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In sanctos Petrum et Heliam

A SERMON ON PETER THE APOSTLE and Elijah the prophet.

50.725 1. Few are the ones who have come to us today; what is the reason? We are celebrating the memory

of martyrs, and no one has met us; did the length of the journey cast them into sloth? rather, not the length of the journey, but sloth itself hindered them. For just as nothing can hinder the diligent and one aroused in purpose, so indeed can everything hinder the slothful and the prostrate. The martyrs poured out their own blood for the sake of the truth, but you do not even disdain a short journey? They laid down their heads for Christ, but you are not even willing to meet outside the city for the Lord? The Lord died for you, and you shrink back for him? A memory of martyrs, and you are slothful and prostrate? It is necessary for you to come, and to see the devil defeated, and a martyr conquering, and God being glorified, and the Church being crowned. But their excuse is this: ‘I am a sinner,’ one says, ‘and I cannot come.’ For this very reason, because you are a sinner, come, lest you fall away from righteousness.

But who among men is without sin, tell me? But for this reason there is sacrifice and Church, for this reason prayers and fasts, since the wounds of the soul are many; for this reason also the medicines for them have been found, and for each of the wounds of the soul a suitable medicine has been prepared. You have a Church where sacrifice is offered, prayers of the Fathers, the supply of the Holy Spirit, memorials of martyrs, a gathering of saints, and many such things able to recall you from sin to righteousness; you did not 50.726 come to the prayer of the martyrs, what excuse do you have? None of the terrible things were in the way, and you were hindered from concord with the martyrs? But did a worldly care hold you back? The charge is even greater. Did you not lend a short hour to God, that you might receive a whole day? ‘I am a sinner,’ one says, ‘and I cannot.’ Because you are a sinner, for this reason enter; or do you not know that even those who minister at the altar are beset by sins? For they are clothed in flesh, and interwoven with blood, [and are bound together with bones, and we ourselves, who sit upon the throne and teach, are entangled with sins. But we do not despair of God's love for mankind, nor do we attribute inhumanity to him; for we are all human beings intertwined from the same things;] and we do not refuse teaching, looking to the sea of God's love for mankind. And if you, having sinned, should enter, the charge is not so great; for you are under instruction; but we, by as much as we excel in rank, by so much are we also subject to the charge; for it is one thing for the one being taught to sin, and another for the one teaching; but nevertheless we do not refuse this, lest on the pretext of humility we fall into sloth.

And this has happened by divine administration, that the priests themselves also fall into sins. And hear how it is: The teachers themselves and the priests, if they did not sin, nor were subject to the passions of life, would be inhuman toward others and unforgiving; but for this reason he also prepared the priests themselves to be subject to passions, and the rulers, 50.727 so that from what they themselves suffer, they might also grant pardon to others. And God has always administered things so, and not only now, but also of old, and those to whom he was about to entrust the Church and the people, these he permitted to fall into sin, so that from their own failings they might be philanthropic

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In sanctos Petrum et Heliam

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΠΕΤΡΟΝ ΤΟΝ ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΝ Καὶ Ἠλίαν τὸν προφήτην.

50.725 αʹ. Ὀλίγοι ἡμῖν σήμερον οἱ παραγενόμενοι· ἆρα τί τὸ αἴτιον; Μνήμην

μαρτύρων ἐπιτελοῦμεν, καὶ οὐ δεὶς ἡμῖν ἀπήντησεν· ἆρα τὸ διάστημα τῆς ὁδοῦ εἰς ῥᾳθυμίαν ἐνέβαλε; μᾶλλον δὲ οὐ τὸ διάστημα τῆς ὁδοῦ, ἀλλ' ἡ ῥᾳθυμία αὐτοὺς ἐνεπόδισεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸν σπουδαῖον καὶ διεγηγερμένον τῇ προαιρέσει οὐδὲν δύναται κωλῦσαι, οὕτω δὴ τὸν ῥᾴθυμον καὶ ἀνα πεπτωκότα πάντα δύναται κωλῦσαι. Οἱ μάρτυρες τὸ ἴδιον αἷμα ἐξέχεαν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας, σὺ δὲ οὐδὲ βραχείας ὁδοῦ καταφρονεῖς; Ἐκεῖνοι τὴν κε φαλὴν ἀπέθεντο διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν, σὺ δὲ οὐδὲ ἔξω τῆς πόλεως ἀπαντῆσαι θέλεις διὰ τὸν ∆εσπότην; ὁ ∆εσπότης διὰ σὲ ἀπέθανε, καὶ σὺ δι' αὐτὸν ὀκνεῖς; μνήμη μαρτύρων, καὶ σὺ ῥᾳθυμεῖς καὶ ἀναπέπτω κας; ∆έον ἐστί σε παραγενέσθαι, καὶ ἰδεῖν τὸν διά βολον ἡττώμενον, καὶ μάρτυρα νικῶντα, καὶ Θεὸν δοξαζόμενον, καὶ Ἐκκλησίαν στεφανουμένην. Ἀλλ' ἡ πρόφασις αὐτῶν αὕτη· Ἁμαρτωλός εἰμι, φησὶ, καὶ οὐ δύναμαι ἀπαντῆσαι. Αὐτὸ γὰρ τοῦτο ὅτι ἁμαρ τωλὸς εἶ, ἀπάντησον ἵνα μὴ ἐκπέσῃς τῆς δικαιο σύνης.

Τίς δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἄνευ ἁμαρτίας, εἰπέ μοι; Ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο θυσία καὶ Ἐκκλησία, διὰ τοῦτο εὐχαὶ καὶ νηστεῖαι, ἐπειδὴ πολλὰ τὰ τραύματα τῆς ψυχῆς· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὰ φάρμακα κατ' αὐτῶν εὕρην ται, καὶ πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν τραυμάτων τῆς ψυχῆς κατάλληλον φάρμακον κατεσκευάσθη. Ἔχεις Ἐκκλησίαν θυσίας ἐπιφερομένην, εὐχὰς Πατέρων, Πνεύματος ἁγίου χορηγίαν, μαρτύρων μνήμας, συναθροι σμὸν ἁγίων, καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα δυνάμενά σε ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας ἀνακαλέσασθαι εἰς δικαιοσύνην· οὐκ ἀπήν 50.726 τησας εἰς εὐχὴν μαρτύρων, ποίαν ἔχεις συγγνώμην; Οὐδὲν τῶν δεινῶν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, καὶ ἐνεποδίσθης τῆς πρὸς τοὺς μάρτυρας ὁμονοίας; Ἀλλὰ φροντίς σε βιω τικὴ ἐκράτησεν; Ἔτι μεῖζον τὸ ἔγκλημα. Μικρὰν ὥραν οὐκ ἐδάνεισας τῷ Θεῷ, ἵνα λάβῃς ὁλόκληρον ἡμέραν; Ἁμαρτωλός εἰμι, φησὶ, καὶ οὐ δύναμαι. Ἐπειδὴ ἁμαρτωλὸς εἶ, διὰ τοῦτο εἴσελθε· ἢ οὐκ οἶδας, ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ παρεδρεύοντες ἁμαρ τίαις εἰσὶ προσηλωμένοι; Σάρκας γάρ εἰσιν ἐνδεδυ μένοι, καὶ αἵματι συμπεπλεγμένοι, [καὶ ὀστέοις εἰσὶ συνδεδεμένοι, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἡμεῖς, οἱ ἐπὶ τοῦ θρό νου καθεζόμενοι καὶ διδάσκοντες, ἁμαρτίαις συμπε πλέγμεθα. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπογινώσκομεν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας, οὐδὲ ἀπανθρωπίαν αὐτῷ περιάπτομεν· πάντες γὰρ ἄνθρωποί ἐσμεν ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν συμπε πλεγμένοι·] καὶ οὐ παραιτούμεθα τὴν διδασκαλίαν, εἰς τὸ πέλαγος ἀφορῶντες τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρω πίας. Καὶ ὑμεῖς ἁμαρτήσαντες ἐὰν εἰσέλθητε, οὐτοσοῦτον τὸ ἔγκλημα· ὑπὸ γὰρ διδασκαλίαν ἐστέ· ἡμεῖς δὲ ὅσῳ μᾶλλον τῷ ἀξιώματι ὑπερέχομεν, τοσούτῳ καὶ τῷ ἐγκλήματι ὑποκείμεθα· ἄλλο γάρ ἐστι τὸν δι δασκόμενον ἁμαρτάνειν, καὶ ἄλλο τὸν διδάσκοντα· ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐ παραιτούμεθα τοῦτο, ἵνα μὴ προφάσει ταπεινοφροσύνης εἰς ῥᾳθυμίαν ἐμπέσωμεν.

Καὶ τοῦτο κατὰ θείαν διοίκησιν γέγονε, τὸ τοὺς ἱε ρεῖς καὶ αὐτοὺς ἁμαρτίαις ὑποπεσεῖν. Καὶ ἄκουσον πῶς ἐστιν· Οἱ διδάσκαλοι αὐτοὶ καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς, εἰ μὴ ἡμάρτανον, μηδὲ ὑπέκειντο τοῖς πάθεσι τοῦ βίου, ἀπάνθρωποι ἤμελλον εἶναι περὶ τοὺς ἄλλους καὶ ἀσύγγνωστοι· ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἱερεῖς πάθεσι δουλεύειν παρεσκεύασε, καὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας, 50.727 ἵνα ἐξ ὧν αὐτοὶ πάσχουσι, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις συγγνώμην διδῶσι. Καὶ ἀεὶ οὕτως διῴκησεν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ οὐ μόνον νῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλαι, καὶ οἷς ἔμελλεν ἐμπι στεύειν τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὸν λαὸν, τούτους συν εχώρησεν ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑποπεσεῖν, ἵνα ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων πταισμάτων φιλάνθρωποι