Sermon 335B

Sermon 335/B We call the resurrection of the Lord, brethren: and we rightly call it by this name, because He arose; but I do not want you to be ignorant of this, that resurrection not only means the resurrection of the Lord, but also our own.

On the Birth of the Holy Martyrs

Adam did not scorn death by sinning, but did not believe God threatening death. Christ came one against one.

We bless the holy martyrs above all other people, who fought against sin even unto blood; we bless them, however, because they endured death for the truth, and by dying found life. For they would not have died unless man had sinned; for if man had kept the commandment, he would have lived. God threatened him with death if he sinned: therefore, out of fear of death he ought to have abstained from sin; but he believed the deceiving serpent more than the advising Creator. He did not believe God, and he found what he did not believe. Therefore, by its own force, nature rushed to death: and as far as it is in it, it struggles not to die; but unwillingly it dies, because willingly it sinned. For the first man, by sinning, did not despise death, but rather, even if he sinned, he did not believe he would die. He was told: Do not touch; if you touch, you will die. Did he say: I will touch, and die? Did he say to himself: God has threatened me with death if I taste of that tree; I will taste it anyway, and experience what is in that food; and if death follows, what is it to me? He did not say this: for he wanted to sin out of pride and curiosity, but nature did not want to die. Finally, even the serpent himself, or rather the devil in the serpent, the persuader of sin, the demolisher of faith, did not remove from him the fear of death by despising death. For he did not say to him in his evil persuasion: Do you fear to die? And what is it to die? Death is not an evil, you fear for no reason what is not an evil. He did not say this to him: for he knew how much the will of death would abhor by nature. But what did he say to him? You will not die by death. He did not persuade contempt of death, but removed belief in death. Therefore, he did what he was persuaded, not because he despised death, but because he did not believe he would die. Death followed the sinner: it begot us, not as he was created, but as he had become through sinning. We were born, drawing guilt and punishment from the transgressor. One came against one: because through one man death, and through one man the resurrection of the dead. For in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. Therefore one came against one: and he did not come in the way he came to help; but he came from a virgin, came without lust, came conceived not by desire but by faith. Therefore one came against one. To help man, he took something from the race; but he did not take everything that the one needing help had. Therefore, he came, and found us lying in guilt and punishment; he took upon himself only the punishment, and solved both the guilt and the punishment.

By sinning, man came to death; now by dying he attains life. That which has an end does not last long. Christians understand this better than Cicero.

Therefore, the Lord Christ, not only by His word but also by His example, encouraged martyrs so that they would not fear death. Christ’s exhortation was not like the serpent’s seduction. For the serpent said: If you sin, you will not die. Christ said: If you sin, you will die. What does it mean: If you sin, you will die? If you deny me, indeed if you do not deny me, you will die. But do not fear those who kill the body. O man, do not fear now those who kill the body. Then you ought to have feared death, lest you come to death; then if you had feared death, you would not come to death: now if you fear death, you will be delivered from death. But dismiss the deceptive persuasion of the devil. Our Lord God Himself said something different to man then, and something different now. Then He said to him: Do not sin, lest you die; now He says to him: Die, lest you sin. Then He said to him: By sinning you come to death; now He says to him: By dying, you come to life. Therefore, the punishment of the sinner has become the instrument of virtue: then they died by listening to the devil, now we overcome the devil by dying for the truth. Why do you exalt yourself, my captor? I conquer you with your own means. You urged sin, and took away the trust in death; you said: You will not die; I believed, and I died. You urged, deceived, deluded, held, and by badly urging, you sent us to death; but by dying for Christ, you lost those whom you possessed. There is nothing from which you can frighten, when death itself is embraced, lest we sin, which ought to be feared lest we sin. Against your poisonous whispers, the martyr sings: I will sing to my God as long as I live. So, when you are dead, do you not sing to God? Indeed, you sing more when you live. For now, it is not long, that which has an end. I would not say that even Adam lived long if he were to die today; for what good are long-past times, when they are past? He lived long, yet he lived: but if he lives, tell me, and if what lives will have no end, then I will say that it is long. We Christians, to whom eternal life is promised, ought not to understand what some pagan author said: What is this long, in which there is something ultimate? Take away the end, and I acknowledge the longevity; if you add an end, I convict the brevity. Therefore, I will sing to my God as long as I live. Thus, we ought to receive this “long,” so that it is truly long. As long as I live, then forever because I live, refer to this: Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will praise You forever and ever. This is the reward the holy martyrs loved, and by loving life, they chose to die. Because they died patiently, do you think they loved death? By no means, they loved life, they desired life: they wanted to live without death, those who chose to die for life; they despised what is not long, to reach what is long.

Death is bitter for martyrs, for Peter, for Christ himself.

What kind of persecutor is he who comes and says: Deny Christ, if you do not want me to kill you? Shall I deny life for the sake of life? Shall I deny eternal life for the sake of a brief life? What if you spare me today, and fever kills me tomorrow? Why do you want to take away my faith by threatening me with death? If fever kills me, it does not take away my faith. This life, which you say you grant, is not in your power: therefore I will not deny Christ, who holds both death and life in his power, for the sake of that life. Shall I therefore deny him, who makes me live here as long as he wills, not as long as you will here? And when I cease to live here, I go to him, where there is nothing but living. Behold, if you do not deny, I will kill you. I know who speaks, through you he now says to me: Deny, and you will not die. He almost said this to me then: Touch, and you will not die. I did not want to then, now I avoid you. Therefore, however sweet this life may be, no one wants to end the miserable one. If life, however sweet, is so sweet, what kind of life is that, my brethren? Consider the glory of the martyrs: unless death were bitter, the glory of the martyrs would not exist. If death is nothing, what great thing did the martyrs disdain? Consider the Lord himself: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. And he who had the power to lay down his life and had the power to take it back, yet to transfigure us in himself, said, My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Even to the blessed Peter, when you grow old, he said, another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish, even when you grow old. What kind of blessed life is it if it must be loved even when it is miserable? What is the action of this life, which is so loved? To desire, to fear, to hope, to be deceived, to labor, to be sick: true sadness, false joy: to pour out prayers, to fear temptations. What kind of life is this? Who can describe its misery with any eloquence? Yet it is loved. But what is the action of that life, what is it? I will go no further, I will not describe it for long: I shall sing to my God as long as I live.

Martyrs, lovers of life. Contempt of death, some from worldly desire, others for the love of God.

The martyrs were lovers of life, therefore they were tolerant of death. However, my brothers, this life is so sweet, foul, and full of afflictions, it is so sweet that the martyrs could not despise it for the sake of truth and eternal life without the help of Him who commanded them to despise it. Often, desire also despises death, but where there is no health: vice is oppressed by vice, for desire is of this world. Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world: if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Often, men despise death for the desire of the flesh; they despise death for the desire of the eyes; they despise death for the pride of life: but all these are from the world. He who despises death for the love of God can in no way do this without God's help. And indeed, even the martyr himself when he said: I will sing to my God as long as I live, and was thinking of eternal life, incited himself and said: Do not trust in princes. So that you may not trust in a prince when he spares you: let the Prince of princes Himself help you, so that you may trust. Be faithful in faith: and do not trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. Therefore, not in yourself, for salvation belongs to the Lord. For what are you by yourself, as far as it pertains to yourself, do you want to know? His spirit will depart, and he will return to his earth; on that day all their thoughts will perish. Behold what you are, if you are nothing but yourself. Because therefore you ought not to trust in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation – for their salvation is not in them by themselves; whence it is said: Salvation belongs to the Lord, and Your blessing is upon Your people – if you do not trust in men, in whom there is no salvation, nor should you trust in yourself, because you are a man, in whom there is no salvation.

The merit of man does not preclude the help of God. No death is worse than where death does not die.

Respond now, and tell me: If I do not trust myself, then I do not despise death; I do not fulfill the commandment to not deny Christ. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob. Indeed, you despise death; you believe and fulfill the commandment; you trample underfoot the threats of persecutors; you love and desire eternal life most fervently. It is true because of you; but: Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob. Take away the helper, I only find the forsaker. The forsaker Adam, the helper Christ. What did that forsaker do, except what was said to him: You are dust, and to dust you shall return? His spirit departs, and he returns to his ground. However, the helper endured death and taught to despise what he accepted. And the helper says to me: You fear sin, but because of this, you want to sin so that you might not die. Behold, I suffer what you fear. I suffer what you fear; fear that which I do not do. What do you fear? Death. Behold, I suffer. Fear that which I do not do, sin. He who did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Therefore, do not do what he did not do, and do not fear what he has suffered. For you will not make death, but suffer it; fear your deed, not your suffering. Fear what you do willingly, not what you suffer unwillingly; death does not kill you if you are not your own death. Yet it would not exist if there had been no sin. It must be despised, indeed trampled, it is temporary: why even this? If only it were just this! What is it: If only it were just this? If only the first death, separating the spirit from the flesh. Fear the second death, where the soul is not separated from the flesh, but the soul is tormented with the flesh. Do not fear passing death, fear the permanent one: none is worse than where death does not die. By fearing death, you wanted to sin: sin kills your inner man; sin kills the life of your flesh. Finally, that bodily death would not follow unless the death of the soul had preceded. The soul willfully forsook God, and it unwillingly forsakes the flesh. However, the Lord did not unwillingly forsake the flesh: when he willed, he died, because when he willed, he was born. But why this? So that you might not fear, behold, it is all done. And we fear death: we fear death, as if we will avoid death. Fear what you can avoid, that is sin. You can avoid sin, you cannot avoid death; and yet more is feared that which cannot be avoided than that which can be avoided. We have acknowledged ourselves, seen ourselves, investigated ourselves; let us groan within ourselves, let us pour out prayers so that we do not enter into temptations. Let us not presume on our own strength to conquer these things: Blessed indeed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God; not in himself, because he is man. But cursed is everyone who places their hope in man.