When he wills to exercise his charity in us, he did not display to you the accustomed clarity of his holy discourse. And so it befits us obediently to do what he willed, and you gladly to bear it because he willed it. Pray therefore for us, that our words may be fitting when touched by him; for we desire rather to be enriched by the fruits of deeds, aided by your prayers, than to be overshadowed by the leaves of words. We exhort your charity, most beloved brethren, that it may not weary you to hear the brethren and fellow-presbyters who minister the word of God diligently and vigilantly. For the Lord our God, the very Truth which you hear, through whomever he may speak, the things he speaks must be heard devoutly and vigilantly. For among us no one is greater, save he who has become the lesser.
But we wished to speak to you beforehand, as is our custom, so that the things we say might be joined together by love. Of all foods, salt is a wholesome seasoning, if the measure be not lacking. Otherwise it too perishes, and it ruins what it has salted. For excess makes bitter what measure could have made savoury. So the sense that is in us, if it keeps its measure, gives savour, begets understanding, generates prudence, enlarges the heart, increases the wit, ripens what is to be said, and composes what is to be heard; and it becomes sweet to itself, and to those who taste it a whole fullness of sweetness. And plainly that sense will be honeyed, from whose mouth nothing bitter has been brought forth. This we have set forth first, so that in the sayings of the Gospel a sure measure of our sense must be constrained, so far as concerns living food,
the divine nourishment, the heavenly savour — that it may not violate it, but guard it for us with most cautious sobriety, according to that word of the Apostle: 'Not to be more wise than one ought to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety' (Rom. 12:3). Therefore let us now hear what the Lord has said in the Gospel. Among the chief stars, the Bears, the Orions, and the morning-stars, the smaller star is ever obscured by the great brightness of the greater ones; but it is not so in the new heaven of Mother Church, in which the star of the seed of Abraham gleams with the radiance of faith. There now, though I go forth as a very small star among the constellations of the Fathers, I trust that, with them shining upon me and instructing me, I shall not be obscured but glorified.
So that what I lack of the orb of my own star, I may merit from the splendour of the fatherly oracle, and from your hearing and attentive heart, which is to me as it were a heaven in which my discourse, aided by its star, may go forth, and the fatherly intercession may succeed with your favour. Safe is the battle of the archer, when he is covered by the walled column of the shields of those who protect him. Since, therefore, I see the Fathers fortifying me with the shield of kindness, I do not fear to shoot the slenderest words from a small quiver. So that when the arrow of my heart's unpolished discourse is shot from the ark of trembling lips of a feeble voice, it may not fear, protected by the breastplate and the shielded crown of the holy Fathers.
For even these are arrows of the mighty, from the bow of small discourse, which, with desolating coals, both loose our words and enlighten your hearts, so that both the fiery darts of the one who lies in wait may be extinguished, and your wisdom may gladly hear, without laborious battle, of a fatherly victory. Indeed I see, most beloved brethren, the alacrity of your spirit and your unwearied zeal and luminous fervour; but lest in this agility of yours I myself be found sluggish, let me not seem superfluous because I rouse the watchful and exhort the enkindled. For even if the discourse finds so great a contest in you that it can kindle no more, yet it too wishes to be fervent along with you.
The ancient teaching of the holy Fathers terrifies my little and untrained ability, and your luminous attention, brethren; but again both their command and your kindness exhort me. For even though you weigh what is said with most learned examination, yet you all love in Christ with such rich charity, that you gladly hear not only the strong and the middling, but also the slender and the poor. To speak the word of God to those who are known and friends is a great confidence of charity, where the fruit of piety is presumed. So that even if something of less polished speech is brought forth, the friend easily pardons, to whom the speaker is not unknown.
For in this matter, when the prophet Ezekiel hesitated about carrying out his proclamation, almighty God strengthened him, lest, trembling and excusing himself on account of his own inexperience, he should waver with his small neck under the great burden of prophecy. The Lord says to him: 'Why do you hesitate? For I do not send you to a foreign nation, but you shall go to your own people, of no unknown tongue, but of a known one' (Ezek. 3:5). Nor shall you say: 'I have heard a tongue I did not know'; one is the tongue, equal are the words, the audience is of your fellow-citizens. And lest there be anything that might seem blameworthy to a friend well known among friends, he holds out to him a book written within and without with heavenly reeds, and bids him swallow it with eager throat, that thence he might be able to belch forth the sweets he has tasted.
He received it, he devoured it. His tongue was instructed, his members were made sweet, and there began to resound from the man the skill of divine teaching, sweetly consumed. So may the Lord also deign to grant us the sweets of this book, that he himself may teach what man has not taught. Concerning your known and civil congregation I have no fear, presuming that you will rejoice to hear whatever kind of discourse. As often as the word of the sovereign is brought forth, and the royal teaching is handled in the midst, there are present angels, ministers of the word of God, commenders of the utterance, and interpreters of the mystery. For Gabriel the interpreter was present to blessed Daniel, when Cyrus the emperor stood by him on the right, and he said: 'Gabriel, make this vision understood' (Dan. 8:16).
May this same Lord now also command, amid holy and great colloquies, that we be commended to so great an angel, that we may merit to receive the reason of angelic interpretation. Then shall we be able, in whatever way, to bring forth a discourse fitting to your charity with confidence. By holy and sweet and generous discourse, and by much affection, I know that the minds of love are ever suffused. And because you have often been accustomed to be filled with great banquets of spiritual things, by the ministration of my lord brother and fellow-priest, with what daring, with what confidence you can be delighted, cannot be comprehended. Setting this before me, so slight a man, I dare less than I presume. But since by common desire I strive to obey the commands, I do not refuse to blush.
And therefore I bring forth, as it were, a small pleading of a mediocre man, not to fill the mind, but to take away disdain. Therefore, if they be not too worthless, whatever they may be, I beg you, deign gladly to receive them. Bring hither attentive ears, you who are lovers of the word of God, and consider more diligently the things we shall be able to say, by the Lord's gift. For as much as the word of God is entrusted to us who preach, so much is the heap of the sacraments increased for you.
But just as one carried in a small skiff enters the sea, and, while he is near the land, fears less; but when little by little he has advanced into the deep, and, with the waves swelling, begins to be borne down into the depths, then straightway dread invades his mind, and terror strikes him, because he has entrusted a slight raft to the immense billows — so also we seem to suffer, who, slight in merits and slender in wit, dare to enter so vast a sea of mysteries. But if, while you pray, the Lord deign to give us a prosperous breeze of his Holy Spirit, we shall enter the port of salvation with a favourable course of the word.
Never would the auspices of our rashness lightly burst forth, had not your primacy and beloved affection toward me deigned to grant me the pardon of daring to speak. Whatever, therefore, we shall have been able to draw from the divine fountains, and to hand over spiritually for the drinking of your breasts, I beg that you deign gladly to receive. SERMON ONE. On the Nativity of Christ. The organs are inclined from the heavens, which can sing the glory of God being born. For as the angels descend, the Church is borne through the winds of the upper air, that the pattern of the heavenly fatherland may now be transferred, living, to the earth. Everywhere silence, because all things yield to the organs of heaven. Silence of the prophets, the taciturnity of the priests; the melody of the angels alone is now fitting.
Zacharias is silent in the temple; the angels began to sing a hymn from heaven — those who make both the star to twinkle, and the night to shine, the shepherds to keep watch, the sheep to chew the cud, the lambs to leap for joy. A clear messenger, a sweet song, a gentle Lord born; to the shepherds strength, to the flocks pasture, to the angels song. Blessed John describes (Rev. 7:4) a hundred and forty-four thousand singing a sweet hymn on Mount Zion, after the manner of harpers; but different is the sound of the angels. The shepherds' mouths hung agape in wonder, and even the birds fell silent, I say, at the pastoral pipe, when the angels announce him lying in the manger, with a hymn soothing the shepherds.
Father Abraham desires, in truth, to receive the Trinity, which he had received in figure beneath the sheltering tent. Isaac rejoices beneath the little house of Bethlehem, as beneath a hundredfold ear of grain; unto the medicine of wheat he is illumined, no longer merely visited. Father Jacob, he who beneath the ladder beholds the Lord — not resting upon the ladder, but being born from the earth, lying in the manger, sucking at the mother's breasts. Moses bears the leadership of the peoples of Israel (Deut. 18:15), because a Prophet has been raised up out of our brethren. Isaiah sings together beneath the beloved vine, making a Church beneath the thorny branches, because 'unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given' (Isa. 9:6). He who
invites the shepherds to the manger, is about to choose fishermen from the shore, about to make earthly organs by bending down the heavenly ones. Now Matthew paints the man as God, whom the Holy Spirit painted upon the tablet of the virginal members. Now Mark the evangelist begins to bring forth the lion — not from the hunting cage, but from the cave of the stable. Now Luke the evangelist bears upon pontifical shoulders the calf, fattened, that the human race might be fed from it; and now the safe earth is ploughed with the furrow of the cross, in the seed of tears, in the sheaves of joys, and the calves are fattened for the banquet of the Christian nuptials. Behold, the eagle already flies;
and up to the Lord's breast John inclines the oars of his little wings, that from the breast of Christ he might receive the fragrance, and stretch his flight unto heaven, cleaving through by flight and song, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' (John 1:1). For it delights the evangelists to walk on earth with Christ the Lord being born, to roar with him suffering, to sacrifice with him dying, to fly with him rising and ascending. From the East and the West the eagles put forth their wings, by leaving the earth, by yielding their limbs, by enduring torments. The wings of the martyrs have sailed even to our shores, and have taught us to fly to the Lord on the wings of justice.
The bones of the martyrs, the members of the saints, are the wings of eagles, which the song of the angels invites and the flight of the heavens, that there may be gladness of the shepherds, the chewing of the cud of the sheep, the sweet nourishment of the lambs, because the Lamb of God has been born, who takes away the sin of the world. SERMON TWO. On the Nativity of St. Stephen. Yesterday we celebrated the birthday on which the King of martyrs was born to the world; today we celebrate the birthday on which the foremost of the martyrs departed from the world. For it was needful that first the Immortal should take up flesh for mortals, and thus the mortal for the immortals should despise death. The Lord was born that he might die for the servant, lest the servant should fear to die for the Lord. Christ was born on earth, that Stephen might be born in the heavens.
The Lord entered the world, that Stephen might enter into heaven. The Most High descended to lowly things, and the lowly one ascended to the heights. The Son of God became the son of man, that he might make the sons of men sons of God. Christ worked miracles; Stephen also worked them. Could Stephen have kept silent without Christ? For Stephen lived from Christ, as the branch from the vine. You marvel at the fruit hanging from the branch — then see the branch abiding in the vine. Come now, holy Stephen, say something concerning the Jews, that you may begin to be stoned, whereby you may be crowned. Hurl words, and receive stones. Say something concerning the uncircumcised hearts, and you are warned by stones.
Say something concerning him whose name they will not hear, that they may blush and rage, and the deceitful lips be made mute (Ps. 30:19). Tell them where you see alive him whom they mocked crucified. Tell them where you see him, and here you shall not live, but with him you shall live better. Tell them that what they did is nothing, for he whom they slew lives. Tell them that you see him in heaven standing at the right hand of the Father, whom they mocked hanging on the cross. And that holy Stephen said: 'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.' But they, crying out, held their ears (Acts 7:56). They shut their ears and ran to the stones, and all made an assault upon him.
And they stoned Stephen, who called upon the Lord and said (Acts 7:57): 'My soul has cleaved after you, because my flesh is stoned for you.' Christ prayed for those who crucified him; Stephen also prayed for those who stoned him. The Lord Christ prayed fixed upon the wood, and holy Stephen with knees bent. He who, standing, commended his own spirit to the Lord, prayed with bent knee for their offence. He prayed to the Lord for his enemies, as a friend saying: 'Certainly I suffer, I am stoned, they rage against me and roar against me, but do not lay this sin to their charge' (Acts 7:60): for, that I might say this to you, I first heard it from you. I your servant suffer, but there is much difference between me and you. You are the Lord, I the servant. You the Word, I the hearer of the Word.
You the master, I the disciple. You the Creator, I the created. You God, I man. There is much difference between the sin of these who stone me, and of those who crucified you. When therefore you said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34), you asked for a great sin, and you taught me to ask for a very small one. 'Lord,' he says, 'do not lay this sin to their charge.' As if he said: I suffer in the flesh; let them not perish in the mind. They cast stones, and holy Stephen poured out prayers. Great piety, brethren, great clemency. Assuredly, such things as he ate at the table of his Lord, such things he himself prepared at his own banquet. It is written in the Law: 'You have sat at a great table;
know that it behooves you to prepare such things' (Sir. 31:12). Such things, therefore, he set forth in prayer, as he ate at his Lord's table. The Lord Christ said: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do'; holy Stephen said: 'Do not lay this sin to their charge'; and with this said, he fell asleep in the Lord. O sleep of peace! What is more tranquil than that sleep? What is more quiet than that sleep? What manner of one went to his friends, who so loved his enemies?
For, that your holiness may know how much the prayer of holy Stephen the martyr availed, run back with us to that young persecutor by name Saul, as we heard from the book while it was being read — who, when Stephen was being stoned, and by that very man the garments of all who stoned were kept, so that he might seem, as it were, to stone by the hands of all. This man, when he was going on the way, suddenly a light from heaven shone round about him, and he heard a voice saying to him: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.' And he said: 'And who are you, Lord?' And the Lord to him: 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute' (Acts 9:3–5); what is between me and you?
Why do you rise up against me to your own harm, and rather do not humble yourself to your own good? For the great evils which you have committed against me, I ought indeed long since to have destroyed you; but my Stephen prayed for you. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? But because you rage against my name, I will make you my servant. O Saul, ravening wolf, you have eaten; wait a little, and you shall digest. I will say plainly: the son of perdition has been struck down, and the Vessel of Election has been raised up. For if holy Stephen had not prayed, the Church would not have Paul. But therefore Paul was raised up, because on the earth, bent low, Stephen was heard. Therefore what Saul did, Paul suffers; what the persecutor did, the preacher suffers; what the wolf did, the lamb suffers:
because in such a man vengeance is to be taken in this way, that he may learn to suffer what he was doing, and himself feel what he was inflicting on others. It is said to Ananias by the Lord Jesus Christ: 'Go to him, and seal him with my seal' (Acts 9:11). Ananias went, baptized Saul, and made a lamb out of the wolf. We began to have as a preacher him whom holy Stephen had as a stoner. Thus, then, was holy Stephen heard, so that by his prayers the sin which Saul had committed was blotted out. Let us therefore commend ourselves to his prayers: for much more now is he heard for those who venerate him, who was so heard then for those who stoned him. SERMON THREE. On the Nativity of St. Stephen. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the good Shepherd, gentle
and merciful, mingles his sheep among wolves in this world, that he may aid them from his throne. Do you wish to see, whoever you are, O Christian, the Lord Jesus Christ mingling sheep among wolves? He himself cried out in the reading of the present Gospel, saying: 'Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves' (Matt. 10:16). Do you wish again to see the Lord Jesus Christ leading his sheep out of the hands of the wolves? He himself cries out and says: 'I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep' (John 10:14). The wolf is destroyed when the Shepherd is hidden. The sheep is redeemed when the Shepherd is crucified. For the sheep sent into the midst of wolves ought not to fear.
For to this end they are mingled with the wolves, not that they may be changed into their malice, but that the wolves may be converted into the innocence of the sheep. But if the wolf refuses to become a lamb, let the sheep not fall away, following the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. For behold, the first sheep, holy Stephen — how by the testimony of faith he shakes off the wolves who cry out, and with his own eyes beholds the heavens open! An excellent sheep, fighting in the midst of the wolves; following, not yet having arrived at the Lord, and already he is a friend of the angels. How manifestly familiar to the angels was he alone, who in the midst of the wolves appeared as an angel! For, the heavens being opened, the aspect of the confessor was changed;
and he began, as though illumined by the Sun of justice, to shine forth, so that he no longer had a human appearance, the heavens themselves being open, the enemies themselves confessing it. For he stood in the midst of the wolves, and his face was as the face of an angel standing in the midst of the Jews (Acts 6:15). What are you doing, O Jews? Do you not fear the first sheep of Christ, his handmaid attendant, who has on her forehead the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? That is the sign which shone for you on Stephen's forehead; this sign the heavens saw and were laid open, and as though at the display of the seal in the likeness of angels, the gates of heaven were laid open. For holy Stephen came with the keys of faith, and himself opened for himself what he faithfully believed and gladly beheld.
What therefore he saw, he did not keep silent. 'Behold,' he says, 'I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father' (Acts 7:56). But what remained, when the heavens were laid open, for him to see, except the very Lord and Saviour who had ascended amid the hosts? For we all see these heavens, but closed, not laid open; shining in the stars, not gleaming in the angels. But this one, now not a man but an angel-man, beholds the seat of the palace of his Lord not closed, but laid open. He sees not angels, but archangels; if indeed he beholds these too, yet he proclaims Him to whom he was a witness. He heralds Him whose servant he is, perfected in the contest. For how great was the grace granted to holy Stephen! He was beholding the army of the heavenly host standing;
he was beholding the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Father. Behold, he sees the Lord, who was now migrating to the Lord; and by the merit of his confession he beholds the assembly of the heavenly powers, who was now about to migrate to the province of the dead. But among the dead he was condemning, who among the wolves was gleaming. 'Behold,' he says, 'I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father.' Let friends rejoice, though enemies blaspheme. Let not the sheep be silent in testifying, though the wolves cry out in blaspheming. For they shut up their minds, and said, 'He has blasphemed.' This also said Caiaphas, prince of the Jews, concerning the Son of Man suffering and enduring all things. For when our Lord Jesus Christ, hanging on the cross, said:
'Amen I say to you, henceforth you shall see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father' (Matt. 26:64), Caiaphas cried out, saying, 'He has blasphemed' (Matt. 26:65). Caiaphas rent his garments; these men shut up their very minds. Caiaphas, that he might remain naked; these men, that they might remain in their malice. O great miracle! The gates of heaven are opened, and the Jews shut up their impious minds. But holy Stephen was not silent, did not fail, nor yielded to the blasphemers. There he was attentive, where he was opening the eyes of his heart. 'Behold,' he says, 'I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.' But why are you angry with me for so great a testimony, O Jews? Was it by my command or power that the heavens were laid open?
The heavens were laid open, not that they might proclaim my glory, but that they might show my Shepherd standing by me as my helper. Consider, therefore, and see how far I am from the heavens, placed with you upon the earth. Could I ever have reached them and opened the gates of heaven? The Lord of the angels Himself has opened His own palace to me. Rightly, in a manner, I see, and what I see I do not keep silent. I did not despise Him hanging upon the cross, and therefore I see Him seated at the right hand of the Father. To you this testimony from heaven has been given; but if you do not believe, what have I done to you? The heavens laid open declare the glory of God (Ps. XVIII, 1), and shall I be silent about the mercy of my Christ? I see Christ seated in His glory, standing forth for my salvation.
He Himself is my witness in heaven; shall I not be His witness on earth? If I confess Him before men, He too will confess me before His angels. But if I deny Him on earth, He also will deny me in heaven. Yet in return for testimonies so faithful you cast stones, you shut up your minds, you are unwilling to hear one who speaks to you things whole and manifest. Strike, strike with stones the one who confesses; I have my helper at the right hand of the Father. You strike my head, I commend to Him my spirit. "Lord Jesus," he said, "receive my spirit" (Acts VII, 58). These curse; do Thou bless. These persecute; do Thou receive the one persecuted.
Not without cause, my Jesus, my Lord God, dost Thou deign to stand for me at the right hand of the Father—Thou whom I know and believe to sit at the right hand of the Father. It is for my sake that Thou deignest to stand, Thou who in standing dost not fail, who dost not forsake Thine own who are to be helped. Thou, my Lord, hast sent me into the midst of enemies, and hast deigned to make me the first martyr after Thine ascension. If Thou wilt that I not fall away from Thee, help me. Let the battering of the stones cease, lest the strength of my limbs fail within me. For me, my Lord, Thou dost intercede while Thou standest: I hear the embassy of Thy voice; I believe, I receive, I acknowledge that Thou pleadest for me before the Father, granting and helping, that my faith fail not in following Thee. What does my Jesus, my Lord, say, asking for me before the Father?
"Father, behold, this first follower has entered the world's new arena for my sake; grant mercy, that he may attain to victory; let my sheep feel me as its helper, that it may not think me a betrayer among the wolves." Behold, I see Him standing, I presume that He pleads for me. And therefore, my Lord, who dost behold my contest, receive my spirit. Truly, because I do not fear, O Lord, my stoned limbs, set my spirit in everlasting rest. Among these men I am counted as a sheep for the slaughter; with Thee let me be set in the rest of sweetness and peace. The Jews were stoning; he was groaning. The Jews were striking his head; he was commending his spirit. But when he began to be secure concerning the spirit he had commended, he became an advocate even for his enemies.
And he does not intercede for his enemies in the same way as he petitioned for himself. Here he stood, when he was seeing Christ; here he bent his knees, when he prayed for his enemies. For that advocacy was necessary for such and so great enemies. For he knew that the Lord Jesus could not quickly hear him regarding them—but on account of their sin, not on account of his own merit. Therefore for the great iniquity of the Jews who stoned him he bent his knees, poured out tears, saying: "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (Ibid., 60). See, whoever thou art, O Christian, how this sheep in all things follows and imitates the Shepherd. The Lord Christ, hanging on the cross, cried out: "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit"; this man says: "Lord, receive my spirit."
The Lord Christ cries for His enemies: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"; this man says: "Lay not this to their charge as sin." And manifestly, my brethren, in the midst of these who were stoning him, he who raged the more, the blessed apostle Paul, was present. If then vengeance had been granted to Stephen against his stoner, how would the Church have gotten such a teacher? Having said these things, he gave up his spirit, ascended into heaven, and merited pardon for his enemies. He merited to rejoice in heaven over the friendship of blessed Paul who followed after, because He is the Lord who makes the barren mother rejoice in a house full of children (Ps. CXII, 9). Behold, this holy Stephen merited, who saw the Son of Man standing, whom we know to sit at the right hand of the Father.