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49.47 On the departure of Bishop Flavian, who was going on an embassy to the emperor on behalf of the city; and what is the true fast, and that to slander is worse than to eat human flesh, and concerning those slain on account of the sedition, and to those who complain that many of the

innocent were apprehended. Homily 3. When I look upon this throne, being desolate and empty of its teacher,

I both rejoice and weep at once; I weep, because I do not see the father present; but I rejoice, because he has gone abroad for our salvation, and has departed to snatch so great a people from the imperial wrath. This is both an honor for you, and a crown for him; an honor for you, because you have been allotted such a father; a crown for him, because he is so affectionate toward his children, and has confirmed by his very actions what was said by Christ. For having heard that, "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep," he has departed to lay down his life for us all, although there were many things hindering his departure and compelling him to remain; and first, his age having advanced to extreme old age, then the weakness of his body, and the season of the year, and the necessity of the holy festival; besides these, his sister, who is his only one and standing at her last breaths. But nevertheless he overlooked kinship, and old age, and weakness, and the difficulty of the season, and the hardship of the journey, and putting you and your salvation before all, he broke all these bonds; and like a young man the old man now presses on, having become winged with zeal. For if Christ, he says, gave himself for us, for what excuse or pardon would we be worthy, having been entrusted with the care of so great a people, and not choosing to do and to suffer all things for the sake of the security of those entrusted to us? For if the patriarch Jacob, he says, presiding over flocks and tending irrational sheep, and being about to give account to a man, both spent sleepless nights, and bore heat and cold and all inclemency of weather, so that none of those flocks should be lost; how much more should we, who are set over not irrational, but spiritual sheep, and are about to give account for this superintendence not to man, but to God, shrink from and avoid nothing of those things that can benefit the flock. But by as much as this flock is better than that flock, and men than irrational creatures, and God than men, so much more and intense earnestness and zeal ought we to show. He knew well that his business now is not for one city, but for the entire East; for our city is the head and mother of the cities that lie toward the East. For this reason he endured every danger, and nothing had the strength to hold him here 49.48. For this reason I hope that our hopes will be good; for God will not overlook so great zeal and earnestness, nor will he allow his servant to return unsuccessful. I know that even just by being seen, and by looking upon the pious emperor, he will be able to quell his anger immediately from that very sight. For not only the words of the saints, but even their very faces are full of spiritual grace. And he is also filled with great wisdom, and being experienced in the divine laws, will say to him what Moses also said to God: "If you forgive them their sin, forgive it; but if not, kill me also with them." For such are the affections of the saints, that they consider death with their children to be sweeter than life without them. And he will add the advocacy from the season, and will put forward the holy Pascha, and will bring to mind the time in which Christ forgave the sins of the whole world; he will exhort him to imitate the Lord,

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49.47 Εἰς τὴν ἀποδημίαν τοῦ ἐπισκόπου Φλαβιανοῦ, ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα πρεσβευομένου· καὶ τίς ἐστιν ἡ ἀληθὴς νηστεία, καὶ ὅτι τοῦ φαγεῖν ἀνθρώπινον σῶμα τὸ κατηγορῆσαι χεῖρον, καὶ περὶ τῶν διὰ τὴν στάσιν σφαγέντων, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐγκαλοῦντας, ὅτι πολλοὶ τῶν

ἀναιτίων ἑάλωσαν. Ὁμιλία γʹ. Ὅταν εἰς τὸν θρόνον ἀπίδω τοῦτον ἔρημον ὄντα καὶ κενὸν τοῦ διδασκάλου,

χαίρω τε ὁμοῦ καὶ δακρύω· δακρύω μὲν, ὅτι παρόντα οὐχ ὁρῶ τὸν πατέρα· χαίρω δὲ, ὅτι ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀπεδήμησε σωτηρίας, καὶ δῆμον τοσοῦτον ἀπῆλθεν ὀργῆς ἐξαρπάσαι βασιλικῆς. Τοῦτο καὶ ὑμῖν κόσμος, κἀκείνῳ στέφανος· κόσμος ὑμῖν, ὅτι τοιοῦτον ἐκληρώθητε πατέρα· στέφανος ἐκείνῳ, ὅτι περὶ τὰ ἔκγονα οὕτως ἐστὶ φιλόστοργος, καὶ τὸ παρὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ λεχθὲν δι' αὐτῶν ἐβεβαίωσε τῶν πραγμάτων. Ἀκούσας γὰρ, ὅτι Ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, ἀπῆλθε τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ θήσων ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁπάντων, καίτοι πολλὰ ἦν αὐτὸν τὰ κωλύοντα ἀπιέναι καὶ καταναγκάζοντα μένειν· καὶ πρῶτον ἡ ἡλικία πρὸς ἔσχατον ἐλάσασα γῆρας, εἶτα ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἀσθένεια, καὶ τοῦ ἔτους ἡ ὥρα, καὶ τῆς ἁγίας ἑορτῆς ἡ ἀνάγκη· πρὸς τούτοις ἡ ἀδελφὴ μόνη οὖσα αὐτῷ καὶ πρὸς ἐσχάτας ἑστῶσα ἀναπνοάς. Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ συγγένειαν παρεῖδε, καὶ γῆρας, καὶ ἀσθένειαν, καὶ καιροῦ δυσκολίαν, καὶ ὁδοιπορίας ταλαιπωρίαν, καὶ πάντων ὑμᾶς καὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν σωτηρίαν προθεὶς, ταῦτα πάντα διέῤῥηξε τὰ δεσμά· καὶ καθάπερ νέος ὁ γέρων ἐλαύνει νῦν, ὑπόπτερος τῇ προθυμίᾳ γενόμενος. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς, φησὶν, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἑαυτὸν ἐπέδωκε, τίνος ἂν εἴημεν ἡμεῖς ἀπολογίας καὶ συγγνώμης ἄξιοι, τοσούτου λαοῦ προστασίαν ἐγκεχειρισμένοι, καὶ μὴ πάντα αἱρούμενοι καὶ ποιῆσαι καὶ παθεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν ἐγχειρισθέντων ἡμῖν ἀσφαλείας; Εἰ γὰρ ὁ πατριάρχης, φησὶν, Ἰακὼβ θρεμμάτων προεστὼς καὶ πρόβατα ἄλογα βόσκων, καὶ ἀνθρώπῳ μέλλων εὐθύνας διδόναι, καὶ νύκτας ἀΰπνους διῆγε, καὶ καῦμα καὶ κρύος καὶ πᾶσαν ἀέρων ἀνωμαλίαν ἔφερεν, ὥστε μηδὲν παραπολέσθαι τῶν θρεμμάτων ἐκείνων· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς, τοὺς οὐκ ἀλόγοις ἐφεστῶτας, ἀλλὰ πνευματικοῖς προβάτοις, καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἀλλὰ τῷ Θεῷ τῆς ἐπιστασίας ταύτης διδόναι μέλλοντας τὰς εὐθύνας, πρὸς οὐδὲν ὀκνεῖν καὶ ἀναδύεσθαι χρὴ τῶν δυναμένων ὠφελῆσαι τὸ ποίμνιον. Ἀλλ' ὅσῳ βελτίων ἡ ποίμνη αὕτη τῆς ποίμνης ἐκείνης, καὶ ἀλόγων μὲν ἄνθρωποι, ἀνθρώπων δὲ ὁ Θεός· τοσούτῳ καὶ ἡμᾶς πλείω καὶ σφοδρὰν τὴν σπουδὴν καὶ τὴν προθυμίαν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι χρή. Ἔγνω καλῶς ἐκεῖνος, ὅτι οὐχ ὑπὲρ μιᾶς πόλεως αὐτῷ νῦν ὁ λόγος, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἀνατολῆς ἁπάσης· τῶν γὰρ πόλεων τῶν ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω κειμένων κεφαλὴ καὶ μήτηρ ἐστὶν ἡ πόλις ἡ ἡμετέρα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πάντα ὑπέμεινε κίνδυνον, καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτὸν ἐνταῦθα 49.48 κατασχεῖν ἴσχυσε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐλπίζω χρηστὰς ἔσεσθαι τὰς ἐλπίδας· οὐ γὰρ παρόψεται τοσαύτην προθυμίαν καὶ σπουδὴν ὁ Θεὸς, οὐδὲ ἐάσει τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θεράποντα ἄπρακτον ἐπανελθεῖν. Οἶδα ὅτι καὶ μόνον ὀφθεὶς ἐκεῖνος, καὶ τὸν εὐσεβῆ βασιλέα θεασάμενος, ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως αὐτῆς εὐθέως καταστεῖλαι δυνήσεται τὸν θυμόν. Τῶν γὰρ ἁγίων οὐχὶ τὰ ῥήματα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ πρόσωπα πνευματικῆς γέμει χάριτος. Οὗτος δὲ καὶ πολλῆς σοφίας ἐμπέπλησται, καὶ τῶν θείων νόμων ἔμπειρος ὢν, ἐρεῖ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅπερ καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὁ Μωϋσῆς· Εἰ μὲν ἀφῇς αὐτοῖς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἄφες· εἰ δὲ μὴ, κἀμὲ ἀπόκτεινον μετ' αὐτῶν. Τοιαῦτα γὰρ τῶν ἁγίων τὰ σπλάγχνα, τὸν μετὰ τῶν τέκνων θάνατον τῆς χωρὶς αὐτῶν ζωῆς γλυκύτερον εἶναι νομίζουσι. Προσθήσει δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ καιροῦ συνηγορίαν, καὶ τὸ Πάσχα τὸ ἱερὸν προβαλεῖται, καὶ ἀναμνήσει τὸν καιρὸν, καθ' ὃν τῇ οἰκουμένῃ πάσῃ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἀφῆκεν ὁ Χριστός· παρακαλέσει μιμήσασθαι τὸν ∆εσπότην,