On Pentecost (homily 11)

Sermon of Leontius, Presbyter of Constantinople, on the Holy Pentecost

As many as hasten for the present festal, ever-flowing grace, let us run to Christ, the fount of good things. A fount concerning which the prophet cries out to the Father of lights: For with you is the fount of life, in your light we shall see light; that is, in your only-begotten Son, the Holy Spirit. Well, therefore, did the prophet name the Lord Christ a fount. It is indeed possible, O friends, to see a worldly, silver-colored fount in various places, and for one stooping over to see from above, through the clarity of the water, the pebbles lying deep on the bottom. For when this fiery, golden-arched sun on a summer day has more broadly rested its rays without getting wet on the surface of the water, immediately the traveler who has approached such a fount does not pass by without benefit; for having cupped his hands instead of a bowl and having gladly bent his whole self over, he draws of the water, he cures his thirst, he soothes the heat, he cools his heated face, he gathers his dissolved senses, he expands his distressed soul, he softens his hardened heart, he compels his knees, unwilling to walk, to resume their course. But this silver-colored fount often cures thirst, but harms the spleen; and often soothes the heat, but makes the liver sick; and often holds back the soul that wishes to leap out of the body, but by placing a chill in the chest, it generates a long-lasting ailment. But our Lord Jesus Christ, who is rightly called a fount, not as one gushing with silver-colored streams but as one pooling with divinely mixed teachings, does not heal one part of the faithful and wound another part; but entirely bestowing wholeness, He grants to those who run to him those things which he himself possesses, having borrowed them from no one. For the Lord Christ does not send the faithful far away to draw the living water, but urges them to have it in the belly of knowledge; for you just heard him saying: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly. There is indeed, O friend, also a mother fount of four-flowing rivers in the paradise of Eden, but that one was hollowed out upon the earth, and has its stream from below, and is dissolved along with the present life; for when those to be baptized are not present, the use of the waters is superfluous. But our Lord Jesus Christ, the ever-flowing fount, does not arise from the earth, but is distributed from the heavens; he is not circumscribed in a part, but is glorified everywhere; he is not corrupted with corruptible things, but grants incorruptibility to those who are being corrupted. And indeed the fount of the paradise in Eden only four rivers suckle: Gihon, Pishon, Tigris, Euphrates. But these are partial and scanty, and do not water the whole earth, and while in winter they overflow, in summer they are scanty; but of the fount of this ecclesiastical paradise the apostolic rivers are many and infinite, even if Judas grew cold. And consider among all also the four great evangelic rivers, Matthew,

In pentecosten (homilia 11)

Λεοντίου πρεσβυτέρου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως λόγος εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν πεντηκοστήν

Ὅσοι περὶ τὴν παροῦσαν ἑορταστικὴν ἀένναον χάριν ἐπείγεσθε, τῇ πηγῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν Χριστῷ προσδράμωμεν. Πηγὴ περὶ ἧς ὁ προφήτης βοᾷ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα τῶν φώτων· Ὅτι παρὰ σοὶ πηγὴ ζωῆς, ἐν τῷ φωτί σου ὀψόμεθα φῶς· τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ σῷ μονογενεῖ υἱῷ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. Καλῶς οὖν ὁ προφήτης τὸν δεσπότην Χριστὸν πηγὴν προσηγόρευσεν. Ἔστι μὲν ἔστιν, ὦ φίλοι, καὶ κοσμικὴν πηγὴν ἐν διαφόροις τόποις ἀργυρόχροον κατιδεῖν, καὶ τὰς ἐν βάθει ψηφῖδας ἐν τῷ πέλματι κειμένας τῇ καθαρότητι τοῦ ὕδατος ἐπάνω σκοπῆσαί τινα ἐπικύπτοντα. Τοῦ γὰρ ἐμπύρου χρυσοτόξου τούτου ἡλίου ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θερινῇ πλατύτερον τὰς ἑαυτοῦ ἀκτῖνας ἀβρόχως ἐναναπαύσαντος τῇ τοῦ ὕδατος νωτοφορίᾳ, εὐθέως ὁ τῇ τοιαύτῃ πηγῇ προσπελάσας ὁδοιπόρος ἀζήμιος οὐ παρέρχεται· τὰς χεῖρας γὰρ ἀντὶ κρατῆρος κοιλάνας καὶ ὅλον ἑαυτὸν ἡδέως κυρτώσας, τοῦ ὕδατος ἀρύεται, τὴν δίψαν ἰᾶται, τὸν καύσωνα παραμυθεῖται, τὸ πρόσωπον διαθερμανθὲν δροσίζει, τὰς αἰσθήσεις διαλυθείσας συνάγει, τὴν ψυχὴν στενοχωρουμένην πλατύνει, τὴν καρδίαν λιθουμένην λεαίνει , τὰ γόνατα βαδίζειν μὴ βουλόμενα παλινδρομεῖν ἀναγκάζει. Ἀλλ' αὕτη μὲν ἡ ἀργυρόχροος πηγὴ δίψαν μὲν πολλάκις ἰᾶται, σπλῆνα δὲ βλάπτει, καὶ καύσωνα μὲν πολλάκις παραμυθεῖται, τὸ δὲ ἧπαρ νοσεῖν παρασκευάζει, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν μὲν πολλάκις ἐκπηδῆσαι τοῦ σώματος βουλομένην παρακατέχει, ψύξιν δὲ τῷ θώρακι ἐνθηκιάσασα πολυχρόνιον πάθος γεννᾷ. Ὁ δέ γε δεσπότης ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ καλῶς πηγὴ προσαγορευθείς, οὐχ ὡς βρύων ἀργυρόχροα νάματα, ἀλλ' ὡς λιμνάζων θεόκρατα διδάγματα, οὐ μέρος μέν τι τῶν πιστῶν θεραπεύει, μέρος δέ τι τραυματίζει· ἐξ ὁλοκλήρου δὲ τὴν ὁλοκληρίαν δωρούμενος, ἐκεῖνα τοῖς προστρέχουσι χαρίζεται, ἅπερ αὐτὸς παρὰ μηδενὸς δανεισάμενος κέκτηται. Οὐ γὰρ εἰς μακρὰν ὁ δεσπότης Χριστὸς τοὺς πιστοὺς πέμπει τὸ ζῶν ὕδωρ ἀρύσασθαι, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τῆς γνώσεως ἔχειν αὐτὸ προτρέπεται· ἤκουες γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἀρτίως λέγοντος· Ἐάν τις διψᾷ, ἐρχέσθω πρός με καὶ πινέτω· ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ, καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ γραφή, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος. Ἔστι μέν, ὦ φίλε, καὶ τετραρόων ποταμῶν μήτηρ πηγὴ ἐν τῷ Ἐδὲμ παραδείσῳ, ἀλλ' ἐκείνη ἐπὶ γῆς ἐκοιλάνθη, καὶ κάτωθεν ἔχει τὸ ῥεῖθρον, καὶ τῷ παρόντι συνδιαλύεται βίῳ· τῶν βαπτιζομένων γὰρ μὴ παρόντων περιττὴ ἡ τῶν ὑδάτων χρῆσις. Ὁ δέ γε δεσπότης ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ἡ ἀένναος πηγή, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀναδίδοται, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν διαδίδοται· οὐκ ἐν μέρει περιγράφεται, ἀλλὰ πανταχοῦ δοξάζεται· οὐ τοῖς φθαρτοῖς συμφθείρεται, ἀλλὰ τοῖς φθειρομένοις ἀφθαρσίαν χαρίζεται. Καὶ τὴν μὲν τοῦ ἐν Ἐδὲμ παραδείσου πηγὴν τέσσαρες μόνοι ποταμοὶ θηλάζουσιν· Γηῶν, Φισῶν, Τίγρις, Εὐφράτης. Ἀλλ' οὗτοι μὲν μερικοὶ καὶ ὀλιγόροοι, καὶ οὐ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἀρδεύοντες, καὶ ἐν χειμῶνι μὲν πλημμυροῦντες, ἐν δὲ θέρει ὀλιγοροῦντες· τῆς δὲ τοῦ ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ τούτου παραδείσου πηγῆς οἱ ἀποστολικοὶ ποταμοὶ ποταμοὶ πολλοὶ μὲν καὶ ἄπειροι, εἰ καὶ Ἰούδας ἐψύγη. Κατανόησον δὲ μετὰ πάντων καὶ τοὺς τέσσαρας εὐαγγελικοὺς μεγάλους ποταμούς, Ματθαῖον,