Sermon 313B
SERMON 313/B
Held in the same place and on the day of the martyr.
Birthday of the aforementioned
A multitude of praising people succeeded the throngs of the frenzied ones.
We have sung a psalm: Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Due gratitude for the gifts of God. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. It is certainly a voice of gratitude, and worthy gratitude. And when are human thanks sufficient for such divine gifts? When in this place the most blessed martyr shed sacred blood, I do not know whether such a crowd of raging people was here, as there is now a multitude of praising people. I say again—for it delights me indeed, to see people gathered in the house of the Lord with the utmost piety in this place, and to compare times with times—hence I say again and repeat, and commend to your senses, with as much devotion as I can; when in this place the most blessed martyr shed sacred blood, I do not know whether such a crowd of raging people was here, as there is now a multitude of praising people. But even if there was, blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. When they were killing, they believed they had won; they were being conquered by those dying, and they rejoiced. If they were conquered, surely they raged. Therefore, the crowd of raging people has departed, and the multitude of praising people has succeeded. Let the multitude of praising people say, say: Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. To whose teeth? To the teeth of enemies, to the teeth of the impious, to the teeth of the persecutors of Jerusalem, to the teeth of Babylon, to the teeth of the hostile city, to the teeth of the crowd raging in crimes, to the teeth of the crowd persecuting the Lord, abandoning the Creator, turning to the creature, worshipping what is made by hand, despising the One by whom it was made. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
How the martyrs avoided the hunters' nets. What kind of prey Cyprian would have been for Babylon. The fertility of the earth from the blood of the martyrs.
The voice of the martyrs is: surely it is the voice of those who preferred to be killed for the name of Christ, rather than live by denying Christ. Therefore, if they wanted to kill, these were killed; they did what they wanted, these suffered; how: Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth? What kind of gratitude is: Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth? Because the persecutors did not wish to kill, but to devour, that is, to transfer into their own body. They were pagans, they were impious, they were worshippers of demons and idols; they wanted to do this to us when they desired to devour us. Consider what we do with food when we eat. What indeed do we do, but transfer it into our body? It was the body of the impious: they devoured those who consented to their impiety; without a doubt, they passed into their body. Therefore, the martyrs, being pressed to deny Christ and adore the idol, stood firm, scorned the idol, confessed Christ, and did not consent to transfer into their body. Let them say, let them say gloriously, let them say happily, let them say truly: Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth. The net is treachery, the net is impiety, the net is the denial of Christ. The nets were stretched. You hear the hunters. If you wish to beware of the hunters, despise those who terrify. You know what hunters do. They stretch the nets from one side, and from the other side they frighten the beasts, which they drive into the nets. Do you fear the evil with which you are terrified? Worse is that which you flee. Therefore, the holy martyrs, seeing where the hunters stretched the nets - for the persecutor threatened death, so that the Savior would be denied - suffered, but by suffering were not captured. With what fatness of prey, with what richness of hunting would impious Babylon be fed, if Bishop Cyprian denied the Lord! With what richness, with what hunting, what excellent prey would impious Babylon be fed, if by Bishop Cyprian, the teacher of the nations, the frustrator of idols, the betrayer of demons, the converter of pagans, the confirmer of Christians, the inflamer of martyrs; if by such a great man the Lord were denied, with what hunting would impious Babylon rejoice! Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth. They raged, they persecuted, they tortured, they imprisoned, they bound, they struck, they burned, they set beasts upon; Christ was not denied, the confessor of the Lord was crowned. They lost their savagery, the martyrs found glory. Blessed be the Lord, says the Christian people, let them wholly say, it is fitting that they say: Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth. Let this place now say: it is filled with a people of confessors, filled with a people worshiping the one true God; let this place say: for this harvest was sown when that place was watered with the blood of the martyr. Do not wonder, earth, at your fertility, if you are irrigated, so that you may sprout this.
The Church of Christ also has teeth, with which it converts the very powers of the world onto itself.
Therefore blessed is the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth. With what strength were we snatched from the teeth of the wicked? We claim nothing for ourselves, we do not attribute this to our power. Blessed is the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth. What were we when we, weak ones, were terrified by the strong, humble by the lofty, needy by the rich, lacking by the abundant? What were we, unless our help was in the name of the Lord, he who made heaven and earth? Rejoice, rejoice, Jerusalem: rejoice also you, not given into the teeth of hunters; rejoice also you: you too have teeth. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep. You also have teeth, O holy Jerusalem, city of God, Church of Christ, you too have teeth. It is said to you in the Song of Songs: "Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep coming up from the washing, all of them bearing twins, and not one among them is barren." Well, well, that you did not fear the teeth of Babylon. The teeth of Babylon were the powers of the world; the teeth of Babylon were the teachers of illicit rites. To these teeth you were not given. Recognize your teeth: do what they wanted to do. Turn yourself: you too have teeth. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep. What does "shorn" mean? Laying down worldly burdens. What does "shorn" mean? Putting off fleeces, as burdens of worldly load. Those were your teeth, about which it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, that they sold all their possessions, and laid the prices of their goods at the Apostles' feet, so that distribution was made to each as needed. You obtained the fleeces of your shorn ones. That flock ascended from the washing of holy baptism. All bore twins, because they fulfilled two commandments. You remember, you recalled, you cried out as instructed, when I mentioned the two commandments; and what they were, I did not say, yet I received a witness from the voice of your heart. You recognized. Yet I say it for those who seldom come to the church. The Lord says, the most truthful teacher says, the prince of martyrs says: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Therefore, your teeth triumphed because they bore such twins. It is said to you who have such teeth, it is said to you, O Church, in the figure of the most blessed Peter: "Rise, kill and eat." It was said to Peter - when the vessel was let down from heaven in the figure of all animals carrying all peoples - to hungry Peter, that is, to the eager Church: "Rise, why do you hunger? Rise, food is prepared for you. You have teeth: Kill and eat." Kill what they are, make them what you are; kill what they are, turn them into what you are. You heard well, having such teeth, you killed well, you ate well. Those very judges, whom you did not fear, you attracted to yourself; those very powers of the world, whom you did not fear, you converted into yourself; you despised the raging ones, you made them honoring ones. It was fulfilled, which was promised to your Lord: "And all the kings of the earth will worship Him, all nations will serve Him."
Many of Cyprian's persecutors later believed.
These persecutors did not believe when they were raging. How many of those persecutors, who saw the most blessed Cyprian shedding blood, bending his knees, offering his neck to the striker, saw this, watched this, exulted in such a spectacle, insulted the dying here! How many of them, which I do not doubt, later believed! There is no doubt, it must be believed without doubt. The Jews, killers of Christ, who shook their heads insulting him as he hung, and spoke whatever words they wanted against him, later believed in that very Lord whom they crucified. For surely the voice of the Healer hanging on the cross, making a remedy of health for the frantic from his blood, could not be in vain. And indeed, that voice could not be in vain or empty: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Clearly, it was not in vain. There was a multitude of those for whom that voice rang out from the mouth of Truth. For later, at the miracle, when the Holy Spirit came from heaven, and the Apostles spoke in all the tongues of nations, struck by the sudden miracle, pricked to the heart, they turned to him whom they had killed, and believing, drank the blood which they had shed in rage. It surely cannot be doubted that also many of those who impiously watched the blessed Cyprian, a holy martyr of Christ, being killed, believed in his Lord, and perhaps even shed their blood for the name of Christ by imitating him. Finally, it may be uncertain regarding those; regarding those who were present at that place then, who saw the holy Cyprian struck in this place, it is uncertain whether they believed. Surely all these, or almost all, whose exulting voices I hear, are the sons of those who insulted.