Homilies 1–5

For in the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus, in the month of December, on the twenty-fifth, on the sixth day [of the week], at the seventh hour of the day, our Lord Jesus Christ was born according to the flesh from the holy Virgin Mary, in the year … of the Antiochenes. From the creation of the world to the birth and crucifixion of Christ … [years] are reckoned: from Adam to Phalec, son of Eber, … years; and from Phalec to the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus, … years; and for the rest, the Saviour lived among human beings thirty-three years, so that from Adam to the birth and crucifixion of Christ there are … full years. For Phalec, according to the prophecy of Moses, is said to mark the half of the time until the appearing of Christ. … [as] God [fashioned Adam on the sixth day], and he fell from it into sin, so also on the sixth day of the thousand [-year days] he came upon the earth and saved him. For this is what the divine Scripture shows when it says, “A day of the Lord is as a thousand years.” These things Clement, Theophilus and Timothy, the most God-loving chronographers, set out, agreeing that the Lord appeared in the sixth thousand of years, according to the number of the six days of the fashioning of Adam, delivering the human race. Others say that the Lord came in the year 5500. But not many agree on this; yet in [this] year all the accurate writers agree that the Lord appeared. For even if some disagree about it, the prophetic voice speaks the truth, teaching rather that the Lord appeared in the sixth [thousand] …

Of the holy Hesychius, on the third hour and the sixth. Why does Mark say the third hour [a displaced line of the scan reads here: “… and he was stung by his wife's dream: ‘… with this man,’ and so on”] for his crucifixion, while John [says the sixth]? [Mark gives] the hour of the sentence of the cross; for judges are said to punish from the moment they pronounce the sentence, because the power of punishment and of death lies in their tongues. For this reason Mark says that he was crucified at the third hour, the hour at which Pilate pronounced the sentence. John, since Mark had stated the time of the sentence, himself expressed the hour at which they nailed Jesus to the cross. For we must consider how much [took place] between the sentence about the cross issued by Pilate and the very hour at which the Lord was raised on the cross. After Pilate released Barabbas, he had Jesus scourged — for John wrote these things — and handed him over to be crucified. After this, “The soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on him,” and they carried out the rest, mocking him. Further, Pilate brought him out crowned with the thorns and wearing the purple robe, and said, “Behold the man.” It is added also that the Jews cried out, “Crucify, crucify him,” and that, when the Jews answered, “We have a law,” and so on, Pilate went in again and made another examination of Jesus, after which he even wished to release him; and all that follows, until on the Pavement he again holds another hearing about him. All these things were enough to use up the time from the third hour to the sixth. John, having set them out as one who had followed all of them closely, necessarily mentioned the sixth hour, at which also “he handed him over to them” at last “to be crucified,” no longer to be scourged; for he had already been scourged when Pilate handed him over by the sentence to be crucified, but now he ordered this to be done in the deed itself. That is why he mentions nothing else done after this, only the leading away to the cross. But if someone says, “And why, having once pronounced sentence, did he wish to release him again?” — first, he gave the sentence forced by the crowd; then, as Matthew says, [his wife] sent word, “Have nothing to do with that [righteous man]” …

[…] the saints, Mary the Mother of God. Every memorial of the righteous is worthy of all praise, and every festival of those dear to God is glorious: all of them excelled for the sake of godliness, all accepted toils for the true confession, all for the crowns of truth rejoiced in rapture amid dangers. But the present day of the feast is glorious beyond them. For it holds the festival of a Virgin who so far surpassed all women that she received God the Word himself, who willed to be contained by her without being confined. To her, before all, Gabriel, the first of the archangels, cried aloud, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. For behold, [you will conceive] in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel.” At once the good tidings from Gabriel were for her the beginning of joy. For since the first virgin had been shut in by the griefs of the sentence upon the transgression, and from her went up multitudes of groans, and every woman because of her was in pain, and every childbirth because of her in bitterness, the second virgin, through the greeting, drove away all the affliction of womankind, stopped every spring of grief in childbearing, scattered the cloud of despondency over women's bearing of children, and made the lights of joy shine around those of her sex. Hearing from Gabriel, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you,” she did not receive the greeting quietly; but hearing such a voice, and seeing the archangel Gabriel in the house unexpectedly, and shaken in her thoughts by the word about childbirth, she put to the archangel, as is likely, some such words as these: “All that I see in you today is strange and unheard of. How did you dare so boldly to come to a virgin not betrothed, and to utter the proclamation of unbelievable words? For you told me [of a child] without marriage. You say to bear a child without seed, to conceive without [a husband], without intercourse and union with a man … the place of the womb. Who has seen, who has heard of a field, untilled before, blossoming with an ear of grain, or of unplanted land sprouting a cluster, wine without a vine, or a river flowing forth without a spring? A thing that no one in the first ages either heard with his ears or saw happen with his eyes. Shall I believe you, when you mock me?” [Gabriel answers:] “I learned, and I said what I heard; I say: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the one to be born [of you] will be called Son of God’ — as being … of all creation, as Creator and Maker of all things, as Father of the ages, as Begetter of the world, as maker of the universe, as older than the heavens, as creator of the angels, as fashioner of humankind, as Saviour of the perishing. More than this I am not able to announce. For I was not commanded to tell the how, O Virgin, but to serve the matter of the good tidings to you. Marvel, then, with me at the mystery, and receive the good news without doubting.” And she says, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Let us too, then, be taught by the archangelic words of Gabriel about the Lord's birth, and walk behind him in his paths. As he did, let us reverence the power of the birth without prying. Let us be taught godliness by the magi, or rather be instructed by them. Seeking the infant, with the star leading the way, they did not say to those they questioned: “How is the conception divine? How is the womb without seed? How is the birth incorrupt? How is the mother still among virgins after the birth? How is the pre-existent one subject to years? How is he who is before the ages in time? How did the nature of the womb contain the uncontainable? How did he become flesh?” — not “How did God the Word, emptying himself in the virginal womb, the bodiless one, taking the form of a slave, ineffably take flesh from her? How is the infant perfect? How does he who nourishes suck? How is he who encompasses all held in arms? How is the Father of the age to come an infant? How is he who is above also below? How is he on earth? How is the charioteer of the cherubic chariots in swaddling clothes? How is he who is in the bosom of the Father in a manger? How does he who leads out those bound [lie] bound in swaddling bands?” — it is awesome to speak of. But, entering the cave, after their question they passed over all these things in silence, and, bringing with their gifts the reverence fitting for the King and God, returned with joy to the land that had sent them, shown to the nations as the firstfruits of the knowledge of God. The nations followed their zeal; but the Jews, unbending, or rather stiff-necked, did not hasten to imitate those guided from afar by a star, so as to recognize the Sun of righteousness who appeared in their own places.

But I, beloved, seeing your eagerness to hear the divine oracles and your affection for those who expound them, overcome by your love of listening, rise up to the desire of teaching, delighting in the applause of your love. For you, as learned disciples, continually applaud the speakers; you, as passengers, steer the helmsman; you hold the rudder of the tongue by your prayers. Who can tell your zeal? … Who will be able to declare [their] hostile boldness? For truly abominable, with the rest, are the Jews, … who [have done] nothing but innocent murders, … throwing the prophets into pits, dragging [the righteous] along the ground, … stoning the righteous, … the heralds of godliness, cutting off parts of hands and feet, piercing them, and [cutting] the [bodies] of the godly with saws, holding in bloodstained hands the instruments of vengeance, … reddening their blades with the continual slaughter of the righteous. To such most impious daring have they driven against our Saviour that they shamelessly cry out against him in the present [reading], “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” O the deeds of the reckless! O hatred …! For as often as I wish to … their loathsomeness, so often they come forward, either accused by the words of the prophets, or put to shame by the syllables of the law, or plainly convicted by the books of the venerated Gospels, as though the divine pages had brought a new suspicion against them, putting forth shameless words about the Master of all, and saying, as you have heard, “But as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” O the open shamelessness! O the unveiled loquacity of robbers! O the blind contradiction of words! For when Herod inquired of them, “Where is the Christ to be born?” they said quite openly, “In Bethlehem of Judea”; they pointed to the calling of the prophecy and brought forward the witness; and [they said,] “A great prophet has arisen in Israel”; and now, with face veiled, they have cried out, “God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” Truly “they did not know or understand; they walk about in darkness.” Truly this is “a foolish people and not wise.” Fittingly Christ cried out to them, “We piped to you, and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not beat your breasts.” Who will array himself against their ungrateful judgment, set so against him? Who then will refute their contentious hostility? So many wonders did Christ pour out upon them: [strengthening] the paralysed in their sinews, cleansing the lepers, healing the sick, curing the demon-possessed, opening the eyelids of the blind, raising their dead from the tombs, changing water into wine, and providing countless other things which it is laborious to tell; and of faith among them there was none anywhere, not even a little. Grant that you are not persuaded by us, O Jew: read your own sacred teachers, unroll the pages that lie with you; [we do not ask you] to reverence Peter or Paul or the evangelists. Hear at least Moses. What did he write beforehand in the law? “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from your brothers, like me; you shall hear him.” See what Isaiah [says]: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb and bear [a son], and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” Hear Jeremiah crying aloud: “This is our God; no other shall be reckoned beside him,” and, he says, “after this he appeared on earth and lived among human beings.” See again what Zechariah signified: “Behold a man, his name is Dawn,” and “[the sun] of righteousness, and healing in his wings,” prophesying [of him]. And the woman with the flow of blood confirmed the word, healed after many years by touching the fringe … Read Ezekiel: “This is the gate of the Lord; the Lord will enter by it and go out, and the gate will be shut.” And Daniel says, “I was watching, and behold, on the clouds of heaven one like a son of man coming.” Stand beside Jacob and learn among the blessings: “A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he comes for whom it is laid up, and he is the expectation of the nations.” Take up the lyre of the Spirit and see what David precisely sang: “‘Mother Zion,’ a man will say, and a man was born in her, and the Most High himself founded her.” For the mother is a virgin, and [her] nature [remained,] keeping [her] unshaken. Again see what David says: “[In his days shall spring up] righteousness,” and next, “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the world.” Did any of our teachers announce these things beforehand? Did any of the Saviour's disciples write such things on tablets or papyrus? Did not those who proclaimed beforehand about him, the children of the circumcision, trumpet these things? Did not the descendants of Abraham proclaim them? If you will not believe these, be ashamed before the demons, crying out and saying, “What have we to do with you, Son of the living God?” Respect the confession about Christ the Master made by angels and humans and demons and the whole creation together. And if you refuse even these, accept the Father's witness about him, thundering from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” To him be glory to the ages of ages.

Of the same, on the same [feast]. Every grateful tongue fittingly greets the Virgin and Mother of God, and imitates, as far as it can, Gabriel the ruler of the angels. He says to her, “Hail”; another cries out beforehand, “The Lord is from you,” because of the Lord who was born from her and appeared to the human race, even with flesh. This one names her Mother of light; that one, Star of life; another calls her Throne of God; another, a Temple greater than heaven; another, a Seat not lower than the seat of the cherubim; another again, a Garden untilled, flourishing, untouched; a pure turtledove, an undefiled dove; a vine rich in clusters, unsown, fruitful; a cloud conceiving rains without corruption; a shell from which the pearl, the sun, comes forth; a mountain from which the stone was cut with no one quarrying it; a merchant ship laden with cargo and needing no helmsman; a treasury that makes rich. Others likewise [call her] a lamp kindled of itself; an Ark broader, longer and more glorious than Noah's. That was an ark of living creatures, this of Life; that of perishable creatures, this of incorruptible life; that carried Noah, this carried Noah's maker; that had two and three storeys, this the whole fullness of the Trinity. For the Spirit came upon her, and the Father overshadowed, and the Son dwelt within, carried in the womb. For “The Holy Spirit,” he says, “will come upon you, and the holy one to be born will be called Son of God.” Do you see how great and how high is the dignity of the Virgin Mother of God? For the only-begotten Son of God, the maker of the world, was carried by her as an infant, and he refashioned Adam, and sanctified Eve, and brought the dragon to nothing, and opened paradise, and kept the seal of the womb secure. Each of these very fittingly and reasonably. He opened paradise, because he was going to bring in a robber and lead into it all the heirs of the kingdom. He kept the seal of the womb secure: being God and Word, the one taking flesh needed no doors for going in or going out. To you then, O Virgin, the prophets share out praises, and each one who was entrusted with the mysteries of the wonders calls you the God-bearer. One calls you a rod of Jesse, to hint at the unwounded and unbending quality of virginity. Another sets forth a bush burning and not burned up, to hint at the flesh of the Only-begotten and the Virgin Mother of God. For the bush burned and was not burned up, since she bore and did not open the womb; she conceived and did not corrupt the womb; she brought forth the infant and left the belly sealed; she supplied milk and kept her breasts untouched; she carried a child and did not know the child's father; she gave birth and did not become a bride. … [Ezekiel] called you the gate shut in the east, bringing in the King while the doors were shut; so indeed …, since you became for the Only-begotten the door into this present life … in the east, since “the true light that enlightens every human being coming into the world” comes forth from your womb as from a bridal chamber. You brought in the King with the doors shut, and you brought him out again. For neither in being conceived nor in being born at all did the King of glory open the doors of your womb, or loosen the bonds of virginity. The bridegroom who came from you named you a garden enclosed and a fountain sealed, and foretold it in the Songs. “A garden enclosed,” since neither the sickle of corruption nor the vintage touched you. But the flower from the rod of Jesse [came forth] purely for the human race, and purely presents [itself], cultivated in you by the pure and undefiled Spirit alone. “A fountain sealed,” because a river of life, coming forth from you, filled the inhabited world. But no marriage bucket drew from your fountain. About you David, playing the lyre, does not cease [singing]: “Arise, O Lord, into your rest, you and the ark of your holiness.” [Arise] from where? From the bosom of the Father — not so as to be separated from the Father (for it is not lawful to think or to say this), but so that you might carry out the dispensation that was foreordained for you from above, before the ages and before the generations; so that you might set upright those who had been tripped; so that you might take back your possession, tyrannized by the enemy until now. “Arise, O Lord, into your rest,” which you marked out on earth and appointed in Bethlehem: the cave, the manger and the swaddling clothes. For in heaven you need no rest; you are the rest of the whole creation. But on earth, because of the flesh, you suffer the things of the flesh. Did you not have hunger and thirst? Yet even when hungry you are the bread of life, and when thirsty you are the spring of the thirsty; for you have been established as a river of incorruption; and though wearied by walking on dry land, you walk without weariness on the waves of the sea. “Arise, O Lord, into your rest, you and the ark of your holiness”: the Virgin, the Mother of God, clearly. For if you are a pearl, fittingly she is a casket; since you are the Sun, the Virgin will necessarily be called heaven; since you are an unfading flower, the Virgin then is a plant of incorruption, a paradise of immortality. Of her Isaiah, divinely inspired, clearly cried out beforehand, saying, “Behold, the Virgin shall conceive in the womb and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” “Behold the Virgin” — which? The chosen one among women, the choicest among virgins, the venerable adornment of our nature, the boast of our clay, she who freed Eve from shame and Adam from the threat, she who cut off the boldness of the dragon; she whom the smoke of desire did not touch, nor the worm of pleasure harm. “Behold, the Virgin shall conceive in the womb”: from where, O prophet? “I do not say,” he says; “that is reserved for Gabriel. Many share among themselves the wonders of the Mother of God, and yet many of them have been left out. I was entrusted with the birth from the Ever-Virgin; Micah with the place in which the wonder was done; David with the time.” For he put into the prophecy of the Psalms the words, “From the womb, before the morning star, I begot you.” Gabriel, then, will tell the “from where.” For he comes down from heaven; he is sent to the Virgin for this very purpose; he is present at the time of the birth, and is trusted to interpret, as he must, the reality of the birth. But if you wish to learn from me too, go through the rest of the prophecy: “And she shall bear a son, and they shall call [his name] Emmanuel: God with us.” Is God, then, conceived from marriage and corruption, and can he be born or take flesh from a man and a bed? By no means; but from the working of God, from the implanting of the Most High, from the presence of the Spirit. What then, when the Virgin said to Gabriel, “How will this be to me, since I do not know a man?” — that is: “The wonder astounds me, the word confounds me” — the angel's message amazes the Virgin: “You say marvellous things, but to me they are suspect because they are strange. I fear the novelty of the good tidings; I am troubled at how utterly unaccustomed are the things you say. How will this be to me, since I do not know a man? How shall I be a mother without becoming a bride? The flower of my youth has not been spoiled; I have not loosed the girdle of virginity; I have not slackened the bond of the womb; I have not undone the seal of the belly.” And the angel at once added, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” — that is: “If you knew a man, you would not bear God, who was pleased to take the form of a slave from you, for your sake, without corruption; you would not become the instrument of the incarnation of him who brought all things into being. But since you are pure of the marriage bed, since you have kept the temple incorrupt and the tent free of every stain, both the Father dwells in you and the Spirit overshadows you, and the Only-begotten is born from you with flesh. Do not, then, doubt at all the mysteries that follow: do not doubt when you give birth in a cave to the Creator of the whole creation; do not doubt when you set in a manger him who sits on the backs of the [cherubim], [lodged] in an inn, though you are the mother of the King of things above and below. For of his own will he becomes poor from you, to bridle the rich and to become for the poor a ground of endurance and a teacher of thanksgiving. Of his own will he is laid in the manger, so that the brutish may run to him and find the Word lying in the manger, so that they may receive from him the dignity of reason, so that they may find wheat while expecting chaff, so that, running up like cattle, thinking to find sheaves of barley in the manger, they may eat the true bread, the food of life, the supper of light, the meat of joy, the sweetness of incorruption, from which come the knowledge of the kingdom, the pledge of adoption, the inheritance of heaven, the fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” To him be glory to the ages of ages. Amen.