In sanctos Petrum et Paulum

Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, encomium on the holy apostles Peter and Paul. 1 The rose is beautiful, and it is fitting to enjoy its fragrance in the spring season, but if it is intertwined with the lily, it naturally becomes more fragrant; for perfume is blended with perfume, and a double enjoyment of fragrance arises from this. Peter is brilliant in himself and more brilliant than the brilliant, as the chief of the apostolic pair, as the eye of discipleship, as a reminder of zeal and the face of faith, as a trumpet of the mystery, as a tongue that taught many tongues, as a blameless shepherd, as a sleepless helmsman, as an unerring charioteer, as a pharmacist who prepared the collyrium of repentance that abides, as a fisherman of the sea by whom the fish are caught into heaven—whose net has miracles as its line, sufferings as its bait, the cross as its hook, and the resurrection as its bosom—, as the key-bearer of the storeroom in which the Father keeps the treasures, the Son the bridal chambers, the Spirit the table, and the angels the dances.

But with Paul added, the wall is double and cannot be captured; the spring is two-mouthed, watering the whole earth tirelessly; the lake is two-faced, and every ship that sails past is saved. A turtledove speaks with a swallow, a dove chirps with a cicada, a flute and a syrinx together sing a sacred and gentle melody. "A youth with a holy man, and their path is straight," as the wise man proclaimed in Proverbs. A lamb and a wolf graze together, and the shepherd is glorified, and the wonders of the miracle-worker are crowned. A bull and a lion feed in one pasture, and he who strengthened the bull and bridled the lion reaps the praises. Was not Paul a lion when he was Saul, since he slaughtered and scattered the flock, terrified the shepherds, roared within Jerusalem, and frightened cities, disturbed marketplaces, and rendered the countryside uninhabitable, "dragging men to prison and women" never ceasing from bonds, yet he was defeated by the endurance of the men and proved weaker than the courage of the women? He ran in vain, for he did not complete the road; he fought to no purpose, since he bloodied his fingers but was unable to find his opponent. Christ, therefore, being himself wise and again good, passed by, employed gentleness, and setting aside the lofty, put forward the lowly. He did not kindle fire, he did not stir up tempests, he did not shake the foundations of the mountains, he did not unsheathe a two-edged angelic sword, but with a gentle and kindly voice he called out: "Saul, Saul," he said, "why do you persecute me? What wealth of yours have I taken away?

Of what glory have I stripped you? Of what primacies have I deprived you? Was it not I who closed paradise to you? Was it not on my account that you are clothed with the leaves of the fig tree? Was it not I who became the cause of your turning toward the earth? Was it not through me that you fell from your rule, that you curtailed your inheritance, that you diminished the image? 3 "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" You had the law, but I, as a good one, added grace. You labored over the letter, and I presented the spirit. The shadows grieved you, and I came and showed the truth. You stumbled over the types, and I brought one cure for many, the silverless cure instead of the money-loving ones. I, having interpreted the sabbath for you, glorified it. I stopped the wound of your circumcision. I freed the altar from groanings. Instead of the much-lamented sacrifices, I showed the ever-joyful, the groanless one. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Be ashamed of Abraham's tent, and remember the altar of Isaac, take up Jacob's wrestling in your memories. Why have you consigned Joseph's dreams to oblivion? How do you not respect the rod of Moses, the sheepskin of Elijah, the courage of Elisha? These are types for me; their prophecies are about me. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" I showed Jeremiah the walnut staff; I painted the golden lampstand for Zechariah; I pointed out the uncut stone to Daniel; I widened the belly of the whale for Jonah; the great Ezekiel beheld me as the charioteer of the cherubim; I am the much-talked-about sheep of Isaiah.

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Observe where you draw your bow. For me heaven is a throne, and the earth a footstool. Where do you send your arrows? For I am in the Father and the Father is in me. At whom do you hurl your stones? I measured the water with my hand and the heaven with a span and the whole earth with a palm. Against whom do you arm your tongue? I make the tongues of the speech-impaired clear, I made the hard of hearing and the mute, I fashioned the seeing and the blind. See whom you call a deceiver: I multiplied visions and was likened in the hands of the prophets. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? For David sings of me, but you revile; he hymns, but you blaspheme; he plays the cithara, but you kick; he plucks the strings, but you use weapons. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Why do you war against me with my own things, champion the law and campaign against me, run on my account and punish my own? You avenge my glory, but you do not know from where you must begin the battle, from where you must join the war.

These things Christ says to Saul; and he himself answers and says, "Who are you, Lord?" Good is Paul's zeal, since when called he immediately obeyed. He received the word and at once perceived the worth of the speaker and said, "Who are you, Lord?" For I am filled with the radiance, I am captured by the light, I have become a prisoner of the ray. "Who are you, Lord?" For I long to see your beauty, I hasten to fly up to the clouds, I desire to learn from whence this "radiance of glory," who is this "character of hypostasis," who is this one "who bears all things by the word of his own power." "Who are you, Lord?" For I have heard your voice and am sated with the law; no longer do I have desire for the law, no longer do I wish to be a gold-wooden ark; I long for a pure manger, entirely royal and gold-gifted. Let the children of all heretics be ashamed, and let the mouths of heretics be abashed. For behold, when called, Paul does not busy himself with inquiry but only believes, he worships and does not fight, he hymns and reproach is removed. "Who are you, Lord?" he says. He would not have called him Lord if he had not perceived that the caller was God. And whom he knew as God he confessed as creator; whom he confessed as creator he proclaimed as impassible, he held as incorruptible. He revered as immortal that one whose cross he knew and whose tomb he recognized. He was not ignorant of the slaps, the spear in the side, the blows. But what does Christ say to him? "I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you persecute." He receives a concise answer to his inquiry.

I am Jesus the Nazarene whom you persecute," I am Jesus, then and now, before all and after all, at the beginning and at the end, the son of David but himself before David, the maker from Abraham, from Adam but himself who molded Adam, from Isaac but himself who crowned Isaac's altar, from Jacob but himself who on the ladder, surrounded by the hosts of angels, was seen. "I am Jesus whom you persecute," but in persecuting you do not overtake me; for where or how will you hunt "the radiance of glory"? What net can contain "the character of the hypostasis"? Who can seize with a hand the one "who by the word of his own power bears all things"? "I am Jesus whom you persecute." I keep you as the bridegroom's attendant for my bride. Why do you persecute me, for whom shortly you yourself will be persecuted? But you wear out your feet in vain, you sweat to no purpose, you labor excessively; the one persecuted by you sits in the bosom of the Father. "I am Jesus whom you persecute," not knowing that you fight against your own life. Why do you war against the wise one, why do you shoot arrows at a benefactor such as you have no other, why do you kick the nourisher through whom the earth without hesitation brings forth the fruits for your table? Why do you disparage the savior, who, if he tightens his hand, who frees you from your sins, who releases you from your bonds, with whom will you find the document of debt?

Thus this Paul, who was once a persecutor, is now an evangelist; who was once a pirate, is now a helmsman; who was once a wolf, is now a shepherd; who was once lead, is now gold; who was once a blasphemer, is now one who speaks well and is spoken well of by all. This man is foremost among teachers, preeminent among the God-bearing, clear among prophets, wiser among apostles, invulnerable among athletes, more glorious than the heralds of truth, more powerful than the soldiers of piety. For who was "beaten with rods three times" and prayed for a fourth? Who "received five times forty lashes less one from the Jews," as he boasts? Who offers the shipwreck instead of a bridal bath, having "spent a night and a day in the deep," and "many journeys," but all profitable, each one having gained much? Who endured "dangers from robbers, dangers from his own people, dangers from rivers, dangers in the wilderness, dangers from Gentiles, dangers from false brothers," and did not scatter the wealth of his endurance? Who carries the care of all the churches, yet the experience of the burdens does not constrict him, nor weigh down his shoulders, nor bend his back? Who then so abhors sin, yet possesses such bowels of compassion for sinners? No one. For he always intercedes that we may obtain the eternal goods, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.