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On the beheading of Saint John

ON THE BEHEADING OF THE FORERUNNER AND BAPTIST JOHN, And on Herodias.

59.485 Again Herodias rages, again she is troubled, again she dances, again she seeks

for the head of John the Baptist to be lawlessly cut off by Herod. Again Jezebel goes about seeking to seize Naboth's vineyard, and to pursue the holy Elijah to the mountains. I think that not only I am in ecstasy, but also all of you who hear the voice of the Gospel, and you marvel with me at John's boldness, Herod's levity, and the beastly madness of the lawless women. For what did we hear? For Herod, having seized John, put him in prison. Why? On account of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother. And someone might blame the levity of Herod, led astray by wretched women. But what might one say, or how might one express the intemperate wickedness of those women? For to me it seems there is no beast in the world to rival a wicked woman. But now my discourse is about a wicked woman, not about a good and prudent one. For I know many seemly and good women, whose life I must recall for edification and the love of good things.

59.486 There is therefore no beast in the world to rival a wicked woman. What is more terrible than a lion among quadrupeds? But nothing. What is more savage than a serpent among reptiles? But nothing. But both lion and serpent are lesser in evil. And the most wise Solomon bears witness to my word, saying: I would be pleased to live with a lion and a serpent, than with a wicked and talkative woman. And lest you think the prophet has spoken with irony, learn precisely from the facts themselves. The lions in the den revered Daniel, but Jezebel murdered the righteous Naboth; the sea-monster guarded Jonah in its belly, but Delilah, having shaved and bound Samson, handed him over to foreigners; serpents and asps and horned vipers trembled at John in the desert, but Herodias cut off his head at a banquet; the ravens fed Elijah on the mountain, but Jezebel pursued him to kill him after the good deed of the rain. For what did she say? If you are Elijah, I am Jezebel; so may the gods do to me, and so may they add, if tomorrow at this hour I do not make your life like that of one of the slain. And Elijah was afraid, and went for his life, and went into the wilderness a journey of forty 59.487 days. And he came under a juniper tree, and asked that his soul might die, and said: Lord God, it is enough for me now, take my soul from me, for I am no better than my fathers. Alas! Did the prophet Elijah fear a woman? He who bore the rain of the world on his tongue, who brought down fire from heaven, and who raised the dead through prayer, did he fear a woman? Yes, he was afraid. For no evil can be compared to a wicked woman.

And Wisdom bears witness to my word, saying, There is no head above the head of a serpent, and there is no evil above the evil of a woman. O the evil and sharpest weapon of the devil! through a woman from the beginning he wounded Adam in paradise; through a woman he drove the most gentle David to the murder of Uriah; through a woman he laid low the most wise Solomon to transgression; through a woman, having shaved the most courageous Samson, he blinded him; through a woman he dashed to the ground the sons of Eli the priest; through a woman the most noble Joseph in prison

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In decollationem sancti Joannis

ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΑΠΟΤΟΜΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΠΡΟ∆ΡΟΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΒΑΠΤΙΣΤΟΥ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ, Καὶ εἰς τὴν Ἡρωδιάδα.

59.485 Πάλιν Ἡρωδιὰς μαίνεται, πάλιν ταράττεται, πάλι ὀρχεῖται, πάλιν ἐπιζητεῖ

τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ ἀνόμως ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου ἀποτμηθῆναι. Πάλιν Ἰεζάβελ περιέρχεται ζητοῦσα τοῦ Ναβουθαὶ τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἁρπάσαι, καὶ τὸν ἅγιον Ἠλίαν καταδιῶξαι ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη. Οἶμαι δὲ μὴ μόνον ἐμὲ εἰς ἔκστασιν τυγχάνειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς τοὺς ἀκούοντας τῆς τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου φωνῆς, καὶ θαυμάζειν σὺν ἐμοὶ τὴν μὲν Ἰωάννου παῤῥησίαν τὴν δὲ Ἡρώδου κουφότητα, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀθέων γυναικῶν θηριώδη μανίαν. Τί γὰρ ἠκούομεν; Ὁ γὰρ Ἡρώδης κρατήσας τὸν Ἰωάννην, ἔθετο ἐν φυλακῇ. ∆ιὰ τί; ∆ιὰ Ἡρωδιάδα γυναῖκα Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ψέξειεν ἄν τις τὴν Ἡρώδου κουφότητα ὑπὸ δυστήνων γυναικῶν παραχθεῖσαν. Τί δ' ἄν τις εἴποι, ἢ πῶ τις ἐκφράσειε τὴν τῶν γυναικῶν ἐκείνων ἀκόλαστον πονηρίαν; Ἐμοὶ μὲν δοκεῖ μηδὲν εἶναι ἐν κόσμῳ θηρίον ἐφάμιλλον γυναικὸς πονηρᾶς. Ἀλλὰ νῦν ἐμοὶ περὶ πονηρᾶς ὁ λόγος, οὐ περὶ ἀγαθῆς καὶ σώφρονος. Οἶδα γὰρ πολλὰς εὐσχήμονας καὶ ἀγαθὰς, ὧν με δεῖ μνημονεῦσαι τὸν βίον πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν καὶ ἔρωτα τῶν καλῶν.

Οὐ 59.486 δὲν τοίνυν θηρίον ἐν κόσμῳ ἐφάμιλλον γυναικὸς πονηρᾶς. Τί λέοντος δεινότερον ἐν τετραπόδοις; Ἀλλ' οὐδέν. Τί δὲ ὠμότερον δράκοντος ἐν ἑρπετοῖς; Ἀλλ' οὐδέν. Πλὴν καὶ λέων καὶ δράκων ἐν τῷ κακῷ ἐλάττω τυγχάνουσι Καὶ μαρτυρεῖ μου τῷ λόγῳ ὁ σοφώτατος Σολομὼν, λέγων· Συνοικῆσαι λέοντι καὶ δράκοντι εὐδόκησα, ἢ μετὰ γυναικὸς πονηρᾶς καὶ γλωσσώδους. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ νομίσῃς τὸν προφήτην εἰρωνείᾳ εἰρηκέναι, ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων κατάμαθε ἀκριβῶς. Τὸν ∆ανιὴλ ἐν τῷ λάκκῳ οἱ λέοντες ᾐδέσθησαν, τὸν δὲ δίκαιον Ναβουθαὶ Ἰεζάβελ ἐφόνευσε· τὸ κῆτος τὸν Ἰωνᾶν ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ ἐφύλαξε, ∆αλιλὰ δὲ τὸν Σαμψὼν ξυρήσασα καὶ δήσασα, τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις παρέδωκε· δράκοντες καὶ ἀσπίδες καὶ κεράσται τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἐτρόμασαν, Ἡρωδιὰς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν ἀρίστῳ ἀπέτεμεν· οἱ κόρακες τὸν Ἠλίαν ἐν τῷ ὄρει διέθρεψαν, Ἰεζάβελ δὲ αὐτὸν μετὰ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν τοῦ ὑετοῦ πρὸς φόνον ἐδίωκε. Τί γὰρ ἔλεγεν; Εἰ σὺ Ἠλιοὺ, καὶ ἐγὼ Ἰεζάβελ· Τάδε ποιήσαισάν μοι οἱ θεοὶ, καὶ τάδε προσθείησαν, εἰ μὴ αὔριον ταύτῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ θήσομαι τὴν ψυχήν σου ὡς ἑνὸς τῶν τεθνηκότων. Καὶ ἐφοβήθη Ἠλίας, καὶ ἐπορεύθη κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ὁδὸν ἡμερῶν τεσσαρά 59.487 κοντα Καὶ ἦλθεν ὑπὸ Ῥαθμὲν, καὶ ᾐτήσατο τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀποθανεῖν, καὶ εἶπε· Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς, ἱκανούσθω μοι νῦν, λάβε τὴν ψυχήν μου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι οὐ κρείσσων ἐγὼ ὑπὲρ τοὺς πατέρας μου. Οἴμοι! ὁ προφήτης Ἠλίας ἐφοβήθη γυναῖκα; ὁ τὸν ὑετὸν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐν τῇ γλώττῃ βαστάζων, ὁ πῦρ οὐρανόθεν κατενέγκας, καὶ δι' εὐχῆς νεκροὺς ἐγείρας, ἐφοβήθη γυναῖκα; Ναὶ, ἐφοβήθη. Οὐδεμία γὰρ κακία συγκρίνεται γυναικὶ πονηρᾷ.

Μαρτυρεῖ δέ μου τῷ λόγῳ ἡ Σοφία λέγουσα, ὅτι Οὐκ ἔστι κεφαλὴ ὑπὲρ κεφαλὴν ὄφεως, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι κακία ὑπὲρ κακίαν γυναικός. Ὢ τὸ κακὸν τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ ὀξύτατον ὅπλον! διὰ γυναικὸς ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐν παραδείσῳ κατέτρωσε· διὰ γυναικὸς τὸν πραότατον ∆αυῒδ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Οὐρίου δολοφονίαν ἐξέμηνε· διὰ γυναικὸς τὸν σοφώτατον Σολομῶντα πρὸς παράβασιν κατέστρωσε· διὰ γυναικὸς τὸν ἀνδρειότατον Σαμψῶνα ξυρήσας ἐτύφλωσε· διὰ γυναικὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἠλεὶ τοῦ ἱερέως ἠδάφισε· διὰ γυναικὸς τὸν εὐγενέστατον Ἰωσὴφ ἐν φυλακῇ