Athanasius of Alexandria, Homily on Seed

That he has become the liberator even of the dead, hear the Gospels saying: «And he raised many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep.» He was pl

the unclean spirit, choking invisibly, was choked, and Saul was refreshed. But he was envious of David for such a reason. Once, foreigners attacked th

he remained in his counsel. And he was angry with his son Jonathan, because he was friendly towards David, and he tried to kill his own son, looking b

seeing a certain man who had a withered hand, and knowing that the Jews were ready to accuse, 28.164 he says to the one who had the withered hand: “Ri

He wished to tame the wildness of their mind, and says to them: Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil? to save a life, or to destroy

alms to the poor. And let us take it in another way. There are very many who are negligent in prayers, and for the whole day they are occupied with hu

Homilia de semente

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS ATHANASIUS, A HOMILY ON THE SEED.

On a Sabbath day we have gathered, not being sick with Judaism; for we do not touch false Sabbaths; but we have come on the Sabbath to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. For of old the honorable Sabbath was among the ancients; but the Lord changed the day of the Sabbath to the Lord's Day; and it is not we who on our own have despised the Sabbath, but it is the prophet who cast it away, saying: ‘Your new moons and your Sabbaths my soul hates.’ For as long as things worthy of the legislation were practiced, or until the Teacher had arrived, the things of the schoolmaster were in effect; but when the Teacher came, the schoolmaster was abolished, and when the sun had risen, the lamp ceased. And the reading has become opportune for us, in its sequence, concerning the Sabbath. For we just heard how Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and how He healed the withered hand; and it seems good to me to say a few things on the Gospel reading. Our Savior was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples followed Him, and plucking the ears of grain, they ate; and Jews were rebuking them, saying: ‘It is not lawful to do this on the Sabbath.’ According to what law, O Jews? According to what legislation of Moses? According to what phrase of a prophet? 28.145 Where is it forbidden for the hungry to be fed? Where is it written that an empty stomach is not to be filled? But those who reproach eating on the Sabbath, they themselves were working murders on the Sabbath against the master of the house; for Scripture says in the Gospel concerning the day on which God suffered: ‘And that day was a high day of the Sabbath.’ And they do away with the lawgiver on the Sabbath, but they do not want the disciples to be fed on the Sabbath. For this reason the Savior, in the things just read, asked them: What is lawful to do on the Sabbath? to do good or to do evil? to save a life, or to destroy it? You reproach eating, but you work to murder? For the Jews always strain out the gnat, but swallow the camel; they are always precise about tithing rue and vegetables; but the weightier matters of the law they do not keep. And as the disciples passed through, they were indignant that they were rubbing the ears of grain in their hands and eating. They did not cut them with iron, since they would have accused it as work; nor did they use other tools, so that they might not accuse them, as not being fed, but working. But now why do you find fault with what was given by God for salvation? For if God did not forbid eating on the Sabbath, why do you reproach this, which God did not forbid? Therefore the Savior was passing through the grainfields; the grain of wheat, through the grainfields, the intelligible grain of wheat, who fell in one place, and rising with many ears for the world; for He Himself said about Himself, that ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ Let us also say it in another way; Therefore Jesus was passing through the grainfields; for He is sometimes called a grain of wheat because of His nourishing quality; and at other times He is the sower, according to what is said in the Gospels: ‘Behold, the sower went out to sow.’ So Jesus sows lavishly; but the fruit-bearing happens according to the underlying substance; for where the earth is rocky, the seed is easily dried up, not by the weakness of the seed, but by the poor condition of the earth; for the seed is active; but the earth is barren, possessing no depth. And with the earth not holding moisture, the more the

Homilia de semente

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΣΠΟΡΟΝ.

Ἐν ἡμέρᾳ Σαββάτου συνήχθημεν, οὐ νοσοῦν τες Ἰουδαϊσμόν· οὐ γὰρ ἐφαπτόμεθα Σαββάτων ψευδῶν· παραγεγόναμεν δὲ ἐν Σαββάτῳ, τὸν Κύριον τοῦ Σαββάτου Ἰησοῦν προσκυνήσοντες. Πάλαι μὲν γὰρ ἦν ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις τὸ τίμιον Σάββατον· μετέθηκε δὲ ὁ Κύριος τὴν τοῦ Σαββάτου ἡμέραν εἰς Κυριακήν· καὶ οὐχ ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν οἱ ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν τοῦ Σαββάτου καταφρονήσαντες, ἀλλ' ὁ προφήτης ἐστὶν ὁ ἀποβαλὼν καὶ εἰπών· «Τὰς νεομηνίας ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ Σάββατα μισεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου.» Μέχρι μὲν γὰρ ὅτε ἄξια ἐπράττετο τῶν πραγμάτων τῆς νομοθεσίας, ἢ μέχρις ὅτε μὴ ἦν παραγενόμενος ὁ ∆ιδάσκαλος, ἐνήργει τὰ τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ· ἐλθόντος δὲ τοῦ ∆ιδασκάλου, κατηργήθη ὁ παιδαγωγὸς, καὶ ἡλίου ἀνατείλαντος, ὁ λύχνος ἐπαύσατο. Εὔκαιρος δὲ ἡμῖν γέγονε καὶ ἡ ἀνάγνωσις, κατὰ ἀκολουθίαν, περὶ Σαββάτου. Ἠκούομεν γὰρ ἀρτίως, ὅπως ὁ Ἰησοῦςἐπορεύετο διὰ τῶν σπορίμων, καὶ ὅπως τὴν χεῖρα τὴν ξηρὰν ἐθεράπευσε· καί μοι δοκεῖ καλῶς ἔχειν ὀλίγα εἰς τὸ ἀνάγνωσμα τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου εἰπεῖν. Ὁ Σωτὴρ ἡμῶν ἐπορεύετο διὰ τῶν σπορίμων, καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτῷ ἠκολούθουν, καὶ στάχυας τίλλοντες, ἤσθιον· καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐπετίμων αὐτοῖς λέγοντες· «Οὐκ ἔξεστι τοῦτο ποιεῖν ἐν Σαββάτῳ.» Κατὰ ποῖον νόμον, ὦ Ἰουδαῖοι; Κατὰ ποίαν Μω σέως νομοθεσίαν; Κατὰ ποίαν προφήτου φράσιν; 28.145 Ποῦ κεκώλυται τρέφεσθαι τὸν πεινῶντα; Ποῦ γέγραπται μὴ ἐμπλησθῆναι γαστέρα κενήν; Οἱ δὲ τὸ τρέφεσθαι ὀνειδίζοντες ἐν Σαββάτῳ, αὐτοὶ φόνοις ἐν Σαββάτῳ κατὰ τοῦ οἰκοδεσπότου εἰργάζοντο· λέγει γὰρ ἡ Γραφὴ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ περὶ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐν ᾗ ὁ Θεὸς ἔπαθεν· «Ἦν δὲ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη μεγάλη τοῦ Σαββάτου.» Καὶ τὸν μὲν νομοθέτην ἀναιροῦσιν ἐν Σαββάτῳ, τρέφεσθαι δὲ μαθητὰς ἐν Σαββάτῳ οὐ βούλονται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐν τοῖς ἀρτίως ἀναγνωσθεῖσιν, ἠρώτα αὐτούς· Τί ἔξεστιν ποιῆσαι ἐν τῷ Σαββάτῳ; ἀγαθοποιῆσαι ἢ κακοποιῆσαι; ψυχὴν σῶσαι, ἢ ἀπολέσαι; τὸ τρέφεσθαι ὀνειδίζετε, τὸ δὲ φονεῦσαι κατεργάζεσθε; Ἀεὶ γὰρ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι τὸν κώνωπα διυλίζουσι, τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπίνουσιν· ἀεὶ ἀκριβεῖς εἰσι περὶ τὸ ἀποδεκατῶσαι τὸ πήγανον καὶ τὸ λάχανον· τὰ δὲ βαρύτερα τοῦ νόμου οὐ τηροῦσι. Καὶ διαπορευομένων τῶν μαθητῶν, ἠγανάκτουν, ὅτι στάχυας ἔψωχον ταῖς χερσὶ, καὶ ἤσθιον. Οὐ σιδήρῳ ἀπέτεμνον, ἐπεὶ κατηγόρουν ὡς ἔργου· οὐδὲ ἄλλοις ἐργαλείοις ἐχρήσαντο, ἵνα μὴ κατηγορήσωσιν, ὡς μὴ τρεφομένων, ἀλλ' ἐργαζομένων. Νυνὶ δὲ τί μέμφεσθε τῷ ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ δοθέντι εἰς σωτηρίαν; Εἰ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς οὐ τὸ τρέφεσθαι ἀπηγόρευσεν ἐν Σαββάτῳ, τί σὺ τοῦτο ὀνειδίζεις, ὅπερ ὁ Θεὸς οὐκ ἀπηγόρευσεν; ∆ιεπορεύετο τοίνυν ὁ Σωτὴρ διὰ τῶν σπορίμων· ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου, διὰ τῶν σπορίμων, ὁ νοητὸς κόκκος τοῦ σίτου, ὁ πεσὼν εἰς ἕνα τόπον, καὶ ἀνα στὰς πολύχους εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην· αὐτὸς γὰρ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἔλεγεν, ὅτι «Ἐὰν μὴ ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου, πεσὼν εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἀποθάνῃ, αὐτὸς μόνος μένει· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ, πολὺν καρπὸν φέρει.» Εἴπωμεν αὐτὸ καὶ ἄλλως· ∆ιεπορεύετο τοίνυν ὁ Ἰησοῦς διὰ τῶν σπορίμων· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐνίοτε μὲν κόκκος τοῦ σίτου καλεῖται διὰ τὸ θρεπτικόν· ἄλλοτε δὲ σπορεύς ἐστι, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις· «Ἰδοὺ ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι.» Σπείρει μὲν οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς δαψιλῶς· ἡ δὲ καρποφορία γίνεται πρὸς τὸ ὑποκείμενον· ὅπου μὲν γὰρ πετρώδης ἡ γῆ, εὐμαρῶς ξηραίνεται τὸ σπέρμα οὐκ ἀδυναμίᾳ τοῦ σπόρου, ἀλλὰ τῇ καχεξίᾳ τῆς γῆς· ὁ μὲν γὰρ σπό ρος ἐνεργής· ἄγονος δὲ ἡ γῆ βάθος μὴ κεκτημένη. Οὐκ ἀντεχούσης δὲ τῆς γῆς πρὸς ὑγρασίαν, πλεῖον αἱ