Sermo cum iret in exsilium

When I Was Going into Exile. 1. Our discourse is cheerful, my brothers, and the assembly is bright, and the broad sea is filled, but not disturbed by the storm of winds. For the mother of peace has come, who quenches the storm of winds. "Mother Zion," she will say, "a man and a man was born in her, and he himself founded her." My children, are they about to depose me? And why do I fear death? For me, living is Christ, and dying is gain. But will they send me into exile? The Lord's is the earth, and its fullness. But will there be a confiscation of my property? We brought nothing into the world; clearly, we can take nothing out. But you know, brothers, the reason why they are about to depose me. Because I did not spread carpets, and I did not wear silk garments, because I did not indulge their gluttony, and I did not offer gold and silver. And they say to me, "You ate and drank, and you baptized." If I did this, let it be anathema to me; may I not be counted among the bishops, may I not be among the angels, may I not be pleasing to God.

But even if I ate and baptized, I did nothing untimely among the things spoken. Let them also depose Paul the Apostle, because after supper he granted baptism to the jailer; and let them depose the Lord Himself, because after supper he granted communion to the disciples. I see many waves and a grievous surge, and spears prepared; and I, like a helmsman in a great storm, sit upon the two sterns of the ship, that is, upon the Old and New Testament, and with the oars I push back the squall—not with wooden oars, but with the precious cross of the Master I turn the squall into peace. The Master commands, and the slave is crowned; for this reason he does not hand him over to the devil. Do men not know that through the unclean vessel the most pure vessel is revealed? Brethren, I set before you three themes: faith, trial, chastity. If you say to endure faith, imitate the blessed Abraham, who was advanced in age and received ripe fruits. If you say to endure trial, imitate the blessed Job. You know his manner, and you have heard of his endurance, and his end has not escaped you. If you wish to endure chastity, imitate the blessed Joseph, who was sold into Egypt and freed Egypt, which was wasting away from famine.

He had added to him a trial from an Egyptian harlot enslaved by lust, who sat beside him, saying, "Lie with me." For the Egyptian woman wished to strip him of his chastity in Egypt; and here, the Egyptian man. But neither did that woman trip up the holy one, nor did this man trip up this one; but the chastity of freedom, the nobility of the children, and the licentiousness of the barbarian were all revealed together. 2. Brethren, the thief does not go where there is straw, and grass, and wood; but where gold, or silver, or pearl lies; so the devil does not enter where there is a fornicator, or a profane person, or a robber, or a covetous man; but where those who lead a solitary life are. Brethren, do we wish to stretch out our tongue against the empress? But what shall I say? Jezebel is in turmoil, and Elijah flees; Herodias rejoices, and John is bound; the Egyptian woman lies, and Joseph is imprisoned. If then they exile me, I imitate Elijah; if they cast me into the mire, Jeremiah; if into the sea, the prophet Jonah; if even into a pit, Daniel; if they stone me, Stephen; if

they behead, John the Forerunner; if they beat with rods, Paul; if they saw, Isaiah. Would that it were with a wooden saw, so that I might enjoy the cross of desire. The embodied woman wars against the bodiless one; she who is entwined in baths and perfumes and with a man wars against the pure and spotless Church. But she herself will sit as a widow while her husband still lives; for you are a woman, and you wish to widow the Church. In the evening she called me the thirteenth apostle, and today she addressed me as Judas. Yesterday she sat with me in freedom, and today she leaped upon me like a wild beast. The sun ought to have been extinguished for us, and the moon not to have appeared, and only the word of Job not to be forgotten. For Job, who endured such a great blow, cried out nothing else but, "May the name of the Lord be blessed for eternity." For when his wife cried out saying, "Say a word to the Lord, and die," he rebuked her, saying, "Why have you spoken like one of the foolish women?" O ungrateful woman! O salve of pains! Well then, woman, when you were ever ill, did Job say such things to you? And did he not wipe away your sickness with prayers and good deeds? When he lived in royal courts, when he had wealth, when he had royal retinue, you said nothing of the sort, and now seeing him sitting on a dung heap and writhing with worms, you say this, "Say a word to the Lord, and die." Was the temporary trial not enough for him, but do you also procure eternal punishment for him through your words? But what does the blessed Job say? "Why have you spoken like one of the foolish women?

If we have received the good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the bad? And does not this lawless and abominable woman—this new Jezebel, I mean—cry out and say from... and through... to flee? But she sends me consuls and tribunes, and only threatens. And what is that to me? Spiders sent by a spider. Brethren, all of you, know that victory lies in toils, and a crown lies in contests, as the divine Paul just said: I have fought the good fight, I have completed the course, I have kept the faith, and henceforth the crown of righteousness awaits, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day; for to him is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.