1

Catechesis ultima ad baptizandos

Of the same, a final catechesis to those about to be enlightened. Sermon 3.

Today is the last day of the catechesis; for which reason I also, the last of all, have come to the last one; and I have come last to announce to you that after two days the bridegroom is coming. But arise and light your lamps and with a bright light receive the king of heaven. Arise and be watchful; for not in the day, but in the middle of the night the bridegroom 167 comes to you; for this is the custom of the wedding procession, for the brides to be given over to the bridegrooms in the deep of evening. But do not simply pass by the saying when you hear that the bridegroom is coming; for it is truly great and full of much love for mankind. He did not command the nature of men to go away to him, but he himself came to us; for this is also the law of marriages, for the bridegroom to come to the bride, even if he is most wealthy, and she is lowly and cast aside. But among men it is nothing wonderful for this to happen; for even if there is a great difference in worth, yet there is no gap in nature; for even if the bridegroom is wealthy, and the bride poor and lowly, yet both are of the same nature. But in the case of Christ and the Church, the wonder is that being God and of that blessed and pure substance—and you know how great is the distance between God and men—he deigned to come to our nature; and leaving his father's house, not by a change of place, but by the economy according to the flesh, he ran to the bride. And so the blessed Paul himself, knowing this and marveling at the excess of the care and the honor, cried out loudly and said: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife. This mystery is great; but I speak in reference to Christ and to the church".

And what is wonderful, if he came to the bride, when he did not even refuse to lay down his life for her? And yet no bridegroom has laid down his life for a bride; for no one, no lover, however madly in love he may be, so burns for his beloved, as God desires the salvation of our souls. "Even if it be necessary to be spat upon," he says, "or to be struck, or to go up on the cross itself, I will not refuse even to be crucified, so that I might take the bride." And he suffered and endured these things not because he marveled at her beauty; for nothing was more shameful nor more unpleasing than she before this. Listen, at any rate, how Paul describes her deformity and her shame: "For we ourselves were once 168 foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, hateful, hating one another." We hated one another—so great was the excess of wickedness—but God did not hate us who hated one another, but those in such great shame, those who were in deformity of soul, these he saved. And having come and found her who was to be led as a bride to him naked and unseemly, he clothed her in a pure garment, the splendor and glory of which no word nor mind will be able to represent. How shall I say it? As a garment he clothed us with himself; "for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Seeing this garment from above with prophetic eyes, David cried out and said: "The queen stood at your right hand." The poor and cast-off one has suddenly become a queen and stands near the king, and just as a bridegroom and bride standing in a sacred bridal chamber, so the prophet shows the Church and Christ: "arrayed in a golden-woven garment, adorned with many colors." Behold, he has also told you of the garment; then, so that upon hearing "gold" you might not descend to things of sense, he leads your thought up and directs it to the contemplation of things spiritual, adding and

1

Catechesis ultima ad baptizandos

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς μέλλοντας φωτίζεσθαι κατήχησις ἐσχάτη. Λόγος γʹ.

Ἐσχάτη τῆς κατηχήσεως ἡ σήμερον ἡμέρα· διὸ καὶ ὁ πάντων ἔσχατος εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀφῖγμαι· ἀφῖγμαι δὲ ἔσχατος ἀπαγγέλλων ὑμῖν, ὅτι μετὰ δύο ἡμέρας ὁ νυμφίος ἔρχεται. ἀλλὰ διανάστητε καὶ τὰς λαμπάδας ἀνάψατε καὶ φαιδρῷ τῷ φωτὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῶν οὐρανῶν ὑποδέξασθε. ἀνάστητε καὶ γρηγορήσατε· οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, ἀλλὰ μέσον τῶν νυκτῶν ὁ νυμφίος 167 πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἔρχεται· καὶ γὰρ τῆς νυμφαγωγίας τοῦτο τὸ ἔθος, ἐν ἑσπέρᾳ βαθείᾳ τὰς νύμφας παραδίδοσθαι τοῖς νυμφίοις. ἀλλὰ μὴ παραδράμητε ἁπλῶς τὸ ῥῆμα ἀκούσαντες, ὅτι νυμφίος ἔρχεται· μέγα γὰρ ὄντως καὶ πολλῆς γέμον φιλανθρωπίας. οὐχὶ τὴν φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπελθεῖν ἐκέλευσεν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς πρὸς ἡμᾶς παρεγένετο· καὶ γὰρ οὕτως γάμων ὁ νόμος, τὸν νυμφίον ἔρχεσθαι πρὸς τὴν νύμφην, κἂν ὁ μὲν εὐπορώτατος ᾖ, ἡ δὲ εὐτελὴς καὶ ἀπερριμμένη. ἀλλ' ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν τοῦτο γίνεσθαι· κἂν γὰρ τῆς ἀξίας πολὺ τὸ διάφορον ᾖ, ἀλλὰ τῆς φύσεως οὐδέν ἐστι τὸ μέσον· κἂν γὰρ εὔπορος ὁ νυμφίος, πτωχὴ δὲ ἡ νύμφη καὶ εὐτελής, ἀλλὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀμφότεροι φύσεως. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸ θαῦμά ἐστιν, ὅτι θεὸς ὢν καὶ τῆς μακαρίας καὶ ἀκηράτου οὐσίας ἐκείνης ἴστε δὲ ὅσον τὸ μέσον θεοῦ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους κατηξίωσε πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν ἐλθεῖν· καὶ τὸν πατρῷον οἶκον ἀφεὶς οὐ τῇ μεταβάσει, ἀλλὰ τῇ κατὰ τὴν σάρκα οἰκονομίᾳ πρὸς τὴν νύμφην ἔδραμε. τοῦτο γοῦν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος εἰδὼς καὶ θαυμάσας τῆς κηδεμονίας καὶ τῆς τιμῆς τὴν ὑπερβολὴν ἀνέκραγε μέγα καὶ εἶπεν· "ἀντὶ τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα αὑτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὑτοῦ, καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὑτοῦ. τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν· ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν".

Καὶ τί θαυμαστόν, εἰ πρὸς τὴν νύμφην ἦλθεν, ὅπου γε καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν θεῖναι ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς οὐ παρῃτήσατο; καίτοι γε οὐδεὶς νυμφίος ὑπὲρ νύμφης ψυχὴν ἔθηκεν· οὐδεὶς γάρ, οὐδεὶς ἐραστής, κἂν σφόδρα ᾖ μανικός, οὕτω τῆς ἐρωμένης περικαίεται τῆς ἑαυτοῦ, ὡς ὁ θεὸς τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐφίεται ψυχῶν. "κἂν ἐμπτυσθῆναι δέῃ", φησίν, "κἂν ῥαπισθῆναι, κἂν εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναβῆναι τὸν σταυρόν, οὐδὲ σταυρωθῆναι παραιτήσομαι, ὥστε τὴν νύμφην λαβεῖν". ταῦτα δὲ ἔπασχε καὶ ὑπέμεινεν οὐχὶ τὸ κάλλος αὐτῆς θαυμάσας· οὐδὲν γὰρ ταύτης αἰσχρότερον οὐδὲ ἀτερπέστερον ἦν πρὸ τούτου. ἄκουσον γοῦν, πῶς ὁ Παῦλος τὴν ἀμορφίαν αὐτῆς καὶ τὴν αἰσχρότητα διαγράφει· "ἦμεν γάρ ποτε καὶ ἡμεῖς 168 ἀνόητοι, ἀπειθεῖς, πλανώμενοι, δουλεύοντες ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ ἡδοναῖς ποικίλαις, στυγητοί, μισοῦντες ἀλλήλους". ἀλλήλους ἐμισοῦμεν τοσαύτη τῆς κακίας ἦν ἡ ὑπερβολή, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀλλήλους μισοῦντας οὐκ ἐμίσησεν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐν αἰσχρότητι τοσαύτῃ, τοὺς ἐν ἀμορφίᾳ ὄντας ψυχῆς, τούτους διέσωσε. καὶ ἐλθὼν καὶ εὑρὼν τὴν μέλλουσαν αὐτῷ νυμφαγωγεῖσθαι γυμνὴν καὶ ἀσχημονοῦσαν ἱμάτιον αὐτὴν περιέβαλε καθαρὸν καὶ οὗ τὴν λαμπρότητα καὶ τὴν δόξαν οὐδεὶς οὐ λόγος οὐ νοῦς παραστῆσαι δυνήσεται. πῶς εἴπω; ὡς ἱμάτιον ἑαυτὸν ἡμῖν περιέβαλεν· "ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε". τοῦτο τὸ ἱμάτιον ἄνωθεν ἰδὼν προφητικοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁ ∆αυὶδ ἐβόα καὶ ἔλεγε· "παρέστη ἡ βασίλισσα ἐκ δεξιῶν σου". βασίλισσα ἀθρόον γέγονεν ἡ πτωχὴ καὶ ἀπερριμμένη καὶ πλησίον ἕστηκε τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ καθάπερ νυμφίον καὶ νύμφην ἐν ἱερᾷ παστάδι ἑστῶτας οὕτω δείκνυσι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν ὁ προφήτης· "ἐν ἱματισμῷ διαχρύσῳ περιβεβλημένη, πεποικιλμένη". ἰδοὺ καὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον εἶπέ σοι· εἶτα, ἵνα μὴ χρυσὸν ἀκούσας πρὸς τὰ αἰσθητὰ καταπέσῃς, ἀνάγει σου τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ παραπέμπει πρὸς τὴν τῶν νοητῶν θεωρίαν ἐπάγων καὶ