Anti-Arian Works 7 part 1/4

SERMON ONE. On the stewards of the Lord. 1. The word of the Lord, which we all ought to hear not only diligently but also wisely, and to which it behooves us to be obedient humbly and gladly, everywhere keeping the tempering of its own moderation — so that neither may pasture be lacking to the sheep, nor nourishment to the shepherds — commands certain things specially to us alone, but others generally both to us and to you. For to us, that is, to the servants whom that Father of the household, the Lord of all things, has appointed in His great house for this purpose, that we may minister the word of grace to His people, the office of holy preaching is specially enjoined; but generally to us and to you, obedience to the saving commandments is prescribed.

In which commandments again, as in the richest of dishes, the abundance of heavenly delights so overflows with spiritual richness, that in the word of God there abounds both what the perfect may eat, and there abounds also what the little one may suck. For there is at once both the milky drink, by which the tender infancy of the faithful may be nourished, and the solid food, by which the robust youth of the perfect may receive the spiritual increases of holy virtue. There indeed provision is made for the salvation of all whom the Lord deigns to save; there is what suits every age, there what befits every station; there we hear the precepts that we should do, there we come to know the rewards that we should hope for; there is the command which by the letter teaches us and instructs us unto knowledge;

there is the promise which through grace draws and leads us to glory. 2. The Lord, therefore, wishing to demonstrate the special office of the servants whom He has set over His people, says what we have just now heard from the Gospel: Who, do you think, is the faithful and prudent steward, whom the Lord has set over His household, to give them their measure of wheat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom, when the Lord comes, He shall find so doing (Luke 12:42-43). Who is this Lord, brethren? Christ, without doubt, who says to His disciples: You call Me Master and Lord; and you say well: for so I am (John 13:13).

What too is the household of this Lord? Assuredly it is that which the Lord Himself redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and made subject to His own dominion. Now this household is the holy Catholic Church, which is spread abroad throughout the world with copious fruitfulness, and glories that it has been redeemed by the precious blood of its Lord. For the Son of Man, as He Himself says, came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28). He is also the good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep. The flock of the good Shepherd, therefore, is that very household of the Redeemer. But who the steward is, who ought to be at once faithful and prudent, Paul the Apostle shows us, who, speaking of himself and his companions, says:

So let a man account of us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Now here it is required among stewards, that a man be found faithful (1 Cor. 4:1-2). And lest any of us should suppose that the apostles alone were made stewards, and, neglecting the office of spiritual soldiery, should like a slothful servant sleep on unfaithfully and imprudently, the blessed Apostle himself, showing that bishops too are stewards, says: For a bishop must be without crime, as the steward of God (Tit. 1:7). We are therefore servants of the head of the household, we are stewards of the Lord, and we have received the measure of wheat which we are to dispense to you.

But if we ask what this measure of wheat may be, the blessed Apostle Paul himself shows it to us, saying: To every one as God hath divided the measure of faith (Rom. 12:3). Therefore the measure of wheat which Christ names, that same measure of faith Paul calls it, so that we may recognize that the spiritual wheat is nothing other than the venerable sacrament of the Christian faith. We give you the measure of this wheat in the name of the Lord as often as, enlightened by the gift of spiritual grace, we discourse according to the rule of the true faith; and you receive that same measure of wheat through the Lord's stewards, when daily through the servants of God you hear the word of truth. Let us then now speak concerning that very measure of wheat.

From it, as God has divided, let us all be fed; from it let us take the nourishment of the good life, that we may be able to attain the rewards of eternal life, believing in Him, hoping in Him, loving Him above all and in all, who both gives Himself to us as nourishment that we may not fail on the way, and keeps Himself as our reward that we may rejoice in our fatherland. For Christ is our nourishment, Christ shall be our reward; Christ is the food and consolation of travellers running their course, He Himself is the fullness and exultation of the blessed who rest. And so to that very measure of wheat pertains what the Lord says: Sell what you possess, and give alms;

make for yourselves purses that do not wear out, a treasure that fails not in heaven, where no thief approaches, nor moth corrupts (Luke 12:33). It is a great good, dearly beloved brethren, most fitting, most profitable, and above all to be sought by all Christians, that no one should take delight in sinking into what is worse, but that we should all strive to advance into what is better. We are trees, brethren, planted in the Lord's field. But God is our husbandman: He waters us, He tills us, He Himself grants fruitfulness, He Himself supplies the grace of bearing fruit. The rain of God is the word of holy preaching, the cultivation of God is the infusion of spiritual grace. God therefore waters us by His precept and tills us by His help.

While He waters us, He takes from us the dryness of ignorance; while He tills us, He bestows the richness of good living; while He rains, He irrigates the soil of our heart; while He tills, from that very soil He roots out the thorns and briers of worldly desire. We ought therefore to be made fruitful by the heavenly rains, we ought by suitable fruit-bearing to answer the hands of the heavenly cultivator. And even if all the trees cannot bear equal fruits, yet none ought to remain barren in the Lord's field. Greatly to be feared by us, brethren, is that sentence of the threatener, by which it is said: Every tree that does not bear good fruit shall be cut down, and cast into the fire (Matt. 3:10). But if barrenness is cast into the fire, what does rapacity deserve?

Or what shall he receive who has taken what belongs to another, if he shall burn forever who has not given of his own? If judgment without mercy shall be to him who has not shown mercy (James 2:13), what judgment shall there be to him who has committed even robbery? Let us therefore fear, brethren, let us fear our deeds. Let him who obeys Christ sell what he possesses and give alms, that he may lift his heart from earth to heaven, that he may trample avarice underfoot, that with all the intention of his mind he may hasten to the summit of perfection, that he may not be anxious about the things that are of the world, but about the things that are of the Lord; that he may have the world crucified to himself, and show himself crucified to the world; that he may be altogether poor in this age and rich in Christ. Who could be ignorant of the greatness of this good?

But we see that the power of selling their goods is not in all men. For everyone has his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that (1 Cor. 7:7). Behold, this so great good only few are able to fulfil, many are not able. Is it that, because this perfection is granted to few, therefore all who cannot yet be perfect in the good must be the very worst? Ought a Christian therefore to persist in the vice of rapacity, because perhaps he cannot yet distribute all his goods to the poor? Or ought he to covet what belongs to another, because he cannot yet altogether despise what is his own? God forbid this, brethren, from all Christians; may God turn this away from His faithful.

For the Apostle truly says that neither the covetous, nor the rapacious, shall possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10). And it is manifest that all who shall be estranged from the kingdom of God shall be damned in eternal fire with the devil and his angels. Therefore, dearly beloved, if not all can fulfil what the Lord says, Sell what you possess (Luke 12:33), yet that which He added, saying, Give alms (ibid.), is possible for all, if good will be present; easy for all, if dire cupidity be absent; wholesome for all, if charity be fervent: let it therefore be common to all, that to all may be granted eternal happiness.

He therefore who receives from the Lord such great power that he despises all things that are in the world for love of the heavenly kingdom, let him sell what he has and spend it on the needy. But he who is not yet of such great power, let him give alms of the things he has, according to what he has. Let good will accomplish as much as ability affords. Let the perfect possess the first rank of virtue, let the imperfect at least attain to the second. Let the one become gloriously worthy, let the other be praiseworthily generous. Let the one be the most ardent lover of holy poverty, let the other be the most devoted consoler of the holy poor. Let the latter have the poor as his patrons before God, whom the former rejoices to have as partners of his virtue. Let the latter be such as to sit as judge with the Lord;

let the former be such as to stand at the right hand to be judged. Let the former be such as to possess the eternal tabernacles by perpetual right; let the latter be such as the former may receive. For the Lord admonishes us, saying: Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity, that they may receive you into the everlasting tabernacles (Luke 16:9). This therefore, brethren, is necessary for us all, that in good works no one be sluggish, no one be barren, no one through love of present things despise those to come, no one, despising eternal things, perversely regard temporal things alone; let no one prefer bodily things to spiritual, no one set earthly things before heavenly. Let us place our treasure, brethren, in heaven, that we may be able to have also our heart in heaven.

For it is necessary that where the treasure of love has gone before, thither also the affection of thought should follow. Wherefore the Truth says: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matt. 6:21). That we may therefore lay up treasure in heaven, let us love heavenly things. Do you wish to know where you lay up treasure? Attend to what you love. Do you wish to know what you love? Attend to what you think about. So it will come to pass that you may know your treasure from your love, and understand your love as an indication of your thought. And the Lord, showing how we may lay up treasure in heaven, says: Let your loins be girded, and lamps burning (Luke 12:35).

If we wished to receive this saying of the Lord according to the letter, we should be able to gain no spiritual profit in it; but from the girded loins and burning lamps a spiritual understanding is to be sought, one which may be worthy of the divine precept, and which may be found suitable and profitable for our salvation. For not in vain does the Lord Himself say in a certain place: The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life (John 6:63). By the loins, then, carnal concupiscence is signified; but by the lamps, Christian faith and charity are shown. Therefore the Lord, in bidding our loins to be girded, without doubt commands that the concupiscences of the flesh be restrained.

But in commanding that we have burning lamps, He surely bids this: that we both shine with the light of true faith and be fervent in the works of holy charity. In bidding our loins to be girded, He charges us to flee evil desires and works; in bidding our lamps to be burning, He admonishes us to love and do good things. Let us compare these things which we have set forth from the Gospel with the prophetic sayings. For the one God instituted both Testaments, the one Lord gave them; and although the sacraments of the two Testaments are diverse according to the times, yet in both there agrees the same purpose of human salvation, by which it is enjoined that we sin not, and commanded that we persist in good works.

The Lord therefore commands through blessed David, saying: Turn away from evil, and do good (Ps. 33:15). Through Isaiah also He admonishes all with these words: Take away the evil of your thoughts from before my eyes; cease to act perversely, learn to do good (Isa. 1:16). This therefore the Lord now commands through Himself, which He also charged us through the holy patriarchs and prophets. For what is, Let your loins be girded, but, Turn away from evil? What is, Let your lamps be burning, but, Do good? What is, Let your loins be girded, but, Cease to act perversely? What is, Let your lamps be burning, but, Learn to do good? Therefore the loins are girded,

namely the loins of the faithful are girded, when evil concupiscence is suppressed, when wicked thought is checked, when the mind resists lust, when affection is denied to wantonness, when luxury is trampled down, when avarice and rapine are despised, when injury to one's neighbour is avoided, when pride is conquered, when envy is overcome.

But the lamps of the faithful burn, when they keep the rule of right faith, when they persevere long-sufferingly in the bosom of Mother Church, when they despise earthly things and desire heavenly things, when they solicitously guard peace, when they purely love one another, when they anticipate one another in mutual honour, when they advance in meekness of heart and humility, when they gladly and cheerfully perform the works of mercy, and when in good works they strive to please not men, but God. Every Christian therefore should have his loins girded, that he may flee lust; let him have a burning lamp, that he may guard chastity: let him have his loins girded, that he may neither seize nor steal anything belonging to another; let him have a burning lamp, that he may work mercifully of his own.

Let him have his loins girded, that he may not oppress the weaker; let him have a burning lamp, that he may afford to the oppressed the help of just defence under the veil of justice: let him have his loins girded, that he may not take away food from him who has it; let him have a burning lamp, that he may give nourishment to the hungry: let him have his loins girded, that he may not despoil the clothed; let him have a burning lamp, that he may clothe the naked: let him have his loins girded, that he may invade no man's house; let him have a burning lamp, that he may gladly receive the pilgrims of Christ: let him have his loins girded, that he may flee haughtiness; let him have a burning lamp, that he may keep humility: let him have his loins girded, that he may drive from himself envy and malice;

let him have a burning lamp, that he may show pure charity to all: let him have his loins girded, that he may not present his members as weapons of iniquity unto sin; let him have a burning lamp, that he may present his members as weapons of justice unto God (Rom. 6:13). This, brethren, is the true and sound doctrine of the catholic faith. This is the measure of wheat by which the family of the Lord our Redeemer is to be fed. From this we give to you, as much as the Lord bestows; and we continually beseech the Lord Himself, that He may deign by His help to feed both us and you in the fear of His grace. May He take from us the dominion of depraved cupidity, and grant to all the increase and perseverance of charity.

May He Himself gird our loins, may He Himself make our lamps to burn and keep them burning: that neither may our charity grow cold, nor any iniquity have dominion over us. But may our Lord and Redeemer bestow grace on all, and pour into all the gift of holy illumination and virtue. May He grant us that we rightly understand what we hear from Him and do as we ought, and that we preach to you what is to be done with sufficient and fitting discourse. May He grant to you also that what you hear from Him through His servants, you may both understand in your heart and accomplish in your work. May the divine mercy therefore work this in us all, that we, whom He willed to be stewards, may be so profitably. SERMON II.

On the twofold Nativity of Christ: one eternal from the Father, the other temporal from the Virgin. 1. Desiring to relate something of the solemnity of this day, and at the same time considering that one Word of whom we wish to speak, we find no words by which we might be able to say anything sufficiently. For this Word is not one that ceases when uttered, but one that abides being begotten; not transitory, but eternal; not made by God the Father, but begotten; nor only begotten, but even the Only-begotten. For God the Father begot one Word, of Himself, through which He created all things from nothing. For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,

and without Him was made nothing (John 1:1-3). But in that God the Father made all things through that Word, it is shown that He begot this Word, not made it. That Word therefore is God of God, Creator of the Creator. Whence it has this naturally in itself: to be that which the Father is. 2. The Son God was therefore born of the Father God, another in person, not other in nature: always with the Father, always together with the Father, always of the Father, always in the Father: always with the Father, with whom is His one natural immensity; always together with the Father, with whom is His one natural eternity; always of the Father, of whom is His naturally eternal nativity;

always in the Father, with whom He has one naturally equal divinity: and the one indeed is He who is the Father, the other is He who is the Son; yet neither is the other God, for the Father and the Son are one God. Wherefore, when discourse is made concerning God the Father and God the Son, we worthily say that the Father is one and the Son another; and none the less we worthily say that the Father and the Son are one God. For when we say that the Father is one and the Son another, we show the distinct persons of the begetter and the begotten; but when we say that the Father and the Son are one God, we manifest the very one nature of the undivided divinity. For the person of the begetter and the begotten is one thing, but the nature of the begetter and the begotten is one.

But how can anyone speak sufficiently or worthily? And of whom? Man of God, mortal of the immortal, visible of the invisible, mutable of the immutable, the work of the workman, the creature of the Creator, the thing made of the maker, the little one of the immense, the temporal of the eternal, the lowly of the most high, one formed of clay of Him who created all things from nothing. His grace is unspeakable, who by the free favour of His omnipotence made all, and omnipotently fulfilled the work of saving grace: there having the power of founding and governing His creature, here having the power of laying down and taking up His soul for us. And this omnipotence we call that,

by which the Word, which was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God, made everything that was not; but grace we call that by which the Word made flesh came to seek and to save that which had perished; omnipotence, by which He made every day; grace, by which He deigned to be conceived on a certain day and to be born on a certain day. 4. The same, therefore, made a little lower than the angels, was made on the day of men, who, coeternal and equal to God the Father, is ever the day of the holy angels. For of Him the prophet says: Announce well the day from the day, His salvation (Ps. 95:2). What is the day from the day, but the Son from the Father? There is therefore of the Father the Son, of the day the day; yet the Father and the Son are not two days, but one day.

The Son is of the Father, God of God; yet the Father and the Son are not two gods, but one God. Therefore one day of eternity, the Father and the Son together, is acknowledged by us; but in the day of time the Son alone is found. For the eternal day, the Father and the Son, made our body and soul; but in the day of time the Son alone took up our body and soul. Christ, the eternal day, the Only-begotten, remaining in the form of God; Christ, in the day of time, the Only-begotten, taking the form of a servant. Christ, the eternal day, remaining rich that He might create us; Christ, in the day of time, made poor that He might redeem us. The eternal day, Christ God of God the Father; Christ, in the day of time, God-man of the Virgin Mother.

Christ, the eternal day, the Word poured forth (Ps. 44:1) from the heart of the Father; Christ, in the day of time, the Word made flesh from the womb of the Virgin Mother. Christ, the eternal day, true God of true God; Christ, in the day of time, the bridegroom coming forth from his chamber (Ps. 18:6). The day of eternity, Christ creating the angels; the day in time, Christ saving men. The day of eternity, Christ in heaven feeding the holy angels; the day of time, Christ refreshing men on earth. For that man might eat the bread of angels, the Creator of the angels was made man, feeding both, and remaining whole.

How good is the bread that both feeds the angels through vision, that they may be satisfied by Him in their fatherland, and feeds us through faith, that we may not fail on the way! That bread, which gives itself to the angels for the joy of stability, gave itself to men for the remedy of health; and He who is the food of angels, was made medicine for us. 5. Nevertheless, dearly beloved brethren, attend here to the greatness of grace, and acknowledge what God deigned to bestow upon man in advance. For Christ the Son of God, true God of true God, and by nature one God with the Father, ever feeds the holy angels from Himself; yet the Son of God did not take angelic nature.

But that God might commend His charity in us, His Son took up our nature from us: and God the Only-begotten, who is the bread of angels, that He might also make Himself the bread of men, took up both the soul and the flesh of man at once. He took both true, both holy, both clean: He took our soul without iniquity, He took our flesh with mortality; He took a just soul, through which He might restore justice to our souls; but He deigned to have mortal flesh for this reason, that dying according to it He might conquer death, and according to it also might rise again, through which He might likewise raise up our bodies. 6. A great mystery, dearly beloved brethren, a great token of divine love.

Man, despising God, departed from God; God, loving man, came to men. He loved the impious, that He might make him just; He loved the infirm, that He might make him whole; He loved the perverse, that He might make him upright; He loved the dead, that He might make him alive. And what more shall I say? Since God the Only-begotten so loved human nature that He not only freed it from the power of the evil angel, but even in Himself placed it above all the good angels at the right hand of the Father. For the nature which in the first man had been taken captive by the evil angel, that very nature now in the second man reigns above all the good angels. The nature which in the first man polluted the world by sin, that very nature in the second man cleansed the world from sin.

The first man of earth, earthly; the second man from heaven, heavenly (1 Cor. 15:47). A woman with corrupted mind deceived the first man; a virgin with uncorrupted virginity conceived the second man. In the spouse of the first man the wickedness of the devil, having seduced her, depraved her mind; but in the mother of the second man the grace of God preserved both the mind whole and the flesh: to the mind it conferred most firm faith, from the flesh it took away lust altogether. Since, therefore, man was pitiably damned for sin, therefore without sin God-man was wondrously born. 7. Attend, brethren, to the lines of healing grace, shown to us by divine kindness.

Then the evil angel approached Eve, that through her man, whom God had made, might be separated from God; but now the good angel came to Mary, that in her God the Only-begotten might be united to human nature. The devil came to Eve, that the malignant one might take life from us; Gabriel came to Mary, that he might announce life to be restored to men. Through the fault of the first man the devil began to have dominion over man; through the grace of the second man he began to be overcome by man: proud over the first, captive under the second. Through the former he held us captive, through the latter he lost us set free. The first Adam became for us the author of guilt, the last Adam became for us the author of grace.

The former, formed of clay, brought forth earthly ones; the latter, born of the Holy Spirit, made heavenly ones. Through the former we lost the former grace, through the latter we received a fuller one. For the former brought upon us the stain of sin, with which we were born unto punishment; the latter conferred on us the grace of justification, that we might be reborn unto the kingdom. Through the former the carnal generation made us sons of this age, through the latter the spiritual generation showed us sons of God. The former subjected us to vices, the latter made us flourish in virtues. The former by vices cast us down, whither he first fell; the latter by virtues raises us up, whither he first ascended. For the former first fell into hell, the latter first ascended into heaven.

Meanwhile, brethren, it is fitting that on the day of the Lord's Nativity you should also solemnly hear of the day of the Lord's Resurrection. For God the Only-begotten, as He deigned to be born for us, so for us according to the flesh He deigned to die, He deigned also to be raised up. For this indeed is the day of visitation, that of redemption. For the work of grace, by which God the Only-begotten made us saved, began when conceived in the womb; and that same work of grace He fulfilled when raised from the sepulchre. Conceived in the womb, He was made a partaker of our death; rising from the sepulchre, He made us partakers of His life.