Homily on the Day of Saint John the Baptist

In the house of God we bring to your attention the words of the Psalmist: I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. I will clothe his enemies with cold: and in him my sanctuary will flourish (Ps. 131:17.18). Who said this? What kind of lamp is this that he who said has prepared for his anointed one? Who are the enemies of this anointed one, whom he will put to shame through this lamp? What kind of shrine is this that will flourish on this anointed one? Of all these words, only the following two are clear and understandable: to my anointed. For here we must understand no one else but Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And so, delving into these words, we find that God the Father said them. God the Father, i.e. the Person is God the Father, says through the mouth of the Prophet: I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. There is no need to prove to Christians that the Son of God is both His anointed one. So, having found the speaking person, let us see who was the lamp prepared by God the Father for the Anointed Son? The Lord Himself speaks of John the Baptist: he was a lamp of burning and shining, but you will rejoice at the hour of his light (John 5:35). And so, He called John a lamp, kindled from the Source of light, so that he would testify to the Truth. For people were then in such blindness and had such a weak inner eye that they could only see the Sun of Truth except with the help of a lamp. But, if anyone’s heart’s eye was bright; he would have seen Him much sooner, and would not have required a lamp to indicate Him. For the Lord, having said about this lamp: “You will rejoice at the hour of its illumination,” adds: I have a testimony greater than John’s. And so this lamp is lit for the weak during the night. How is it kindled? The Father says to the Anointed One - to his Son about John: Behold, I send my angel before you, who will prepare your way before you (Mal.3:1; Matt.11:10). Thus He prepared a lamp for His Anointed One! How then did He put His enemies to shame through this lamp? Please note in advance that this lamp, as I said, is lit from the Source of Light. John himself testifies to this: from its fulfillment we have received (John 1:16). John had such high perfections that he was called not the forerunner of Christ, but Christ himself. If he were a lamp darkened by pride; then, while the Jews sent an embassy to him and asked him: who are you? Is it Christ? or Elijah? or Prophet? - he would say: exactly so, and in this he would have an opportunity to satisfy his pride and, due to the misconception of people, to receive honor that does not belong to himself. But did he try to assure them of what they asked him about? No, he called himself a humble messenger, commanded to prepare the way for a Person who is superior to him; and then - the groom's friend, servant and confidant of his Lord. I am, he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths right (Matthew 3:3). I am neither Christ, nor Elijah, nor a Prophet. They ask him: who are you? What does he answer? I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Isaiah foretold this; and it is clear from him about whom he prophesied so much. You, he says, read this in Isaiah; and perhaps you don’t know who he’s talking about: it’s me about whom it’s said. With what selflessness he renounced such a high honor that he was taken for Christ, this is clear from his words: for with water, he says, I baptize you: but he who comes after me is stronger than me (Luke 3:16; Matt. 3:11), who therefore can be called greater than me. How big is it? So much so that He is not worthy to loose the thong of His shoe (Luke 3:16). Now, of course, you understand why John was appointed to be the forerunner of Christ. You see how much less he himself is, and how much greater he recognizes himself as Christ, calling himself unworthy even to untie the thong of His boot. What is he like, so sincerely admitting his unworthiness? How great are his perfections? Who do we ask about this? If we ask John himself, we will not know anything; because he humbles himself, and out of humility does not say a word about his perfections. From whom will we hear what John himself is like, who recognizes himself as unworthy to untie the boot strap of the One Who was then considered a man? Let us ask the Lord himself and tell him: “Lord, John uttered a high testimony about You, and when people, seeing his great virtues, recognized him as Christ and asked: who is he? then he said that he was not Christ, that a greater one was coming than him, and so much greater that he was not worthy to untie the thong of His boot; he, like a true lamp, testified to Your lofty light; This is what he said about You: tell us, what was he like, who testified about You in this way? What kind of person was he who so humbled and humbled himself before You? This is what he said about You; tell us something about him too.” Listen to what the Lord says about John: the pain of John the Baptist did not rise in those born of women (Matthew 11:11); but then he adds: I am in the kingdom of heaven, the greater one is. This is what the Lord is saying about himself, for God is not proud when he speaks about his greatness. What does the word mean? It means younger in age, but greater in greatness. For the Lord Jesus Christ was born after John; but this in Him is relative to what He became for us, and not to what we were created through. Listen to what God the Father says about the One who was born after John: not before John, not before David, not before Abraham, but before the morning star begat Thee (Ps. 119:3). If, therefore, in relation to our weakness, it is ordained that the morning star should precede the day, and if, when the day appears, we also believe in the appearance of the day, then all the more should we believe the testimony of the day about the day, since the pain of John the Baptist did not rise in those born of wives. And so, when a man, the greatest of all those born of wives, calls himself unworthy to untie the thong of someone else’s boot; then what kind of person should He be, whose boot strap is not worthy to untie, a man whose there was no other man? If John was such that no one could be greater than him, then the greater than him must be greater than man. If John was so great that no man was superior to him, then the greatest of him is greater than any man. But He who is greater than man and Who is man for men, on Him, verily, will the holiness of the Father flourish. The Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove. The color of holiness in its entirety was shown to John in the form of a dove, in the image of simplicity and innocence, so that the words would be fulfilled: in Him will my holiness flourish. I did not know him, says John, but He who sent me to baptize with water, He said to me: you will see the Spirit descending on him and remaining on him, he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I saw, he continues, and testified that this is the Son of God (John 1:33). About whom does he give such testimony? About the One on Whom I saw the prosperous shrine of the Father. Where did he see the Holy Spirit coming from? For the Holy Spirit never departed from the Son, nor did the Son depart from the Spirit, nor the Son from the Father, nor the Father from the Son, nor the Spirit from the Son and the Father. But a purified mind thinks about this differently than how it appears to the eyes. The Father never precedes the Son; the Son never follows the Father; never because there is no time. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Creator of times, is one God. It is not so that one can say: the Father is first, the Son is after. Since then the Father, since then the Son. Ask, since when is Father? Embrace in thought the earth, the sky, the Angels, visible and invisible, all creation, and ask: when did the Father begin to be? This cannot be asked when speaking about the eternal. Do not ask where, except about what received the beginning; Do not make it clear when and from whom something began that did not receive it from anyone, because it never began. But just as the Father has no beginning, so neither does the Son. The Son is the radiance of the Father. And because the radiance of fire begins at the same time as the fire; so the radiance of the Father appears at the same time as the Father. But when is Father? From eternity to eternity. So the radiance of the Father is also from eternity to eternity; and yet the Son, like the radiance of the Father, did not receive a beginning in time, although he was born of the Father. Who will understand this? Correct your heart, shake off the dust, wash away the impurity. When that which darkens our inner eye will be healed and healed; then we will understand it better and believe it before we see it. And now we only believe, brothers! What do we believe? The fact that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit never preceded one another. But, although the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit never precede one another: however, I cannot pronounce the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit without their very names not indicating times and themselves being subject to their times. The Father is not before the Son, but I cannot call it anything other than one before, the other after; Every syllable has its time, and I cannot pronounce the second syllable before I pronounce the first. Some time passes in the pronunciation of my words, although I speak about something that does not have time. So, my brothers, if when the Holy Trinity sensually appeared to our bodily eyes, then it was on the Jordan River, when the Lord was baptized by John. He was baptized, came out of the water, and then a dove flew off and a voice came from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17). Here the Son appeared in a man, the Spirit in a dove, the Father in a voice. An inseparable object appeared separately, if one can speak so about this matter. For what do we say when we talk about God? And yet we speak, and He allows us to talk about Him as we think about Him, although He is not like that; but we cannot talk about Him the way we think about Him. But in order to adapt to people, brothers, He appeared in the form of a dove, and what was said was fulfilled: in Him will my sanctuary flourish. It is said: it will flourish, that is, it will obviously appear; since there is nothing on the tree that is clearer and more visible in color. But enough; we explained the last words of the part of the Psalm we are considering: in Him my holiness will flourish. But we have not said who are the enemies who were put to shame by the lamp? Prepare a lamp for My Anointed One, said the Father about his Son. What lamp? John. Ask the Son himself about this, and you will hear that he was a lamp of grief and light. I will clothe his enemies with cold. Who are the open enemies of Christ if not the Jews? But Christ also has secret enemies. All those who live lawlessly and wickedly are enemies of Christ, even if they bear His name and are called Christians. For He will say to such: No one has known you (Matthew 7:23), although they will cry out to Him: Lord, is it not in Your name that we eat and crush, and in Your name we have done many mighty works (Luke 13:26; Matthew 7:22)? What did they eat and drink in His name? They did not value ordinary food highly, and it was not by this that they said that they belonged to Christ. There are some special foods and drinks that are taken; - and this is Christ. And this food and drink is taken by the very enemies of Christ. The believers have not known the spotless Lamb, from whom they eat; and if only they would eat from Him so that they would not deserve punishment! The Apostle says: he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment for himself (1 Cor. 11:29). And so, the enemies of Christ are those who would rather lead a vicious life than obey Him; but when they are told that He will come to judge the living and the dead, they fear His coming. If it were possible, they would have prevented Him from coming; and if they could not do this, they would have done so that He would not return. This is what the Jews wanted to do so that He would not return. For the Son was sent to these wicked workers, to these evil mercenaries, who did not want to pay the due wages, and who stoned the servants who were sent to them. Then the lord of the house, the lord of the vines, said: I will send my Son (Luke 20:15); perhaps they will be ashamed of Him. They thought within themselves, saying: This is the heir, come, let us kill him, so that it may be ours (Luke 20:14). Since they could not do that He should not come from the Father; then they tried to prevent him from returning to the Father. But what was the purpose of this? They saw and despised him as a mortal man, but in Him they could only kill death. By the death of Christ death was put to death; and He, after the resurrection, ascended to the Father and will come to earth again. What are you afraid of? Love and you will be safe. Do we not pray: Thy kingdom come? And so, brothers, let us pray about this with fear, so that our prayer will be heard. And so those enemies that I spoke about at first are secret enemies; and now we are talking about open enemies who clearly hated Him, raged against Him, grabbed Him and beat Him with whips, mocked Him, crucified Him, killed Him, and guarded the buried one. Let us see how they were put to shame through this lamp. When these enemies saw the miracles of the Lord, they asked Him: Tell us, by what means are you doing this (Luke 20:2)? - and they questioned Him with malicious intent; so that, if He pointed to His power, He would be seized as guilty of blasphemy against God. But He acted in this case in exactly the same way as He once did when asking them about tribute to Caesar. If then He had said that tribute should be paid to Caesar, then they would have accused Him as an enemy of the people of Judah, whom He supposedly recognized as a subject and tributary of Caesar; and if He had said that this tribute should not be paid, then He would have been accused before the friends and servants of Caesar of allegedly forbidding the payment of this tribute; but He said: show me the kinson gold coin; ...whose image and writing is this? They answered him: Caesar. Render unto Caesar, Caesar's: and God's, God's (Matthew 22:19–21), which means: if Caesar imprints his image on a coin; then does not God imprint his image on man? So now the insidious enemies of Christ are in the heart and in the heart they speak evil (Ps. 11:3). For one day they would have spoken in their hearts, if only those who spoke had not had a double heart; That is why there is a double heart, not a simple one. It is said of many of God's servants that they had one heart; they have one heart and soul for God (Acts 4:32). Many simple-minded people have one heart; and one insidious - two. So the enemies of Christ said in their hearts and in their hearts: tell us, in what area are you doing this? that is, whatever You say, we will honor You, respect and glorify You - this could come from one heart; from the other (since they had a double heart) the following could come out: whatever You say, therefore we will slander You, we will have a reason to seize and accuse You. Such were these enemies; but soon they will be put to shame through the lamp, and you will immediately see their shame. And by the time - because the day is approaching evening; they will be put to shame through the lamp that the Father prepared for his Anointed One and about which the Lord himself said: it is not a burning lamp. What did Christ answer to their words: tell us, in what area are you doing this? Having answered the speech to them: I ask you and I have one word. Tell me: where did John’s baptism come from? Is it from heaven or from man? They were troubled, and I thought within myself, saying: If we speak from heaven: He says to us: Why don’t you believe in him? That is, why are you asking Me, by what authority am I doing this, when the one you asked has already uttered a testimony about me? And so, as we speak, from heaven: He says to us: Why don’t you believe in him? If we say from man: We are afraid of the people: for they all have John as a prophet (Matthew 21:24-26). So fearful of the people and the truth, they answered with timidity and envy in their blindness: we do not know (Matthew 21:27). So, the lamp was brought and the darkness disappeared. For although the enemies of Christ remained with Him in the body; but in their hearts they fled, saying that they did not know what they knew. Fear of the heart is a sign of flight. They were afraid of being stoned by the people if they said that John's baptism was from men; They were afraid to be convicted by Jesus Christ if they said that John’s baptism was from heaven. And so, embarrassed, they fled. They were afraid of the name of John and remained silent in confusion. Therefore Jesus said to them: I say to you, with this region I create (Matthew 21:27). And so John the Baptist was destined to be a lamp for our Lord Jesus Christ. The enemies of Christ, who insidiously questioned Him, in the light of this lamp, withdrew in shame. Thus the words were fulfilled: I will clothe His enemies with cold. But we, brethren, knowing the Lord through His forerunner John the Baptist, and believing even more in Christ for the sake of His own testimony, about which He says: “I am a testimony greater than John’s,” let us become His body, as the Head, so that Christ may be one, both Head and body, and so that the words may be fulfilled upon all of us, who have become one with Him: “In Him shall my holiness flourish.” Amen.