John Chrysostom, Sermon Delivered After the Martyrs' Relics

A homily delivered after the relics of the martyrs

HOMILY 2.

63.467 When the empress came to the great church at midnight,

and from there took up the relics of the martyrs, and escorted them through the entire marketplace to Drypia, the martyrium being nine miles from the city; the homily was delivered in the martyrium, in her presence and that of the whole city and the magistrates. 1. What shall I say and what shall I speak? I leap and I am mad with a madness better than sobriety; I fly and I dance and I am carried aloft and I am intoxicated, then, by this spiritual pleasure. What shall I say and what shall I speak? The strength of the martyrs? The zeal of the city? The ardor of the empress? The concurrence of the magistrates? The shame of the devil? The defeat of the demons? The nobility of the Church? The power of the cross? The 63.468 miracles of the Crucified One? The glory of the Father? The grace of the Spirit? The pleasure of the whole people? The leapings of the city? The gatherings of the monks? The choirs of the virgins? The orders of the priests? The vigor of the men of the world, of slaves, of the free, of rulers, of the ruled, of the poor, of the rich, of foreigners, of citizens? It is opportune to say concerning all these things: Who shall declare your mighty acts, O Lord? Who shall make all your praises heard? Women secluded in their chambers and softer than wax, leaving their roofed dwellings, vied in eagerness with the strongest of men, completing so great a length of road on foot; not only the young, but also the old; and neither the 63.469 weakness of their nature, nor the delicacy of their lifestyle, nor the pride of their high station became an obstacle to their zeal. Rulers again, they too, leaving their carriages and their lictors and their bodyguards, mixed themselves with the common people.

And why must one speak of women, or magistrates, when she who wears the diadem and is clothed in the purple robe, did not endure to be parted from the relics even a little along the entire road, but like a handmaiden she followed the saints, touching the reliquary and the cloth laid upon it, and trampling on all human pride, and appearing to the people in the midst of so great a theater, she whom it is not lawful for even all the eunuchs who move about in the royal courts to see? But the longing for the martyrs and the tyranny and the flame of love persuaded her to cast off all these masks, and to display with naked eagerness her zeal for the holy martyrs.

For she was reminded of the blessed David, who, though clothed in purple and wearing a diadem, and holding the scepter of the Hebrew people, when he brought up the ark, left behind all that pomp, and leaped and danced and jumped greatly, playing and dancing, and through his leaps displaying the pleasure he had in what was being done. If then in the shadow and the type it was necessary to display such fervor, how much more in grace and in truth; since she too was bringing up an ark much better than that one of David. For it does not have tablets of stone, but spiritual tablets, and grace blossoming forth, and a gift gleaming, and bones shining against the very rays of the sun; or rather, they emit a more brilliant flash. For when demons see a ray of the sun, they suffer nothing; but not bearing the brightness leaping forth from here, they are blinded and flee as fugitives and flee from a great distance;

Homilia dicta postquam reliquiae martyrum

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Βʹ.

63.467 Τῆς βασιλίδος μέσων νυκτῶν εἰς μεγάλην ἐκκλη σίαν προσελθούσης,

κἀκεῖθεν τὰ λείψανα τῶν μαρτύρων ἀραμένης, καὶ προπεμψαμένης διὰ πά σης τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἕως ∆ρυπίας, τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἀπ έχοντος θʹ σημεῖα τῆς πόλεως· ἐλέχθη ἐν τῷ μαρτυρίῳ ἡ προσομιλία, παρούσης αὐτῆς καὶ τῆς πόλεως πάσης καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων. αʹ. Τί εἴπω καὶ τί λαλήσω; σκιρτῶ καὶ μαίνομαι μανίαν σωφροσύνης βελτίονα· πέτομαι καὶ χορεύω καὶ μετάρσιος φέρομαι καὶ μεθύω λοιπὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς ταύτης τῆς πνευματικῆς. Τί εἴπω καὶ τί λαλήσω; τῶν μαρτύρων τὴν ἰσχύν; τῆς πόλεως τὴν προθυμίαν; τῆς βασιλίδος τὸν ζῆλον; τῶν ἀρχόντων τὴν συνδρομήν; τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν αἰσχύνην; τῶν δαιμόνων τὴν ἧτταν; τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὴν εὐγένειαν; τοῦ σταυροῦ τὴν ἰσχύν; τοῦ 63.468 σταυρωθέντος τὰ θαύματα; τοῦ Πατρὸς τὴν δόξαν; τοῦ Πνεύματος τὴν χάριν; τοῦ δήμου παντὸς τὴν ἡδονήν; τῆς πόλεως τὰ σκιρτήματα; τῶν μοναχῶν τοὺς συλλόγους; τῶν παρθένων τοὺς χορούς; τῶν ἱερέων τὰ τάγματα; τῶν βιωτικῶν ἀνδρῶν τὸν τόνον, τῶν δούλων, τῶν ἐλευθέρων, τῶν ἀρχόντων, τῶν ἀρχομένων, τῶν πενήτων, τῶν πλουτούντων, τῶν ξένων, τῶν πολιτῶν; Εὔκαιρον ἐφ' ἅπασιν εἰπεῖν· Τίς λαλήσει τὰς δυναστείας σου, Κύριε; ἀκουστὰς ποιήσει πάσας τὰς αἰνέσεις σου; Γυναῖκες θαλαμευόμεναι καὶ κηροῦ μαλακώτεραι, τὰ κατάστεγα οἰκήματα καταλιποῦσαι, πρὸς τοὺς ἰσχυροτάτους τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἡμιλλῶντο τῇ προθυμίᾳ, μῆκος ὁδοῦ τοσοῦτον βάδην ἀνύουσαι· οὐ νέαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ γεγηρακυῖαι· καὶ οὔτε ἡ τῆς φύ 63.469 σεως ἀσθένεια, οὔτε τὸ τῆς διαγωγῆς ἁβροδίαιτον, οὔτε ὁ τῆς περιφανείας τῦφος γέγονε κώλυμα τῇ προθυμίᾳ. Ἄρχοντες πάλιν καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰ ὀχήματα καταλιπόντες καὶ τοὺς ῥαβδούχους καὶ τοὺς δορυφόρους, τοῖς ἰδιώταις ἑαυτοὺς ἀνέμιξαν.

Καὶ τί δεῖ λέγειν γυναῖκας, ἢ ἄρχοντας, ὅπου καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ τὸ διάδημα περικειμένη καὶ τὴν πορφυρίδα περιβεβλημένη, παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἅπασαν οὐδὲ μικρὸν τῶν λειψάνων ἀποσχέσθαι ἠνέσχετο, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ θεραπαινὶς παρηκολούθει τοῖς ἁγίοις, τῆς θήκης ἁπτομένη καὶ τῆς ὀθόνης τῆς ἐπικειμένης, καὶ πάντα τὸν ἀνθρώπινον καταπατοῦσα τῦφον, καὶ ἐν μέσῳ θεάτρῳ τοσούτῳ φαινομένη δήμῳ, ἣν οὐδὲ εὐνούχοις ἅπασι τοῖς ἐν ταῖς βασιλικαῖς στρεφομένοις αὐλαῖς θέμις ἰδεῖν; Ἀλλ' ὁ τῶν μαρτύρων πόθος καὶ ἡ τυραννὶς καὶ ἡ τῆς ἀγάπης φλὸξ ἅπαντα ταῦτα τὰ προσωπεῖα ῥῖψαι ἀνέπεισε, καὶ γυμνῇ τῇ προθυμίᾳ τὸν ζῆλον ἐπιδείξασθαι τὸν περὶ τοὺς ἁγίους μάρτυρας.

Καὶ γὰρ ἀνεμνήσθη τοῦ μακαρίου ∆αυῒδ, ὃς καὶ ἁλουργίδα περιβεβλημένος καὶ διάδημα περικείμενος, καὶ τὰ σκῆπτρα τοῦ τῶν Ἑβραίων ἔχων δήμου, ἐπειδὴ τὴν κιβωτὸν ἀνέφερε, τὴν σκηνὴν ἅπασαν ἐκείνην ἀφεὶς, ἐσκίρτα καὶ ἐχόρευε καὶ ἐπήδα μεγάλα παίζων τε καὶ ὀρχούμενος, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἁλμάτων τὴν ἡδονὴν ἐπιδεικνύμενος, ἢν εἶχεν ἐπὶ τοῖς τελουμένοις. Εἰ δὲ ἐν τῇ σκιᾷ καὶ τῷ τύπῳ τοσαύτην ἐπιδείκνυσθαι θερμότητα ἔδει, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῆς χάριτος καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας· ἐπεὶ καὶ αὕτη κιβωτὸν ἀνῆγε πολλῷ βελτίονα ἐκείνης τῆς τοῦ ∆αυΐδ. Οὐ γὰρ πλάκας λιθίνας, ἀλλὰ πλάκας ἔχει πνευματικὰς, καὶ χάριν ἐπανθοῦσαν, καὶ δωρεὰν ἀποστίλβουσαν, καὶ ὀστᾶ αὐταῖς ἀντιλάμποντα ταῖς ἀκτῖσι· μᾶλλον δὲ λαμπροτέραν ἀφίενται ἀστραπήν. Ἀκτῖνα μὲν γὰρ βλέποντες ἡλιακὴν, οὐδὲν πάσχουσι δαίμονες· τὴν δὲ ἐντεῦθεν ἐκπηδῶσαν λαμπηδόνα μὴ φέροντες, ἀποτυφλοῦνται καὶ δραπετεύουσι καὶ ἐκ πολλοῦ φεύγουσι τοῦ διαστήματος·