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De pharisaeo

A homily on the Pharisee.

59.589 Just as a child-loving father, drawn by his own love to converse with his beloved children, and when they are infants unable to hear perfect words because of their childish condition, the father, changing his voice and setting aside the fluency of his eloquence, begins to lisp to them, leading his beloved ones by speaking and hearing to a greater comprehension of words; in the same way also our Lord, through His great love for His own creation, being God the Word, has come to us, having taken up human speech, so that by His conver59.590 sing and associating with us, having shown a heavenly revelation upon the heavenly ladder, that is, of hope, He might guide us.

He is invited, then, to a meal by a Pharisee, as we have just heard the Gospel proclaim, and He does not turn away the one who invites Him; for He did not come to show the dignity of His divinity, but to rescue fallen humanity from the depths. He is invited to a meal by a Pharisee, and He does not refuse, so that He might both teach the rich not to despise the tables of the poor, and instruct the righteous not to scorn the tables of sinners. 59.591 For many who seem to themselves to be righteous, spit upon the tables of sinners, and the rich upon those of the poor. For the Lord, wanting all to be beloved, brotherly, loving, and humble-minded, is the first to begin the work, so that He might teach by doing. Therefore He says: Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. You therefore who practice piety, whenever you are invited by a sinner, do not refuse; and if you are reproached by someone saying, Why do you eat and drink with sinners? answer by saying: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. For I am righteous, not to save the righteous, but to convert sinners. The Lord is invited to a meal, and He does not refuse, He who from five loaves fed five thousand to their fill in the desert, He who dried up the impassable sea, and led Israel through the sea as through a green plain, He who rained down manna for them from heaven, and all the day long snows from the brightness of the manna. The Lord is invited to a meal, and He does not refuse, teaching the best of lessons to those who invite Him at their best meals; for He goes to the meal, not to be filled with the Pharisee's food, but so that the Pharisee might be filled with the Lord's teachings. He is invited to a meal, and He comes to the house of the Pharisee, covering His divinity with humanity, so that the one who invited the Master might not suddenly see the flashing splendor of the divinity and flee from the house.

The heavenly king enters the house of the Pharisee to the captive, and covers His royal dignity with the leather armor of the flesh, so that the captive, upon seeing the heavenly king, might not tremble and sink into the earth. The Sun of righteousness enters the house of the Pharisee, covering the golden-gleaming splendors of His rays with the cloud of His body, so that man, upon seeing Him, might not lose his sight. The heavenly shepherd enters the house of the Pharisee; having left the ninety-nine sheep on the mountains, He comes for the one that was lost; He enters its fold, covering the shepherd in the lamb of His body. He carries no staff, no rod threatening for its former wandering, so that the sheep, becoming timid and frightened, might not run away again from the

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De pharisaeo

Εἰς τὸν Φαρισαῖον ὁμιλία.

59.589 Ὥσπερ πατὴρ φιλότεκνος προσομιλεῖν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ φιλτάτοις ὑπὸ τῆς

οἰκείας ἀγάπης ἑλκόμενος, καὶ ὄντων νηπίων μὴ δυναμένων ἀκούειν τελείων ῥημάτων διὰ τὸ νηπιῶδες τῆς ἕξεως, ὁ πατὴρ ὑπαλλάξας τὴν φωνὴν, καὶ τὸ τροχαλὸν τῆς εὐγλωττίας ἀποθέμενος, ψελλίζειν αὐτοῖς ἄρχεται, ἐκ τοῦ λέγειν καὶ ἀκούειν πρὸς μείζονα ῥημάτων κατάληψιν τοὺς φιλτάτους ἑαυτοῦ ἐνάγων· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν διὰ πολλὴν τὴν περὶ τὸ ἴδιον πλάσμα ἀγάπην Θεὸς Λόγος ὑπάρχων, ἀνθρώπινον λόγον ἀναλαβὼν ἐλήλυθε πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἵνα ἐκ τοῦ ὁμι59.590 λεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ συνδιατρίβειν, οὐράνιον ἀποκάλυψιν ἐπιδείξας ἐπὶ τὴν οὐράνιον κλίμακα, τουτέστιν, τῆς ἐλπίδος, ἡμᾶς ὁδηγήσῃ.

Καλεῖται γοῦν εἰς ἄριστον ὑπὸ Φαρισαίου, ὡς ἀρτίως ἠκούσαμεν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου κηρύττοντος, καὶ οὐκ ἀποστρέφεται τὸν καλοῦντα· οὐ γὰρ ἦλθε τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ δεῖξαι, ἀλλὰ τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν ἀνθρωπότητα ἐκ τῶν καταχθονίων ῥύσασθαι. Καλεῖται εἰς ἄριστον ὑπὸ Φαρισαίου, καὶ οὐ παραιτεῖται, ἵνα καὶ πλουσίους παιδεύσῃ μὴ ὑπερορᾷν τραπέζας πενήτων, καὶ δικαίους διδάξῃ μὴ διαπτύειν τραπέζας ἁμαρτωλῶν. 59.591 Πολλοὶ γὰρ παρ' ἑαυτοῖς δοκοῦντες εἶναι δίκαιοι, καταπτύουσι τραπέζας ἁμαρτωλῶν, καὶ οἱ πλούσιοι τῶν πενήτων. Βουλόμενος γὰρ ὁ Κύριος πάντας εἶναι φιλτάτους, φιλαδέλφους, ἀγαπητικοὺς, ταπεινόφρονας, πρῶτος ἄρχεται τοῦ ἔργου, ἵνα ἐκ τοῦ ποιῆσαι διδάξῃ. ∆ιὸ λέγει· Μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι πρᾶός εἰμι, καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ. Σὺ οὖν ὁ ἐν εὐλαβείᾳ ἀσκούμενος, ὁπόταν κληθῇς ὑπό τινος ἁμαρτωλοῦ, μὴ παραιτήσῃ· κἂν ὀνειδίζῃ ὑπό τινος λέγοντος, ∆ιὰ τί μετὰ ἁμαρτωλῶν ἐσθίεις καὶ πίνεις; ἀνταποκρίθητι λέγων· Οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν οἱ ὑγιαίνοντες ἰατροῦ, ἀλλ' οἱ κακῶς ἔχοντες. ∆ίκαιος γάρ εἰμι, οὐχ ἵνα δικαίους σώσω, ἀλλὰ ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἐπιστρέψω. Καλεῖται εἰς ἄριστον ὁ Κύριος, καὶ οὐ παραιτεῖται, ὁ ἐκ πέντε ἄρτων πέντε χιλιάδας εἰς κόρον διαθρέψας ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ὁ τὴν ἀπόρευτον καταξηράνας θάλασσαν, καὶ καθάπερ διὰ χλοηφόρου πεδίου τῆς θαλάσσης τὸν Ἰσραὴλ διαγαγὼν, ὁ οὐρανόθεν αὐτοῖς τὸ μάννα ἐπομβρίσας, καὶ ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκ τῆς λαμπρότητος τοῦ μάννα χιόνας. Καλεῖται εἰς ἄριστον ὁ Κύριος, καὶ οὐ παραιτεῖται, ἐν τοῖς ἀρίστοις τὰ ἄριστα τῶν μαθημάτων τοὺς καλοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐκδιδάσκων· ἀπέρχεται γὰρ εἰς ἄριστον, οὐχ ἵνα τῶν Φαρισαίου βρωμάτων ἐμφορηθῇ, ἀλλ' ἵνα ὁ Φαρισαῖος τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου διδαγμάτων ἐμπλησθῇ. Καλεῖται εἰς ἄριστον, καὶ ἔρχεται εἰς οἶκον τοῦ Φαρισαίου, καλύπτων τὴν θεότητα ἀνθρωπότητι, ἵνα μὴ ἄφνω θεασάμενος τὴν ἐξαστράπτουσαν αἴγλην τῆς θεότητος, φύγῃ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου ὁ καλέσας τὸν ∆εσπότην.

Εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὸν τοῦ Φαρισαίου οἶκον, ὁ οὐράνιος βασιλεὺς πρὸς τὸν αἰχμάλωτον, καὶ καλύπτει τὸ βασιλικὸν ἀξίωμα τῷ δερματίνῳ καταφράκτῳ τῆς σαρκὸς, ἵνα μὴ θεωρήσας τὸν οὐράνιον βασιλέα τρομάξῃ ὁ αἰχμάλωτος, καὶ εἰς γῆν καταδύσῃ. Εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὸν τοῦ Φαρισαίου οἶκον ὁ Ἥλιος τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τὰς χρυσαυγαζούσας τῶν ἀκτίνων λαμπηδόνας καλύπτων τῇ νεφέλῃ τοῦ σώματος, ἵνα μὴ θεωρήσας ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀπολέσῃ τὴν ὅρασιν. Εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Φαρισαίου ὁ οὐράνιος ποιμήν· ἐάσας ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα πρόβατα, ἔρχεται ἐπὶ τὸ ἀπολωλός· εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὴν μάνδραν αὐτοῦ καλύπτων τὸν ποιμένα ἐν τῷ ἀρνείῳ τοῦ σώματος. Οὐ βακτηρίαν ἐπιφέρεται, οὐ ῥάβδον ἀπειλοῦσαν τὴν προτέραν πλάνην, ἵνα μὴ δειλιάσαν καὶ πτοηθὲν τὸ πρόβατον πάλιν ἀποδράσῃ τοῦ