Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Raphael, The Miraculous Draft of Fishes

So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. (Luke 5:1–11)

He is not teaching him, I say, how to catch fish with a net but how to collect human beings by faith, for faith does on earth what a net does in the waters. Just as a net does not let what it holds slip out, neither does faith permit those whom it gathers to go astray, but as the one brings what it has caught in its bosom, so to say, to the boat, so the other brings those whom it has gathered in its breast, so to say, to peace. That you may understand that the Lord was speaking of spiritual fishing, however, Peter says: Teacher, laboring through the whole night we have caught nothing, but at your word I shall let down the nets. It is as if he were saying: Since through the whole night our fishing has brought us nothing and we have been laboring in vain, now I shall not fish with fishing gear but with grace, not with the diligence acquired by skill but with the perseverance acquired by devotion. At your word, he says, I shall let down the nets. We read that the word is the Lord, the Savior, as the Evangelist says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. When Peter lets down the nets at the word, therefore, he is in fact letting down teachings in Christ, and when he unfolds the tightly-woven and well-ordered nets at the behest of the master he is really laying out words in the name of the Savior in a fitting and clear fashion; by these he is able to save not creatures but souls. Laboring through the whole night, he says, we have caught nothing. Peter, who beforehand was unable to see in order to make a catch, enduring darkness without Christ, had indeed labored through the whole night, but when the Savior’s light shone upon him the darkness scattered and by faith he began to discern in the deep what he could not see with his eyes. Peter clearly endured the night until the day, which is Christ, became present to him.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 110.2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Jesus' Baptism

Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison. When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:15–22)

Today, then, is another kind of birth of the Savior. We see Him born with the same sort of signs, the same sort of wonders, but with greater mystery. And the Holy Spirit, who was present to Him then in the womb, now pours out upon Him in the torrent. He who then purified Mary for Him now sanctifies the running waters for Him. The Father who then overshadowed in power now cries out with His voice. And He who then, as if choosing the more prudent course, manifested Himself as a cloud at the nativity now bears witness to the truth; for God says: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him. Clearly the second birth is more excellent than the first. For the one brought forth Christ in silence and without a witness, but the other baptized the Lord gloriously with a profession of divinity; from the one Joseph, thought to be the father, absents himself, but at the other God the Father, not believed in, manifests Himself; in the one the mother labors under suspicion because in her condition she lacked a father, but in the other she is honored because God attests to His Son.…

Today, then, He is baptized in the Jordan. What sort of baptism is this, when the one who is dipped is purer than the font, and where the water that soaks the one whom it has received is not dirtied but honored with blessings? What sort of baptism is this of the Savior, I ask, in which the streams are made pure more than they purify? For by a new kind of consecration the water does not so much wash Christ as submit to being washed. Since the Savior plunged into the waters, He sanctified the outpouring of every flood and the course of every stream by the mystery of His baptism, so that when someone wishes to be baptized in the name of the Lord it is not so much the waters of this world that cover him but the waters of Christ that purify him. Yet the Savior willed to be baptized for this reason—not that He might cleanse Himself but that He might cleanse the waters for our sake.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 13A 2–3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Advent

Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:39–45)

Not yet born, already John prophesies and, while still in the enclosure of his mother’s womb, confesses the coming of Christ with movements of joy since he could not do so with his voice. For Elizabeth says to holy Mary: As soon as you greeted me, the child in my womb exulted for joy. John exults, then, before he is born, and before his eyes can see what the world looks like he can recognize the Lord of the world with his spirit. In this regard I think that the prophetic phrase is apropos which says: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you. Thus we ought not to marvel that, after he was put in prison by Herod, from his confinement he continued to announce Christ to his disciples, when even confined in the womb he preached the same Lord by his movements.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 5.4

Believe what says the angel who was sent
From the Father's throne, or if your stolid ear
Catch not the voice from heaven, be wise and hear
The cry of aged woman, now with child.
O wondrous faith! The babe in senile womb
Greets through his mother's lips the Virgin's Son,
Our Lord; the child unborn makes known the cry
Of the Child bestowed on us, for speechless yet,
He caused that mouth to herald Christ as God.

Prudentius, The Divinity of Christ 585–93.

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. (Luke 5:1–11)

The entire content of this lesson bears a mystical meaning, for a little before, when sitting in the boat, the Lord said to Peter: Go out into the deep and let down your net for the catch. He is not, indeed, teaching him how to cast out his fishing gear but how to let down the words of preaching into the deep.… He is not teaching him, I say, how to catch fish with a net but how to collect human beings by faith, for faith does on earth what a net does in the waters. Just as a net does not let what it holds slip out, neither does faith permit those whom it gathers to go astray, but as the one brings what it has caught in its bosom, so to say, to the boat, so the other brings those whom it has gathered in its breast, so to say, to peace.… When Peter lets down the nets at the word, therefore, he is in fact letting down teachings in Christ, and when he unfolds the tightly-woven and well-ordered nets at the behest of the master he is really laying out words in the name of the Savior in a fitting and clear fashion; by these he is able to save not creatures but souls.… Peter, who beforehand was unable to see in order to make a catch, enduring darkness without Christ, had indeed labored through the whole night, but when the Savior’s light shone upon him the darkness scattered and by faith he began to discern in the deep what he could not see with his eyes. Peter clearly endured the night until the day, which is Christ, became present to him.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 110 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday after Epiphany

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:1–11)

Let us inquire, then, what sign He performed in order to manifest His divinity to the people. This is said to have been His first miracle—that He changed water into wine. Clearly this is a great sign and one sufficient for believing the majesty of God, for who would not be amazed at elements transformed into something other than they were? For no one can change nature except the one who is Lord of nature. From this one must believe that a mortal human being can be transformed into immortality, when a base substance has been transformed into a precious substance. For, listener, I do not want you to notice only the names of wine and water, but if you wish to ascertain the power look at the virtue of the things, for by this deed something very lofty is pointed out. When the Lord converts water into wine, He does this not so that drunkenness may not be wanting to the banqueters but so that eternity may be the lot of believers. For, since Christ came into the world not that He might provide supplies for feasters but that He might obtain salvation for human beings, neither did He do so in order to fill water jars with a pleasant-smelling substance but in order to water souls with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when from that base water He wished the feasters to savor the taste of an excellent wine, He wished rather for believers to savor from this base flesh the taste of a heavenly resurrection. In this sign, in fact, the whole mystery of the resurrection is contained, for the turning of water that is base, lackluster, and cold into wine that is precious, red, and fiery, signifies that the substance of the human person—base in its condition, lackluster in its weakness, and cold in its dying—is to be changed into the glory of the resurrection, which is precious in its eternity, bright-hued in its grace, and fiery with the Spirit of deathlessness.

It is proper to believe, therefore, that the Lord wished to do this so that through this earthly sign the future heavenly mystery would already be seen then by the wise. For if it is truly marvelous that what was lacking to those at table was made up for by the wine, how much more marvelous it is that life which has been drained dry has been restored to human beings! And if it is a glorious thing to change water into wine, how much more glorious it is to change sins into righteousness and to temper behavior rather than goblets! I dare say that those water jars serve that precious substance not only to that banquet but to the whole world; indeed, they serve us better. For it is well known that they drew drunkenness from those vessels, but we draw righteousness; that they received a goblet of wine, but we take the cup of salvation; and, if it is permitted to speak thus, that what they drank was passing, but that what we have received abides.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 101: “A Sequel on the Same Holy Day” 3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Baptism of Our Lord

Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison. When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:15–22)

Today, then, is another kind of birth of the Savior. We see Him born with the same sort of signs, the same sort of wonders, but with greater mystery. And the Holy Spirit, who was present to Him then in the womb, now pours out upon Him in the torrent. He who then purified Mary for Him now sanctifies the running waters for Him. The Father who then overshadowed in power now cries out with His voice. And He who then, as if choosing the more prudent course, manifested Himself as a cloud at the nativity now bears witness to the truth; for God says: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him. Clearly the second birth is more excellent than the first. For the one brought forth Christ in silence and without a witness, but the other baptized the Lord gloriously with a profession of divinity; from the one Joseph, thought to be the father, absents himself, but at the other God the Father, not believed in, manifests Himself; in the one the mother labors under suspicion because in her condition she lacked a father, but in the other she is honored because God attests to His Son.…

Today, then, He is baptized in the Jordan. What sort of baptism is this, when the one who is dipped is purer than the font, and where the water that soaks the one whom it has received is not dirtied but honored with blessings? What sort of baptism is this of the Savior, I ask, in which the streams are made pure more than they purify? For by a new kind of consecration the water does not so much wash Christ as submit to being washed. Since the Savior plunged into the waters, He sanctified the outpouring of every flood and the course of every stream by the mystery of His baptism, so that when someone wishes to be baptized in the name of the Lord it is not so much the waters of this world that cover him but the waters of Christ that purify him. Yet the Savior willed to be baptized for this reason—not that He might cleanse Himself but that He might cleanse the waters for our sake.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 13a: “On Holy Epiphany” 2–3

The Victor Returns with Honor

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”  (Psalm 110:1)

All these things are brought about in us by Christ, the Lord who, before He returned to heaven, made this promise to His disciples: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.*  Thus it must be believed that Christ has ascended to the Father when we see that the Helper has descended upon the apostles.  It must be believed, I tell you, that He sits at the right hand of God, as David says of the Savior, because we see the Holy Spirit, as the Lord promised, exulting in the disciples.  Consequently, the prophetic psalm says: The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand.†  According to our custom, the right of sitting is offered to one who, like a victor returning from having accomplished a great deed, deserves to be seated for the sake of honor.  And so the man Jesus Christ, who overcame the devil by His suffering and unlocked the underworld by His resurrection, returning to heaven like a victor after having accomplished a great deed, hears from God the Father: Sit at my right hand.  And it is not to be wondered at that sitting on the same seat is offered to the Son by the Father, since by nature He is of one substance with the Father.  But perhaps someone is puzzled that the Son is said to be on the right.  For although there are no degrees of dignity where the fullness of divinity is concerned, nonetheless the Son is on the right, not because He is preferred to the Father, but so that He not be believed to be inferior.  And the Son is on the right because, according to the Gospel, the sheep will be gathered on the right but the goats on the left.  It is necessary, therefore, that the first lamb occupy the place of the sheep and that the unsullied leader come before the unsullied flock that will follow Him, as John says in the Apocalypse: It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins.  It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.‡  Therefore the prophet David says: The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand.  That is to say, the Lord who is Father offers the lofty seat of His throne to the Lord God Christ, who is His Son, and for the sake of honor He places Him at His right hand on an eternal seat.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 40, 2

*  John 14:16-17
†  Psalm 110:1
‡  Revelation 14:4