Sermons 174–176
Latin text: Migne, PL 52 (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Chapter 174
174PL 52:653–655
De decollatione D. Joannis Baptistæ. Herodianæ cœna cruentas epulas, convivium sic fe. rale, tunc terra, tunc cælum. hodie mecum vester horruit et expavit auditus. Herodes, inquit, natalis sui cœnum fecit (Marc.VI). Bene cœnam, quia non luci, sed tenebra addictus esthic natalis,in quo noctis filius na- tus est, non diei. Natalis sui, inquit, cœnam fecit principibus tribunis et primis Galilææ (Marc. VI). Quid egit incauta et cæca semper impietas? Omnes evocat potestates, ut non tam multos convivii sui socios, quam innumeros criminis sibi testes assumat, et tot habeat facinoris sui arbitros, quothabuit presides disciplinæ. Cumque intrasset filia ipsius Herodiadis et saltasset, inquit, et placuisset Herodi. Respondit suo turpis generi,dum patri complacet turpiori; de adulterio namque non nisi turpis debuit procreari: quæ fractis gressibus, corporedissoluto, disjunota compage membrorum,fluentibus ex arte visceribus, tota patri fieret deformitate formosior. o Et revera suam credidit tunc Herodes cum talem vidit; nam putasset alienam, si pudicam vel aliquantulum pervidisset.Serpens tunc latebat in femina, quæ reptans gressibus flexuosislethale toto corpore virus effudit, utdiscumbentium mentes furor, venenum corpora sauciaret, homines verterentur in bestias; nec vino jam tales, sed sanguine potarentur; 4 nec panera- bidi,sed carnibusvescerenturhumanis. Talesutique tales reddidit,quibus adhuc fumante sanguine caput intulit tunc Joannis; ut illud Psalmistæ canticum probaretur: Dederunt carnes sanctorum tuorum bestiis terræ, effuderunt sanguinem corum tamquam aquam (Psal. LXXVIII). Ecce quidquid pariunt totis noctibus protracta convivia; ecce quid generat quod eum mensura emitur, et sine mensura habitur vinum. Eece quo præcipitatur caro, cum ad luxuriæ facinus voluptatis inflammatur incendiis. Rogo quid tantis cuneis arctatur? Sufficit infelix caro sibi suis casibus ad ruinam, attestante propheta cum dixit: Ut quid irruitis in hominem, interficitis universi vos tamquam parieti inclinato et maceriæ impulsæ (Psal. LXI)? Jacebat in Herode caro oppressa crapulis, ebrietate captiva, quæ, titillante luxuria, et non tam ludente quam itludente lascivia, promitteret qutdquid turpitndopeteret se daturam. Pete a me quod vis, inquit, et dobo- tibi; et juravit illi. Jurat miser, dum quidquid honestatis est virtutis abjurat. Pete a me quod vis. Quid pcteret luxuria, nisi castitatis interitum, pudicitiæ necem, mortem sibi semper contrariæ sanctitatis Volo ut des mihi in disco caput Joannis. Si caput viri est, juxta Apostolum (I Cor. XI), Christus, jam tunc novello ore antiquissimus serpens Christi Domini tendebat ad mortem. Volo ut des mihi disco caput Joannis. Jam tunc avidus draco in servi capite Domini degustabat sitieas passionem. Volo ut des mihi in disco. Cur in disco, cur pretiose gestas, queme viliter occidis, nisi quia pretiosa in conspectuDomini mors sanctorum ejus (Psal.CXV)? Hoc ipsum quod vis nonagis quomodo ipsa vis, quia agit te superna ratio aliter quam vis. In illa quidem tunc feraliantro, non aula regis, rabies tunc fera pastum suum credidit, cum caput martyris vidit; lotum suum sensit, cum liquorem sacri sanguinis sitiens aspexit; ferculam crudelitatis sum toto ore, totisfaucibus contenditet conatur absorbere. Sed Joannes venitin sublimi positus, ut lucerna super candelabrum,tenebras ut fugaret, dicente Domino: llle erat lucerna ardens et lucens (Joan. V). Venit Joannes, utjudex in tribunali resplendens,ut qui arguit adulterium, exponeret et damnaret bomicidam; et qui pie vivens incestum vocarat ad poenitentiam,reservaverat ad veniam,homicidium etiamdamnaret occisus. Qua qumæso meretur veniam,qui in morte Joannis ipsam pœnitentiam tam creduliter interemit? Gratis cucurristis. Herodes et Herodias, nomina non affectione sociata, sed crimine, a quæ vocem intercipi posse stultissime credi-.Joan. i. vox occidi non potest, sed magis clamat angustiis corporis absoluta. Sic vox Abel in suo jam effusa sanguine magis sonat,magis penetrat,magis pertendit ad cœlum (Gin. IV). Sic nunc, Joannes toto orbe clamat, totis sæculis facinus vestrum cunctis refert, et ostentat in gentibus. Ecce Joannes Christi capite gloriatur, qui capiti putabatur addictus. Ecce eo die quo tuflnisti tuum, ille sibi natalem coeli con quisivit: quia quando tuus ortus mersit in finem, tunc illius finis ortusmersitin natalem. Justus enim tunc inchoat vivere, cum pro Christo meretur occidi; transfertur ista morte vita martyris, non aufertur: morte magis claruit, qui ob hoc mortuus est,ut viveret in æternum. Ecce tu jaces in morte, Joannes vivit occisus. Tu fucatam murice purpuram perdidisti, Joannes cruore suo fulgen ti purpura semper gloriatur indutus. Tui convivæ nunc participes efticiuntur in poenis, Joannes cœlesti mensa eum choris vescitur angelorum.llleaudit coelestem jugiter symphoniam, tu audis inferni semper gemitum et stridorem. Ille meretricis tuæ, salatricis tuæ addictus in pretium, nunc regno, nunc præmiis coelestibus honoratur,tu mercedem sententiae tum cum tua filia in tartaro percepisti. Vestimentum Joseph, cum adulteram fugeret, derelinquit (Gen. XXXIV); Joannes ne videret adulteram, ipsum projecit et corpus. Joseph, ne adulteriumfaceret,libenscarcerem suscepit; Joannes ut argueret adulterium,eremum carcere commutavit. Joseph somnia dum revelat, evasit ex morte; Joannes, ut Dei Filium revelaret,suscepit et mortem. Joseph dum panem præparat temporalem, ex auro torquem meruit,ethonorem; Joannes,ut ostenderet (Matlh. XI) coelestem credentibus panem, martyrii torquem meruit ex cruore. Merito in natis mulierum cunctis majorest hicJoannes, qui non solum adulteras arguit, sed et licita mulierum consortia virginitatis amore calcavit. Et si Joannes tantus, Joannes talis, tanta eremo separatus a feminis feminarum pericula non evasit, quis est qui interfeminas vivens evasarum se sine labore maximo, maxima sine cautione confidit, nisi is qui sancto ali. tur Spiritu? Qui cum genitore natoque una cuncta disponit saecula per aevi omnia spatia.
[On the beheading of St John the Baptist.] The bloody dishes of Herod's supper, so savage a banquet, at which earth then shuddered and heaven too, have today made your hearing shudder and tremble along with me. “Herod,” it says, “gave a supper on his birthday” (Mark 6). Well “supper,” because this birthday was devoted not to light but to darkness, on which a son of the night, not of the day, was born. “On his birthday,” it says, “he gave a supper for the princes, the tribunes and the leading men of Galilee” (Mark 6). What did heedless and always blind impiety do? It calls out all the authorities, so as to take to itself not so much many companions of its banquet as countless witnesses of its crime, and to have as many judges of its deed as it had presiding officers of discipline. “And when the daughter of Herodias herself had come in and danced,” it says, “and pleased Herod.” The shameful girl answered to her stock, while she pleased a more shameful father; for from adultery only a shameful child should have been born: she, with broken steps, a loosened body, the frame of her limbs disjointed, her inner parts flowing by art, became the more beautiful to her father by her whole deformity. And truly Herod then believed her his own when he saw her such; for he would have thought her another's if he had seen her even a little modest. The serpent then lay hidden in the woman, who, crawling with winding steps, poured out deadly venom with her whole body, so that fury wounded the minds of those reclining and poison their bodies, men were turned into beasts, and such men now drank not wine but blood, and, rabid, fed not on bread but on human flesh. She certainly made them such, to whom she then brought in John's head with its blood still smoking, so that the Psalmist's song might be proved: “They gave the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth; they poured out their blood like water” (Ps 79:2–3 [LXX 78:2–3]). See what banquets prolonged through whole nights bring forth; see what wine bought by measure and drunk without measure begets. See where the flesh is hurled headlong when it is inflamed by the fires of pleasure to the crime of luxury. I ask, why is it pressed by such great wedges? Unhappy flesh is enough by itself for its own ruin through its own falls, as the prophet attests when he said: “How long will you rush upon a man? You all kill, as at a leaning wall and a tottering fence” (Ps 62:3 [LXX 61:4]). In Herod the flesh lay weighed down by gluttony, captive to drunkenness, which, as luxury tickled and lust not so much played as made sport, promised to give whatever shamefulness asked. “Ask of me what you will,” he says, “and I will give it to you; and he swore to her.” The wretch swears while he forswears all that belongs to honor and virtue. “Ask of me what you will.” What would luxury ask, but the destruction of chastity, the slaying of modesty, the death of holiness, always its opposite? “I want you to give me on a dish the head of John.” If “the head of man,” according to the Apostle (1 Cor 11), “is Christ,” already then with a new mouth the most ancient serpent was aiming at the death of Christ the Lord. “I want you to give me on a dish the head of John.” Already then the greedy dragon, thirsting, was tasting the Lord's passion in the servant's head. “I want you to give me on a dish.” Why on a dish? Why do you carry precious what you kill cheaply, unless because “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Ps 116:15 [LXX 115:6])? This very thing you want you do not do as you want, because a reason from above drives you otherwise than you want. In that savage den, not a king's hall, wild rage then thought it had its fodder when it saw the martyr's head; it felt it had its drink when it gazed thirsting at the liquid of the sacred blood; it strives and tries to swallow the dish of its cruelty with its whole mouth and whole throat. But John comes, set on high like a lamp on a lampstand, to put darkness to flight, as the Lord says: “He was a burning and shining lamp” (John 5). John comes, shining like a judge on the tribunal, so that he who rebuked adultery might expose and condemn the murderer; and he who, while living devoutly, had called incest to repentance and kept it for pardon, might, when slain, condemn murder as well. By what, I ask, does he deserve pardon, who in John's death so credulously killed repentance itself? You ran in vain, Herod and Herodias, names joined not by affection but by crime, who most foolishly believed that a voice could be intercepted. A voice cannot be killed, but cries out the more when freed from the confines of the body (John 1). So the voice of Abel, once poured out in his blood, sounds the more, penetrates the more, reaches the more to heaven (Gen 4). So now John cries out through the whole world, reports your crime to all through all ages, and displays it among the nations. See, John glories in Christ as his head, who was thought condemned in his head. See, on the day on which you ended yours, he won for himself the birthday of heaven: because when your rising sank into its end, then his end sank into a birthday. For the just man begins to live when he deserves to be killed for Christ; by this death the martyr's life is transferred, not taken away; he became more famous by death who died for this, to live forever. See, you lie in death; John, slain, lives. You have lost the purple dyed with the murex; John glories, clothed forever in a purple shining with his own blood. Your banquet companions are now made sharers in punishments; John feeds at the heavenly table with the choirs of angels. He hears the heavenly symphony continually; you hear always the groaning and gnashing of hell. He, handed over as the price of your harlot, your dancer, is now honored with a kingdom, with heavenly rewards; you, with your daughter, have received the wages of your sentence in Tartarus. Joseph, fleeing the adulteress, left his garment behind (Gen 39); John, so as not to see an adulteress, cast off his very body. Joseph, so as not to commit adultery, willingly accepted prison; John, to rebuke adultery, exchanged the desert for a prison. Joseph, by revealing dreams, escaped death; John, to reveal the Son of God, accepted death. Joseph, while he prepared temporal bread, earned a necklace of gold and honor; John, to show the heavenly bread to believers (Matt 11), earned the necklace of martyrdom from his blood. Rightly is this John greater than all born of women, who not only rebuked adulteresses but also, for love of virginity, trampled on lawful companionship with women. And if John, so great, such a man, separated from women by so great a desert, did not escape the dangers of women, who is there, living among women, who trusts that he has escaped without the greatest labor and the greatest caution, unless he who is nourished by the Holy Spirit? Who with the Father and the Son orders all ages through all the spaces of time.
Mark 6:21–28 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Thess 5:5 (allusion, low confidence) · Ps 79:2–3 (78:2-Ps LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 62:3 (61:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 11:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 116:15 (115:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 5:35 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 4:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 12:24 (allusion, low confidence) · Gen 39:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 39:20 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 41:42 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 11:11 (allusion, high confidence) · John 6:32–35 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On John the Baptist's beheading (Mark 6:21–28), Chrysologus describes Herod's birthday supper and the dance of Herodias's daughter as the serpent's work, shows that John's voice and life could not be killed, contrasts him with the patriarch Joseph, and warns men of the dangers of women.
- The digital text ends with a hymn-like doxology (“Who with the Father and the Son orders all ages…”); translated as printed. Gen 39 is cited as Gen. XXXIV in the printed text. The warnings about women and dancing are translated as written.
Topics: Martyrdom, Ethics, Divorce and remarriage
Cite (SBL): Peter Chrysologus, Serm. 174 (PL 52:653–655; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/peter-chrysologus-sermones/174). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/peter-chrysologus-sermones/174
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 52 (digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). No public-domain English exists; sermons in FOTC 17, 109 and 110 (Ganss; Palardy) were checked against them privately after translation, the others re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 175
175PL 52:655–663
c DeMarcellino episcopo Vicohaventino, et D. Mariæ, Virginus partu. Omnium quidem rerum primordia suntdura,sed duriora suntomnibus primordia generantis. Sancta Ecclesia Ravennas, ut primum pareret, viam fecit, angores pertulit, sensit dolores. Et hoc egit,fratres, ut ordinem partus divini toto veritatis tramite custodiret:nam posteaquam primogenitum totius creaturæ Virgo mater ut pareret, viam totius patriæ percucurrit; sic virgineus partus, sic primitivorum est dedicata nalivitas. Et necessario, fratres, Via generatur in via. Ego sum, inquit, Via (Joan. XIV); ut omnisaditusexcluderetur erroris,etviatortandem cœlum peteret, qui terreni itineris incassum diu sudores pertulerat et labores. Et factum est in diebus illis, inquit evangelista,exiit edictum a Cæsare Augusto, ut scriberetur universus orbis. Ascendit autem et Joseph a Galilæa de civitate Nazareth in Judæam ad civitatem David, quæ vocatur Bethlehem, eo quod esset de domo et familia David,ut profiteretur cum Maria desponsata sibi uxore prægnante. Et factum est in diebus illis, im- pletisunt dies ut pareret, et peperit filium suum primogenitum (Luc. 11). Libethic aliquid de dolore dicere. Edicto Cæsaris et pagani universorum Dominusobtemperaturus occurrit,et decreto beati Petri,decreto principis Christiani, servus adhuc aliquis irreverenter obsistit? Verum, quia neque prospera adversis, neque gaudiis miscenda sunt tristia,his omissis hodierni germinis lætitiam proloquamur. Habeat modo na tus, qui primum natusest, primogeniti reverentiam, teneat et honorem: Marcellinus hodie vernaculi partus totum rapuit et conquisivit affectum. Circumstant filii, adsunt propinqui, coguatio tota concurrit, familia exsultat omnis, etipsa penetralia domus tripudiantet lætantur: quia videre oculis, suscipere manilius, hodie primum sanctae genitricis partum' sobolemque meruerunt. Ipsa quoque genitrix sponsa mater et virgo.in ipso conjunctionis sum cubiculo, genuisse nova gratulatione miratur. a Sed neminem turbet, nullum moveat, quod in thalamo ipso sponsa ipsacernitur peperisse: talis non est de crimine, sed de virginitate conceptus, quando in tali germine cœlestis partus est, non humanus: nec ullus hic est si. nistræ suspicionis locus, ubi ipse sponsus sponsae suae testishabeturet custos. Quicumque sollicitus es de facto, esto de exemplo maximo persecurus, et praecedentis trepidatio ad tuam cautelam proficiat, et munimen. Joseph ille maritus solo nomine, conscientia sponsus, prægnantem sponsam fluctuans et anxius intuetur,quia neque accusare innocentem,neque praegnantem poterat accusare; tacere tutum non erat, erat loqui periculum. Admittit, non prodit crimina accusator insontis. Erat ipse testimonium castitatis, erat custos pudoris: aliud noverat, aliud intuebatur; confundebatvisus quemnon confundebatb Virginis fides: actus et vita in bivio; mens justa et sanctus animus ancipiti cogitatione torquetur; sentit, sed tantum non potest penetrare sacramentum, quia nec accusare poterat, et defensare penes homines non valebat. Merito mox occurritangelus, meritoresponsumsubvenitmoxdivinum, cui humano deficiente consilio justitia non defecit. Et qui dicit? Joseph fili David, noli timere. Qui nihil fecerat, quid timebat? Timebat, quia etsi nullus in facto reatus erat, erat in causa maximus pavor. Sanctus animus quidquid non assequitur, expavescit. Cave ergo, homo, de partu nostræ matris taliter disputare, cum angelum respondisse sufficiat Noli timere accipere Mariam conjugem tuam; quod enim In tua natum est, de Spiritu sancto est. Feliciter parturit, quae virginitatis coronam magis magisque pariendo conquisivitet gloriam. Hic vero qui nobis hodie natus est, semper retia tetendit in mare. Nemo ergo miretur, si piscatorem Petrus gestivit habere collegam. Orate ergo, fratres, utpiscari mereatur homines qui hactenus pisces capere hominum laboravit ad vitam.
[On Marcellinus, bishop of Vicohabentia, and on the childbirth of the Virgin Mary.] The beginnings of all things are hard, but harder than all are the beginnings of one giving birth. The holy Church of Ravenna, so as to give birth for the first time, made a journey, endured anguish, felt pains. And she did this, brothers, so as to keep the order of the divine childbirth along the whole path of truth: for the Virgin mother, in order to bear the firstborn of all creation, ran the road through her whole homeland; so the virginal childbirth, so the nativity of the firstborn, was dedicated. And necessarily, brothers, the Way is born on the way. “I am,” he says, “the Way” (John 14), so that every entrance of error might be shut out, and the traveler, who had long endured in vain the sweat and labors of the earthly road, might at last seek heaven. “And it came to pass in those days,” says the evangelist, “a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. And it came to pass in those days, the days were fulfilled for her to give birth, and she bore her firstborn son” (Luke 2). Here I would like to say something about my pain. Does the Lord of all hasten to obey the decree of Caesar, a pagan, and does some servant still irreverently resist the decree of blessed Peter, the decree of a Christian prince? But since neither are prosperous things to be mixed with adverse nor sad things with joys, let us leave these things and speak of the gladness of today's offspring. Let the one born now, who is the first born, have the reverence of the firstborn and hold his honor: Marcellinus today has seized and won all the affection due to a homeborn child. His sons stand around, his relatives are present, the whole kindred runs together, the whole household exults, and the very inner rooms of the house leap and rejoice, because they have deserved today to see with their eyes and receive in their hands the first childbirth and offspring of the holy mother. The mother herself too, bride, mother and virgin, marvels with new rejoicing that she has given birth in the very chamber of her union. But let it disturb no one, move no one, that the bride is seen to have given birth in the bridal chamber itself: such a conception is not of crime but of virginity, since in such offspring the birth is heavenly, not human; nor is there any room here for sinister suspicion, where the bridegroom himself is held as witness and guardian of his bride. Whoever is anxious about the fact, be quite secure from the greatest example, and let the trembling of the one who went before serve for your caution and defense. That Joseph, a husband in name alone, a bridegroom in conscience, looks wavering and anxious on his pregnant bride, because he could neither accuse an innocent woman nor excuse a pregnant one; to keep silent was not safe, to speak was dangerous. He who accuses the innocent commits crimes, he does not expose them. He himself was the testimony of her chastity, he was the guardian of her modesty: he knew one thing, he saw another; the sight confounded him whom the Virgin's faith did not confound: his action and life were at a crossroads; a just mind and holy soul is tormented by divided thoughts; he perceives, but he cannot penetrate so great a mystery, because he could neither accuse her nor defend her before men. Rightly the angel soon meets him, rightly the divine answer soon comes to his help, in whom, when human counsel failed, justice did not fail. And what does he say? “Joseph, son of David, do not fear.” Why did he fear, who had done nothing? He feared because, even if there was no guilt in the deed, there was the greatest dread in the case. A holy soul is afraid of whatever it does not understand. Beware, then, O man, of disputing like this about the childbirth of our mother, since it is enough that the angel answered: “Do not fear to take Mary your wife; for what is born in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Happily she gives birth, who by giving birth has won more and more the crown and glory of virginity. But this one who has been born to us today has always cast nets into the sea. Let no one wonder, then, if Peter was glad to have a fisherman as colleague. Pray, then, brothers, that he who until now has labored to catch fish for the life of men may deserve to fish for men.
Luke 2:1–7 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 1:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 14:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 1:18–20 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 4:18–19 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: At the consecration of Marcellinus as bishop of Vicohabentia, the first bishop consecrated by Ravenna as a metropolitan see, Chrysologus compares the hard-won birth of this “firstborn” to Mary's journey and childbirth, complains of a bishop who resists the decree of Peter and the Christian emperor, and defends the virginal birth by Joseph's example.
- The digital text runs on, after the end of the sermon, into a long Latin commentary by Migne's editor (on Valentinian III's edict making Ravenna a metropolitan see, the resistance of the bishop of Milan, and Vicohabentia, later Ferrara); it has been removed by a logged correction and is not translated. Chrysologus's complaint that “some servant still irreverently resists the decree of blessed Peter, the decree of a Christian prince” is translated as written; the editor identifies the servant as the bishop of Milan. The closing play on Marcellinus as a former fisherman, now to fish for men, follows the printed text.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's editorial commentary and a footnote mark printed after the end of the sermon): e. lentiniani III edictum, metropolitanus qui subjeclas per hujusmodi decreta civitates Ecclesiae Ravennati regebat, restitit,sua jura producens, et nolens potestate metropolitie;a circa easdem privari. Inde Ravennati Ecclesiae necesitas orta fuit privilegium novum tuendi contra priorem melropohtanum, quanto Itudio, quot difficultatibus satis innuunt illa verba: Angores pertulit, sensit dolore,. Ad quid? Ut primum pareret. a Vicohaventinusepiscopusspeclabatantea ad Mediolanensemarchiepiscopum, nam S. Ambrosius Mediolanensis scripsit epistolam 49 In aliis editionibus 44, et in novissima editione 2 ad Constantium Vicohaventinum episcopum, commendans illi Ecclesiam Forocorneliensem, tamquam sui juris, sibique subjectam. Haec vero Ecclesia sicut et Vicohaventina una cum aliis civitatibus in edicto Valentiniani III sUbje.. cta est Ravennati episcopo, ut ibi videre est, proindeque illae civitates ad Mediolanensem pertinebant. Vicohaventia, nunc Ferraria nuncupatur. Cum enim multi vici ibi essent ad Padum, civitasdicta Ylcobabentia, quasi vicos habens, corrupto deinde vocabulo in varias desiit appellationes: quia et ipsa penitus periit a Gothis destructa, et ad alteram Padi Ripam translatis habitatoribus atque Ferrariam condentibus, jus episcopale per Vitalianum papam illuc trans- latum est. « Habemus metropolitanum qui cum Ravennate pugnabat, et illi Ecclesiæ constitutæ jam matri et metropolitanae, angores, doloresque ingerebat antequam pareret primogenitum. Propterea Chrysologus sermonem suum prosequens ait: Et hoc egit, fratres, ut ordinem pat"lus divin; toto veritatis tramite custodiret. Nam posteaquam primoge'nilum totius creaturae Virao tllatel"ut par,ret, viam totiuspatrice percucurrit: sic Virgineus partus, sic primitivorum est dedicata na'ivitas. Similitudinem inculcat partus primogeniti EcclesifleRavennatiscum partu primogeniti Deiparæ, tum in eo quod ante partum opus fuit currere, ac percurrere plures vias? et laborare percurrendo Æmiliam viam et Haminlam, quæ Homre jungitur, immo quæ inde proficiscitur, apostolicam sedem obsecrando, ejus opem atque auctoritatem implorando ad privilegium firmiter tuendum, quod semel datum fuerat et recenter, sicuti Deiparae opus fuit percurrere viam usque ad Hierosolymae connniaseu Bethlehem usque; tum in eo quod Dei para primogenitum peperit in via, vel secus viam, Ravennas vero Ecclesia primogenitum suum peperit in via yEmilia, in qua ditio Ravennatis Metropolitani est: Et necessapotfratres (pergit Chrysologus) Vita generatur in via. Ego sum, inquit, Via, ut omnis aditus excludere. tur erroris, et viator tandem cælum peteret,qui terreni itineris incassumdiu sudores pertulerat et labores.Non modo in via generatur, seu paritur Christus,sed ipse est via, et proinde cum in via errare nemo possit, quisquis enim viator errat.ideo errat quia exit e via, et audores multos subit, ut in viam reducatur. Ravennas Ecclesia erat quidem in via iEmilia, sed non habebat yEmiliam sibi.subiectam, cum hæc agnosceret Mediolanensem bcciesiam pro matre. Sed postquam privilegium habuit matris et Metropolis cum potestate generandi viam habuit, et viam fecit, ut Initio sermonis dixerat Chrysologus: adeo ut episcopatus qui in via Æmi1ia erant, non errarent si obedirent Ravennati, quia validum erat et legitimum privilegium, nec per rapinam MediolaneQsi subtractum, utpote via ordinaria, auctoritate scilicet apostolica et imperiali concessum. « Necdum similitudo absoluta est in hoc partu Vicohaventini episcopi consecrati per metropolitanum Ravennatem cum partu Christi Domini ex Dei ara. Nam in hoc intercessit edictum Caesaris: Et factum est in diebus illis, inquit evangelista, exiit edictum a Cæsare Augusto,ut profiteretur universus orbis. Ascendit autem et Joseph a Galilaza de civitate Nazareth in Judæam ad civitalem David, quæ vocatur Bethlehem. eo quod esset de domo et familia David, ut profiteretur cum Maria desponsata sibi uxore prægnante. Et factum est in diebus illis impleti sunt dies ut pareret, et peperit filium suum primogenitum. Et hoc quidem in partu Deiparae. Quid vero in partu Ravennatis matris? Libet hic aliquid de dolore dicere: edicto Cæsaris et pagani Dominus obtemperaturus occurrit; et decreto beati Petri, decreto principis Christiani. servus adhuc aliquis irreverenter obsistit? In utroque igitur partu edictum Cæsaris, et decretum promulgatum fuit: ibi Caesaris Augusti, hic Valentiniani III Augusti; ibi hujusmodi decreto, et edicto;'nperatori, pagani universorum Dominus obedienter ac tine ulla mora, sineulla resistentia, estobsecutus; hic imperatoris Christiani et edicto, non Dominus, sed servus et subditus episcopus Mediolanensis audet sine ulla reverentia resistere, et diu resistere; ita ut Ravennati Ecclesiae angores gignat et dolores, ut non pariat. Dolendum plane et maxime dolendum;eo magis quod non intercessit solius imperatoris edictum in hoc privilegio mars seu metropolis concedendo; sed etiam decretum B. Petri, et quidem primo loco nominandum, cum ex eo tamquam ex prima radice firmilatem habeat hujusmodi prærogativa. « Hinc sane Ravennates archiepiscopi Chrysologi successores discere poterant reverentiam erga sedem apostolicam, et non buccinare autocephaliam, seu independentiam a Romano pontifice, privilegio Valeotiniani se munientes: cum in hoc ChrYlologi sermone non Cæsaris decretum tantummodo, sed B. Petri decretum, tum vero decretum Caesaris animadvertendum fuisset. Hinc etiam refellendi sunt qui Valentiniani III edictum irrident tamquam spurium et abjiciendum, auctoritas enim Chrysologi cogit quemlibet sanæ mentis ad fatendum promulgatum fuisse priviJegium imp. Valentiniani,sicut etiam decretum summi pontificis, ubi talis facultas dabatur Ra.eonati. Sed cum perierit hoc secundum, periit et primum fortasse vel additione aliqua corruptum legitur; sed negari nequit fuisse edictum Caesaris, quo Ravennal episcopus constitutus fuerit archiepiscopus et metropolitanus cum subjectione civitatum quae in via iBmiJia erant, et antea spectaverant ad Mediolanensem antistitem, qui non sine labore et dolore Chrysologi diu pro hac re certavit; obsistens tum decreto B. Petri, tum edicto imperatoris Valentiniani; sed tandem parta Tictoria post tot angores, Chrysologus primus fuit,qui episcopum Vicohabentinum consecrando tamquam primogenitum et Filium doloris (siquidem major dolor a matre percipitur, cum parit primogenitum, quam cum caeteros parit, sic virgineus partw, sic primitivorum est consecrata nativitas), metropolitam munus primarium exercuit, videlicet suae provinciae episcopos consecrando. « Videtur praeterea colligendum quod Joanni Ravennati,cognomento Angelopteeantecessori Chn.sologi,circa finem sui praesulatusValentinianiprivileirium fuerit concessum; ita ut in ista concertatione Mediolanensisdiemsuum obierit: quandoquidem post electionem suam Chrysologus in sede melropolitana sere monem habens conqueritur iis verbis, quae prsetulimus,et quidem in præsenti, servus adhuc aliquis irreverenter obsistit; quod plane innuit, post victoriam adeo feliciter obtentam, ut ad consecrationem episcopi Vicohaventini Ravennas procederet, adhuc Mediolanensem invitum obmurmurasse, quasi non cederet; sicut post judicis sententiam in causa aliqua diu agitata solet adversarius victus adhuc conqueri et mussitare. « Verum quia neque prospera adversis, neque gau. diis miscenda sunt tristia, his omissis, pergit Chrysologus, hodierni germinis lætitiu-m proloquamur. Habeat modo natus, qui primtis flatus est9 prit"ogtniU reverentiam, teneat et hottOrtm. Proreeto habuit sedes Ferrariensis, quod non modo ejus episcopus cum Vicohaventinus dicebatur, primus inter conseerato8 a Chrylolo,o fuerit > verum etiam quod pri4 mogenitus Ecclesiae metropoliUnee Bavennatensis: unde ab hominibus hanc reverentiam et hunc bono- rem tamquam primogenitus possit exigere. Marcellinus hodie vernaculi partus totum rapuit et conquisivit affectum. Partus Deiparæ, cum ea peperit Christum, fuit Dominicus partus: quia Dominus universorum natus erat: partus MarcelJini episcopi in sua conse. cratione est vernae et seni partus. Rapuit primus partus totum plebis Christianae affectum,et conquisivit; affectum, inquam, qui Domino debetur adoratiolie quoque latrite colendo: rapuit Marcellini partui totum plebis affectum, qui vernaculo partui et humano potest competere; neque enim unus affectus alterum excutit, utpote in diverso ordine constitutum diversimode colens, sicuti neque affectus in Creatorem affectum in creaturas excludit. Rapere autem,.iolentiam et efOcaciam ostendit; sed conquirere, ex omnibus plane cordibus affectum educere commonstrat. Vernaculi partus vocabulum, sorte J•M.8..8 8. 4 «•<■ etam servnem conditionem atque llUllulem ortu familiam Marcellini dixit, ut videtur collici ex sequentibus.Sed cum in acolesiaiticii gradibus etdigoltati'but uoo splendor natalium domusque inclytee imagines fumosae respiciantur, sed pietatis fulgor, virtutis atque religionis ardor; idcirco Marcellini quantumvis 'efnaculi partus, ut a consecratione eum non repulit, itA Dee a gaudiis et plena populi jubilationa prohibuit. a Circumstant filii, adsunt propinqui, cognatio tota concurrit, fanu'lia. exsultat omnis, et ipsa penetralia Domus ex,ultant et lætantur, qtiia videre oculil,su'sciper* tnanibui hodie primum sancta Oenitricis partum sobolemque meruerunt. Quoniam mentis oculus et loquentis intentio duos respicit partus primogeniti, haec verba de Marcellini potius partu,quam de Dominico sunt intelligenda;cumnec filii,nec propinqui concurrerint ad Deiparee partum, ut viderent oculis manibuaque susciperect.Quapropter filiorum nomine intelligi possunt episcopi suffraganei, qui sunt quasi filii matris et mefropofis; propinquorum vero nomine episcopi alterius provinciae, Romano metropolitano subjecti, vel alteri. Concurrebant enim Ravennam, ubi erat imperator et Augusta, praesules non pauci et cum viderent hanc primam solemnitatem, et exercitium metropolitas nuper facti,magis confertim, majorique itetiUa, et exsultatione consecrationi Marcellini plaudebant. Cives itidem et exteri signa gaudii edebant, et lrlarcellioo congratulabantur. Sed filiosquoque revera genitos a )Iarcellino, antea uxoratofetpropinquos carnaliter possimus explicare; non enim desunt exempla illis quoque temporibus, mortua uxore vel separata, vitæque deditareligiosee, virorum qui pietate praestantes, vel doctrina, vel meritis, ad episcopales infulas sint promoti. Salvianus unus sufficeret in GalJia; sed in,Emilia praecesserat Severus Ravennatum antistes. Concursus filiorum, propinquorum, totiusque domus et familite facile fuit in metropolim ipsam Ravennee; non enim mater ad filium, sed filius ad matrem debet convo.. lare; itaque sancta Genitrix est sancta Ecclesia Ravennas, mater aliarum sibi subjectarum. « lpsa quoque Genitrix, et sponsa, mater, et Virgo in ipso sponsi sui 'halama, in ipso conjunctionis suse cubiculo, genuisse nova grattdatione miratur. Neque hæc verba deDeipara, ejusque partu virgineo possunt accipi; proinde haec etiam de Ravennali Ecclesia sunt explicanda quæ non solum sancta genitrix est, sed et virgo, habens Sponsum Chrislum Dominum, ut Deipara sponsum habuit; cum hoc tamen discrimine, quod Deipara cum sponso conjuncta non est, ut pareret suum prirnogenitum, aliter virgo non permansisset, sed utsibi esset yirginitalis testis et custos; Ecclesia vero, quia non carnaliter parit, sed spiritualiter, ut pariat primogenitum suum indiget SpODIO, ejusque thalamo, immo et conjunctione in qua et per quam gignens filios semper virgo perse'erat, utpotespiritualia dona in cOnlecratione com. municans ex Spiritus sancti gratia, quae in omni Ecclesiae operationeimploratur. Non obscure thalamus sponsi est major Ecclesia, et Metropoiilana; atque adeo hinc etiam constare potest peractam Ravennaa MarceMini consecrationem, et hanc praerogativam, quod Vicohaventinus in metropolitana sit consecratus, novam gratulationis esse materiem ChrylOIOgul deprehendit. « At quia thalami et conjunctionis nomina primo aspectu videntur virginitati opponi, solvit sanctus orator et. pastor hoc pacto nodum: Sed neminem tur. bet, nullum movent, quod in tla.alamo iplo"pon,a ipsa cernitur peperisse: talis non est de crimine.sed de virginitate conceptus; quando in tali germine coelestis partus est noti humanus,nec ullus est hic sinistras su:picioni: locut,ubi ipse sponsus sponsæ sum testis habetur et custos: quicumque sollioitus es de facto, esto de exemplo maximo p,rsecunu, et proecedentie trepi. datio ad tuam cautelam proficiat et munimen. Nempe partus hic in eonsecralione episcopi, carnalis non est, neque conjunctio carnalis est, sed spiritualia, virginitas vero caroalem conjunctionem excluditt et propterea in ipsa generatione vel partu, sponsui qui conjungitur, Ipiritaliler, nempe Christus, testis est virginitatis et custos, sicut exemplo maximo docemur In partuDeiparaevirgineo, sponsumJosephum testem fuisse virginitatis SUAB sponsep, atque eusto. dem. Quamobrem securus quisque debet el", nullam hic labem, nullam turpem notam intercessisse; nec in hoc defuisse Marcellini primogenlti partui virgineo similitudinem cum partu virgineo primogeniti Deiparse. « Joseph ille maritft, solo nomine, coucientia sponsus, prægnantem Iponlam fluctuans et anxius intuetur, quia neque accusare innocentem, nequeprceanantem poterat excusare: tacere tutum non erat, erat loqui pericutum. Admittit, non prodit crimina acmuato,' insontis. Erat ipse testimonium castitatis, erat custos pudori.; acius et vita in bivio; mens justa et sanctus animusan. cipil i cogitatione torquetur; sentit, sed tantum non p6- test penetrare saciwnentum, quia nec accusarepoterat, vv et defensare penes hom;ne, non valebat. Merito tno.'lOC" currit angelu., merito responsum subvenit mox divinum, cui humano deficiente consilio, justitia non defecit. Et quid dicitf Joseph, filii David, noli timere. Qui nihil defecerat quid timebat? Timebat, quia et si nullus iri facto reatus erat,erat in causa maximus pavor• Sanctus animus quidquid non exsequitur, ezpavescit. Quoniam Evangelium in ea parte qua Marcellini consecrationi congruebat expositum erat pluribus, ne videretur Chrysologus plusjusto in causamsuam pronus, et id quod præcipuum In evangelicis oraculis deseruisse,in perpendendis myaleriis ibi contentis modo moratur, transitumque facit a consecratione Marcellini ad Jo. sephum sanctissimum Deipare sponsum: commemoratione sponsi Chrilli,in partu primogeniti Marcellini virgineo, studens excutere suspicionem de carnali complexu,et non virgineo partu,ex eo quodsponsus Christus erat virginitatis et custos et testis, quemadmodum Joseph virginitatis Deiparæ testis et custos fuerat. Describit ergo ejus suspicionem. non amittendo justitiam,eumque limorem divinitus excussum. Modo revertitur et concludit cum Vicohaventini epi.. scopi consecratione. « Cave ergo, homo, de partu nostræ matris taliter disputare, cum a.ngelum respondisse sufficiat; Noli timere accipere Mariam in conjugem tuam, quod enim in itla natum est, de Spiritu sancto est. Feliciter peperit, quæ virginitatis coronam magis magisque pariendo conquisivit et glorianl.Hic vero, qui nobis hodie natus est, semper retia tetendit in mare. Nemo ergo nJ.iretur si piscatorem Petrus ge,tit,it habere colleganl.Orateergo, fratres,ut pi,eari mereatur laomine.,qui hactenus pisces capere hominum laboravit ad vitam. Rediens ad consecrationem, de ipsa tantum ostendit curam,innuitque fortassis aliquos non defuturos,qui talem partum suspicentur non virgineum quandoquidem adhuc → ..
Topics: Church office, Christology
Cite (SBL): Peter Chrysologus, Serm. 175 (PL 52:655–663; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/peter-chrysologus-sermones/175). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/peter-chrysologus-sermones/175
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 52 (digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). No public-domain English exists; sermons in FOTC 17, 109 and 110 (Ganss; Palardy) were checked against them privately after translation, the others re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 176
176PL 52:663–665
De cæco. Deus quoties de3peratas humanorum curat corporum passiones,deitatis suæ toties potentiam pandit: sed in una eademqueinfirmitate, quando ordinem suae ourationis immutat,causas propter quas hoc faciat, facit nos altius perscrutari. Nam juxta viam sedenti cæco visum sola restituit jussione; alii a nativitate caeco nato, non lumini, sed tenebris, et cui natura visum in viderat, atque ipsa, quæ parat et aperit oculos oculos clauseratet negarat, Christus imponit lutum,et collyrio materiali fingit,facit procurat oculos, a non recurat (Joan. ix),ut creante. non medicante manu inde homini suppleretlumina, unde hominem fecerat totum.Iste vero cæcus, cujus nobis evangelista Mar- cus retulit curam,sic novo sanatur modo,utomnes compellat exquirere cur con tumax caecitas moram facere sic praesumit auctori, cujus nutu,visu,jussu infirmitates pereunt, redeunt sanitates, vita oritur, mors finitur,stant omnia,cuncta dilabuntur. Venit, inquit,Jesus Bethsarda, et adducunt ei caecum, et rogabanteumut eum tangeret;et apprehensa manu caeci, eduxit eum foras extra vicum (Marc. VIII). Quasi eum curare non potuerit in loco, aut beneficio loci indiguerit, universis qui contulit visum. Hæc est Bethsaida cujus perfidiam Dominus exprobrat.dicens: Væ tibi, Chorozaim, væ tibi, Bethsaida: Quia si in Tyro et Sidone virtutes factæ fuissent quae in te factæ sunt, olim in cilicio et cinere pænitentiam egissent (Matt h. XI). Ergo apprehensa manu ejus de domo infidelitatis educit,levat eumde perfidiæ sessione, ut ante fidem quam oculos daret,antementiquam corpori redderet sanitatem,antepraeberetb humani ducatus obsequium quam di vinae virtutis operaretur insigne. lUi rogabant ut vel tangeret eum: sed Christus, qui horrere ne- scit pauperem,pauperem scit amare, totam dedit pauper manum, et debilitati Deus publicam præbuitservitutem, ut homo non horreat hominem, et videns non videntem videat, et duce manu cæcum lucis faciat nescireorbitatem:nedicathomo: Non habet manus mea quod det pauperi, det ipsam manum pauperi, et plus eritmanum pauperi dedissequam nummum, iter praebuisse pau peri quam pauperi panis dedisse fragmentum. Et eduxit eum foras extra vicum,et exspuit in oculos ejus.Uominico sputo vacuas oculorumreplet lacunas, divino ore luciferam dat salivam, ut sancti roris gutta baptizaret oculos peccatoris, ut aperiret venia,quos clauserat culpa.Nemo ergo dubitet divino imbre tota arefacta mortalia membra posse reviviscere,cum videat parva Dominicisputi gutta arentes cæcitate oculos subito sic suscitatos in lucem: Exsurgent, inquit Isaias, mortui, et resurgent qui in monumentis sunt, et lætabuntur qui sunt in terra. Quomodo? Ros enim qui abs te est sanitas est illis: quod est pluvia semini, hoc resurrecturis Dominicus imber.Et imposuit illi manus. In faciendo, in reparando, in componendo hominem Dominicae manus curatrices hominibus semper adsunt. Manus tuæ, inquit,fecerunt meetplasmaverunt me.Et interrogavit eum si aliquid videret. Interrogat ut homo,operatur ut Deus.Qui videt abdita terrarum,qui cordis intuetur occulta,cui omnia sunt nuda quae sunt tecta omnibus, in opere suo, in oculis suis videre quaerit, laborat scire,alio referente cognoscit? Absit. Sed interrogat ut praesentes scirent, futuri cognoscerent, cæcitatis huj us non esse simplicem,sed mysticam curam. Denique non lumen,sed auroram quamdam, lucemque erumpentem datam sibi adhuc quicurabatur,Domino interrogante,respondit: V ideo, inquit, homines ut arbores ambulantes. Imperfectis oculis grandescunt formæ, turbantur species, res falluntur ipsæ,qui non jam visionem capiunt, sed adhuc umbram sustinent visionis.Et quare tamen sicut arbores, non ut columnæ, aut aliud quid, neque] stantes, sed ambulantes Quia post curam Christi viderat, quod homines velut arbores transirent in hoc saeculo, non manerent; temporalem planationem germinishumani esse in hac vita mox videt quem curaverit Christus. Iteranda est ergo cura Christi, ut perfecti oculi futura certa, manentia videant et æterna. Iterum, inquit, posuit manus super oculos ejus,et cæpit videre: et restitutus est, ita ut clare videret omnia, et misit illum in domum suam, dicens: Vade in domum tuam, et si in vicum introieris, nemini dixeris. Aperiatur jam spiritualis intelligentia, ut qui sit iste cæcus cognoscamus, et quare non sponte venit, sed ab aliis adducitur,et ducitur manu Christi,et educitur extra vicum,et alibi recipit visum, qui diu apud suos longam sui pertuleratorbitatem: etexspuit in oculos ejus, et iteratur divinae manus impositio,et cui videre extra domum datur,quid viderit,quomodo viderit, per quem viderit, suis dicere non donatur. Fratres, cæcus iste est Judaeus,quiin Synagoga,hoc est, in perfidiæ domo et in vico, hoc est,inconventu malignantium ignorantiæ cæcitate tenebatur,etsedebatoppressus.Hinc estquod non veniebat ad Christum,sed venit ad eum Christus,etapprehendit manum ejus, ut dono vocantis,non beneficio legis, non proprio curatum se gloriaretur arbitrio. Educit eum foras, ut in Ecclesia lucem fidei videat per libertatem gratiæ,qui sub legis velamine nil videbat.Imponitei primum manum,ut videat transire umbram legis; ut sacerdotes,scribas. pharisæos,et figuram totam J udaicæ observantiæ videatvelut arbores præterire, quæ ut in tempore, sic cum tempore senescunt, nascuntur, virescunt, florescunt,fructificant, pereunt,evanescunt. Iterum imponit ei manum, ut resurgens non jam caduca videat sed aeterna, et videat quidquid est divini luminis,ho- noris et gloriae: sicut ille magnus ex ipsis Paulus, qui extra cum et In via Judeeuscecidit, ut resurgeret Christianus; et caecatus est in lege (Act. IX), ut videretio gratia, sicut ab ipso perhibetur: Nunc videmus in specula et In ænigmate; tunc autem videbimus facieadfaciem (I Cor. XIII). Tunc quando quod sepultum est in morte, surget in vita, et quidquid satum est in contumelia, surget in gloria.
[On the blind man.] As often as God cures the desperate sufferings of human bodies, so often he reveals the power of his Godhead; but when, in one and the same infirmity, he changes the order of his cure, he makes us search more deeply into the reasons for which he does it. For to the blind man sitting by the road he restored sight by command alone; to another blind man, born not to light but to darkness, whom nature had begrudged sight, and whose eyes nature itself, which prepares and opens eyes, had closed and denied, Christ applies clay, and with a material salve shapes, makes and provides eyes, rather than restoring them (John 9), so that with a creating, not a healing, hand he might supply light to the man from that from which he had made the whole man. But this blind man, whose cure the evangelist Mark has related to us, is healed in a new way, so as to compel all to ask why stubborn blindness so presumes to delay the Author, at whose nod, sight and command infirmities perish, health returns, life arises, death ends, all things stand, and all things fall away. “Jesus came,” it says, “to Bethsaida, and they brought him a blind man and begged him to touch him; and taking the blind man's hand, he led him out outside the village” (Mark 8). As if he could not cure him in that place, or needed the help of a place, he who gave sight to all! This is the Bethsaida whose faithlessness the Lord reproaches, saying: “Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida: for if the powers done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes” (Matt 11). So, taking his hand, he leads him out of the house of unbelief, lifts him from the seat of faithlessness, so as to give faith before eyes, to restore health to the mind before the body, to offer the service of a human guide before working the mark of divine power. They begged him at least to touch him; but Christ, who does not know how to shrink from the poor, knows how to love the poor, gave the poor man his whole hand; and God offered public service to weakness, so that man might not shrink from man, and the seeing might see the unseeing, and by a guiding hand make the blind man not know the bereavement of light: lest a man say, “My hand has nothing to give a poor man,” let him give the poor man his hand itself; and it will be more to have given the poor man a hand than a coin, to have shown the poor man the way than to have given the poor man a crust of bread. “And he led him out outside the village, and spat on his eyes.” With the Lord's spittle he fills the empty hollows of the eyes; from the divine mouth he gives light-bearing saliva, so that a drop of holy dew might baptize the sinner's eyes, so that pardon might open what guilt had closed. Let no one, then, doubt that mortal limbs, wholly dried up, can come to life again by a divine shower, when he sees eyes dry with blindness so suddenly raised to light by a little drop of the Lord's spittle: “The dead will rise,” says Isaiah, “and those in the tombs will rise again, and those on the earth will rejoice.” How? “For the dew that is from you is health to them”: what rain is to seed, the Lord's shower is to those who will rise. “And he laid his hands on him.” In making, restoring, and putting man together, the Lord's healing hands are always present to men: “Your hands,” it says, “made me and fashioned me.” “And he asked him whether he saw anything.” He asks as man, he works as God. Does he who sees the hidden places of the earth, who beholds the secrets of the heart, to whom all things are naked that are covered to all, seek to see in his own work, in his own eyes, labor to know, learn from another's report? Far from it. But he asks so that those present might know, and those to come learn, that the cure of this blindness was not simple but mystical. Accordingly, the man being cured, at the Lord's question, answered that he had been given not light but a kind of dawn and a breaking forth of light: “I see,” he says, “men like trees walking.” To imperfect eyes forms grow large, shapes are confused, things themselves deceive, for such eyes do not yet receive vision but still endure the shadow of vision. And yet why “like trees,” not like columns or something else, and not standing but walking? Because after Christ's cure he had seen that men pass through this world like trees and do not remain; one whom Christ has cured soon sees that the planting of the human seed in this life is temporary. So Christ's cure must be repeated, so that perfect eyes may see future things that are certain, abiding and eternal. “Again,” it says, “he put his hands on his eyes, and he began to see; and he was restored, so that he saw all things clearly; and he sent him to his house, saying: Go to your house, and if you enter the village, tell no one.” Let spiritual understanding now be opened, so that we may know who this blind man is, and why he does not come of his own accord but is brought by others, and is led by Christ's hand, and is led out outside the village, and receives sight elsewhere, who had long endured his long bereavement among his own; and why he spat on his eyes, and the laying on of the divine hand is repeated; and why he who is given to see outside his house is not granted to tell his own what he saw, how he saw, through whom he saw. Brothers, this blind man is the Jew, who in the Synagogue, that is, in the house of faithlessness, and in the village, that is, in the assembly of the wicked, was held by the blindness of ignorance and sat oppressed. Hence he did not come to Christ, but Christ came to him and took his hand, so that he might glory in having been cured by the gift of the one calling, not by the benefit of the law nor by his own free will. He leads him outside, so that in the Church he might see the light of faith through the freedom of grace, who under the veil of the law saw nothing. He first lays his hand on him, so that he may see the shadow of the law passing; so that he may see priests, scribes, Pharisees, and the whole figure of Jewish observance pass by like trees, which, as they are in time, so with time grow old, are born, grow green, flower, bear fruit, perish and vanish. Again he lays his hand on him, so that, rising, he may no longer see perishable things but eternal ones, and see whatever there is of divine light, honor and glory: like that great one among them, Paul, who outside the village and on the road fell as a Jew so as to rise a Christian; and was blinded in the law (Acts 9), so as to see in grace, as he himself declares: “Now we see in a mirror and in a riddle; but then we shall see face to face” (1 Cor 13). Then, when what is buried in death will rise in life, and whatever is sown in dishonor will rise in glory.
Mark 10:46–52 (allusion, high confidence) · John 9:1–7 (allusion, high confidence) · Mark 8:22–26 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 11:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 26:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Job 10:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 4:13 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Cor 3:14–16 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 1:1 (allusion, low confidence) · Col 2:17 (allusion, medium confidence) · Acts 9:3–18 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 13:12 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:42–43 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Explaining why Christ healed the blind man of Bethsaida in two stages (Mark 8:22–26), Chrysologus draws lessons on serving the poor with one's own hand and on the resurrection, and reads the blind man as the Jewish people led out of the Synagogue to see first the passing shadow of the law and then the eternal light of grace, as Paul did.
- The identification of the blind man with “the Jew” and of Bethsaida with the Synagogue is translated as written. The Isaiah quotation (26:19) and Job 10:8 (“Your hands made me”) are unreferenced in the printed text.
Topics: Christology, Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Peter Chrysologus, Serm. 176 (PL 52:663–665; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/peter-chrysologus-sermones/176). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/peter-chrysologus-sermones/176
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 52 (digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). No public-domain English exists; sermons in FOTC 17, 109 and 110 (Ganss; Palardy) were checked against them privately after translation, the others re-read against the Latin.