In caecum a nativitate

A homily of our father among the saints Athanasius on the man blind from birth. The affection of parents is a thing earnestly sought after by all men, genuine, desirable, more precious than any gold. There is no possession in this present life that can be weighed against parents. Gold is often lost, but the love of parents does not wither. Silver often tarnishes, but the birth-pangs of those who gave birth are not diminished. Pearls are often destroyed, but the tears of parents stand before the Lord. Therefore divine Scripture, recognizing the honor of parents, exhorts children, crying out: "He who speaks evil of his father or mother shall die by death." But someone might say: If the affection of parents is so earnestly sought after, why did David, slandering his parents, say: "My father and my mother abandoned me, but the Lord took me in?" What do you say, friend, to these matters? The affection of parents is more precious than any creature—but not in comparison to the Creator God of all; no creature can be compared to its creator. If David had said: "My father and my mother abandoned me, but so-and-so, my neighbor, or my relative, or my friend, took me in," he would have been asserting something contrary. But if he declared the Lord more compassionate than his parents, he neither insulted his parents nor failed to glorify God. For what reason did David adopt these words, saying: "My father and my mother abandoned me"?

But the Lord took hold of me. You all know clearly, you who are lovers of words, how the God of all, wishing to have Saul, as a base man, succeed to the kingdom, and to admit David, as a friend, into the kingdom, sends his own servant Samuel to the house of David’s parents, bearing the horn of ordination. The Lord says to Samuel: Go to the house of Jesse, anoint for me one of his sons as king. And Samuel, as one sent on a service, replied to the Lord, saying: And whom shall I appoint? Tell me the name, Master, so that I may proceed more diligently to what seems good to you. And the Lord said to Samuel: I do not want you to know the one being appointed, so that you may not be slandered as a favoritist. You have the horn of ordination; wherever the horn nods, and the oil pools, that one appoint for me as king. Holding the horn, an impartial arbiter, do not be troubled at all. Hearing this, Samuel, having received the knowledge from God, immediately ran with unwavering foot to the house of Jesse, saying to him: The Lord sent me to appoint one of your sons as king. Immediately, Jesse and his wife brought forward the first son, as one bearing the blessing of the firstborn and preserving good order among the children. But Samuel, immediately raising his hand, having formed himself for the ordination, and having nodded the horn, dismissed the first one unordained, since the oil did not wish to drip by divine nod.

As he brought each one of his sons before him except David, all returned plain and unanointed. When they returned plain, Jesse said to Samuel, “What have you done, man? You have erred, and you do not know it. Either you have erred, or you have passed me by to mock me. You entered by the door; you were sent here, and here you have emptied the horn. You have made us glad in vain, chattering and not fulfilling the promise.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Why do you astonish me, old man? You are condemning the one who sent me. Can a prophet ever be mistaken? If I had come by my own judgment, you would rightly doubt; but if the knower of hearts sent me, why do you refuse?” And Jesse said to Samuel, “In what then shall I consent? I have brought before you all the beauty of my children, and nowhere is the sign of the promise. Have you not rather failed to recognize the one who sent you? Have you not been sent elsewhere? Did you not rather come to me, an old man, to anoint?” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Why do you astonish me, old man? Do you have no other son? If you have none, I have erred; but if you have, I have not been mistaken.” And Jesse said to Samuel, “I have indeed another son, but he is small, of little account, not fit to be king. I am ashamed even to bring him forward.” And Samuel said to him, “Do you set yourself against the Creator? Are you ashamed to bring him forward? What then? Does God anoint corpulence? Bring this one forward then; the oil will surely settle, the horn will consent, I know. Let your house rejoice. What then? Because he is small, does that make him not a king? Wait a little, and you will see.

How will this small boy destroy the giant tower, I mean Goliath? Therefore, having perceived this reproach of his parents, David, handing down the Lord's extraordinary benefaction in divine Scripture, cried out: "My father and my mother abandoned me; but the Lord took me in." This grateful utterance of the prophet David, then, the man blind from birth, having recovered his sight, will also fittingly proclaim with a loud voice: "My father and my mother abandoned me; but the Lord took me in." You all clearly know how this man too was spat upon by his parents, but was not abandoned by God. But in order that we may discharge our debt and take a brief respite, so that we may again be entrusted with obligations, let us now fittingly bring forward the man blind from birth. You heard, beloved, in the earlier passage the evangelist John crying out: "And as he passed by," he says, "Jesus saw a man blind from birth sitting; and his disciples asked him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'" And the Lord said to them: "Neither did this man sin, nor did his parents; but that the works of God might be manifested in him. Having said this, the Lord spat on the ground, made mud from the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man." And he sent him to Siloam; and he went and washed; and having washed, he recovered his sight; and having recovered his sight, he believed the one who sent him. Listen attentively. The disciples asked the Lord, saying:

Teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" The apostles' question is just, and from this it is shown that they approached the Lord Jesus as God. For who knows the hidden things of men, except the tracker of hearts? Therefore the Lord did not refuse the question, but immediately gave the answer, at once fulfilling the apostles' inquiry and confirming his own trustworthiness. For the Lord answered and said: "Neither this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God might be manifested in him." That is, this man's present blindness is not a penalty for sins, but a defect of nature. For just as a plant, before it emerges from the earth, often receives harm in its root from atmospheric conditions, so this man, blind from birth, received his impairment in the womb—either because the mother's womb was unsuitable, or because the father's seed was deposited with bad humor. And he who can correct a defective nature will be found to be nothing other than the creator of natures. Therefore the Lord declared, saying: "Neither this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be manifested in him." And having said this, immediately through the deed

knows that he himself is the creator of natures, and that he said concerning himself: "so that the works of God might be manifested in him;" that is, so that through him I might be known, that I am not a mere man, but a mighty God. For the Lord could have healed the blind man by word alone, he who by his word fixed the heavens firm, according to the divine saying: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm;" he could therefore by word have healed even this man blind from birth. But he does not do this; instead he smears clay on his eyes, in order to make clear to all that he is the one who also molded Adam, and through like he fills out like. He does not make the procedure strange, so as not to dissipate the wonderworking; he smears clay upon clay, through like filling out like. It is also possible for someone to say that for this reason the Lord smeared clay on the blind man's eyes, in order to make clear to all that he is the one who also formed Adam from earth. But why did he send him to Siloam? Did he also lower Adam into Siloam? Listen attentively. When the Lord molded Adam from clay, none of the contradicting Jews were present; since then there was no one contradicting, the Lord at that time more modestly constructs the rational statue; but now, since there are many contradicting, he broadens the procedure, in order to strengthen his authority, so that he might prepare even the unwilling contradictors to assent to the miracle. For this reason, then, he sent the clay-bearer to Siloam to wash, not because the master of Siloam had need of Siloam;

but so that, as the blind man ran, those who could see might follow and the one who could not see might become the guide of those who could see, while those who ran down might themselves become witnesses of the miracle. For when the Lord did this as well, and sent him to Siloam, countless multitudes ran down, bearing witness to the miracle. And still the children of the Pharisees were clamoring, meddling, and crying out that the miracle-working was a mere illusion. What were they to do, if he had not extended the miracle-working? But again, if you should wish to take Siloam as a type of the baptismal font, you would not err; since in that font all wash away the darkness of ignorance and receive the light of piety. And that after such an extension of the miracle the majority of the Jews were contradicting the miracle, you heard the evangelist saying: "But the neighbors, and those who had seen him before, that he was a beggar, said: 'Is this not the one who was begging, the man blind from birth?' Others said: 'This is he.' Yet others said: 'This is not he, but someone like him.' And the one who had recovered his sight said: 'I am the one you speak of.'" Do you see blindness producing sight? The blind man recovered his sight, and those who could see were blinded by wickedness. For wickedness is always blind. Therefore the children of the Jews, from wickedness, were clamoring against the man blind from birth, saying to him: "Tell us, man, why are you stirring up for us the son of the carpenter, and do you wish to have him proclaimed as God? You are not the man blind from birth; we know that one; we have often supplied him with what he needed.

How then do you prattle and say, "He opened my eyes"? If you need money and lie for the sake of it, take as much as you wish; only do not depart from the truth. So they did everything to somehow dispel the miracle. But the one who had regained his sight said to the contradicting Jews: "Why do you slander me? Why do you choose to blind my soul's vision? I have regained my sight; I am not blind. In vain you throw the dust of blasphemy at me. Another has shown kindness, and you oppose. You do not worship, but you revile. You rightly call him the son of the carpenter, for he has refashioned the windows of my eyes. Grant me a little indulgence, if after a short while I converse with you. First allow me to contemplate the beauty of the sky, the center of the sun, the light of the moon, the boundary of day, the measure of night, the dance of the stars, the passage of clouds, the flatness of the earth, the depth of the sea, the untrodden crossing of ships, the encompassing of uneven things, the curves of mountains, the streams of rivers, the springs of fountains, the draw of wells, the leaps of beasts, the variegations of wild animals, the split wings of birds, the peculiarities of fish, the heights of trees, the sweetness of fruits. First allow me to see these and things like them, and then I will converse with you about how I regained my sight. I was born long ago, but now I have entered the world for the first time in the part of sight. I heard the prophet crying out:

From the magnitude and beauty of created things, their creator is analogously perceived." I from created things, you from my eyes analogously perceive the creator. Why do you promise me an abundance of money? I do not sell the gift, I do not traffic in the recovery of my eyes. It is better to beg with gratitude than to be rich with evil character. Henceforth I no longer beg; for I have received the lamp of the body that guides me to work. No longer then do I beg, but I farm; no longer do I ask for charity, but I demand wages; no longer do I grope the ground with a staff, but I prune the vine with a sickle; no longer do I collect silver coins, but I harvest sheaves; no longer do I tighten my pouch, but I pull a wagon; no longer do I receive scraps of bread, but I bring grain; no longer do I groan and cry, "Give to the one who has no light," but I shout loudly, "The Lord is my light and my savior; whom shall I fear?" Hearing these things, the contradicting Jews, when they saw him not only healed but also advocating for the miracle, approached still questioning him: How did you recover your sight? What did that man do to you, that you persist in the matter? But he, having recovered his sight, said to those who were blinded: How did I recover my sight? Tell me on God, how does the sequence of nature occur? If you ask the "how," I will also ask you in turn: How did the water change into wine, indicating sequence or miracle-working? How did he call Lazarus from the tomb, naturally or in a manner befitting God? How did he release the leper from his affliction, by traveling around or by willing it? How did he rescue the woman with the hemorrhage, shipwrecked from the flow of blood, from the flood?

Having examined the passion, or having considered the faith? The contradicting Jews, when they saw him persisting, having seized him more harshly, dragged him by force to the Pharisaic tribunal, saying to him: Now we will prepare your flesh to be scraped off, so that you may pursue servitude, and not teaching. Do you not be silent, but you harangue, and you want him to be proclaimed as God, that son of Joseph? You recovered your sight from some accident, and you proclaim to us that you were born blind, and you bring against us that son of the carpenter? Do you not be silent, but you cry out loudly? The one who had recovered his sight said to those contradicting: If you do not want me to cry out, why do you question me frequently? You yourselves make a clamor, and you attach the accusation to me. As you say, if I recovered my sight from some accident, why did you bring forward my parents? You are disturbed in vain; you cannot hide the miracle; for even if I am silent, my eyes cry out. A certain man called Jesus, whose name is also healing, smeared clay on my eyes, and said to me: "Go wash in the pool of Siloam." And having gone, I washed myself; having washed, I put aside the clay, and I received the light. Hearing these things, the Pharisaic judges, and an infinite crowd gathering—for it was the Sabbath, when Jesus performed this miracle—questioned him with the same words as the Jews, saying: Do you know, man, in what place you stand, and that the present tribunal is unforgivable, and that it is not

It is not possible to escape error here. Tell us with all precision: How did you recover your sight? What did that man whom you speak of do to you? And he, looking up at the Pharisaic tribunal, answered: Do you again inquire how I recovered my sight? Do you again arraign me as a condemned man, saying to me: How did you recover your sight? If I tell you, you will again be in an uproar. I will tell you how I recovered my sight. I tell the cause of the journey, but the authority of the miracle-working I am not able to tell: "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has given to him and will not be repaid by him?" If you wish to learn the journey, it is this, which I have already stated: "He made clay and smeared it on my eyes, and said to me: Go wash in the pool of Siloam. And I went and washed, and immediately I recovered my sight;" not the water having been effective, but the spittle having worked the wonder. When the Pharisaic judges heard these things, seeing that he still persisted in the same account, they dismissed him and summoned the parents of the one who had recovered his sight, and inquired of them, saying: "Tell us: Is this your son, who is said to have been born blind? How then does he now see?" And the parents of the one who had recovered his sight, answering those who questioned them, spoke the words of the blessed Susanna: "We are in straits on all sides. If we say that he is our son, we shall not escape your hands; for this you have promised. But if we say that he is not our son, we shall undergo eternal punishment; for this is laid up for those who conceal the truth.

Therefore, preferring eternal punishment rather than suffering any loss in the present, we will say only this: "This boy, O rulers, we know that he is our son, and we are not unaware that he was born blind; but how he recovered his sight, we do not know; nor who opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age; ask him, he will speak for himself." Hearing these things, the Pharisees were greatly perplexed; for it brought them no ordinary shame that it was admitted at all that he was their son and that he was born blind. So when the Pharisaic judges saw the parents of the blind man persisting and saying, "This is our son, and he was born blind," stung by this, since the truth was confessed, they sent some of the deceivers from behind to the parents of the blind man, whispering in their ears and saying in secret: "Deny your child, and do not confess that he was born blind, so that you may have the rulers as friends and be deemed worthy of many gifts." The parents of the one who had recovered his sight, weeping as parents do, answered those who gave this vain counsel: "What are you saying, O men? Why do you drag us down? Should we deny our own child? You want us to be more savage than beasts. A serpent embraces its own young, and should we deny our own child? For he never disobeyed his parents; but even when blind he supported us, and having recovered his sight he will much more care for us in our old age. Let that suffice for you.

Let it be that we do not wish, on your account, to proclaim the one who went about our child, nor to say with frankness who this is. Yet it is possible to say something at any rate: And whence do we have the knowledge that, on account of Pharisaic fear, the parents of the one who recovered his sight concealed the proclamation of the Lord Christ before all? Whence, then, do we have the proof? The evangelist John himself recorded it, saying: "These things the parents of the one who recovered his sight said, because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that, if anyone should confess him as Christ, he should be excommunicated." You see Pharisaic wickedness. They ought to have confessed the Lord, to have fallen down and worshipped the Creator, and further to have sought the release from their passions; but they not only did not confess, but also scourged those who did confess. For this reason the Lord also, condemning them, said: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you have taken away the key of the kingdom of heaven, and neither do you yourselves enter, nor do you permit those who wish to enter." What then did the Pharisaic judges do? When they saw that the parents of the one who recovered his sight answered nothing according to their liking, they dismissed them through another door, and having summoned the boy who recovered his sight a second time—for the boy was not present when the Pharisees put the question to his parents—they, using plausible arguments, questioned the one who recovered his sight again, saying to him: "Do you now at least confess the truth, and make it clear to all that you are not the one blind from birth?

For already, being present, you claimed to be the child of those parents, and behold, we have heard from them that you are not their son, nor did they have a blind child from birth. How then do you persist in saying, "A certain man called Jesus smeared mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see"? Hearing this, the one who had regained his sight, and recognizing their malice, answered them, saying: I am amazed if you speak the truth in saying these things. Parents would have denied their own child, and especially a mother her male child, or a father not provoked? What is said seems to me utterly incredible and unacceptable to my ears. But if this has happened, it is nothing remarkable; this is characteristic of human nature, for which reason they will also be deemed worthy of forgiveness, as having done this out of fear. You scribes deny God, and you conduct yourselves as if doing nothing wrong. And concerning the speech about my parents: what you do toward God, you falsely accuse my parents of doing toward me. Did not the Lord cry out through the prophet Isaiah long ago, saying, "I begot sons and raised them high; but they rejected me"? Even if it pleases you to deny, I nevertheless do not endure doing this. I confess the one who healed me, and I also acknowledge those who begot me; for even if my parents have denied me, I do not hesitate even so. I know, I know clearly David crying out, "My father and my mother abandoned me, but the Lord took me in." And the Pharisees, stung sharply, said to him: What are you saying, foolish one? Do you compare yourself to David?

and do you confess the son of the carpenter as Lord, who has nowhere to lay his head? Let it be granted that you have recovered your sight; praise God. Why do you give thanks to this man? This man is not from God; if he were from God, he would not break the Sabbath. "Give glory to God; for we know that this man is a sinner." But the one who had recovered his sight, hearing them call the Lord a sinner, his soul reeling and his ears straining, answers the Pharisees, saying: What are you saying? Is the one who gave light to my eyes a sinner? Why do you mix honey with bitterness? At the same time you command me both to glorify and to blaspheme. To glorify God is good, but to call him a sinner is the undertaking of a darkened mind. If he is a sinner, show me an indication of sin in him, and I will be persuaded by your teaching; either you show an indication of sin in him, or I will show that there are guarantees of divine miracles in him. I leave aside what concerns myself, and from now on I make my inquiry from other things: Is he a sinner, as you say? Did not this man raise the dead son of the widow, who was being carried out for burial, by a word? Was that the work of a sinful man, or of the Word of God? Did he not, by a word, cleanse the leopard-spotted skin of the ten lepers, marked by their affliction, and transform it into the uniform human appearance? Was that the work of a sinful man, or of the Word of God? Did he not royally release from tyranny the man troubled by a legion of demons, who could not be restrained, nor received into a house, but lodged in tombs?

Is this the work of a sinful man, or of the Word of God? Do you wish me to be more ungrateful than the demons? For the demons, even when scourged by him, call him Son of God; and shall I, who was healed by him, call him a sinner? He works as God, and is he proclaimed as a sinner? "If he is a sinner, I do not know; but this I know, that being blind, I now see." This is the work of God, and not of a sinner. When the Pharisees heard these things, seeing themselves deeply entangled in shame, they answered the man who had recovered his sight, saying: You ought to have been scourged as a condemned man, and punished according to the laws; but so that we may not be slandered as envious by the foolish, we accommodate ourselves to your condition; therefore, answer the question: what did that man do to you? How did you recover your sight? Tell us, what happened to you? But the man who had recovered his sight, taking courage—for he was advancing in faith—answered them, saying: Do you ask me again how I recovered my sight? You act against yourselves, and you do not know it. The more you wish to extinguish the miracle, the more it shines forth. Do you ask me again how I recovered my sight? I have already told you three times, and you did not believe me. "What do you wish to hear again? Do you also wish to become his disciples?" Do you not examine the whole affair with precision for this reason? If this is what you wish, then go to him without hesitation, and be enlightened; recognize him without doubt; he does not turn away the one who approaches him with faith. When the Pharisees heard these things, they reviled the man who had recovered his sight, saying to him: "You are that man's disciple; for we are disciples of Moses.

We know that God spoke to Moses; but this man we do not know, whence he is. You are a disciple of that one.» And the one who had regained his sight, smiling slightly, answered, saying: Am I a disciple of that one? You have spoken well, reviling me. O glorious insult! You have rather glorified me, and you do not know it. Are you disciples of Moses? And what work of power have you shown? You are disciples of Moses; but the apostles of my physician are disciples. Show, you who are disciples of Moses, what you can do against the disciples of my physician. If you have any power, I do not say raise the dead, but wake those who sleep, as the apostles did the dead. If you can equal the apostles, I do not say walk on water, but walk on land, as Peter did on the sea. If you have any power, contend with the apostles, I do not say drive away spirits, but scare away birds, as the apostles did demons. Tell me: Are you disciples of Moses? If you are disciples of Moses, you would obey Moses when he says concerning him: «That the Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in everything that he speaks to you. And it shall be that every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed.» See that you are not destroyed, and scattered among all the nations, not recognizing the power of the one who was prophesied. You do not know who is the healer of my eyes? You do not know, because you seek him for murder. But you do know both who he is and whence he is.

For when you were asked by Herod where Christ is born, you directly and accurately declared both the place and the manner, saying that he is born in Bethlehem. When he is sought for murder, you recognize him; but when he is shown forth in wonder-working, you do not recognize him. But it is certainly possible for someone to say: And from where did we get the knowledge that the blind man who regained his sight had such a defense to make before the Pharisaic judges? What are you saying, O friend? Iron, when it associates with fire, is entirely heated and, when tempered, cuts very sharply; and this man, having been deemed worthy of the Lord's hands and of the divine spittle, did he not have the ability to argue unassailably against the lawless rhetoricians? Was it not concerning this and such things that the divine Scripture said: "The Lord makes the blind wise"? It is fitting to call this man, who regained his sight miraculously, who genuinely believed in the Lord, and who strongly prevailed against the Jews, a rational, obedient, and milk-rich sheep. For he recognized Christ, the chief shepherd; he fled from the Pharisaic wolves; he entered through the gate of the cross into the ecclesiastical fold. You heard just now the Lord saying: "Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter through the gate into the sheepfold, but climbs in from elsewhere, is a thief and a robber." The Lord called himself the gate; and indeed, so that some, hearing "gate," might not think he is simply speaking about an ordinary gate, he adds the interpretation to strengthen the teaching; for immediately adding, he said: "Truly, truly I say to you: I am the gate of the sheep.

If anyone enters and exits through me, he will find pasture." The Lord rightly called himself a door, as one who guards those within the faith, as one who drives away those who peer in from outside, and as one who leads into the presence of the father, the master of the house. For no one knows the Father except through the Son, according to the one who says: "No one knows the Father except the Son, and to whomever the Son wishes to reveal him." I am the door of the sheep. The Lord rightly called himself a door, and not doors; for the Father is one, and the Son is one, and the Holy Spirit is one, and there are not three gods; but one door of knowledge. And who is witness to this? Paul crying out: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Nowhere, not two, not three, not four, not five, but everywhere the one, since there is also one door, one Lord, an undivided substance; one faith, the praise that is not graded, one baptism, and an unadulterated illumination; he who has this knowledge enters through the door, and embraces the door of Christ, and is not separated from the door. The Lord has just now called us his own sheep without flattery; his own sheep, as those who are rich in wool through love of the poor; as those who abound in the milk of nourishing discourse; as those who are green with the body of the Lord; as those who obey the staff of the cross; as those who are gathered by the threefold chain of faith; as those who do not desert, but lean upon the cornerstone Christ. The Lord called himself a door; and rightly a door; for it has two doorposts, the Old and New Testament; a threshold and lintel, circumcision and uncircumcision; a house, the church; a table, the altar;

bread the lamb; the cup the mystical wine; gold the unadulterated faith; silver the bright conduct; pearls the divine doctrines; a cloak the garment of baptism. You heard him just now saying, "I am the Good Shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." The Lord was hinting at himself; for what he was about to do, he foretold; for no one accepted death for the sheep except the Lord alone. He alone accepted death for the rational sheep, not an involuntary death, but a voluntary one; a death not detrimental, but profitable; a death not admitting corruption, but supplying incorruption; a death understood by faith, not meddled with; a death not occurring in likeness of death, but found to be the death of death itself. For if the Lord had not accepted voluntary death, the devil would not have suffered death. Hence Paul cried out, saying, "Death was swallowed up in victory. Where is your sting, O death? Where is your victory, O Hades?" But here, having sealed the discourse, let us give thanks to God, to whom is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.