Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 17

'This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?—this man God sent to be both a ruler and a redeemer, with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.'

This is exceedingly apposite to the theme before us.

'This man'—which man? He who was in danger of perishing, who had been set at nought by them, whom they refused, saying:

'Who made you a ruler?'—just as they also said to Christ:

'We have no king but Caesar.'

'This man God sent to be a ruler and a redeemer, with the hand of the angel who said to him:'

Here too he shows that the miracles which were wrought came to pass through Christ.

'This man'—that is, Moses (and observe how he shows him to be illustrious)—'brought them out, having wrought wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.'

'This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel:'

'A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me.'

For indeed Herod wished to slay this one too.

And he was preserved in Egypt, just as that other one also, being a young child, was plotted against.

'This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received living oracles to give to us.'

Again, nowhere a temple, nowhere a sacrifice.

'With the angel,' he says, 'he received to give us living oracles.'

Here he shows that Moses not only wrought signs, but also gave a law, even as Christ did.

So, just as this one first works signs, and then legislates;

But they did not hearken to him, having ever learned to be disobedient, even after the signs, even after the wonders wrought during the forty years.

And not this only, but they even displayed the contrary:

'To whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him away, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron:'

'Make us gods to go before us;'

'for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

'And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.'

'But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:'

'Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship them.'

'And I will remove you beyond Babylon.'

The word 'gave them up' here is equivalent to 'He permitted.'

'The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, as He who spoke to Moses appointed, to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.'

And though there was a tabernacle, there were no sacrifices.

That there were none, the prophet makes plain, saying this:

'Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices?' The tabernacle of the testimony was there, and it profited them nothing, but they were being consumed.

Neither before this did the signs profit them anything, nor after these things.

'Which also our fathers, having received it in succession, brought in.'

Do you see that there is the holy place, wherever God may be? For this reason too he said 'in the wilderness,' that he might compare place with place.

'And our fathers,' he says, 'having received it in succession, brought it in with Joshua when they took possession of the nations, whom God drove out from before the face of our fathers, until the days of David; who found favour before God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.'

David asked to build it, and yet he does not obtain it—that great and wondrous man;

But it is the outcast one, Solomon, who builds.

But Solomon built him a house.

Yet the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands.

This indeed was shown through what has already been said;

but it is also demonstrated by the voice of the prophet;

and how so, hear what follows.

Even as the prophet also says:

Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet.

And what kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest? Has not my hand made all these things? Do not marvel, he says, if Christ bestows benefits upon those who refuse his kingdom, seeing that even in the days of Moses this same thing came to pass.

For indeed he did not simply deliver them, but delivered them while they were passing their days in the wilderness.

Do you see that those signs also were on their account? He then who conversed with God, who was saved beyond all expectation, who wrought and was empowered to do so many things, shows that the prophecy must by all means be fulfilled, and that he is not at variance with himself.

But let us look at what has been said from the beginning.

This, he says, is Moses, who said:

The Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me.

To this I think Christ referred when he said, bringing it to mind:

Salvation is of the Jews, hinting at himself.

This is he who was in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him.

Behold, again he shows that this same one gave the law, seeing that he was with him in the congregation in the wilderness.

And here he also calls to mind a great wonder, that which took place on the mountain.

Who received living oracles to give to us.

Everywhere Moses is admirable, and yet more so when he had to give the law.

What does 'living oracles' mean? Either those whose fulfillment was shown through words;

or he means the prophecies.

the patriarchs, after the signs and the wonders, after receiving living oracles;

To whom, he says, they would not become obedient.

And well did he say 'living oracles,' that he might show that there are also oracles not living.

Concerning which Ezekiel also speaks, as when he says:

And I gave you statutes that were not good.

It was with reference to such things, then, that he said 'living.'

But they thrust it away, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt;

where they groaned, where they cried out, from where they called upon God.

Make for us gods who will go before us.

Make them, he says, that they may go before us.

Do you see how hard they were to wean from the customs of Egypt? What are you saying? You do not wait for him who brought you out, but deny the benefit and flee from your benefactor? And see how they heap insults.

For this Moses, they say, who brought us out of the land of Egypt.

Nowhere the name of God, but they ascribed everything to Moses.

And where they ought to have given thanks, they bring Moses into the midst;

but where they should have obeyed the law, they no longer bring Moses forward.

And indeed he had said that he was going up in order to receive the law;

but they did not endure even forty days.

They did not say 'God,' but 'gods';

so wildly frenzied were they, that they did not even know what they were saying.

And they made a calf in those days, and offered up sacrifices to the idol.

Do you see the extremity of their madness? In the very place where God appeared to Moses, these men make a calf and sacrifice.

And they rejoiced, he says, in the works of their own hands.

In the things over which they ought to have hidden their faces, they took delight.

And what wonder if you are ignorant of Christ, when you were ignorant even of Moses and of God, who was shown through so many signs? But they not only were ignorant, but also insulted him in another way, by making idols.

But God turned, and gave them over to serve the host of heaven.

From this point onward, then, these customs; from this point the sacrifices;

they themselves were the first to make sacrifices to idols.

This too David notes when he says:

And they made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the graven image.

Since before this there is nowhere the name of sacrifice, but living statutes and living oracles;

nowhere rites, but wonders and the display of signs.

As it is written in the book of the prophets.

Here he did not bring forward the testimony without purpose, but that he might show that there is no need of sacrifices.

Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness?

And you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship them.

He used the expression emphatically.

You cannot say that from sacrificing to me you also sacrificed to those;

and this in the wilderness, where he especially watched over them.

And you took up the tabernacle of Moloch.

And I will remove you beyond Babylon.

Thus the captivity too is an accusation of their wickedness.

And how, he says, was 'the tabernacle of testimony'? But it was for this reason, that they might have God as witness.

Therefore it was for this alone.

For according to the pattern, he says, that was shown to you on the mountain;

so that the design came into being on the mountain;

and this tabernacle was carried about in the wilderness, and not fixed in one place.

And he calls it a tabernacle of testimony for no other reason than that of the wonders and the commandments.

In any case, both this people and those others had no temple.

Indeed, it was the angel himself who gave him the very pattern.

'Until the days,' he says, 'of David.'

So there was no temple until that time.

And yet the nations too had been driven out, concerning whom he says:

'Whom God drove out from before the face of our fathers.'

This he said in order to show once again that there was no temple at that time.

What am I saying? So many wonders, and nowhere a temple? Thus also the first tabernacle, and nowhere a temple.

And he asked to find favor before God.

He asked, yet he did not build.

So the temple was no great thing, even if some supposed Solomon to be great for having built the temple—men who on this account even set him above his father.

But that he was not better than his father, nor even equal, but only so reckoned in the estimation of the many, he made plain by adding:

'But the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:'

'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet.'

For not even these things are worthy of God, seeing that they are creatures, seeing that they are the works of his hand.

See how little by little he leads them upward.

For through the prophet he shows that not even these things are worthy to be called God's.

'And for what reason,' one may ask, 'does he here employ such vehement language?' Great was the boldness of a man who was about to die;

for indeed I think that he knew this too by revelation.

'Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in your hearts and in your ears!'

'You always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so also do you.'

When he did not wish there to be sacrifices, you offered sacrifices;

when he wishes it, again you do not sacrifice;

when he did not wish to give you commandments, you drew them to yourselves;

Again, when the temple stood, you served idols;

when he wishes to be served apart from a temple, you do the opposite.

Observe: he did not say, 'You resist God,' but, 'the Spirit';

so completely does he recognize no difference.

And what is greater still: 'As your fathers,' he says, 'so also do you.'

Thus also Christ reproached them, since they always boasted greatly in their fathers.

'Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One.'

He still says 'the Righteous One,' wishing to restrain them.

'Of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers.'

He charges them with two things: both that they were ignorant, and that they murdered.

'You who received the law by the ordinances of angels, and did not keep it.'

What does this mean? Some say that he speaks of the law ordained by angels.

For where did angels ever appear ordaining a law? Rather, he calls it a law that was ordained, namely the one committed to him through the angel that appeared to him in the bush;

for was he a man? No wonder, then, he says, that men who did those former things should do these things as well.

If you slew those who foretold him, much more would you slay him.

Here he shows them to be disobedient to God, and to angels, and to the prophets, and to the Spirit, and to all, just as the Scripture also says elsewhere:

'Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars.'

Those, then, who laid claim to the word of the law were saying:

But he shows that they themselves are the greater blasphemers—not only against Moses, but also against God—and that they themselves have from ancient times done such things, and that they themselves have dissolved the customs, and that there is henceforth no need of these things;

and that, while accusing him and saying that he opposed Moses, they themselves were opposing the Spirit;

and not simply so, but even with murder;

and from of old they had held their enmity.

Do you see that he shows them to be opposing both Moses and all others, and not keeping the law? And yet Moses had said:

'The Lord will raise up for you a prophet.'

And the others also foretold that this one would come, and the prophet, saying:

'What kind of house will you build me?' And again:

'Did you offer me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years?' This is the boldness of a man who bears the cross.

Let us therefore also imitate this, for even if it is not a time for war, yet it is always a time for boldness.

'For I spoke,' he says, 'of your testimonies before kings, and was not ashamed.'

If, then, we grapple with the Greeks, let us silence them thus—without wrath, without harshness.

For if we do this with wrath, it no longer seems to be boldness but passion;

but if with gentleness, then this is truly boldness.

For it is not possible that at one and the same time there be both an achievement and a defect.

We must therefore, if we are to have boldness, be pure from wrath, lest anyone reckon our words to that.

Even if you speak just things with wrath, you have ruined the whole—whether you speak boldly, whether you admonish, whatever you do.

See this man conversing without wrath;

for indeed he did not revile them, but reminded them of a prophetic word.

That there was no wrath in him he showed when he suffered ill; for then he prayed on their behalf, saying:

'Do not lay this sin to their charge.'

Thus it was not in anger against them, but grieving for them and stung with sorrow, that he uttered these words;

since for this reason too the text spoke of his countenance, that 'They saw his face as it were

the face of an angel,' that he might draw them to himself.

Let us therefore be pure from wrath.

The Holy Spirit does not dwell where there is wrath;

Nothing sound can come forth from that place whence wrath issues.

For just as in a storm at sea there is much tumult and a great outcry, and no one could have opportunity to reflect wisely;

But if a soul is to say anything worthy of wisdom, or to be instructed, it must first be in a harbor of calm.

Do you not see how, when we wish to converse about matters of importance, we seek out places free from tumult, where there is quiet, where there is stillness, that we may not be jostled and distracted? But if noise from without distracts us, how much more does the turmoil within.

If a man prays, he prays in vain when he does so with wrath and passion;

if he speaks, he will make himself ridiculous;

if he eats, even so he is harmed;

whether he drinks or does not drink, whether he sits, or stands, or walks, or sleeps.

For indeed even in dreams such men imagine these very things.

For which of these things is not unseemly? Eyes offensive to look upon, a mouth distorted, limbs agitated and swollen, a tongue unbridled and sparing no one, an understanding driven out of itself, an unbecoming posture, great repulsiveness.

Look, I pray you, at the eyes of those possessed by demons, and of the drunken, and of the mad: in what do they differ from one another? Is not the whole thing madness? And what if this comes only for a season? For the madman too is held fast only for a season;

yet what is worse than this? And they are not even ashamed at their excuse;

'I did not know,' he says, 'what I was saying.'

And why did you not know this, you who are a rational man, endowed with reason? Why do you do the deeds of the irrational beasts, like a wild horse swept away by passion and wrath? Indeed, your excuse is itself worthy of accusation.

'The words,' he says, 'are wrath's, not mine.'

How are they wrath's? And yet wrath has no strength unless it receive it from you.

'The wounds,' he says, 'are the hand's, not mine.'

In what do you think wrath is most needed? Is it not in war and battle? But even there, if anything is done with wrath, the whole is ruined and lost.

For those who fight most of all ought not to be enraged;

those who are insulted most of all ought not to be enraged.

'And how is it possible to fight?' he says. By reason, by gentleness;

for to fight is to stand against the adversary.

Or do you not see that these wars too are governed by law and order and appointed times? For wrath is nothing but an irrational impulse;

and by that which is irrational nothing rational can be accomplished.

Since this man too spoke such words, and yet was not enraged.

'How long will you go limping upon both your hams?' — and yet he was not enraged.

And Phinehas slew, and yet was not enraged.

For wrath does not suffer one to see, but, as in a battle fought by night, binding up all things together, both eyes and ears, so it leads a man wherever it will.

Let us then be rid of this demon; let us restrain it at its very outset; let us set the seal upon our breast as a kind of bridle.

Wrath is a shameless dog;

but let it learn to obey the law.

If a dog in the flock be so savage that it will not obey the herdsman's command, nor recognize his voice, all is lost and ruined.

It feeds among the sheep;

but if it tastes of the sheep, it is useless and is slaughtered.

If it has learned to obey you, feed the dog;

it is useful, barking against the wolves, against the pirates, against the chief of robbers, not against the sheep, nor against those of the household.

If it does not obey, it destroys everything;

if it learns to be contemptuous, it ruins everything.

Therefore let not wrath consume the gentleness that is in you, but let it guard it and make it fat;

and it will guard it, and will make it feed in much safety, if it consumes the filthy and wicked thoughts, if it drives the devil away on every side.

Thus is gentleness preserved, when we never reckon any evil against our neighbor;

thus do we become worthy of reverence, when we do not learn to be shameless.

For nothing makes a man so shameless as an evil conscience.

Why are harlots shameless? Why are virgins modest? Is not the one from sin, the other from chastity? For nothing makes a man so shameless as sin.

Yes, him who condemns himself;

but the man who is past blushing it makes even more reckless;

for he who has given up on himself becomes bold.

'For the ungodly,' it says, 'when he has come into the depth of evils, is contemptuous.'

And the shameless man would be reckless too;

Do you wish to learn when gentleness is consumed? When wicked thoughts gnaw it away.

But even if this happens too, that the dog does not stand barking loudly, not even then ought one to despair.

For we have also a sling and a stone (you know the saying);

we have also a spear, and a fold, and a sheepcote, in which we shall keep our thoughts unharmed.

If the dog fawns upon the sheep, but is fierce against those without and keeps watch, this is the excellence of a dog;

and though it be hungry, not to taste of the sheep;

and though it be full, not to spare the wolves;

and though it be bitten, not to depart from gentleness;

and though it be at rest, to rouse itself against the wicked thoughts;

and not to abandon what is its own even when it strikes, but to recognize it, while it worries what is alien and fawning.

The devil often fawns like the dog, but let everyone know that he is an alien.

So let us too fawn upon virtue, even though it grieves us;

and let us turn away from vice, even though it gladdens us.

Let us not become worse than dogs, which, though they be scourged and choked, do not depart.

But if the stranger even feeds them, how shall they not do the more harm? Wrath is sometimes useful, but only when it barks against strangers.

What means, 'He that is angry with his brother without a cause'? It is as if to say, Do not avenge yourself, nor take vengeance; but if you see another perishing, stretch out your hand.

This is no longer wrath, when you have been freed from concern for your own interests.

David took Saul, and was not enraged, nor thrust in the spear when he had caught his enemy, but warded off the devil.

Moses, when he saw a stranger doing wrong, even slew him;

but his brethren he sought to reconcile, while those others he even thrust away.

And yet Scripture bears witness that he was most meek, but nonetheless he was also roused.

But where meekness ought to be shown, there we are fiercer than all wild beasts;

and where we ought to be roused, there we are more sluggish and drowsy than all.

Since, therefore, we have not used the things within us as we ought, for this very reason our life too has been spent on nothing that we ought to have pursued.

So too with vessels: if a man use one for a purpose other than its own, he ruins everything.

For instance, if a man take a knife and, where he ought to use it, use it not, but do the work with his hand instead, he will accomplish nothing.

Just as he too who, where he ought to use his hand, plies the knife instead, would spoil everything.

So likewise a physician: where he ought to cut, cutting not, and where he ought not, cutting, destroys everything.

Wherefore I exhort you: let us use the thing in its due season.

For there is nowhere any season for anger, when we are helping ourselves.

But when we must set others right, then above all it must be employed, that we may snatch others out of danger.

Thus too shall we become like God, preserving everywhere the freedom from anger, and shall attain the good things to come, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honour, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.