But there is a door through each of the treasure-chambers in the fronts of the gates, because every teacher opens the understanding in the heart of the hearer through the sayings and works of the fathers. For when we discuss the preaching of the apostle Peter, when we scrutinize the words of Paul, when we investigate the Gospel of John, and from their words draw our hearers to the interior understanding, what else do we do but open a door in the fronts of the gates? Let it be said, therefore: 'Through each of the treasure-chambers a door in the fronts of the gates,' because if a teacher does not at all confirm what he speaks by the sayings of the apostles, he has no door in the fronts of the gates.
And if he has no door, it can no longer be called a treasure-chamber of the spiritual edifice, because if he does not open the understanding, he is not a teacher. But when good hearers know through the mouths of teaching men the sayings and works of the apostles, they silently reprove their own faults within themselves, and pursue with tears everything which they remember to have done wickedly. Wherefore here too, concerning the door which is in the fronts of the gates, it is subjoined: IBID.—'There they washed the burnt-offering.' For those who have devoted themselves through faith to the Lord in holy conversation have been made a burnt-offering to the Lord.
But because they still suffer many things in themselves from their corruptible flesh, because the cleanness of their heart is still defiled in them by sordid thoughts, they daily return to tears, they are afflicted with continual weepings. For they consider the sayings and deeds of the holy fathers, and when they weigh themselves as unworthy, they wash the burnt-offering in the door of the gates. Behold, indeed, someone has vowed to be patient out of the fear of the Almighty Lord, to render insult to no one for insult, to bear all things with equanimity; and yet, when a reproach suddenly cast from the mouth of his neighbor has struck him, being disturbed, he perhaps speaks something which he ought not to have spoken. Surely this man is already a burnt-offering, but as yet a defiled one.
Perhaps he showed patience against the reproaches cast at him, and remained silent; but nevertheless he is touched with grief against those same reproaches which he bears, and his soul is wounded in charity. For that is true patience, which loves the very one whom it bears. For to endure, but to hate, is not the virtue of gentleness, but the veil of fury. This man therefore often judges himself in his own thought, reproves himself because he grieves, nor yet is he able to prevail within himself not to grieve. He is therefore already a burnt-offering through good devotion, but nevertheless still defiled through the grief by which he is touched. Another has resolved within himself to distribute all that he possesses to the needy, to reserve nothing for himself, to commit his life to the governance of the heavenly One alone;
but while he offers to the poor what he has, perhaps a thought steals upon his mind which says: 'Whereof wilt thou live, if thou hast given away all?' Nor yet does he cease to give, but what he had begun to give gladly he afterward offers with sadness. What is this man's mind but a burnt-offering of mercy? Yet defiled through the sadness of thought. For either he ought not to have deliberated upon the highest things, or after deliberation to have doubted in no way. Another, despising the pride of the world, has resolved to shun the honors and dignities of this age, to hold the lowest place among men, that he may be found so much the more exalted in abiding glory, by how much the more humble he is beheld in this passing life.
This man perhaps, when he suddenly perceives himself to be despised by his neighbor, is indignant that he is despised. He wishes indeed to be in a humble place, but nevertheless does not wish to seem contemptible. This man devotion already lifts up, but as yet weakness weighs down. He is therefore already a burnt-offering through devotion, but as yet defiled through weakness. And so those who, in the things they have most excellently vowed, are touched in some fault of their weakness, when through the words of teachers they understand the sayings of the fathers, and recognize in how great a fault they lie, and afflict themselves with the laments of penance, wash their burnt-offerings in the door of the gates. But it must be known that this is the difference between a sacrifice and a burnt-offering: that every burnt-offering is a sacrifice, but not every sacrifice is a burnt-offering.
For in the sacrifice a part of the beast, but in the burnt-offering the whole beast, was accustomed to be offered. Wherefore in the Latin tongue the burnt-offering is called 'wholly burned.' Let us weigh, therefore, what is a sacrifice, what a burnt-offering. For when anyone vows something of his own to God, and vows not something, it is a sacrifice. But when he has vowed to Almighty God all that he has, all that he lives by, all that he knows, it is a burnt-offering. For there are some who are still held in mind within this world, and yet from their possessed goods minister aids to the needy, and hasten to defend the oppressed. These offer a sacrifice by the good things they do, because they both immolate something of their action to God, and reserve something for themselves.
And there are some who reserve nothing for themselves, but immolate to the Almighty Lord their sense, tongue, life, and the substance which they have received. What do these offer but a burnt-offering; nay rather, what do they become but a burnt-offering? For the Israelite people first offered a sacrifice in Egypt, and secondly in the desert (Exod. XII, XIII). He therefore who still has his mind in the world, but already works something good, has offered a sacrifice to God in Egypt. But he who forsakes the present age, and does the good things he is able to do, as though, Egypt now being left behind, offers a sacrifice in the desert, because, the tumult of carnal desires having been driven back, in the quiet and solitude of his mind he immolates to God whatever he works.
Although, therefore, as has been said, a burnt-offering is also a sacrifice, yet the burnt-offering is greater than the sacrifice, because the mind which is not pressed down by the delight of this world burns in the sacrifice of Almighty God all that it has. But it must be known by us that there are certain ones who, even while forsaking the world, offer indeed all that they have, but yet are by no means pricked to compunction in the good things they do; and indeed the good which they do is a burnt-offering, but because they know not how to weep and to judge themselves, and do not kindle themselves to tears by that love, their burnt-offering is not perfect. Hence it is said through the Psalmist: 'Let the Lord be mindful of all thy sacrifice, and let thy burnt-offering be made fat' (Ps. XIX, 4).
For a dry burnt-offering is a good work which the tears of prayer do not water. But a fat burnt-offering is when that which is well done is watered with a humble heart even through tears. Hence again it is said: 'I will offer to Thee burnt-offerings full of marrow' (Ps. LXV, 15). For whosoever does a good work, but knows not how to weep out of the love and desire of Almighty God, has a burnt-offering, but has no marrow in the burnt-offering. But he who works good things, and already gapes for the vision of his Creator, and hastens to arrive at the joys of eternal contemplation, and slays himself in weepings out of the love by which he is kindled, has given to the Lord burnt-offerings full of marrow.
We must therefore be zealous both to forsake evils utterly, and to work the good things we are able to, and in those very good things which we do to be pricked with compunction by the love of the eternal light. For the love of light itself dispels the darkness of the heart, that we may be able to see more subtly, lest anything perverse be mingled in the good things we do. For we must consider what our work is, what the thought in the work, what the intention in the thought. And when we recognize something of malice or perverse delight mingled with our good work, let us return to tears, let us wash the burnt-offering.
But there are certain ones who have devoted themselves in great actions to the Lord, and arrive at so great a perfection, and are by no difficulty ever bent from these, so that by the resolve of chastity the flesh in no way lays low the mind in the delight of perverse thought. For even if at times it assails through suggestion, it is not permitted to rise up, because it is trodden down by the vigor of judgment. In the resolve of patience too, neither does a disordered word go forth from the mouth, nor does silent grief press down the mind; so that in the largeness of almsgiving no suspicion of want may generate sadness, so that in the resolve of humility no contempt may bite the mind.
But when they already show themselves strong in these things which they have rightly vowed, they nevertheless bring back to memory their former sins which were perpetrated by them before their good resolve, and they bewail whatever they remember to have done unlawfully. These, therefore, are a burnt-offering through the life they hold, but defiled through the life they had held before. They therefore wash their burnt-offering in the door of the gates, because in the understanding which they have received from the sayings of the fathers, they afflict themselves with daily laments, and cleanse with tears the life which they once defiled with perverse acts. Let us therefore, amid these things, lead back the eyes of our mind to our past life, let us remember who we were, when we followed the concupiscences of this world.
And if we already serve the Lord with the whole heart, because we remember that we have sinned, let us weep, let us in weepings wash the burnt-offering. Behold, we have devoted our chastity to Almighty God; but if an unclean thought still defiles the mind, let us return to tears, let us wash the burnt-offering. Behold, we have resolved to keep patience. But if anger still troubles us, if silent grief tortures the mind, let us return to tears, let us wash the burnt-offering. Behold, we already know how to distribute our possessions, and to hold a humble place in this world; if any suspicion of want still presses down the mind, if the contempt of a neighbor confounds us in any indignation, let us return to tears, let us wash the burnt-offering.
For great to our Creator is the bosom of mercy for receiving the weepings of the humble. For where the weepings of innumerable men have been received, there our tears too shall find their place. Let us weigh what is said through another prophet: 'And it shall be that he who shall have stumbled among them in that day shall be as David, and the house of David as God, as the angel of the Lord in their sight' (Zech. XII, 8). This is the day of mercy, which has been promised to us concerning the coming of our Redeemer. He therefore who shall have stumbled shall be as David, because the sinner returns to penance;
but the house of David as God, because everyone who returns to righteousness is made a habitation of his Creator, that he may be as the angel in His sight, because the bowels of mercy which he has experienced in himself, by proclaiming them, he pours out also to others. Hence too, a little after, it is there said: 'In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the washing of the sinner and of the menstruous woman' (Zech. XIII, 1). The hidden fountain indeed is the only-begotten of the Father, the invisible God. But the open fountain is the same God incarnate. Which open fountain is rightly called the house of David, because from the stock of David our Redeemer came forth to us. But Jerusalem is interpreted 'the vision of peace.'
But those dwell in Jerusalem who fix their mind upon the vision of inmost peace. The sinner, however, and the menstruous woman is either he who transgresses in deed, or the mind that slips into depraved thought. For this is the defilement of the menstruous woman, that she is not touched by another's flesh, yet is stained by her own flesh. So it is, therefore, so it is with every soul which, even though it does not perform an evil work, nevertheless grows foul, polluted in thought. Whence also, through another prophet, it is said under the figure of Judea concerning a soul taken up with unclean desires: 'All who seek her shall not fail; in her menstruous flow they shall find her' (Jer. 2:24). For the malignant spirits who seek do not fail when they desire to bring in destruction, and they are repelled by no uprightness of good thought.
And they find the soul in its menstruous flow, when they easily draw to perverse action a soul set amid polluted thoughts. Let it be said, therefore: 'In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the washing of the sinner and of the menstruous woman' (Zech. 13:1); because now the fountain of mercy is opened to us, our Redeemer, who deigned to be made flesh in the house of David, that He might wash the sinner from his perverse work and cleanse the menstruous mind from unclean thought. The fountain, then, lies open; let us run with tears, let us be washed in this fountain of loving-kindness. 21. In this fountain David himself also was washed, when he returned to the laments of penance after the stains of grievous guilt. For he was seeking to find that very fountain when he said:
'Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a princely spirit' (Ps. 51:12). For 'Jesus' in Hebrew is in Latin called 'salvation' [salutaris]. And what is it that he asked, that the joy of Jesus be restored to him, save that he had been accustomed to contemplate this joy before his fault, and had lost the joys of that contemplation in his fault? Whence rightly, after penance, he sought that the joy of His vision be restored to him. In this fountain of mercy Mary Magdalene was washed, who, once a notorious sinner, afterward washed away her stains with tears and wiped away her stains by amending her ways (Luke 7:37-38ff.). In this fountain of mercy Peter, before all men, washed away what he had denied, because he wept bitterly (Matt. 26:75).
In this fountain of mercy the thief was washed at his very end, who, rebuking himself in death, was cleansed from his guilt by the confession of truth (Luke 23:41). 23. Why then are we slothful? Why do we remain torpid and cold, we who have come to know that so many have already been washed in this fountain of loving-kindness? Shall we then despair of our own cleansing, we who hold so many examples of mercy as a pledge? And do we cease to seek pardon, and to have confidence with tears, we who have already received, as a pledge of our hope, the cleansing of so many? For we ought to seek the fountain of mercy even if it were closed. It now lies open, and we neglect it.
Let us cast the eyes of faith upon the whole world; let us consider how many sinners, day and night, are washed through lamentation in this fountain of mercy; how many, after darkness, return to light; how many, after stains, return to purity. Let us therefore run with such as these, after the darkness of death, to the water of life; let us consider how much we have sinned, how much we daily sin, and, that we may appear clean after our faults, let us wash our whole burnt-offering. For the accomplishing of these things the grace of our Redeemer is present, who lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen.