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In dictum evangelii: Cum consummasset Jesus hos sermones

SERMON 37.

On the saying of the Gospel: "When Jesus had finished these words," and what follows.

I. Jesus, who chose the fishermen, also Himself casts the net, and places from

places He changes. For what reason? Not only that He might win more of the God-loving through His visitations, but it seems to me, also that He might sanctify more places. He becomes to the 36.284 Jews as a Jew, that He might win the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law; to the weak, as weak, that He might save the weak. He becomes all things to all men, that He might win them all. And why do I say, all things to all men? What not even Paul endured to say of himself, this I find the Savior suffering. For He not only becomes a Jew, nor does He only take upon Himself so many strange and wicked names, but also what is stranger than all these, both sin itself and a curse itself; not that He is, but that He is called so. For how is He sin, who also frees us from sin? and how a curse, who redeems us from the curse of the law? But it is that even to this extent He might show His humility, fashioning us into humility, the cause of exaltation. As I said, therefore, He becomes a fisherman, He condescends to all, He casts the net, He bears all things, that He might draw up from the deep the fish, man swimming in the unstable and salty waves of life.

II. For this reason also now, when He had finished these words, He departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan. He rightly sojourns in Galilee, that the people who sat in darkness might see a great light. He removes to Judaea, that He might persuade them, rising up from the letter, to follow the spirit. Now He teaches on the mountain, now He discourses in the plains, now He passes over into a boat, now He rebukes tempests. Perhaps He also accepts sleep, that He might also bless sleep; perhaps He also toils, that He might also sanctify toil; perhaps He also weeps, that He might render tears praiseworthy. He passes from place to place, He who is contained by no place, who is timeless, who is bodiless, who is incomprehensible. The same, both was, and is; and He was beyond time, and He comes in time; and He was invisible, and is seen. In the beginning was, and was with God, and was God. The third "was," confirmed by the number. What He was, He emptied out, and what He was not, He took on; not becoming two, but enduring to become one out of the two 36.285. For God is both, that which assumed, and that which was assumed; two natures coming together into one, not two sons; let the union not be falsified. This one, so great, of such magnitude; but what has happened to me? I have fallen again into human words. For how can the simple be of such magnitude? and how the unquantifiable be so great? But grant pardon to my words; with a small instrument I speak of the greatest things. And this will be borne by the abundant, the long-suffering, the formless and bodiless nature, these words weaker than the truth as if about a body. For if He accepted flesh, He also bears such a discourse.

III. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there, where the desolation was greater. If He had remained in His own high place, if He had not condescended to our weakness, if He had remained what He was, keeping Himself unapproachable and incomprehensible, few perhaps would have followed; and I do not know if even a few, perhaps only Moses, and he only so far as to barely see the back parts of God. For he passed through the cloud, outside the

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In dictum evangelii: Cum consummasset Jesus hos sermones

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΛΖʹ.

Εἰς τὸ ῥητὸν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου· «Ὅτε ἐτέλεσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοὺς λόγους τούτους,» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.

Αʹ. Ὁ τοὺς ἁλιεῖς προελόμενος Ἰησοῦς, καὶ αὐτὸς σαγηνεύει, καὶ τόπους ἐκ

τόπων ἀμείβει. Τίνος ἕνεκεν; Οὐ μόνον ἵνα κερδάνῃ πλείονας τῶν φιλοθέων διὰ τῆς ἐπιφοιτήσεως, ἀλλ' ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ, ἵνα καὶ τόπους ἁγιάσῃ πλείονας. Γίνεται τοῖς 36.284 Ἰουδαίοις ὡς Ἰουδαῖος, ἵνα Ἰουδαίους κερδάνῃ·τοῖς ὑπὸ νόμον, ὡς ὑπὸ νόμον, ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον ἐξαγοράσῃ· τοῖς ἀσθενέσιν, ὡς ἀσθενὴς, ἵνα τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς σώσῃ. Γίνεται πάντα πᾶσιν, ἵνα τοὺς πάντας κερδάνῃ. Τί δὲ λέγω, τοῖς πᾶσι πάντα; Ὃ μηδὲ Παῦλος περὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἠνέσχετο εἰ πεῖν, τοῦτο εὑρίσκω τὸν Σωτῆρα πάσχοντα. Οὐ γὰρ Ἰουδαῖος γίνεται μόνον, οὐδ' ὅσα τῶν ἀτόπων καὶ μοχθηρῶν ὀνομάτων εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀναδέχεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὃ τούτων πάντων ἀτοπώτερον, καὶ αὐτο αμαρτία καὶ αὐτοκατάρα· οὐκ ἔστι μὲν, ἀκούει δέ. Πῶς γὰρ ἁμαρτία, ὁ καὶ ἡμᾶς τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐλευθερῶν; πῶς δὲ κατάρα, ὁ ἐξαγοράζων ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου; Ἀλλ' ἵνα καὶ μέχρι τούτων τὸ ταπεινὸν ἐπιδείξηται, τυπῶν ἡμᾶς εἰς ταπείνωσιν τὴν ὕψους πρόξενον. Ὅπερ οὖν εἶπον, ἁλιεὺς γίνεται, πᾶσι συγκαταβαίνει, σαγηνεύει, πάντα στέγει, ἵν' ἐκ βάθους τὸν ἰχθὺν ἀνενέγκῃ, τὸν νηχόμενον ἐν τοῖς ἀστάτοις καὶ ἁλμυροῖς τοῦ βίου κύμασιν ἄνθρωπον.

Βʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ νῦν, ὅτε ἐτέλεσε τοὺς λόγους τούτους, μετῆρεν ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς τὰ ὅρια τῆς Ἰουδαίας πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου. Γαλιλαίας ἐπιδημεῖ καλῶς, ἵνα ὁ λαὸς, ὁ καθήμενος ἐν σκότει, ἵδῃ φῶς μέγα. Εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν μεθίσταται, ἵνα πείσῃ τοῦ γράμματος ἐξαναστάντας, ἀκολουθῆσαι τῷ πνεύματι. Νῦν μὲν ἐπ' ὄρους διδάσκει, νῦν δὲ ἐν πεδίοις διαλέγεται, νῦν δὲ εἰς πλοῖον μεταβαίνει, νῦν δὲ ἐπιτιμᾷ ζάλαις. Τάχα καὶ ὕπνον δέχεται, ἵνα καὶ ὕπνον εὐλογήσῃ· τάχα καὶ κοπιᾷ, ἵνα καὶ τὸν τόπον ἁγιάσῃ· τάχα καὶ δα κρύει, ἵνα τὸ δάκρυον ἐπαινετὸν ἀπεργάσηται. Με ταβαίνει τόπον ἐκ τόπου ὁ μηδενὶ τόπῳ χωρού μενος, ὁ ἄχρονος, ὁ ἀσώματος, ὁ ἀπερίληπτος. Ὁ αὐτὸς, καὶ ἦν, καὶ γίνεται· καὶ ὑπὲρ χρόνον ἦν, καὶ ὑπὸ χρόνον ἔρχεται· καὶ ἀόρατος ἦν, καὶ ὁρᾶται. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἦν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν. Τρίτον τὸ, ἦν, τῷ ἀριθμῷ βεβαιούμενον. Ὃ ἦν ἐκένωσε, καὶ ὃ μὴ ἦν προσέλαβεν· οὐ δύο γε νόμενος, ἀλλ' ἓν ἐκ τῶν δύο γενέσθαι ἀνασχό 36.285 μενος. Θεὸς γὰρ ἀμφότερα, τό τε προσλαβὸν, καὶ τὸ προσληφθέν· δύο φύσεις εἰς ἓν συνδραμοῦσαι, οὐχ υἱοὶ δύο· μὴ καταψευδέσθω ἡ σύγκρασις. Οὗτος ὁ τηλικοῦτος, ὁ τοσοῦτος· ἀλλὰ τί πέπονθα; Πάλιν ἐμπέπτωκα εἰς ἀνθρώπινα ῥήματα. Πῶς γὰρ τὸ ἁπλοῦν τοσοῦτον; πῶς δὲ τὸ ἄποσον τηλικοῦτον; Ἀλλὰ δότε συγγνώμην τῷ λόγῳ· ὀργάνῳ βραχεῖ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων φθέγγομαι. Καὶ τοῦτο οἴσει ὁ πολὺς, ὁ μακρόθυμος, ἡ ἀνείδεος φύσις καὶ ἀσώματος, τοὺς ὡς περὶ σώματος καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγους ἀσθενεστέρους. Εἰ γὰρ σάρκα ἐδέξατο, καὶ τὸν τοιοῦτον φέρεται λόγον.

Γʹ. Καὶ ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ ὄχλοι πολλοὶ, καὶ ἐθεράπευσεν αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖ, ἔνθα πλείων ἡ ἐρημία. Εἰ ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἔμεινε περιωπῆς, εἰ μὴ συγκατέβη τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ, εἰ ὅπερ ἦν ἔμεινεν, ἀπρόσιτον ἑαυτὸν φυλάττων καὶ ἀπερίληπτον, ὀλίγοι ἂν ἠκολούθησαν τυχόν· οὐκ οἶδα δὲ, εἰ καὶ ὀλίγοι, τάχα μόνος Μωϋτῆς, καὶ οὗτος τοσοῦτον, ὥστε μόλις ἰδεῖν Θεοῦ τὰ ὀπίσθια. Τὴν μὲν γὰρ νεφέλην διέσχεν, ἔξω τοῦ