On Lent I

On the First Sunday of Lent Homily Ten On the First Sunday of Lent A Lament Blessed is the fast of the one who showed us the way, who through words leads us to the place of thirst, my brothers. My thoughts, my king, that I said, "It is a lament with the thoughts that loved the body and rejected the order of the word of life." In a lament over my people, the fashioner of my standing, while he covers me, because of what the spiritual excess has set aside. In the change for the sake of truth, the thoughts stood up, and my sins are many, for how long has the hand of the fitting one cast me down? Tremors were to me like floods in the things I sinned, for what is the cause that stood like a sorceress to pay back words? The separation that was in me spoke with me as in a lament, "For what have I sinned against you that you have placed my senses away from the remedy?" Like a garment you called me and awakened me, a watchful one, to rise up from the nature and to lighten the burden of your coming. Until when will you sleep and be silent from service? Hear the voice of the morning that shames the darkness. When you have finished the days of your life in idleness, depart from the body and enter yourself into the service of truth. Approach the work, even now, at the end of the day, so that tomorrow you may be worthy to receive a reward as you have been commanded. And if the strength of your senses is weak from the deeds, even so, pay back words as you are able, like one who is guilty.

Behold, I have testified to you, O thirst, in secret: read and say to me, "See, do not listen to that daughter of the voice who does evil." Behold, I have shown you the way of life: go with the good, do not be led astray by the evil ones who pursue the broad way. Grieve at your standing and correct the blemishes of your steps, and learn to walk the walk that slays iniquity, the killer of sin. Strive to walk in the work of love and faith, and strengthen yourself to stand in the hope of future things. Rouse yourself at the sound of the summons of the kingdom of heaven, and trouble yourself with the haste of the confession of life. In these, my judge, O thirst, stood against me like a guilty one, and I knew that my counsel is good, that it turns to the way of life. Come, O blessed ones, roses on the path that the zealous have trod, so that the blood of perfection may be mixed with the end of life, the full ones. Come, be likened to their conduct in the movements of the soul, and pluck the fruit of their zeal before the thoughts. From now on, learn that the Lord pursues his servants, and with what peoples he strikes his will to set all in order. Ask yourself like the masters of spiritual things, who pass from childhood to perfection. Be the labors of their victories like a vision, and see yourself, lest you be cast into the pit of iniquity. In body and soul, gather spiritual wealth, with manifest senses and hidden movements, take victory.

Suppress the wakeful senses by the pains of the body, and still the motions by the restraint of the passions. In order, give food to the body so that it may not be set loose, and with measures let the mind run with the members. The precepts of fasting cast motions upon the members, and they run together, its senses and motions, toward the goal of life. In fasting, when the body is dry, it becomes like a plow-ox that labors in the field of spiritual life. And after this, in secret, learn from the hidden power of fasting that it goes to quell the desires. The help of the spirit, teach the power of wisdom, and guide well the body and soul like friends. And if it is thus that the hidden sign makes wise, learn from the fellow citizen this which begins with fasting. He who first of all set out on the path of fasting, the desirer, and took the wealth of the spirit of revelations at the end of his fast. From it, the fruit of fasting first produces life, and sows its seed in the fire for the sweetness of the food from it. He who labored in the spiritual labor of fasting and took the reward of the hopes of the future. He who descended to the stadium of the desires and seized the prize, contending with the passions in the contest of bread. Forty days he stood in the arena night and day, and when he was victorious, he gave the sign, the crown of his hidden things.

O mortal of dust, whose nature is mortal, and who seeks likeness without mortal things that cannot be sustained. O body of flesh, be still the disturbances, and restrain the souls by the conduct of spiritual life. O earth of dust, abandon earthly customs, and while upon the earth, live by the life of the heavens. O dust, whose form is molded with waters of afflictions, whose limbs are as though not slack to endure afflictions. By fasting, first subdue his members like an athlete, and know that he is able to take up the contest in body and soul. Also the spectator of his athleticism saw him prepared, and opened before him the stadium of mysteries. Upon which he was tested in the treasures of the spirit, in the air of the spirit, he revealed hidden things that cannot be grasped except by the spirit. He revealed to him the sign of the power of essence that is from nothing, and supplied his strength to the limit of all that is. By the spirit he revealed to him that he saw the order of the works of his hands, and he saw in the air and marveled at the voice of the limit of all. In the hidden air he called and conversed in mysteries, and interpreted the meaning in a clear voice to his listeners. He wrote a new book, a sign upon his thoughts, and turned its writing on tablets of stone for the teaching of mankind. Three times he formed the letters of the book of life, so that whoever reads may increase the light of understanding and become wise.

One upon the heart, one upon the cheeks, and again upon the cheeks, two with a sign and one in the hand of the bodily ones. Behold, the spiritual meditation that teaches the spirit. Come, disciples, that you may teach the spirit; read and contemplate. Behold, the contest that shows in fasting; let truth be exalted. Come, fasters, establish its limit in your minds. Behold, the reward that the king gives to the new laborer. Put on, like armor, the limit of the self, and approach and conquer. In fasting, its lord knows every good servant, and thus he prepares for him the wage that overcomes his haste. Why then do you withhold from the bodily one food, and make it live in the likeness of immortal life? A mystery becomes small for the bodily ones, who are clothed in sufferings, when without food it lives in the place of the high kingdom. Even the cause of fasting is this for the discerning: that in future things they resemble fire by means of restraint. Without food, future things of life, when they are strengthened, and teach you to fashion their form in eternal life. It becomes new for mortality in that season, and marks it with a mystery before your eyes that you may resemble it. In fasting, it reveals to you the renewal of your members, that they may cast off the garment of mortality in the form of food. And the gift of fasting reveals to you the mystery of the renewal of your body, so that you may not be deceived by earthly things and may love its love.

If the seal of the word that was in him is dissolved, he does not labor in the service of his toil, for he is worthy of the mysteries. If the son of the covenant who loves his beauty is glorious in praise, he does not wander among earthly things, and he is dissolved. If the mortal stands in the beautiful mystery of the Creator, he does not become flesh over anything, and he is stirred up. Like the vision, he sets the fast of Moses, and the eye of the fleshly ones is humbled so that it may be examined in him. O members that were fearful over the members, O fathers that fled from them, the light of the eyes. O the light that persecuted the light by the strength of its light. O the lips, the face of the door of the mouth of the flesh, that cried out and became confused, the body and the soul when they are opened. Fearful is the person of the bodily one, and he exalts the bodies, and the voice of the word of his mouth stirs the senses and movements. Come, see the wonder in the body of a man who fasts and is amazed, for men who are examined in him are afraid. By the fast of Moses, hope is established for our renewal, that if we fast from evil things, our hope is sure. From evil things, restrain our heart with our lips, that we may be glorious like the son of the covenant in body and soul. Fast the mind with the members from everything that is foul, and restrain movements from desires as from bread. One man is a man in body and soul, who is whole entirely for the service of life.

Restrain your limbs from pride and anger and wrath, as members from the food of earthly things. The heart, emptied of envy, prays for itself in the order of Christ, every garment of the image that is upon its members. Do not fast with the mouth from food and release the heart; do not restrain the external senses and let the limbs go free. With fasting, heal the pains of the body and the blemishes of the soul, which knows the opportunity of secrets and falsehoods. Show the pains of the whole person, within and without, so that his power suffices to heal the body and cleanse the soul. He is a good physician who heals the wounds of the sick and, with compassion, binds up the fracture of evil and bestows life. Prayer and compassion, like medicines, give health, and hope and love give drink to the stomach of faith. This cup quenches the thirst of him who is in faith, for the sweetness of life without end is hidden within it. It is a sweet drink that drives away every garment in tranquility, and the sweetness of his drink is not exhausted by the mouths of his drinkers. Come, thoughts of the dry, go to the heat of evil; quench the thirst of your thoughts with the cup of sweetness. Come, the foolish who have become foolish and erred from the truth; approach fasting and taste the flavor of abstinence. Come, the envious who have troubled the simple; and calm the anger of the evil inclination that is in you with the sweetness of fasting.

Come, O victors, and walk in the evil of the whole [world]; Repay the alms in place of the afflictions of your oppressors. Come, O little ones who have defiled the sanctities of your members; Take purity in the partnership of the service of fasting. Come, O strong ones who have plundered the treasures wickedly; Fast and humble yourselves so that the blood may be restrained in the dwellings of the soul. O sinners, humble the harsh pride of your thoughts, And put on fasting, humility, and the poverty that marvels in its vision. O fools, cry out in the multitude of the belly with a voice of equality, And seize by its face the gate of fasting that it may be opened. O runners after silver, cast silver upon the earth of fasting, So that the wealth of righteousness that is indestructible may enter. O runners after glory, flee from vain and transient glory, And spread out its meals in the light of fasting that gladdens the soul. Fast, O faster, with the food, and also from glory, Lest the love of glory enter and dissolve your fast. Restrain your lips from slander as from bread, Lest you lose the word of your mouth, the labors of your soul. Spread the pure veil of fasting over your eyes, So that you may not be despised in the hollow of the blind pit. Restrain your eyes from the polluted sight that follows the body, And drink the cup of poverty of holiness with your ears. The eye is a slack thing, and in it a slack gaze dwells; Seize by its face the gate of desire for your purity.

Come, O victors, and walk in the evil of the whole [world]; Repay the alms in place of the afflictions of your oppressors. Come, O little ones who have defiled the sanctities of your members; Take purity in the partnership of the fast like a mirror. And wipe away the blemishes of your thoughts like your face. Bend the course of your thoughts like the garments of your body, so that the will of the soul may be complete for the discipline of the body. Do not be adorned with garments of the outside or with the daughter of Eve; Put on humility upon your thoughts as upon your body. Order the course of the eyes of your heart according to your ways, so that the children of the heart may not stumble in your frivolity. Restrain from the desire that is upon your limbs, and correct your conduct; Wipe away your thoughts like your face in the tenderness of the soul. See that you do not become a cause of stumbling in the desire of your face, lest you receive a double judgment for your sin and your causing to sin. Hear the condemnation of the multitude of your iniquity from the law that purifies the evil of your nature from all iniquities. Behold, your life from the pure law: be mild from the sinews and ask for mercy while there is time. Put on like armor the power of the fast, O men and women, for there is no distinction in the new mystery that he has made for you in his hand. One equality of that sign has revealed to you the fast, as it removes corruption from the body and also the discipline. Fast purely as he has commanded for the new mystery, so that the truth of the mystery may not be falsified by your laxity.

In body and soul, fast equally with all that is pure, Lest the fast of the mouth be defiled by thought. Do not mix with it in the sacrifice of your fast one of the wicked, For if it is polluted, it is not accepted before the All-Knowing. There is no will for the All-Knowing in the sacrifices of the wicked, And the fast of the body does not please him apart from the soul. The Jews fasted and offered sacrifices, and they were not accepted, Because their sacrifices were mixed with the worship of demons. The Hebrews fasted with external senses, and there was no trembling, Even the All-Seeing gives no reward to the fast of the body. They humbled the body, but the heart did not descend from pride; Outwardly they were fair, but empty of reward. Falsely the dissolute sought the reward of fasting, And they went and added sin to the spirit of error that leads them astray. Why do you fast, and not see that you are in the fast of the body? Why are you humbled, and not weep at the humiliation of your soul? O one who from abundance does a work that is despised every hour, And seeks reward like a diligent one from the master of the vineyard. O pride, a folly that cuts off the fruits of the vine, That contends with the laborer who has not wronged me. Burn the revelation of the mystery of the Creator in the language of the flesh, And they went and added, as falsely they fasted and were humbled. Do not fast like this fast, O wicked one, interpret; The Father does not want the humiliation of the body and the pride of the soul.

This fast that follows my will from the fasters, To loosen the knots that wickedness has tied within the thoughts. If you desire that your fast be pure from blemishes, Show your neighbor love and mercy, and receive him. Behold, teach us the mystery of the Spirit, O chosen fasters, Do not be polluted like the Jews who fasted and were scattered. Behold, show us the hidden one in the revelation of how it is fitting To purify oneself with one's members for the hidden eyes. Behold, examine for us the will of its love through Isaiah, Stand every hour according to his will in those who are sick. Strive, O excellent one, to destroy the labors of body and soul, And love the humility that gives life to the weak. Uproot the bitter food of thorns from your thoughts, And plant peace that brings rest to all within your mind. Food is a snare that covers the soul like a net, And it burns like a fire like beasts for the destruction of death. In the name of purity, food brings error like a leech, And it corrupts the inclination that eats the inheritance of death. Remove from the mind the food that covers within your thoughts, And thus approach the service of the fast in purity of soul. Let not food be hidden in your fast like a snare, As did the children of Israel who fasted and were painted. Do not use the gluttony of the stomach in your vigil, As did that foolish woman to the holy father.

Here, see the great murder that the wicked one committed, who covered himself with the schema of fasting and served murder. The fasters trembled at the voice of the murder that was in the fast, and they feared lest the wicked one be hidden in your thoughts. See, lest there be one who desires to prevail in the likeness of Ahab, and to think of the wickedness of killing the companion of his inheritance of his vestments. And if he does not kill, the one who prevails in the likeness of Ahab, later his heart is like a murderer over what he has done. The judgment of Gehenna is full for the will of the self, and the hand that wills is justified in it and also condemned. Even my fellow countryman willed and lusted after the poverty that is his, and the sword of the will of the self killed him who killed his companion. By the will he killed Abel, and it was not with a sword, and behold, he was a king and did not kill with his hands but with his heart. By the sheath of the sword, Jezebel concealed the sword of Ahab, and she placed it in the hand of the wicked one and killed the righteous one. In the scriptures she concealed the murder so that it would not be prevented, and she stamped on his face the seal of the king so that it would not be falsified. Cut off for us the fast, or the drinker, the helper of the fast, and place Abel at the head of the fasters who thirst for blood. And bring witnesses of falsehood against the true one, and go out, the spirit that thirsts for the king and also for God. O will, it thirsts always for the God of all, who was in the wicked one, pursuing a cry in the schema of love.

When did you love, O foolish one, the name of the Creator? And how did you honor the kingly ordinances with murder? O how much evil did the evil one accomplish, begetting murder, and you have no shame unless you yourself or your fasts are involved. O how much did the wicked tyrant accomplish, who with the schema of fasting covered himself and served murder like a serpent. Come, see the face of the serpent, the wickedness of the serpent, which cut the fast and shed blood in the name of fasting. Hear and weep bitterly, O wealthy ones, over this tumult that occurred in the land of the king's wife. Take counsel, O wise ones, good counsel for your companions, that you may not be condemned in the likeness of Jezebel, the queen of murder. Let not men be ensnared by the counsels of the vile, that you may not be scattered in the likeness of Ahab, who pursued and was scattered. Let not the evil one mix with his fast like the wicked, that you may not be condemned by the decree of judgment that shed blood. Let every man be a true faster like Elijah, who overcame the evil one and scattered wickedness and pursued blood. In his fast, let the lovers of the pure fast imitate the zealous one who fasted from bread and from pleasures and triumphed and rejoiced. In Moses, who also in his fast of forty days and nights fasted while he drove toward the covenant of the people. At the end of his fast, he was equal to revelation like the son of Amram, and the voice taught him love and mercy as it did Moses.

Behold the fasters who have completed the fast by means of their deeds. Come, be amazed, even if only a little, at their deeds. Behold, I have taught you the hidden word after the signs, so that whoever sees may take a crown like their labors. Their ways were evil to themselves, and in them they were likened, by pure and clean will, to the humble. Humble yourself like a man of the people who abandons pride, and conceal iniquity like Elijah who hid chastely. They removed the burden of the people's yoke like the upright; come, now, and work even now at the completion of the day. And if the course of your path is shorter than that of the former ones, come, join with the middle ones, which are easy for you. And if the labor of Moses and also of Elijah is difficult for you, behold Daniel, whose fast is easy and whose service is light. Three weeks Daniel fasted in his body and his soul, and purified his heart from the stains along with his members. At the end of his fast, he also received the reward of his labor: the spirit of revelation that was to announce the redemption of the peoples. O gift, which, when it is great, is greater than the givers, not diminished when distributed among the recipients. O givers, who from one treasury received a reward and became rich, and the wealth endures as it is. They made one reward equal for the sons of his house, lest one of his companions be honored more than the other.

One gift they received equally from one treasury, by which they had directed their wills toward one purpose. It is fitting for you to be amazed at the work of the fast and at the traces of their conduct, to run always. With them, journey by means of spiritual wills, that you may reach the perfection of the renewal of all. On the path of the fast, subdue your body together with your mind, with the vigils that weary and bring you to the place of life. Do not journey with the many on the broad path, lest you hear with the many who have gone to destruction. Christ is your head, who taught in his words that which is narrow: "Come, subdue yourself on it," that you may hear from him and be glad. He too, in the fast, ran on it first by means of abstinence, and he wearied and reached the completion of perfection. In the order of the servants, he too was like them, and he fasted and was strengthened, and after his fast he cast down the passions of the spiritual ones. Forty days and nights he stood in the arena, and with the adversary, while being tested, he abstained from himself. In forty days he completed his fast like the earlier ones, so that no one might think that his spiritual nature was different. In the order of his brothers and his cleansings, he was like them in his fast, so that he would not be separated from the feast of his beholders, for he was not a man. He was human from humanity, clothed with sufferings, and it was fitting for him to be like a man in everything.

You did not call him by the name "man" in a boastful manner. Paul shows that his nature and ours are one. One is the nature of the holy man and the man who sanctifies. And because of this, he did not delay in the name of his brothers. Again, he calls him in another place by the name "human," when he calls him a mediator and a human. And if the heretics are troubled by Paul's word, hear from him that he also calls himself "man." What do they say against me, the words that there is a man? And what do you wish to kill the man who proclaims the truth? Behold, he and his brothers called his congregation by the name "man." Why do the heretics err against the name of humanity? They strive against the congregation of your body in the likeness of beasts. And because of this, they contend with you like wild asses. In that incurable disease, they also cast down the beasts, and a remedy prevailed over them, which proclaims the healing of the body. I have seen the madness of their pastors even now, and my word turns aside from the discipline of the path of the fast. On the path of the fast, my word has proceeded from the beginning, that I may stir up the love of the men who were victorious through their fasts. Briefly, their thoughts ran over their narratives, that I might establish them as a spectacle before the fasters. On account of the fast of the servants of the king, my thoughts stir, that the narrative of the king and his servants who fasted and were victorious might be heard.

The powers of fasting you wished to reveal before the fasters, and you brought witnesses to the truth of my words, the king and his servants. It is also fitting for the one who judges lawfully to confirm his words from the Scriptures, from the books of the archives. The decrees of the king's law are established over every action, and behold, the words of my mouth are confirmed before the hearers. The fast of every day has this cause for the ascetics: that just as one ought to fast from bread, so also from iniquity. And again, it is also a mystery, that is, a sign that is not corrupted, that without food bodies live like spirits. In it there is also a cause, a restraint from evils, so that when the body is restrained by fasting, it orders its course. The cause of the fast of forty days is a period in which they found spiritual remedies for the healing of humanity. For they saw that the strong nature of humanity is prone to the course of every day, and they purified it and gave it a small remedy in the form of medicine. With the wondrous remedy they limited fasting to the youth of humanity, and they bound the yoke to the restraint of the festival's season. They placed fasting as a foundation for the building of love, so that each person might build his own temple with the conduct of life. Like a pinnacle at the head of the building, they perfected the festival, so that each might delight in the temple of the spirit of mystery and consent.

The cause of the feast is the sanctification of the body and the salvation of the soul. And it is fitting that the body and the soul fast together. Again, the victory of the king of Rome is also signified therein, that he conquered and was victorious and arose and was strengthened and strengthened all. At the end of the forty-day fast he established his victory, and taught his servants to remember it on the day of his victory. By his fast he revealed to them concerning his victory, that they might be strengthened by it, and by his victory he taught them to overcome sufferings. In forty days he strengthened the courses of perfection, that it might be light for whoever runs to the goal of the hereafter. He set the feast of his victory in the order of the life-giving mysteries, which refreshes those who travel the path of righteousness. On the day of his sanctification he gave heart to the bodily ones, that they might not be scattered when their limbs are weakened. The mystery of sanctification he revealed to them at the end of the fast, that when they offer with the sealings they might stand with him. Therefore, "Make your limbs dead," proclaimed Paul, when he said that the actions in the limbs are dead. Bury the pains of the body in the grave of the fast, that it may be equal to life at the end of the fast on the day of sanctification. With the lips fast together the movements and sensations, and as in a grave the actions of death are placed. The fasts are eyes that are not easily deceived, even the hearing that does not accept the morsel of slander.

Fasting binds the sinews of the limbs and the members, and it pays back glory like the wages of his deeds. Fasting restrains the hands from the work of sin, and the feet along with them from running to take what is another’s. Fasting restrains the mind from vain thoughts and the heart, lest harmful passions enter the soul as into a belly. Fasting from bread and from every pleasant thing, hidden and revealed, which gives a hidden reward to the body and to the mind. This is the fast that is chosen and beloved before the Creator, when the body and the soul are purified from every defilement. Thus it is fitting for one who fasts discerningly to cast away from himself every action of the passions. This is the fast of which it is said that it can put demons to flight, and the crown of victory is not withheld, as from an athlete. In this also the heralds of the word of life were exercised, and they raised up the power of the spirit to the eye of visions. Again, the dead, weak in strength, were strengthened by it, so that its power could give strength in weakness. Again, the elders took up his armor and armed themselves with it, as he commanded, that they might conquer by his hand the adversary and his hosts. With his armor he fights against the enemy who fights against us, and by his help the height of his rebellion is overthrown. A cry goes forth from the mouth of the fasters to the rebellious one: “Begone, evil one, weak is the power against the fast!

Fasting casts down the ranks of the glutton, and behold, his forces are scattered from the camp. In soul and body it delights every one who is spiritual, to him who shows you the way to the height by his victory. Blessed is he who, by his fasting, has freed you from the servitude of destruction.