Homilies on Acts 9.2–9.6

And see how he advances step by step. In the first address he quietly hinted at the resurrection and the session in heaven; here he hints also at the visible coming. “And that he may send the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive”: instead of, “it is necessary”; “until the times of the restoration of all things.” Why he does not come now, the reason is clear. “Of which God spoke,” he says, “by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. Moses said to the fathers, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me; you shall listen to him in everything he tells you.” There he mentioned David, here Moses. “All the things,” he says, “which God spoke.” He does not say, “which Christ said,” but “which God spoke,” still drawing them gently to faith by keeping things in shadow. Then he takes refuge in what commands belief, saying, “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me; you shall listen to him in everything.” Then the punishment too is great. “And it shall be,” he says, “that every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from the people. And all the prophets from Samuel and those after him, as many as spoke, also announced these days.” Here he rightly set down the destruction. For whenever he says something great, he takes refuge in the earliest men. And he found a testimony that holds both, just as there he said, “until he puts the enemies under his feet.” For the wonderful thing is that the two are together: both the submission and the disobedience, and the punishment. “Like me,” he says. Why then are you afraid? “You are the sons of the prophets.” So it was to you that they spoke, and for your sake that everything happened. For since they thought that because of their crime they had become estranged (for it made no sense that the same one should at one moment be crucified by them and at another care for them as his own), he shows that both the one and the other came about according to prophecy. “You are,” he says, “the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, And in your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed. To you first,” he says, “God, having raised up his servant, sent him.” So to others too; but to you first, who crucified him. “Blessing you, in turning each of you from your wicked deeds.”

But let us look more exactly at what was read, from the beginning. For the time being he establishes that they did not work the miracle themselves, by saying, “Why do you wonder?” And he does not allow what is said to be disbelieved. And to make it more credible, he anticipates their judgment: “Why do you stare at us,” he says, “as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” If this troubles and disturbs you, learn who it is that did it, and do not be astonished. And see how everywhere, when he takes refuge in God and says that everything comes from him, he then rebukes them without fear. That is why above too he said, “A man attested to you by God.” And everywhere he reminds them of their crime, so that both the miracle may be shown and the resurrection confirmed. Here he has added something else too: he no longer says “Nazarene,” but what? “The God of our fathers,” he says, “glorified his servant Jesus.” See also the absence of pride. He did not accuse them, nor did he say at once, “And now believe: see, a man who was lame forty years has stood up in the name of Jesus Christ.” He did not speak so, for he would have made them more contentious; but for the time being he praises them because they wondered at what had happened. And again he calls on them from their forefather. And he does not say, “Jesus healed him,” though he himself did heal him; but so that they may not say, “And how does this make sense, if he glorifies the lawbreaker?” he reminds them of the judgment before Pilate, showing that, if they would only pay attention, he is not a lawbreaker; for Pilate would not have wished to release him. And he did not say “when he wished,” but “when he had decided to release him,” showing that the one who was giving life to others you did not want. And again, so that they may not say, “How does he now glorify the one he did not help then?” they bring forward the prophets testifying that it had to happen so. Then, so that they may not think that God’s dispensation is an excuse for them, he first lays hold of them. And to deny him to Pilate’s face, when he wished to release him, was no small thing; and that you cannot deny it, the man who was asked for in his place accuses you. So this too was a great dispensation. Here he shows their shamelessness and their recklessness: that the Greek, who saw him then for the first time only, released him, though he had heard nothing great, while they, who had grown up among the signs, did the opposite. And that he judged justly in deciding to release him, and was not doing it as a favor, hear him say elsewhere: “You have a custom that I release one man for you; do you want me, then, to release this man for you?” “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One.” Naturally; for so they also said, “We have no king but Caesar.” And he did not say, “You did not ask for the blameless one,” nor only, “you denied him,” but “you also killed him.” When they were hardened he said nothing of the kind; when their souls had been most shaken, then he strikes harder, when they could also feel it. For just as we say nothing to those who are drunk, but when they are sober and have come round from drunkenness, then we rebuke them, so too Peter, when they were able to understand what was said, then sharpened his tongue. He counts up many charges: that the one whom God glorified, these delivered up; that the one whom Pilate was releasing, these denied to his face; that they preferred the robber.

See again how covertly he speaks of his power, showing that he raised himself, just as in the former address he said, “Because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” And here, “You killed,” he says, “the Author of life.” So he did not have life from another. Just as the author of wickedness would be the one who gave birth to wickedness, and the author of murder the one who first brought murder in, so too the Author of life is the one who has life from himself. “Whom God raised,” he says. Since he had uttered this, he added: “And on the basis of faith in his name, his name has made strong this man whom you see and know; and the faith that is through him has given him this perfect health.” And yet, if it is faith in him that worked the whole, and the man believed in him, why did he not say “through the name” but “in the name”? Because they did not yet dare to say, “faith in him.” And so that “through him” might not sound lowly, he added, “And his name has made him strong.” And having said this first, he then says, “And the faith that is through him has given him this perfect health.” See how he shows that he said the other thing too in condescension. For one whose name raised up a lame man, who was no different from a corpse, would not have needed another for his own resurrection. Consider how everywhere he draws in their own testimony. For above he said, “as you yourselves know,” and, “in your midst”; and again, “whom you see and know,” “in the presence of you all.” Yet they did not know that it was in his name that the man stood whole; but this they did know, that he had been lame. And those who had done it themselves confessed that it was not by their own power but by Christ’s that he had been made strong. If this were not so, and if they were not truly convinced that he had risen, they would not have wished to establish the glory of a dead man rather than their own, and that while those people were looking at them. Then at once he comforted their frightened souls by calling them brothers, saying, “Brothers.” For there he said nothing about them, but spoke only about Christ, saying, “Let all the house of Israel know for certain”; but here he adds exhortation as well. There he waited for them to speak; here he knew how much the apostles had already achieved, and that these hearers were more favorably disposed. And yet what was said above was no matter of ignorance. For to ask for the robber, to refuse to let the one judged innocent be released, even to want to kill him: what sort of ignorance was that? But nonetheless he gives them room to deny it and to change their minds about what had been done; or rather he even puts together a plausible defense on their behalf, and says: That you were killing an innocent man, you knew; but that it was the Author of life, perhaps you did not know. And by this he clears of the charges not only them but also the master-builders of the evils. For truly he would have made them more contentious if he had turned his speech into an accusation. For one who has done something terrible, when someone accuses him, grows more vehement in trying to defend himself. And he no longer says, “You crucified, you murdered,” but “you acted,” leading them toward pardon. If those acted in ignorance, much more these; if those are forgiven, much more these. The wonderful thing is that, having said both above and here, there, “by the definite plan and foreknowledge,” and here, that God foretold the Christ to all, he nowhere brings forward a testimony, because each of them is spoken with many charges and with the punishment against them. “And I will give,” it says, “the wicked in return for his burial, and the rich in return for his death”; and again, “What he foretold,” he says, “by the mouth of all the prophets, that he should suffer, he thus fulfilled.” He shows that the plan was great, if indeed all of them said this, and not one only. Yet it is not because it happened in ignorance that it happened contrary to what pleased God. See how great is the wisdom of God, when it makes use of the wickedness of others for what is needed. “He fulfilled,” he says. So that they might not think that something was still left over, he added this, showing that whatever he had to suffer he has fulfilled. But do not think that, because the prophets said this and because you acted in ignorance, this is enough for your defense. Yet he does not say it so, but more gently: “Repent therefore.” Why? “So that your sins may be blotted out.” I do not mean what was dared at the cross; perhaps that was done in ignorance; but so that your other sins may be blotted out. Then he adds, “so that times of refreshing may come to you.” Here he speaks dimly of the resurrection. For truly those are times of refreshing, which Paul too longed for, saying, “And we who are in this tent groan, being burdened.” Then, showing that he himself is the cause of the times of refreshing, “And that he may send,” he says, “Jesus Christ, appointed for you.” He did not say, “so that your sin may be blotted out,” but “your sins,” hinting at that one too. “That he may send.” Having said this, he does not go on to say from where, but only adds, “whom heaven must receive.” “Must receive”: still in the future. And why did he not say, “whom heaven received”? He said it as speaking of times long ago: thus, he says, it has been ordered, thus it has been arranged. But about his eternal existence he says nothing yet; he still dwells on the language of the dispensation, and says, “For Moses said to the fathers, The Lord will raise up for you a prophet.” Then, having said above, “until the times of the restoration of all things, which God spoke by the mouth of all his holy prophets from of old,” he now brings in Christ himself. For if the prophets foretold many things, but it is he to whom one must listen, no one would go wrong in saying that the prophets said these things.

Besides, he wishes to show that the prophets too foretold the same things. And if anyone examines it closely, he will find them spoken in the Old Testament as well, dimly, but spoken; so that there is nothing new. “Appointed beforehand,” he says. Here he also frightens them, as though much were still to come. How then did he say, “He fulfilled what he had to suffer”? He said “he fulfilled,” not “it was fulfilled,” showing that what he had to suffer he has fulfilled, but what still remains to happen, not yet. “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me.” He says what would most win them over. Do you see how he sows lowly and lofty things side by side? For it is both lowly and lofty, if the one who is to go up into heaven is like Moses; but for the time being it was a great thing. For “and everyone who does not listen shall be utterly destroyed” is not said of one like Moses. And he said countless other things that show he is not like Moses, so that he took hold of a great testimony. “God will raise him up,” he says, “from among your brothers.” So Moses himself threatened those who do not listen. All these things draw them on. “And all the prophets,” he says, “from Samuel.” He did not want to go through them one by one, so as not to make his speech long; but timely mention … “You are,” he says, “the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made.” “Sons of the covenant,” he says, that is, heirs. For so that they might not think they were receiving these things as a favor from Peter, he shows that they had been owed to them from of old, so that they might the more believe that this is also God’s pleasure. “To you first,” he says, “God, having raised up his servant, sent him.” He did not say simply, “He sent his servant to you,” but also after the resurrection, and when he had been crucified. For so that they might not think that Jesus himself was granting these things but the Father was not, he added, “blessing you.” For if he is your brother and blesses you, the thing is a promise; that is, you are so far from having no share in these things that he wishes you to become their cause and leaders for others too. So do not feel like men cast off or thrown away. “In turning,” he says, “each of you from your wicked deeds.” This is how he blesses you, and not in a general way. And what sort of blessing is this? A great one. For turning a man from his wicked deeds is not in itself enough even to loose them; and if it was not enough even to loose them, how could it bestow a blessing? For the one who has done wrong is not straightaway blessed as well; he is only released from his sins. And “like me,” unless one takes it of the manner of the lawgiving, would make no sense anywhere else. “You shall listen to him,” he says; and not simply that, but “every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from the people.” When he had shown them that they had sinned, and had given them pardon and promised good things, then at last he shows that Moses too says the same. And what sort of sequence is this, to say, “until the times of the restoration,” and to bring in Moses saying that they will listen to everything Christ says, and that not simply, but with a fearful threat? A great one: for he shows that for this reason too they ought to obey him. What is “sons of the prophets and of the covenant”? Heirs, successors. If then you are sons, why do you feel toward what is yours as though it were someone else’s? So you did deeds that deserve accusation; still you will be able to obtain pardon. Then, having said this, he now naturally says, “To you God sent his servant, blessing you.” He did not say “saving,” but what is greater, “blessing,” showing that the one who was crucified blesses those who crucified him.

Let us, then, imitate him too. Let us cast out a murderous and hostile spirit. It is not enough not to retaliate (that was done in the Old Testament too), but let us do everything on behalf of those who have wronged us as for true friends, as for ourselves. We are his imitators, his disciples, who after being crucified set everything in motion on behalf of those who crucified him, and sent out the apostles. And yet we often suffer justly; but he suffered not only unjustly but impiously; for they crucified the benefactor who had done no wrong. Why? For the sake of glory, tell me? And yet he himself made them respected. How? “The scribes and the Pharisees,” he says, “sit on the seat of Moses; so do whatever they tell you to do, but do not act according to their works.” And again elsewhere, “Go, show yourself to the priest.” And though he could … them, … let no one be anyone’s enemy, no one hostile, except to the devil alone.

Not swearing contributes not a little toward this, and so does not being angry. By not being angry we shall not have an enemy either. Cut off a man’s oaths, and you have clipped the wings of his anger and quenched all his wrath. For the oath is like a wind to anger. Lower the sails: there is no use for a sail when there is no wind. If, then, we do not shout and do not swear, we have cut the sinews of wrath. If you do not believe it, put the matter to the test, and then you will know that it is so. Set a law for the angry man never to swear, and you will not need to talk to him about gentleness. So the whole thing is accomplished: you will neither swear falsely nor swear at all. Do you not know into how many absurdities you throw yourselves by this? You bind yourselves with a binding constraint, and strive by every device to drag your soul out of what seems an inescapable evil; then, when you cannot, you live from then on in pain and quarrels and curse your anger; but it all happens idly and in vain. So threaten, lay down your terms, do everything without an oath. It is possible to undo both what has been said and what has been done, if you wish. So today I must speak to you more gently. For since you have listened, the greater part has been achieved by you. Come, then, let us say for what reason the oath came in, and why it was permitted to exist. By describing its origin from the beginning, when it was born and how and from whom, we will repay you with the account for your obedience. For one who has put the thing right should also be taught its philosophy; but one who has not yet done so is not worthy even to hear the account. Abraham and those of his time made many covenants, and slaughtered victims and offered sacrifices, and there was not yet an oath. Where, then, did the oath come in from? When evils increased, when everything was turned upside down, when they turned aside to idolatry: then, then, when they were seen to be untrustworthy, they called God as witness, as though giving a surety worthy of what was said. For this is what an oath is: a surety where characters are distrusted. So this is the first charge … of a great surety; for because of their great distrust they seek not a man as surety but God. Second, the same accusation lies against the one who takes the oath, if in a matter of an agreement … surety, and he says he will not give way unless he gets that one. O excessive insensibility! O insolence! You, a worm and earth and ashes and smoke, drag your Master in as surety, and compel the other man to take him! Tell me, if your servants were quarreling with one another and were distrusted, and a fellow servant said he would not give way until he got their common master as surety, would he not get countless blows, and learn that the master is to be used for other things, not for these? Why do I say a fellow servant? If he had chosen a more respected man, would that man not think the thing an insult? “But I do not want it,” he says. Good; then do not compel that other man either; since even among men this happens: if he says, “I give so-and-so as surety,” you do not put up with it. “What then,” he says, “am I to lose what was given?” I do not say that, but that you put up with insulting God. That is why the one who compels another to swear has a punishment even less to be avoided than the one who swears; and likewise the one who swears when no one asks. And what is worse, each one swears for a single obol, for a small gain, for injustice. And these things are so when there is no perjury; but if perjury follows, both the one who took and the one who gave the oath have turned everything upside down. “But some things are unknown,” he says. Then foresee them and do nothing carelessly; and if you act carelessly, exact the penalty of the loss from yourself. It is better to be penalized this way than the other. For tell me, you drag the man to an oath expecting what? That he will perjure himself? But this is the height of folly; for the punishment will turn on your own head. Better that you lose the money than that he be lost. Why do you do this to your own loss and to the insult of God? This is the soul of a beast and of an impious man. “But I expect that he will not perjure himself.” Then trust him without an oath as well. “But there are many,” he says, “who would choose to defraud without an oath, but after an oath, no longer.” You deceive yourself, man. A man who has learned to steal and wrong his neighbor would often choose to trample on an oath as well; and if he had scruples about swearing, much more about doing wrong. “But he undergoes it unwillingly?” Then he deserves pardon. But why do I speak of these oaths, leaving aside those in the marketplace? For there you have nothing of the kind to say. Oaths are taken for ten obols; and because not everything is overturned, you stand holding God fast. For what? To get vegetables, to get shoes, calling him to witness for a little silver. Let us not think that because we are not punished we do not sin either; this comes from God’s love for humankind, not from our virtue. Swear by your child, swear by yourself; say, “Else may the executioner stand over my ribs.” But you are afraid. Is God, then, less honorable than your ribs? Cheaper than your head? Say, “Else may I be maimed.” But Christ so spares us that he forbids swearing even by one’s own head, while we so little spare the glory of God that we drag him in everywhere. You do not know what God is, and with what sort of mouths he ought to be called on. If we speak of some virtuous man, we say, “Wash out your mouth, and then mention him”; but the precious name, the name above every name, wonderful in all the earth, which demons hear and shudder at, we drag about idly.

O the force of habit! It is from this that the name has become contemptible. Certainly, if you lay on someone the necessity of swearing in a holy house, you feel as though you had made the oath a fearful thing. And yet why does it seem so fearful there, except that we have used the one carelessly but not the other? Ought there not to be a shudder when God is named? Among the Jews his name was so revered that it was written on plates, and no one was allowed to wear the letters except the high priest alone; but now we carry his name about like any chance thing. If it is not reverent to name God idly, how great a daring is it to call him to witness as well? Tell me, how great a madness? For if you had to throw away everything, ought you not to let it go readily? See, I tell you and solemnly charge you: put right these oaths in the marketplace, and bring to me all who will not obey. See, in your presence I charge those appointed to the service of the houses of prayer, and I exhort and command them, that no one be allowed to swear idly, or rather not in any other way either. Let whoever it is be brought to me, since even these things must come up to us, as with little children. Heaven forbid! For it is a shame still to need to learn about some things. Do you not dare to touch the holy table when you are uninitiated? But what is still worse, you who have been initiated dare to touch the holy table, which not even all priests may touch, and so to swear. You would not go and touch your child’s head, but you touch the table, and do not shudder or fear? Bring such people to me; I will judge, and send both away rejoicing. Do what you wish: I lay down a law not to swear at all. What hope of salvation is there, when we make everything empty in this way? Is it for this that there are documents, for this that there are contracts, that you may sacrifice your own soul? … You have destroyed both him and yourself. “But he did not perjure himself?” Even so you have destroyed him, by compelling him to transgress the commandment. Let us drive this disease out of the soul; for the time being let us chase it from the marketplace, from the general stores, from the other workshops; our income will be greater. Do not think that the affairs of life are set right through transgressions of the divine laws. “But he does not believe me,” he says. For I have heard this too from some: “Unless I swear countless oaths, he does not believe me.” You are the cause of this, you who swear so readily; for if this were not so, but it were clear to all that you do not swear, believe me when I tell you that you would be believed with a nod alone more than those who devour countless oaths. Look, tell me, whom do you believe more, me who do not swear, or those who swear? “But you,” he says, “are a ruler and a bishop.” What then, if I show that it is not only this? Answer me truthfully, I beg you: if I swore continually and all the time, would my office have stood me in good stead? Not at all. Do you see that it is not because of this? And what do you gain at all? Tell me. Paul went hungry: you too, choose to go hungry rather than transgress one of God’s commandments. Why are you so faithless? You choose to do and suffer everything so as not to swear, and will he not repay you? He feeds perjurers and constant swearers every day, and will he hand you over to famine because you listened to him? Let all see that among those who gather in this church there is no one who swears. And let us become known by this, not by our faith alone, and let us have this as a mark that sets us apart from the Greeks and from all men. Let us receive a seal from heaven, so that we may appear everywhere as a royal flock. Let us for the time being be recognized by our mouth and tongue, as the barbarians are, as the Greeks … For tell me, the birds called parrots, how are they recognized? Is it not by speaking like a human being? Let us too, then, be recognized by speaking like the apostles, by speaking like the angels. If someone says, “Swear,” let him hear, “Christ has commanded it, and I do not swear.” This is enough to bring in all virtue. It is a door of godliness, a road leading to the philosophy of reverence, a kind of training ground. Let us keep these things, so that we may obtain both the present and the future good things, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, might, and honor, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.