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In sanctum Joannem praecursorem

ON SAINT JOHN The Forerunner.

50.801 1. Let us celebrate the festival of John the Baptist; with desire let us crown him, of whom a greater among those born of women has not arisen, according to the voice of the Master. For nothing so honored the prophet as to baptize the Lord. Let us go, therefore, to the Lord's baptism, which especially made glorious the forerunner of the king of the heavens; and let us pass with longing within the places of Judea, from which we have reaped the revenue of good things; or rather, let us describe the events in words, and let us gather the fruit of what has been read here. Let us suppose that that Jordan, which received its own creator come in the flesh, flows through our midst; and let us imagine John the Baptist standing on the banks of the river, and let us behold the Master Christ approaching his own servant, and being baptized by him, and being pointed out by him from heaven by the descent of the Spirit; and let us, the worshipers of the consubstantial Trinity, worship the Father who bore witness, and the Son who was witnessed to, and the Holy Spirit who bore witness.

Let us follow the book of the Gospels leading us to the things we long for, and treading on the divine words as on footsteps, let us hasten to the celebrated mystery of the world. Then, it says, Jesus comes from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. To the Jordan the Master came; for the treasure of wisdom did nothing untimely or irrationally, but each of the things which he arranged for our sake, he accomplished at the opportune time. For being God and creator of all time and all space, he fashioned time, and by his condescensions then and there, as with flowers, he established the beginnings of the things that were made by him. Then Jesus comes. Then; when? When he had passed through all the stages of life; when he had ascended the whole ladder of nature; when the perfection of his body and his soul shone forth; when, having become a perfect man in thirty cycles of years, he then truly came to the Jordan, and, sinless among sinners, he approached the baptism, and bowing his own head to this man's hand, he hastened to receive baptism.

But John the Baptist, understanding precisely him whom he had learned of from his father while in his own mother's womb, then with much fear and trembling, drawing back his right hand from the head, What is this, he says, O Master? what does this paradoxical wonder mean? what is this humble and meek spectacle of this procession? Do you bow your head to me, you who are the head of the Church? do you bow your head to me, you who bowed the heavens and came down to earth, do you bow your head to me, you who have God as your head? do you bow your head to me, the head which the Cherubim worship? do you bow your head to me, the head which the Seraphim revere and tremble at? do you bow your head to me, you who adorned Adam and Eve in paradise as in a bridal chamber, and placed the crown on their heads with your voice, and added the blessing of bearing good children, and said to them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth? You who from that time by your word have directed nature, the constitution of nature, you who have marshaled childbirth against death, so that the one might plant more, as the other prunes; you who of life

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In sanctum Joannem praecursorem

ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΓΙΟΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ Τὸν Πρόδρομον.

50.801 αʹ. Ἰωάννου τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ πανήγυριν ἄγωμεν· πόθῳ στεφανώσωμεν

τοῦτον, οὗ μείζων ἐν γεννητοῖς γυ ναικῶν οὐκ ἐγήγερται, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ∆εσπότου φω νήν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω τὸν προφήτην ἐσέμνυνεν, ὡς τὸ βαπτίσαι τὸν Κύριον. Ἴωμεν τοίνυν ἐπὶ τὸ ∆εσποτι κὸν βάπτισμα, τὸ μάλιστα λαμπρῦναν τὸν πρόδρομον τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν οὐρανῶν· καὶ διαγενώμεθα πόθῳ τῶν τῆς Ἰουδαίας τόπων ἐντὸς, ἐξ ὧν ἐκαρπωσάμεθα τὴν πρόσοδον τῶν ἀγαθῶν· μᾶλλον δὲ γράψωμεν τῷ λόγῳ τὰ πράγματα, καὶ τῶν ἀνεγνωσμένων ἐνταῦθα τρυγήσωμεν τὸν καρπόν. Ὑποθώμεθα τὸν Ἰορδάνην ἐκεῖνον, τὸν ὑποδεξάμενον τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δημιουργὸν παραγενόμενον ἐν σαρκὶ, ῥέειν διὰ μέσου ἡμῶν· καὶ νομίσωμεν Ἰωάννην τὸν Βαπτιστὴν ἐφιστάναι τοῖς χείλεσι τοῦ ποταμοῦ, καὶ θεασώμεθα τὸν ∆εσπότην Χριστὸν προσερχόμενον τῷ οἰκείῳ θεράποντι, καὶ βαπτιζόμενον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ δακτυλοδεικτούμενον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ οὐρανόθεν τῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπιπτήσει· καὶ προσκυνήσωμεν οἱ τῆς ὁμοουσίου Τριάδος προσ κυνηταὶ τὸν μαρτυρήσαντα Πατέρα, καὶ μαρτυρη θέντα Υἱὸν, καὶ μαρτυρῆσαν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον.

Ἀκολουθήσωμεν τῇ βίβλῳ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ὁδηγούσῃ ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὰ ποθούμενα, καὶ ταῖς θείαις λέξεσιν ὡς ἴχνεσιν ἐπιβαίνοντες, ἐπιδράμωμεν ἐπὶ τὸ παν ηγυριζόμενον τῆς οἰκουμένης μυστήριον. Τότε παρα γίνεται, φησὶν, ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰορδάνην πρὸς τὸν Ἰωάννην, τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. Πρὸς τὸν Ἰορδάνην ὁ ∆εσπότης ἀφ ίκετο· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀκαίρως οὐδὲ ἀλόγως εἰργάσατο ὁ τῆς σοφίας θησαυρὸς, ἀλλ' ἕκαστον, ὧν δι' ἡμᾶς ᾠκο νόμησεν, εὐκαίρῳ καιρῷ διεπράξατο. Θεὸς γὰρ ὢν καὶ δημιουργὸς παντὸς χρόνου καὶ παντὸς διαστήμα τος, ἔπραξε τὸν χρόνον, καὶ ταῖς ἐκεῖ τότε συγκατα βάσεσιν ὡς ἄνθεσι κατέβαλε τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ γεγενη μένων τὰς ἀφορμάς. Τότε παραγίνεται ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Τότε· πότε; Ὅτε πάντας τῆς ἡλικίας ἀνέδραμε τοὺς βαθμούς· ὅτε πᾶσαν τῆς φύσεως ἀνέβη τὴν κλίμακα· ὅτε τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ τελειότης διέλαμψεν· ὅτε τριάκοντα περιόδοις ἐνιαυτῶν ἄνθρω πος τέλειος γενόμενος, ἀψευδῶς τότε τὸν Ἰορδάνην κατέλαβε, καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἀναμάρτητος προσῆλθε τῷ βαπτίσματι, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κεφαλὴν ὑποκλίνας τῇ τούτου χειρὶ, τὸ βάπτισμα λαμβάνειν ἠπείγετο.

Ὁ δὲ Βαπτιστὴς Ἰωάννης καταμαθὼν ἀκριβῶς, ὃν ἐμεμαθήκει παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκ τῆς μήτρας τῆς ἰδίας μητρὸς, εἶτα σὺν φόβῳ καὶ τρόμῳ πολλῷ τὴν αὑτοῦ δεξιὰν συστείλας ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς, Τί τοῦτο, φησὶν, ὦ ∆έσποτα; τί τοῦτο τὸ παράδοξον θαυματούργημα βούλεται; τί τῆς προόδου ταύτης τὸ ταπεινὸν τοῦτο καὶ πρᾶον θεώρημα; Ἐμοὶ τὴν κεφα λὴν ὑποκλίνεις, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἡ κεφαλή; ἐμοὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑποκλίνεις, ὁ κλίνας τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καὶ κατελ θὼν ἐπὶ γῆς, ἐμοὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑποκλίνεις, ὁ κεκτη μένος κεφαλὴν τὸν Θεόν; ἐμοὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑποκλίνεις, ἣν τὰ Χερουβεὶμ προσκυνεῖ; ἐμοὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑπο κλίνεις, ἣν τὰ Σεραφεὶμ σέβει καὶ τρέμει; ἐμοὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑποκλίνεις, ὁ τὸν Ἀδὰμ καὶ τὴν Εὔαν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ, καθάπερ ἐν θαλάμῳ, νυμφοστολήσας, καὶ ταῖς ἐκείνων κεφαλαῖς τῇ φωνῇ τὸν στέφανον ἐπι θεὶς, καὶ τῆς εὐπαιδίας τὴν εὐλογίαν προσθεὶς, καὶ εἰπὼν πρὸς αὐτούς· Αὐξάνεσθε, καὶ πληθύνεσθε, καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν; ὁ λόγῳ μεθοδεύων ἐξ ἐκεί νου τὴν φύσιν, τῆς φύσεως τὴν συγκρότησιν, ὁ στρα τεύσας κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου τὸν τόκον, ἵνα φυτεύῃ πλείο νας οὗτος, ὡς ἐκεῖνος κλαδεύῃ· ὁ τοῦ βίου