Sermons & Letters 48

Chapter I. — The sacred history of the Lord's Passion, dearly beloved, gone through in evangelical narration as is customary, I judge to have so cleaved to the hearts of all of you, that to each one of the hearers the very reading became a kind of vision. For true faith has this power, that it is not absent in mind from those things at which bodily presence could not be present; and whether the heart of the believer goes back into the past, or extends itself into the future, the knowledge of truth feels no delays of time. Therefore there is present to our senses the image of the things done for our salvation, and whatever then affected the souls of the disciples touches our affections also;

not that we should be depressed by sadness, or terrified by the savagery of the raging Jews, since even those whom the greatness of that tempest shook, the Lord's resurrection and ascension carried forward to unconquered constancy; but because, when it comes into our thought what sort of people the Jerusalemites then were and what sort the priests, we receive with great trembling of mind so great a crime of the impious. For although the Passion of the Savior pertained to the salvation of the human race, and the bonds of eternal death were burst by the temporal death of the Lord, yet the patience of the Crucified did one thing, the madness of those crucifying another, nor did mercy and wrath tend toward the same outcomes of events: since through the shedding of the same blood Christ was loosing the captivity of the world,

the Jews were slaying the Redeemer of all. Chapter II. — Therefore its own malignity hardened the carnal Israel, and neither the testimony of the Law, nor the images of the mysteries, nor the oracles of the prophets profited it, when John taught that the Pasch of the Lord, celebrated for so many ages, was fulfilled in Him, concerning whom he said with public protestation: 'Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world' (John 1:29). Iniquity fights against justice, blackness against light, falsehood against truth; but from the savagery of the strugglers, from the crime of the cruel, Jesus obtained the effect of the eternal ordinance; and He so provided for the human race by His death, that He did not deny the sacrament of salvation even to His very persecutors.

For He who had come to remit all sins to all who believe, willed not to exclude even the Jewish crime from the general indulgence. Whose treachery therefore we detest, but whose faith, if they be converted, we embrace; and, imitating the mercy of the Lord, who prayed for those by whom He was crucified, we too join our prayers with the blessed Apostle Paul, and desire that that people may obtain mercy, for whose offense we received the grace of reconciliation: since, as the same teacher of the nations says, God has concluded all in unbelief, that He may have mercy on all (Rom. 11:32). Chapter.

III. — But what was that which both took away understanding from the Jews and troubled the hearts of the wise men of the world, except the cross of the Son of God, which made both the philosophic prudence to vanish and the Israelite doctrine to grow dim? For the height of the divine counsel exceeded every sense of the human mind when it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe (1 Cor. 1:21), so that the constancy of faith might become more wonderful from the difficulty of believing. For it seemed inconsistent and irrational to receive in the mind that an inviolate Virgin had brought forth in the substance of a true man the Creator of all natures;

that the Son of God, equal to the Father, who would fill all things and contain the universe, permitted Himself to be seized by raging hands, to be condemned by the judgment of the wicked, and, after the disgraces of mockeries, to be fastened to the cross. But in all these there are together both the humility of the man and the loftiness of the Deity; nor does the reason of mercy obscure the majesty of Him who has mercy, because it was done out of ineffable power, that while a true man is in an inviolable God, and a true God in passible flesh, there might be conferred upon man glory through contumely, incorruption through punishment, life through death.

For unless the Word had become flesh, and so solid a unity had subsisted in each nature, that not even the brief time of death might disjoin the assumed from the one assuming, mortality could never have availed to return unto eternity. But there was present to us in Christ a singular safeguard, that in the passible nature the condition of death should not remain, which the impassible essence had received, and through that which could not die, that which was dead might be able to be raised up. Chapter IV.

— To this sacrament, dearly beloved, that we may inseparably conform ourselves, we must strive with great intention both of soul and of body, that, since it is a most grievous offense to neglect the paschal festival, it is yet more perilous to be joined indeed to the ecclesiastical assemblies, but not to be held in the fellowship of the Lord's Passion. For when the Lord says: 'He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me' (Matt. 10:38); and when the Apostle says: 'If we suffer together, we shall also reign together' (Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 2:12): who truly worships Christ who suffered, died, and was raised again, save he who suffers, and dies, and rises again with Him?

And these things indeed have already been begun in all the sons of the Church by the very mystery of regeneration, where there is the destruction of sin and the life of the one being reborn, and the threefold immersion imitates the three-day death of the Lord; so that, a certain mound of the sepulcher being removed, those whom the aged bosom of the font received, the same wave of baptism brings forth as new; but nevertheless what has been celebrated in the sacrament must be fulfilled in deed, and by those born of the Holy Spirit, however much of the worldly body remains, must be led not without the taking up of the cross.

For although the vessels of the ancient plunder have been snatched from the strong and cruel tyrant through the power of the cross of Christ, and the dominion of the prince of this world has been cast out from the bodies of the redeemed, yet the same malignity persists in lying in wait even against the justified, and in many ways it attacks those in whom it does not reign: so that if it should find any souls negligent and imprudent, it may again entangle them in more savage snares, and, having seized them from the paradise of the Church, may bring them into the fellowship of its own damnation. Whence, when anyone feels himself to be exceeding the limits of Christian observance, and his lusts to be tending toward that which makes him deviate from the right path, let him have recourse to the cross of the Lord, and fasten to the wood of life the impulses of his noxious will;

and with the prophetic voice let him cry out to the Lord and say: 'Pierce my flesh with nails from Your fear; for I have been afraid of Your judgments' (Ps. 118:120). Chapter V. — But what is it to have one's flesh pierced with the nails of the fear of God, except to restrain the bodily senses from the allurement of unlawful desire under the dread of the divine judgment? So that he who resists sin, and slays his own concupiscences, lest he work anything worthy of death, may dare to say with the Apostle: 'But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world' (Gal. 6:14). There, then, let the Christian establish himself, whither Christ carried him up with Himself; and let him direct his whole way to that place where he knows human nature to have been saved.

For the Passion of the Lord is prolonged unto the end of the world; and just as in His saints He Himself is honored, He Himself is loved, and in the poor He Himself is fed, He Himself is clothed, so in all who endure adversity for righteousness' sake, He Himself suffers with them: unless perhaps it is to be supposed that, faith being multiplied throughout the world and the number of the impious growing rare, all persecutions, and all the conflicts that raged against the blessed martyrs, are ended, as though the necessity of taking up the cross lay upon those alone to whom the most atrocious tortures were inflicted to overcome the love of Christ. But the piety of those who serve God experiences one thing, and the preaching of the Apostle attests another, who says:

All who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). By which sentence he is shown to be too lukewarm and slothful who is assailed by no persecution. For none but the lovers of the world can have peace with this world, and there is never any communion of iniquity with equity, no concord of falsehood with truth, no consent of darkness with light. For even though the piety of the good may desire that the wicked be corrected, and may obtain through the grace of the merciful God the conversion of many, yet the snares of the malignant spirits against the saints do not rest, and whether by hidden guile or by open battle, they assail the purpose of good will in all the faithful.

For everything that is right, everything that is holy, is an enemy to them; and although nothing more is permitted to them against anyone than what divine justice has allowed—that justice which deigns either to chastise its own with discipline or to exercise them with patience—they nevertheless act with the most cunning craft of deceit, so that by the choice of their own power they may seem either to harm or to spare; and, what is to be lamented, they delude many by the wickedness of their pretense, so that some fear to suffer them as foes and wish to keep them appeased—although the favors of demons are more harmful to all than any wounds, since it is safer for a man to have earned the enmity of the devil than his peace.

Therefore wise souls, which have learned to fear one, to love one, and to hope in one Lord, having mortified their desires and crucified the senses of the body, are not inclined to any dread of the enemy nor to any subservience to him. For they set the will of God even before themselves, and love themselves the more, the more they do not love themselves for the love of God. And when they hear it said to them by God: Go not after your lusts, and turn away from your own will (Sir. 18:30), they divide their affections and distinguish the law of the mind from the law of the body, so that in a certain part they deny themselves, losing themselves in the things they carnally desire, and finding themselves in the things they spiritually long for. Chapter VI.

Therefore, dearly beloved, the holy Pasch is lawfully celebrated in such members of the body of Christ, and nothing is lacking to them of the triumphs which the Savior's Passion obtained. For in those who, after the apostolic example, chastise their body and bring it into subjection (1 Cor. 9:27), the same enemies are crushed by the same fortitude, and now the world is conquered by Christ. For when in His servants the incitements of every vice are overcome, it is His power, it is His victory. These things, dearly beloved, which pertain to the sharing of the cross, have, I think, been sufficiently made known to your ears today, so that the paschal mystery may be lawfully celebrated even in the members of the body of Christ.

It remains for us to discourse concerning the obtaining of a share in the resurrection. But lest, by continuing the sermon, it become burdensome both to me and to you, we shall defer what has been promised to the day of the Sabbath. There will be present, as we believe, the grace of God, that our debt may be fulfilled by His help—He who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. [Editorial note:] We have restored from the other editions and from all the manuscripts the things omitted, as we believe, by a leap through the error of the typographers. 1. We present in full at the outset the notice of Quesnel. He says: The two sermons that follow are entitled 'On the Resurrection of the Lord' in all copies; but that they were not delivered on the very day of the Lord's Resurrection, but on Holy Saturday, I am led by weighty considerations to hold as certain.

For, first, since the paschal day was most fully occupied, it could scarcely give room for a sermon. For, the vigils being prolonged far into the night, that whole office was celebrated which is now performed on Holy Saturday, throughout the whole morning. Then the catechumens were washed in the sacred font, anointed, and instructed in their proper teachings. Finally the sacred mysteries were performed, which consumed a great part of the morning hours. Secondly, this first sermon is that very one which in the preceding sermon he had promised in these words: 'It remains for us to discourse concerning the obtaining of a share in the resurrection; but lest, by continuing the sermon, it become burdensome both to me and to you, we shall defer what has been promised to the day of the Sabbath.'

Therefore it was delivered on Holy Saturday. For already the observance of forty days had passed, as is manifest from the first chapter, and we are instructed from the very opening that it followed immediately upon the preceding sermon. Thirdly, from the sequence of both sermons it is clear that the mystery of the resurrection was scarcely touched upon by the pontiff with the tips of his lips, but that almost the whole is engaged in explaining the sharing of the cross and death of Christ: so that whatever he has said in advance about the resurrection appears to have been said both on that account and because of the nearness of the festival. Fourthly, it is quite clear from the second sermon that on the very day on which it was delivered the whole history of the Lord's passion and resurrection from the evangelical commentaries was read in the Church.

This reading agrees excellently with Holy Saturday, which, standing as it were midway between the two mysteries, pertains to both. But the solemnity of the resurrection and the lengthy ceremonies of that day could scarcely have admitted a reading of this kind, and much less that, as St. Leo says, an exhortation of the priest should be subjoined to the solemnity of that most sacred reading. Fifthly, in fact Hincmar of Reims, in his book on Predestination, chapter 33 (Sirmond's edition, p. 280), citing some things from chapter 4 of the former sermon, quotes it thus: 'Likewise in the homily of Holy Saturday.' And in Florus of Lyons, these same two sermons, which we afterward held to be inscribed as the first and second 'On the Resurrection,' are the tenth and eleventh 'On the Passion of the Lord.' Thus does he write in the Commentaries which he composed on all the Epistles of St. Paul.

He composed and wove together commentaries on the Epistles of Paul from excerpts of the writings of the holy Fathers, with the exception of one master, whom he gave excerpted in a separate volume—which work, consisting of twelve books, Peter Franciscus Chiffletius once gave as a gift to the Reverend Father Dom Luc d'Achery of pious memory and to me, most dear to him—received from a manuscript codex of the Grande Chartreuse, and to be published at some time. Sixthly, from Sozomen's History, book VII, chapter 19, we learn that in the Roman Church neither a bishop nor anyone else delivered a sermon to the people on the first day of the paschal solemnity. The genuine sense of this passage was not yet clear to me when I was laboring on the first edition; the rector, unless I am mistaken, has expounded it according to the author's mind in the first dissertation, chapter...

12. Although, indeed, these things stand thus, yet we have thought that nothing in the titles or numbers of the sermons should be changed, lest thereby any trouble should be created for readers accustomed to the former numbering. Thus far Paschasius Quesnel, who, although he judged excellently as to the thesis he laid down, yet certain things must either be corrected or added. 2. If he had seen or observed the first edition of the Sermons of St. Leo, or the others subsequently reprinted from it, he would by no means have written at the beginning of his notice that these two sermons are inscribed 'On the Resurrection of the Lord' in all the printed copies. For in the table prefixed to those editions, which sets forth the titles of the sermons, the former sermon, just like the eight preceding, is given this title:

'On the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord, Sermon XX,' and the second is indeed inscribed 'On the Resurrection of the Lord,' but is comprehended in the same series of numbers with those 'On the Passion,' and is called Sermon XXI. Moreover, both these sermons in the Lectionaries of the Basilica of St. Peter are not only listed under the title 'On the Passion of the Lord,' but are also found intermingled among the others of the same title, and are not placed at the end—so that there can be no doubt that perhaps the title 'On the Resurrection' was omitted through the negligence of the copyists. In the manuscripts also of the second collection they are read in the same way, confused among the sermons 'On the Passion'; and the same thing happens, though in another order, in the Monte Cassino manuscript of the first collection, as well as in two Lectionary manuscripts.

the Venice 153 and the Vallicelliana II, in the first of which only the first sermon, but in the other the second, are read inserted among the other sermons 'On the Passion.' In the manuscripts of the fifth collection, which presents another order, both these sermons are likewise described under the title 'On the Passion of the Lord.' But the exemplar which Florus of Lyons used—and which cites the first and second sermons that with us are 'On the Resurrection' as the tenth and eleventh 'On the Passion of the Lord'—was similar to the Lectionaries of the Basilica of St. Peter, in which those sermons are reckoned among the sermons 'On the Passion' with the same numbers. 3. That these sermons were delivered on Holy Saturday, from the documents proposed by Quesnel under numbers 2 and 5, we do not doubt at all. But if Hincmar of Reims, in his book on Predestination, chapter...

chapter 33, cited the first sermon—which the holy pontiff in the preceding sermon, chapter 6, had deferred to be delivered on the day of the Sabbath—in this manner: 'Likewise in the homily of Holy Saturday'; the second sermon likewise is inscribed not dissimilarly in the Vatican manuscript Lectionary 4951: 'Sermon of Blessed Leo the Pope on the holy Sabbath'; and the same title, found in another very ancient codex, is recorded by the scribe of the Barberini codex 3520. But that they were delivered in the vigils of Easter, when the office of the resurrection takes over the commemoration of the Lord's passion, there is no room for doubt; for hence mention is made of both mysteries in these same sermons. 3. That the history of the Lord's passion and resurrection was read in the Church on this Sabbath, Quesnel affirms under number 4.

But he gathered this from the second sermon 'On the Resurrection,' which, delivered on Holy Saturday, in chapter 1 relates that the divinely inspired text of the history had evidently shown by what impiety the Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed, to what judgment He was condemned, with what savagery He was crucified, and with what glory He was raised. These things indeed indicate that both the history of the passion and of the resurrection were read from the Gospel; but they do not so openly assign the reading of both mysteries to the very day of the Sabbath that they cannot be understood of the reading of the passion made the day before, that is, on Good Friday (Parasceve), and of the reading of the resurrection that followed on Holy Saturday night in the Easter vigils.

But perhaps Quesnel believed that those words of the cited chapter which are added next—'Let the office of exhortation follow upon the solemnity of the most holy reading'—signified not so much the reading of the resurrection as of the passion prefixed to the sermon on that same Sabbath day; which, however, is not altogether ascertained. Indeed no ancient rubrics, no chapter-lists, point to this reading of the Gospels for that day. But since these are of later date, it could have happened that in Leo's time this rite was in force, just as it was in force among the Greeks, at least in the Church of Antioch, as is clear from the 87th homily on Matthew delivered by St. John Chrysostom at Antioch, where he affirms that in the great vespers of Easter the history of the passion was publicly read. Hence Quesnel's reasoning under number...

...proposed under number 4 is less effective. 5. Likewise the first argument—that the paschal day was most fully occupied—by no means convinces. For just as it cannot be proved that the sermons of Saints Augustine, Peter Chrysologus, Gregory the Great, and other bishops (which it is most certain were delivered at Easter) should be excluded from the paschal day, so neither does it avail to exclude Leo's Sermons from that day. And the testimony of Sozomen adduced by Quesnel under number 6 is far less compelling, as will be evident from what we shall note concerning the very sense of Sozomen in Quesnel's fourth dissertation, chapter 12. The documents alone under number...

...the documents alone under numbers 2 and 5 adduced by Quesnel for establishing Holy Saturday we have approved and confirmed as sufficiently effective—yet in such a way that it is clear that the following sermons were recited not on the very day of the Sabbath, but on the night of that same day, when in the vigils of Easter the office of the resurrection began; whence Quesnel's third argument also is refuted, by which he held that concerning the Resurrection it was said in advance. Chapter I.—In the recent sermon, dearly beloved, we have, as I judge, not inaptly suggested to you the sharing of the cross of Christ, so that the paschal mystery may have in itself the very life of believers, and what is honored by a feast may be celebrated in conduct.

But how useful this is, you yourselves have proved, and from your own devotion you have learned how much more prolonged fastings, more frequent prayers, and more abundant almsgivings profit souls and bodies. For there is scarcely anyone who has not advanced by this exercise and stored up in the secret of his conscience something in which he can rightly rejoice. But these gains must be preserved with persevering guard, lest, the labor being relaxed into slothfulness, what the grace of God has bestowed the envy of the devil should steal away.

Since, therefore, by the observance of forty days we have willed to accomplish this—that we might feel something of the cross in the time of the Lord's passion—we must strive that we may be found to be sharers also of Christ's resurrection, and that we may pass from death to life while we are yet in this body. For to every man who is changed from one state to another by some conversion, the end is to be no longer what he was, and the beginning is to be what he was not. But it matters to whom one either dies or lives: for there is a death which is the cause of living, and there is a life which is the cause of dying. And nowhere but in this transitory world are both sought after;

and from the quality of temporal actions depend the differences of eternal recompenses. We must therefore die to the devil and live to God; we must fail unto iniquity, that we may rise again unto righteousness. Let the old things fall, that the new may arise. And since, as Truth says, no man can serve two masters (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13), let Him be Lord—not he who thrust down the standing into ruin, but He who raised up the fallen unto glory. Chapter II.—Since therefore the Apostle says: The first man was of the earth, earthy; the second man from heaven, heavenly. Such as is the earthy, such also are they that are earthy; and such as is the heavenly, such also are they that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, let us bear also the image of Him who is from heaven (1 Cor. 15:47-49);

we must greatly rejoice over this exchange, by which we are transferred from earthly ignobility to heavenly dignity through the ineffable mercy of Him who, that He might raise us into His own, descended into ours—so that He might assume not only the substance but also the condition of our sinful nature, and that the divine impassibility might suffer to be inflicted upon it those things which human mortality most wretchedly experiences.

Wherefore, lest a long sorrow should torment the troubled minds of the disciples, He shortened by such wondrous swiftness the announced delay of three days, that while the last part of the first day and the first part of the third concurred to make up a complete second day, both something should be subtracted from the span of time and yet nothing should be lost from the number of days. Therefore the Savior's resurrection delayed neither the soul in hell nor the flesh long in the sepulcher; and so swift was the vivification of the incorrupt flesh that there was in it a greater likeness of sleep than of death: since the Godhead, which did not depart from either substance of the assumed manhood, joined by power what it had divided by power.

Chapter III.—There followed therefore many proofs by which the authority of the faith to be preached throughout the whole world might be established. And although the rolling away of the stone, the emptying of the tomb, the laying aside of the linen cloths, and the angels as narrators of the whole event, abundantly established the truth of the Lord's resurrection; nevertheless He also appeared manifestly to the sight of the women and frequently to the eyes of the apostles (Acts 1:3): not only speaking with them, but also dwelling and eating with them, and allowing Himself to be handled by diligent and inquiring touch by those whom doubt still gripped. For this reason He also entered to the disciples with the doors closed (John 20:19),

and by His breath gave the Holy Spirit, and, having given the light of understanding, unfolded the hidden things of the holy Scriptures (Luke 24:27), and again showed the same wound of the side, the piercings of the nails, and all the signs of His most recent passion (John 20:27), so that it might be recognized that in Him the property of the divine and human nature remained undivided, and so that we might know that the Word is not the same as the flesh, in such wise that we confess one Son of God to be both the Word and the flesh. Chapter IV.—Not out of harmony with this faith, dearly beloved, is the teacher of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul, when he says: Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer (2 Cor. 5:16).

For the resurrection of the Lord was not the end of the flesh, but its transformation; nor was the substance consumed by the increase of power. The quality passed over, the nature did not fail; and that body was made impassible which could be crucified, made immortal which could be slain, made incorruptible which could be wounded. And rightly is the flesh of Christ said not to be known in that state in which it had been known: because nothing passible, nothing infirm remained in it, so that it both is the same by essence and is not the same by glory. But what wonder is it if he professes this of the body of Christ, who says of all spiritual Christians: And so henceforth we know no man according to the flesh (2 Cor. 5:16)?

From this, he says, a beginning of resurrection has been made for us in Christ, from the time when in Him who died for all the pattern of our whole hope went before. We do not waver in distrust, nor are we held in suspense by uncertain expectation, but, having received the beginning of the promise, we already discern with the eyes of faith the things that are to come; and rejoicing in the advancement of nature, we already hold what we believe. Chapter V.—Let not, therefore, the appearances of temporal things occupy us, nor let earthly things turn aside our contemplation from the heavenly. Let those things be reckoned as past which are already, for the greatest part, no more; and let the mind, intent upon things that will abide, fix its desire there where what is offered is eternal.

For although we have been saved by hope, and still bear corruptible and mortal flesh, we are nevertheless rightly said not to be in the flesh, if carnal affections do not dominate us; and deservedly we lay aside the designation of that thing whose will we do not follow. Since therefore the Apostle says: Make not provision for the flesh in its desires (Rom. 13:14), we understand that those things are not forbidden us which are suited to health and which human weakness demands. But because we must not be slaves to all desires, nor is everything that the flesh craves to be fulfilled, we recognize that we have been admonished about applying a measure of temperance, so that to the flesh—which is set under the judgment of the mind—we grant neither superfluities nor deny necessities.

Whence the same Apostle elsewhere says: For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it (Eph. 5:29): since indeed it is to be nourished and cherished not unto vices, not unto luxury, but unto its due service: so that renewed nature may keep its order, and the lower may not perversely and basely prevail over the higher, nor the higher succumb to the lower, and, with vices overcoming the mind, there be servitude where there ought to be dominion. Chapter VI.—Let the people of God therefore recognize that they are a new creature in Christ, and let them vigilantly understand both by whom they have been taken up and whom they have taken up. Let the things that have been made new not return to their unstable oldness; and let him not abandon his work who has put his hand to the plow (Luke 9:62);

but let him attend to what he sows, not look back at what he has left. Let no one fall back into that from which he has risen, but even if, on account of bodily weakness, he still lies in certain languors, let him instantly desire to be healed and lifted up. For this is the way of salvation, and the imitation of the resurrection begun in Christ: that, since in the slippery condition of this life various falls and slips are not lacking, the steps of those who walk may be transferred from things fluid to things solid; because, as it is written, by the Lord are the steps of a man directed, and He shall will his way. When the just man shall fall, he shall not be bruised, for the Lord puts under His hand (Ps. 36:23-24).

This meditation, dearly beloved, is to be retained not for the paschal solemnity alone, but for the sanctification of the whole of life, and to this end the present exercise ought to be directed: that the things which have delighted the minds of the faithful by the experience of a brief observance may pass into habit, may remain undefiled, and, if any fault should creep in, may be wiped away by swift repentance. And because the cure of old diseases is difficult and slow, let the remedies be applied so much the more swiftly, the more recent the wounds are:

so that, always rising again whole from all offenses, we may deserve to attain to that incorruptible resurrection of the flesh which is to be glorified, in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.