Paschal Homilies 1 part 3/28

so that a distinction should be marked out in these things, and the five talents not be distributed equally to all.

But now the unevenness of the giving introduces a certain dissimilarity of dispositions, since men do not receive piety in an equal measure.

But he who received the five talents heard indeed:

'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will set you over many; enter into the joy of your lord.' But he who gained the profit of the two talents obtains a share of the very same praises, and is honored with the same verdict.

But God is not seen to be unjust in these things, but rather good and generous.

For his kindness toward the one who falls short will not diminish the honors due to those who are better, nor, by withholding anything owed to the latter, does he add it to the lesser;

but the one shall joyfully receive back the reward proportionate to his own labor, while grace fills up what remains of the wage for the other.

But if anyone has a mind not free from envying the good fortune of others, he does not perceive that in doing so he is accusing the loving-kindness of God.

'For surely,' he says, 'the one who falls short of their virtue will not be ranked in equal measure with the better,' were a just judgment to be brought upon them, and the measure of grace weighed out, as by a balance, against what each has lived.

But let him hear our Savior Christ saying:

'Did I not agree with you for a denarius? Take what is yours, and go.'

'But I wish to give to this last one as also to you.' Let Paul, then, rouse each one's resolve to every good work, and cut off the sluggish hesitation of the mind, crying out:

'Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you.' For even if you have fallen asleep as a man does, having drunk in sin as it were unmixed, and been carried into a drunkenness of dark passions, yet now is the time for you to sober up unto salvation,

and to lift up your eye toward the sun of righteousness.

He will have mercy even on the one who has run away, he will not turn away from the one who weeps, he will show the one who repents to be clean, and will restore him again to piety.

And now let our discourse concerning this proceed by way of examples.

For to dwell at length upon such thoughts produces much that is useful.

Now since, for the sake of the obedience of those who would hear, a demonstration through signs also had to follow, he says to him:

'What is that in your hand?' And he said:

and Moses fled from before it.

And the Lord said to Moses:

'Stretch out your hand, and take hold of the tail.'

And it became a rod in his hand. But, as I think, through these things the blessed Moses was being taught that those diseased with the error of Egypt, who had gone far into sin, would, through the honor paid to the Divine, be transformed into piety.

For he sprouted up from the earth, as it were a rod;

but when, inclining toward the passions of the flesh, he falls in some manner from the hand of the Lawgiver, then, casting off the gentle and mild manner, he is found to be a venomous serpent, bitter unto sin, terrible in wrath.

But when the Lawgiver takes him back again, he will become good, being transformed into the archetypal form of the best condition.

For we shall attribute the role of Lawgiver to Moses.

That God, then, raises up again and transforms the one who through indolence has slipped into what was unfitting would, from what has been said, be evident to everyone, as I at least believe.

No less will the voices of the prophets bear witness to this, counseling again and again that those who sin should turn back to God.

One may indeed hear him marveling at their hardness and stubbornness, and censuring the unyielding disposition of those who sin.

'Will you not fear me,' says the Lord, 'or will you not tremble before my face? — I who set a bound for the sea, an eternal decree, and it shall not pass beyond it? Yet this people has an uncomprehending and disobedient heart.'

'They turned aside and departed, and did not say in their heart:'

'Let us indeed fear the Lord our God.' And at another time, rebuking more sharply those who fled away more shamelessly, he said:

'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Will you then be able to do good, you who have learned to do evil?' For to such an extent did the father of all sin gain mastery over the race, that those who honored God were altogether few, and few indeed knew that they ought to remember the Lawgiver.

But we shall have no need now of labor to demonstrate these things, since the Psalmist cries out plainly:

'They have all turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is none who does good, no, not one.' For, sin thus tyrannizing over all, and spreading, as it were a mist, over the whole earth, the saints entreated that the Word of God should come to us, to shine the saving light upon the minds of all.

And indeed they cry out, saying:

'Send forth your light and your truth.' For indeed the true light has been sent forth to us, which enlightens every man coming into the world;

that is, God the Word of God, who has taken on likeness to us;

he is born through the holy Virgin;

and he preserves the race of mankind, leading its nature back up to the ancient condition of incorruption, just as Paul says:

'Having inaugurated for us a strange, new way,' he joined earthly things to heavenly things, having broken down the dividing wall of partition, and having abolished the enmity of the commandments contained in ordinances — so that even the blessed angels, astonished at this, said:

'and every tear has been taken away from every face,' just as the prophet says:

'And mourning has been turned into joy,' so that we too can fittingly say:

'You have turned my mourning into joy for me;'

'you have torn off my sackcloth, and girded me about with gladness.' For what should we still be gloomy? What excuse for weeping will there be for us again? Rather, how will not everything the Savior has accomplished for us cause every gladness to dawn upon us? He who showed the way of salvation not to us alone, but who also went and preached to the spirits in Hades who had once been disobedient, just as Peter says

for it was not fitting that his love for mankind should be partial, but that the demonstration of the gift should be extended to the whole of nature

'and there shall be one portion on which I will not rain, and it shall be withered.' And fitting for the Savior is the saying:

'Go forth in peace,' and to those in darkness:

'Be uncovered.' On the third day he raises up his own temple, and he inaugurates for nature also a new thing — the ascension into the heavens — offering himself to the Father as, so to speak, a firstfruit of humanity, having granted to those on earth, as the pledge of grace, participation in the Spirit

Upon such great things, beloved, let us keep festival;

not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, honoring our own King with all thanksgiving;

and receiving fasting, the mother of all good things, with the thanksgiving that is fitting for us

And let us hold fast to love for one another, pursuing hospitality more earnestly, shining forth in mercy toward the poor;

remembering those in bonds, as bound together with them;

and those who are mistreated, as being ourselves also in the body, and honoring, quite simply, every kind of virtue

For thus we shall also fulfill the truer observance, beginning the holy Forty Days from the fifth of the month Phamenoth;

and the week of the saving Passover, from the tenth of the month Pharmouthi;

releasing ourselves from the fasts on the fifteenth of the same month, on the evening of the Sabbath, according to custom;

and keeping the feast on the following dawning Lord's Day, the sixteenth of the same month Pharmouthi, according to the prescription of the law, joining thereafter the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost

For thus, together with the saints, we shall inherit the kingdom of the heavens, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom be glory and might to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages

Again for us the season of the holy feast shines forth, the contest of endurance rising up a little beforehand, and, as it were, bidding us pay an annual debt to God who rules over all — namely, the dignity of our life and the display of every other virtue

But for those who think rightly, no exhortation is unwelcome as tending toward disobedience, when they take a full view of the benefit that comes from the matter

For the fruit of good labors is glorious;

but nothing could be more grievous than sloth and idleness, and to think it not worth suffering anything at all for the sake of what is going to be profitable carries a bitter penalty — and one would not, as it were, be speaking of ordinary matters, but of something that already looks toward the very destruction of the soul

Since the matter stands thus, and is by nature such, I consider it fitting for me, of all people, even now to address you concerning what is beneficial, all but crying out that word of the prophet:

'Prepare the way of the Lord' — I come again into your midst, supposing that I shall not be burdensome, at least to the prudent, if at this present time especially I should appear to be advising that the things in which you are engaged ought to be honored the more

But if to anyone I seem not to be saying the best things, though I make much effort toward this, let him beware lest, by casting an unfavorable verdict against us, he place himself among those who honor what is base, and unwittingly put himself outside the roll of the wise

For to take pleasure in things one might reasonably reprove, and to regard the reputation gained in better things as a trivial matter, or otherwise to be pained by words spoken on their behalf — how is this not a mark of the utmost vice? For my part, I think that those who have chosen to emulate what is better need the comfort and encouragement that comes from those who speak best, so that they may make their zeal for these things more intense;

and that for those who have not yet mastered a good resolve, it is necessary to provide the remedy that is by nature corrective, and to seek how they may show themselves better in what follows

Our discourse of instruction, then, will indeed be most profitable in both respects, giving to each party what is owed to it

The chorus of the prophets, then, draws us to this proclamation, and persuades us that we must announce beforehand the splendid festival — the prophets who rejoice in the achievements of the Savior, and who exhort us to cast far away, as far as possible, all silence concerning these things

And indeed they have cried out — one saying, 'Cry aloud with strength, and do not spare,'

'lift up your voice like a trumpet'; and another, teaching and thinking things akin to that one:

'Go up onto a high mountain,' he says, 'you who bring good tidings to Zion;'

'lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem;'

'lift it up, do not be afraid.' Since, then, every obstacle capable of hindering our zeal for these things has been removed, I will ascend to the boldness of speech befitting the doctrine, and, as one seeing from a mountain, from afar, the season of self-control running toward us, and all but waving my hand to the athletes of piety, I will say:

'Strip yourselves, young men; put off the old man'

The contest is judged not by the strength of bodies;

nor by leapings in the wrestling-schools;

nor indeed will the one believed to have the advantage in these things also carry off the verdict of being able to win

For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh;

or else the danger will surely be plain to those who are not such, and their boast will extend only as far as arrogance

For to be ranked among the weaker, yet to think more highly than what we are, besides justly being laughed at, is also not without danger

But if it is right to flee such things (and surely all will say it is right, those who lack nothing in the way of caution), and if it is not without profit, for those who exert all their strength, to repel the shame that attends baseness, how is it not necessary to seek what is better, and to strive together with much earnestness toward how we shall prevail over our adversaries? And if the war of evil spirits is being driven against us, it is necessary both to be, and to appear, fervent in spirit to those who have taken courage to raise weapons against them;

and if no skill or power of bodies is of any help to us for this, it follows, according to the word of Paul:

'Put on the whole armor of God as a soldier,' and fit yourselves well with the full armament of piety toward him. For thus would the fiery darts of the evil one be quenched;

and to be free from every wound will be the outcome for those who play the man with courage

But, that I may turn my discourse again to the contests held in the arenas, I say this

For it is necessary that those who are eager to do this should gather what is beneficial from every quarter; and I suppose that you yourselves will readily agree

I hear, then, that those who preside over the contests at the games of naked youths — for whom even spending money for the glory attached to these things perhaps appears no difficult matter — whenever they are about to make the beginning of the affair, proclaim the contest round about by trumpet;

and they call in for it everyone naturally seen to be of use, and those accustomed to gain a good reputation in these things, but they send away those whose skill has a display too soft for war

For, acting exceedingly well, they judged that those called to manly courage, or those able to have a more dignified experience in some other pursuit — men whom the better repute is seen to attend — ought not to mingle with the more shameful, nor be defiled by their vile conduct

But if, for small and cheap rewards, their purpose is so noble, and it is possible to see the whole of their zeal laid out in them, out of shame at seeming to fall short of the strength of others, how is it not worth taking care that we become better than they, and by so much the more as the difference in the crowns is great? For to be caught fleeing when only small prizes are set before one, and to shrink from laboring, will perhaps afford some excuse to those who have suffered this

'For it was not worthwhile,' they will say, 'to exchange such long-drawn-out dangers for small rewards'

But if it is not possible for us to use such words, since the crown far surpasses the labors, what else could there be to hinder eager striving? Nothing

The charge, then, remains one of sloth and idleness, and of the inclination toward what is worse, which destroys zeal for what is praiseworthy

I, for my part, think that each of those mentioned, who have been called to the labors of the contests, are overcome not so much by desire for money as by desire for glory and honors

For such things also have a certain regard among them;

and not to obtain what each one might wish is reckoned a loss of reputation;

and by reputation, again, I mean that which is honored among them

And I think they are seen to hold such an opinion, and to have arrived at such a vigorous, youthful ambition, that if someone, approaching, should ask each of them:

'...for this sport? What then do you suppose you gain by it? Honors, or money? And this laboring of yours in the contests — what would you rather have it procure for you?' I believe each would answer at once:

'I would gladly buy victory rather than an abundance of these things, and I would even give up my very life, if the occasion called for it, rather than be laughed at.'

Since, then, they are so disposed, how is it not exceedingly absurd that we, for whom greater prizes are set forth, should be seen not even vying with their zeal, but instead bound by sloth, and worn down by poverty of good things, and not hastening toward how we shall win the better verdict — although we possess such an abundance of helps from God, through which victory will be ours? For they have, in their own experience and in the strength of their bodies, the ability to overcome their opponents, so that if any of them should lack the things mentioned, he will certainly be excluded from the good cheer that comes from victory

But for us the matters of the contest are not judged in this way; rather, the situation is established as entirely the opposite

If you lack strength, ask the giver of the prize, and you will readily receive it.

And if your skill fails you in any of the wrestling holds, the trainer is near at hand, knowing the whole method of the arena.

For God will supply the ability.

But as for how one ought in turn to contend against one's opponents, you will learn this by searching the divine Scriptures.

There you will find Paul saying:

'I am able for all things in Christ who strengthens me.' There you will marvel at the Psalmist singing and crying out to God:

'In you we will gore our enemies with horns, and in your name we will bring to nothing those who rise up against us.' But I think it necessary, in addition to what has been said, to tell you also other ways that can sharpen you unto courage.

For in the contests of the present life, whoever it is that comes to prevail over all — whether by surpassing others in skillful experience in the craft, or by being furnished, through bodily strength, with the ambition for this — to him the giver of the crowns will assuredly prove a most bitter enemy.

For by however much the praise of the victors is raised on high, by so much the more will the financial loss increase for those who preside over the games;

and by however much more those victors are held in honor, by so much more will their expenses of ambition be made to grow, since evidently the proportion of the rewards follows the magnitude of the achievements.

But the arena of piety is not administered by such laws.

rejoicing over those who play the man to such a degree as, were it possible for him to undergo anything human, he would grieve over the defeated.

For he says somewhere through one of the prophets:

And yet, according to the laws current among them, those once condemned for this are set apart from those reckoned in glory, and banished from the honor of victory;

and indeed God finds fault with those who, having fallen, prolong their stay in that condition;

and through the prophet he says:

'Shall he who falls not rise up?'

For it is indeed fitting, as far as possible, to seek to avoid suffering this;

and there is none among all beings who will not call slackness toward what is good a base thing.

But since human nature — I mean the nature of man — inclines exceedingly toward sin, if it should happen that one undergo something unpleasant, I take it that there is, as it were, a second way of winning good repute: earnestly to long to come to be among the better things, and to run back swiftly to that mind which one ought to have shown from the beginning, and preserved unto the end.

And let no one, from what has been said, suppose that victory is something exceedingly hard and difficult to attain;

rather, let Paul anoint such a one for the contest, crying out:

'God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tried beyond what you are able;'

'but will, together with the trial, also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.' And that he will indeed grant this, according to the word of Paul, I will bring before you Christ himself saying:

'Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy;'

'...and nothing shall in any way hurt you.' For indeed Christ eagerly and truly grants us the power to accomplish all things that look toward virtue, through the working of the Holy Spirit and of the saving Cross;

at which the children of the Greeks laugh — men wise only as far as the tongue, priding themselves on bare words, but so slow in the discovery of truth that they seem to be nothing other than exactly this: pack-asses which, shaking their ears at those most sweetly accustomed to sing, perceive in no way whatever the art of the lyre-player.

And they find fault with those whom, if indeed they were wise, they ought by all means to imitate.

But since they bring into life so many gods besides the one who truly exists by nature — whichever one seems good to each — and reject the words that come from us, one might justly hear what indeed they say one of their own poets uttered:

'Let there be one ruler, one king' —

the God who is in all, and through all, and over all.

And for now I will pass over their accusations;

but those matters which it is more fitting to speak of, and which seem somehow to lie close to the present occasion, these, as it appears, it is proper to bring forward into the open.

The Jews, then, who have carried impiety to its utmost extreme, are scandalized at the cross of our Savior Christ, and to such a degree, I think, do they surpass the madness of the Greeks that, if anyone were to become a judge over both, he would, I think, at once condemn these, pronouncing the faults of the others to be the lesser evils.

For perhaps he will say: since they have not yet read the divine Scriptures, it is no wonder if they have erred from the doctrines of truth.

But those who have been instructed unto piety through the Law and the Prophets have exceeded the Greeks in folly by exactly as much as ignorance affords the latter a reasonable excuse;

whereas for the former no manner of defense remains at all, since they cannot even allege the disease of ignorance as unavoidable.

And you will see, if you will, Christ himself also pleading in support of my words.

For he says somewhere concerning them:

'If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin;'

'but now they have no excuse for their sin.' Their affairs have already been driven to such a state that it truly seems no manner of insult at all if someone should insist that they ought to be reckoned in the rank of the Greeks, and among those who do not know God at all.

Perhaps nothing hinders — indeed it now seems rather necessary — that we make our demonstration from the very facts themselves;

for thus we might easily clear ourselves of the charge of mere reviling;

and we will make it evident to our hearers that it has been our great concern to speak the truth to them.

I will go back to the very origin of the race — I mean the race of the Hebrews.

For from this what is being shown will become clear.

The blessed Abraham, then, being by race a Chaldean, and having been reared by a father who did not know the God who truly exists, was for a certain time governed by the laws of the one who begot him, belonged among those who were in ignorance, and was once numbered among the worshipers of idols.

For youth is prone to be led by the hand through the counsels of others, and not readily to embrace the perception of what is truly beneficial — a fault I would rather ascribe to the season of life itself, than record as a charge against youth.

But when God willed to plant the race of the Hebrews, he called Abraham to the knowledge of himself, and drew him out, as it were a noble root from among thorns, and translated him into reverence; and he became what he now is, having been changed, as into another person altogether, by the addition of the knowledge of God, and, simply by his willingness to serve God, he surpassed all those who had ever lived before him.

If, then, the manner of piety and the power of service to God show a man to be transformed, then the forsaking of what has been said will again call back to his former state the one to whom it has befallen to suffer this.

For it is fitting to take away the argument from the head of the righteous man, and apply it instead to the fruit that comes from that root;

for thus it will also appear true that, through their disobedience to Christ, they have utterly deserted from all piety.

Hear what the Savior says through one of the prophets:

'Woe to them, for they have leapt away from me;'

'they are wretched, because they have committed impiety against me.' For this, first of all, is the chief and principal accusation inscribed upon the heads of the Hebrews.

But if anyone should wish to enumerate, besides this, still other accusations against them, he will find so vast a multitude that not even one most excellently equipped with skill in matters of eloquence, and so well trained in fluency of speech as to yield to none of the others for whom to appear brilliant in this respect seems better than all other prosperity, would be able to content himself with the accounts concerning them.

But so as not to remain wholly silent, as though benumbed by the sheer multitude of the accusations, I shall endeavor to set forth a very few things, by which we may know in what manner they leapt away.

'All their rulers are disobedient;'

'Ephraim made his roots, and he was dried up;'

'God will cast them off, because they did not listen to him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.' Does not the proof of my words cry this out yet more loudly? And does not the outcome of events bear witness to the truth of what has been said? For since they shook off reverence toward him, being disobedient and contradicting him at once, they were for this reason driven toward unfruitfulness, and were about, before very long, to be dried up, like plants uprooted from the water; having then suffered grievous pain in their roots, when the word of the prophets came against them, at last, through their disobedience to Christ, they were utterly withered away.

Therefore, being justly cast out from friendship with him, they hear:

'I have hated, I have rejected your feasts, and I will not smell the sacrifices at your festal assemblies;'

'Take away from me the sound of your songs, and I will not listen to the melody of your instruments.' For God, who loves the truth, did not deem it right to delight in honors that were merely figurative;

but rather he was signifying that, before long, the time of worship in spirit would be manifested, intimating that there would be an overturning of the ancient customs;

and that, in place of these, he would graciously grant what is better.

And indeed he proclaims this most clearly through one of the prophets:

'And it shall come to pass in those days, they shall no longer say, \'The ark of the covenant of the Holy One of Israel;\''

'it shall not come up upon the heart, neither shall it be named;'

'nor shall it be visited, nor shall it be made anymore.' But if anyone should wish to learn what time the prophet meant, concerning which he insists that the ark shall no longer come up upon the heart, nor be named anymore, let him look at the present state of affairs in which he finds himself, and consider the mysteries of the Christians.

For surely God did not wish us also to make use of the customs of the Hebrews for worship;

Nor is there among us an ark, adorned outwardly with gold, but bearing within it the books of Moses;

but each one of those who believe in Christ becomes a temple of the Spirit, receiving within himself, so to speak, the whole fountain of sanctification.

And let none of my hearers suppose that we are speaking against Moses, or finding fault with the things legislated through him.

For may I never be so far out of my mind as to choose this position, when the divine Scripture says otherwise.

For the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good, just as Paul says:

but it was laid down only until the time of reformation, not yet introducing the true worship.

"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make with the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant." Understanding this most excellently, Paul says:

"In that he says 'new,' he has made the first one old;"

"and that which is becoming old and growing aged is near to disappearing." And again:

"For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second." Since, then, he said that the first was not free from blame;

for the law made nothing perfect, he insists that the second was necessarily introduced in its place, for the salvation of the world.

How long, then, will you disobey, O Jew? And when will you agree with the voices of the saints? But perhaps you will say, 'Paul is yours, not mine, my good fellow.'

I would indeed be full of folly, if I accepted the words of one who is in no way related to me;

for it would be like someone in war and battle gladly welcoming the blows of the enemy.

You seem to me to speak plausibly and justly;