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To the Gospel words: “When Jesus finished these words...” and so on. (Matthew 19:1) Jesus, having first chosen the fishermen, then Himself casts the nets and changes places one after another. For what? Not only in order to win more lovers of God by His coming, but, as I think, also in order to sanctify a larger number of places. He is made for the Jews by the Jews, in order to win the Jews, for those under the law, to redeem those under the law, for the weak, to the weak, in order to save the weak. He is made all things to all men, in order to win all. But what do I say: to everyone for everyone? What Paul did not want to say about himself, I find, was borne by the Savior. For He not only becomes a Jew, not only takes upon Himself all sorts of indecent and humiliating names for Him, but, what is most indecent of all, is even called sin (2 Cor. 5:21) and an oath (Gal. 3:13). Although He is not like that in reality, He is nevertheless named. For how can the One who frees us from sin be sin? How can we swear to the One who redeems us from the curse of the Law? But He is called this way in order to show His humility to this extent, and thereby teach us humility, which leads to heights. So, He becomes, as I said, a fisherman, condescends to everyone, casts nets, endures everything, just to bring out from the depths a fish, that is, a person swimming in the fickle and salty waves of life. For this purpose, now “he finished these words, left Galilee and came” to “the borders of Judea, 3 on the Jordanian side” (Matthew 19:1). He comes to Galilee - and this is for good, so that “the people sitting in darkness” will see “the great light” (Matthew 4:16). He moves to Judea to be convinced to rebel from the letter and follow the spirit. Sometimes he teaches on the mountain, sometimes he talks on the plains, sometimes he goes into a ship, sometimes he rebukes storms, sometimes he tastes sleep in order to bless sleep, sometimes he labors in order to sanctify his work, sometimes he cries in order to make his tears praiseworthy. Moves from place to place, Uncontainable by any place, Flightless, Incorporeal, Incomprehensible, Which is one and the same and was, and begins to be, was above time and comes, obeying time, was invisible and becomes visible. “In the beginning was, with God was, and God was”; the third “was”, confirmed by the number itself, the One who “was”, exhausted, and what “was not”, took on, not making two through this, but deigning from the two to become One, because God is both, both received and accepted, two natures flocked together, but not two Sons (let this co-dissolution not be dishonored by a false interpretation!). He is so great! – But what’s wrong with me? Again I descend to human expressions. For how can something simple be called such? And not great in quantity? But forgive the word - a small instrument; I'm talking about the Highest! The Great and Long-suffering One, an indescribable and incorporeal Nature, will also tolerate what we say about Him as a body and use sayings that are far from corresponding to the truth. For if He took on flesh, He does not disdain such a word. “Many people followed Him, and He healed them there” (Matthew 19:2), where there was a vast desert. If He had remained at His height, if He had not descended into weakness, if He had remained who He was, keeping Himself unapproachable and incomprehensible, then perhaps few would have followed Him, I don’t even know if even a few would have followed; Is there only Moses, and he is so much so that he can barely see God from behind. For, although Moses dissolved the cloud when he was out of bodily heaviness, and brought the senses into inactivity; but could he see the subtlety and incorporeality of God (or, I don’t know what else someone else would call it), while still being a body and penetrating with sensual eyes? But since God is exhausted and descends for our sake (by exhaustion I understand exhaustion as a weakening and diminishment of glory), then through this He becomes comprehensible. Excuse me for stopping again and falling into human weakness, being filled with anger and sorrow for my Christ (you also share my feelings!), when I see that they are dishonoring my Christ for the very thing for which justice demanded that He be honored most. Tell me: is He material because He humbled Himself for your sake? Is it because He is a creature that he cares about the creature? Is it because it is under time that it visits those under time? However, He endures everything, endures everything. And what's surprising? He suffered beatings, suffered spitting, and tasted bile for my taste. He still endures stoning not only from those who slander, but even from us who consider ourselves pious. For, when discussing the incorporeal, to use names characteristic of the corporeal means, perhaps, the same as slandering, the same as stoning, but, I repeat, may an excuse be given for our weakness! We do not arbitrarily throw stones, but because we cannot express ourselves otherwise, we use the words we have. You are called the Word and above the word, You are above the light and are called light, you are called fire, not because you are subject to feelings, but because you purify light and worthless matter! You are called a sword because you cut off the bad from the good; with a shovel, because you clear the threshing floor and, discarding everything empty and light, you put only the full weight into the barns above; with an ax, because after long-suffering you cut down the barren fig tree, because you destroy the very roots of evil; with a door, because of the introduction; the way, because we walk straight; a lamb, because You are the sacrifice; High Priest, because you sacrifice the body; Son, because You are from the Father! Again I set in motion slanderous tongues; again some are raging against Christ, or, better said, against me, who is honored to be a preacher of the Word; I become, like John, a voice crying in the wilderness - in a desert that was once waterless, but is now very populous. However, as I said (I return to my word), “many people followed Him”; because He condescends to our weaknesses. What then? It is said: “And the Pharisees came to Him, and tempting Him, said to Him: Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason” (Matthew 19:3)? Again the Pharisees tempt, again those who read the Law do not understand the law, again the interpreters of the Law need new teachers! The Sadducees were displeased, tempting about the resurrection, the lawyers, asking about perfection, the Herodians - about kinson, and others - about power: someone also asks the Untempted about marriage, asks the One who Himself is the Creator of marriage. Who from the first Cause created this entire human race. “He answered and said to them, Have you not read that He who created at the beginning made them male and female” (Matthew 19:4)? He knew which questions to solve and which ones to stop the mouths of those asking. When they ask Him, “by what authority are you doing this” (Luke 20:2), then, due to the extreme ignorance of those who asked, He Himself asks: “Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men” (Luke 20:4)? And the mutual impossibility of giving an answer binds the questioners. Therefore, we, imitating Christ, can sometimes stop the mouths of curious interrogators and resolve their inappropriate questions with questions that are even more inappropriate. For we ourselves are wise in empty things (if we can sometimes boast of the deeds of foolishness). But when Christ sees that the question requires reasoning, then the questioners are not rewarded with wise answers. He says: the question you proposed shows your respect for chastity and requires a lenient answer. As for chastity, as I see, many have the wrong concept, and their law is not equal and correct. For why did the law curb the female sex, but give freedom to the male, and a wife who plots against her husband’s bed commits adultery, and is subject to strict prosecution for this by the laws, but a husband who commits adultery with his wife is not subject to responsibility? I do not accept such legislation, I do not approve of the custom. Husbands were legislators, and therefore the law was turned against wives, and therefore children were given under the authority of their fathers, and the weaker sex was left in disdain. On the contrary, God did not establish it this way, but “honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12) - this is the first commandment, combined with promises: “it will be good for you, and whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death” (Exodus 21:16). You see, he honored the good and punished the evil. Also: “a father’s blessing establishes children’s homes, but a mother’s oath destroys them to the ground” (Sir.3:9). You see, the legislation is the same. One Creator of husband and wife, one flesh - both of them are one image, one law for them, one death, one resurrection, we are born equally from husband and wife, children are obliged to repay one debt to their parents. How come you demand chastity, but don’t observe it yourself? Are you demanding what you did not give? Why, being yourself flesh of the same dignity, do you not legislate equally? If you pay attention to the worst, then the wife sinned, Adam also sinned, the serpent deceived both, one turned out to be weaker and the other stronger. But consider the best. Both are saved by Christ through suffering. He became flesh for the man, but also for the wife. He died for his husband, and his wife is saved by death. Christ is called “of the seed of David” (which, you might think, is how a husband is honored), but he is also born of a Virgin - this is already an honor for wives! “And the two,” it is said, “will become one flesh” (Matthew 19:5), and let the one flesh have the same honor. Paul instills chastity by example. What example and how? “This mystery is great; I speak in relation to Christ and to the Church” (Eph. 5:32). It is good for a wife to honor Christ in the person of her husband, and it is good for a husband not to dishonor the Church in the person of his wife. “Let the wife,” he says, “fear her husband,” because she fears Christ, but also “let the husband love his wife,” because Christ also loves the Church. Let us delve into these words with great care. “The churning of milk produces butter” (Proverbs 30:33), explore, and perhaps you will find in them something more nutritious. It seems to me that here the word of God does not approve of bigamy, for if two Christ, then there are two husbands, two and wives, and if there is one Christ, one is the head of the Church, then let all other flesh be rejected. And if he is kept from a second marriage, then what can we say about the third? The first is law, the second is indulgence, the third is lawlessness. Although the Law grants divorce for any fault, Christ does not do so for any fault, but allows only separation from the adulteress, yet he commands that everything else be endured wisely, and excommunicates the adulteress because she is damaging the race. Regarding everything else, let us be patient and wise, or, better said, be patient and wise, you who have taken upon yourself the yoke of marriage. You see that the wife has embellished or touched up, erase it; or her language is very impudent - chastity; or indecent laughter, make it modest; or you notice excess in spending and drinking - limit it; or untimely exits from the house - put a barrier; or a distracted gaze - correct, but do not cut off, do not hastily separate from yourself, for it is not known who is in danger, the excommunicator or the excommunicated. “Your sources,” it is said, “let them belong to you alone, and not to strangers with you; May you always delight in the sweet deer and the beautiful brimstone” (Prov. 5:17-19). So, do not be a strange river and do not try to please others more than your wife. And if you strive for another place, then you make shamelessness a law for your member. This is what the Savior teaches. What about the Pharisees? The word seems cruel to them, since everything good was not liked, and is not liked by both the then and the present Pharisees. For what makes a Pharisee is not only one’s origin, but also one’s way of life, just as I consider an Assyrian and an Egyptian to be anyone who by his will puts himself on a par with them. What about the Pharisees? They say: “If this is a man’s duty to his wife, then it is better not to marry” (Matthew 19:10). Only now will you learn, Pharisee, that “it’s better not to marry”? And before, I didn’t know when I saw widowhood, and orphanhood, and untimely death, and applause followed by crying, and coffins near the bridal chambers, and childlessness, and misfortunes from children, and unresolved births, and children losing their mother at birth, and finally, everything that happens with this is both funny and sad, because one can say both here. “It is better to marry,” and I agree to this, for “marriage will be honorable and the bed undefiled” (Heb. 13:4), but it is better for the moderate, and not for the insatiable, not for those who want to show more respect to the flesh than it should. When marriage is actually marriage and a marital union, and the desire to leave behind children, then marriage is good, because it increases the number of those who please God. But when he inflames the coarse flesh, covers it with thorns and becomes, as it were, a path to vice, then I will say: “it’s better not to marry.” Marriage is a good thing, but I cannot say that it is higher than chastity. For integrity would not be recognized as something high if the best were not the best. Let those who bear the bonds of marriage not be upset by this! “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). On the contrary, virgins and wives, unite together, become one in the Lord and serve as an adornment to each other! There would be no celibates if there were no marriage, for where would a virgin come into the world? Marriage would not be honest if it did not bring forth virgins to God and life. Honor 247 your mother, from whom you come; honor also you 248 who came from your mother and mother, although she is not a mother, but the bride of Christ. Visible beauty is not hidden, but invisible beauty is visible to God, all “the glory of the king’s daughter is within; her clothes are embroidered with gold” (Ps. 44:14), that is, both by deeds and by contemplation. And let the one who enters into marriage belong to Christ, and let the virgin be entirely Christ’s! Let one not cleave completely to the world, let the other not be at all from the world! What belongs to the married woman in part belongs to the virgin entirely. You have chosen the angelic life, you have become a celibate, do not fall into the carnal, do not fall into the material, do not be united with matter, while you lead a celibate life. A prodigal gaze will not protect chastity; a prodigal tongue enters into fellowship with the evil one, feet walking disorderly expose illness or are set in motion by illness. Let the thought also be virgin, let it not spin, let it not wander, let it not carry within itself images of what is evil (such an image is already a part of fornication), let it not create hated idols in the soul! “He said to them: Not everyone can receive this word, but to those who have been given it” (Matthew 19:11). Do you see the height of this virtue? It turns out to be barely usable. And is it not above the flesh that he who is born of the flesh should not be born into the flesh? Isn’t it an angelic property for a soul connected with the flesh to live not according to the flesh and to be above nature itself? The flesh connected her with the world, and her mind raised her to God; the flesh was burdened, but the mind was inspired; the flesh imprisoned him, but love loosed them. Strive with all your soul, virgin, for God! I give the same law to husbands and wives. Do not imagine as good everything that seems good for many - no clan, no wealth, no throne, no dominion, no beauty achieved in the goodness and harmony of the members - this play of time and disease! If you have exhausted all the power of love before God, if you do not have two objects of love, that is, the fleeting and the permanent, the visible and the invisible; then were you so wounded by the chosen arrow, and did you recognize the beauty of the Bridegroom, so that you could say in the words of the marriage description and the wedding song: You are “sweetness, and all desire” (Song. 5:16)? You see the imprisoned streams in lead pipes, how they, when strongly constrained and directed towards one place, so often deviate from the natural properties of water that, constantly pressed from behind, they rush upward: so you, if you concentrate love and are completely united with Christ, then you will strive for grief, and not fall down and not spill. You will remain entirely Christ's until you finally see Christ Himself, your bridegroom. Keep yourself unapproachable in word, and in deed, and in life, and in thoughts, and in the movements of the heart; for the evil one tortures you from everywhere and is always looking out for where to overthrow you, where to wound you, if he finds something unprotected and open to attack. The more purity he sees in you, the more he intensifies the defilement; because stains are more visible on clean clothes. Let not the eye attract attention, laughter attract laughter, short walks attract nocturnal gatherings, and the night attract destruction! For what is gradually taken away and stolen, although in the present it produces imperceptible damage, nevertheless later completely destroys the thing. Not “all,” he says, “can receive this word, but to whom it is given.” When you hear: “to whom it is given,” do not fall into heresy because of this, do not introduce different natures: earthly, spiritual and average, for some hold false opinions and think that some by nature are destined for complete destruction, and others for salvation, while others are placed in such a state that their own arbitrariness leads them to bad or to good. And I agree that one, in comparison with another, has more or less ability; but ability alone is not enough for perfection, and the mind must arouse the ability so that nature comes into activity, just as a pyrite stone, if struck with iron, itself becomes iron. When you hear: “to whom it is given,” then add, it is given to those who are called and those who have a disposition for it, for when we also hear “not from him who wills, not from him who runs, but from God who has mercy” (Rom. 9:16), I advise you to mean the same. Since there are people who think so highly of their merits that they attribute everything to themselves, and not to the One who created and made them wise, not to the Giver of goods, the Word of God teaches such that God’s help is needed in order to wish good, especially since the very choice of what is due is something Divine, a gift of God’s love for mankind. For it is necessary that the matter of salvation depend both on us and on God. Therefore it is said: “not from him who wills,” that is, not from one who wills, “not from him who strives,” only, but also “from the merciful God.” Then, since the will itself is from God, the apostle rightly attributed everything to God. Whether you walk or work, you always need the One who gives the crown. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; “If the Lord does not guard the city, the watchman watches in vain” (Ps. 127:1). I know, he says, that running does not depend on the easy ones, war does not depend on the strong, victory does not depend on the warriors, and the pier is not in the power of skilled swimmers, but it is on God to arrange the victory and bring the boat to the pier. And perhaps what is said and implied elsewhere, and what came to my mind on the occasion of what was said, needs to be added here in order to share my wealth with you. The mother of the sons of Zebedee asked, suffering from love of children and not knowing the extent of what was asked, but she was excused by the excess of love and goodwill that she should have for children, because there is nothing more compassionate than a mother; and I say this to make it a duty to honor mothers, so the mother of the sons of Zebedee asked Jesus, so that one could sit on His right hand, and the other on His left. What about the Savior? First he asks whether they can drink the cup that He Himself has to drink? And when they said that they could, and the Savior did not contradict this (for he knew that the same cup would lead them, or, better said, would lead them to perfection), then what does he say? They will drink the cup, “but to give someone to sit on my right hand and on my left does not depend on me,” He says (Matthew 20:23), but “to whom it is given.” So, neither the sovereign mind, nor work, nor words, nor wisdom, nor fasting, nor vigil, nor reclining on the bare ground, nor flowing streams of tears mean anything? Does all this mean nothing? But by some pre-election, Jeremiah is sanctified, and others are separated in the womb? I’m afraid that an absurd thought might be added to this, as if the soul had another life, and then was united with this body, and for the life there, some receive the gift of prophecy here, while others, who lived badly there, are condemned. But since it is extremely absurd to allow this and is inconsistent with the teachings of the Church (although others are amused by such teachings, it is not safe for us to amuse ourselves with such talk), then in this place add to the words “to whom it is given,” that is, to those who are worthy, and in order to become worthy, they not only received from the Father, but also gave to themselves. “For there are eunuchs who were born from their mother’s womb,” etc. (Matthew 19:12). I really wish I could say something strong about the eunuchs. Don’t think highly of yourself, eunuchs by nature! It may be that you are involuntarily chaste, because your chastity has not been subjected to temptation and has not been proven by experience. What is done good by natural inclination does not deserve approval, but what is done by free will is commendable. What honor is there to the fire that it burns? Burning is its natural property. Or the water that flows down? This property was given to her from the Creator. What honor is it to the snow that it is cold? The sun that shines? It shines involuntarily. Show me you mean well. And you will show this if, being carnal, you become spiritual, if, drawn down by the weight of the flesh, you become inspired by the mind, if you, born low, turn out to be heavenly; if you are bound by the flesh, you will appear above the flesh. So, since it is not commendable to understand this about one bodily thing, I demand something else from the eunuchs. Do not commit adultery in relation to the Divine! Those who have joined Christ, do not dishonor Christ! Perfected by the Spirit, do not make the Spirit equal to yourselves! “If I were still pleasing people,” says Paul, “I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10), if I served the creature, I would not be called a Christian. For why is the name Christian important? Is it not because Christ is God (unless I accept this name not out of passion, as a person attached to Christ by earthly love)? Although I venerate Peter, I am not called a Petrian, I also venerate Paul, but I have never yet been called a Paulian. I do not agree to borrow a name from man, being created from God. Thus, if you are called a Christian because you recognize Christ as God, then call yourself and be a Christian in both name and deed. But if you are called in the name of Christ because you love Christ, then you attribute to Him no more than if you had adopted to Him one of the other names that are given to people according to their occupation or trade. See these lovers of horse races: they get their name from the color and the side they stand on. But you know these names even without my reminder. If in the same sense you are called a Christian, then your name is very unimportant, even if you are proud of it. And if you are called in the sense that you confess Christ as God, then prove your confession by deeds. If God is a creature, then you still serve the creature, and not the Creator. If the Holy Spirit is a creature, then you were baptized in vain, and although in two parts you are healthy (it would be better to say, in both parts you are not healthy), yet in one you are in extreme danger. Imagine that the Trinity is one pearl, having the same appearance and equal brilliance everywhere; if any part of this pearl is damaged, then all the pleasantness of the stone will be lost. When you dishonor the Son in order to honor the Father, the Father does not accept your honoring. The Father will not be glorified by the dishonor of the Son. If “a wise son makes his father happy” (Prov. 10:1), then how much more will the son’s honor not be an honor for the father as well? And if you accept this: “do not seek glory in the dishonor of the father” (Sir. 3:10), then equally the father will not be glorified by the dishonor of his son. If you dishonor the Holy Spirit, then the Son does not accept your honor, for although the Spirit is not like the Son from the Father, yet from the same Father. Either give honor to the whole, or dishonor the whole, in order to at least show a mind that agrees with itself. I don’t accept your half-hearted piety, I want you to be completely pious (and how else I wish this! Forgive the movement of my heart - I’m also sick for those who hate!). You were my member, and although you are now cut off, perhaps you will be a member again, which is why I speak condescendingly. - This is what is for the eunuchs, so that they may maintain chastity in the consideration of the Divine; for fornication and adultery are called not only sin in the judgment of the body, but also every sin, especially lawlessness in the judgment of the Divine. You might ask, how can we prove this? It is said: “They committed fornication with their actions” (Ps. 105:39). Here you also see the shameless act of fornication. It is also said: “and she committed adultery with a tree” (Jer. 3:9). You see that there is also a religion (θρησκεια) that is adulterous. So, while maintaining bodily chastity, do not commit fornication mentally. Do not force us to conclude that you involuntarily observe carnal chastity, because you are not chaste in that in which you have the opportunity to be a fornicator. Why have you committed the wickedness above? Why do you all strive for evil so much that one and the same thing has become called either eunuch or wicked? Join the husbands, finally reason as is typical for a husband. Avoid women's meetings, do not add shameful teaching to a shameful name. Do I want me to continue the word or is that enough of what has already been said? However, may the eunuchs also be honored by the following words of Christ, for they serve to their praise. “For there are eunuchs,” says Christ, “who were born like this from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who are castrated from people; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can contain it, let him contain it” (Matthew 19:12). It seems to me that the word, evading the corporeal, depicts the highest through the corporeal, for it was small, perhaps even extremely weak and not worthy of a word, to stop the concept at the corporeal only eunuchs, but we must imagine something worthy of the spirit. So, some seem to be naturally disposed towards good. When I say; by nature, I do not demean desires by this, but I presuppose both, an inclination towards goodness, and a will that puts the natural inclination into action. And others are such that teaching purifies them, removing passions from them, and I understand them as eunuchs, “who are emasculated from people”; when an instructive word, separating good from bad, and eliminating one and prescribing the other (as, for example, in the commandment: “turn away from evil and do good” (Ps. 33:15), creates spiritual chastity in them. I also praise this race of eunuchs, I even highly praise both the mentors and the disciples, the former because they know how to cut off, and the latter because they endure cutting off even better. And “there are eunuchs who have made themselves for the kingdom of heaven.” Others did not have mentors, but became praiseworthy mentors for themselves. Your mother did not teach you what you should, nor did your father, nor the priest, nor the bishop, nor any other of those who are entrusted to teach, but you yourself, having activated your mind, ignited the spark of good with your free will, distorted yourself, cut off the root, destroyed the instruments of sin, acquired such a skill in virtue that it became almost impossible for you to strive for evil. Therefore, I praise this clan of eunuchs, even more than other clans. “Whoever can contain it, let him contain it.” Choose whatever you want: either follow the teacher, or be a teacher for yourself. Only one thing is shameful if the passions are not cut off, and no matter who cuts them off, do not consider the difference. For the mentor is a creature of God, and you are from God. Although the mentor will precede your honor, although good will be your own work, in both cases it is equally good; Let us only cut off passions from ourselves. So that “no root of sorrow arises and causes harm” (Heb. 12:15), let us only follow the image, let us only honor the Archetype. Cut off bodily passions, cut off also spiritual ones, for the more honest the soul is than the body, the more honest it is to cleanse the soul rather than the body. If cleansing the body is one of the praiseworthy deeds, then look how much more important and higher the cleansing of the soul is. Cut off Aryan's wickedness, cut off Sabelli's evil faith and do not unite what is more proper, and do not divide evilly, do not unite the Three into one Person and do not make the Three different by nature. It is commendable to confess the One if you understand unity well; It is commendable to confess the Three, if you divide correctly, that is, you allow the division of Persons, and not the Divinity. I prescribe this to the laity, I command this to the priests, as well as to those who are entrusted with leadership. Help the word, everyone who has been given the opportunity to help by God. It is a great thing to prevent murder, to punish adultery, to curb predation; it is incomparably higher to instill godliness and teach sound doctrine. My word, struggling for the Holy Trinity, will have not so much power as your behavior, if you stop the lips of evil-minded people, help the persecuted, stop murderers, prevent murder; I mean not only physical, but also spiritual murder, for every sin is the death of the soul. Let the word end with this; there remains a request to those gathered here. Husbands and wives, bosses and subordinates, elders, youths and maidens, people of all ages! Suffer any damage concerning property or body, but do not tolerate damage to the doctrine of the Divinity. I worship the Father, I worship the Son, I worship the Holy Spirit, or better yet, I, who says this, worship before all of you, and after all of you, and with all of you, our Lord Christ himself, to whom be glory and dominion forever. Amen. Committed to marriage. You might be interested in: