On the Man Born Blind

The Light of Christ and the Soul§1

The Beauty of the Church and the Power of Faith§2

2Ours. There is one brightness, but coming to us it constitutes many brightnesses: the brightness of almsgiving, the brightness of temperance, the brightness of hospitality, the brightness of familial affection. Toward God there is one brightness; but this, being sent to us, constitutes diverse gleamings through diverse activities: to one, the brightness of prophecy; to another, the brightness of apostleship; to another, the brightness of martyrdom.

There, there is one brightness; but toward us, there are many, according to what has been said: 'With you is the beginning in the day of your power, in the brightnesses of your saints.' Why then does Paul enumerate, and say: 'Are not all apostles? Are not all prophets? Are not all teachers?' (1 Cor 12:29-30). Paul does not divide thus simply, but as he finds souls of fitness; he does not divide according to authority, but according to the confession of the faith; not that he gives according to his own will, nor according to his desire, but that his will is not unmeasured, but according to the gifts of the graces.

For just as the flowery and brightly-colored royal garment receives a solar ray and produces diverse gleamings, and as the beauty is of the dye, so it achieves such splendor; and just as by the present dye it is re-dyed and the beauty of the air is turned into gold, or into purple, or into green, or into some other of the colors, not by the ray being divided, but by the garment, the ray's effect being shaped by the lightuch ways the beauty of the Church always shines with blossoms, having a royal garment and being adorned with a heavenly and variegated array; as also the psalmist says: 'Daughters of kings in your honor; the queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold of various colors' (Ps 45:13).

How is she variegated? By the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to the voice of Paul: 'God working through signs and wonders and various powers, and the distributions of the Holy Spirit' (1 Cor 12:4-6). But what shall I name the Church of Christ? A bride having been adorned, a queen having been beautified, a paradise tending, a garden flowing with fruitfulness, and if I should say anything else, I speak of less than its worth. Therefore the prophet Isaiah, taking up the voice of the Church from her own person, was saying: 'Let my soul rejoice' (Isa 61:10).

Upon the Lord; for he clothed me with a garment of salvation. And since he was in a pattern, and he was unable to express the whole beauty of the Church, he sets before him a distinction, saying: As a bride he has adorned me with beauty, and as a bridegroom he has placed upon me a crown, and as a land increasing its offspring, and as a garden of vegetables its seed. For the Church of the living God is a garden truly as if enclosed and a paradise; but I say paradise not according to that ancient one, but much higher than that. For there a serpent reigned, but here Christ reigns.

4. Do not pay attention to the reliability of places, but to the power of the reality. For neither is a paradise wonderful if it does not have a God-command being kept; nor are the lowly places insulted if they have God reigning the law. What is better? what is superior? a paradise, or a desert? And yet, because of the transgression, paradise did not benefit Adam; but because of endurance, the desert did not harm Job. Adam is disgraced in paradise because of disobedience, but Job is crowned in the desert because of endurance.

For nowhere does the reliability of places contribute if good judgment is not running together; and the heaven is higher than paradise, but the devil falls from there. The earth is deep, and the heaven is suspended; the devil falls from heaven having transgressed, according to: I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven (Luke 3:9); but the poor are raised from the earth, according to: He raises the poor from the earth, and lifts the needy from the desert (1 Samuel 2:8). Do you see how it is not the difference of places that grants us advantages, but everywhere faith, and endurance, and hope weave the crowns for the worthy?

Nothing is more solemn than a bedchamber, nothing is more naked than a theater; what did adultery in a bedchamber benefit the unruly Egypt? what harmed the first martyr Thecla, to practice nakedness in a theater? She did not sin by being naked, the holy one is not insulted, but is crowned. And she who is in the theater is crowned, but she who is in the bridal chamber is honored. What did the idols benefit, and the worship of non-existents? I say the greatness of temples; but what harmed the martyrs, the poverty of the tombs? Error was not shamed in greatness, and the things of the martyrs were raised in humility; thus the Church of the living God...

The Church as Paradise and the Serpent's Error§3

3A paradise of luxury exists while living. In that paradise the serpent danced and deceived; in this paradise the Savior says: 'Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall ever harm you' (Luke 10:19).

In the paradise, the way of life was closed to Adam because of the transgression; and so that God might show that a virtuous soul is not hindered, those outside the paradise receive greater things than those in the paradise. Paradise is shut off from Adam, but Peter is trusted with the keys of heaven; Adam is cast out of paradise, but Paul is caught up to the third heaven; the tree of life is barred from Adam; for God said, it is said, 'Lest Adam touch the tree of life' (Genesis 3:22). There life is forbidden, and the tree of life was forbidden by the transgressor; here the wood of the cross was brought, and all who desire to reap life eternal.

In the paradise, after the transgression, Adam hides from God, being struck by his conscience; he is called by Him who seeks all things, and says: 'Adam, where are you?' (Genesis 3:9). For did you not know where you were? 'Adam, where are you?' Rebuking his lawlessness, He says, 'Where are you?' instead of, 'In what state are you?' Did the deception of the serpent not bring you equality with God? Did you see how you became naked? 'Where are you?' 'I heard your voice, and I was afraid and hid.' That one hides in paradise; the apostles say, 'We all, with unveiled faces, reflect the glory of the Lord, from glory to glory' (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Did you see boldness outside the paradise? Did you see shame inside the paradise? In the paradise, after the transgression, God clothed Adam in tunics of skin. Let us see what he put on. That one there put on a tunic; here, 'as many as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ' (Galatians 4:4). Having been shut out from paradise, the Cherubim and the turning sword were blocking the way of paradise; and it was like a wall and a fortification to Adam, not allowing him to enter because of the misconduct in the paradise after the transgression. I am not speaking against the paradise, but that that God-befitting place did not benefit the one who, not having willed to live with a good intention, desired to turn back. And there was a wall of fire surrounding the paradise, and not allowing the transgressor to enter...

to show that it was not the fire that was an enemy to him, but the transgression which prevented Adam from entering the wall of fire; and Elijah snatched up a chariot of fire into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). The Church of God does not lie, saying: God clothed me with a garment of salvation (Ps 18:10), and as a bride he adorned me with beauty, as a land increasing its offspring, and as a great garden of truth. This great garden is the universal Church.

Christ reigns, and as a lawgiver he is believed, unless someone should be found in the Church suffering from a heretical wandering, under the teaching of serpents—I am speaking indeed of heretical wandering—and being cast out from here, like Adam from paradise. For just as there, he who was persuaded by the teaching of the serpent was exiled from paradise, so also in the Church those not obeying Paul, not being taught by Peter, but being persuaded by the teachings of serpents, are cast out from this paradise.

Whence is this evident? Paul says: For I am zealous for you with a zeal of God; for I have betrothed you to one man, to present a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor 11:2). But I fear lest, just as the serpent deceived Eve (Gen 3:13), so your minds might be corrupted. But there is no place here for the teaching of the serpent, since the Great Shepherd crushes the head of the serpents with the staff of faith. For just as a shepherd, our wonderful Father, crushes the heads of the dragons with the evangelical faith and the hope toward Christ; and as an excellent gardener and keeper, he nurtures the plants of the Church, but uproots if there is any illicit seed or shoot; he delivers the disease of impiety, the Greek wandering, as thorns to the fire; but the heretical wandering he casts out like wild weeds, clothed with the zeal of God, which many do not recognize.

For some have become accustomed to sophistically arguing against the Church and the holy shepherds, just as also against this wonderful father; and many, in the form of leniency, introduce laziness, and they insult zeal, and they attempt to blunt the word of God which is at its peak. For one can find someone in the form of leniency saying: What do we have in common with the Greeks? Does he wish to be saved? Let him be saved. He who says these things has not yet been inflamed with the zeal of piety; he who sees someone perishing, and does not mourn that person's loss, and his own ruin.

God's vengeance through His servants§4

4Being held, not knowing a zeal for piety, he was not struck by the arrow of truth.

Therefore, he who sees one perishing and does not show zeal, as Paul says, 'Who is weak, and is not weak?' (1 Cor 9:27), is not a disciple of Paul. Let him compare the achievements of the Father, and he will find him agreeing with the apostolic voices: 'Who is weak, and is not weak?' 'Who is stumbled, and am I not burned?' Those thinking thus are brothers of the apostles.

For the righteous does not only lose heart in those things in which he sins, but also in those in which he sees others sinning, as David says: 'Despair has seized me because of sinners who have abandoned your law' (Ps 118:28). If anyone loses heart over the sins of others, he has a zeal for piety. For the righteous, when his own life is being corrected, weeps and mourns to erase his own sin; and then, having ceased from his own sin, he mourns the remaining sins of others, just as Paul says: 'Lest coming, I should mourn many of those who sinned before and did not repent' (2 Cor 13:10).

Paul mourns those who sinned and did not repent. Samuel mourns Saul, as God says: 'How long will you mourn over Saul?' (1 Sam 16:1). You see a soul perishing, and you do not mourn? If anyone sees a dead man being carried out, and does not weep, he is proven to be impure, hard, and beastly. If you see a soul being baptized in impiety, and being condemned to eternal death, and remaining in unfaithfulness, do you not weep, tell me, and mourn? And this is a pious soul?

Indeed, all other sins the one thinking well must mourn, except, however, when he sees a soul baptized in the impiety of Hellenism. Over such a soul one must not only mourn, but also be burned and consumed by zeal, so that he may become a disciple of Paul. For, he says, while Paul was rubbing his way in Athens, his spirit was consumed, seeing the city to be a sepulcher. Why then do the saints think these things, just as this wonderful one was a father avenging piety? For just as a king on earth, holding the inhabited world under him, has advocates assisting him in each court of the palace, so God has the faithful shepherds as avengers of piety. For many, frequently spreading rumors among the Greeks, say whatever...

Lest Christians hear those saying to them, 'Why do you blaspheme? Why are you impious?' and immediately they are dragged away; 'Behold the avengers of God; is God not able to avenge himself?' But He does not avenge himself (for He does not insult the divinity), but through faithful servants, the ignorant slaves, He lashes. Does God have need of avenging? Yes; not because He is weak, but so that He may open for you a door of zeal. For if He did everything by Himself, the way of life would be closed to the zealot.

Pharaoh never fought against God, though he was submerged in impiety; and nowhere was a lash brought upon him until Moses the faithful rose up. The many-godded error with the false priests and false prophets was not trimmed away, and nowhere was a plague from God, until Elijah the zealot rose up. The saints are, it is confessed, the avengers of God. Therefore also Paul says: 'We are ready to avenge all offense, when your obedience is fulfilled' (Rom 12:19).

Furthermore, the wonderful Deborah, having the weakness of a woman but prophesying the courage of virtue, about whom the Scripture says, 'And Deborah arose, a mother in Israel' (Judg 4:4), and she became a mother to the people through piety, and she flourished so much that she even says to the generals of war, regarding those around Barak: 'If you do not come to war with us, we are not going.' They did not boast of the woman's courage, but of the power of prophecy. Many went out as co-workers of God's counsel, and they cut down the foreign tribes.

That blessed Deborah, bringing the truth, says: 'Lord, those who love you, like the rising of the sun; but your enemies, like the glimmer of a lamp' (Judg 5:31). Lord, those who love you, like the rising of the sun; because the sun is never extinguished; but your enemies, like the glimmer of a lamp; for a lamp has light for a short time, and again it is extinguished. Then He praises the general who ministered to God's counsel, and after these things He commands the inhabitants of Majore to be cursed, because they did not go out to the help of the Lord.

Did God then need help? Yes. It is necessary for those helping in piety to be revealed. Thus also this wonderful father does not help God as if He were powerless, but having been led to this, he avenges piety, demonstrating through the body toward destruction, but for souls...

The Zeal of the Spirit and the Trial of the Blind Man§5

5Driving toward power, for the arrows of the powerful are ineffective. And do not marvel if the shepherds of Christ and teachers of piety avenge the truth; but even if one is not a teacher, not having trusted in a teaching throne, but having simply received the word of Christ and being in the rank of a disciple, he ought to have zeal for God, and to render rewards to the benefactor in speaking freely, and to speak on behalf of the truth, and to contend against impiety, so that he may hear from the Holy Scripture: 'Child, contend for the truth, and the Lord God will fight for you.'

It is nothing to marvel at if the holy ones avenge piety. Often God is called something through leniency, as a good God, and the prophets do not forgive piety being struck by the leniency of God. God says through Moses: 'Say to Pharaoh, Let my people go;' (Exodus 5:1) but if you do not want, behold, I will send signs, and I will strike you. Moses struck the word upon the word, and understanding is given to the pious, and he says: Do not think that he has a people out of equality, and God has a people. And Having contended, let not the great goodness and leniency of God hinder him, and let him not think he is opposing God, having heard: 'Your people, and My people,' the proclamation refers. Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: 'Let my people go;' (Exodus 5:1) but if you do not want, behold, I will send signs, and I will strike you and your servants; so that you may know that the earth and its fullness belong to the Lord (Psalm 24:1).

the land heard the people and the people, and did not follow the word, but says, 'All the earth is the Lord's.' For even if God used leniency, this does not betray the masterly authority. For this reason also God spoke thus, so that the zeal of the pious might be stripped bare. But the faithful also always love to exceed the words of God; for the Savior says to the disciples: 'What do men say the Son of Man is?' (Mark 4:36) One of the disciples says...

of him: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' May the zeal of the Holy Spirit teach you also to be zealous, and to suffer for the sake of piety, and to contend the good struggle for the sake of righteousness.

For it is worthy, the imitating of good teachers, to be good disciples, as also Paul says: 'Become imitators of me, just as I also of Christ' (Matt 9:27). Do you wish to learn whether even the simple disciple, having the rank of a disciple, ought to have zeal for piety? Listen how Christ healed the one blind from birth; but rather let us hear from the beginning of the history. For after many things having been said to the evangelist, thus he began to say: 'As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth' (John 9:1). And his disciples asked him, saying, and the following (John 9:2). And having spat, and having made clay, he anointed his eyes, and said to him: 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam'; and having washed, he looked up (John 9:6-7). The Jews knew him, and they say: 'Is not this the one sitting for alms, being blind?' (John 9:8). Others were saying, 'Yes'; others, 'No', but 'he is like him' (John 9:9). He was saying, 'It is I' (John 9:9).

But the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews, seeing that the wonder has many attracting to Christ, being bitten by the zeal of impiety, and being struck by the sting of the truth, call the once-blind man in. And it was to see an evil theater, of piety being avenged, and of evil judges judging, and of a great advocate contending, and of God rewarding and overseeing. They call the once-blind and having seen again, the children of the Jews, and they set him in the midst of the council, and say to him: 'Tell how you received sight, and who opened your eyes to you, and what he did to you?' (John 9:15). These things they said, not that they might know, but that by the form of the question they might instill fear. For often the form of the question becomes to the one asked a teacher to answer, or to be silent; as if someone were to say to someone...

The Advocate's Defense and the Blind Man's Witness§6

6Regarding the testimony to be given to a matter: Do you know the premise? Was it present? From where do you know the matter? And the very form teaches him to deny it.

So do they: How did you see? Who opened your eyes? But he, caring less for the threat, possessed more of the truth, and says: A certain man, called Jesus, having made clay, anointed my eyes and said to me: 'Go, wash in the Siloam' (John 9:6). And having gone, I washed, and I saw. He did not know the truth, but he recognized the benefit; he did not yet know the merit of the benefactor. A certain man, having made clay, anointed my eyes, and I see.

The Jews did not believe that he was blind and had seen, until his parents of the one who had seen were called. The diversion of malice into doubt brought away the truth. They call the parents of the blind man; malice by itself brings witnesses together. The parents of the blind man were called.

Again the same form of questioning: 'This is your son, whom you say was born blind? (John 9:25) How then does he see now?' They, having perceived the way of malice, that they are bringing threats, say to them: 'We know that this is our son; and that he was born blind we know; but how he sees now, or who opened his eyes, we do not know; he has age, ask him; he himself will speak about himself. And see the wisdom of God.'

So that they might not divert his voice, the one who had seen, as if he were a child, or as if he did not know how to speak, as in common courts, God caused him first to be shown in the age of law. 'He has age,' they say; 'ask him'; because immature advocates are needed, but those bringing maturity, they themselves become their own advocates.

His parents answered and said: 'This is our son, and that he was born blind we know.' The parents testified so that there would be no doubt that he was not blind. 'He has age, ask him; he himself will speak about himself.' They call him again, he says, a second time, and say to him: 'What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?' He, moreover, having clothed himself with the zeal of God, unfolds the question, and as if for those unworthy of an answer, not worthy of a word, but what does he say to them? 'I have already said to you, and...'

“You did not hear; why do you wish to hear me again? Do you not also wish to become his disciples?” (John 7:40). And he who has not yet heard Christ's teaching imitates it. For the Jews, having surrounded the Savior in Solomon's Colonnade during the festivals (John 10:23), said to him: “How long will you lift up our soul? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” He says to them: “I said to you, and you did not hear; why do you wish to hear again?” And see the piety of the advocate.

Because he paid attention to the malice of the Jews, for they do everything and shape threats and fear to be cast upon him so that he might not confess himself teacher, he says to them: “I said to you already, and you did not hear; why do you wish to hear again? Do you not also wish to become his disciples?” By saying, “Do you not also?”, he showed that the “I am” is being confessed. Let every Christian coming from Hellenism have this voice. For when a Greek meets you, having an ancient habit of error, and says to you, “Become a Christian,” say to him, “Yes; do you not also wish to become?”

The goal, therefore, of the one who recovered both soul and body, was such: “I said to you already, and you did not hear; why do you wish to hear me again? Do you not also wish to become his disciples?” Instead of saying, “Stay this far from turning to me,” for I also more eagerly expect you, having been changed, to confess Christ himself according to the truth.

Then what was against him from the Jews? They mocked him and said: “You are a disciple of that man, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses; but this one we do not know from where he is.” Consider the multitude of the objectors, and the power of one standing against them. And the advocate of the truth did not be silent again, but stood firm, saying, “For in this it is wonderful,” saying, that you do not know from where he is, and he opened my eyes (John 9:35). If this man were not from God, he would not have been able to do anything. He stands struggling, and God is the overseer and the judge; many are terrible against one strong man, an unbelieving cloud against a single drop of faith. From the age, he says, it was not heard that someone opened the eyes of one born blind (John 9:32). If this man were not from God, he would not have been able to do anything. Because you magnify yourselves, he says, in the teaching of Moses. He does not mention Moses at all, so that—

From Human Supporter to Divine Witness§7

7Let him not be provoked. For he says, 'From the beginning of the age it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind' (John 9:32), that is, 'Who else opened them, a prophet?' Nor did they see the superiority, nor the comparison. But as much as this man held to the truth, so much did they not cease from shamelessness.

Since they were not able to deny it, they endeavored instead to cover it, and they say: 'Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinful human.' The glory of the Son is the glory of the Father, and the glory is undivided. He is contending, having the good struggle toward the Jews. They say to him, 'Give glory to God.' How? By our law? And is it right to benefit another and for another to be glorified? 'Give glory to God.' Another benefactor, and to another should I give glory? They confessed that Jesus made clay and anointed his eyes; does the one who opened them confess, and should I give the glory to another? Why should I give glory to God? Because this work is the work of God. Therefore, seeing, you confess that Christ is God. 'Give glory to God.' For if the work is of God, and to Him the glory is owed, the maker of the work is God Himself. 'Give glory to God.' We know that this man is a sinful human.

The once-blind man answered them: 'If he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that being blind, now I see' (John 9:25). He spoke with such boldness that they ordered him to be cast out. And they cast him out, says the evangelist, out (John 9:34). Blessed is the one set apart from the synagogue of evildoers. And see what happens. Because he contended the good struggle, and sympathized with the glory of God, and confessed the Savior gloriously with much boldness; and while his theater was being filled with wrestling matches, the wrestler was cast out without receiving the crown, and the referee meets him outside.

For Jesus heard, he says, that they had cast him out; and finding him, he says to him. Oh, the speech of the one finding him! That which error destroys, truth finds. Why then did he meet him? The Savior saw a soul full of gratitude; he saw a soul not yet having been made known to speak concerning God, but considering him to be some faithful prophet; for he asks concerning the Christ. And what does he say about him? That he is a prophet. And the Savior said this: 'If you consider him a prophet, and anth...'

Suspecting a human, he struggles thus: what will he do if he learns the glory of the deity? If, suspecting a human and calling him a prophet, he has brought so much support for the sake of truth, and has undergone such a great struggle without having yet been instructed, but having been enlightened by grace alone: understand him, that if, thinking to support a human, he did not depart from the truth, he will speak evangelically: 'In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the God was the Word' (John 1:1); what will result? Therefore, moreover, the Lord corrected him toward knowledge, having received the struggle, and having sealed the faith for him.

The Savior answers him; for this one did not recognize the character. For when He sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash, He sent him blind; but when he returned seeing, he did not see the Savior because of the crowd being mixed there, but immediately, before seeing the Master, having been called into the struggle, he struggled. But the Master made clay before washing him himself, and anointed his eyes, so that he might complete what was lacking. When therefore He sent him out, Christ finding him, said to him: 'Do you believe in the Son of God?' (John 9:35). For it is not necessary for you to believe in a struggling man as a prophet, but as the Son of God.

That one, not having recognized the face, recognized the voice. 'Do you believe,' He says, 'in the Son of God?' He knew the voice, and with delight he cried out, 'And who is He, Lord, so that I may believe in Him?' Why do you believe Him saying to the believer: 'Do you believe in the Son of God?' 'I know that your word is true; yet even if you should tell me the knowledge, I do not waver in believing you.' 'And who is He, Lord, so that I may believe in Him?' And the prophet replied: 'And you have seen Him, and the one speaking with you, He is that one.'

He who supported from within, discourses from without: 'Do you believe in the Son of God?' But the one enlightened in both body and mind said: 'And who is He, Lord, so that I may believe in Him?' And the one answering said to him: 'And you have seen Him, and the one speaking with you, He is that one.' And he said: 'I believe, Lord,' and he worshiped Him. These things are said to me so that you all may learn to follow a good teacher, and to imitate a good shepherd, and to struggle for the sake of truth; for your one...

The Thief's Confession and the Lesson of Piety§8

8The struggle happens in cooperation with the Great Shepherd. You marveled that a blind man became a co-witness of the truth having been benefited; you marveled at the robber who, before the benefit, co-witnessed with Christ. For always a divine soul, zealously seeking the truth, opens many mouths co-witnessing to the truth through its own reliabilityility.

Christ was hanging on the cross, and two robbers, one on the right and one of good characterter, and the Jews are slandering, the chief priests are blaspheming: 'Behold the King of the Jews' (Matt 27:42); and again, 'If he is the King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe in him' (Matt 27:42); and again, 'He saved others, but he cannot save himself' (Mark 15:31). Likewise, the one crucified robber also blasphemed, saying: 'If you are the Son of God, save yourself and us' (Luke 23:39). But the other robber said nothing, punishing the condemned by his silence.

Since therefore the chief priests and the scribes, knowing the law, but rather being ignorant, those who ought to have confessed Christ from the prophetic readings, did not confess; God opens an unexpected mouth upon the cross, co-witnessing to the truth. And see what he does. He does not even first hear the voice of Christ, and this one co-witnesses, and then he is crowned. For two robbers were crucified, he says, one on the right and one of good characterter; and the Savior was in the middle like a yoke of truth, crowning indeed the one confessing, but condemning the one blaspheming.

And behold the wonderful thing. Of the scribes and the chief priests blaspheming Christ, and saying: 'If he is the King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe in him' (Matt 27:42); and of the other robber: 'If you are the Son of God, save yourself and us' (Luke 23:39); the one of good characterter says nothing. For the two robbers were icons of the people of the Jews and of ours. For the one blasphemes and is condemned; but the one believes and repents and is saved. Therefore the one of good characterter, the brother of the Jewish robbery, says nothing (for the ignorant Jews were a robber people, as the Savior testifies saying: 'My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a robbers' den' Matt 21:13); and the choice of the first is Jewish; but the choice of the second is Christian.

Driven by evil, but seizing salvation through repentance; thus speaks the ignorant thief, having a Jewish choice: 'If you are the Son of God, save yourself and us, by coming down from the cross.' But the other, the discerning one, is found—the one responsible in the courtroom, a judge at the cross; but also teaching the fear of God.

For the first cry of the thief to the fellow-robber says: 'Do you not even fear God, since you are in the same judgment?' And 'We indeed are judged justly, for we receive what is worthy of what we have done'; but this one did nothing strange. What are you saying? You, stealing outside, condemn here? You, murdering outside, teach fear here? 'Do you not even fear God?' Learn the cross of Christ, so that the voice may become to you a teacher of piety.

For see the wonderful thing: the thief says to the fellow-robber: 'Do you not even fear God?' He proclaims God himself crucified with them, and suffering long-sufferingly for the sake of humanity. And that regarding the Savior he says: 'Do you not even fear God?' Learn from the following: 'Do you not even fear God, since you are in the same judgment?' And 'We indeed are judged justly, for we receive what is worthy of what we have done'; but this one did nothing strange.

I say these things so that you may learn to toil for the sake of piety, and to show zeal both in the house and in the marketplace, and to contend for Christ, so that you also may receive from him the crown of righteousness, like this discerning thief. For listen to him toward the blasphemous fellow-robber: 'Do you not even fear God, since you are in the same judgment?' And 'We indeed are judged justly, for we receive what is worthy of what we have done'; but this one did nothing strange.

And he said to Jesus, 'Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom' (Luke 23:42). Did you see a true sympathy? Did you see how he, the Christ, confessed God truly? 'Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom.' He confesses his own evils and sympathizes with the Lord.

You were tortured so much, thief, before the ruler, so that you might confess the robberies, and the murders, and the thefts which you did, even if you did not confess; and here you say, without tortures, 'We indeed are judged justly, for we receive what is worthy of what we have done'? Through ten thousand tortures you only just confessed before the ruler; and here, having no one to compel you, easily...

The Difference in Confession§9

9Do you confess in such a way? Yes, he says; but there death follows that confession, whereas here repentance and life follow the confession. For we receive what is worthy of what we have done; but this man did nothing strange. If we, he says, acted justly; this man acted unjustly. For we murdered the living, but this man raised the dead; we plundered what belonged to others, but this man gave his own wealth to the inhabited world.

The robber fights with the collector, and says: 'Until this time, during the time of the cross, we came together and traveled together, but now from the cross the way is split for me; if you wish to travel with me toward life, come; but if not, go your own way.' From that point, when I was traveling with you, I was first with you; but now the cross has split that way, the second one, into two. By repentance the way of the robbers is split. And the psalm and the end of the psalm were being fulfilled then: 'The Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly shall perish' (Ps 1:6). When therefore the robber agreed with the truth, he turns toward the King of glory, and says, 'Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom' (Lk 23:42).

6. Let the Arians be ashamed, then, and let them hear what the robber says: 'Lord, remember me, when you come in your kingdom.' The robber sees one crucified, and confesses Lord; the heretic confesses himself a co-heir with the Father, and blasphemes as a creature. 'Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom.'

I wished to say something to the robber: 'May Christ remember you, for what worthy thing have you done? That you murdered? That you plundered?' For you say, 'Remember me, when you come in your kingdom.' But let no one think that Christ saved the robber by grace alone, but that he was indebted to him by obligation. What kind of debt? he says; that he acted justly? He gave alms? He shared his own? He entrusted? He stayed awake? He did a deed that no one else did? But that he believed in God? And prophets believed in God, and patriarchs believed, hymnographers believed, apostles, preachers, martyrs; but all these, having seen God in glory, but this one in insolence. But set up myriads of servants serving a master, when the master is in prosperity and honor.

Faith in Prosperity vs. Adversity§10

10Consider one slave who does not depart from his own master in a time of trial, tribulation, and flight; but those myriads of slaves who, in the time of trial and flight, abandon the master and withdraw. Are these slaves, who in prosperity abandon the master in the time of trial, able to be like those who follow the master in adversity? Not at all.

Peter believed, but seeing the dead raised and beholding his glory, he believed; Paul believed, but seeing light from heaven, which scorched the bodily eyes and enlightened the spiritual eyes; Abraham believed, but beholding a divine vision; Isaiah believed, but seeing him sitting upon a high throne and the Cherubim around him. All saw, but in glory; but this one in insolence; therefore he also cried out, 'Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom' (Luke 23:42).

From those concerning me, you owe it to me to say: 'Why do you say?' That I am a sinner, and a murderer, and a robber until this hour; many are my evils, I confess, but I have in my mind a hidden faith, which no one knew, except the Master alone who suffers with me. From the outside, the Master holds the outward symbols of suffering; and I, he says, did not pay attention to the apparent insolence, but I glorify the hidden kingdom. So also you say: 'Lord, do not see my apparent injustices, but the hidden faith, and, Remember me, when you come in your kingdom' (Luke 23:42).

Christ, having said nothing to anyone, but being silent, neither answering Pilate nor any other ignorant person among the Jews, answers then; and since it was very heavy and absurd to remain s at last and says to the robber: 'Amen, amen, I say to you: today you will be with me in Paradise' (Luke 23:43). Oh, the goodness of the benefactor! Since I would ask for grace with delay, and you say, 'Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom' (Luke 23:42).

The Promise of Paradise to the Thief§11

The Baptism of the Thief§12