Commentary on Luke 1

The noble among generals whet those skilled in tactics to daring, promising them not only the honours that come from victory, but declaring that the very act of suffering is glorious and the occasion of every good report for them.

For it is not among the possibilities that those who wish to win renown in battles should not sometimes also endure the blows dealt by their adversaries.

Yet the suffering will not be without reward for them.

For they shall be praised as having leapt upon the enemy, and the very suffering will altogether bear witness for them that they have used a most youthful and valiant spirit.

We see our Lord Jesus Christ Himself teaching such things.

The occasion for such a discourse arose for Him from His having foretold to the disciples that He must by all means endure the assaults of the Jews, be mocked by them, be spat upon, be killed, and rise again on the third day.

Therefore, lest they should suppose that He indeed would suffer for the life of the world the outrages of those thirsting for blood, while it was permitted to them to live at ease, He of necessity shows that those who desire to attain the glory that comes from Him must proceed through the same deeds of valour; and, all but adjuring them, He says what follows.

For it was needful, indeed needful, that those appointed to such a ministry should be most stalwart and valiant, so as to look with dread upon none of the terrors.

Such a one will deny himself, all but renouncing the present life for the sake of the good and of love toward Christ.

Thus will one follow Christ, all but crying aloud and saying to Christ the Saviour of all: 'For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we were counted as sheep for the slaughter.' Such was the blessed Paul, saying:

'I live, yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me.'

'And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.'

Excellently then does He command them to rise superior to every trial and persecution, knowing well that those who wish to be zealous for His cause will be fellows and partakers of His glory.

For not if anyone should become a despiser of the bonds of death, has that one perished.

For in losing his own soul he will rather find it, even as in finding it he will incur its loss.

That it is incomparably better than the splendour and luxury in the world to win renown in the love that is according to Christ, He plainly shows, saying:

For whenever anyone, looking rather to the immediate pleasant than to the profitable, declines to suffer and chooses to live splendidly, even though he should have wealth and abundance of goods, what profit is there thence to him who has lost his soul? For the fashion of this world passes away, and like shadows the delightful things shift and the wealth flies away from those who possess it.

For treasures shall not profit the lawless, but righteousness delivers from death.

And that He might also set forth clearly the reward of being willing to labour, He adds to these words and says:

By these words He at the same time accomplishes many things both profitable and necessary.

For first He shows that in every way and altogether there shall follow, for those who are ashamed of Him and of His words, the receiving of the like.

having obtained such splendid good things? Then, besides these, He implants fear in them, saying that He will descend from heaven, not in the first lowliness and in the abasement that was ours, but in the glory of the Father, with angels attending Him as a bodyguard.

It is therefore utterly grievous and full of ruin to be condemned for lovelessness and for shrinking from labour, when the Judge comes down from on high and the ranks of angels stand round about; but great and worthy of all wonder, and the occasion of prosperity in the end, is it that they should rejoice over the toils already borne beforehand and look for the recompense of their sweat.

For such shall be praised, since Christ says:

The disciples, not yet having received the power from on high, were likely perhaps to fall into human weaknesses and, having conceived some such thing within themselves, to say:

How shall anyone deny himself? Or how, having lost his own soul, shall he find it again? And what prize equal in worth shall there be for those who suffer this? Or of what gifts of grace shall they be partakers? Therefore, that He might turn them away from such reasonings and, as it were, forge them anew unto manliness, implanting a longing for the glory that should be theirs, He says:

There are some of those standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.

And by the kingdom of God He means the very vision of the glory in which He Himself will also be seen at that time, when He shall shine forth upon those on earth.

For He will come in the glory of God the Father, and not rather in the lowliness that was ours.

How then did He make spectators of the wonder those who received the promise? He goes up onto the mountain, taking with Him three chosen ones from among them.

Then He is transformed into an extraordinary and God-befitting splendour, so that even His raiment, at the impact of the light, shone through and seemed as it were to flash like lightning.

But Moses and Elijah, standing round about Jesus, were conversing with one another, it says, about His departure which He was about to fulfil in Jerusalem — that is, the mystery of the dispensation in the flesh and the saving Passion, I mean that upon the precious Cross.

For they always call this His 'glory.'

For it is indeed true that the Law given through Moses and the word of the holy prophets foreshowed the mystery of Christ — the one in types and shadows, all but painting it as upon a tablet; the others having in manifold ways proclaimed beforehand both that He would be seen in due seasons in a form like ours, and that for the sake of the salvation and life of all He would not decline to suffer the death upon the tree.

Therefore the presence of Moses and Elijah and their conversing with one another was a certain dispensation, most excellently displaying our Lord Jesus Christ as attended like a sovereign by the Law and the prophets, inasmuch as He is the Master of both Law and prophets, and as having been foreshown beforehand by them through the things wherein they proclaimed beforehand in harmony with one another.

We say that the transfiguration took place, not indeed by the body changing its human form, but by a certain light-shaped glory enveloping it and re-colouring the most dishonoured character of the flesh, as it were into a more glorious appearance, according to the words 'It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory,' well and rightly spoken by the blessed Paul.

For now this very thing is naked flesh, not tinged with any glory, not adorned with any natural splendour, but having only the sheer inglory and weakness that is from nature; whereas at the time of the resurrection there shall be a certain God-befitting alteration, a change of glory, not of form.

For henceforth it will shine round about with the investiture of divine glory,

in the kingdom of the Father, according to the voice of the Saviour.

The blessed disciples for a little while dozed off, as Christ was occupied in prayer;

for He was fulfilling the things of human nature according to the dispensation.

Then, being fully awakened, they became spectators of the change so august and marvellous.

And the divine Peter, supposing perhaps that the time of the kingdom of God had somehow come, welcomes the sojourns on the mountain, and says that three tabernacles ought to be made:

one for Christ, and the others for Moses and Elijah.

But he knew not, it says, what he was saying.

For it was not the time of the consummation of the age, nor indeed of the saints needing to receive the participation in the hope promised them.

For as Paul says, He will transform the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory — Christ's, that is.

Since therefore the dispensation was still in its beginnings and not yet completed, how was it likely that Christ should cease from His love toward the world and refrain from willing to suffer for it? For He saved all beneath heaven by enduring even the death according to the flesh, and by the resurrection from the dead abolished it.

Therefore, in addition to the ineffable and marvellous vision of the glory of Christ, yet another thing was accomplished, both profitable and necessary for the confirmation of the faith in Him — and not for the disciples only, but also for us ourselves.

For from a cloud above, as from God the Father, a voice was sent down, saying:

This is My beloved Son, the Chosen One.

And when the voice came, it says, Jesus was found alone.

Though Moses and Elijah were standing there, He commands them rather to hear Him.

But lest the truth be slandered by some who say that the Father commanded them to hear Moses rather, and not Christ the Saviour of us all, the evangelist of necessity noted, saying that when the voice came, Jesus was found alone.

Him therefore He commanded them to hear;

for He Himself is the end of the Law and the prophets.

For this reason also He addressed the multitudes of the Jews, saying:

If you believed Moses, you would believe Me;

for he wrote concerning Me.

We have heard that one from among the multitude ran to Christ, relating an unbearable sickness of his child;

for he said that the boy was savagely torn by an evil spirit, and endured a most grievous convulsion.

Yet he did not make his approach blameless;

for he cried out against the choir of the holy apostles, saying that they had not been able to rebuke the demon.

But it would have been better, while rather honouring Jesus, to ask His aid and to seek the grace that comes from Him.

For He assents when He is honoured and believed in by us, that He is able to do all things and is in nothing at all weak; for He Himself is the Lord of the powers, and everything, if it be at all capable of power, has this — its being what it is — wholly from Him; but when we are unbelieving, we insult His glory, and we shall receive from Him nothing at all.

For I brought him, he says, to Your disciples, and they were not able to cast it out.

And yet it was because of your unbelief that the grace did not operate.

For that one must approach Christ with faith, and those who have been enriched by Him with the grace of being able to heal, He Himself taught us, everywhere asking faith of those who came to Him.

For this cause Christ justly cried out against him.

And, if you will, hear the evangelist saying:

It was surely with good reason that He called that man, and those of like mind with him, a faithless generation, and perverse, and in no way knowing how to walk uprightly.

Concerning such persons the sacred Scripture says:

Whose paths are crooked, and their tracks are bent aside.

To such people the blessed Baptist proclaimed, saying:

Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.

The faithless man, then, will surely be also perverse.

With those who are so disposed in mind, and who have fallen into such impiety, Christ does not deign to associate; but, if one may speak in human terms, He grows weary and dispirited, as though burdened by their wickedness at spending time in their company.

How long shall I be with you and bear with you? For he who says that they were too weak to act against the wicked spirits—they who through His own nods had received authority to cast them out—rather brings accusation against the grace, and not against those who had received it.

For that it was Christ who was working in them is nothing hard for those willing to see.

And indeed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate was healed, yet Peter ascribed the marvel to Christ when he addressed the Jews, as is written in the Acts.

And again somewhere he proclaimed to one of those who had been healed by him:

Aeneas, Christ heals you.

From every side, therefore, it is manifest that the man who said of the holy apostles that they were unable to cast it out did impiously accuse His power.

And in yet another way Christ is indignant when the saints are slandered—those who were entrusted with the word of the sacred proclamations and were appointed as mystagogues of all that is under heaven, being attested by His grace both that they are His disciples and that they cause the light of the true knowledge of God to shine forth upon all men everywhere, while the marvellous working of great deeds usefully accompanies their teachings.

But I think it better, according to the first interpretation, to understand the father of the demoniac as the faithless one.

Wherefore also he had to depart in grief.

But lest anyone should suppose that Christ Himself was too feeble for the accomplishment of the wonder, He rebuked the unclean spirit, and immediately the young man was set free from his sickness.

Well has he said that He gave him back to his father;

for the boy was no longer his father's, but belonged to the spirit that held him fast; but once the tyranny was shaken off, he became again his own father's.

And this is the gift of Christ, who also gave to the holy apostles authority to be able to accomplish the divine signs and to rebuke the unclean spirits.

And the blessed evangelist says that the crowds were astonished at the majesty of God.

For all that Jesus did was worthy of wonder in the eyes of all.

For something exceptional and divine shone forth in all His activity, so that the Scripture which says the following proved true:

Yet even though indeed all men marvelled at all that Jesus did, He did not speak the things that followed upon these to all, but to His own disciples, saying: Even though the things I do are all such that all men marvel at them, yet consider to what depth of humiliation I am about to bring Myself, being delivered up on behalf of all, that I may take away the sin of the world.

In order, therefore, that the mystagogues of the world might know accurately the mystery concerning Him, He usefully and necessarily makes the foretelling and says:

Do you lay up these words in your hearts;

for the Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.

And what the occasion was that prompted Christ to say these things, it is necessary, as I think, to state.

Now He took up into the mountain Peter and James and John, and was transfigured before them;

His face shone as the sun.

He showed them the glory with which He will shine upon the world in due seasons; then, coming down from the mountain, He set free a certain man from a wicked and cruel spirit.

But it was altogether necessary that He should endure the saving passion on our behalf and bear with the crookedness of the Jews.

And perhaps they were somehow pondering and saying within themselves:

He who is so great in glory, who raised the dead with an authority befitting God, who rebukes seas and winds, who by a word crushes Satan—how has He now been caught and fallen into the snares of the murderers? Have we then been deceived in supposing Him to be God? Therefore, that they might know what would altogether and by all means come to pass, He bids them make the mystery, as it were, a thing laid up in their mind:

For lay up, He says, these things in your hearts;

and the word 'You' in this passage marks them off from the others;

for He wished them to know what was to happen, but not yet also to speak of it to others.

For it was not enough that the common multitude should merely learn that He would suffer, but it was better, in addition to this, that they should be fully assured that He also rose again in a manner befitting God, having abolished death, so as readily to escape the harm that comes from being made to stumble.

Whenever, therefore, the time of suffering is at hand, He says, do not say:

How is it that One so great in glory and the performer of so many signs did not, like any one of us, perceive that He was falling into the hands of enemies? Rather, know, considering the divine plan, that I have not been forced by anyone, but have come to this willingly.

For what was there to hinder Him who foreknew and clearly announced beforehand what was to be, from being unwilling to suffer, had He so chosen? But that I might save all that is under heaven, I gave Myself over to suffering.

This He will teach clearly, saying elsewhere:

No one takes My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.

I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again.

And how did the disciples fail to understand the mystery of Christ? For they were indeed from the flock of the Jews, yet not slothful, nor unversed in the writings of Moses;

and indeed for this reason they had been chosen out by Christ.

How then did they fail to understand the mystery of Christ, though it was written in very many places through the shadow of the Law? But, as the blessed Paul writes:

A hardening in part has come upon Israel; and:

Until this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart, unremoved, because in Christ it is done away.

It behooves us, therefore, when drawing near to Christ, to say:

Open my eyes, and I shall behold the wondrous things out of Your Law.

Let him learn once more, who supposes Jesus to be a mere man, that he has gone astray and has wandered far from the truth.

For let him know that, even though the Word, being God, became flesh, yet He keeps inalienably the being of what He was, and has remained God.

For it belongs to God alone, who is over all, to be able to search hearts and reins and to know the hidden things, but to no other whatsoever besides Him.

But behold, Christ searches out the reasonings of the holy apostles and casts the eye of the Godhead into the hidden things.

God, therefore, is He who is fittingly clothed with dignities so great and so utterly befitting God.

Nevertheless, let us examine this matter:

did then all the blessed disciples share in common this kind of sickness? But I think it holds much that is improbable to suppose that they all at once contracted a common and single disease.

But rather, as I think, when one of them had suffered it, in order that the most wise evangelist might not be found weaving some accusation against any one of the fellow disciples, he declares it without distinction, saying: A reasoning entered among them as to which of them might be the greater.

But that Satan is exceedingly clever at working mischief, one may again see from these very things:

for he plots in manifold ways against those who have loved the all-beautiful life.

And if he is able through the pleasures of the flesh to lay siege to a man's mind, he leaps upon it savagely and sharpens the goad of love of pleasure.

But if there be one who is manly and is borne beyond such snares, he readily assails him with maladies of the soul, dressing up his plots against them:

for he sows in something of the things discordant with God, and rouses the passion of love of glory, little by little shaking a man down into accursed haughtiness.

So then the passion of vainglory had rushed in upon one of the holy apostles;

for the question 'which of them might be the greater' belongs to one who is contentious and desirous of taking precedence over the others.

But He who knows how to save, namely Christ, clearly did not slumber;

He saw in the disciple's mind the reasoning about this very thing, like some root of bitterness springing up, according to what is written, and before it was raised on high, before it was grown strong, He digs out the evil from its very root:

for passions in their beginning are easily overcome in us, but once grown strong they are hard to cast off and are shameless in no small measure.

How then does the physician of spirits shear off the passion of love of glory? He took a child, He says, and set it beside Himself.

And this vice made a pretext of usefulness even to the holy apostles themselves, and to us who come after them.

For such a disease commonly feeds upon those men who happen to hold some position of superiority over others.

Of what, then, was the little child that was brought forward made a type and image? Of a life free from wickedness and free from love of vainglory.

For it has a mind that is unadulterated, a heart that is unsophisticated, and it lives in simplicity of thoughts.

It does not crave for vainglory, it knows nothing of the manner of superiority over anyone whatsoever; nor yet does it shun to seem to be at a disadvantage.

It has great tranquillity in mind and heart, as coming from simplicity and guilelessness.

And indeed the Saviour himself once said to the holy apostles, or rather to all who love him:

'Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become as these little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.'

But what it is to turn and to be made like the little children, the blessed Paul makes clear when he writes:

'Do not be children in your understanding, but in malice be as babes, and in your understanding be mature.'

And again, on another occasion, when women were bringing infants to him and the disciples were hindering them, he said:

'Let the little children come to me;'

for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Those who are such he welcomes and loves, and deems worthy, as it were, to hold near himself, since they have chosen to be minded as he is.

For he said, 'Learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.'

'Whoever receives this little child in my name, receives me;'

and whoever receives me, receives him who sent me.

Since, therefore, for those who honour the saints the reward is one and the same—whether that one be perhaps small, or set in surpassing honour and glory—for such a one receives Christ, and through him and in him the Father: how is it not utterly stale to contend with one another and to seek to surpass others? And he makes the aim of this discourse still more plain, and says:

'For he who is least among you all, this one shall be great,'—meaning the one who is modest in mind and thinks nothing lofty concerning himself, out of reverent humility.

For it is written that 'Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.'

Well then—did the sting of envy smite the holy disciples? Do they begrudge those who are held in good repute? You forbid, tell me, the one who in the name of Christ crushes wicked demons? And yet, how was it not rather fitting to consider that it was not that man himself who was the worker of the marvels, but the grace within him accomplishing the marvel, plainly in the power of Christ? How then do you forbid the one who is distinguished in Christ? 'Yes,' he says;

for he does not follow along with us.

For what then—if he who is crowned with the grace that comes from Christ has not been numbered among the holy apostles? Very many are the varieties of the gifts that come from Christ.

And this the blessed Paul will teach us, saying that 'To one is given a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge, to another faith, and to yet another gifts of healings.'

What then is 'He does not walk with us'? The Saviour had given to the holy apostles authority over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out and to heal every disease and every sickness among the people;

so they returned rejoicing and saying:

They supposed, then, that to no one else, but to themselves alone, was it permitted to bear the dignity that had been given.

For this reason they come forward, desiring to learn whether it is permitted for another also to do this.

We have something of this kind also in the more ancient writings.

For God once said somewhere to Moses:

'Choose out for yourself seventy men from the elders of Israel, and I will take of the spirit that is upon you and will give it to them.'

And those who had been chosen were gathered into that ancient tabernacle, except two of them;

for they remained behind in the encampment.

And when the spirit of prophecy fell upon them, not only did those who had run together in the holy tabernacle prophesy, but also those who had remained behind in the camp.

And Joshua, who stood by Moses, said, it says:

'Eldad and Modad are prophesying in the camp, my lord Moses.'

And Moses, it says, said to Joshua:

'Are you jealous for my sake? Who would grant that all the Lord's people were prophets, when the Lord gives his Spirit upon them!'

But even then it was Christ who, in the Holy Spirit, persuaded the hierophant Moses to speak these things.

And so to the holy apostles he himself, through his own person, says:

'Do not forbid the one who crushes Satan in his name;'

for he is not against you, he says.

For whoever is not against you is for you;

for they are on behalf of you who love Christ, since they desire to fulfil the things that make for his glory, being crowned with the grace that comes from him.

That is to say, when the time was at hand in which he must henceforth, having endured the saving Passion, ascend into heaven and sit enthroned with God the Father, he resolved to go up to Jerusalem.

For this, I think, is what 'He set his face' makes plain.

He sent messengers to prepare a lodging for himself and for those with him.

But when they came into a village of the Samaritans, they were not received.

At this the blessed disciples were indignant—and not so much on their own account, but because they had not honoured the Saviour and Lord of all.

Then, not being ignorant of the greatness of the authority that was in him, they said:

'Lord, do you wish that we bid fire to come down from heaven and consume them?'

But this they said, not having yet laid hold of the new grace, but still holding to the former custom, looking to Elijah, who twice consumed with fire the fifties and their captains.

But when they said this, Christ rebuked them.

Now the sense of what has been read has this general scope.

But let us investigate each point minutely.

'Milk out milk, and it shall become butter.'

Now, was the Saviour ignorant of what was to happen? Is it not true to say that, knowing all things, he assuredly knew somehow that those who were sent would not be received by the Samaritans? Then how is this a matter of doubt? Why, then, did he command them to go ahead? It was his custom to be eager in every way to benefit the holy apostles, and sometimes to make the testing of them, as it were, an incidental part of the journey.

For he permitted, in his wise dispensation, the storm to rise up against the boat, in order both to exercise the faith of the disciples and to render manifest the surpassing greatness of his own power.

For they, being of little faith, said:

'Master, save us, we are perishing!' But he, having arisen, straightway showed clearly that he is Master even of the elements;

for he rebuked the sea and the storm, and there came an exceedingly great calm.

So then, likewise also in this matter;

for he knew that those who announced beforehand that he would lodge among them would not be received by the Samaritans; but in order that this too might again become an occasion of benefit to the holy disciples, he allowed them to go.

Having the time of the Passion already close at hand, he was about to endure the drunken insolence of the Jews.

In order, therefore, that when they saw him suffering they might not be scandalized, considering that he wills them also to be forbearing of evil even when some men insult them, he made the insult from the Samaritans, who did not receive the messengers, into a kind of preliminary exercise for the matter.

The disciples, following in the Master's footsteps, ought rather to have persevered in a manner befitting saints, and to have said nothing against them out of anger.

But being mastered by a hotter zeal, they wished, so far as it lay with them, to bring down fire upon them from heaven.

The Master of all, therefore, speaks truly when he says thus:

'For my counsels are not as your counsels, nor are my ways as your ways;

but as the heaven is distant from the earth, so are my ways distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my thoughts.'

He therefore rebuked His own disciples in a profitable manner, gracefully restraining their quickness to anger and persuading them to bear wrongs patiently.

And He benefited them also in another way.

They were destined to be the initiators into the mysteries for all under heaven, going about through cities and countries, proclaiming everywhere the evangelical and saving message.

But it was necessary that those willing to do this should also fall in with certain unholy men who would not endure the divine proclamation, nor even permit Jesus, as it were, to lodge among them.

Therefore, that they might learn that those who minister the divine proclamation ought rather to be full of forbearance and gentleness, not vengeful and irascible nor savagely leaping upon those who trespass against them, they were taught this through this very rebuke.

That the ministers of the divine proclamations have indeed become forbearing, Paul will teach, saying:

Being reviled, we bless; being defamed, we entreat; we have become as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.

To long for the gifts that come from above and from God is a thing truly worth acquiring, and would prove to be the procurer of every good.

Yet the Lord of all, though rich in gifts, does not bestow them simply upon all indiscriminately, but rather upon those who would be worthy to receive.

If, then, anyone wishes to be deemed worthy of such rewards, let him rid his own soul of the defilements and blameworthy things that lead to baseness;

but the one who is not so minded, let him depart far off.

And this the power of the evangelical words set before us will teach us.

For someone approached, saying to Christ the Saviour of us all:

But He would not admit the man, saying that the foxes have holes, but that He Himself has nowhere to lay His head.

How, then, does He send away one who was eager for this, if indeed following Him is the procurer of every good? For He said that the one who follows Him shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

What, then, do we say to these things? This was not that man's aim.

And this it is possible to see, for those who attend accurately, that first the approach has much that is undisciplined, and then that it is full of the utmost shamelessness;

For he did not seek simply to follow Christ, as also many others of the Jewish multitude did, but rather he leapt upon the apostolic dignities and sought to possess this following, and was self-invited to it, even though the blessed Paul writes that no one takes the honour to himself, but only when called by God, as also was Aaron and the divinely-inspired disciples.

And in yet another way He justly made him one to be sent away;

to die to the world, that is, to renounce the vain distractions of the present life;

for the friendship of the world is enmity with God.

The man being such, He reproves obliquely, not so much reproaching as correcting him, that he might become better than himself.

The foxes have holes, and so forth.

Now the simpler and more obvious sense of what has been said is something like this: that both the beasts and the birds have their lairs and lodgings, but I am not yet able to escape the troublings that come from many;

for I have nowhere to lodge and rest and lay down my head.

But the meaning hidden within comes through deeper thoughts.

For it seems that by foxes and birds of heaven He calls the wicked and crafty and adverse powers, that is, the herds of demons;

for they are so called in many places by the God-inspired Scripture.

For the blessed psalmist said concerning certain ones:

And in the Song of Songs it is written:

Catch us the little foxes that spoil the vineyards—for the great ones, evidently, had escaped.

And Christ Himself somewhere says concerning Herod:

And He said somewhere also concerning the seeds cast into the ground, that the birds of heaven came and devoured them.

And we do not say that He is speaking these things concerning perceptible and visible birds, but rather concerning unclean and wicked spirits.

When, therefore, foxes and birds have their holes and lodgings within us, how shall Christ come? And where shall He rest? What fellowship has light with darkness? For He lodges among those who love Him, but shuns the profane.

But another comes, not a deserter following of his own accord like this one, nor rash in his promises regarding such a matter, but rather one called by Christ to apostleship, being not unsuited for this;

except that he did not yet clearly understand in what manner one must adapt oneself to such a matter.

For perhaps he had a father worn down with old age, and he seemed exceedingly pious, being eager to keep the sparing care and love owed to him.

For assuredly he knew altogether, having met with the words of the Law, that this too was of concern to the God who is over all:

Honour your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and that you may be long-lived upon the earth.

But since he was called to the sacred and evangelical ministry—for this is what the 'Follow Me' spoken by Christ to him signified—he was carried away by human reasoning and sought a postponement of time, so that he might suffice for the care of the parent in his old age.

And we by no means say that he was asking to bury his father as one already lying dead and deceased;

for Christ would not have prevented one willing to do this.

But he says 'to bury' in the sense of 'to tend in old age until burial.'

What, then, says the Saviour to him? Let the dead bury their own dead, but you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God;

for there were doubtless also other guardians and kinsmen of the father according to family, but, as I think, dead, because they had not yet believed in Christ nor been able to receive the regeneration through the Holy Spirit unto incorruptible life.

Let them, He says, bury their own dead, since they too have a dead mind, and are not yet numbered among those who have the life in Christ.

But from this it is possible to learn that piety toward God must be set before both the reverence and love owed to parents.

And indeed the law of Moses, having first said:

You shall love the Lord your God, placed second the reverence toward parents, saying:

Honour your father and your mother.

For come, let us examine among ourselves what sort of reason it is on account of which we hold in earnest esteem the honour and love toward parents.

Because through them we were begotten, one would surely say.

He brought us wholly into being, but father and mother became the ministers of the passage into being for those born of them.

Shall not, then, the first benefactor be loved more than the second ones that come after Him? It is therefore necessary that piety toward those who begot us should yield to the love toward God, and that human things should come after the divine.

And this also the Saviour Himself taught us, saying:

He who loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me.

He therefore permits the loving of those who begot us, only not above Himself.

For this reason too, having said to the disciple that he ought rather to follow closely, but leaving the burying of the dead to others, He taught that the things concerning us should fittingly be cast behind the love toward God, since even the things of God are greater than the reverence toward parents;

for He Himself is the author of birth and the maker of all things.

It is therefore necessary for us, if we are to follow Christ, to hold nothing more precious than Him, but whatever runs together with this to pursue and do, and whatever works against it to decline and flee; and if some activity moderately partaking of the good, yet able to be accomplished through others, this we should hand over to those others, while we ourselves cleave to the greater and nobler.

At any rate one may see that even the holy apostles let go of a need still greater than this—the care for the poor—for the sake of the ministry of the word, yet not letting go of it in such a way as not also to make provision for this.

But both the lesser was managed—the ministry concerning the tables—and the greater was not hindered—the proclamation of the message.

The promise is worthy of emulation and full of all praise.

But to seek to bid farewell to those in his house shows that he is somehow divided and does not yet walk toward this with a steadfast mind.

For to wish altogether to consult with one's kinsfolk according to family, and to have as counsellors those who have not chosen to think the same things as he, nor have on occasion approved of it, would at once declare the purpose in this matter to be still somehow weak and limping.

Wherefore also he hears, more in rebuke than in teaching, the words: No one who has put his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

For just as the husbandman who has begun the cleaving of the ground with the ploughs, when he shrinks from the whole labour that remains, will not see the earth abounding with ears of grain, nor the threshing-floor full of sheaves, but will incur laughter from those who look on; so, if anyone should choose to follow Christ, yet still delay, having bid farewell to the affairs in the world.

But having renounced also his kinsfolk according to the flesh, this man will accomplish that good courage which is praiseworthy in all things, and will be fit for the kingdom of God.

But he who is not such puts his hand to the plough, because he is eager to follow, yet looks back, because he makes his journey homeward and his conversation with his kinsfolk a pretext for delay and postponement.

But we shall not find the holy apostles to have been of such a kind;

for they had heard Jesus saying,

'And they,' it says, 'immediately left the boat and their father and followed Him.'

And the all-wise Paul also writes,

'But when it pleased God to reveal His Son in me, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood.'

Such ought they to be who wish to follow Christ.

The reason for the sending forth of the seventy is this:

the multitude of those who were to believe in Him was destined to be great;

for not Israel alone was being drawn in as with a net, but also the flocks of the Gentiles.

For that the saving proclamation was destined to lay hold of all that is under heaven, the God of all things gave full assurance when He said concerning Him through the holy prophets,

'Judgment shall spring up like couch-grass upon the fallow ground of a field.'

For in the fallow, uncultivated parts of fields the couch-grass springs up, and lays hold of and spreads over every place, ever running forward; and in a manner corresponding to this the judgment—that is, the grace that justifies all that is under heaven, namely the evangelic and saving proclamation—laid hold of every city and country.

There were therefore appointed by Christ, in addition to the Twelve, others also, seventy in number.

And of this too the type was written in the words of Moses;

for at God's command he himself chose out seventy, and God sent down the Spirit upon those who had been chosen.

And in yet another way we shall find both the twelve disciples and the seventy themselves signified through the shadow of the Law.

For it is thus written in Exodus concerning the sons of Israel:

'They came,' it says, 'to Elim'—and it is interpreted as 'unto ascent,' that is, unto increase—'and there were there,' it says, 'twelve springs of waters and seventy palm trees.'

For as we ascend to a more perfect understanding and run up to spiritual increase, we shall find the twelve springs—that is, the holy apostles—and the seventy stems of palm trees, namely those manifestly appointed by Christ;

for from the disciples of our Saviour, as from holy springs, we draw the knowledge of every good thing; and we marvel also at the seventy, and say that they are, as it were, palm trees.

For this plant is stout of heart, well-rooted and fruitful, ever flourishing beside the waters, of great stature and lofty foliage.

But it was likely that some might suspect that the first had been set aside, and that these had been brought in as being able to initiate men into the mysteries better than those others.

In order therefore to shear away such suspicions from our minds, He who knows the heart and knows the things to come well-nigh even makes a defence, saying:

'The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the labourers are few,' and what follows.

For just as fields luxuriantly rich, broad and long, require many reapers, so the whole earth—that is, the multitude of those destined to believe in Christ, being great and numberless—had need of not a few to initiate them into the mysteries.

So they went, sent two by two into cities and villages, well-nigh crying aloud the words uttered through the voice of John:

'Prepare the way of the Lord.'

And yet who else could be the Lord of the harvest, that is, of those upon the earth, save Him who is by nature and truly God? For His is the whole earth and the fulness thereof, as it is written.

Then how is it that, though it befits God who is over all alone to send forth the labourers, it was Christ who appointed these? He therefore is the Master of the harvest, and through Him and with Him God the Father rules over all things.

For all things are His own, and there is nothing which the Father may be said to possess that is not also the Son's.

Wherefore, having ascribed the appointing of the reapers to the will of the Father, He forthwith declared Himself the Master of the harvest, assigning to the holy apostles the duty of initiating men into the mysteries.

'Go your way; be not dismayed at the onslaught of persecutions.'

'I will deliver you from evil; I will change the wolves into sheep;

for I do all things and transform all things, and there is nothing that withstands My will.'

And that the outcome of these matters advanced to this very end, one may see from the results themselves;

for the divine Paul was a blasphemer and an insolent man and a persecutor, and more savage than any wolf towards those who believed in Christ; yet he was called by Christ and became gentler than a sheep.

So He did not permit them even to have care for the body itself—much less did He allow them to busy themselves about the things outside the body—inasmuch as He did not permit them to concern themselves even with provisions for the journey, nor to carry anything not already placed upon the body, such as sandals, but to set all their hope upon Him.

For not only did He forbid them to carry wallet and purse, but He did not even suffer them to admit any hindrance to their zeal—He who did not permit them to be drawn aside even for the greeting of those they met; which very thing was long ago spoken by Elisha to the one who was sent, that he should proceed straight upon his errand and not even return a blessing to one who blessed him; for the turning aside to others is a loss to zeal, and to spend uselessly the time befitting the proclamation upon matters not necessary, and to bestow upon friendships the profitless delay.

O the great renown and the incomparable dignities! O the honour befitting God!

Though they were men, He clothed them with glory befitting God; He entrusts to them His own words, so that those who in any respect at all disobey them become liable to judgment.

For when they are rejected, He maintains that He Himself suffers this, and through Himself He refers the charges of impiety even up to the Father.

And in yet another manner it is possible to attend to the force of the words spoken by Christ.

'For he that heareth you,' He says, 'heareth Me.'

He gives to those who love learning boldness to be confident that whatever might be said concerning Him by the holy apostles, or rather the evangelists, this is by all means to be received;

for he who hears them hears Christ.

And indeed the blessed Paul says,

'Since ye seek,' he says, 'a proof of Christ speaking in me.'

And moreover Christ Himself said somewhere to the holy disciples:

'It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.'

For Christ speaks in them through the consubstantial Spirit.

An inescapable sentence therefore hangs over the unholy heretics, who set at nought the words of the holy apostles and evangelists;

It has been said that He sent them, having rendered them illustrious by the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that they might not be disbelieved by any, nor be thought to be self-appointed deserters unto the apostolate;

for since the divine sign followed upon the word, no form of calumny could have prevailed against them.

The grace of the Spirit therefore bore witness to those sent forth, that they were not self-summoned or deserters as regards the duty of speaking the things concerning Christ, but rather had been ordained ministers of the proclamations concerning Him.

Moreover they received authority both to rebuke the evil spirits and to be able to crush Satan—not that they themselves might rather be admired, but that through them Christ might be glorified and be believed by those initiated into the mysteries to be by nature both God and Son of God, so great in glory and might and pre-eminence that He could even grant to others to have Satan beneath their feet.

And those who had been counted worthy of such grace returned, it says, rejoicing and saying:

'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Thy name.'

For they confess the authority of Him who had honoured them; yet they seem to rejoice, not because they had rather become ministers of the proclamations concerning Him and had been deemed worthy of apostolic prerogatives, but because they had become workers of signs.

This from some quarter—but rather that they might not, when preaching, be disbelieved.

It would therefore have been better for them to be seen rejoicing over those who had been caught in the net through them, even as the all-wise Paul takes pride in those called through him, saying:

But they said nothing of such things, and rejoice only in being able to crush Satan.

And what does Christ say to this? 'Yea,' He says, 'I have not been ignorant of this;

for armed as it were by My nods, ye have conquered Satan.