And therefore sometimes the devil, when he had sought the saints for his power, obtained them, the Lord thus permitting; not that he might harm them in the virtue of the soul, but that he might afflict them in the infirmity of the body: so that, to those by no means yielding but faithfully resisting through the fear of the Lord, the temptation of injury might be an occasion of glory. But the Lord Himself also was handed over into the hands of sinners, and thus, when the impious judge addresses Him at the time of the passion: Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and power to release thee? To whom the Lord: Thou wouldst not have power, He said, unless it were given thee from above (John 19:10-11). He therefore, to instruct and confirm us, took up and conquered the hostile hardships of this world;
that we too may understand that we cannot flee the evils of this age, but with God's help can overcome them. There is therefore for the faithful of Christ some portion together with the holy martyrs, if the things which this world imposes they patiently and bravely bear for the fear of God. And therefore the divine Word says to us: If you are companions of the sufferings, you shall be also of the consolations (2 Cor. 1:7). 3. Nor is the persecutor lacking. But perhaps you say: The assailant of religion is lacking, no persecutor of piety threatens; how can I, without an enemy, have a part with the martyr? It is not so, most dear ones; would that faith were present. For even if the public tempter is lacking, the hidden tempter is not lacking.
Let us, if you please, set forth some of the hidden and evilly-flattering temptations of the enemy, and briefly of his snares. For example: does someone solicit you to fraud, or to false witness, or to any other wicked gains? Through his mouth hisses the voice of the ancient serpent. Does a base seducer ensnare you with dishonourable counsels and pandering allurements to commit the crime of unchastity, and solicit you to the precipices of lust? Secret snares are stretched out for you by the enemy. 4. That those who consult diviners sacrifice to the devil, violate their Baptism; renouncing Christ, they enter a pact with the devil. It is wont to happen, brethren, that to some sick person there comes a persecutor on the part of the devil, and says:
If you had employed that enchanter, you would already be well; if you had been willing to hang those charms upon yourself, you could already have received health. If you consent to this persecutor, you have sacrificed to the devil; if you despise him, know that you have gained the glory of martyrdom. Perhaps another also comes who says: Send to that diviner, transmit to him your girdle or your band, let it be measured and inspected; and he himself will tell you what you should do, or whether you can escape. And another says: That man knows well how to fumigate; for whomsoever he has done this, he has at once been better, every trouble has departed from his house. And whoever has consented to all these things has violated the sacrament of Baptism.
The devil is also wont in this respect to deceive negligent and lukewarm Christians, so that if anyone has suffered a theft, that most cruel persecutor incites one of his friends, and says to him: Come secretly to that place, and I will raise up for you a figure that will tell you who it is that has stolen your silver or your money; but if you desire to learn this, when you come to that place, do not sign yourself. Behold to what evils lukewarm Christians are led, who, while they wish to recover temporal health, do not shudder to commit sacrileges so wicked. For whoever has consented to such counsellors of the devil, let him not doubt that, Christ being repudiated, he has made a pact with the devil.
Women too are wont to persuade one another that they ought to apply to their sick children some spell that does not accord with the catholic faith. And this deception is on the part of the devil. 5. More wholesome remedies for evils. How much more rightly and wholesomely would it have been for them to run to the church, to receive the body and blood of Christ, to anoint faithfully both themselves and their own with blessed oil; and, according to what the Apostle James says, to receive not only health of body, but also remission of sins. For thus through him the Holy Spirit promised: If any man is sick, let him bring in the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him (James 5:14-15). But perhaps someone says: How is it that our bishop admonishes us so frequently about this matter? For this reason, brethren: that although we admonish so frequently, yet we still learn by the report of many that these sacrileges are being committed by some men. And therefore I ask you that whoever has not yet done it may never at any time commit it; but whoever has done it, let him hasten, as much as he can, to do worthy penance. 6. What sort of preparation is required for the solemnities of the martyrs.
But we, most dear ones, as often as we desire to celebrate the solemnities of the saints and martyrs, let us, as much as we can with God's help, strive to prepare and adorn ourselves with good works. Whoever therefore, considering his conscience, shall recognize himself to be truly chaste, sober, humble, and merciful, let him rejoice and give thanks to God, and with all his strength, with God's help, strive not only to keep the divine gifts within himself, but also to increase them: but whoever shall see himself defiled—negligent, perhaps, or self-indulgent, wrathful, envious, and proud, and perhaps stained with the filth of lust—let him flee quickly to the medicines of penance; and before that soul, darkened, departs from its most wretched body, let him gain for himself a remedy in the day of need;
and let him give such generous alms, and so, with roaring or groaning, with vigils, fastings, and prayers, frequently apply himself, that before his soul, as I have already said, is snatched away from the little body subject to sins, he may provide for himself medicines of a contrite and humbled heart which will profit him forever: for God does not despise a contrite and humbled heart (Ps. 50:19). For under the hand of the almighty Physician it is never expedient for any sinner to despair. For so great is the multitude of His mercy that to those truly corrected He grants not only pardon of sins, but also concedes that they attain to eternal rewards. 7. That we ought neither to despair nor to hope amiss. And therefore we ought neither to despair nor to hope amiss.
He despairs who thinks that God, even if they do penance, will not pardon those beset by many crimes. But he hopes amiss who believes that, even if he should wish to remain in sins until the end of his life, he can merit the mercy of God. For our God, just as He knows how to reward merits, so He knows how to punish sins. For He who said, When being converted thou shalt groan, thou shalt be saved (Ezek. 33:12), He also said, Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer not from day to day (Sirach 5:8). Fear therefore, O man, the justice of Him whose mercy you seek: for the longer He waits for you that you may be corrected, so much the more heavily does He take vengeance, if you have been unwilling to amend yourself the sooner.
For in this world God lavishes mercy; in the world to come He exercises justice. Here He pays out the money of His admonition or His patience; there He will be one to exact usury: and that will be fulfilled which is written, Then He shall render to every man according to his works (Matt. 16:27). He did not say, According to His mercy, but, according to his works. This also the Apostle Paul confirms, saying: We shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ, that every one may report the things proper to the body, according as he hath done, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10).
Let us therefore, brethren, with the Lord's help, so act, that whatever He who has been the Judge has bestowed in us, He who will be the Judge may find intact, and that the solemnities or patronages of the holy martyrs may bring us not judgment, but profit. And so let us, as much as we can, strive so to act, that we may deserve to obtain in heaven the fellowship of those whose festivals we celebrate on earth: by the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 280. On the Lord's Day and other feast days to be piously celebrated. 1. By whom and why the rest of feasts and of the Lord's Day was sanctioned.
You must know, most dear brethren, that for this reason it was established and commanded by our holy fathers for Christians, that on the solemnities of the saints, and especially on the Lord's days, they should have rest, and that no earthly hindrance should hold them back; and that they should at that time relinquish earthly solicitude, so that they might the more easily attend to the will of God. Hence the Lord Himself says through the prophet, Be still and see that I am God (Ps. 45:11). But those who, entangled in various cares and businesses, spurn this saying of God and are unwilling to attend to divine contemplation, I fear that in the future judgment, when they knock at the door of the Lord and beg that it be opened, the Lord may answer, Amen I say to you, I know you not (Matt. 25:12).
Depart from me, all you who work iniquity (Ps. 6:9). And those who now neglect to seek God are then rejected by Him. Therefore, my brethren, let it not be irksome to you, on the Lord's days and on the birthdays of the saints, to devote yourselves to divine worship. 2. Why it is called the Lord's Day. It is distinguished by many things. The Apostles and apostolic men decreed that the Lord's Day should be kept with religious solemnity, because on it our Redeemer rose again from the dead: which is therefore called the Lord's Day, so that on it, abstaining from earthly works or the enticements of the world, we may serve only in divine worship: giving, namely, to this day honour and reverence, on account of the hope of our resurrection, which we have in it.
For just as the Lord Jesus Christ and Saviour Himself rose again from the dead, so we too hope that we shall rise again on the last day. And it appears that this day is solemn even in the holy Scriptures. For it is the first day of the world; on it the elements of the world were formed, on it the Angels were created, on it also Christ rose from the dead, on it the Holy Spirit descended from heaven upon the Apostles, on the same day manna was first given from heaven in the wilderness. By these signs and such tokens, the Lord's Day stands forth as distinguished. And therefore the holy doctors of the Church decreed to transfer all the glory of the Jewish sabbath-keeping into it; so that what they celebrated in figure, we might celebrate in truth:
because our true rest will then come, when the resurrection has been accomplished, and reward in soul and body alike has been made perfect. 3. In what manner it is to be observed. Let us therefore observe the Lord's Day, brethren, and sanctify it, as it was of old commanded concerning the sabbath, the Lawgiver saying: From evening until evening you shall celebrate your sabbaths (Lev. 23:32). Let us see that our rest be not vain; but from the evening of the sabbath day until the evening of the Lord's day, separated from rural labour and from all business, let us devote ourselves to divine worship alone. Thus also we duly sanctify the sabbath of the Lord, the Lord saying: You shall do no work therein (ibid. 35).
Let him therefore come, to whomsoever it is possible, to the evening and nightly celebration, and there pray to God in the assembly of the Church for his sins. But he who cannot come here, let him at least pray in his own house, and not neglect to pay his vow to God and to render the due of his service. On the day itself let no one separate himself from the sacred celebration of the Masses, nor let anyone remain idle at home while the others go on to the church, nor let him occupy himself in hunting and be enslaved to a diabolical office, roaming about the fields and woods, lifting up clamour and cackling laughter with his mouth, and not bringing forth to God either groaning or words of prayer from the depths of his heart. 4. Various perverse practices are rebuked:
games, jests, quarrels and brawls. And still further — what is more detestable — some who come to the church do not enter, do not persevere in prayer, do not wait in silence for the celebration of the holy Mysteries; but while the divine lessons are being read within, they themselves are busy outside either pleading lawsuits, or assailing one another with various slanders, or plainly sweating over dice and useless jests. For sometimes — what is worse — some are inflamed with excessive anger and quarrel most bitterly, so that they attack one another with weapons or clubs, and often commit murder.
And this is done chiefly by those who, full of envy and hatred, under the devil's leading, come to the assembly of the church not to help themselves but to injure others. If such men perish there by murder, or are snatched away by sudden death, whither do they go but into eternal torments, together with him whose footsteps they have followed? Do not do these things, my brethren; do not deceive yourselves; do not give place to the devil in your assembly; but rather prepare yourselves as a lodging for Christ. Do not, therefore, occupy yourselves with idle tales outside, but with psalmody and prayers within. Do not chatter with one another in the church, but be still.
For there are very many, and especially most of the women, who so chatter and talk in the church that they neither hear the divine lessons themselves nor allow others to hear them. Ought such an assembly, with such conduct, to take place in the house of God? Or is it fitting so to stand in the sight of God and of His holy Angels? 5. The powerful compel the Mass to be shortened. Judgments held on feast days. Feastings. Furthermore — what is greatly to be lamented — I wish to make my complaint to you: there are some, and especially the powerful of this world, who, when they come to the church, are not devout in celebrating the praises of God; but they compel the priest to shorten the Mass and to chant according to their own pleasure;
nor is he permitted to follow the ecclesiastical custom, because of their gluttony and greed, so that one moment is assigned to the service of God, and at the same time devoted to their pleasures. Do not, my most beloved brethren, do these things; do not consent to those who do them; for not only those who do these things, but also those who consent to the doers, perish (Rom. 1:32). Above all, therefore, do not plead lawsuits or hear them on feast days, but at another time and with justice; nor by accepting bribes overthrow just judgments, for according to the Lord's sentence, with whatever judgment you have judged, judgment shall be passed upon you (Matt. 7:2). Let none of you become drunk, for a drunken man is most like a madman.
Do not, by drinking toasts, blot out your names from heaven. Indeed there are many — what is worse — who not only make themselves drunk but also compel and adjure others to drink more than is fitting; and thence quarrels and murders often arise among them. Do you not consider, brethren, whose will these men follow in this? For drunkards, says the Apostle, and murderers shall not possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). I beseech you, most beloved fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His coming kingdom and judgment, that you withdraw yourselves from every man who walks disorderly (2 Thess. 3:6), and that you walk worthily of the calling with which you have been called (Eph.
4:1), and do not neglect your honor, nor lightly esteem the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. You have been called sons of God, because the true Son of God has set you free. Strive by good conduct to please so great a Parent, so that He may not deliver you to everlasting punishment as most wicked servants, but lead you as most dear sons to the heavenly homeland: that you may be co-heirs with His Son Jesus Christ, with whom lives and reigns God in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. SERMON 281. An admonition by which all the people are urged to wait faithfully in the church until the divine Mysteries are celebrated. 1. Those who chatter in church.
I ask you, most beloved brethren, and with fatherly affection I admonish you, that as often as Masses are celebrated, whether on the Lord's Day or on the other greater feasts, no one leave the church until the divine Mysteries are completed. And although there are many of whose faith and devotion we rejoice, yet there are more who think too little of the salvation of their soul, who, when the divine lessons have been read, immediately go out of the church; while yet, even during the reading of those very lessons, some of them are so occupied with idle and worldly tales that they neither hear the lessons themselves nor allow others to hear them. Such persons would be less blamed by us if they did not come to church at all;
for there they are proved to offend God the more, in the very place where they might have earned pardon for their sins. 2. When Masses are held. The Lord's Prayer in the Masses. Some indeed hear to their own judgment. How much good is done in the Masses. Wherefore I ask you, brethren, that you receive the suggestion of our lowliness not only patiently but even gladly. For if you attend diligently, you will recognize that Masses are not held when the divine lessons are recited in the church, but when the offerings are presented, and the body or blood of the Lord is consecrated. For the lessons, whether prophetic, or apostolic, or evangelical, you can either read yourselves in your own homes, or hear others reading;
but the consecration of the body or blood of the Lord you cannot hear or see anywhere except in the house of God. Therefore, whoever wishes to celebrate the Masses in full, with profit to his soul, ought, until the Lord's Prayer is said and the blessing is given to the people, to keep himself in the church with body humbled and heart contrite. For when the greatest part of the people — nay, what is worse, almost all — go out of the church after the lessons have been recited, to whom is the priest to say, 'Lift up your hearts'? Or how can they answer that they hold their hearts on high, who descend downward into the streets, both in body and in heart together? Or how shall they cry out, with trembling and joy together, 'Holy, holy, holy; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'?
Or when the Lord's Prayer is said, who is there to cry out humbly and truly, 'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors' (Matt. 6:12)? For even those who remain in the church, if they have not forgiven their debtors their debts, utter the Lord's Prayer from their mouth unto judgment rather than unto remedy, since they are not proved to fulfill in deed what they profess; and they say without cause, 'Deliver us from evil' (ibid. 13), while they themselves do not cease to render evil for evil. If, then, even those who are within are in danger, if they have refused to fulfill what they promise;
what do those men think of themselves, whom either insatiable covetousness or love of this world so holds entangled that it does not allow them to stand in the church for the space of a single hour? For whom it is not enough that they are continually occupied throughout the whole week, either from necessity or, what is truer, from covetousness: still, beyond that, after the space of one or two hours, in which they seem to come to the church more in body than in heart, turning their backs upon the sacrifices and upon the priests of God, they return without any delay to embrace the pleasure of this world. Such men, not recognizing what they wait for, what they leave behind, follow darkness and forsake light; they embrace the shadow and despise the truth;
they forsake the sweetness of Christ and seek out the bitterness of the world; loving vanity and seeking after a lie. Truly he knows not how much good is done in the celebration of Masses, who hastily goes out of the church. 3. The irreverence of those who leave before they are finished. Weakness or necessity exempts from blame. Yet if either a king or some powerful person had invited these same men to a banquet, I should like to know whether they would presume to depart before the whole banquet were finished: even if the person did not detain them, gluttony would detain them. Why do we not leave a man's banquet unless it be fully finished — except because we wish to fill our belly perhaps more than is fitting, and are afraid to offend the man?
Why do we quickly depart from the spiritual and divine banquet? I am afraid to say it, lest perhaps some be angered; but nevertheless, both for my danger and for yours, I will say it: we do this because we neither care for the food of the soul, nor fear God, nor reverence man. And because, by God's favor, not all are blameworthy in this respect, but many are found who, with great compunction, do not leave the church until the blessing is given over the people, and do not cease to pray humbly not only for themselves but also for others: to those to whom God has given such great compunction that they persevere in the church, He will render a reward; but those who are negligent He will condemn by a just judgment.
And therefore, brethren, admonish those who are unwilling either to say the Lord's Prayer or to receive the blessing; and do not cease to correct them, saying and most definitely warning that it profits them nothing to hear the divine lessons, if they depart before the divine Mysteries are completed. Yet to those who are occupied in public necessities, and to those who, hindered by some infirmity, cannot wait, we neither can nor ought to impute it. Let them, however, see in their own conscience whether necessity draws them back, or their own will. 4. One ought to be free for reading or prayer the whole Lord's Day.
Wherefore again and again I ask and likewise adjure, that on every Lord's Day, and especially on the greater feasts, no one leave the church until the divine Mysteries are completed: except perhaps those we mentioned above, whom either grave infirmity or public necessity does not permit to stand longer. Truly I say, brethren, it is hard enough and almost too impious that Christians should not have for the Lord's Day the reverence which the Jews are seen to observe for the Sabbath. For when those unhappy people so observe the Sabbath that on it they presume to perform no earthly work: how much more ought those who have been redeemed not with gold, not with silver, but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet.
1:18-19), attend to their own price, and be free for God on the day of the Resurrection, and think more attentively of the salvation of their soul? Finally, if we neglect to devote ourselves to reading and to entreat God for the whole Lord's Day, we sin against God not lightly; how great an evil is it, if even for the space of one or two hours, while the divine Mysteries are being celebrated, we do not have the patience to stand in the church? But what is worse, the love of this world so intoxicates us that the shadow of a flitting falsehood continually drags us toward vain and false joys — which bring forth true sorrows — and toward the pleasure of worldly desires. 5. Conclusion.
Wherefore again and again I ask that none of you leave the church until the divine Mysteries have been celebrated in full. And so contain yourselves in the church that none of you be eager to occupy himself with idle or earthly tales. What is expedient both for me to say and for you to hear, I humbly admonish and likewise adjure: he who despises the herald shall feel the judge. But he who shall willingly hear me, and shall strive after what I have entreated, I believe that by God's mercy glorious rewards will be repaid. But he who shall choose to despise it will not be able to excuse himself before the tribunal of Christ, by saying that he was neither restrained from evil, nor called by constant admonition to those things which are holy and pleasing to God.
But we trust in God's mercy that not through contempt but rather through the gracious Lord you will attain to the kingdom of Jesus Christ our own: by the bounty of Him who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. SERMON 282. An admonition that the people should wait out the Masses to the end. 1. He grieves keenly that the end of the Masses is not waited for. The cause of his grief and his fatherly heart. If you were willing to recognize and to attend diligently, most beloved brethren, how great a grief and how great a bitterness there is in my soul, when I see that you are unwilling to wait out the Masses in full; you would be able to have mercy both on yourselves and on me.
For he who understands what is done in the church when the divine Mysteries are celebrated, recognizes how great an evil those men do who leave the church, without any great necessity, before the Masses are finished. And therefore, if you wish both to free me from the tribulation of my soul and to absolve yourselves from sin, do not despise me as I entreat; fearing that which the Lord said concerning the priests, 'He who hears you, hears me; and he who spurns you, spurns me' (Luke 10:16). For he who neither fears nor blushes to leave the church quickly, before the Masses are waited out, let him not doubt that he sins doubly, in that he forsakes the divine Mysteries, and grieves and despises the priest who is anxious for him.
If our lowliness were to invite you to perform some earthly and laborious works, we believe that your Charity would render us obedience. But since we summon you not to earthly pursuits, nor to things unprofitable, but to studies profitable to the soul forever and heavenly, and we seek no transitory gains, but invite you to heavenly treasures; consider in what danger those remain who disdain to accord us obedience. But I, most beloved brethren, do not grieve so much when you leave the church because you do me any bodily harm; but because I desire you to be perfect, I recognize that you sin so grievously against God. 2. The excellence of this Mystery.