PL 52 · cols. 620–622

Peter Chrysologus, Sermo CLX

Sermon CLX

SERMO CLX. de eisdem.

SERMON 160. On the same.

Quamvis in ipso Dominicae incarnationis sacramento adfuerint clara semper divinitatis insignia, Deum tamen venisse in humanum corpus multis modis aperit et revelat hodierna solemnitas, ne perdat per ignorantiam semper obscuritatibus involuta mortalitas quod tantum tenere meruit et possidere per gratiam. Nam qui nobis nasci voluit, a nobis noluit ignorari: et ideo sic aperit, ne magnum pietatis sacramentum magni fieret erroris occasio. Hodie magus quem fulgentem quaerebat in stellis, in cunis reperit vagientem. Hodie magus clarum miratur in pannis, quem diu in astris patiebatur obscurum. Hodie magus quid ubi videat profundo stupore pervolvit: in terra coelum, in coelo terram, in Deo hominem, in homine Deum, et universo saeculo non capacem concludi corpore perpusillo. Unde magus qui scrutari non valet, capere non potest, mox adorat; videt enim non sic lucere in coelo stellas, lunam, solem, qualiter illuxisse carnem contemplatur in terris; videt in uno eodemque corpore divinitatis et humanitatis convenisse commercium. Hic dum credit Deum, sentit regem, intelligit humani generis amore moriturum, et pavida cogitatione pertractat quemadmodum possit mori Deus, qualiter possit vitae restitutor occidi. Ac sic magus cessat arte quaerere quod arte non potest invenire: et quia se in coelo diu cum astris errantibus videt errasse, gaudet in terra se ad Deum ducatu unici sideris pervenisse, et deprehendit magus cuncta quae videntur in coelo, humanis clara oculis, profundis esse obscurata mysteriis.

Although in the very sacrament of the Lord's incarnation the bright insignia of divinity were always present, yet today's solemnity in many ways discloses and reveals that God came into a human body, lest mortality, always wrapped in obscurities, should lose through ignorance what it merited to hold and possess by grace alone. For He Who willed to be born for us willed not to be unknown by us: and therefore He so discloses Himself, lest the great sacrament of godliness should become the occasion of a great error. Today the magus finds crying in a cradle Him Whom he sought shining in the stars. Today the magus marvels at Him bright in swaddling clothes, Whom he long endured [as] obscure in the stars. Today the magus turns over in deep amazement what he sees where: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, and Him Whom the whole world cannot contain enclosed in a very little body. Whence the magus, who is not able to search [it out and] cannot comprehend it, at once adores; for he sees that the stars, the moon, the sun do not so shine in heaven as the flesh which he beholds has shone forth on earth; he sees that in one and the same body a commerce of divinity and humanity has come together. He, while he believes Him God, perceives Him king, understands Him to be about to die for love of the human race, and with fearful thought ponders how God can die, how the restorer of life can be slain. And so the magus ceases to seek by art what by art he cannot find: and since he sees that in heaven he long wandered with the wandering stars, he rejoices that on earth he has come to God under the guidance of a single star, and the magus discovers that all things which are seen in heaven, bright to human eyes, are darkened by deep mysteries.

PL 52:621

Jamque videns credere se, et non discutere, mysticis muneribus confitetur: thure Deum, auro regem, myrrha esse moriturum. Thure Deum, auro regem, ut eum diviti placaret obsequio, quem curioso et importuno incesserat et offenderat instituto; atque implet illud quod multi de spadone ex Aethiopia suspicantur: Aethiopia praeveniet manus ejus Deo (Psal. LXVII). Videt Christum magus Judaeum praeveniens manibus suis, quia quando Christum Judaeus Herodi scelere prodebat, tunc magus Deum Christum muneribus fatebatur. Hinc est quod gentilis qui erat novissimus, factus est primus: quia tunc ex magorum fide est gentium credulitas dedicata, et Judaeorum est notata crudelitas.

And now, seeing that he believes and does not dispute, he confesses by mystic gifts: by incense that He is God, by gold king, by myrrh that He is to die. By incense God, by gold king, that he might appease with a rich homage Him Whom he had assailed and offended by a curious and importunate practice; and he fulfils that which many conjecture concerning the eunuch from Ethiopia: Ethiopia shall come first with her hands to God (Ps. 67). The magus sees Christ, coming before the Jew with his hands, because when the Jew was wickedly betraying Christ to Herod, then the magus was confessing Christ as God with gifts. Hence it is that the gentile who was last has become first: because then, from the faith of the magi, the believing of the gentiles was dedicated, and the cruelty of the Jews was branded.

Hodie Christus Jordanis alveum, mundi peccatum lavaturus intravit: ad hoc eum venisse Joannes ipse testatur. Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata mundi (Joan. I). Hodie servus Dominum, homo Deum, Joannes Christum tenet; tenet accepturus veniam, non daturus. Hodie, sicut ait propheta: Vox Domini super aquas (Psal. XXVIII). Quae vox? Hic est Filius meus dilectus in quo mihi complacui (Matth. III). Hodie vox Dei super aquas, quia Pater Deus ut probaret generis fidem, ipse sui testis Filii, ipse assertor assistit. Hic est Filius meus dilectus, quia alterum qui testimonium diceret non habebat: arcanum Patris, arbitrum non habebat; testem generatio nescit divina; divinitas externam non recipit notionem, ipso Filio dicente. Nemo novit Filium, nisi Pater, neque Patrem quis novit nisi Filius (Matth. XI). Hodie Spiritus sanctus supernatat aquis in specie columbae, ut sicut illa colomba Noe nuntiaverat diluvium discessisse mundi (Gen. VIII), ita ista indice nosceretur perpetuum mundi cessasse naufragium; neque sicut illa veteris olivae surculum portaret, sed totam in caput parentis novi chrismatis pinguedinem fundit, ut impleat illud quod propheta praedixit: Propterea unxit te Deus Deus tuus oleo laetitiae prae consortibus tuis (Psal. XLIV). Hodie Dominus super aquas. Bene super aquas, et non subtus aquas, quia Christus baptismati suo non servit, sed imperat sacramentis. Hodie Deus majestatis intonuit, et si Pater de coelo intonat, si Filius Jordanis insistit fluentis, si Spiritus sanctus corporaliter apparet de supernis; quid est quod Jordanis qui fugit

Today Christ entered the bed of the Jordan to wash away the sin of the world: John himself testifies that He came for this. Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1). Today the servant holds the Lord, man [holds] God, John [holds] Christ; he holds Him to receive pardon, not to give it. Today, as the prophet says: The voice of the Lord upon the waters (Ps. 28). What voice? This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased (Matt. 3). Today the voice of God is upon the waters, because God the Father, to prove the truth of the generation, is Himself present as witness of His Son, Himself as His vindicator. This is my beloved Son, because He had no other to speak the testimony: the secret of the Father had no onlooker; the divine generation knows no witness; divinity admits no external knowledge, as the Son Himself says: No one knows the Son but the Father, neither does anyone know the Father but the Son (Matt. 11). Today the Holy Spirit floats over the waters in the form of a dove, that as that dove of Noe had announced that the flood of the world had departed (Gen. 8), so by this one's sign it might be known that the world's perpetual shipwreck has ceased; nor does it, like that one, carry a sprig of the old olive, but it pours the whole richness of the new chrism upon the head of the parent, that it may fulfil that which the prophet foretold: Therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows (Ps. 44). Today the Lord is above the waters. Rightly above the waters, and not beneath the waters, because Christ does not serve His baptism, but commands the sacraments. Today the God of majesty has thundered — and if the Father thunders from heaven, if the Son stands upon the streams of Jordan, if the Holy Spirit appears bodily from on high — what is it that the Jordan, which fled

Editors' notes and page, col. 621

Footnotes

(a) ‹obscurata mysteriis› · call in col 621 (printed at the head of col 621, after the tail of the word set whole at the end of col 620)

Ms. Caesen., credit et non discutit, sed mysticis muneribus confitetur.

The Cesena manuscript: "he believes and does not dispute, but confesses by mystical gifts."

(printed under page 313)

(b) ‹ex Aethiopia› · call in col 621

In hoc nempe vaticinio conversionem gentium, Aegyptiorum maxime et Aethiopum, quorum primitiae in reginae Candacis spadone multi recognoscunt. Hilarius autem, cum Chrysologo putat magos Christum in incunabulis veneratos, ex iis regionibus esse profectos.

In this prophecy, that is, many recognize the conversion of the nations, above all of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, whose first-fruits were in the eunuch of Queen Candace. Hilary, however, holds with Chrysologus that the magi who venerated Christ in His cradle set out from those regions.

(printed under page 313)

Ms. Caesen., ipse sibi, sui testis Filii.

The Cesena manuscript: "Himself for Himself, witness of His own Son."

(printed under page 313)

(d) ‹sed totam› · call in col 621

Scilicet Christi, qui omnium salvandorum ac reparandorum parens est. MITA.

Namely of Christ, Who is the parent of all who are to be saved and restored. MITA.

(printed under page 313)

(e) ‹si Spiritus sanctus› · call in col 621

Quod vera ac naturalis columba fuerit haec, plerique negant : verumtamen corpus habuisse affirmat S. Augustinus, sed corpus aerum in speciem columbae. Non tamen fuit illud corpus, quodcumque esset, a Spiritu sancto hypostatice assumptum, ut falso opinatus est Tertullianus; sed Spiritus sanctus fuit in illo, tamquam signatus in signo : sicut angeli, ut ab hominibus videantur, saepe humana corpora assumpsere. Vide Maldonatum in cap. III; Matth., num. 16. MITA.—In hac re, inquit Calmetus, religiosi adeo non fuere Patres, uti recentiores nostri; neque indignam putavere Spiritu sancto columbae speciem, cum passim in Scriptura Dei Filius describatur nomine Leonis Juda, Vermis Jacob, Agni, Lapidis, etc.

That this was a true and natural dove most deny; yet St. Augustine affirms that it had a body, but a body of air in the form of a dove. That body, however, whatever it was, was not hypostatically assumed by the Holy Spirit, as Tertullian wrongly supposed; rather the Holy Spirit was in it as the thing signified is in its sign, just as angels, in order to be seen by men, have often taken on human bodies. See Maldonatus on chapter 3 of Matthew, number 16. MITA.—In this matter, says Calmet, the Fathers were not so scrupulous as our more recent writers; nor did they think the form of a dove unworthy of the Holy Spirit, since throughout Scripture the Son of God is described under the name of Lion of Judah, Worm of Jacob, Lamb, Stone, and so on.

(printed under page 313)

PL 52:622

ad praesentiam legalis arcae (Josue III), ad totius Trinitatis praesentiam non refugit. Quid est? Quia qui pietati obsequitur, incipit non esse timori. Hic Trinitas exercet gratiam totam, totam secum loquitur charitatem: ibi elementa corripit, ut servulos instituat ad timorem. Inter haec tamen talia et tanta intrepidus stat Joannes, quia timere non potest, qui totus ad Dei amorem natus angelico testimonio comprobatur. Hodie Christus initium dat signorum coelestium, dum convertit aquas in vinum (Joan. II), ut quem Pater voce Filium jam probarat, ipse se Deum virtutibus approbaret, quia auctor est elementorum qui elementa commutat; et naturam fecit ipse, qui contra naturam facere non laborat: aquam transfert in vinum, ut divinitatis in vigore naturae nostrae proficiat hebetudo. Nam qui panes quinque fragmento profluo et furtivo incremento, ad quinque millia hominum tetendit et dilatavit saginam (Matth. XIV), potuit augmentis succrescentibus ad nuptiarum festa vini ampliare et perpetuare mensuras. Sed aqua in sanguinis erat convertenda mysterium, ut mera pocula de vase corporis sui Christus bibentibus propinaret, ut impleret illud prophetae: Et calix tuus inebrians quam praeclarus est (Psal. XXII). Tribus autem modis hodie Christi deitas est probata: magorum munere, Patris testimonio, aquae mutatione in vinum; quia tribus stare omne verbum Scripturae firmavit auctoritas dicendo: In ore duorum vel trium testium stet omne verbum (Matth. XVIII). Sed quia festivitas ipsa ad mensam nos Domini et calicis istius laetitiam commonet jam venire, res amplas brevi sermone sufficit conclusisse, per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, qui vivit et regnat nunc et semper, et per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

before the presence of the ark of the law (Josh. 3), does not flee back before the presence of the whole Trinity? What is this? Because what yields to love begins not to be [an object] of fear. Here the Trinity exercises its whole grace, speaks its whole charity with itself: there it chides the elements, to train its little servants to fear. Amid these things, however, so great and such, John stands unafraid, because he cannot fear who, born wholly for the love of God, is approved by an angel's testimony. Today Christ gives the beginning of the heavenly signs, when He turns water into wine (John 2), that He Whom the Father by His voice had already proved to be Son might Himself prove Himself God by His powers, because He Who changes the elements is the author of the elements; and He Himself made nature, Who does not labour to act against nature: He changes water into wine, that the dullness of our nature may advance into the vigour of divinity. For He Who with an overflowing breaking and a secret increase stretched and widened five loaves into a feast for five thousand men (Matt. 14), could [also] by growing increase enlarge and prolong the measures of wine for the festivities of a wedding. But the water was to be turned into the mystery of blood, that Christ might pour out unmixed cups from the vessel of His body for those who drink, that He might fulfil that [word] of the prophet: And Thy cup which inebriates, how goodly it is (Ps. 22). In three ways, then, the deity of Christ has been proved today: by the gift of the magi, by the testimony of the Father, by the change of water into wine; because the authority of Scripture has established that every word stands by three, saying: In the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word stand (Matt. 18). But since the festival itself now bids us come to the table of the Lord and the gladness of this cup, it suffices to have concluded great matters in a brief sermon, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns now and always, and through all the ages of ages. Amen.

Editors' notes and page, col. 622

Footnotes

(f) ‹ipse se Deum› · call in col 622

Ms. Caesen., manifestaret.

The Cesena manuscript: "might make manifest."

(printed under page 313)

(g) ‹in vinum, ut› · call in col 622

Ms. idem, Deitatis vino.

The same manuscript: "with the wine of the Godhead."

(printed under page 313)

(h) ‹profluo et› · call in col 622

Hoc est abscondito, et humanis oculis impervio.

That is, hidden, and impenetrable to human eyes.

(printed under page 313)

(i) ‹sanguinis erat› · call in col 622

Scilicet in sacrificio Missae. MITA.

Namely in the sacrifice of the Mass. MITA.

(printed under page 313)

(j) ‹commonet jam› · call in col 622

Hinc subinfero Auctorem nostrum praedicasse populo divinum verbum ante sacrum, vel antequam sacrum faceret. MITA. — Vel potius inter Missarum solemnia, proxime pro Evangelii lectione, antequam populo sacra mysteria distribuerentur.

From this I infer that our Author preached the divine word to the people before the Mass, or before he celebrated the Mass. MITA. — Or rather during the solemnities of the Mass, immediately at the reading of the Gospel [so printed; perhaps "after"], before the sacred mysteries were distributed to the people.

(printed under page 313)