About the honest and life-giving cross and about the crime of the first people

What should I say, or what should I proclaim? Or what name should I call you? Sheep or shepherds? Shipbuilders or helmsmen? Students or teachers? How can I express my surprise at your jealousy, stronger than fire? Shall I call you sheep because you are meek and quiet? Shall I call you shepherds because you are imitators of your Lord? I should call you shipbuilders, because you have withstood the storm of whirlpools through experience. Shall I call you helmsmen, because that is what you are, and just as some excellent helmsman, sitting at the helm, using art to escape from troubles and keeping the ship intact, leads it to a quiet harbor - is this exactly what you do? Should I call you disciples because you are ready to obey? Should we call you teachers? I will say again: you are like this because you have become teachers of the entire universe. So what can I say? Today I want to offer you a spiritual meal that does not nourish the body, but strengthens the spirit, or better yet: it nourishes the body and cleanses the soul. This is the spiritual meal; it is not like the meal of gluttonous people, producing satiety. The Word is spiritual, it breathes with fragrance, because, remembering it, a person, as if absorbing myrrh, emits some fragrance, not only rewarding himself with the fragrance, but making those standing near him filled with that fragrance. Listen, I wish to speak a word. There are also divers who throw themselves from a ship into the sea, walking all over the seabed, wanting to extract a pearl shell for themselves; But we, having the Old and New Testaments instead of a ship, a cross instead of a rudder, Christ instead of a helmsman, the Father instead of a helmsman, the Holy Spirit instead of a zephyr, grace instead of a sail, disciples instead of shipmen, prophets instead of passengers - let us throw ourselves from the ship into the sea of ​​thoughts, not in order to extract for ourselves a pearl shell, but that which is more precious than pearls. Listen to me, I beg you, grant me obedience; I, as I have already said, intend to extract from the depths of thoughts something more valuable than pearls. So, do not treat yourself with disdain and do not treat yourself like foolish animals. After all, it is written: “Do not throw your pearls before swine... and do not give what is holy to dogs” (Matthew 7:6). When you hear about pigs, do not consider them dumb animals; and when you hear about dogs, don’t mistake them for dogs either. Scripture calls those who live in debauchery pigs; He calls those who thoughtlessly rage against the Lord dogs. So, make yourselves worthy of the pearls that I intend to offer you today. Farmers do not throw away their seeds recklessly, unless they first harness the oxen and pull the plow, and remove the thorns, and cut the furrows - then they only throw their seeds on the ground so that the rain, finding them, carries them into the voids of the earth; and then the earth, taking them, gives birth to an ear. But those seeds wait for winter, and summer, and heavenly rain, and the rays of the sun, and the time of harvest - then only they are gathered into granaries; I do not wait for winter, nor summer, nor the sun's rays, nor rain, nor harness the oxen, nor pull the plow, nor cut the furrows, nor remove the thorns; today I sow, today I reap, because I cultivate not an unreasonable land, but a rational land, not insensitive, but sensual, not soulless, but animate. And what a land I, lucky one, have been chosen to cultivate! Yes, then I am happy when I speak into the ears of those who listen, and again (Scripture) says: disobedience produces death (cf. Deut. 8:20). So I am blessed; blessed are you too, because Jesus in the Gospel says to the disciples: “Blessed are you if you do” My word (John 13:17). Listen, pay attention to what is being said. And I want to show you with the help of images: what is God? Using the legend, I say: God is like a man sitting on a cliff and contemplating the entire sea, the ships sailing on it, the sea is fickle, excited by disturbances due to the fact that cruel winds blow in it; Here is some wonderful helmsman, competing with the waves, trying to guide the ship into a calm harbor. because it is getting late, he tries to enter, fearing that the ship will not sink, since some ships go along a straight road, while others, due to the strong pressure of the winds, plunge into the water and die, while some people die, and some remain alive and reach the ground, grabbing some pathetic rudder and being thrown onto land by very strong waves; and also the bodies of those who have already died are thrown out. Yet he who sits on the rock contemplates this; this is God, and, as I said before, I speak using a legend. And when I talk about God sitting in high places, do not think that He is only in high places, but think that He is present everywhere. He is not separated from anything by the distance of a place, being His own place, Himself containing everything, and Himself being contained by nothing. And what can contain nature that is incorporeal and immaterial, and limitless, and unsearchable, and not subject to destruction, and incorruptible, and incomprehensible? According to pious people, God should be thought of in this way. This is our hope, as it is written: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3). This is why heretics, truly reckless people who read and do not understand, blame us. When you hear about Christ, do not consider Him to be God alone, and do not think about the economy in the flesh alone, but about both together, both about God the Word and about the carnal economy. I know that Christ was hungry, I also know that Christ, with the help of five loaves and two fish, fed five thousand people, except women and children; I know that Christ thirsted, I also know that Christ turned water into wine; I know that Christ sailed on a ship, I also know that Christ walked on the waters; I know that Christ died, I also know that Christ raised the dead; I know that Christ stood before Pilate, I also know that Christ sits with the Father; I know that Christ suffered spitting from the Jews, I also know that angels worshiped Christ; and I bring one, proving His deity, and the other, proving His humanity. Therefore, both are said together, since I know that Christ was born of Mary, and I know that Christ existed before the ages. So, let us glorify Jesus Christ, the indestructible wall, the foundation established on the rock. He himself says to Peter: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). In a similar way, Paul says: “no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). So, I beg you, that we may pay attention to each other with all meekness. In the present life we ​​are seduced by food and drink and various pleasures, but in the hereafter we are seduced by judgment and punishment. So, let's not give room for the devil. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Eph. 6:12). Let us hasten to escape from eternal punishment. God did not create punishment to subject us to it, but to tear you out, having fallen into it; After all, we have such a man-loving and merciful God. David testifies, saying: “God is a righteous and [mighty and long-suffering] judge, and does not cause wrath daily” (Ps. 7:12). If you do not turn, He will refine His weapon, He has drawn His bow and prepared it, And in it He has prepared instruments of death, He has made His arrows for those who are burned (Ps. 7:13-14). God says this not to judge us, but so that we do not become more careless. If He wanted to destroy us, He would not have shed His blood for us. He died to give you immortality; He was hungry to feed you with His flesh; thirsted to give you His blood to drink; boarded the ship to place you above the cherubim; He was baptized to enlighten you; was strangled to set you free; traveled to make you tireless; sailed on a ship to make you fearless; slept to make you free from sorrows; came from his wife to show compassion for Eve's crime in paradise; called man to call you God; called the Son of Man, to call you the son of God; He took what was ours and gave us His; prayed to make you faithful, as he says about Lazarus: “Father! ...glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You” 1 (John 17:1). “Then a voice came from heaven: I have glorified it and will glorify it again” (John 12:28). “I knew that You would always hear Me; But I said this for the people standing here, so that they might believe that You sent Me” (John 11:42). So, if He suffered anything, then He suffered not for His own sake and not for the sake of His Father, but in order to save the human race through the cross. And if you, beloved, want to know the power of the cross and what I could say about the cross in its praise, then listen. The cross is the hope of Christians, the cross is the rising of the dead, the cross is a guide for the blind, the cross is the hope of those who have lost hope, the cross is the path of the lost, the cross is an avenger for the offended, the cross is the staff of the lame, the cross is the consolation of the poor, the cross is a bit for the rich, the cross is the overthrow of the proud, the cross is the repentance of the dissolute, the cross is a trophy against demons, the cross is victory over the devil, the cross is a teacher of children, the cross is abundance for insufficient, the cross is the helmsman of the floating, the cross is the harbor of the overwhelmed, the cross is a wall for those who are attacked by enemies, the cross is the father of orphans, the cross is the protector of widows, the cross is the judge of the unjust, the cross is the pillar of the righteous, the cross is the comfort of the suffering, the cross is the guardian of children, the cross is the head of husbands, the cross is the end of the elders, the cross is the light of those sitting in darkness, the cross is the splendor of kings, the cross is the philanthropy of barbarians, the cross is the freedom of slaves, the cross is the wisdom of the uneducated, the cross is the law of the wicked, the cross is the preaching of the prophets, the cross is the proclamation of the apostles, the cross is the praise of martyrs, the cross is the asceticism of monks, the cross is the chastity of virgins, the cross is the joy of priests, the cross is the foundation of the church, the cross is the security of the universe, the cross is the overthrow of churches, the cross is the overthrow of altars, the cross is the removal of the fat of sacrifices, the cross is the temptation of the Jews, the cross is the destruction of the wicked, the cross is the strength of the powerless, the cross is the doctor of the sick, the cross is the cleansing of lepers, the cross is the strengthening of the paralytic, the cross is the bread of the hungry, the cross is the source of the thirsty, the cross is the clothing of the naked; Every time I speak about nakedness, I speak not about the body, but about the nakedness of faith. When you believe and are baptized, then you will be called endowed. And listen to what Paul says: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal.3:27). When you hear about Christ, do not think only about God, nor about the carnal economy alone, but about both together. I have often said, and now I will not stop saying: for “it is not painful for me to speak, but it is edifying for you” (Phil. 3:1), since I want everyone to be teachers. So, He was called Christ because He took on flesh; He was called Jesus Christ, His name is according to the flesh; He was called Word because the word is from someone; Son because from the Father; Only begotten because He alone is from God alone, because the Creator. And listen to what John says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3). It is He who kindled the sun and established its paths; it is He who determined the appearance of the moon at sunset; This is the One who founded the earth on the waters; This is the One who commanded the earth to produce its former herbs, and the springs to pour out water, and the rivers to flow, and the lakes to gather together, - who, through the media of sand, set boundaries for the sea and commanded the waters to produce living souls and the winds to blow, and weighed the mountains in scales, commanded the clouds to move, four-legged animals, reptiles, and birds to run on the earth. And what can I say about angels, archangels, thrones, cherubim, seraphim, principles, powers, orders, times and years, and months, and weeks, and days, and hours, and nights, and light, and darkness, and the essences of things? Having created man last, in His image and likeness, He placed him in paradise. Seeing that the human race was being overcome by the malice of the devil, He wished to clothe Himself with our firstfruits and nail them to the tree. so that, just as crime happened through the tree, so again salvation happened through the tree. So, the devil, envious that while he was cast out of heaven, Adam was in paradise, influenced him, using the serpent as a weapon; and in this way he talked with them when they were in paradise, because the incorporeal could not talk with the corporeal; and he says to Eve: this tree is beautiful and ripe for eating, and: “in the day that you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods,” knowing everything (Gen. 3:5). Having convinced Eve, he deceived; then she convinced her husband, and they ate from the tree. When they ate, they found themselves naked; and God says to Adam: “Where are you?” (Gen.3:9). When you hear: “Where are you?” , then do not impute ignorance to God. He said: “Where are you?” , because the devil told them: “in the day that you eat, ... you will be like gods”; since they believed that they had to become like gods, so God said to him: “[Adam,] where are you?” . This means: you tasted and remained human; Did I not tell you that you should not eat from this tree? But you tasted it and became a transgressor; it means: "Where are you?" . They were clothed with fig leaves, covering the image of sin. And what Adam says: “I heard Your voice in paradise, ... and hid myself” (Gen. 3:10). And God says: what have you done? And Adam says to God: “The wife whom You gave me, she” deceived me (Gen. 3:12). Then God says to Eve: who deceived you? And what does she say? “The serpent deceived me” (Gen. 3:13). Oh, Eve, I gave you to your husband - did I really give you and the snake? They cited this as their justification, because they wanted to exclude themselves from punishment. And God said to Adam: “Cursed is the ground for your sake, ... it will bring forth thorns and thistles for you; ...by the sweat of your face you will eat bread” (Gen. 3:17–19). Then - to his wife: “You will give birth to children in illness; ...by multiplying I will multiply your sorrow, ...and your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Gen. 3:16). Then - to the serpent: “You will walk on your perseverance 2 and your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life,” and man will rule over you; He “will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:14–15). Why did He condemn the serpent with a curse to walk on its belly and belly and eat the earth all the days of its life? He cursed Percy, because in them sits a heart that has invented evil; cursed the belly, because he deceived through eating, and commanded him to eat the earth all the days of his life, because Adam was from the earth - earthly. So these three received the sentence because the three also committed the crime. Since the crime came from the tree, as I said earlier, therefore He wanted to nail these firstfruits onto the tree, so that, just as the crime came through the tree, so salvation also happened through the tree. For all this, let us send glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. These words were spoken by the Savior not about Lazarus, but during the Last Supper about His suffering on the Cross. Here the author mixes three different events at once - I.I. In synod.trans. simply: “on the belly” - I.I. This conversation in the Minya edition belongs to the category of Spuria, that is, unfoundedly attributed to St. I. Chrysostom.