Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 2

So then they that were come together asked Him, saying,

'Lord, do You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'

Whenever the disciples are about to ask something, they come to Him together.

This they do, that by their multitude they may prevail upon Him.

For they knew that what had been said by Him before, namely, 'No one knows the day,' was spoken to put them off, not because He was ignorant, but because He deferred the answer;

wherefore they come to Him again, and ask.

But they would not have asked, if indeed they had been really persuaded.

For since they had heard that they were about to receive the Spirit, as being now worthy they wished to learn, and were ready for deliverance.

For they did not wish to cast themselves into dangers, but to breathe freely;

because the things that had befallen them were no small matters, but the danger hung over them concerning the last extremities.

Saying then nothing to Him about the Spirit, they ask, saying,

'Lord, do You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' And they did not say, 'When?' but, 'Is it now?' he says;

so eagerly did they desire to learn the day.

Wherefore also they approach with greater reverence.

But to me it seems that it had not even been made quite clear to them what the kingdom ever was;

for the Spirit had not yet taught them.

And they did not say, 'When shall these things be?' but what? 'Do You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'—as though it had already fallen away.

They inquire thus in this way, because they were still disposed toward things of sense, even if not in the same manner as before.

For they had not yet become any better.

So then, from this point onward, these men formed a loftier conception of Him.

Since, therefore, they had been lifted up in mind, He too converses with them in an exalted manner.

For He no longer says to them, 'Not even the Son knows the day.'

But what does He say? 'It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has appointed in His own authority.'

And indeed they had already learned things that were far greater.

And that you may learn this precisely, see how many things I enumerate.

What, tell me, is greater than for them to have learned what they did learn? They learned, then, that He is the Son of God, and that God has a Son equal in honor to Himself;

they learned that there will be a resurrection;

they learned that, having ascended, He sat at the right hand of the Father;

and what is more awe-inspiring than this, they learned that flesh is seated on high and is worshipped by the angels;

they learned that He will come again to judge the whole world;

they learned that they themselves also will then sit as judges of the twelve tribes of Israel;

they learned that the Jews are cast out, and that those from among the Gentiles enter in their place.

To know that these things will be, is a great matter;

but to learn that someone will reign, or when it will be, is nothing great.

Paul learned things which it is not lawful for a man to utter;

he learned all the things that were before the world.

Which is harder to learn, the beginning or the end? It is quite clear that it is the former.

Accordingly, Moses learned this—both when, and how many ages beforehand—which he shows by the years he reckons up.

So too did Solomon, and therefore he also said—

That it is near, these men too came to know afterwards;

as Paul also does, saying:

'The Lord is near; be anxious for nothing.'

they came to know it, and that too after receiving proofs.

But Christ, just as He said, 'Not many days hence,' wished them to be watchful, and so did not declare it plainly;

And besides, in this passage they too are asking not about the consummation, but about the kingdom;

wherefore also they said, 'Will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'

But He did not reveal even this to them.

And even before this they were asking about the end;

but not as there did He answer more sharply, drawing them away from thinking the deliverance was near, and casting them into the midst of dangers;

so also here, but in a gentler way.

For that they might not seem to have been affronted, nor that these were mere pretexts, hear also how at once He promises to give them that in which they rejoiced.

'But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.'

Then, that they might not question Him again, He was straightway taken up.

As therefore in that place He put them in the shade by fear, and by saying, 'I do not know';

so also here, by saying, 'He was taken up.'

For indeed they had a great desire for the matter, and would not have desisted, and it was very necessary that they should not learn it.

What do the Greeks more disbelieve—that there will be a consummation, or that God became man, and came forth from a Virgin's womb, and was seen by men in the flesh? Is it not this? By all means you too will say so.

But indeed I am ashamed to keep on speaking about this, as though it were some indifferent matter.

Then again, lest they should say, 'Why do you exalt the matter?'—'Whom the Father,' He says, 'has appointed in His own authority.'

And yet the authority of the Father and of Him is one, as when He says:

'For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills.'

If, where He must work, He acts with the very same authority as the Father;

where He must know, does He not know with the very same authority? And indeed, to raise the dead is far greater than to learn the day.

If He does the greater thing with authority, how much more the other? (Section 2)

But that you may learn, I will make this plain by an example.

Just as when we see a little child crying and persistently wanting to get something from us which is not needful for it, we rather hide it and show our hands empty, saying, 'See, we have nothing';

so also has He done with the apostles.

But just as that child, even when we do not show it, keeps on pressing and crying, knowing that it has been put off;

then, leaving it, we go away, saying:

'So-and-so is calling me,' and we give it something else in place of the thing, wishing to draw it away from its purpose, and making much of that other thing instead of this one, and having given it, we dart off;

so also did Christ.

Nevertheless, first He struck them with fear;

and when they sought again, He said again that He did not have it.

Only now He does not frighten them, but after showing this thing which He had done, He also gives a fair pretext:

namely, that 'The Father has appointed it in His own authority.'

What then? Do you not know the things of the Father? But do you know Him, and yet not His things? You Yourself said:

'No one knows the Father except the Son';

and, 'The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God';

and do You not even know this? Away with the thought!

It was not that we should suspect this that He said it;

but He feigns not to know, drawing them away from their untimely inquiry.

They were afraid, therefore, to ask again, lest they should hear:

'Are you also without understanding?' For they feared Him much more now than before.

'But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.'

For just as there He answered not the things they asked (for this is the mark of a teacher, to teach not the things the disciple wishes, but the things it is profitable to learn);

so also now, He foretells for this reason the things they needed to learn, that they might not be troubled.

And so as to make them bold, He raised up their souls, and covered over the burdensome things.

For since He was shortly afterwards about to leave them, in discoursing on these matters He says nothing whatever grievous;

But what does He do? He speaks the grievous things together with words of encouragement, all but saying, 'Do not be afraid.'

'For you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses'

'both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria.'

'Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter into a city of the Samaritans.'

But now He wills that they preach in all Judea and in Samaria.

And what He did not say then, here He added, saying, 'And unto the uttermost part of the earth.'

And having spoken that which was most awesome of all, so that they might not question Him again: 'While they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.'

Do you see that they themselves preached, and fulfilled the Gospel? Truly He bestowed on them a great gift.

'In Jerusalem,' He says, 'there preach first, and afterward unto the uttermost part of the earth.'

Then again comes the confirmation of the things spoken.

'While they beheld,' it says, 'He was taken up.'

For while they beheld He did not rise again;

since here too sight was not able to grasp the whole.

For of the resurrection they saw the end, but the beginning no longer;

and of the ascension they saw the beginning, but the end no longer.

For it was superfluous to see the beginning of that former event, when He Himself who spoke these things was present, and the tomb declared that He was not there;

but what came after this had to be learned by word.

For since the eyes were not sufficient to show the height, nor to teach whether He ascended into heaven or as if into heaven, see what takes place.

That it was Jesus Himself, they knew from the things which He was speaking to them (for at a distance it was not possible to know Him by sight);

but that He was being taken up into heaven, this the angels themselves thereafter taught.

See how not everything is arranged to come about by the Spirit, but also by sight.

But why did a cloud receive Him? This too is a proof that He ascended into heaven.

Not fire, as in the case of Elijah, nor a chariot of fire;

but a cloud received Him, which was a symbol of heaven, even as the prophet says:

'Who makes the clouds His chariot' — even if this was said concerning the Father.

For this reason it says, 'Upon a cloud,' showing that it was in the very symbol of the divine power;

for nowhere else does any other power appear upon a cloud.

Hear again what another prophet says:

'God sits upon a light cloud.'

For since the question was about a necessary matter, and they were giving very close heed to the things spoken, and were fully awake and not drowsy, this came to pass.

And on the mountain too there was a cloud on His account, when Moses entered into the thick darkness;

but the cloud was not on that man's account.

And He did not say merely, 'I am going,' lest they should again be grieved;

but He said also, 'I send the Spirit.'

So then, that He was departing into heaven, they learned through their eyes.

Oh, of what a spectacle were they counted worthy!

'And while they were gazing steadfastly,' it says, 'into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said:'

'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven,'

By way of pointing they used the word, saying 'This' — 'who was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you beheld Him going into heaven.'

For certain angels, suddenly fashioned into the form of men, stood by and say:

Thereafter they seemed trustworthy to those men from their saying, 'Men of Galilee.'

For what need had those who knew their own homeland to be taught it, unless it were this? And by their appearance too they turned them, and made it clear that they were from heaven.

Why does He not Himself say these things to them, but the angels? He had beforehand discoursed to them of everything, so that it was a matter of reminding them, through the angels, of what they had heard.

And they did not say, 'Whom you beheld taken up,' but 'Going into heaven,' making it clear that the ascension is a going up;

and the being taken up belongs to the flesh.

'He who was taken up from you shall so come.'

Not 'shall be sent,' but 'shall come.'

Where then is the inferiority? 'A cloud received Him.'

For He Himself mounted upon the cloud;

because 'He that ascended is the same also that descended.'

But do you observe for me how they utter some things according to the understanding of those men, and other things in a manner worthy of God.

The understanding of those who beheld was thereafter lifted up;

He bestowed on them no small token of the second coming.

'He shall come' — this is the meaning of the saying;

'with the body,' He says, which they longed to hear;

and that He shall come again unto judgment thus, upon a cloud.

'And behold,' it says, 'two men stood by.'

Why did it say, 'Men'? Because they fashioned themselves precisely into men, so that they might not be terrified.

'Why do you stand gazing into heaven?' At once the words were of those who soothed them, and who did not permit them to expect Him again immediately.

These men speak the greater thing, but the lesser they do not.

For that He shall so come, and that He must be received as coming from heaven, they say;

Thereafter they turned them from that sight back to their own account;

lest, because of not being able to behold Him, they should think that He had not ascended, but had come, while they were speaking, to the place.

For if before this they were saying, 'Where are You going?' much more would they now have said it;

'Do You at this time,' they say, 'restore the kingdom to Israel?' So well did they know His gentleness, that even after the Passion they ask Him, 'Do You restore it?' And indeed before He had said to them, 'You shall be about to hear of wars and rumours of wars;'

'but the end is not yet, nor shall Jerusalem be taken.'

But now they ask concerning the kingdom, not concerning the consummation.

And besides, He does not prolong a lengthy discourse to them after the resurrection.

So then, as men who would themselves also be held in honour if this should come to pass, they ask.

But He did not make clear that He would not restore it.

For what need was there that they should learn this? It was for this very reason that, in their fear, they no longer asked:

'What shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?' but rather, 'Do You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' For they supposed that it was already at hand.

But He Himself, even in parables, had shown that it was not near.

And where they asked, He did not answer to that point, but said, 'You shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.'

Observe: He said 'having come upon,' not 'having been sent,' that He might show the equality of honour.

How then, O fighter against the Spirit, do you dare to call Him a creature? 'And you shall be My witnesses.'

Rather, the things which they had already heard beforehand, He now again reminded them of.

It had already been shown that He ascended into heaven.

'A cloud and thick darkness are under His feet,' Scripture says;

for this is what is signified by the words, 'A cloud received Him.'

It calls Him the Lord of heaven.

For just as a royal chariot proclaims a king, so also there was sent to Him the royal chariot, that they might utter nothing grievous, nor suffer the same as Elisha, who, when his master was taken up, tore his little tunic.

And what do they say? 'This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, shall so come.'

And, 'Behold, two men stood by them.'

For 'at the mouth of two witnesses shall every word be established.'

And they utter these very same things.

And, 'In white apparel,' it says.

Just as before they had seen an angel at the tomb in gleaming apparel, who also foretold to them what was in their mind,

so also an angel becomes the herald of His ascension;

even though the prophets in many places had foretold it, as also concerning the resurrection.

Everywhere angels become heralds: as at the nativity, as again to Mary, as at the resurrection;

so indeed also at the ascension;

and yet more, at the second coming also angels shall appear, running before Him.

And having said, 'This Jesus who has been taken up from you,' lest they should be utterly at a loss, they added on;

They breathed again a little on hearing that He would come again, and that in this manner, and that He would not be inaccessible.

And the phrase 'from you' is not added without purpose, but is expressive of His love toward them, and of His choosing them, and that He will not forsake those whom He chose.

Of the resurrection, then, He Himself became the witness (for this was more wonderful than all else, after the birth—nay rather, even before the birth—namely, to raise Himself up;

for 'Destroy this temple,' He says, 'and in three days I will raise it up');

but of the coming that is to be, the angels are witnesses, saying, 'So shall He come.'

If, therefore, anyone longs to see Christ, if anyone grieves that he has not seen Him, let him, having heard this, display a wondrous manner of life, and he shall assuredly see Him, and shall not fail of it;

only in this way, with a cloud, in this way, with a body;

and it is far more wonderful to see Him descending from heaven than ascending from the earth.

But upon what occasion, they did not further add.

This confirms the resurrection.

For if He was taken up with a body, much more did He rise with a body.

Where are those who disbelieve the resurrection? Who are they? Tell me.

Greeks, or Christians? For I do not know.

For it is the Greeks who also disbelieve the fashioning of the creation.

For it belongs to the same men not to allow that God makes anything out of things that are not, and to deny that He raises up the things that lie fallen.

Then, ashamed that they do not know the power of God, lest they be charged with this, they say:

'It is not for this reason that we say these things, but because there is no need of a body.'

Are you not ashamed to grant that God makes nothing out of things that are not? But if He makes out of things that are, in what does He differ from men? 'But whence,' he says, 'come evils?' Because you do not know whence, must you therefore bring in another evil in your knowledge of evils? For two absurd things result:

one, then, that you dare to say this;

for if you do not say that God makes the things that are out of things that are not, much less will you know whence come evils;

and the other, that by saying this you introduce evil as uncreated.

Consider how grievous a thing it is, when one wishes to find the source of evils, both to be ignorant of it and to add another to it.

Seek whence come evils, and do not blaspheme God.

'And how do I blaspheme?' he says. What do you say? Do you not blaspheme, when you introduce evil as uncreated? when you concede that it has power equal to God? when you introduce a force equal in strength to Him among evils? when you make it uncreated? For see what Paul says:

'For His invisible things, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made.'

The devil, however, declared that both were of matter, that we might in no way henceforth come to know God.

For which is more difficult? tell me:

to make that which is by nature evil into good (if indeed there is any such thing;

for by nature there is nothing made evil that is a helper of good), or to make out of things that are not? Which is easier (I speak as concerning quality), to bring in a quality that did not exist, or to change one that exists into its opposite? Which is easier, to make a house that did not exist, or to rebuild from the foundation one that has become desolate? It is quite evident that the former.

Just as this, then, is impracticable, so also that is impossible—I mean, to work a thing into its opposite.

Tell me, which is more difficult: to prepare perfume, or to force the mire to produce the properties of perfume? Which of these is easier, tell me (since we subject God to our own reasonings—but not we;

rather you), to fashion eyes, or to make a blind man see while he remains blind, and to see more keenly than the one who sees, and to employ blindness for seeing, and deafness for hearing? To me it seems that the former.

You grant to God, then, the more difficult, tell me, and not the easier? Why do I say this? Nay, they even assert that souls are of His very substance.

But observe how many impious and senseless things there are.

First, wishing to show that evils are from God, they introduce something yet more impious than this;

for they say that these things are coeval with Him, and that God is older than none of them, daring to bestow upon them also that great prerogative.

Secondly, they say that evil is also imperishable;

for that which is unbegotten cannot be destroyed.

Do you see the blasphemy? So that of necessity, either there is nothing that is of God;

or, if this be not so, then also there is no God.

Thirdly, as I said, by this very thing they war even against themselves, and rather provoke God to indignation.

Fourthly, they grant that unstable matter possesses so great a fitness.

Fifthly, they say that wickedness became the cause of God's goodness, and that apart from it the Good One was not good.

Sixthly, they close against us the ways of the knowledge of God.

Seventhly, they bring God down into men, and plants, and trees.

For if, on the one hand, our soul is of the substance of God, and, on the other, the transmigration issues even into cucumbers and melons and onions;

Will the very essence of God, then, be found in cucumbers?

When we say that He fashioned a holy temple within the Virgin, they laugh us to scorn;

and when we say that He dwelt within the spiritual temple, again they laugh.

Yet they themselves, dragging down the essence of God into cucumbers and melons, into flies and caterpillars and asses, are not ashamed, inventing some strange new manner of idolatry.

But the onion is not in God;

rather, according to them, God is in the onion.

Let not the onion, then, be God!

Why do you flee from God's passing into a body? 'It is shameful,' he says.

Then all the more is this other thing shameful.

But is it not shameful? How so? For whatever should happen in our own case would truly be shameful.

Do you see this rabble of impiety? But why are they unwilling that the body should rise again? And what will they say? That the body is evil? Then whence, tell me, do you know God? Whence do you possess knowledge of the things that are? And whence is the philosopher a philosopher, if the body contributes nothing? Maim the senses, and try to learn any one of the things you ought to know.

And what could be more senseless than a soul, if from the very beginning its senses had been maimed? For if the maiming of but one part—I mean the brain—becomes an injury to the whole soul,

how much more, if the other parts too should be maimed—where then would it be of any use? Show me a soul apart from a body.

Or do you not hear the physicians saying:

that a disease when present grievously darkens the soul? How long will you not choke with shame? The body is made of matter, you say; tell me,

why then do you nourish it? Why do you cherish it? [Ought you not then to make away with yourself?] Ought you not then to be released from this prison-house?

Besides, they say, God cannot get the better of matter unless He is intertwined with it;

for He cannot give it commands until He has combined with it and established Himself throughout the whole of it.

And a king indeed accomplishes all things by his commands, but God cannot command the wicked? And in short, if matter had no share in any good, it would not have subsisted at all.

For wickedness has not the nature to subsist, unless it lays hold of some part of virtue;

so that if before this it had been unmixed with virtue, it would long ago have been destroyed;

for evils too are of this same character.

Suppose a man to be licentious and utterly without self-control—will he live ten days? Suppose a man to be a robber and wholly without conscience, even toward his fellow-robbers—will he live at all? Suppose a man to be a shameless thief, blushing at nothing, but stealing openly in public—will such a one survive? Evils have not the nature to subsist unless they take even a little something from what is good; so that, by their own reasoning, it is God who has given them their subsistence.

Suppose a city of wicked men—will it ever stand? And let them be wicked, not toward the good only, but even toward one another.

Truly they were made fools, while professing themselves to be wise.

If the body is evil, then all things without exception are made in vain and to no purpose—water, and earth, and sun, and air.

For the air too is a body, even if it be not thick and dense.

'The transgressors have told me idle tales.'

But let us not endure them; rather let us wall off our ears against them.

For there is—there is indeed—a resurrection of bodies.

This the tomb in Jerusalem makes plain;

this too the wood makes plain, where He was bound and scourged.

'For we ate with Him,' he says, 'and drank with Him.'

Let us therefore believe in the resurrection, and let us do things worthy of it, that we may also attain the good things to come, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.