St. Peter Chrysologus on Peace

Byzantine Apse in the Church of San Appolinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy. 

Here is an excerpt from a very short sermon by St. Peter Chrysologus, who served as Bishop of Ravenna from 433 to 450. The sermon was probably given when he was preaching as a guest outside his own city, but few other details of composition are known. The translation is by George E. Ganss, S.J., as it appears in ‘St. Peter Chrysologus: Selected Sermons and St. Valerian: Homilies’, in Volume 17 of ‘The Fathers of the Church’, New York, 1953. 

‘What is there, O devout people of the Lord, which we can fittingly offer you, even though we are poor and very unlearned? Beyond any doubt, peace, that peace which our Lord Jesus Christ bids us to offer every house we enter. Hence, at the very beginning of our greeting we, too, prayed for peace to you from the Lord. It should be possessed always, and prayed for continually. We are not speaking about that faithless, unstable peace of this world, which is either sought for its advantages or preserved through fear. Rather, there is question of the peace of Christ, which according to the statement of the Apostle Paul surpasses all understanding, and preserves the hearts of the faithful.

‘This peace is nourished from the rich fruitfulness of charity. It is the nursling daughter of faith, the supporting column of justice. Peace is a suitable pledge of future hope. Peace, which unites those present, invites the absent. This peace reconciles earthly things with the heavenly and human matters with those divine. For, that is what the Apostle states: ‘that our Lord Jesus Christ established in peace through His blood all things whether on the earth or in the heavens.’

‘These, therefore, are the viands which a traveling pilgrim has set before you, in proportion to his strength as a poor man on a journey. May the God of peace, who joined earthly things to the heavenly, grant us to relish the same things one with another, and to rejoice in our complete concord, through Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom glory is given to God, the Father Almighty, forever and ever. Amen.’

St. Proclus of Constantinople on the Theophany

Icon of the Theophany or Baptism of the Lord, Ochrid School, Bulgaria.

FROM THE ORATIONS OF ST PROCLUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE ON THE THEOPHANY

Christ appeared to the world, and putting order into the disordered world he made it resplendent. He took upon himself the sin of the world and cast down the enemy of the world. He sanctified the founts of water, and enlightened the souls of men. He surrounded miracles with still greater miracles.

For today both earth and sea have shared between them the grace of the Savior, and over the whole world joy is spread, and today’s feast manifests a greater increase of miracles than the festival we held before.

For in the former festival day of the Savior’s nativity the earth was joining in the gladness, because she carried the Lord in a crib; but on this present day of the Epiphany the sea leaped with the highest joy and danced with delight – delighting indeed that it had received the blessing of sanctification in the midst of Jordan.

In the former celebration an imperfect infant was exhibited witnessing to our imperfection, but on the present festival day a full-grown man is to be seen, in obscure fashion pointing to him who being perfect proceeds from the perfect God. There the King puts on the purple robe of a body; here the fount forms round him a river as if to clothe him.

Come then and see new and overwhelming miracles: the sun of righteousness bathing in Jordan, the fire immersed in water and God being sanctified by human ministry.

Today all creation resounding with hymns cries: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is he who comes at all times: for this is not the first time that he has come.

And now who is this? Speak more clearly, I pray, blessed David. God is the Lord, and he has given us light. Nor does David alone as prophet speak thus, but in fact Paul the Apostle, agreeing with him in his own testimony, says the following words: There has appeared the grace of God, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us. Not to some men, but to all – to all, that is, both Jews and Greeks equally, he pours out salvation through baptism, offering to all men a common blessing in baptism.

Come, see the strange and new flood, greater and more excellent than that in the days of Noah. There the water of the flood destroyed the human race; but here the water of the baptism, by the power of him who is baptized in it, has called back the dead to life. There the dove carrying the olive branch in its beak denotes the fragrance of the sweet-smelling savor of the Lord Christ, but here the Holy Spirit coming in the form of a dove reveals to us our merciful God.

 

The Magi, the Shepherds and the Nativity of the Lord

Here is an excerpt from a sermon by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa (354-430) on the the Magi, the shepherds and the Nativity of the Lord.

The Redeemer of all nations was manifested, and so he has made a feast day for all nations. As this is the day on which he is believed to have been worshipped by the Magi, it seemed only right, was indeed right and just, that the nations should dedicate it to Christ the Lord with a solemn service of thanksgiving. Those Magi, the first Gentiles to recognize Christ the Lord, had not yet been moved by any word of his, but they followed the star that appeared to them and that spoke visibly, like a heavenly tongue, on behalf of the infant inarticulate Word.

The shepherds, of course, were the first fruits of the Jews as regards faith in Christ and his revelation. Coming from close at hand, they saw him on the very day of his birth. They received the news from angels, whereas the Magi received it from a star. The shepherds heard the words: Glory to God in the highest; for the Magi, the prophecy: The heavens declare the glory of God, was fulfilled. The two of them were like the beginnings of two walls coming from opposite directions, one of the circumcision, the other of the uncircumcision, and running toward the cornerstone so that he might be their peace, and make the two one.

The shepherds, then, came from nearby to see, and the Magi came from a great distance to worship. This is the humility for which the wild olive deserved to be grafted into the cultivated one and to produce olives contrary to its nature, since grace enabled it to change its nature. For like the wild olive the whole world had grown wild and bitter, but by the grace of ingrafting it became fertile. People come from the ends of the earth saying in the words of Jeremiah: Truly our ancestors worshiped lies. And they come not just from one part of the world but, as the Gospel according to Luke says, from east and west, north and south to sit at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

The Magi, the first fruits of the Gentiles, came to see and worship Christ, and were found worthy not only to receive their own salvation but also to be a sign of the salvation of all nations. Let us then celebrate this day with the greatest devotion, worshipping the Lord Jesus in his heavenly dwelling, who was worshiped by those first fruits of ours as he lay in an inn. They venerated in him what was still to come; we venerate its fulfillment. The first fruits of the nations worshipped him at his mother’s breast; now the nations worship him seated at the right hand of God the Father.