Homilies on Hebrews 23

By faith Noah, being warned concerning the things not yet seen, moved with reverent fear, prepared an ark for the salvation of his household;

through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

'By faith,' it says, 'Noah being warned.'

Just as the Son of God, discoursing concerning His own coming, said:

'In the days of Noah they were marrying and giving in marriage.'

And reasonably did he remind them of an image belonging to themselves;

for the example of Enoch was an example of faith only, but that of Noah was also one of unbelief.

And this is a complete consolation and exhortation, when not only those who have believed are found to be well-approved, but those who disbelieve suffer the contrary.

For what does it say? 'By faith Noah being warned.'

What is this? 'It had been foretold to him,' he says.

And he calls the prophecy a divine warning;

for elsewhere too he spoke in this way:

'And it had been divinely revealed to him by the Spirit.'

And what does the divine warning say? Do you see the equal honor of the Spirit? For just as God gives His oracle, so also does the Holy Spirit.

And for what reason did he speak thus? That he might show that the divine warning is a prophecy.

'Concerning the things not yet seen,' he says.

Moved by godly fear, he built an ark.

Reasoning suggested nothing of the sort to him;

for people were marrying and being given in marriage, the air was clear, there were no signs;

yet nevertheless that man was afraid.

'By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household.'

How? 'Through it he condemned the world.'

He showed that they were worthy of punishment, seeing that they were not even brought to their senses by the very building of the ark.

'And,' he says, 'he became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.'

That is, from this he was shown to be righteous, from having believed God.

For this belongs to a soul genuinely disposed toward Him, and judging that nothing is more trustworthy than His words—just as unbelief, on the contrary, does the opposite.

And faith, it is plain, works righteousness.

Just as we have been warned concerning hell, so also was he.

And indeed he was laughed at then, and reproached, and mocked;

yet nevertheless he paid no regard to any of these things.

'By faith Abraham, when called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance;'

'and he went out, not knowing where he was going.'

'By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow-heirs of the same promise.' For tell me, whom did he see, that he should emulate him? He had a Greek and idolatrous father, he had heard no prophets, nor did he know where he was going.

For since those who had believed from among the Hebrews were looking to these men as having enjoyed countless good things, he shows that no one had yet received anything, but that all are without their reward, and that no one had yet received the recompense.

That man fell away from his fatherland and his house, and went out not knowing where he was going.

And what wonder is it, if he himself did so, seeing that even his seed dwelt in like manner? Beholding, then, the promise seemingly refuted—

'To you will I give this land, and to your seed'—

he saw the Son dwelling there, and the descendant again saw himself dwelling in a strange land, and yet was not at all disturbed.

For in Abraham's case it happened reasonably, inasmuch as the promise was thereafter destined to come into effect for his race;

and yet it had also been said to him: 'To you and to your seed';

not, 'To you through your seed,' but, 'To you and to your seed';

and yet neither he himself, nor Isaac, nor Jacob enjoyed the promise.

For the one served for hire, another was driven out, and this one too was cast out in fear;

and some things he took by war, while others, had he not obtained God's help, would have perished.

For this reason he says: 'With the heirs of the same promise.'

'Not he alone,' he says, 'but also the heirs.'

Then he adds something else, more clearly than what had been said, saying:

'According to faith these all died, not having received the promises.'

Here it is worth inquiring into two things: how, having said, 'He translated Enoch, that he should not see death, and he was not found,' he says:

'Not having received the promises'—when he shows that Noah received a reward in the saving of his household, and that Enoch was translated, and that Abel still obtained his witness, and that Abraham took possession of the land;

'According to faith these all died, not having received the promises.'

What then is it that he means? It is necessary first to resolve the first question, then the second.

'According to faith,' he says, 'these all died.'

He said 'all' here, not because all had died, but because—that one being excepted—these all died whom we know to have died.

And the phrase, 'not having received the promises,' happens to be true;

for surely this was not going to be the promise for Noah.

And of what promises does he speak? Isaac and Jacob indeed received the promises of the land;

but Noah, and Abel, and Enoch—what promise did they receive? Either, then, he speaks concerning these three;

or, even if he speaks concerning those others, this was not the promise—that Abel should be admired, nor that Enoch should be translated, nor that Noah should be preserved; rather, these things too came to them on account of their virtue, and were as it were foretastes of the things to come.

For God, knowing from the beginning that the human race stood in need of much condescension, bestows on us not only the things in the world to come, but also the things here;

as, for instance, that very thing which Christ also said to His disciples:

'Whoever has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life';

'Seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.'

Do you see that even by way of addition these things are given by Him, so that we should not grow weary? For just as athletes enjoy attention even while they are contending—yet do not then enjoy all their ease, living under rules, but enjoy full ease afterward;

so also God does not grant us to partake here of all our ease;

for He does indeed give even here, yet nevertheless He has stored up the whole in the world to come.

And that this is so, he made plain also by what he goes on to add, saying:

'But having seen them from afar off, and having greeted them.'

Here he hints at something mystical;

for he shows that they anticipated all the things that had been said concerning the things to come—the things concerning the resurrection, the things concerning the kingdom of heaven, the things concerning all the rest which Christ proclaimed when He came;

for these, he says, are the promises.

Either, then, he means this, or that they did not indeed receive them, but departed being confident concerning them;

and they were confident by faith alone.

And he said, 'having seen them from afar off,' signifying that it was four generations beforehand;

for after so many they came up out of Egypt.

'And having greeted them,' he says, 'and having rejoiced.'

So persuaded were they concerning them, as even to greet them;

he spoke by a metaphor drawn from those who sail and behold from afar off the cities they long for, which, before they enter into them, they take possession of and make their own by their greeting.

'For they were awaiting,' he says, 'the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.'

Do you see that the 'They received' means already to have accepted and to have been confident concerning them? If, then, to be confident is to receive, it is possible for you too to receive.

For these men, even if they did not enjoy these things, yet nevertheless beheld them with longing.

Why then does this happen? That we may be ashamed, because they, even when the things in the land were being promised to them, did not attend to them, but sought the city to come;

while to us God discourses again and again concerning the city above, and we seek the one here below.

He said to them: 'I will give you the things in the present';

but when He saw—or rather, when they showed themselves to be worthy of greater things—then He no longer permits them to receive these, but those greater ones, wishing to show us that they are worthy of greater things, since they were unwilling to be bound to these;

just as one might promise childish trifles to a wise man—not that he should receive them, but by way of displaying his own philosophy, seeing that the other asks for the greater things.

For this shows that they held themselves aloof from the land with such earnestness that they would not so much as accept it even when it was offered them.

It is on this account, therefore, that their descendants receive it;

for they themselves were worthy of the land.

What does it mean, 'The city that has the foundations'? For are not these men themselves foundations? In

comparison with those, they are not.

'Whose builder and maker is God.'

Ah, what an encomium of that city!

He began here in a way meant to shame them, in case they should appear more faint-hearted than a woman.

How was she who laughed faithful? Now the laughter came from unbelief, but the fear came from faith;

for her saying, 'I did not laugh,' came from faith.

It was for this reason, therefore, that when the unbelief had been emptied out, faith entered in.

'By faith Sarah herself also received power to conceive seed, and bore a child when she was past the age.'

What does it mean, 'unto the conceiving of seed'? It means: she who was dead, the barren one, received power to retain the seed, power to receive it.

For the disability was twofold: the one arising from her age—for she was indeed grown old—

and the other arising from her nature, for she was barren.

Wherefore also 'from one man there were born all these,' and that from one as good as dead, as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the innumerable sand which is by the shore of the sea.

'Wherefore,' he says, 'from one man there were born all these.'

He does not say merely this here, that she bore a child, but that she became the mother of as many as not even fruitful wombs have borne;

How then does he often number them, though he has said, 'As the stars of heaven cannot be numbered, so neither shall your seed be'? Either this is spoken by way of hyperbole, or he said it thus with reference to those who are ever coming into being in succession.

For it is possible to number the forefathers of a single household—for instance, 'so-and-so son of so-and-so, and so-and-so son of so-and-so';

but here, where the race is likened to the multitude of the stars, it is not possible.

Such are the promises of God; so full of resource are His pledges.

But if the things which He promised as a mere addition are so marvelous, so beyond expectation, so magnificently bountiful, of what sort will those things be to which these are but an addition, and out of the abundance of which these come? What then is more blessed than those who attain them? What more wretched than those who fail of them? For if a man cast out of his native land is pitied by all, and one who has lost his inheritance seems to all men worthy of pity;

how many tears ought he to be wept over who falls from heaven and from the good things laid up there? Or rather, he ought not even to be wept over;

for a man is wept over when he suffers something

of which he himself is not the cause;

but when a man of his own deliberate will impales himself upon wickedness, he is worthy not of tears, but of lamentations; or rather, of mourning even then;

since even our Lord Jesus Christ mourned and wept over Jerusalem, ungodly though she was.

Truly we are worthy of ten thousand lamentations, of ten thousand dirges.

If the whole world should take a voice, and stones, and wood, and trees, and beasts, and birds, and fishes, and in short the whole world should take a voice and bewail us who have fallen from those good things, it would not bewail nor lament us as we deserve.

For what speech will be able to represent, what mind to conceive, that blessedness, and that excellence, that delight, that glory, that gladness, that splendor?

'Things which,' he says, 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' He did not say that it simply surpasses, but that no one has ever even conceived the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

For of what sort is it likely those good things are, of which God is the preparer and provider? For if, when He made us, He straightway, before anything had been rendered by us, bestowed so many things—paradise, communion with Himself, promised immortality, a blessed life free from cares—

then to those who have done and striven and endured so much for His sake, what will He not bestow? He did not spare His Only-begotten for our sake; He gave up His own true Son to death for us;

and if He counted us, while we were yet enemies, worthy of such things, of what will He not count us worthy now that we have become His friends? What will He not impart to us, now that He has reconciled us to Himself? And He is exceedingly rich, and beyond measure desires and is eager to obtain our friendship;

yet we are not eager for it even in the smallest degree, beloved;

why do I say we are not eager? We do not even wish to obtain His good things in the way that He Himself wishes.

And that He desires it more, He showed by that whereby He created us.

For we, on behalf of our own selves, hardly

despise even a little gold;

but He, for our sake, gave even His own Son.

Let us then use the love of God as we ought, beloved; let us enjoy His friendship;

for, 'You are My friends,' He says, 'if you do the things which I say to you.'

Ah, His enemies, who stand at an infinite distance from Him, from whom He differs in all things by an incomparable superiority—these He has made friends and calls friends! What then is there not to be chosen, if one must suffer for the sake of this friendship? But we, for the friendship of men, often even face dangers, yet for the friendship of God we do not part even with our money.

Truly our state is worthy of mourning—of mourning, and of tears, and of lamentations, and of great wailing and beating of the breast.

We have fallen from our hope, we have been brought low from our high estate, we have shown ourselves unworthy of the honor of God, ungrateful; and even after His benefits we have shown ourselves useless; the devil has stripped us of all good things;

we who were counted worthy to be sons, brethren, and fellow-heirs, have become in no way different from His enemies, from those who insult Him.

What consolation then will remain for us? He Himself called us to heaven, but we thrust ourselves toward hell.

'Cursing, and lying, and stealing, and adultery are poured out upon the earth';

some mingle blood with blood, while others do deeds worse than bloodshed.

Many of those who are wronged, many of those who are defrauded, pray for ten thousand deaths rather than to suffer these things;

and had they not feared the fear of God, they would even have laid violent hands upon themselves, thus thirsting for their own blood. Are not these things then worse than bloodshed? 'Alas for me, my soul!' said the prophet, giving way to despair, 'for the godly man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men.'

But now let us too cry this out concerning ourselves; for He desires beyond measure and is eager to obtain our friendship;

yet we are not eager for it even in the smallest degree, beloved;

why do I say we are not eager? We do not even wish to obtain His good things in the way that He Himself wishes.

And that He desires it more, He showed by that whereby He created us.

For we, on behalf of our own selves, hardly despise even a little gold;

but He, for our sake, gave even His own Son.

Let us then use the love of God as we ought, beloved; let us enjoy His friendship;

for, 'You are My friends,' He says, 'if you do the things which I say to you.'

Ah, His enemies, who stand at an infinite distance from Him, from whom He differs in all things by an incomparable superiority—these He has made friends and calls friends! What then is there not to be chosen, if one must suffer for the sake of this friendship? But we, for the friendship of men, often even face dangers, yet for the friendship of God we do not part even with our money.

Truly our state is worthy of mourning—of mourning, and of tears, and of lamentations, and of great wailing and beating of the breast.

We have fallen from our hope, we have been brought low from our high estate, we have shown ourselves unworthy of the honor of God, ungrateful; and even after His benefits we have shown ourselves useless; the devil has stripped us of all good things;

we who were counted worthy to be sons, brethren, and fellow-heirs, have become in no way different from His enemies, from those who insult Him.

What consolation then will remain for us? He Himself called us to heaven, but we thrust ourselves toward hell.

'Cursing, and lying, and stealing, and adultery are poured out upon the earth';

some mingle blood with blood, while others do deeds worse than bloodshed.

Many of those who are wronged, many of those who are defrauded, pray for ten thousand deaths rather than to suffer these things;

and had they not feared the fear of God, they would even have laid violent hands upon themselves, thus thirsting for their own blood. Are not these things then worse than bloodshed? 'Alas for me, my soul!' said the prophet, giving way to despair, 'for the godly man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men.'

But now let us too cry this out concerning ourselves first of all.

But join with me, I beg you, in this lament.

Perhaps some even scoff at this as an ill omen and laugh at it;

yet for this very reason we ought all the more to intensify our lament: that we are so mad and so beside ourselves that we do not even know that we are mad, but at the very things over which we ought to groan, we laugh.

There is revealed, O man, wrath from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

A fire shall be kindled before Him, and round about Him a mighty tempest.

A fire shall go before Him, and shall burn up His enemies round about.

The Day of the Lord shall be as a burning furnace.

And no one takes these things to heart, but these dread and fearful realities are despised more than fables, and are trampled underfoot.

and they laugh and mock, one and all.

What way of escape shall we have? Whence shall we find salvation? We are undone, we are consumed, we have become the derision of our enemies, and the mockery of the Greeks and of the demons.

The devil now exults, he swaggers and rejoices;

all the angels who were entrusted with us are put to shame, they are in dejection;

there is no one who turns back; all our labor upon you has been spent in vain, and we seem to you to be talking nonsense.

It is fitting even now to call upon heaven, since there is no one who hears, and to summon the elements as witnesses:

Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.

Give a hand, reach it out—you who have not yet been drowned—to those perishing under drunkenness; you who are sound, to the sick; you who are sober, to those who rave; you who are steadfast, to those who are tossed about;

let no one, I entreat, prize anything above the salvation of his friend; and let both reproof and rebuke look to this one thing only—his benefit.

When fever seizes a man, even slaves lay hold of their masters.

For when the fever burns and throws his soul into confusion, and a swarm of servants stands round him, no one heeds the master's authority in the harm that touches the master.

Let us gather ourselves together, I beseech you.

Daily wars, shipwrecks, ten thousand kinds of ruin all around; and on every side the wrath of God hems us in.

Yet we, as though we were well-pleasing to Him, live thus without fear;

we all make ready our hands for covetousness, no one for helping another;

all for plunder, no one for protection;

each is eager how he may increase his possessions, no one how he may help the needy;

each takes much thought how he may add to his money, no one how he may save his own soul;

one fear holds all: Let us not become poor, they say;

but that we may not fall into hell—no one is anxious, no one trembles.

These things are worthy of lamentations, worthy of accusations, worthy of censure.

But it was not these things I wished to say; yet by my anguish I am constrained;

by my grief I am compelled to utter many things which I do not wish.

Grievous do I see the wound, past all comfort the calamity; the terrors that have overtaken us are greater than any consolation—we are undone.

Who shall give water to my head, and to my eyes a fountain of tears, that I may weep? Let us weep, beloved, let us weep, let us groan.

Perhaps there are some here who say:

He tells us nothing but laments, nothing but tears.

I did not wish this, believe me, I did not wish it, but rather to set forth praises and commendations;

It is not the lamenting, beloved, that is grievous, but the doing of things worthy of lamentation;

not the mourning that is to be shunned, but the doing of things worthy of mourning.

Be not punished, and I do not mourn;

die not, and I do not weep.

But if the body lies dead, you call upon all to share your grief, and you count those who do not mourn to be without sympathy;

yet when the soul is perishing, you tell me not to mourn? But I cannot be a father and not weep;

Hear what manner of cry Paul utters:

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again.

What mother in labor sends forth cries so bitter as he? Would that one could behold the very furnace of his mind; then you would see that I burn more than any woman or maiden who has suffered untimely widowhood.

That woman does not so mourn her own husband, nor a mother her son, as I mourn this multitude that is among us.

I see no progress; all runs to slanders and accusations;

no one makes it his task to please God;

but rather, Let us speak ill, they say, of this man and of that;

this one is unworthy of his office, that one lives without decency.

While we ought to mourn our own evils, we judge others—a thing we ought not to do even when we are pure from sins.

For who makes you to differ? he says;

and what have you that you did not receive? But if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as though you had not received it? But you, why do you judge your brother, when you yourself are laden with ten thousand evils? When you say, So-and-so is wicked, and

a pest, and vile—consider yourself, and examine your own affairs strictly, and you will repent of what you have said.

For there is not, there is not, any such incitement to virtue as the remembrance of one's sins.

If we turn these two things over within ourselves, we shall be able to attain the good things that have been promised, we shall be able to cleanse and scour ourselves;

only let us at some time take thought, let us give heed to the matter, beloved;

let us grieve here in our reasoning, that we may not grieve there in punishment, but that we may enjoy the eternal good things, where pain, sorrow, and sighing have fled away;

that we may attain the eternal good things which surpass the human mind, in Christ Jesus;

to Him be glory unto the ages of the ages.