Sermons to the People 218.1–223.2

The passion of him by whose blood our offenses have been blotted out is solemnly read and solemnly celebrated, so that by yearly devotion our memory may be more joyfully renewed, and our faith more clearly illuminated by the very thronging of the peoples. The feast therefore requires of us that we give you a sermon on the Lord's passion, such as he himself grants. And indeed, for our salvation and for the benefit of passing through this life, our Lord deigned to give us an example of patience in the things he suffered from his enemies, so that for the dignity of the gospel, if he himself should so will, we may not refuse to suffer anything of the kind. Yet since even in his mortal flesh he suffered nothing by necessity, but everything by will, it is rightly believed that he also willed to signify something in each of the deeds that were done and written concerning his passion.

First, that, handed over to be crucified, he carried his own cross himself: he gave a sign of self-restraint and, going before, showed what one who wishes to follow him must do. He gave this warning also in words, where he says: “Whoever loves me, let him take up his cross and follow me.” For in a way he takes up his cross who rules his mortality.

That he was crucified in the place of Calvary: he signified in his passion the forgiveness of all sins, of which it is said in the psalm, “My iniquities are multiplied beyond the hairs of my head.”

That two were crucified with him, one on each side: he showed that some would suffer on his right and others on his left: on the right, those of whom it is said, “Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake”; on the left, those of whom it is said, “And if I hand over my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”

That a title was placed above his cross, on which was written, “King of the Jews”: this showed that even by killing him they could not bring it about that they would not have as king him who will most plainly render to them according to their works with most exalted power. Hence it is sung in the psalm: “But I have been established as king by him over Zion, his holy mountain.” [6] That the title was written in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin: it was declared that he would reign not only over the Jews but also over the Gentiles. Accordingly, in the same psalm, after saying, “But I have been established as king over Zion, his holy mountain,” where, that is, the Hebrew language reigned, at once, as if adding the Greek and the Latin, he says: “The Lord said to me: You are my Son, today I have begotten you; ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession.” Not that Greek and Latin are the only languages of the nations, but because they excel most: Greek because of its study of letters, Latin because of the skill of the Romans. Yet though in those three languages the whole of all the nations was shown as to be subjected to Christ, it was not written there, “And King of the Gentiles,” but only “of the Jews,” so that the origin of the stock might be commended by the particularity of the name. For it was said, “The law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” For who are they who say in the psalm, “He has subjected peoples to us, and nations under our feet,” if not those of whom the Apostle says, “For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they ought also to minister to them in carnal things”?

That the chief priests of the Jews suggested to Pilate that he should not write absolutely that he was King of the Jews, but that he had said he was King of the Jews: with those branches broken off, Pilate thus figured the wild olive that was to be grafted in, because he was a man from the Gentiles, writing the confession of the Gentiles, of whom the Lord himself rightly said: “The kingdom will be taken from you and given to a nation doing righteousness.” Yet he is not for that reason not the King of the Jews. For the root bears the wild olive, not the wild olive the root. And though those branches were broken off through unbelief, God has not therefore rejected his people whom he foreknew. “For I too,” he says, “am an Israelite.” And though the sons of the kingdom, who would not have the Son of God reign over them, go into the outer darkness, yet many will come from the East and the West and recline, not with Plato and Cicero, but with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Pilate wrote “King of the Jews,” not “King of the Greeks” or “of the Latins,” though he was to reign over the Gentiles. And what he wrote, he wrote, and did not change it at the suggestion of unbelievers; to him it had been foretold so long before in the psalms, “Do not corrupt the inscription of the title.” All nations believe in the King of the Jews; he reigns over all nations, yet he is the King of the Jews. So strong was that root that it could change into itself the wild olive grafted into it, while the wild olive could not take away the name of the olive.

That the soldiers divided his garments into four parts and took them: they signified his sacraments, which would travel through the four parts of the world.

That they cast lots for the one seamless tunic woven from the top, rather than dividing it: it is shown clearly enough that the visible sacraments, though they too are Christ's garments, can be had by anyone, whether good or bad; but that the most sincere faith, which works the wholeness of unity through love, since the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us, does not belong to just anyone, but is given by the hidden grace of God as if by lot. Hence to Simon, who had baptism but did not have this, Peter said: “You have no lot or part in this faith.”

That on the cross he acknowledged his mother and commended her to his beloved disciple: fittingly he then showed human affection, when he was dying as a man. That hour had not yet come when, about to turn water into wine, he had said to that same mother: “Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come.” For he had not taken from Mary what he had in his divinity, as he had taken from Mary what was hanging on the cross.

That he said, “I thirst”: he was seeking faith from his own; but because he came to his own and his own did not receive him, instead of the sweetness of faith they gave him the vinegar of faithlessness, and that in a sponge. Truly they are to be compared to sponges: not solid but swollen; not open by the straight entrance of confession, but full of caverns with the twisting windings of treachery. That drink indeed had hyssop too, a lowly herb which is said to cling to rock with a very strong root. For there were in that people some for whom this crime was being kept so that they might afterwards humble their souls in repentance. He himself knew them, he who received the hyssop with the vinegar. For he also prayed for them, as another evangelist testifies, when, hanging on the cross, he said: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

That he said, “It is finished,” and, bowing his head, gave up the spirit: he showed not the necessity but the power of his death, waiting until all things that had been prophesied of him were finished; for this too had been written of him, “And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink”: as one having power to lay down his life, as he himself also testified. And he gave up the spirit through humility, that is, with head bowed, to take it back through the resurrection with head lifted up. That this death and bowing of the head were of great power, the patriarch Jacob foretold in his blessing of Judah, saying: “You have gone up; lying down, you slept like a lion”: signifying death by going up, and power by the lion.

And why it was that the legs of those two were broken but not his, because he had died, the Gospel itself has made plain. For it was necessary that by this sign too it should be shown that the Passover of the Jews had been commended in the prophecy foretold of him, where it was commanded that they should not break the bones of the sheep.

That his side, pierced with a lance, poured out blood and water on the ground: without doubt these are the sacraments by which the Church is formed; as Eve was made from the side of the sleeping Adam, who was a type of the one to come.

That Joseph and Nicodemus bury him: as some have interpreted the names, Joseph means “increased”; and Nicodemus, since the name is Greek, many know to be composed of “victory” and “people,” since nikos is victory and dēmos people. Who, then, was increased by dying, if not he who said, “Unless a grain of wheat dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it is multiplied”? And who by dying conquered the persecuting people, if not he who by rising will judge them?

The blessed apostle Paul, exhorting us to imitate him, among many other marks of his virtue says also: “In watchings often.” How much more eagerly, then, should we keep watch in this vigil, the mother as it were of all holy vigils, in which the whole world keeps watch? Not that world of which it is written: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; for all that is in the world is the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and worldly ambition, which is not from the Father.” Such a world, that is, the children of unbelief, the devil and his angels rule; against whom, the same apostle says, we have our wrestling, where he says: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the world of this darkness.” This we too once were; but now we are light in the Lord. By the light of the vigils, then, let us resist the rulers of darkness. It is not, then, that world that keeps watch in this feast, but the one of which it is said: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” And yet the celebration of this vigil is so famous throughout the whole world that it compels even those to keep watch in the flesh who in heart, I will not say sleep, but are buried in hellish ungodliness. They too keep watch on this night, in which there is visibly fulfilled what was promised so long before: “And the night will be lit up as the day.” This happens in the hearts of the godly, to whom it was said: “You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord.” It happens also in the minds of all, both those who see in the Lord and those who envy the Lord. So on this night both the hostile world and the reconciled world keep watch. The one keeps watch to praise the physician, being set free; the other keeps watch to blaspheme the judge, being condemned. The one keeps watch, fervent and shining with devout minds; the other keeps watch, gnashing its teeth and wasting away. In short, love does not let the one sleep in this feast, nor iniquity the other; Christian vigor the one, diabolical envy the other. Hence we are reminded even by our enemies, without their knowing it, how we ought to keep watch for ourselves, if even those who envy us keep watch because of us. For of those who are in no way signed with the name of Christ, many on this night do not sleep from grief, many from shame; and some who are approaching the faith do not sleep now from the fear of God. This feast rouses them for different reasons. How, then, ought the friend of Christ to keep watch rejoicing, when even the enemy keeps watch grieving? How the Christian should burn to keep watch in such great glory of Christ, when the pagan is ashamed to sleep! How fitting it is that he who has entered this great house should keep watch on its great festival, when he who plans to enter is already keeping watch! Let us keep watch, then, and pray, so that we may celebrate this vigil both outwardly and inwardly. Let God speak to us in his readings; let us speak to God in our prayers. If we hear his words obediently, he whom we ask dwells in us.

We know, brothers, and hold with most firm faith, that Christ died once for us: the righteous for sinners, the Lord for slaves, the free for captives, the physician for the sick, the blessed for the wretched, the rich for the needy, the seeker for the lost, the redeemer for those sold, the shepherd for the flock, and, what is more wonderful than all, the creator for the creature; keeping, however, what he always is, handing over what he became; God hidden, man appearing; giving life by power, dying by weakness; unchangeable in divinity, capable of suffering in the flesh: as the Apostle says, “Who was handed over for our offenses and rose for our justification.” That this was done once you know very well. And yet the feast, as the seasons come round, repeats as if it happened often what truth proclaims with so many voices of the Scriptures as done once. Yet truth and the feast are not contrary, as if the feast lied and truth told the truth. For what truth shows to have been done once in reality, the feast renews in devout hearts to be celebrated often. Truth discloses what was done as it was done; the feast, not by doing those things but by celebrating them, does not let even past things pass away. In short, “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.” He was certainly killed once, he who no longer dies; death will no longer have dominion over him. Accordingly, by the voice of truth we say that the Passover was done once and will not be done again; but by the voice of the feast we say that the Passover comes every year. So, I think, is to be understood what is written in the psalm: “The thought of man will confess to you, and the remnants of thought will keep a festal day to you.” For unless thought committed to memory what is said of things done in time, it would find no remnants after that time. So the thought of man, beholding the truth, confesses to the Lord; but the remnants of thought, which are in the memory, do not cease to celebrate the feasts at their known times, lest thought be judged ungrateful. To this belongs the so splendid feast of this night, in which, by keeping watch, we as it were enact through the remnants of thought the Lord's resurrection, which by thinking we confess more truly to have been done once. Far be it, then, that neglect of the feast should make irreligious those whom the preaching of truth has made learned. This feast has made this night illustrious throughout the whole world. It displays the ranks of Christian peoples, confounds the darkness of the Jews, and overturns the idols of the pagans.

We must say why we keep watch with such great solemnity especially on this present night. That the Lord Christ rose from the dead on the third day no Christian doubts. That this happened on this night the holy Gospel bears witness. For there is no doubt that the whole day is reckoned from the preceding night; not according to the order of days recorded in Genesis, though there too darkness came first. For darkness was over the abyss when God said, “Let there be light; and there was light.” But since that darkness was not yet night, for day had not yet gone before (for God divided the light from the darkness, and first called the light day and then the darkness night, and from the making of light until the next morning one day is recorded), it is clear that those days began from the light and each ended, when the light had passed, at the morning. But after man, once created, turned aside from the light of righteousness to the darkness of sin, from which the grace of Christ frees him, it came about that we now reckon days from nights: because we strive to come not from light to darkness but from darkness to light, and we hope that with the Lord's help this will come about. As the Apostle also says: “The night is far gone, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” So the day of the Lord's passion, on which he was crucified, followed its own night, which had already passed; and so it was closed and ended at the Parasceve, which the Jews also call the Pure Supper, beginning the observance of the sabbath from the start of its night. Then the sabbath day, beginning from its own night, ended at the evening of the beginning night that belongs to the start of the Lord's day, since the Lord consecrated that day by the glory of his resurrection. It is the memory of that night, belonging to the start of the Lord's day, that we now celebrate with this feast: we spend in watching the night in which the Lord rose; and we meditate on that life of which we were speaking a little before, where there is neither death nor sleep, which he began for us in his flesh, which he so raised from the dead that he no longer dies and death no longer has dominion over him. For when those who were seeking him in love came to his tomb at dawn and did not find the body, and received the answer from angels that he had already risen, it is clear that he rose on the night whose end was that dawn. Then he, to whom we sing as he rises, keeping watch a little longer, will grant that we may reign with him, living without end. But even if perhaps at these hours in which we keep this vigil his body was still in the tomb and he had not yet risen, even so we are not out of place in keeping watch: because he slept so that we might keep watch, he who died so that we might live.

Since the very feast of this holy night exhorts you, dearly beloved, to keep watch and pray, a solemn address is nonetheless also due to you, so that against the hostile and envious powers and rulers of darkness, as against beasts of the night, the shepherd's voice too may rouse the Lord's flock. For we have no wrestling against flesh and blood, as the Apostle says, that is, against men, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Do not suppose, indeed, that the devil and his angels, whom the Apostle signifies by these words, are the rulers of the world of which it is written, “And the world was made through him.” For when he had said “rulers of the world,” lest anyone understand the world which in many places of the Scriptures is called by the name of heaven and earth, he at once added, as if explaining, “of this darkness,” that is, of unbelievers. That is why he says to those now believers: “You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord.” These spiritual forces of wickedness, then, are in the heavenly places: not where the stars shine in their order and the holy angels dwell, but in the murky dwelling of this lowest air, where clouds also gather; and yet it is written, “Who covers the heaven with clouds.” Where birds also fly; and yet they are called birds of heaven. In these heavenly places, then, not in that higher tranquillity of the heavens, dwell these most wicked spirits, against whom a spiritual wrestling is proclaimed for us: so that, when the evil angels have been defeated, we may enjoy the reward by which we shall be joined to the good angels in incorruptible eternity. Hence in another place the same apostle, signifying the dark principality of the devil, says: “According to the spirit of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, who now works in the children of unbelief.” What is there “the spirit of this world” is here “the rulers of the world.” And as he explained there what he meant by world, with “in the children of unbelief,” so also here when he added, “of this darkness.” And what he says there, “the prince of the power of the air,” he says in this place with “in the heavenly places.” Thanks, then, to the Lord our God, who has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love. Set apart, then, from that darkness by the light of the gospel, and redeemed from those powers by precious blood, watch and pray, so that you may not enter into temptation. For in all of you who have the faith which works through love, the prince of this world has been cast out of your hearts; but outside, like a roaring lion, he goes about seeking whom he may devour. Do not, then, give place to the devil, who wants to break in from whatever side; but let him who cast him out by suffering for you dwell within you against him. When the devil ruled over you, you were once darkness; but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of light. Keep watch against darkness and its rulers in the light of your mother, and pray to the Father of lights from the bosom of your mother of light.

In the book called Genesis, Scripture says: “And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness; and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.” If, then, God called the light day, without doubt those to whom the apostle Paul says, “You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord,” were day, since he who commanded light to shine out of darkness enlightened them. These infants, whom you see white outwardly and cleansed inwardly, who prefigure by the whiteness of their garments the brightness of their minds, were darkness when they were weighed down by the night of their sins. But now, since they have been cleansed by the bath of forgiveness, watered by the fountain of wisdom, flooded with the light of righteousness: “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us exult and be glad in it.” Let the day of the Lord hear us, let the day made by the Lord hear us: let it hear and obey, so that we may exult and be glad in it. For, as the Apostle says, this is our joy and crown, if you stand fast in the Lord. Hear us, children of a virgin mother. Since you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord, walk as children of light; cling to the children of light; and, to put it more plainly, cling to the good faithful. For there are, what is worse, bad faithful. There are those who are called faithful and are not. There are faithful in whom the sacraments of Christ suffer injury, who live in such a way that they both perish themselves and destroy others. For they perish themselves by living badly; they destroy others by giving examples of living badly. So you, dearly beloved, do not join yourselves to such people. Seek the good, cling to the good, be good.

And do not be surprised at the multitude of bad Christians who fill the church, who communicate at the altar, who loudly praise the bishop or presbyter when he discourses on good morals; through whom is fulfilled what our gatherer foretold in the psalm: “I have announced and spoken; they are multiplied beyond number.” In the Church of this time they can be with us; but in that Church which will be after the resurrection, the congregation of the saints, they cannot be. For the Church of this time is compared to a threshing floor, which has grain mixed with chaff, the wicked mixed with the good; after the judgment it will have all the good without any wicked. This threshing floor holds the harvest sown by the apostles, watered by the good teachers who followed them down to the present time, and threshed not a little by the persecution of enemies; but, what alone remains, not yet cleansed by the winnowing from above. But he will come of whom you said in giving back the Creed, “From there he will come to judge the living and the dead”; and, as the Gospel says, “he will have the winnowing fork in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor; and he will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Let the old faithful too hear what I say. Whoever is grain, let him rejoice with trembling, and remain, and not withdraw from the threshing floor. Let him not try by his own judgment to fly from the chaff: since if he wants to separate himself from the chaff now, he will not be able to remain on the threshing floor. And when he comes who distinguishes without error, what he does not find on the threshing floor he will not lift into the granary. In vain will those grains boast of their ear which have now withdrawn from the threshing floor. That granary will be filled and shut. Whatever remains outside, the flame will lay waste. Whoever is good, then, dearly beloved, let him bear with the wicked; whoever is wicked, let him imitate the good. For on this threshing floor grain can fall away into chaff, and grain can again be raised up from chaff. These things happen every day, my brothers: this life is full of punishments and consolations. Every day those who seemed good slip and perish; and again those who seemed wicked are converted and live. For God does not will the death of the ungodly, only that he turn back and live. Hear me, grains; hear me, you who are what I desire to be: hear me, grains. Do not be saddened by the mixture of the chaff: they will not be with you forever. How much is this weight of chaff that presses on you? Thanks be to God, it is light. Let us only be grain, and however great it may be, it will not weigh us down. For God is faithful, who will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear, but with the temptation will also make a way out, so that we may be able to endure. Let the chaff hear us too; wherever they are, let them hear. I do not want them to be here; yet let us address them, in case they are. So hear me, chaff: though if you hear, you will not be chaff. Hear, then. Let God's patience profit you. Let the company and admonition of the grains make you grain. The rains of God's words are not lacking to you: let God's field not be barren in you. So grow green again, form grain, ripen. For he who sowed you wants to find ears, not thorns.