Sermons 249

The Jews interpret according to the letter, not according to... Reason exhorts us, brethren, a little... against the Jews... with your holiness... And first this must be shown by me: that this people is reproved from the beginning of the world by divine Providence, and the succeeding people is chosen and taken up from the nations, that is, the Christian people; and that what we say may be the more surely proved, let us take our beginning from the very first man, Adam. Adam begot Cain and Abel. Cain, the elder-born, signified the people of the Jews. He is rejected because of his crime, and Abel, the younger-born, is taken up, who showed forth the Christian people; for God rejected the sacrifices of Cain, and accepted the sacrifice of Abel.

Abel himself is slain by Cain; and another son of Adam is born in his place, named Seth. Consider the mystery. Abel is interpreted as 'mourning,' Seth as 'resurrection.' Therefore in these two younger brothers... because it is commanded, and that he leave his former errors and old vices, and go forth from thence, and be made into a great nation, that is, into a faithful Christian people, spread throughout the whole world; whence the Scripture announced, saying: You shall be the nations at the head, O Christian, but the unbelieving people at the tail, that is, the Jews. Abraham begot two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.

Ishmael was the elder-born, from the handmaid Hagar; Isaac the younger-born, from the free woman Sarah — which our apostle Paul, who himself also had believed from among the Jews, said: We are now not sons of the bondwoman, but of the free (Gal. 4)... you see that the former is reproved, and the latter is taken up; and Jacob himself blesses the sons of Joseph, his younger son. Now you understand that in Joseph too, the younger son, he showed forth the Christian people.

Jacob therefore blesses those two boys, and places his left hand upon the head of the elder-born, and his right upon the head of the younger, that he might show that the younger would be the more honourable and the greater. Moses too receives the tablets, and because of the fault of the people casts them down; a second time he receives others written out, and keeps them, and to the sacred volumes... 'A prophet from among your people and from your brethren; as me, hear him. For it shall be: every soul that shall not have heeded that prophet shall perish from among its people' (Deut. 18). He called Christ a prophet, because He is the prophet of His Father and God. But He is also the Lord and God of all creation: of Him again Moses said in the book of Genesis (chapter 1):

In the beginning God made heaven and earth; here he indicates the Son by 'the beginning,' in whom God the Father made heaven and earth — which our apostle Paul, attesting the continuation of Moses, said: that in Christ all things were created which are in the heavens and which are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions (Col. 1), and the rest which follow there. In the beginning therefore God made heaven and earth. The Beginning is Christ, who said through Solomon: The Lord created me the beginning of His ways for His works (Prov. 8)... or the circle of the earth was founded... He might prepare the heaven... Christ the Lord, the Son of God, is Himself... He was saying...

'Let there be a firmament,' and the firmament was made; 'Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, that they may shine upon the earth,' and He made two lights, a greater and a lesser: the greater light for the beginning of the day, and the lesser light for the beginning of the night (Gen. 1). Therefore God said, and God made. Hear further: God says, Let us make man to our image and likeness; and God made man, to the image of God He made him (Gen. 1). Perhaps the Jew says: God spoke to the angels. He is refuted by that which is said, 'and God made man'; for it does not say the angels made him, but God, it says, made man. God said, and God made; that is, the Father commanded, and the Son fulfilled. And consider that also which is written (Gen.):

concerning Abraham (Gen. 18), that God appeared to him at the oak of Mamre; and afterward the Scripture has (ibid.), in the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, that the Lord rained fire and brimstone from the Lord upon those same cities. Therefore there is the Father and the Son, from which Father — that is, by whose command — the Son rained fire and brimstone. In the Son therefore God made heaven and earth, who was before heaven and earth: were not the angels, archangels, and all the spiritual virtues and powers made before? Therefore, when it says, In the beginning God made heaven and earth, it is declared to have been said in Christ; in whose person David too said: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of His mouth all their host (Ps. 32);

this is the Son of God, of whom again David himself said in the second psalm: The Lord said to me: You are my Son, this day have I begotten You. See the second mystery: in the second psalm this is said... the second Son... but say... most certainly God begot the Son whom He begot, not as men do, but as it befitted God to beget — impassibly, incorruptibly, from Himself; one begot one, alone the alone, God God, king king, unbegotten the unbegotten, Father the Son, author the Word, creator the creator, eternal the eternal, Spirit the Spirit, light light, splendour splendour, holy the holy, good the good, merciful the merciful, perfect the perfect. To this Son again David spoke, saying:

Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a rod of equity is the rod of Your kingdom. You have loved justice, and hated iniquity; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You (Ps. 44). See that, speaking to God, he said to Him: God, Your God, has anointed You — that is, the Father has anointed You, the Son, with that ointment of eternal gladness, of the eternal sacrament and heavenly mystery; or further... The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand (Ps. 109)... this king had a Lord, to whom His own Lord God had said: Sit at my right hand. Who is this Lord to whom God the Father had said this, but our Lord Christ, His Son? For hear again the Father saying of His Christ: I have prepared a lamp for my Christ;

His enemies I will clothe with confusion (Ps. 131). I have prepared a lamp for my Christ, that is, the Church shining and burning with His light, the number of the faithful who, having received in the heart the light of truth and of belief, do not forsake the darkness of unbelief and ignorance. I have prepared a lamp for my Christ: again in holy John we understand this said — the lamp enlightening the people concerning this Lord and Saviour and concerning His coming in the flesh that was to be. And most holy Isaiah spoke: Be strengthened, he says, you slackened hands and feeble knees; and after a little he says: Our God will render judgment; He will come and save us: then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear (Isa. 35), and the rest.

And Baruch said of Christ: This is our God; no other shall be esteemed beside Him. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved; after this He was seen upon earth, and conversed among men (Baruch 3): so that it was not God the Father who was seen and conversed among men, but the Son of God, of whose coming in incarnation Isaiah again announced, saying: God has revealed His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all nations shall see that One upon the earth, the salvation from God (Isa. 52). And still he repeats again and says: Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bear a son, and you shall call His name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us (Isa.

7). 'God with us,' that is, God in man, the Word in flesh, majesty in a body. He descended like rain upon a fleece (Ps. 71); not with pomp, not with din; but the heavenly King entered the world in humility; He who was to give the triumphs of immortality and peace to all took up a human body, that He might for a time overshadow His own splendour through the veil of the body, and that God might speak to man through the intermediary of a man. In that temple of the body God was present, that He might make mortal man immortal. But the Jew does not believe, nor does the pagan believe, nor do they believe that a virgin bore without the union of a man.

Let them hear and believe concerning the nativity of the Saviour from the Virgin, that the holy angel sent from God the Father said to that most holy Virgin Mary herself: The Holy Spirit, he said, shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; therefore also that which shall be born of you, being holy, shall be called the Son of God (Luke 2). That immaculate Spirit, that is, the Son of God, took human flesh from holy Mary; pure, holy, secure in Himself, by His own power and possibility He made flesh for Himself.

For if He granted to certain birds that they should conceive from the wind or from the dust without males, and they perceived this, how much more could He, as has been said, fashion a body for Himself; and if again birds bring forth living chicks from eggs by the overshadowing of their wings, and the earth without intercourse brings forth certain animals, such as worms and the rest, how much more could God, by wondrous ways among men, build for Himself the temple of His own body. For had He willed it, He could have made Himself a body even from stone, or wood, or water, or earth — even as He who had first formed the man Adam from that clay of the earth — so as to take upon Himself human flesh, that He might show He had come for the sake of men.

For He willed to be born after our likeness, and to die, and to rise again, so that He might show forth in Himself both that we shall die and again rise, and might reveal to us the hope of the resurrection to come. But the Jew says: 「Therefore God had to be born of a woman.」 The flesh of Christ was given from a woman, which God made, nor can the majesty of Christ be defiled in the flesh; for if the shining sun is not soiled by any touch whatsoever, much more could the Lord of the sun not be defiled, though the clean touched what was clean. This same One we have as the guide of our journey, for He is the way to the Father; the prince of light, for He is the truth, who has poured into us the light of truth; the author of salvation, for that which was made in Him is life, who together with the Father gives life to all things:

through Him we ever give thanks to God the Father, brethren. But the unbelieving Jews still dare from time to time both to wish to disparage the Christian faith and to insult the faithful people of God; wherefore the divine volumes must again be reviewed by us, which may confound them by open truth, so that they may understand and clearly perceive themselves to be without hope and without faith. These are the Jews whom holy Stephen rebuked with a clear voice, saying: 「You stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so also do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of this Just One, and you are His betrayers and murderers」 (Acts VII).

These things holy Stephen said, concerning whom the blessed Apostle Paul also says: 「Ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. For as Jannes and Mambres withstood Moses, so also these resist the truth, men corrupt in mind, reprobate concerning the faith」 (II Tim. III). For they say: 「We have circumcision, and we are the sons of Abraham」; to whom the Lord rightly said: 「If you were Abraham's sons, you would surely do the works of Abraham.」 「We have circumcision,」 they say; to whom we reply: 「Would that you had the fragrance of Abraham's faith, and not of your own faithlessness! You are rather sons of vipers, bearing poison within your very selves:」

you who bring death upon your parents, and by that very deed by which you kill others, prepare destruction for your own selves. Concerning you, O Jews, the prophet David says: 「They have gone astray from the womb, they have spoken false things. Their fury is according to the likeness of the serpent」 (Ps. LVII). And our Apostle Paul says: 「Whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things」 (Phil. III). Therefore they went astray from the womb, they spoke false things, their fury is after the likeness of the serpent: who with viperish bites shedding the vitals and the blood of your parents, and having slipped away by the slime of your wickedness, wallowed in the wounds of others;

and you who, by despising the precepts of the law through the various offenses of your crimes, have fallen, as it were through many precipices, by diverse mischances. See now, if you can, how foul and how base is he who defiles himself with the blood of others. For we read that... which... contains no understanding of my light, nor... the Lord says to them: 「You are born of the devil your father, and the desires of your father you wish to do」 (John VIII). For the devil too, changed into a serpent, with lying tongues deceived by factious malice the pious and untutored innocence of the new-made men in paradise: whose madness these also have followed, a serpentine brood, and even now they strive to deny Christ the Son of God.

Against these, with the help of the Lord Christ Himself, we have taken up this disputation, and to them it must further be said: What is it that you claim for yourselves, calling Abraham your father, and asserting that you have received his circumcision? Abraham was justified by faith, not by circumcision. For thus says the Scripture: 「Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness, and he was called the friend of God」 (Rom. IV). Therefore Abraham was not justified out of circumcision, but out of faith. For he believed the word of God, and was justified, and obtained a blessing from God, both he himself and the seed of his faith.

For consider, lest you suppose circumcision to be the sign of the faithful: before Abraham all the saints were uncircumcised, and by purity of mind they pleased the Lord, and rather showed forth in themselves a Christian people. Run through the order set down in the sacred Scriptures, and you will find that all are just as we say. First Adam himself, who was fashioned by the hands of God, remained uncircumcised; then Abel the just, Enos and Enoch, Noe and Melchisedech the priest of the Most High God: all just, and, as we say, neither circumcised in the flesh, nor did they observe distinctions of foods.

For as to Abraham, that he is said to have received circumcision — that circumcision has no reward of salvation, but was given as a sign of the race... the sons of Israel, secondly... it now had, first the circumcised... but it ought to be understood spiritually, that through the law, that is through the precepts of the law, one ought to be circumcised from the worship of idols, and secondly to be circumcised through the Gospel. Still the Jews say: 「We are the sons of Abraham」; to whom we say: You are sons of Abraham, but of the handmaid, of whom it is written: 「Cast out the handmaid and her son; for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with the son of the free woman」 (Gen. XXI, Gal. IV); we in the glory of God are sons of the free woman.

Ishmael is your father, from whom you draw your race: our father is Isaac, from whom we draw our race. 「In Isaac,」 He says, 「shall your seed be called」; that most holy Isaac, whom to his longing parents... concerning whom it is said: 「For in your seed shall all nations be blessed」 (Gen. XX); He did not say 「in your seeds,」 which is Christ. This is the most holy Isaac, who patiently was led to the sacrifice, the chosen offspring of his most merciful father; who, as we have said, bearing the image of Christ, neither contradicted his begetter's command, nor refused to undergo the sacrifice. Therefore this one is proved to be our father; your Jerusalem, the earthly city, is your mother; our Jerusalem, the heavenly city, is our mother; that one is yours, which has perished;

this one of ours, which abides forever; you the earlier, we the following; for Ishmael too was earlier, then Isaac: for those who are first are last, and those who are last are first. It is written: 「The nations shall be at the head, but the unbelieving people at the tail」 (Deut. XXVIII). For Isaac himself begot two sons, Esau and Jacob, concerning whom it had been said to Rebecca the wife of Isaac by a divine oracle: 「Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be divided from your belly; and people shall overcome people, and the elder shall serve the younger; for Jacob,」 He says, 「I loved, but Esau I held in hatred」 (Gen. XXV). But this has already been mentioned above. For Jacob himself also is described to have had two wives, one Leah the elder, weak in the eyes;

the other Rachel, the younger, beautiful: that Leah bore the figure of the Synagogue, weak, as has been said, in the eyes. Why weak in the eyes? Because the sight of the Synagogue was failing, and it often bewailed itself in unbelieving sons. But this Rachel, who bore the figure of the Church, of whom it is written: 「Beautiful are your eyes as those of doves」 (Song I): and again our Apostle Paul says of her: 「having no spot or wrinkle」 (Eph. V), 「or any such thing」: her sight was clear and spiritual. For understand also how that which the Apostle speaks in mystery befits the Christian people: 「The first man,」 he says, 「was of the earth, earthy; but the second man is of heaven, heavenly」 (I Cor. XV). Such as the earthy man is, such also are the earthy;

and such as the heavenly is, such also are the heavenly; and the law which is received according to the letter kills, but the spirit gives life (II Cor. III). For Moses, as we have recalled, taking the first tablets, cast them down broken, in order to show that your stony heart was broken and reprobate; but that of Christians was fitted to and to be kept by the divine laws. Whence the Scripture says of the Christian people: 「Who show the work of the law written in their hearts」 (Rom. II): Knowing all these things, both from the law and the prophets, and considering yet greater things, holy the Apostle Paul separated himself from you, nor was he willing to bear the yoke with unbelievers; for there is no fellowship of light with darkness, nor part of the faithful with the unfaithful (II Cor. VI);

he turned himself above all to Christ, because he had been admonished by Him... of belief... to depart... the Christian people... But the Jews say... the sign of salvation among us... in the sign of the Lord all alike, males and females, are marked, we are marked with the sign of the Lord upon the forehead, over the two doorposts, with the blood of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, concerning which it had already then been written in the law; which is recognized to have been fulfilled in the holy Gospel, when you cried out, saying: 「His blood be upon us and upon our children」 (Matt. XXVII). But for us it befits to say this in a saving way: 「His blood be upon us and upon

our children」 — for you unto condemnation, but for us unto salvation; because you speak it with one purpose, we with another understanding; you in raging, we in praying; you in insulting, we in humbly beseeching; you out of hatred, we out of love; you as those who grieve, but we as those who ever rejoice. You chose the robber, for every creature turns to what is like itself; we chose to serve the Lord. 「We therefore,」 says the Apostle, 「are the Lord's」; you have followed the robber who reproached the Lord, we have followed the robber who adored and confessed the Lord upon the cross: 「Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.」 To whom the Lord said: 「Amen, I say to you: today you shall be with Me in paradise」 (Luke XXIII).

O that blessed robber, who suddenly merited so great a holiness, and under death itself passed over to the light! And those two robbers themselves, the one showed forth your image, the other ours. You killed the Lord, and you rejoice: you did indeed kill Him, yet you did not kill Him — nevertheless you killed Him in will, but you did not kill Him in truth, because Christ abides forever. His body indeed lay in the tomb, but Christ was reigning in heaven. For He could not be enclosed... He who is not enclosed in the tomb with the body, much more could He not be enclosed by divinity. Therefore Christ lives forever; even as the holy angel Gabriel said to the glorious Mary:

「He shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end」 (Luke I): and in the seventy-first psalm it is said of Him: 「In His days shall righteousness arise, and abundance of peace.」 When He said: 「Whoever strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other also; and to him who wishes to contend with you at law and to take away your tunic, leave him your cloak also.」 What is more just, what more profitable, than to overcome the impatient by patience, and to be oppressed rather by losses than to sin by gaining! For these are the precepts of righteousness of the Lord and Saviour set down in the holy Gospel. And that it may not be long to say all, after a little there follows: 「and abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away」 (Ps. LXXI).

Abundance of peace, because He Himself is the purest fountain of peace, in whom there are no turbulent strifes, no bitterness of malice, but all fullness of sweetness and all tranquility of goodness. Concerning this One David the prophet said in another place: 「Taste and see that the Lord is sweet. Blessed is the man who hopes in Him」 (Ps. XXXIII); for the Lord said: 「My peace I give to you, My peace I leave to you. For in this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you love one another」 (John XIV). And again He said: 「Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven」 (Matt. V).

「And abundance,」 he says... But afterward it is exalted and lifted up, when by the help of the Lord it is led to the heavenly kingdoms. There follows in the psalm: 「And He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth」 (Ps. LXXI): that is, throughout all the nations, and through the whole world, wherever the compass of the Ocean, spread far and wide, extends, and encloses the boundaries of all lands. There follows: 「In His sight the Ethiopians shall fall down, and His enemies shall lick the earth」 (Ibid.). Those Ethiopians are the spirits of darkness who, in the sight of the Lord, that is at His coming, are troubled...

but they are said to lick the earth, just as these also... and do they lick the earth? That is, do they love the earthly letter and carnal cunning, but do not seek the spiritual grace? There follows in the psalm: 「The kings of the earth and the isles shall offer gifts. The kings of the Arabs and of Saba shall bring presents」 (Ibid.). East therefore and West — which was again made manifest in the holy Gospel, when the Magi came bearing gifts, gold, frankincense, myrrh: offering gold as precious faith to a king; sweet frankincense, a sacrifice of praise, as to God; myrrh for the token and homage of burial. Likewise gold to the king, frankincense to the priest, myrrh for the sacrifice: because Christ the Lord is both king, and priest, and sacrifice.

Because He is king, He Himself says: 「But I am appointed king by Him」 (Ps. II); that He is priest: 「You,」 says the Father to Him, 「are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech」 (Ps. IX). That He is sacrifice, the Apostle Paul says, 「who offered Himself an oblation and a victim to God for an odor of sweetness」 (Eph. V). Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold the king seeks, that is, chosen hearts; frankincense God seeks, chaste and good prayers for an odor of good fragrance; myrrh for the burial of His saints. Therefore from every side the peoples brought gifts to Christ. There follows in the psalm: 「And all the kings of the earth shall adore Him; all nations shall serve Him」 (Ps. LXXI): which we see fulfilled;

for everywhere the name of the Lord Christ is adored by all kings — at least by Christian ones — and by all nations. But if there are any kings or any nations who refuse to adore, just as you Jews do, there remains the eternal prison, there remains the judgment of God: 「God,」 says the prophet, 「shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence」 (Ps. XLIX); He who came hidden in humility, shall come manifest in power. Then shall all flesh see Him, that is every man, for we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he has done, whether good or evil (Rom. XIV); for in that very psalm at its head he says: 「God, give Your judgment to the king, and Your righteousness to the king's son」 (Ps. LXXI);

for the king and the king's son is the same Lord Christ; and in the conclusion of the psalm he says: 「All the earth shall be filled with His glory: so be it, so be it」 (Ibid.). And we too say, consenting to the holy prophet with the Lord's own voice: 「Amen, amen,」 that is, 「truly, faithfully.」 And this repetition of the word contains in itself a confirmation of the truth. Thanks be to God. Therefore the Jews are clearly convicted: with God's help let us so speak against them, not with zeal to harm, that we might destroy them once vanquished — far be it from us; a spiritual battle is waged for the salvation of men: our weapons are not carnal, but mighty in God. And so we desire to save them and to turn them under our king Christ. Let us therefore not seek strife, for we seek the truth;

we serve as soldiers under the peaceful king, and we follow the camp of peace. And therefore, as I have said, we wish to lead them from the tempestuous billows of error to the harbor of salvation, and through the court of truth to bring them into the royal house of our Lord, that from enemies they may become friends, and from antichrists Christians. Let them see the spiritual pasture; let them see, if they are worthy, the heavenly banquet; let them see the Lord's table, and sing with us together with the most holy prophet David, saying: 「The Lord feeds me, and I shall want for nothing; in a place of pasture there has He set me」 (Ps. XXII); and again: 「How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord」 (Ps. LXXXIII).

But against this persuasion the impious Jews contend, and would rather die than be conquered, saying: 「We worship one God, as it is written in the books of Moses: You shall have no other gods besides Me, and you shall adore the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve; and: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one」 (Deut. VI). This precept, they cry, was given to the fathers, which it behooves and befits us to keep. To whom we say: Tell us then why your fathers, having forsaken this one God, turned to idols? And they made a calf in Horeb, and adored a graven image, and changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that eats hay (Ps. CV); and served the host of heaven? They add: 「Let them see to that; we know nothing.」 To whom we say:

Hear then, and learn: for this reason was that admonition given by God, that He might turn them to Himself... From there for themselves groves (IV Kings XXI), from there for themselves they presumed unlawful sacrifices, from there many gods, from there false figments and empty idols. Therefore, wishing, as we have said, to turn them from such great errors to the worship of His majesty, the Lord often thundered forth with sacred utterance, saying: 「You shall have no other gods besides Me, and you shall adore the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve; and: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one」 (Deut. VI). For, that you may know for certain what is the Christian faith, we believe, worship, and venerate that same one Lord, invisible, incorporeal, immortal, without beginning and without end.

...that you may be worthy, we bear zeal for the preaching of the truth; and therefore, after what we have said, we still take up divine testimonies, that we may prove Christ to be God and the Son of God, as we have already set forth in some particulars. God the Father almighty says to Moses in Deuteronomy (Cap. XVIII) concerning Christ His Son: 「I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brethren like you; and I will put My word in his mouth, and he shall speak to them whatsoever I shall command him. And whoever will not hear your prophet, I will take vengeance.」 And again in Kings we read: 「I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who will do all that is in My heart」 (I Kings II); and in the Gospel the Father Himself says: 「This is My most beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him」 (Matt.

XVII)... He says; and Him... He says: hear Him... let the word be to itself and befitting to them, He Himself is proved to be, both the prophet, who is Christ the Lord the Son of God. He is called the Prophet of the Father; but He is the Lord of the Father's prophets; deservedly a Prophet, as the herald of His author, but Himself imparting the grace of prophecy to the rest. For as He is called both Prophet and Angel by the Father, so it is written: 「Behold, I send My angel before your face, who shall prepare your way; observe him, and hearken to him, and do not be disobedient to him: for he will not fail you; for My name is in him」 (Exod. XXIII); whence the Lord Christ Himself said in the holy Gospel:

「I have come in the name of My Father, and you have not received Me; when another comes in his own name, him you will receive」 (John V); and David said: 「Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord」 (Ps. CXVII). But it is said... and let us search through the writings of the other prophets, and thence seek the rule of truth, and repeat what we have already brought forth. The blessed Moses, illumined by the Holy Spirit, said in the book of Genesis (Cap. I): 「In the beginning God made heaven and earth.」 Attend at once to this, that He began from the beginning, and named the beginning, which we understand to be called Christ the beginning, in whom God the Father made heaven and earth;

He made heavenly and earthly things alike in Christ, that is in His power, who ministered by the command of the One commanding; in Him He made, He fulfilled whatever was commanded; for concerning the Father it is written: 「He Himself spoke, and they were made; He Himself commanded, and all things were created」 (Ps. XXXII); therefore in the beginning, that is... God made heaven and earth. 「He created me the beginning of His ways for His works. Before the ages He founded me」; and again in the person of Wisdom Christ Himself says of Himself through the prophet: 「I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, the firstborn before every creature」 (Ecclus. XXIV). Therefore in this Son and through this Son, as has often been said, God the Father almighty made all things, as again He said in the psalm:

「In the head of the book it is written of me」 (Ps. XXXIX). But, says the Jew, He who spoke, He also made. To whom we say: And what need was there that He should speak? If there was no other to hear and to make, was He saying to Himself, 「Let it be made」? But again the Jew says: 「He spoke to the angels」; to whom we say: But the angels did not make it, rather God has, and made it... the Jew; and he says: 「How... can God have a Son... the Jew, invisible, and in heart...」 to whom again we reply, as the Lord did: 「Is it not written in your law that: I said, You are gods, and sons of the Most High, most dear? If He called them gods and sons of the Most High, to whom the word of God was made, and the Scripture cannot be broken;」

「Are you angry at Me,」 says the Lord, 「because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, even though you will not believe Me, believe the works」 (John X). Then we say: What seems to the Jews to be said in that which David said, without doubt in the person of Christ: 「The Lord said to Me: You are My Son; this day have I begotten You」? And again, in the person of the Father, that most holy prophet David himself says to the Son: 「With You is the beginning in the day of Your strength, in the splendors of the saints; from the womb before the day-star I have begotten You」 (Ps. CIX). 「Whom He begot,」... He says, therefore you believe, because... we reply, thus the Prophet... and we too so believe He begot... but that... holy divine begetting...

...that as God begets, the Lord begot the Lord, light light, splendor splendor, mighty the mighty, king king, one the one, whole the whole, eternal the eternal, power power, creator the creator. These things we have already said, and we say, as we are able. But that other thing is inexplicable and unspeakable, which is the Father and the Son; the Son of the Father, the Word of the Father, the power and wisdom of the Father, in whom and through whom the Father made all things. This Word understand to be the Son of God, whom He sent for the salvation of the world, as the prophet said: 「He sent His Word, and healed them」 (Ps. CVI). Therefore He is called the Son of God, who is the Word of the Father, not as you in a fleshly and blameworthy sense understand us to say that God begot in a carnal way. For hear Isaiah (Cap.

LIII) the holy prophet saying of Christ: 「But His generation who shall declare?」 Can it be said or explained how the Father begot the Son, how God brought forth the Word? ...I wish to understand in what manner you believe these things concerning Christ; to whom we say: Hear: it is written, the Father saying: 「With You is the beginning in the day of Your strength, in the splendors of the saints; from the womb before the day-star I have begotten You」 (Ps. CIX); He who says 「You」 shows there is another, that is, second to Himself, His Son, to whom He says 「You」: He who says 「You」 declares that there are two persons, both of the one speaking, and of the one to whom He speaks. 「From the womb,」 He says, 「before the day-star I have begotten You.」

By 「womb」 here I understand a sense of majesty, an unutterable fullness, and a profound mystery, the incomprehensible wisdom of God: 「before the day-star I have begotten You」; either before the adornment of heaven, or before the beginning of the Holy Spirit — for the Holy Spirit Himself is called the day-star, who pours the light of truth and of good faith into human minds; and who through the prophets most frequently announced, as a day-star, the coming of Christ the eternal sun. For this Lord Christ, the Son of God, was seen even before by many saints, and is recognized to have appeared beforehand: to Abraham, and to Jacob, and to Moses, and to the sons of Israel in the pillar of fire and cloud, concerning whom God the Father had said: 「Behold, I send My angel before your face, who shall prepare your way before you」 (Mark I);

and to the son of Nun He Himself was seen, who also said: 「I am the prince of the host of the Lord's power」 (Joshua III), indeed He is also the Son of the Father; and He is called His Angel, that is messenger, and prophet, and priest, and child, and advocate, and power, and wisdom, and the rest. For that He was seen by Abraham, hear the Scripture (Gen. XXII) saying: 「The angel of the Lord called Abraham from heaven, and said: Abraham, Abraham, do not stretch out your hand over the boy...」 whence in what follows you will find it written that 「the Lord rained from the Lord fire and brimstone upon the two cities Sodom and Gomorrah」 (Gen. XIX). Do you hear that the Lord rained from the Lord? Which Lord? From which Lord, unless the Son from the Father?

For He Himself also appeared to Jacob, and wrestled with him; whence Jacob himself said: 「I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved」 (Gen. XXXII); assuredly he had seen Christ in the figure of the body which He was afterward to assume, with whom he wrestled. For concerning the Father it is written: 「Whom no one of men has seen, nor is able to see」 (John I); and again, 「A man,」 says God the Father Himself, 「cannot see My face and live」 (Exod. XXXIII). This same Angel of the Lord, who is Christ, appeared to Moses in the bush, in the fire; and He Himself said: 「I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and of Jacob」; who is said first to have appeared as the Angel of the Lord in the fire; He then is said (Exod. III) also to have said:

「I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob」... to the son of Nun standing on the bank of the river at Jericho... the Lord Christ Himself holding a sword in His hand, to whom, when Joshua said: 「Are You our Lord, or of our adversaries?」 the Lord said to him: 「I am the prince of the host of the Lord's power」 (Joshua III); this is the prince seeking a principality, and He Himself is the king appointed by the Father, He Himself testifying and saying: 「But I am appointed king by Him」 (Ps. II). For in a certain psalm too, in the person of Christ Himself speaking, David said: 「Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay to the Most High your vows, and call upon Me in the day of tribulation, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me」 (Ps. XLIX).

In these verses He admonishes that sacrifice ought to be offered to God the Father, and that He Himself is to be called upon to aid His suppliants, as if He were to say: pay to the Father the homage of praise, and I will furnish you the help of a protector; honor the begetter, and you will find Me a helper. Whence He Himself also said in the holy Gospel: 「I honor My Father, and you have dishonored Me」 (John VIII). We Christians therefore believe and confess one God the Father, and one our Lord Jesus Christ His Son, of whom both the law and the prophets have spoken, and through Him we pray to God the Father, and give thanks to Him, because the Saviour Himself thus commanded us, saying, and all who wish to believe:

「This is life eternal, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent」 (John XVII). Therefore, knowing the precepts of our Saviour Christ, let us ever praise, through Him, one God the Father, to whom is glory unto the ages. Amen. Long ago Gennadius, in the Catalogue which he first composed, had noted concerning the works of St. Maximus of Turin that he had wisely expounded much concerning the Chapters of the Gospels and of the Acts of the Apostles; and after him John Trithemius, a most learned Benedictine monk, another relater of the works of Maximus, made mention in the first place of the Chapters of the Gospels. Until now those chapters have lain so buried in darkness that none of the later writers has made mention of them;

nor has any of the commentators on the sacred Scriptures given a sign that he has examined or seen it. Yet some hope had shone upon us that the blessed Thomas, who compiled the Catena from the opinions of the Fathers upon the four Gospels, would adduce some of Maximus' interpretations. He does indeed have a few, especially In Lucam, but he did not draw them from the Chapters of which we are treating. But the silence of this later age is no obstacle to our asserting Maximus to be the author of these Chapters. For it is well known that in the course of time many writings of the Fathers have been discovered which lay hidden in ancient manuscripts and awaited the care and diligence of more recent critics.

In editing these, Sirmond, Mabillon, Leo Allatius, Luc d'Achery, the Benedictine monks of the Congregation of St. Maur, to pass over many other worthy men, have won renown and have fortified ecclesiastical doctrine with great supports. As for us, besides those two testimonies of Gennadius and Trithemius, there are reasons that carry no small weight with us. In the first place, the very same arguments meet us as those set forth by Maximus in his homilies and sermons. Secondly, the constant use of the old Italic version of the divine Books, which is unfailing in Maximus. Thirdly, the admirable interweaving of the sacred Scriptures; and whether he expounds the literal or the mystical sense, he shows not so perfect an understanding of the word of God only, but also a singular sharpness of mind.

Fourthly, the style of the expositions, which, although we hold it to be somewhat plainer, nevertheless very many of his modes of speech shine forth, so that they seem to have flowed from the same vein. Fifthly, we add that singular agreement with those works, whether you take the homilies or the treatises of Maximus—a thing very hard to achieve, if another mind and another hand had produced them. Interpolated in various places, these chapters have come down to us out of an antiquity from the Verona codex marked with the number 49; but we have supplied certain gaps from the sentences indicated in Scripture. Moreover, we have corrected not a few errors of the copyist, which are to be pardoned to the age of the times, so that, as far as lay in us, we might render the text purer and more entire. We hope to do something welcome to those devoted to sacred studies, in that we set before them the blessed

Maximus, who deserved most excellently of the Interpretation of the Gospels, for their perusal. Perhaps someone will arise who will rescue from oblivion the Expositions of the same Maximus upon the Acts of the Apostles. Today it has been recited in the holy Gospel that the Lord Jesus in the desert satisfied five thousand men from five loaves and two fishes. Everywhere the Lord Jesus heals all, satisfies all; with him the blind find eyes, the deaf receive hearing from him, lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, demons are put to flight, paralytics with their loosened limbs are again made firm; the lame run with steady steps, and all glory in his gifts;

the waters too of the sea and its swelling waves, checking their motions within themselves, revere him as he walks upon them, with the obedience of a servant. Therefore today, as has been covered, five thousand men are satisfied by the Lord from five loaves and two fishes, and twelve baskets full of fragments are gathered up. Let us consider, brethren, the wonders of the Lord Jesus. He touches the loaves, and as he multiplies the rains upon the earth, so all things grow into a copious multitude. The bread receives increase, and in wondrous ways amid the crowds of those who eat a white harvest of fragments springs up. All things are made full, the peoples are satisfied;

and still twelve baskets are gathered full, to the number of the twelve beloved disciples, so that the Church may ever abound with the truth (or the plenty) of the apostles, and be satisfied with the bread of their teaching. And so on. Rightly did the most holy prophet David, who beheld in the spirit those who were held in suspense by a religious thirst and kindled with an exceeding ardor, say to him: As the hart desires the fountains of waters, so my soul desires you, O God (Psalm 41). With such ardor did that blessed Mary, sister of Martha, also burn, whom the Lord nourished with his sacred words... in no way did she withdraw... this good woman without doubt bore the part that could never be taken away from her.

For she could never lose what by his benefit the Lord had granted her to possess, since he himself bestows spiritual water upon those who thirst—he who today was saying: Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink (John 7). This Mary, therefore, of whom we made mention, shows, as it seems to me, the person of the faithful Church, which prefers to cleave to the Lord—the Church which the Lord ever builds up by his address, which is bathed with frequent flooding from the fountains of Christ, which the Lord, as she sits beside him and clings to his footsteps, does not spurn but rather consoles; he who deigned even to wash the feet of the disciples, so that what Abraham had once done for him, this he might take care to render to the sons of Abraham.

Does it not seem to you, I ask, that this Mary, sitting beside the footsteps of the Lord... we say represents a person... In the Psalms the divine word addresses her: Hearken, daughter; incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father; and the king shall desire your beauty, for he is the Lord your God, and you shall adore him (Psalm 44). Therefore from the fountains of Christ, as has been said, the Church is watered. For the Lord Christ loves and has loved the Church, as the Apostle testifies and says: Christ loved the Church and delivered himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, cleansing her by the laver of water in the word of life (Ephesians 5), and so on. Therefore, whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Let us drink, I beseech you, brethren, those heavenly waters that come from the fountains of Christ, and let us sing to the same our Lord a new song. For the people of the Church, being made new, let them sing a new song also. Let us go forward chanting psalms along the royal way, that we may come to the Father of the Lord. You say to me: what is this royal way? Hear the Savior himself saying: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me (John 14). It is called the royal way, because he himself is our king; and the prophet says: Give to the king your judgment, O God, and your justice to the king's son (Psalm 71). This is the royal way, this is the fountain of life from which, while we live, the soul receives the fullness of all good things.

From the person of the Lord himself the prophet again spoke, saying: Come, children; hearken to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord (Psalm 33). Come, children. He says 'children,' because as many as received him, to them he gave the power to become the sons of God (John 1). Therefore come, children, hearken to me; come to me the way, that, delivered from the errors and windings of the world, you may proceed by a covered path to the Father. I am, he says, the way, in which there are no crooked bendings of crimes, no wickedness of perversity, no rocky, no thorny places; but all is clear, all sweet, all innocent and secure, where the footsteps of the faithful soul are not hurt.

There is nothing harsh with the Lord, brethren, there is nothing to shudder at with Christ, where fatherly clemency has prepared all things sweet. Therefore from his person the evangelist teaches that it is better to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, one hand, and one foot, than, having two eyes, two hands, and two feet, to be cast into the gehenna of fire, where their worm shall not die and the fire shall not be quenched (Matthew—rather Mark 9). Whoever hears this is doubtless troubled, and would that he were more vehemently terrified; for by fearing the divine precepts one is freed from sin; for the fear of the Lord, as Scripture says, drives out sin (Sirach 1). For he who is without fear cannot be justified;

therefore if your eye scandalizes you, pluck it out and cast it from you (Matthew 5); for it is better to bear a wound of the body than to suffer the shipwreck of chastity, where the soul will perish together with the body. But let not this excision alarm you, whoever you are, of frail sense, so that you think you ought to amputate the members of your body, and especially the most necessary ones; the Lord commanded not the members at all to be cut off, but the vices, and all impulses to be broken, and the assaults of sins: so that where the enemy strikes the mind toward the precipice of damnation, there, with the wall of chastity resisting him, his contrivances of sin may perish.

If your right eye scandalizes you—that is, if with an unlawful intention you delight to behold what could slay, and to make ready swords for yourself with curious eyes—how much more ought you with laudable modesty to guard your eyes with your very fingers, and, covered with the comely veil of chastity, not relax them to any wanton vices, but to snatch away, as has been said, your gaze and subject it to the reins of divine vigor; lest the soldier of Christ be overcome by the fickle enticements of thoughts, nor a chaste woman with playful eyes be held fast in serpentine coils. These things are to be guarded against, dearly beloved. I am, says the Lord, the light of the world; he who has followed me will not remain in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8).

Let us therefore choose, dearly beloved, the pure light rather than the error of darkness, so that, abiding in the light, by the help of the light, we may be filled with the common joy of a good conscience, ever giving thanks to the Lord, who is blessed unto the ages. Amen. Hence, dearly beloved, with the Lord himself helping, let us speak concerning the word of the Lord: He who speaks sows a word. It is most certain that he who speaks sows a word; he indeed scatters words as seeds, but God gives the increase. For take a comparison: a seed, while it is held in the hand, remains alone by itself; but if it be cast forth, and sown, drenched by the heavenly rain, by divine Providence it takes root and grows. So we too, while we hold a word in the mouth, it alone remains:

but if it be cast forth and in some manner sown, by the grace of God it takes root in the hearts of individuals, and grows, and multiplies in fruits. Therefore rightly has it been said: He who speaks sows a word; and what fruits the seed of God, the spiritual word, brings forth, learn: The fruits of the Spirit, he says, are hope, charity, joy, peace (Galatians 5), and so on. The earth of the heart which receives the Lord's seed bears fruits both joyful in body and in spirit. Whence also the apostle Paul said to his hearers: We have sown spiritual things to you; is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things (1 Corinthians 9)? Let therefore the field of our breast be made fruitful, that it may receive the Lord's seed and enrich it with a fertile crop;

let there not be in the earth of our heart the thorns and thistles of worldly ill-will, lest the noxious weed choke the good seed: let there not be for you rocky places, and the barren ruin of stones. For the Lord abhors such a way, who says: I will dwell in them and walk among them (2 Corinthians 6); but let the earth of our heart be, as I said, good, which brings forth fruits thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold; that is, let it be multiplied in all good things, let it have in itself the fruits of grain, wine, and oil. The fruit of wine is faith and the confession of the passion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who washed his robe in wine and his garment in the blood of the grape (Genesis 49), and drenched the winepress with the ferment of salvation:

by the sacrament of whose chalice those who live are so inebriated by his spiritual ferment that they do not feel the tempests of the world, nor its injuries, nor the punishments of persecutors; so that they proclaim and say: And your inebriating chalice, how excellent it is (Psalm 22). Therefore the fruits of grain, wine, and oil. The fruits of oil are gladness, peace, sweetness, serenity of mind, which, like oil, is borne above and rises to the top; whence the head also is commanded to be anointed, that the head of our heart may shine again with light. In these spiritual goods, therefore, let our mind ever abound, that we may ever give thanks to the Father through the Son. Amen.

It has been recited that, after John the Baptist was slain by the impious Herod, the Lord addressed his disciples that they should cross over into a desert place and rest a little. John was slain by Herod, the holy man by the wicked, the kindly by the impious; but let not the enemy rejoice, for the just man, by whatever death he be forestalled, shall be in refreshment (Wisdom 4). Rightly did the prophet say: how greatly has the enemy done malice against your holy ones (Psalm 73). But he is ordered to be slain at a banquet. What do luxurious banquets not force upon mortal hearts? What do drunken mockeries not compel rash minds to do? O wickedness! Amid the pouring out of wine, the pouring out of a just man's blood is demanded.

It was too little for the abominable lust that such extravagance was carried on at the banquet: a holy man is slain. A wanton girl by her dancing enticed the mind of the impious Herod. She had learned to follow shamelessness from her impious mother. Such a girl pleased Herod, whom lust could please more than an adulterer. The devil found an art by which he might slay the man of God, so that he might butcher the one accusing lust by that very lust. But the unhappy woman does not know that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (Psalm 115). It is so precious that by dying he possesses eternal life. But the Lord, hearing about John, went away into a desert place with the disciples. He gathered to himself his flock, lest they be harassed by the savagery of wolves;

lest Herod, the persecutor of justice, should again find some whom he might destroy. He passes over to the desert, that he might refuse the fellowship of the impious and display the wonders of his powers. For the desert signifies the Church, which did not yet have the tillage of the apostles nor the crops of the divine word, but, still uncultivated, was squalid with the brambles of vices and of ignorance. Of which it was said: Rejoice, thirsting wilderness, and many are the children of the deserted woman, more than of her who has a husband (Isaiah 54). There the Lord Jesus comes, multiplies the five loaves, that the Church of God might abound with the manifold gifts of divine grace.

Those five loaves which are multiplied we can understand as the five bodily senses, which are multiplied in spiritual senses. The two fishes are the New and Old Testament, by which men are nourished, but together with the bread, that is, with Christ, who is the bread of life. He blessed therefore, and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them, and divided the two fishes among all (Mark 6); and increases of bread follow, and the fishes likewise are multiplied, and by the sweetness of Christ's gifts five thousand men are satisfied. And they gather still twelve baskets full of fragments; but these twelve baskets show the shining fullness of the twelve disciples;

just as in another place seven baskets full, taken up, sevenfold, showed the image of the Church. For there are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which the Church is fortified and restored. They are enumerated by the Apostle (1 Corinthians 12). This gift, this inheritance Christ gave to his people, that always he who follows him may be satisfied from his abundance with heavenly goods. Amen. When a certain ruler came and adored the Lord, saying: Lord, my daughter is just now dead; but come, lay your hand upon her, and she shall live. And rising up, the Lord followed him, and so on... of the ruler, brethren. For he said within himself: God has sent his Son and has given all things into his hand; and therefore he said:

Come, lay your hand upon her, and she shall live. Christ the Life makes the dead alive, heals the sick, cleanses lepers, puts demons to flight, strengthens paralytics, gives a step to the lame, gives light to the blind, and works many wonders. The girl had died, and was even now migrating to the infernal seats. But the devoted father of the girl, seeing her bloodless limbs, was begging the defense of the Lord Christ against the destruction and rapine of death. And indeed the most merciful Lord gladly heard the suggestion of the petitioner. And rising up, he followed him. Rising up, it says; therefore a little before he was sitting, waiting to see if anyone would come to ask benefits. Rising up, he followed him. The father hastened for one daughter;

the Lord too hastened for one handmaid, bearing more care for all than each one for his own. But behold, in the crowd a certain woman whom a troublesome infirmity frequently vexed, and an issue of blood most vehemently wore down, so that she no longer had even firmness of body; faith alone, all human resource being exhausted, she retained in her heart, which the coming of the Lord had suddenly intimated to her senses. She approached, saying within herself: If I touch the fringe of his garment, I shall be saved (Matthew 9). She said this within herself, that within herself she might the more quickly be healed. Christ was present to her as she thought, and immediately at the very touch of the fringe she is healed.