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Homilies

St Photius the Great, tr. Mango, 1958

4. The Beginning of Lent

I

First Homily of Photius, The Most-blessed Patriarch,¹ Delivered on Good Friday from the Ambo of St. Irene, after the Conclusion of the Catechism.

So much then has been said in the preceding words for those who are already prepared for baptism, though not yet perfected, but as yet both in need of purification and debarred from the mystical table. But what of us, already purified through the Spirit, perfected through Grace, deemed worthy of the Gift—the royal priesthood, the peculiar people, the holy nation,² whom not the blood of calves, goats and rams³ sacrificed according to ancient rites, but the Lord Himself hath purchased with His own blood,⁴ who have renounced wicked deeds, and have professed goodness and justice, who have put off the old man with his desires of the flesh⁵ and have put on Christ?⁶ Indeed, as many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ’⁷ and have become members of Christ; for we have learnt from the divine Paul’s teaching that our bodies are members of Christ.⁸ What then of us? Have we preserved our bridal condition unsoiled, not letting it be polluted by any evil?⁹ Have we maintained our earnest of the future blessedness free from trafficking, not enticed by the allurements of harlot Pleasure, nay, have we repelled and spat upon the procuress Negligence by means of a temperate mind and a diligent life? Have we, mindful of the covenant which before angels and men we have pledged to God, kept it inviolate, showing ourselves by the fulfilment of our promises faithful to the commandments of which we have been deemed worthy? Have we barred all entry to the Evil one, and have we made our souls a temple of the most-holy Ghost, or rather the temple built for the most-holy Ghost—as the blessed Paul cries out, “Know ye not that your bodies¹⁰ are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?”¹¹—have we kept it undefiled that we may not be destroyed? For, he testifies again, “if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.”¹² Has not the gift of Grace been stolen from us, has not our liberty been enslaved, our purity soiled, our brightness darkened? Have we not betrayed our security through negligence? Is our watchman still keeping his sleepless and slumberless watch? Are we still carolled by the angels, ministers of the mysteries, who joined in rejoicing at our rebirth and stood by as unexceptionable witnesses to our covenant with God? Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sins are covered.¹³ Do we still speak boldly to our enemies and say menacingly, “The Lord is my light and my Saviour; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defender of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”¹⁴ Do we still have the courage to sing to the Lord, “I have done judgment and justice; deliver me not to them that injure me,”¹⁵ and, “I will not be afraid of evils: for Thou art with me?”¹⁶ If we still do these things, and are held worthy of these mysteries, and regulate our life with virtues, turning away from the seat of pestilent men¹⁷ and avoiding their path and loathing the designs of the impious, then verily are our feats against the Evil one good and noble, but our hopes greater by far: an endless blessedness, the kingdom of heaven, rejoicing with the angels, and joy unspeakable,¹⁸ where the patriarchs have their choirs, the fathers their assemblies, the martyrs their ranks, and all who have pleased God their gay and spacious abode. But if we have slipped away from these things, and set at nought (O, my wretchedness!) our pacts with God, and moreover the Devil laughs at our actions, seeing the tares of his wickedness sprouting up among them; if we have so fallen away from God’s commands, and have denuded ourselves of assistance from above, and have slipped down to the passions, allowing all liberty and authority over us to our enemies—O, what a fall! Alas, the inconsolable disaster! We have fallen, we have been raised. For common is the plight of our ancestor, and the fall as well as the restoration is the inheritance of all. We fell again after Grace, after the restoration—a pitiable fall, a fall distressing, unpardonable, inexcusable, a fall worthy of many tears. The enemy is unarmed: for the swords of the enemy have failed utterly;¹⁹ while we are armed with the weapons of Grace. Yet he acts shamelessly while we cover ourselves up; he attacks and we collapse, as if we were armed for the very purpose of ascribing him a more outstanding victory against us.

What device of salvation remains yet? What refuge of salvation?²⁰. We have received the gift of baptism and have made it useless through our wickednesses. We have been illuminated with a heavenly and divine light, and we have darkened it with the murk of our deeds. We have been sealed with a precious and terrible seal (which was unapproachable to enemies and irresistible to foes), but we have torn the seal to pieces, we have broken it up, we have prepared the way against us to savage and wicked robbers—impassioned thoughts. What then do we hope for yet? Do we look to a second baptism? Do we expect a second re-birth?²¹ Do we perchance await Christ coming down from heaven again, being crucified, made dead and buried, yea and baptized beforehand that He may renew our baptism again? See how Christ-loving thou art, who lovest not Christ, but desirest Christ to suffer for thee; nay, rather art thou indeed a trafficker in Christ, exceeding the Jews in folly and cruelty, who desirest thy Lord to be crucified and lashed, that thou mayest revel unstintingly in thy passions, and that no difficulty should run counter to thy dissolute wantonness. Is it for this purpose that thou expectest Christ to come again? He shall come, but to separate the chaff from the wheat, gathering the latter in the garner with honour, while burning the former with fire.²² He shall come, yet not in the spirit of mercy, but exacting the penalty for our actions in life, using harshness, and uttering to the sinful that awful and inexorable sentence: “Depart from me, ye accursed, into the outer fire.”²³ He shall come, but to judge, on a terrible day. “For near,” says the prophet, “is the great day of the Lord, and very harsh;²⁴ the sound of the day of the Lord is made bitter. A mighty day of wrath is that day, a day of affliction and distress, a day of desolation and destruction, a day of gloom and darkness, a day of cloud and vapour, a day of trumpet and cry,”²⁵ on which, saith the Lord, “I will make the world desolate, and I will destroy the sinners out of it; and the stars of heaven, and Orion, and all the host of heaven shall not give their light. For I will command,” saith He, “evils for the whole world, and will visit their sins on the ungodly; and I will destroy the pride of transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty.”²⁶ Seest thou how He shall come? He shall come that these things may be accomplished; for listen to Malachi too as he says, “Behold, a day cometh burning as an oven, and it shall consume them, and all the lawless shall be stubble, and the day that is coming shall set them on fire, saith the Lord Almighty, and there shall not be left of them root or branch.”²⁷ Hearest thou, beloved one, the coming of the Lord, how terrible it is and inexorable? For He shall come not to preach repentance,²⁸ nor to shed compassion, but to give each man according to his works.²⁹ “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire,” the Lord Himself saith again in the Gospels, “so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”³⁰ He shall come as a judge, to part and separate those who have kept His ordinances from those who have not, bestowing on the former the unceasing kingdom, while sending the others to the everlasting worm and fire.

What then saith He? Since we have sinned after baptism and been polluted by transgressions, is there yet no hope of salvation for us? Is there no remedy of conversion? Is all gone? Is all vanished, the long-suffering, the love of man, the endurance, the abundant compassion? Is there no recall? Is there no return? Is there no other way of healing? Is there no other means of recovery? Insofar as it lies with our monstrous deeds, there is not. But insofar as it lies with the kindness and ineffable love of God toward man,³¹ there is. What then is it? The confession by means of sincere repentance. For it says, “I said, I will confess mine iniquity to the Lord against myself; and thou forgavest the ungodliness of my heart.”³² “Confess your sins one to another,” bids us the disciple and brother of the Lord, “and pray one for another, that we may be healed;”³³ and, “if we confess our sins,” the beloved disciple pledges himself also, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.”³⁴ How shall I confess? By imitating the prodigal in falling down and crying out to the Lord with contrite heart and humbleness of spirit, “I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight;³⁵ receive me, Father, in my repentance.” How shall I confess? By departing from error and by abominating sin. For if thou shalt turn, and humble thyself before the Lord, and remove unrighteousness far from thy habitation, the Almighty shall be thy helper.³⁶ And, “Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you,” saith the Lord Almighty.³⁷ How shall I confess? By turning with all my heart, and by humbling myself with fasting and lamentation and rending of the heart. “For now,” saith the Lord our³⁸ God, “turn ye to me with all your heart, and with fasting and with weeping and with lamentation; and rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy.”³⁹ How shall I confess? By pitying the poor and the beggar, and by forgiving my neighbour’s faults. For it says, “the merciful shall obtain mercy,”⁴⁰ and, “forgive, and it shall be forgiven you,”⁴¹ and, “a man’s mercy is to Him as a signet,”⁴² and it is a good gift⁴³ to them that do it before the most High. Thus is sin wiped out, thus are we cleansed of faults. It is He again that cries out through the prophet Isaiah, “I, even I, am he that blots out thy transgressions, and they shall not be remembered. But do thou remember, and let us plead together: do thou first confess thy transgressions, that thou mayest be justified;”⁴⁴ and, “Behold, I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgressions, and thy sins⁴⁵ as darkness.”⁴⁶

But if the Evil one shamelessly plot against thee again, and inspire thoughts of fornication or, in general, of corporeal passions, inviting thee to unseemly deeds,⁴⁷ then set up against his designs this apostolic saying, put it forward like a shield: it will show the missiles ineffectual, if it is wielded wisely and vigorously in the grasp of attention and temperance: “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body,”⁴⁸ that is, he plots against and robs his own body, tearing it away from its kinship with Christ, our true God (for indeed we are His members), and fastening himself onto the unclean demon. For, “he which is joined to an harlot is one body,”⁴⁹ and, “Be not deceived, none of them that commit fornication can inherit the kingdom of God,”⁵⁰ for “corruption doth not inherit incorruption.”⁵¹ If thou art dragged down towards acquisitiveness and the insatiable desire of money, say to thyself this Davidic utterance, or rather the utterance of the Spirit: “Thou layest up treasures, and knowest not for whom thou wilt gather them,”⁵² and “many have been given to ruin because of gold,”⁵³ and, “he that loveth gold shall not be justified,”⁵⁴ and, “behold the man who made not God his helper, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth, and strengthened himself in his vanity.”⁵⁵ Add, if thou wilt, the Saviour’s threat as well: “Thou fool, who remakest thy houses and buildings and renderest them more magnificent, so that the bulk and burden of thy insatiableness should be hoarded up with greater pomp, this night thy soul shall be taken away from thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast gathered?”⁵⁶ If the Evil one attempts to inflame thy soul and puff it up with haughty and boastful thoughts, do not overlook that “the Lord resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble,”⁵⁷ and that “man is like to vanity: his days pass as a shadow,”⁵⁸ and that “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,”⁵⁹ and “why are dust and ashes boastful?”⁶⁰ and, “everyone that is proud in heart is unclean before the Lord,”⁶¹ and, “exalt not thyself, lest thou fall and bring disgrace on thy soul, and the Lord reveal thy secrets, and strike thee down in the midst of the assembly: for pride is hateful before the Lord.”⁶² If thou art forced to the abyss of unrighteousness, thou oughtst to say to him outspokenly, with the outspokenness⁶³ which the exercise of virtue has granted thee: “I have hated and abhorred unrighteousness, but the Lord’s law have I loved,”⁶⁴ for he that works righteousness⁶⁵ shall be exalted; and, “sow to yourselves righteousness, and ye will reap the fruit of life,”⁶⁶ for, another prophet testifies, “the way of righteousness and mercy will find life and glory.”⁶⁷ If he tries again to entice thee with gluttony and drunkenness, do not thou overlook Job who exhorts and reminds thee that Satan’s force is in the navel of the belly.⁶⁸ Remember also the prophet Isaiah who cries out saying, “Woe to them that rise up in the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait at it till the evening: for the wine shall burn them.”⁶⁹ Nor do thou disobey yet another who exhorts and counsels thee well, “Walk not in the wake of thy desires, and restrain thyself from thy appetites,”⁷⁰ and, “if thou grantest thy soul contentment of desire, it will make thee a rejoicing to thine enemies.”⁷¹ Keep also in mind the Lord’s command, or rather His awesome and terrible curse, as He threatens, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger,”⁷² and, “Take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares; for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the earth.”⁷³ If, after attacking⁷⁴ through every species of sin, and having been repulsed with the aforesaid weapons, he falls back on God’s goodness and mercy,⁷⁵ trying to persuade thee to disregard the punishments (for the enemy is shifty and resourceful, and skilled in preparing for sin our natural impulse which is prone to it), be not neglectful: thou hast again swords and shields forged by God, afforded to thee from divine Scripture, wherewith arming thyself and struggling against the enemy, thou wilt show him vanquished, and filled with every shame and dishonour: for Cain’s groaning and fear,⁷⁶ and his life worse than death, if we make them our study, have the power to shatter and rout the battle-line of his vain designs; the floodgates of heaven opening up,⁷⁷ and inundating the whole earth for the sins of her inhabitants—that common and universal shipwreck; then again the Sodomite fire, drawn and borne down from heaven,⁷⁸ and mercilessly devouring every generation; the terrible wounds and stripes of the Egyptians visited on the Pharaoh himself and on the Egyptians for disobedience of God’s commands, reducing all Egypt to the extremity of ills and dangers, and the abyss of the deep bursting open as a tomb for these same Egyptians on account of their hardness of heart;⁷⁹ the Israelites again, when they were enslaved by the passions, often mowed down by kindred hand and sword, and at other times delivered a prey to foreigners, scorched with fire and killed by snakes; and finally, that chosen people, guided by a pillar of cloud,⁸⁰ for whose sake those bitter and heavy penalties were inflicted on the Egyptians, for whose sake those great miracles were wrought—for they did not drive away those vain and demoniac thoughts, mindful of what they had suffered for⁸¹—these same men, who had been deemed worthy of so much and so great providence and grace, paying the penalties of ingratitude and murmuring, were overthrown in the wilderness,⁸² and were condemned to banishment from the promised land; then again, Nadab and Abiud, who were of Levi’s tribe and consecrated to God, being deprived of their life and made a sudden prey of fire, because they had introduced a strange fire;⁸³ again, the followers of Dathan and Abiron muttering at Moses and Aaron, and on this account snatched away by a chasm of the ground with all their belongings, buried before death, and having their life cruelly interred;⁸⁴ the uncontrollable anger of Phinees against those who had committed fornication, and their murder;⁸⁵ the severe and harsh fate of Ananias and Sapphira⁸⁶—such and the like will suffice thee as weapons, darts and shields, and when struck with their missiles, I know well that the Insolent one⁸⁷ will be mightily repulsed. But if, beaten off by these means and repulsed, he strives again to engulf us through despair,⁸⁸ adducing the throng of our sins and the mass of our faults, and on their account showing our repentance to be ineffectual, then thou hast the repentance of the Ninevites⁸⁹ dispelling his design; thou hast David wiping off his sin by repentance, and proving this to have so much power, that he was again deemed worthy of the prophetic gift, and was numbered with the prophets, and known as God’s ancestor; thou hast Peter who denied his master on being questioned by a maid, and declared under oath that he did not know Him,⁹⁰ and although convicted of perjury, yet with his tears he cleansed the pollution of his denial so thoroughly, that he was not deprived of being the chief of the apostolic choir, and has been established as the foundation-rock of the Church, and is proclaimed by Truth to be the keybearer of the kingdom of heaven;⁹¹ thou hast the publican, the prodigal, the harlot, the robber, in a single moment, and by a single word of gratitude, both dispelling their sins and being enrolled as citizens of paradise. Using such and similar examples, scatter the murk of negligence, drive off the cloud of despair, dispel the plot, show herein too the enemy grieved, take courage in repentance: indeed, divest thyself of filth,⁹² and he shall not choke our souls.⁹³

Wilt thou attain satiety of enjoyment, and suffer no penalty, nay, rather make thyself worthy of many favours? Turn thy gaze with the wondrous David on thy blooming and fertile meadow of the Lord’s commands, turn thy gaze, and do not depart from it; but fixing on it the eyes of thy mind, and dwelling on the variety of its beauty, say, “How I have loved thy law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day,”⁹⁴ and let thy actions correspond to this utterance. Having thus filled thyself with the holy and fragrant sweetness from that source, thou shalt from true experience sing, “How sweet are thy words unto my throat! More so than honey to my mouth.”⁹⁵ Such is the pleasure that the choir of the faithful enjoys; she cleanses and raises us towards a more godlike desire and enjoyment, snatching the soul away from carnal enticements, and seating it on its natural and kindred throne that is free from passion; she drives away softness, while stimulating the manly quality of unwavering in the face of matter.

I know also of another companion and fellow lodger of this pleasure who has much kinship with her: for she too is begotten from the persistent study of the divinely wise writ, and produces an extraordinary and wonderful delectation. For she gladdens man in his food, she gladdens him in sleep, in bodily health, in sickness, when he is invested with rule over others, when he is placed under authority, in wealth, in poverty, in each and every condition of life. Who then is she? Perhaps you wish to know. I will tell you gladly. She is the pleasure arising from the interrogation of the conscience, when the latter is found to be not altogether condemned and without excuse. For when a man examines himself upon his actions,⁹⁶ and does not find his conscience condemning him, nor wounding him with charges that he has robbed his fellows of their bare sustenance while he himself lives in luxury, or that he is sumptuously clad at the expense of his shivering brother; if he has not despoiled others of their marriage rights (and it is a proud claim to have kept his virgin purity undefiled!), if he has not made the misfortunes of others into his own delight, if he has not shared in his neighbour’s prosperity with envy, if he has not been a leader of unjust hands;⁹⁷ not to mention if he has not also taken vengeance, which is a greater matter than men nowadays regard it in their everyday lives:⁹⁸ when, as I say, a man examines himself, and does not find his conscience charging him bitterly with crimes such as these, then, Oh me, how great a pleasure, how much happiness, what gladness does that man enjoy! It is an image of the future felicity: it too⁹⁹ gives an undefiled joy, and as it grows old it reaches maturity, and as it matures it becomes eternal, and makes blessed and happy those in whom it is implanted. Nay, he who bears an undisturbed conscience, likewise flourishes in good things. If, on the other hand, a man’s conscience hurts because he has used for luxury his neighbour’s food,¹⁰⁰ or seized his garment or gold, or has laughed at his fall, or sharpened¹⁰¹ envy like a sword, or¹⁰² has undermined a marriage with which he had no concern, or has been guilty of any similar offence, I know not what that man can win to be happy, or what he can take his fill of and be pleased, of how such a man could be in a state of joy, and not bear about with him a conscience pricking at every point and consuming him inwardly, more so than the passion itself,¹⁰³ unless¹⁰⁴ he has fallen headlong¹⁰⁵ into the precipice of insensibility and impiety. It is not therefore possible for a man who does evil to be happy, even if every luxury flows down his throat, and the treasures of Croesus, rich in gold, lie in his power; nor if he is the acknowledged possessor of all the silken yarn in the world, will he, even so, live happily. For outside things smile favourably yet do not remain steadfast, while the condemnation of the conscience distresses inwardly, and wounds, and does not move away. It is not possible therefore for a man who is conscious of his foul deeds to live with true pleasure, nor is it possible for a good and honest man not to rejoice at the welfare of his soul, even if his bodily hunger is satisfied but with barley, and his body is clothed with rags, and all his possessions are worth but a penny.

Ought we not to avoid on all sides the filthy and miry pleasures, and to pursue and desire those which are, as it were, sisters of purity and akin to impassivity? For the former, linked as they are with luxury, intemperance and drunkenness, generate within us the many-headed hydra of the passions, by which those who suffer this wretched plight have the faculties of their soul and body devoured, and, blind as well as maimed, they are dragged down to the abyss of complete perdition; while the pure pleasures grow in a pure manner out of fasting, and by them we are conveyed to the bright¹⁰⁶ and lovely meadow of the virtues, beautiful to behold, beautiful to dwell in and to enjoy its charms; and truly blessed it is to be transported thence to the heavenly tabernacles, where grief is banished, where gladness and joy dwell, and wherein the summit of things desirable is to be seen. Wherefore it is necessary to avoid luxury and passionate pleasures, and instead to practise fasting and self-control. Besides, the annual course of holy fasting is upon us, inviting us to the race, and urging us to wrestle with the foe, whom we ought to oppose, not by brandishing weapons and darts, or drawing bows, but by fortifying the body with fasting, bracing it with discipline, whereby the mortification of the flesh is achieved, and we re-live Christ’s death, and put on the armour against the Evil one,¹⁰⁷ and are awarded victory if we struggle zealously to the end.

Let no one therefore be left out of the contest, let no one slacken, beloved ones, let no one desert the ranks. Let us all strip readily and contend valiantly. Let us endure staunchly, let us hold our ground manfully. For the crown-giver, Christ, stands in our midst, holding out the prizes of victory, granting strength to zeal, giving victory to willingness, and bestowing on us crowns for ardour. May we all win them by the grace and love of Christ, our true God, who gave Himself in exchange for us, and has wiped off our sins with His stripes,¹⁰⁸ has freed us from the ancient curse, has delivered us from bondage, and has deemed us worthy of adoption. Be it by the intercessions of our most-holy Lady, the Mother of God, and of all the saints. Amen.

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