Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 73.1–73.4

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour the houses of widows, and for a pretext make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation.” From here he now ridicules them for gluttony; and the terrible thing is that they filled their bellies not from the rich but from widows, and wore down their poverty, which they ought to have relieved. For they did not simply eat, but devoured. Then the manner of the trafficking is worse too: “for a pretext making long prayers.” For everyone who does some evil deserves punishment; but the one who takes his occasion from piety, and uses it as a cloak for wickedness, is liable to far heavier chastisement. And why did he not depose them? Because the time did not yet allow it. For this reason he lets them alone for the present; but by what he says he makes the people proof against deception, so that they may not be drawn to the same zeal because of these men’s rank. For since he had said, “All that they tell you to do, do,” he shows how much they do amiss, so that he might not be thought by the foolish, from that saying, to allow them everything. “Woe to you, because you shut the kingdom in front of men; for you do not go in, nor do you let those who are entering go in.” And if benefiting no one is a charge, what pardon has it to harm and to hinder too? And what does “those who are entering” mean? Those who are fit. For when they had to lay commands on others, they made the burdens unbearable; but when they themselves had to do something of what was required, the opposite: not only did they themselves do nothing, but, what is far more in the way of wickedness, they even corrupted others. These are the men called pests, who make the destruction of others their business, standing diametrically opposed to teachers. For if it is a teacher’s part to save the one perishing, to destroy the one about to be saved is the part of a destroyer. Then again another charge: “Because you go round sea and dry land to make one proselyte; and when he has become one, you make him a son of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.” That is, “Not even having caught him with difficulty and after countless toils makes you spare him; and yet we spare more those who were acquired with difficulty; but not even this makes you gentler.” Here he charges them with two things: one, that they are useless for the salvation of the many, and need much sweat to draw even one; the other, that they are careless in keeping the one acquired; or rather not careless only, but even traitors, corrupting him by the wickedness of their life and making him worse. For when the disciple sees his teachers such, he becomes worse. For he does not stop at the teacher’s wickedness; but when the teacher is virtuous he imitates him, and when he is bad he even surpasses him, because of the ease of going toward the worse. And he says “a son of Gehenna,” that is, Gehenna itself. And he said “twice as much as yourselves” so as both to frighten those and to strike these the harder, because they are teachers of wickedness. And not this only, but because they are eager to instill even more wickedness in their disciples, driving them on to a far greater baseness than they themselves have; which is above all the mark of a corrupt soul. Then he mocks them for folly too, because they bade men despise the greater commandments. And yet before he said the opposite, that they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear. But they did these things too, and did everything for the corruption of those under them, seeking exactness in small things and despising the great. “For you tithe,” he says, “mint and dill, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, and not to have neglected those.” Here, then, he speaks with reason, where it is a matter of tithe and almsgiving; for what harm is there in giving alms? But not as keeping the law; for he himself does not say it so. For this reason here he says, “These you ought to have done”; but where he speaks of clean and unclean, he no longer adds this, but distinguishes, and shows that the outward purity necessarily follows the inward, but not the reverse. For where the subject was love for mankind, he passes over it lightly, both for this very reason and because it was not yet the time to abolish the legal observances openly and clearly; but where it is the observance of bodily purifications, he overturns it more clearly. For this reason, about almsgiving he says, “These you ought to have done, and not to have neglected those”; but about purifications not so. But how? “You clean,” he says, “the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of extortion and injustice. Clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.” And he took this from a thing acknowledged and plain, from a cup and a dish.

Then, showing that there is no harm from despising the bodily purifications, but the greatest punishment from not caring for the purifications of the soul, which are virtue, he called the former a gnat, for they were small and nothing, and the latter a camel, for they were unbearable. That is why he says, “straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel.” For those things too were legislated for the sake of these, for the sake of mercy and judgment; so that not even then did they profit when done alone. For since the small things had been spoken for the sake of the great, when the great were neglected and the small alone pursued, there was no gain even then from them. For those did not follow upon these, but these follow upon those in every case. And he says these things showing that even before grace came these were not among the primary nor the necessary things, but that other things were sought. And if these were such before grace, much more, now that lofty precepts have come, are they useless, and must not be practiced at all. Wickedness is grievous everywhere; but above all when it does not even think it needs correction; and what is still more grievous, when it even thinks itself able to correct others; which Christ making plain calls them blind guides. For if it is the utmost misfortune and wretchedness for a blind man not to think he needs a guide, for him to wish to guide others too, see to what a pit it leads. And he said these things hinting throughout at their madness for glory, and their violent frenzy over this disease. For this became for them the cause of all evils: doing everything for display. This led them away from the faith too, made them neglect true virtue, and persuaded them to busy themselves with bodily purifications alone, neglecting the purifications of the soul. For this reason, leading them to true virtue and to the purifications of the soul, he mentions mercy and judgment and faith. For these are what hold our life together, these are what cleanse the soul: justice, love for mankind, truth; the one leading us to forgiveness, and not letting us be excessively harsh and unforgiving to those who sin (for so we shall gain doubly, both becoming loving and enjoying much love for mankind ourselves from the God of all), and preparing us to share the pain of the wronged and to defend them; the other not allowing us to be deceivers and treacherous. But neither when he says, “These you ought to have done, and not to have neglected those,” does he say it as introducing the legal observance (away with the thought! for we showed this before); nor when he says of the dish and the cup, “Clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside also may become clean,” does he lead us to the old pettiness; but quite the opposite, he does everything to show that it is superfluous. For he did not say, “Clean the outside too,” but the inside; and that certainly follows upon this. And besides, he is not speaking of a cup and dish, but discoursing about soul and body, calling the body the outside and the soul the inside. And if with a dish there is need of the inside, much more with you. “But you do the opposite,” he says: “guarding the small and outward things, you neglect the great and inward; from which the greatest harm comes, that, thinking you have achieved everything, you despise the rest; and despising them, you neither strive nor try to achieve them.” Then again he mocks them for vainglory, calling them whitewashed tombs, and adding to everything, “hypocrites,” which is the cause of all evils and the occasion of destruction for them. And he did not simply call them whitewashed tombs, but said that they are full of uncleanness and hypocrisy. And he said these things showing the cause for which they did not believe: that they were full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. And not Christ only, but the prophets too continually bring these charges: that they plunder, that their rulers do not judge according to the rule of justice; and everywhere you would find the sacrifices rejected and these things sought. So there is nothing strange or new, either in the legislation or in the accusation; nor even in the image of the tomb. For the prophet mentions it, and he too did not simply call it a tomb, but said, “Their throat is an open grave.” Such are many men now too, adorned outwardly but filled within with all lawlessness. For now too there is much manner of outward purifications, much care, but of those of the soul not one. But if someone were to rip open each one’s conscience, he would find many worms and much pus and an unspeakable stench: I mean absurd and wicked desires, which are more unclean than worms. But

that those men should be such is not so terrible, though it is terrible; but that you, who have been counted worthy to become temples of God, should suddenly become tombs with such a stench, this is the mark of the utmost wretchedness. Where Christ dwells, and the Holy Spirit has worked, and so great mysteries, that this should be a tomb, what wretchedness is this! How many laments and wailings it deserves, when the members of Christ become a tomb of uncleanness! Consider how you were born, what you were counted worthy of, what robe you received, how you were made an unbroken temple, how beautiful, adorned not with gold nor with pearls but with the Spirit, more precious than these. Consider that no tomb is built in a city; so neither will you be able to appear in the city above. For if this is forbidden here, much more there. Or rather, even here you are ridiculous to all, carrying about a dead soul; and not only ridiculous, but to be shunned. For tell me, if someone went about carrying a corpse, would not all leap away? Would not all flee? Reckon this now too. For you go about carrying a far more grievous sight than this, a soul deadened by sins, a soul paralyzed. Who then will pity such a man? For when you do not pity your own soul, how will another pity one so cruel, so hostile and an enemy to himself? If someone buried a dead body where you slept and dined, what would you not have done? But you bury a dead soul, not where you take your meal nor where you sleep, but in the members of Christ; and do you not fear lest countless thunderbolts and lightnings come down from above on your head? And how do you even dare to set foot in the churches of God and the holy temples, reeking within of such foulness? For if someone carrying a dead body into the palace and burying it there would pay the utmost penalty, consider what punishment you will undergo, setting foot within the holy precincts and filling the house with such a stench. Imitate that harlot, who anointed Christ’s feet with ointment and filled the whole house with fragrance; you do the opposite of her to the house. For what if you do not perceive the stench? This above all is the grievous thing about the disease; that is why you are incurably sick, and more grievously than those whose bodies are maimed and fetid. For that disease gives the sufferers perception of it, and carries no charge, but is even worthy of pity; but this one deserves hatred and punishment. Since, then, it is worse in this too, that the sick man does not perceive it as he ought, come, give yourself to the word, so that I may teach you clearly its ruin. And first hear what you say when you sing the psalm: “Let my prayer be directed as incense before you.” When, then, not incense but a stinking smoke goes up from you and your deeds, what penalty do you not deserve to undergo? What then is the stinking smoke? Many come in staring at the beauty of women; others busy themselves with the bloom of boys. Then do you not wonder how thunderbolts are not hurled and everything is not torn up from its foundations? For what is done deserves thunderbolts and Gehenna; but God, being long-suffering and of great mercy, holds back his wrath for a time, calling you to repentance and correction. What are you doing, man? You busy yourself with the beauty of women, and do you not shudder at so insulting the temple of God? Does the church seem to you a brothel, and more dishonorable than the marketplace? For in the marketplace you are afraid and ashamed to be seen busying yourself with a woman; but in the temple of God, while God himself is speaking to you and threatening about these things, you commit fornication and adultery at the very moment when you are hearing not to do them; and do you not shudder nor stand aghast? These things the theaters of licentiousness teach you, that plague hard to dissolve, those … drugs, the grievous snares of the slack, the destruction of the licentious with pleasure. That is why the prophet too, accusing, said, “Your eyes are not, nor your heart, good.” It would be better for such men to be blind; better to be sick than to use their eyes for these things. You ought to have had within you the wall that separates you from the women; but since you will not, the fathers thought it necessary to wall you off at least with these boards; as I at least hear from the elders that of old not even these partitions existed. “For in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female.” And in the time of the apostles both men and women were together. For the men were men, and the women women; but now quite the opposite: the women have thrust themselves into the manners of courtesans, and the men are in no better state than maddened horses. Have you not heard that men and women were gathered in the upper room, and that assembly was worthy of heaven? And very reasonably. For then women too practiced great philosophy, and men gravity and self-control. Hear, at any rate, the seller of purple saying, “If you have judged me faithful to the Lord, come in and stay with me.” Hear of the women who went about with the apostles, having taken on a manly spirit: Priscilla, Persis, and the rest; from whom the women of the present are as far removed as the men are from those men.

For then, even when traveling abroad, they did not get an evil reputation; but now, even when brought up in the chamber, they scarcely escape this suspicion. And these things come from their adornments and their luxury. Then their work was to spread the preaching; but now, to appear comely and beautiful and fair of face. This is their glory, this their salvation; but the lofty and great achievements they do not care for even in a dream. What woman has made it her concern to make her husband better? What man has taken this care, to correct his wife? There is no one. But the woman’s whole concern is for the care of gold ornaments and garments and the other adornments of the body, and for increasing the property; and the man has this concern and many others besides, all of them worldly. Who, when about to marry, has examined a girl’s character and upbringing? No one; but at once money and estates and the measures of property of every various kind, as though he were about to buy something or carry out some common contract. That is why they even call marriage so. For I have heard many saying, “So-and-so has contracted with so-and-so,” that is, married. And they insult God’s gifts, and they marry and are given in marriage as though buying and selling. And the documents need more security than those about sale and purchase. Learn how the men of old married, and emulate them. How then did they marry? They sought manners and character and virtue of soul. For this reason they had no need of documents, nor of security from paper and ink; for the bride’s character sufficed them instead of everything. I beg you too, then, not to seek money and wealth, but character and goodness. Seek a pious and philosophic girl; and these will be better for you than ten thousand treasures. If you seek the things of God, these too will come; but if you pass those by and run after these, not even these will follow. “But so-and-so,” someone says, “became wealthy from a wife.” Are you not ashamed to bring forward such examples? “May I become poor ten thousand times,” I have heard many saying, “rather than receive wealth from a woman.” For what is more disagreeable than that wealth, more bitter than that affluence, more shameful than to be notable from this and to be called by all, “So-and-so became wealthy from a wife”? For I leave aside the unpleasantness within, as much as must necessarily come from this: the wife’s pride, the servility, the quarrels, the reproaches of the servants: “The poor man, the man in rags, the dishonored son of dishonored parents! For what did he come with? Does not everything belong to the mistress?” But you care nothing for these words; for you are not free either. For parasites too hear worse things than these and are not pained; so neither are these; rather, they even pride themselves on the shame; and when we say these things to them, “Let it be,” he says, “something sweet and pleasant, and let it choke me.” O the devil! What proverbs he has brought into life, able to overturn the whole life of such men! See, at any rate, this very devilish and destructive saying, how full of ruin it is. For it says nothing else but these words: “Let no thought of what is honorable be yours, no thought of what is just; let all those things be thrown away; seek one thing only, pleasure. Even if the thing chokes you, let it be chosen; even if all who meet you spit on you, even if they rub mud on your face, even if they drive you away like a dog, bear everything.” And what else would swine say if they had a voice? What else unclean dogs? Perhaps not even those would utter such things as the devil has persuaded men to rave. Therefore I beg you, perceiving the senselessness of such words, to flee such proverbs, and to choose those from Scripture, which are opposed to them. And what are these? “Do not go,” it says, “after the desire of your soul, and restrain yourself from your appetites.” And about the harlot again it says, opposed to this proverb, “Do not attend to a worthless woman; for honey drips from the lips of a harlot woman, which for a season makes your throat smooth; but afterward you will find it more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.” Let us listen to these, then, not to those. For from those the illiberal, the servile thoughts spring; from those men become irrational, because they wish to pursue pleasure everywhere according to this proverb, which even without our words is ridiculous at once. For after being choked, what is the gain of the sweetness? Stop, then, making such laughter and kindling Gehenna and unquenchable fire; and let us at last, though late, look as we ought to the things to come, casting off the rheum of our eyes, so that we may both pass the life here decently and with great gravity and piety, and obtain the good things to come, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory to the ages of ages. Amen.