Homilia dicta in templo sanctae Anastasiae

Homily 7. Homily delivered in the church of Saint Anastasia. 1. The present gathering is small, but the desire is great; therefore the gathering is not small. For we do not seek multitudes of bodies, but a prepared mind, a winged intellect, a hearer who rises above all worldly things; even if there is only one such person, he is sufficient to satisfy the speaker. For the Samaritan woman was both poor and polluted and of another race, and yet she was deemed worthy of those long discourses by the Master of the world; and he often passed by Jewish crowds, either not discoursing or obscuring his discourse, but he discoursed alone with a barbarian woman, who had five husbands and was unlawfully living with a sixth, sending the disciples on purpose into the marketplace so as not to frighten the prey. Such is the care of the Master of the world even for a single soul, provided he finds it displaying a mind and eagerness suitable for hearing what is said; which she then provided.

From a prostitute, then, she became an evangelist, after those reproaches crying out and saying: "Come, see a man who told me everything I did; is this not the Christ?" He exposed her life and brought her transgressions into the open, saying: "You have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband." But the reproach did not strike her down; rather, it drew her closer to him. For such are noble souls: what scandalizes others, corrects them. If she had been another woman of ill repute, one of the ungrateful, she would have been wounded by the reproaches, she would have recoiled, she would have been roused to anger and indignation. But she, after the accusation, becomes even more attached to the teacher and asks him about greater matters of contemplation. For she said: "I see that you are a prophet." And having learned of him through his knowledge of her own evils, she marvels all the more and inquires. These were the actions of a soul desiring to philosophize. For she asks nothing about worldly matters, not about money, not about bodily health, not about deliverance from poverty, even though she lived in extreme destitution, but about the sacred laws, about the way of life of her ancestors, and about the worship of her fathers, saying: "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain; how then do you say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem?" And at the very beginning she does the same thing, saying: "How is it that you ask me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman?" So mindful was her soul, and so fit to be saved.

It is for this reason, then, that He who knows the secrets of the mind, finding rich soil, cast the seeds with a lavish hand, gradually raising her up. All this I have said so that you may learn that our congregation is not small. For if that one woman sufficed as a spectacle, much more shall we, seeing so many men and so many women with such eagerness, not shrink back, but shall employ our customary teaching. For if the Master of the angels, before whom the Cherubim tremble, did not refuse to converse with a single prostitute, what excuse could we have, what pardon, for passing over so great a congregation? Come, then, let us again set out for you the customary table, and place the mixing-bowl, and pour out the unmixed wine, creating a spiritual symposium. For these meats do not burst the belly, but fortify the mind; this wine does not drive the hearer mad, but even makes the drunkard sober. Such is the nature of this table, which can serve us even as a full suit of armor. For we also need arms, since we are at war every day, not against fellow humans, but against invisible powers, against the phalanxes of demons, more barbarous than countless enemies, against an irreconcilable tyrant who fights us without truce, and neither announces the time of war nor is seen, but strikes from concealment. This war the blessed Paul, the general of the world, described when he cried out, saying: "For the rest, brothers, be strengthened in the Lord and in the might of his power.

and again elsewhere, “For our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age.” Do you see how he anoints the minds of the soldiers? How he raises their spirit? How he arms the camp, cutting out laziness and banishing hesitation? For these two things especially betray soldiers in wars: betraying courage through cowardice, and, by becoming slack, increasing laziness and giving the enemy the chance to attack them while off guard. For neither would one who is excessively fearful be useful in war, being easily overcome by the passion, nor, on the other hand, would one who is completely free from fear be able to overcome the enemy, because from excessive confidence, due to the soul’s ease, he relaxes his preparation. Paul, correcting both of these, makes them ready for battle, so that they may not become lazy, by describing the phalanx of the enemy, and again prepares them to be confident, so that they may not lose heart, by bringing forward the power of Christ, who is the general in such wars. Therefore, just as an excellent general consolidates the phalanx, banishing the passions that harm the courage of the mind from the faithful, and displaying his own love, and uniting those who are very far from him in the precision of their conduct by the name of kinship. “For the rest,” he says, “my brothers.” For this man shows a much greater affection for all than those who have shared the same birth pangs with us, and he carried the whole world in his soul; so great was the breadth of his love.

and not only in freedom, but also in dangers. For dwelling in prisons, expecting death, and risking the ultimate, he cared for his disciples, and often wrote letters from prison with the hand that wore the chain, the right hand that was bound; and entering the courtroom, about to undergo examination and be led to death, setting aside all that pertained to the judges—fear, danger, threats, deaths, punishments, tortures, executioners, the wrath of the rulers, the machinations of the plotters, the scourges—he remembered the faithful even at that time. So much was his soul freed from the bonds of the body; so, even while dwelling in the flesh, it clung to the heavenly vault, and as if it had already moved to that abode, it did everything while still sojourning on earth. And so that you may learn that these words are not hyperbole nor flattery, listen to him saying this: “As it is right for me to think this about you, because I have you in my heart.” But what has been said is not yet great compared to what will be said; for this is great, but what follows is much greater. For after saying, “Because I have you in my heart,” he added, “in my chains, and in my defense and confirmation of the Gospel.” Do you see how he never cast them out of his mind? For if chains and courtrooms and a fetter did not impair his memory, much more so the times of ease. “Because I have you in my heart,” he says, “you.

You see the argument gradually increasing? It is a great thing to have it even in the heart, but a far greater thing to have it also in chains; and greater still is to have it in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For here, it seems to me, he hints at the time when he was brought before the judges, undergoing the ultimate danger. And there, he says, standing, I did not consider how to escape the impending dangers, nor how to evade the plots; but I was reveling in your love, conversing with you even in your absence; and neither the length of the journey, nor the press of affairs, nor the magnitude of dangers, nor fear of rulers, nor uprising of the people, nor death seen before me, nor drawn swords, nor crowds of executioners, nor any other such thing, could separate me from your memory. For nothing is more tyrannical than love, nothing more exalted than it; it flies above all these arrows, and is higher than the reeds of the devil, surveying everything from the summit of the heavens; and just as a violent gust of wind, falling upon it, sweeps away troublesome dust, so the power of love is accustomed to repel the assault of all passions. This indeed happened in the case of Paul; for he had sufficient consolation in all things from the salvation and the memory of those he loved. What then is the "confirmation of the gospel"? For even if the phrase is single, it contains a vast sea of meanings; and I will try to unfold it, and examine it from all sides. For the word of God is a pearl, shining through everything, displaying not in the multitude of words, but in brevity, a great power of words [or thoughts?].

But rise up, and you will see what a treasure this power of the phrase reveals to us. 3. What then is the confirmation of the gospel, and what kind of confirmation of the gospel does he call it, and why does he mention this phrase after recalling courts, prisons, and chains? When the proclamation was sown (for it is necessary to trace the argument back further to make the teaching clearer), everything was filled with many disturbances, and all was full of turmoil. For since they were only eleven, arrayed against the whole world, uprooting ancient custom, dissolving long-standing error, overturning the laws of fathers, grandfathers, and ancestors, unsettling and demolishing the ancestral traditions of cities, and speaking contrary to everyone—philosophers, orators, rulers, judges, tyrants, peoples, slaves, freemen, farmers, sailors—a harsh war was kindled, and, as I said earlier, everything was full of disturbances; everywhere there were precipices, everywhere there were crags, and not even the sea, raging and cut by contrary winds, is so agitated as the whole world was then stirred, with ancient customs, established over so much time, being torn up—not in one, two, or three cities, but throughout the world—and new doctrines being introduced, such as no one had ever heard before.

From this point, an undeclared war was waged against them by all. For they broke up households and tore apart family ties. The nature of the proclamation, proceeding on its path and winning over many, set wars against those who did not accept the word of piety. A father would disown his son, a husband would despise his wife, masters would war against slaves, rulers against the ruled, and this was more bitter than any civil war—if indeed it is right to call it a war, and not something more grievous than that. For in wars, the battle lines are equal: each army both strikes and is struck. But then it was not so; rather, one side fought with authority, while the others were only fought against, and they had no right to strike back or defend themselves against those plotting against them. For the general of the battle line commanded thus: "I send you like sheep into the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." And he did not command them to retaliate against those plotting against them, but even to allow them to revel in their violence, saying: For turning the right cheek and sending sheep into the midst of wolves signifies nothing other than that suffering was allotted to them, so that the trophy might be more glorious. How?

That being eleven they prevailed over the inhabited world, that they suffered, not inflicted, were pelted and did not pelt, were plotted against and did not plot, were scourged and did not scourge, were driven out and did not drive out, were persecuted and did not persecute, were put to death and did not put to death, and that, just as sheep set out for slaughter, they changed all the wolves into the gentleness of sheep, the mad, those breathing murder, those becoming wilder than beasts. So as the word was running and piety was being sown, pyres and hatreds and wars were kindled from all sides, not only against the teachers but also against those being taught. For as soon as someone received the word, a common enemy went around to all, and he was driven from his homeland, and was resettled into exile, and lost his property, and was in danger concerning his very freedom, or rather concerning life itself; and the tyranny of nature then availed nothing, but, as I said earlier, even children were disregarded, and brothers and relatives were in the position of enemies, and the disciples together with the teachers suffered irreparable things. And Paul, making these very things clear, said: For you recall the former days, when after being enlightened you endured much struggle of sufferings, being made a spectacle on the one hand by reproaches and afflictions, and on the other hand becoming partners of those who were so treated. For you sympathized with the prisoners, and you accepted the plunder of your possessions with joy, knowing that you have a better and lasting possession in the heavens. And again, writing to the Thessalonians, he said:

For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches that were in Judea, because you also suffered the same things at the hands of your own fellow tribesmen, just as they did at the hands of the Jews, who also killed the Lord, and drove us out, and are hostile to all men. And writing again to the Galatians he said: You suffered so much in vain, if indeed in vain. And recounting his own sufferings, he said: In much endurance, in distress, in prisons, in labors, in sleepless nights, in hunger, in thirst and nakedness; and again, I received forty lashes short of one, I was beaten with rods three times, I was stoned once, I spent a night and a day in the deep, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers in deserts; and again, My daily turmoil, my care for all the churches; and again, The ethnarch of King Aretas guarded the city of the Damascenes, wanting to catch me, and I was let down through a window in a basket along the wall, and escaped his hands; and again elsewhere, We were reckoned as sheep for slaughter; and in another place again, May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, because he was not ashamed of my chain, but when he was in Rome he sought me out more diligently and found me. 4. What could one say of the false apostles, of the false brothers, of the countless and manifold wars? For not only punishments and tortures were set in motion, but also the cleverness of rhetoricians and the contrivances of philosophers; and not only from them, but also from common people many machinations were raised against the church; alluding to which he said:

Alexander the coppersmith did many evil things to me; guard yourself against him, for he has greatly opposed our words. Just as the sea is never without waves, so Paul's soul was filled with countless trials, daily dangers, from without, from within, through words, through deeds, through money, through deceptions; and no speech will be able to represent those clouds of arrows, those multitudes of waves. Since matters were in this state, not only in the things mentioned, but in many more, and not only teachers but also disciples were in danger, and not only disciples but also teachers (for if one part were in trial and the other in safety, that would have been a consolation to the former; but now both were being warred against and assailed); and seeing this, many of the weaker ones were becoming despondent, growing numb, and were in a state of distress, seeing on the one hand the good things of the proclamation in hope—kingdom and resurrection and incorruption—and on the other hand the painful things here in experience and endurance—gridirons, furnaces, prisons, wars, enmities, hatreds, deaths, dangers, and their teachers now in prisons, now in assemblies, being insulted, being led away; and from all sides there were clouds of evils, and they had a deep night of trials, which held all and caused them to be greatly disturbed and agitated. See how through a single expression he raises their spirit. For he does this also elsewhere, in another epistle saying: Therefore, lift up your slack hands and your paralyzed knees.

not speaking about knees and hands, but about reasonings that are lame, weakened by the multitude of trials. Then, after giving advice, he introduces the greatest consolation, saying: "For still, little by little, the one who is coming will arrive, and he will not delay." But since this was for the time being only in hopes, he again exhorts them in another way, making them more cheerful not from others' examples but from their own: "For remember," he says, "the former days, in which, after being enlightened, you endured great struggle of sufferings. Be ashamed of yourselves, be abashed at your own achievements, do not show an end unworthy of the beginnings, receive the exhortation from within yourselves." Having thus exhorted them in this way and that, he also exhorts through this very phrase. How and in what manner? By calling the bonds and the chain a confirmation of the Gospel. "For not only," he says, "do the dead rise, nor lepers become clean, nor demons be driven out, but we also, being bound, confirm the Gospel." How, tell me, and in what manner? For what has been said is novel and resembles a riddle in many respects. Now listen to how: if we were preaching fearlessly, suffering nothing unpleasant nor terrible, then to many of those wishing to slander us, the preaching would have seemed suspect.

Now, being driven out, persecuted, cut, burned, thrown from precipices, suffering countless things and not giving in, but becoming more eager by this, we provide sufficient proof even to those who wish to be utterly shameless that we are heralds of the truth, and that there is some divine power in us, smoothing all these things out, and not allowing the multitude of trials to overcome the heralds, and that, though we are few, we prevail through so many obstacles. Therefore, if anyone wishes to receive clear proof that the power resounding in us is divine, let them take the trials, the dangers, the chains, the prisons. For it is not of human power to prevail through so many precipices, to sail through so many waves, to pass through so many arrows, but this is of divine and invincible strength. So the chain is a confirmation of the Gospel, not only for those others, but also for us who suffer; for it makes us more tested, stronger, and causes us to despise the plotters all the more. Hence he also said, "Tribulation produces endurance, endurance produces testing, testing produces hope, and hope does not disappoint." 5. Do you see how tribulation confirms the Gospel? For this reason, indeed, elsewhere, when he asked for release from trials, and often approached concerning these things, he heard, "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is perfected in weakness." Here he calls the persecutions, the trials, the dangers, the plots, the insults "weakness." What he says is this: "I could have prevented these things and extinguished them," he says,

the war and to calm the waves, but I did not do so, so that my power might be shown to be greater. For his power was not shown as much when these things did not happen as when they did happen but were not able to prevail. Just as we call that helmsman best not who can steer the ship in a calm sea, but who saves the sailors among rocks, waves, storms, and winds; and that physician best who snatches the patient from countless diseases pressing upon him; and that general best who can set up the trophy when enemies attack and hurl from all sides; and that shepherd best who keeps the flock safe when countless wolves press upon it and other plotters. So then, at that time, the miracle was especially this: that suffering countless things, they prevailed and overcame those who did them. For when they cast Peter and John, the son of thunder and the foundation of the faith, into prison, consider how they are perplexed when they are released. So they bring them into the middle of the theater and say: What shall we do with these men? The Jews, nurtured on prophetic blood, a mad and rabid mob, who tore down altars, who killed the prophets, who were reared on murders, wilder than beasts, still dripping with the Lord's blood, who crucified him—this mob, taking two illiterate fishermen, commoners, obscure men, more voiceless than fish, of whom the other did not even endure the mere threat of a doorkeeper—

Taking these men, having them bound in their midst, naked, not clothed with an abundance of wealth, not with bodily strength, not with cleverness of speech, not with rhetorical power, not with the distinction of birth, not with the greatness of their fatherland, fishermen from fishermen, united in extreme poverty, they are at a loss as to what to do with them, and they say: What shall we do with these men? Do you see how great virtue is? How trials are a confirmation of the Gospel? And they say to them: Did we not strictly command you not to speak in this name? And do you wish to bring upon us the blood of this man? If he is a mere man, why are you afraid? But if he is God, why do you not worship? Were you not crying out earlier, saying, His blood is upon us and upon our children? Whence do you fear the blood? Did you not bind? Did you not scourge? Did you not crucify? Did you not see him taken down dead from the cross? Did you not behold him buried and hidden in the earth? Did you not place seals on the tomb? Did you not bribe the soldiers? Did you not spread the rumor that the disciples stole him? Why are you afraid now? Why do you tremble at his blood? Do you see the truth shining through all things? For when they saw after that plot the matter rising, and the beginnings brilliant and clearer than the sun, and from the very starting line showing that it would suddenly seize the whole world, and utterly drive out error, and would not be able to bear his inexpressible force and power, they feared, they trembled before the prisoners, the condemned, the scourged, the plotted against, the two, the private citizens.

For this reason Paul calls trials a confirmation of the Gospel; for this reason he also says elsewhere: "I want you to know, brothers, that as for me, it has rather contributed to the advancement of the Gospel; so that the majority of the brothers, trusting in my bonds, more boldly and fearlessly speak the word." Who has seen, who has heard, that bonds produce courage, and a chain works freedom of speech, not only for the one bound, but also for the disciples? Yet nevertheless, when these things happened, the proclamation was raised up through the opposites, and the disciples, when the teacher was being warred against, plotted against, and bound, were more confident, more exultant, more elated. Have you praised what has been said? Then let us imitate the courage, let us emulate the virtue, and let nothing of the trials frighten us, nothing disturb us; for these are the bonds of piety, these are the wings of philosophy, these make us strong and invincible, these give greater freedom of speech toward God, draw down greater goodwill, and cause much grace to be shed upon us. Therefore, that we may enjoy all these things, let us bear, I exhort, all that befalls us, glorifying God through all things, because glory, honor, and power belong to him, together with his only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.