教會法與復活節計算 第 5 章 第 2/3 段

And when the brother had come to him and told him, he immediately came in obedience. And when we had greeted him, he disclosed to us a dream which he had seen, and it was in agreement with the vision which Gennadius the deacon had recounted to me. And when we had prayed, we straightway took care to make manifest to him the revelation of Saint John the Baptist, and he said: 'Let us consider what ought to be done.' And I said: 'I think it fitting that we make this known to the bishop.' And again learning that the often-mentioned Stephen, the presbyter and archimandrite, had not come from the field, we remained five days after the revelation had been shown to us.

Now on the Sabbath day, in the afternoon, while we were sitting and conversing, Saltus the collector and Maris the linen-merchant of Linopolis entered to us, and having spoken with us, they at once withdrew. But I told brother Isaac to close the door after them. And again, as we were sitting and speaking, I was so suddenly stricken in the knees that I was bent wholly over, nor could I rise up at all or perform any work. Then Gennadius and Cyriacus, deacons and archimandrites, say to me: 'Did we not tell you, Do not weave delays, but let us go and lay it before the notice of the bishop, since the presbyter Stephen is said not yet to have arrived?' But I remained vehemently afflicted.

But they, celebrating the evening office, entered where I lay, and announced, saying: 'We have satisfied Saint John with an oath, taking your person upon us, that the bishop shall learn the whole matter through you tomorrow before sunrise.' And I answered: 'You have done very well indeed in promising this same thing'; and straightway I was relieved of my pains. And on the following Lord's Day, coming together with the deacon Cyriacus and the monk Julian, we suggested to the bishop, who was then going out from the church after the morning prayers, saying that Saint John the Baptist had been revealed. But he, astounded, said: 'No one knows this, and which of you would dare to touch it?'

And Cyriacus the deacon said to him: 'When will you deign to come?' And he said: 'Tomorrow I will arrive.' But on the next day the bishop came with the presbyters and deacons, and entering the place, falling on their faces they worshiped. But Malchus the presbyter, one of those who had come with the bishop, moved by unbelief, said: 'Whence is it certain that this is the head of the Forerunner?' And putting forth his hand to touch the water-jar, it immediately withered, and his hand clung to the water-jar, nor could he pull it away. But when prayer had been earnestly made by all, and all glorified God and prayed for him, scarcely at last could he draw his hand away, but it remained thus powerless.

But the bishop, with all who were with him, taking the water-jar with the holy treasure deposited therein, placed it for the time in the diaconicon, that is, in the sacristy of the church, until a basilica should be built in his name. And when this was completed, as the day of his holy deposition was at hand, Saint John appeared to him whose hand had withered, saying: 'In that very procession, when the deposition takes place, put your hand upon the water-jar, and at once it shall be healed.' And when he had done this, it was restored to its former soundness. There took place the deposition of Saint

John the Forerunner and Baptist in his temple, on the twenty-sixth of the month of October, in the year 763, in the sixth indiction, while the religious and most pious and orthodox Augusti Valentinian the Younger and Marcian were reigning, princes worthy of everlasting memory: to the praise and glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be glory with the undefiled Father and the most holy and life-giving Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. A sermon on the first, second, and third finding of the precious head of Saint John the Forerunner and Baptist. Translated by the Reverend Father Combefis. Again the divine Forerunner comes to us,

and again prayer draws near to keep the festal assembly, and here in this place to celebrate a sermon, performing a thanksgiving in a collect. Many are the solemnities of the wondrous Herald, all alike illustrious and renowned; and anyone can take for himself a brilliant theme from any single one of them, so that the several themes may, as is permitted, contribute their share, and one person may remember one, another another—since even to have remembered a single one, and to praise it worthily, is not only difficult for a discourse, but even impossible. For not only does the Forerunner's nativity surpass thought and the power of speech, but also that earlier conception and the exultation in his mother's womb, which prophecy too followed. Moreover, his upbringing, to which none of the others' is similar. The coming, too, of so great a man to the Jordan—

his coming—what power of speech would it not surpass and drive into straits? But what would you say of the Lord's coming to him, his head bowed before him, the touch of his hand, and the mysterious purification of baptism? Of all these, severally, there is a feast proper and peculiar to me, together with the glorious beheading which that greatest of men endured, smitten in the head by Herod as the wage of a wanton and shameless dance. But because to remember these things is not for this time, since they have their own appointed days, and they were briefly recounted by us above: leaving these aside, if you please, we will turn our discourse to other matters, which we have also resolved to pursue at present. Plainly the scope set before this discourse is to expound the finding of the precious head;

namely its showing forth, and its bringing into the open. For we know that this was not one finding only, but a second and a third. Since therefore, by the secret counsel of God, it was hidden on three occasions already, and as many times came forth and emerged from the bosom of the earth, it will be worth the effort that, mention having first been made of the first and then of the second finding, we may from this pass in order to the third—which the present discourse also has as its theme; although it is fitting elsewhere that it should cling to the rest as well, and not depend singly upon any one, since it makes use of all. Let it therefore approach the matter in this way, and show forth its purpose, by reason of which it was instituted, since it plainly lacks other titles. From this, then, the narration must be begun by it.

Now therefore the admirable John, the great herald and forerunner of Truth, had been beheaded by Herod; and Herodias, after the shameless dance, had hidden it safely in the obscure recesses of the very palace. For the wicked woman feared lest, being united to the rest of the trunk, he should be roused again to convict her of her crime. Yet not for a long time did she receive the deferred wage of the things she had perpetrated, since she herself ended her life by a most foul fate, and after her, her daughter; for she was cut down by the ice of a river upon her neck amid the winter, so that an equal punishment might overtake the offense.

Indeed, when John's head had thus been struck off, as we have said, and in this manner laid by the unchaste woman in hidden recesses of the earth, that precious and most useful jewel remained for many years unseen by the common crowd, untouched, unapproached. So perhaps it was that, by divine providence ordering it, the herald's possession might not be too easy, lest the loss of him and our contempt of longing for him should be too easy as well; but also, while persecution was growing strong out of the worship of idols, with Diocletian and Maximian as its authors, it was hardly fitting that so noble a treasure should be exposed to the base race of men and cast before swine—a treasure that shone brighter than any pearl. For that reason, I think, the sacred head remained hidden, so that it would be unknown to the crowd and would not betray itself.

But if there is some more hidden reason why it lay concealed and deferred its discovery, let those know it who contemplate greater things and apply their minds to loftier matters. When, however, the time was at last drawing near in which it should be revealed and brought forth from its hidden place in the earth, then indeed it was revealed and brought forth from concealment, at the time and in the manner that pleased Him who was bringing it forth. And the epoch of this time was when Constantine the Great had taken up the scepter of empire. As for the manner, let us see now in what way and by whose efforts it was made manifest and obtained this first finding. Two certain monks, having set out from the East, came to Jerusalem with the eager desire of seeing the Lord's sepulcher and of visiting all the holy places there.

To one of them the divine Forerunner appeared, saying: «Go both of you to the royal house of Herod, and take up my head, which is buried there beneath the ground.» When this one told the vision to his brother, and the brother refused to believe it, and while both hesitated to go where they had been bidden, John again presented himself to the two of them, commanded the same things, and sharpened their resolve. They forthwith set out, full of confidence (since the Forerunner himself, seen by them, prepared their way), at once dug up the place, and brought forth the head, which gleamed as though with the brightness of light and breathed out a fragrance of the sweetest odor, inexpressible in any words.

Having put the head into a sack of haircloth (so, I think, it seemed good to the Baptist, since he himself used to clothe his body with camel's hair), they departed from there. But while they were on their journey, a certain potter fell in with them, a man struggling in extreme poverty and in utterly afflicted circumstances. So when he had met them, and, as is customary, had joined them as a companion of the road, he became also a companion of their burden, being bidden by them to carry the sack. Foolish and frivolous men, who handed over their good and treasure to another! And indeed the poor man bore it, since the treasure entrusted to him was unknown to him; for the monks had not disclosed it.

But the divine Forerunner, appearing to him—since it seemed exceedingly fitting that the gift should pass to that man—both taught him what hidden thing he was carrying, and bade him flee with it. He fled swiftly, secretly from his companions, carrying off in safety only the treasure; and afterward John brought him countless blessings: he abounded in riches, enjoyed prosperous fortunes, and all other things turned out favorably for him. But when he was about to depart from human life, he handed over the gift, placed safely in a little chest, to his sister, and warned her not to bring out the chest before he should announce the end of his life; for in truth this was something great and would bestow great things. «For,» he said, «it has brought us great blessings, such as one could not easily attain even by telling of them.

Of these you too shall straightway be made a partaker, provided you hold the pledge in honor and venerate it; but it as well, when you are about to depart from human life, hand over to some faithful person in trust, and by your testament leave it to one dear to you and of honorable character.» When he had given these instructions to his sister, he departed from life; and she, as was fitting, exceedingly glad over the gift, devoted in heart toward it and venerating it just as her brother had, was herself also enriched with many benefits from it. But when her life too was sinking toward its setting, she consigned the treasure in trust to companions, and earnestly admonished and entreated them to guard it carefully.

But when afterward many others, succeeding one another, had obtained the pledge, and the trust had passed from some to others, it came at last into the hands of a certain monk. Eustathius was his name; but his mind was in no way sound in the faith, although his error had escaped the notice of others. He too, trafficking in grace, both concealed the entrusted pledge and concealed along with it the opinion he held (being, that is, an Arian). But when the men of Emesa, whence he himself also was sprung, had at length recognized his character and faith, and were about to drive him from the city, he begged for a respite of even a single day, and then they might cast him out. This was a malicious and crafty scheme.

For he had deposited the sacred head in a certain cave, and had thrust it into a water-jar, with a crust of stone set over its mouth and sand heaped upon it; and for that reason he kept seizing those delays of time, that he might carry off the pledge from there, and the foolish man might make it his own property. But the men of Emesa, not enduring to let him remain even for a moment, immediately drove him away, since the divine man plainly sharpened their impulse against him and impelled them to do the good without delay. Afterward there succeeded into the cave monkish men, who pursued the best manner of life; these indeed dwelt in the place, yet they had no knowledge at all of that most abundant treasure hidden therein from the idle.

And in this manner the first finding itself was accomplished, performed on this very day, around the twenty-fourth of February, as is the conjecture. But since, as they say, the pledge happened to be hidden once again—when, namely, the aforementioned Eustathius had contrived his scheme out of the depravity of his soul—it is worth our while to tell in what manner now, at what time, and by whose efforts the venerable head was found a second time as well, so that we may pass also to the third finding, for the sake of which this discourse of ours has been undertaken.

A certain Marcellus, illustrious in life and religious in character, who also acted as superior of the monastery situated by the cave, on a certain night in the middle of the week of fasting saw a dream of this sort, and related the vision to the brethren who served under him, in nearly these words: «It seemed to me,» he said, «that all the doors of the monastery were open, through which a certain river was passing with a great roar and rush of waters.» Thrown by this into amazement, he turned the vision over within himself, not knowing what he should infer or to what that vision pointed. And indeed, he said, while I was in this state, at once a certain voice was borne from on high, having a tremendous and great sound. Then also was heard the harmony of those sweetly chanting psalms.

Those who were performing this office were distributed separately into companies. This was the sense of the voice: «Behold, the great John, the Baptist of Christ, is shown forth.» The several companies that sent forth this voice were entering through the eastern gate. But when I, thrown into amazement by the things that had appeared, was leaning upon a certain ladder set there, two halls again came into view: one extended toward the east, the other toward the south. In the middle stood a most beautiful temple, into which the lamb-flocks, entering one by one, reverently rendered adoration. Then also two others of surpassing appearance at once became visible to me, crying out in these words: «Lo, here is for you the great John in the temple, whom both see and believe.»

Him too I beheld shining with much splendor. He looked upon the entering companies with smiling eyes, and to each in order bestowed the gift of his blessing. When those blessings had been imparted and had reached their end, I too approached, to be granted a blessing by him. And indeed I fell at his feet, wholly trembling and afraid. But he at once raised me up, and filling me with confidence, graciously consented to a kiss of his awe-inspiring mouth. Then also, bringing forth from his bosom a vessel full of honey, he handed it into my hands and bade me receive it. As soon as I received it, I was going out from there, and acted as a guide of the way. Then he, with no delay, followed after me, and we both together entered into the monastery.

They were his companions, and the companies I had seen, beside whom I also beheld a certain fiery pillar shining before them. Hence, struck with greater fear, out of my agitation I shook off sleep. Such was what befell me in my dream—long, and having a long interpretation, no less awesome than true, since both reckonings exist in it. Meanwhile I, hanging in doubt, commanded my subordinates that each one should discharge double his accustomed measure of prayers. Among these, one of them, Isaac by name, while he was still chanting and lifting his eyes to God, perceived before the cave a fire burning and entering within the doors of the temple. He at once made the vision known.

I, bidding him be silent—since from the earlier vision I had grasped the meaning of the matter beforehand—freed him from fear. For he seemed to me to have been terrified. But after five other days had passed, yet another vision befell me. For a certain hand, appearing by night, struck my right thigh; from which also a voice resounded, crying out in these words: «Arise; behold, I am granted to you as a gift. Moreover a star shall appear, which will be the indicator of the place.» Then I straightway arose, and at the same time the star went before me, until, coming on, it stood above the place where the cave was, in which there also stood a contiguous shell-niche, beneath which the sacred pledge lay buried.

And so, when I had beheld so clear a sign, falling upon my knees and earnestly supplicating Him who had made Himself visible to me, I began to dig the place with a mattock. Then, reaching a depth and striking upon a certain sand that had been poured in, after which there was also a tile, then a crust of stone, beneath it I found the most precious pledge, covered by a certain water-jar and stored away within it. Made glad in soul by this, I again at once concealed the place, drawing nothing forth from it, and thus far disclosing to no one what had been seen.

But since a little while afterward the abbot Gennadius too came to me—a man assuredly endowed by God with the gift of immense grace, who had himself also beheld a certain vision akin to the vision granted to me, related a little above, which he expounded to me in every detail; then I too, laying aside all hesitation, disclosed to him the things that had been shown to me, narrating each one word for word and concealing nothing from him. Hence, seized with joy and amazement, he kept asking that I show him both the trench and the place, and in what spot the sacred pledge had been laid. And indeed I do show it, nor do I forbid so great a man the sight. When then we had parted from one another, I was again tossed about by a sea of thoughts, turning over in my mind what I ought to do.

Hence this great thought also was set before me, that I should confer the matter with the bishop (for at that time Uranius presided over the Church of the Emesenes), and take him as a helper in that which had appeared, and make use of his counsels in the affair. But since I did not at once carry out the matter, but lingered over the undertaking, with my thoughts pulling me this way and that, and while referring it to others—namely to Cyriacus the deacon and certain others—I then also received the perception of my ill-advised mind, and how much harm the delay brought upon me. For late on the Sabbath, while I was sitting with those who were present and chatting about certain things, suddenly someone strikes a blow at my knees, and renders my whole body motionless, scarcely bent down to the ground.

When this was seen, those who were present, and chiefly the Gennadius whom I mentioned, turned to prayers and vows, and besought the great Forerunner to free me from the affliction and to restore my feet sound as before. For they knew on what account I had thus been chastised, and that the cause was the matter neglected by me and my delay. And when, the vow being immediately uttered, I had recovered my feet ready for the journey, I forthwith, with those companions, go to the bishop, deeming no business to be preferred to this. Then I disclose to him all that I had seen—the dream, the vision, the cave, the place, the buried water-jar, and finally the sacred head, on account of which all these things had occurred. The bishop at once girds himself to the task and gladly obeys the command;

and so, as the Lord's day was dawning, he came to the place with lamps, and reverently and with fear, stretching out his hand to the water-jar, brought forth the head—an awe-inspiring spectacle to those who saw it, and incredible to others who had not. For the hairs appeared to have grown upon it, a sweet odor was breathed forth, and an indescribable brightness flashed out. But since a presbyter, Malacus by name, the bishop's companion, was somewhat doubtful and hesitated whether this were indeed the head of the Forerunner, having thrust his hand into it rather boldly (since that wicked one is wont to envy good things), he too at once plucked the fruit of his unbelief, his right hand being dried up and clinging to the urn to which he had applied it.

And indeed it would have so remained, had not those who were present besought the saint for many hours that he would heal the man who was liable to punishment, and be reconciled to him who had been in doubt. The head of the Forerunner having thereupon been recovered (namely on February 24, the very day on which the first finding had also occurred), Bishop Uranius deposits the precious pledge thus far in his own church; and a little while after, raising up a temple of the Baptist, when many workmen had been added to it, he transfers the gift there—a rich and inexhaustible treasure for the city of Emesa, and indeed for every other city and region. Thus far the second finding and manifestation was made, when Valentinian and Marcian held the scepters of empire.

But it is worthwhile that we should also relate that which recently occurred—the third finding—for the sake of which our discourse was undertaken, and which is more widely known and more illustrious than the rest. When therefore the sacred head, as we have said, had been deposited at Emesa, and stood as a most abundant gift of grace for those who came from near, from far, and from all sides, the treasure had remained assigned to that place for many years; and although it was circumscribed by that place, yet its powers were not confined within its compass, but it abundantly unfolded its benefits, so that they reached all.

Indeed, how secret are the reasonings of God, and how incomprehensible His judgments! For when He had permitted the region of Emesa and the city of Emesa itself to be stormed by the hands of barbarians and to become subject to their dominion, yet He did not think it fitting that the most precious head should be among them and assigned to them. And so it was not; but, taken from there by the efforts of a certain pious and honorable worshiper, it is then transferred elsewhere—namely to Comana, a small and obscure city, which nevertheless, enriched by that pledge, turned out illustrious and was from then on more renowned than the rest.

The little vessel that held and contained the treasure within was a certain silver urn fitted together with golden plates, so that the precious pledge might be preserved in a precious vessel. But most people did not know—and especially the citizens of the queen of cities—in what place it had been set: both because the translation had been done secretly and without witness, and because the time at which it had occurred was unknown. For no one, so far as we have been able to ascertain, openly handed down that matter. And so the head remained at Comana, not even, I think, well enough known to its own inhabitants. For both the times and the deep ignorance of the affairs had obscured the matter:

especially when in the meantime the Iconomachs had arisen, who were so far from rendering veneration to the relics of the saints that, wherever these were known to exist, they even handed them over to the fire. For that reason, therefore, the most sacred pledge was thereafter visible or known to no one. But after the sum of affairs had returned to the orthodox, and the scepters were once more entrusted to faithful Augusti, and the impious Iconomachs had perished with a crash—having indeed met with a fitting retribution—then indeed it also pleased the Forerunner to make his head manifest; and to hand over the astonishing gift not to this or that city (small towns, that is, with small boundaries defined), but to the greatest and most royal of all, namely Constantinople;

so that the treasure might be kept inviolable, and that city might be honored by its deposition, and the sacred gift itself might, as is fitting, borrow some splendor from her, in that it would, in her keeping, enjoy greater honors and more abundant veneration. For at that time Michael and Theodora had taken up the scepters, and Ignatius, the successor of Methodius, a man illustrious for many virtues, was governing the Church. Under these renowned ones, that most precious pledge too is brought into the queen of cities, and obtains this third and last finding. Moreover, the manner of its discovery was of this sort.

On a certain night, while the pontiff—akin in name and in character to that 'God-bearer' (Theophorus)—was offering praises to God, a certain divine vision came to him from heaven (namely, that the city of Comana possessed the most precious head, enclosed in a silver urn and laid up in a holy place; and that it was worthwhile for it to be transferred to Byzantium; for so it had seemed good to the Forerunner). And he declared what had been seen to the emperor. Both of them therefore being well disposed toward that affair, men are immediately sent by each to take up the treasure. When these had come to the place, and had learned where the head had been deposited, which the pontiff had marked out for them by a token, they reverently drew it forth from there.

Indeed, before any certain report of the matter had been brought into the city, the emperor together with the patriarch, and as many nobles as were in the court, as many clerics and monks as there were, poured out of the city and came forth to meet it with incense and lamps, and with much pomp escorted the head in procession; to it they applied their eyes, their lips, and their foreheads, and, before all else, their breasts. Then the pontiff, taking it up with trembling hand, brings the treasure into the palace temple and there deposits it: namely on the 25th day of the month of May. For this is the day of the festival, that is, the feast of the third Finding or Deposition. For let either name be used, since under the name of both one solemnity is celebrated.

For it was fitting that the worshiper of the Trinity, who had clearly revealed her mystery to others, should also bring forth his own head to be found three times; and that it should neither fall short of that number nor exceed it; so that by this reckoning too, as by others, he might be able to be united to the primal-leading Triad and be honored by her number. For it is a precious number, and, so to speak, worthy of all acceptance. For there are three things that we adore, thus distinguished in persons, even though they are united in nature. Likewise three parts are discerned about the soul, by which the rational living being is stirred and driven; three dimensions also about the body, by which it is defined; three laws given to man, by which he might be ordered: the natural, the written, and that of grace.

By three contemplations the mind bears its desire upward, namely the natural, the intelligible, and that which exceeds all the power of the intellect. For it has no further point to which it may extend, even were it most keen-sighted. Three also are the immersions in baptism, which both figure the Trinity and obscurely signify it. Threefold was the in-breathing of the Holy Spirit made by the Savior into the disciples, by which they obtained the abundant gift of grace. Likewise three are the changes of things which they call earthquakes, although one of these has not yet come to pass.