Homilies 6

[On the] Meeting of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The feast is called the feast of the Purification; and one would not err in calling it feast of feasts, Sabbath of Sabbaths, holy of holies. For it sums up the whole mystery of Christ's incarnation; the whole [dispensation] of the only-begotten Lord is sketched in it: in it Christ was carried as an infant and confessed as God; he was brought forward in arms, the Maker of our nature seated as on a throne; and a pair of rational turtledoves [is offered] to Simeon and [Anna]. … Let us come, if it seems good, to the very words of the Gospel; for there we shall see the camp of God. Thus, then, Luke set out for us the story of the feast: “And when the days of their purification were fulfilled according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord,’ and to give a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.’” It was fitting that he who became a slave for us should offer purification offerings on our behalf; that he who did not spare his own blood should not spare a pair of turtledoves. See, then: under the law, he works above the law, as lawgiver; and while himself bestowing the freedom of the Spirit, he does not decline the service of the letter. He does not set Moses aside, so that in due time Moses may become a trustworthy witness. “And when the days of their purification were fulfilled according to the law of Moses.” Their — whose? For Joseph was not the father, nor liable to purification; and neither Mary nor the infant needed purification. For it is said thus: “A woman who conceives seed and bears a male shall be unclean seven days.” But Mary did not conceive from seed; so she did not need purification. “A woman who conceives seed and bears a male shall be unclean seven days.” Why? Because she has brought a second Adam into life. “But if she bears a female, she shall be unclean twice seven [days].” Why did he set the days double here? Because again Eve is born from Eve: the rotten vessel, the weak container, the shattered pot, the guide into disobedience, the dragon's counsellor. But as you have heard the charges against woman, come and learn also the good that came from her. A woman brought virginity into life; she contained in her womb God, whom creation cannot contain; she bore in the flesh him who refashioned our race. [A woman] first received Jesus from the dead, first began the proclamation of the resurrection, first announced the joy to the disciples. “A woman,” he says, “who conceives seed.” But the Mother of God was a woman, yet did not undergo what women undergo; for her womb did not receive a man's seed; Mary's field did not see a plough; the virginal vineyard did not endure the mattock. So the offering was not made for her, but for the whole race. For it is for our sake that Christ is circumcised, for us that he is baptized, on our account that the purifications of the law are fulfilled. If he weeps, he washes nature clean; if he is struck, he frees our bruise; if he carries the cross, he lightens for us the yoke of sin; if he is spat upon, he frees Adam from the spittle of the curse. “When the days of their purification were fulfilled,” he says, “they brought him up to Jerusalem, as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.’” This is what the law contains. But Christ, as we said, as lawgiver fulfilled his own law above the law. For he did not open, but left the gate of the Virgin shut; he did not plunder the seal of nature; he did no harm to her who bore him; he left her the form of virginity intact. If you disbelieve, learn from Ezekiel: “And he turned me back by the way of the outer gate of the holy places, which looks toward the east, and it was shut. And the Lord said to me, ‘This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, will enter and go out, and it shall be shut.’” “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”; but this one is not only holy. As much, then, as he surpasses in holiness, so much he excels also in his birth, and he raised the commandment of the law higher. Yet nevertheless: “to give a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” Does Luke leave the law incomplete? Not held by ignorance, but guided by wisdom, he set it out so. The law spoke of a lamb and a young bird; but if the offerer was not well off, it commanded a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, and fine flour. Luke left out the rich man's offering, for he mentioned the poor man's: [the offering] of him who of his own will became poor for us. “There was no room for him,” he says, in the inn; from where [would he have] a lamb? Wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger, from where would he offer a sheep? Rather, he did not need a lamb; for he himself was the Lamb of God, the true sheep; he sacrificed himself for the world. Therefore [Luke] declared what the law commanded, and signified what Christ dispenses. Then next: “And behold,” he says, “there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him; and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.” Great is Simeon's wealth, and varied: the general's armour …, the plant is full of fruits, the vine full of clusters. He was not only a man, but was named Simeon; besides this, righteous; and devout; and the Holy Spirit was upon him; and he had been told by oracle not to see death before he saw the Lord's Christ. A man — where? In Jerusalem. The phrase holds amazement; the word is full of wonder: a man in Jerusalem, of which Zephaniah the prophet brought in God himself saying, “I will search Jerusalem with a lamp, and I shall not find [one].” Does the light need a lamp? No, he says; but he calls the law a lamp. “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.” And what is the meaning of the name made known? “Hearing of God.” So by the Spirit's dispensation he acquired a name fitting his way of life. For where there is hearing of God, there is surely obedience to the law, keeping of the commandments, the course of a good life, the goal of salvation, by which the true man is marked out; [and so Luke] reasonably added these things about him: “And this man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel.” This is the aim of a righteous man: not to seek his own, but that of the other and of the many, to be [a man] of the common salvation, not of his own enjoyment. “And the Holy Spirit,” he says, “was upon him.” Simeon was a chariot of the Master, a throne of God; and for this reason he received the King of the ages into his hands. “And it had been revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.” So the oracle [was this]: to cross from life to life, to journey from light to light, to leap from day to day; not to grow old, but at the time of the consummation to receive renewal. He came in the Spirit into the temple; the spring led the thirsty one to the spring. “And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he himself received him in his arms.” He carried in his hands the one who holds in his hand the inhabited and the uninhabited world, who measured the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the whole earth with a handful. And how did Simeon offer a sacrifice not belonging to him? For he was not a priest — this is not said — nor a Levite, nor a temple attendant; the liturgical office has been allotted to the tribe of Levi. He was not a priest, but he was righteous; and righteousness has the priesthood under its feet. He was not a Levite, but devout; and the devout man has the anointing from himself. And carrying the infant he said: “Now you dismiss your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace.” “Now you dismiss”: for the time of release has come; the redemption of captives has met us, the forgiveness of debts; a king has been born, setting free those in prisons, releasing those in bonds, calling back to life those in death, lightening the burden of the earth. “Now you dismiss your servant,” he says, [seeing the Master] clothed with the form of a slave: “… he put on the form of a slave. If I did not see the Master as a slave, … he would not have exchanged his rank, nor, being high, humbled himself, unless he had wished to lead up the lowly to the height.” But how do you dismiss him? “According to your word, in peace.” For if by a word you brought creation into being, by a word you surely set free the ruler of creation. “In peace” — what peace? That in which the sword cut off the tyrant's head and gave peace to those who campaign with Christ. “For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared.” I saw what many desired to see and did not see: God in flesh, the sun shining in a cloud. “My eyes have seen your salvation”: that is, I saw your incarnation, through which [I saw] salvation, [not your] naked Godhead, since no human being will see God as he is in essence. “For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared before the face of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the nations and glory of your people Israel.” The good things are common to Jews and nations and undivided. Let not the Jew, then, be envious, nor Herod for his kingdom, nor Annas and Caiaphas for the priesthood: [he] bestows without measure. “And Joseph and his mother marvelled at the things spoken by Simeon.” [Joseph marvelled] how Christ consents to become son of man; Mary marvelled how a woman's womb contained God, how the handmaid bore him who sets creation free. … And he says: “This one is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against.” For the fall of those who persist in unbelief, for the rising of those who [pass] from unbelief to faith. He was the stone lying there; but [some] stumbled against him, while [others] Christ [built] into the building — the blind, wandering with their eyes. One must not, then, reckon to him the fall of those who fell, but the rising. … He who has come gives to all and receives from no one; he is lavish without grudging; the fall comes from the careless man, the rising from Christ. Did not Judas and Peter fall together? The one, as having said, “What will you give me, and I will hand him over to you?” the other, as having said, “I will lay down my life for you.” For he ought to have known that a mortal does not give his life for the immortal; and again, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you,” when he could have said, “If you strengthen me, I will not deny you; if you make me safe, weak as I am, I do not fear shipwreck; if you share in the war, I am not afraid of death.” But the one sin was of the tongue, the other of the heart. Therefore Peter, having fallen, rose, and became the guide of others who had fallen; but the other, led from a depth to a pit, threw away the silver, took the rope and hanged himself. The sign spoken against is the cross. For while the Jews were crucifying, the sun withdrew, and the synagogue was bringing false charges, and the earth was shaken; the people shouted, “Crucify him,” but the rocks, not bearing the weight of the blasphemy, were split; the elders and the scribes said, “That man said while still alive, ‘After three days I rise,’” but the centurion cried out, “Truly this was the Son of God.” And even until now “the word of the cross is to Jews a stumbling block, to nations folly, but to us who are called” of Christ “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” “And a sword will pass through your own soul too, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Division of mind is called a sword: just as a sword cleaves and divides bodies, so division of mind [cleaves] souls toward doubt. For even if she was a virgin, she was a woman; even if Mother of God, she was of our lump. A sword, then, passed through her soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed: the varied thoughts about Christ at the time of the passion, when [people] sometimes did not acknowledge him as a prophet, sometimes not as the redeemer of Israel, and endured much doubt even about these because of the upheaval caused by the passion; so that the disciples with Cleopas even said to him, “Are you the only one sojourning in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened in these days?” Then, when asked, “What things?” they added, “The things about Jesus, who was a man, a prophet,” and so on. So they regarded him as a prophet and as redeeming Israel; but because of the passion they were in danger of casting away even this supposition about him, that he redeems Israel. This did not happen in vain, but to show that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” For at the suffering of the cross all were sifted and shaken, not only the ordinary disciples, but also the chosen ones and his mother. … [This] made the whole world firm, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, now [and always, and to the ages of ages]. Amen.

[The scan continues here with the opening of another homily, in praise of the apostle Andrew:] A priestly trumpet has gathered us to a festival: Andrew, the firstborn of the choir of the apostles, the first-planted pillar of the Church, the Peter before Peter, the foundation of the foundation, the firstfruits of the beginning, who called before he was called, who brought others before he was brought. He proclaims a gospel that has not yet been believed; before he has learned, he reveals life to his brother. Such wealth did the answer to “Where are you staying?” bestow on him. And yet what great thing did the answer contain, such as Andrew, plunging his mind into its depth, beheld? “Come,” he says, “and see.” How did you become a prophet? From where were you suddenly bearing God? Why do you disturb Peter's ears? Why do you hasten to overtake him whom you cannot overtake? He who is present everywhere, how can he be found? But Andrew knows what he says: “We have found him whom Adam lost, whom Eve was deprived of, whom the cloud of sin hid from our eyes, from whom disobedience separated us, whom David sought: ‘In the day of my affliction I sought out God.’” And Zephaniah cries, “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth.” God struck us when he condemned Adam to death and a toilsome life; but he healed, and, having struck, he bound up, when, crucified for the race, by his stripe, as Isaiah says, and by his resurrection, he healed all. Christ was raised naked on the cross; for, having no sin, he needed no garment. He was blameless and had no need to hide; nothing was shameful to him; for he makes our shameful parts seemly. The myrrh-bearing women found what they had lost through Eve; she who supplied the occasion of the loss found the gain. “He will come to us as the early and the late rain to the earth.” See, then, the Lord after the resurrection appearing early to the women, late to the apostles. For early he said to the women, “Hail”; late, in Zion, he spoke peace to the disciples: to the women, to undo the sentence of grief; to the disciples, to destroy the enmity which the dragon had wrought. “You shall be called Cephas”: the wage before the confession; before you worked the vineyard you received the denarius; before you [built] the altar you received the sacrifice; before you preached you were crowned. … to all the ages of ages.