De sancto hieromartyre Phoca

On the Holy Hieromartyr Phocas, and Against Heretics. And on Psalm 141, "With my voice I cried out to the Lord, with my voice I besought God." 1. Our city was brilliant yesterday, brilliant and renowned, not because it had columns, but because it had a martyr processing from Pontus and arriving among us. He saw your hospitality and filled you with his blessing; he praised your eagerness and blessed those who came. I counted blessed those who gathered and partook of his fragrance, and I deemed wretched those who were left behind. But so that their loss might not be incurable, we proclaim him again on another day, so that even those who were left behind through negligence may double their blessing from the martyr by their zeal. For what I have often said, I will not cease saying: I do not demand accounts of sins, but I prepare remedies for the sick. Were you left behind yesterday? Come at least today, so that you may see him being taken to his own place. Did you see him being led through the marketplace? See him also sailing through the sea, so that both elements may be filled with his blessing. Let no one be absent from this sacred festival. Let no virgin stay at home, let no woman keep her house; let us empty the city and move to the martyr's tomb; for even kings dance together with us. What excuse then does a private person have, when kings leave their royal courts and sit by the martyr's tomb?

Such is the power of the martyrs, that it nets not only private individuals but also those who wear diadems. This is the shame of the Greeks, this is the reproach of their error, this is the destruction of the demons. This is our nobility, and the crown of the Church. I dance with the martyrs and leap, seeing their trophy instead of meadows, because instead of springs blood flowed. Their bones were consumed, and their memory becomes fresher each day. For just as it is impossible to extinguish the sun, so too is the memory of the martyrs. For Christ himself declared: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." But let us postpone the encomia of the martyr to the appropriate time. For these things have been sufficiently said due to the zeal of those who ought to gather and make the day of the feast renowned. For what I said yesterday, I say again today: no glory will come to the martyr from the presence of the many, but your blessing will be greater from having come to the martyr. For just as one who looks at the sun does not make the star brighter but illuminates his own eyes, so too one who honors a martyr does not make him more brilliant but draws the blessing of light from him. Let us again make the sea a church, going out there with lamps, wetting the fire and filling the water with fire. Let no one fear the sea. The martyr did not fear death, and do you fear the water? But we have spoken this discourse sufficiently.

Let us then also set before you the customary table from today's readings. For even if our bodies are constrained, let our mind take wing; for I see not your constraint but your eagerness. Sweet is the stormy sea to the helmsman, and the crowded church to the teacher; for in these waters there is neither brine, nor reef, nor wild beast, but a sea and ocean full of fragrance. Here ships are not moved from land to land, but from earth to heaven, carrying not wealth, not gold, not silver, but faith, love, zeal, and wisdom. 2. Let us then with precision launch the ship that never perishes, that never suffers shipwreck. But pay close attention to what is said; for the psalm today leads us out to array against the heretics, not that we may strike them standing, but that we may raise them up when they are fallen; for such is our warfare: it does not make the living dead, but makes the dead living, full of gentleness and great moderation. For I do not drive with force, but pursue with reason, not the heretic but the heresy, I do not reject the person but hate the error, and I wish to draw them in; I have no war against substance—for substance is the work of God—but I wish to correct the opinion, which the devil has corrupted. So also a physician treating a sick person does not war against the body, but removes the body's malady.

If then I war against heretics, I do not war against the men themselves, but I wish to cast out the error and cleanse away the corruption. My custom is to be persecuted and not to persecute, to be driven and not to drive. Thus also Christ prevailed, not by crucifying but by being crucified, not by striking but by being struck. "If I have spoken ill," he says, "bear witness concerning the evil; but if I have spoken well, why do you strike me?" The Master of the world defends himself before the servant of the high priest, and, having his mouth struck—the mouth from which a word came that bridled the sea and raised four-day-dead Lazarus from the dead—from which evil fled, from which diseases and sins were dissolved—this is the wonder of the crucified one. For though he could have hurled a thunderbolt, shaken the earth, and withered the servant's hand, he did none of these things, but instead defends himself and prevails by gentleness, teaching you, being human, never to be vexed; even if you are crucified, even if you receive a blow, that you may say the same as your Master: "If I have spoken ill, bear witness concerning the evil; but if I have spoken well, why do you strike me?" And see his love for humanity, how he avenges the wrongs done to servants but passes over those done to himself. There was once a prophet who rebuked an impious king, and coming, he says: "Altar, altar, listen." For when King Jeroboam stood offering sacrifice to the idols, the prophet came and converses with the altar. "What are you doing, O prophet? You have left the man and you converse with the altar?" "Yes," he says. "Why?

Since the man became more insensible than a stone, I leave that one and speak to this one, so that you may learn that the stone hears and the man does not hear. Listen, altar, listen, and immediately the altar was shattered. The king stretched out his hand, intending to seize the prophet, and he was unable to draw it back. Do you see that the altar heard more than the king? Do you see that he left the rational being and speaks to the irrational one, so that through the obedience of this one he might correct the insensibility and wickedness of that one? The altar was shattered, and the king’s wickedness was not shattered. But see what happened: the king stretched out his hand to take the prophet, and immediately his hand withered. Since he did not become better through the punishment of the altar, he is taught obedience to God through his own chastisement. For I, sparing you, wished to vent my anger on a stone; but since the stone did not become a teacher to you, you receive the punishment yourself. And he stretched out his hand, and immediately it withered. So the trophy of the prophet stood, and the king could not draw it back. Where is the diadem? Where are the purple robes? Where are the breastplates? Where are the shields? Where is the army? Where are the spears? God commanded, and all those things perished; they stood by

The satraps were unable to help, but became mere spectators of the blow. And the king stretched out his hand, and it withered; when it became dry, then it bore fruit. Observe for me the example of the tree in paradise and the tree of the cross. For just as that tree, being green, produced death, while the tree of the cross, being dry, generated life, so also it happened with the king's hand: when it was green, then it produced impiety; when it became dry, then it brought forth obedience. Behold the paradoxical works of God. But as I was saying, when he himself was being struck, he did no harm to the striker; but when his servant was about to be insulted, he punished the king, teaching you to avenge the things of God and to overlook your own. For just as I overlook my own and avenge yours, so also you avenge mine and overlook your own. But lend me your ear attentively, for where there is a time of contests, there is need of hearers having their hearing strained, so that you may know with precision how I bind, how I loose the sins of the opponents, how I wrestle, how I break. For if those sitting in the theater lean forward when two are wrestling, stretching their sight and their stature to see wrestlings full of shame, to see wrestlings which it is shameful to imitate, much more must we attend to the hearing of the divine Scriptures. For if you praise the athlete, why do you not become an athlete? But if you are ashamed to become an athlete, why do you imitate their praise? But here the wrestlings are not of that sort, but common to all and beneficial both to speakers and to hearers.

I wrestle with the heretic, that I may make you also athletes, that you may not only chant but also, by your discourse, sew up their tongue. What then does the prophet say? "With my voice I cried out to the Lord, with my voice I besought God." Pay attention: does the saying seem to have no basis for wrestling? See how I weave the crown and the subject of the contests. "With my voice I cried out to the Lord, with my voice I besought God." Here call the heretic to me, whether he is present or not present. For if he is present, let him be taught by our voice; if he is not present, let him learn through your hearing. But, as I said, I do not drive him away when present, but I receive him when driven away, not by us, but by his own conscience, according to the saying, "The impious man flees though no one pursues." The Church is the mother of her own children, receiving them and spreading her bosom to strangers. Noah's ark was a common theater, but the Church is better than that. For that one received irrational creatures and kept them irrational; this one receives irrational creatures and transforms them. What I mean is this: if a heretic fox enters here, I make this one a sheep; if a wolf enters, I make it my lamb; but if he does not wish it, it is nothing on my part, but on account of his own obstinacy. For Christ also had twelve disciples, and one became a traitor, but not on account of Christ, but on account of that one's corrupted mind; for Elisha also had a disciple who was avaricious, but not on account of the teacher's weakness, but on account of the disciple's negligence.

I sow the seeds; if you are fertile ground receiving the seeds, you yield the ear of grain; but if you are a barren rock, it is nothing to me. Whether you hear or whether you do not hear, I will not cease singing to you a spiritual song, pouring out the healing on your wounds, so that I may not hear on that day: "Wicked servant, you should have deposited my money with the bankers." With my voice I cried out to the Lord; with my voice I besought God. 3. What are you saying, heretic? About whom does the prophet speak, and whom does he call Lord and God? For the speech is about one person. For they, misinterpreting the Scriptures to their own heads, and always seeking pretexts against their own salvation, do not perceive that they are thrusting themselves into an abyss of destruction. For neither does the one who praises the Son of God make him more glorious, nor does the one who blasphemes harm him; for the incorporeal essence has no need of our praise, but just as the one who calls the sun bright does not add to its light, nor does the one who calls it dark diminish its essence, but brings forth a proof of his own blindness in his judgment, so the one who does not call the Son of God Son but a creature brings forth a demonstration of his own madness, while the one who recognizes his essence displays his own gratitude. And neither does this one benefit him, nor does that one harm him, but the one contends against his own salvation, the other for his own salvation. But, as I was saying, misinterpreting the Scriptures, they pass over other things and seek if anywhere they might find a pretext that seems to concur with their disease. And do not tell me that the Scripture is the cause.

It is not the Scripture that is to blame, but their ingratitude; for honey is sweet, but the sick person considers it bitter—yet the fault is not the honey's, but the sickness is to be accused. So too, those who are mad do not see what is visible, but the fault is not of the visible things, but of the corrupted judgment of the madman. God made the heaven that we might see the work and worship the Creator, but the Greeks deified the work; yet the work is not the cause, but their ingratitude. And just as the ungrateful person benefits from no one, so the grateful person benefits even from himself. What is equal to Christ? Yet Judas did not benefit. What is more wicked than the devil? Yet Job was crowned. And neither did Christ benefit Judas, because he was ungrateful, nor did the devil harm Job, because he was grateful. I say these things so that no one may slander the Scriptures, but rather the ingratitude of those who interpret well-spoken things badly. For even the devil argued with Christ from the Scriptures. But it is not the Scripture that is to blame, but the mind that interprets well-spoken things badly. For wishing to show the Son as lesser than the Father, they go about busying themselves with foreign names and say regarding "God and Lord" that the Father is God, but the Son is Lord, and they divide the names, assigning "God" to the Father and "Lord" to the Son, as though they were dividers and inheritors of the divinity. Does Scripture say "Lord" to the Son? Does it say these things? How have you not heard the psalm speaking to one person today: "With my voice I cried out to the Lord, with my voice I prayed to God"?

Therefore he also calls him Lord and God. Whom do you wish to be God, the Son or the Father? Surely you will say that these names belong to the Father. Therefore the Son is God, and the Father is Lord. Why then do you divide the names, casting one there and dividing the other here? And Paul says—if only you had listened to Paul, you would be blessed. But to us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things. Did he not call the Son God? But what? He called him Lord. For tell me, is God more august than Lord, and Lord less than God? Apply yourselves, I beg you, with precision. If then I show that Lord and God are one, what do you say? Do you say that God is greater and Lord lesser? Listen to the prophet saying: This is the Lord who made the heaven; this is the God who fashioned the earth; Lord for the heaven, and God for the earth; he has placed both Lord and God for the same person. And again: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. The Lord appears twice, and God once; and first the Lord, then God, and again the Lord. If this is inferior and that superior, he would not have placed the lesser first for a great substance and a greater meaning, but having spoken the greater he would have been satisfied, and would not have added the lesser. Do you understand what I have said? I instruct again; for this is not a theater for display, but a teaching for compunction, not that you go away unarmed, but that you go away armed.

withdraw. Do you say, heretic, that "God" is greater and "Lord" lesser? I showed you the prophet saying: "Lord who made the heaven, God who fashioned the earth." I show you again Moses saying: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one." How is he one, if there are two names, one of a lesser and one of a greater essence? For the essence is not greater than itself and lesser, but equal and united: "The Lord your God, the Lord is one." And I show you that the name "Lord" is the same as "God." In general, if "Lord" is inferior and "God" greater, which should be his name? The lesser "Lord" or the greater "God"? If he says: "What is my name?" what do you say, heretic? Do you say that "Lord" belongs to the Son and "God" to the Father, as more proper? If then I show you that the small "Lord" is his identifier, what will you do? "Let them know that your name is Lord," the prophet says; did he not say "God"? Yet if "God" is greater, why did the prophet not say, "Let them know that your name is God"? For if "God" is his own and proper, and "Lord" is alien to him as inferior, why did he say: "Let them know that your name is Lord," the small, the lesser, the more unworthy of his dignity, and he does not say that great and lofty one, worthy of his essence? And so that you may learn that this is not small nor inferior, but has the same force: "Let them know that your name is Lord; you alone are most high over all the earth.

4. But still you do not withdraw from the battle, but you say again that "God" is greater and "Lord" lesser. If, then, I show the Son called by the greater name, what do you say? Do you dissolve the battle? Do you withdraw from the contention? Do you recognize your salvation? Do you cease from your madness? Do you understand what I said? Since they assign the name "Lord" to the Son, and "God" to the Father as greater. If, then, I show you the Son called by the greater name "God," the battle is dissolved; for I overcome you with your own weapons, and I prevail over you with your own wings. You said that "God" is greater and "Lord" lesser; I wish to show that the lesser did not suit the Father, if he was greater, and the greater did not suit the Son, if the Son was lesser. Hear the prophet saying: "This is our God; no other shall be reckoned beside him; he discovered every path of knowledge; after this he appeared on earth and consorted with men." What do you say to this? Do you contradict these words? But you cannot; for the truth remains, sending forth its own radiance and blinding the eyes of heretics who do not wish to believe it.

Even if the struggles are deep and the heat is great, yet the word is greater and overcomes the distaste of the hearers, and the heat is alleviated by the dew of teaching. Even if we gather once or twice a week, the hearer must not be idle. For if you leave this place and someone asks you, "What did the teacher speak about?" and you say, "Against heretics," and if he asks you, "What did he speak?" and you cannot answer, it is a great shame for you. But if you do answer, you sting him; and if he is a heretic, you correct him; and if he is a careless friend, you draw him in; and if she is a licentious woman, you make her more chaste. For you are also responsible to the woman: "Let women be silent in church," it says, "but if they wish to learn something, let them ask their own husbands." If you enter the house and your wife asks you, "What have you brought me from church?" say to her, "Not meat, nor wine, nor gold, nor ornaments that beautify the body, but a word that refines the mind." When you go in to your wife, set forth the spiritual table; speak first, while the memory is still fresh: "Let us enjoy the spiritual things, and then let us enjoy the material table." For if we manage our own affairs in this way, we will have God in our midst, blessing the table, and

crowning us. For all these things, let us give thanks to Him, to the Father together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.