De tribus pueris sermo

A discourse on the three children and on the Babylonian furnace. Truly a new 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 wonder 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 will be for an everlasting memorial. Hence, even if the martyrdom was accomplished in the most ancient times, yet for all eternity the strategy of their 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 rage of the tyrant, and displaying the unquenchable confession of the martyrs against the threat of fire. But rather, what prevents us, taking up from the beginning, to tell the contests of the truly God-beloved and thrice-blessed ones? Nebuchadnezzar the king, or rather the tyrant—for this is a fitting name for the lawless one—held sway over Babylonia; he was also barbarian in soul and savage in manner. This man, drunk with great injustice, wealth, and impiety, was ignorant of his own nature, and not even suspecting himself to be a man, expected to be worshipped as a god. His inborn madness and the forbearance of God nurtured his excessive arrogance, the latter bearing the impious with patience and 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-proportioned and harmonious, so that either by its size or by the beauty of its composition he might overcome falsehood, having forced truth. 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 madly drove the foolish into godlessness, and the spectacle of what was seen utterly stole the minds of all who beheld it. But the command of impiety was not to prevail over the saints as well; while all, so to speak, were being swept along by some torrent of the violent stream of deception into the precipice of idolatry, these three noble youths, firmly bracing themselves as if on a rock of piety, were not swept away by the stream of injustice. For it was fitting for them to say: If the Lord had not been with us, then they would have swallowed us alive. When their anger was roused against us, then the water would have drowned us. A torrent passed through our soul; 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 saved, as the proverbialist says: Like a gazelle from snares, and like a bird from a trap.

And seeing the nets of the devil spread, so to speak, over all humanity, they repeated the pious utterance against the hymnographer, saying, "The sinners will fall into their own net." 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 set fire to and destroy all impiety. Therefore, although they were only three, they strengthened and tightened themselves together. For they knew that the path leading to life is narrow and constrained, and that few are those who find it. They remembered the patriarch Abraham, that though he was alone in the whole world as a worshiper of God, he did not follow the multitude of the impious, but law was for him the prize of piety and righteousness; 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; and 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 took to mind Joseph, alone in Egypt, cultivating chastity and being a stronghold of piety.

Hence these men, though surrounded by so many thousands, seeing the many, reasoned that the road leading to destruction is broad and spacious, and that many 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 did the trumpet sounding the war song frighten them, nor did the lyre charming their ears dissolve the tones of piety, nor did the whole remaining symphony of music dissolve the beautiful and harmonious symphony of piety; but they opposed the beautiful symphony with the beautiful confession. And that evil-minded and impious tyrant, when those around Ananias were reported as disobeying the decree of lawlessness, his soul oppressed with diabolical pride, and having taken on, so to speak, the very countenance of the ruler of evil, summoned them and said, "Do you truly, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, not worship my gods, and do you 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 at the tyrant's threats, but will also trample the edge of fire itself by the power of piety.

Now, then, 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 musical instrument, you fall down and worship the golden image which I have set up. He well interpreted the worship of the demons: "You fall down and 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 furnace of burning 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 furnace of burning fire." And up to this point the boasts are bearable. 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 will obey?" "I do not know," says the impious one, "the Lord, and I will not release the people." Oh, the great arrogance of men! Oh, the great forbearance of God! A man speaks and God endures; the 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 here to recall Isaiah saying: "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.

Someone is often insulted by a servant, and immediately, citing the insult to his freedom, demands punishment for the audacity, chastising the insulter with inexorable death. Again, someone is insulted by a lowly and private person, while he himself is examined in the civic orders 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 single equality of the race, that we were all molded from earth and dissolve into earth; one is the path into life, and the exit is equal. "You are made of clay," he says, "just as I am." But the clay demands such superiority from those of equal status; while God, surpassing all in nature and law, and being as much higher as one must conceive the creator to be above his creations, when blasphemed and despised by the senseless, is not provoked—for he is impassible—yet he punishes a little later those who persist in folly, because he is a judge of truth and an inexorable arbiter. So that not all who sin are 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 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 they, taking up the voice of faith against the words of unbelief, spoke back to 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 your folly, O man; be ashamed of the insulting 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, the Greeks would have no gods. Rather, let us also consider this: if the idols had any perception, it would be fitting for them to worship the men who made them. For it is a law of nature that the product worships the maker, not that the creator bows 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 against 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, even so we do not abandon piety; for we do not worship for reward, but we confess the truth with good conscience.

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 tested silver had to be purified seven times. For the oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver refined and assayed on 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, recall the Wisdom which says: "Refined silver is the tongue of the righteous." And listen to the prophet Jeremiah speaking about those who are rejected from piety: "Call them rejected silver, because God has rejected them." If the imperfect are rejected silver, then the perfected are evidently the most tested silver; for as the furnace was kindled, so the desire for martyrdom was brightened. For when these three holy youths entered with faith, they trampled the flame, breathing thin 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 energy, as that hymn was verified by the miracle: "The voice of the Lord cutting through the flame of fire." The fire was lulled, resting within, and the holy youths danced, almost 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 works.

For the fire did not touch the limbs of the saints; it did not burn their eyes, which looked rightly toward piety and, through the good order of visible things, recognized the creator of the cosmos; it did not harm their ears, which were filled with divine law; it did not approach their mouth nor touch their lips, being abashed before their hymn-singing and hymn-writing tongues. Each of the saints’ limbs had its own safeguard: the hands, the outstretching of prayers and the distribution of alms; the breasts, the power of piety dwelling within them; the belly and the lower members, the practice of temperance; the feet, the course of virtue. And why need I dwell on each detail? For the fire did not even dare to touch their hair, because it was rather covered by a tiara of piety; and it spared even their clothing, because of the saints’ seemliness. What then? On account of this, the God of the Chaldeans commands the fire to seize them, and so that they, thinking it magic, might not obscure the glory of the martyrs by dulling the fire’s activity and slander the miracle of truth, for this reason those within were calm, while the fire outside consumed the Chaldeans, so that it might securely persuade the onlookers that it had not ignored its own nature in the case of the saints, but had honored piety—just as the lions did in the den with Daniel. Thus from that place they truly formed an angelic choir, and the thrice-blessed youths hymned God, and they brought together all creation, both the supracosmic and that seen by the eyes, into a single chorus of hymnody.

It is necessary not to leave that point unexamined either: why they did not mention the whole creation in the same way, but set forth the creation part by part. It would have sufficed for the truth to say, “Bless all the works of the Lord, God.” 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 human beings. Angels were thought to be gods; and among the Greeks it is fabled that, as they say, those whom we worship as gods are angels of the great God. In order that the foolish might be taught that angels belong not to those who are worshipped but to 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. For this reason they also include these in the worship of the hymns. “Bless the Lord,” they say, “sun and moon; bless the Lord, stars of the sky.” Then after these: “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 violence of winds often occur; and the inventors of falsehood, who always delight in vanity, are accustomed to ascribe everything to some matter and the vice of disorder, not knowing that nothing is without a master, nothing has come about in vain, but that God administers all these things, both for the instruction of human beings 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 the rain or the winds were something divine and venerable, they would not be disorderly; for the divine does not admit disorder. For this reason they say: "Every rain and dew and all the winds, the Lord." Rains and winds were worshipped, some as nurturers, others as farmers of the earth's fruits; the earth was worshipped, and its fruits were assigned to various demons, calling the vine a gift of Dionysus, the olive of Athena, and other fruits to other gods. And this same word of truth, securing itself, says: "Bless, all that grow in the earth, the Lord." For he himself is the creator and master of all that have grown and are growing. Then after this, mountains and hills. Are the mountains and hills then excluded? Not at all. But because in the hills the foul things of demons were constructed and there the statues were worshipped, for this reason it says: "Bless, mountains and hills, the Lord." But nevertheless, 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 also worshipped is witnessed by the practices in Egypt up to the present: they sacrificed at the rising of the Nile, not marveling at its nature as a 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.

Nor are these things outside the practice of deification. For the eagle was worshipped, and the hawk; and the Egyptians have honored beasts and cattle and given them the appellation of gods. And so great was the power of error that they even named their cities after the animals they worshipped; and among them are spoken of cities of dogs, of sheep, of wolves, and of lions. But after all these, the human race is finally brought forward. "Bless," it says, "the Lord, sons of men." The human race is placed last, not according to its worth, but because of its creation. "Bless the Lord, Israel." That which was the chosen race among men on earth, this it then brings forward, and at that time sets forth many distinctions within the nation, and brings forward the priests of the Lord to refute the priests of the falsely named gods. Then it says: "Servants of the Lord." Then, lest those who have come forward in this chorus seem to be alien, they are numbered among the living before God, saying: "Bless the Lord, spirits and souls of the righteous." Then: "Bless the Lord, holy and humble of heart." Why does it mention the holy and humble? To show that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble; he burned up the arrogant outside the furnace, but preserved the holy and humble in the midst of the fire. For this reason the fire also joined in the chorus with the saints; for along with all, it too was commanded to hymn the Creator: "Bless the Lord, fire and heat," so that the Babylonian magi, among whom fire is honored, might be taught that this is not among the things worshipped, but among those that worship.

But let us come at last to the end and bring our discourse to a close. "Bless," it says, "Ananias, Azarias, Misael, the Lord." What need was there for so many ranks to be enumerated, only 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, servants of the Lord, the Lord"? Or when they were holy and humble in heart, were they not counted among the holy? What then is the purpose of the additional "Bless, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, the Lord"? But because the miracle was extraordinary, because it was beyond human nature—for they entered the furnace in body and trampled it—lest any of the deluded, on account of the strangeness of the miracle, should dare to call them gods and worship them thus more justly than the fire, those who had overcome the fire, and lest those who saw should suffer anything of the sort, for this reason they indicate their own servitude and confess their worship, saying, "Bless, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, the Lord." And 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, lest it be thought that the fire's power had ceased on account 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 pure. And so much for these matters.

May it be that 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 loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.