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In venerabilem crucem sermo

ON THE PRECIOUS and life-giving cross, and concerning the transgression of the first humans.

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What shall I say, or what shall I speak? or what shall I call you? sheep, or shepherds? sailors, or helmsmen? 50.816 students, or teachers? How shall I admire your zeal, fiercer than fire? I will call you sheep, for you are gentle and quiet. Shall I call you shepherds? 50.817 for you are imitators of your Master. Shall I call you sailors? for you have endured a storm with the experience of the waves. Shall I call you helmsmen? for you are For just as an excellent helmsman sitting at the rudders, by his skill escapes the tempests, and brings the vessel safely through, and guides it to a calm harbor; so indeed are you also. But shall I call you students? for you are ready for obedience. But shall I call you teachers? Again I will say, you are, for you have become teachers of the whole world. What then shall we say? I wish today to set before you a spiritual table, not one that nourishes the body, but one that fortifies the spirit, or rather, one that both nourishes the body and cleanses the soul. For such is the spiritual table, not like the table of gluttons which produces satiety. For it is a spiritual word, breathing fragrance; for a person who recalls it, as if chewing myrrh, sends forth a certain fragrance, not only comforting himself with the fragrance, but also preparing those standing by him to be filled with that fragrance.

Prepare yourselves then; for I wish to bring forth a discourse. For there are certain divers who cast themselves from the boat into the sea, exploring the deep, wishing to bring up a pearl; but we, having instead of a boat the Old and New Testament, instead of a rudder the cross, instead of a helmsman Christ, instead of a lookout the Father, instead of a zephyr the Holy Spirit, instead of a sail grace, instead of sailors the disciples, instead of passengers the prophets, therefore let us also cast ourselves from the boat into the sea of thoughts, not that we may bring up a pearl, but something more precious than a pearl. Prepare yourselves for me, I beseech you, granting me your obedience; for as I said before, I am about to bring up from the depth of thoughts something more precious than a pearl. Therefore, do not be dismissive, and treat yourselves as irrational beings. For it is written: Do not cast your pearl before swine, and do not throw what is holy to the dogs. But when you hear swine, do not think of these irrational animals; and when you hear dogs, do not think of these dogs. For by swine he means those living in dissipation; and by dogs he means those who rage in vain against the Master. Therefore, make yourselves worthy of the pearl which I am about to set before you today. For farmers do not simply cast down the seeds, unless they first yoke oxen, and draw the plough, and pull up thorns, and cut furrows, and then the seeds are cast upon the earth, so that the rain, finding them, may carry them down into the bowels of the earth; and then the earth, having received them, brings forth the ear of corn. But those things await both winter, and summer, and heavenly rain, and the sun's rays, and the time of harvest, and then they gather them into the storehouses; but I do not wait for winter, nor summer, nor the sun's rays, nor rain, nor do I yoke oxen, nor draw a plough, nor cut furrows, nor pull up thorns; for today I sow, and today I also reap. For I am not working irrational earth, but rational earth, not

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In venerabilem crucem sermo

ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΤΙΜΙΟΝ καὶ ζωοποιὸν σταυρὸν, καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν πρώτων ἀνθρώπων παραβάσεως.

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Τί εἴπω, ἢ τί λαλήσω; ἢ τίνας ὑμᾶς καλέσω; πρόβατα, ἢ ποιμένας; ναύτας, ἢ κυβερνήτας; 50.816 μαθητὰς, ἢ διδασκάλους; πῶς ὑμῶν θαυμάσω τὸν ζῆλον τὸν πυρὸς λαβρότερον; Πρόβατα ὑμᾶς καλέσω, καὶ γάρ ἐστε πραεῖς καὶ ἡσύχιοι. Ποιμένας ὑμᾶς 50.817 καλέσω; καὶ γάρ ἐστε μιμούμενοι τὸν ἑαυτῶν ∆εσπότην. Ναύτας ὑμᾶς καλέσω; καὶ γάρ ἐστε τῇ πείρᾳ τῶν κλυδωνίων χειμῶνα ὑπομείναντες. Κυβερνήτας ὑμᾶς καλέσω; καὶ γάρ ἐστε Καθάπερ γάρ τις ἄριστος κυβερνήτης καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῶν οἰάκων, τῇ τέχνῃ τὰς τρικυμίας διαφεύγων, καὶ σῶον ἀποσώζων τὸ σκάφος, ἐπ' εὔδιον λιμένα χειραγωγεῖ· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς. Ἀλλὰ μαθητὰς ὑμᾶς καλέσω; καὶ γάρ ἐστε ἕτοιμοι πρὸς τὴν ὑπακοήν. Ἀλλὰ διδασκάλους ὑμᾶς καλέσω; Πάλιν ἐρῶ, Ἐστὲ, ἁπάσης γὰρ τῆς οἰκουμένης διδάσκαλοι Ἐγένεσθε. Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; Βούλομαι σήμερον ὑμῖν τράπεζαν παραθεῖναι πνευματικὴν, οὐ σῶμα τρέφουσαν, ἀλλὰ πνεῦμα τειχίζουσαν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ σῶμα τρέφουσαν, καὶ ψυχὴν ἀποσμήχουσαν. Τοιαύτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τράπεζα πνευματικὴ, οὐ καθὼς ἡ τράπεζα τῶν γαστριμάργων κόρον ἐμποιοῦσα. Λόγος γάρ ἐστι πνευματικὸς εὐωδίας πνέων· ὑπομιμνησκόμενος γὰρ αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπος, καθάπερ μύρον μασσώμενος, εὐωδίαν τινὰ ἐκπέμπει, οὐ μόνον ἑαυτὸν τῇ εὐωδίᾳ παραμυθούμενος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς παρεστῶτας αὐτῷ πληροῦσθαι τῆς εὐωδίας ἐκείνης παρασκευάζων.

Συντείνατε δὴ ἑαυτούς· λόγον γὰρ ἐξαγαγεῖν βούλομαι. Καὶ γάρ τινές εἰσι τῶν κολυμβητῶν ῥίπτοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ σκάφους ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν, περιερχόμενοι τὸν βυθὸν, βουλόμενοι μαργαρίτην ἀνιμήσασθαι· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἔχοντες ἀντὶ σκάφους τὴν Παλαιὰν καὶ Καινὴν ∆ιαθήκην, ἀντὶ πηδαλίου τὸν σταυρὸν, ἀντὶ κυβερνήτου τὸν Χριστὸν, ἀντὶ πρωρέως τὸν Πατέρα, ἀντὶ ζεφύρου τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἀντὶ ἱστίου τὴν χάριν, ἀντὶ ναυτῶν τοὺς μαθητὰς, ἀντὶ ἐπιβατῶν τοὺς προφήτας, οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡμεῖς ῥίψωμεν ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ σκάφους ἐπὶ τὸ πέλαγος τῶν νοημάτων, οὐχ ἵνα μαργαρίτην ἀνιμησώμεθα, ἀλλὰ μαργαρίτου τιμιώτερον. Συντείνατέ μοι ἑαυτοὺς, παρακαλῶ, παρέχοντές μοι τὴν ὑπακοήν· καθὼς γὰρ προλαβὼν εἶπον, ὅτι μαργαρίτου τιμιώτερον μέλλω ἀνιμᾶσθαι ἐκ τοῦ βάθους τῶν νοημάτων. Μὴ οὖν παραπέμψησθε, καὶ ὡς ἀλογίστοις χρήσησθε ἑαυτοῖς. Γέγραπται γάρ· Μὴ βάλητε τὸν μαργαρίτην ὑμῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν χοίρων, καὶ μὴ ῥίπτητε τὰ ἅγια τοῖς κυσί. Χοίρους δὲ ὅταν ἀκούσῃς, μὴ τὰ ἄλογα ζῶα ταῦτα νομίσῃς· καὶ κύνας ὅταν ἀκούσῃς, μὴ τοὺς κύνας τούτους νομίσῃς. Χοίρους γὰρ λέγει τοὺς ἐν ἀσωτίᾳ ζῶντας· κύνας δὲ λέγει τοὺς εἰκῆ λυσσῶντας κατὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου. Ποιήσατε οὖν ἀξίους ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι τοῦ μαργαρίτου οὗ μέλλω ὑμῖν σήμερον παρατιθέναι. Καὶ γὰρ οἱ γηπόνοι οὐχ ἁπλῶς τὰ σπέρματα καταβάλλονται, ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον βοῦς ζεύξωσι, καὶ ἄροτρον ἑλκύσωσι, καὶ ἀκάνθας ἀνασπάσωσι, καὶ αὔλακας ἀνατέμωσι, καὶ τότε τὰ σπέρματα καταβάλλονται ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ἵνα εὑρὼν αὐτὰ ὁ ὑετὸς κατενέγκῃ εἰς τὰς λαγόνας τῆς γῆς· καὶ τότε λαβοῦσα ἡ γῆ, τίκτει τὸν ἄσταχυν. Ἀλλὰ ἐκεῖνα μὲν ἐκδέχονται καὶ χειμῶνα, καὶ θέρος, καὶ ὄμβρον οὐράνιον, καὶ ἡλίου ἀκτῖνας, καὶ καιρὸν θερισμοῦ, καὶ τότε συνάγουσιν αὐτὰ εἰς τὰς ἀποθήκας· ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ χειμῶνα ἐκδέχομαι, οὐδὲ θέρος, οὐδὲ ἡλίου ἀκτῖνας, οὐδὲ ὄμβρον, οὐδὲ βόας ζευγνύω, οὐδὲ ἄροτρον ἑλκύω, οὐδὲ αὔλακας ἀνατέμνω, οὔτε ἀκάνθας ἀνασπῶ· σήμερον γὰρ σπείρω, σήμερον καὶ θερίζω. Οὐκ ἐργάζομαι γὰρ γῆν ἄλογον, ἀλλὰ γῆν λογικὴν, οὐκ