Homilies 9.1–9.23

On the following day Peter went out with his companions, came to the place of the day before, took his stand, and began to speak: "God destroyed with water all the people of old, who had acted impiously; but finding one godly man out of them all, he caused him to be saved in an ark with his three sons and their wives. From this one can see his nature: it takes no account of a crowd of the impious, but does not neglect the salvation of one who is godly. The greatest impiety of all, then, is to abandon the one Master of all and to worship many gods that do not exist.

"If, then, while I explain and show you that this is the greatest sin, which can destroy you all, the thought slips into your mind that you will not perish because you are great crowds, you are deceived. For you have the example of the world that was flooded long ago; and yet their sin was far less than yours. They sinned against their equals, by murder or by adultery; but you sin against the God of all, worshipping lifeless images instead of him or alongside him, and flinging his divine name upon every kind of senseless matter. First, then, you have been unfortunate in not recognizing the difference between monarchy and polyarchy: monarchy produces concord, while polyarchy brings about wars. For the one does not fight with itself, but the many have occasion to take up battle with one another.

"So it was that immediately after the flood Noah, who lived on for three hundred and fifty years, continued in concord with the crowds descended from him, being king after the image of the one God. But after his death many of his descendants longed for kingship, and, hastening to reign, each devised how he might achieve it: one by war, another by deceit, another by persuasion, and others in other ways. Among them was one of the race of Ham, the father of Mestrem, from whom the tribes of the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Persians multiplied.

"From this race there arose in due succession a man who had received the magic arts, named Nebrod, who like a giant chose to set his mind against God; the Greeks called him Zoroaster. After the flood he longed for kingship, and being a great magician he compelled by magic arts the star of the evil one who now reigns, the star that presides over the world's horoscope, to grant him kingship. But that one, being a ruler and having authority over the one who was forcing him, in anger poured out the fire of kingship, both to show himself compliant to the adjuration and to punish the one who had first compelled him.

"By this lightning, then, that fell from heaven to earth, the magician Nebrod was killed, and from what had happened he was renamed Zoroaster, because the living stream of the star was brought down upon him. But the foolish people of that time, supposing that his soul had been fetched away by the thunderbolt because of his friendship with God, buried what remained of his body and honored the tomb with a temple among the Persians, where the fire had come down, and worshipped him as a god. Following this example the rest there also bury those who die by thunderbolt as friends of God, honor them with temples, and set up statues in the likeness of the dead. From there those who held power in various places likewise imitated them: most of them honored with temples and wooden images the tombs of those they loved, even though they had not died by thunderbolt, and, lighting altars, commanded that they be worshipped as gods. Long afterward, through the length of time, later generations believed they really were gods.

"Although in the beginning there was one kingdom, many divisions arose in this way. The Persians first took coals from the lightning that fell from heaven and kept them alive with fuel of their own; honoring the fire as a heavenly god, and being the first to worship it, they were honored by the fire itself with the first kingdom. After them the Babylonians stole coals from the fire there, carried them safely to their own land, worshipped them, and themselves reigned in turn. The Egyptians did likewise, calling the fire in their own language Phthas, which is translated Hephaestus; and the first who reigned among them is called by its name. Those who reigned in various places followed the same method, set up shrines and lit altars in honor of the fire; but most of them had their kingdoms extinguished.

"But they did not cease worshipping the wooden images, because of the wicked contrivance of the magicians, who found for them pretexts that could hold them fast to the vain worship. Having set up the images with magical rites, they appointed festivals for them with sacrifices, libations, flutes and clapping. Deceived by these pretexts, the foolish, although their kingdom has been taken away, do not abandon the rites they have taken up; so far have they preferred pleasure, that is, error, to the truth. After their drinking they even raise shrieks beside the altar, their soul from its depths, as if through dreams, foretelling to them the punishment to come for such deeds.

"Since many religions, then, have come and gone in human life, we have come to you like good merchants, bringing the religion handed down to us from our forefathers and preserved, showing it to you like seeds of plants and placing it under your judgment and authority. Choose what seems good to you. If you choose ours, you will be able not only to escape demons and the sufferings that come from demons, but, putting such beings to flight and being entreated by them, you will also enjoy the good things that will last forever.

"Otherwise, on the contrary, being abused by demons in this present life with strange sufferings, at your departure from the body you will have your souls also punished forever; truly, not because God condemns, but because evil deeds carry such a judgment. For the demons, having power through the food offered to them, are admitted into your bodies by your own hands. Lurking there a long time, they become blended with the soul as well. And through the negligence of those who do not think, or do not wish, to help themselves, at the dissolution of the body the soul, united to the demon, is compelled to be carried by it to whatever places it wishes. Worst of all, when at the consummation of all things the demon is first handed over to the purifying fire, the soul that is mingled with it is compelled to be punished unspeakably, while the demon rejoices. For the soul, being from light, cannot bear the alien flame of the fire and is tormented; but the demon, being in the substance of its own kind, rejoices greatly, having become a bond, hard to break, of the soul it has swallowed up.

"The reason why demons are eager to enter human bodies is this. Being spirits, they have a desire for food and drink and sexual intercourse; but they cannot partake of these, because they are spirits and need organs suited to their use. So they enter human bodies, so that, having obtained organs to serve them, they may be able to get what they want: food, by means of the man's teeth, or intercourse, by means of his genitals. Therefore the most fitting help for putting demons to flight is abstinence, fasting, and hardship. For if they enter a human body for the sake of partaking, clearly they are driven out by hardship. But since some, being fiercer, contend stubbornly and remain in the punished body although they are punished with it, one must therefore flee to God with prayers and petitions, abstaining from every unclean occasion, so that the hand of God may be able to touch the person for healing, as one who is pure and believing.

"In one's prayers one must also confess that one has fled to God for refuge, and protest against the demon's slowness to leave, not its insensibility. For all things happen for the one who believes, but nothing for the one who does not. That is why the demons themselves, knowing the measure of faith of those they master, measure out the length of their stay in proportion to it. So they stay on with unbelievers, they linger with those of weak faith, but with those who fully believe and do good they cannot remain even for a moment. For the soul, turned by faith in God as though into the nature of water, quenches the demon like a spark of fire. Each person's task, then, is to think out how to put his own demon to flight. For the demons mingle with souls and, so that a man may neglect his own salvation, they insert into each one's mind thoughts leading to what they wish.

"Hence many, not knowing by what they are moved, assent to the evil thoughts suggested by the demons as though to the reasoning of their own soul. So they become slower to come to those who can save them, and do not know that they are being consumed by the very demons lying in wait for them. The demons lurking in their souls lead them to think that what troubles them is not a demon but a bodily disease, such as acrid humor, or bile, or phlegm, or an excess of blood, or inflammation of the membranes, or something else. But even if it were so, not even this is exempt from being a kind of demon. For the universal and earthy soul, which pervades all foods and is taken in more abundantly with more food, is itself united, as to a kindred thing, with the spirit, which is the soul of man; while the material part of the food, united with the body, is left in it as a terrible poison. That is why moderation is good in all things.

"Some of the malicious demons lie in wait in another way. At first they do not even show that they are there, so that no effort is made against them; but at the right moment, on the pretext of anger, or love, or something else, they suddenly do violence to the body, by sword, or noose, or precipice, or some other means, and at last they bring the deceived souls of those with whom they have been mingled to the point of punishment, as we said, when they pass into the purifying fire. Others, ensnared in another way, do not come to us, deceived by the suggestions of the malicious demons: they think they suffer these things at the hands of the gods themselves because they have neglected them, that they can reconcile them by sacrifices, and that they must not come to us but on the contrary flee and hate us. And so they hate and flee those who pity them most and who pursue them to do them good.

"So, hating and fleeing us, they are ensnared, not knowing where their thoughts against their own salvation come from. For we cannot force them to turn to salvation against their will, since we do not now have so much authority over them; nor can they of themselves recognize the demon's evil suggestion, for they do not know from where the thoughts of evil are put into them. These are the demons who appear in whatever forms they wish and terrify them. Sometimes they even prescribe cures for the sick, and so carry off from those already deceived the reputation of gods. They escape the notice of the many that they are demons, but not ours, for we know their secret: why they do such things, transforming themselves in dreams against those over whom they have authority, terrifying some, and giving oracles to others, demanding sacrifices and bidding them feast with them, so that they may drink down their souls.

"For as fearsome snakes draw sparrows to themselves by their breath, so the demons, mingling with the mind of those who share their table by means of the food and drink, draw them to their own will, transforming themselves in dreams into the forms of the images in order to increase the error. For the wooden image is neither a living thing nor has it a divine spirit; it is the demon that appeared who made use of its form. How many have appeared to others in dreams in the same way, and when they met one another awake and compared what was seen in the dream, it did not agree? So that such a thing is no longer an appearance in a dream but is the offspring either of a demon or of the soul, which gives forms to present fears and desire; for the soul whose mind is struck by fear gives birth to forms through dreams. But if you think that the images are alive and can do such things, set them on a balance, with the beam level and the counterweight placed in the other pan, and ask them to become either heavier or lighter. If that happens, they are alive; but it does not happen. And even if it should, such a thing is not yet a god. For this can be done by a demon's finger. Worms move too, and are not called gods.

"That each person's soul pictures forms of demons according to its preconceptions, and that the so-called gods do not really appear, is clear from the fact that they do not appear to Jews. But someone will say: How then do they give oracles foretelling the future? This too is false. But grant that it is true: such a thing is still not a god. For if something prophesies, it is not therefore a god; pythons also prophesy, yet they are uprooted by us as demons and put to flight. But someone will say: They prescribe cures for some. It is false; but grant that it is so: such a thing is still not a god. Physicians too heal many, and they are not gods. But, he says, physicians do not always heal those whom they care for, whereas these heal even by oracles. But the demons know the remedies truly suited to each disease. Therefore, being knowledgeable physicians able to heal, and healing those diseases that can be healed by men, but being also prophetic and knowing when each disease will be cured of itself, they prescribe their cures at that moment, in order to claim the credit for themselves.

"Otherwise, why do they give their oracles about cures only after a long time? And why, if they can do everything, do they not make the cure without administering anything? And for what reason do they prescribe cures to some who pray, but sometimes give no oracle to others, even those closer to them? So it is that whenever a cure is going to happen of itself, they promise it, in order to claim the credit. Others, who fell ill and prayed and recovered of themselves, credited those whom they had invoked and set up votive offerings. But those who failed after praying cannot dedicate their failures. Indeed, if the relatives of the dead, or some of the sufferers themselves, had gathered the failures together, you would have found the failures more than the successes. But no one who has been taken in by them wishes to bring the evidence against them to light, out of shame or fear; on the contrary, they hide the absurdities they believe in.

"How many also invent oracles and cures supposedly performed by them, and confirm them with oaths? How many have hired themselves out, undertaking by certain contrivances to appear to suffer something, and after announcing it, when their ailment has been reversed by a counter-remedy, say that the cure was given by oracle, so that they may credit it to the senseless object of worship? How many of the images were from the start consecrated by magic art so that they might send dreams and give oracles? And yet in the course of time these too failed. How many use sorcery, wishing to strengthen such things? In any case, if something prophesies or heals, it is not therefore a god.

"For God can do all things. He is good and just, now being patient with all, so that those who are willing may repent of the evil they have done and live well, and in the day in which all things are judged may enjoy what they deserve. Begin now, therefore, obeying God for the sake of good knowledge, to oppose your evil desires and thoughts, so that you may be able to recover the saving religion first handed down to humankind. For so good things will at once spring up for you, and once you have received them you will leave off the experience of evils for the rest of your life. But give thanks to the Giver, reigning forever over unspeakable goods with the King of peace. For the present, having washed yourselves in an ever-flowing river or spring, or even in the sea, with the thrice-blessed invocation, you will not only be able to drive out the spirits lurking in you, but yourselves no longer sinning and believing God without doubting, you will drive out the evil spirits and cruel demons of others, together with terrible diseases. Sometimes they will flee when you merely look at them. For they know those who have given themselves to God. So, honoring them, they flee in fear, just as you saw yesterday: when I had put off praying for the sufferers until after the address, the afflictions themselves cried out out of respect for our religion, not able to bear it even for a short hour.

"Do not suppose, then, that we do not fear demons because we are of a different nature. We are of the same nature as you, but not of the same religion. Therefore, being not a little but altogether better than you, we do not begrudge your becoming such as we are; on the contrary, we advise it, knowing that all these beings honor and fear, beyond what they understand, those who have been made God's own.

"For just as the soldiers under one of Caesar's tribunes know to honor the one who has received authority because of the authority of him who gave it, so much that the officers say to one, 'Come,' and he comes, and to another, 'Go,' and he goes, so also he who has given himself to God, being faithful, is obeyed when he merely speaks to demons and diseases, and the demons give way, although they are much stronger than those who command them. For by unspeakable power God subjects to whom he wills the mind of each. As many governors, with all their camps and cities, fear Caesar, though he is a man, because each one's heart hastens to honor the image of the universal ruler (for all things, enslaved by the will of God to fear, do not know the reason), so also all the spirits that cause suffering, struck with fear in some natural way, honor and flee the one who takes refuge in God and carries righteous faith in his heart like God's image.

"And yet, even if all demons with all diseases flee from you, you are not to rejoice in this alone, but in this: that because you are pleasing to God your names are written in heaven as of those who live forever. So the divine holy [name?] serves for putting demons to flight for another's healing. We say this not as denying that one must help others, but because one must not grow conceited over it and neglect oneself. Sometimes demons flee from certain lawless men because of the honored name; and both the one who drives them out and the one who witnesses it are ensnared. The one who drives them out is ensnared, as though he had been honored for his righteousness, not knowing the demon's malice: for at one and the same time it honored the name and, by fleeing, wrapped the ungodly man in the conceit of righteousness and so deceived him into not repenting. The one who witnessed it, thinking that he has kept company with a godly man in the exorcist, hastens to the same way of life and perishes. Sometimes demons even pretend to flee from oaths that are not directed to God, so that having deceived people they may destroy them when they wish.

"This, then, we want you to know as well: unless someone gives himself up as a slave to demons, as I said a little earlier, the demon has no authority over him. So if you choose to worship one God, abstain from the table of demons, take up self-control with love of others and righteousness, are baptized for the forgiveness of sins with the thrice-blessed invocation, and give yourselves as far as you can to the perfection of purity, you can be rescued from everlasting punishment and be made heirs of eternal goods." Having said this, he told those troubled by afflictions to come forward; and so many came forward, having gathered because of the experience of those healed the day before. He laid his hands on them and prayed, healing them at once; and having instructed them and the others to meet earlier in the morning, he bathed, took food, and slept.