And you say, 'Let my sons sit'? Have you not heard what Daniel said? 'I beheld, and lo, a throne was set, and the Ancient of days sat. Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten times a hundred thousand stood before him' (Dan. 7:9-10). And you say, 'Let my sons sit'? The prophet Isaiah beholds the Seraphim round about the altar, standing before the Lord (Isa. 6:2), and you ask that your sons sit upon thrones? As though, if they should stand, it were too little for you, mother. Or if you did not know the order of the angels, why did you not read the merits of our fathers? It is not worthy that they be made equal to your father, our own David, who by the harp drove out demons (1 Sam. 16:23),
who with human tongue sang the angelic Alleluia, who conquered the alien Goliath by innocence, not by breastplate (1 Sam. 17:49), and who, praying to his Lord who was to come from his own seed according to the flesh, said: 'In the morning I will worship, O Lord: in the morning you will hear my voice. In the morning I will stand before you, and I will contemplate you' (Ps. 5:4-5). What shall we say of Elijah, who, carried up in the heavenly chariot, earned his triumph before he took his reward? And what did he say when he had lifted his hand to heaven? 'The Lord lives, in whose sight I stand before him this day' (1 Kings 17:1). And you ask that your sons sit upon a throne? There is also the voice of the Lord, abiding, terrifying, and confirming this.
'Watch,' he says, 'and pray, that you may be counted worthy to escape all things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man' (Luke 21:36). And you ask thrones of majesty for your sons? Grant pardon, mother: we have said these things in admiration, not in blame. 'Do not,' she says, 'do not, blessed mother, judge me as one desirous of impossible things. The Lord bestowed on me this eager will, He who loves the violent of his kingdom, and hates only those who desire to lord it over the needy. The kingdom of heaven,' he says, 'suffers violence, and the violent take it by force' (Matt. 11:12). Because he deigns to love this, I have dared to ask this of him. From him I heard, Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you' (Matt. 7:7).
'While it lies open, I knock; while it is permitted to receive, I ask; while it is time, I seek. For I have heard the saying, Seek the Lord while he may be found (Isa. 55:6): lest you seek him then when he cannot be found. Now, now, while he appears in the form of a servant, while he is patient even to the death of the cross, while he bears a lowly countenance, and the sparks of the coals have not yet been kindled by him. But when the angels shall begin to go before the One coming, with trumpet and great voice, when the powers of heaven shall be shaken, what will a woman's intercession do there? When the fire shall be stirred round about him, and a mighty tempest, what shall my desires prevail? Shall I be able to draw near to the fiery throne, when the legions of sinners have been gathered for judgment?'
'Therefore now, seeing him in this humility, I desire to seize beforehand this pledge; but let me hear my Lord answering. Say now, Lord, that my sons may sit with you, at the sides of your kingdom.' And the Lord: 'Great is what you ask, but you do not consider the merit of the contest. You wish a reward for your sons before they begin to undergo the labor. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?' (Matt. 20:22). The mother asks, and the Lord requires faith from the sons. For the mother was not fit to speak faith on behalf of her children, whose will she did not have in her own power. But the Lord, as just and wise, required faith from those to whom he was proposing the contest of martyrdom.
For the very cup of the passion of martyrdom is drunk with a bloody draught, that the bloody venom of death might be shut out, by which through Adam the whole human race had perished. For being asked, they answered, 'We can' (Matt. 20:22). What is to be said, Lord? 'We can. Through you, Lord, may we be able, through whom we ask this which we desire. Our capacity is in your power. Let our petition be in your will.' 'You ask well, you promise well. Let truth follow upon your promise: but your petition exceeds the grace of human merits. My cup indeed you shall drink' (Matt. 20:23): 'mine, not yours; yours the draught, but mine the deigning: and because it is granted to you drinking by my gift, hope well.'
But as for that which you ask, since it is laid up for those who strive in the contest, await it with sure confidence. For to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to give to you, but to those for whom it has been prepared (in the same place). He did not say for whom it has been prepared. He places the honour in secret, that he may point out the labour to all. For he wishes all to be prepared, since he desires none to be set apart. And therefore he left the petition suspended between the two, lest one growing hot with ambition should be bent toward envy. For this our Lord always did, not because he was powerless in authority, but because he was wise in equity: that he might not stir up the human spirit of any of the disciples to jealousy. Thus far he sends all equally to glory, who has bestowed grace by one and the same way.
For when the apostle Peter presumed to a singular grace for himself, the Lord did not accept it gladly, but forewarned him with foreknowledge as he said: 'Even though all shall be scandalized in thee, I will never be scandalized.' He answered: 'Because before the cock crows, thou shalt deny me thrice' (Matthew XXVI, 35, 34). Peter, you presume yourself superior to the rest; you shall at once feel yourself inferior. But when Peter looked out on behalf of all in common, and demanded life for himself and glory for his fellow-disciples, saying: 'Behold, we who have followed thee, what then shall we have?' the Lord answered equally, not with division:
'Amen I say to thee, that you who have followed me in this generation, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his majesty, you also shall sit with him upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel' (Matthew XIX, 27, 28). Mark the reason why he said, 'It is not mine to give to you,' lest by the honour of two he should breed among the rest a discord about preferment: for he prepares one crown for all. For the ground of the greater promise is a witness, that the Son of majesty is not powerless. He who promises twelve thrones at the common petition, did he not have two thrones in his own power? He who established those very thrones with power, wills that his disciples be always in concord, for God is love.
Behold, he does not promise to the two: and the ten disciples were grieved. What would have happened, if the ten had grieved at being set behind? But as one wise and moderate, he both takes away pride from the two and withdraws envy from the ten, that he might keep the souls of all unharmed. For it is not in the human form, in which the Father is greater, that he can grant thrones, but in that form in which the Father and I are one. Let the Christian hold this, and he shall be eternal. SERMON XXII. On the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus, the friend of the Saviour, when he had already been taken out of human affairs, already committed to burial, indeed rendered back to the earth from which he had been taken, was straightway summoned by the word of the Lord and came forth alive from the tomb, he who a little before had been carried out dead.
All the common people marvel at so many and so great wonders. Christ speaks, and power follows. Lazarus himself is amazed that from a dead man he was made alive again. Now twice-doubled days had flowed by, but he who had been deprived of the light did not perceive the day. Now the nightly whirlwind of the foul, murky cavern's horror had possessed him. Now the mighty prison of hell that shuns the light had shut him in. His limbs, foul and heavy with stench, lay decaying. Now after the fourth course of the sun had rolled by, a flesh-devouring host of worms had beset the body overspread with the mould of death, and the earth was breeding funereal little beasts to prey upon the abandoned corpse. His sisters were wailing with mournful grief, bereft of their brother's help.
His kinsfolk too and neighbours alike mourned with him in gloomy sorrow. For all there was mourning garb, unkempt hair, covered with a black veil. Faces wet with weeping, features drawn with sobs, and a mournful outcry had thrown their whole appearance into disorder. But Christ, to whom nothing is inaccessible, nothing remote, nothing obscure, though ignorant of what had happened as men reckon it — whom neither distance of places nor remoteness of regions nor the abyss restrains — announced to his disciples by his foreknowing divinity that Lazarus was dead. And the disciples themselves, grieved, said: 'Let us also go, that we may die with him' (John XI, 16). O indissoluble bond of friendships! O effects of unconquered love!
They desired to become partners in death, whom love had made concordant in this life. When therefore Jesus stood beside the tomb of him who was at rest, and the surrounding throng of the peoples pressed about, and the outcry of wailing voices had brought grief to his most merciful ears, Jesus himself, being moved, groaned in spirit (in the same place, 33), and poured forth tears. Here now let every devout sense keep watch, at what Christ grieved, or at what he wept. For he who held the whole dominion of life and death could not have been weeping for the dead Lazarus. He was weeping, yet not indeed weeping as the Jews supposed, because he loved Lazarus greatly. But he wept for this reason, that he was calling him back again to the miseries of this life.
Death, dearest brethren, is a laying aside of sorrow, a release from captivity, a harbour for voyagers, a homeland for pilgrims, an end of miseries, a term of sins. For even this which is called life is not life, where there is neither rest from toil nor security from fear: where there are frauds, where there is slander. The goods of others are seized, without regard for mercy. The rich man is exalted, the poor man is oppressed. Thus everything is carried on in iniquity, so that there is scarcely anything reserved for justice. Therefore Jesus wept for Lazarus, not because he had died, but because he was destined to rise. For how could he weep for the dead man whom he himself had come to raise up? But you will say to me:
If it is an evil to return again into this life, since Jesus Christ died and rose again? But Christ rose in such a way as to die no more; Lazarus, however, rose again to die once more. As the apostle Paul says: 'Christ rising again from the dead dieth now no more, and death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God' (Romans VI, 9, 10). And therefore he raised Lazarus on the fourth day, because he reserved for himself the third day on which he should rise. So then, after Jesus saw the stone that closed the barrier of that sepulchre, he commanded it to be rolled away; and when it was rolled away, looking up to heaven and declaring that he had already been heard, he prayed to the Father before men with such a voice:
'Father, I give thee thanks, because thou hast heard me. But I knew that thou always hearest me; yet because of the people who stand around I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.' And when he had said these things, he said: 'Lazarus, come forth' (John XI, 41 and following). How great was the power of the cry, that the hearing should reach the wretched dead? What was the force of the terror, that terror should assail the dead? Straightway at the Lord's command death broke through the law which it held, and dissolved at Christ's bidding its rights held for so many ages. The keys of heaven made the gates of hell give way, and the dominion of the Lord flung open the barred halls of that foulest prison. All the guard vanished, its prisoner torn from it.
Lazarus is again restored to the light, and once more he feasts in the body with Christ, though he had already been made over to hell. SERMON XXIII. On the washing of the feet. Every error came to a halt, because the Lord washed the feet of his servants. He directed them into a new course, that he might steady their steps like those of harts. What shall I proclaim more — the joy, or the miracle? Nay, both joy and miracle. Joy, that our steps were offered up, and that the Lord's right hand touched the feet of the servants. But rather a miracle, that he for whom the armies of angels keep watch with fear should wash with bent hands the feet of fishermen. Heaven was astounded, earth was astounded, that the Lord should so humble himself, and that man should be exalted above God.
What is it that the heretic says, that the Son was humble to the Father in honour, not in fear? When you see the Lord bowed to servile tasks not by fear, but by love, not by servitude, but by lordship. For in order to give back to the servants their free-born dignity, he showed them a servant's tenderness. Shall he then be less than the servants because he washed their feet, he who is greater than all? For 'he who is least among you, is greater in the kingdom of heaven' (Luke IX, 48). The Lord serves, and the servant murmurs. The Master and Lord set them free and taught them; he does what he taught. 'For the Son of man,' he says, 'came not to be ministered unto, but to minister' (Matthew XX, 28). He did this which he taught. But blessed Peter did not know the mystery; he feared rather than refused:
'Lord, dost thou wash my feet?' (John XIII, 6). Thou, Lord, whose throne is heaven and the earth the footstool of thy feet, wilt thou be the minister of my feet? Is the cross which thou hast taken up a small thing, the wounds thou hast borne, the gall and vinegar thou hast drunk? Is it a small thing that thou didst lie hidden in the sepulchre, living while dying? Hast thou come, Lord, down to my feet? Thy appearance terrifies me. Thy hand disturbs me. My feet are unworthy. And the Lord: 'Let it be, Peter; what I do thou knowest not, thou shalt know hereafter' (in the same place, 7). It is as though you are an infant, and one of these little ones, who cry childishly when their feet are washed, not knowing the mystery, not refusing the service. Such are you, so shall you be a little one. You shall be, Peter, the last.
'If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me.' 'Lord,' he says, 'not my feet only, but also my hands and my head' (in the same place, 8, 9). Let all here take an example, who hold contrary opinions; let them come to judgement. Let some not mock the humility of Christ, let others not repeat the simplicity of baptism. For he who has once been washed has no need of washing; for he is wholly clean (in the same place, 10). Why then are the feet washed, if he is wholly clean? This is not the mystery of baptism, but the service of love: that infants may learn what fishermen also learned; and that all may be heralds of Christ with feet made ready, that of all it may be said: 'How beautiful are the feet of them that preach peace, of them that bring good tidings' (Romans X, 15)!
At these things mother Church rejoices, who is now gathered together in the basin, as though baked in the potter's furnace. In the whole world she is assembled, as water in the basin. There the servants' feet were cleansed, that throughout the whole world she might behold the grace of baptism, and the pure heraldries of all the priests run their course, for 'the voice of his thunder is in the wheel' (Psalm LXXXI, 19): for 'the earth is the Lord's,' and the whole Church redeemed, in which we all sing Alleluia. SERMON XXIV. Another on the same subject as above. Today's mystery is a course toward the kingdom of heaven, where the feet of the little ones are washed, that they themselves may be able with cleansed feet to run, and the dragon be unable to creep in with his venom. How beautiful are the feet of those whose feet the Lord of angels washes!
A great spectacle, where the human race trembles to see the Lord bow down to the feet of his servants. He who 'bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under his feet' (Psalm XVII, 10), now bows himself to the service of the disciples. Let the whole world rejoice. For the bowing of Christ is the bending down of the pride of Antichrist, that he himself may go bent, and the running of the apostles be made straight, and the whole world rejoice. For this basin is the whole redeemed earth, into which water has been put, that those who dwell on the earth may pass over to life through the water. He who made the basin and redeemed the world is the potter.
He adorned the earthen vessels in the muddy basin, that they might be able to carry the treasure in earthen vessels — the feet being washed, the waters rejoicing, the apostles trembling. But Peter, out of the steadfastness of his faith, wished to contradict, not out of disobedience, but out of fear. 'Lord,' he says, 'dost thou wash my feet?' (John XIII, 6) — thou, before whom the angelic powers tremble! Thou who sittest upon the Cherubim (Psalm LXXIX, 2), dost thou bend to the basin! Thou stoopest to thy servants, thou who liftest up the fallen and loosest the fettered (Psalm CXLV, 8)! Lord, this mystery so great exceeds me, that I think heaven itself could tremble with me, nor would the angels permit thee, which I trembling excuse.
It is enough for me that thou hast granted me thy presence, bestowed grace, conferred power, that light may be given back to the blind, hearing to the deaf, running to the lame, life to the dead: and dost thou bow to my feet! This is not fitting for my merits or for ours. 'Let it be,' he says, 'Peter; you have no need to oppose, lest you begin to hinder yourself. If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me' — and do you refuse my service? For this very reason I took the form of a servant, remaining in the form of God, that I might bow myself and exalt you; that I might put my hand into the water at your feet, that you may be able to learn a new way, and to walk in it with a beautiful course.' Peter heard this, and he who had been fearful became eager.
'Lord,' he says, 'not my feet only, but also my hands and my head' (John XIII, 9). Not so, Peter. I who gave my grace have known the measure. You are already clean who have once been washed: for he who has once been washed has no need of washing, but is wholly clean. I teach you the office of humility, not the repetition of baptism. I show you what you should do in life. I am Master and Lord, as your confession holds. This my humility shall deliver to you. In that I am Lord, I cleanse you; in that I am in the form of a servant, I teach you, lest pride exalt you. We have therefore learned the humility of the Lord. Let us therefore rejoice on the eighth day of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Let men learn that they ought to be born again but once, and let men desire to be cleansed by the hand of Christ. For he who is not cleansed by the hands of Christ cannot run the way of heaven. Thus the apostles ran through all the hinges of the world, thus the martyrs hastened with cleansed feet, so that they did not fear to tread the flames of the burning gridiron, of the seething oil, of the bubbling furnace. For he made firm the soles of his servants, that the word of the Lord might run and be glorified, and his humility and divinity reign for ever and ever. Amen. SERMON XXV. Likewise on the washing of feet. The Head rose again, the whole body shone forth; yesterday the apostolic choir, sitting behind closed doors, was illumined.
Today the feet of the elect are washed, made ready for the course after the manner of harts. How well was the head bowed, that the body might rise again! And because the feet could not ascend to the head, the head deigns to bow itself to the feet. Today he filled the basin, that in his Trinity he might gather the unity of our calling. He who gathered the sea filled the basin: the sea with fishes, the basin with fishermen. There he said to Peter, 'Come after me, I will make thee a fisher of men' (Mark I, 17). Here he admonishes and terrifies, he serves and threatens. 'Unless I wash thy feet,' he says, 'thou shalt have no part with me in the kingdom of heaven' (John XIII, 8). Do you still, like a delicate invalid, thrust away the physician's hands? Do you wish to refuse good treatment? Do you not wish to have a part with me?
For if you thrust away my humility, you shall not see my height. If my hands wash you not, your hands shall not touch me. If I wash not your feet, O Peter, how shall you be able to enter into paradise? You shall not be free from the serpent's venom in your feet, if you resist my hands. My hands made you, let my hands wash you. Let not your hands thrust me away, lest you fight against me with his hands. O astounding miracle! O great spectacle! The Emperor of heaven reclines bowed down at the feet of soldiers; and man, dust and ashes, puffed up, fights against the Lord. A certain proud man, resisting me from the opposite side, tells me — one who says that the Son of God is less, who was sent by the Father and honours the Father.
Is he who glorifies the Father less than the Father, not on account of an unequal dignity, but on account of an undivided love? What do you say? Why do you think in such a way? He who says, 'I and the Father are one' (John X, 30). And, 'He who sees me, sees the Father also' (John XIV, 9). Is he then less than the Father, who glorifies the Father? Is he not even less than his servants, to whom he showed such humility that he deigned to attend to their feet? For he who gives thanks to his Father, and by his own power raises Lazarus from his tomb, himself washes the feet of Peter the fisherman, his servant. And what wonder is it, if he rose from supper and laid aside his garments (John XIII, 4), he who, though he was in the form of God, emptied himself?
But though he was in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. This the Vessel of election proclaims from the potter of God, and says: 'Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God' (Philippians II, 6). I ask, I ask of Paul the apostle: he who is proclaimed to be equal to God in the form of God, how is he narrated to be less than the Father by a sacrilegious presumption? What wonder is it then, if he girded himself with a towel (John XIII, 4), he who, taking the form of a servant, was found in habit as a man? What wonder if he put water into the basin (in the same place, 5), that he might wash the feet of the disciples, he who shed his blood on the earth, to wash away the uncleanness of sinners?
What, I say, is the wonder, if with the towel with which he was girded he wiped the feet which he had washed, he who with the flesh with which he was clothed confirmed the steps of the evangelists? And indeed to gird himself with the towel, he laid aside the garments which he had. But to take the form of a servant, when he emptied himself, he did not lay aside what he had; but he took up what he had not. He came therefore to Peter, and Peter makes excuse. 'Thou shalt not wash my feet. Lord, thou hast laid aside thy garments for my sake, and wilt thou wash my feet? Thou art girded about the loins for my sake. Gird me in morals for thy sake. And do not so humble thyself as to lie before me. Thy humility is my trembling. Thou art in the form of God, and for my sake thou art made in the form of a servant.'
I saw thy feet walking upon the sea. I cannot endure thy hands upon my feet. Thou sufferest injury, and thou dost kindle my conscience. And the Lord: 'Unless I wash thy feet, thou shalt have no part with me' (in the same place, 8). It profits you nothing to excuse yourself, lest afterward you begin to accuse yourself. 'For what I do, now you know not, but you shall know hereafter' (in the same place, 7). This was the controversy about the piety and humility of the Saviour and the fisherman, of the redeemed and the Redeemer, of the one serving and the one fearing, of the Lord and the servant, of the Master and the disciple: that the venerable apostles might be taught to serve one another. Setting forth the reason of this work, he addressed them thus, saying: 'Know you what I have done to you?'
'You call me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If then I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you also should do to one another' (in the same place, 12 and following). What therefore the Lord deigned to do to his servants, this also we ourselves, servants to fellow-servants, have done this present day. With girded loins we have washed the feet of the baptized infants, that their journeys too may be directed in the preparation of the Gospel of peace (Ephesians VI, 15); and that their names, noted down by the pen of a scribe writing swiftly, may be kept in the register of the heavenly kingdom. SERMON XXVI. On the same as above.
Behold, the Lord of majesty took up the office of servitude, because though he was in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Philippians II, 6). Blessed be the Lord, let us all say, we who are hearers of the gospel lesson and dearly beloved beholders of the washing of feet. Behold, he bows to the footstool of his feet, whose throne is heaven. He deigned to descend to his own feet, because we are not able to reach up to his head. Who shall declare the powers of the Lord (Psalm CV, 2), which he carried out in the form of a servant? Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth exult, and let the dear feet of the infants tremble. For the Lord who stretched out heaven like a skin (Psalm
CIII, 2), behold, he has now also filled the basin. Who shall declare the powers of the Lord? When he made the stars, his angels praised him with a mighty voice. He himself is witness to himself through Job his aged one, in that most glorious creation of the stars. 'When I made the stars,' he says (Job XXXVIII, 7), 'my angels praised me.' When he set the thrones in place, when he established the Principalities, Virtues, and Dominions, he was mighty in the form of God. Now, setting in place the seats, and beholding the apostles sitting girded, he is made and suffering in the form of a servant, he who is mighty in the form of God. The heavens rejoice, the angels tremble together, the archangels are afraid, and the disciples dare not make excuse.
If we should say that the angels then, in that spectacle of the basin, descending from the heavens, sang a canticle of peace, we should not be thought absurd to have said so. But when the basin was filled, there he was wrapped in swaddling cloths, here he was girded with a towel. There the Magi lie at his feet: here he himself is at the feet of the servants in the form of a servant, but girded with power, he who troubles the depth of the sea (Psalm LXIV, 7). He rejoices over his little basin, he the sound of whose billows no one can endure, he himself shows servitude to his servants. But Peter the apostle wishes to be restless, not with a fighting, but a trembling conscience. For he first came to Peter, for this reason, as I believe, that by the last washing of feet he might have limited it, lest by his excuse he should make all excuse themselves.