St. Gregory the Great on Mark 16: 17-20

St. Gregory the Great and St. Peter the Deacon. Icon of the Western Rite of the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

From a homily by St. Gregory the Great on the great miracles worked by the apostles and other disciples in the early Church. The text is taken from: ‘Monastic Breviary Matins According to the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict,’ Society of the Sacred Cross, 1961, pp. 466-7.

These signs do not follow us now, but should that make us any less believing? They were necessary at the time of the dawn of the Church, for it was necessary then for great numbers to be brought to believe, so that the faith might grow, and so they were nourished by miracles. It is like planting trees: at first we continuously water them, until we find that they have taken root, and then, when the roots are firm, we cease watering. Or, as Paul says, ‘Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.’ 

There is yet greater depth to be plumbed in these signs and wonders. In our own times Holy Church works spiritually each day that which in apostolic times was done bodily. For when her priests are endowed with the grace of exorcism and lay hands upon believers whose souls are vexed by evil spirits, what else are they doing but casting out devils? And when the faithful forsake their worldly conversation and sing of divine mysteries, and show forth the praise and power of their Maker, what else are they doing but speaking with new tongues? Others, when they bear away the malice from the hearts of their fellows, with entreaties supplemented by their own good example, do indeed take up serpents.

Others, when they hear poisonous suggestions and are in no wise tempted to follow after evil works, are then drinking a deadly thing, but it does not hurt them. Those who run to assist their neighbor whenever they see his piety weaken, and strengthen him by the example of their own good deeds: what else are they doing but laying their hands on the sick so that they recover? Undoubtedly these are the grater miracles, since they are spiritual ones, and they are so much the greater, in that they raise up not merely the body, but the very soul.