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Homily delivered in the temple of Saint Anastasia

HOMILY 7. 63.493

A homily delivered in the church of Saint Anastasia.

1. Small is the present assembly, but great is the desire; therefore the assembly is not small. For we do not seek crowds of bodies, but a prepared mind, a winged intellect, a hearer who rises higher than all worldly things; and if there be but one such person, he is sufficient for the speaker; since the Samaritan woman was both poor and sinful and foreign, and yet was considered worthy of those long discourses by the Master of the world; and He often passed by Jewish crowds, either not speaking to them, or obscuring His discourse; but with a foreign woman, who had had five husbands and was unlawfully living with a sixth, He spoke alone, having deliberately sent His disciples to the market, so as not to frighten away His catch. Such is the providence of the Master of the world for even a single soul, if only He finds a mind and eagerness that shows itself suitable for hearing what is said; which is what she then provided.

From a prostitute, then, she became an evangelist, after those reproofs crying out and saying: 'Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?' He exposed her life, and brought her sins into the open, saying: 'For you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.' But the reproof did not strike her down, but rather drew her to a closer relationship. For such are noble souls; by the very things that cause others to stumble, they are corrected. For if she had been another [courtesan] of the ungrateful sort, she would have been struck by the reproofs, would have jumped away, would have been stirred to anger and indignation; but she, after the accusation, draws closer to the teacher, and asks him about greater doctrines; for she said, 'I perceive that you are a prophet;' and having learned this from his knowledge of her own evils, she marvels all the more and makes inquiry. These were the actions of a soul wishing to be wise. For she does not ask anything about worldly matters, nor about money, nor about bodily health, nor about relief from poverty, although she lived in extreme destitution, but about the sacred laws, and about the way of life of her ancestors, and the worship of her fathers, saying: 'Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and how is it that you say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship?' And in the prelude she does the same thing, saying: 'How is it that you ask me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman?' 63.494 so concerned a soul did she have, and one fit to be saved. For this very reason He who knows the secrets of the mind, having found fertile soil, cast the seeds with a lavish hand, leading her up little by little. All these things have been said by me, so that you may learn that our assembly is not small. For if one woman there became a sufficient audience, how much more shall we, seeing so many men and so many women with such eagerness, not shrink back, but will employ our usual teaching.

For if the Master of angels, before whom the Cherubim tremble, did not refuse to converse with a prostitute woman alone, what defense could we have, what excuse, for running past so great an assembly? Come then, let us once again prepare the usual table for you, and set up the mixing bowl, and pour out the unmixed wine, making a spiritual banquet. For these meats do not burst the belly, but fortify the mind; this wine does not make one insane the

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Homilia dicta in templo sanctae Anastasiae

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Ζʹ. 63.493

Ὁμιλία λεχθεῖσα ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῆς ἁγίας Ἀναστασίας.

αʹ. Βραχὺς μὲν τῶν παρόντων ὁ σύλλογος, μέγας δὲ ὁ πόθος· διόπερ οὐδὲ ὁ σύλλογος βραχύς. Οὐ γὰρ πλήθη σωμάτων ἐπιζητοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ γνώμην παρεσκευασμένην, διάνοιαν ἐπτερωμένην, ἀκροατὴν ὑψηλότερον γινόμενον τῶν βιωτικῶν ἁπάντων· κἂν εἷς ὁ τοιοῦτος ᾖ, ἱκανὸς ἐπαρκέσαι τῷ λέγοντι· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις γυνὴ καὶ πτωχὴ ἦν καὶ ἐναγὴς καὶ ἀλλόφυλος, καὶ ὅμως ἀξία τῶν μακρῶν ἐκείνων ἐνομίσθη λόγων εἶναι τῷ τῆς οἰκουμένης ∆εσπότῃ· καὶ δήμους μὲν παρέδραμεν Ἰουδαϊκοὺς πολλάκις, ἢ μὴ διαλεγόμενος, ἢ συσκιάζων τὴν διάλεξιν· γυναικὶ δὲ βαρβάρῳ, καὶ πέντε ἄνδρας ἐχούσῃ, καὶ ἕκτῳ παρανόμως συνοικούσῃ, μόνῃ διελέγετο, τοὺς μαθητὰς ἐπίτηδες εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν πέμψας, ἵνα μὴ πτοήσῃ τὴν ἄγραν. Τοσαύτη καὶ μιᾶς ψυχῆς τῷ ∆εσπότῃ τῆς οἰκουμένης πρόνοια, μόνον ἐὰν γνώμην καὶ προθυμίαν ἐπιδεικνύντας τῇ ἀκροάσει τῶν λεγομένων ἐπιτηδείαν εὕρῃ· ὅπερ καὶ ἐκείνη τότε παρέσχετο.

Ἀπὸ γοῦν πόρνης εὐαγγελίστρια γέγονε, μετὰ τοὺς ἐλέγχους ἐκείνους βοῶσα καὶ λέγουσα· ∆εῦτε, ἴδετε ἄνθρωπον, ὃς εἶπέ μοι πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησα· μήτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός; Ἐξεπόμπευσεν αὐτῆς τὸν βίον, καὶ εἰς μέσον ἤγαγε τὰ πεπλημμελημένα, λέγων· Πέντε γὰρ ἄνδρας ἔσχες, καὶ νῦν ὃν ἔχεις, οὐκ ἔστι σου ἀνήρ. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔπληξεν αὐτὴν ὁ ἔλεγχος, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον πρὸς οἰκείωσιν ἐπεσπάσατο. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ αἱ γενναῖαι ψυχαί· ὑφ' ὧν ἕτεροι σκανδαλίζονται, ὑπὸ τούτων ἐκεῖναι διορθοῦνται. Εἰ μὲν γάρ τις ἦν ἑτέρα [ἑταίρα] τῶν ἀγνωμόνων, κἂν ἐπλήγη τοῖς ἐλέγχοις, κἂν ἀπεπήδησε, κἂν εἰς ὀργὴν διηγέρθη καὶ ἀγανάκτησιν· αὕτη δὲ μετὰ τὴν κατηγορίαν μᾶλλον οἰκειοῦται τῷ διδασκάλῳ, καὶ περὶ μειζόνων αὐτὸν ἐρωτᾷ θεωρημάτων· εἶπε γὰρ, ὅτι Θεωρῶ, ὅτι προφήτης εἶ σύ· καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς γνώσεως τῶν οἰκείων κακῶν αὐτὸν μαθοῦσα θαυμάζει μειζόνως καὶ πυνθάνεται. Ταῦτα ψυχῆς ἦν βουλομένης φιλοσοφεῖν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐρωτᾷ τι περὶ βιωτικοῦ πράγματος, οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ χρημάτων, οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ ὑγείας σώματος, οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ πενίας ἀπαλλαγῆς, καίτοι ἐσχάτῃ συζῶσα πτωχείᾳ, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῶν νόμων τῶν ἱερῶν, καὶ περὶ πολιτείας προγόνων, καὶ λατρείας πατέρων, λέγουσα· Οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσεκύνησαν, καὶ πῶς ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐστὶν ὁ τόπος ἔνθα χρὴ προσκυνεῖν; Καὶ ἐν προοιμίοις δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιεῖ λέγουσα· Πῶς σὺ αἰτεῖς παρ' ἐμοῦ πιεῖν οὔσης γυναικὸς Σαμαρείτι 63.494 δος; οὕτω μεμεριμνημένην εἶχε ψυχὴν, καὶ ἐπιτηδείαν σωθῆναι. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα τῆς διανοίας ἐπιστάμενος, γῆν εὑρὼν λιπαρὰν, δαψιλεῖ τῇ χειρὶ τὰ σπέρματα κατέβαλε, κατὰ μικρὸν αὐτὴν ἀναβιβάζων. Ταῦτα δή μοι ἅπαντα εἴρηται, ἵνα μάθητε ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν βραχὺς ὁ σύλλογος. Εἰ γὰρ ἐκεῖ μία γυνὴ ἀρκοῦν ἐγένετο θέατρον, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς τοσούτους μὲν ἄνδρας, τοσαύτας δὲ γυναῖκας ὁρῶντες μετὰ τοσαύτης προθυμίας, οὐκ ἀποκνήσομεν, ἀλλὰ τῇ συνήθει χρησόμεθα διδασκαλίᾳ.

Εἰ γὰρ ὁ τῶν ἀγγέλων ∆εσπότης, ὃν τὰ Χερουβεὶμ φρίττει, οὐ παρῃτήσατο πόρνῃ γυναικὶ διαλεχθῆναι μόνῃ, τίνα ἂν σχοίημεν ἀπολογίαν, ποίαν δὲ συγγνώμην, τοσοῦτον παρατρέχοντες σύλλογον; Φέρε οὖν τὴν συνήθη πάλιν τράπεζαν ὑμῖν κατασκευάσωμεν, καὶ τὸν κρατῆρα στήσωμεν, καὶ τὸν ἄκρατον ἐκχέωμεν, συμπόσιον ἐργαζόμενοι πνευματικόν. Τὰ γὰρ δὴ κρέα ταῦτα οὐ διαῤῥήγνυσι γαστέρα, ἀλλὰ τειχίζει διάνοιαν· ὁ οἶνος οὗτος οὐ παράφρονα ποιεῖ τὸν