Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 38

「Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him when he saw the city wholly given to idols.」

「Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.」

Observe how he meets with greater trials among the Jews than among the Greeks.

For at Athens he suffered nothing of that sort, but the whole affair went no further than laughter—and yet he did persuade some;

but among the Jews there were many dreadful things;

so much more had they been made warlike against him.

「Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him when he saw the city wholly given to idols.」

For nowhere else was it possible to see so many idols.

「Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.」

Observe: again he reasons with the Jews, stopping the mouths on every side of those who alleged that he had abandoned them because he had turned to the Gentiles.

It is marvelous how the philosophers did not at once mock him with insults when he spoke thus, nor spring away from the preaching, saying:

and this for another reason too—because they did not understand nor comprehend anything of what was said.

For how could they—seeing some of them called God a body, and others said that blessedness was pleasure? 「Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him; and some said, 'What would this babbler say?' Others said,」

「'He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities'」—

because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

For indeed they supposed the Resurrection (Anastasis) to be some goddess, being accustomed also to worship female deities.

「And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying:」

「'May we know what this new doctrine is which is spoken by you? For you bring certain strange things to our ears;」

「therefore we wish to know what these things may mean.'」

They led him to the Areopagus, not that they might learn, but that they might punish him—the place where

Observe, then, how both in hope of learning and at every turn they bring against him the charge of innovation.

That city of theirs was a city of talkers.

「For all the Athenians and the foreigners sojourning there had leisure for nothing else than to tell or to hear some newer thing.」

「Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said:」

「'Men of Athens, in all things I perceive that you are very religious.」

「For as I passed by and beheld the objects of your worship, I found also an altar on which was inscribed:」

「'Whom therefore you worship in ignorance, Him I proclaim to you.'」

As if commending them, he seems to say nothing burdensome.

「I perceive that you are very religious,」 he says;

What does this mean? The Athenians, since over long periods they had received gods even from beyond their borders—as the temple of Athena, Pan, and others from elsewhere—being afraid lest there should be yet another god not yet known to them but worshiped elsewhere, for the sake of greater security, as it were, set up an altar to this one also;

and since this God was not manifest, there was inscribed:

This One, then, Paul says is Christ Jesus, or rather, the God of all.

「Whom therefore you worship in ignorance,」 he says, 「Him I proclaim to you.」

Observe how he shows that they had already anticipated Him.

「I bring in nothing strange,」 he says, 「nothing new.」

This is what those men were saying up and down:

「What is this new doctrine spoken by you? For you bring certain strange things to our ears.」

At once, then, he overturns their supposition, and says:

「God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth,」

Then, lest they should suppose Him to be one of the many, he next corrects this by adding:

「He does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything.」

Do you see how little by little he introduces the true philosophy? How he derides the Greek error? 「Since He gives life and breath and all things;」

「and He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.」

See, then, whether these things cannot also be spoken concerning the Son.

「Being Lord,」 he says, 「of heaven and earth,」—the very things which they supposed to be gods.

And he made plain both the creation and mankind.

「Having determined the times appointed beforehand and the boundaries of their dwelling, that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope after Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from each one of us.」

「For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also certain of your own poets have said:」

This the poet Aratus said.

Observe how he furnishes his proofs both from the things done by them and from the things that have been said.

「Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine is like gold or silver or stone, an image graven by the art and imagination of man.」

And indeed for this very reason, he says, we ought (to think rightly).

for surely we ourselves are not like (these images), nor are our souls.

Why in the world did he not at once take his stand upon philosophy and say:

God is by nature incorporeal, invisible, and without form? Because for the time being it seemed superfluous to say these things to men who had not yet learned that there is one only God.

For this reason, leaving those things unsaid, he takes his stand upon the matter in question, and says:

「These times of ignorance, therefore, God overlooked; but now He commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom He has ordained, having given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.」

Observe: having shaken their mind by saying, 「He has appointed a day,」 and having struck them with fear, then opportunely he adds this: 「having raised Him from the dead.」

But let us look at the words said, taking them from the beginning.

「Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit,」 it says, 「was stirred within him.」

The being 「stirred」 (paroxysmos) here signifies neither anger nor indignation, but a rousing up and zeal, just as also elsewhere:

「There arose,」 it says, 「a sharp contention (paroxysmos) between them.」

But observe how it is providentially arranged that even against his will he should remain there, waiting for those men.

What then is 「He was stirred」? It stands for 「He was roused up」;

the gift of grace is far removed from indignation.

「Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews,」 it says, 「and with the devout persons.」

Observe again how he reasons with the Jews.

By 「the devout」 he means the proselytes.

For the Jews were scattered everywhere from the time of Christ's coming—partly because that law was being dissolved, and partly as they taught men true religion.

But those men gained nothing thereby, save only that they became witnesses to their own calamities.

「And certain of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers,」 it says, 「encountered him.」

The Athenians no longer governed themselves by their own laws, since they had by then fallen under the Romans.

And whence did these men wish to dispute with him? Because they saw others also conversing with him, and that the man was held in repute.

And observe, at once they speak insolently:

「For the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit.」

「He seemeth,」 they say, 「to be a proclaimer of strange demons」;

for they called their gods 「demons」;

for the cities were full of idols.

「And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying...」

Why did they drag him to the Areopagus? To strike terror into him, in the place where they tried cases of murder.

「May we know what this new teaching is which is spoken by thee? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears.」

「Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there had leisure for nothing else but to tell or to hear some newer thing.」

Here this is signified: that although they were forever busied in this—in speaking and hearing—yet they reckoned those things to be strange which they had never heard before.

「And Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said...」

「Ye men of Athens, in all things I perceive that ye are somewhat too religious (superstitious).」

「For as I passed through and beheld the objects of your worship...」

He did not say 「the demons」 outright, but he prepares the way for his discourse.

「I perceive that ye are too religious」—on account of the altar.

「The God,」 he says, 「that made the world and all things therein...」

He uttered a single utterance, by which he overthrew all the doctrines of the philosophers.

For the Epicureans say that all things are self-originating and are composed of atoms;

and the Stoics say that all is body and consumed by fire (conflagration);

but he calls the world, and all things therein, the work of God.

Seest thou the conciseness, and in that conciseness the clarity? And consider what were the things that seemed strange to them:

that God made the world.

Things which even some ordinary people now know—these the Athenians knew not, no, not even the wise among the Athenians.

For if He made it, plainly He is also Lord of it.

Observe what he says is the mark of Godhead—the creative power;

for the prophets everywhere say this too, that to create belongs to God;

not as those men supposed, who made the Maker to be one, yet not Lord, and posited unoriginate matter.

Here then he spoke enigmatically what was his own, and established it, and demolishes what was theirs.

「He dwelleth not,」 he says, 「in temples made with hands.」

For He does dwell in temples, yet not in such as these, but in the human soul.

Observe, he did away with the bodily worship.

What then? Did He not dwell in the temple at Jerusalem? Nay indeed, but He wrought therein.

How then was He served by the hands of men among the Jews? Not by hands, but by the understanding; since He did not seek those things as though standing in need of them.

「For shall I eat the flesh of bulls,」 He says, 「or drink the blood of goats?」 Then, having said, 「Neither is He served by the hands of men, as though needing anything」;

since this alone would not have sufficed—the being in need of nothing, which he declared;

for this too indeed is divine, but there must also be present something further;

he adds this: 「He Himself giveth to all life and breath, and all things.」

He shows two proofs of Godhead: that He Himself needs nothing, and that He provides all things to all.

Set beside this all that Plato philosophized concerning God, all that Epicurus did—and all is trifling nonsense compared with these things.

「Giving,」 he says, 「life and breath.」

Behold, he makes Him the Creator of the soul also, not its begetter.

See again how he demolishes the doctrine concerning matter: 「And He made,」 he says, 「of one blood every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth.」

These teachings are better than those, and are a refutation both of the atoms and of matter.

Here he shows that neither is the soul of man a partial thing (a portion of the divine).

But what those men assert—this is not to be a Creator.

In saying that God is served by the hands of men, he hints that He is served by the understanding and the mind.

「This One,」 he says, 「is Lord of heaven and earth.」

Therefore it is not the partial demons.

「The God that made the world and all things therein.」

Having first shown how heaven came to be, he then declared that He dwells not in things made with hands, as if he said:

If He is God, plainly He made all things;

but if He made them not, He is not God.

「The gods that have not made the heaven and the earth,」 it says, 「let them perish.」

He introduces doctrines far greater than theirs (and yet he had not yet spoken the great things;

but he was discoursing to them as to children)—the creation, the lordship, the self-sufficiency (that God needs nothing).

And in saying that He made every nation of men of one blood, he made known the Author of all good things.

What is equal to this sublimity? For it is marvelous indeed even to make so many out of one;

but that He Himself should hold them all together is still far more marvelous.

「For giving,」 he says, 「to all breath and life.」

What is the meaning of, 「Having determined appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after Him and find Him」? That no one, he says, was compelled to go about and seek God;

or if not this, then that He ordained that men should seek God.

But He did not ordain this for all time, but for 「appointed seasons.」

And he says this to show that not even now, when they sought, did they find Him, although He was so manifest to be found, as if He were some object being felt for in the midst.

For neither was heaven here, and elsewhere not;

nor was it in this time, and in another not.

So that both at every season, and within every bound of habitation, it is possible to find Him.

In this way He so ordered that He should be sought, that men might be hindered neither by place nor by time.

And this very thing above all worked to their advantage, if only they were willing: that heaven is everywhere, and stands present at every time.

And indeed He is not far from any one of us, but is near to all.

He gave not only life and breath and all things;

but also, the crown of all, He brought us to the knowledge of Himself, granting us those things by which we are able to find and to comprehend Him.

Yet we were not willing to seek Him, though He was right before our feet.

'He is not far,' he says, 'from every one of us.'

He says that He is near to all who dwell in every part of the inhabited world.

What is greater than this? See how he also does away with the notion of a local, partial god.

Why do I say 'far'? He is so near that apart from Him we cannot even live.

For in Him we live and move and have our being.

By way of a bodily illustration he says something of this kind:

Just as it is impossible to be ignorant of the air that is poured out everywhere, and is not far from any one of us, but rather is even within us;

even so also is the Maker of all things.

See how he says that all things are His:

His providence, he says, and His holding all things together, our being from Him, our acting, our not perishing.

And he did not say 'Through Him,' but that which was nearer, 'In Him.'

That poet said nothing equal to this when he said, 'For we are also His offspring';

for that poet spoke concerning Zeus, but Paul takes it as applying to the Creator, not saying that God is the same as that Zeus—God forbid—but fitting to God the things which are properly said of Him.

Since indeed he said that the altar was His, not that Zeus's whom they worshipped.

For certain things are indeed said and done toward this God, but the Greeks do not know that they are toward Him, but have conceived them as being toward another.

For tell me, concerning whom would 'To an Unknown God' be properly said—concerning the Creator, or concerning the demon? Clearly concerning the Creator, even though the one they did not know, while the other they did know.

Likewise also, the statement that He made all things would be properly fitted to the true God, rather than to Zeus, some abominable, contemptible, and deceiving man.

Thus Paul did not speak in the same way as that poet—God forbid—even in saying, 'For we are also His offspring';

for he said that we are the offspring of God;

that is, His own, His nearest kin;

or, as one might put it, His neighbors and those who dwell close by Him.

For lest they should again say, 'You bring strange things to our ears' (for nothing is so contrary to men as this), he brings the poet into their midst.

You ought not to think that the Deity is like gold or silver, O abominable and utterly abominable men;

but rather something more lowly. This we ought not

to think, he says, but rather something above this. And what is that which is above this? God;

yet not even this (for this is a name of activity), but for the present, this.

Nevertheless, we do not say that the Deity is like this;

for who could say so? See how he introduced the incorporeal nature.

For the mind, whenever it suspects a body, also conjectures spatial extension.

'Being therefore the offspring of God,' he says, 'we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device.'

Why then does he say these things? But his discourse was addressed to the multitude;

for if we ourselves are not like those images as regards the soul, much more is God unlike them.

For the present he leads them away from that false supposition.

And not only is the Deity unlike anything graven by art, but neither is it subject to any other human notion;

for either art or thought devised it.

Whatever, then, human art or thought devised—this they made their god, and the very essence of God was in a stone;

how then, if in Him we live, do we not find Him? The charge is twofold: both that they did not find Him, and that they found such things as these.

Nowhere is the reasoning mind by itself worthy of trust.

But since he shook their soul by showing them to be without excuse, see what he adds:

'The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent.'

What then? Is none of these punished? None of those who are willing to repent.

He speaks concerning these, not concerning those who have departed, but concerning those to whom He gives the command.

'He does not demand an account from you,' he says.

He did not say, 'He passed it over';

that is, He does not exact punishment as though you were worthy of punishment.

And he does not say, 'You did evil willingly,' but he showed this by the words above, when he said, 'to repent everywhere.'

Here he hints at the whole inhabited world.

See how he leads them away from the partial gods.

'Because He has appointed a day,' he says, 'on which He is about to judge the inhabited world in righteousness.'

Again he said 'the inhabited world,' thus calling men.

'By the Man whom He has ordained, having raised Him from the dead.'

See how again he made known the Passion, in mentioning the Resurrection.

And that the judgment is true is evident from the Resurrection;

and that He spoke all things in truth is evident from the fact that He rose again.

And that He also furnished to all this ground of faith—His rising from the dead—this too is henceforth evident.

These things were indeed spoken to the Athenians;

but they would have their fitting occasion to be spoken to us also, namely, that all men everywhere must repent, because He has appointed a day on which He is about to judge the inhabited world.

See how he introduces Him both as Judge, and as one who provides for the world, loving to man, ready to forgive, powerful and wise, and, in a word, having all the attributes of the Creator.

The things spoken gave a proof that He was raised from the dead.

If Christ has not risen, we are not judged;

but if He has risen, we are assuredly judged.

'For to this end He also died, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living,' he says;

'For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive according to what he has done.'

Do not, then, suppose that these are mere words;

Behold, he has also introduced the doctrine concerning the resurrection of all things; for the world is not judged in any other way.

For the world is not otherwise brought to judgment.

And the saying, 'Having raised Him from the dead,' is spoken concerning the body; for this it is that both dies and falls.

For this it is that both was dead, and this that also fell.

Among the Greeks, just as the doctrines concerning creation, so also those concerning the judgment are rejected.

But these are the inventions of children and of drunken men.

But let us, who know these things accurately, do something profitable, and be earnest to be made close to Christ.

How long shall we be at enmity with Him? How long shall we bear ill-will toward Him? 'God forbid,' one says.

Why do you say these things? I would not have said them, were you not doing these very things.

But as it is, what profit is there in silence of words, when the deeds themselves cry out so loudly with all plainness? How then shall we love Him? I have said it ten thousand times ten thousand, and I will say it now also.

I think I have found one way, exceedingly great and marvelous.

That, together with reckoning up the things done in common by God, which are so many that no one can even number them,

and, giving Him thanks for all these things, let us all also call to mind the things that have been done for each one of us, and let us reckon them up day by day.

Since therefore these things have great power, let each one of us reckon with himself, and with all accuracy search out whether he ever fell into dangers and escaped the hands of his adversaries, and let him have the benefits of God recorded as in a book.

For instance, if he ever went out on a journey at an unseasonable hour, and escaped a danger;

if he ever, falling in with wicked men, got the better of them;

if he ever, having fallen into sickness, recovered when all had despaired;

for this has great power to make us close to God.

For if that Mordecai, when the good deeds done by him came to the king's remembrance, thus had them for his protection, so as to come again to that splendor;

much more shall we, if we call these things to mind, and make an accurate examination of these two matters—what we have sinned against God, and what good He Himself has wrought toward us;

so shall we both be thankful, and shall give up all things freely.

But no one makes remembrance of any of these things;

but just as concerning sins we say that we are sinners, without examining them according to their kind, so also concerning the benefits of God—when we say, 'God has done us good,' we do not examine them according to their kind, we do not say where, and how many, and at what season.

But from this time forth let us practice much accuracy.

For if anyone is able to take up even the things of long ago, let him reckon them all up accurately, as one who shall find a great treasure.

This is useful to us also for the purpose of not despairing.

For when we see that He has often protected us, we shall not despair, nor deem ourselves to have been cast away;

but we shall receive of Him a great pledge of His care for us, whenever we consider that, though we have sinned, we are not punished, but even enjoy His protection.

Let me too tell something which I have heard from a certain person.

There was somewhere a boy, and it once happened that he was in the countryside with his mother, being not yet fifteen years old.

Then, a harsh spell of weather having come on, a fever fell upon them both;

then the mother made haste to go into the city first;

but the boy, though the physicians there bade him remain, and though the fever was burning him, began to gargle, forsooth playing the philosopher, thinking rather to quench the fire if he should take nothing at all.

Being then but a boy, out of untimely contentiousness he took nothing.

But when he came into the city, the powers of his tongue were paralyzed, and he was speechless for a long time, uttering nothing articulate;

yet he could read, and went to teachers for a long time, but only in a simple and unintelligible manner.

All his hopes therefore were cut off, and his mother was full of grief;

and physicians devised many things, and many others many other remedies, but none availed, until the God who loves mankind healed the fetter of his tongue, and then he recovered, and He brought him back to his former eloquence and clearness of speech.

And his mother related of him also that, when he was a very little child, he had a disease about the nose, which they call a polypus;

and again the physicians had despaired, and the mother prayed that he might die, and the father cursed him (for he was still alive at that time), and again all was in perplexity.

But he, coughing straightway, by a sneeze thrust out that creature from his nostrils by the rush of his breath, and all the terrors were undone.

But when this had been quenched, a rheum, sharp and clammy, ever flowing down over his eyes, made his eye-discharges so copious and so thick as to become as a partition-wall before the pupil; and, dreadful to say, it threatened blindness, and all said that this would come to pass.

But from this too, by the grace of God, he was speedily delivered from the malady.

And these things indeed are what I heard;

but the things which I myself know, I will tell to you.

There was once stirred up a suspicion of usurpers in our city (and at that time I was still a lad);

and while the soldiers were encamped all around outside the city, perhaps in a guileless way they were searching for books of sorcery and magic.

And the man who had written the book, having flung it unfinished into a river, was caught, and being required to produce it, could not give it, but was led about the city.

But when, as the proofs pressed hard, he had paid the penalty, then I, wishing to go off to the place of witness, was coming back through the gardens along the river with a certain other person as well.

And that other, seeing the book floating on the surface, at first supposed it to be a piece of linen; but coming near, he perceived that it was a book, and going down, he took it up.

But I contended that the find should be held in common, and I laughed.

'But let us see,' says he, 'what in the world it also is.'

He unfolds part of the page, and finds magical characters written therein.

And it happened that at the same moment a soldier was passing by.

Then, taking it within his garment, he went off, and was fixed fast with fear.

For who indeed would have believed that we had taken and picked it up from the river, when at that time even those who were above suspicion were being seized? And we did not dare to throw it away, lest we should be seen, and to divide it up again was a like fear.

God, at all events, granted it, and we cast it away, and were at last delivered then from the dangers.

And I could tell ten thousand things, if I were minded to recount them all.

And these things I have spoken for your sakes, that if anyone have, though not such things, yet some others, he may remember them continually;

for instance, if a stone was ever hurled, about to come upon you, and yet came not upon you, keep this in everlasting remembrance;

these things work in us a great friendship toward God.

For if, when we call to mind the men who have saved us, we are exceedingly stung whenever we are not able to requite them;

this is useful in another matter also.

Whenever therefore we wish not to be distressed, let us say:

'If we have received good things at the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the evil things?' And Paul for this reason told from what he had been delivered, that he might put them also in remembrance.

See how Jacob also had all these things in mind:

'The angel who delivers me from my youth.'

And let us consider not only that He delivered us, but also how, and in what circumstance.

See therefore how he too remembered the benefits in particular.

'With my staff,' he says, 'I passed over this Jordan.'

But the Jews are ever mindful even of the deeds done in their forefathers' days, forever recalling the things that befell them in Egypt.

Ought we not, then, far more to remember our own affairs and the things that have happened to us — how often we have fallen into insults and misfortunes;

and had not God stretched forth His hand over us, long ago we should have perished.

Considering all these things, and recounting them day by day, let us give perpetual thanks to God, and all together with one accord send up glory to Him, and let us not cease to glorify Him, that for our thankfulness we may receive an abundant recompense — by the grace and compassions of His only-begotten Son, with whom, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honour, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.