wish to, but because you are not able; for they had already been deprived of such authority by the Romans. The law is therefore already dissolved, inactive in deeds, but lying in the ink; and Jesus who was bound dissolved it. But Pilate: I find no fault in him. Not you alone, O Pilate, but not even the Jews, but not even the blind, but not even the dead, nor the sun, nor the moon, neither the world, nor all the righteous prophets and witnesses, nor the prophet who says "He did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth." All agree with Pilate, bringing a just vote; the Jews alone fight, judging with shouting, and struggling to darken the truth with tumult, and confirming that of Isaiah: I waited for him to make grapes, but he made thorns, and C not righteousness, but a cry. While these things were being done, and Pilate could neither speak nor hear because of the mixed tumult, and sedition was being meditated. His wife sent to him, a good helper, holding her husband, saying: Have nothing to do with that just man; if you can, save him; if you cannot, save yourself; almost saying the saying of David: Do not destroy my soul with the ungodly, and my life with men of blood. Have nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered much in a dream because of him. Another Joseph, seeing the truth through dreams, testifying against the shouting of the Jews; for it was fitting that they be put to shame by women. Rahab the harlot defeated them, the woman with the issue of blood defeated them, the Canaanite woman defeated them; and now again a woman against them. They are distressed; the Jews answered him: We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die. What law? Supported by what words? Perhaps those read today? "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth; for the iniquities of my people he was led to death." These are the syllables I find useful for them; but elsewhere in no way is Jesus rightly slaughtered. Pilate entered into the praetorium, yielding to the anger of the Jews, striving to extinguish an unquenchable flame. He entered, and he came out; he kindled the fire all the more. For he came out having Jesus crowned, a miracle unwelcome to the Jews, showing the enemy to them already crowned, already victorious, already clothed in royal attire. For that which happened was for insult, but it was an enigma of his royalty by nature. But when they saw Him, whom they often saw, whom they never saw, whom they always watching are set on fire, consumed by their own fire (for they will wish, if they were to…[815]
[LATIN COLUMN] 815 A consumed by their own fire (for they shall long to be consumed by flame): they have raised the Sodomitic cry and have been raised up: "Away, away, crucify him." Do you wish to crucify your king? "We have no king but Caesar," they say. A denial without persecution, impiety after the wonders of Egypt: "These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Have you no king but Caesar? Who, then, was your guide on the way in the desert? Or who fed you? He whom Moses proclaims, saying: "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." Since, therefore, you have denied your king, remain henceforth without a king, bearing the yoke of eternal slavery. These things have been done up to this hour: let us see the remaining part of the day; for the whole is holy. They received him crowned: B with what things? With thorns, the gifts of the Jews. "I looked that he should bring forth grapes, and he brought forth thorns": he was struck with palms, he was scourged, he endured whips; but he was not ashamed to bear any of these things. Stand with Isaiah, and look upon God with those eyelashes of his. What then does he say? "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We saw him, and he had no form nor comeliness; but his form was dishonored, and failing beyond the sons of men." According to his humanity, not his divinity, does Christ suffer. He had not beauty, nor form—the author of all beauty; for he was grieving for the evils of the Jews, a man being in stripes, and knowing how to bear infirmity. A man, not God; for it was a man, not God, who was being struck. Who then is this one, pressed by many labors and many sorrows, and agitated by all? Does he perhaps suffer justly those things which he suffers? But he bears our sins, and for our sake is pained by sorrows. "I find no cause in him." Nevertheless, he was not ashamed of the ignominious [goods]. For he remained impassible while suffering so many things: he was wounded, he was covered with spittle, he endured all most shameful things, and the same remains crowned with honor and distinguished by glory, as one of those struck, as Isaiah says: "And we thought him to be in pain, and in a stripe, and in C affliction: but he was wounded for our transgressions and he was made infirm for our iniquities." Therefore, both he and we lie wounded: "By his stripes we are healed." A dead man, the physician of the dead; wounded, the remedy for miserable men. But how long, O man, will you continue to draw out our confidence through circumlocutions? Speak a little more plainly what we seek. "As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer he is dumb." A good sheep handed over to evil cooks: if you slaughter, O Jews, do not shear; but if you shear, spare the sheep, which produces many useful things for you. "And there were also two other malefactors led with him." For our discourse runs even unto the eleventh hour of the day, so that no one may be discouraged regarding his own life. 816 And I would indeed have wished to pass over the history, because we have narrated it often, but I see the thief, who always offers me violence. Nor is that a miracle: for he offered violence even to the gates of paradise itself, having been transferred by a craft unto salvation. The Lamb stood on the cross with two wolves: but the one remained in his mind on the earth, but the other was already being changed: "Remember me," he says, "when thou comest into thy kingdom." O the great power of Jesus! A thief already, a prophet, proclaims from the cross: "Remember me, O Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom." But what kingly sign do you see, O thief? The palm, the spittle, the nails and the wood, and the mockings of the Jews, and the now-naked lance of the soldiers. "But I do not perceive," he says, "what appears: I see angels standing around, the sun fleeing, the veil rent, the earth trembling, the dead already meditating flight: Jesus receives everyone, who gives the same denarius even to those laborers who came about the eleventh hour." "Amen I say unto you (receive also you the Amen, O thief, O you who art a thief today): today thou shalt be with me in paradise." I, who closed the gates of paradise, who blocked the access with a flaming sword—unless I bring him in, the gates remain closed. Come hither, plunderer, who have plundered the devil, who have been crowned against him. When you saw man and God, you worshipped: you cast aside the old weapons, but you received those of faith. Which being so, and all things being sanctified, from the ether indeed the sun, from the plants the wood, from the animals [gall], from the woven cloths the seamless tunic, from the sea purple vestments, from the metals and iron, the spear and nails, and twin fountains of blood and water poured forth, the Savior performed his duty: "Father, forgive them their sin." To whom the remission? To Greeks, Jews, strangers, barbarians, and finally all: for he spoke once, and the work is performed until now. For he did not say, "Forgive," only of his enemies: every year he says it, and always says it, and whoever wills, receives it. All came to the praetorium of Pilate: saying what? "We know that that deceiver said while alive: After three days I will rise again." Do you know clearly? Do you remember clearly because he rose? "Secure the sepulcher, for it is secure to me: guard the dead man, lest he flee." "You have," he says, "a guard: Go, guard as you know; conclude as you know, compose as you know, keep as you know; unless you keep, you leave me a cause for excuse. Now, however, I deliver him to you, who, while he lived, was seized by you; when, however, he was killed by you, he hid from you all." Let us therefore remain living soberly, that we may see the deep sleep of the Jews, and keep the feast day with the heavenly hosts, to Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.