Sermo 23 recensio completa

The man of God who truly travels the path of righteousness and the obedient servant of the Lord always makes progress in every good and in every state of virtue, and becomes better than himself day by day, improving and acquiring a foundation in all the practices of virtue, such as humility, meekness, kindness, patience, forbearance, love, faith, hope, temperance, courage, and goodness. For each of these has great depth, breadth, and a work of subtlety. Just as if in a paradise there are many fruit-bearing and diverse trees, and each tree has branches, and again the branches have small twigs, even finer shoots, and a great multitude of leaves, so in each of the virtues there is much subtlety of work and great depth, and each is like a perfect result. But the foundation, the support, and the highest point of all these, upon which everyone approaching God ought to be established and founded, is trust in God and the steadfastness of faith, which before all else everyone who wishes to please God must acquire and be established in trust in God. For those who do not first acquire trust in God are like those building a house without a foundation.

For those around the Maccabees, having contended greatly and displayed nobility magnanimously in many and great wars, subdued their enemies in the bodily war through faith and trust in God. Let us take them as an example for ourselves in the invisible war against the spiritual forces of wickedness, that we, the true warriors of Christ, ought to be so eager, brave, noble, and magnanimous. For the apostle says: "These things happened typologically to them, but were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." Therefore, in the various afflictions and manifold temptations raised against us by the spirits of wickedness, we, the noble athletes and warriors of Christ, ought to be patient, to act manfully, and to endure long-suffering, so that we may also be able to be grateful in the consolations and gifts of grace.

For just as the visible world of men is governed by God through grace and justice—by grace in the abundance and fertility of crops, health, favorable seasons, and every gift of good things, and by justice and discipline in famines, plagues, afflictions, necessities, catastrophes, hailstorms, collapses, and all that has been ordained by God for discipline through justice and for the benefit of men—so also the soul that wishes to inherit the higher world of divinity is governed in manifold ways by grace, and at one time rejoices in ease and gladness of spirit and delights in the consolation of grace, but at another time is handed over to discipline and various trials and all kinds of afflictions from the worldly spirit, so that, having been exercised through all things and found approved, and having endured all trials nobly, and having in no way deviated from pleasing God, and thus having gained good repute in Christ, it may become worthy of God, inheriting eternal life through grace and justice. And just as in this life there are not wholly ease, abundance, fruitfulness, and peace among men, but God, by the balance and measure of justice, both disciplines and shows mercy and provides for the world, so also the soul that longs to be born into the higher world does not wholly dwell in ease, gladness, and joy of spirit.

happens, but by the balance of justice and grace God educates, has mercy on, and administers this world. For if there were complete ease in life among men, and luxury and satiety and wealth without afflictions and pains, men would not have endured and borne up, despising God and giving themselves over entirely to the pleasures of the flesh. For it says, "Jacob ate and was filled, grew fat, grew thick, grew broad, and the beloved kicked." So also apply this to the spiritual realm. If the soul dwelt entirely and uninterruptedly only in joy and ease and gladness of the spirit, it would no longer recognize itself, and it would be ignorant of the exercise and path of "righteousness," and would be lifted up, and would advance only in conceit, lording it over all and not even considering itself to be human. As the apostle says: in "the excess of revelations," "an angel of Satan was given to me, to buffet me, so that I might not be lifted up." You see that for such a holy man, afflictions were beneficial. Further, as the same says, "Affliction produces endurance, endurance produces testing, testing produces hope, and hope does not put to shame." So afflictions are beneficial and serve to make the soul more tested.

The souls of Christians, when they come into many afflictions in this world at the hands of the evil one, resemble the form of flax. For just as the form of flax, the more it is beaten and tormented, is rendered finer and more useful and purer, so that from it very fine threads are produced, and the more it is tormented and carded, the more useful it becomes, so also the God-loving and truth-loving souls of Christians, the more they enter into many afflictions and trials and temptations at the hands of the spirits of wickedness, while they themselves endure and are patient, are rendered purer and more useful and more tested for the spiritual work of the fineness of grace, and finally are deemed worthy to inhabit the heavenly abode of the saints. For the soul, being tested in many temptations and various afflictions and aided by grace, enduring patiently in hope of the Lord, gradually diminishes every form of evil from itself and lays aside the heavy burden of sin dwelling with it in some such manner.

Just as if someone were traveling a long road, going to some city, and carried a sack full of sand, and this sack had a very small hole at the bottom, and as he walked along the whole road the sand would flow out and he himself would be lightened, and finally when he arrived in the city the very heavy sand would have been emptied and he would have been lightened and completely relieved from the weight of the sand—so also the soul that truly struggles, traversing the road of righteousness and hastening to the city of the kingdom, while carrying with itself the heavy burden of the sin of the passions, to the extent that it traverses the road of the virtues and clings to the Lord, to that extent sin and the passions are diminished, and it itself perceives a sensation of lightness and mildness within itself. And if it clings completely and wholly, and traverses the road of righteousness blamelessly and well, it is deemed worthy to enter into the very rest of the fullness of grace, having been entirely freed from the very heavy burden of the sin of the passions. But first it must pass through many trials and afflictions, and thus it enters into the rest of the fullness of grace, that is, it is deemed worthy to attain dispassion.

For just as a newly molded vessel not thrown into the fire is unfinished for men, or just as an infant is unsuited for the works of the world—for it can neither build a city nor plant, nor sow seed, nor accomplish any other work of the world, for it is an infant—so also souls that are untested and not tried in various afflictions by the spirits of wickedness are still infants and untrained and (so to speak) not yet useful for the kingdom, as the blessed Paul says: "But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are bastards and not sons." Behold, how great a benefit afflictions (and trials and temptations) are to a person, rendering the soul useful and tested. Only let one prepare himself eagerly, nobly, and courageously, bearing what comes with patience, and let him hold fast to hope and confidence, always having the expectation of deliverance and trusting in the compassion of Christ, that he does not finally abandon a soul seeking him to be tempted beyond its strength, "but will provide along with the temptation also the ability to endure it.

He also judges within himself that even if it kills me and I suffer countless other worse things, being permitted by my Lord to suffer and be afflicted by the spirits of wickedness, I do not abandon him. For he is faithful, who will deliver me from every affliction and bring me up again from the abysses of the earth, and thus having given himself entirely and wholly to the Lord and having persevered to the end, he will later experience the benefit, the assistance, and the recompense of good things, as the Lord says: "He who perseveres to the end, this one will be saved." For if in this life men cannot attain to offices and advancements, nor receive any greater office from a king, unless they have first undergone much training and displayed many deeds of valor by entering into war, having learned every art of war and having trained in it and having demonstrated victory by experience and having raised trophies against their enemies and having been highly approved in everything by the king (for then they are deemed worthy of great royal offices and honors), how much more with the heavenly and true king are the offices of grace and the gift of the Spirit and the heavenly gifts from God deemed worthy of no one receiving immediately, unless the mind has first been thoroughly trained in the meditation of good thoughts and in the attention to the holy commandments and in trust toward God, and thus is deemed worthy of grace and receives a heavenly weapon (the Spirit itself) and greatly distinguishes himself in it against the spirits of wickedness.

struggling, and being in harmony and united with the grace given to him by God and the heavenly weapon, having become an ally and fellow combatant against evil through everything, and having turned the war "against the spiritual forces of wickedness" through many labors, struggles, and trials. And when he has won the victory over the enemies, then he is deemed worthy to obtain divine and heavenly dignities and glorious and spiritual honors from the heavenly king, being able thereafter to train and teach others for war. For if an ordinary man is simply taken from a flock, not knowing war nor having experience of military matters, and is immediately appointed commander of all, he is worthy of ridicule, wishing to lead in war while himself not knowing war. So also in the spiritual realm, the one who expounds the word of God and has charge of souls must be experienced in all spiritual matters, so that, having demonstrated by experience the practice of the words he expounds, he may bring benefit and assistance through himself to his hearers on each occasion. For the wisdom of God and the way of Christianity and the work of grace, as it is perfected in the faithful soul, is accomplished with great subtlety and growth and progress, and when one thinks he has finished, then he must begin a more inward matter, of the

of the Spirit, of mysteries and spiritual advancements taking place in the soul, and often, having thought to have completed, he often also has to begin. For if in this life, in worldly wisdom—I mean, first of elementary teachers, then of grammarians, then of rhetoricians, again of sophists, finally of philosophers—and when someone has passed through all the teachers, completing one and beginning another, then he begins to plead cases before magistrates, then, having gained a reputation over time, he himself becomes a magistrate in turn, and then again he takes an assessor with himself, lest anything of justice escape him. If, then, in this world there is such subtlety and advancement of wisdom, how much more does the ineffable and infinite wisdom of God and the path of Christianity have much subtlety and many advancements. And the more one advances, the more he takes a beginning of other matters, becoming more inward with the mysteries of the Spirit and the hidden treasures of wisdom, and the more he grows and advances in grace and grows rich in the knowledge of God, the more he also recognizes the "thoughts" and wiles of evil, as the apostle says: "For we are not ignorant of his thoughts.

Since such great hope lies before us and so many spiritual goods are prepared for those who truly wish to strive, let us also devote ourselves with all our might to pleasing God, so that, having obtained the spiritual gifts, advanced in the wisdom of God, overcome every trial and affliction through the grace of Christ, and been deemed worthy of complete sanctification, we may become worthy of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.