In illud: Genimina viperarum

Of the same author, on the saying of the Gospel: and on "Genimina viperarum," who showed you to flee from the coming wrath, and concerning Pentecost. A lamp of piety, a proclamation of the knowledge of God, is the illumination of the divinely inspired teaching of the Scriptures. For the teaching of the Scriptures is a source of piety and a beginning of truth, and the boldness of the saints and the expectation of the faithful, the freedom of the inhabited world and the salvation of the cosmos. Not so do the luminaries illuminate the heavens as the words of God illuminate our souls. Not so does the variety of fruits crown the earth as the teaching of the Scriptures crowns our souls. Not so do springs and rivers pour forth their own waters as the teachings of the Holy Spirit gush forth their clear and pure streams. For this reason, Scripture compares the divine oracles to pure and clear springs, saying: "Draw water with joy from the springs of the Savior." And observe the fitting contemplation of the all-wise teaching: it both calls it a spring and commands to draw. It calls the teachings springs because of the expansiveness of grace, and it commands to draw because of the laboriousness of the work. And since perceptible springs have their water on the surface, while the Scriptures have their meanings in depth, it did not say "take" or "scoop," but "draw." For what is drawn is drawn from a depth; for "deep water in the heart of a man, and a wise man will draw it." Let us draw water with joy. What is "Let us draw with joy"? That is, let us labor rejoicing, since every toil is grievous to the one who toils. But study concerning the divine oracles, even if it involves toil, has a sweet labor. It says:

Draw water with joy from the springs of the Savior. The words of the Gospels are these springs of the Savior. Formerly there were the ancient springs, and the prophetic words were called the springs of Israel. For the words of the prophets were with the ancient people alone, but the new springs of the apostles were poured out over the whole world. The first springs are of Israel, the new springs of the Savior. Concerning the ancient springs, David says: In the assemblies bless the Lord God from the springs of Israel; concerning the new, Isaiah says: Draw water from the springs of the Savior. And what is the Savior? Symeon interprets in this: For as he took the infant Savior in his arms and bore in his hands the one who bears all things, not looking at the visible form of the body, but at the hidden dignity of the divinity, he said while carrying the one who carries all things: Now you release your servant, Master, in peace according to your word; for my eyes have seen your Savior.

Let us then come to one spring of the Savior, the blessed John the Baptist, so that the discourse of our brevity, serving what has just been read, may satisfy the need. John said to those coming to be baptized by him: "Offspring of vipers, who showed you to flee from the coming wrath?" A strange announcement of teaching, a strange course of saving instruction: he insults and benefits, he threatens and proclaims good news. "Offspring of vipers, who showed you to flee?" If we flee the wrath at all, how are we offspring of vipers? But he both calls them offspring and proclaims salvation to them, so that by the name of the viper he may indicate their former state, and by "flee the wrath" he may interpret the fruit of repentance. "Offspring of vipers, who showed you to flee?" As if he said: "Who, when you are unworthy of being saved, showed you a way of salvation?" Why do you both teach and insult, show the way and rebuke? You taught us to flee, you who say: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." But just as one who wishes to bring to awareness the one escaping punishment sets before him the deserved penalty he has escaped, so that he may learn what he has obtained—"You are unaware," he says, "what danger or punishment you have escaped," not to reproach him, but to bring him to awareness of the benefit. The Baptist says these things: "Offspring of vipers," and those hearing are not offended. For they were disciples of David, who says: "A just man will instruct me in mercy and will reprove me." "Produce," he says, "fruit worthy of repentance." Interpret "who showed you." Repentance.

If you have hastened to repentance, produce fruits worthy of repentance. And since he saw them puffed up over being children of Abraham, wishing to lead them to an awareness that it is not kinship of lineage that confirms nobility, but harmony of character, he says: Produce fruits worthy of repentance and do not begin to say, "We have Abraham as father," because lineage does not save one whom character does not save, nor does kinship of lineage exalt one whom harmony of character does not crown. And that you may learn that there is no benefit to those who have the lineage of Abraham but do not preserve the nobility of character, this holy man calls those born from them "offspring of vipers," not insulting the patriarchs nor calling them children of a viper, but exposing the wickedness of these people, just as Isaiah said to the people from Abraham: "Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom," not knowing them as relatives of Sodomites, but as of like character, to show that lineage produces character: "Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom, pay attention to the law of our God, people of Gomorrah." And the one who said, "Rulers of Sodom," says, "Wash yourselves, become clean," the brother of John, both rebuking and teaching: "Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom." Keep this stored in the tablets of your mind, so that when you hear a Jew reproaching you or saying, "From where do you have the writings of the prophets?" or "From where do you have Abraham as father?" you may say to him: Because the church prides itself on having Abraham as father by faith. If the opponent says, "From where are you a son of Abraham?" say to him, "From where are you a son of Sodom?" If he says—

Because of the disbelief of those people, you will say to him: If disbelief was strong enough to insult nobility, does faith not transfer low birth into nobility? All the prophets agree with this, honoring character and placing lineage second, as Ezekiel said: Your father is an Amorite and your mother a Hittite; your sister is Sodom. And observe the remarkable thing. Lest the Jews seem to endure insult when hearing themselves called Sodomites, and the Jewess seem insulted when hearing herself called sister of Sodom, the prophet removes her evil suspicion and wishes to persuade her that she is honored rather than insulted by being called sister of Sodom, because, while committing greater evils, she is named its sister. Since, then, the people bore heavily hearing the sister of Sodom, God resolves the ambiguity by saying: As I live, says the Lord, your sister Sodom has not sinned half as much as your sins. And observe the remarkable thing. Just as a thief is a shameful thing in himself, but when compared to a bandit or murderer he seems respectable relative to that one, so also you, in comparison to Sodom. Rather, Sodom is more righteous in comparison. Whence this? Scripture says: Your sister has not sinned as you have. As I live, says the Lord, she has been justified by you, meaning: When set beside your deeds, she appears more respectable.

If, then, the Israelites became worse than the Sodomites, why did they not suffer what the Sodomites suffered? Because God knew the fruits that were to spring forth from them: apostles, evangelists, preachers, and the very salvific body which the Benefactor took. He spared the root of ingratitude, so as not to cut off the fruits of truth, deeming it unjust, as a just one, to cut short the yield of good things because of the root of evil ones. For this reason, Isaiah, after saying, “Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom; pay attention to the law of your God, people of Gomorrah,” in order to explain the reason why, though doing what the Sodomites did, they do not suffer what the Sodomites suffered, says: “Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire.” And: “If the Lord Sabaoth had not left us seed, we would have become like Sodom and been likened to Gomorrah.” If the fruit of the apostles had not been expected, if God had not awaited the fruit of the evangelists, if that holy seed coming from the holy virgin had not been expected, we would have become like Sodom. And that this was the understanding of the saints, and that we are not forcing the interpretation, listen to Paul: “Not all those from Israel are Israel; nor, because they are seed of Abraham, are they all children of God, but now a remnant has come into being by election of grace.” What did Isaiah say? “If the Lord Sabaoth had not left us seed.” What does the apostle say? “A remnant has come into being by election of grace, not from works.” Then he adds: “As Isaiah said: ‘If the Lord Sabaoth had not left us seed, we would have become like Sodom.’

But let us return to the matter at hand. Why does he call the servants of evil "snakes"? Because of the ancient serpent in paradise. For just as the serpent in paradise became an instrument of the devil's deception, so now many are servants of the devil. No longer does the devil need to speak through a serpent, having many servants. Then, since he was waging war against Adam and Eve, and there was no other person through whom to deceive the only ones, he borrowed a foreign person, and thus through them deceived many. Now he has no need of a serpent. For he has many serpents. Every servant of the devil, every craftsman of evil, even if he bears the face of a rational human being, differs in no way from a serpent. For he is an instrument of the devil, just as that one was. Therefore, the Savior, wishing to show that the one who spoke through the serpent then was the same one who spoke among the Jews, as they were contriving their theomachy at that time, says to them: "You are from your father the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father." That one was a murderer from the beginning, and truly does not stand in truth, because he is a liar; you are from your father the devil, and what you have heard from him, that you speak.

Since, then, they were distorting the evangelical and salvific proclamation, the blessed one insults and rebukes the manner of those who enjoy benefits and insult the grace with ingratitude, and he says to them: "Snakes, offspring of vipers, who showed you how to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance." Brother Paul, while exhorting, rebukes: "Rebuke," he says, "reprove, exhort." And do not begin to say among yourselves: "We have Abraham as father." For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones. Saint John persists in honoring Abraham. And showing God saying that he will raise up children for him, in order to dissolve the suspicion of the Jews, since he had previously said "snakes, offspring of vipers," so that he might not be thought to insult the patriarchs, but rather the manner, he says: "Produce fruits worthy of repentance and do not begin to say: 'We have Abraham as father.' For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones." For God it is not impossible to transform even a stone into a human. But since both Jews and Gentiles were present at the holy baptism, spectators of the miracle and of the baptism, as the evangelist says: "All Judea and Samaria came out." Therefore both the Jewish people and the Gentile were gathered. For this reason he says: "God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones." That is, from these men who are currently insensible, the Gentiles, those who have never been angered, the hard, the difficult to work, he can raise up children. Pay close attention. Why does he call them stones?

Since they were worshipping stones, making the worshipper like the worshipped, for this reason David says: "They become like them, all who worship them, and also all who trust in them." So John insults those who serve insensibility as insensible stones. Already the axe lies at the root of the trees. What a word full of reason and fear and love and exhortation. Already, he says, the axe lies at the root of the trees, not acting, but threatening. As a loving father or teacher, drawing the laziness of childhood, neither strikes out of forbearance and places the rod nearby and threatens, as if to say, if you do not attend to your lessons, you have this rod, and he holds it, both idle and threatening, so he introduces the punishment of future things like a sharpened axe, but not touching. Already the axe lies at the root of the trees; every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. He did not say "not having produced," since repentance would be cut off, but "not producing good fruit." He well added "good." For one can see other fruits that are good but not genuine. So every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Just as the blessed John introduced the axe, prepared but not touching, so also David says to those who sin: "If you do not turn back, he will sharpen his sword." He did not say: "he sharpened his sword," he takes vengeance against his servants, he will strike, he will kill.

Now the sword is sharpened, when you see a prophet saying that the Lord comes to judgment, and interpreting the future punishment as a sword sharpened on a whetstone by the word, in order to prepare you, and for this reason he displays fear so that he may open for us the way of salvation. If you do not turn back, he will sharpen his sword, he has strung his bow and made it ready. He has prepared the bow, and does not shoot, but shows the posture of an enemy and a father's affection. Now it would be possible to examine many things in what has been said, but the visitation of the Holy Spirit draws us, since the holy Pentecost has occurred on this holy day, not to pass over the discourse concerning it without examination. For just as the Ascension has given us no preference, having shown its own radiance in the days, so also the visitation of the Holy Spirit does not give preference to those who celebrate the feast, and after the feast to feast, and to dance together with the divine word, and always to enjoy the teaching of the Holy Spirit. When, it says, the day of Pentecost was being completed, they were all together in the same place. All who? The apostles and the disciples with them. Why did the visitation of the Holy Spirit occur on the day of Pentecost? For this reason. Not because God is subject to a cause, but because nothing is without reason with God. For God appears when he wishes, and he wishes when he creates the opportune moment. On the day of Pentecost, according to the Old Covenant, the law was given.

Therefore, on the very day the law was given through tablets, the legislation of the Holy Spirit should have been given, not on tablets, but written in the heart. For this reason, contrasting the new with the old legislation, he says: "Our epistle is you, inscribed not on stone tablets but on tablets of fleshly hearts." On the day of Pentecost, the people received the law in the wilderness of Sinai. And pay attention to the precision of the calculation. On the fourteenth day of the first month, counted according to the moon, the sons of Israel departed from Egypt, when they celebrated the Unleavened Bread and the mystery of Passover. From the fourteenth, calculate the completion of the month, that is, seventeen days, and of the second month thirty days, so that the third day of the third month is the Pentecost, the feast from the Unleavened Bread of Passover. Therefore, from the fourteenth until the third day of the third month, there are fifty days. For this reason, it says: "And it happened in the third month after their departure from Egypt, the Lord said to Moses: 'Go down, sanctify the people today and tomorrow.'" He spoke to him at the new moon, because on the third, he says, the Lord will appear on Mount Sinai. Pay attention, I ask.

If, then, the law was given on the fiftieth day, with God appearing and legislating and Moses receiving the tablets, it was necessary that on the same day on which the old law was given, the grace of the Spirit should also be given, so that the authority of the Spirit might be shown, and the manifestation of God interpreted, and the undivided nature of the divinity be demonstrated, working in the old and new and in different times one harmony of the divine words. For just as the Savior, when about to accomplish the holy passion, did not allow himself to be delivered to the passion at another time, but at the time when the lamb was sacrificed, so that he might join the truth to the type itself, so also the descent of the Holy Spirit did not allow itself to be given at another time than that at which the law was given, so that it might be shown that the Holy Spirit both then legislated and now. For the Holy Spirit legislates as ruling over all. The royal nature also legislates, possessing the authority of the divinity. And that it legislates, hear Moses commanding: Remember the law of the Lord your God. Christ legislates, since the royal nature is an undivided divinity. Paul says: Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. The Holy Spirit legislates, and Paul bears witness: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set me free. And observe the wonderful thing. Since the law was being given, the face of Moses was glorified. For he came down from the mountain like the sun, shining forth rays from his face.

And so that no one, looking to the ancient history and seeing the glorified face of Moses, might think that legislation to be superior to the law given by the Holy Spirit, Paul, not allowing even equality but showing the great superiority of the Gospel, says: Not on stone tablets, but on tablets of fleshly hearts. Not by letter, but by spirit. The letter kills, but the spirit gives life. The law given through letters kills. The law says, "The murderer shall be put to death, the adulterer shall be punished." But grace came, not destroying sinners, but giving life through repentance. For this reason, Scripture calls the ordinance of the law a killing letter, and the life-giving law of the spirit, Spirit. Pay attention, I beg you. Then, since the glorified face of Moses was set in opposition, Paul says: For if the ministry of death, engraved in stones, was accomplished in glory—he does not call the law death, but the punishment defined by it—if the ministry of death was accomplished in glory, much more does the ministry of the spirit abound in glory. Then he introduces the law ceasing, and the evangelical law of the spirit remaining forever. Since, then, the law was becoming inoperative and coming to an end, while evangelical grace was spread over all ages, Paul says: For if that which is being abolished is with glory, much more is that which remains with glory. Pay attention, then: The letter kills—that is, it punishes sinners. But the spirit gives life, for it opens a way of repentance and gives life to the sinful man.

Since every sin deadens the sinner, while repentance, by granting him renewal, leads him into the order of life, it says: The Spirit gives life, as Paul says: And us, who were dead through transgressions, he made alive together with Christ. Since, therefore, on the day the law was given, it was necessary for the power of the Spirit to shine forth, listen to what the writer says: And when the day of Pentecost was completed, they were all together in one place. But I beg you, pay close attention, so that you may learn how the apostles teach us to look to them and to receive from them the ray of the holy light. The law was given in the old covenant on the day of Pentecost. After they entered the land of promise, this was the symbol of the feast: Since it was not possible for a law to be given every year—the sheep was sacrificed every year, but a law was not given every year. For the things of the law were immutable. This, then, was the symbol of the feasts. The first fruits of the new crops and sheaves of new ears of grain were offered to God. And that too was a symbol of this feast. First, on the day the law was given then, and now a second law. And just as on the day of Pentecost sheaves of new crops were gathered and the separated things came together under one appearance, so on this day from every nation under the sun, from different nations—Parthians, Medes, and Elamites—were to come together into one sheaf of piety and be brought to God through the apostolic word.

He prefigured the sheaf of grain, so as to pre-interpret the sheaves of souls, which are taken from different places and brought as a single first-fruit of grain to God. Then it was a first-fruit, and now it is a first-fruit. For just as to you, the farmer, all the grain gathered on the threshing floor is beloved, but the first ear of grain to appear is honored above the rest, and you rejoice at the winepress filled with grapes, yet that multitude of grapes does not delight you as much as a single grape that appears first, showing the face of a future promise. So too, every soul that hastens toward piety is beloved to God. But the soul that outstrips the others is especially beloved. For example: villages and cities have come into being in the land. All Christians are beloved to God. But the first Christian to appear is especially beloved, the first ear of grain to sprout, the first grape. Just as in the case of Abraham and the patriarchs, since they were the preludes of good things, when the world was not yet saved, God says concerning him: "I found Israel like a grape in the desert, and your fathers like an early fig." So elsewhere Paul, interpreting the first-fruit that is contrasted with the type, says: "I greet Epainetos, my beloved, who is the first-fruit of Achaia." All these things the type possessed then. But now the truth has shown them.

But let us come to the contemplation itself according to the text. When the day of Pentecost was completed, they were all together in one place. Where were they? In a house. They did not receive the Holy Spirit in the marketplace, but in a house. For it adds: And suddenly there came a sound, like a violent wind being borne, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And what kind of house was it? It was not on the ground floor, but an upper room. And whence is this? For is it not written that when the disciples had sent off the Savior’s ascension and returned to Jerusalem, they went up, it says, to the upper room where Peter and the whole chorus of the apostles were staying? That upper room is the one mentioned in the Gospel, in which Christ celebrated the Passover. For the disciples say to the Savior: Where do you wish us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? Christ says: Enter the city and you will find a man carrying a jar of water. Follow him wherever he enters a house, and say to him: The teacher says that my time is near, that I may celebrate the Passover with my disciples. Where is the place which you have prepared? And he himself will show you a great upper room furnished; there prepare for me. See how he preserves the rule of divinity and humanity? Ask him where the place is in which he prepares, and he will show you a great upper room. If you foretell, why do you ask? But so that the question may show the answer in harmony with the prediction, he both commands them to ask and foretells the place, in order to show both the appearance of the man and the foreknowledge of God.

They were all together with one accord in the same place; and suddenly there came a sound from heaven. Observe the visitation of the Holy Spirit, how it appears gloriously and royally and with divine authority. It has often been said that the divine nature does not appear as it is, but as it measures itself to the sight or hearing of mortal nature. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven. Rightly it says "from heaven," since then too the first voice from God on the mountain came from heaven, and then it came to Mount Sinai, as Moses testifies saying: "His voice was heard from heaven, and he showed you his great fire." So also now it first broke forth with a sound and then the fire appeared. Why? So that the ancient vision might show the same God visiting both then and now. There came a sound like a rushing wind. This wind was not itself the Holy Spirit, but it was a fear-bearing escort, preparing the souls of the apostles in advance, so that they, not being slack, might receive the visitation of the Spirit, but rather, having been strengthened by fear and prepared for the strange and extraordinary, they might thus become worthy of the visitation. And just as someone announcing the arrival of the master to slack and negligent servants tightens them up, so that each one, laying aside the posture of negligence, may compose both expression and bearing for the master's arrival, so the violent wind came beforehand and disturbed the house and filled it with noise, so that, renewed by fear, they might become worthy of the visitation of the Holy Spirit, having purified their mind by fear. For the fear of the Lord remains pure forever and ever.

Suddenly there came a sound from heaven. And this event itself was an image of what was to come. "Suddenly," because of the strangeness of the teaching; "from heaven," because of the supramundane nature of what was arriving; "a sound," because the evangelical trumpet was to resound to the ends of the inhabited world. For their utterance went forth into every land. This sound began from Christ, but blossomed in the apostles. And where did it sound? In the Savior, when the Savior worked his miracles. The Gospel says: "And his sound went forth, a sound into all Syria." And Paul says to those who believed: "From you the word of the Lord is sounded forth." A sound like a violent blast of wind. Why violent? It touched the corners of the house, causing a tremor; it produced a vision. For this reason it was a violent wind, so that it might correspond to the image of Mount Sinai. For when God appeared on the mountain, there was darkness, gloom, and a storm. Just as then these terrors attended the law, so too the laws of the Holy Spirit had to be attended by fear, so that those receiving the law might present themselves as worthy to the lawgiver.

It filled the whole house where they were sitting, and tongues as of fire appeared to them, divided. He did not say "fire," but "as of fire." For it was not fire that appeared, but what appeared was thought to be fire. And why fire? Fire is a precursor, rousing the apostles to fear. Fire is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. And so that you may not take it as an insult that the holy and worshipful nature appeared in the form of fire, he interprets the new things, those that happened through Moses. Moses says: "And the form of God of Israel on Mount Sinai was like burning fire." Observe that the wording agrees with that: "The glory of the God of Israel was like fire." He did not say "fire," but "like fire"; and here: "tongues as of fire appeared." And "tongues as of fire appeared to them, divided." He did not say "divided," but "distributed." Pay attention, I beg you, to the manner in which it happened. Tongues did not appear immediately, but much fire, then the fire was as if cut up and distributed into tongues. Who was dividing? What was being divided? The nature of the Spirit was not divided, but the Spirit was the one dividing, and the gift of the Spirit was what was divided. For the Spirit is not divided, but divides. Listen to Paul: "To one," he says, "is given a word of wisdom according to the same Spirit, to another faith, to another gifts of healings; and all these things one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each individually as it wills, distributing, not being distributed." And again the apostle says: "God bearing witness with signs and wonders and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to his own will." Whose? The Holy Spirit distributing to each individually as it wills.

Tongues as of fire appeared to them, divided. Why fire? Why tongues? Because there was need of proclamation, so that the form might interpret the activity. That the Spirit is given in the form of tongues for no other purpose than for the flourishing of the apostolic proclamation, and that what was lacking in the nature of the fishermen due to their lack of education might be supplied through the tongues, so that what was spoken by them in different tongues, having an excess of gift, might enlighten the hearers. It taught that fire has the power to consume all the madness of sin raging in the world. And just as fire has both the illuminating and the burning power, so the word of the apostles both enlightened the believers and consumed the gainsayers. Paul had such a tongue of fire, with which he both enlightened the proconsul and blinded Elymas the magician, with the same power enlightening the one and blinding the other. Then: And it sat upon each one of them. One could see above the heads of all the saints a fire not burning, but sanctifying and shining upon them. Why then did they receive the tongues not upon the mouth, but upon the head? Fittingly, the Spirit was not given into the tongue, that is, into the organ of nature, lest they be thought to produce from their own loins and from their own mouth what they did not possess.

Just as waters taken up into the sky seize the peaks of the mountains and are carried down from the heights into the ravines, so the grace of the Spirit, seizing the head as a mountain, then supplied from the head to the brain, then to the mouth and the heart, and filled the whole man entirely from the head. Why again upon the head? Because the apostles were being ordained teachers of the world. Ordination does not happen otherwise than upon the head. For the apostles were appointed by the Savior. But not of the world. They were entrusted with Judea alone. Hence the Savior commanded them: Do not go into the way of the nations and do not enter the city of the Samaritans; rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But the Holy Spirit, having come, ordains them apostles of the world, teachers of all the nations. And if they had not received the grace of the Spirit, they would not have been entrusted with the apostolate of the world. The Lord himself bears witness to these words: And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. For they received the beginning from the Savior, but the end from the Spirit. Not that the Spirit is above the Son. But just as the Father, having given the greater things to the Son, does not diminish himself, so also the Son, yielding the greater things to the Spirit, does not diminish his own glory. God spoke the law. He yielded the Gospels to the Son.

Is the son then greater than the father? The same nature yields. The father loves the son, the son honors the father. Why do you divide an undivided nature, a nature at peace? When the Holy Spirit had descended, apostles of the world were chosen. And while the proclamation was still in its beginnings and the apostles were not yet willing to go forth to the preaching among the nations, but were attached to their homeland and clung to ancestral customs, God arranged for the word to be proclaimed in Syrian Antioch by foreigners. For there were certain Syrians and Cyrenaeans who had come out from the upper room. And they spoke the word and anticipated the apostles. Our command is put to shame when others anticipate us. The power of God refuted our pity. For this reason, when the apostles and the elders learned that Antioch had received the word, they sent Barnabas and Paul to the nations that had believed. They came to Antioch. They were about to preach and then return again to Jerusalem. Just as a colt not yet taught the length of the road constantly turns back to the manger, so they, lingering in their ancient customs, shunned the journey to the nations. But when the Spirit saw that they did not dare from choice but were held back by hesitation and enslaved to habit, as Paul and his companions were about to return to Jerusalem, the Spirit said while they were fasting: "Set apart for me Barnabas and Paul for the work to which I have called them." It did not say "which he commanded to call," but "to which I have called." And the interpreter adds:

Those sent by the Holy Spirit then came down to Antioch. I have said these things because the tongues appeared upon the heads, in order to show the form of ordination. How is ordination placed over the head? Because of the sequence of necessary and ecclesiastical matters. For observe that from that time until now the practice has prevailed. Since the teaching of the Holy Spirit is invisible, the law of the Gospel found a way. The Gospel is placed upon the head of the one about to be ordained high priest. And when it is placed, nothing else is seen but a tongue of fire resting upon the head: a tongue, because of the proclamation; fire, because of the one who says, "I came to cast fire into the world, and what do I want if it is already kindled?" It sat upon each one of them. It did not say "was established," it did not say "arrived," but "sat," in order to show that every man serving God and receiving a ministry is a throne of God. It did not say "floated over each one," but "sat upon." And Peter's head was a throne of the Holy Spirit, along with Andrew's and each one of them likewise. Pay attention, I ask. Just as there are thrones of God and thrones of wisdom, so also there are thrones of lawlessness. Whence also David says, "Shall a throne of lawlessness not sit with you?" It says, "It sat upon each one of them." One could see fire sitting upon them and conceive of a nature that shows one thing in appearance but presents another in its activity. And all were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was first shown that it sat upon the head, and from the head the whole person was filled.

They were all filled, it says, with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Pay attention to "gave them utterance." It is the Spirit that distributes, that gives speech both to the preacher and to the martyr. Neither can a man bear witness unless he is energized by the Spirit, nor is he a herald of God unless he is supplied by the Spirit. Do you wish to see that neither is one a herald of God unless he is empowered by the Holy Spirit, nor can one bear witness unless he is strengthened by the Holy Spirit? The Savior says, preparing all for the virtue of martyrdom: "When they bring you before the tribunals, do not be anxious how or what you will say. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking in you." And elsewhere: "For it will be given to you at that hour what you will say, as the Spirit gave." How does the Savior say again elsewhere? "Do not be anxious what you will say; for I will give you a mouth of wisdom which all your opponents will not be able to contradict." For both the Father and the Son and the Spirit give. Here the Lord says, "I will give." Elsewhere it says, "It is given to you by the Holy Spirit." Where is the truth? The nature and the giving are undivided. The Spirit gives, the Son gives. Does the Father then not give a mouth? Listen to God speaking to Moses, when Moses pleaded the weakness of his organs, saying: "I beg you, Lord, I have a weak voice; appoint another who is able." What then? And the Lord said to Moses: "Who gave a mouth to man?" The Savior says: "I will give you a mouth and wisdom.

Who made the deaf hear and the blind see? "Is it not I, the Lord?" If then the Father says he gives a mouth, the Son says, "I give," and Scripture says, "As the Spirit gave them utterance," is it not clear even to the blind that whatever is the work of the Spirit is also the work of the Son and the Father? Whatever is the Father's is that of the whole Trinity. "As the Spirit gave them utterance." It did not say "utterance" but "utterance from." For they were not uttering from themselves, but from the Holy Spirit. Thus the grace of God arranged from the beginning that the word would be practical for the apostles. For what need was there of heralds when there were no hearers? What need was there of seed when the ground had not been renewed? Since, then, the firstfruits of the nations had to receive order from their very beginnings, the author says: "There were in Jerusalem dwelling pious Jews from every nation under heaven." For the tongues were for the gift to the nations. Therefore the firstfruits of the nations had to receive the sign from there. Suddenly it came from heaven, so that the crowd would be gathered by what happened. You know the curiosity of people, that a person cannot bear not to ask: "Is it an earthquake? Is it wind? Did God arrange this?" Then they say: "No, but the disciples of the crucified one received the Holy Spirit." All began to stand, not as friends yet, but as spectators of the strange spectacle. When this sound occurred, the crowd gathered, thrown into confusion by fear. And to show that fear and the strangeness of the spectacle caused the confusion, it says:

They were confounded with fear, because each one heard the apostles speaking the glories of God. There is, then, a confusion that produces a state of calm. When the fear of God confounds you, it leads to compunction. You were confounded by the consciousness of your sins; you were calmed by the hope of repentance. And all those from the nations were thinking, saying to one another: "Are not all these speakers Galileans?" For they were recognized by the Savior and by their original speech. And just as today the tongue of Cappadocians or Bithynians cannot be hidden, but each tribe has some peculiarity, so too the Galileans had something distinctive, and they could not escape notice or hide from anyone. Indeed, when the doorkeeper questioned Peter and he denied it, she says to him: "Truly you are one of them, for your speech makes you evident." "Are not all these speakers Galileans? And how is it that we each hear in our own dialect, in which we were born, Parthians, Medes, and Elamites?" They received gifts of fifteen languages at that time, as many as were present. For what need was there of the Persian tongue when Persians were not present? But just as in wars every device and every contrivance is prepared, and each of these is effective for the need and the necessity that arises, so too as many languages appeared then as there were principal nations. Why the firstfruits of fifteen languages? So that both the activity of the Trinity might be manifest and the twelve servants. And how, he says, do we hear them speaking the glories of God? And pay attention, I ask you.

In the manifestation of the wonders, the apostles gathered together both the proclamation of the cross. So that from the visible glory, the suspicions of worthlessness might be removed, while the grace of the cross might be woven and built up piece by piece, and the events might bear witness against the suspicions of the many that what is thought is one thing and what is at work is another. For example: the apostles spoke this grace which they received through the one who suffered, the crucified one, the master of heaven, and they did not seem to speak contrary things. For the tongue present dissolved the suspicion and confirmed the proclamation. They spoke the glories of God. One could see Peter the Galilean speaking in Latin, a tongue he had not learned, so that the ancient saying might also be fulfilled: When he came out of Egypt, he heard a tongue he did not know. The Holy Spirit arranges, so that there may be no discord among the apostles as to where each must go, and a tongue is given to each as a rule: You speak in Latin, go to Rome; you speak in Persian, go to Persia. And just as priestly ordination indicates to the one ordained the dignity of the honor, whether deacon, presbyter, or bishop, and he cannot, contrary to the proclamation uttered over him, seize for himself another dignity of honor, so also the apostles received the rule in the tongue. But since again they needed, while going to Rome, to pass through many nations, they received, as it were, auxiliary tongues, having the first from ordination. For each of the apostles is found speaking in various tongues, since they passed through many nations, as Paul says.

I thank God, I speak with the tongues of all of you more than anyone. Peter spoke in Latin, and the dominion of the Romans was proclaimed to him. And there was a rule and a boundary, that this one was assigned to you, that one should go to the east, that one to the west and illuminate the western regions, that one the northern, that one the southern. And the heralds were scattered like lightning leaping all together, just as it is said about them through the prophetic tongue: "Your lightnings flashed upon the inhabited world, the earth saw and was shaken." And indeed lightning does not shake the earth, but an earthquake does. But because the proclamation of the apostles shook the nations, as they were indignant at the innovation, "the earth saw and was shaken." And how was it shaken? When Paul entered Macedonia, the earth was shaken. For the Greeks began to say: "Those who have stirred up the inhabited world, these are also present here." And this became a type for us, so that you may never be grieved when you hear a word of insult. For nothing strange is said: the house-wreckers, the Christians, the agitators. These things were said about those luminaries. "Those who stir up the inhabited world, these are also present here." Give an open plain and release the horse's run, and it produces neither mud nor disturbance, but smoothly completes its course. Wound the water and it makes a slippery place and puddles; and of necessity, since things that are stable are not shaken. Thus every soul that is full of mud and unstable does not receive the approaches of the apostles. And the prophet cries this: "You mounted your horses upon the sea, stirring up many waters." But to show that the royal horses produce not only disturbance but also salvation, he says:

You brought your horses to the sea, and your horsemanship was salvation. All were astonished and perplexed, saying to one another: What does this strange thing mean? Others, mocking, said that they were full of new wine. Envy does not leave virtue. The torment of evil does not leave the teaching of God. God was at work, and they attributed it to drunkenness. Drunkenness was thought to be the fruit of the Holy Spirit. See the malice, refuted both by the time and the hour. At Pentecost, where would new wine come from? For new wine is called the young wine. But falsehood is blind; it does not know how it lies. Furthermore, does drunkenness give different tongues, or does it destroy the one that exists? Observe what God contrives. He allows virtue to be so that the crowd of mockers may first gather, and then the power of the saints shines forth, and thus the activity is shown besieging falsehood. Or do you not know that many, often aware of someone's virtue in speech or character or life, hesitate even to approach his presence, lest they be struck, convicted by his very face? If mockery had not been suspected, the Jews would have refused to enter and hear. God permitted it, so that mockery might gather many and grace might capture all. The Savior does this also in his own case. He went to raise the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, who had died. And since he knew the slander of the Jews and the excess of their ingratitude, that they could deny the resurrection, upon entering he finds them mourning and says to them: Do not weep; the girl has not died, but is sleeping. They mocked him, saying: She is dead.

Why do you mock the crowd? Consider, he says, how he lies. While all see that she died, he says: She did not die; he denies what is obvious. And they laughed at him, so that laughter might first accomplish the agreement. They laughed at him. And in confronting evil, he did not lie. For to God nothing dies. What is about to rise has not died. He sleeps; for he is about to be awakened. Just as: Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, and death was understood as sleep. So also here: She did not die, but sleeps; and they laughed at him, knowing that she had died. When he gathered the crowd, he says to them: She did not die. Why? If upon entering he had raised the girl, the Jews would have said that they were colluding with him and that she had not died. But he pretends to be mocked, so that those who acknowledged that she died might no longer be able to deny it after the resurrection. So also here. They are full of new wine. Then Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice. Learn now what the Holy Spirit accomplishes. See what Peter was before grace and what he became after grace. Before he received the tongues of fire, questioned by a single wretched maidservant, he was afraid, and says: I do not know the man. There, one maidservant and much timidity. Here, an infinite multitude and his voice in boldness. Why? For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking in you. Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them. He did not say: he spoke, but he addressed. To those to whom he spoke in tongue, he added speech to the teaching.

Men of Judaea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and hear my words. Consider the one who was then afraid, now speaking boldly. Consider the one who was then cowardly, now brave. Men of Judaea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is the third hour of the day. Does not the hour, he says, put you to shame? At the third hour are those who have been entrusted with the word drunk, those who have taken up the common business of the world? The heralds of the word, those who have been entrusted with the heavenly teaching, are ashamed even of a timely partaking of wine. We, for our part, have shown the falsehood from the season of the fruits. But Peter also spoke from the hour. For these men are not drunk as you suppose, he says, but this is what is written in the prophet Joel. Do you see that nothing else can resolve the difficulties except prophetic testimony? I say this so that when a heretic stirs up debate against an orthodox believer and some difficult question arises, you may not take refuge in reasonings. For reasonings of arguments are both stated and refuted, both constructed and deconstructed. But who can dissolve the voice of God? A reasoning is dissolved; scripture is not dissolved. Listen to the Lord: Is it not written in your law: I said, you are gods and all sons of the Most High? And he adds: If, then, he called those to whom the word of God came gods, and scripture cannot be dissolved.

As they were at a loss, Peter says: "This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel." What is Joel? "Lord God." For it says that in the last days, God says: "I will pour out from my Spirit upon every flesh." He did not say: "I will pour out my Spirit," but "from my Spirit." Is the Spirit poured out? Not at all, but the gift of the Spirit. "I will pour out from my Spirit upon every flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy; and your young men will see visions, and your elders will have dreams." See how diverse the revelation of the Holy Spirit is. One prophesies, having the grace of the Spirit. Another, being too weak to serve such a function, receives the gift of visions. As Peter saw the linen cloth at the sixth hour, as Cornelius saw the angel at the ninth hour. That which is in the heart is not called a vision, but a sight. One sees a vision in one way, as it says: "Walk seeing," but another sees the spectacle only with the eyes. Another is instructed by the dream in the imagination. The first is prophecy, the second is vision, the third is dream. The elders saw dreams, because old age is too weak for service. Even if one cannot serve, let him not be insulted on account of his virtue.

And indeed, "Upon my servants I will pour out from my Spirit," he says, "and they will prophesy, and I will give signs in the heaven above and on the earth below: blood and fire." It was said also earlier, when we took up the discourse concerning the cross and the holy passion, and unfolded it in contemplation as best we could, that two strange things were given: blood and fire. Fire, the visitation of the Holy Spirit; blood, the grace that issued from the side. For it is impossible for blood to come forth from a dead body; it congeals. For this reason God places it among the signs. "I will give signs in the heaven above and on the earth below: blood and fire and a vapor of smoke." The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. Many thought that he spoke of blood concerning the moon and not concerning the side. But "blood" means what the Jews shed and drew upon themselves, saying: "His blood is upon us and upon our children." And after killing him, they deny it. For evil always, when it defines against itself, repents and recalls its own words. Those who said, "His blood is upon us," say to the apostles: "What do you wish to bring upon us, the blood of this man?" The sun, he says, will be darkened, and the moon, before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. For since the first was humble, the one in the flesh, the didactic one, but the second is glorious, that holy body no longer appearing lowly but as a radiance of light flashing forth. For this reason he says: "The great day of the Lord.

We have often said that it is God who says, "I will pour out from my Spirit." Say to the Jew: if there is one person and one divine name, and He speaks about Himself, why did He not say, "Before my day comes"? Consider the one who says, "I will pour out from my Spirit and I will give signs before the day of the Lord comes, and it will be that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved," calling the Lord the Savior, as Paul says: "For the same Lord of all, rich toward all who call upon Him: 'For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.'" And to show that He speaks about Christ, He adds: "How then will they call upon the one in whom they did not believe? And how will they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how will they preach, unless they are sent?" It has been said, to the best of our ability, concerning the visitation of the Holy Spirit: that it is royal, that it is glorious, that it is indivisible, that it is peaceful. For nature is at peace with itself, even if the Son works upon the Father. The Savior leads up; He calls to the Father, saying: "This one is my brother, and my sister and mother, whoever does the will of my Father." The Son toward the Father. The Father says: "This is my beloved Son; listen to him." And just as the Father bears witness to the Son, so again He bears witness to the Spirit, saying: "But when the Paraclete comes, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He will remind you of everything and lead you into all truth." Pay attention, then. The Holy Spirit visited the apostles and spoke in them. The saints at that time, seeing, did not know how to apply themselves to the contemplation.

Who is speaking in these passages? God? The matter itself showed that it was God. But the apostles did not allow one to think simply of God, but with the appellation of the Holy Spirit. For since everyone knew the name of God, but everyone was ignorant of the Son and the Spirit, the apostles concealed what was acknowledged and brought forward what was hidden. Everyone knew that God spoke through the prophets. The apostles were eager to bring the prophecies to bear on the Son and the Spirit. When Peter was about to ordain someone in place of Judas the traitor, he says: "Brothers, it was necessary for the Scripture to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David." Do you see how he directs the prophecies to the Spirit? Then it was the Holy Spirit who spoke. Now Peter alone said, "The Holy One, through the mouth of David, was spoken by the Holy Spirit." How then does Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, say: "Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he visited and made redemption for his people and raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David his servant, as he spoke through the mouth of all the saints"? If the father of the Baptist says, "God spoke through the prophets," and Peter says, "The Holy Spirit spoke," it is clear that God is the Spirit, as Peter testifies and the father of John interprets. The nature is undivided, the glory is unpartitioned, the kingdom is unbroken, the power is united. The Father wills, the Son consents; the Son wishes, the Father votes, the Spirit seals. The Father ordains, the Son confirms. If the Father in the linen cloth says to Peter, "Rise, Peter, sacrifice and eat," and Peter says—

Not at all, Lord; I have never eaten anything common or unclean." Then he says, "What God has cleansed, do not you declare unclean—the voice of God." And Peter says, "God also indicated to me." Then he adds, "The Holy Spirit said to Peter, 'Go down and go with them, making no distinction.' The Spirit says, 'I sent them'; Peter says, 'God also showed me.' Do you see the undivided nature? When he speaks, common reasoning is at war. If I say, I do not say 'unbegotten' but 'Father.' The heretic says, 'I say unbegotten.' You say to him, 'Are we wiser than God? He did not say, "Baptize in the name of the unbegotten and the begotten." Do you insult the Lord's own utterance and adopt a foreign one? The altar did not endure foreign fire, and does the baptistery endure foreign utterances? No one contradicts God, if he is of God. I did not say 'the words of God,' but 'if the hearer is of God.' No one contradicts God—it is impossible. When God said to Peter, 'Get up, Peter, sacrifice and eat, nothing common or unclean,' did Peter object and say, 'You legislated: eat this and do not eat that; there you define and here you join together? If the law is true, these things are not clean.' But if it were a man, the argument would have a place. Where God is, however, there is no contradiction. For this reason Peter says, 'You know that it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with a foreigner; God also showed me to call no man common or unclean.' What you have heard from God, do not reason about. God has spoken; obey, and do not contradict the truth. For this reason Solomon also says, 'Child, do not contradict the truth in any way.'

You have heard God the Father, you have heard the Son, you have heard the Spirit. Why do you divide what is indivisible? God says, "I will pour out from my Spirit." And you alienate what he says. "My Spirit," he says, is not spoken of in terms of ownership and not in terms of nature, as "my slave" is spoken of. Let the "my" be common; and it interprets both nature and ownership. I ask, how then does he say "the Spirit"? As something owned? As something acknowledged? Since even angels and heaven and earth are called "of God," not according to nature, but according to ownership. Do you wish to see that the Spirit is not according to servile belonging, but according to the natural freedom of God? Listen to Paul: "No one of men knows the things of a man, except the spirit in him." If the spirit in us is alien to us, then the Spirit of God is also alien and a slave of his. "I will pour out from my Spirit." And elsewhere: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were fixed, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their power." And again, clearly proclaiming concerning the Trinity, he says: "Be strong, Zerubbabel, because I am with you, and my good word and my Spirit are in your midst." This is the living grace, the undivided power, the unpartitioned kingdom that was with them, and with us, and preserves all. To it be glory and power now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.