Homilies 3.63–4.25

“And whom else of those present shall I choose than Zacchaeus, into whose house the Lord also went and rested, judging him worthy to be saved?” Having said this, he laid his hand on Zacchaeus, who was standing by, and pressed him to sit in his own seat. But Zacchaeus fell at his feet and begged him to release him from ruling, promising and saying: “Whatever a ruler must do, I will do; only grant me not to have this name. For I shrink from putting on the name of ruler, since it is full of bitter envy and danger.”

Peter said: “If you shrink from this, do not be called ruler, but ‘the one appointed’, since the Lord has allowed this to be said by saying: ‘Blessed is that man whom his master will appoint over the service of his fellow servants.’ But if you do not wish it to be known at all that you have authority to govern, you seem to me not to know that the acknowledged authority of the one who presides has great power to restrain the multitude. For everyone obeys the one who has received authority, having his conscience as a strong constraint. And do you not know for certain that you are to rule not as the rulers of the Gentiles, but as a servant ministering to them, as a father to the wronged, as a physician visiting them, as a shepherd guarding them; in short, having every care for their salvation? Or do you think I do not know what labours I am forcing you to take on, in asking that you be judged by crowds whom no one can possibly please? But to win God’s approval by doing well is entirely possible. Therefore I ask you to accept it willingly, for God’s sake, for Christ’s sake, for the salvation of the brothers, for their good order and your own benefit.”

“And consider the other point too: just as governing the church of Christ brings labour and danger, so much the greater is the reward; but greater too is the punishment for the one who is able and refuses. So, since I know you are more learned than those present, I want you to lend out the good teachings with which you have been entrusted by the Lord, so that you may hear, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’, and not, like the one who hid the one talent, be found charged and liable to punishment. But if you do not wish to be appointed good guardian of the church, point out another in your place, more learned and more faithful than you. But you will not be able to; for you were with the Lord, witnessed his wonderful deeds, and have learned the governing of a church.”

“Your task is to command what is needed; the brothers’ task is to submit and not to disobey. If they submit, they will be saved; if they disobey, they will be punished by the Lord, because the one who presides has been entrusted with the place of Christ. Therefore honour or insult shown to the one who presides is carried to Christ, and from Christ it is carried up to God. I have said this so that the brothers themselves may not be ignorant of the danger of disobeying you: whoever disobeys you when you command disobeys Christ, and whoever disobeys Christ provokes God.”

“The church, then, like a city built on a height, must have a God-loving order and good government. Before all, let the bishop be heeded as ruler in what he says. Let the presbyters be diligent that what is commanded is done. Let the deacons go round and look after the bodies and souls of the brothers, and report to the bishop. Let all the rest of the brothers accept being wronged; but if they wish to have judgment about the wrongs done to them, let them be reconciled before the presbyters, and let the presbyters refer the settlement to the bishop.”

“Let them urge on marriages, not only of the young but also of those advanced in years, lest seething desire, by occasion of sexual immorality or adultery, bring a plague on the church. For above every sin the impiety of adultery is hated by God, because it destroys not only the one who sinned but also those who eat and associate with him; for it is like rabies, in that it is its nature to pass on its own madness. For the sake of chastity, then, let not only the presbyters but everyone be eager to bring about marriages. For the sin of the adulterer forces its way to come upon all. To press the brothers to chastity is the first almsgiving; for it is care of the soul, while food for the body is only refreshment.”

“Yet if you love your brothers, you will take nothing from them, but will share with them what you have: you will feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick, help those in prison as far as you can, readily receive strangers into your own dwellings, and hate no one. How you ought to be godly your own mind will teach you, if you are right-minded. But above all, if I must say it to you, meet together more often, every hour if possible, and at least on the appointed days of assembly. For if you do this, you are within walls of refuge; for leaving the ranks is the beginning of destruction. So let no one stay away from the gathering on the pretext of some petty grievance against a brother. For if any of you stays away from the assembly, he will be counted among those who scatter the church of Christ and will be cast out with the adulterers. For like an adulterer he has separated himself on some pretext, under the influence of the spirit within him, and has given the evil one room against him, and the evil one will snatch him as a sheep found outside the fold.”

“Only, listen to your bishop, and do not tire of giving him all honour, knowing that by honouring him you carry it to Christ, and from Christ you carry it up to God; and he repays the giver many times over. Honour, then, the throne of Christ; for you were commanded to honour even the seat of Moses, even though those who sit on it are considered sinners. These things have been said to you sufficiently. As for him, I think it superfluous to tell him how to live blamelessly, since he is an approved disciple of the one who taught me too.”

“However, brothers, some things you should not wait to hear, but should perceive for yourselves what is reasonable. Zacchaeus alone, having given himself wholly to being occupied for you, having a belly to feed and no leisure for himself, how can he provide the food he needs? Is it not reasonable that all of you should provide for his living, not waiting for him to ask you? For that is the part of a beggar, and he would rather die of hunger than bring himself to do it. And how will you not be punished, if you do not consider that the worker is worthy of his wages? And let no one say, ‘Is the word freely given being sold, then?’ Far from it. For if someone who has the means to live takes anything, he sells the word; but if one who has not takes food in order to live, as the Lord too accepted it at dinners and among friends, having nothing, he who alone possesses all things, he does not sin. Accordingly, honour presbyters, catechists, useful deacons, widows who have lived well, orphans as children of the church; and whenever there is need of some means for a necessity, contribute all together. Show godliness toward one another, not shrinking from enduring anything whatever for your own salvation.”

Having said this, he laid his hand on Zacchaeus, saying: “Master and Lord of all, Father and God, keep the shepherd safe with the flock. You are the cause, you the power; we are what is helped, you the helper, the physician, the saviour, the wall, the life, the hope, the refuge, the joy, the expectation, the rest. In short, you are all things to us. Work with us for the everlasting possession of salvation; deliver, protect. You can do all things, for you are ruler of rulers and Lord of lords, master of kings. Give authority to the one who presides to loose what must be loosed and to bind what must be bound. Make him wise. Through him keep the church of your Christ safe as a fair bride. For yours is eternal glory, praise to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, to all the ages. Amen.”

Having said this, he then said: “All of you who wish to be baptized, begin fasting from tomorrow, receive the laying on of hands every day, and ask about whatever you wish. For I intend to stay with you ten more days.” After three days, when he had begun to baptize, he called me, Aquila, and Nicetes and said: “Since I intend to set out for Tyre in seven days, I want you to leave at once, lodge secretly with Bernice the Canaanite, daughter of Justa, and learn from her and write to me accurately what concerns Simon. For it will help me greatly to prepare myself for it. So go at once in peace.” And so, leaving him baptizing, as he had commanded, we went ahead of him to Tyre in Phoenicia.

Leaving Caesarea Stratonis, I, Clement, together with Nicetes and Aquila, entered Tyre in Phoenicia, and, according to the instruction of Peter who had sent us, we lodged with Bernice, daughter of Justa the Canaanite. She received us most gladly; eager to show me great honour, and affection to Aquila and Nicetes, and speaking freely out of joy as with old acquaintances, she treated us kindly and hospitably pressed us to refresh ourselves. Seeing, then, that she was imposing a short delay on us, I said: “You do well to hasten to fulfil the duties of love; but the fear of our God must come before it. For, having a contest on hand for many souls, we are afraid to put our own rest before their salvation.”

“For we hear that Simon the magus, defeated in the debate with our lord Peter at Caesarea, fled at once and is doing much harm here. For by slandering Peter with everything contrary to the truth he carries off the souls of many. Himself a magician, he calls Peter a magician; himself a deceiver, he denounces Peter as a deceiver; and though he came off worse in the debates before everyone and ran away, he claims that he won, and keeps enjoining that Peter must not be listened to, as if he cared for them, so that they might not be bewitched by a terrible magician.”

“Having learned this, our lord Peter sent us ahead to investigate what had been reported to him, so that, if it is so, he may learn it from our letter, and on coming may refute Simon face to face on the points on which he has slandered him. Since, then, the danger of many souls lies before us, we are for this reason neglecting our bodily rest for a little, and we wish to learn truthfully from you, who live here, whether what we have heard is true. Please tell us everything now.”

When Bernice was asked, she said: “These things are as you have heard; but hear the other things about Simon himself, which perhaps you do not know. By making phantoms and apparitions appear in the middle of the marketplace by day, he astounds the whole city; and when he goes out, statues move and many shadows go before him, which he says are the souls of the dead. Many who tried to expose him as a sorcerer he soon reconciled to himself on the pretext of a feast; he sacrificed an ox, entertained them, and then struck them with various diseases and subjected them to demons. In short, having harmed many, he is supposed to be a god, and besides being feared he is also highly honoured.”

“So I do not think anyone will be able to put out so great a fire once it has been kindled. For no one doubts what he professes; everyone affirms that it is so. Therefore, so that you may not be endangered, I urge you not to attempt anything against him before Peter comes, who alone will be able to contend against so great a power, since he is the most approved disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. For I fear the man so much that, if he had not already come off worse in debate with my lord Peter on another occasion, I would have advised you to persuade even Peter himself not to try to measure himself against Simon.”

And I said: “If our lord Peter did not know that he alone prevails over that man’s power, he would not have sent us ahead with instructions to find out secretly about Simon and write to him.” But since evening had come, we shared salt and went to sleep. At dawn an acquaintance of Bernice came and said that Simon had sailed for Sidon, leaving behind, of his disciples, Appion Pleistonices, a man of Alexandria, a grammarian by profession, whom I recognized as a friend of my father’s; Annubion of Diospolis, an astrologer; and Athenodorus the Athenian, a follower of the teaching of Epicurus. Having learned about Simon, we wrote everything down early that morning and sent it to Peter, and then went out for a walk.

And Appion met us, not only with the two companions already named, but with about thirty other men. As soon as he saw me, he greeted and kissed me and said: “This is Clement, of whose noble birth and liberal upbringing I have often spoken to you: a man related to the family of Tiberius Caesar and trained in all Greek learning, who has been deceived by a barbarian called Peter into doing and saying the things of the Jews. So I ask you to join me in the effort to set him right. And in your presence I ask him: let him tell me, since he thinks he has given himself to piety, how he is not guilty of the greatest impiety in abandoning his ancestral ways and turning aside to barbarian customs.”

I answered: “I accept your good will toward me, but I reject your ignorance. Your intention is good, because you want me to be among the things you consider good; but your knowledge, not being right, is trying to ensnare me under the pretext of friendship.” Appion said: “Does it seem ignorance to you for one who keeps his ancestral customs to think as the Greeks do?” I answered: “One who chooses to be godly must not keep his ancestral ways at all costs, but must keep them if they are godly and shake them off if they are ungodly. For it can happen that someone whose father is ungodly, wishing to be godly, does not want to follow his father’s way.” Appion answered: “What then? Are you saying your father lived an evil life?” I said: “His life was not evil, but his belief was.” Appion said: “I want to hear what his evil opinion was.” I said: “That he believed the false and evil myths of the Greeks.” Appion asked: “What are these false and evil myths of the Greeks?” I said: “The wrong notion about gods, which, if you are patient, you will hear together with those who love learning.”

“So before the discussion let us now withdraw to some quieter place; there I will speak with you. The reason I want to speak privately is this: neither the many nor even all who practise philosophy approach the judgment of what is real with sincerity. For we know that many even of those who pride themselves on philosophy are vainglorious, or have put on the philosopher’s cloak for gain and not for virtue itself; and if they do not find what they practise philosophy for, they turn to mockery. Because of such people, let us choose a place suitable for private conversation.”

And one of them, a rich man who owned a place nearby with evergreen foliage, said: “Since the heat is scorching, let us withdraw a little from the city to my gardens.” So they went on and sat down where there were pure streams of cool water and the green shade of all kinds of trees. There I gladly sat down, and the others around me; and keeping silent, instead of asking me in words, they made it plain by gazing at me that they were demanding the proof of my claim. And so I began to speak as follows.

“Great, men of Greece, is the difference between truth and custom. For truth, when sought sincerely, is found; but custom, whatever kind is received, true or false, is strengthened by itself without judgment, and the one who received it is neither glad when it is true nor troubled when it is false. For such a person has believed not by judgment but by preconception, having entrusted his hope to the opinion of those before him on an uncertain chance. And it is not easy to strip off the ancestral garment, even if it is plainly shown to him to be foolish and ridiculous.”

“For example, I say that the whole of Greek education is a most grievous invention of an evil demon. Some of them introduced many gods, and these evil and subject to every passion, so that whoever wishes to do the like may not even feel shame, which is proper to a human being, since he has as his example the evil and indecent lives of the gods of mythology. And by not even feeling shame, such a person shows no hope of repentance. Others introduced fate, the so-called genesis, contrary to which no one can suffer or do anything. This is the same as the first. For one who thinks that no one can do or suffer anything contrary to genesis easily turns to sin, and having sinned does not repent of his impieties, offering the excuse that he was compelled by genesis to do them; and since he cannot correct genesis, he does not even feel shame for his sins.”

“Others introduce a motion without providence, as though all things were carried round of themselves, with no master set over them. To think this, as we have said, is the most grievous of all opinions. For, as if there were no one presiding, providing, and allotting to each according to desert, they readily do whatever they can, because they have no fear. Hence those who think such things are not easily, or perhaps not at all, brought to self-control, for they do not foresee the danger that would turn them back. But the teaching of the Jews, whom you call barbarians, is most pious, introducing one Father and Creator of this universe, by nature good and just: good, in that he forgives the sins of those who repent; just, in that after repentance he visits on each according to the worth of what he has done.”

“This teaching, even if it were a myth, would not be without benefit for life, since it is pious. For each person, in expectation of being judged by the all-seeing God, receives a stronger impulse toward self-control. And if the teaching is also true, it frees the one who has lived with self-control from eternal punishment, and blesses him besides with the everlasting and ineffable good things that come from God.”

“But I return to the very first opinion of the Greeks, which tells in myths that there are many gods, subject to every passion. And so as not to spend much time on what is certain by setting out the impious deeds of each of the so-called gods, I will not recount all their loves, those of Zeus and Poseidon, of Pluto and Apollo, of Dionysus and Heracles, and of each one singly; for you yourselves are not ignorant of them, starting as you do from Greek education, and you were taught their lives so that, as imitators of the gods, you might do the like.”

“I will begin with the most kingly Zeus himself. His father Cronus, as you say, swallowed his own children, and cut off the genitals of his father Uranus with a sickle of adamant, and so showed to those who emulate the mysteries of the gods a pattern of piety toward parents and love toward children. Zeus himself bound his own father and shut him up in Tartarus, and he punishes the other gods. For those who wish to do unspeakable things, he begot Metis and swallowed her; but Metis was seed, for it is impossible to swallow a baby. To give pederasts an excuse, he carries off Ganymede. Helping adulterers in their adultery, he himself is often found an adulterer. He encourages the murder of brothers, having united with his sisters Hera and Demeter and the heavenly Aphrodite, whom some call Dodona. For those who wish to have intercourse with their daughters, he becomes from the myths an evil example by uniting with Persephone. He committed countless other impieties, so that because of his surpassing incontinence the myth might be made a dogma by the impious, that he is a god.”

“One may reasonably be moderately indignant with unlearned people about such notions. But what need is there even to speak of those who start from education? Some of them, claiming to be grammarians and sophists, affirm that such deeds are worthy of gods. For being incontinent themselves, they seize on this mythical pretext and boldly commit indecencies as imitators, forsooth, of their betters.”

“For this reason those who live in the country sin much less than they do, since they have not been wickedly initiated into the things by which those who dare these deeds were initiated, having learned impiety from an evil education. For those who from childhood learn their letters through such myths implant the impious deeds of the so-called gods in their minds while the soul is still tender. So as they grow older these bear fruit like evil seeds sown in the soul; and worst of all, the impieties that have taken root cannot easily be cut out, even when as grown men they perceive them to be grievous. For each person likes to remain in what he has been accustomed to from childhood; and so, since custom has hardly less power than nature, they become hard to turn toward the good things that were not sown in their souls from the beginning.”

“Therefore the young must not be content with corrupting lessons, and those in their prime must carefully refrain from listening to the mythology of the Greeks. For their lessons are much worse than ignorance, as we have shown from those who live in the country, who sin less because they have not been educated in what the Greeks teach. So their myths must be shunned, and their theatres and books, and, if it were possible, their cities too. For being full of evil teachings and breathing them out, they pass on what they themselves suffer to those who associate with them, like rabies to those near them. And worst of all, whoever among them is more highly educated has been turned much further away from thinking according to nature.”

“Some of them, who even claim to be philosophers, class such sins as indifferent and call those who are angered by such deeds foolish. For such things, they say, are not sins by nature, but have been forbidden by positive laws made by wise men of old, because they knew that people, with their easily swayed souls, are greatly vexed by such things and make war on one another; and for this reason the wise men laid down a law and forbade such things as sins. But it is ridiculous to think so. For how are things not sins that cause tumults, murders, and every disturbance? Do not ruined lives and many other evils spring from adultery?”

“‘But why,’ someone says, ‘if a husband does not know that his wife is committing adultery, is he not jealous, not angry, not troubled, and does not make war? So such things are not evil by nature; it is the irrational opinion of men that makes them terrible.’ But I say that even if these terrible things do not happen, it can happen that through intimacy with the adulterer she leaves her husband, or plots against him while living with him, or gives the adulterer what her husband has gained by his labour; or, conceiving by the adulterer while her husband is abroad, she may out of shame at being exposed wish to destroy what is in her womb, and so become a child-killer, or perish along with it in destroying it. And if she conceives by the adulterer while her husband is at home and bears a child, the child grows up not knowing his father and thinking one who is not his father to be so; and so the man who is not the father leaves his livelihood at his death to another man’s child. And how many other evils naturally tend to spring from adultery! And the hidden evils we do not know. For just as a rabid dog destroys those it touches by passing on its invisible madness, so the hidden evil of adultery, even when unknown, brings about the cutting off of the family line.”

“But let this be passed over for now. This we all know: that men in general are uncontrollably angered by it, that wars have been stirred up over it, households overturned, cities captured, and countless other things. For this reason I fled for refuge to the holy God and Law of the Jews, having given my faith on a secure judgment, that the Law has been laid down from the just judgment of God, and that the soul will certainly receive, somewhere or other, according to the worth of what it has done.”

When I had said this, Appion added to the discussion: “What then? Do not the laws of the Greeks also forbid wicked deeds and punish adulterers?” I said: “Then the gods of the Greeks, who did things contrary to the laws, deserve punishment. And how shall I be able to discipline myself, if I suppose that the gods themselves were the first to commit, along with adultery, every grievous deed, and have not paid the penalty, though they ought all the more to pay it, since they are not slaves to desire? And if they were subject to it, how were they gods?” Appion said: “Let our standard be no longer the gods, but the judges; looking to them, we shall be afraid to sin.” I said: “It is not the same, Appion. For one who has a human being as his standard will dare to sin in the hope of escaping notice; but one who has set the all-seeing God before his own soul, knowing that he cannot escape his notice, will refuse even to sin in secret.”

When Appion heard this, he said: “Ever since I heard that you were associating with Jews, I knew that your mind had been changed. For it was well said by someone, ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’” I said: “Then good company corrects bad morals.” Appion said: “Today I was set on learning your position; that is why we let you speak first. Tomorrow, here, if you please, when the same friends have gathered, I will show that our gods are neither adulterers, nor murderers, nor corrupters of boys, nor have they lain with sisters or daughters; but the ancients, wishing only lovers of learning to know the mysteries, veiled them in the myths you have spoken of. For in their account of nature they say that Zeus (Zēn) is the seething substance, Cronus is time, and Rhea the ever-flowing nature of water. But, as I promised, tomorrow at dawn, when you have gathered, I will explain each form by allegory and reveal the truth of things.” To this I said: “Tomorrow do as you promised; but already now, hear something about the very things you are going to say.”

“If the deeds of the gods were good and were veiled in advance by evil myths, great wickedness is shown in the one who covered them, because he hid what is honourable under evil stories, so that no one should become its imitator. But if they truly did impious deeds, he ought, on the contrary, to have covered them with good stories, so that people, looking to them as their betters, might not attempt to sin in the same way.” When I had said this, those present were plainly beginning to take a liking to what I had said. For they repeatedly and earnestly begged me to come without fail the next day, and then departed.