In mulierem peccatricem

Of Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, a discourse on the sinful woman

who anointed the Lord with myrrh, and on the Pharisee. Sufficiently before did Christ delight our souls, feasting at the house of Zacchaeus; for where Christ feasts and reclines with men and enjoys our drink and table, all things are turned to an account of gladness. For who of the publicans or prostitutes and those who have wrought unspeakable evils, seeing the maker of heaven and earth entering a publican's roof, and the giver of the ears of corn taking human bread into his hands, and the supplier of the grape-clusters blessing the wine-presses by the partaking of drink, would not deem the matter a feast and a festival? This is truly a feast, this is truly the joy of an angelic banquet, to see the master with slaves, God with men, the judge with the accountable, enjoying a common table. For this reason He came to earth, not leaving heaven deserted, and became man, not divesting himself of being God, so that sailing the sea He might draw up from the depth of sin those who are tempest-tossed in the sea of life, and going about villages and cities, running through alleys and paths and roads, He might lead back to His own flock those who are wandering in the crossroads like unshepherded sheep. For He is the one who seeks the lost sheep, who left the ninety-nine and came for the search of the one. For he sought the one, neither despising the many nor preferring the one to the multitude. But He left the ninety-nine, for they had to be securely lodged in the fold; but He went about seeking the one, so that it might not become a feast for the devil. For an unshepherded sheep is a ready dinner for beasts, and an unsealed soul is an easy prey for demons. Whence before He snatched Zacchaeus like a sheep from the mouth of the wolf and mixed him with the fold and deemed him worthy of a seal. For just as a shepherd wanting to catch a stray sheep lets go a tame animal, so that grazing freely it might draw in the prey that has leaped away, so also the Word of God let go the flesh which He took from the virgin, like a sheep in a pasture, at the table of Zacchaeus, so that by the common law of feasting, drawing him to fellowship, He might secretly join him to His own flock. But the Pharisees, not understanding this, were grumbling when they saw Him eating with publicans. But let those be rent like an old wineskin, for they cannot receive the new wine of teaching; but let us walk behind the man-loving shepherd. For He who joined Zacchaeus the publican to the rational flock of the apostles, He also, having drawn the sinful prostitute, the worker of myriad evils, like a lamb from the throat of the devil, gave her back to the unmolested fold. But so that you may know both the love of mankind of Christ and the irrationality of the Pharisees and the recantation of the sinful woman, I will set before you the very Gospel sayings; for if you hearken to the style of the reading, you will also easily chew upon the meaning of the interpretation. One of the Pharisees, it says, asked Jesus to eat with him. And having entered the house of the Pharisee, He reclined. O ineffable grace! O unspeakable love of mankind! He both feasts with Pharisees and does not thrust away publicans and receives prostitutes and converses with a Samaritan woman and deems a Canaanite woman worthy of a word and to the woman with the issue of blood the

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In mulierem peccatricem

Ἀμφιλοχίου ἐπισκόπου Ἰκονίου λόγος εἰς τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν ἁμαρτωλὸν

τὴν ἀλείψασαν τὸν κύριον μύρῳ καὶ εἰς τὸν φαρισαῖον. Ἱκανῶς ἡμᾶς πρώην ἐψυχαγώγησεν ὁ Χριστὸς παρὰ Ζακχαίῳ ἑστιώμενος· ὅπου γὰρ Χριστὸς ἑστιᾶται καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώ ποις συνανακλίνεται καὶ ποτοῦ καὶ τραπέζης ἀπολαύει τῆς ἡμετέρας, πάντα πρὸς τὸν τῆς εὐφροσύνης μετάγεται λόγον. Τίς γὰρ τελωνῶν ἢ πορνῶν καὶ τῶν τὰ ἄρρητα ἐργασαμένων δεινὰ τὸν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ποιητὴν στέγην ὑπελθόντα τελωνικὴν βλέπων καὶ τὸν τῶν σταχύων δοτῆρα ἄρτον ἀνθρώπινον μετὰ χεῖρας λαμβάνοντα καὶ τὸν τῶν βοτρύων χορηγὸν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τοῦ ποτοῦ τὰς ληνοὺς εὐλογοῦντα, μὴ ἑορτὴν καὶ πανήγυριν θέσθαι τὸ πρᾶγμα δικαιώσειεν; Αὕτη ἀληθῶς ἑορτή, αὕτη ἀληθῶς ἀγγελικῆς ἑστιάσεως εὐφροσύνη, τὸ τὸν δεσπότην μετὰ δούλων, τὸν θεὸν μετὰ ἀνθρώπων, τὸν δικαστὴν μετὰ τῶν ὑπευθύνων ὁρᾶν κοινῆς ἀπολαύοντα τραπέζης. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπὶ γῆς ἦλθεν οὐκ ἔρημον καταλιπὼν τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν οὐκ ἀποδὺς τὸ εἶναι θεός, ἵνα καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν πλέων τοὺς εἰς τὸ βιωτικὸν χειμαζομένους πέλαγος ἐκ τοῦ βυθοῦ ἀνασύρῃ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ κώμας καὶ πόλεις περιϊών, στενωποὺς καὶ ἀτραποὺς καὶ δρόμους περιτρέχων τοὺς ἐν ταῖς τριόδοις πλανωμένους ὡς ἀποίμαντα πρόβατα ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπαναγάγῃ ποίμνην. Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τὸ ἀπολωλὸς πρόβατον ἐπιζητῶν, ὁ τὰ ἐννενήκοντα ἐννέα καταλιπὼν καὶ περὶ τὴν τοῦ ἑνὸς παραγε νόμενος ζήτησιν. Ἐζήτει γὰρ τὸ ἓν οὔτε τῶν πολλῶν κατα φρονῶν οὔτε τοῦ πλήθους τὸ ἓν προκρίνων. Ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἐννενήκοντα ἐννέα κατελίμπανεν, ἔδει γὰρ ἀσφαλῶς αὐτὰ ἐν τῇ μάνδρᾳ αὐλίζεσθαι· τὸ δὲ ἓν περιϊὼν ἐζήτει, ἵνα μὴ θοίνη τῷ διαβόλῳ γένηται. Πρόβατον γὰρ ἀποίμαντον θηρσὶν ἕτοιμον δεῖπνον καὶ ψυχὴ ἀσφράγιστος δαίμοσιν εὐεπιβούλευτος. Ὅθεν πρώην τὸν Ζακχαῖον ὡς πρόβατον ἐκ στόματος λύκου ἀφήρπασε καὶ τῇ μάνδρᾳ συνέμιξε καὶ σφραγίδος ἠξίωσεν. Ὡς γὰρ ποιμὴν πρόβατον ἀποπλανηθὲν θηρᾶσαι θέλων χειρόηθες ζῷον ἐᾷ, ἵνα ἀπολύτως νεμόμενον τὸ ἀποπηδῆσαν ἑλκύσῃ θήραμα, οὕτω καὶ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος τὴν σάρκα ἣν ἐκ τῆς παρθένου ἀνέλαβεν, ὡς πρόβατον ἐν νομῇ, ἐν τῇ τραπέζῃ Ζακχαίου ἀφῆκεν, ἵνα τῷ κοινῷ τῆς ἑστιάσεως νόμῳ ἑλκύσας αὐτὸν πρὸς συνουσίαν λανθα νόντως τῇ οἰκείᾳ συζεύξῃ ποίμνῃ. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὴ συνιέντες οἱ φαρισαῖοι ἐγόγγυζον ὁρῶντες αὐτὸν μετὰ τελωνῶν ἐσθίοντα. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ὡς ἀσκὸς παλαιὸς διαρρηγνύσθωσαν, οὐ γὰρ δύνανται τὸν νέον τῆς διδασ καλίας δέξασθαι οἶνον· ἡμεῖς δὲ κατόπιν τοῦ φιλανθρώπου βαδίσωμεν ποιμένος. Ὁ γὰρ Ζακχαῖον τὸν τελώνην τῇ λογικῇ τῶν ἀποστόλων συνάψας ποίμνῃ, αὐτὸς καὶ τὴν πόρνην τὴν ἁμαρτωλόν, τὴν μυρίων κακῶν ἐργάτιν, ἐκ τοῦ φάρυγγος τοῦ διαβόλου ὡς ἀμνάδα ἑλκύσας τῇ ἀνεπηρεάστῳ ἀπέδωκεν μάνδρᾳ. Ἵνα δὲ γνῶτε καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ τῶν φαρισαίων τὴν ἀλογίαν καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτωλοῦ τὴν παλινοδίαν, αὐτὰς ὑμῖν τὰς εὐαγγελικὰς παραθήσομαι ῥήσεις· ἐὰν γὰρ τοῦ ὕφους τοῦ ἀναγνώσματος ἐπακούσητε, ῥᾳδίως καὶ τῆς ἑρμηνείας τὴν ἔννοιαν ἀναμάσσεσθε. Ἠρώτησε, φησί, τις τῶν φαρισαίων τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἵνα φάγῃ μετ' αὐτοῦ. Καὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ φαρισαίου ἀνεκλίθη. Ὢ χάριτος ἀφράστου! Ὢ φιλανθρωπίας ἀρρήτου! Καὶ φαρισαίοις συνεστιᾶται καὶ τελώνας οὐκ ἀποσείεται καὶ πόρνας προσδέχεται καὶ Σαμαρείτιδι διαλέγεται καὶ Χανα ναίαν λόγου ἀξιοῖ καὶ τῇ αἱμορροούσῃ τὸ

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