Commentarii in Matthaeum

The Hebrews called salvation "Iao," but he said "Christ" because the ancient kings and priests were anointed with oil through the horn. Our Jesus Christ was not called Christ because he was anointed with the horn, but because of the divine Spirit; for truly and properly he himself possessed the Holy Spirit. He mentions Abraham, since he first became a type of the two peoples who would believe in Christ; for while uncircumcised he believed, and after being circumcised he remained faithful again. He mentions especially also David, since he himself became a type of Christ; for just as when Saul was cast out as unfit, David was appointed second king, pleasing to God, so also when the first man, I mean Adam, was cast out because of disobedience and no longer ruled over the rest, a second Adam was introduced, Christ, king of all, so that what was lost in Adam might be recovered for men through Christ, king not only of earth but also of heaven; and he is called son of man by nature, as possessing everything that Adam had, now being God.

Abraham, while still uncircumcised, believed in God; then, having received the promises and having been circumcised, he preserved his faith unimpaired. Reasonably, therefore, the text will be elevated to another contemplation concerning the Church of Christ, both that from circumcision and that from the Gentiles; for it was a type, as is likely, of the two peoples who have believed in Christ. But there, the uncircumcision preceded the circumcision; for uncircumcision is a work of nature, while circumcision is a work of commandment and law. For this reason, the former preceded the latter, and afterwards circumcision returns to it, since it is better that nature and law be together than that they be separated from each other. But David also was a type of Christ; for when Saul was cast out, David was introduced in his place. Thus also, when Adam was driven from Eden because of his transgression, the second Adam was introduced in his place, so as to restore the first Adam to his original state. For this reason, he makes the names of the genealogy from the men, since "the woman is the glory of the man," being a consequence and not a beginning of the man. Zorobabel rebuilt the temple that had once been built by Solomon but was burned by the Babylonians. And the Lord is the true builder of the rational temple that had fallen into ruin through transgressions and was burned by an alien fire, which we kindled not only by preparing the mind of the soul to follow the fleshly mind slavishly, but also by igniting the shameless material of the passions through activity. But Zorobabel also has a stone in his hand adorned with seven eyes. The Lord also has a stone: faith in him.

And in the hand" — because in the performance of the commandments the faith of Christ is made manifest. The hand is clearly a symbol of action. Therefore, the Lord, carrying the stone in his hand, teaches us to have practical faith in him, adorned by the seven energies of the Spirit. And the fact that he did not say "through whom he was born," but rather "from whom," overturns the heresy of Apollinarius, who claims that Christ passed through the Virgin as through a pipe and took nothing from her. For the evangelist does not say that Jesus was born "through her," but "from her," that is, from her most pure blood. Such also is the saying of the Apostle: "For God," he says, "sent his Son, born of a woman," but not "through a woman." The angel called her "woman" in order to free the Virgin from any suspicion regarding another person; for if he calls her the wife of Joseph, who was not initiated into the mystery with her, then the Virgin has no thought of suspicion toward anyone else. If he has a people and saves them even before being born of Mary, it is clear that he does so as God. She conceived after the betrothal, so that it might seem that she had conceived from him, and so that he might be genealogized from him and have a protector in times of danger.

It was not the voice of the Magi that troubled him, but that it was being bruited about by all the learned in the law and by those who believed in the words of the prophets. For the Magi were seeking a king, but the Jews were proclaiming that the Christ had been born. Therefore, having dismissed the Magi, he summoned the Jews and asked where the Christ was born, whom you now proclaim, having heard from the Magi. And the enemies of the truth, even unwillingly, speak the truth and interpret the whole prophecy in vain, for they did not add what follows. He calls the Magi ambassadors, because in a certain way they came to the king of Israel, in order to negotiate and that peace might be made between them and the Israelites, and that there might be "one flock, one shepherd" of both the nations and the Jews. And what was this, that his journeys from the beginning—from the ends of the inhabited world they come to see the manger. Israel was first called Jacob, when he saw the ladder and the angels ascending and descending upon it through it, and wrestled with the one who appeared to him, and heard from him: "Your name is no longer Jacob, but Israel." By this name the whole people of the Jews was called, as by a name both special and divine, and distinguishing them from the other nations. And Israel is "a mind that sees God." Therefore the Church from the nations was also named Israel, not according to the flesh, but according to divine grace. Whether the Magi arrived immediately at his birth and saw Christ in swaddling clothes, or sitting in a house with his mother? I think the more true is that it was in swaddling clothes. Therefore, as we said above, the star appeared before the birth of the Lord.

From this it is clear that he anticipated also the arrival of the Magi. The star stood still, a single fixed formation, so that the Magi would proceed no further; it did not descend from heaven and stand upon the earth, nor did it fix itself above the house, having a custom of not making its course according to the motion of the other stars, but making some strange path and appearing at other times in other regions, and only then stood still. The star was motionless and stationary, but it did not leave the sky and travel near the earth, nor was it fixed upon the house; for it did not make the same motion as the other stars, but a strange and unusual one. It no longer says, "Flee," but "Go," hinting at relief after the trial; and by saying "the soul of the child," it overturns the opinion of Apollinarius, who says that the Lord took on flesh without a mind and without a soul. In the economic descent of Christ into Egypt and his subsequent return from there to Judea, God recapitulates the captivity of the people and redeems them from conspiracy, leading them back to their own again. But it is worth noting that Nazareth lay at the borders of Judea, and by dwelling there Christ shows that because of the bloodthirstiness of the Jews he was about to leave Judea and go over to the nations, in order to give to those eager to learn an occasion for faith in Christ. Nazareth lay at the extremities of Judea. And by leaving Judea and going to Nazareth, Christ clearly indicated that he would leave the Jews and transfer worship to the nations.

At the same time, it will also give to those who love learning a reason to believe in him. But if "Nazorean" is interpreted as "holy" or, according to some, "flower," this name is found among many; for Daniel calls him "holy of holies." And Isaiah says: "a rod from the root of Jesse and a flower from it." And the Lord himself says about himself in the Song of Songs: "I am the flower of the field, the lily of the valleys." 17 The kingdom of the heavens is justification through faith and sanctification through the Spirit; therefore elsewhere it is said: "the kingdom of the heavens is within you." The baptism of John did not provide remission of sins, but taught men to hasten to baptism because of their sins. As more learned in the law than the others, they came later to John, whom he calls "offspring of vipers" because of their similar nature; for just as those, when they are about to come into the light, tear through the womb of their mother and leave her dead as they depart, in the same way these also left their own mother, Jerusalem, as if dead, and were saved from the Christ-killing, on account of which they suffered incurable evils at that time from the Romans, which he calls the coming wrath. One might say that the fruits of repentance are primarily faith in Christ, and in addition to this, the evangelical way of life, which is "in newness of life" and free from the thickness of the letter. Therefore, he says, do not put forward the usual excuses that God can raise up children of Abraham from these stones, he added.

For just as the wife of Lot was turned into a pillar of salt, so it is possible for him to make men from stones, just as he made Adam from earth earlier. He says that the Christ is an axe, "sharper than a two-edged sword," which is about to cut off the unbelieving Jews and alienate them from the honor and communion of the patriarchs, whom he also called the root, who remained, the fathers who formerly pleased God, those around Abraham and all the earlier saints; for the unbelievers among them were cut off as fruitless branches, but the root remained, onto which those from the nations were grafted. Irenaeus says that the word of God is an axe, just as Jeremiah also says: the word of the Lord "is like an axe cutting a rock." For what am I saying, he says, that you are about to fall out—for this reason you have not stood apart from the root. He compares the word of God to an axe; for Jeremiah also says here: the word of the Lord "is like an axe cutting a rock." Thus it lies upon the root, so that by fear it may make you better and prepare you to bear fruit. What does he mean by axe? Nothing other than that which is about to cut off from the patriarchs those who boast in vain and have done nothing good; for it is necessary to cut off those who have become fruitless from such men and cast them into the fire. The blessed Baptist bound together the meaning of the Spirit and the energy and significance of fire, not saying that we are to be baptized in fire by Christ, but signifying the life-giving energy of the Spirit through the significance of fire. It snatches the righteous to the upper city, but the sinners to be burned up.

The ancients before Christ used to hold those they baptized in the water until they had confessed their sins, but Christ, being sinless, came up immediately; for he was not baptized as one repenting, but as one cleansing sins and sanctifying the waters. He was led by the devil by permission. Christ did not obey the devil so as to make the stones into loaves, because it was not for his benefit; for it was not that he might believe and become as he was before, an angel, that this was asked—for he is unrepentant—but that he might draw Christ into vainglory. Knowing this, the Savior did not obey him. Satan, wishing to draw Christ into the passion of love of glory, did not say to him "eat," but "perform a sign." He did this not that he might be benefited, but that, as I said, he might draw him into vainglory; knowing this, Christ did not obey him. With this same purpose, when the Pharisees wished to see a sign from him, he did not consent; for they did not approach him with an undoubting heart as God, but tested him as a man. Let this, then, be an infallible rule for the saints toward unbelievers or those who test: not to seek vainglory in anything useful. It is for the sake of teaching that Jesus withdraws. The word clearly teaches that one should not come to the school unless he has first been baptized, received the Holy Spirit, fasted completely, and conquered every form of temptation, as the type of truth began in Christ and is accomplished through Christ. He did not withdraw out of cowardice, but teaching us through his actions to withdraw from persecutors.

He withdraws from Judea to the Gentiles, showing that not only when the Jews insult God himself does he depart from them, but also when they sin against the holy prophets. Christ our Lord is a great light, and the brightness of the evangelical proclamation, not the law, which was likened to a lamp. Therefore a lamp was always kept burning in the tabernacle because of the scantiness of the law's radiance, which was able to send forth its own light only within the boundaries of Judea. So the Gentiles were in darkness, as they did not even have the light of a lamp. In some copies the word "repent" is not present. But if the Savior says the same things to John, the one who sent both is God. And perhaps John, as one "preparing" a "prepared" people for God, first says "repent," while Jesus, having received those already prepared and no longer in need of repentance, does not say "repent." He is not preaching against the law and the prophets, but since John had fulfilled the old, he began to proclaim the new, himself becoming its beginning. Therefore it is not written of John that "he began," for he was an end. And that one preaches in the wilderness, the other among the people. But the kingdom of heaven is not in a place, but in a disposition; for it is "within us." Observe whether John preaches the approaching kingdom of heaven, while Christ the king will deliver it "to God the Father." If someone asks what the difference is between disease and sickness, we will answer that sickness is a temporary disorder of the body, while disease is an imbalance of the elements in the body.

It is also necessary to note that the allotment of the tribe of Zebulun and Naphtali extended as far as Sidon, a Gentile city, and that Jews lived intermingled with the Gentiles from then on. Now "Zebulun" is interpreted as "good journey" and "blessing," and "Naphtali" as "a relaxed stem," that is, a plant that spreads out. These became those who believed in Christ; for they went on a good journey and were deemed worthy of divine blessing, and they were enlarged in all good things, having previously been in Galilee, which is interpreted as "rolling down," that is, those who roll down into the pits of destruction. A peacemaker is one who demonstrates the harmony of the scriptures that appears to others as conflict, of the old with the new, of the legal with the prophetic, of the evangelical with the evangelical. Therefore, imitating the Son of God, he will be called a son, having received in deed the "spirit" of "adoption." Peacemakers are not only those who make friends of enemies, but also those who tame anger and evil desire, living rightly in deed and word through unerring faith, and also those who re-teach the unbelieving and lead them to the faith as enemies of God.

as making peace with him. Blessed are such persons, for they have imitated the Son of God; for they will be called sons, having partaken of immortality, or rather they will reign together with Christ at his second coming. Peacemakers are also those who persuade the unbelieving to believe, as those who make peace with God for his former enemies. Those who persuade the unbelieving to believe in God are also called peacemakers. He calls "salt" prudence, with which the apostolic word is full, which, when sown in our souls, establishes in us the word of wisdom, which is likened to this because of its pleasantness and grace; for just as without salt neither bread nor cooked food is edible, so without apostolic understanding and teaching every soul is both foolish and insipid and not pleasing to God. 43 "But a city cannot"—those who are established in faith as on a high mountain ought not to speak the word secretly or with timidity. And having themselves become light by participation, when you live you are no longer yourselves, but the light, Christ, lives in you, able through speech to illuminate the whole world. 46 5. Instead of fleshly worship, the Lord introduced worship "in spirit and truth"; and perhaps what the Jews did not do even in a fleshly manner, the disciples of Christ now do spiritually. Therefore he says: not one iota or one serif shall pass from the law until everything is fulfilled. Clearly the Jews did not do everything, or even if they did, they ceased to do them, no longer being permitted to perform them, partly because of fear of the kings, and partly because the temple, in which alone the sacrifices had to be performed, had been destroyed.

A man who sets aside the least of the commandments in the law, he says, will be called a fighter against God. Therefore he is set aside by God as one who opposes him and legislates against him. He who sets aside one of the commandments of the law is set aside by God as a fighter against God and a legislator against God. And now from the evangelical law he receives the punishment which the law formerly had not defined. Therefore Christ says accordingly, "I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." For what was lacking there, he supplied here, as for example in the law it was said: "You shall rise from the presence of an old man" and "If you see the beast of burden of your enemy fallen under its load, help it up together with him." If someone transgressed these, there was no punishment defined by the law. Fulfilling this, Christ says that in the kingdom of God such a person will be held in contempt. This then he calls the least commandment, upon which no penalty was imposed for transgression. For this reason also the law of Moses accepts the cloven hoof, so that through riddles it may teach us to walk by both, by word and by deed. I think that the cloven hoof in the law signifies this, that we should walk by word and deed, and neither act without reason nor have reason without action. If any of these things wishes to be isolated, let it be action henceforth and not word; for unbridled word has often driven its possessors over precipices, but action never.

The phrase "if you offer your gift" and so forth makes clear that God has devised for those who sin a means of salvation and escape from punishment, namely repentance, and he declares that the healing of the one who has been grieved will be an overturning of punishment. Since he who does not love his brother does not love the Lord, it is fitting that he does not accept the one who is in a state of grief toward his brother, as one who does not truly approach him. Here the Savior teaches us that those who sin may escape punishment. Therefore, repentance for sins, consolation toward the one grieved by us, and a request for forgiveness of the sin both heal the brother and appease God. The *kodrantes* signifies the fourth part of a *hin* measure. In the Hebrew language this is two obols, which Luke, clarifying it, called a *lepton*. Let us be delivered both from the enemy and the avenger, that is, the devil, while we are on this path, and from the passions of dishonor, which are our adversaries; for none of us has another adversary, unless we become adversaries of ourselves through these passions, and unless our conscience condemns us as disregarding its reminder, lest we be handed over to the judge of all, God, having been convicted by our conscience; and he "will hand us over to the *praktors*," that is, to the punishing angels, and we will be required to pay the penalties for every transgression, both small and great. Therefore, the Lord here carefully calls an adversary one who attempts to take away something that belongs to us.

We are well-disposed toward him if we keep the command of the Lord who said, "To the one who wishes to be judged by you and to take your tunic, let him also have your cloak," and similarly in every such matter. What he says is this: before the trial, be gracious. For even if you are accused and imprisoned, you are not released until you have paid even to the last obol; for this is what the quadrans signifies. What he says is this: he exhorts you to be gracious and not to trust in the judgment; for if something happens contrary to expectation and you are detained by the judge, you will not be released until you have paid the last obol; for this is what is called a quadrans. Let it be supposed, he says, that someone among those appointed to office has made some accusations against you, and then, having pointed you out to those who take you to court, has you taken away. Therefore, he says, as long as you are with him on the road, that is, before you arrive before the judge, make an effort, that is, do not hesitate to use every diligence, so that you may be rid of him. But if this does not happen, he will hand you over to the judge. Then, when you are found liable for the debts, "you will be handed over to the collector," that is, to the exactors, and they, having confined you, will demand even "the last lepton." Therefore, we are all guilty of transgressions, all who are on the earth. But the adversary and accuser of each one is Satan; for he is an enemy and an avenger.

So long as we are on the road, that is, until we have reached the end of this present life, let us get rid of him, let us dissolve the accusations against ourselves, let us seize the grace through Christ that sets us free, placing us outside every debt and penalty, punishment and fear, lest somehow, having an unwashable stain, we be brought before the judge and handed over to "the collectors," that is, the punishers, from whose harshness no one could escape. Rather, the penalties for every transgression, small and great, will be exacted. Far from these will be those who approve the time of Christ's presence and have not been ignorant of the mystery concerning it. Perhaps there are some who have received such a gift as not to desire. Yet Christ, as one who has strengthened human nature, commands things beyond the law as now possible; for if this was impossible for those before Christ, yet for the faithful it is easily accomplished to cut off desires. He who looks at a woman and desires is then judged when the woman's flesh appears beautiful to him for desire and he sees her carnally and sinfully; for he who beholds beauty out of love for chastity considers not the flesh beautiful, but the soul. Having said, "If your eye scandalizes you," and so forth, he calls "eye" the reasoning of desire, which he says should be cut off. "Eye" and "hand" are understood as a friend. For if you love someone so much as in the place of a right eye and consider him useful as in the place of a right hand, and he harms your soul, cut these off from yourself and separate yourself far from them.

For when you do not save one another, but rather both perish together while being together, it is beneficial that even one be saved by being separated. He who casts out the chaste wife gives her license to be married to another, which is a form of adultery, as if the union were not dissolved; for repudia do not dissolve marriage in the sight of God, but rather improper conduct. "You shall not commit perjury" and so forth. If someone shamelessly imposes an oath upon the saints, their "yes" and "no" will serve instead of the oath. For this reason he forbids us to swear by heaven and earth, so that we may not give to creation the dignity that surpasses creation, deifying it; for those who swear, he says, "swear by the greater," as the apostle said. He also forbids the oath "by Jerusalem," since the earthly Jerusalem is a type of the "heavenly Jerusalem," and God swears only by himself, that is, by his own glory. Therefore, since the likeness transcends us, we ought not to swear by ourselves, that is, by our own glory; for we are not free like God, but are under the authority of God. "Be," says Christ, "not ready to receive, but ready to give"; for the former separates us from God, while the latter naturally unites us, especially when the one asking is worthy and the request is just. Let us love our enemies not insofar as they are adulterers or murderers, but insofar as they are human beings; for sinning is a matter of activity, not of substance; therefore sin is not the work of God. Perhaps someone might say, how does the blessed Paul curse Alexander the coppersmith?

another. To which we say: he did not curse him as a personal enemy, but as an enemy of the gospel, teaching that one must always war against the enemies of God. But perhaps someone, by bringing forward the blessed Paul as one who cursed the coppersmith Alexander, might persuade us not to love our enemies. To this it may be said that Paul does not curse as a personal enemy, but as an enemy of Christ and the gospel, teaching that one must always war against such men. He who does good for the sake of good itself has a boast that is a virtue beyond the world. This is said by a metaphor from the trumpet in military camps; for when they wish to gather the army together, they sound the recall, but the hypocrites do not wish to gather, but to make a spectacle for the many. For this reason Christ commands that prayers be made briefly, since he knows that the mind is easily distracted and led astray by vain thoughts and cares, especially at the time of prayer. And he commands that one ask God soberly and quickly for what one seeks, not recounting everything one wishes; for this is a sign of extreme folly; for God knows even before we ask what we need. Battology is the name for verbosity, from a certain Greek named Battus, who composed long and many-verse hymns to the idols, which contained tautology. Battology is that which is outside the good. The ancients call verbosity battology, from someone so named who composed many-verse prayers to the idols and said the same words through different and different expressions.

Christ is called king economically as a man, although he is by nature God. The faithful therefore pray that this may also be present in unbelievers, so that having believed in Christ they may call upon him as their own, through whom they will partake of perfect goods, now having only the pledge and the partial good; for the passions will not then be active when impassibility is present, death is gone, corruption is invisible, when life rules in us and incorruption holds sway. Christ, being God by nature and man by nature, is called king economically, that is, as a man. For this reason the righteous pray that this may be present in themselves, and also in unbelievers, so that seeing and believing in him they may have him as their own king. Jesus can also as God forgive sins, but to the disciples, who are still imperfect, he has not yet clearly delivered the teaching concerning his own divinity. Therefore one must not appear sullen nor bear any charge of vainglory, but wash it off as a filth of the soul. The ruling part must—fasting for men. What one has set before oneself, that one both thinks and works most readily and strives to accomplish; which is found more clearly from the heart, leading the word from the intelligible to the sensible and saying. A good master is the unavaricious character, a bad one is the lover of money. Therefore one must adhere to the one; for it is not possible to please both, since they are of different and opposite disposition. Since the soul and the body are more valuable than foods and garments, one must despise the lesser things, and take care of the more valuable, I mean the soul and the body.

The soul is more honorable than the substance of the body, as an image of God and an inspiration, while the body is its instrument and collaborator toward the noblest ends. Therefore we must care for both, for the body and the soul together, and for the body only to the extent that it is capable and does not hinder the soul; but to the soul we must always give what is proper to it, tend to it in every way, and lead it up through the virtues to its own creative cause. To those who seek the things of the soul, God also gives what is suitable for the body, so that we, by not worrying more than necessary about such matters, will not be hindered from the noblest ends. Those who are being trained in piety apply the bridle of good prudence to the tongue, permitting it to speak only those things that do no harm. One of the wise men taught us this, saying: "Child, if you have a word of understanding, answer; if not, let your hand be upon your mouth." For "death and life are in the hand of the tongue," that is, in its power, "and those who control it will eat its fruits." But since controlling the tongue is not at all easy, the Psalmist also teaches us this from above, saying: "Place, Lord, a guard over my mouth." Therefore let us not speak ill of one another nor condemn our brothers; for he who is governed by understanding does not look at the sins of others, but, gazing upon his own evils, sheds a noble tear over them, so that he may obtain forgiveness from God; for it is impossible for human beings, who are so weak, not to fall into at least a few errors.

But not to fall at all belongs by nature to God alone. We, who are in sins, must not take pleasure in the misfortunes of others, but take thought how we ourselves may be free from base things. First cast the beam out of your own eye, that is, show yourself clean of great sins, and then you will be a counselor to one who stumbles in a small matter. But if you do not cast out the beam, yet condemn the one who has the speck, you will justly hear the apostolic saying: "He who says do not commit adultery, you commit adultery," he who says "do not steal, you steal." Therefore the wise man will be a teacher to himself, and will not condemn another. For this also the law through Moses commands, saying: "Take heed to yourself." "To yourself," it says, not to another. And "take heed" means look to your own affairs. So the prudent man will thus educate himself, not looking to the faults of others, but busying himself with his own and repenting of them. But there are some who do not see their own slips, yet laugh broadly at the stumblings of others, who, lying on the ground, mock those who stand, who, smeared from head to foot with filth, jeer at those who have a little dirt.

they condemn; for they sometimes say about someone: "So-and-so is harsh, inhuman, sordidly greedy, avaricious, cruel, foolish," and then, attributing these things to others, they do not perceive that they are painting their own character. And how great a loss it is to condemn others, we have learned from the Pharisee who scorned the publican. Therefore, having removed all these things through this excellent legislation, he added another commandment, saying: "The beginning of virtue is to pray that one may be shown the way of truth; the second step is to seek how one ought to travel the way; the third, having touched virtue, to knock at Christ, so that he may open the door for him and he may be freed from the narrow and constrained way and be led into the spacious work of knowledge"—all of which one receives through supplication from God and to God. Perhaps he also hinted at asking with action by saying "knock." For one knocks with the right hand. And the right hand is a symbol of good action. And if you do not receive immediately, do not despair even so; for this reason he said "knock." And he calls "good gifts" the spiritual gifts, while Luke said "Holy Spirit" instead of saying "good." And there is no difference; for the "Holy Spirit" is itself good by nature. Therefore it gives good things to its participants. But for those who are exceedingly wicked, because they sin relentlessly, evil becomes in a way their nature, such as Satan and the demons; for one can even call these evil by nature, although they were not created evil by nature, but have become hardened by self-chosen wickedness.

The word is against those who at first believed correctly and diligently practiced virtue, so as even to work signs and cast out demons and prophesy, but later turned to baseness, from deliberate choice and depraved inclination. For if he says, "I never knew you," he places the one who lived virtuously in the beginning but was condemned at the end on the same level as those who were never known at all. And God is said to know those whom he loves; and he loves those who believe in him wholly and do what is pleasing to him. The hearer of the law understood spiritually, but not also its doer, is likened to a house built on sand, which at the time of trial collapses and is buried when the spirits of wickedness blow upon it, when the troubled waters enter even to the soul, and the turbid torrent of their lawlessness stirs up and brings on the final danger. And rightly, in the case of the prudent man he said, "I will liken him," but in the case of the foolish man, "he will be likened." For the worker of virtue is entirely "strong in the Christ who strengthens" him, from whom comes every human achievement, from whom come wisdom and understanding and likeness to the good. But the base man does not have God as the cause of his own wickedness and folly, but he himself is likened to the foolish man, having departed from what is according to nature and come to be in what is contrary to nature.

Through the touch he effected the cleansing, indicating that his holy flesh is also necessary for sanctification: for the spirit purifies, while communion with the body imparts sanctification. Touching the leper, the Savior healed him, showing that the spirit within him heals the diseases, while the body, by contact, provides sanctification. And what was the gift brought by the leper according to the law? "Two birds," of which the priest slaughtered one "over living water" and, taking "cedar wood and twisted scarlet and hyssop," he dipped the other living bird "into the blood of the slaughtered bird over living water" and anointed the right ear, hand, and foot of the leper being purified, and sent the "living bird" outside the city "into the open field." Observe, then, how through these things Christ is fully depicted for us: for through the living bird you will understand the living and heavenly Word, through the blood of the slaughtered one the precious blood of the suffering Lord (for we say he suffered in the flesh, yet as in his own body), through the incorruptible wood (for such is cedar) the incorruptible flesh—for the body of Christ "did not see corruption." Through the hyssop, the fervor of the spirit (for the plant is hot and cleansing of affections arising from coldness), such being the energy and power of the Holy Spirit. Through the scarlet, the confession of the covenant on blood. Through the living water, the life-giving grace of baptism, through which the one leprous from sin is cleansed.

Through the sending of the living bird outside the city, we are taught the departure of Christ from the world and his ascent to the heavens. For having thus gone to the Father and God, he will make propitiation on behalf of us all, and we shall be purified. Through the anointing of the leper’s right ear, hand, and foot, we learn that we must be engaged in contemplation, action, and conduct in divine matters. Why did they not bring them by day? Was it out of fear of the scribes and Pharisees, or again out of shame at their own weaknesses like Nicodemus, or because they had no sick persons to bring to Jesus? Christ withdrew from the crowds, so that he might not seem vainglorious, rejoicing in the praises of the many, and so that the Pharisees might not be angered against him—for it greatly distressed them that many followed him—and so that he might shine his own saving light upon the neighboring cities. 97 8, 18–22 Jesus commands only the disciples to go to the other side, so that he might not appear hindered by the crowds pressing upon him from hearing the disciples’ lessons suited to them, and so that the mysteries of God, spoken in parables to the crowds, might be revealed to them more genuinely. Since they left everything in hand and followed him alone out of love of learning, he commands them to cross over from the temporal to the eternal, from the earthly to the heavenly, from the fleshly to the spiritual. Where there is no honor toward God, it is just to honor one’s parents.

When the two are in the middle, one must cling to one and despise the other, especially if honor toward parents hinders pleasing God. For one must honor God with the first place, lest we be found like Cain assigning the second place to God. Similarly, the ancient law prevented priests from approaching the dead and from performing their own liturgy, and from being drawn down into fleshly sympathies. But that law taught through shadows, whereas Christ teaches openly that whoever wishes to attend to God should make no account of any kinship so as to be distracted from being with Christ. For he himself, for the sake of the benefit of those with him, disregarded mother and brothers, saying, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" and "My mother is." To say "save" contains praise of faith, but to say "we are perishing" is an accusation of faint-heartedness for those who, with Christ sailing with them, expect danger. They are not completely unbelieving, but faint-hearted, those who do not take courage in dangers when Christ is present. See faith together with faint-heartedness: they believe that he can save, but as faint-hearted they say "save, we are perishing"; for it was not possible for them ever to perish when the one who is all-powerful was with them. The divine nature of the Only-Begotten consumed the demons with ineffable fire, just as it also did other things invisibly, confining the fiercer demons to roads and the

devil's tyranny. "You have come," they say, "before the time." For they knew in their reasoning that Christ was destined to come and that he himself would judge them. And if they said "before the time" as if slandering the time of the incarnation as having occurred untimely, it is no wonder that, being evil, they dare to say even this. Yet, knowing that they would be punished, they speak contemptuously: "What have we to do with you?" For the judge has a case against us, from the time we transgressed his commandments. The Lord did not look at the faith of the paralytic, but at that of those who brought him. For it sometimes happens that another is healed through the faith of others, and the sacred Gospel writings are full of such instances. Therefore, having seen their faith, he does not declare their labor vain, but says, "Child," to the child, either because he himself believed or according to the principle of creation. He called the paralytic "child" either by the principle of creation or as one who believed in him and recognized him as Lord and Creator.

The word went out, and the miracle followed. And why did he say that a son of man forgives sins while a divine sign was being accomplished? Or was it to show that he had brought down into human nature the authority of divinity because of his inseparable union with it? For even if I have become man, he says, being the Word of God, and because of the economy I dwell and live on earth, nonetheless I accomplish miracles beyond reason and grant remission of sins. For I did not take away or diminish any of the attributes of divinity by becoming, without change and truly, on earth a son of man according to the flesh. And a little later: He says this economically on earth, to show that even having become man and having appeared on earth, he was God by nature. He commanded the paralytic to take up his bed and go home, so that through him he might confirm to those who were absent what had happened to him. And this too is full of divine sign, that by word alone such a one was turned to such great virtue. And by calling Matthew he shows that even if no one comes to him unless the father draws him, yet the drawing happens through Christ. Therefore the Savior, having unashamedly called a tax collector to discipleship and having come to his house, in which there was nothing good except the householder's trade.

There was therefore a great crowd of tax collectors reclining at table with Jesus, and the Savior is not annoyed nor does he take what was happening as an insult to himself, but as master of nature he comes to the feast and eats and drinks, both displaying the truth of his body and blessing the timely use of foods. Pharisees and scribes were also present, not in order to learn, but to scrutinize what was happening. They see the tax collectors reclining at table and they call the disciples and find fault with what was happening. Jesus hears and says to them: "You also have need of a physician; for if you were not sick, you would not find fault with the physician's philanthropy. Do you think I do not know that they are tax collectors? Do you think I am ignorant of the sicknesses of their soul? I know that they are in a bad state. For this reason I have come to them, in order to heal their sick souls." And for what reason do the Pharisees take hold of the Savior for eating with sinners? Because there was a law "to distinguish between the sacred and the profane." But they did not know that Christ provides philanthropic grace beyond the legal usage; for the law cast out, but grace transformed evil. He showed therefore that he is present not as a judge, but as a physician, and does what is fitting for his art by being with those who are in need of healing.

Nevertheless, the ancient law forbade the holy to associate with the profane, lest their mind slip, but not the opposite: if a profane person runs to a holy one, he must not be turned away, according to the saying, "You shall not abhor an Idumean or an Egyptian." But in the case of Christ, nothing of this sort must be conceived, for he is above all evil and passion; for he wills faith that justifies a person, not the law in letters that commands sacrifices through blood, which he clarifies by adding "and knowledge of God or burnt offerings"; for the gospel word is mercy. Therefore we are justified by faith gratuitously without works of the law. And he calls not those who are near, but those who have stood far off. The Pharisees, like a torn garment or an old wineskin, cannot receive the new teaching that abrogates the bodily precepts of the law. And he says the schism is worse, because those who hear the gospel and do not accept it are punished more than those who have not heard. And since the disciples of John asked the Lord twice, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" he spoke the parable of the bridegroom to them, and to the Pharisees the one about the wineskins. 107–22 Perceiving the woman with a hemorrhage, Christ did not deem her unworthy, but healed her and called her daughter as a believer, also showing that before God one who has an involuntary disease is not unclean. 108–22 He shows that before God no one who has an involuntary disease is unclean. Therefore the Lord also calls the woman with a hemorrhage, in order to transfer the typological law into spiritual contemplation.

It is the custom for people to mourn unwed maidens, when they are of marriageable age, who have died, through symbolic marriages; for this reason there were flute-players inside, even if the Jews at that time were acting contrary to the Jewish commandment. He calls the disciples workers, whom, being few, he sent into the whole world under heaven. These twelve disciples the law prefigured and the prophets proclaimed beforehand. It is written, at any rate, in a Mosaic book: "And you shall take fine flour and make it into twelve loaves, and you shall place them on the pure table before the Lord, and you shall place frankincense and salt." For the bread that came down from heaven "and gives life to the world" is Christ himself, but in imitation of him the blessed disciples are also called loaves; for having become partakers of the one who nourishes us into eternal life, they themselves also nourish through their own writings those "hungering and thirsting for righteousness." Just as the Savior, being "the true light," named them light (for he says, "You are the light of the world"), so, being himself "the bread of life," he granted to the disciples also to be understood in the order of the loaves. And observe the skill of the law: "You shall place," it says, on the loaves "frankincense and salt." Frankincense is a symbol of sweet fragrance, and salt of prudence and understanding. Both were supremely present in the holy apostles; for their life was fragrant, and indeed they said, "We are the fragrance of Christ" to Christ. And besides this, they were also very prudent. For this reason they heard, "You are the salt of the earth.

I hear the prophet David singing about them: "There Benjamin the younger in ecstasy, the rulers of Judah their leaders, the rulers of Zebulun, the rulers of Naphtali." For from almost every tribe of Israel the chosen ones became the divine disciples and became universal luminaries, having taken up the word of life, men who were artisans and seafarers and fishermen, not possessing an abundance of refined words, but "uneducated in speech," yet rich "in knowledge." God indicated these also through the voice of Jeremiah, speaking about Satan: "Woe to him who multiplies for himself what is not his own, for suddenly those who bite him will arise and your plotters will wake up, and you will be plundered by them." For Satan gathered all men on earth who were not his own and declared them his own worshippers, but those who plunder his vessels arose; for the net of apostolic teaching hunted all the erring and brought them under heaven to God. That one must first preach to the Jews; for the promises had been made to them, because Christ was to appear from them in the flesh, and when they disobeyed, then to go to the Gentiles. He joins the Samaritans to those from the Gentiles, since they were also from the Gentiles by race, being Babylonians and dwelling in Judea.

It is just that the word be proclaimed first to the Jews, since the promises were first made to them, and because Christ appeared from them in the flesh. But when they disobeyed, it was necessary to go to the Gentiles. He joins the Samaritans to those from the Gentiles, as they too are from the Gentiles and dwell in Judea. He calls the kingdom of heaven the grace through faith, the adoption through the Spirit that unites man to God. The word forbids every possession from gold to a staff as the greatest hindrance to virtue and piety; but it does not forbid necessary food, so that if it were possible for us to live without food, it would have forbidden that as well. He does not wish them to change place from place and house from house, so that grief may not arise for the first host, nor that they incur suspicion of gluttony and fickleness. The dust shaken from their feet is a sign of the useless journey to them and of the labors they endured for their sake. They will be punished equally with the Sodomites, since those dishonored the angels, but these the apostles. He wishes them to be prudent, so that they may teach the doctrines of piety without concealment and because they are not ignorant of the wickedness of the base, but if some should attack, not to resist, but to depart from them and not to turn back heedlessly to suffer.

He compares them to snakes, teaching that they must be swift to flee if any should attack wishing to kill them, and to doves, since the bird is not resentful and always stays in the places to which it is accustomed, returning to the same place when the pursuer ceases. Therefore, the word teaches that they must not entirely depart from those who persecute them, but after yielding for a short time, they should return again to admonish them when the anger subsides. Thus Christ himself did with them, being persecuted and withdrawing from Judea and then returning again. 118 19 "But it is given," he says, "to some an opportunity to speak, when it is beneficial to make a defense, so that through the confession some may be helped and the church may be strengthened." At that very hour he promised to give the gift of dialectic, so that the grace of the Spirit might be shown; for if he had given it before the time by experience, the matter would have been thought to be of human nature and skill, and they would not have been hated by all, but by many, especially at that time. Therefore, he said "by all" from the majority, since those who received the word loved them. For he does not want them to be timid, but the opposite, that they not, out of desire for the hoped-for things, readily give themselves over to death and harm those who are about to be benefited by the proclamation. He commands the disciples to flee from this city to another and from that one to another. He says this not teaching them to be timid, but not to throw themselves into dangers and die easily and harm those who are about to be benefited through the proclamation. 121

He says that the cities of Israel are also the congregations of the faithful, which exist until the end of the age, and the teachers and the taught do not cease until the second coming of the Lord. And the disciples and evangelists seem to live until then, since all teach from their writings. He teaches one to bear every kind of abuse patiently and not to think oneself above the Master. At the time of judgment, all things will be revealed; for he does not heed abuses, but hearts. Concerning the boldness of the apostles in preaching, the wonderful Habakkuk also foretold: "They will open their bridles," he says, "as a poor man eats in secret," that is, the apostles who earlier barely spoke to some and in secret, and were nourished by the faith of believers, these later, having broken the bridle of fear imposed upon them, will fill the whole world with their voice. For the present, however—for what does he say? He who confesses that Christ is God, having humbled himself, will have Christ confessing to the Father about him, that he is a genuine servant. One must not have friendship with the enemies of God and the friends of Satan.

He who loves the present temporal life, he says, and honors it more than me "is not worthy of me"; but he who has disregarded the present temporal life and makes much of me and my commandments will find eternal life. Here he calls the separation from the body the destruction of the soul, by an abuse of language. He who has found his soul, that is, he who prefers and, as it were, gains the present temporal life, endures something worse than death, being sent on to indissoluble punishment and death. He who receives you who proclaim the truth, he says, receives that very divinity, that is, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; for this is what he means: he who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the Father himself. 130 40–42 Lest anyone should plead poverty, he said this, wishing to give a reward to those who receive them. 132 He asks, not because he is ignorant that he himself is Christ or that he was about to descend into Hades, as some say; for he knew his passion. Therefore he also called him a lamb; but in order that, while still living, he might persuade them and that after his death they might not attach themselves to another teacher. He prepared the way of the Lord, that is, he prepared men to receive the legislation of God. He showed, then, also from this—he now adds a vote from himself, saying. He confirms the things concerning John by an oath. And he said "has been raised" because of the greatness and exaltedness of his dignity, as of a renowned king or a flourishing plant; for he both saw the one who was prophesied and See how he confirms the things concerning John by an oath; for he says "amen," making it known to all.

I say that no one greater than him has arisen. He used the word "arisen" as if speaking of some illustrious king or of a plant that has grown exceedingly tall and has shot up to a height in virtues. Together with the others who existed before him, he is born of a woman; but those who have accepted the faith are no longer called born of women, but, as the most wise evangelist says, "as many as received him, he gave them power to become children of God, who were born not from blood nor from the will of the flesh nor from the will of a man, but from God." For we have been reborn into adoption as sons of God, not from perishable seed, but through a living and enduring word. Therefore, those who are not from perishable seed but rather born from God are superior to everything born of a woman. John was born of a woman, but those who have accepted the faith are no longer called born of women, "but were born from God." When Christ revived, having plundered Hades, then the spirit of adoption was given. But the blessed John departed before the spirit was given, so that even if we are inferior to those who achieved righteousness under the law, we have become greater through Christ. He says that the faithful person who has been reborn through the bath is greater than John, and he calls this state the kingdom of heaven, because the kingdom of heaven is given to the faithful, which the Baptist had not yet obtained. And one who has only been baptized, even if he has not yet led a virtuous life, is above John. Therefore, the discourse contains praise of holy baptism.

Since the kingdom of the heavens is faith in Christ, it began from the preaching of John, who pointed out the one proclaimed, leading into the kingdom through baptism. Those who are forced into the kingdom of the heavens are those who renounce the old and vain custom of idolatry and those who do not attend to the letter, but are drawn, as if by some violence, through faith in Christ. By saying that the kingdom is seized by violent men, he hints at the malicious character of the Jews, who not only did not believe in Christ, but also hindered others through threats and blows. And it was necessary that those who wished to partake of the kingdom of the heavens through faith in Christ be shown to be steadfast in purpose, despising the threats of the Jews. Moreover, the faithful person, when he vigorously resists bodily and psychic passions in order to enter the kingdom of the heavens, is a God-loving violent man. The phrase "until now" means "until the perpetual." Faith in Christ through baptism is the kingdom of God, which began from the preaching of John, who pointed out Christ. Those who are forced are those who renounce idolatry and the old custom. Just as when children dance and others lament, the will does not settle on one thing (for both blame their companions for not agreeing with them), the Jews have suffered something similar, accepting neither the austerity of John nor the leniency of Christ, nor being benefited through any single manner.

For John, by means of an ascetic life, suppressed the passions of the flesh; but Jesus, as God, suppressed them by authoritative decree, not being aided by ascetic labors. And John, "preaching a baptism of repentance," was a type of dejection for those who ought to mourn on this account; but the Lord, "preaching the kingdom of the heavens," displayed in himself the brightness, through which he now delineates for the faithful the future life and the painless joy. It was fitting for John, as a servant, to mortify the passions of the flesh through extreme austerity; but for Christ, as a free man, to mortify the movements of the flesh and the innate law of the flesh by the power of his divinity, authoritatively, and not to be assisted in this by ascetic labors. Nevertheless, John, "preaching a baptism of repentance," offered himself as a type for those who ought to mourn; but the Lord, "preaching the kingdom of the heavens," fittingly displayed in himself the relaxed and bright character, through which he delineated for the faithful the inexpressible joy and the painless life. For the sweetness of the kingdom of the heavens is a flute, but the painful things of Gehenna are a dirge. The phrase "I confess" is used according to human custom in place of "I acknowledge grace," that is, "I glorify you"; for it is customary for the divinely inspired Scripture to accept the name of confession in such a manner. For it is written that "they shall confess" Lord "to your great name, because it is fearful and holy." And again: "I will confess to you, Lord,

with my whole heart." But those who are perverse in mind say, "Behold, he acknowledges grace to the Father; then how is he not inferior to him?" To this, one of those well-versed in the doctrines of truth might say, "And what prevents the consubstantial Son from receiving and praising his own Father, who saves the world through him? If you think that because of this acknowledgment he is inferior to the Father, consider also what follows. For he acknowledges and calls the Father lord of heaven and earth. And the Son of the God who rules over all things certainly rules together with him over all things, not as inferior or of a different substance, but as God from God, crowned with equal glories and having substantial equality with him in every respect. The knowledge of God is according to different conceptions: as creator, by which he created; as judge, by which he judged; and so on. And all these are manifest to whomever the Son reveals, who is not otherwise the Son of God. Therefore, whoever, having received authority to become a child, when he has it does not know it, does not have the Father; but when he becomes one through the revelation of Jesus, he will know him as a brother. Just as the Father is said to have made all things, although he does all things through the Son, so also he is said to entrust all things to the Son, having power himself and ruling over all things through him and together with him. Yet, even if, as a man, he is said to receive authority economically, since human nature is not naturally suited to rule, this too is not beyond reason. He who sees the Son, who bears the image of the Father in himself, sees the Father himself.

He reveals the Father as if he himself appears in the Father as in a prototype, while again indicating the archetype in his own form. These things must be understood in a manner befitting God. Since he said, "All things have been given to me," lest he seem to be of a different kind and inferior to the Father, he added this, to show that his own nature is ineffable and incomprehensible, like that of the Father. For only the divine nature of the Trinity knows itself. Only the Father knows his own Son, the fruit of his own nature; only the divine offspring knows the one from whom he was begotten; only the Holy Spirit knows "the depths of God," that is, the thoughts of the Father and the Son. Therefore, the one who has heard the call and has drawn near and has cleaved to the one who gave the command—this one finds rest. "Having withdrawn," he says, "from the sin-loving disposition and from love of the flesh, and turning toward things worthy of praise, draw near to me, so that you may become 'partakers of the divine nature' and sharers of the Holy Spirit." He calls all, and not only those from Israel, as the creator and lord of all. And by "those who labor" he means the Jews, who are unable to bear the yoke of the law; by "those who are burdened" he means the idolaters, who have been laden by the devil and weighed down by the multitude of sins. "You, therefore," he says, "O Jews, incline toward the truth and recognize me as your guardian and master, and from close at hand receive the profit of the approach.

I free you from slavery under the law, in which you endure much toil, being unable to accomplish it easily and constructing for yourselves the greatest of sins, "the burden," inasmuch as it was fitting for you to observe more things while acting in accordance with the law. The yoke of Christ is light, since it does not punish us as the law does, demanding sinlessness and dispassion, but has its promise and the pattern of virtue in simple words. For where nothing great and noble occurs, they are silent; but where they see some being saved, they are more burdensome than all. Thus they are enemies of the salvation of men and ignorant of the sacred writings. For if the new covenant proclaimed through Jeremiah is different from the first covenant, it is absolutely necessary to use not the ancient laws but the new ones. But the Pharisees, not wishing to understand this, lie in wait for the holy apostles and say about them to Christ: Behold, we see those being instructed by you opposing the legal commandments; for while the law commands resting on the Sabbath and touching no work at all, the disciples rub ears of grain with their hands. But you yourself tell me, O Pharisee, when you set the Sabbath table for yourself, do you not break the bread? Why then do you blame others? And how does the Savior defend them? The Pharisees, being impious, pretended piety in order to destroy the pious. Therefore they also attempted to slander Christ and his disciples, seeing them being glorified by the miracles.

Since, he says, I do not cast out demons by the ruler of demons, as he showed by saying that every kingdom divided against itself is dissolved and destroyed, I cast them out by the power of the Spirit, and for this reason the kingdom of God has drawn near. He calls the devil strong not as being so by nature, but he indicates his tyranny, which he acquired from our negligence. I plunder him, not allowing him to have men as worshippers, but persuading them to come to the knowledge of God. How then will he become my ally against himself? When someone sinned against a man, it was possible to intercede with God on his behalf, but when men blasphemed against God, it was not permitted to intercede on their behalf. Nevertheless, since the Son of God, though by nature God, was seen as a man, he was not altogether recognized by the ignorant; he sometimes grants forgiveness to those who sin against him out of ignorance, but he says that punishment is inflicted perpetually on those who sin against the Spirit. By "Spirit" he means the entire divinity of the Trinity. Yet forgiveness is given to those who repent through the grace of the Spirit. But Christ, wishing to show the magnitude of the sin, spoke thus, since there is no unforgivable sin before God for those who repent genuinely and worthily. By "Spirit" he means the entire divinity of the Trinity. Yet forgiveness is given to those who repent, being baptized through the grace of the Spirit. But Christ, wishing to show the magnitude of the sin, said this.

For even if it is often the custom of God to exact penalties from sinners only here, and not also there, according to the saying, "The Lord will not punish twice for the same thing," or to show forbearance in the present life, but not also to grant pardon there, yet in such cases he says that the punishment is indelible and unforgivable both here and there. When he says "treasure," he indicates the abundance of things stored in the soul. And so that some might not say that men are evil by nature, he made this clear in the case of the Pharisees, that it is possible for the same one man to become good at one time and evil at another, saying: The good man speaks from the abundance of his heart, and likewise the evil man. Even if the Lord said that being evil they cannot but speak evil, he did not say this as though they were evil by nature, but as being overcome by evil from great folly. And even if the Lord said that being evil they cannot speak good, he did not say this as though they were evil by nature, but from their own voluntary impulse. Since the signs that had occurred, they say, were those of demons, which produce their illusions only on earth, do you also perform a sign from heaven by your own power; for another evangelist clearly said that they asked him to perform a sign "from heaven," which was fitting for divine power.

to do. They said this as if he were unable to do anything befitting God, being blinded in their mind; for opening the eyes of the blind, raising the dead, and commanding the sea and winds belong only to divine authority. But they were wicked, wasting the excellence of their mind not on love of God, but on doing and saying something against God. He called both the former and the present unfaithfulness adultery, indicating that they neither believed in the Father nor in Christ himself, who wedded humanity and betrothed it according to the human condition because of the saying, "And I will betroth you to myself for eternity," but they attached themselves to Satan, calling it a form of spiritual fornication. He again shows himself to the Father—the sign of the prophet Jonah. So if Jonah is taken as a type of Christ, he is not taken in every respect; for example, he was sent to proclaim to the Ninevites, but he sought to flee from the face of God and is seen hesitating at the mission. The Son was sent by God the Father to proclaim to the nations, but he was not reluctant in his service. The prophet asked those sailing with him to throw him into the sea, and he was swallowed by a whale, then cast out after three days, and after that he went to Nineveh and fulfilled his mission, though he was greatly distressed when God took pity on the Ninevites.

Christ willingly underwent death, remained in the heart of the earth, and would have come back to life and after that gone to Galilee and commanded that the proclamation to the Gentiles begin, yet he is not grieved seeing those called to knowledge being saved. Therefore, just as bees, flitting about meadows and flowers, always gather what is useful for the construction of honeycombs, so too must we, when investigating the God-inspired scripture, always collect and arrange what serves to clarify the mysteries of Christ and complete the discourse irreproachably. And this is quite reasonable: for when someone, once freed from evils, is not brought to his senses, he will suffer far worse things than before. For this reason he said: he finds no rest, in order to show that such a person will certainly and necessarily fall prey to the assault of demons. For such a person ought to have been brought to his senses by these two things: by having suffered previously and by having been delivered. Moreover, a third thing is added: the threat of suffering worse. Yet none of these made them better. The evil spirit dwelt in them both when they were enslaved in Egypt and when, living among the Egyptians with their customs and laws, they were full of every impurity. Since they were redeemed through Moses and had the law as a pedagogue calling them to the true light of the knowledge of God, the profane and unclean spirit was driven out. But since they did not believe in Christ, the demon took up residence in them again; for it found their heart bare and empty of all piety and, as it were, swept clean, and it dwelt in them.

For just as the Holy Spirit, when it sees a human heart free from all impurity, dwells, abides, and rests in it, so also the unclean spirit loves to inhabit the souls of the lawless. For this reason Christ speaks in parables, that through these he might also show that he is the one prophesied, concerning whom David said: "I will open my mouth in parables" and again: "And the man will be one who hides his words and will be hidden as from flowing water." To the gentle and studious who possess knowledge, the divine light will be more richly implanted than before, but for those who have had a spark of intellectual light but have turned to ignorance, even the small radiance they have will be extinguished—which is what the Jews suffered by not believing in Christ; for they had a small illumination from the law guiding them to knowledge of God. But because they have been impious toward Christ, they have been deprived even of that. The Lord, however, showing more clearly what he meant by saying that to the one who has it will be given, but from the one who does not have it even what he has will be taken away, adds: For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear nor understand. To men who are quick to learn and well disposed to receive divine words, the Holy Spirit will be implanted, increasing the gifts in them; but for those who have possessed a spark of light and have neglected it, even the smallest thing they previously had will certainly be extinguished and taken away from them.

This the Jews have suffered, having received light from the law and not multiplying it, but even when the truth came, having grown dim-sighted toward it, they were deprived of what they had possessed. The saying "lest they should ever return and I will heal them" displays an intensified obstinacy, yet it is also characteristic of one who draws and provokes; for it shows that if they return, he heals them; for he speaks thus for the sake of their salvation, since he might have said nothing at all and remained silent, but he does everything not for his own glory but for their salvation. He therefore blesses them as having heard the voice of the Son and having been deemed worthy of his sight, through whom and in whom they beheld intellectually the nature of the Father and God, of which the saints of old were deemed worthy and had the fullest delight in good things. Let us see, as in thick matters, what it is to be on the road. Every road is hard and somehow unprofitable because it lies under the feet of all, and no seed is heaped up in it, but rather lies on the surface and is ready for plunder for those birds that wish it. Therefore those who have a mind in themselves that is hard and, as it were, compressed, do not receive the divine seed, but have become a road trampled by unclean spirits; for these are "the birds of the sky." By "sky" here we mean the air, in which the spirits of wickedness move about, by whom the good seed is snatched away and destroyed. And who are those on the rock? There are some who hold the faith in themselves without curiosity, but do not let the mind down into the testing of the mystery.

These have a light and rootless piety toward God. And if the affairs of Christians are borne with a fair wind, with no storm of trial assailing them, they then barely preserve the faith within themselves; but when persecution stirs up trouble, they have a soul that is unwarlike. Matthew wrote "wicked," Mark "Satan," Luke "devil." It is not the same thing to be beside the road and in the road, and we need the distinction because of "I am the road"; yet the three wrote "beside the road." And very elegantly Matthew and Mark say "on the rocky places," not "on the rock," that the word was sown. Concerning the whole area beside the road, it is said of the one who does not understand. But concerning the good earth, this is the one who hears the word and understands. So perhaps those on the rocky places and those among the thorns are between those who do not understand and those who understand. And it is an exhortation to take care for understanding; for if the seed of the one who understands is not snatched away, one must take up understanding and cover the seed in the earth, in the memory, so that it may take root and, not being found bare, be snatched away by the spirits of wickedness. And that the call through Christ has become universal, he himself will confirm, saying clearly that the net of the evangelical proclamations gathers from every race. And just as those skilled in the catching of fish

having a seafaring craft, they slacken the net without discrimination, and whatever is caught in the meshes, they drag entirely and in every way to land. So also the power of the proclamation and the marvelous and intricate teaching of the sacred lessons, which the good fishermen, the apostles, wove, draws from every kind and gathers to God. It gathers, however, until the time that will be fulfilled at the time of the consummation, when the angels of God appointed for this purpose, having drawn those netted out of life, will make the separation of all, setting apart the wicked from among the righteous. A scribe is one who, through persistent reading of the scriptures, both old and new, has stored up a treasure of knowledge for himself. Therefore he blesses those who have brought together in themselves legal education and evangelical, so as to draw out from the treasure new and old. He likens these also to a scribe, just as elsewhere he says: "I send" you "wise men and scribes." You see how he does not reject the old—through which the soul is adorned. Now he also filled baskets, and that rather to each one of the disciples it was given as a reward for the service, through which it is signified that those who serve will have a great reward. Since also the other evangelist says the loaves are "barley," the aim of the contemplation looks to this: barley is fodder for beasts, which is the teaching through Moses offered to the more irrational.

For this reason we say that the loaves are five, because of the five-part division of the writings of Moses, and the fish are two, by which the twofold composition of the fishermen is indicated, both apostolic and evangelical. Let us examine precisely what "dismiss them" means. Some of those following Christ, when evil spirits constrained them, begged to be released; others sought the removal of other ailments. So, knowing that the disciples, by merely nodding, accomplish what is desired for those who are suffering, they say "dismiss them," not because they themselves are growing weary as the time has passed, but because they cling to love for the crowds and are already, as it were, practicing the pastoral art and beginning to care for the people. Fulfilling the mystery of the economy, the Savior looks up to heaven; for, being God by nature, he assumed the form of a servant, and through the hands of the disciples he gives the food to the crowds, hinting at the closeness of the saints to God. Therefore, those who are not such stand outside him. So that he might be recognized as God by nature in every way, he multiplies the small portion, and looks to heaven as if asking for the blessing from above. He did this also economically for our sake. For he himself is the one who fills all things, the blessing from above and from the Father. But so that we might learn that, when beginning a meal and about to break bread, we ought to offer it to God with upturned hands, as it were, and bring down the blessing from above upon it, he has become for us, economically, the beginning, the pattern, and the way of this action.

That the fragments of the loaves were left over, after no small multitude had been fully satisfied, would be a clear proof that the act of hospitality has a rich recompense from God. It is possible to see the new miracles agreeing with the older ones and being works of one and the same power. He rained manna in the desert for the Israelites, but behold, again in the desert he has abundantly supplied those in need of food, as if letting it down from heaven; for multiplying the small and, as it were, feeding so great a multitude from nothing would not be unlike the first sign. The male is always chosen by God as most warlike and able to come to maturity, that is, to spiritual good condition, and to sow seed and teach the rest, and capable of measuring "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." He prays not as one in need, but as a high priest making supplications on our behalf. And a little later: until evening, to show that one must not be fickle about this, but have perseverance and eagerness. He also teaches this, that when there is need, we ought to speak of common benefits to those we meet, and after such conversation and teaching to proceed to prayer. He prays not as one in need of anything, but as a high priest making supplications on our behalf, although, as he is understood and is God by nature, he himself supplies the petitions to the saints. He prays until evening, to show that one must not be fickle about it, but display perseverance and patience. So he went up there and prayed.

Having said "Take courage," he demands faith, through which each of those who sincerely believe in Christ is saved; and adding "I am" he dissolves all fear: "For I," he says, "am the one who can do all things." Some of the Jews approached and were eager to consecrate their own souls to God, as yet in type and shadow, but according to the law, acknowledging the honors from themselves to those who had obtained the priesthood and attended the divine altar. Yet there were some who desired such glory—I mean to be sanctified and sacred and a divine offering—but due to lack of money they checked their desire. When the Pharisees and scribes urged them that it was necessary to do this—for these are exceedingly money-loving—they put forward their respect for their parents and said truthfully that they could barely provide the necessities of life for themselves and for them. But the others dared to persuade them to consider money as nothing for the sake of God, and even if their parents approached seeking the usual support from them, they taught them to say to the father or mother: "What you receive from me is a gift; know that you are harming the sacred offering and laying hands on holy money, for I have dedicated myself and promised myself as a gift to God." The parents, fearing the harm from sacrilege and dreading the laws concerning it, persisted in lamenting and insisted that piety toward God had become a pretext for famine for them, perhaps even crying out that the divine commandment was wronging them in the most vital matters.

Why then, he says, have you nullified the commandment of God because of your tradition? For it was necessary, it was necessary to honor those who gave birth, not to abrogate the law concerning them for the sake of piety toward God. Therefore, neither should the things proper to God be neglected because of human matters, nor should human beings be entirely neglected because of God; rather, assigning the preeminence of love to the principle of all things, that is, to God, as if in a second and neighboring rank, one should immediately convey to the ministers of generation the honors that are most fitting for them. When God commands honoring parents and threatens danger to those who transgress, you command children not to honor their parents, unless perhaps the children wish to do so out of ambition; but if they ask you for something, you say to them, "Whatever you receive from me, know that you are stealing it from God, for I have promised to give it as a sacrifice." And while God must be preferred to parents, I say that the honor due to parents must also be preserved and demanded; for they ought not, under the pretext of offering gifts to God, to transgress against their own parents. A planting is that which is not from God, everything outside God, which will also be uprooted; the one who is formed by this is blind. And

The Lord says that they are foolish, turning about the body, like the Pharisees, and not yet passing on to the inner man. Foods, then, he says, have a filling of the body, but do not touch the heart. And that which does not touch the heart cannot make the true man common or render him impure. And having said, "Let it be to you as you wish," he spoke royally, not accomplishing the matter through prayer, but through the authority befitting God. When the word is spoken, the deed does not tarry; for it is God who speaks, and the word is effective, and the power is everywhere. They had not yet learned the dignity of the Lord, that he is God, but thought him a mere man; therefore they sent up the glory to the God of Israel. But Christ shows from many things that he is God; no less does he demonstrate this also from feeding the crowd in the desert, as it were unwillingly, due to the necessity and the difficulty of procuring food, performing the sign of the loaves, which he would not have done in a city where there is an abundance of provisions; yet, being able to strengthen them by word, he does not do this because of the obscurity, but he performed the sign of the loaves as clearly displaying his divine glory. Peter did not say, "You are Christ or son of God," but "the Christ, the son of God"; for many are christs by grace and have the dignity of adoption, but only one is the son of God by nature. Therefore he said with the article, "the Christ, the son of God." And having called him son of the living God, he shows that he himself was life, and death does not rule over him.

Even if the flesh weakened for a little while, having died, yet it rose again, since the Word in it could not be held by the bonds of death. Just as those who increase the flame by adding more burning material make it greater, so also those who sought to destroy the Church of Christ, through persecution, advanced it to greater glory and power. And if they do not prevail against the Church, he says, then he mentions another honor. Observe how he declares himself Lord of heaven and earth collectively; for he promises things beyond our nature, and even beyond the angelic order, and all that befits only the highest nature and glory of all. First, he says that the Church is his own, although the sacred Scriptures dedicate it rather to God and to no one else, "without spot or wrinkle," and he promises to found it, granting it unshakable stability, as he himself is Lord of the powers, and he appoints Peter as its shepherd. Then he said: And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. This utterance no angel, nor any other rational power, can utter; it befits rather the all-ruling God, who has authority over earth and heaven. The occasion of the gift looks to the time of the resurrection, when he said: "Receive the Holy Spirit; if you forgive some sins, they are forgiven; if you retain some, they are retained." The gift of faith was given to all and suits all; therefore we understand the faith of all the apostles as common, and not of Peter alone. That Jesus Christ is the one, is shown by this.

For the things of the economy were to be proclaimed fully after this, he says, so that Christ crucified might be attested by those able to bear witness. But since it was not accepted that "a prophet perish outside Jerusalem"—a destruction having an analogy to "he who loses his soul will find it"—for this reason he goes to Jerusalem. Since the disciples did not yet possess the "power from on high," it was likely that they might fall into human weaknesses and, having considered something of this sort, say: How will one deny himself? Or how, having lost his own soul, will he find it? And what is the equal honor for those who have suffered this? Therefore, to remove them from such reasonings and, as it were, to recast them toward manliness, instilling in them a desire for the glory that would be theirs, he says: There are some of those standing here, and so forth, hinting at Peter and the sons of Zebedee; for these were taken along in the transfiguration, which he calls a kingdom as having revealed the ineffable power and the unalterable genuineness toward the Father. In it he also intimated the dignity and the awe of the second coming, showing this as a prelude and, as it were, a confirmation of that. For he will come in the glory of God the Father, not in the meanness that is ours. He calls glory the transformation and change of our nature from its presently seen form into a glorious and incomparable glory; and of those whose glory is one, much more so is their substance. And he calls glory, in another sense, the transformation and reshaping of our nature, which has a glorious and incomparable glory compared to the presently seen form.

He goes up the mountain, showing that a lowly mind is not fit for contemplation, but one that has become solitary and free from worldly cares in tranquility. We say that the transfiguration took place not because the body changed its human form, but because some light-like glory enveloped it; for the body remained in its form, but the features were tinged with a more glorious, light-like color. Through their conversing together it is shown that the ancient prophets also proclaimed the same things as Christ, even if through riddles. The disciples fall from extreme timidity, and the Savior raises them up, showing that if he had not become incarnate and mediated between God and men and strengthened his own nature, they could not have borne to hear the voice of God. He did not know what he was saying; for before the passion and resurrection of the Savior and the destruction of death and the corruption of our bodies, it was impossible for Peter to be united with Christ and to desire the tents in heaven; for these things must happen after the Savior's resurrection and ascension into heaven. He commanded them to listen to him, since it is no longer the will of God the Father that we obey the legal writings, nor even the shadowy sketches in type, but rather to follow what has been enjoined to us through the Savior, without rejecting Moses and the prophets; for they were present and conversed with him, so that their presence signifies to us their servant ministry, while their conversing indicates their intimacy with Christ and, as it were, their agreement in teaching.

The voice of God the Father is beautiful and admirable, but the disciples, already seized by unadulterated terror, fall down, so that through this we may again learn how utterly necessary the mediation of our Savior has been revealed to those on earth, understood, of course, according to the manner of the incarnation. For if he had not become like us, who among us could have endured God advancing upon us from above, displaying his ineffable glory, which is perhaps unbearable to any created being? For the blessed Paul said that "light" dwells in him "inaccessible," and before this, such a voice was heard at the Jordan, and a crowd was present. Christ shows that the Jews are exceedingly ignorant of the Scriptures, from which they did not recognize John, that is, the first Elijah, "the one who prepared the way of the Lord," and by not recognizing and killing the forerunner of Christ, they also did not recognize the Lord himself and killed him. And even if the father of the demoniac ought to have departed grieving, having not obtained the favor, since he did not make his approach blameless, but cried out against the chorus of the apostles, saying that they were unable to rebuke the demon, and rather slandered the Lord of the powers himself—for the one who says that those who received authority from Christ to cast out unclean spirits were weak against their activity accuses the grace itself, not those who received it. Therefore, it was necessary that that unbelieving father, and because of this perverted, be sent away empty.

But lest anyone think that Christ himself was powerless to accomplish the extraordinary feat, "he rebuked the unclean spirit," and immediately the boy was freed from his affliction "and gave him back to his father." For before being healed, he was not his father's, but belonged to the spirit that held him. If the moon, by its natural law, had the power to inflict a condition on someone, why does it not send this upon all men, just as it imparts its light to all? Again, it is clear that the moon was made for illumination, not for producing demons. And if this came about from the natural activity of the moon, then when the demon was crushed, the moon, as the cause of the affliction, ought to have been harmed as well. But this is not the case; rather, demons, wishing to deceive men, have appropriated to themselves the names of the elements, so that the elements might be slandered as evil, which they are not. For by nature the elements are good, serving only the laws given to them and having no power of choice. The unbeliever will be somewhere perverse and twisted, knowing in no way how to walk straight. And with such persons Christ does not deign to associate; but, to use a human expression, he disregards and is weary of them. However, this is not said to his person—nor should one conceive of inappropriate things concerning them.

But when he says, "How long shall I dwell among you who are so abusive and faithless?" he shows that the time of his incarnate presence required him to dwell with those who were not good, with a divine gentleness, in order to correct them through his actions. "How long," he says, "shall I dwell among you who are so abusive and faithless?" showing that his presence in the flesh compelled him to associate with those who were not good, in order to correct them. 8 17, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard"—that is, faith that is hot and fervent, or likened to the small grain because of its humble appearance in word. For "we have the treasure of faith in earthen vessels." Therefore, he brought the chief apostles up the mountain and showed them the glory with which he will shine upon the world at the appointed times; then, descending from the mountain, he freed someone from an evil and harsh spirit. But it was absolutely necessary for him to undergo the saving passion for our sake and to endure the perversity of the Jews. When this happened, it was not unlikely that the disciples would be in turmoil and perhaps think and say among themselves: "He who raised so many dead with divine authority, who rebuked seas and winds, who crushed Satan with a word—how has he now been caught and fallen into the snares of murderers? Have we been deceived into thinking he is God?" Therefore, so that they might know what would certainly and inevitably happen, he foretells to them the mystery of the passion.

Having interwoven the discourse on the resurrection, he intertwines power with weakness, glory with dishonor, the loftiness of divinity with the lowliness of humanity; for he died as a man, and came to life again as God. The disciples are grieved because of their love for Christ, even though the resurrection was announced shortly before, since people feel grief more keenly when they hear of sorrowful things and perceive them more than the most pleasant things. And they cunningly question Peter. For, it is said, since it is customary to oppose the laws of Moses, he does not even pay the didrachm, knowing that Christ had said, "I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it," and that the manner of the economy requires this. To these men, then, Peter said—perhaps blushing to discuss these matters. Although he could have produced the stater from the earth, he did not do this, but performed the sign from the sea, in order to teach us a mystery full of contemplation; for we were fish drawn up from the bitter tumults of life as from the sea through the apostolic hooks, having in our mouths Christ, the royal stater, which was given as a ransom for two, for our soul and body, or for two peoples, Jews and Gentiles alike, ransoming both poor and rich, since the old law also unhesitatingly demanded the payment of the drachma equally from rich and poor. The Savior could have produced the stater from the earth, but he did not do this; instead, he worked the sign from the sea, in order to show us a mystery full of contemplation.

We are the fish caught from the disturbances of life through the apostolic teachings. And we hold in our mouths the stater, that is, Christ. We consider the kingdom of the heavens, especially in the present, to be either the calling in sanctification or the measure in faith and holiness; for the Savior hints at something of this sort when he says, "The kingdom of the heavens is within you." Since a great and countless multitude of demons roams this whole world, subverting our affairs with manifold deceptions, Christ set over us from heaven the guides—not because human nature suffers any deficiency (far from it; for they are far removed from our condition, and the argument is clear)—but as those who bring their own strength to oppose the rapacity of the demons and are able to champion our life. And Christ accomplished this too, along with all else, for our souls. Long ago, when we were rendered useless, heaven was closed, and the angels took no account of any of us, as if sharing the indignation of the master of all, who had been insulted. But when God saw fit "to recapitulate all things in Christ," he came down to earth and brought the holy angels, appointing them guardians of our life. Hence he said, "You will see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man." "Of man," that is, for the sake of man.

For the heaven was closed in the times already past, but He opened it for us, so that for our sake, running both above and below, they might be some kind of ministers of the economy being accomplished for us through Christ. This, then, is what Paul also says: "Are not all spirits liturgical?" and so forth. The meaning of the dream of our forefather Jacob also has this significance: he saw, as he said, "the ladder" extending from the earth "to the heaven," indicating, I think, nothing other than that at certain times there will be an ascent and descent for the holy angels because of the man shining in the world with the flesh of the Only-begotten. It is, therefore, utterly terrible that those deemed worthy of such care from God, as overseers and tutors, should be assigned angels, yet be placed in no account, and this among us, their fellow servants and brothers. Since Christ gives to those who have received the office of teaching the authority to bind and loose, not when those who have once turned aside to the pursuit of virtue change their minds, one must fear the voices of the saints, even if those who define are not many. For Christ has also assured us of this, not indeed saying that whatever is from many will be certain, but promising that even if two in number should define harmoniously and with due consideration, it will come to pass; for He says, "I will be present and will define together, if only two are gathered for my sake." For He does not speak of the number of those present, but says that the power of piety and love of God will become effective.

God, the God of all, releasing us from the grievousness of our transgressions, is indicated by the many talents, unless we ourselves remit to our fellow servants the hundred denarii, that is, the small worldly faults arising from the misanthropy inherent in them. The angels set over us, who are under the same yoke of lordship as we are, make accusation before God, not as signifying to one who is ignorant—for He knows all things as God—but rather, as is reasonable, requesting that those who choose to despise and dishonor the laws of mutual love be usefully disciplined. If we should suffer the penalty for these things, we are either disciplined in the present life, as it were, by certain torturers, trials, and illnesses sent to us, or at least punished in the future age. That God educates the disobedient and intractable, turning them to the better, is easy to see; for divine scripture is full of such things, as for example the wisely spoken saying: "Whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he accepts," and again: "Endure for the sake of discipline," and so forth. Through the sale of the woman and the rest, the complete removal and total falling away from the pleasant things from God is signified. The sale clearly indicates the alienation from God; for those to whom that bitter and unsmiling word is addressed are alienated from God: "Depart from me, workers of lawlessness; I do not yet know you." When Christ says, "If you wish to enter into life," or "Immediately keep the commandments," that one, expecting nothing else, says, "He will say to me: 'What kind?'

But he was greatly mistaken in his hope; for Christ did not answer him as he thought, but refers him to the law—not because the law is perfection (for "no one is justified by the law," as it is written), but because the practice of the law is a kind of preliminary entry into eternal life, gradually accustoming the mind of those being educated to higher things. For "the law has become for us a pedagogue to Christ." Therefore, the law is the beginning of a bodily polity, but Christ is its perfection; for, it is said, the beginning of goods is to do just things. So the law demonstrates what is just, but Christ demonstrates what is good. The law taught us to repay those who wish to do injustice with equal measure ("a tooth for a tooth" and "an eye for an eye"), but Christ, having let go of the equal balance, leads us to the greater... For to the one who strikes you "on the right cheek, turn to him also the other; and to the one who wishes to go to law with you," he says, "and take your tunic, let him also have your cloak." Here he calls "camel" not the beast of burden, but the thick rope with which sailors tie up anchors. He shows that this is not entirely impossible, but places the matter as extremely difficult and bordering on the impossible. Hence it is shown that not just anyone—but one who is to accomplish this needs grace. No one could have a soul entirely free from passions, even if one were among the most industrious; for "who is clean from filth," as it is written, or "who will boast of having a pure heart?" And if "the one who stumbles in one thing has become guilty of all," according to the

of being condemned, who would not henceforth correct the transgression in a single case, even if he fled? For not even the very sober-minded could escape sinning in thought. Therefore, as far as human weakness is concerned, no one is saved; but as far as the gentleness of the one who saves, salvation is not despaired of; for not every sin is to death. Lest anyone think that what was said applies only to the disciples, he extended the word to all who do similar things; for even if the rest will not obtain the same things as the disciples, yet they will have, instead of blood relatives, intimacy with God and brotherhood with the saints (he means the elders and deaconesses of the church, whom they held as relatives through love, the beloved by disposition, those who love much more than blood relatives, from whom they also received goods to administer as they wish, with the future goods also laid up for them), and instead of fields, paradise, and instead of stone houses, the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of the firstborn. It should be noted that even if the rest do not obtain the same things as the disciples, yet they will have, instead of blood relatives, intimacy with God and brotherhood with the holy city, the mother of the firstborn. He does not say that they will receive many fathers instead of one, or many mothers instead of one, or many fields instead of a few, but that the heavenly things will surpass all earthly things by incomparable preeminence, and that the things that are saved will be more valuable than those that are lost.

Luke adds also concerning a woman; this is in accordance with Paul, who commands to honor "elderly women as mothers, and younger women as sisters in all chastity." Just as he gives brothers who are not brothers, and parents who are not parents, and children who are not children, so also he gives a wife who is not a wife, in a different manner, that is, spiritually, fulfilling relationships, not physically. To leave behind the family according to the flesh is good for the sake of the spiritual life; for he says to separate from parents and from a wife when they drag one toward impiety. For just as one must disregard soul and body for the sake of piety, so also one must prefer this above all. Fleeing vainglory, the Lord speaks as if about another householder, himself being the householder and the distributor of the kingdom of the heavens. He calls "day" the whole age, during which at various times after the transgression of Adam he summons certain righteous ones to pious labor, having appointed a reward for them for their works. Therefore, those around the first hour are those around Adam and Enoch, and those around the third hour are those around Noah and Shem and the righteous from them; for the time is second and the calling is second, when the laws are also different.

Those called around the sixth hour are the workers in the times of Abraham, under whom again the legislation of circumcision occurred; those at the eleventh hour are those at the time of Christ's coming, concerning whom alone it is said, "Why are you idle the whole day?" because, having no hope of the Lord and being godless in the world, they are idle in every good work, resembling those standing in the marketplace who touch nothing at all, but run through their own life in vain and to no purpose. The Lord also exhorts them, saying, "Why do you stand idle?" (speaking thus). To him they answer, saying, "No one hired us"; for neither Moses nor any of the saints preached to the Gentiles, but only to Israel. Nevertheless, the Lord sends even them into the vineyard. He says there are five calls, to show that in each time there were those who were approved and those who failed, as the "five wise and five foolish virgins" indicate, being in the same times, and that some were found virtuous, while others despised the future age through folly. At the end of life, which is evening (for the time from the coming of Christ until the consummation is the period after the eleventh hour, as John says: "It is the last hour"), in which the master of the house, he says, orders the wage to be given from the last. The master of the house could be understood as the Father, using the Son as a distributor, not as a servant, but as a fellow worker, because through him he administers and effects everything that he wills.

He gives to all the denarius apiece, which is the grace of the Spirit, rendering the saints conformed to God and engraving the characters above in their souls, and leading them up to life and incorruption. Among these, the first seem to have labored more than the last, having endured the burning of the devil to a greater extent, since sin and corruption and death had not yet been abolished; for the matter, if examined on an equal basis, suggests that something more is owed to the earlier ones, because they lived when death and the devil were ruling; for this is the burden of the day and the heat, when the dew of the Spirit was not present to assist men toward righteousness. But the last, having the Lord's favor instead of labors, receive the reward first, since all after the advent through baptism and union with the Spirit have become "partakers of divine nature" and have been named sons of God, while all before the advent were named children of women, though they too were to be called to this; for even if the prophets became partakers of the Spirit, yet not as the faithful do, the Holy Spirit in a way becoming like leaven in the souls of the faithful and transforming the whole man into another state of life. Hence we become "partakers of divine nature" and cry out boldly "Abba, Father." But the more ancient ones did not obtain the same grace. Therefore Paul says:

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again leading to fear, but you received a spirit of adoption," as if to say that the ancients received a "spirit of slavery," not having the dignity of adoption. Therefore, having first received the intelligible denarius, we are said to be necessarily honored above the others. 227. You ask whether some will then be seated; learn that no one will, for such a thing belongs only to the first substance and not to a human one. For the apostles, not understanding what it means to be seated "on twelve thrones" and what being glorified then signifies, sought such a seat. Five days before his saving passion, wishing to fulfill also the utterances of the prophets spoken about him, he orders the two disciples to go to the small village opposite Bethphage and Bethany and to bring his unyoked colt. And that Matthew says that an ass and a colt were brought to the Lord, while Luke and Mark recorded only a single beast of burden, this is not a contradiction; for when the colt was led as commanded by the disciples, the ass also followed her own offspring, like a loving mother. 229. 1–3 He says there are two disciples, that is, apostles and evangelists, who became co-workers and servants of Christ for this purpose. Or he also calls "angels" those who serve Christ for our redemption, "ascending and descending upon the son of man." And if the one who bound them with the chains of sins asks, "What are you doing?" yet, being unable to resist the words of the Savior, he will fall silent, not willingly, because of the overwhelming power.

The divine calling is made manifest in this. Christ is said to be coming as one who came from above, because, being God by nature and Son of the Father, he became man and came, being called Lord in the name of the Lord. Therefore, as God by nature, he is called blessed, that is, glorified. So Christ was seated upon the foal, and the mother followed. And the event was for us a sign of a most necessary matter: Christ rested upon the new people, who once worshipped idols, and the synagogue of the Jews will follow in due time, although in the time of the calling it held the priority, for it had been called beforehand through Moses and the prophets. But since it offended the saving God, for this reason it justly comes behind the foal, with difficulty, and has become a tail, that is, a mere appendage and behind those from the nations, and the first has become last. Observe how the one who knows "the reins and the heart" showed human nature carried off to the ultimate unreason: for the synagogue of the Jews and the multitude of the nations are compared to a donkey, the most irrational of creatures. For those who "worshipped the creation instead of the creator" God, and those who dishonored the law that was their tutor, have become devoid of mind and good sense, and have turned aside to every form of baseness, and "have been compared to senseless beasts and have been likened to them," according to the voice of the Psalmist. The donkey is also a symbol of uncleanness in another way, for the animal is unholy and bears the condemnation of the law. Such are all who wander and are lovers of sin. The foal is led by two disciples sent by Christ.

Two orders serve him in this: prophets and apostles, through whom the nations are netted into faith. And he is led from some village, so that from this also he might show the rustic mind of the nations, not reared in the law, but having lived rather carelessly and wildly, yet they were changed to a more gentle state; for this happened under Christ teaching. And children, raising up "branches of palms," ran before him and together with the disciples composed the doxology, so that through them we might see the new people from the nations as if painted on a tablet; for it is written: "And the people being built up will praise the Lord." Hosanna to the son of David, blessed; the Hebrew runs thus in Psalm 117: ANNA ADONAI OSIANNA, ADONAI ASLIANNA, BAROUCH ABBA BSAIM. There was in the temple a multitude of merchants, money-changers or coin-dealers, and with them sellers of cattle and sheep, and those selling turtledoves and pigeons. These things were useful for the sacrifices of the worship according to the law. But the time had already come for the shadow to cease and for the truth in Christ to shine forth; therefore Christ, being truth, fittingly, since he is honored together with his own Father in the temple that belongs to him, ordered the sacrifices according to the law to be curtailed and the smoke, and the temple to be shown as a house of prayer; for rebuking the merchants and driving them away from the sacred precincts, who were selling things useful for sacrifice to some, is precisely this and nothing else. Another of the evangelists says that Jesus "made a scourge of ropes" and threatened blows and held it up against them.

For it was necessary that those honoring the legal worship know, after the revelation of the truth, that having a "spirit of servitude" and refusing to be freed, they would be under the lash and subject to a punishment befitting slaves. He also sets Isaiah against them as an accuser—for the evangelist says. And he foretells the change of worship by casting out the sacrificial animals and the legal traditions. He threatens the lash, indicating that if they do the same things again, they will experience blows, and to show the servile nature of those under the law, he applies a lash befitting servants. The event was an enigma, that when the Jews were expelled from the temple together with the typical sacrifices, the blind and lame, who are a type of the nations, are healed. Let those who sell the gifts of the Spirit and the priesthood also learn that the Lord drove out those selling doves from the temple, lashing them, and let them cease gathering revenues for themselves from ordinations. Because of the Jews' lack of love for God, he withdraws.

If you knew the "God-inspired Scriptures," O senseless Pharisee, and the voices of the holy prophets, you would have remembered the blessed David saying to the Savior of all, Christ: "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind; you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." Tell me, then, which of the scribes or Pharisees has ministered to God "according to the order of Melchizedek"? Surely no one. But even the forefather Abraham, the root of the generation of Israel, was blessed by the priesthood of Melchizedek; and Melchizedek and the priesthood according to him were a type of the Savior of all, Christ, who has become our high priest, presenting to God and Father all who have believed in him through the worship above the law, perfecting them for sanctification. Why, then, are you distressed, O Pharisee? Do you accuse, tell me, the lawgiver of the dissolution of the law, and that he did not follow his own commandments? But God is certainly beyond the law; for he who defined the laws not for himself but for us changes at the appropriate time whatever he chooses among the ordinances and elevates them to better things. There was, then, a time for the things in types to cease and for the better things to be revealed; hence he said somewhere through the voice of Isaiah: "The ordinances of the people will be annulled"; for they became idle when the new commandment was revealed, which the Son spoke to us through himself. Christ asked what opinion they held about the Baptist, since it was customary for the Jews to call the saints false prophets and to say that they fabricate prophecy from their own opinion, not being sent by God. But the Pharisees are afraid to speak the truth, lest they hear:

Why did you not believe? And Israel is indeed a vine, as the psalmist says: "You transplanted a vine from Egypt," and Isaiah says: "A vine," he says, "was planted for the beloved." God planted it and departed for a long time, that is, he was patient. Yet he is seen to have cared for the place and to have it in mind; for there was no intervening time in which prophets and righteous men were not sent by God to admonish them. But they became disobedient and, dishonoring those sent, sent them back empty, that is, having nothing good to say about them to the God who had sent them. Are you then sons of God the Father? Does the inheritance naturally descend to you if you remove the heir from the midst? How will you become masters of what you desire? And is that not worthy of laughter? For Christ, as son and substantial heir of the prerogatives of God the Father, having become man, called those who believed in him to a share in his own kingdom, but the Hebrews alone wanted to have the kingdom, which was both impossible and ignorant. Observe in these matters that after the servants the son is sent, as one not numbered among servants, but as a true son and therefore master; for even if he wore the form of a servant economically, he was nonetheless God and true son of God the Father, possessing natural lordship. And who would these be? The chorus of the holy apostles, the sacred ministers and teachers of the New Covenant.

Here "stone" means Christ, and "corner" is the union and common bond of these two peoples—those saved from Israel and those from the nations. For this reason the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you, that is, the knowledge of salvation and the path to everything praiseworthy, and communion with the Spirit, through which one acquires the kingdom of heaven. The blessed David marveled at this corner, that is, the convergence of the two peoples into unity, saying: "This came from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes." Therefore the stone is salvific for the corner that came from him, but it is crushing and destruction for those who have remained outside this intelligible and spiritual confluence; for them Christ is "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." He calls "marriage" the union of the faithful with the Son, summoning Jews to this—formerly through prophets, later through the disciples before the Passion and Resurrection. Those invited through the first servants have refused the arrival; they thrust aside the law given through Moses and turned to human teachings. Likewise, those invited later through the second servants, that is, the holy apostles, have neglected what is beneficial and have withdrawn as far as possible to what seemed right to them: some to their own field, by which is signified the acquisition of earthly things and zeal for them; others to commerce, by which again the passion for wealth and the struggle for it are revealed to us.

For love of the flesh and worldly pleasures and vain distractions and the concern for making money deprive us of eternal delight and intimacy with God. 247 22, Clearly the invincible hand of the Roman army. And we say that the Roman army is of God, insofar as he is master and creator of all. And in another way, hands and feet are said to be bound, so that no one can any longer do anything good there; for the work of good extends only to the present. 249 15 For since they saw that those around Theudas and Judas—through these words to cast into such suspicion. The God of all wished Israel to be free of human domination. But since they trampled the divine laws, they came under the hand of those then in power, and they imposed tributes on them. And from then on, tribute—the beginning of the Romans' rule. 251 From excessive shamelessness, the Pharisees, being envious, since the Sadducees were put to shame and he was praised by the crowds, again ask with hypocrisy, testing him, whether he adds again to the first commandment as if correcting the law, so that they might find a pretext against him. And Matthew and Luke say that the one who asked was a "lawyer," but Mark says a "scribe." This is not a discrepancy; for some show him to be learned in the law, others a teacher of letters, which is an interpreter of the law to the people.

The Lord exposes their wickedness, that they did not come to ask in order to be benefited, but because they lacked and were possessed by envy, and he teaches that one must not love God in part and in part cling to earthly things. Through the words by which the Lord gave this commandment, which is more comprehensive than all, the lawyer thought to cast him into danger as one deifying himself. Hence, when he did not say this, the lawyer praised him, as Mark says. Now the first commandment teaches every form of piety; for loving God with one's whole heart is the cause of every good, while the second contains what is just toward men. And the first paves the way for the second, while the second is consolidated by the first; for he who has perfected love toward God evidently also loves his neighbor in all things as himself. Such a one proves to be the fulfiller of all the commandments. Since the Sadducees were put to shame and withdrew, the Lord was praised; at this the Pharisees, envying them,

They came forward, and one who was considered by them to be a very learned legal expert asked which commandment is great in the law, thinking that he would either set aside the teachings of Moses and set forth his own teaching, or say, "You shall love the Lord your God and me," yoking his own glory to the glory of the Father, and thus find an opportunity to cast him into danger as one who deifies himself, or, if he should pass over this in silence, to say, "Therefore I do not accept you as God." But the Lord, saying nothing new but rather the things of the law, and having thus silenced the Pharisees, himself asks them whose son they consider the Christ to be. How then does David in spirit call him Lord? For it is necessary, he says, that fathers of sons be called lords because they have their sons under their authority; on the contrary, David calls the one from his own seed his Lord. Woe to you, then, O legal experts, because, while the law is admittedly burdensome, you impose the penalty of death on others who trample upon it, but you yourselves do not even touch the law. Since it is generally possible to see those who teach new doctrines arriving at the dignity of teaching out of a love of vainglory and boastfulness, the Lord removes this suspicion and cuts off the path as one leading to destruction. If, then, he says, you desire glory and preeminence, seek the order of deacons and those who are last, and practice humility.

He calls the one who is lost through unbelief a son of Gehenna, as one who has slipped into such impiety and lawlessness that he has an unmediated affinity with the flame and, so to speak, a kinship that makes him unquestionably endure torments. For this reason the Scriptures call heaven the "throne of God," because God reposes upon the powers above; for in heaven are the angels who do his will and always glorify him—this is his rest. "But the earth is the footstool of his feet," for on it he dwelt among men through the flesh. The foot of God is his holy flesh, and it is named in various ways. Do you demand, he says, O Pharisees, tithes, perhaps even of small vegetables, while neglecting the commandments whose transgression is greater? And what are these commandments? Judgment, that is, judging rightly and blamelessly, and mercy, that is, genuineness toward God; for judgment and mercy and faith in God are better than tithe and firstfruits. Hence the God of all says through the prophet: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord God seek from you but to do justice and to love and to seek mercy and to be ready to go with the Lord your God?" For in being very ready to follow, the preservation of genuine faith is seen. Behold the rebuke: Do you demand, he says, O Pharisees, tithes, perhaps even of small vegetables, while neglecting the commandments whose transgression is greater? And what are these commandments? Judgment, that is, judging rightly, and mercy, and faith in God.

For these things are better than a tithe and firstfruits. Therefore also through the prophet the God of all says: "And now, Israel, 'what does the Lord' God 'seek from you but to do justice and to love' and to seek 'mercy and to be ready to go with the Lord' your 'God'?" 259 Through these words he delineates the life of the Pharisees, exhorting them not only to fashion themselves by external appearances, but also to have the inward things pure, those pertaining to mind and heart. Let us then examine carefully what the Savior says. The fathers of the Jews at various times killed the holy prophets who conveyed the divine word to them. But those born from them, confessing that the prophets had become revered and honored, adorned them with crowns, that is, the tombs, paying them the honor most fitting for the saints, and themselves, believing them to be prophets and holy men, became judges of those who killed them. For by the very means by which they resolved to honor those who had been slain, they accuse them of impiety. But those who condemned their own fathers for such terrible bloodshed were about to be caught in equal evils, or rather in even worse ones. They "killed the originator of life," and added to the impieties against him other bloodshed against his divine disciples. For as long as one examines the injustices of others, judging by natural reason, he sees the evil and blames it, but when he himself is led into the same passions, he is carried into them as if blind.

In what manner will the penalty for all bloodshed come upon the last generation of murderers, even though God says through the prophet, "Fathers will not die for their children," and also the converse, "Each will die for his own sin"? What then shall we say? How will those to whom Christ has spoken these words be held accountable for the bloodshed of others? For is it not that Cain will be punished for Abel, and Lamech, saying, "I have killed a man for a wound to me and a young man for a bruise"? Therefore, when each is weighed down by his own evils, how will the wretches undergo the penalty for all? "For God is not unjust," but is a righteous and strong and patient judge, as it is written. We say, then, that some such understanding ought to be applied to what has been said. Let us suppose, then, something like this: robbers have arisen, let us say, in this region. They plundered the surrounding villages and killed those in them. But the governor of the province did not immediately unsheathe his ruling sword against them, but rather sought to correct them with threats. They were no less savage. But in order that the evil might finally be checked, when some were captured, he did not spare them, but subjected them to cruel tortures and imposed the ultimate danger at the end, not only angry at them for those deeds, but much more because their savagery had deceived him as he was being patient. But I think that one of the last, cruelly punished, will say that they received the sins of all because the judge's anger came to an end with them. You will understand something like this also concerning God.

Having exercised forbearance in the earlier times up to these events, he considered it necessary to define the measure of forbearance; for it was necessary that divine wrath should descend upon these men. For some sinned against men and fellow servants, but these killed the Lord of all. Therefore, it is not that he is harsh in punishing the last generation for this reason, but that he has persevered in patience up to the present. If someone, because the Lord says "this generation," should suppose that not only those to whom the speech was addressed are signified, but the whole race of murderers as it were, he would depart from what is correct. For we find that holy scripture sometimes names as a "generation" those of like character and like purpose. Thus the blessed David said, "The generation of the righteous will be blessed," and "This is the generation of those who seek" the Lord. Therefore, even if "this" is said demonstratively, we say that it does not signify only those then present and listening, but every murderer who falls under the same kind of impiety; for like will be joined to like as brother and of the same race. Having said this, he shows his own divine character even while in human form; for Moses said concerning God, "He spread his wings and received them"; and again David said, "The sons of men will hope under the shelter of your wings." The saying

They have a noetic vision through faith; for when "the fullness of the nations enters" and they believe in Christ, then the Jews who later believe see the beauty of Christ's divinity, beholding the Father in the Son and declaring him to be the redeemer proclaimed through the prophets, about whom the prophet had previously given notice as coming in the name of the Lord; for the other prophets did not come in the name of the Lord; they said: "Thus says the Lord" and "I am a servant of the Lord, and I worship the God of heaven." 265 Having said "Your house is left to you," he makes this consistent by departing from the temple and going forth, and thereby showing the withdrawal of divine grace from the race of the Jews, as it passes to others. He used these words hyperbolically, yet in fact the sanctuary was completely razed. Some were showing Christ the great works in the temple and the adornment of the votive offerings; for they thought that he, though being God and having heaven as his throne, would marvel with them at what was seen. But he dismisses the discussion about them, and foretold that it would fall from its foundations in due time, as the Roman army would bring this about, demanding from Israel the penalties for the Lord's murder; for after the Savior's cross these things happened to them, but they did not understand the force of what was said. They thought he was weaving discourses about the end of the age. So they asked when these things would happen, and what the sign would be when it was about to occur.

The Lord follows the aim of those who bring the inquiry, and for the present speaks concerning the end of this present age; for before his descent from the heavens takes place, certain forerunners will appear, false Christs and false prophets, fashioning his person for themselves, but do not follow them, he says. Perhaps the saying also has an enigma, so that we may pray not to depart from the body, neither while being idle from a good work, which the sabbath signifies, nor while in unfruitfulness, which winter indicates; for it must be noted that God did not make winter of evils, but we are in winter when the passions of the flesh hold sway in us. Christ hints at this, that we may pray not to be in a departure from the body, neither while being idle from the works of virtue, which the sabbath signifies, nor while being troubled in the tumults and disturbances of life, which winter indicates. Just as when a dead body lies, the flesh-eating birds flock upon it, so, when the Son of Man arrives, then all the eagles—that is, those who fly to the heights and are raised up above earthly and worldly things—will flock to him. How will they not shudder? For when heaven and earth are being re-elemented according to what seems good to God (for it is not possible to speak precisely in such matters), the sun and the moon will be darkened, and the stars will fall like flowers, as the creator re-elementing them again, as he wills, and even the elements themselves will be thrown into confusion; for when humanity is being renewed, the creation made for the sake of man is also recapitulated and renewed together with it.

Since the disciples wished to learn things beyond themselves, he finds an occasion to prevent them from such things by their not knowing, insofar as he is a man, and he says that not even the holy angels in heaven are able to know these things. It was the custom of the Savior Christ to do something of this kind especially with the holy disciples: if they inquired into something that had the appearance of love of learning but was free from higher investigation, to grant the narrative and to try to examine it as precisely as possible in detail; but if they wished to learn excessively something beyond the measure proper to themselves, to calm them quietly and to persuade them well to choose to busy themselves with more fitting matters and to do those things through which they might become distinguished and have the most excellent brightness from good works before God. Therefore, since they chose, I know not how, to ask and learn things beyond the servile measure, he persuades them to be still, appealing to them with necessary arguments, because the Father has not revealed these things even to the angels, nor does he make them known even to the Son himself, if one were a mere man like them on earth and did not have the nature of being God. It was the custom of the Savior Christ to do something of this kind especially with the holy disciples: if they inquired into something that had the appearance of love of learning but was free from higher investigation, to grant the narrative and to try to examine it as precisely as possible in detail; but if they wished to learn excessively something beyond the measure proper to themselves, to restrain them quietly and to persuade them well to choose to busy themselves with more fitting matters.

Since the disciples wished to learn things beyond themselves, he usefully pretends not to know, insofar as he is a man, and says that not even the holy angels in heaven know, so that they may not be grieved as having been emboldened beyond their measure. And see how he persuades them to be still by their own reasoning and entreats them, because the Father did not reveal it even to the angels, nor was it made known even to the Son himself. If the end were manifest, what would they not have done? If the Son is wisdom of the Father, and if what he himself knows, wisdom does not know, then either he is found to be ignorant, or his nature is better than his wisdom, and the simple God is found to be composite and unlike himself. However, ignorance and knowledge do not produce a difference of substance, just as not even in the case of men, but ignorance is a passion, which the Son does not have, but he is God by nature and, according to the heretics, incapable of passions. But if all things of the Son are the Father's, and all things of the Father are the Son's, then either both are ignorant, or the Father knows and the Son knows, as having all things of the Father which are by nature his. For he does not say this concerning the lordship over creatures. However, when Scripture names the Father, it signifies the whole of the divinity understood and worshipped in the holy Trinity. See that the word divides men into two orders, both of those being saved and of those perishing. And it says that those being saved are taken up, while those perishing are let go, that is, rejected. And here "field" is to be understood as the world, where he who sows into the spirit reaps eternal life, and he who sows into the flesh, corruption.

He compares the teachers to millstones, who in a certain way, by refining the meanings of the Scriptures, present the divine oracles to men in an acceptable and easily understood manner. For the law commands that a mill or a hand-mill not be taken as a pledge, so that someone taking the tools of nourishment may not hinder those who are nourished by them, and it cryptically indicates the teachers. The Lord divides men into two orders, that of the saved and that of the perishing; and he says that the order of the saved is taken, while the impious are left behind, that is, rejected. He compares the teachers to millstones as those who refine the Scriptures and make them acceptable and easily understood to men. For the law forbids taking a mill or a hand-mill as a pledge, so that someone taking the tools of nourishment may not become an obstacle to those who are nourished. Therefore the Savior also cryptically indicates the teachers. Faithful in teaching, prudent in action, and a most fair steward of fellow servants, he will be.

For such a one is a partaker of the whole kingdom of the master; for this is what is meant by "he will set him over all his possessions." He does not say who this is, but speaks indefinitely, in order to show the rarity and the high value of right teachers. And it is right to require both—if one is lacking, the other is lame. That the word is against the leaders who indulge in luxury: for he called the negligent teacher a bad and wicked slave, who, because the judge is absent and not seen due to forbearance, harshly strikes those under his hand and mingles with the flesh-lovers; for those who sin sin as if the judge were not present and as if they did not consider judgment. And by the fact that some of them are struck, he shows those who are harmed in soul by the luxury of their leaders, as the apostle says: "Thus sinning against the brothers and striking their weak conscience." He therefore threatens those who indulge in luxury with suffering the worst; for he separates and divides him from himself with pains, by his living word, from the spirit united with him in the age, that is, the divine gift; for those who pretend to think rightly but do not think as they ought, but put on virtue only outwardly in appearance, will be cut in two on the fearful day of judgment, which is eternal alienation from the spirit; for now, even if it is not mingled with the unworthy, yet it seems in some way to be present to those once sealed, awaiting the salvation from their conversion.

Then, from the whole soul that has profaned his grace, he will be cut off, and his portion will be placed with the hypocrites. By "hypocrites" he means those who attempt to teach what is right, but through their actions cause greater harm to their disciples. Therefore, he says, concerning those who do not use as they ought in the present life the ministry entrusted to them by the Lord, not only will he not add another, but also, having taken away the participation in the Spirit that had already come to them, which they received when they were appointed to ecclesiastical ministry, he will thus deliver them to punishment. For it is not possible for someone to be delivered to punishment together with the Spirit; for he does not indicate a physical cutting, but the stripping away of the adoption of the Spirit. Therefore, they are punished for what they laughed at, and they will gnash "their teeth," considering the end of their labor and the excess of the punishment. Let us examine what it means to be cut in two. When Adam was in the beginnings of punishment, God, restoring the most perfect beauty to nature, made him a partaker of his own Spirit; for "he breathed into his face a breath of life"; for that which truly gives life is the Spirit of life, that is, of Christ. But when he slipped through deception into sin, the Spirit was removed. But when God the Father was pleased "to recapitulate all things in Christ" and to restore the nature of men to its ancient beauty, we received through grace what the intrusion of sin had caused us to lose; for Christ breathed into us after the resurrection, renewing us to our ancient beauty.

Receive," he says, "the Holy Spirit." Therefore the Spirit is united with us; for "he who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit." Thus, if we are found at the end in zealous pursuits of piety, we receive the fullness, as now having the Spirit in the manner of a pledge; but if we are accused of sins, we are deprived even of that pledge of the Spirit; for it is cut off and withdrawn, as at the time of judgment. And this, we say, is what he here calls the "cutting in two"; for it is not possible for someone to be given over to punishment together with the Spirit. At the time of the consummation, the Holy Spirit is removed; for it is not possible for someone to be given over to punishment together with the Spirit. He compares the leaders of the peoples to virgins; the priest must be spotless in soul and body, just as Paul says, "that he may be holy both in body and in spirit." Since Scripture is accustomed to divide the whole of life into five parts, it assigns to each time both holy and foolish souls, as each time has its wise and simple, just and unjust. And that all went out with their lamps shows that all souls were illuminated by God through natural and innate laws, and also through the written laws given through Moses. And all went out to meet the bridegroom, that is, all set out to please God and to be spiritually united with the bridegroom who sows every kind of virtue in the hearts of the faithful, for which reason he is called the bridegroom.

Nevertheless, some people indiscriminately, although they possess the illumination from God, did not consent to live temperately, which the prudent souls did, making the illuminative grace given to them from God within shine forth all the more through good works, and benefiting both themselves and others to the glory of God. The oil is to be understood as the good industry, which the idle do not have; when it is absent, the divine illumination in us passes over to a less beautiful state. He compares to sleep and calls a slumber the death of the flesh, which necessarily comes upon both the wise and the foolish, whom the trumpet of the angels awakens at the time of Christ's presence; for all rise, death having been abolished, both good and bad, and all are prepared for the defense before the judge, which is to adorn the lamps of each, as each reviews his own life. When the wicked bring nothing, the soul begins to be gloomy and is, as it were, extinguished and falls into derangement, so that they think to be pitied through the virtue of others. Therefore they are rejected, those others saying, "Never will it suffice for us and for you"; for the virtue of each scarcely suffices for the salvation of a soul, because even the very temperate stumble often. But go to those who sell, who are prophets, apostles, evangelists, through whom one learns to practice virtue, and the orthodox teachers of right doctrines. But of those who readily went, the time did not permit, making an examination of their lives, not granting a beginning of work.

Since it is the custom of Scripture to divide the whole of life into five periods, it assigns to each time both holy and foolish souls. And when it shows that all went out with their lamps, it indicates that all souls were illuminated by God through natural law and written law. Nevertheless, some did not endure to live temperately with the illumination from God, while others, through good works, cause the illuminative grace given to them from God to shine forth even more, and they benefit both themselves and others to the glory of God. And oil is to be understood as good industriousness, without which the divine illumination in us passes into a less beautiful state. And by sleep and drowsiness it likens the death of the flesh, which necessarily comes upon all, whom the trumpet of the angels raises when death is abolished, and all prepare themselves for defense; for this is to arrange the lamps, each one reflecting upon his own life. And the soul of the wicked begins to be gloomy and, as it were, to go into madness, so that they think to be pitied through the virtue of others. Therefore they are rejected; for the virtue of each will scarcely suffice for salvation, since even the very temperate stumble much.

Those who sell are the teachers of correct doctrines, through whom one learns virtue. But the present time did not allow one to purchase, that is, to be taught, since it was making an examination of what had been lived, not giving a beginning for labor. The present time is for labor, the future for recompense. Souls that neglect virtue wither and are, as it were, extinguished, and fall into madness, having thought that at the second coming of the Savior they could be saved without the labor of virtues. Therefore they are rejected by the prudent souls, who say to them: "Lest it not suffice for us and for you." For this indicates here that it is barely possible for someone to be saved through their own virtue, not through that of others; for it is foolish for someone who has not labored to receive a reward for labor. Because of the boldness of their virginity, they ask that the door be opened to them. And it does not open, because they did not take care of themselves in due time. And this is the meaning of "I do not know you"; for he knows those who not only show faith but also have works. But those who have conducted themselves by only one of the two have never even come to be known by the bridegroom. Matthew 25:14–30. The man who is the householder is the creator and lord of this universe. The word of the parable compares the departure either to the ascension of Christ into the heavens, that is, to the invisible and unseen nature of the divine. And those who have believed in God in each region and city are to be understood as his possessions. He calls his slaves those whom Christ from time to time crowns with the boast of the priesthood; for the divine Paul writes:

One does not take the reward for oneself, but it is the one called by God." To these he entrusts those who have come under him, giving a spiritual gift to each, according to their disposition and aptitude. This, we say, is the distribution of the talents, not dispensed in equal measure to the servants because of the diversity of their minds. "And immediately they went and worked," it says, the word "immediately" signifying to us here that the works of God should be done without any delay. Those who are held back by hesitation and idleness will be in the worst evils. "For he buried the talent given to him in the ground," it says, that is, he kept the gift inactive and useless to others within himself. Therefore the talent is taken away from him and will be given to the one who is rich; for the spirit and the giving of divine gifts will be removed from such persons, and to those who are industrious there will be a more abundant bestowal of gifts. The householder here is the master Christ, as the creator of all and lord. His journey abroad is his ascent to the heavens. But it is also possible to speak otherwise: for as he is invisible to creation and not seen by us when we sin, he is said by Scripture to be away. His possessions are the faithful in each country. Lest "before the feast of Passover" the traitor hand him over to his murderers, the Savior did not reveal either the house or the person with whom he had completed the Passover. Saying "a certain one" does not indicate a name specifically, but obliquely indicates one of the saints.

For the word applies to every saint, who first receives the disciples of the Lord, the evangelists, the apostles, smoothing his soul, and then in this way Christ himself, who not called but of his own accord will come with the Holy Spirit dwelling with that one, with whom he sees the holy baptism; for this is indicated by the man carrying the jar of water, as Mark and Luke say. We shall not understand from this that none of the other disciples, but only Judas, dipped the morsel in the dish with him. I myself think that the saying has this meaning: for he wishes to say, in all likelihood, that the one who dipped his hand with me in the dish will be a traitor, that is, the fellow diner and companion and sharer and partaker of table and salt; for thus he accused him also through the voice of the blessed David, saying: "You, O man of like soul, who sweetened food for me at the same table." And again: "He who eats my bread has magnified treachery against me." And John made this same thing clearer; for he said that the Lord had said, "That is the one to whom I, having dipped, will give the morsel." Not as if there were something either good or bad, as it happens, for things not yet come into existence, being outside perception (for it is still quite naive to think so), but because for those who are about to fall into every kind of misery, if they were brought into existence by God, non-existence is far and incomparably better.

The Lord gives thanks when he takes the cup, that is, in the form of prayer he converses with God the Father, showing him as it were a partner and co-approver of the life-giving blessing that is to be given to us, and at the same time giving us a pattern first to give thanks and then to break the bread and distribute it. Therefore we also, placing the aforementioned things before the eyes of God, earnestly pray that they be transformed into spiritual blessing for us, so that by partaking of them we may be sanctified both bodily and spiritually. And he said demonstratively, "This is my body" and "This is my blood," that you might not think the visible things are a type, but that through some ineffable operation of the all-powerful God the offered elements are changed into the body and blood of Christ in truth, and by partaking of them we receive the life-giving and sanctifying power of Christ. For it was necessary that he, through the Holy Spirit, be divinely mingled with us as it were, through his holy flesh and precious blood, into our bodies. And these we have as a life-giving blessing in bread and wine, so that we might not become faint-hearted seeing flesh and blood set forth on the holy tables of churches; for God, accommodating himself to our weaknesses, instills into the offered elements the power of life and transforms them into the operation of his own life. And do not doubt that this is true, since he says plainly, "This is my body" and "This is my blood," but rather receive the word of the Savior with faith; for being truth, he does not lie.

After Judas had gone out, the Savior delivered the saving mystery to the eleven. For since Christ was shortly afterward to rise and ascend with his own flesh to the Father, so that we might have his bodily presence—for without the presence of Christ it is impossible for a human being to be saved and to be delivered from death and sin, if life is not with us—he therefore gave us his own body and blood, so that through them the power of corruption might be destroyed, and that sanctification might be established in our souls through the Holy Spirit, and that we might become partakers of holiness and be called heavenly and spiritual human beings. Since after the resurrection Christ was to be taken up to the Father with his body, for this reason he gave us his own body and blood, so that his flesh and blood, dwelling in us, might make us holy and partakers of immortality. "Until I drink it, new in the kingdom": the drinking of wine not only fulfills a need but also offers manifold pleasure to the senses. But after the resurrection from the dead, when the corruption of human bodies has been shaken off, the very nature of things will be transformed into newness, so that even our joy will be new. The mixture of wine is a symbol of temperance, and he says that this will become new; and he does not say that the drink itself will be new, but that which results from it, that is, the joy.

After the resurrection, human nature will withdraw from its customary and earthly pleasure, and will pass over to a newness of delight—clearly that of our savior Christ, who instills his innate and proper joy into the souls of those who revere him, distributing it proportionally to the measures of each. That we shall be in intelligible joys, the divine David will assure us, saying: "How you have multiplied your mercy, O God; the sons of men will hope under the shelter of your wings. They will be intoxicated with fatness, and you will water them with the torrent of delight." And Wisdom again, "having mixed her wine in a bowl" and set out the loaves, says: "Come, eat of my loaves and drink wine which I have mixed for you." The disciples were disturbed not as being some light-minded persons, but because the matter was full of great perplexity and the knowledge of this mystery was hard to comprehend—how the one who raised the dead and performed countless signs beyond human power was delivered to so dishonorable a death. And this was the one who had said through the prophet, "I will strike the shepherd." Hence David also says to the Father, "That whom you struck, they pursued." Yet this did not happen entirely and absolutely by the Father's will; rather, he wished that he not suffer, if only the Jews had accepted him. But since they did not accept him, but wished to kill him, the Father consented to the Son who chose to suffer this. Therefore it is said that the Father struck "the shepherd," because he allowed him to suffer, being able to prevent him from suffering.

Thus must one also understand what was said to Pilate by Christ, that "you had no authority whatsoever over me, unless it had been granted to you from above," that is, unless the Father had consented to my choosing to suffer. He did not leave the disciples to remain in their sorrow, but foretells the resurrection, relieving their grief, and promises to go before them into Galilee, by which he indicates that he is about to depart from the Jews and move to the Gentiles. He does not appear immediately from heaven—hence he appeared there. The impassible one grieves as a human and makes the affections of both soul and body his own. Since the things of humanity are common to him, just as the things proper to the divinity alone have in some way become common to the flesh through the ineffable and inexpressible union, let no one be scandalized by what happened; for the union of the Word with flesh, having undergone its own experiences, will rightly confirm for us the mystery of the incarnation. In these words he calls the cup the stupefaction through death and the intoxication that lulls one, as it were, into sleep. Moreover, his asking to drink it—that is, not making the suffering intensely according to pleasure—accuses the impiety of those who crucified him; for they would certainly not say that, since he chose to suffer, we are rather the servants of his will; for his refusal will refute them, who choose to speak falsely. He intensifies the prayer and, through the same words, weaves a pattern and model, setting before us his own circumstances.