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In sanctum Antonium (homilia 8)

Of the most blessed Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, an encomium for our holy father Antony.

1 In the memory of the righteous the world also rejoices, in the memory of the righteous the world also is illumined, in the memory of the righteous humanity also leaps for joy, in the memory of the righteous everyone who hears also rejoices. Now Antony is remembered and we are all illumined by his memory, Antony, the citizen of the heavens, the teacher of every virtue, who imitated in the flesh the fleshless ones, the lamp of the churches, the trainer of priests, the flower of virginity, the radiance of purity, the crown of those in “mountains and caves,” the model of endurance, the worker of self-control, the undefeated boxer, the pillar of the prophets, the mirror of the apostles, the one powerful with God and men, who possessed nothing on earth, but looked wholly to heaven, stretching his eyes upward and hastening his course toward that prize.

2 Faithful like Abraham, obedient like Isaac, steadfast like Jacob, like Joseph feeding Egypt, like Moses directing all sorts of wonders by his teaching, he sang psalms like David and drove out demons, he offered himself as a greater temple to God, like Daniel he commanded the lions, like the Baptist he makes the desert a church, like the Theologian “reclining on the breast of Jesus” through the study of the Gospel, “day by day” like Paul he was “dying.”

3 But we too draw, and the wine press overflows, the jars are full, “the vats overflow”; as much as we run, the stadium becomes larger; as much as the voyage is accomplished, so much is the immeasurability of the sea revealed. Come, then, let us also say the words of Paul: “Time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets”; for the father of the assembled spectacles took these up in himself; for many words are needed and I am a guide to the deeds, since speech grows weary explaining the work. One thing is the mark of a shadow, another the energy of truth. An image is one thing, and that which is shown, of which it is an image, is another; words depict the work, but the tongue does not speak in the same way that the hand does good. The sound of words is one thing, the fragrance of achievements another; the one weighs down the air, the other reaches heaven and fully informs those above, the other stands before those above.

4 “Time will fail me,” he says, “if I tell.” If time failed Paul as he told of the achievements of the saints, Paul in whom Christ spoke, in whom the fullness of the church arrived, in whom an unfailing treasure of knowledge was hidden—he was a mine of understanding, from above he searched out the law and the prophets, he had a tongue that sounded like a trumpet in the whole world as in one theater—what shall we do, who are poor and needy? What shall we do, whose speech is untaught, whose tongue is weak, whose mind is slow and heart uneducated, we who have neither learned external knowledge, nor are in the least exercised in that which is within?

5 There is no way of life that draws forth boldness, nor a life that speaks in place of words. From where shall we weave for Antony the tunic of praises? Let the lyre of David now crown him; for concerning him it is written in the heading of the book and of his holy works: “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments; his seed shall be mighty in the land”; for his seed are the holy communities everywhere in Egypt, or rather of the whole earth

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In sanctum Antonium (homilia 8)

Τοῦ μακαριωτάτου Ἡσυχίου, πρεσβυτέρου Ἱεροσολύμων, ἐγκώμιον εἰς τὸν ὅσιον πατέρα ἡμῶν Ἀντώνιον.

1 ∆ικαίων μνήμῃ καὶ ὁ κόσμος ἀγάλλεται, δικαίων μνήμῃ καὶ ὁ κόσμος

φωτίζεται, δικαίων μνήμῃ καὶ ἡ ἀνθρωπότης σκιρτᾷ, δικαίων μνήμῃ καὶ πᾶς τις ἀκούων ἀγάλλεται. Νῦν Ἀντώνιος μνημονεύεται καὶ πάντες τῇ μνήμῃ φωτιζόμεθα, Ἀντώ νιος ὁ τῶν οὐρανῶν πολίτης, ὁ πάσης ἀρετῆς καθηγητής, ὁ τοὺς ἀσάρκους ἐν σαρκὶ μιμησάμενος, ὁ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν λύχνος, ὁ τῶν ἱερέων παιδοτρίβης, τὸ τῆς παρθενίας ἄνθος, τὸ τῆς ἁγνείας ἀπαύ γασμα, τῶν ἐν «ὄρεσι καὶ σπηλαίοις» ὁ στέφανος, τὸ τῆς καρ τερίας ὑπόδειγμα, ὁ τῆς ἐγκρατείας ἐργάτης, ὁ ἀήττητος πύκτης, τῶν προφητῶν ἡ στήλη, τῶν ἀποστόλων τὸ ἔσοπτρον, ὁ μετὰ θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων δυνατός, ὁ μηδὲν ἐπὶ γῆς ἔχων, ὅλος δὲ εἰς οὐρανὸν ὁρῶν, ἄνω τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τείνων καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνο τὸ βραβεῖον τὸν δρόμον ἐπειγόμενος.

2 Ὁ πιστὸς ὡς Ἀβραάμ, ὡς ὁ Ἰσαὰκ εὐπειθής, καρτερικὸςὡς ὁ Ἰακώβ, ὡς Ἰωσὴφ σιτοδοτῶν τὴν Αἴγυπτον, θαυμάτων παντοδαπῶν ὡς Μωυσῆς ἡνιοχῶν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ, ἔψαλλεν ὡς ∆αυὶδ καὶ τοὺς δαίμονας ἤλαυνε, ναὸν ἑαυτὸν μείζονα τῷ θεῷ προσήγαγεν, ὡς ∆ανιὴλ ἐπέταττε τοῖς λέουσιν, ὡς ὁ Βαπτιστὴς ἐκκλησιάζει τὴν ἔρημον, ὡς ὁ Θεολόγος «ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος τοῦ Ἰη σοῦ» διὰ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς μελέτης «ἀνακείμενος», «καθ' ἡμέ ραν» ὡς Παῦλος «ἀπέθνῃσκεν».

3 Ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀντλοῦμεν καὶ ἡ ληνὸς ὑπερβλύζει, οἱ πίθοι γέμουσιν, «ὑπερχεῖται τὰ ὑπολήνια»· ὅσον τρέχομεν, μεῖζον τὸ στάδιον γίνεται· ὅσον ὁ πλοῦς ἀνύεται, τοσοῦτον τῆς θαλάσσης δηλοῦται τὸ ἀμέτρητον. ∆εῦρο τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς τὰ τοῦ Παύλου εἴπωμεν· «Ἐπιλείψει με διηγούμενον ὁ χρόνος ἐπὶ Γεδεών, Βαράκ, Σαμψών, Ἰεφθάε, ∆αυίδ τε καὶ Σα μουὴλ καὶ τῶν προφητῶν»· τούτους γὰρ ἐν αὑτῷ ὁ πατὴρ τῶν συγκροτουμένων θεάτρων ἀνέλαβε· πολλῶν γὰρ χρεία ῥημάτων καὶ ὁδηγὸς ἐγὼ τοῖς πράγμασιν, ἐπειδὴ κάμνει ὁ λόγος τὸ ἔργον ἐξηγούμενος. Ἕτερον σκιᾶς χαρακτήρ, ἕτερον ἀληθείας ἐνέρ γεια. Ἄλλο εἰκὼν καὶ ἄλλο τοῦτο οὗπερ εἰκὼν τυγχάνει τὸ δει κνυόμενον· εἰκονίζουσιν οἱ λόγοι τὸ ἔργον, ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ἡ γλῶσ σα λέγει ὥσπερ ἡ χεὶρ εὐεργετεῖ. Ἕτερον φωνὴ ῥημάτων, ἕτερον ὀσμὴ κατορθωμάτων· ἐκείνη περὶ τὸν ἀέρα βρίθει, αὕτη φθάνει τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τοὺς ἄνω πληροφορεῖ, αὕτη τοῖς ἄνω παρίσταται.

4 «Ἐπιλείψει με, φησί, διηγούμενον ὁ χρόνος.» Εἰ δὲ Παῦ λον ὁ χρόνος ἐπέλιπε τὰ τῶν ἁγίων κατορθώματα λέγοντα, Παῦ λον ἐν ᾧ Χριστὸς ἐλάλει, ἐν ᾧ τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐφίκετο, θησαυρὸς γνώσεως ἀνελλιπὴς ἐκέκρυπτο- μέταλλον ἦν τῆς ἐπιστήμης, ἄνωθεν τὸν νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας ἠρευνᾶτο, γλῶσ σαν εἶχεν ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ καθάπερ ἐν ἑνὶ θεάτρῳ σαλπίζουσαν-, τί πράξωμεν ἡμεῖς οἱ πτωχοὶ καὶ ἐνδεεῖς; Τί πράξωμεν οἷς ὁ λόγος ἀδίδακτος, οἷς ἀσθενὴς γλῶττα, βραδὺς ὁ νοῦς καὶ ἡ καρδία ἀπαίδευτος, οἳ μήτε τὴν ἔξωθεν γνῶσιν μεμαθήκαμεν, μήτε ἐλαχίστως τὴν ἔνδον γυμναζόμεθα;

5 Οὐκ ἔστι πολιτεία τὴν παρρησίαν ἕλκουσα, οὐδὲ βίος ἀντὶ λόγου φθεγγόμενος. Πόθεν Ἀντωνίῳ τὸν χιτῶνα τῶν ἐπαίνων ὑφάνωμεν; Στεφανούτω νῦν αὐτὸν ἡ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ κιθάρα· περὶ αὐτοῦ γὰρ ἐν κεφαλίδι βιβλίου καὶ τῶν ὁσίων αὐτοῦ ἔργων γέ γραπται· «Μακάριος ἀνὴρ ὁ φοβούμενος τὸν κύριον, ἐν ταῖς ἐν τολαῖς αὐτοῦ θελήσει σφόδρα· δυνατὸν ἐν τῇ γῇ ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ»· σπέρμα γὰρ ἐκείνου τὰ πανταχοῦ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, μᾶλ λον δὲ τὰ πάσης τῆς γῆς τῶν ἁγίων