De tribus pueris

On the Three Children and the Babylonian Furnace, Discourse 1. A new, truly, and most great theater of piety the chorus of the three children established, having contended in the noble contest in Babylon, and throughout the whole world assembling the marvel of the martyrdom. For the glory of the saints is not confined to a place, nor is the memory of the righteous limited by times; for a righteous man shall be for an everlasting memorial. Hence, even if the martyrdom was accomplished in the most ancient times, yet for all eternity the strategy of endurance is sung. We know the events through the readings, we know the history through memory, we know as in an image through the word both the lawlessness of the tyrant and the confession of the saints, and the furnace blazing with fire, but shining back against the wrath of the tyrant and the threat of fire, displaying the unquenchable confession of the martyrs; rather, what prevents us, taking up from above, to tell the contests of the truly God-loving and thrice-blessed? Nebuchadnezzar the king, rather the tyrant (for this is the proper name for the lawless one), held sway over Babylonia; he was also barbarous in soul and savage in manner. This man, drunk with much injustice, wealth, and impiety, was ignorant of his own nature, and not even suspecting himself to be a man, expected to be worshipped as God. His excessive arrogance was nurtured by his congenital madness and the forbearance of God, who bears the impious with patience, allowing everything to happen for the training of the pious.

The lawless one made a golden image, that is, a golden statue, and compelled those who were made in the image of God to worship the image he had made. Using great ambition, he gave it a height of sixty cubits and a width of six cubits; he constructed the statue well-fitted and well-proportioned, so that either by its size or by the beauty of its composition he might overcome the lie, having forced the truth. Now the art gleamed, the gold shone, the herald cried out, the tyrant threatened, the furnace blazed, and in addition to all this, the so-called musical instruments maddened the foolish terribly into atheism, and the spectacle of what was seen utterly stole the understanding of all who beheld it. But the command of impiety was not to be stronger than the saints; and while all, so to speak, were being swept away as by some torrent of the violent stream of deceit into the precipice of idolatry, these three noble youths, firmly bracing themselves as on some rock of piety, were not swept away by the stream of injustice. For it was fitting for them to say: If the Lord were not among us, then they would have swallowed us alive. When their anger was roused against us, then the water would have drowned us. A torrent our soul passed through; then our soul passed through the insubstantial water. But they were neither drowned by the stream nor caught in the snares, but having run well into piety and using the high wing of faith, they were preserved, as the proverbialist says: Like a gazelle from snares, and like a bird from a trap.

And seeing the devil's nets spread, so to speak, over all humanity, they repeated the pious utterance against the hymnographer, saying, "The sinners will fall into their own net." And the three captives did not look to their own insignificance, though driven by so many, but knew precisely that even the smallest spark of piety is sufficient to burn up and destroy all impiety. Therefore, though they were three, they strengthened and tightened themselves together. For they knew that the way leading to life is narrow and constrained, and that few find it. They remembered the patriarch Abraham, that alone in all the earth as a worshiper of God, he did not follow the multitude of the impious, but the law of piety and the prize of righteousness were his; whence fittingly from him, as from some good root, these fruits of piety sprouted. For from him came patriarchs, and the lawgiver Moses, and the prophets, and all the theologians; and from him preeminently came that saving and immortal flower of righteousness, the incarnation of the Savior; from that lineage these three youths did not deny their nobility. They also remembered Lot, dwelling in Sodom but far removed in his ways; they called to mind Joseph, alone in Egypt, practicing chastity and being a stronghold of piety.

Hence these men, surrounded by so many thousands, seeing the many, reasoned that the road leading to destruction is broad and spacious, and many are those who find it. But looking again at themselves and the furnace, they remembered the wisdom that says somewhere, "As gold is tested in a furnace, so God selects hearts." Therefore neither a trumpet sounding the war song frightened them, nor a lyre charming their ears dissolved the tones of piety, nor did the entire rest of musical harmony dissolve the beautiful and harmonious symphony of piety; but they opposed the beautiful harmony with the beautiful confession. And that evil-minded and impious tyrant, when those around Ananias were reported as disobeying the command of lawlessness, his soul oppressed with diabolical pride, and having assumed, so to speak, the very face of the ruler of evil, summoned them and says, "If truly, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, you do not worship my gods and do not bow down to the golden image I set up?" He thought piety was a pretense, and asks whether those professing piety truly dare to oppose royal decrees. But he was about to be taught by experience itself that the men of God not only spit upon the tyrant's threats, but will also trample upon the very intensity of the fire by the power of piety.

Now, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, the pipe and the cithara, the sambuca and the psalterion, and the symphony, and every kind of music, you fall down and worship the golden image which I have set up. He well interpreted the worship of demons: "Falling down, you worship." It is impossible for those who worship demons not to fall into destruction and to fall away from the truth. But if you do not worship, he says, at that very hour you will be thrown into the burning furnace of fire. Certainly, if it is a furnace, it is clear that there is fire; and if there is fire, it is clear that it is burning; but he magnifies and broadens the threat in order to bend the resolve of piety: "At that very hour you will be thrown into the burning furnace of fire." And the boasts are bearable up to this point; but see what he adds after this: "And what god is there who will deliver you from my hands?" This is another Pharaoh; for that one also said to Moses: "What god is there whose voice I shall obey?" "I do not know," says the impious one, "the Lord, and I will not send the people away." Oh, the great arrogance of men! Oh, the great forbearance of God! A man speaks, and God endures; clay speaks, and the potter is patient; a fleshly tongue speaks, and the Master of the bodiless angels is compassionate. He who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. It is timely to recall here what Isaiah says: "Why does earth and ash boast?" Do you wish to marvel at God's forbearance? Consider the insult made against you; how unbearable it has seemed to you.

A man is often insulted by a slave, and immediately, putting forward the insult to his freedom, he demands justice for the audacity, punishing the insulter with inexorable death. Again, a man is insulted by a lowly and private person, while he himself is examined in the civic affairs of the world; and immediately, stung by the insult, he hastens to vengeance, not looking to the common nature and the equal worth of all, but gazing upon the rank that surrounds him, which, when removed, one can see the equality of the race, that we were all formed from earth and are dissolved into earth; one is the path into life, and the exit is equal. "You are suspended from clay," he says, "as am I." But the clay demands such superiority from those of equal status; while God, surpassing all, both in nature and in law, and being as much higher as one must conceive the creator to be above his creations, when blasphemed and despised by the ungrateful, is not provoked—for he is impassible—but punishes a little later those who persist in their folly, because he is a judge of truth and an inexorable arbiter. Lest all who sin be destroyed at once, he postpones punishment and offers forbearance, in order to draw them toward repentance. But let us return to the matter at hand. A man clothed in flesh dared to say, "Who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?" The thrice-blessed youths, hearing these things, did not rise up in blasphemy; for they themselves were nurslings of God's forbearance.

But taking up the voice of faith against the words of disbelief, they answered the tyrant, dissolving lawlessness by law, and overcoming the threat of injustice by the freedom of righteousness, saying, "Let it be known to you, O king, that we do not worship your gods, and we do not bow down to the golden image which you have set up. Cease from your folly, O man; be ashamed of the insolent worship of the image. For if you set up the image, how can you worship what you have made? Who ought to be the creators of whom? Men of God, or God of men? For if they are truly gods, the dignity of creation befits them; but, as we have often said before, if art were not present among men, Greeks would have no gods. Rather, let us also consider this: that if the idols had any perception, it would be fitting for them to worship the men who made them. For the laws of nature require that the product worship the maker, not that the creator bow down to his own creation. Therefore, we, nurtured in piety, following divine law, do not worship your gods, and we do not bow down to the golden image which you have set up; but there is a God in heaven who will deliver us from your hands." Then, lest they seem either to tempt God or to be emboldened by hope of deliverance to defy the fire, they immediately add: "And if not," that is, even if He does not deliver us, but allows our bodies to be consumed by fire, not even then do we abandon piety; for we do not worship for reward, but we confess the truth with gratitude.

When the tyrant heard this declaration of faith, he was inflamed all the more and ordered the furnace to be kindled seven times over; for the most excellent silver had to be purified seven times. For the oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver refined and tested in the earth, and purified seven times. Therefore the furnace was kindled seven times, so that the saints might be purified seven times. That the men of God are called silver, remember the Wisdom which says, "Refined silver is the tongue of the righteous." And listen to the prophet Jeremiah, speaking of those rejected from piety: "Call them rejected silver, because God has rejected them." If the imperfect are unrefined silver, then the perfected are evidently the most excellent silver; for as much as the furnace was kindled, so much was the desire for martyrdom brightened. For entering, these three holy youths trampled the flame with faith, breathing a fine and dewy air in the very midst of the fire's peaks. For the one who makes and transforms all things,

blunted the heat of the fire and cut off its burning action, that hymnody being verified by the miracle: "The voice of the Lord cutting through the flame of fire." The fire was lulled, resting within, while the holy youths danced, all but enjoying that promise which God through the prophet Isaiah promises to every soul full of piety and faith, that "Even if you pass through fire," he says, "I am with you, and the flame will not burn you." And one could see the promise proceeding through deeds. For the fire did not touch the limbs of the saints; it did not burn the eyes that look rightly toward piety and through the good order of visible things recognize the creator of the cosmos; it did not harm the ears filled with divine law; it did not approach the mouth, nor touch the lips, being abashed by their tongues that hymn and compose hymns. Each of the holy members had its own guardian: the hands the ecstasy of prayers and the distribution of alms; the breasts the power of piety dwelling in them; the belly and the lower parts the practice of temperance; the feet the course of virtue. And why should I dwell on each detail? For the fire did not even dare to touch the hair, because it was rather covered by a tiara of piety; and it spared even the clothing on account of the seemliness of the saints. What then?

Upon these things, the God of the Chaldeans commands the fire to take hold, and so that they might not, thinking it magic, obscure the fire's energy and blunt the glory of the martyrs, and falsely accuse the miracle of truth, for this reason those within were at rest, while the fire outside consumed the Chaldeans, so that it might securely persuade the beholders that in the case of the saints it did not ignore its own nature, but honored piety; just as the lions in the pit did for Daniel. Thus from there they truly formed an angelic choir, and the thrice-blessed youths hymned God, and brought together all creation, both the supracosmic and that seen by the eyes, into one choir of hymnody. 3. It is necessary not to leave that unexamined either, why they did not mention all creation alike, but set forth the creation part by part. It would have sufficed, at least for truth, to say: "Bless the Lord, all the works of the Lord," but since this great theater of piety was being assembled in a land of the impious, it was necessary for the Babylonians to be taught what the works are, and who the maker of all things is. And they begin from angels, and end with men. Angels were thought to be gods; and among the Greeks it is fabled that "These," it is said, "whom we worship as gods, are angels of the great God." For in order that the foolish might be taught that angels are not of those worshipped, but of those who worship, for this reason they cry out: "Bless the Lord, angels of the Lord." The sun and moon and the whole chorus of stars were worshipped.

Therefore they also take these up into the veneration of the hymns. "Bless," he says, "sun and moon; bless, stars of heaven, the Lord." Then after these things, "Every rain and dew, the Lord." What then is the meaning of "Every rain and dew, and all the winds"? It would be good to consider. Droughts and untimely violent winds often occur; and the inventors of falsehood, delighting in vanity, always attribute everything to some matter and the vice of disorder, not knowing that nothing is without a master, nor has come to be in vain, but that God administers all these things, both for the instruction of men and for the avoidance of impiety. For the good order of the creations is accustomed to proclaim the Creator, but disorder demands the worship of the creatures. For if rain or the winds were something divine and venerable, they would not be disorderly; for the divine does not admit disorder. Therefore they say, "Every rain, and dew, and all the winds, the Lord." Rains and winds have been worshipped, some as nourishers, others as farmers of the earth's fruits; but

the earth, and its fruits were assigned to various demons: they called the vine a gift of Dionysus, the olive a gift of Athena, and other fruits to other gods. And this same account of truth, securing itself, says, "Bless, all things growing on the earth, the Lord." For he is the Creator and Master of all that has grown and is growing. Then after this, "Mountains and hills." Are mountains and hills then excluded? Not at all; but because in the hills the foul things of demons were set up, and there the statues were worshipped, for this reason it says, "Bless, mountains and hills, the Lord." But having mentioned the hills, it also mentions springs and rivers and the sea; for these too were deified: they called the springs Nymphs, the sea Poseidon, and certain Sirens and Nereids; and that rivers were worshipped is attested by what happens in Egypt to this day: they sacrificed at the rising of the Nile, not marveling at its nature as God, but serving the water itself as a god. For this reason they also call rivers and springs and the sea into the hymnody. Then the birds of the sky and the cattle; for not even these were exempt from deification: for the eagle was worshipped, and the hawk; and the Egyptians honored wild beasts and cattle with the appellation of gods; and so great was the error that they even named cities after the animals they worshipped; and among them are said to be cities of Dogs, Sheep, Wolves, and Lions. But after all these, the human race is finally brought in. "Bless," he says, "sons of men, the Lord.

Finally, the human race is ranked, not according to its worth, but because of the creation. Bless the Lord, O Israel. That which was the chosen race among men on earth, this then he brings forward, and at that time in the nation he sets forth many distinctions, and he brings forward the priests of the Lord for the refutation of the priests of the falsely named gods. Then he says: Servants of the Lord. Then, lest those who have come forward in this chorus seem to be alien, they are numbered together with the living before God, saying: Bless the Lord, O spirits and souls of the righteous; then, O holy and humble in heart, bless the Lord. Why does he mention the holy and humble? To show that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble; he burned the arrogant outside the furnace, but preserved the holy and humble in the midst of the fire. Therefore the fire also joined in the chorus with the saints; for it was commanded, together with all, to hymn the Creator: Bless the Lord, O fire and heat, so that the Babylonian magi, among whom fire is honored, may be taught that this is not among the objects of worship, but among the worshippers. But nevertheless, having come to the end, let us conclude the discourse. Bless the Lord, he says, O Ananias, Azarias, Misael. What need was there, after so many ranks had been enumerated, for them to be added by name at the end? Were they not among the sons of Israel who blessed? Were they not numbered among the servants of the Lord when they said, Bless the Lord, O servants of the Lord? Or when they said, O holy and humble in heart, were they not numbered among the holy?

What then is the meaning of the addition, "Bless the Lord, Ananias, Azarias, Misael"? But because it was an extraordinary miracle, because it was beyond human nature (for they entered the furnace in the body and trampled it down), so that none of the deceived might, on account of the strangeness of the miracle, dare to call them gods and worship them rather than the fire—those who had overcome the fire—and so that those who saw might suffer nothing of the kind, for this reason they indicate their servitude and confess their worship, saying, "Bless the Lord, Ananias, Azarias, Misael." It is said that God did not permit Daniel to be taken up into this martyrdom. For because he interpreted the king's dream and was worshipped as a god by the king himself, and was called Baltasar by the name of the god among the Persians, so that it might not be thought that the action of the fire had ceased because of the name Baltasar borne by him, God arranges that Daniel not be brought forward into the midst, so that the miracle of piety might be intact. And these things to that extent; may we, by the prayers and intercessions of those who bore witness, having taken up the same zeal, be deemed worthy of the same praises, and attain the same kingdom, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.