Orations 2.1–3.3

Fair is the lyre of the Psalms; inspired is the harp of the Spirit; delightful and awesome is the song of prophecy; always saving is psalmody, lulling the passions to sleep with its melody. For what a sickle is to thorns, a psalm becomes to grief. For a psalm, when sung, cuts out despondency; it uproots griefs; it sponges away passions; it lulls laments to sleep; it operates on cares; it comforts those in pain; it pricks sinners to compunction; it wakes them to piety; it makes deserts into cities; it makes cities self-controlled; it builds up monasteries; it commends virginity; it teaches meekness; it makes love law; it calls love of the poor blessed; it anoints for endurance; it lifts up to the heavens; it crowds the church; it sanctifies the priest; it puts demons to flight; it prophesies the future; it proclaims mysteries in advance; it lays down the Trinity as law, saying: “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.” It proclaimed the Son as sharing the throne; it did not brand the consubstantial one as a servant. For this reason just now the blessed David, singing the praise of the untiring nature, the almighty being, the unconquerable will, the grace that does not delay, the Creator who acts on his own authority, the Son who is free, God free from subjection, the Master who takes no orders, cried out: “How magnified are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all.” Let Arius and Eunomius, Macedonius and Nestorius be put to shame, the devil's four-horse chariot, the crags of the heresies, the reefs of blasphemy, the shipwrecks of souls, the hidden rocks of impiety, the wicked weighers of the Trinity; let them hear David saying: “How magnified are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all.” David magnifies the works, and the blasphemers belittle the Creator. For all the deeds of Christ the Master are wonderful and paradoxical; for they are the marvels of God the Word, outstripping the speed of the tongue and displaying the strength of him who created.

The Master made all things in wisdom. He brought angels out of non-being; he nodded, and creation did not delay; he commanded, and light rose out of darkness; he made the heaven firm like a vault; he drew up the earth, dissolved in the deep; he adorned the sun like a bridegroom; he shaped the moon in varied forms for our need; he forged peoples of stars out of light; and he granted harmony to the warring elements [fire, water]: the earth gushes out rivers, and the air lifts weights aloft, and his art has blended their opposition into friendship. Let me speak the mystery. Being God, he was seen on earth, and through a Virgin he came to dwell where he was already present; and the birth did not diminish him, nor did the birth-pangs alter his uncreated nature; but a created form shaped the Creator, and the world contained the uncontainable when he was made flesh. Having become man without sin, by a tree he freed our nature from sin; by a tomb he put death to death; by insult he cultivated glory; in a river he sketched the mystery of the font. And that Christ was God the sea, the winds, and the demons bore witness just now: the sea's surge was calmed, the violence of the winds was lulled to sleep, and the demons were scourged invisibly. And the elements bore witness to the power of him who was present, that they feared him of whom the prophet cried out in the Psalms: “The waters saw you, O God, and were afraid.”

Truly the Master made all things in wisdom. For to a creation that was mute he granted a tongue, I mean man; and as a womb for the first-formed man he made the dust from untilled earth. For just as in a womb seed is sown, a body is formed, the clay is shaped, the flesh is given a soul, the living being is completed, the one made in the image leaps, the rational creature is born, and the forming remains without witness and the birth inexplicable; so also with the first-formed Adam: instead of a womb, the divine hands; instead of seed, the earthly dust; instead of months, the timelessness of the Maker; instead of birth-pangs, the impassibility of the Fashioner; instead of birth, the divine breathing; instead of milk, the spring of paradise; instead of food, the table that needed no toil; instead of a form, the image of the archetype; instead of rank, immortality by grace; instead of subjects, the animals formed with him. And a birth by formation took place, but labour did not outrage the birth. Let the children of the Jews be put to shame, who mock the virginal birth, who say: “If a virgin gave birth, she did not remain a virgin.” Wretched and miserable man, Adam was brought into the world, and labour did not outrage his forming; God was born according to the flesh, and did his birth suffer corruption? For this reason the Master Christ is also the second Adam according to the flesh, since the earlier Adam was a type of the Master Christ. The clay sketched the potter. And that he was a type, hear the blessed Paul saying: “Death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a type of the one to come.” And hear how Adam was a type of the Master Christ according to the flesh. The servant is the beginning of nature; the Master is the beginning of a life that has no end. Divine hands formed that one; this one, as he knows, made himself flesh. That one was made according to the image; this one is the uncreated image. That one received a soul by breathing; this one was seen in the form of a slave. Paradise was that one's house; heaven is this one's throne. That one was the tongue of creation; this one is the head of the church. That one stretched out his hand to a tree and harvested death; this one spread out his hands on the cross and embraced the world, and cries in the Gospels: “When I am lifted up, I will draw all to myself.” That one had a wife who plotted against him; this one had a Virgin as his bridal chamber. While Adam slept his side was taken, and the woman was built, and Adam lacked nothing; when the Master Christ was crucified and buried according to the flesh, the church was bought by his blood, and suffering did not touch his Godhead.

But it is asked why the side was taken and the woman built up while Adam was not awake but asleep. Ought he not rather to have been awake, so as to witness the forming, be amazed at the skill, and glorify the wisdom of the Maker: how from clay came sinews and flesh, the fitting of bones and the fineness of hair? But God did not allow this, for two reasons. First, so that he would not feel pain when the side was taken, and, having felt pain, hate the woman, and the one of his own kind become hostile to him. Second, what is greater and more divine: God knew that man is a contentious creature, and that he was formed with free will; so that he would not begin to pry even into the birth of God, he casts sleep upon him, bridling his daring, as if saying to him: If you were not allowed to see the forming of one of your own kind, do not dare to pry into the unspeakable power of God and his incomprehensible birth. You cannot understand how a man is born; can you investigate the economy of God?

But I see that you are pressed for room, and it would be better to put the sermon to rest here; but if you are violent, and the kingdom belongs to the violent, I will add to what has been said. Probably one of the Jews is present here, and the fox of Judaea is hiding in Christ's vineyard, and after the congregation is dismissed he will stand outside, mock the sermon, and say such things as these: Why, Christians, do you make these innovations and boast about things that cannot be proved? Was God ever seen on earth? Never at any other time, except only in the days of Moses. But not even then was he seen, Jew; and Moses himself is a witness of this, speaking thus: “Take heed to yourself, and lay up in your heart all the words that your eyes have seen; and teach them to your sons and your sons' sons; remember the day of the Lord your God, the day of the assembly, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: Gather the people to me, and let them hear my words, and they will teach them to their sons. And you came near and stood under Mount Sinai; and the mountain was burning with fire up to heaven; and you heard the voice of the Lord your God from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, and you saw no form.” Why, then, do you boast of having seen what you did not see? What, then, he says, do you put to me: that a woman could give birth to God? To this I say to you: I do not tell you that a woman could give birth to God, but that God, made flesh, could be born of a woman; for all things are possible to him. Yet if you disbelieve my words, Jew, respect the books of the prophets; stoop down into them and see the whole mystery spoken of God; see the whole wonder of the virgin sketched in shadow. For the prophet says: “In that day, says the Lord almighty” (first I read the prophecy, and then I give the interpretation): “In that day, says the Lord almighty, a man shall invite his neighbour under his vine and under his fig tree. And the angel who talked with me,” he says, “turned me and roused me, as a man is roused from his sleep, and said to me: What do you see? And I said: I have looked, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, and the lamp-bowl above it, and seven lamps, and seven pourers, and two olive trees above it. And I asked the angel and said: What are these, Lord? And he said to me: Do you not know what these are? And I said: No, Lord. And the angel who talked with me answered and said: This is the Word of the Lord.” O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! We have read the prophecy; let us bring in the interpretation.

“In that day, says the Lord almighty.” In what day, prophet? The day of the incarnation, when a Virgin imitated heaven; when rays leapt out of a womb; when the sun made flesh came forth from a womb; when the light took shape in human form; when the birth of the one born was not a beginning but a rising. “And the angel who talked with me,” he says, “turned me and roused me, as when a man is roused from his sleep.” Who is the angel? The one who brought Mary the good news. What is the sleep? The time of the law. For as in sleep the eyelid covers the pupil, so under the law the veil covered the heart. “And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I have looked, and behold, a lampstand all of gold.” What, then, is the lampstand? Holy Mary. Why a lampstand? Because she carried the immaterial light, God made flesh. And why all of gold? Because she remained a virgin even after giving birth. For he says: “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, alone shall pass through it; and it shall be shut, for the prince shall both go out and shut the doors behind him.” And that the womb is called a gate, Job is witness, saying: “Why did it not shut the gates of my womb?” And as the lampstand is not itself the cause of the light but the bearer of the light, so the Virgin is not herself God but the temple of God. “And the lamp-bowl,” he says, “above it.” What is the lamp-bowl? God the Word made flesh, the light of the world, who says: “I am the light of the world.” And as in the lamp-bowl the material receives the flame, so in the mystery God took the form of a slave. And as the lamp-bowl sheds its brightness from above, so the Master came to dwell on earth from heaven. For this reason the prophet too cried: “Because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the Dayspring from on high has visited us.”

“And the lamp-bowl,” he says, “above it, and seven lamps.” What are these seven lamps? The particular laws. How is this clear? David says: “Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.” And Solomon: “For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light.” Here, then, he means the seven laws. And hear that there were seven laws. The first law is the natural one, of which Paul says: “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves.” The second law is that given through sight; for the one whom the law proclaims as Creator, sight confirms through the creatures. “For from the greatness and beauty of created things their Maker is seen by analogy.” The third law is the commandment about the tree; and the apostle Paul cries: “So the law is holy, and the commandment holy and righteous and good.” The fourth law is that given to Noah, in the cloud. The fifth law is that given to Abraham, the law of circumcision. The sixth is the law of the letter. The seventh is the law of grace; and hear again Paul saying that grace has a law: “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” And Isaiah says: “Out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Here, then, he calls the seven laws seven lamps. For since Christ came to fulfil all the laws, according to the blessed Paul, who says: “Christ is the fulfilment of the law for righteousness,” for this reason he called the seven laws seven lamps. And what are the seven pourers? The seven gifts of the Spirit. How is this clear? Isaiah says: “A rod will come forth from the root of Jesse, [and a flower from the root] will come up, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety; the spirit of the fear of God will fill him.” “And two pourers, and two olive trees above it.” What are the two olive trees? The two Testaments. And why did he call them olive trees? Because as the olive has evergreen leaves, so the two Testaments have unceasing testimonies about Christ.

“And I asked the angel and said: What are these? And the angel said: Do you not know what these are? And I said: No, Lord.” What are you saying, prophet? You say, “I saw a lampstand, and a lamp-bowl, and lamps, and pourers.” How then do you ask about what you saw? Yes, he says, for I was looking at an image and searching out a wonder. For as those who sail on the sea see the open water but do not see the pearl hidden below, so the prophet saw an image and searched out a mystery. Therefore he says: “And I asked the angel and said: What are these?” What, then, does the angel do? He does not say that he saw a lampstand, a lamp-bowl, lamps, and pourers; but, leaving the riddle aside, he proclaims the wonder and says: “This is the Word of the Lord.” And the angel becomes an evangelist; for leaving aside the sight, he proclaims the wonder and says: “This is the Word of the Lord.” What are you saying, angel? You showed vessels, and you announce the Word? Yes; for the sight is a riddle, and the grace a mystery. For since the Master and Lord was going to be born of a Virgin according to the flesh, to take shape as a man, and to be made flesh as he willed, and the

Jews were going to mock the wonder and say, “How could the Word of God, the Word in the beginning, the Word with God, be born in the form of a man and be made flesh from his own creature?”, he therefore, wishing to stop the mouths of the Jews, showed the prophet the lampstand instead of the Virgin; the pourers instead of the gifts; the olive trees instead of the Testaments; the lamp-bowl instead of the Saviour. And that the prophets call the Master Christ, the Word made flesh, the God who did not change, a lamp, hear Isaiah saying: “Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation and a tunic of gladness; he has put a turban on me like a bridegroom, and adorned me with ornaments like a bride; and as the earth makes its flower grow, and as a garden its seeds, so the Lord will make righteousness and rejoicing spring up before all the nations. For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until my righteousness goes forth as light, and my salvation burns like a lamp.” To him be glory and might and honour, with the Father together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of [ages].

Many and various festivals brighten human life, turning the sorrow of a toilsome existence into pleasure by the cycle of feasts. For just as those who have come down from the open sea after a storm rejoice in harbours as in the arms of life, so after many difficulties in his affairs a man keeping a feast rejoices in the festival as the mother of freedom from care. For a feast is forgetfulness of grief, sleep for cares, cultivator of joy, bringer of brightness, a time for prayer, a harvest for the poor, adornment of churches, a festival of cities for the birthday of Jesus, shipwreck of enmity, dawn of friendship, heaven on earth. And why say much? A feast is the fruit of the resurrection, according to the prophet who says: “Keep your feasts, Judah; for he who breathes into your face has come up from the earth.”

But, as I said, the festivals are many; yet the gains of the feasts are not equal. For some were legislated by God, others were brought in by the devil. Therefore some threaten loss to souls, some minister surfeit to the belly, and others procure the salvation of human nature. The Greeks keep feasts; but having shamefully made gods of the passions, they wipe off on themselves from them the mire of shame. The Jews too keep feasts; but they carry the belly about as a god, making their feasts occasions of sin after surfeit. Keeping a feast in the desert, they worshipped the golden image; they fasted for lawsuits and fights; keeping a feast in Jerusalem, they joined in fixing a cross against the Master. O Jewish feasts, whose brightness is deceit and whose luxury is murder! But the festivals of Christians are divine and paradoxical, and truly springs and treasuries of salvation. For our first festival proclaims God's coming to dwell among men. The one after it depicts the sanctification of the waters and the womb of baptism. The third announces the plunging of death, the trophy of the cross, the gift of the resurrection, and freedom for the fathers. The fourth cries aloud the ascent of our firstfruits into the heavens and the session at the right hand. The fifth trumpets the descent of the Holy Spirit and showers of countless gifts. “These are the feasts that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in them.”

For what is there in them that is not wonderful and paradoxical? What in the feast we celebrated yesterday was not full of awe and glory? For what was the wonder of yesterday's feast? But I beg you, listen with indulgence, for a tongue of clay is trying to carry across the mysteries of God. What, then, was the wonder of yesterday's feast? An inexplicable mystery of Godhead and manhood; a childbirth without labour; an incarnation that gave form, without passion, to the formless one; a paradoxical birth; a beginning and not a beginning of the one born, for the manhood had a beginning, but the Godhead remained without beginning; a form taking on a form, and the Trinity did not increase to a quaternity; a coming together of two natures, and the birth of one Son; an unconfused union of Word and flesh; and the one born yesterday according to the flesh is God in what is from the Father and man in what is from me. O awesome and paradoxical mystery! Who ever saw a king wear the dress of a condemned man? Or when did an eye contain the whole sun? And when was flesh united to God in being without change, if not yesterday? When the holy Virgin lent her womb, the Word leapt in through hearing, the Holy Spirit formed the living temple, the Most High emptied himself into the form of a slave, and the womb of a Virgin carried the mystery of the divine economy. O womb wider than heaven! O birth, cargo of salvation! O belly, bridal chamber of the clay and its Fashioner! O childbirth, ransom for the sin of the world! O mystery whose manner I cannot explain! O birth, which brought to the whole people, as gift and good news, not a beginning of God's existence, not a change of nature, not a lessening of power, not a separation from the Father who begot without beginning, but a union of God and flesh in being, a blessing of birth, God's coming to dwell, a wonder hidden in God from eternity, an undivided mystery of natures, release from the curse, the overturning of the sentence, the existence without beginning of the one and only Son, his birth from a Virgin according to the flesh, and the worship of him by all creation. To him be glory and might to the ages of ages. Amen.