khazarzar-severianus-de-caeco-nato

Concerning zeal and piety, and on the man blind from birth. 1. The Word of God is a fountain of light; for being full of light and shining with light, he illumines and flashes brightly upon the minds of the faithful. For he shines of himself and in himself, and illuminates those who partake of him; and he not only illumines the mind of the faithful, but also bestows the name of light. For the divine Scripture rightly calls those who are companions of ignorance and who live together with unbelief darkness, since they do not receive the lamp of truth, so that they might be sons of light. For this reason the divine apostle Paul also says: We are not sons of night, nor of darkness, but sons of light and day. And truly we are sons of light, we who belong to the evangelical word spoken through the mouth of God; for I am, says Christ, the light of the world; he who follows me shall certainly not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. For that word is a word of light, which, if it is believed by us, prepares one to become a son of light. Hence the Savior also says: While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light. For as in the case of bodies this perceptible light is, so in the case of souls is the intelligible Word of God; and what darkness is in the night, that ignorance is in erring souls. For this reason the blessed David also writes concerning such people, saying: They did not know, nor did they understand; they walk about in darkness. Thus, then, God also calls the synagogue, which is steeped in ignorance and does not wish to look up toward the knowledge of spiritual teaching, night, because of the ignorance that lives together with it.

For when God said to the Jews through the prophet: "I have likened your mother to night"; and explaining what kind of night he means, a night like darkness, he added: "My people is become like a people that has no knowledge." Therefore "They have not known, neither have they understood; they walk in night." But those men are so; whereas those who have received the light of Christ's teaching, such persons become light. For our God is light; and his Word, begotten of him before the ages without passion, is called light; and the holy and consubstantial and life-originating Spirit is light. Light, and light, and light; but one light. And the soul that has received the Word is called light. But God is by nature light in three persons, while we are light by participation in him. And again, our Lord Jesus Christ himself is light, of whom the evangelist John says: "He was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world." But being light from unutterable light, he also sends forth the law full of light, according to the prophet who says: "Your law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths." The soul, then, having received the luminous Word of truth, itself also becomes light, and hears from Paul: "For you were once darkness, but now are light in the Lord." And when the mind receives the light of the gospel, it is called light according to faith; and likewise also according to works. For, he says, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." For it is necessary that the one who has received the light of faith come also to works of light.

It is not only necessary that the soul of the faithful be light, but also that it shine before men by its works. This is why the Savior also says: "Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in the heavens." And observe the wonder: the light that comes from God is simple, yet it has different rays—not in its nature, but in its energies. The shining teaching of God is sent to every faithful soul, according to what is said: "And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us, that our works may be directed by him." The brightness is one, but coming to us it produces many brightnesses: a brightness of almsgiving, a brightness of chastity, a brightness of hospitality, a brightness of affection. With God there is one brightness; but this same brightness, sent to us, produces different gleams through its energies—granting to one the brightness of prophecy, to another the brightness of apostleship, to another the brightness of martyrdom. There it is one brightness; but toward us it is many, according to what is said: "With you is dominion in the day of your power, in the brightnesses of your holy ones." Why then does Paul enumerate and say: "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?" Paul does not make this division arbitrarily, but as he finds souls fit; he does not distribute according to authority, but according to the confession of faith—not because he gives contrary to his will, nor contrary to his wish, but because his will is not undiscriminating, but is according to the graces of the gifts.

For just as the flowered and richly dyed fabric of a royal garment receives the sun's ray and sends forth varied gleams, and whatever the beauty of the dye may be, it produces a correspondingly fair hue; and just as by the dye set before it the very beauty of the air is recolored into gold, or purple, or green, or some other of the colors—the ray not being divided, but the disposition of the garment shaping the ray by its light—with such flowers always does the beauty of the Church shine, having a royal garment and adorned with a heavenly and variegated robe; as the psalmist also says: Daughters of kings are in your honor; the queen stands at your right hand, clothed in a garment woven with gold, arrayed in varied colors. How is she arrayed in varied colors? By the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to Paul's voice: God working with signs and wonders and various powers, and distributions of the Holy Spirit. But what shall I name the Church of Christ? A bride adorned, a queen beautified, a flourishing paradise, a meadow bursting with fruitfulness—and if I say anything else, I speak less than her worth. Therefore the prophet Isaiah, taking up her voice in the person of the Church, said: Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation. And since he was speaking in a figure, and could not express the whole beauty of the Church, he invests it with distinction, saying: As a bride he adorned me with ornament, and as a bridegroom he set a mitre upon me, and as a land increasing its produce, and as a garden its seeds of vegetables.

For the Church of the living God is truly a garden enclosed and a paradise; but I mean a paradise not like that ancient one, but far superior to it. For there the serpent reigned, but here Christ reigns. Do not attend to the credibility of the name, but to the power of the reality. For neither is a paradise admirable if it does not keep the commandment of God, nor are the lowly places insulted if they have the law of God reigning. What is better? What is superior? Paradise, or a dung heap? Yet paradise did not profit Adam because of his transgression; and the dung heap did not harm Job because of his endurance. Adam in paradise is put to shame because of his disobedience, but Job on the dung heap is crowned because of his endurance. For nowhere does the credibility of places contribute, unless good intent concurs; and heaven is higher than paradise, but the devil falls from there. The earth is deep, and heaven is lifted on high; the devil falls from heaven for transgressing, according to the saying, I saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven; but the poor are exalted from the earth, according to the saying, He who raises the poor from the earth, and lifts up the needy from the dung heap. Do you see that it is not the difference of places that grants us the advantages, but everywhere faith, and endurance, and hope weave the crowns for the worthy? Nothing of a bedchamber

Nothing is more august than a church, nothing more naked than a theater. What did the adultery in the bedchamber profit the licentious Egyptian woman? What harm did it do the protomartyr Thecla to wrestle naked in the theater? She did not sin by being stripped; the holy one is not shamed, but crowned. And she is crowned in the theater, while the other is pilloried in the bridal chamber. What did the idols profit, and the worship of things that are not? I mean the vastness of the temples. And what harm did the cheapness of their tombs do the martyrs? Was error not put to shame in greatness, and were the martyrs not exalted in lowliness? Thus the Church of the living God is a paradise of delight. In that paradise the serpent danced and deceived; in this paradise the Savior says: Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. In the paradise the way of life was closed to Adam because of transgression; and to show that the virtuous soul is not hindered, outside the paradise it receives greater things than those in the paradise. To Adam the paradise is shut, and to Peter are entrusted the keys of heaven; Adam is cast out of the paradise, and Paul is caught up to the third heaven; from Adam the tree of life is walled off; for God said, it says, Lest Adam touch the tree of life. There life was prevented, and the tree of life was withheld from the transgressor; here the wood of the cross was fixed, and all who wish gather eternal life. In the paradise after the transgression Adam hides from God, stricken by conscience.

He who seeks all things calls him and says: Adam, where are you? Did he not know where he was? Adam, where are you? Convicting him of his transgression, he says, Where are you? — instead of, In what state are you? Did the serpent's deceit bring you equality with God? Did you see how you have been stripped naked? Where are you? I heard your voice, and I hid myself. He hides in paradise; the apostles say, We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, from glory to glory. Did you see the boldness outside paradise? Did you see the shame inside paradise? In paradise after the transgression God clothed Adam in tunics of skin. Let us see what he is clothed in. There he was clothed in a tunic; here, As many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There, when paradise was shut, the Cherubim and the turning sword blocked the way to paradise; and it was like a wall and a barrier for Adam, not permitting him to enter because of the disobedience in paradise after the transgression. I do not say this to accuse paradise, but because that place befitting God profited nothing the one who did not wish to conduct himself with a good disposition. And there was a wall of fire encircling paradise, not permitting the transgressor to enter; so that God might show that the fire was not hostile to him, but the transgression prevented Adam from entering the wall of fire; and a chariot of fire snatched Elijah up into heaven. The Church of God does not lie when she says: God clothed me with a garment of salvation, and adorned me like a bride with ornament, like the earth increasing its produce, and like a great garden of truth. This is the great one.

Paradise, the universal Church. Christ reigns, and he is believed when he gives the law, unless perhaps someone is found in the Church sick with heretical error, under the teaching of serpents — I mean, of course, heretical error — and is cast out from here, as Adam was from paradise. For just as there the one who was persuaded by the teaching of the serpent was exiled from paradise, so also in the Church those who do not obey Paul, who are not taught by Peter, but obey the teachings of serpents, are cast out of this paradise. How is this clear? Paul says: I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear lest, as the serpent deceived Eve, so your minds should be corrupted. But the teaching of the serpent has no place here, since the great shepherd with the staff of faith crushes the head of the serpents. For indeed, like a shepherd, our wonderful father crushes the heads of the dragons by the gospel faith and the hope in Christ; and like the best gardener and keeper of a garden, he nourishes the plants of the Church, but uproots any bastard seed and shoot; the disease of impiety, the Greek error, he hands over to fire like thorns; and the heretical error, having plucked it out like couch grass, he casts out, clothed in zeal for God, which many do not know. For some are accustomed to make clever sophistries against the Church and the holy shepherds, just as also against this wonderful father; and many, under the guise of gentleness, introduce laziness, and insult zeal, and attempt to blunt the flourishing word of God.

For it is possible to find someone in the guise of mildness saying: "What do we have in common with the Greeks? If he wishes to be saved, let him be saved." The one who says these things has not yet been wounded by zeal for piety; the one who sees a man perishing and does not mourn that man's destruction, and counts it his own loss, does not know zeal for piety, has not been wounded by the arrows of truth. 3. The one, then, who sees a man perishing and is not zealous, as Paul somewhere says—"Who is weak, and I am not weak?"—this man is not a disciple of Paul. Let him compare the Father's achievements and he will find him in harmony with the apostolic voices: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not set on fire?" Those who think in this way are brothers of the apostles. For the righteous man is disheartened not only over his own sins but also over those he sees others committing, as David says: "Dejection seized me because of the sinners who abandon your law." If anyone is disheartened over the sins of others, he has zeal for piety. For the righteous man, when he sets his own life aright, weeps and mourns that his own sin be blotted out; and then, having ceased from his own sin, he thereafter mourns the sins of others, just as Paul too: "Lest, when I come, I should mourn many of those who have sinned beforehand and have not repented." Paul mourns those who have sinned and have not repented; Samuel mourns Saul, so that God says: "How long will you mourn over Saul?" Do you see a soul perishing, and do you not mourn? If someone sees a dead man being carried out and does not weep, he is convicted as unfeeling and hard and brutish.

If you see a soul being immersed in impiety and condemned to eternal death, and persisting in unbelief, do you not weep, tell me, and mourn? And is this the mark of a devout soul? Indeed, the right-minded person must mourn for all other sins, but especially when he sees a soul baptized in the impiety of Hellenism. For such a soul one must not only mourn but also be set on fire and inflamed with zeal, so as to become a disciple of Paul. For, it says, while Paul was staying in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him, as he observed that the city was full of idols. And why do the saints think these things, as indeed this wonderful father also was a defender of piety? For just as a king on earth who holds the inhabited world under him has advocates in each court of the palace, so God has the faithful shepherds as defenders of piety. For many of the Greeks often mock, saying, when they hear Christians saying to them, "Why do you blaspheme? Why are you impious?"—they immediately mock: "Look, the defenders of God! Can God not defend himself?" But he does not defend himself (for he does not insult the divinity), but through faithful servants he scourges the ungrateful slaves. Does God need defenders? Yes—not because he himself is weak, but so that he may open for you a door of zeal. For if he did everything through himself, the way of life would be closed to the zealous man. Did Pharaoh not once fight against God, and was he not sunk in impiety? And nowhere was a scourge applied until Moses the faithful bowed down.

Did not the polytheistic error with its false priests and false prophets flaunt itself, and there was no plague from God anywhere, until Elijah the zealous arose? The saints are admittedly the avengers of God. Therefore Paul also says: We are ready to avenge every disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. And moreover the wonderful Deborah among women, possessing a woman's weakness, and prophesying a manly courage of virtue, concerning whom the Scripture says, And Deborah arose, a mother in Israel; she became a mother of the people through piety, and she flourished so greatly that even the generals, when war arose, those around Barak, said to the woman: If you do not come with us to war, we do not come. They did not trust in the manly courage of the woman, but in the power of prophecy. Many went out as co-workers of God's plan, and cut off the foreigners. That blessed Deborah, then, bearing the truth, says: Lord, those who love you are as the rising of the sun; but your enemies are as the snuff of a lamp. Lord, those who love you are as the rising of the sun; since the sun is never extinguished; but your enemies are as the snuff of a lamp; for a lamp has a light that is temporary, and is again extinguished. Then she praises the general who served God's plan, and after this she commands curses upon those who dwell in Meroz, because they did not go out to the help of the Lord. Did God, then, need help? Yes. Those who help piety must appear.

Thus also this wonderful father does not help God as though he were powerless, but, appointed to this end, he avenges true religion, displaying [his zeal] in the body unto destruction, but casting souls into [the realm of] dominion. For the arrows of the mighty one are sharpened. And do not marvel if the shepherds of Christ and teachers of true religion avenge the truth; but even if someone is not a teacher, nor entrusted with a teacher's throne, but has simply received the word of Christ and happens to be in the rank of a disciple, he ought to have zeal for God and to render recompense to his benefactor by speaking freely, and to speak on behalf of the truth, and to struggle against impiety, so that he may hear from the Holy Scripture: Child, strive for the truth, and the Lord God will fight for you. It is nothing wonderful if the saints avenge true religion. Often God calls something out of forbearance, as a good God, and the prophets do not allow true religion to be wounded by God's forbearance. God says through Moses: Say to Pharaoh, Send out my people; but if you do not wish, behold, I will send the signs, and I will strike you. Moses was struck at the word, and understanding is given to the pious man, and he says: Do not think that he has a people on equal terms, and God a people. And being in anguish lest the great goodness and forbearance of God harm him, and he think that he is opposing God, having heard, Your people, and, My people, he reports the proclamation: Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: Send out my people; but if you do not wish, behold, I will send the signs, and I will strike you and your servants.

So that you may learn that "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof." The earth heard, "a people and a people," and did not follow the word, but says, "All the earth is the Lord's." For even if God exercised forbearance, yet this one does not betray his lordly authority. For this reason God also spoke thus, so that the zeal of the pious man might be laid bare. But the faithful always love to go beyond God's words; for the Savior says to the disciples: "Whom do men say that the Son of Man is?" One of his disciples says: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Let the zeal of the Holy Spirit teach you also to be zealous, and to suffer for true religion, and to strive the good struggle for righteousness. 4. For it is worthy that good disciples be imitators of their teacher, as Paul also says: "Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ." Do you wish to learn that even the simple disciple, and the one who holds the rank of a disciple, ought to have zeal for true religion? Hear how Christ healed the man blind from birth; or rather, let us hear from the very beginning of the story. For after many things had been said by the evangelist, he began to speak thus: "As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth." And his disciples asked him, saying, and the rest. And having spat,

And making clay, he anointed his eyes and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." And having washed, he received his sight. The Jews recognized him and said, "Is not this the man who sat for alms, being blind?" Others said, "Yes"; others, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am he." But the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews, seeing that the miracle had the power to draw many to the Christ, stung by the zeal of their impiety and struck by the goad of truth, call in the man who had once been blind. And it was a sight to see—a wicked theater, with piety on trial, wicked judges passing judgment, a great advocate contending alongside, and God presiding and watching over. The children of the Jews call the man who had once been blind and had received his sight, and they set him in the midst of the council and say to him, "Tell us how you received your sight, and who opened your eyes, and what did he do to you?" They said this not to learn, but to instill fear by the manner of their questioning. For often the manner of a question becomes a teacher to the one questioned—to answer, or to keep silent. As if someone should say to a man about to testify in a matter, "Do you know the case? Were you present? How do you know the matter?"—and the manner itself teaches him to deny it. So also those men: "How did you receive your sight? Who opened your eyes?" But he, caring less for the threat, held fast rather to the truth, and says, "A certain man called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go, wash in Siloam.' And I went and washed, and I received my sight.

He did not know the truth, but he recognized the benefit; he did not yet know the dignity of the benefactor. "A certain man made clay and anointed my eyes, and I see." The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man who had received his sight. The evasion of malice brought the truth into doubt. They summon the parents of the blind man; malice gathers witnesses against itself. The parents of the blind man were called. Again the same form of question: "Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" They, perceiving the manner of malice, that they are offering threats, say to them: "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind we know; but how he now sees, or who opened his eyes, we do not know; he has age, ask him; he will speak about himself." And see the wisdom of God. So that they might not evade the voice of the man who had received his sight, either as being young, or as not knowing how to speak, as in ordinary courts, God arranged beforehand that he be shown to be of legal age. "He has age," he says; "ask him"; since minors need advocates, but those bearing full age become their own advocates. His parents answered and said, "This is our son, and that he was born blind we know." The parents confessed, so that there might be no doubt that he was not blind. "He has age, ask him; he will speak about himself." They call him again, he says, a second time, and say to him:

What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He, now clothed in zeal for God, spits out the question, and as though they were unworthy of an answer, he does not deem them worth a word, but what does he say to them? I told you already, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear again? Surely you do not also want to become his disciples? And he imitates the teaching of Christ, though he had not yet heard the teaching of Christ. For the Jews, at the Feast of Dedication, having surrounded the Savior in the portico of Solomon, were saying to him: How long will you keep our soul in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. He says to them: I told you, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear again? And see the piety of an advocate. Since he perceived the malice of the Jews, that they do everything and put on a show of threatening and brandishing fear at him so that he would not confess him as teacher, he says to them: I told you already, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear again? Surely you do not also want to become his disciples? By saying, "Surely you do not also," he showed that "I" is confessed. Let every Christian who comes from Hellenism have this voice. For whenever a Greek meets you, having the ancient habit of error, and says to you, "You have become a Christian," say to him, "Yes; surely you do not also want to become one?" The purpose, then, of the one who regained his sight in both soul and body was of this kind. I told you already, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear again? Surely you do not also want to become his disciples? Instead of: You are so far from persuading me otherwise that I rather expect you to be changed and to confess him as the Christ. Then what did the Jews say to him?

They reviled him and said: You are a disciple of that man, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses; but this man, we do not know where he is from. Consider the multitude of those who contradict, and the strength of the one who stands against them. And the advocate of truth did not fall silent again, but stood his ground, saying: For in this is the wonder, that you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. He stood contending, with God as overseer and judge; many formidable men against one strong man, a cloud of unbelief against a single drop of faith. From the beginning of the age, he says, it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. Since you pride yourselves, he says, on the teaching of Moses. For the present he does not mention Moses, so as not to provoke them; but he says: From the beginning of the age it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind—that is, What other prophet opened them? They did not see the superiority, nor any comparison. But to the extent that he held fast to the truth, to that extent they did not cease from their shamelessness. Since they could not deny it, they then hastened to cover it over, and they say: Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner. The glory of the Son is the glory of the Father, and the glory is undivided. He contends, having the good contest against the Jews. They say to him: Give glory to God. To which God? To the God of our law? And is it just for one to bestow a benefit and another to receive the glory? Give glory to God. Is there another benefactor, and to another do I give glory?

They confessed that Jesus made clay and anointed his eyes; the one who opened them is confessed—and shall I attribute the glory to another? And why should I give glory to God? Because this work is God's. See, then, you confess unwillingly that Christ is God. Give glory to God. For if the work is God's, the glory is owed to him; the maker of the work is himself God. Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. The man who was once blind answered them: If he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see. 5. Up to this point he spoke with such boldness, and they ordered him to be cast out. And they cast him out, says the evangelist, outside. Blessed is the one set apart from the assembly of those who do evil. And see what happens. Since he fought the good fight and spoke in defense of God's glory, and gloriously confessed the Savior with great boldness—and the theater of his struggles was filled—the wrestler was cast outside without receiving the crown, and the judge of the contest meets him outside. For Jesus heard, it says, that they had cast him out; and finding him, he says to him. O the utterance of the one who found him: whom error destroys, truth finds. And why did he meet him? The Savior saw a soul full of gratitude; he saw a soul not yet known to speak on God's behalf, but supposing it was on behalf of some faithful prophet—for he is questioned about the Christ. And what does he say about him? That he is a prophet. And the Savior said this: If, thinking him a prophet and suspecting him to be a man, he contends so vigorously, what will he not do if he learns the glory of his divinity?

If, suspecting him to be a man and calling him a prophet, he brought forward so great a defense on behalf of the truth and undertook so great a struggle, though not yet instructed, but enlightened by the benefit alone—consider him, that if, thinking he was defending a man, he did not depart from the truth, what will it be if he learns to say in the manner of the Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word? Therefore from that point on he corrected him into knowledge, receiving his struggle and sealing his faith. The Savior meets him—for this man did not recognize his appearance. For when he sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash, he sent him blind; but when he came back seeing, he did not see the Savior, who was mingled in the crowd, but immediately, before seeing the Master, having been called to the struggle, he fought. The Master made clay before he washed, and anointed his eyes, so that he might supply what was lacking. When therefore they cast him out, Christ found him and said to him: Do you believe in the Son of God? For it is not necessary for you to believe in him as a prophet struggling, but as the Son of God. He, not having recognized his face, recognized his voice. Do you believe, he says, in the Son of God? He recognized the voice, and with great joy cried out: And who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? Why do you believe the one who says to you, the faithful one: Do you believe in the Son of God? I know that your word is true; nevertheless, even if you tell me the knowledge, I do not hesitate to believe you. And who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And the foreknower replied:

And you have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he. The one who advocated within speaks outside: Do you believe in the Son of God? And he who had been enlightened both in body and in mind said: And who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And he answered and said to him: And you have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he. And he said: I believe, Lord; and he worshiped him. These things have been said by me so that you all may learn to follow a good teacher, and to imitate a good shepherd, and to struggle on behalf of the truth; for your struggle comes about through the cooperation of the great shepherd. You marveled that a blind man became an advocate of the truth after being benefited; you marveled at the robber who advocated for Christ before the benefit. For always a divine soul that zealously seeks the truth, because of its own trustworthiness, opens many mouths to advocate for the truth. Christ was hanging on the cross, and two robbers, one on the right and one on the left, and the Jews were babbling, the chief priests were blaspheming: Behold the king of the Jews; and again, If he is the king of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe him; and again, He saved others, he cannot save himself. Likewise also the robber who was crucified with him was himself babbling, saying: If you are the Son of God, save yourself and us. But the other robber was saying nothing, by his silence punishing the condemned. Since, therefore, the chief priests and the scribes, who knew the law—or rather did not know it—who ought to have confessed Christ from the prophetic readings, did not confess him—

God opens an unexpected mouth on the cross, advocating for the truth. And see what he does. He does not even first hear Christ's voice, and yet this man advocates for him, and then he is crowned. For, it says, two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left; and the Savior was in the middle like a balance of truth, lightening the one who confesses and condemning the one who blasphemes. And observe the wonder. While the scribes and the chief priests were blaspheming Christ and saying, "If he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him," and the other robber was saying, "If you are the Son of God, save yourself and us," not one word does the grateful robber say. For the two robbers were images of the people of the Jews and of our people. For the one blasphemes and is condemned; the other believes and repents and is saved. So the brother of the Jewish robbery, one of the ungrateful, says (for the ungrateful Jews were a robber people, as the Savior testifies when he says, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers"; and the first one's...

the Jewish disposition; but the other's is Christian, starting from evil deeds but snatching salvation through repentance. So the ungrateful robber, who also has a Jewish disposition, says: If you are the Son of God, save yourself and us, coming down from the cross. But the other is found grateful—the one who was liable in the courtroom becomes a judge on the cross; indeed, he even teaches the fear of God. For the robber's first utterance says to his fellow robber: Do you not even fear God, since you are in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive what our deeds deserve; but this man has done nothing wrong. What are you saying? You who steal outside, do you condemn here? You who murder outside, do you teach fear here? Do you not even fear God? Learn the cross of Christ, so that his voice may become your teacher of piety. For see the wonder: the robber says to his fellow robber: Do you not even fear God? He proclaims as God the one who was willingly crucified with them and who patiently suffers for humanity. And that he says this about the Savior himself—Do you not even fear God?—learn from what follows: Do you not even fear God, since you are in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive what our deeds deserve; but this man has done nothing wrong. I say these things so that you may learn to labor for piety, and to display zeal both in the house and in the marketplace, and to strive for Christ, so that you may also receive from him the crown of righteousness, like this grateful robber. For hear him speak to the blaspheming fellow robber: Do you not even fear God, since you are in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive what our deeds deserve.

But this man had done nothing wrong. And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom." Did you see the true advocacy? Did you see how he confessed the very Christ to be true God? "Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom." He confesses his own evils, and he advocates for the Master. You were tortured so much, robber, before the governor, so that you would confess the robberies, and the murders, and the thefts which you committed—even if you did not confess them; and here you say, without tortures, "We are receiving what we deserve for what we did"? Through countless tortures you scarcely confessed before the governor; and here, having no one to compel you, do you confess so easily? "Yes," he says; "but there death follows the confession, whereas here repentance and life follow the confession. For we are receiving what we deserve for what we did; but this man has done nothing wrong." "If we," he says, "justly; this man unjustly. For we murdered the living, but this man raised the dead; we plundered what belonged to others, but this man has given his own wealth to the world." The robber does battle with his fellow-robber, and says: "Until this moment at the cross we came together and traveled together, but now from the cross the road is split for me; if you wish to travel with me to life, come; but if not, go your own way. Hence, when I traveled with you, I was first with you; but now the cross has split that second road itself in two." By repentance the road of the robbers is split. And the psalm and the end of the psalm was then being fulfilled: "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly shall perish.

When, therefore, the robber had spoken in defense of the truth, he turns to the King of glory and says, "Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom." Let the Arians therefore be ashamed, and let them hear what the robber says: "Lord, remember me, when you come in your kingdom." The robber sees him crucified, and confesses him as Lord; the heretic confesses him to be enthroned with the Father, and blasphemes him as a creature. "Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom." I would like someone to say to the robber: "May Christ remember you—for what worthy deed? Because you murdered? Because you plundered? For you say, 'Remember me, when you come in your kingdom.'" But let no one suppose that Christ saved the robber only by grace; rather, it was owed to him as a debt. What debt? someone says. Because he acted justly? Did he give alms? Did he distribute his own goods, fast, keep vigil? Did he do a thing that no one else did? But because he believed in God? Prophets also believed in God, and patriarchs believed, hymn-writers believed, apostles, preachers, martyrs; but all these saw God in glory, whereas this man saw him in insult. But set before yourself ten thousand servants serving a master, when the master is in prosperity and honor; and one servant in a time of trial and affliction and flight, not withdrawing from his own master; but those ten thousand servants in the time of trial and flight abandoning the master and withdrawing—

Can these servants who, in prosperity, abandoned their master in the time of trial be like the one who followed his master in adversity? By no means. Peter believed, but he believed after seeing the dead raised and beholding his glory; Paul believed, but after seeing a light from heaven, which blinded his bodily eyes but enlightened the eyes of his soul; Abraham believed, but after beholding a divine vision; Isaiah believed, but after seeing him seated on a high throne, with the Cherubim around him. All saw, but in glory; this man saw in disgrace; therefore he also cried out, "Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom." You ought to answer me from my own case: why do you say this? Because I am a sinner and a murderer, a robber until this hour; my evils are many, I confess, but I have in my mind a hidden faith, which no one knows except the Master alone, who suffers with me. Outwardly the Master has the visible tokens of his passion; and I, he says, did not attend to the visible disgrace, but I glorify the hidden kingdom. So you too say: "Lord, do not look upon my visible injustices, but upon my hidden faith," and, "Remember me, when you come in your kingdom." Though Christ had spoken nothing at all to anyone, but had kept silence, and answered neither Pilate nor any other senseless soul of the Jews, he answers then; and since it was very grievous and absurd to keep silence, he answers at last and says to the robber: "Amen, amen, I say to you: today you will be with me in paradise." O the grace of the benefactor!

Because you asked for a slow grace, and you say, "Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom." You asked for a slow grace; I give a swift one: "Today you will be with me in paradise." Did you see the salvation of God? Did you see the beneficence of the Master? Did you see the great judge of truth? "Today you will be with me in paradise." Before this, no one of the Jews or of the patriarchs had heard a promise of paradise, from the time Adam transgressed and went out from it; and yet God promised countless things to faithful men, and to no one did he promise paradise except to the robber. Nowhere does the mouth of God appear promising paradise to a man after Adam was cast out, except to this robber first. Why did he speak of paradise first to none of the patriarchs, to none of the prophets, to none of the apostles? But to the ancients he promised: "I will give you a land flowing with milk and honey"; to the apostles he says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"—paradise nowhere. He keeps paradise in the midst, as a promise, first for the robber. For when Paul says, "I was caught up into paradise," that happened after the robber. Why, then, did the one who uttered a single cry enter first? What then? Did he often sing psalms? Did he often contend? Did he often speak of God? Once, he says: "My God is just, the arbiter of salvation"; since he cast out the first man Adam from paradise not because of many sins, but because of one disobedience.

Thus the yoke of righteousness promised that the robber should enter paradise first, the one who confessed not many things but offered a single confession of faith. I have spoken of Adam's sin, that he touched the tree contrary to the commandment; what is the robber's defense? That he touched the cross with faith and entered paradise. What then happens? The Savior promised salvation, but there was no time, nor was it granted to the robber to believe and be enlightened; for the Savior had declared: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. The robber found no opportunity or boldness, he had no time to be baptized, for he was hanging on the cross. Therefore the Savior finds a way in desperate straits. For since the man grown old in sins had believed in the Savior, and it was necessary that he be cleansed, Christ after the passion arranges that the soldier pierce the Lord's side with a spear, and blood and water leap forth; for from his side, says the Evangelist, came forth blood and water, in truth of what had fallen, as a type of the mysteries. And the blood and water did not come forth simply flowing, but with a gush, so as to sprinkle the robber's body; for what is sent with a gush sprinkles, while what flows gently flows as it comes. But with a gush the blood and water came forth from the side, so that sprinkling the robber it might baptize him, as also the Apostle says: We have come to Mount Zion and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than Abel. Why does the blood of Christ speak better than Abel?

Since the blood of Abel was on the head of the murderer, but the blood of Christ cleanses even murderers who repent. Learn, then, the zeal of truth, and love boldness of speech for Christ's sake; follow the true Teacher who contends for the truth, so that, having thus heard from the apostle Paul, "Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ," you too may be deemed worthy of the crowns of righteousness, and of the eternal good things which Christ our God has prepared for those who have loved him; may it come to pass that we all obtain these, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the dominion, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.