復活節講道集 第 1 章 第 1/28 段

I. The bright lights of our joyful and divine feast shine forth beforehand and appear throughout the whole world;

permitting nothing dark or gloomy to meet those who wish to keep festival according to virtue.

The night is far spent, and the day is at hand;

let us walk becomingly as in the day, so that, guided by the unquenchable lamps of the Savior, we may come at last to the Jerusalem above, dwelling together in heaven with the holy choirs of angels.

but that, being of one accord and, according to Paul, minding the same thing, we may keep our confession of him unwavering and firm.

For thus indeed these lights bid us, on the strength of the divine and undefiled festival, to ascend henceforth to the spiritual Jerusalem;

and rousing us to run swiftly to piety, let us hear through the prophet:

'Go forth, saved out of the land, and do not stand still; remember the Lord, you who are far off, and let Jerusalem come up upon your heart.' Since Paul, then, cries out:

'So run that you may obtain it,' and since our holy feast is rising upon us like the sun, let us cast far away the feeble sluggishness of idleness;

and having overcome the dim darkness of idleness, let us advance to every virtue with a manly and radiant resolve, saying to one another that which is written:

'What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?' says the Lord.

'I am full of the burnt offerings of rams;'

'and I do not desire the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats;'

'nor if you come to appear before me.' But to those who have journeyed far from such things, and who have taken care to show God the true circumcision of the heart through worship in the spirit, the prophet cries out:

'Seek God, and call upon him when you find him;'

'And when he draws near to you, let the ungodly man forsake his way, and the lawless man his counsel, and let him turn back to the Lord, and he will find mercy, for he will abundantly forgive your sins.' Since, then, our Savior Christ has drawn near to us through his likeness to us, let us put off, as it is written, the old man, and put on the new man, who is being renewed after the image of him who created him;

and, forgetting the things that are behind, let us stretch forward to the things that are before, going up pure to the divine festival.

And since the prophet Jeremiah cries out:

'Thus he says to the men of Judah and to those who dwell in Jerusalem:'

'Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns;'

'Be circumcised to God, and circumcise the hardness of your hearts, you men of Judah dwelling in Jerusalem' — having cleansed, as with fire, by the fear of God, our mind that has run wild and lies fallow and uncultivated from piety, let us receive the good seed of the Savior, who teaches us not to follow bare observances nor worship in mere types, but who renews us unto salvation with good teachings;

let us show God the Jew who is one in secret, and the circumcision that is in secret, cutting off all wickedness from our own heart, that we too may justly hear:

'Keep your feasts, O Judah;'

'render to the Lord your God your vows.' II.

For those who are sent to preach, the fear connected with this task is no small thing;

for the penalty for negligence in these matters is not small.

For it is said, 'Cursed is he who does the works of God negligently.' And one may learn this clearly by considering the blessed Jonah, and the sea that raged madly against him,

and that terrible and most fearsome sea monster that was set in motion against him.

And I find that each of the saints stood in awe of the greatness of the divine ministry.

For the hierophant Moses, when God commanded him to lead the people out, measured the capacity of human nature, and seeing that the ministry of preaching was greater than it, said:

'I am faint of voice and slow of tongue.' And in harmony with this, the blessed Jeremiah too, when sent to prophesy, cries out:

'Who gave man a mouth, and who made one dull of hearing, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord God? And now go, and I will open your mouth.' And to the blessed Jeremiah:

'To all to whom I shall send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak.' Since, then, the dignity of the priestly office calls even me, lowly as I am, to preach, and since I fear that which is written, 'Speak, and do not be silent,' I come of necessity to write such things as these.

For, by the judgment of God, our father Theophilus, of ever-memorable and all-praised remembrance, who had been bishop, having rightly departed this present life and flown up to the heavenly abodes (for a reason which the Steward of all knows — I am ashamed to write it), the succession of the episcopate has come down to me, the least.

But hearing Paul write:

'For woe is me if I do not preach the gospel,' I have accordingly come to preach, with fear and beyond my strength.

Therefore, since our holy festival is shining forth beforehand and calling us to a pure and lawful purity,

to those who still cling closely to wickedness it is necessary to say:

'Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.' But to those who have fled the profane shame of sin and who practice a love of a dignified way of life, let the prophet proclaim good news, saying:

'Be enlightened, be enlightened, O Jerusalem;'

'for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.' For since all the people who dwell under the sun, having become, as it is written, portions of foxes, were divided into manifold and varied wickedness, and, overcome by the darkness of ignorance, were falling as into a pit into deep sin,

the Psalmist, necessarily calling upon God the Word to come to us from heaven, said:

'You who shepherd Israel, attend;'

'you who lead Joseph like a flock;'

'you who sit upon the Cherubim, appear before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh;'

'stir up your might, and come to save us.' And perceiving that he would come upon us opportunely while we lay fallen and prostrate, he cried out again:

'Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off? Do you overlook us in times of need, in afflictions?' For the Savior had not yet taken up our likeness, and so, according to the reckoning of the incarnation, he still stood far off from us.

since indeed great were the intervals lying between the nature of men and that of God the Word.

For concerning us — even concerning the saints — it is said:

'But I am earth and ashes.' But concerning the being of the Only-Begotten, the prophet Isaiah says:

the Savior, having been born of a woman according to the flesh, in order that he might save the man born of woman, and, having released him from the bonds of death, might teach him to say rejoicing:

'O death, where is your victory? O Hades, where is your sting?' For he not only grants us the gift of the resurrection, but also, having blunted the sting of Hades, that is, the sin that wounds, he says:

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

'and nothing shall by any means hurt you.' This, besides the other things, is an achievement of our Savior's sojourn among us.

Therefore all dignity of life is now practiced on earth;

and the darkness of ignorance has been driven away.

And foreseeing this by the power of the divine Spirit, the Psalmist said:

'In his days righteousness shall arise, and abundance of peace, until the moon be removed.'

For if, being enemies, as Paul says, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, abundance of peace shall arise for us.

And this having come to pass, it is altogether necessary that the moon also be removed;

that is, the devil, the ruler of night and darkness, here figuratively called 'the moon.'

So then, rays of so many and so great blessings shine forth upon us, and the light of our divine feast rises, and once again the radiant festival draws us to itself,

advising us, on the one hand, more loudly, that it is fitting to withdraw from the most shameful things, and saying:

'Wash yourselves, and be clean; remove your wickednesses from your souls.' For since the Proverb-writer is wise, saying:

'There is a time for all things, and a season for every matter,' how should we not reasonably confess that this present season is an enemy to all wickedness? — that it calls us only to those things which know how to honor the divine law, and gives those who make use of it confidence, because in its calling it imitates the verdict of good will.

Now those who in the present life have chosen to preside as judges of contests, and who purchase this title for themselves at great expense of money, having set before the young a sweat-inducing arena of rivalry, honor the victor with rich prizes of various kinds; yet the grace of what is given is small, and its enjoyment extends no further than the present life;

but God, the judge of the righteous contests, grants to the pious things that eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and that have not entered into the heart of man.

For of those whose purpose is found through their works to be above nature, the manner of their reward will justly surpass human understanding.

Come, then, let us too summon the lovers of piety to the yearly contest of labors; and since the prophet says:

'Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,' let us, crying out with a great and piercing voice, sound the sacred trumpet of the Church, and by a clear and most conspicuous proclamation announce the coming of our holy feast.

and when the all-wise God says to Moses, the revealer of sacred mysteries:

'Make for yourself two trumpets; you shall make them of silver;'

'and they shall serve you for calling the congregation together and for breaking camp' -- and to the force of what has been said we shall fittingly apply ourselves

while another counsels that one ought not to be entangled in unseemly deeds

He commands that the trumpets be of silver;

for in both cases the word is bright and unstained;

departing from error in doctrines, and introducing the choice of what is to be done

How, then, could we become workers of such things in any other way?

And how could we fulfill the divine commandment, unless altogether by fleeing from what is evil, guarding ourselves against consorting with the most shameful things, and earnestly esteeming as of great worth whatever is known to sanctify those who fast? For thus will those who wish to keep the feast rightly serve our good God.

Let the disciple of Christ, therefore, come into our midst; let him teach the manner of fasting; let us hear him as he speaks:

'This is fasting, pure and undefiled before God and the Father:'

'to visit orphans and widows in their affliction;'

'and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.' Now how, and in what manner, we shall attain to what has been said is easy to discover.

For I think that, for those who are right-minded, even the law of nature itself suffices, teaching us to hate whatever appears to be contrary to the divine commandments, and persuading us to let the will of the Lawgiver prevail within us.

But if anyone thinks that we need clearer precepts for this, let him hear Paul saying:

'Put to death your members which are upon the earth:'

'fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire.' For surely we shall not find the truer grace of fasting by mere abstinence from food and the mere rejection of certain foods, nor shall we be altogether pure and holy simply by refraining from these alone, but rather by banishing from our minds those very things for the sake of which the remedy of fasting was devised.

Let us, then, obey the holy one who says:

'Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.' This is truly the manner of fasting;

in these things lies the demonstration of the noblest deeds

Do not nourish your mind with licentious pleasures;

let the sting of fornication lie idle within you;

keep your mind free from passion;

flee the fellowship of the unclean.

These things will procure for you the crown of righteousness.

It is good, then, at the proper time, to abstain also from superfluous foods and to withdraw from an elaborate table, lest, by indulging in dishes beyond what is needful, we awaken sin that lies asleep within us.

For the flesh, when fattened and made wanton by these things, becomes harsh and hard for the desires of the Spirit to overcome;

but when it is weakened and not aided by superfluity, it necessarily yields the victory to that Spirit.

This also the blessed Paul, teaching us, says as follows:

'For even though our outward man is decaying, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.' For where opposition of will and an incompatible disposition destroy friendship, in such cases the power of one party to prevail over the other grants it the greater share.

And that victory belongs to the better party, all, I think, would agree.

For as great as the gain that will accrue to us from this, so great, it is likely, would be the harm from the other, should the worse gain the upper hand over the better.

Let evil, then, be rendered idle within us, and let all indulgence in food depart, and let sober fasting, the enemy of all sin, enter into us;

whose beauty I have thought it necessary to demonstrate from ancient examples, even though you already know it, beloved.

For tell me, what was it that made the blessed Baptist so great and so distinguished a man? And whence did he win that most excellent verdict, when our Savior Christ said concerning him:

'Among those born of women there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist'? And what was it that prepared Moses, the revealer of sacred mysteries, to enter into the darkness and stand before God? Was it not fasting, the mother of every

form of virtue for us? Fasting is the imitation of the angelic way of life, the fountain of self-control, the beginning of continence, the abolition of lust,

having ceded to the Babylonians the possession of much flesh and fleshly desire, and having allowed them the mastery in that matter in which to be defeated is good, they loved instead plain and simple food.

But observe, I ask you, the fruit that came of this.

They were deemed worthy of divine visions, they showed themselves superior to fire, and they refuted the threat of the king;

and they mastered lions, turning them to a tameness contrary to their nature.

And what was it that delivered the Ninevites from that great threat? For the prophet proclaimed:

'Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.' But they, seizing upon fasting as an unbreakable fortress, appeased the divine wrath and were delivered from the evils they had expected.

And one could say many things about the benefits of fasting.

But to attempt to demonstrate at length something that is already evident and known to all -- that it is beneficial -- I consider superfluous and futile.

For it bears within itself the marks of truth.

But since, by comparison with its opposite, its beauty is found to shine more brightly, come, let us also point out the failings that arise from luxurious food;

and having unfolded what befell certain people because of it, let us summon those who suffered as witnesses, as it were, to what has been said.

The people of the Hebrews once camped in the wilderness;

and Moses had been summoned up onto Mount Sinai, to receive the law there from God.

But the people, making the absence of their tutor an occasion for folly, and disregarding the good order they had previously kept, turned aside to strange desires.

'For the people,' it says, 'sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.' Now 'to play' here means to commit fornication, discreetly veiled by divine Scripture under the name of 'play.'

And to learn what evil befell those who had committed fornication because of this, hear Paul saying:

'Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and perished by the serpents.' And again, what grievous thing befell them when, counting the heavenly food of manna as nothing, they remembered the food of Egypt, saying:

'Would that we had died, struck down by the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill!' Thus, through these examples as well, the benefit of fasting has, I think, been clearly demonstrated to you.

I know indeed that fasting is not without profit; but toiling is not without cost -- rather, it is most hostile to nature.

Then how is it not shameful, and full of every absurdity, to love the better things and set great store by the acquisition of what is profitable, yet, as regards becoming master of the benefit that comes from them in the proper way, either not to undertake it at all from the start, or to appear rather too indifferent about it -- to say that fasting is not without profit, and yet to flee the labors through which we shall find that profit? For in the very manner that the shoots which by nature spring up out of the earth have a root, being unable to have the beginning of their growth in any other way,

so also the beginning of good cheer is found through labors, and through them it rises and comes to light.

For if we resolve not to be willing to labor at all, we shall be deprived of all glory and honor, and shall become like the dead, taking no forethought whatsoever for our own salvation;

or, by embracing the labor that comes from fasting, we shall rightly gain those very things whose loss, it is agreed, would befall us if we did not do this.

And that, if we choose to be right-minded, we shall -- by ratifying for ourselves the best verdict -- prefer the better thing to those things which are not by nature profitable, is clear to everyone.

If, then, fleeing from the noblest of human affairs on account of small labors would bring no harm to those who practice it, while at the same time it places those who chose not to flee outside all loss and danger, I for my part would judge them the most irrational of all men;

But if, by declining to suffer small things, we shall fall into greater and harsher ones, how is it not more consistent to choose rather to suffer that to which both the lesser labor and the better outcome are attached? I would gladly ask those so disposed which, in the end, they would call more troublesome -- fasting, or being punished for all eternity? But I think that, even against their will, they would confess that the worse must be rejected in view of the punishment it brings.

or, by shrinking from doing this, be condemned to unquenchable fire.

And it is good to add this also to what has been said:

that the enjoyment of pleasant things becomes all the more delightful to those who have them, when something of the opposite kind happens to occur beforehand.

For to those laid low by sickness, the good of health becomes more evident.

And those who are worn down by poverty and the lack of necessities are, for this reason, more eager about gaining.

For they are compelled to seek the enjoyment of the things they do not have;

and, to put it briefly, through the deprivation of pleasant things, the longing for them becomes greater.

Thus also God, the most excellent craftsman of all things, ordered this universe:

giving to the sun to shine after night, and to her again after the sun,

so that, alternating with one another, they might render the service of their presence more delightful.

since the mind of man is always accustomed to disregard what is present,

and, wearied with the satiety of what has already come, it grows young again toward what is future and expected.

And the force of what has been said will hold good also in the case of fasting and of luxury:

Therefore fasting is not without profit, so that, when the occasion calls, you may enjoy it more sweetly.

Let us therefore love fasting, as the mother of every good thing and of all good cheer.

This the children of the Greeks dishonor—those who are wise only in appearance—

but the Jews, surpassing all men in the novelty of their impieties, do not deny knowing it, yet they act so shamefully that they would perhaps be better off were they found not doing this at all.

For being filled, so to speak, with every wickedness, and travailing within themselves with every uncleanness, yet priding themselves solely on the name of fasting, they often make virtue a pretext for arrogance.

For what could one say, considering that most ignorant and untaught Pharisee, whom our Lord Christ depicts in the Gospels praying in the temple and crying out:

'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector;

I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess.' What are you saying, you fool, boasting over fasting? Do you not yet perceive that you are diseased with such great arrogance, being so precise about such small matters? Do you not yet see the bulk of your arrogance? Will you not cease straining out the gnat while swallowing the camel, as the Savior says? And do you call yourself learned in the law, while being ignorant of what is written? 'Let your neighbor praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.' 'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful to men outwardly, but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.' For truly the mind of the Jews is filled with all uncleanness;

and there is nothing base which has not been held in honor among them;

for not only did they refuse to know the divine law, but also, spitting upon the commandment given to them, they continued being both disobedient and unpersuadable.

And for these things God accuses them, crying out through the prophet:

'To whom shall I speak, and testify, that he may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear;'

'behold, the word of the Lord has become to them a reproach; they will in no way desire to hear it.' For counsel about what is profitable is burdensome to those who sin habitually;

and to those who wish to live licentiously, self-control is not pleasant.

For in the very way that, in men drunk with wine, the mind has been plunged into folly, and is thereby deprived of thinking rightly, because it does not perceive that consorting with the worst things is harmful;

so also those conquered by the love of pleasure, having fallen as it were into a deep swamp of sin, and having fixed their once-sober mind fast in unclean passions, hold evil within themselves unshaken, being wholly inclined toward it and gazing upon it, fettered by this disease.

they used to think it a fine thing, if the prevailing in sins should be granted to them,

for they supposed that they would not otherwise be found to think in a manner worthy of those who begot them, unless they should fall into the same, or even worse, enormities.

'From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily, rising up early;'

'and I sent, and they did not listen to me, and their ear did not pay attention;'

'and they hardened their neck more than their fathers.'

O you who alone have made known your begetters through the kinship of your impieties, and by the sameness of your disposition have made manifest whose children you have become!

O you who have surpassed those who begot you in impiety, and by your youthful audacities against the law have accused their weakness!

to you alone it fell to prevail in those very things in which it would have been more profitable to be defeated.

O you who have won a victory more grievous than every disgrace!

O you who have obtained for yourselves the verdict of seizing a victory—one you do not truly possess—daring perhaps to pride yourselves over lesser evils! It is you whom God, the judge of all, condemns:

'They have hardened,' he says, 'their neck.' On account of these things he commands the prophet to lament over them, and says, 'Shear your head, and cast it away, and take up a lament upon your lips, for the Lord has rejected and cast away the generation that did these things.'

'For the sons of Judah have done evil before me, says the Lord.' Then, explaining also the manner of their impiety, he says:

'They have set their abominations in the house upon which my name is called, and they have built the altar of Topheth.' For they proceeded to such an excess of madness that they even denied their very benefactor, and considered it more profitable to serve idols.

And indeed, fashioning for themselves names of gods, they performed sacrifices to them.

Others, dragged along by their own passions, divided their mind toward strange desires, and, seizing the most flowery of the mountain groves, offered sacrifices there to demons, invoking, as it seems to me, nymphs—Hamadryads and Oreads, according to the poets of the Greeks.

And pouring themselves out shamelessly toward every desire, priding themselves greatly on those very things for which they ought rather to have sunk in shame, they plainly grieved the lawgiver not a little.

'Have you seen what the house of Israel has done to me? She went up on every high mountain, and under every leafy tree, and there played the harlot.'

And then, after all this her fornication:

'Return to me,' and she did not return. For those to whom being saved is not pleasing hate the ways of what is beneficial; and such a one, not declining to be such, does not flee the season of the love of pleasure;

but always stretches toward the worse, not knowing how to be self-controlled.

For if, though it were possible for them to be saved by repenting, they disregarded their own advantage, and counted so great a loving-kindness as nothing, how would they not justly ratify against themselves that they ought not to be shown mercy? For how would they not be found to have run beyond every kind of arrogance—they who, though it was possible for them to obtain release from punishment by departing from sin, instead call down upon themselves a heavier chastisement, always adding greater transgressions to those already committed? For those disposed in this manner, to be punished the more is more fitting than not to suffer evil.

For no one would err in counseling that, in such cases, the oil be withheld.

'And you, do not pray for this people, and do not ask that they be shown mercy, and do not entreat, and do not come to me concerning them, for I will not hear.'

'Their sons gather wood, and their fathers kindle fire, and their women knead dough to make cakes for the host of heaven, and they poured out libations to strange gods, that they might provoke me to anger.' The sons gather the wood, the fathers kindle the fire, the women knead the dough, so that nothing might be found outside of sin;

and, thoroughly working out sin, they will justly hear:

'Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from serving me as priest.'

'And you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.' For the manner of chastisement always contends in proportion to the magnitude of the sins, and it is necessary that punishment follow offenses in equal measure.

What greater or harsher thing could there be, for those convicted of so great a crime, than to suffer what was fitting—namely, to be barred from the divine priestly ministry, and to be deprived of the remembrance they had before God, on account of which, having obtained well-being, they continued, so to speak, needing nothing of all good cheer? But indeed prosperity is a fearsome thing, and unbearable to the foolish.

And whenever indeed even those who ought least of all to have it are seen to have acquired it, then an occasion for recklessness is also found for those who possess it.

not wishing to do the things which seem right to the lawgiver, but defining their own will as law for themselves, and being instructed only by their own decrees.

Being disposed in this frame of mind, and being in this condition, the saints, justly lamenting, say:

'Hear the word of the Lord, for I take up a lamentation over you.'

'The house of Israel has fallen; she will no more rise again.' And again:

'Call for the mourning women, and let them come;'