De caeco nato

On Envy and Piety, and on the Man Born Blind. A fountain of light is the Word of God; for, being full of light and shining with light, it illuminates and radiates upon the minds of the faithful. For it shines of itself and in itself, and it brightens those who partake of it; and not only does it illuminate the mind of the faithful, but it also bestows the name of light. For divine Scripture rightly calls those who are reared in ignorance and live with unbelief "darkness," since they do not receive the torch of truth, that they may become sons of light. For this reason the divine Apostle Paul also says: "We are not sons of night, nor of darkness, but sons of light and of day." And truly we are sons of light, we who belong to the evangelical word spoken through the mouth of God: "For I am," says Christ, "the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." For that word is of light, which, if believed by us, prepares one to become a son of light. Hence the Savior also says: "While you have light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." For just as this perceptible light is for bodies, so is the noetic Word of God for souls; and what darkness is in the night, that ignorance is in wandering souls. For this reason the blessed David also writes about such people, saying: "They did not know, nor did they understand; they walk in darkness." Thus also God calls the synagogue, which is baptized in ignorance and unwilling to surface toward the knowledge of spiritual teaching, "night," because of the ignorance that lives with it.

For when God said to the Jews through the prophet, "I likened your mother to night," and interpreting what kind of night he means, like darkness, he added, "My people were likened to a people having no knowledge. Therefore they did not know, nor did they understand; they travel by night." But those were thus; those who have received the light of Christ's teaching, such persons become light. For our God is light; and his Word, begotten from him before the ages without passion, is called light; and the holy, consubstantial, and life-originating Spirit is light. Light, and light, and light—but one light; and the soul that has received the Word is called light. But God is by nature tri-hypostatic light, while we are so by participation in him; and again, our Lord Jesus Christ himself is light, concerning whom the evangelist John says, "It was the true light, which illuminates every person coming into the world." But being light from ineffable light, he also sends forth the law, full of light, according to the prophet who says, "A lamp for my feet is your law, and light for my paths." Therefore, the soul having received the luminous word of truth itself becomes light, and hears from Paul, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." When the mind receives the evangelical light, it is called light according to faith; likewise also according to works. For he says, "Let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven." For it is necessary that one who has received the light of faith come also to works of light.

Not only must the soul of the faithful be light, but it must also shine before people through its works. For this reason the Savior says, "Let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." And observe the wonder: the light from God is simple, but it has different rays not in nature but in its activities. The shining teaching of God is sent to every faithful soul, according to what is said: "And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us, so that our works may be directed by him." The brightness is one, but coming to us it produces many brightnesses: brightness of almsgiving, brightness of temperance, brightness of hospitality, brightness of affection. With God there is one brightness; but when sent to us, it produces different radiances in its activities: to one it grants the brightness of prophecy, to another the brightness of apostleship, to another the brightness of martyrdom. There it is one brightness; for us it is many, according to what is said: "With you is the beginning in the day of your power in the brightnesses of your saints." Why then does Paul enumerate and say, "Not all are apostles; not all are prophets; not all are teachers"? Paul does not divide simply in this way, but as he finds souls that are suitable; he does not distribute according to authority, but according to the confession of faith. Not that he gives contrary to his intention, nor contrary to his will, but because his will is not without discernment, but according to the gifts of the graces.

Just as the bright and well-dyed fabric of a royal garment receives the sun’s ray but sends forth diverse gleams, and whatever the beauty of the dye may be, it produces a corresponding hue, and just as the beauty of the air is dyed by the underlying dye and turned into gold or purple or green or some other color—not because the ray is divided, but because the garment adapts the ray’s operation to the light—so too does the beauty of the Church always shine with such flowers, having a royal garment and being adorned with a heavenly and variegated robe, as the Psalmist says: “Daughters of kings are in your honor; the queen stands at your right hand, clothed in a gold-woven, embroidered garment.” How is it embroidered? With the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to Paul’s word: “God working through signs and wonders and various powers, and distributions of the Holy Spirit.” But what shall I call the Church of Christ? A bride adorned, a queen beautified, a flourishing garden, a meadow teeming with fruitfulness—and if I say anything else, I speak less than its worth. For this reason the prophet Isaiah, taking up the voice of the Church on her behalf, said: “Let my soul rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation.” And since he was speaking in a figure and could not express the whole beauty of the Church, he invests it with variety, saying: “He adorned me like a bride with jewelry, and placed a mitre on me like a bridegroom, and like the earth that increases its produce, and like a garden its seeds of vegetables.

For truly the Church of the living God is a closed garden and a paradise; I say paradise not according to that ancient one, but far superior to it. For there a serpent reigned, but here Christ reigns. Do not attend to the dignity of the name, but to the power of the thing. For neither is a paradise admirable if it does not have God's commandment preserved; nor are humble places dishonored if they have the law of God reigning. What is better? What is superior? A paradise or a dunghill? Yet paradise did not benefit Adam because of his transgression; the dunghill did not harm Job because of his endurance. Adam in paradise is disgraced because of his disobedience, while Job on the dunghill is crowned because of his endurance. For nowhere does the dignity of places contribute anything unless a good disposition concurs. And heaven is higher than paradise, but the devil fell from there. The earth is low, and heaven is raised high; the devil fell from heaven after transgressing, according to "I beheld Satan falling like lightning from heaven"; but the poor are raised from the earth, according to "He who raises the poor from the earth and lifts the needy from the dunghill." Do you see that it is not the difference of places that grants us advantages, but everywhere faith, endurance, and hope weave crowns for the worthy? Nothing is more dignified than a bedchamber, nothing more exposed than a theater. What did adultery in a bedchamber profit the licentious Egyptian woman? What did it harm the first martyr Thecla to wrestle naked in a theater? She did not sin by being naked, the holy woman is not dishonored, but is crowned.

And the one is crowned in the theatre, while the other is pilloried in the bridal chamber. What benefit did the idols bring, and the worship of things that do not exist? I speak of the grandeur of the temples. And what harm did the cheapness of the tombs do to the martyrs? Was error not put to shame in its grandeur, and were the martyrs not exalted in their lowliness? Thus the Church of the living God is a paradise of delight. In that paradise the serpent danced and deceived. In this paradise the Savior says: Behold, I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon every force of the enemy, and nothing will harm you. In that paradise the path of life was closed to Adam because of the transgression. And to show that the virtuous soul is not hindered, outside the paradise it receives greater things than those within the paradise: the paradise is closed to Adam, and Peter is entrusted with the keys of heaven; Adam is cast out of the paradise, and Paul is snatched up to the third heaven; the tree of life is walled off from Adam. For God said, it is said: Let Adam never touch the tree of life. There life was prevented, and the tree of life was prevented from the transgressor; here the tree of the cross was planted, and all who wish pluck eternal life. In the paradise after the transgression Adam hides from God, struck by his conscience; the one who seeks all things calls him back and says: Adam, where are you? Did you not know where he is? Adam, where are you? Exposing his lawlessness, he says: Where are you?—that is, in what state are you? Did the deception of the serpent not bring you equality with God? Do you see how you have been stripped? Where are you?

I heard your voice, and I hid. That one hides in paradise. The apostles say: We all, with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord, from glory to glory. Did you see the boldness outside paradise? Did you see the shame inside paradise? In paradise, after the transgression, God clothed Adam with leather tunics. Let us see what he is clothed with. There he put on a tunic; here, all who were baptized into Christ put on Christ. There, with paradise closed, the cherubim and the turning sword barring the way to paradise, and it was like a wall and a barrier for Adam, not allowing him to enter because of the disobedience in paradise after the transgression. I do not say this to accuse paradise, but that that godly place benefited no one who did not wish to conduct himself with good intent. And there was a wall of fire encircling paradise, not allowing the transgressor to enter, so that God might show that it was not the fire that was hostile to him, but the transgression prevented Adam from entering the wall of fire; and Elijah was snatched up to heaven by a chariot of fire. The Church of God does not lie when it says: God clothed me with a garment of salvation, and adorned me like a bride with ornament, like the earth that brings forth its produce, and this great garden of truth is the great paradise, the universal Church. Christ reigns and is trusted as lawgiver, unless someone is found in the Church suffering from heretical error, from the teaching of serpents, I mean heretical error, and is cast out from there, like Adam from paradise.

Just as the one who was persuaded by the serpent’s teaching was banished from paradise, so too in the church those who are not persuaded by Paul, not taught by Peter, but are persuaded by the teachings of serpents, are cast out of this paradise. How is this clear? Paul says: For I am jealous for you with a divine jealousy; for I betrothed you to present you as a pure virgin to one husband, Christ. But I fear that, just as the serpent deceived Eve, so your minds may be corrupted. Yet there is no place here for the serpent’s teaching, for the great shepherd crushes the heads of the serpents with the staff of faith. For indeed, like a shepherd, our wondrous father crushes the heads of the dragons with evangelical faith and hope in Christ; and like an excellent planter and gardener, he nourishes the plants of the church, but uproots any spurious seed or shoot; he consigns the disease of impiety, the Hellenic error, to the fire as thorns; and he plucks out and casts away heretical error as couch grass, clothed with a divine jealousy, which the many do not know. For some are accustomed to craftily deceive the church and the holy shepherds, just as indeed they do this wondrous father; and many, under the guise of gentleness, introduce idleness, insult jealousy, and attempt to blunt the flourishing word of God. For one can find some who, in the guise of gentleness, say: What do we have in common with the Hellenes? Does he wish to be saved? Let him be saved. The one who says this has not yet been wounded by the jealousy of piety.

The one who sees someone perishing and does not mourn that person's ruin, counting it as his own loss, does not know zeal for piety, has not been wounded by the arrows of truth. Therefore, the one who sees someone perishing and is not zealous, as Paul says somewhere, "Who is weak, and I am not weak?", this one is not a disciple of Paul. Let him compare the father's achievements, and he will find him in harmony with the apostolic voices: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and am I not inflamed?" Those who think in this way are brothers of the apostles. For the righteous man is not only distressed by his own sins, but also by the sins he sees others committing, as David says: "Distress seized me from the sinners who abandon your law." If someone is distressed by the sins of others, he has zeal for piety. For the righteous man, when he corrects his own life, weeps and mourns to wipe away his own sin; and then, having ceased from his own sin, he thereafter mourns the sins of others, just as Paul says: "Lest when I come, I mourn many who have sinned and not repented." Paul mourns those who have sinned and not repented; Samuel mourns Saul, as one might say to God: "How long do you mourn over Saul?" Do you see a soul perishing, and do you not mourn? If someone sees a corpse being carried out and does not weep, he is reproved as harsh, hard, and beastly; but if you see a soul being immersed in impiety and condemned to eternal death and persisting in unbelief, do you not weep, tell me, and mourn? And is this the mark of a reverent soul?

All other sins, then, the right-minded person must mourn, but especially when he sees a soul baptized in the impiety of Hellenism. Over such a soul one must not only mourn, but also be inflamed and set on fire with zeal, so as to become a disciple of Paul. For it says that while Paul was spending time in Athens, his spirit was kindled as he saw the city full of idols. And why do the saints think this way, as indeed this wonderful father was also a defender of piety? For just as there is a king who holds sway over the inhabited world under him, and has advocates in each court of the palace, so God has faithful shepherds as defenders of piety. For many of the Greeks often scoff, when they hear Christians saying to them, "Why do you blaspheme? Why do you act impiously?" they immediately sneer, "Look, the defenders of God! Cannot God defend himself?" But he does not defend himself—for he does not insult the divinity—but through faithful servants he chastises the ungrateful slaves. Does God need defenders? Yes; not because he himself is weak, but so that he may open a door of zeal for you. For if he did everything through himself, the way of life would be closed to the zealot. Did not Pharaoh once fight against God and was sunk in impiety? And no scourge was applied until Moses the faithful arose? Did not the polytheistic error flourish with its false priests and false prophets, and no blow from God came until Elijah the zealot arose? The saints are manifestly defenders of God. Hence Paul says:

We are ready to avenge every disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. Moreover, the admirable Deborah among women, having the weakness of a woman and prophesying the courage of virtue, concerning whom the Scripture says: And Deborah arose, a mother in Israel, she became a mother of the people through piety, and she flourished to such an extent that even the generals of war, when battle occurred, those around Barak, said to the woman: If you do not come to war with us, we will not go. They did not trust in the woman’s courage, but in the power of her prophecy. Many co-workers of God’s plan went out and cut down the foreigners. That blessed Deborah, then, bearing the truth, says: Lord, those who love you are like the rising of the sun; your enemies, like the snuff of a lamp. Lord, those who love you are like the rising of the sun, since the sun is never extinguished; your enemies, like the snuff of a lamp, for a lamp has only temporary light and is again extinguished. Then she praises the general who served God’s plan, and after this she commands to curse those dwelling in Mazon, because they did not go out to the help of the Lord. Did God, then, need help? Yes. It is necessary that those who help piety appear. Thus, then, this admirable father does not help God as if he were weak, but, appointed for this, he avenges piety, showing himself in body for destruction, but casting souls for dominion. For the arrows of the mighty are sharpened. And do not be surprised if the shepherds of Christ and teachers of piety avenge the truth.

But even if one is not a teacher, nor entrusted with a teacher's chair, but has simply received the word of Christ and is in the rank of a disciple, he ought to have zeal for God and to repay his benefactor by speaking freely, by speaking on behalf of the truth, and by contending against impiety, so that he may hear from the holy Scripture: "Child, contend for the truth, and the Lord God will fight for you." It is no wonder that the saints defend piety. Often God calls something through leniency, as a good God, and the prophets do not allow piety to be wounded by God's leniency. God says through Moses: "Say to Pharaoh: 'Send out my people; but if you do not wish, behold, I will send the plagues and strike you.'" Moses was struck by the statement, and a thought is given to the pious man, and he says: "Do not think that from equality of status he has a people, and God has a people." And being anxious lest God's great goodness and leniency harm him, and lest he think to oppose God, having heard "Your people" and "My people," he delivers the proclamation: "Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: 'Send out my people; but if you do not wish, behold, I will send the plagues and strike you and your servants, so that you may learn that the Lord's is the land and its fullness.'" The land heard "people" and "people," and did not follow the word, but says: "All the land is the Lord's." For even if God used leniency, this one does not betray the master's authority. For this reason indeed God spoke thus, so that the zeal of the pious man might be revealed.

But the faithful are always eager to go beyond the words of God; for the Savior says to his disciples: "What do men say I am, the Son of Man?" One of his disciples says: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Let the zeal of the Holy Spirit also teach you to be zealous, and to suffer for piety, and to contend for righteousness in the good contest. For it is fitting that good disciples be imitators of their teacher, as Paul also says: "Become imitators of me, just as I am of Christ." Do you wish to learn that even the simple disciple, who holds the rank of a disciple, ought to have zeal for piety? Listen to how Christ healed the man blind from birth; or rather, let us hear the story from its beginning. For after many things had been said by the evangelist, he began to speak thus: "As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth." And his disciples asked him, saying, and so forth. And having spat and made mud, he anointed his eyes, and said to him: "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam"; and after washing, he regained his sight. The Jews recognized him and say: "Is this not the one who used to sit for alms, being blind?" Some said, "Yes"; others, "No, but he is like him." That man said, "I am he." But the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews, seeing that the miracle would draw many to Christ, stung by the zeal of impiety and struck by the goad of truth, call the former blind man inside.

And it was a wicked spectacle to see: piety being avenged, wicked judges passing judgment, a great advocate joining the struggle, and God presiding and overseeing. The children of the Jews summon the man who was once blind and had regained his sight, and they set him in the midst of the council, and they say to him: "Tell us how you regained your sight, and who opened your eyes, and what did he do to you?" They said these things not in order to learn, but so that by the form of the questioning they might instill fear. For often the form of the questioning becomes a teacher to the one being questioned, either to answer or to be silent; as if someone were to say to a person about to testify in a matter: "Do you know the case? Were you present? How do you know the matter?" And the form itself teaches him to deny it. So too those men: "How did you regain your sight? Who opened your eyes?" But he, caring less for the threat, clung rather to the truth, and says: "A certain man called Jesus made mud and smeared it on my eyes and said to me: 'Go, wash in the Siloam.' And I went and washed, and I regained my sight." He did not know the truth, but he made known the benefaction; the dignity of the benefactor he did not yet know. "A certain man made mud and smeared it on my eyes, and I see." The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had regained his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man who had regained his sight. The objection of malice brought the truth into doubt. They summon the parents of the blind man. Malice gathers the witnesses against itself. The parents of the blind man were summoned. Again the same form of questioning: "Is this your son, whom you say was born blind?

How then does he now see? They, having understood the method of malice—that they are offering threats—say, "We know that this is our son, and we know that he was born blind; but how he now sees, or who opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age; ask him; he will speak for himself about himself." And behold the wisdom of God. Lest they should discount the voice of the one who had regained his sight, either because he was young or because he did not know how to speak, as in ordinary courts, God arranged that he first be shown to be of lawful age. "He is of age," they say; "ask him," since minors need advocates, but those who have reached full age become their own advocates. His parents answered and said, "This is our son, and we know that he was born blind." The parents confessed, so that there might be no doubt that he was not blind. "He is of age; ask him; he will speak for himself about himself." They summon him again, it says, a second time and say to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He then, having put on divine zeal, scorns the question and, as unworthy of a response, does not deign to answer, but what does he say to them? "I have already told you, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear me again? Do you also wish to become his disciples?" And he imitates the teaching of Christ, though he has not yet heard the teaching of Christ. For the Jews, at the Feast of Dedication, having surrounded the Savior in Solomon's Portico, said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." He says to them—

I told you, and you did not listen; what do you wish to hear again? And observe the piety of the advocate. Since he had taken note of the malice of the Jews, that they do everything and feign threats and fear to brandish against him so that he would not acknowledge him as teacher, he says to them: I told you already, and you did not listen; what do you wish to hear again? Do you also wish to become his disciples? By saying "do you also?" he showed that "I" is acknowledged. Let every Christian who comes from Hellenism have this voice. For when a Hellene with an ancient habit of error meets you and says to you, "You have become a Christian," say to him, "Yes; do you also wish to become one?" The purpose, then, of the one who regained sight both in soul and body was such. I told you already, and you did not listen; what do you wish to hear from me again? Do you also wish to become his disciples? Instead of "you are so far from persuading me that I rather expect you, having changed, to confess Christ himself." Then what do the Jews say to him? They reviled him and said: You are that man's disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses; but we do not know where this man comes from. Consider the multitude of the opponents, and the power of the one who stood against them. And the advocate of the truth did not fall silent again, but stood, for in this it is remarkable, saying: You do not know where he comes from, and he opened my eyes. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. He stood contending, and God was overseer and umpire.

Many are formidable against one strong man, an untrustworthy cloud against a single drop of faith. "From the age," he says, "it was not heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind." If this one were not from God, he could do nothing. "Since you pride yourselves," he says, "on the teaching of Moses." He does not mention Moses for the moment, so as not to provoke; but he says: "From the age it was not heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind," that is, what other prophet opened them? They see neither the superiority nor the comparison. To the extent that this one clung to the truth, to that extent they did not cease from shamelessness. Since they could not deny it, they then hastened to cover it up and say: "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner." The glory of the son is the glory of the father, and the glory is undivided. He contends, having a good contest against the Jews. They say to him: "Give glory to God." To which? To the God of our law? And is it just that one should benefit and another be glorified? "Give glory to God." Another is the benefactor, and I should give glory to another? They confessed that Jesus made clay and anointed his eyes; the one who opened is acknowledged, and I should refer the glory to another? Why then should I give glory to God? Because this work is of God. So you unwillingly confess that Christ is God. "Give glory to God." For if the work is of God, the glory is owed to him; the maker of the work is himself God. "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." The once-blind man answered them: "If he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that being blind, I now see.

Up to this point he had spoken with such boldness; they ordered him to be thrown out. And they cast him out, says the evangelist, out. Blessed is the one excommunicated from a synagogue of evildoers. And see what happens. Since he had fought the good fight and pleaded for the glory of God and confessed the Savior gloriously with great boldness, and his arena was filled with his struggles, the wrestler was cast out without receiving the crown, and outside the awarder meets him. For Jesus heard, it says, that they had cast him out; and finding him, he says to him. O the utterance of the one who found him: whom error loses, truth finds. But why did he meet him? The Savior saw a soul full of gratitude; he saw a soul that had not yet learned to speak for God, but thought it was speaking for some faithful prophet; for he is asked about Christ. And what does he say about him? That he is a prophet. And the Savior said this: If, thinking him a prophet and supposing him a man, he struggles thus, what will he not do if he learns the glory of the divinity? If, supposing him a man and calling him a prophet, he brought such advocacy for the truth and undertook such a contest while not yet catechized, but enlightened only by the benefaction, consider him: that if, thinking he was pleading for a man, he did not depart from the truth, if he learns to say evangelically, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," what will he be? For this reason, then, he corrected him to knowledge, having received his struggle and sealed his faith. The Savior meets him; for this man did not recognize his appearance.

For when he sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash, he sent him blind; but when he returned seeing, he did not see the Savior, who was mingled in the crowd, but immediately, before seeing the master, he was called to the contest and contended. The master made clay before he washed him, and anointed his eyes, to supply what was lacking. So when they cast him out, Christ found him and said to him: Do you believe in the Son of God? For you must not believe as a prophet contending, but as the Son of God. He, not recognizing the face, recognized the voice. Do you believe, he says, in the Son of God? He recognized the voice, and with great joy he cried out: And who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? Why do you believe the one who says to you, the faithful one: Do you believe in the Son of God? I know that your word is true; yet even if you tell me the knowledge, I do not hesitate to believe you. And who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And the foreknower replied: You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he. The one who pleaded within now converses outside: Do you believe in the Son of God? And the one enlightened in both body and mind said: And who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And he answered and said to him: You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he. And he said: I believe, Lord; and he worshipped him. These things have been said to me so that you may all learn to follow a good teacher, and imitate a good shepherd, and contend for the truth; for your contest takes place with the cooperation of the great shepherd.

You have marveled that a blind man became an advocate for the truth after receiving a benefit; marvel also at the thief who advocated for Christ before receiving any benefit. For a soul that is divine and zealous for the truth, by its own trustworthiness, opens many mouths that advocate for the truth. Christ was hanging on the cross, and there were two thieves, one on the right and one on the left, while the Jews were babbling and the high priests were blaspheming: "Behold the king of the Jews," and again, "If he is king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe in him," and again, "He saved others, but he cannot save himself." Likewise, the thief crucified with him also babbled, saying, "If you are the son of God, save yourself and us." But the other thief said nothing, punishing the condemned by his silence. Since the high priests and the scribes, who knew the law—or rather, were ignorant of it—and who ought to have confessed Christ from the prophetic readings, did not confess him, God opened an unexpected mouth on the cross, advocating for the truth. And see what he does. He does not first hear the voice of Christ, and yet this man advocates, and then he is crowned. For it says that two thieves were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left, and the Savior was in the middle like a balance of truth, lightening the one who confessed and condemning the one who blasphemed. And observe the wonder. While the scribes and the high priests were blaspheming Christ and saying, "If he is king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe in him," and while the other thief

If you are the son of God, save yourself and us—says one of the thieves, the grateful one. For the two thieves were images of the people of the Jews and of our own people. For one blasphemes and is condemned; the other believes, repents, and is saved. So speaks the brother of the Jewish banditry, the ungrateful one. For the ungrateful Jews were a bandit people, as the Savior testifies, saying: "My house will be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves." And the disposition of the first is Jewish; that of the second is Christian, springing from evils but snatching salvation through repentance. So the ungrateful thief, having a Jewish disposition, says: "If you are the son of God, save yourself and us, by coming down from the cross." But the other is found to be grateful—the one who in the court was liable, on the cross becomes a judge; and also a teacher of the fear of God. For the first word of the thief to his fellow thief says: "Do you not fear God, that you are in the same judgment?" And we indeed justly—for we receive what we deserve for what we have done—but this one has done nothing wrong. What are you saying? You who steal outside, do you condemn here? You who murder outside, do you teach fear here? "Do you not fear God?" Learn from the cross of Christ, so that the voice may become for you a teacher of piety. For see the marvel: the thief says to his fellow thief: "Do you not fear God?" He proclaims as God the one who willingly was crucified with them, and suffers patiently for humanity. And that he speaks about the Savior himself—"Do you not fear God?"—learn from what follows: "Do you not fear God, that you are in the same judgment?

And we justly receive what we deserve for our deeds; but this man did nothing wrong. I say this so that you may learn to labor for piety, to show zeal both at home and in the marketplace, to contend for Christ, so that you may receive from him the crown of righteousness, like this grateful thief. For listen to him speaking to his blaspheming fellow thief: "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same judgment? And we justly receive what we deserve for our deeds; but this man did nothing wrong." And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom." Do you see true advocacy? Do you see how he confessed Christ himself as true God? "Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom." He confesses his own evils and advocates for his master. You were tortured so much, thief, before the governor, so that you would confess the robberies, murders, and thefts you committed, even if you did not confess; and here you say without torture, "We receive what we deserve for our deeds"? Through countless tortures you barely confessed before the governor; and here, with no one compelling you, do you confess so readily? Yes, he says; but there, confession is followed by death; here, confession is followed by repentance and life. "For we justly receive what we deserve for our deeds; but this man did nothing wrong." "If we," he says, "justly, then this man unjustly. For we killed the living; this man raised the dead. We plundered the property of others; this man gave his own wealth to the world." The thief fights with his fellow thief and says:

Up to this moment, at the time of the cross, we came together and journeyed with one another, but now from the cross my path is split: if you wish to journey with me toward life, come; if not, go your own way. Hence, when I journeyed with you, I was first with you; but now the cross has split that second road into two. By repentance the road of the thieves is split. And the psalm and the end of the psalm were then fulfilled: The Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the impious will perish. So when the thief pleaded for the truth, he turns to the King of glory and says: Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. Let the Arians be ashamed, then, and let them hear what the thief says: Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. The thief sees the crucified one and confesses him as Lord; the heretic confesses him as co-throned with the Father and blasphemes him as a creature. Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. I would like to say to the thief: May Christ remember you, for what worthy deed? Because you murdered? Because you plundered? For you say: Remember me when you come into your kingdom. But let no one think that Christ saved the thief by grace alone, but that it was owed to him as a debt. What debt? one says: because he acted justly? gave alms? distributed his own possessions, fasted, kept vigil? did something that no one else did? But because he believed in God? And prophets believed in God, and patriarchs believed, hymnographers believed, apostles, preachers, martyrs.

But all these saw God in glory, while this one saw him in dishonor. But station ten thousand slaves serving a master when the master is in prosperity and honor, and one slave in a time of trial and affliction and flight, not abandoning his own master; and those ten thousand slaves in the time of trial and flight abandoning the master and withdrawing—can those slaves who in prosperity abandoned the master in the time of trial be equal to the one who followed the master in adversity? Not at all. Peter believed, but having seen him raise the dead, having beheld his glory, he believed; Paul believed, but having seen a light from heaven, which blinded his physical eyes but illuminated the eyes of his soul; Abraham believed, but having seen a divine vision; Isaiah believed, but having seen him seated on a high throne with the cherubim around him. All saw, but in glory; this one saw in dishonor. That is why he cried out: "Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom." From my circumstances you must tell me: why do you say this? Because I am a sinner and a murderer, a thief until this very hour; my evils are many, I confess, but I have in my mind a hidden faith, which no one knows except the master alone who suffers with me. Outwardly the master bears the visible signs of his passion; and I, he says, did not attend to the visible dishonor, but I glorify the hidden kingdom. So also you must say.

Lord, do not look upon my visible injustices, but upon the hidden faith, and remember me when you come into your kingdom. Throughout, Christ spoke nothing to anyone, but remained silent, and neither answered Pilate nor any other ungracious soul among the Jews; then he answers. And since the silence was very heavy and unseemly, he finally answers and says to the thief: Amen, amen, I say to you: today you will be with me in paradise. O the grace of the benefactor! Since you asked for a delayed grace and say, Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. You asked for a delayed grace; I give a swift grace: Today you will be with me in paradise. Do you see the salvation of God? Do you see the beneficence of the master? Do you see the great judge of truth? Today you will be with me in paradise. Before this, no one among the Jews or the patriarchs heard a promise of paradise, from the time Adam transgressed and departed from it; and yet God promised countless things to faithful people; and he promised paradise to no one except the thief. Nowhere does the mouth of God appear promising paradise to a human after Adam was cast out, except first to this thief. Why did he not speak of paradise first to any of the patriarchs, to any of the prophets, to any of the apostles? But to the ancients he promised: I will give you a land flowing with milk and honey; to the apostles he says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs; paradise nowhere. He keeps paradise in reserve for a promise first to the thief. For when Paul says:

I was snatched into paradise, but this happened after the thief. Why then did the one who uttered a single cry enter first? What then? Did he chant psalms many times? Did he struggle many times? Did he theologize many times? Once, he says; my God is just, the arbiter of salvation. Since the first man, Adam, was not cast out of paradise for many sins, but for one act of disobedience, so the balance of justice promised that the thief would enter paradise first—the one who did not confess many things, but offered a single confession of faith. I mentioned the sin of Adam, that he touched the tree contrary to the commandment. What is the justification of the thief? That he touched the cross with faith, he entered paradise. What then happens? The savior promised salvation; but there was no time, nor was it granted for the thief to believe and be enlightened. For the savior declared: Unless someone is born of water and spirit, he will not enter the kingdom of heaven. The thief found no opportunity or freedom, he had no time to be baptized; for he was hanging on the cross. Therefore the savior finds a way in difficulties. For since the one aged in sins believed in the savior, and he needed to be purified, Christ arranges after the passion that the soldier pierce the Lord’s side with the spear, and blood and water gush out. For from his side, says the evangelist, came out blood and water, truly from the fallen one, as a type of the mysteries. And the blood and water did not come out simply flowing, but with a rush, so as to sprinkle the body of the thief.

For what is sent with a rush sprinkles, but what flows gently flows as it comes. But the blood and water came out from the side with a rush, so that by sprinkling the thief it might baptize him, as also the apostle says: We have come to Mount Zion and to blood of sprinkling speaking more powerfully than Abel. Why does the blood of Christ speak more powerfully than Abel? Because the blood of Abel was on the crown of the murderer, but the blood of Christ cleanses even murderers who repent. Learn then the zeal of truth, and love the boldness that is for Christ; follow a true teacher contending for the truth, so that having thus heard from the apostle Paul, "Become imitators of me, as I also of Christ," you too may be deemed worthy of the crowns of righteousness, and of the eternal goods which Christ our God has prepared for those who have loved him; may it be that we all attain them, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom are the glory and the power, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.