Commentary on Luke (Greek fragments) 6.13–6.39

“And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose twelve of them,” and so on (6:13). … [Having made his] prayer, our Lord Jesus Christ, having held converse ineffably and beyond understanding, as he alone knows, with the Father and God in heaven, [End of the first of the four volumes of the commentaries on the holy Gospel according to Luke, made by way of a collection by Nicetas, deacon of the great Church of God and teacher, of Serrae] and having set himself before us as the type of a saving thing—for he taught in what way we must make our prayers rightly and blamelessly—comes down from the mountain and appoints the teachers of the mysteries for the whole world. — For he said to them: “You are the light of the world.” This appointment of the holy apostles the blessed David also mentions, saying as to Christ: “You will make them rulers over all the earth; they will remember your name in every generation and generation.” For while they were in the body they remembered the glory of Christ, speaking his mystery to cities and countries; and since they have been called to the dwellings above, they speak to us of him no less even so, through the all-wise writings they have composed about him. The priests ordained according to the law of Moses, Aaron namely and those with him, were adorned visibly with sacred vestments; but the divine disciples, distinguished by spiritual gifts, were entrusted with the ministry of the evangelical decrees; for it was said to them: “Heal the sick, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, raise the dead.” And indeed, bearing the power of Christ, they amazed the whole world. But see the evangelist’s utmost sobriety: he does not say simply that the holy apostles were appointed, but rather that they were named, with the record of the former added to them, so that no one should dare to enrol himself in the choir of the chosen. For as Paul says: “No one takes the honour on himself, but the one called by God.” And indeed, though the holy apostles were called by name to this great and splendid dignity, some at various times came to such madness and rashness as to name themselves apostles of Christ and to seize an honour not allotted to them. Of these the divine disciples have made mention; for they say: “Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as angels of righteousness. And no wonder; for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. It is no great thing, then, if his servants also disguise themselves as angels of righteousness.” We know, then, and will receive no one except only those named in the Gospel writings, and the one appointed after them, the most wise Paul, to whom the Saviour himself bore witness, saying: “For this man is a vessel of election to me, to carry my name before all the nations.” — [Look for the words on the choice of the twelve apostles in chapter 70 of the Gospel according to Matthew, and about the middle of the seventh chapter of the present evangelist, where Christ took the book of the prophet Isaiah and read. For you will find there a wonderful interpretation by the holy Cyril, which he gives on “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”; and likewise in chapter 39 of this same evangelist. One should know too that the number of the apostles is fixed after the type of the twelve oxen that carried the sea made by Solomon; for they carried it three by three from four sides: the herald of the holy Trinity and its sending out through the four Gospels to the four ends of the earth. For through that sea is also figured the spiritual sea of baptism, which cleanses the world from sins, made by the spiritual Solomon.] — These the law prefigured, and the prophets proclaimed them beforehand. It is written, then, in a book of Moses: “And you shall take fine flour and make of it twelve loaves; and you shall set them in two rows on the pure table before the Lord; and you shall put on the row frankincense and salt; and they shall be for loaves, set forth for a memorial before the Lord.” For who else would be the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world but Christ the Saviour of all? And in imitation of him the blessed disciples too have been called loaves; for having become partakers of him who nourishes us to eternal life, they too nourish, through their own writings, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And just as the Saviour, being the true light, named the disciples light too—“For you are the light of the world”—so, being himself the bread of life, he granted his disciples to be understood in the rank of the loaves. And see, I pray, the skill of the law. “You shall put,” it says, “frankincense and salt on the loaves.” Frankincense is a symbol of fragrance, and salt of understanding and good sense; and both were present to the highest degree in the holy apostles. For their life was fragrant; and indeed they said, “We are the fragrance of Christ to God.” And besides this they were most understanding. I hear the prophet David too singing and saying of them: “There is Benjamin in ecstasy; the rulers of Judah their leaders, the rulers of Zebulun, the rulers of Naphtali.” For the blessed disciples were chosen from almost every tribe of Israel, and they were lights of the world, holding fast the word of life. And here is the wonder: the wise men of the Greeks have a brilliant eloquence and speak very beautifully; but the disciples of our Saviour were craftsmen, seafarers and fishermen, without boastful words, without a store of approved diction; unskilled in speech, but rich in knowledge. And the writings of the Greeks and their boastful diction have fallen silent, but the power of the evangelical proclamations prevails over the world under heaven. Of these God makes mention also through the voice of Jeremiah, speaking of the enemy of all, I mean Satan: “Woe to him who multiplies for himself what is not his, and makes his collar heavy and strong;

for suddenly those who bite him will rise up, and those who plot against you will awake, and you will be plunder for them.” Satan gathered all people on earth, who were not his, and made them his own worshippers, making his collar heavy on them; but those who plunder his goods have awoken; for the net of the apostles’ teaching of the mysteries caught all who had gone astray, and they brought the world under heaven to God. “He stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people” (6:17). See, I pray, the manner of the appointment. The most wise evangelist himself says that it was not done in a corner and secretly, but rather when many disciples had gathered, and a great crowd from all the country of the Jews and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon. These were idolaters, or rather limping on both hams, partly honouring the customs of the Jews but not wholly departed from the faults of idolatry. The appointment, then, was made with all these present, and they were established as teachers of the mysteries for the whole world under heaven; which indeed they did, calling the Jews from the worship of the law, and the servants of the demons from Greek error, to the knowledge of the truth. Having appointed the holy apostles, he worked very many admirable signs, rebuking demons, freeing those who came to him from incurable sicknesses, and showing his power to be most befitting God; so that those who had flocked to him, both Jews and those from the land of the Greeks, might know that the apostles had been honoured with the dignity of apostleship by Christ, and not by one who was a common man like us, but rather by God, the Word made man and keeping his own glory. “For power went out from him and healed them all.” — Christ did not borrow strength from another; but being himself God by nature, even though he became flesh, he sent out power upon the sick and healed them all. — [If you wish also to learn the interpretation of the apostles’ names, know that Peter is interpreted “one who looses” or “one who has recognized”; Andrew, “comely power” or “one who answers”; James, “supplanter of toil”; John, “grace of the Lord”; Matthew, “one given”; Philip, “mouth of hands” or “mouth of a lamp”; Bartholomew, “son who suspends waters”; Thomas, “abyss” or “twin”; James of Alphaeus, “supplanting of the walk of life”; Judas, “confession”; and Simon, “obedience.”] “Blessed are the poor” (6:20).

… then, of the evangelical life, the Saviour says these things, regulating his disciples after their appointment. But it is necessary to see what kind of poor he meant. In Matthew he says that the poor in spirit will be blessed and that theirs is the kingdom of heaven, so that we may understand the poor in spirit as the man of modest mind, with a mind as it were drawn in; such a man is to be emulated and is known to God. And indeed he said through one of the holy prophets: “On whom shall I look, but on the humble and quiet one who trembles at my words?” And the prophet David said: “A broken and humbled heart God will not despise.” And the Saviour himself: “Learn from me,” he says, “for I am meek and humble in heart.” But in the reading before us he says that the poor will be blessed, without the addition “in spirit.” The evangelists speak so not contradicting one another, but often dividing the narratives between them: sometimes they go through the same heads, and sometimes what one has left out another puts into his own writing, so that nothing necessary for their benefit may escape those who believe in Christ. Here, then, he seems to call poor those who are above love of gain and have a character free from love of money. And indeed the most wise Paul shows himself a teacher of the best lessons for us, saying: “Let your character be free from love of money, content with what you have.” And he added to this: “Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” For they had, they had to have a mind free from love of wealth and a desire at leisure for better things, since they were to announce the saving and evangelical proclamation. The saying does not touch all who are in prosperity, but only those who have set their longing on money. And who are these? Those [who disregard] “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,” and so on.

“Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled” (6:21). Yet again in Matthew he says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled”; but here he says simply that those who hunger will be blessed. We say, then, that to hunger and thirst for righteousness is great and excellent, that is, to love to lay hold of the pursuits of godliness as of food and drink; for this is what righteousness signifies. But since the meaning here must be shown to follow the interpretations just given, we say again: the Saviour called blessed those who love voluntary poverty for the sake of running the apostolic course well and without distraction. For when they hear the Lord’s voice saying, “Do not have gold or silver in your belts, nor two tunics,” it follows altogether that they must endure very great hardship and barely have enough food; and this is burdensome for those in poverty and persecutions. For this reason, and most fittingly, he who knows hearts does not let them lose heart at what comes from poverty. For those who now hunger for the sake of godliness toward him, he says, will be filled, that is, they will delight in the good things that will be given—spiritual, that is, and of the mind. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” He calls those who weep blessed and says that they will laugh. By weeping we do not mean simply shedding tears from the eyes; for this is common and happens to all, believers and unbelievers alike, if something of the kind that usually grieves us occurs; but rather those who flee the cheerful and fleeting life spent in fleshly luxuries. For those, we say, are in enjoyment and laughter; but those who refuse luxury and fleshly relaxation, and all but weep through hating what is in the world, the Saviour says are blessed. So, having commanded them to be poor, he crowns with honours also what follows from poverty: that is, the lack of what serves for luxury, and dejection because of affliction. For it is written that many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of them all the Lord will deliver them.

“Blessed are you when men hate you,” and so on (6:22). The Lord announced the persecution even before the apostles were sent out; the Gospel anticipated the outcome. For those who announced the evangelical proclamation—drawing the Jews away from the worship of the law so that they might know the way of the good life of the Gospel, and netting the idolaters for the knowledge of the truth—were bound to run up against many godless and unholy men; for these stir up wars and persecutions against those who proclaim Jesus, persecuting godliness. So that, when the time came at which these things were to be done by some, they might not fall into senseless despondency, he usefully foretells that even the assault of gloomy things will bring them reward and benefit. “For they will revile you,” he says, as deceivers and impostors; “they will exclude you” from themselves, that is, from friendship and fellowship with them. “But let no account be taken of such things among you,” he says; for how will the disorder of their tongue harm a mind that stands firm? For those who know how to live the life of wisdom piously, he says that endurance in these things will not be fruitless, but will procure the highest cheer. And besides, he usefully shows that nothing strange will happen to them in suffering these things; rather they will be like those who before them carried the divine words from above to those of Israel and were persecuted, sawn in two, died by the sword, and endured insults unjustly brought upon them. So he gives them to understand that they will be partners of those whose imitators they become; and they will not lack the prophets’ crowns, having walked the road those trod.

“Woe to you who are rich” (6:24). Having first proclaimed that poverty for God’s sake is the cause of every good, and having said that hungering and weeping will not be without reward for the saints, he turns the discourse to their opposites and shows that these bring about punishment and penalty; so that by the desire for crowns and the longing for blessedness they may be drawn to toil and persuaded to choose poverty for God’s sake, while by fear of the punishment hanging over them they may flee being rich and living in luxury and laughter, that is, in worldly delights. And he says that the former will be heirs of the kingdom of heaven, and the latter will fall into the worst calamities: “For you have received your consolation,” he says. One can see this, as in a well-painted picture, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: “For you received your good things in your life,” he says to the rich man, “and Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.” But come, let us exercise ourselves on this point. If anyone is rich in the world, has he altogether fallen from the hope of receiving mercy from God? We do not say that, but rather this: the rich man could have had pity on Lazarus, so as to become a sharer in his consolation. And indeed the Saviour showed those who have earthly wealth a way of salvation, saying: “Make friends for yourselves by means of the unrighteous mammon, so that they may receive you into their own dwellings.”

“Love your enemies” (6:27). … the blessed Paul, that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”; for all things have become new in him and through him: covenant, law and way of life. See how very fitting such a way of life is for the holy teachers of the mysteries, who were to announce the saving proclamation to those everywhere on earth. One could expect from this that those who would persecute them and plot against them in many ways would be countless; and if it had happened that the disciples were vexed by such griefs and then wished to retaliate against those who had grieved them, they would have fallen silent and passed them by, no longer setting the divine proclamation before them, no longer calling them to the knowledge of the truth. It was necessary, then, to rein in the mind of the holy teachers of the mysteries by such august forbearance, so that they might bear nobly all that befell them, even if some insulted them, even if they plotted against them impiously. And he himself did this first, before the others, as a pattern for us; for while still hanging on the precious cross, though the multitude of the Jews was mocking him, he made supplications to God the Father for them, saying: “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Yes, and the blessed Stephen too, though struck with stones, knelt down and prayed, saying: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And the divine Paul says: “When reviled, we bless; when slandered, we entreat.” Such exhortation, then, was necessary for the holy apostles, and most useful for us too, for living rightly and admirably; for it is full of all wisdom. But prejudices that are not good make it hard to achieve in our minds, and so does the hard-to-fight tyranny of the passions in us. Therefore, knowing that the natural man does not receive these things, but thinks the words of the Spirit foolishness and impossible to achieve, he distinguishes such people from those able to hear: “I say to you who hear,” he says—and who readily choose to do what is said. For approved spiritual courage appears in temptations and toils. Imitate Christ, then, in these things, “who when reviled did not revile in return, when suffering did not threaten, but entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” But perhaps you will say to yourself: “Christ was God, but I am a weak man, with a weak mind, incapable of overcoming both greed and grief.” You will be right; for the human mind slips easily into sin. Yet I say this: the Lord has not left you bare of his care and love; you have him in yourself, that is, within, through the Holy Spirit; for we are his house, and he dwells in the souls of those who love him. He himself braces you to bear bravely what befalls you and to stand up vigorously against the assaults of temptations. “Do not, then, be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” “To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also” (6:29).

The most wise Paul said that Christ is the end of the law and the prophets; for the law trains us as a tutor for his mystery. But, as the blessed Paul said again, now that faith has come we are no longer under a tutor; for we are no longer infants in mind, but have grown rather to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We needed, then, not milk but more solid food; this Christ grants us, revealing the way of the righteousness that goes beyond the law. For he himself said to the holy apostles: “Amen, I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Then it is necessary to say what the excess is in the righteousness according to … the evangelical and saving proclamation, I mean. The law given through Moses, laid down for the men of old, commanded that things go by equal measures; it forbade doing wrong, but did not rather command bearing with wrongs already done, which is what the law of the Gospel wills. “For you shall not murder,” it says, “you shall not steal, you shall not swear falsely.” And besides these: “Eye for eye, hand for hand, foot for foot, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” These belonged to one commanding not to wrong others, or at least, when wronged first, not to extend one’s anger against the wrongdoer beyond what is equal. But the force of the way of life under the law was not altogether pleasing to God; it was for the men of old in the rank of a tutor, accustoming them little by little to a proportionate righteousness and leading them up skilfully to what is perfectly good; for it is written: “The beginning of a good way is to do what is just.” But all perfection, then, is in Christ and his decrees: “For to him who strikes you on the cheek,” he says, “offer the other also.” In these words the way of forbearance to the utmost is shown us. He wishes us besides to despise money, so that even if a man had only a cloak he would not think it unbearable to lose his tunic along with it. And this is the virtue of a soul wholly turned away from the passion for wealth. “For do not demand back,” he says, “from him who takes away what is yours; but give to everyone who asks you”—which is proof of love and of love for the poor. And the merciful man must certainly also bear no grudge,

so as to do the deeds of friends even to enemies. “And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them likewise” (6:31). … it was likely that the holy apostles thought these things perhaps hard to achieve. He, then, who knows all things takes the law of self-love in us as umpire of what each would wish to obtain from another. “Be such toward others yourself,” he says, “as you would wish them to be toward you. If you wish them harsh and unsympathetic, rash and irritable, grudge-bearing and wicked, be such yourself too; but if the opposite, kind and forgiving, do not think it unbearable to be such.” And perhaps for those so disposed the law is superfluous, since God writes on our hearts the knowledge of his own will: “For in those days,” says the Lord, “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them on their heart.” “Be merciful, then” (6:36). Great is the boast of almsgiving. And indeed it is written: “A man is a great thing, and a merciful man precious.” For virtue forms us toward God, and works in our souls, as it were, certain imprints of the nature that is highest. “Judge not, and you will not be judged” (6:37).

He cuts away from our minds a most grievous passion, the beginning and origin of arrogance. For though some ought to examine themselves and live according to God, they do not do this, but busy themselves with the affairs of others; and if they see some who are weak, as though forgetting their own infirmities, they make the matter a subject for fault-finding and an occasion for slander; they condemn them, not knowing that, being sick with the same things as those they have accused, they condemn themselves. So the most wise Paul writes: “For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practise the very same things.” Yet one ought rather to pity the weak, as laid low by the assaults of the passions and inescapably caught in the snares of sin, and to pray for them, exhort them, rouse them to sobriety, and try not to fall into the same faults oneself. For he who judges his brother, as the disciple of Christ says, “speaks against the law and judges the law; there is one lawgiver and judge.” For the judge of the sinning soul must be above it; but you, who are not such, why do you judge your neighbour? The sinner will give account to the judge; but if you dare to condemn, though you have no authority to do so, you yourself will rather be condemned, since the law does not allow you to judge others. The man steered by understanding does not look at the sins of others, nor busy himself with what is bad in his neighbour, but gazes at his own evils. Such was the blessed Psalmist, falling before God and saying for his own sins: “If you mark iniquities, O Lord, Lord, who shall stand?” And again, putting forward the weakness of human nature, he asked for a reasonable pardon, saying: “Remember that we are dust.”

“Give, and it will be given to you” (6:38). He places his discourse on almsgiving as a neighbour, as it were, to the forbearance he has spoken of; for the thing is excellent, most pleasing to God, and most fitting for holy souls: “Be merciful,” he says, “as your Father is.” And that we shall receive the return with a richer hand from God, who distributes all things richly to those who love him, he himself has assured us, saying: “Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, will they put into your lap.” And the second seems somehow to conflict with the first; for if we are to receive a measure running over, how will it be measured back to us with the measure with which we measure? For this seems to indicate equality rather than abundance in the recompense to be given us. What, then, do we say? The most wise Paul will free us from the difficulty, supplying the solution to what is sought; for he said: “He who sows sparingly”—that is, moderately and with a tight hand—“will also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”; that is, … but if someone does not have, he has not sinned by not doing this; for he is acceptable according to what he has, not according to what he does not have. The law given through Moses also foreshadowed this; for each of those under the law brought to God for sacrifice according to his means and strength: some calves, others rams, or lambs, or turtledoves, or pigeons, or fine flour moistened with oil. Yet he who brought even this thing so small and easily obtained, because he had no calf, was equal to the other in intention.

“And he told them a parable” (6:39). He added this most necessary parable to what had been said. The blessed disciples were to be the teachers of the mysteries and instructors of the world under heaven; they had, then, to show themselves perfect in godliness above all, to know the way of the evangelical life, to be skilled in every good work, and to impart to those being taught the exact, saving word, polished to the truth—as men who had already recovered their sight and had their minds illumined by the divine light; so that they might not be blind guides of the blind. For those shut in the darkness of ignorance could not guide those sick with the same things to the knowledge of the truth; for if they wished to, both would roll into the pit of the passions. Then, removing the boastful passion of arrogance from the many, so that they might not strive to surpass the honour of their teachers, he added: “A disciple is not above his teacher.” Even if some should advance so far as to acquire virtue equal to their instructors, they will stand at the measure of their teachers and be their imitators; and Paul will again confirm it, saying: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” If, then, the teacher does not yet judge, why do you judge? For he did not come to judge the world but to show it mercy. — According to the former sense: “If I do not judge,” he says, “neither should you, the disciple; and if you are held by greater faults than those for which you judge another, how will you not be ashamed when you come to realize it?” The Lord set this forth through another parable, saying: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye?” (6:41).