Christmas Day in Peter Chrysologus’ Homilies
Homily 141: A Sermon on the Incarnation of Christ
[p. 229]
How secret are the sleeping quarters of a king! The place where the nation’s head, who is powerful, takes his rest is wont to be viewed only in a spirit of reverence and awe. No alien, no sullied man, no unloyal subject, gains access and entrance to it. How clean, how chaste, how faithful are the services expected there! The resplendent trappings of a royal court make all this clear to us. And what com-[p. 230]mon or unworthy person dares to approach the gates of the king’s palace?
Surely, no one is admitted to the inner chamber of a bridegroom except a relative or an intimate friend. He must be a man of good conscience, praiseworthy reputation, and upright life. Thus, too, it happens that God takes into His inner chamber only this one virgin; she alone, with her virginity unimpaired, is received there.
These examples, O man, are for your instruction. Realize from them just who you are, how great you are, and of what character you are. Then ponder this in your heart: Can you fathom the mystery of the Lord’ birth? Do you deserve to enter into the resting place of that bosom, where the heavenly King, with all the full majesty of His divinity, finds His repose? Ought you, as a rash witness with human eyes and bodily senses, to gaze on the virgin’s conceiving? Can you, as a bystander, contemplate with daring reverence the very hands of God fashioning for himself the holy temple of a body within the womb of the mother? Can you by your gaze lay bare that mystery hidden through the ages, and unveil for yourself that sacrament invisible to the angels themselves? Can you act as an overseer in the workshop of the heavenly Artisan, so that you may clearly observe how God has entered the shrine of her unbroken flesh? Can you observe how without this virgin’s awareness He has produced the outlines of His sacred body in her venerable womb; how, without any sensations on the part of her who was conceiving, He made firm those bones which will last forever, how, beyond any arrangement of man, He produced a genuine human form; how, without any fleshly desire, He assumed the whole nature of man; how, apart from the way human flesh operates, He has taken on its every quality?
Even if you did not enjoy free access to knowledge of all [p. 231] these marvels, would you think that God was unable at that time to assume from flesh what in the beginning he took from mud? Indeed, since everything is possible to God, and it is impossible for you fully to understand even the least of His works, do not pry too much into this virgin’s conceiving, but believe it. Be reverently aware of the fact that God wishes to be born, because you offer an insult if you examine it too much. Grasp by faith that great mystery of the Lord’s birth, because without faith you cannot comprehend even the least of God’s works. “All his works,” says the Scripture, “are [understood] by faith” [cf. Ps 32/33:4]. But here is a matter which depends completely upon faith, and you want it to stand by reason. It is not, indeed, without reason that this matter holds true; it holds true by the reasoning of God, O man, not yours. What is so much according to reason as the fact that God can do whatever He has willed? He who cannot do what he wills is not God.
So, what God commands an angel relates. His spirit fulfills it and His power brings it to perfection. The virgin believes it, and nature takes it up. The tale is told from the sky, and then proclaimed from all the heavens. The stars show it forth, and the Magi tell it about. The shepherds adores, and the beasts are aware. As the Prophet testified: “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib” [Isaiah 1:3]. You, O man, if you did not recognize Him soon along with the angels, do acknowledge Him now, even though very late, in company with the beasts. Otherwise, while you loiter, you may be deemed less than those very animals with whom you were previously compared. Look, they give homage with their tails, they manifest their pleasure with their ears, they lick with their tongue, and with whatever sign they can they acknowledge that their Creator, in spite of His nature, [p. 232] has come into yours. Yet, you argue and quibble along with the Jews who turned away from their inns their Master whom the beasts welcomed in their cribs. If, therefore, you will at length give reverent ear at least to the angels, at least properly, if not joyfully, receive from us the message which the angel will speak.
You need a sermon about this, holy brethren, but today we find it necessary to postpone this matter and treat it in our next discourse.
[From: Ganns, George E., Saint Peter Chrysologus: Selected Sermons and Saint Valerian: Homilies, The Fathers of the Church, 17 (New York: Fathers of the Church, 1953) 229-232]
Homily 145: On Matthew 1:18-23
[p. 232]
Brethren, today you will hear the blessed Evangelist’s account of the mystery of the Lord’s birth. The text reads: “Now the origin of Christ was in this wise. When Mary his mother had been betrothed to Joseph, she was found, before they had come together, to be with child by the Holy Spirit. But Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wishing to expose her to reproach, was minded to put her away privately.”
How is he a just man who deemed it wise not to investigate the motherhood of his spouse? How is he just who does not seek the reason of her self-consciousness which he has suspected, or does not vindicate the reputation of his marriage, but lets the matter drop?
“He was minded to put her away privately.” This seems to be characteristic of a man in love rather than of a just man – but according to human judgment, not divine. Before [p. 233] God, piety does not exist without justice, nor justice without piety. According to the heavenly meaning of the terms, justice does not exist without goodness, nor goodness without justice. If these virtues are separated, they vanish. Equity without goodness is savagery; justice without love is cruelty.
Rightly, therefore, was Joseph just, because he was loving; he was loving because just. While he nourished his love, he was free from cruelty. While he kept his emotions under control, he preserved his judgment. While he postponed vengeance, he escaped crime. While he refrained from being an accuser he escaped condemnation.
His holy mind, shocked at the novel situation, was in turmoil. His spouse stood, pregnant yet a virgin. She stood large with the child she carried, yet not free from the cause for blame. She stood in concern about her pregnancy, but free from fear about her integrity. She stood dressed as a mother, yet not excluded from the honor of virginity. What was the husband to do in such a case? Was he to accuse her of sin? But he himself was witness of her innocence. Should he publish her fault? But he himself was the guardian of her purity. Was he to press a charge of adultery? But he was the herald of her virginity. What was he to do in such circumstances? He thought of putting her away, since he could neither reveal outside what had happened, nor keep it inside. He thought of putting her away, and he told it all to God, because he had nothing to tell to men.
We, too, brethren, whenever something troubles us, or some appearance deceives us, or the outward color of a transaction makes us unable to know its substance, let us restrain our judgment. Let us withhold punishment, refrain from condemnation, and tell the whole matter to God. Otherwise, while we perhaps easily impel an innocent man toward a penalty, we shall pronounce a sentence of condemnation upon ourselves. The Lord says: “With what judgment [p. 234] you judge, you shall be judged” [Matthew 7:2]. But, if we keep silent, the Lord will surely speak aloud. The angel will reply who by these words prevented Joseph from deserting the innocent maiden: “Do not be afraid, Joseph, son of David, to take to thee Mary thy wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt all his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins” [Matthew 1:20].
“Joseph, son of David.” You observe, brethren, that the race is named in the person. The whole stock is indicated in one man. The whole series of the Davidical ancestry is cited in the person of Joseph.
“Joseph, son of David.” Born in the twenty-eighth generation after him [Cf. Matthew 1.6], how is he called the son of David, unless the secret of the race is being opened up, the object of the promise is being fulfilled, and the God-given conception of the heavenly birth in the virgin’s body is already being signified?
“Joseph, son of David.” With this statement the promise of God the Father has been given to David: “The Lord has sworn truth to David, and he will not make it a void: of the fruit of the womb I will set upon thy throne” [Psalm 131:11]. In this canticle he glories that it has been fulfilled: “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou on my right hand.” “Of the fruit of thy womb.” Truthfully of the flesh of thy flesh, truthfully of the womb, because the heavenly guest, the inhabitant of heaven, so descended into the hospice of the womb that He did not harm the enclosure of the body. He so departed from the abode of the womb that the virginal door did not open, and what is sung in the Canticle of Canticles was ful-[p. 235] filled: “My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up” [Canticles 4:12].
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid.” The bridegroom is admonished not to fear the condition of his spouse. A soul which truly loves has greater fear when it suffers along with someone else.
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid.” Otherwise, while troubled in mind, you may fail to understand this mystery.
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid.” What you see in her is virtue, not sin. This is not a human fall, but a divine descent. Here is reward, not guilt. This is an enlargement from heaven, not a detriment to the body. This is not the betrayal of a person, it is the secret of the Judge. Here is the victory of Him who knows the case, not the penalty of torture. Here is not some man’s stealthy deed, but the treasure of God. Here is the cause not of death, but of life. Therefore, do not be afraid, for she who is bringing forth life does not deserve to be slain.
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to thee Mary thy wife.” This is a part of the divine Law [cf. Genesis 29:21], that an engaged girl be named a wife. Therefore, just as she is a mother while her virginity remains, so is she called a wife while her modesty remains.
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to thee Mary thy wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Let those come and hear who ask who He is whom Mary brought forth. “That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Let those come and hear who have striven to becloud the clarity of the Latin tongue by a whirlwind of Greek, and have blasphemously called her [p. 236] anthropotókon [mother of the human nature] and Xristotókon [mother of Christ] in order to rob her of the title Theotókon [mother of God].
“That which is begotten of her is of the Holy Spirit.” What is born of the Holy Spirit is spirit [John 3:6], because God is a spirit. Therefore, why do you ask who it is who is born of the Holy Spirit, since God Himself replies to you that He is God, since John reprimands you with his words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God….And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw his glory” [John 1:1, 14]? John saw His glory, and also the insult He receives from the unbeliever. “That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” “And we saw his glory.” To whom does that “his” refer? To Him who was born of the Holy Spirit, to Him who as the “Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” “That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” She conceived as a virgin, but from a Spirit. As a virgin she brought forth her child – but that child of whom Isaias had predicted: “Behold a virgin shall conceive in her womb, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us” [Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:24]. He is God with us, but He is man with them [i.e., the heretics]. And Scripture says: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man” [Jeremiah 17:5]. Let those hear this who ask who He is who was born from Mary.
“Thou shalt bring forth a son,” the angel continued, “and thou shalt call his name Jesus” [Cf. Luke 1:31]. Why Jesus? The Apostle says: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven, on earth and under the earth” [Philippians 2:10]. And [p. 237] you, O guileful judge, do you now ask who Jesus is? Every tongue now confesses: “That the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of the Father” [Philippians 2:11]. And do you still ask who Jesus is?
“Thou shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for He shall save his people.” Not someone else’s people will He save. From what will He save them? “From their sins.” O most faithless man, if you do not believe the Christians when they say that He who forgives sins is God, believe at least the Jews when they say: “Because thou, being a man, makest thyself God” [John 10:33], and “Who can forgive sins, but God only” [Mark 2:7]. They who did not believe that He was forgiving sins were denying that He is God. Do you believe that He forgives sins, yet hesitate to admit that He is God?
The Word was made flesh, that man’s flesh might be raised to the glory of God, not that God might be drawn into the humiliation of the flesh. As the Apostle says: “He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit with him” [1 Corinthians 6:17]. And how shall not God be one [with him] when God unites Himself with man? Human laws invalidate all contested questions within thirty years; is Christ made an occasion of debate some five hundred years after His birth? Does He endure controversies about His origin, and bear with investigations about His state? O heretic, cease to judge your Judge, and adore Him as God in heaven whom the Magus adored on earth [Matthew 2:11].
[From: Ganns, George E., Saint Peter Chrysologus: Selected Sermons and Saint Valerian: Homilies, The Fathers of the Church, 17 (New York: Fathers of the Church, 1953) 232-237]