In Genesim sermones

HOMILY 1. Delivered at the beginning of Lent, on "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth"; and concerning fasting and almsgiving. 1. Sweet to sailors is the spring, and sweet to farmers too; but neither to sailors nor to farmers is the spring so sweet as to those who wish to pursue wisdom is the season of fasting sweet—the spiritual spring of souls, the true calm of thoughts. For to farmers the spring is sweet, because they see the earth then crowned with flowers, and, as it were, a variegated garment spread over it on every side, the sprouting that comes from the plants; and to sailors the spring is sweet, because they can sail the sea's back in safety, when the waves are smoothed, and dolphins play in the great calm and often dive and tumble right alongside the ship's walls. But to us the spring of fasting is sweet, because it is accustomed to calm for us waves not of water but of irrational desires, and it sets upon us a crown not from flowers but from spiritual graces. For "you shall receive a crown of graces upon your head," it says. Not so does a swallow, when it appears, drive away the winter, as fasting, when it appears, casts the winter of the passions out of our mind. No longer is there battle for the soul against the flesh, nor does the slave rise up against the mistress, but all this war of the body is dissolved. Since, then, there is great peace among us, and great calm, come, let us too draw the ship of teaching, escorting the gentleness of your hearing from harbor to harbor.

Come, let us dare to take up more subtle thoughts, philosophizing about heaven and earth and sea and the rest of the created body; for these things were read to us today. And what, someone says, is the discourse about creation to us? It is to us indeed, beloved. For if from the greatness and beauty of created things the Creator is proportionally contemplated, the more we dwell on the greatness of the beauty of created things, the more we are led by the hand toward the Creator. It is a great good to know what is a creature and what is the Creator; what is a work and what is the Maker. For if the enemies of the truth had known how to distinguish these things accurately, they would not have confounded everything, turning things above below—not that they brought down the stars and heaven and raised up the earth, but that they brought down the King of the heavens from his royal thrones and set him alongside the creation, and honored the creation with the presiding seats of divinity. If the Manichaeans had known how to philosophize rightly about creation, they would not have honored that which is from nothing, that which is corruptible, that which flows, that which is subject to change, with the honors of unbegottenness. If the Greeks had known how to philosophize rightly about creation, they would not have wandered from the truth, they would not have revered and served the creation rather than the Creator.

Beautiful is the heaven, but for this it was created, that you might worship the one who made it; radiant is the sun, but for this, that you might serve the one who fashioned it. But if you are going to remain fixed in wonder at creation, and sit alongside the beauty of the works, the light has become darkness to you—or rather, you have used the light for darkness. Did you see how great a good it is to know the accounts concerning creation? Do not, then, pass by the profit, but attend to what is said with precision; for we shall speak not only about heaven and earth and sea, but also about our own birth, and whence death, and whence the toilsome life, and whence the despondencies and cares. For indeed, having composed a defense concerning these things and concerning many others besides, God sent this book to us; for God does not decline to make a defense to human beings, but cries out through the prophet, saying: Come, and let us reason together, says the Lord. And he does not only make a defense and go to trial, but also teaches how we may escape condemnation; for he did not simply say, Come, and let us reason together, but first having taught what one ought to say and what one ought to do, then he drew us to the judgment seat. Hear, then, the prophetic utterance from the beginning: Wash yourselves, become clean, remove the wickednesses from your souls; learn to do good, judge for the orphan, and vindicate the widow; and then, he says: Come, and let us reason together, says the Lord. I do not wish, he says, to take you naked and destitute of righteous deeds, but having armed you with your defenses, thus I summon you to the reckoning; for I wish to go to trial with you, not that I may condemn, but that I may spare.

Thus he says elsewhere as well: "Speak first of your own transgressions, that you may be justified." You have a bitter and savage accuser; anticipate him and seize his rank; stop up that shameless mouth. 2. At the beginning, then, God conversed with human beings by himself, as far as humans were able to hear. Thus he came to Adam; thus he rebuked Cain; thus he conversed with Noah; thus he was a guest with Abraham. But when our nature inclined toward wickedness and, as it were, removed itself far away into some foreign land, then at last, as to people situated in a long absence from home, he sends letters, as though renewing through some epistle the ancient friendship with us. And these letters God sent, but Moses delivered them. What, then, do the letters say? "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth." For what reason does he not speak to us about the angels, not about the archangels? For if the Creator is contemplated from the created things, much more is he visible from those. Beautiful is the heaven, but not so beautiful as an angel; radiant is the sun, but not so radiant as the archangel. For what reason, then, did he leave the higher road and lead us by the lower road? Because he is speaking to Jews, to those more unreasonably disposed, to those excited over sensible things, to those now returning from Egypt, where people used to worship crocodiles and dogs and apes; and it was not possible to lead them by hand to the Creator through the higher road. For that road is higher, but rougher, and steep, and more upright for the weaker.

For this reason he leads them through the easier way, through heaven and earth and sea and all the visible creation. For that this was the reason, listen to how the Prophet speaks to them even about those powers above, when they had advanced a little. "Praise the Lord," he says, "from the heavens, praise him in the highest; praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his powers; for he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created." And what is wonderful if in the Old Testament this manner of teaching exists, when indeed even in the New, when the time for higher teachings had come, Paul, conversing with the Athenians, came by this same path that Moses came by when instructing the Jews? For neither did he speak to them about angels and archangels, but about heaven and earth and sea, speaking publicly somewhat like this: "God, who made the world and all things in it, this one, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands." But not when he was conversing with the Philippians did he lead them by this path; rather he leads them up to the higher discourse, saying thus: "For in him all things were created, things in the heavens and on the earth, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or authorities; all things were created through him and for him." So also John, since he had more perfect

to those being instructed as disciples, he made mention of all creation together. For he did not say, "heaven and earth and sea," but, "All things were made through him, and without him was made not one thing that was made"—whether visible, he says, or invisible. For just as in the case of teachers, one teacher who receives a child from its mother teaches it the first elements, while another who receives it from a different teacher leads the disciple on to the higher teachings; so also it happened with Moses and Paul and John. For Moses, receiving our nature when it knew nothing, just freed from milk, taught it the first elements of the knowledge of God; but John and Paul, receiving them as it were from Moses their teacher, lead them up to the higher teachings, reminding them briefly of the former things. Do you see the kinship of the two Testaments? Do you see the harmony of the teachings? You heard about the creation of things perceptible in the Old Testament, and David saying about things intelligible, "For he spoke, and they were made"? So again in the New, having spoken about the invisible powers, he also spoke about the perceptible creation: "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth." This utterance is brief and bare, and a single utterance; yet it will be able to overthrow all the towers of the adversaries. Consider now. The Manichaean comes forward saying, "Matter is unbegotten"; say to him, "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth," and you have straightway overthrown all his delusion. But he does not believe the utterance of the Scripture, he says.

Therefore for this reason reject him as mad and turn away. For the one who does not believe God when he declares, but judges the truth to be falsehood, how does he not clearly display a proof of madness—his unbelief? And how, he says, could anything come from non-being? But tell me, how could anything come from being? For that the earth came from non-being, I believe, but you doubt; but that man came from earth, we both confess. Tell me, then, the agreed and easier point: how did the nature of flesh come from earth? For from earth come clay, and brick, and pottery, and earthenware; but no one could ever see flesh coming from earth. How, then, did the nature of flesh come to be? How was bone molded? How sinews? How veins? How arteries? How membrane, and fat, and flesh, and skin, and nails, and hair, and such great variety of different substances from one underlying earth? But you would not be able to say. How, then, is it not absurd, while ignorant of the clearer and easier matter, to pry into and busy oneself with the more difficult and more secret matter?

3. Do you want me to lead you to another example as well, one even easier and happening every day? Yet even for this he will not give me the account. We eat bread every day. Tell me, then, how is it that this nature of bread is changed into blood and phlegm and bile and the rest of the humors in us? For the one is dense and hard, while the blood is loose and flowing; and the one is white or the color of grain, while the other is red and black. And if one were to go through the differences of the other qualities too, he will find a great distance between bread and blood. Tell me, then, how these things happen, and give the account. But you would not be able to. Then, when you are unable to give the account of the food that is changed every day, do you demand from me an accounting of God's creation? And how is this not the utmost folly? For if God were on our level, demand the account of the things that have come to be; or rather, not even so. For there are many things produced by human craft whose manner of production we cannot explain—for instance, how the nature of gold comes from the earth in the mines; how sand is changed into the clarity of glass. And there are more things than these to mention, which are produced by human craft, yet we do not know the account of them. Nevertheless, if God were on our level, demand the account; but if

...and is separated from us in an incomprehensible way and surpasses us beyond comparison, how would it not be the height of madness, while confessing that his wisdom and his power are both infinite, and divine and incomprehensible, to demand an account from him for each thing that happens, as though it were some human craft? But let us leave our reasonings behind and return to the unbreakable rock: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Stand upon this foundation; let no one drag you down into the turmoil of human reasonings. For the reasonings of mortals are cowardly, and their devices are precarious. Do not, then, abandon what is firm and entrust the salvation of your soul to what is rotten and precarious; but remain in what you have learned and been convinced of, and say: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And if a Manichaean comes near, or a Marcionite, or those sick with the teachings of Valentinus, or anyone else at all, put forward this word; and if you see him laughing, you weep for him as one who is mad. Their complexion is boxwood-pale, their brow is composed, and their words are mild; but flee the bait, and recognize the wolf hidden in the sheep's skin. Hate him especially for this reason, that he seems gentle and tame toward your fellow servant, but toward our common Master of us all he is wilder than rabid dogs, introducing into heaven a war without herald and an implacable battle, and setting up some power in opposition against God. Flee the venom of wickedness, hate the poisonous drugs...

And whatever inheritance you have received from the fathers, the faith and teaching from the divine Scriptures, hold fast to this with great security. In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. What is this? First the heaven, then the earth? First the roof, then the floor? For it is not subject to the necessity of nature, nor does it serve the sequence of craft. For the will of God is the creator and craftsman of nature and craft and all things that exist. And the earth was invisible and unformed. For what reason did he bring forth the heaven fully furnished, but Moses says he fashioned the earth little by little? So that, having learned his power in the better element, you might be fully assured that he was able to bring this also forth fully furnished, just as that one. But for your sake and your salvation he did not make it so. How, he says, for my sake and my salvation? The earth is a common table and homeland and nurse and mother of all, and a city and a common tomb. For our bodies are from it, and food for our bodies comes from there, and dwelling and life in it, and after death a return to it again. So then, lest the necessity of need cause you to marvel at it beyond its worth, and the abundance of benefits trip you up toward impiety, he shows you, before it came to be, that it was formless and unshaped, so that, seeing its weakness, you might marvel at the one who brought it forth and implanted all this power in it; so that you might glorify the one who prepared so many things for our comfort. And God is glorified not only through correct doctrines, but also through the best conduct.

For he says, Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 4. I wished to add words about almsgiving; but it seems to me superfluous to teach you by word, when he is now able to instruct you by your works, sitting in your midst, our common father and teacher, who, having received his father's house as if from his ancestors for this very purpose, that he might offer it to the care of strangers, has in this way continually opened it to those driven from every side for the sake of the truth, and receives them, and tends them with every manner of care; so that I do not know whether one ought to call this house his, or rather the strangers'; or rather, for this reason to think it his, because it belongs to strangers. For our possessions then especially become ours, when we always possess them not for ourselves but for the poor. And how, I say. If you deposit the silver into the right hand of the poor man, no informer attacks it, no envious eye sees it, no robber steals it, no burglar digs through and takes it, no servant carries it off and runs away; for that treasury is inviolable. But if you bury it at home, you make the gold liable to robber and burglar and envious man and informer and servant and every harm. Often, then, with countless doors and bars it has escaped the attacks from outside, but it has not escaped the guards, but those watching over it have taken it and fled. Do you see that we are then more truly masters of our possessions, when we entrust them to the poor?

That place is not only safer for the sake of guarding what we have, but it is also a basis for greater gain and revenue. For if you lend to a man, you receive a hundredfold; but if you lend to God through the poor man, you will receive not a hundredfold but a hundred times as much. And if you sow on fertile soil, when it brings forth a large crop, you will carry away ten times the seed; but if you sow into heaven, after it becomes a hundredfold, you will also receive back eternal and ageless and immortal life. And here there is great toil for those who cast down the seeds; but there, without plow and oxen and farmers and all the rest of the hardship, the crop of what has been cast down grows, and there is no drought, no flood, no mildew, no hail, no army of locusts, no overflowing of rivers, nor anything else at all for those who sow there ever to fear; but the seeds cast down there stand above every harm. When, then, there is neither toil, nor danger, nor suspicion, nor any lurking risk, and what grows is far more than what was cast down, and it sprouts as many good things as eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, how would it not be the utmost laziness to abandon the greater and pursue the lesser, and to leave behind what is safe and go after what is untrustworthy and full of dangers and has many failures? For what forgiveness will there be for us if we do this, or what defense? We certainly put forward poverty as an excuse; but we are not poorer than that widow, who had only two small coins, and she cast even those down.

Let us then emulate her wealth; let us imitate the magnanimity of her purpose, so that we too may obtain the good things laid up for her. May it come to pass that we all be deemed worthy of them, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. HOMILY 2. Why is it that in the case of the sun and the moon and the heaven and the others he said, "Let it be made," but in the case of man, "Let us make"? And what exactly is "according to the image"? 1. Do you remember the questions that were put before you the other day? For you stirred us up to such a pitch of folly and daring that we now even dare to tackle questions—or rather, this would not be daring, nor folly. For it was not trusting in our own strength, but casting the whole upon the prayers of the presbyters and upon yours, that we stripped for the contest. And the prayer of the Church has such power that, even if we were more voiceless than stones, it could make our tongue lighter than any wing. For just as a west wind into the midst

Falling upon the sails of the ship, it sends the vessel onward swifter than an arrow; so too the prayer of the Church, falling upon the tongue of the speaker, sends the word onward more vigorously than the west wind. Therefore we too, taking courage every day, strip for the contest. For if in the contests outside, a man who has only ten or twenty admirers in so great a crowd comes down eagerly to the contest, how much more shall we do this with confidence, where not ten, nor merely twenty, but the whole theater is made up of brothers and fathers for us. And yet in the contests outside the contestant would gain nothing great from the spectator, except that the latter shout, and marvel at what has happened, and strive against those who speak against him as he sits above; but for him to come down into the stadium, and stretch out a hand, and pull the foot of his opponent, or show some other such thing—these things are not permitted. For those who from the beginning arranged those contests, having fixed sharp stakes and set ropes around in a circle, thus keep back the madness of the spectators. And what is wonderful if it is not permitted for a spectator to come down, when they seat even the trainer outside near the dust, and command him to bring in the aid from his teaching to the contestants from afar, but do not allow him to come near? But not so here; rather, both teacher and spectator may come down to us, and stand near in disposition, and by our prayers join together our strength. Come then, let us take hold of the wrestling matches in the manner of those athletes themselves.

For when those men have held themselves in the middle and are hurled by the force of the ropes toward the crowd standing outside them because of the narrowness of the place, they loose the ropes and return again to the place of the contest; then, having returned, they do not engage again standing upright, but by placing themselves in that same manner of bonds in which they were when they were released. Since, then, the narrowness of the place has compelled us too to break off the word, come, let us return to the place of the contest and loose the ropes from what has been read to us today. And God said, it says, Let us make man in our image and likeness. This first is worthy of inquiry: why is it that when heaven was being made, the words Let us make are nowhere said, but rather, Let heaven be made, Let light be made, and so for each part of creation; but here alone the words Let us make are added—counsel and deliberation and communication with some other of equal honor? Who then is he who is about to be created, that he enjoys such great honor? It is man, the great and wondrous living creature, and more honored by God than all creation, for whose sake are heaven and earth and sea and the whole remaining body of creation; man, for whose salvation God so loved him that he did not spare even the Only-begotten for his sake; for he did not cease doing all things and working until he brought him up and seated him at his own right hand. And Paul cries out, saying: He raised us up together and seated us together at his right hand in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. For this reason there is counsel and deliberation and communication—not because God needs counsel; may it not be!

But by the form of the words he shows the honor given to the one who came to be for our sake. And how, he says, if he is more honored than the whole world, is he brought forth after the world? For this very reason, because he is more honored than the world. For just as when a king is about to ride into a city, generals and governors and guards and all the servants go ahead, so that after preparing the palace and arranging all the rest of the reception, they may welcome the king with great honor—so indeed here also, as when a king is about to be brought in, the sun went ahead, the heaven ran before, the light entered first, all things came to be and were made ready, and then man is brought in afterward with great honor. Let us make man according to the image. Let the Jew hear. To whom does God say, Let us make? The writings are Moses', Moses', whom they claim falsely to believe. And that they lie and do not believe, hear Christ convicting them and saying: If you believed Moses, you would believe me. But now the books are with them, but with us is the treasure of the books; with them the writings, with us both the writings and the meanings. To whom then, tell me, does he say, Let us make man? To an angel, he says, or to an archangel he speaks simply. For just as worthless servants, when accused by their masters and unable to answer directly, bring forward whatever comes to mind, so indeed you also say, He spoke to an angel and an archangel. What angel? What archangel?

For it is not the work of angels to create, nor of archangels to fashion these things. And for what reason, when he made the heaven, did he not speak to an angel and an archangel, but brought it forth through himself? But when he brought forth the living being more honored than heaven and the whole world, man, then does he take his servants as sharers in the creation? 2. It is not so, it is not so; for it belongs to angels to stand by, not to create; to archangels to minister, not to share in thought and counsel. Hear what Isaiah says concerning the Seraphim powers, which are higher than the archangels: I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the Seraphim stood round about him; each had six wings, and each had six wings; and with two wings they covered their own faces, clearly walling off their sight, because they could not receive the lightning borne from the throne. What do you say? The Seraphim stand by, and are in such great wonder and amazement, and that while beholding the condescension of God; but angels share in his thought and partake of his deliberation? But that would have no reason. But who is he to whom he says, Let us make man? The wonderful counselor, the ruler, the mighty God, the prince of peace, the father of the age to come, the only-begotten Son of God himself. To that one, then, he says, Let us make man according to our image and according to our likeness. For he did not say "my image and your image," or "my image and your image," but, According to our image, showing that the image is one and the likeness is one.

The image and likeness of God and of angels is not one. For how could there be one image and likeness of the Master and of the servants? So from every angle the argument has been refuted for you; for here he indicated the image of rule, as what follows also makes clear. For after saying "according to image and according to likeness," he added, "And let them rule over the fish of the sea"; but the rule of God and of angels would not be one. For how could it be, of servants and Master, of ministers and of the one who commands? But others again spring up against us, saying that God has such an image as we also have, understanding what was said badly. For he did not say image of substance, but image of rule, as we will show from what follows. For that the Divine is not anthropomorphic, hear Paul saying: "For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man; therefore," he says, "she ought to have a covering on her head." And yet if he meant this here as an image, indicating the exactness of the form that is toward God, and for this reason man is called the image of God, because God has been formed in this way—then according to them not only the man ought to be called an image, but the woman also. For of woman and man there is one type and character, and one likeness. For what reason, then, is the man called the image of God, but the woman no longer? Because he is not speaking of the image that is in the form, but of the image that is according to rule, which the man alone has, and no longer the woman. For the man is subject to no one; but she has come to be under him, as God says: "Toward the

Your turning shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you. For this reason the man is the image of God, since he has no one above him, just as no one is above God, but he rules over all; but the woman is the glory of the man, since she is subject to the man. And again elsewhere he says: We ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, or an engraving of art, or of human imagination. And what he says is of this sort: The Deity, he says, has not only surpassed the visible forms, but not even thought could fashion such a thing as what God is like. How then could God have the form of a man, when Paul says that there is no thought at all that is able to fashion within itself the essence of God? For our form and type we could all easily fashion within ourselves according to our reasonings. Again I wished even now to bring forward the words concerning almsgiving, but the time does not permit us; therefore let us turn ourselves to silence for the rest, enjoining this upon you: to hold fast with precision all that has been said, and to take great forethought for right conduct, so that we may not gather here in vain and to no purpose. For even if we preserve orthodoxy of doctrines, if the virtue of works is not present, we shall altogether fall away from eternal life. For not everyone, he says, who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Let us therefore do the will of God with all zeal and eagerness, so that we may be able to enter into the heavens and obtain the good things laid up for those who love God; may we all obtain them, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Homily 3. What is "according to the likeness," and for what reason, when God said that we should rule over the beasts, do we not rule, and that this is a matter of great providence. 1. Just as there is no benefit for those who sow when the seeds are thrown beside the path, so there will be nothing more for the speaker when the word is not carried to the understanding of the hearers, but the echo of the voice, simply diffused into the air, leaves the hearer without profit. I have said these things to you not idly, but so that you may not be gaping only at the simpler of the thoughts, but may also venture upon the deeper ones. For if we do not now descend into the depth of the Scriptures—when our limbs are light for swimming, and our eye is no longer troubled by the wicked stream of luxury, and our spirit is more enduring, so as not to be drowned—when will we descend? When there is luxury and feasting and drunkenness and a table full of gluttony? But then it is not even easy to move, so heavily does the burden of luxury press upon the soul. Do you not see that even those who wish to find precious stones do not find what they seek by sitting up on the shore and counting the waves, but they dive down into the depth itself?

Yet great is the toil in the search, and great the danger in the finding, and after the finding no gain? For what great thing would the discovery of precious stones contribute to our life? Would that it had not introduced great evils. For that which overturns our life and turns everything upside down is nothing other than the madness for money. But nevertheless those men surrender both soul and body for the sake of daily food, and they brave the waves; yet here there is no danger, nor toil so intense, but slight and light, and this for the guarding of what is found. For things found with ease seem to many to be contemptible. There is no tossing of waves in the sea of the Scriptures, but this sea is calmer than any harbor; there is no necessity to be carried down to the murky bays of the abyss, nor to entrust the safety of the body to the rush of irrational waters; but great is the light here, and brighter than the very rays themselves, and great the calm, and all disturbance is out of the way, and the gain of what is found is as great as cannot be set forth even in word. Let us not, then, grow weary, but let us set our hand to the search. You heard that God made man in the image of God; and what this "according to the image" is, and why we have spoken of "according to the likeness"—that it is not an unvarying identity of essence, but a likeness of rule; and the "according to the likeness" means being gentle and meek, and, as far as possible, being made like to God in the account of virtue, as Christ says: Be like my Father who is in the heavens.

For just as in this wide and spacious earth, some of the animals are more irrational, and some more beast-like, so also in the breadth of our soul, some of our thoughts are more irrational and brutish, and some more beast-like and savage. It is necessary, then, to master them and prevail over them, and to hand over their rule to reason. And how, he says, could one prevail over a beast-like thought? What are you saying, man? We prevail over lions, and we tame their souls, and do you doubt whether you will be able to change the beastliness of a thought into gentleness? And yet for the lion, savagery is according to nature, and tameness is contrary to nature; but for you it is the opposite: gentleness is according to nature, and beastliness is contrary to nature. Therefore, will you, who cast out what is according to nature and implant what is contrary to nature in the soul of a beast, not be able to preserve what is according to nature in your own soul? And of how much negligence would this not be? And in the case of the soul of lions there is also another difficulty along with this: for the soul of the beast is destitute of reason. But nevertheless you have often seen lions gentler than sheep being led through the marketplace, and many of those in the workshops often paid down silver to the one who held them, as a kind of wage for the art and wisdom by which he tamed the beast. But in the case of your soul there is also reason, and the fear of God, and much help from many sides. Do not, then, speak to me of excuses and pretexts. For it is possible, if you are willing, for you to be gentle and meek. Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them rule over the beasts.

Here the Greeks assail us and say that the oracle is false: for we do not rule over the beasts; they rule over us, and they cast great anguish into us. In the first place, then, this is not true; for even the mere appearance of a human face is enough to make a beast get out of the way—so great is the fear of us that is in them. But if ever it rushes to defend itself, either compelled by hunger, or because we ourselves often hem it in and it is driven out of necessity, this would not be the exercise of a completed rule. For neither, if one of us, seeing robbers coming, should arm himself and proceed to self-defense, is the matter one of rule, but rather a great provision for his own safety. Nevertheless, I do not make my defense from this, but from another point, from which it is also useful for you to hear. We fear the beasts and dread them, and we have fallen from rule—I do not deny it; I say so myself. But this does not show the law of God to be false. For in the beginning things were not so, but it feared and trembled and was subject to man as to a master; but since we fell from boldness and from honor, for this reason we fear them. How is this clear? God brought the beasts to Adam to see what he would call them; and he did not

Adam sprang back, as though afraid, but he imposed names on all of them as on subjugated slaves. And this is a symbol of dominion. Therefore God also, wishing to show him through this the dignity of his authority, entrusted to him the assigning of names, and the names assigned by him remained upon them. For every name, it says, that Adam called it, this is its name. This, then, is one sign that the beasts were not fearsome to man at the beginning; and a second, clearer even than the first, is the serpent's conversation with the woman. For if the beasts had been fearsome to humans, the woman would not have remained when she saw the serpent, but would have fled; she would not have accepted its counsel, nor would she have conversed with it with such great boldness, but at the very sight she would have been struck with amazement and sprung back; but as it is, she converses and is not afraid; for this fear did not yet exist. But when sin entered, the marks of honor were also removed; and just as in the case of household slaves, those who are held in esteem are fearsome to their fellow slaves, while those who have offended fear even their fellow slaves; so it has happened with man as well. For as long as he had boldness toward God, he was fearsome to the beasts; but when he offended, he thenceforth feared even the lowliest of his fellow slaves. But if this is not so, show me that before sin the beasts were fearsome to humans; but you could not. But if fear entered after these things, this too is a mark of the Master's care.

For if, when the commandment given by God to man was moved and dissolved, the honor given to him by God had remained unmoved, he would not have risen up easily. For when men, both those who disobey and those who do not disobey, enjoy the same honor, they are trained for wickedness rather, and do not easily depart from evil. For if now, with fears and punishments and chastisements pressing upon them, they do not endure to be sober-minded, what would they have been if they had suffered no evils for the sins they committed? So it is clear that God, caring for us and taking thought for us, cast us out of the rule. But observe here too his ineffable love for mankind. For Adam overturned the whole commandment and transgressed the law; but God did not dissolve the whole honor, nor did he cast him out from all authority; but he left outside the rule only those animals which do not greatly contribute to him for the needs of life; but the necessary and useful ones, which bring much service to our life, these he allowed to remain in slavery. He left herds of oxen, so that we might draw the plow, so that we might cut the earth, so that we might cast in the seeds; he left the kinds of beasts of burden, so that they might help us share in our labors for the transport of loads; he left flocks of sheep, so that we might have a sufficient supply for the covering of garments; and he allowed other kinds of animals too, which bring us much other need.

For since, when punishing man, he said, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread," so that this sweat and toil and labor might not be unbearable, he lightened the heavy and burdensome nature of the sweat by the multitude of irrational creatures that share with us in this toil and misery. And just as a humane and caring master, after scourging his own servant, applies some healing to the scourges, so too God, having imposed a sentence, wishes in every way to make this sentence lighter—having condemned us to sweat and unceasing toil, yet having prepared for us many kinds of irrational creatures to share in the toil. Therefore, for all these things let us give thanks to him; for both giving us honor, and again taking honor away, and not taking all of it away, and setting the fear of wild beasts over us—and everything, if one examines it, is full of great wisdom, great care, great love for humanity; which may we all enjoy continually, to the glory of

God having accomplished these things, to him be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. HOMILY 4. That sin introduced three kinds of slavery; and against those who listen carelessly, and do not honor their parents. 1. You heard yesterday how God made man king and ruler of the beasts, and how he straightway cast him out of that kingdom—or rather, it was not God, but man himself who cast himself out of that honor through disobedience. For to obtain the kingdom was the work of God's love for mankind alone. For he did not give him this as a reward for good achievements, but even before he came to be, he adorned him with the honor. For lest you say that man, having come to be afterward and then having accomplished many good things, thus drew God to give him rule over the beasts—when he was about to form him, he speaks beforehand concerning his rule, saying thus: "Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them rule over the beasts of the earth." Before life, the honor; before creation, the crown; and before he came to be, he is led up to the royal throne. For men honor those subject to them in extreme old age, after many toils and countless dangers—those in peace, those in wars—only then do they honor them; but God does not do so, but straightway, as soon as he came to be, he led him to this honor, showing that what happens is not a reward for good achievements, but divine grace, and not a debt. So then, his receiving the rule came from God's love for mankind alone; but his falling from the rule came from his own carelessness.

For just as kings deprive of authority those who do not obey their commands, so too God did with man, then depriving him of authority. It is necessary today to say how much other honor the nature of sin also took away, and how many kinds of slavery it introduced, like some tyrant binding our nature in manifold bonds with all sorts of authorities. There is, then, a first authority and slavery, according to which husbands also rule over wives; for after sin the need for this arose. For before disobedience she was of equal honor with the man; for when God fashioned her, he used the same words as in the fashioning of the man, and these also in the creation of the woman. Just as, then, he said concerning him, "Let us make man according to our image and likeness," and did not say, "Let man come into being"; so also concerning her he did not say, "Let woman come into being," but here too, "Let us make for him a helper," and not simply a helper, but "according to him," again making clear the equal honor. For since irrational animals contributed much to the need of our life by the fellowship of help, so that you might not think the woman also belongs to the slaves, see how he makes the distinction clear. He brought the beasts, it says, before Adam, and no helper like him was found according to him. What then? Is the horse not a helper, drawn up alongside in wars? Is the ox not a helper, dragging the plow and laboring with us in the sowing of seeds? Are the donkey and mule not helpers, cooperating with us for the transport of our loads?

But so that you may not say this, for this reason he makes the distinction precise. For he did not say simply that a helper was not found for him, but that a helper like him was not found. So also here, "Let us make a helper for him," not simply, but "Let us make a helper for him according to him," he said. These things were before sin; but after sin, "Your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you." I made you, he says, of equal honor; you did not use your authority well; change over to subjection. You did not bear freedom, accept slavery. You do not know how to rule, and you have shown this by experience itself; become one of the ruled, and recognize your husband as lord. "Your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you." And see here God's love for humanity. For so that she, having heard "He shall rule over you," might not think the mastery burdensome, he first set down the name of guardianship, saying, "Your turning shall be to your husband," that is, He shall be your refuge and harbor and safety; in all the terrible things that come upon you, I give you to turn to him and take refuge. And not only in this way, but he also bound them together by natural necessities, as if throwing around them an unbreakable bond, the chain of desire. Do you see how sin introduced subjection, but God, resourceful and wise, used even these things for our benefit? Hear how Paul also speaks of this subjection, so that you may learn again the agreement of the Old and New Testaments. A woman, he says, let her learn in quietness with all subjection.

Do you see that he also subjected the woman to the man? But wait, and you will hear the reason. Why, "in all subjection"? For, he says, I do not permit a woman to teach. Why? Because she once taught Adam badly. Nor to have authority over the man. Why ever? Because she also once exercised authority badly. But to be in quietness. But tell me the reason too. For, he says, Adam was not deceived, but the woman, having been deceived, has come into transgression. For this reason he brought her down from the throne of teaching. For, he says, let her who does not know how to teach learn; but if she is unwilling to learn, yet wishes to teach, she will destroy both herself and those who learn—which indeed happened in the case of the woman then. But that she is subjected to the man, and was subjected because of sin, is clear from this; but I wish to hear that: "Your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you." I wish to learn how Paul also speaks about this care, and mingles mastery with affection. Where then does he do this? Writing to the Corinthians he says: "Husbands, love your wives"—behold, "Your turning shall be to your husband." "Wives, let them fear their husbands"—behold, "He shall rule over you." Do you see how unburdensome the mastery is, when the master is a mad lover of her who serves, when fear is with love? For in this way the burdensomeness of slavery is done away. So then, disobedience introduced one rule. For do not look at this, that God regulated it for what was fitting, but that sin made the very nature of slavery;

This is also a second kind of slavery, more burdensome than the first, and it too has its origin and basis in sin. For after the flood in Noah's time, and the common shipwreck of the whole inhabited world and that utter destruction, Ham sinned against the one who had begotten him, and seeing his father naked, he rather stripped him bare by his accusation to his brothers, and from this he became a slave to his brothers. For the wickedness of his choice corrupted the nobility of his nature; and quite reasonably so. The Scripture, then, composes countless defenses on behalf of the righteous man—or rather, with a single word it grants him full pardon. For it says, "Noah began to be a farmer." Now this word "began" contains a great defense regarding the drunkenness. For he did not know how much wine he ought to drink, nor how to drink it—unmixed, or mixed with water—nor when to drink, whether draining the jars at once or waiting a little time. So the Scripture through these words defends Noah; but the one born from him, the one saved through him (for because of his honor toward his father he did not perish together with the deluge of the rest), did not look to nature itself, did not remember his salvation, was not brought to his senses by fear, seeing still the

Remnants of God's wrath remained, and traces of the calamity were visible, and the fear of what had happened was at its height, yet he insolently abused the one who had begotten him. Therefore a certain wise man advises, saying: Do not glorify yourself in the dishonor of your father; for the dishonor of a father is no glory to you. But that man did not recognize even this, but sinned a sin greater than all pardon and defense. Therefore God gave him slavery as the punishment for his sin, and he became a servant of his brothers, and by the wickedness of his disposition he betrayed the preeminence that came from nature. Behold, this is also a second kind of slavery. Do you wish to learn of a third as well? This one is more burdensome than the two former, and much more fearful. For since he was not brought to his senses by those, God tightened our bonds. Who then is this one? The ruler, the one in authority; not such as the slavery of the wife, nor such as the slavery of servants, but far more fearful. For one can see swords sharpened everywhere, executioners, punishments, tortures, penalties, the authority over death and life. And that this kind of rule too became necessary because of sin, hear again Paul himself philosophizing about this. But if you wish not to fear the authority, do what is good, he says, and you will have praise from it. If you do what is evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain. Do you see that because of those who do evil there is both a ruler and a sword? Hear this again more clearly. For he is, he says, an avenger for the one who does evil. And he did not say, For he is a ruler not in vain; but what? For he does not bear the sword in vain.

He has set the judge before you under arms. For just as a loving father, when his children are careless toward him and, because of his fatherly affection, despise him, out of his goodness hands them over to fearful tutors and teachers, so too God, when our nature despised him, out of his goodness handed it over, as it were, to teachers and tutors—to the rulers—so that they might turn back their carelessness. But if you wish, let us see this very thing also from the Old Testament, that because of our wickedness there was need of this rule. One of the prophets, provoked at unjust deeds, speaks somehow thus: Will you be silent while the ungodly swallows up the righteous, and will you make men like the fish of the sea, and like creeping things that have no leader? Therefore there is a leader, so that we may not be like creeping things; therefore there is a ruler, so that we may not swallow one another up like the fish. For just as medicines exist because of diseases, so punishments exist because of sins. Since indeed the one who lives with virtue does not need the oversight that comes from there, hear what Paul says: But if you wish not to fear the authority, do what is good, and you will have praise from it. The judge, he says, is a spectator of you. If you live rightly, he is not only a spectator but also a praiser. And why do I speak of the need that comes from rulers, when those who pursue philosophy are higher than other greater things? For the laws are rulers of rulers. But nevertheless the one who lives with equity does not even need laws; and hear Paul saying this: The law is not laid down for the righteous.

But if law is not established, much more is a ruler not set over us. Behold a third mode of rule, and this too has its basis from sin and wickedness. 3. How then does Paul say, "There is no authority except from God"? Because he himself established it for our benefit. For sin introduced its use, but God employed it for our advantage. And just as the need for medicines arises from wounds, but the application of medicines comes from the wisdom of physicians, so too the need for slavery has arisen from sin, but to direct it to what is fitting comes from the wisdom of God. But rouse yourselves, and put away your carelessness. Why do I say this? We are expounding the Scriptures to you, but you, turning your eyes away from us, have shifted them to the lamps and to the one lighting the lamps. And how great is this carelessness, to abandon us and attend to this man? I too kindle a fire from the Scriptures, and on our tongue a little lamp of teaching burns. This light is greater and better than that light; for we do not light a wick soaked in oil, as this man does, but we kindle souls watered in piety with the desire of hearing. Paul too once discoursed in a certain upper room. But let no one think that I compare myself to Paul—for I am not so mad—but so that you may learn how much zeal you ought to show for hearing. Paul, then, discoursed in an upper room, and evening came on, just as now, and there were lamps in the upper room.

Then Eutychus fell from the window, and the fall did not break up the assembly, nor did death rouse the theater; but they were so fastened to the hearing of the divine oracles that they did not even perceive the fall. But you, having seen nothing strange or extraordinary, but a man doing the usual things, turned your eyes there. And what forgiveness would this be worthy of? Let no one, then, beloved, consider this rebuke burdensome; for it is not from hatred but from care that we bring the accusation. For the wounds of friends are more trustworthy than the willing kisses of enemies. Rise up, then, I beseech you, and leaving behind this fire, attend to the light of the divine Scriptures. For I wish to speak to you of another mode of rule, one that does not take its basis from sin, but from nature itself. What then is this? That of parents over their offspring. For such honor is a recompense for birth-pangs. Therefore also a certain wise man says: Serve as masters those who gave you birth. Then he adds the reason, saying: For what will you give them in return, as they gave to you? And yet what is there that a child cannot give back to a father? He says nothing other than this: As they gave you birth, you will not be able to give them birth. Since, then, in this respect we are at a disadvantage, let us gain the advantage from another direction by the honors we pay them, not only because of the law of nature, but before nature because of the fear of God. For God greatly desires that parents be honored by their children; and those who do this he repays with great goods and gifts, but those who transgress the law he punishes with great and terrible evils.

He who speaks evil of father or mother, it says, shall surely die. But to those who honor them, it says something like this: Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you; and you shall be long-lived upon the earth. The very thing that is considered the greatest good—a prosperous old age and length of life—this he set as the prize for those who honor them; and the very thing that seems to be the last evil—untimely death—this he set as the penalty for those who outrage them: drawing the one group to goodwill by the promise of honor, and leading the other, even against their will, away from outrage by the fear of punishment. For he does not simply command that the patricide die, nor that executioners take him from the court and lead him out through the marketplace, nor that he be beheaded outside the city; but the father himself leads him into the middle of the city, and he is believed without any proof—and quite justly. For the man who chose to spend both money and body and absolutely anything for the sake of his child would never have become his accuser, unless the excess of the outrage were great. He leads him, then, into the middle of the city, then calls the whole people, and states the accusation; and all who hear, each taking a stone, thus stone the patricide. For the lawgiver wishes them to be not merely spectators of the punishment, but also its perpetrators, so that each, looking at his own right hand—the hand with which he himself also threw the stone at the head of the patricide—may have a sufficient reminder for correction. And not only this, but also another

The lawgiver hints to us that the one who abuses his parents has not wronged them alone, but all people. For this reason he summons everyone to share in the punishment, as though all had been abused, and he sets against him the whole people and the whole city together, teaching even those who have nothing in common with the wronged to be indignant when parents are abused, as though our common nature were being abused, and to drive out such a man as a kind of plague and common disease, not only from the city but also from its light. For such a man is an enemy and a common foe of all—of God, of nature, of the laws, and of our common life. For this reason he commands all to take part in the slaughter, as though producing a kind of purification of the city. May many good things be yours, because with such pleasure you received the words about the parricide and, instead of stones, you pelted him with your shouts; for this is a proof that each of you has shown great goodwill toward his own father. For we are accustomed to admire most those laws that punish sins, when we are not conscious of sins in ourselves. For all these things, then, let us give thanks to the philanthropic God, who cares for our life, and provides for parents, and takes thought for children, and orders all things for our salvation. For to him belong glory, honor, and worship, with the Father who is without beginning, and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Homily 5. That we are not punished because of Adam, and that the good things are greater than the evils brought in through him, if we attend to ourselves; and against those who pass by the poor. 1. You perhaps think that our whole account concerning lordship has been completed; but I see that much fruit still appears in it. But do not grow weary, I beseech you, until we have gathered all of it. For diligent farmers, when they see a vine luxuriant with many leaves and weighed down with much fruit, do not cut off only the outer clusters, but also go further in, bending back the branches and lifting up the leaves, so that not even the small berries of a grape hidden under the leaves escape notice. Do not, then, appear more slack than they, nor withdraw until you have received the whole; and especially since the labor is mine, but the fruit is yours. Yesterday we accused the women—or rather, not the women, but Eve—because through sin she introduced slavery. The women might say to us: For what reason, then, when she sinned, were we condemned, and the transgression belonged to one person, but the charge is common to the whole nature? Slaves too might say this: Why ever, when Canaan insulted his father, did the matters of punishment pass over to his whole race? And those who fear rulers might bring this accusation: Why ever, when others lived in wickedness, were they themselves handed over to the yoke of rule? What then should we say to all these? For there will be one solution for all questions.

Because the first people sinned and through their own disobedience brought in slavery; but those after them confirmed the slavery that had been brought in by their own sins. For if they could show themselves to be always clean from sins, perhaps it would be well for them to think to contradict; but if they too are liable to many punishments, this defense is superfluous. For I did not say that sin no longer brings in slavery, but that every sin is allotted slavery, and I blamed the nature of sin, not only the difference of sin. Just as all incurable diseases lead to death, but not all are of the same nature, so also all sins give birth to slavery, but not all are of the same nature. Eve sinned by touching the tree, and was condemned through it. Therefore do not sin again, perhaps a sin harsher than hers. This is worth saying both about slaves and about rulers, that the first people brought in sin, but those who succeeded them held the power of mastery through the things in which they transgressed. I can also defend in another way: that many who returned to virtue were set free from mastery. And first, if it seems good, let us exercise the argument concerning women, so that you may see how the blessed Paul, who put the bonds on them, himself again released them. If any woman, he says, has an unbelieving husband, and he agrees to live with her, let her not leave him. Why? For what do you know, woman, whether you will save your husband? And how, he says, can a woman save?

Teaching, instructing, leading them on to the word of piety. And yet yesterday, blessed Paul, you were saying, "I do not permit a woman to teach." How then do you again make her a teacher of her husband? It is not that I am fighting against myself in doing this, but I am in full agreement. Listen, then, for what reason he cast her out, and for what reason he brings her back again to the throne of teaching, so that you may learn Paul's wisdom. "Let the man teach," he says. Why? Because he was not deceived; "for Adam," he says, "was not deceived." "Let the woman learn," he says. Why? Because she was deceived; "for the woman," he says, "being deceived, has come into transgression." But here the opposite. For when the husband is an unbeliever and the wife is a believer, "let the woman teach," he says. Why? Because she has not been deceived; for she is a believer. Let the husband learn, then; for he was deceived; for he is an unbeliever. The roles of teaching have been reversed, he says; let the roles of authority be reversed as well. Do you see how everywhere he shows that slavery follows not by nature, but by deception and sin? At the beginning, then, deception came to the woman, and subjection followed the deception; afterward deception passed over to the man, and subjection passed over as well. And just as in the beginning he entrusted the salvation of the wife to the husband, since he had not been deceived, saying thus, "Your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you," so also here, in the case of the believing woman who has an unbelieving husband, he entrusts the salvation of the husband to the woman, saying, "For how do you know, woman, whether you will save your husband?

What could be clearer than this demonstration that slavery does not follow from nature but from sin? This can be said also about slaves. Were you called a slave? Let it not concern you. Do you see how he again shows that slavery is a mere name when virtue is present? But even if you can become free, rather use it—that is, rather remain in slavery. Why? For the one who was called a slave in the Lord is the Lord's freedman. Do you see that slavery extends only to the name, but in reality there is freedom? And for what reason did he leave him to remain a slave? So that you might learn the abundance of freedom. For just as it was far more wonderful, in the case of the three youths, to keep their bodies unharmed while the furnace remained burning than to extinguish it, so too it is much greater and more wonderful to show freedom while slavery remains than to dissolve slavery. For this reason he says: Even if you can become free, rather use it—that is, remain a slave; for you have the truest freedom. 2. Do you wish to see this also in the case of rulers? Nebuchadnezzar was a king, and he kindled the furnace with great intensity, and the three youths into the midst

He brought forward young men, destitute, having no one to protect them, slaves, captives, stateless. And what does he say? If truly, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you do not serve my gods, and you do not worship the golden image that I have set up? What then did those men do? See how virtue made them, though captives, more kingly than the king, and showed their resolve to be higher than his. For they answered with boldness, not as men conversing with a king, but as men directing their words to a subordinate. There is no need, they say, for us to answer the king concerning this matter. Not through words, but through deeds we will make our demonstration. There is a God in heaven able to deliver us. They reminded him of the beneficence shown in the case of Daniel, saying the very words that the prophet said then. For what did he say? There is no word of the magicians of the Gazarenes, of the Chaldeans, which the king demands; but there is a God in the heavens who reveals mysteries. They therefore remind him of this utterance, so as to make him more lenient. Then they say: And if not, be it known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, and we do not worship the golden image that you have set up. Observe the wisdom of those young men. For so that those present then might not condemn God as weak, if it should happen that they fell into the furnace and died, they first confessed his power, saying, There is a God in heaven who is able to deliver us.

But so that they might not again, having escaped the flame, be thought to serve God for reward and recompense, they added: And if not, be it known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, and we do not worship the golden image which you have set up — at once proclaiming the power of God and displaying the courage of their own soul, so that no one might say of them what the devil said in slandering Job. And what did the devil say about Job? That Job does not worship you for nothing; for you have fenced him in within and without. So that no one might have this to say about them too, those men anticipated and stopped the shameless mouth. But what I was saying: even if one is a captive, even if a slave, even if a stranger, even if he dwells in a foreign land, if he has virtue with him, he will be more kingly than all kings. You have seen the slavery of women loosed, and that of household servants, and that of the governed. Come, I will show you from now on also the fear of wild beasts cast out. They cast Daniel into the pit once in the same Babylon; but the lions did not dare to touch him. For they saw in him the ancient and kingly image shining forth; they beheld those features which they had seen on Adam before sin. For indeed, coming to Adam with the same subjection, they received their names then. And not only here, but this also happened in the case of the blessed Paul. For he too, having fallen onto the island of the barbarians, sat by the fire warming himself; then a viper, leaping out from the sticks, fastened on his hand.

What happened after this? The beast fell down immediately. For since it found no sin, it could not bite; but just as we, when we wish to climb some smooth rock and find no hold anywhere, fall down at once, even if a sea lies beneath, even if a pit, so too that beast, with a pyre lying beneath it, finding no hold of sin, nor any place where it might fix its teeth, fell into the pyre and was destroyed. Do you wish me to tell you a third manner of defense? One is that not only those before them sinned, but also those after them; the second, that those who prospered, and these dwelling in the present life, experienced a lighter slavery; or rather were delivered from it entirely, just as we showed in the case of women, and of subjects, and of beasts. The third after those, that Christ promised greater goods than those which those who sinned at the beginning cast us out of, coming to us now. For why do you lament, tell me? Because Adam sinned and cast you out of paradise? Set things right, and be zealous for virtue, and I open to you not paradise, but heaven itself, and I allow you to suffer nothing dreadful from the first-formed man's disobedience. Do you lament that he paralyzed your rule over the beasts? Behold, I subject even demons to you, if you attend. For, he says, Tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy. He did not say, Rule, as in the case of the beasts, but, Tread, introducing an intensified rule.

3. This is why Paul did not say, "God will subject Satan under your feet," but "God will crush Satan under your feet." No longer, as before, "He will guard your head, and you shall guard his heel"; but the victory is complete, the trophy is pure, the enemy's utter obliteration, and crushing, and destruction. Eve subjected you to a husband; but I make you not only equal in honor to a husband, but even to the angels themselves, if you are willing. She deprived you of the present life; but I grant you also the life to come, the one free from old age and death, and full of countless good things. Let no one, then, think himself ill-treated because of the former things; for if we wish to go through all that he is about to bestow, we shall find that what is given is far greater than what we lost. And from what has been said, the rest is also clear. Adam introduced a life of toil; Christ promised a life where pain and grief and groaning have fled away, and he promises to grant the kingdom of heaven. For, he says, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was in prison, and you came to me. Will we too, then, hear that blessed voice? I would not strongly assert it; for great is the contempt for the poor among us. It is the time of fasting, so great an exhortation and teaching of saving doctrines, continual prayers, daily gatherings—and what is the benefit after so much care? None.

For we withdraw from here seeing rows of poor men standing in line on either side; and seeing them as though they were columns, but not human bodies, we pass them by so mercilessly. As though we were seeing lifeless statues, and not men breathing, so we hurry home. For hunger compels, it says. And yet hunger should persuade one to stay; for full bellies, according to the proverb, do not know hungry ones; but the hungry, from their own necessity, recognize another's as well; or rather, not even in this way is it possible to see it all. For you run to a table already prepared, and you do not endure to wait even a little; but the poor man stands until evening itself, hastening and pressing on to complete his daily food; and seeing the day fulfilled, but the money not yet fully completed—the daily amount sufficient for food—he is pained and set on fire, and is compelled to dare things beyond his own strength. For this reason in the evening they attack us more violently, swearing, adjuring, lamenting, wailing, stretching out their hands, being compelled to shamelessness in countless other ways. For they fear lest, when all have withdrawn home, they will be going about the city as in a desert. And just as those who have suffered shipwreck in the daytime, when they have laid hold of a plank, hasten to reach the harbor before evening, lest when night comes upon them they remain outside and

they have experienced shipwreck; so too the poor, fearing hunger as though it were a shipwreck, hasten before evening to gather enough silver for their food, so that they may not, when all have gone home, remain outside the harbor. For the hands of those who take them in are a harbor for them. 4. But we are softened neither in the marketplace by their misfortunes, nor when we have gone home; but even with the table set before us, and often having become a table of countless good things (if indeed one must call them good, which we eat to the condemnation of our inhumanity)—yet even with the table set before us, hearing them from below as they walk through the narrow streets, and crying out loudly in the alleys, lamenting in the deepest darkness, in great desolation, not even so are we softened; but even when we have eaten our fill, and are going to sleep, and in that hour again hearing them lamenting loudly from below, we run past as though hearing the voice of a rabid dog, and not a human voice; and we turn neither to the time, that it is now late at night when all are asleep and that man laments alone, nor to the lightness of the request, that he asks nothing more of us than bread, or a little silver, nor to the greatness of the misfortune, that he wrestles with continual hunger, nor to the gentleness of the suppliant, that held by such necessity, he does not dare to come to the doors, nor to draw near, but from below, from a great distance, he makes his supplication. And if he receives, he gives countless prayers;

But if he does not receive it, not even then does he utter a bitter word, nor does he revile and blaspheme those who are able to give and do not provide; but just as someone being led by some executioner to an unbearable punishment, and then imploring and beseeching all who pass by, and obtaining no assistance, is led away to punishment with great inhumanity—so too this man, dragged as it were by the executioner of hunger toward the night and the unbearable sleeplessness, stretches out his hands, beseeching with a loud cry those seated up in their houses, and obtaining no kindness, is sent away pitilessly and with great cruelty. But none of these things bends us, but after so much inhumanity we dare to stretch out our hands to heaven, and to speak to God about mercy, and to ask forgiveness for our own sins; and we do not fear lest a thunderbolt be brought down after such a prayer, after such cruelty and inhumanity. Tell me, how do we go to sleep and rest, and do we not fear lest this very poor man, standing over you in a dream, squalid, filthy, wrapped in rags, lament and mourn, accusing your cruelty? For I have often heard many saying that, having during the day overlooked the relief of the poor, at night they saw themselves bound with ropes and dragged by the hand of the poor, torn apart, suffering countless things. But these things are sleep and a dream, and a temporary punishment;

But we are not afraid, tell me, lest we see this poor man who laments and cries out and wails in the bosom of Abraham, just as that rich man once saw Lazarus? But the things that follow I leave to your conscience—those bitter and comfortless torments: how he asked for water, how he did not obtain even a drop, how his tongue was scorched, how, though he made great supplication, he enjoyed no forgiveness, and how he was punished without end. But may it not happen that we learn these things through experience, but rather that, having heard them through words, we flee the threat that comes through deeds, and, having shown ourselves worthy of the hospitality of our forefather Abraham, depart to the same place as he, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be honor, glory, and power, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Homily 6. On the tree—whether the knowledge of good and evil came to Adam from it, or whether he had this discernment even before eating; in which [homily] also [there is discussion] about fasting, and about the need to meditate at home on the things said in church. 1. I love fasting, because it is the mother of chastity and the source of all philosophy; and I love it also for your sake and for the sake of your love, because it has gathered for me this sacred and honored assembly of yours, and grants me to see again the faces I long for, and provides me to delight freely in this beautiful festival and feast. For one would not err in calling your assembly both a festival and a feast and countless good things.

For if someone who has entered the marketplace and meets with a single friend often lays aside all despondency, how shall we not lay aside all despondency when we come together not to a marketplace but to a church, and meet not with a single friend but gather with so many and such brothers and fathers? How shall we not reap every pleasure? For this assembly is better than the gatherings in the marketplaces not only in its number but also in the very nature of its conversation. For those who gather in the marketplaces and sit together with one another in a circle often converse about useless matters and introduce cold talk, and speak about things that do not concern them at all. For we are accustomed, for the most part, to busy ourselves with others' affairs and meddle with great eagerness. That it is therefore precarious and dangerous to utter and hear such words and to be swept along, and that often from such gatherings many storms have hung over households, I now pass over; but that all that conversation is unprofitable and cold and worldly, and that a spiritual word could never quickly enter such a gathering, no one would deny. But here it is not so, but quite the opposite: for all unprofitable conversation has been driven out, and all spiritual teaching has been brought in.

For we are speaking about our soul, and about the good things that belong to the soul, and about the crowns laid up in the heavens, and about the radiant lives, and about the love of God for humanity, and about the providence over the whole, and about all the other things that most concern us, and for what reason we have come into being, and what lot will meet us after our departure from here, and in what circumstances our affairs will then be. And of this gathering not only we, but also prophets and apostles are partakers; and, what is greater than all, the Master of all himself, Jesus, stands in our midst. For he says, Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And if where two or three are gathered he is in their midst, much more where so many men, so many women, so many fathers are present, apostles and prophets are also in the midst. Therefore we also speak with greater eagerness, enjoying the impulse from there, and we fulfill the promise to you. For we promised to speak first about the tree, whether from it the knowledge of good and evil came to Adam, or whether even before the eating he had this discernment. Being confident, then, we would say now that even before the eating he had this discernment. For if he did not know what is good and what is evil, he was more irrational than the irrational beasts themselves, and the master more senseless than the slaves. For how is it not absurd that goats and sheep know what

a useful plant, and what sort is destructive, and that they do not rush upon all things that appear, but have discernment, and know clearly what is harmful to them and what is beneficial—yet man is deprived of such great security? For if he did not have this, he would be worth nothing, but would even be more worthless than all. For it would have been far more preferable for him to live in darkness, and to have his eyes put out, and to be deprived of the light, than not to know what is good and what is evil. For if you take this away from our life, you have taken away our whole life, and you have filled everything with great confusion. For this is what distinguishes us from irrational creatures, and what makes us better than the beasts: knowing vice and virtue, and recognizing what is evil, and not being ignorant of what is good. And if we know this now—and not we only, but Scythians and barbarians as well—much more did that man, before sin, know it; and he who was honored with such great honors—namely, the image, the likeness, and the remaining blessings—would not have remained destitute of the chief of good things. For only those are ignorant of good and evil who are deprived of natural reason; but Adam was filled with great wisdom, and was able to discern both of these. And that he was filled with spiritual wisdom, hear the proof of it. God brought, it says, the beasts to him, to see what he would call them; and whatever Adam called them, that was their name.

Consider, then, how great a wisdom he was filled with, to have been able to give names to so many kinds of animals, so varied and of every sort—to the cattle, to the reptiles, to the birds—and all of them proper names. For God so approved the assigning of the names that he no longer changed those appellations, nor, when he had sinned, did he wish to abolish their names. For, it says, whatever Adam called them, this was their name. 2. Was he, then, ignorant of what was good and what was evil? And how could that be reasonable? Again he brought the woman to him, and seeing her he immediately recognized her as a sharer of his nature. And what does he say? This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. For since God had a little before brought all the animals to him, Adam wished to show that this animal was not one of those animals, and said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. But some say that he hints not only at this, but also at the manner of the creation, and that there will not again be such a manner of birth for a woman; for this reason he said, This now—which indeed another interpreter, interpreting more precisely, rendered as This once, as if to say, Now only has a woman come to be from a man alone; but after this it will no longer be so, but from both: Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. For God took a piece from the whole lump, and thus formed the woman, so that in all things she might be a sharer with the man. She, it says, shall be called woman, because she was taken from the man.

Do you see how for this reason he also gives the name, so that the name might teach the kinship of nature, and the instruction of the natural kinship, and the manner of creation might be a basis of unceasing love and a bond of concord? Then what does he say? For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife. He did not say simply, "shall be united," but, "shall cleave," indicating the exact conjunction: And the two shall be one flesh. He, then, who knew so many things—tell me, did he not know what is good and what is evil? And how could that be reasonable? For if he did not know what is good and what is evil before eating from the tree, but learned it after the eating, then sin became his teacher of wisdom, and the serpent was no longer a deceiver but a counselor of what is advantageous, having made him a man out of a beast. But may it not be! These things are not so, they are not. For if he did not know what is good and what is evil, how did he also receive the commandment? For no one gives a law to one who does not know that transgression is evil; but God both gave it and punished the transgressor, and he would not have done both these things if he had not made him from the beginning capable of knowing virtue and vice. Do you see how it has been demonstrated to us from every angle that he knew the good and the evil not after the eating of the tree, but even before this he understood it?

Let us therefore hold fast to all these things, beloved, and when we have returned home let us set out a double table, that of food and that of hearing, and let the husband speak the things that have been said, and let the wife learn, and let the children also listen, and let not even servants be deprived of this hearing. Make your house a church; for you are also accountable for the salvation of your children and of your servants; and just as we are required to give an account on your behalf, so too each of you is required to give reckoning for his servant, for his wife, and for his child. At any rate, from such narratives dreams will most sweetly come to us, freed from all fantasy; for whatever the soul is accustomed to practice by day, such things it also imagines in sleep. And if we keep watch over the things said each day, we shall not need much labor; for the word that follows will be clearer to you, and our teaching more zealous. In order, then, that there may be some gain both for us and for you—for us from the teaching, and for you from the hearing—along with the bodily table let the spiritual table also be set before you. For these things will become both security and adornment for you, and God will direct the affairs of the present life toward what is beneficial, and all things will be very easy and light for you. For, it says, seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added to you.

Let us seek this, beloved, so that we may obtain both the good things here and those there, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. HOMILY 7. Why the tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what it actually is: "Today you will be with me in paradise." 1. Yesterday I earnestly asked your love to remember what was said, and to set out a double table in the evening—the table of foods, and adding the feast that comes from the words. What then? Did you do this, and did you set out the double table? I know that you did, and that you partook not only of that one but also of this one. For surely, having been zealous for the lesser, you would not neglect the better. For this one is better than that one. For the hands of cooks composed that one, but the tongues of prophets prepared this one; and that one has the sprouts from the earth, but this one the fruit from the Spirit; and the foods of this table hasten toward corruption, but those of that one toward incorruption; and this one sustains our present life, but that one leads us to the life to come. That you set out this one along with that one, I know—not having asked your attendant, not a servant, but the clearer messenger of these things. Who then is this? The applause for what was said, the praise for the teaching. For since I said yesterday, "Let each of you make his house a church," you cried out greatly, showing the pleasure at what was said. And he

Hearing what is said with pleasure, this man has also been prepared for the demonstration of works. For this reason I too today have stripped myself more eagerly for the teaching. But be stirred up now as well. For it is necessary that not only the speaker be stirred up, but also that the hearers be zealous—and the hearers more than the speaker. For we have one concern, to deposit the Master's money; but for you the labor is greater, both to receive it and to keep it with great security. Therefore, after the hearing, place the bars on the doors, the bolts; and set fearful reasonings, like some guards, around the soul on every side. For the thief is shameless, and he keeps watch continually, and attacks constantly; and even if he often fails, he often attempts it. Let the guards, then, be fearful; and if they see the devil coming and wishing to snatch any of the things deposited, let them drive him away with a great cry; and if worldly cares come upon them, let them hinder them; and if forgetfulness from nature disturbs them, let them awaken the memory by meditation. For the danger is not small—to lose the Master's money. For if those who receive this money, whenever they scatter what was entrusted to them, are often punished with death, what punishment will those not endure who received the oracles far more precious than these, and then lost them? In the case of this money, only those who receive it are liable for its guarding, and no one else. For it is entirely necessary that they deposit as much as they received, and no one demands anything more from them.

But in the case of the words of God we are liable not for guarding them only, but also for much labor. For we are not commanded merely to return what we received, but to bring these things doubled to the Master. And yet, even if guarding them alone were set before us, the matter would require much struggle and zeal; but when the Master commands us even to make them increase, consider how much toil and care we need, we who have been entrusted with them. For this reason, a certain man who was entrusted with five talents brought not only what he was entrusted with, but also as many others besides. For those were from the Master's love for humanity; but the servant also had to demonstrate his own zeal. Likewise also the one entrusted with two talents worked and made two others, and for this he was deemed worthy of the same honor from his own master. But another man again, entrusted with one talent and bringing it—the very thing he was entrusted with—not diminishing it, not lessening the deposit, not returning it by halves, since he did not demonstrate the business, nor bring the entrusted amount doubled, received the final penalty; and very reasonably. For if I wished, he says, that these things be guarded only, and that no other trade be made with them, I would not have given them into the hands of servants. But you, look at the Master's love for humanity. The one entrusted with five talents brought five others, and the one with two, as many others; and each of the two enjoyed the same rewards. For just as he said to that one: Well done, good and faithful servant, you were faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things; so also to the one who brought the two he says: Well done, good and faithful servant, you were faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things.

The income is not the same, yet the reward is the same; thus he deemed this man worthy of the same honor. Why ever so? Because God looked not to the quantity of what was offered, but to the ability of those who labored. For each of those men showed what was in his power; but the increase or decrease of what was offered was caused not by this man's laziness nor by that man's zeal, but by the difference in what was entrusted. That man received five, and brought in five more; this man received two, and brought in two, and is in no way inferior in the matter of zeal. For both this man and that man made double what was entrusted to them; but the one who received one brought in only a single amount; therefore he was also punished. 2. Have you heard, then, how great a punishment lies in store for those who do not trade with the Master's money? Therefore let us both guard it and trade with it, and show great diligence in its commerce. Let no one say: I am a private man, I am a disciple, I have no gift of teaching, being unlearned and worthy of nothing. For even if you are a private man, even if unlearned, even if you were entrusted with one talent, work with what was put into your hands, and you will receive the same reward as the teacher. But that you guard what has been said, and hold it with great exactness, I am fully persuaded; but so that we may not spend our whole discourse on this, come, let us add what follows from what was said to us yesterday, in your love, returning this as the reward of your guarding. For the one who was entrusted with the former things and kept them would be worthy to receive others again. What, then, was the narrative set before us yesterday?

The discussion was about the tree, and we showed that the man knew good and evil before he ate from the tree, and had been filled with great wisdom—from the fact that he gave names to the beasts, from the fact that he recognized his own wife, from the fact that he said, "This now is bone of my bones," from the fact that he conversed about marriage and about the begetting of children, and about union and father and mother, from the fact that he received a commandment. For no one gives a commandment and a law of what is to be done and what is not to be done to one who is ignorant of good and evil. Today it is necessary to say for what reason, if the man did not receive the knowledge from the tree, the tree is called "knowing good and evil"; for it is no small thing to learn why it has this designation and is called a tree. For the devil said, "On whatever day you eat from the tree, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil." How then, he says, do you say that it did not implant the knowledge of good and evil? For who, tell me, implanted it? Was it the devil? Yes, he says, when he said, "You will be like gods, knowing good and evil." Then do you bring me the testimony of the enemy and the plotter? And yet this one said, "And you will be gods"—so then, did they also become gods? Just as they did not become gods, so neither did they then receive the knowledge of good and evil. For he is a liar, and he speaks nothing true. For in the truth, he says, he has not stood. Let us not then bring forward the testimony of the enemy, but let us see from the facts themselves for what reason the tree is called "knowing good and evil.

And first, if it seems good, let us consider what exactly is good and evil. What, then, is good? Obedience. And what is evil? Disobedience. And for now, so that we may not go astray concerning the nature of good and evil, let these things be established precisely from the Scriptures. For that this is the good and the evil, hear what the prophet says: What is good, and what does the Lord God require of you? Tell me what is good. To love the Lord your God. Do you see that obedience is good? For obedience comes from love. And again: Two evils, he says, my people have done: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns, which cannot hold water. Do you see that disobedience and forsaking are evil? For now, then, let us hold to this, that obedience is good and disobedience is evil, and in this way we shall also know that other thing. For this is why the tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, since the commandment, which trains obedience and disobedience, concerned the tree. For Adam knew even before this that obedience is good and disobedience evil; but he learned it afterward more clearly through the actual experience of things. For just as Cain also knew that fratricide was evil even before he slaughtered his brother—for that he knew the deed was evil, hear what he says: Come, let us go out into the field. And yet for what reason do you drag him out into the field, after tearing him from his father's arms

your brother? Why do you set him in a desert? Why do you strip him of your care? Why do you lead him far from his father's sight? Why do you hide your audacity, if you do not fear the sin? Why, even after committing the murder, when questioned again, are you vexed and do you lie? For when God said, Where is Abel your brother? you said, Am I my brother's keeper? From this it is clear that he came to this deed knowing it clearly. Just as this man knew even before experience that murder is evil, but learned it more clearly also afterward, when he received the punishment and heard, You shall be groaning and trembling upon the earth; so too his father possessed the knowledge of good and evil even before eating the knowledge, though not so clearly as after the eating of the tree. What do I mean? For we all know evils even before doing them, but we learn them more clearly after doing them; and much more clearly when we are punished. So too Cain knew that fratricide was evil even before this, but learned it afterward more clearly through the punishment; since we too know that health is good and sickness burdensome even before experience, but much more when we fall into sickness, we recognize the difference between both. 3. In the same way Adam also knew that obedience is good and disobedience evil, but afterward he learned it more clearly, when having tasted of the tree he was cast out of paradise and fell from that blessedness.

Since, then, he fell into punishment because, when God forbade it, he tasted of the tree, the punishment taught him more clearly through experience how great an evil it is to disobey God, and how great a good to obey; for this reason the tree is called the knowledge of good and evil. And for what reason, if the nature of the tree itself did not have the knowledge of good and evil, but man learned this more clearly from the punishment for his disobedience concerning the tree, is the tree called the knowledge of good and evil? Because this is a custom of Scripture: whenever an event has occurred, whether in places or in times, to name both the places and the times from the events. And so that what is said may become clearer, I will make this evident to you by an example. Isaac once dug wells; the neighbors attempted to destroy these wells; from this a certain enmity arose, and he called the well Enmity—not because the well itself was at enmity, but because the enmity had arisen concerning it. So too the tree is called the knowledge of good and evil, not because it itself had knowledge, but because concerning it came the proof of the knowledge of good and evil. Again Abraham dug a well; Abimelech plotted against him; they came together, put an end to their enmity, and having given oaths to one another, they called that well the Well of the Oath—not because the well swore, but because the oath was made concerning the well. Do you see how the places are not the causes of the events, even if they receive their names from the events? For there is great need to bring forward examples, so that what is said may become clearer.

Again Jacob saw angels coming to meet him and a camp of God, and he called that place Mahanaim. And yet the place was not the camp, but nevertheless the place was called Mahanaim, because there he saw the camp. Do you see how from the event that happened in the place he named the place? So too the tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not because it itself had knowledge of good and evil, but because in relation to it came the demonstration of the knowledge of good and evil, and the exercise of disobedience and obedience. Again Jacob saw God, as it was possible for a man to see, and he called the name of that place Peniel. Why? Because, he says, I have seen God. And indeed the place was not the form of God, but from the event that happened in the place the name came to be. Do you see by how many examples it has been demonstrated that it is the custom of Scripture to name the places themselves from the events that happen in the places? And it is accustomed to do this same thing also with times. But so that we may not wear you out, come, let us transfer the discourse from the more somber matters to the more cheerful. For your mind has grown weary, dwelling on the more subtle thoughts; therefore it is good to give it rest, regaling it with simpler and more cheerful thoughts. Let us return, then, to the saving wood of the cross. For this, this dissolved all the evils that that tree introduced; or rather, it was not that tree that introduced the evils, but man introduced all of them, which Christ later dissolved with great abundance, introducing goods far greater than them. For this very reason Paul says:

Where sin abounded, grace superabounded; that is, the gift was greater than the sin. For this reason he says again: Not as the trespass, so also is the gift; not as much as man sinned, so much did God bestow in grace; not as great as the loss, so great also is the gain; not as great as the shipwreck, so great also is the merchandise; but the good things are more than the evils; and rightly so. For a servant introduced the evils, and they were lesser; but a Master bestowed the good things, and therefore they were more. For this reason he says: Not as the trespass, so also is the gift. Then he adds also the difference: For the judgment was from one unto condemnation, but the gift from many trespasses unto justification. What is said is rather unclear; therefore it is necessary to add the solution. For the judgment, that is, the punishment, the penalty, the death; from one, that is, from one sin; for one sin, he says, introduced so great an evil; but the gift did not dissolve that one sin only, but also many others. For this reason he says: But the gift from many trespasses unto justification. For this reason John the Baptist also cried out: Behold the Lamb of God—not, who takes away the sin of Adam, but, who takes away the sin of the world. Do you see how not as the trespass, so also is the gift, but this tree introduced good things more than the evils brought in at the beginning? 4. But I have said these things so that you may not think you are being wronged by the first things. The devil cast out Adam; Christ brought in the robber. And observe the difference. That one cast out man when he had no sin, but only one stain of disobedience;

Christ brought a robber carrying countless burdens of sins into paradise. Is this wonder only that he brought a robber into paradise, and nothing else? There is something even greater to say. For he did not bring in a robber only, but even before the whole world, and before the apostles; so that no one of those after these things might despair of entrance, nor give up hope of his own salvation, seeing the one full of countless evils brought into the royal courts. But let us see whether the robber displayed labors and achievements and fruits. Not even this can be said, but from a bare word, from faith alone, before the apostles he leaped into paradise, so that you might learn that it was not that man's good sense that had so much strength, but the Master's love for mankind did everything. For what did the robber say? What did he do? Did he fast? Did he weep? Did he tear his garments? Did he display repentance over a long time? By no means; but on the cross itself, after the sentence, he obtained salvation. See the speed: from the cross to heaven, from condemnation to salvation. What then are those words? How much power do they have, that they brought him so many good things? Remember me, he says, in your kingdom. And what of this? He asked to receive good things, he did not display zeal through works; but the one who knew his heart paid no attention to the words, but to the disposition of his mind. For those who enjoyed prophetic teachings, those who saw the signs, those who beheld the wonders, said concerning Christ, that He has a demon, and,

He deceives the crowd. But the robber, who had not heard the prophets, had not seen the wonders, but saw him nailed to the cross, did not attend to the dishonor, did not see the ignominy, but looking to the divinity itself, said, "Remember me in your kingdom." This is new and paradoxical. You see a cross, and you remember a kingdom? What did you see worthy of a kingdom? A crucified man, beaten, mocked, accused, spat upon, scourged—are these things worthy of a kingdom, tell me? Do you see that he was looking with the eyes of faith, and was not examining the things that appear? For this reason God did not examine the bare words, but just as this man looked to the divinity, so God looked into the robber's heart, and says: "Today you will be with me in paradise." Here pay attention, for no ordinary question arises. For the Manichaeans, those dogs, the senseless and raving ones, display the appearance of gentleness, but within they have the harsh madness of dogs, and they hide the wolf under the sheep's skin. But do not look at what appears, but examine the beast hidden within. These men, then, seizing upon this passage, say: Christ said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." Therefore the recompense of good things has already taken place, and the resurrection is superfluous. For if on that day the robber received the good things, but his body has not risen even to this day, there will no longer be a resurrection of bodies. Did you understand what was said, or is it necessary to say it again a second time? "Amen, amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

The thief, then, entered paradise, he says, not with his body—for how could he, when his body was not buried, nor dissolved and turned to dust? And nowhere is it said that Christ raised him. But if he brought the thief in, and he enjoyed the good things without the body, it is evident that there is no resurrection of the body. For if there were a resurrection of the body, he would not have said, "Today you will be with me in paradise," but rather, at the time of the consummation, when there is a resurrection of bodies. But if he brought the thief in already, while his body remained outside, corrupted, it is evident that there is no resurrection of bodies. So they say. But now receive also what comes from us—or rather, not what comes from us, but what comes from divine Scripture; for we do not speak our own words, but those of the Holy Spirit. What do you say? Does the flesh not share in the crowns? But it shared in the labors, and is it deprived of the rewards? And when it was necessary to struggle, it received the greater share of the sweat; but when it is the time for crowns, is the soul alone crowned? Do you not hear Paul saying, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what is due for the things done through the body, whether good or evil"? Do you not hear him saying again, "This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption"? The mortal—which? The soul, or the body? It is evident that it is the body; for the soul is by nature immortal, but the body is by nature mortal. But they cut out many of these passages; nevertheless, even from those that remain we will expose the affinity of what has been cut out.

The thief entered paradise, he says. And what of that? Are these the good things that God promises us? Do you not hear what Paul says about those good things? "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man." But paradise both the eye of Adam saw, and the ear heard, and the heart of man received; for we have been discussing it for so many days. How, then, did the thief receive the good things? For God does not promise to bring us into paradise, but into heaven itself; nor did he proclaim a kingdom of paradise, but a kingdom of the heavens. For he began, it says, to preach and to say: "Repent, for it has drawn near"—not the kingdom of paradise, but the kingdom of the heavens. You lost paradise, but God gave you heaven, so that he might both display his own love for humanity and sting the devil, showing that even if he plots countless things against the human race, he will gain nothing more, since God always leads us up to greater honor. You lost paradise, then, and God opened heaven to you; you were condemned to temporary toil, and you were honored with eternal life. He commanded the earth to bring forth thorns and thistles, and your soul has sprouted the fruit of the Spirit. Do you see how the abundance is greater than the loss? How the wealth is greater? What sort of thing do I mean? God formed man from earth and water, and placed him in paradise. The one formed did not prove useful, but was corrupted. No longer, then, does he remold him from earth and water, but from water and the Spirit.

And he no longer promises him paradise, but the kingdom of heaven. And how, listen. For when Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, fell down and sought the birth that is here and said that it was impossible for an old man to be born from above, see how Christ reveals to him more clearly the manner of the birth. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. If, therefore, he promised the kingdom of heaven, but brought the thief into paradise, he has not yet given him the good things. But they say something else in response to this. Paradise, they say, here he did not mean paradise, but by the name of paradise he named the kingdom of heaven. For since he was conversing with a thief, a man who had heard nothing of the lofty doctrines, nor knew about prophecy, but had spent all his time in deserts, and had committed murders, and had never once peered into a church, nor partaken of divine hearing, nor knew what on earth the kingdom of heaven is, he said this: Today you will be with me in paradise; by the more familiar and customary name of paradise he indicates the kingdom of heaven, and Christ converses with him about that. I accept it. Therefore, he says, he entered the kingdom of heaven. How is it clear? From what he said: Today you will be with me in paradise. But if this solution is too forced, we will bring in the clearer one. What then is this? Christ said, He who does not believe in the Son has already been judged. What then? Has he already been judged? And yet there is not yet a resurrection, not yet punishment and retribution.

How then is he already judged? From his sin. And again, he says, "The one who believes in the Son has passed from death into life." And he did not say "will pass," but "has already passed"; and this one again from his right action, and that one again from his sin. Just as therefore that one has been judged, though not yet being judged, and this one has passed into life, though not yet having passed, and he speaks to that one from his right action, and to this one from his sin, as though things that have happened were already happening though not yet having happened; so also he spoke to the thief. For indeed physicians, whenever they see someone in a hopeless condition, say that he has already died and is dead, even though they see him still breathing. But just as that one, since he has no hope of salvation, is dead in the eyes of the physicians, so also the thief, since he no longer had any expectation of a return to destruction, has entered into heaven. So also Adam heard, "On the day you eat from the tree, you shall surely die." What then, did he die on that very day? By no means; but he lived nine hundred years and beyond after that day. How then did God say, "On that same day you shall die"? By the sentence, not by the experience. So also the thief entered into heaven. Listen then to what Paul says, making clear that no one has yet received the recompense of good things; for speaking about the prophets and the righteous, he added: "These all died in faith, not

having received the promises, but seeing them from afar and greeting them, God having provided something better concerning us, so that they might not be made perfect without us. Hold fast to these things, and remember them, and teach those who have not heard; let each one meditate on these things both in church and in the marketplace and in the house. For nothing is sweeter than divine hearing. Listen, then, to what the Prophet says about this: How sweet are your words to my throat, beyond honey and the honeycomb to my mouth. Set this honeycomb, then, upon your evening table, so as to fill it entirely with spiritual pleasure. Do you not see how wealthy people, after their meals, bring in harpists and flute players? They make their own house a theater; you, make your house a heaven; and you will make it so, not by changing the walls, nor by replacing the foundations, but by inviting the very Master of the heavens to your table. God is not ashamed of such dinners. For where there is spiritual teaching, there also are chastity, and dignity, and gentleness; where there are a man and a woman and children, and concord and friendship, and those bound together by the bonds of virtue, there Christ is in the midst. For he does not seek a golden ceiling, nor the flashing of columns, nor the beauties of marble, but the bloom of the soul, and the comeliness of the mind, and a table full of righteousness and having the fruits of almsgiving. And if he sees such a table, he quickly shares in the gathering and comes near. For he himself is the one who said: I saw you hungry, and I fed you.

When therefore you hear a poor man crying out from below for great things, and then from your table you give something to the one in need, you have called the Master to your table through the servant; you have filled it wholly with blessings, and through the firstfruits you have prepared the greatest occasion for your storehouses of many good things to be multiplied for you. May the God of peace, who gives bread for food and seed to the sower, multiply your seed and increase the fruits of righteousness in all of you, giving his grace and counting you worthy of the kingdom of heaven; may it be that we all attain it, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen. HOMILY 9. On the day being wintry, and on the assembly of the bishops, and on the giving of the commandment to Adam, and that the law was received with great care. 1. The gathering of the clouds made the day more gloomy for us; but the presence of the teacher made it brighter. For the sun does not so illumine bodies, sending forth its rays from the midst of the heavens from its summit, as the sight of a father's affection, sending forth rays from the midst of the throne, illumines our souls. Therefore he too, having perceived this, has not come to us alone, but has also come with himself holding a chorus of lights, so that the light might become greater. For this reason our church rejoices, and the flocks leap for joy, and we take up the words with greater eagerness.

For where there is a gathering of shepherds, there too is the safety of the sheep. So also sailors rejoice when many pilots are present with them; for when there is calm and fair weather, they lighten the toil of rowing for them by means of the rudders; and when the sea is in turmoil, by their skill and their many hands they check the battle of the waters. For this reason we also, taking courage, put forward the word for teaching, having cast the whole upon their prayers. And so that the hearing may become easier to learn and clearer for you, let us briefly remind you of what was said to you yesterday. I said that before the eating of the tree man knew the good and the evil, and that he did not receive the knowledge after this tasting. I said for what reason the tree was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and how it is the custom of Scripture, whenever something happens concerning a place or a time, to name both the place and the time from the event. Today it is necessary to read the commandment itself, through which he forbade the eating of the tree. What then is it? And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying: From every tree that is in the paradise you shall eat for food. The law is divine, but let us pay attention. For if men, when reading royal letters, stand up as a whole assembly, much more ought we, who are about to read not the laws of men but of God, to be stirred up in mind and to pay attention to what is said. I know that some accuse the lawgiver, and say that the law is the cause of the transgression.

It is necessary, then, to establish this first, and to show through the facts themselves, that it was not because he hated man, nor because he wished to insult our nature, but because he loved and cared for it, that he gave the law. For that he gave it to us for our alliance, hear what Isaiah says: For he gave the law for a help. But one who hates does not help. Again the Prophet cries out: Your law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths. But one who hates does not dispel the darkness by the lamp, nor does he guide the one who has gone astray with light. Again Solomon: The commandment of the law is a lamp, and light, and life, and reproof and instruction. Behold, not only a help, nor only a lamp, but also light and life; and these things are not the marks of one who hates, nor of one who wishes to destroy, but of one who reaches out a hand and raises up. For this reason Paul also, addressing the Jew, and showing how much profit the law brought, and that it is a rest, not a burden, to our nature, said: Behold, you are called a Jew, and you rest upon the law. Do you see that God gave the law not to burden our nature, but to give it rest? Do you wish to learn that he also honored it? Indeed, these things are sufficient to show the honor and the care, but I will make this very thing clear from other testimonies as well. Praise, it says, Jerusalem, the Lord; praise your God, O Zion; for he has strengthened the bars of your gates, he has blessed your sons within you; he who sets your borders in peace, and fills you with the fat of wheat. Then, having spoken also of the beneficence provided by God through the rest of creation, he added the exceptional and greater one, saying thus:

He who sends his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgments to Israel. He has not done so for any other nation, and his judgments he has not made known to them. See how many good things he has enumerated. The security of a city—for he says, He has strengthened the bars of your gates; deliverance from wars—for he says, He who sets your borders in peace; abundance of necessities—And he fills you with the fat of wheat. Nevertheless, he has shown the giving of the law to be more honorable than all these things. For that receiving the law and learning the statutes of God is a far greater gift than security, and peace, and deliverance from wars, and having good children, and having many children, and the abundance of necessities—placing it last of all as the sum and bond of good things, he added, saying: He has not done so for any other nation. So, how? And yet many have often enjoyed abundance and the other things that were enumerated. But I am not speaking, he says, about the things previously mentioned, but about the law—that He has not done so for any other nation. And therefore he added:

And his judgments he did not make known to them. You see how the law is greater than all the good things enumerated. 2. Jeremiah also made this clear; for lamenting those in captivity, he said, Why is it that you are in the land of your enemies? You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom, meaning the law. Just as a fountain sends forth many streams from every side, so too the law sends forth many commandments from every side, watering our soul. Then, showing the preeminence of the honor that came through the law, he said: This wisdom was not heard of in Canaan, nor was it seen in Thaiman, nor did the sons of Hagar, the merchants, and those who seek her ways know them, nor did they remember her paths. And showing that it is something spiritual and divine, he says, Who has gone up into heaven and brought her down? Then he added: This is our God, no other shall be reckoned beside him. He has devised every way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Therefore David also said: He has not done so for any other nation, and his judgments he has not made known to them. Paul too, hinting at this, wrote: What then is the advantage of the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Much in every way. For first, indeed, because they were entrusted with the oracles of God. You see how he also interpreted, He has not done so for any other nation, and his judgments he has not made known to them? For if this is the advantage of the Jew, that they alone of all other men were honored with the gift of the written law, then God did not give the law as a burden upon our nature, but as an honor.

And he honored them not only by this, by giving the law, but also by giving it through himself; for this too is the greatest form of honor, not only to provide. For that this gift is great, hear Paul also showing this. For seeing the Jews puffed up because the prophets came to them, and restraining their pride, showing that we have enjoyed a greater honor, having obtained the teaching not through a servant but through the Master, he speaks somewhat as follows when writing to the Hebrews: In many portions and in many ways God, having spoken long ago to our fathers, in the last days spoke to us in his Son. And again elsewhere: And not only this, but also boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also received the reconciliation. Do you see that he boasts not only in the reconciliation, but also in receiving the reconciliation through Christ? And again, exalting the resurrection, he says: The Lord himself will descend from heaven. Observe there also that the whole is accomplished through the Master; and here not through some household servant, not through an angel and archangel, but he himself through himself commanded Adam, honoring man with a double honor, both by giving the law and by giving it through himself. How then did that man slip? Through his own negligence; and those who received the law demonstrate this, who did not slip, but even did more than what was commanded. But since I see the time pressing upon us, I will postpone the discourse to another homily.

For now, keep what has been said, remember it, and teach those who have not heard; let each one meditate on these things both in church and in the marketplace and at home. For nothing is sweeter than the hearing of divine things. Hear, then, what the Prophet says about this: How sweet to my throat are your words, beyond honey and the honeycomb to my mouth. Set this honeycomb, then, upon your evening table, so as to fill it wholly with spiritual pleasure. Do you not see how the wealthy among men, after the meal, bring in harpists and flute-players? They make their own house a theater; make your house a heaven—and you will do so not by changing the walls, nor by altering the foundations, but by inviting the very Master of the heavens to your table. God is not ashamed of such banquets. For where there is spiritual teaching, there also are chastity and dignity and gentleness; where there are a man and a woman and children, and concord and friendship, and those bound together by the bonds of virtue—there Christ is in the midst. For he does not seek a golden ceiling, nor the gleam of columns, nor the beauties of marble, but the bloom of the soul, and the comeliness of the mind, and a table full of righteousness, and having the fruits of almsgiving. And if he sees such a table, he quickly shares in the gathering and is present. For he himself is the one who said: I saw me hungry, and you fed me.

When therefore you hear a poor man crying out loudly from below, and then from your table you give something to the one in need from what is set before you, you have invited the Master through the servant to your table, you have filled it with every blessing, and through the firstfruits you have prepared the greatest occasion for your storehouses of many good things to be multiplied for you. May the God of peace and of love, who gives bread for food and seed to the sower, multiply your seed and increase the fruits of righteousness in all of you, giving his grace, and may he count you worthy of the kingdom of heaven, which may we all obtain by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, honor, and power, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Homily 9. On the text, how one ought to reprove the sins of brothers, and that one must provide for their salvation, and why Abram was called Abraham, and on the name of Noah: that the righteous were not called by these names casually, but by the dispensation of God.

1. If it were possible for you to know what we have said and what has been left over, and where we ended the discourse the other day, and from what point it is necessary to take it up today, I would immediately have made the introduction from the sequence of what was said the other day. But since many of those who heard us then are not present today, and many of those present now did not hear us then, the difference among the hearers makes it necessary for us to give an explanation of what we said. For in this way the memory of these things will be more firmly fixed in those who have followed the discourse from the beginning, as they are reminded again of what they heard; and for those who were absent the harm will not be so great, since the discourse from the start makes the teaching more familiar to them. And yet perhaps those who are always present might say that for this very reason we ought not to have taken up what was said, so that those who were absent and despised the assemblies, having suffered the harm in deed, might become better, disciplined by the loss. Now I praise you because you are so stung on behalf of the negligence of your brothers, and I marvel at your zeal; but I wish you to temper this zeal with kindness. For zeal deprived of forbearance is not zeal but rather anger, and admonition that does not have kindness seems to be a kind of envy. Therefore I rather exhort you not to judge the sins of your neighbors bitterly. For just as the one who looks upon the wounds of his brothers without forbearance, if he himself ever sins, will find no one to grant him forbearance; so the one who judges the transgressions of his neighbors with mercy, if he is ever tripped up, will see many who extend a hand.

And I say this now, not wishing to increase the negligence of those who have been left behind, but striving to intensify our own care, so that it may be done with reason and affection. For we too on the previous day stretched out many long discourses against them, and we said they were not even human beings, as you remember, setting over them two prophets, the foremost, as accusers: the one saying, I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was none to answer; and the other crying out again and asking, To whom shall I speak and testify? Their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear. And through these and similar words we stung their mind sharply. But now we entreat them again; for so Paul also commanded: Reprove, he says, rebuke, entreat. For it is necessary neither to do this always only, nor that only, but mixing both to work out complete benefit. For if we reprove all the time, we make them more shameless; and if we entreat all the time, we make them more negligent. For this reason physicians do not only cut, but also bind up wounds; nor do they always apply bitter medicines, but often gentle ones as well: by the former cleansing away what is putrid, and by the latter soothing the pain that comes from them. For this reason Paul also says elsewhere: Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one, looking to yourself lest you also be tempted.

This is the best exhortation, a complete counsel, possessing great care, displaying a father's heart; truly the words of Paul's tongue, brothers. Immediately from the name of kinship he drew the hearer to goodwill. You loosed the same birth-pangs for him, you were nourished with the same food, you had the same father, you shared with him in spiritual birth; therefore show this kinship also in the correction of his falls. If he is overtaken. He did not say, If he sins, but he took refuge in a kind of sin that has pardon. For the phrase, If he is overtaken, that is, if he is set upon, if he is deceived, does not speak of one who has sinned from deliberate choice, but of one who is eager to do right but is tripped up by a diabolical circumstance. For such a person is worthy not so much of accusation as of pardon. If a man is even overtaken. Again he took refuge in another kind of pardon, the weakness of nature, which he hinted at through the designation. Just as therefore the great Job, wishing to draw pardon from God, said: What is man, that you reckon him, and that you have made visitation of his sins? so let us also do, whenever we entreat for one of those who have sinned, continually saying, He is a man, and reminding of nature, and thereby drawing the one who is indignant toward mercy. For this reason Paul also took refuge in nature and its lowliness, saying, If a man is even overtaken in some trespass. He does not simply mean the great sins, those greater than pardon and not worthy of philanthropy, but the small and moderate ones.

You who are spiritual. The one who sinned is a man, while those who set things right are spiritual. There he spoke the name of nature, here he set down the designation of virtue. Great is the difference between a man and a spiritual person. You who are spiritual. If you are spiritual, show me your strength, not from your own salvation, but also from my salvation, and also from the help given to those who have fallen. For this is the mark of a spiritual person: not to overlook one's own members when they are neglected. Restore such a one. Make him, he says, unmaimed, unconquerable, unassailable by the devil. Looking to yourself, lest you also be tempted. This is the greatest counsel, a compelling exhortation. Even if the hearer is a stone, the word is enough to frighten him and to rouse him to take up the fallen one. Do you not wish, he says, to show mercy as a brother? Do you not wish to grant forgiveness as to a man? Do you not wish to extend a hand as one who is spiritual? Consider your own affairs, and you will not need someone to advise you to help the one who lies fallen, but from home and from yourself receive the exhortation. How, and in what way? Looking to yourself, he says, lest you also be tempted. He did not say, For you too will certainly sin, so as not to make the word more burdensome; but how? Lest you also be tempted. Perhaps you will sin, perhaps you will not sin. Since, then, the future is uncertain, deposit beforehand for yourself a store of kindness through what you do to your neighbor, so that if ever you are overturned, you will find a great treasury of forgiveness laid up for you. He did not say, Lest you also sin, lest you also fall—pay close attention to the force of his very words—but, Lest you also be tempted.

He showed that we have an enemy who is a pirate; but the pirate does not have an agreed time for his attack, but often he assails us even while we are sleeping and off our guard; for this reason that man who was caught first is also worthy of pardon, since he was captured by a pirate. For the battle was not clear to him, nor was the time of war agreed upon, but he attacked him while he was unaware, and for this reason he prevailed. So too do those who sail this great and broad sea act. Even if the ship is carried along by fair winds for them, even if they enjoy every security, and they see others from afar having been shipwrecked, they do not look to their own good order, but despise those men's misfortune; rather, stopping the boat, and loosening the anchors, and lowering the sails, they cast out ropes, and throw out planks, so that that man who is about to be submerged by the waves, by taking hold of one of these, may escape the shipwreck. Imitate, then, you also the sailors, O man; for you too sail a great and broad sea, the length of the present life, a sea that has beasts and pirates, a sea that has reefs and rocks, a sea disturbed by many waves and storms; and many often in this sea too fall into shipwreck. When, then, you see one of those sailing, having lost the wealth of salvation through some diabolical circumstance, and being tossed about, and about to become submerged, stop your boat, even if you are hastening elsewhere, provide for that man's salvation, setting aside your own affairs. For the one who is about to be submerged does not endure delay, nor slowness.

Stand to it quickly, then; snatch him swiftly from the surge; move every rope so as to haul him up from the depth of destruction. Even if countless affairs pull at you, let nothing be more pressing than the salvation of the one who is sick. For even if you wish to postpone it a little, you will betray him to the sharpness of the storm. Therefore in such calamities we need speed, speed and intense zeal. Hear how Paul hastens and rouses many others when he sees a man about to sink. Confirm your love toward him, he says, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive grief. For this reason he commands that a hand be stretched out quickly, lest, while we delay and postpone, that man be swallowed up first. Let us therefore become solicitous for our brothers. This is the sum of our way of life, this is the mark of it: not to look only to our own interests, but also to correct and restore our members that are twisted; this is the greatest proof of faith. For by this, he says, all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. And genuine love is shown not by sharing a table, nor by a bare greeting, nor by flattery of words, but by correcting and considering what is beneficial for one's neighbor, by raising up the fallen, by stretching out a hand to the one who lies low, having disregarded one's own salvation and sought the good of one's neighbor before one's own goods. This is the mark of genuine love. For love seeks its own

She does not look to herself, but looks to her neighbor's interests before her own, so that through those she may see her own. For I too am now stretching out so many words not for my own sake, but for yours. You also, then, should listen not only for your own sake, but also for the sake of others who are going to be taught by you. For according to the sequence of the members, the body of the Church also is nourished. Just as a member, if it retains all the food for itself and does not share it with its neighbor, both harms itself and corrupts the rest of the body—for example, the stomach, if it alone retains the food and wastes the rest of the body with hunger, also destroys itself by its excess; but if, having received what is sufficient according to the natural sequence, it passes it on to the other members, it preserves both itself and the rest of the body in health—so you too now, if after hearing what comes from us you retain it and do not share it with another, you have both harmed that one and corrupted yourself, drawing upon yourself the most grievous diseases, sluggishness and envy. For either through wickedness, or through idleness and laziness, we do not share with others. Whichever of these it is, it is enough to destroy the one who has it. But if you pass the food on generously to others as well, you have benefited both yourself and that one. But concerning these things, what has been said is sufficient.

3. Now it remains to return to the sequence of what was said earlier. What, then, were those things? We were then inquiring about Saul and Paul, why at one time he was called Saul and at another Paul; and then we digressed from that sequence into a lengthy history of names. And since we had digressed from those matters, it did not seem to us right to pass by that merchandise. For even if we came to this subject on account of Paul, nevertheless we decided to trade also in the discovery of the other names. So too do those who sail the sea for commerce often do: having come for the sake of a small amount of business, when they arrive at the city to which they were bound and see that it has an abundance of other cargo as well, they make their trade far greater than what they had prepared. And if anyone should object, they speak these words: We have come a long road, they say, we have endured many storms and many dangers, we have undertaken a voyage across the sea; what, then, prevents our business from becoming more abundant? Let us too make this defense. For we also, while inquiring about the names of Paul, found from the sequence another merchandise of names as well—for instance, Peter was called Simon before this, and the sons of Zebedee, James and John, were named sons of thunder. We found also in the Old Testament that Abraham was called Abram before this, but afterward Abraham, and that Jacob was renamed Israel, and Sarra was renamed Sara. We found in addition that certain others were not renamed, as these were, but received their names from the beginning, as John the Baptist, as Isaac, as Adam.

It seemed to us, then, to be out of place and the height of sloth to cast away so great a treasure from our hands. For this reason we made our discourse longer, and having spoken yesterday about those named from the beginning, today we intend to speak about those with two names, how Abraham is one. For Adam was called by this name throughout and had no other; and Isaac again did not receive a second appellation, but from beginning to end he was called Isaac. But the father of Isaac was called Abram before this, and after these things Abraham. For God said to him, it says, Your name shall no longer be Abram, but Abraham shall your name be called. For he was called Abram previously, but this name is not Greek, nor in our language, but in the language of the Hebrews it is spoken thus. What then is this name when interpreted? Sojourner. For Abram in the Syrian tongue means "the beyond," and those who are experienced in this language know it. For there is a great kinship of the Syrian tongue to the language of the Hebrews. And why was he called a sojourner, it says? The land of Judea, that is, all Palestine, which stretches from Egypt as far as the Euphrates, lies directly opposite Babylonia, from where Abraham was; and the river flows through the midst of both, being a common boundary of each land. Since, therefore, he was not from Palestine, but came from beyond, from Babylonia, for this reason he received the name from the place and the fact, and was called a sojourner, because he came from beyond. And why did he come from beyond? Because God commanded it. And why did God command it?

To show the obedience of the righteous man. And how did he show the obedience of the righteous man? Because at his command he left his own land and exchanged another for it. Do you see how great a chain is woven from the title of the righteous man? This name has opened up to us a whole sea of history. Learn, then, his ancient name, so that when you see him dwelling in Palestine, being led by the hand through his title to his ancient homeland, and learning the reason for which he abandoned it, you may receive sufficient encouragement toward the same zeal. For being a man before the law and before the legal commonwealth, he displayed the philosophy that is in grace, and what Christ later said to the apostles: Amen I say to you, that there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, who shall not receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life—this that man did through his deeds before grace. And it is not from this alone that one can see the philosophy of the righteous man, but also from God's own promise. For come, he says, into the land that I will show you. For even if both homelands were perceptible, nevertheless the one was his own and the other another's; and the one was visible and the other unseen; and the one was in his hands and the other in hopes; and yet leaving behind the visible and clear and what was in his hands, he ran toward the invisible and unseen, and things of which he was not master, so that he might persuade and teach you that when God commands you to leave the clear things and to look toward the unseen, you should not contradict nor dispute. For the things in our hands are not so clear as those things in hopes.

The present life is not so manifest as that which is to come. For this we see with our own eyes, but that we see with the eyes of faith; this we see lying in our own hands, but that we see guarded also by the promises of God. 4. And the promises of God are far more powerful than our hands. Do you wish to learn how this present life lies wholly in uncertainty, while that which is to come, which seems to be uncertain, is more manifest than the present and more secure and abiding? Let us examine, if it seems good, the bright things of the present life—wealth, glory, power, the honors that come from men—and you will see that nothing is more uncertain than these. For what is more untrustworthy than wealth, which often does not remain with us even until evening? For like a faithless runaway it continually shifts from this man to that, and again from this one to another. Something of this sort is glory too. For the man who was brilliant and distinguished before suddenly becomes dishonored and nameless, and the opposite again. And just as one cannot see a wheel continually turning on the same part of its rim—for by the density of its whirling the top is always becoming the bottom, and the reverse again—so also the course of our affairs, continually turning, makes the top the bottom; so it is with wealth and with power and with all other things. It never stands on the same seat, but imitates the streams of rivers, which never stand still anywhere.

What, then, could be more unclear than these things, which change so constantly and fly away before they appear, and leap away before they arrive? For this reason the prophet also, when speaking about luxury and wealth and such things, and mocking those who gape after them as though they were lasting, says: "They reckoned these things as standing firm, and not as fleeing." He did not say, "as passing by," but what is much greater, "as fleeing"; for it does not withdraw gently, but with great swiftness. But the patriarch was not like this; rather, leaving all these things behind, he looked only to the promises from God, preparing the way for us toward faith in the things to come, so that when God promises you the things to come and not seen, you may not say that those things are unclear and invisible. For those unclear things are clearer than these visible things, if we have the eyes of faith. For even if we have not seen them, yet God promised and pledged them. When God makes a promise, no change touches the promises; so that those things especially remain and are fixed in the hand of God. For no one can snatch from the hand of God, he says. No one can snatch from the hand of my Father. Since, then, no one can snatch from the hand of God, it remains in a manifest treasure forever. But these things are subject to all kinds of changes and turnings; for this reason we often endure their toil but are deprived of their end. But in the case of those hopes this cannot be; rather, the one who has toiled must certainly also obtain the crowns. For hope does not put to shame.

For it is God's promise, and the gifts imitate the one who promised. Having let go of uncertain things, then, hold fast to the things that appear; for the things that appear are not the present things, but the future things. But if some, excited over present things, overlook future things, since they are weaker than the height of that hope, for this reason they overlook them, not because these things are invisible and uncertain. Consider, then, the philosophy of the righteous man. God promised him perceptible things, and he himself was seeking intelligible things. And where did God promise him perceptible things, while he himself wanted intelligible things? "Go out," he says, "from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, and come to a land that I will show you." Both the former land and the one about to be given afterward are perceptible. What then did he do? Rather, let us not hear him, but Paul speaking about him, so that we may learn that he was not looking toward this land, even if God promised this too, but having let go of present things, he yearned for future things. What then does Paul say? "These all died in faith," speaking about Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the righteous. For not Abraham alone, but all were partakers of the same philosophy. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar." What are you saying? Did Abraham not receive the promises, nor come into Palestine? Are the things said, then, false? No, he says. For he did come into Palestine, but he was not looking toward this promise, but desired another one, the one in the heavens, and he considered himself a stranger to all present things.

What Paul also added, bearing witness to him: And having confessed that they are strangers and sojourners. A stranger, tell me, who received a homeland and so great a land? Yes, he says; for he was not looking to this land, but to heaven. For those who say these things make it clear that they seek another homeland, whose craftsman and builder is God—that heavenly Jerusalem, the one above. Do you see how God promised him perceptible things? How he sought the Jerusalem above? For those who say these things, he says, make it clear that they seek a homeland. And if they had remembered that homeland from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return; but now they desire a better one, that is, a heavenly one. So then, the promise was perceptible, but the desire of the righteous man was intelligible—the opposite of what is true of us. For to him God promised Palestine, but he was looking around at heaven; to us he promises heaven, and we gape at the earth. 5. These things we have gained from the name of Abraham, having learned why he was called a crosser-over, and that having left his own land, he moved to a foreign one, and passing by the visible things, he looked to the invisible, throwing away what was in his hands, he gaped toward what was in hope, and having received perceptible things, he stretched out toward intelligible things—and this before grace, before the law, before the teaching that comes from the prophets. From this it is clear that he had no teacher, but nature sufficed for him, having stirred up the reasonings of his conscience, and in this way he found God, the craftsman of the universe; for this reason he was called Abram, for this reason also his parents gave him this name. But perhaps someone might say that this is false.

Were Abraham's parents not righteous? Were they not pleasing to God? Did they not know what was going to be? Did they not foresee the promise that was about to be spoken by the Master? Were they not impious and idolaters, the most barbarous of barbarians? I know it too, and for this reason I praise the righteous man, because having such fathers, he himself became such. And this is the wonderful and paradoxical thing, that from an alien and wild root a cultivated fruit was brought forth. For the wickedness of the fathers is not a accusation against children living in piety, but, if one must say something wonderful, it is rather a commendation, because they did not receive piety from their ancestors, nor did they have those to lead them by the hand, but as if journeying in a desert and impassable place, they were able to find the road that leads to heaven. Therefore it is not an accusation to have an impious father, but to imitate the father's impiety; and it is the greatest charge, not when we have worthless parents, but when we do not take care of them, and contribute everything on our part to release them from this wickedness. So when we show all diligence concerning their soul, but they remain in their own wickedness, we are free from all blame and accusation. I said these things so that you may not be ashamed, beloved, when you hear that Abraham had an impious father. For Timothy also had an impious father; for he was the son, it says, of a Jewish woman, a believing mother, but of a Greek father. And that the father remained in impiety and did not change is clear from this: for praising Timothy's faith, Paul says thus:

which dwelt in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that it is in thee also. And nowhere is the name of the father mentioned. Why? Because he remained in impiety, and was not worthy to be counted with the child. And the apostles also had wicked fathers, and Christ made this clear when he said: If I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But let not this disturb you, nor cause you to stumble. For from this very thing we learn that evil and virtue are not of nature, but of choice. For if it were of nature, the wicked would certainly beget wicked children, and the good would beget such as themselves; but since being base or excellent is a matter of choice, for this reason children of wicked fathers have become good, and fathers of careless children have often become excellent, so that we may reckon both of these things everywhere to be due not to nature but to disposition. But, as I was saying, since Abraham's parents were impious, how did they give him this name? This too was especially the work of God's wisdom, which arranged through an unbelieving tongue that a name be given that contained the history of things to come. For he once compelled Balaam also to speak of things to come, displaying his own power and showing that he is able to prevail not only among his own people but also among strangers. And so that you may learn that in the case of the righteous, even if their fathers are not pious, they often give names without knowing it, names that reveal the great dispensation of things to come, I will make this clear to you from another example as well. Lamech, the son of

Noah's father—that Noah, the one in whose time the flood came—was not righteous, was not pleasing to God, was not approved by God. For if he had been righteous, if he had been pleasing, if he had been approved by God, he would not have said, "Noah alone was found perfect in his generation"; he would not have passed over the righteous man's father if he had been righteous. What then did that man do? He gave the child a name that contains a great account of future events, and the very naming of the righteous man was a prophecy. For this name indicated the flood that was to come. And how did the name of Noah indicate the flood that was to come? This name, Noah, is spoken in the Hebrew tongue and is translated "the one who gives rest." For Nia, in the Syrian language, is "rest." Just as there, from Abar, which means "beyond," he was called Abraham, and from Aidem, which means "earth," he was called Adam, which means "earthly," so also here, from Nia, which is "rest," he was called Noah, which means "giving rest"—and the narrative that follows also makes this clear. For he called him Noah, saying, "This one will give us rest," calling the flood a rest. For since the flood was going to come in his time, and the flood was death, and death is rest to a man, for this reason he called the man in whose time the flood came "the one who gives rest." 6. And that I am not forcing the interpretation, let us hear this from the Scripture itself. Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-eight years and begot a son, and called his name Noah, saying:

This one will give us rest from our labors, and from our sorrows, and from the works of our hands, and from the ground which God cursed. What are you saying—"He will give us rest"? And why, he says, did he not say, "This one will kill us, this one will bring the flood to pass," but instead said, "He will give us rest"? The whole creation was thrown into disorder, the abysses broke open from below, the cataracts were opened from above, everything was a strange and extraordinary and dreadful sea, and in a common grave of mud were hidden bodies of men and bodies of horses and bodies of beasts. And such great evils, tell me, and such a great calamity, do you call rest? Yes, he says. For since men were living in wickedness, and the flood cut off wickedness, those who were delivered from wickedness found rest. For just as a body held by various diseases and finding no cure, if death comes upon it and takes it, has found rest—so too that generation of men, like a body incurably sick and seized beforehand by many terrible things and having no consolation, the flood came upon it and snatched it away and gave it rest. For if death is rest for a man, much more is death rest for those living in wickedness beyond correction, delivering them from their labors and not allowing the spread of evil to advance further, nor the burden of sins to become heavier than it is. For nothing is so heavy and hard to bear as the nature of sin; nothing gives us such toil and pain as the form of wickedness and its offenses. For this reason Christ said to those living in sins:

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. For this reason Lamech also called the flood "rest," since it came upon them and put a stop to their wickedness. I wished to extend this discourse further; for indeed many things have been left unsaid concerning the name of Noah. But for now, having laid these things up in the memory of your understanding, and having spoken to our brethren who have been left behind, so that we may not again be compelled to make our prefaces longer by taking up the sequence of what has been said, let us bring our discourse to a close with prayers, giving thanks to God who has granted us to speak these things, because to him be the glory, unto the ages of ages. Amen.