In decollationem sancti Joannis

On the Beheading of the Forerunner and Baptist John, and on Herodias. Again Herodias rages, again she is disturbed, again she dances, again she unlawfully seeks the head of John the Baptist to be cut off by Herod. Again Jezebel goes about seeking to seize the vineyard of Naboth and to pursue the holy Elijah into the mountains. I think that not only am I struck with amazement, but also all of you who hear the voice of the Gospel, and that you marvel with me at the boldness of John, the levity of Herod, and the bestial madness of the godless women. For what did we hear? Herod, having seized John, put him in prison. Why? Because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. And one might blame the levity of Herod, stirred up by wretched women. But what could one say, or how could one describe the licentious wickedness of those women? It seems to me that there is no beast in the world comparable to a wicked woman. But now my speech is about a wicked woman, not about a good and chaste one. For I know many virtuous and good women, whose life I must recall for the edification and love of what is noble.

There is, then, no beast in the world comparable to an evil woman. What is more terrible than a lion among quadrupeds? Nothing. What is more savage than a serpent among reptiles? Nothing. Yet both lion and serpent are inferior in wickedness. And the most wise Solomon bears witness to my words, saying: "I would rather dwell with a lion and a serpent than with an evil and talkative woman." And lest you think the prophet spoke ironically, learn accurately from the facts themselves. The lions in the den respected Daniel, but Jezebel murdered the righteous Naboth; the whale preserved Jonah in its belly, but Delilah, having shorn and bound Samson, handed him over to the Philistines; serpents and asps and horned vipers trembled at John in the desert, but Herodias cut off his head at a banquet; the ravens fed Elijah on the mountain, but Jezebel, after the benefit of the rain, pursued him to kill him. For what did she say? "If you are Elijah, I am Jezebel. May the gods do such and such to me, and add such and such, if by this hour tomorrow I do not set your soul like that of one of the dead." And Elijah was afraid, and went according to his soul, and departed into the desert for a journey of forty days. And he came to Rathmen, and asked that his soul might die, and said: "Lord God, let it be enough for me now; take my soul from me, for I am no stronger than my fathers." Alas! The prophet Elijah feared a woman? He who bore the rain of the world on his tongue, who brought down fire from heaven, and raised the dead through prayer—feared a woman? Yes, he feared.

No evil is comparable to an evil woman. Witness to my word is Wisdom, saying, "There is no head above the head of a serpent, and there is no evil above the evil of a woman." O the evil of the devil and his sharpest weapon! Through a woman he from the beginning wounded Adam in paradise; through a woman he drove the most gentle David to the murder of Uriah; through a woman he overthrew the wisest Solomon to transgression; through a woman he shaved and blinded the strongest Samson; through a woman he dashed the sons of Eli the priest to the ground; through a woman he bound and imprisoned the most noble Joseph; through a woman he beheaded John, the lamp of the whole world. And what do I say about humans? Through a woman he cast down the angels from heaven; through a woman he slaughters all, murders all, dishonors all, insults all. For a shameless woman spares no one: she honors no Levite, respects no priest, reveres no prophet. O evil of evils, most evil is an evil woman! If she is poor, she is rich in wickedness; if she has wealth cooperating with her malice, the evil is double, the beast is unbearable, the disease is incurable, the wild animal is untamed. I know that even asps are tamed when flattered, and lions and tigers and leopards are soothed when domesticated; but an evil woman, when insulted, rages, and when flattered, is puffed up. If she has a husband who is a ruler, by night and by day she pries him with words and sharpens him toward murder, like Herodias with Herod; if she has a poor husband, she stirs him to anger and fights; if she is a widow, she herself through herself dishonors all.

For she is not bridled by fear of the Lord in her tongue, she does not look to the future judgment, she does not look up to God, she does not know how to keep the bonds of friendship. There is nothing that an evil woman will not do to deliver her own husband to death. Indeed, the wife of the righteous Job delivered him to death by blasphemy, saying, "Say some word against the Lord, and die." O evil nature! O unholy choice! She did not pity seeing her own husband's entrails burning from the boiling blisters, as if from spark-spewing coals, and his entire flesh seized by worms; she was not moved to compassion seeing him wholly writhing, laboring and struggling, and drawing continuous breaths with pain through his gaping mouth. She was not softened to pity seeing the one who once approached in royal purple, then lying naked on a dunghill; she did not remember her ancient familiarity with him, nor how many glorious and good things she herself had flourished through him. But what? "Say some word against the Lord, and die." O the grace of a woman! O the soothing balm of pains! O the bond of conjugal friendship! Did he ever utter such a word when you were ill, and did he not wipe away your sickness with prayers and good deeds? Was not the temporal trial enough for him, but you also procure for him eternal punishment through blasphemy? Or do you not know that every blasphemy and sin will be forgiven to men, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or in the next? Do you wish to see another partner of this wickedness?

Look at Delilah for me. For she also, having shaved and bound the most valiant Samson, handed him over to the foreigners—her own husband, her own bedfellow, whom she cherished, whom she caressed, whom she flattered, whom she pretended to love more than herself; whom yesterday she loved, today she deceived; whom yesterday she cherished with love, today she buried with deceit. And was he not handsome? And who was more handsome than he at that time, who bore seven locks on his head, bearing the image of the sevenfold grace? And was he not brave? And who was braver than he, who alone strangled a fearsome lion on the road, and with a single jawbone of an ass laid low a thousand foreigners? And was he not holy? He was so holy that once, when thirsty in a scarcity of water, he prayed, and from the dead jawbone held in his hand water gushed forth, and from there he drew relief for his thirst. And this man, so handsome, so brave, so holy, his own wife, binding him as an enemy, handed over to the foreigners. And how then did a woman prevail over such a brave man? From the man's own goodness. For having stripped away the secret of his strength by night, she overthrew him naked with strong straps. Because of this, Wisdom commands you: Beware of revealing anything to your bedfellow. Tell me, what beast has ever plotted such things against its own male? What serpent wishes its own yoke-mate to perish? What

does a lioness hand over her own mate to slaughter? You see how aptly Wisdom said, "There is no head above the head of a serpent, and there is no evil above the evil of a woman." And in short, he who has an evil wife, let him know that he has already received the wages of his lawless deeds. The word is not without witness: hear Wisdom saying, "An evil woman will be given to a lawless man in return for evil deeds." But let the discourse concerning the evil woman have its limit here. 2. But we must also recall the good women, especially on account of the present ones. For good women see the virtues of good men as their own, and consider their labors as their own crowns. A good and hospitable woman was the blessed Shunammite, who, having urged her husband, built a chamber for Elisha, so that when he passed through he might have unhindered rest, having placed for him a bed, a lampstand, and a table: a bed not empty of coverings, but having bedding befitting a prophet; a lampstand not without a lamp, but with oil feeding the light; a table not bare of bread, but fruitful with dishes. And what might one say about that blessed widow who received the prophet Elijah? Whom her poverty of means did not hinder, because of the richness of her purpose? For whom there was present neither grain, nor wine, nor cooked food, nor anything else of earthly things for the consolation of poverty. No grain-bearing land offered her the seed of bread; no vine cultivated for her a sweet-flowing cluster; no tree offered her the most pleasant fruit of the season. For how could it, when she possessed neither a span of arable land nor a cubit of ground for planting a vine?

but always at harvest time, walking bent over in the fields, gathering the fallen ears of grain with the hands of the reapers, she stored up food measured to the yearly cycle of the year. To her Elijah went in the time of famine, when nearly the whole earth was crumbling from drought; when the sky was fired, the air was bronzed, and the clouds were bridled; when no herb, no flower, no shoot of fruit trees, no dewy breeze, no ripe ear of grain was stirred; when rivers were thinned, and springs tightened the breasts of their waters in the heat, and the sea was salted, since sweet waters did not enter it and rains were withheld. Then Elijah went to the poor woman and the widow. What a widow suffers even in a time of plenty, you know. And the prophet left the rich, those who had bread in abundance, and coming down from the mountain, he went to her. For why did he, who brought down fire from heaven with words, not bring down bread for himself? Could he not? Yes, he could; but he did not do this. Why? So that he might not deprive the widow of the fruits of hospitality; and also so that he might multiply the handful of flour and the scant oil through blessing. For the prophet did not go so much to be fed as to feed the poor woman, and to expose a hidden heart and a generous disposition. God does this, being able to feed all the saints who are in the world by himself; he withholds the gift so that he may distinguish generous hearts by their fruits at the time of hospitality.

When there are no people to receive them, He either feeds them through birds, as Elijah on the mountain, or through a foreign prophet, as Daniel in the den, or through a sea creature, as Jonah through the whale, or He Himself rains down food from above, as for our fathers in the desert: for when there were no people to receive them, He rained down manna from heaven and made water flow from a rock. But when the saints are in the world mingling with others, He restrains His right hand; and even if He sees them distressed, He allows it, so that He may grant grace through the great beneficence shown to them to those who wish to reap salvation. So Elijah went to the widow, who had nothing but a handful of flour, which sufficed with effort for her and her children at the time of the midday meal. And what did he say to her? "Take a little water for me in a vessel, and I will drink." And as she was going, he called after her: "You will also take for me a morsel of bread in your hand." She, what she did not have, she said; what she had, she acknowledged. For what? "By the Lord, if I have a hearth cake, it is only a handful of flour and a little oil in the flask." It is remarkable that in such a scarcity of food she did not deny the remnant of her poverty that was present. How many now, having gold and silver like mud, when asked, refuse the benefactions of friends, and when flattered, deny that they have it? And even if they are bent by entreaty to give, they draw up documents stronger than iron, and first bind the receiving hand with writings, taking guarantors and intermediaries for the gold.

She did not deny the handful of flour because of a single word. And what does the prophet say to her? "Hasten, and make me hearth cakes, first for me, and last for yourself and your children." The prophet's word was a test, an examination of her heart, a trial of her choice; and the heart of that blessed woman was as if placed under a yoke, being tested. Which way would it incline? Toward her own children's welfare, or toward hospitality to the prophet? She chose rather to deprive herself and her children and to receive the prophet. For she knew that he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and he who gives a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple will not lose his reward. And what is it that the prophet said, "Hasten"? Was he so hungry as to need haste? Not at all, but rather the zeal, cheerfulness, and warmth of the good deed, not with grief or necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. "Hasten and make first for me, and last for yourself and your children." Hasten, as Abraham hastened at the visit of the angels to the cattle, to the calf, that he might take the lamb; and as Sarah hastened to the hearth cakes, that she might take the bread hidden in the heavens. Hasten, and make as Abraham made sacrifices to God; not first for yourself, and then for me, as Cain, and Hophni, and Phinehas, the sons of Eli the priest, who insulted God by taking first the firstfruits of the gifts offered to God. And she did what was commanded with zeal.

He, seeing the rich hearth cake, accepted it, spoke, and filled her house with good things. For the handful of flour from the jar and the oil from the flask will not fail, he says, until the Lord gives rain upon the earth. Why until then? And necessarily. For it was necessary that when the new grace came like rain, the old law should come to an end. And the deed followed the word. Do you see how the good women reaped the fruits of hospitality? For from good labors come glorious fruits, and the root of prudence is unshaken. You have heard, women, the deeds of wicked women and the virtues of good women. Love the latter, then, and do not desire the former; imitate the latter and hate the former, so that, tracing their course—I mean the good ones—you may be numbered in the same chorus of saints in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom are glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.