On the Death of Theodosius · Part 2

(

:

ON THE DEATH OF THEODOSIUS Ties)

He set forth mercy twice, justice once. Justice is in the midst, inclosed by a double hedge of mercy; for sins superabound, there- fore let mercy superabound. With the Lord there is an abundance of all virtues, for He is the Lord of virtues. Still there is no justice without mercy, nor without the exercise of mercy is there justice, as it is written, “ Be not over-just.” That which is above measure, even if it be good, still one does not endure it. Preserve the measure that you may receive according to the measure.

26. Still mercy has not impeded justice; for mercy is itself jus- tice. “He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor, his justice remaineth forever.” For the just man knows that he ought to succor the feeble and the needy. Hence the Lord, coming to bap- tism in order to pardon our sins who are weak, said to John: “Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfill all jus- tice.” Therefore it is evident that justice is mercy and mercy is justice. For if the mercy of God did not sustain us, how could we survive as infants, in the very first moment of existence when, borne from the womb from warmth into cold, from moisture into dryness, we are thrown forth like fishes which a flood of nature, as it were, had cast shipwrecked into this life. Reason is lacking, but divine grace does not fail. Therefore He Himself guards the little ones, or at least those who by an act of humility confess that they are little ones.

2%. Good therefore is humility, which delivers those who are in danger and raises up the fallen. He knew it who said: “ Behold it is I, I have sinned, and I the shepherd have done wickedly; and these in this flock what have they done? Let thy hand be against me.” Well he says this who made his kingdom subject to God and did penance and, having confessed his sin, asked pardon. He himself attained salvation through humility. Christ humbled Him- self to raise up all. He has attained the rest of Christ who has followed the humility of Christ.

98. And so because Theodosius, the Emperor, showed him- self humble and, when sin had stolen upon him, asked pardon, his soul has turned to its rest, as the Scripture holds, which says: “Turn my soul unto thy rest, for the Lord hath been bountiful to thee.” Beautifully it says to the soul: “ Turn,” that the soul, as it were, tired out with the continued sweat of each work, may turn from labor to rest. The horse is turned toward the stable when

74 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES

it has finished its course; the ship to its port, where it is drawn up to safe moorings from the force of the waves. But what does he mean by saying “to thy rest” unless you understand it ac- cording to the words of the Lord Jesus: “Come ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you by inheritance from the foundation of the world?” For we receive, as it were, an inherited possession, the things which have been promised to us, for God is faithful, who does not withdraw what he has once pre- pared for His servants. If our faith endure, His promise like- wise endures.

29. See O man the grace of Christ about you; as yet you are harassed on earth, but in heaven you possess. There then, let your heart be, where your possession is. This is the rest which is due the just, and is denied the unworthy. Whence says the Lord, “ As I swore in my wrath, that they shall not enter into my rest.” For he who has not known the ways of the Lord shall not enter into the rest of the Lord, but he who has fought the good fight and has finished his course, to him it is said: “Turn to thy rest.” It is a noble rest to pass by the things of the world and to find repose in that celestial fellowship of mysteries which are above the world. This is the rest toward which the prophet was eager to hasten, saying: “ Who will give me wings like a dove and I will fly and be at rest?” The holy man knows this rest of his; to this rest he says his soul must turn. Thus then was his soul in its rest, to which he says it must return. This is the rest of the great Sabbath, that each one of the saints is above the sensible things of the world wholly intent upon that intelligible mystery and keeping close to God. This is that rest of the Sabbath on which God rested from all the works of this world.

30. Theodosius, now at peace, rejoices that he has been snatched away from the cares of this world and lifts up his soul and directs it to that perpetual rest, declaring that he has been well cared for, inasmuch as God has snatched his soul from death, which death he frequently withstood in_this hazardous state of the world, dis- turbed by the waves of sin. He has also snatched his eyes from tears, for sorrow and sadness and mourning shall flee away. And elsewhere we have: “ He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow.” If then death shall be no more, he will not be able to experience

ON THE DEATH OF THEODOSIUS 7d

a fall, when he is in that rest, but he will please God in the land of the living. For as man is here enveloped in a body of death subject to falls and transgressions, not so indeed there. And so, that is the land of the living where the soul is, which has been made to the image and likeness of God, not flesh fashioned from earth. Therefore the flesh returns to earth, the soul hastens to supernal rest. To it, it is said: “ Turn, my soul, to thy rest.”

31. Into this rest Theodosius hastened to enter, that is, to go into the city of Jerusalem, concerning which it has been said: ““ And the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it.” That is true glory which is there assumed; that the most blessed king- dom which is there possessed, to which the Apostle was hastening, saying: “We are confident, then, and agree to be absent rather from the body and to be present with the Lord; and therefore we strive, whether absent or present to please Him.”

32. And so freed from a doubtful struggle, Theodosius of au- gust memory now enjoys perpetual light and lasting tranquility, and in exchange for all that he did in this body, he rejoices in the fruits of a divine reward. Therefore because Theodosius of august memory loved the Lord his God, he has merited the com- panionship of the saints.

33. And to conclude my discourse by a sort of peroration—I have loved the merciful man, humble in power and endowed with a pure heart and a gentle disposition, such a one as God is accustomed to love saying: “ Above whom shall I rest, unless above the humble and gentle?”

34, I have loved the man who esteemed an admonitor more than a flatterer. He threw on the ground all the royal attire which he was wearing; he wept publicly in the Church, for his sin which had stolen upon him by the deceit of others; he prayed for pardon with groans and with tears. That which brings a blush to private citizens, the Emperor did not blush to do, that is, to perform pen- ance publicly; nor did a day pass afterwards on which he did not grieve for that mistake of his. What of the fact that when he had gained an illustrious victory, still because the enemy had fallen in battle he abstained from a participation of the sacraments, until he experienced the grace of God around him by the arrival of his children?

3% J have loved the man who in his dying hour kept asking for

76 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES

me with his last breath. I have loved the man who at the moment he was being released from the body was more concerned about the condition of the Churches than his own trials. I have loved there- fore, I confess it, and for that reason I have suffered my sorrow in the depths of my heart and I thought solace should be obtained by the delivery of this too lengthy discourse. I have loved and I trust that God is receiving the voice of my prayer, with which I accompany his pious soul. i

36. “The sorrows of death have compassed me; the perils of hell have found me”; for the dangers are of the many, but the remedies of the few. The bishop is imperilled in all circumstances; he is distressed among all the guilty; for what others suffer, he himself endures; and in turn he is freed, when others who are bound are freed from danger. I am crushed at heart because a man has been taken away whom we can scarcely replace. But still, O Lord, Thou alone shouldst be supplicated; Thou shouldst be implored to repro- duce him in his sons. Thou, Lord, the keeper also of little ones in this lowliness, “ save those hoping in Thee.” Give perfect rest to Thy servant Theodosius, that rest which Thou hast prepared for Thy saints. Let his soul turn there, whence it descended, where he cannot feel the sting of death, where he knows that this death is not the end of nature but of error. For in that he died, he died to sin; so that now there can be no place for sin; but he will rise again in order that his life may be restored more perfectly by renewed gifts.

37. I have loved and so I accompany him to the land of the living, and I will not abandon him, until, by my tears and prayers I shall lead the man whither his merits summon, unto the holy mountain of God; where there is eternal life; where there is no corruption, no sickness, no mourning, no sorrow, no companion- ship of the dead; a true land of the living where “ this mortal shall put on immortality and this corruptible shall put on incorruption.” A noble repose which, satisfies the prayer of the loving, a most glorious promise. Therefore the Hundred and Fourteenth Psalm, Alleluia, is written. Finally, in the Fourteenth Psalm, we have already learned the perfection of man. But made in this world, man may be perfect, but still subject to sin, because he is living in time; in the other world there is true perfection where indeed sin has ceased, and the grace of perpetual rest has shone forth.

ON THE DEATH OF THEODOSIUS eC

38. For this reason the Hundred and Fourteenth Psalm is written, because it is the recompense of love; whence the pasch of the Lord received its manner of celebration at the fourteenth moon; since, he who celebrates the pasch ought to be perfect; he should love the Lord Jesus, who cherishing his people with perfect love offered himself to his passion. And so let us love that, if there should be need, for the name of the Lord we may not avoid death, we may not consider any sorrow, we may fear nothing; “ for perfect charity casteth out fear.’ Sublime mystery of number, since the Father delivered His only Son for us all, when the moon shone with the full orb of its light. So, truly, the Church which devoutly celebrates the pasch of our Lord Jesus Christ, “as the perfect moon abides for ever.” Whoever during life celebrates fit- tingly the pasch of the Lord shall be in perpetual light. Who has celebrated it more sumptuously than he who removed sacrilegious errors, closed temples, and destroyed idols. In this respect was King Josias preferred to his predecessors.

39. Theodosius, then, abides in the light and glories in the as- sembly of the saints. There he is now embracing Gratian, who no longer grieves for his wounds, for he has found an avenger. He, though snatched away prematurely by an unworthy death, possesses rest for his soul. There the good and great expounders of the love of God are alike rejoiced by a share in his mercy. Of whom it is well said: “ Day to day uttereth speech.” But on the other hand Maximus and Hugenius in hell, as “night to night sheweth knowledge ”; teaching by a miserable example the wicked- ness of taking arms against their princes. Concerning whom it is said fittingly “I have seen the wicked highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanus, and I passed by and lo, he was not!” He, devout indeed, has passed over from the night of time to eternal day, and the wicked was no more, who in his injustice has ceased to live.

40. Now Theodosius of august memory acknowledges that he reigns, since he is in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and contemplates his temple. Now indeed, in his own eyes he is a king as he receives his son Gratian and Pulcheria, his sweetest children whom he had lost here; when his Flacilla, a soul faithful to God, clings to him; when he rejoices that his father has been restored to him; when he greets Constantine, who, though resolved in his

"8 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES

last hour, was freed by the grace of baptism from all sin, and be- cause he was the first of the emperors to believe and left after him a heritage of faith to princes, he has found a place of great merit. Of whose times the following prophecy is accomplished: “In that day that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be holy to the Lord omnipotent.” And this holy object, Helen his mother, of sainted memory, when filled with the spirit of God, unveiled for herself.

41. Happy Constantine, because of such a mother, who at her son’s command sought the aid of divine favour by which in battle he might both engage safely and not fear danger. Noble woman, who found something much greater to give to the emperor than she could receive from the emperor. The mother, solicitous for her son to whom the sovereignty of the Roman world had fallen, hastened to Jerusalem and diligently explored the place of the Lord’s passion.

42. They claim that at first she was hostess of an inn, and known as such to the elder Constantine, who afterwards secured the realm. Good hostess, who so diligently sought for the manger of the Lord. Good hostess who did not ignore that host, who cared for the wounds of the man wounded by robbers. Good hostess who pre- ferred to be considered dung, to gain Christ. For that reason Christ raised her from dung to a kingdom, as it is written that “He raised up the needy from, the earth, and lifted up the poor out of the dunghill.”

43. Helen, then, came and commenced to look about the sacred places. The Spirit inspired her to search for the wood of the Cross, She drew near to Golgotha and said “ Behold the place of combat, where is the victory? I seek the standard of salvation and I do not find it. “TJ,” she said, “among kings, and the cross of my Lord in the dust? I in golden ornaments, and the triumph of Christ among ruins? Thus far the cross lies hidden and the palm of eternal life lies hidden! How do I believe that I have been re- deemed, if my redemption itself is not seen? ”

44. “JT see what you did, O Devil, in order that the sword by which you were destroyed might be walled up. But Isaac cleared from rubbish the wells blocked up by foreigners, and did not suffer the water to lie concealed. Let the ruins be removed that life may appear; let the sword be drawn forth with which the head of the

true Goliath was cut off; let the earth be opened that salvation may shine forth. Why did you labor to hide the wood, O Devil, unless that you may be vanquished a second time? You were van- quished by Mary, who gave the Conqueror birth. She without detri- ment to her virginity, brought forth Him to conquer you by His crucifixion, and to subjugate you by His death. Today also you shall be conquered when a woman discovers your snares. As that holy one bore the Lord, I shall search for His cross. She showed Him created; I, raised from the dead. She caused God to be seen among men; I shall raise from the ruins the divine standard as a remedy for our sins.

45. And so she opens the ground; she casts off the dust. She finds three forked-shaped gibbets thrown together, which the débris had covered; which the enemy had hidden. But the triumph of Christ could not be obliterated. She hesitates uncertain. She hesitates, as a woman, but the Holy Spirit inspires a careful in- vestigation, with the thought that two robbers had been crucified with the Lord. Therefore she seeks the middle wood, but it could have happened that the débris mixed up the crosses one with an- other, and chance interchanged them. She returned to the text of the Gospel, and found that on the middle gibbet a title had been displayed “ Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Hence a se- quence of truth was formulated; the saving cross was disclosed by its title. This it is that Pilate answered to the Jews when they petitioned him: “ What I have written, I have written” that is, “T have not written these things to please you, but that future ages may know. I have not written for you but for posterity; saying, as it were: “Let Helen have something to read, whereby she may recognize the cross of the Lord.”

46. She discovered, then, the title; she adored the King; not the wood indeed, because this is an error of the Gentiles and a vanity of the wicked; but she adored Him who hung on the wood, who was inscribed in the title; Him, I say, who as a scarabaeus, cried out to his Father to forgive the sins of his persecutors. The woman eagerly hastened to reach the remedy of immortality. She was afraid to trample under foot the mystery of salvation. J oyful at heart yet with anxious footstep, she knew now what she should do. She proceeded, however, to the cradle of truth. The wood shone and grace flashed forth. And as before Christ had visited

80 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES

a woman in Mary, so the Spirit visited a woman in Helen. He taught her those things which as woman she knew not, and led her to the way which no mortal was able to know.

4%. She sought the nails with which the Lord was crucified, and found them. From one nail she ordered reins to be made, from another she wove a diadem. She turned one to an ornamental use; the other to a devotional one. Mary was visited to liberate Eve; Helen was visited that emperors might be redeemed. Therefore she sent to her son Constantine a diadem remarkable for its jewels which the more precious gem of divine redemption interwove, as the jewels were inlaid in the iron of the cross. She also sent the bridle. Constantine used both, and transmitted the faith to later kings. And so, the first source of emperors’ receiving the faith is the holy relic which is upon the bridle. From that came faith whereby persecution ended and devotion took its place.

48. Helen has done wisely who has placed the cross on the head of sovereigns, in order that the cross of Christ may be adored among kings. That is not presumption but piety, since it was con- secrated to our holy redemption. Therefore, honorable is the nail of the Roman empire which rules the whole world and adorns the forehead of princes, in order that they may be preachers who were accustomed to be persecutors. Rightly is the nail on the head, that where the intelligence is, there a guard may be. On the forehead a crown; in the hands reins. A crown made from the cross, that faith may shine forth; reins likewise from the cross, that power may rule, and that there may be just moderation, not unjust ca- price. May the princes cherish this also, granted to them by the liberality of Christ, that in imitation of the Lord, it may be said of the Roman Emperor: “ You have placed on his head a crown of precious stones.”

49. On that account the Church manifests joy; the Jew blushes. Not only does he blush but he is also tormented, because he himself is the author of his own confusion. While he insults Christ, he has confessed Him, King; while he calls Him, King of the Jews, he who has not believed, confesses his sacrilege. “ Behold,” they say, “we have crucified Jesus, that Christians after death may rise again and in death reign! We have crucified Him whom kings adore. They adore Him, whom we do not adore. Behold the nail also is held in honor and He whom we crushed down to death is