1

De circo

A sermon on the hippodrome.

59.567 A spiritual stadium and a heavenly racecourse has been opened for us today, for those who are ready for the spectacle of the spirit, not according to the earthly, dusty man, but according to the heavenly man of the spirit; in which one must run upon the earth, but look towards heaven. I was led to relate this for the reproof of the lovers of spectacles, who overlook the spiritual spectacle of salvation, and prefer the bodily 59.568 hippodrome of wickedness, or rather, the satanodrome. But consider earnestly, beloved, rather the unadorned hippodrome of the Church, where Paul competes, not running laps around the channel and turning posts, but from Jerusalem in a circuit as far as Illyricum, fulfilling the Gospel of Christ; where Elijah is the charioteer, of whom it is said: 'Chariot, chariot, charioteer of Israel, and its horseman;' not racing a mile from the white starting line to the turning post, but from earth 59.569 daring to go on a fiery chariot to heaven, where a people of heavenly citizens is present for the spectacle, and a spiritual judge is seated, and a king watches, and a heavenly gift of victory is offered, and the scourges of a fearful judgment are set forth. God wishes you to contend through Himself.

Wherefore He has also given you the four-horse chariot of the Gospels, in which chariot are white horses according to Zechariah; the yoke-horses are light and immortality, the trace-horses are righteousness and truth, which go behind the chariot that goes to the land of the north; of which Wisdom says, 'A harsh wind is the north wind;' for truly a harsh and evil spirit is the devil. In his chariot are black horses; the yoke-horses are hades and death, and the trace-horses are darkness and perdition, which must be controlled by the chariot of Christ; for 'The chariot,' he says, 'of God is ten thousandfold, thousands of guides,' who must drive it through the billows of life, as on the sea. For He mounted His horses on the sea, stirring up many waters, and overturning the chariots of the spiritual Pharaoh, and his power into the Red Sea. He also has a trace-horse angel who pursues and darkens the horses of your enemy. 'For let,' he says, 'their way be darkness and a slippery path, and the angel of the Lord pursuing them.' You have opposite you the Canaanites, Pharisees, and Sadducees who proclaim his gifts; you also have Moses, Samuel, and David, who foretold concerning the coming of the Just One. He has for starters demons, Bel and Dagon and Baal and Chemosh, who threw Israel down by the legs, and cast their limbs in the desert; you also have doorkeepers Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, as they themselves say, 'For a great and effective door has been opened to us, and there are many adversaries,' who also sought that a word be given to them in the opening of their mouths. He has Philetus, Judas, Demas and Hermogenes, Hymenaeus and Alexander the coppersmith, full of hypocrisy; you also have spectators, the people of angels, the ranks of the just watching from above; how indeed all run, but one receives the prize.

One is the people of Christ according to truth, one baptized into Christ, and having put on Christ; and no longer Jew nor Greek, male and female, slave or free, Scythian, Arian, Eunomian, Marathonian, but one in Christ. Run worthily of God, and live as a citizen, O people of God, in the theater of the all-holy Spirit. Let not the pre-race intrigues delight you, lest the things before judgment overtake you

1

De circo

Εἰς τὸ ἱπποδρόμιον λόγος.

59.567 Στάδιον ἡμῖν σήμερον πνευματικὸν καὶ δρόμος οὐράνιος ἀνέῳγε τοῖς ἑτοίμως πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν τοῦ πνεύματος ἔχουσιν, οὐ κατὰ τὸν ἐκ γῆς χοϊκὸν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν τοῦ πνεύματος ἐπουράνιον ἄνθρωπον· ἐφ' ᾧ δεῖ τρέχειν μὲν κατὰ τὴν γῆν, σκοπεῖν δὲ κατὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. Τοῦτο προήχθην ἱστορῆσαι πρὸς ἔλεγχον τῶν φιλοθεαμόνων, τῶν τὸ πνευματικὸν τῆς σωτηρίας θεώρημα παρορώντων, καὶ τὸ σωματικὸν τῆς πονηρίας ἱππο 59.568 δρόμιον, μᾶλλον δὲ σατανοδρόμιον προτιμούντων. Θεώρει δὲ σπουδαίως, ἀγαπητὲ, μᾶλλον τὸ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀπερίεργον ἱπποδρόμιον, ἔνθα Παῦλος ἀγωνίζεται, οὐκ εὐρίπου καὶ κάμπων κύκλους τρέχων, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ κύκλῳ μέχρι τοῦ Ἰλλυρικοῦ ἐκπληρῶν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἔνθα ὁ Ἡλίας ἡνιοχεῖ, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται· Ἅρμα, ἅρμα, ἡνίοχε τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἱππεὺς αὐτοῦ· οὐκ ἀπὸ λευκῆς ἐπὶ σφενδόνα μιλιοδρομῶν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ γῆς 59.569 εἰς οὐρανὸν πυρίνου ἅρματος κατατολμῶν, ἔνθα λαὸς οὐρανοπολιτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν θεωρίαν πάρεστι, καὶ κριτὴς πνευματικὸς καθέζεται, καὶ βασιλεὺς θεωρεῖ, καὶ ἐπινίκιον οὐράνιον δῶρον τίθεται, καὶ μάστιγες φοβερᾶς κρίσεως πρόκεινται. Βούλεταί σε ὁ Θεὸς δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἀγωνίζεσθαι.

∆ιὸ καὶ δέδωκέ σοι τὸ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων τετράθηρον ἅρμα, ἐν ᾧ ἅρματι ἵπποι λευκοὶ κατὰ τὸν Ζαχαρίαν· ζυγαῖοι μὲν φῶς καὶ ἀθανασία, ἀκροτῆρες δικαιοσύνη καὶ ἀλήθεια, οἱ πορευόμενοι κατόπισθεν τοῦ ἅρματος τοῦ πορευομένου εἰς γῆν βοῤῥᾶ· περὶ οὗ λέγει ἡ Σοφία, Σκληρός τις ἄνεμος βοῤῥᾶς· σκληρὸν γὰρ ἀληθῶς πνεῦμα καὶ πονηρὸν ὁ διάβολος. Ἐν ἅρματι αὐτοῦ ἵπποι μέλανες· ὑποζύγιοι μὲν ὁ ᾅδης καὶ θάνατος, ἀκροτῆρες δὲ σκότος καὶ ἀπώλεια, οὓς δεῖ καθηνιοχεῖν τῷ ἅρματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅτι Τὸ ἅρμα, φησὶ, τοῦ Θεοῦ, μυριοπλάσιον, χιλιάδες εὐθυνόντων, οὓς δεῖ καθηνιοχεῖν ἐν ταῖς τρικυμίαις τοῦ βίου, ὡς ἐν θαλάσσῃ. Ἐπεβίβασεν γὰρ εἰς θάλασσαν τοὺς ἵππους αὐτοῦ ταράττοντας ὕδατα πολλὰ, καὶ καταστρέφοντας τὰ ἅρματα τοῦ νοητοῦ Φαραὼ, καὶ τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ εἰς θάλασσαν Ἐρυθράν. Ἔχει δὲ καὶ πάριππον ἄγγελον τὸν καταδιώκοντα καὶ παρασκοτοῦντα τοὺς ἵππους τοῦ ἐχθροῦ σου. Γενηθήτω γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτῶν σκότος καὶ ὀλίσθημα, καὶ ἄγγελος Κυρίου καταδιώκων αὐτούς. Ἔχεις ἐξ ἐναντίας τοὺς τὰς δόσεις αὐτοῦ καταγγέλλοντας Χαναναίους, Φαρισαίους, Σαδουκαίους· ἔχεις καὶ σὺ Μωϋσέα, Σαμουὴλ καὶ ∆αυῒδ, οἳ προκατήγγειλαν περὶ τῆς ἐλεύσεως τοῦ δικαίου. Ἔχει ἐκεῖνος μεσαφέτας δαίμονας, Βὴλ καὶ ∆αγὼν καὶ Βαὰλ καὶ Χαμὼς, οἳ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἔβαλλον ἀπὸ σκελῶν, καὶ τὰ κῶλα αὐτῶν ἔῤῥιψαν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· ἔχεις καὶ σὺ θυρανοίκτας Παῦλον, καὶ Σιλουανὸν, καὶ Τιμόθεον, καθὼς αὐτοί φασιν, ὅτι Θύρα ἡμῖν ἀνέῳγε μεγάλη καὶ ἐναργὴς, καὶ ἀντικείμενοι πολλοὶ, οἳ καὶ ἐζήτησαν ἵνα δοθῇ αὐτοῖς λόγος ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν. Ἔχει ἐκεῖνος Φίλητον, Ἰούδαν, ∆ήμαν καὶ Ἑρμογένην, Ὑμεναῖον καὶ Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν χαλκέα ὑποκρίσεως γέμοντας· ἔχεις καὶ σὺ θεωρητὰς τὸν τῶν ἀγγέλων δῆμον, τὰ τῶν δικαίων τάγματα ἄνωθεν καθορῶντα· πῶς μὲν πάντες τρέχουσιν, εἷς δὲ λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον.

Εἷς ὁ κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λαὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἷς ἐν Χριστῷ βαπτισθεὶς, καὶ Χριστὸν ἐνδυσάμενος· καὶ μηκέτι Ἰουδαῖος μήθ' Ἕλλην, ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ, δοῦλος ἢ ἐλεύθερος, Σκύθης, Ἄρειος, Εὐνόμιος, Μαραθώνιος, ἀλλ' εἷς ἐν Χριστῷ. Ἀξίως τοῦ Θεοῦ τρέχε, καὶ πολιτεύου, λαὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν τῷ θεωρίῳ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος. Μὴ τερπέτω σε τὰ προϊππικὰ κομβινεύματα, ἵνα μὴ καταλάβῃ σε τὰ πρὸ κρίσεως