Oration XLI. On Pentecost.

 I.  Let us reason a little about the Festival, that we may keep it spiritually.  For different persons have different ways of keeping Festival but to

 II.  Wherefore we must keep the feast spiritually.  And this is the beginning of our discourse for we must speak, even if our speech do seem a little

 III.  As to the honour paid to Seven there are many testimonies, but we will be content with a few out of the many.  For instance, seven precious spir

 IV.  And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that Enoch, the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by translation.  I perceive als

 V.  We are keeping the feast of Pentecost and of the Coming of the Spirit, and the appointed time of the Promise, and the fulfilment of our hope.  And

 VI.  They who reduce the Holy Spirit to the rank of a creature are blasphemers and wicked servants, and worst of the wicked.  For it is the part of wi

 VII.  If, my friends, you will not acknowledge the Holy Spirit to be uncreated, nor yet eternal clearly such a state of mind is due to the contrary s

 VIII.  Confess, my friends, the Trinity to be of One Godhead or if you will, of One Nature and we will pray the Spirit to give you this word God.  H

 IX.  The Holy Ghost, then, always existed, and exists, and always will exist.  He neither had a beginning, nor will He have an end but He was everlas

 X.  Are you labouring to bring forth objections?  Well, so am I to get on with my discourse.  Honour the Day of the Spirit restrain your tongue if yo

 XI.  He wrought first in the heavenly and angelic powers, and such as are first after God and around God.  For from no other source flows their perfec

 XII.  And therefore He came after Christ, that a Comforter should not be lacking unto us but Another Comforter, that you might acknowledge His co-equ

 XIII.  This was proclaimed by the Prophets in such passages as the following:—The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and, There shall rest upon Him Seven

 XIV.  This Spirit shares with the Son in working both the Creation and the Resurrection, as you may be shewn by this Scripture By the Word of the Lor

 XV.  They spoke with strange tongues, and not those of their native land and the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learnt it. 

 XVI.  But as the old Confusion of tongues was laudable, when men who were of one language in wickedness and impiety, even as some now venture to be, w

 XVII.  Next, since it was to inhabitants of Jerusalem, most devout Jews, Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, Egyptians, and Libyans, Cretans too, and Arab

 XVIII.  These questions have been examined before by the studious, and perhaps not without occasion and whatever else any one may contribute at the p

IV.  And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that Enoch,19    Jude 14. the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by translation.  I perceive also that the twenty-first, Abraham,20    Gen. v. 22. was given the glory of the Patriarchate, by the addition of a greater mystery.  For the Hebdomad thrice repeated brings out this number.  And one who is very bold might venture even to come to the New Adam, my God and Lord Jesus Christ, Who is counted the Seventy-seventh from the old Adam who fell under sin, in the backward genealogy according to Luke.21    Luke iii. 34.  And I think of the seven trumpets of Jesus, the son of Nave, and the same number of circuits and days and priests, by which the walls of Jericho were shaken down.22    Josh. vi. 4. &c.  And so too the seven compassings of the City; in the same way as there is a mystery in the threefold breathings of Elias, the Prophet, by which he breathed life into the son of the Sareptan widow,23    1 Kings xvii. 21. and the same number of his floodings of the wood,24    Ib. xviii. 33. when he consumed the sacrifice with fire sent from God, and condemned the prophets of shame who could not do the like at his challenge.  And the sevenfold looking for the cloud imposed upon the young servant; and Elissæus stretching himself that number of times upon the child of the Shunammite, by which stretching the breath of life was restored.25    2 Kings iv. 25, where the LXX. has “he contracted himself upon the child until seven times, and the child opened his eyes;” saying nothing about the sneezing of the child, which the Hebrew and Vulgate mention, while they omit the number in the case of Elisha’s similar action.  S. Bernard has a curious explanation of the seven sneezes of the child (in Cant. xvi).  To the same doctrine belongs, I think (if I may omit the seven-stemmed and seven-lamped candlestick of the Temple26    Ex. xxv. 32, 37.) that the ceremony of the Priests’ consecration lasted seven days;27    Levit. viii. 33. and seven that of the purifying of a leper,28    Ib. xiv. 8. and that of the Dedication of the Temple29    1 Kings viii. 6. the same number, and that in the seventieth year the people returned from the Captivity;30    2 Chron. xxxvi. 32. that whatever is in Units may appear also in Decads, and the mystery of the Hebdomad be reverenced in a more perfect number.  But why do I speak of the distant past?  Jesus Himself who is pure perfection, could in the desert and with five loaves feed five thousand, and again with seven loaves four thousand.  And the leavings after they were satisfied were in the first case twelve baskets full, and in the other seven baskets;31    Different words are used here as in the New Testament for Baskets.  The second implies a larger size; it is the word used for the “basket” in which St. Paul was let down from the wall of Damascus, Acts ix. 25. neither, I imagine, without a reason or unworthy of the Spirit.  And if you read for yourself you may take note of many numbers which contain a meaning deeper than appears on the surface.  But to come to an instance which is most useful to us on the present occasion, not that for these reasons or others very similar or yet more divine, the Hebrews honour the Day of Pentecost, and we also honour it; just as there are other rites of the Hebrews which we observe…they were typically observed by them, and by us they are sacramentally reinstated.  And now having said so much by way of preface about the Day, let us proceed to what we have to say further.

Δʹ. Εἰ δὲ δεῖ καὶ τὰς παλαιὰς ἱστορίας σκοπεῖν, ἐννοῶ μὲν τὸν ἕβδομον ἐν προγόνοις Ἐνὼχ, τῇ μεταθέσει τετιμημένον. Ἐννοῶ δὲ τὸν εἰκοστὸν πρῶτον Ἀβραὰμ, τῇ πατριαρχίᾳ δεδοξασμένον, μυστηρίου προσθήκῃ μείζονος. Τρισσουμένη γὰρ ἡ ἑβδομὰς τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦτον ἐργάζεται. Τολμήσειε δ' ἄν τις τῶν πάντα νεανικῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν νέον Ἀδὰμ ἐλθεῖν, τὸν Θεόν μου καὶ Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, ἀπὸ τοῦ παλαιοῦ καὶ τοῦ ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν Ἀδὰμ, ἑβδομηκοστὸν ἕβδομον ἀριθμούμενον, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Λουκᾶ γενεαλογίαν ἀναποδίζουσαν. Ἐννοῶ δὲ καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ σάλπιγγας Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Ναυὴ, καὶ περιόδους τοσαύτας, καὶ ἡμέρας, καὶ ἱερέας, ἐξ ὧν τὰ Ἱεριχούντια τείχη κατασείεται. Ὡς δὲ καὶ τὴν ἑβδόμην ἀναστροφὴν, ὥσπερ δὲ μυστικὴν τὴν τρισσὴν ἐμφύσησιν Ἡλίου τοῦ προφήτου, τῷ τῆς Σαραφθίας χήρας υἱῷ τὸ ζῇν ἐμπνεύσασαν, καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἰσάριθμον κατὰ τῶν σχιδάκων ἐπίκλυσιν, ἡνίκα πυρὶ θεοπέμπτῳ τὴν θυσίαν ἀνήλωσε, καὶ τοὺς τῆς αἰσχύνης προφήτας κατέκρινε, τὸ ἴσον οὐ δυνηθέντας ἐκ τῆς προκλήσεως. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὴν ἑβδόμην κατασκοπὴν τοῦ νέφους τῷ παιδαρίῳ προστεταγμένην, Ἑλισσαίου τε τὴν ἴσην διάκαμψιν ἐπὶ τὸν παῖδα τῆς Σουναμίτιδος, τὴν πνοὴν ζωπυρίσασαν. Τοῦ δὲ αὐτοῦ, οἶμαι, δόγματος (ἵνα μὴ λέγω τὴν ἑπτάκαυλον καὶ ἑπτάλυχνον τοῦ ναοῦ λυχνίαν) ἐν ἑπτὰ μὲν ἡμέραις ὁ ἱερεὺς τελειούμενος, ἐν ἑπτὰ δὲ ὁ λεπρὸς καθαιρόμενος, ἐν τοσαύταις δὲ ὁ ναὸς ἐγκαινιζόμενος. Ἑβδομηκοστῷ δὲ ἔτει ὁ λαὸς ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἐπαναγόμενος, ἵν' ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐν μονάσι, τοῦτο ἐν δεκάσι γένηται, καὶ ἀριθμῷ τελεωτέρῳ τὸ τῆς ἑβδομάδος τιμηθῇ μυστήριον. Τί μοι τὰ πόῤῥω λέγειν; Ἰησοῦς αὐτὸς, ἡ καθαρὰ τελειότης, οἶδε τρέφειν μὲν ἐν ἐρημίᾳ καὶ πέντε ἄρτοις πεντακισχιλίους, οἶδε δὲ καὶ ἑπτὰ πάλιν τετρακισχιλίους. Καὶ τὰ τοῦ κόρου λείψανα, ἐκεῖ μὲν δώδεκα κόφινοι, ἐνταῦθα δὲ σπυρίδες ἑπτά: οὐδέτερον ἀλόγως, οἶμαι, οὐδὲ ἀναξίως τοῦ Πνεύματος. Καὶ σὺ δ' ἂν κατὰ σαυτὸν ἀναλεγόμενος, πολλοὺς τηρήσαις ἀριθμοὺς, ἔχοντάς τι τοῦ φαινομένου βαθύτερον. Ὃ δὲ τῷ παρόντι καιρῷ χρησιμώτατον, ὅτι κατὰ τούτους ἴσως τοὺς λόγους, ἢ ὅτι ἐγγύτατα τούτων, ἢ καὶ θειοτέρους τινὰς, τιμῶσι μὲν Ἑβραῖοι τὴν Πεντηκοστὴν ἡμέραν, τιμῶμεν δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς: ὥσπερ ἐστὶ καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ τῶν Ἑβραϊκῶν, τυπικῶς μὲν παρ' ἐκείνοις τελούμενα, μυστικῶς δὲ ἡμῖν ἀποκαθιστάμενα. Τοσαῦτα περὶ τῆς ἡμέρας προδιαλεχθέντες, ἐπὶ τὸ ἑξῆς τοῦ λόγου προΐωμεν.