Слово 35. На память мучеников и против ариан

1. Is it possible to express in words what appears to the eye? What kind of speech will correspond to the benefits that open before us? An incredible sight awaits our eyes! Although we have repeatedly desired to see this, it is nevertheless higher than what our desires extended to. Here again we honor the martyrs, who had been neglected for quite some time; again gatherings of God's priests, again standing ceremonies and spiritual celebrations; again a crowded meeting of those who want to celebrate, and not fight! Oh miracle! The weapons were thrown out of their hands, the militias scattered, they forgot about the battle, the voices of those calling for battles are no longer heard, and instead of them celebrations, fun, the peaceful dissolution of the heart rejoice in the whole city, which in ancient times was the mother of martyrs, and in the times that followed and continued for a long time, did not participate in the honoring of its children. Now we have received everything and abound, as the apostle says (Phil. 4:18). Praise be to you, martyrs! And this feat belongs to you: you have finished this great battle victoriously; I know very well that these are the good consequences of your only labors; you raised a victorious sign of peace; you have attracted the priests of God to you; You have given this assembly leaders who leap by the Holy Spirit. Oh, how much were lost by those whose lives did not last until this spectacle, so that they too, after being fed up with sorrows, could enjoy the blessings of the world! 2. Heretical deception passed away like a fog and disappeared, dispersed by the Holy Spirit; the pure goodness of the world shone, and among it the stars of this city appeared, shining in the clear light of truth; and they are not given to the night, nor to darkness, but are all visible during the day, shining with the true light of truth. And since, according to the word of the Apostle, the night has passed away (Rom. 13:12), or rather, it has completely disappeared, and everything is illuminated by the light of day, then the animals, seeking food for themselves at night, run away and gather in forests and caves, heretical bats run noisily, deprived of sight in the light of truth, and, holding each other, hide their heads in stone crevices. With the onset of this day, the gatherings of sensualists and wine drinkers stopped, roadside robbers, house robbers and thieves disappeared; whatever deeds of the night there were, they all disappeared with the shining light of the world. And while that night was over, everything was darkened by the darkness of deception, what deeds were done then? Worthy of oblivion and deep silence, so that the pleasantness of the present is not desecrated by the memory of the hated. And how can one describe the disasters of this night? How can we keep silent about them? In what sad event can there be so much touching? What fiction can reproduce so many misfortunes? What poet glorified such suffering through a spectacle? And disasters are beyond words, and suffering is beyond the strength of the narrator! 3. The place of this face was the battlement of the devil; Here he encamped and placed his armor-bearers in it; here were an army of lies, defenders of deception, demonic hordes, legions of unclean spirits. And if it is necessary to use pagan names, here the evil army of demons - the Erinnys - was advancing on the Church, for this is what I am forced to call those wives who turned out to be unnaturally courageous for evil. There was one Jezebel in the days of Elijah, who thirsted for the blood of the prophets of the Lord; and the divinely inspired account of life exposes her to shame so that, I think, in the remembrance of the unbridled woman, all those living after Jezebel will find a lesson for life. And now many Jezebels have suddenly emerged from the earth, like a harmful potion, and their excess of malice has surpassed that mentioned in Scripture. If you don't believe the word, look at history. She delivered Naboth's vineyard to the pampered Ahab in order to turn it into a garden, a place of amusement, a woman's amusement, and these tried to bring to complete destruction the living vineyard of God, I mean the Church, and they themselves carried out the evil deed. What example can I find for the word? What image can I come up with for this evil nature? I saw a similar picture on a whitewashed wall; support my chest, heaving at the memory of disasters, or, better to say, grieve with me about the misfortunes suffered, because I am recounting not other people’s, but our own misfortunes! What kind of picture is this that I liken to the event being described? It represented an ugly dance of women, each of whom had its own twisted position (in fables such women are called maenads). His hair was blowing in the wind, his eyes expressed fury, he had flames in his hands, and from their circulation the whole body seemed to be on fire; only the breathing in the chests was suppressed by the decency of clothing; his feet barely touched the ground and seemed to hang in the air; none of the movements expressed decorous modesty. 4. Among the dancing crowd there was an image of a man, but at the same time it was something feminine, in appearance indefinite in terms of gender, an example of effeminacy, something between a man and a woman. The person presented was in a state of relaxation, as if in a state of sleep or in rapture, lay casually on a luxurious chariot, which was driven by animals in a round dance of maenads, and wine poured abundantly onto him from a bowl. This image was surrounded by some incessant monsters with shaggy faces, who galloped around it on goat legs. The same must be said about this night. Women, known only for having dishonored their family, to the general humiliation of the sex, scolded the usual decorum of wives: they now solemnly walked throughout the city, in their faces displaying disfigured nature to shame, instead of shields, armed their hands with stones, looking at murder, striking with their shameless gaze. And when they entered God's enclosure, they elevated their Corybantus to the sacred pulpit. Then drunkenness began, wine began to flow, and Pans appeared even from the deserts. Imagine the night, the mixed company and all that the apostle forbids even talking about, saying: what happens is to leave them, it is shameful to eat and speak (Eph. 5:12). For who will describe in detail the fire, stones, murders, wounds? Who will depict the efforts with which they tried to eradicate the servants of the holy houses? Who will describe how in the middle of the city one zealot of truth was beaten to death with sticks, and only the supposed commission of a murder stopped the actual murder? But I don’t know how my word, slowed down by earthly narratives, moved away from the pleasure appropriate to the circumstances. Therefore, we must return to where we started, in order to wash our salty ears with a sweet, palatable word. For it is said: in days of joy there is oblivion of the wicked (Sir. 11:25). So, I come back to the same word again. This night and darkness have disappeared; with pure good faith, the rays of the world illuminate with the light of truth. Therefore, everything that is stinking and vile has been torn out from the walls of God; in place of this, all kinds of fun were introduced into the houses of the pious. And there is no shortage of anything for fun - neither those who feast, nor those who offer the feast; the meal is filled with good food.