In proditionem servatoris

On the Betrayal of the Savior and the Following. I wished to complete the contemplations of the cross to the end, not as having mastered the meanings, but setting forth what is possible for the faithful. Speech is not sufficient for the explanation of the divine oracles, but what is said is measured by human power, not as if that power itself were sufficient to comprehend, but as God provides; not as much as the giver can give, but as much as the receiver can contain. For just as a mother can provide perfect bread to the infant being nursed on milk, but that infant is unable to receive it, so it is not impossible for God to provide the greater and supercosmic wisdom, but we are unable to receive it. For we inhabit a mortal body. Therefore God did not speak to us according to the perfection befitting him, but measured what was said according to our weakness. For this reason the Savior said: I have many things to say, but you cannot bear them now. And elsewhere the Savior said to Nicodemus: If I told you earthly things, Lord, you do not believe, how, if I tell the heavenly things, will you believe? Let us then speak as far as is fitting for human power, being supplied by God. Our discourse is interrupted from the day, as we wish to present the contemplations in order. It was interrupted because of the reading of the Gospel. But that will be spoken at its proper time. Let us recall the events that take place on this day. Today, on this Thursday of the Sabbath, in the evening before the passion, Christ washed the feet of the disciples, celebrated the typological Passover according to the law, and handed over the saving mystagogy of the passion.

Thus, to speak truthfully, not even the word of truth itself is interrupted. For that narrative concerning the cross is preserved, and the rule is kept in this way. Let us then proceed to the sequence, cutting short, so as to provide some tastes to your Christ-loving souls. How one must contemplate the theory of our holy and mystical traditions—let us give a concise and clear demonstration of the discourse. The Savior says to the disciples: "You know that after two days the Passover occurs, and the Son of Man is handed over to be crucified." Many times the Savior foretold to his own disciples, at once showing that, knowing, he does not flee, and, foreknowing, he does not abandon; and at the same time, he was preparing the souls of the apostles, so that, by being prepared in advance to know, they might escape the disturbance. A matter that has been practiced does not have the agitation that comes from the sudden. This is what David also foretold: "I was prepared and was not disturbed." This also happens with thunderclaps. The lightning that precedes teaches the mind that one must expect the thunder, so that by expectation it dissolves the greater fear. Thus also the Savior, so that not suddenly by the passion [...] as to reproach the apostles and say after the resurrection: "These are my words, which I spoke to you, that the Son of Man must suffer much." He reproached them because they did not fulfill the purpose, through which the Savior had foretold. "I foretold," he says, "so that you might not be scandalized, and your disturbance prevailed." "You know that after two days the Passover occurs, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to be crucified.

Nowhere do you find the Savior mentioning the Passion without introducing the human person, and speaking as one about another. He did not say, "I am betrayed," but "the Son of Man is about to be betrayed to be crucified." Nowhere do you find the Savior being betrayed, but the Son of Man is betrayed. And everywhere he speaks as another about another. However, when it comes to the divinity, he says plainly, "I and the Father are one." He does not say, "I and the Father who sent me," but "I and the Father are one," and "He who has seen me has seen the Father." You know that after two days the Passover occurs, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. And how does John speak securely? Lest anyone think the visible time of necessity, see how he secures it: "Knowing that the hour had come for him to depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own, he loved them to the end," meaning he showed perfect love. And after the supper took place, he rose, laid aside his garments, girded himself with a towel, poured water into the basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples. Let the heretics be ashamed. If they hear the Savior saying, "I do the will of my Father," they immediately say, "You see that as a slave he is subordinate and obeys the Father." At that hour one could see a fearful thing. Why did he rise and lay aside the garment, he who wraps light as a garment, and gird himself with a towel? And then one could see Paul's word proving true: that existing in the form of God, he took the form of a slave.

He girded himself with a linen cloth—he who wraps the sky in clouds—and poured water into the basin—he who has poured out the nature of waters in rivers, springs, and seas. Consider a disciple seated, and the master bending down and looking toward the knee, before whom the knee of the heavenly, the earthly, and the subterranean bends. The humility of the Savior extinguished all pride. That gentleness extinguished all arrogance. When I see the Savior washing the feet of the disciples, I recall the saying of Isaiah concerning our pride: "Why does earth and ash exalt itself?" Consider the master stooping toward the feet of his servants and washing. How shall these things be spoken, or how shall they be passed over in silence? Speech is insufficient. Silence accuses us of ingratitude. And what shall we do, being unable to speak? He began to wash the feet of the disciples and to dry them with the linen cloth. He omitted no form of service; he did not permit the water to be placed by others while he himself washed. Nor did he wash himself while others dried. And here he appears to be introducing some strange mystery to the disciples. "Having loved his own disciples," he says, "he loved them to the end," says John. And when the supper had taken place, the devil having already cast into the heart of Judas Simon Iscariot that he should betray him, he rose and put aside his garments. He did not say this simply, but to show that although the traitor was plotting the betrayal, the Savior did not hesitate to wash the feet of that very traitor. And he knew his treachery, and he washed. What then? Is there partiality in God? Far from it. Partiality always exists between those who do wrong and those who are wronged.

If, however, the one who is wronged honors the one who wrongs him, it is not partiality but humility. But if the one who is wronged secretly works evil while putting on a show of benevolence, that is hypocrisy. Take the proof from the matter itself. Judas, who betrayed the master, knew that his act was impious. For he offered a kiss to the one he was plotting against. But the Savior, though wronged, honored the one who wronged him, which was not injustice but an excess of humility, praised by God and admired by men. Do you wish to see pretense? Look at Joab, the commander-in-chief of David. He seized Abner, another commander, and offered words of friendship while secretly thrusting his sword into his side. He called him brother and destroyed him as an enemy. That is why hypocrisy is evil. But elsewhere, when the one who is wronged does good to the one who wrongs him, the deed is praiseworthy. Jacob feared his own brother Esau and besought God, saying: "Deliver me from the hand of my brother, lest he come and kill me." Yet when he saw him, he honored him and said: "I have seen your face as one might see the face of God." But seeing him as an enemy, as a murderer, because he knew that he did not speak in order to plot, but to escape a plot, God understood. Thus, if someone offers words of friendship, not to deceive but to escape deceit, God is not angered. For He Himself is the teacher. A submissive word turns away wrath.

Now then," he says, "since the devil had cast into the heart of Judas the intention to betray the Savior, the Savior, wishing to overcome ingratitude with benevolence and to dissolve arrogance with gentleness, washed his feet. I do not so much marvel at the Master doing his own work—for gentleness was his work—as at that man being full of deceit. With what heart did he extend his feet? How did he look upon the holy hands of the Master moving about his feet? How did he not become numb? How did he not shudder? Yet the forbearing nature is patient. And it appears that he washed him first. Why? If he had not washed the feet of the traitor, but while washing the others had left him out, that too would have been alien to the Master, and Judas would have taken a reasonable pretext: 'He set me apart; he alienated me; he washed the feet of all, but condemned me. With what soul could I have been with him?' The Lord saw a crushed heart and did not wish to crush further what was already crushed from itself. And this was 'do not break a broken reed.' Nevertheless, he washed the feet of the disciples. He came last to Peter. While the Savior was washing the others, Peter considered the dignity of the Master and the lowliness of the men, the humility of the men and the glory of the glorified one, and he resolved within himself not to allow it. The Savior came to him, and that one says, 'Lord, do you wash my feet? You are the one who raises the dead, who cleanses lepers'—for the 'you' has great force. 'You, to whom I bore witness that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'

If I had spoken from ignorance, it would have been a human suspicion. But if you have sealed my voice, saying, "My Father in the heavens revealed it to you," do you endure a servant's feet being washed by a master's hands? You will never wash my feet. What then does the Savior do? He disperses his voice. "What I do now," he says, "you do not know, but you will know later," meaning, you are ignorant of my purpose in doing this. He did not endure it, but hearing these things, he says, "You will never wash my feet." He showed a soul harder than adamant. The Savior brought his own fire and made the adamantine soul softer than wax. "So then," he says, "even if you are stubborn and contentious, release your resistance. If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with me." And the stubborn and contentious one says, "Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head." He was depriving him of the principal, and he repaid it with interest. The character of Christians is not stubborn. A Christian must not have a contentious character. He must not be variable for treachery, but versatile for virtue. What he ought to be: cheerful in a time of cheerfulness, and somber in a time of grief, as Paul says: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, fast with those who fast, weep with those who weep." For this is what Paul says: "Whether you eat or drink, do everything to the glory of God." So Peter's stubbornness availed nothing. For it was dissolved, as with another. When Christ came to be baptized by John, the Baptist says to him, "Lord, I have need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?" The Savior says to him, "Let it be for now.

Do not be contentious, do not resist, for the judgment is divine. Do not prematurely expose the dignity. Allow me to fulfill the role and truly show that I took a man, so that through the true man I might appear as God. He only said, "Let it be for now," and immediately the evangelist notes: "Then he allowed him to be baptized." He contended as a pious man and obeyed as a lover of God. So also Jeremiah contended with God: "O Lord, Master, you know that I am young." And the Lord said to me: "Do not say that I am young, for to whomever I send you, you will go." Resoluteness dissolved the monotony. Again Moses persisted, saying: "Appoint another. For I am weak-voiced and slow-tongued." But he did not yield. But let us return to the matter at hand. The Savior says: "If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with me." In this we must know that God is the portion of the faithful, and the faithful are the portion of God. For example: the whole world belongs to God; but God knows the faithful. The whole world, it is said, was created by me, but nothing matters to me except the portion of the faithful. Therefore the faithful cried out, as David did: "My portion is the Lord in the land of the living," and again: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance." And Mary, sitting at the feet of the master, heard teaching, and the Savior says: "Mary chose the good portion, which will not be taken from her." Do you see that the portion of the faithful is God? It is then necessary to show where the portion of God, the faithful, is. Moses says:

When the Most High divided the nations, he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of nations according to the number of the angels of God, and the portion of the Lord was born, his people Jacob. Since the whole world was his, but only his people were called Jacob. So also the prophet Amos says: And I saw, and behold, the Lord summoned the judgment by fire and devoured the great abyss and devoured the portion of the Lord—he means the people. And he said, they say: Cease, Lord, from Jacob, because he is few in number, meaning do not consume us. These things have been said because of the Savior’s saying: If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Therefore, God is the portion of the faithful, and the faithful are the portion of God. Peter says: Lord, wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. Peter thought that that washing was a remission of sins and wanted to receive remission through his whole body. But it was not a remission of sins, but a basis for reverence. Then the Savior says: He who has bathed has no need, except only to wash his feet; you are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. But these things have this character. When he had washed the feet and dried them, taking his garments he reclined. He kept the form of a servant and then reclines as master and says with authority: Do you not know what I have done for you? meaning, you did not understand. Do you not say: The Lord and the Teacher? And you say well. For I am. Here he reveals his authority. He cast off the form of a servant and introduces that of God. Do you not say: The Lord and the Teacher?

If then I, the Lord and teacher, washed your feet, how much more ought you to wash one another’s feet? For I have given you an example—I see that it was a matter of reverence—so that, as I did for you, he says, so also you should do for one another. These things having happened thus, his disciples come to him and say, “Lord, where do you wish us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” See the foreknowledge of God. He says, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him wherever he goes, and into whatever house he enters; say to the householder, ‘My time is near; I am celebrating the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ And he himself will show you an upper room that is furnished.” He observes two things: he equips the apostles to ask the householder, and, lest they think that he does not know the place, he says to them, “He will show you a large furnished upper room.” If you foretell the place, why do you say to the disciples, “Ask about the place”? Before we asked, did we learn? Yes, he says, and it is fitting for me to foretell as God, and for you to ask as men. Nowhere does Christ celebrate the mystery in lowly places, but on the mountain or in an upper room. For nothing lowly is associated with Christ. For this reason, when the apostles received the descent of the Holy Spirit, they were gathered in an upper room. Then, he says, he sent two of the disciples to prepare the Passover. Who were these? Peter and John. Why did he send Peter and John instead of the twelve? Peter was the one who confessed that you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

John was about to proclaim, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He sends the foundation of the faith and the son of thunder, so that in the foundation the mystery of piety might be fixed, and in the son of thunder the commandments of righteousness might flash like lightning. Again, why does he send Peter and John? So that it might be shown that the gift of both holy matrimony and virginity is spread abroad, and that both those in holy matrimony and those in virginity who live rightly become partakers of the Passover. He sends virginity and holy matrimony to prepare the Passover for him; just as on the mountain he presented Moses and Elijah, one shining from holy matrimony, the other from virginity, so that holy matrimony and virginity might appear standing beside Christ. For I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you. He is not compelled, but he is constrained; the passion is not involuntary, but the intention is voluntary. If the master, while bestowing benefits, said, "I have earnestly desired," what shall we say? For you anticipate our words, master; you anticipate our sins and shine forth with your benefactions. We ought to say, "We desire to see the Passover," and you anticipate? Does a spring ever desire those who thirst, or do those who thirst desire the spring? Does a table desire the hungry, or do the hungry desire the table? It is fitting for us to say what David said: "As the deer longs for the springs of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

But since the mystagogy of the Savior is at hand—this glorious passion itself, this very tradition of the passion—we must yield to the word and to the occasion, so that we who thirst may enjoy, the faithful may be strengthened, those about to be enlightened may receive the pledge, and the faithful may guard themselves. Do not, under the pretext of the gift, break the course of the fast. Just as one traveling a long road rests for the care of the body, whether in inns or in other places, but does not cease from the journey—resting to warm the body, yet not abandoning the goal of the journey—so the Savior has given us the enjoyment of his goods, not that we might indulge, but that we might tend to the flesh and the soul. Do not, then, under the pretext of the mysteries, introduce what is alien. Do not, because you partake, think it a sister grace to debauchery. Let these things be guarded not only by the faithful, but also by the catechumens. Before the gift, show the dignity of the gift. What need of words? Examine your conscience. With what boldness does the one who has stolen the fast approach? Truly, you approach tomorrow, and even if no one accuses you, your conscience will accuse you. Have you ever seen anyone carrying an accuser within himself? Rather, have your conscience as an advocate. This day—that is, this holy mystagogy—does not want the course of the fast, nor the mystagogy of the holy Pascha. But since in this day there is the tradition of the passion, and in that day the demonstration of the resurrection, let us become communicants and participants in the resurrection. Today let us commune with the passion, then with the resurrection.

Today, as we partake in communion, let us not give ourselves over to revelry, but to tears. For after the resurrection there is no grief. While the Master is still in his passion, do you indulge in luxury? Do you not know how many, even among the great, have often incurred blame for feasting during a royal mourning, and have suffered punishment? And you, beholding the Lord’s passion still shining upon the cross, not yet bearing the word of the resurrection, have you anticipated the joy of the resurrection and given yourself over to revelry? I say these things not because the Savior himself must be mourned, as though he had undergone something worthy of lamentation, but because we must display our own gratitude, so that by sharing in his passion, we may become sharers in the resurrection. For to the Lord himself belong glory, honor, and adoration, together with the Father and the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.