The Last Farewell in the Presence of the One Hundred and Fifty Bishops.
This Oration was delivered during the Second (Ecumenical Council, held at Constantinople a.d. 381. Historical as well as personal motives render the occasion of the deepest interest. The audience consisted of the one hundred and fifty Bishops of the Eastern Church who took part in the Council, and of the speaker's own flock, the orthodox Christians of Constantinople. He had by his own exertions gathered that flock together, after it had been ravaged by heretical teachers. He had won the admiration and affection of its members, by his courageous championship of the Faith, his lucid teaching, and his fatherly care for their spiritual needs. He had been, against his will, enthroned with acclamation in the highest ecclesiastical position in the Eastern Church, and called to preside over the Synod of its assembled Bishops. Finding himself unable to guide the deliberations of the Council in regard to a question of the highest importance, and perceiving that he himself and his position were made by some of the Bishops a fresh cause of dissension, he felt bound to resign his high office, and endeavour by this personal sacrifice to restore peace to the Church. His language is worthy of the occasion. Obliged to deal with the topics which had caused dissension, he handles them with gentle and discriminating tact; he speaks with great self-restraint in his own defence; he sets forth with tenderest feeling the common experiences of himself and his flock: he gives with dignity and clearness his last public exposition of the Faith; and finally, in language of exquisite beauty, spoken with the quivering tones of an aged man, he bids a tender farewell to his flock, his cathedral, and his throne, with all their affecting associations. It was an occasion whose pathos is unsurpassed in history. Orator and audience were alike deeply moved, and the emotion has been renewed in all those who have read his words, and realised the scene of their delivery.
1. What think ye of our affairs, dear shepherds and fellow-shepherds: whose feet are beautiful, for you bring glad tidings of peace and of the good thingshyperlink with which ye have come; beautiful again in our eyes, to whom ye have come in season, not to convert a wandering sheep,hyperlink but to converse with a pilgrim shepherd? What .think ye of this our pilgrimage? And of its fruit, or rather of that of the Spirithyperlink within us,hyperlink by Whom we are ever moved,hyperlink and specially have now been moved, desiring to have, and perhaps having, nothing of our own? Do you of yourselves understand and perceive-and are you kindly critics of our actions? Or must we, like those from whom a reckoning is demanded as to their military command, or civil government, or administration of the exchequer, publicly and in person submit to you the accounts of our administration? Not indeed that we are ashamed of being judged, for we are ourselves judges in turn, and both with the same charity. But the law is an ancient one: for even Paul communicated to the Apostles his Gospel:hyperlink not for the sake of ostentation, for the Spirit is far removed from all ostentation, but in order to establish his success and correct his failure, if indeed there were any such in his words or actions, as he declares when writing of himself. Since even the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the prophets,hyperlink according to the order of the Spirit who regulates and divides all things well. And do not wonder that, while he rendered his account privately and to some, I do so publicly, and to all. For my need is greater than his, of being aided by the freedom of my censors, if I am proved to have failed in my duty, lest I should run, or have run, in vain.hyperlink And the only possible mode of self-defence is speech in the presence of men who know the facts.
2. What then is my defence?hyperlink If it be false, you must convict me, but if true, you on behalf of whomhyperlink and in whose presence I speak, must bear witness to it. For you are my defence, my witnesses, and my crown of rejoicing,hyperlink if I also may venture to boast myself a little in the Apostle's language. This flock was, when it was small and poor, as far as appearances went, nay, not even a flock, but a slight trace and relic of a flock, without order, or shepherd, or bounds, with neither right to pasturage, nor the defence of a fold, wandering upon the mountains and in caves and dens of the earth,hyperlink scattered and dispersed hither and thither as each one could find shelter or pasture, or could gratefully secure its own safety; like that flock which was harassed by lions, dispersed by tempest, or scattered in darkness, the lamentation of prophets who compared it to the misfortunes of Israel,hyperlink given up to the Gentiles; over which we also lamented, so long as our lot was worthy of lamentation. For in very deed we also were thrust out and cast off, and scattered upon every mountain and hill, from the need of a shepherd:hyperlink and a dreadful storm fell upon the Church, and fearful beasts assailed her, who do not even now, after the calm, spare us, but without being ashamed of themselves, wield a greater power than the time should allow; while a gloomy darkness, far more oppressive than the ninth plague of Egypt, the darkness which might be felt,hyperlink enveloped and concealed everything, so that we could scarcely even see one another.
3. To speak in a more feeling strain, trusting in Him Who then forsook me, as in a Father, "Abraham has been ignorant of us, Israel has acknowledged us not, but Thou art our Father, and unto Thee do we look;hyperlink beside Thee we know none else, we make mention of Thy name."hyperlink Therefore, says Jeremiah, I will plead with Thee, I will reason the cause with Thee.hyperlink We are become as at the beginning, when Thou barest not rulehyperlink over us, and Thou hast forgotten Thy holy covenant, and shut up Thy mercies from us. Therefore we, the worshippers of the Trinity, the perfect suppliants of the perfect Deity, became a reproach to Thy Beloved, neither daring to bring down to our own level any of the things above us, nor in such wise to rise up against the godless tongues which fought against God, as to make His Majesty a fellow servant with ourselves; but, as is plain, we were delivered up on account of our other sins, and because our conduct had been unworthy of Thy commandments, and we had walked after our own evil mind. For what other reason can there be for our being delivered up to the most unrighteous and wicked men of all the dwellers upon the earth? First Nebuchadnezzarhyperlink afflicted us,hyperlink possessed during the Christian era with an anti-Christian rage, hating Christ just because he had through Him gained salvation, and having bartered the sacred books for sacrifices to those who are no gods. He devoured me, he tore me in pieces, a slight darkness enveloped me,hyperlink if I may even in my lamentation keep to the language of Scripture. If the Lord had not helped me,hyperlink and righteously delivered him to the hands of the lawless, by casting him off (such are the judgments of God) to the Persians, by whom his blood was righteously shed for his unholy sheddings of blood, since in this case alone justice could not afford even to be longsuffering, my soul had shortly dwelt in the grave.hyperlink The secondhyperlink no more kindly, if he were not even more grievous still, for while he bore the name of Christ, he was a false Christ, and at once a burden and a reproach to the Christians, for, while to obey him was ungodly, to suffer at his hands was inglorious, since they did not even seem to be wronged, nor to gain by their sufferings the glorious title of martyr, inasmuch as the truth was in this case perverted, for while they suffered as Christians, they were supposed to be punished as heretics. Alas! how rich we were in misfortunes, for the fire consumed the beauties of the world.hyperlink That which the palmerworm left did the locust eat, and that which the locust left did the caterpillar eat: then came the cankerworm,hyperlink then, what next I know not, one evil springing up after another. But for what purpose should I give a tragic description of the evils of the time, and of the penalty exacted from us, or, if I must rather call it so, the testing and refining we endured? At any rate, we went through fire and water,hyperlink and have attained a place of refreshment by the good pleasure of God our Saviour.
4. To return to my original startingpoint. This was my field, when it was small and poor, unworthy not only of God, Who has been, and is cultivating the whole world with the fair seeds and doctrines of piety, but, apparently, even of any poor and needy man of slender means. Nay it did not deserve to be called a field, requiring neither barn nor threshing-floor, and not even worthy of the sickle; with neither heap nor sheaves, or small and untimely sheaves, like those on the housetop, which do not fill the hand of the reaper, nor call forth a blessing from them which go by.hyperlink Such was my field, such my harvest; great and well-eared and fat in the eyes of Him Who beholdeth hidden things, and becoming such a husbandman, its abundance springing from the valleys of souls well tilled with the Word: unrecognized however in public, and not collected together, but gathered in fragments, as an ear gleaned in the stubble,hyperlink as gleaning-grapes in the vintage, where there is no cluster left. I think I may add, only too appropriately, I found Israel like a figtree in the wilderness,hyperlink and like one or two ripe grapes in an unripe cluster, preserved as a blessing from the Lord,hyperlink and a consecrated firstfruit, though small as yet and scanty, and not filling the mouth of the eater: and as an ensign on a hill,hyperlink and as a beacon on a mountain, or any other solitary thing visible only to few. Such was its former poverty and dejection.
5. But since God, Who maketh poor and maketh rich, Who killeth and maketh alive;hyperlink Who maketh and transformeth all things; Who turneth night into day,hyperlink winter into spring, storm into calm, drought into abundance of rain; and often for the sake of the prayershyperlink of one righteous manhyperlink sorely persecuted; Who lifteth up the meek on high, and bringeth the ungodly down to the ground;hyperlink since God said to Himself, I have surely seen the affliction of Israel;hyperlink and they shall no longer be further vexed with clay and brick-making; and when He spake He visited, and in His visitation He saved, and led forth His people with a mighty hand and outstretched arm,hyperlink by the hand of Moses and Aaron,hyperlink His chosen-what is the result, and what wonders have been wrought? Those which books and monuments contain. For besides all the wonders by the way, and that mighty roar, to speak most concisely, Joseph came into Egypt alone(hyperlink and soon after six hundred thousand depart from Egypt.hyperlink What more marvellous than this? What greater proof of the generosity of God, when from men without means He wills to supply the means for public affairs? And the land of promise is distributed through one who was hated, and he who was soldhyperlink dispossesses nations, and is himself made a great nation, and that small offshoot becomes a luxuriant vine,hyperlink so great that it reaches to the river, and is stretched out to the sea,hyperlink and spreads from border to border, and hides the mountains with the height of its glory and is exalted above the cedars, even the cedars of God, whatever we are to take these mountains and cedars to be.
6. Such then was once this flock, and such it is now, so healthy and well grown, and if it be not yet in perfection, it is advancing towards it by constant increase, and I prophesy that it will advance. This is foretold me by the Holy Spirit, if I have any prophetic instinct and insight into the future. And from what has preceded I am able to be confident, and recognize this by reasoning, being the nursling of reason. For it was much more improbable that, from that condition, it should reach its present development, than that, as it now is, it should attain to the height of renown. For ever since it began to be gathered together, by Him Who quickeneth the dead,hyperlink bone to its bone, joint to joint, and the Spirit of life and regeneration was given to it in their dryness,hyperlink its entire resurrection has been, I know well, sure to be fulfilled: so that the rebellious should not exalt themselves,hyperlink and that those who grasp at a shadow, or at a dream when one awaketh,hyperlink or at the dispersing breezes, or at the traces of a ship in the water,hyperlink should not think that they have anything. Howl, firtree, for the cedar is fallen!hyperlink Let them be instructed by the misfortunes of others, and learn that the poor shall not alway be forgotten,hyperlink and that the Deity will not refrain, as Habakkuk says, from striking through the heads of the mighty oneshyperlink in His fury-the Deity, Who has been struck through and impiously divided into Ruler and Ruled, in order to insult the Deity in the highest degree by degrading It, and oppress a creature by equality with Deity.
7. I seem indeed tO hear that voice, from Him Who gathers together those who are broken, and welcomes the oppressed: Enlarge thy cords, break forth on the right hand and on the left, drive in thy stakes, spare not thy curtains.hyperlink I have given thee up, and I will help thee. In a little wrath I smote thee, but with everlasting mercy I will glorify thee.hyperlink The measure of His kindness exceeds the measure of His discipline. The former things were owing to our wickedness, the present things to the adorable Trinity: the former for our cleansing, the present for My glory, Who will glorify them that glorify Me,hyperlink and I will move to jealousy them that move Me to jealousy. Behold this is sealed up with Me,hyperlink and this is the indissoluble law of recompense. But thou didst surround thyself with walls and tablets and richly set stones, and long porticos and galleries, and didst shine and sparkle with gold, which thou didst, in part pour forth like water, in part treasure up like sand; not knowing that better is faith, with no other roof but the sky to cover it, than impiety rolling in wealth, and that three gathered together in the Name of the Lordhyperlink count for more with God than tens of thousands of those who deny the Godhead. Would you prefer the whole of the Canaanites to Abraham alone?hyperlink or the men of Sodom to Lot?hyperlink or the Midianites to Moses,hyperlink when each of these was a pilgrim and a stranger? How do the three hundred men with Gideon, who bravely lapped,hyperlink compare with the thousands who were put to flight? Or the servants of Abraham, who scarcely exceeded them in number, with the many kings and the army of tens of thousands whom, few as they were, they overtook and defeated?hyperlink Or how do you understand the passage that though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved?hyperlink And again, I have left me seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal?hyperlink This is not the case; it is not? God has not taken pleasure in numbers.
8. Thou countest tens of thousands, God counts those who are in a state of salvation; thou countest the dust which is without number, I the vessels of election. For nothing is so magnificent in God's sight as pure doctrine, and a soul perfect in all the dogmas of the truth.-For there is nothing worthy of Him Who made all things, of Him by Whom are all things, and for Whom are all things,hyperlink so that it can be given or offered to God: not merely the handiwork or means of any individual, but even if we wished to honour Him, by uniting together all the property and handiwork of all mankind. Do not I fill heaven and earth?hyperlink saith the Lord! and what house will ye build Me? or what is the place of My rest?hyperlink But, since man must needs fall short of what is worthy, I ask of you, as approaching it most nearly, piety, the wealth which is common to all and equal in My eyes, wherein the poorest may, if he be nobleminded, surpass the most illustrious. For this kind of glory depends upon purpose, not upon affluence. These things be well assured, I will accept at your hands.hyperlink To treadhyperlink My courts ye shall not proceed, but the feet of the meekhyperlink shall tread them, who have duly and sincerely acknowledged Me, and My only-begotten Word, and the Holy Spirit. How long will ye inherit My holy Mountain?hyperlink How long shall My ark be among the heathen?hyperlink Now for a little longer ye indulge yourselves in that which belongs to others, and gratify your desires. For as ye have devised to reject Me, so will I also reject you,hyperlink saith the Lord Almighty.
9. This I seemed to hear Him say, and to see Him do, and besides, to hear Him shouting to His people, which once were few and scattered and miserable, and have now become many, and compact enough and enviable, Go throughhyperlink My gateshyperlink and be ye enlarged. Must you always be in trouble and dwell in tents, while those who vex you rejoice exceedingly? And to. the presiding Angels, for I believe, as John teaches me in his Revelation, that each Church has its guardian,hyperlink Prepare ye the way of My people, and cast away the stones from the way,hyperlink that there may be no stumblingblock or hindrance for the peoplehyperlink in the divine road and entrance, now, to the temples made with hands,hyperlink but soon after, to Jerusalem above,hyperlink and the Holy of holies there,hyperlink which will, I know, be the end of suffering and struggle to those who here bravely travel on the way. Among whom are ye also called to be Saints,hyperlink a people of possession, a royal priesthood,hyperlink the most excellent portion of the Lord, a whole river from a drop, a heavenly lamp from a spark, a tree from a grain of mustard seed,hyperlink on which the birds come and lodge.
10. These we present to you, dear shepherds, these we offer to you, with these we welcome our friends, and guests, and fellow pilgrims. We have nothing fairer or more splendid to offer to you, for we have selected the greatest of all our possessions, that you may see that, strangers as we are, we are not in want, but though poor are making many rich.hyperlink If these things are small and unworthy of notice, I would fain learn what is greater and of more account. For, if it be no great thing to have established and strengthened with wholesome doctrines a city which is the eye of the universe, in its exceeding strength by sea and land, which is, as it were, the link between the Eastern and Western shores, in which the extremities of the world from every side meet together, and from which, as the common mart of the faith, they take their rise, a city borne hither and thither on the eddying currents of so many tongues, it will be long ere anything be considered great or worthy of esteem. But if it be indeed a subject for praise, allow to us some glory on this account, since we have contributed in some portion to these results which ye see.
11. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see,hyperlink thou critic of my words! See the crown which has been platted in return for the hirelings of Ephraimhyperlink and the crown of insolence; see the assembly of the presbyters, honoured for years and wisdom, the fair order of the deacons, who are not far from the same Spirit, the good conduct of the readers, the people's eagerness for teaching, both of men and women, who are equally renowned for virtue: the men, whether philosophers or simple folk, being alike wise in divine things, whether rulers or ruled, being all in this respect duly under rule; whether soldiers or nobles, students or men of letters, being all soldiershyperlink of God, though in all other respects meek, ready to fight for the Spirit, all reverencing the assembly above, to which we obtain an entrance, not by the mere letter, but by the quickening Spirit, all in very deed being men of reason, and worshippers of Him Who is in truth the Word: the women, if married, being united by a Divine rather than by a carnal bond; if unwedded and free, being entirely dedicated to God; whether young or old, some honourably advancing towards old age, others eagerly striving to remain immortal, being renewed by the best of hopes.
12. To those who platted this crown-that which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord,hyperlink nevertheless I will say it-I also have given assistance. Some of them are the result of my words, not of those which we have uttered at random, but of those which we have loved-nor again of those which are meretricious, though the language and manners of the harlot have been slanderously attributed to me, but of those which are most grave. Some of them are the offspring and fruit of my Spirit, as the Spirit can beget those who rise superior to the body. To this I have no doubt that those who are kindly among you, nay all of you, will testify, since I have been the husbandman of all: and my sole reward is your confession. For we neither have, nor have had, any other object. For virtue, that it may remain virtue, is without reward, its eyes fixed alone on that which is good.
13. Would you have me say something still more venturesome? Do you see the tongues of the enemy made gentle, and those who made war upon the Godhead against me tranquillised? This also is the result of our Spirit, of our husbandry. For we are not undisciplined in our exercise of discipline, nor do we hurl insults, as many do, who assail not the argument but the speaker, and sometimes strive by their invective to hide the weakness of their reasoning; as the cuttlefish are said to cast forth ink before them, in order to escape from their pursuers, or themselves to hunt others when unperceived. But we show that our warfare is in behalf of Christ by fighting as Christ, the peaceable and meek,hyperlink Who has borne our infirmities, fought.hyperlink Though peaceable, we do not injure. the word of truth, by yielding a jot, to gain a reputation for reasonableness; for we do not pursue that which is good by means of ill: and we are peaceable by the legitimate character of our warfare, confined as it is to our own limits, and the rules of the Spirit. Upon these points, this is my decision, and I lay down the law for all stewards of souls and dispensers of the Word: neither to exasperate others by their harshness, nor to render them arrogant by submissiveness: but to be of good words in treating of the Word, and in neither direction to overstep the mean.
14. But you are perhaps longing for me to give an exposition of the faith, in so far as I am able. For I shall myself be sanctified by the effort of memory, and the people also will be benefited, by its special delight in such discussions, and you will fully acknowledge it-unless we are the objects of groundless envy, as the rivals, in the manifestation of the truth, of those whom we do not excel. For as, of deep waters, some in the depths are utterly hidden, some foam against any obstruction, and hesitate a while before breaking (as they promise to our ears), some do actually break; so also, of those who are professors of the Divine philosophy-setting aside the utterly misguided-some keep their piety entirely secret and hidden within themselves, some are not far from the birth pangs, avoiding impiety, yet not speaking out their piety, either from cautious reserve in their teaching, or under pressure of fear, being themselves sound, as they say, in mind, but not making sound their people, as if they had been en-trusted with the government of their own souls, but not of those of others; while there are some who make public their treasure, unable to restrain themselves from giving birth to their piety, and not considering that to be salvation which saves themselves alone, without bestowing upon others the overflow of their blessings. Among these would I range myself, and all who by my side have nobly dared to confess the truth.
15. One concise proclamation of our teaching, an inscription intelligible to all, is this people, which so sincerely worships the Trinity, that it would sooner sever anyone from this life, than sever one of the three from the Godhead: of one mind, of equal zeal, and united to one another, to us and to the Trinity by unity of doctrine. Briefly to run over its details: That which is without beginning, and is the beginning, and is with the begining, is one God. For the nature of that which is without beginning does not consist in being without beginning or being unbegotten, for the nature of anything lies, not in what it is not but in what it is. It is the assertion of what is, not the denial of what is not. And the Beginning is not, because it is a beginning, separated from that which has no beginning. For its beginning is not its nature, any more than the being without beginning is the nature of the other. For these are the accompaniments of the nature, not the nature itself. That again which is with that which has no beginning, and with the beginning, is not anything else than what they are. Now, the name of that which has no beginning is the Father, and of the Beginning the Son, and of that which is with the Beginning, the Holy Ghost, and the three have one Nature-God. And the union is the Father from Whom and to Whom the order of Persons runs its course, not so as to be confounded, but so as to be possessed, without distinction of time, of will, or of power. For these things in our case produce a plurality of individuals, since each of them is separate both from every other quality, and from every other individual possession of the same quality. But to Those who have a simple nature, and whose essence is the same, the term One belongs in its highest sense.
Footnotes
1 Isai. lii. 7; Rom. x. 15.
2 S. Matt. xviii. 12.
3 Gal. v. 22.
4 2 Tim. i. 14.
5 Acts xvii. 28.
6 Gal. ii. 2.
7 1 Cor. xiv. 32.
8 Gal. ii. 2.
9 1 Cor. ix. 3.
10 On behalf of, i.e., the Christians of Constantinople, whose Pastor he had been, who were present at the time in the church.
11 1 Thess. ii. 19.
12 Heb. xi. 38.
13 Ezek. xxxi. ii.
14 Ib. xxxiv. 6.
15 Exod. x. 21.
16 Isai. lxiii. 16.
17 Ib. xxvi. 13 (lxx.).
18 Jer. xii. 1.
19 Isai. lxiii. 19.
20 Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., Julian.
21 Jer. li. 34.
22 Ps. lv. 6 (lxx.).
23 Ps. xciv. 17.
24 Ib. xciv 17.
25 The second, i.e. Valens.
26 Joel i. 19.
27 Ib. i. 4.
28 Ps. lxvi. 12.
29 Ib. cxxix. 6. sqq.
30 Mic. vii. 1. (lxx.).
31 Hos. ix. 10 (lxx.).
32 Isai. lxv. 8.
33 Ib. xxx. 17.
34 1 Sam. ii. 6 sqq.
35 Amos v. 8.
36 1 Kings xviii. 42.
37 S. James v. 16, 17.
38 Ps. cxlvii. 6.
39 Exod. iii. 7.
40 Ps. cxxxvi. 12.
41 Ib. lxxvii. 20.
42 Gen. xxxvii. 28.
43 Exod. xii. 37.
44 Gen. xlix. 22.
45 Hos. x. 1.
46 Ps. lxxx. 8 et seq.
47 Rom. iv. 17.
48 Ezek. xxxvii. 7, 10.
49 Ps. lxvi. 7.
50 Ps. lxxiii. 20.
51 Wisd. v. 9 sqq.
52 Zech. xi. 2.
53 Ps. ix. 18.
54 Hab. iii. 13.
55 Isai. liv. 2.
56 Ib. liv. 8.
57 1 Sam. ii. 30.
58 Deut. xxxii. 21, 34.
59 S. Matt. xviii. 20.
60 Gen. xii. 6; xiii. 12.
61 Ib. xix. 1.
62 Exod. ii. 15.
63 Judg. vii. 5.
64 Gen. xiv. 14.
65 Isai. x. 22; Rom. ix. 27.
66 1 Kings xix. 18; Rom. xi. 4.
67 1 Cor. viii. 6.
68 Jer. xxiii. 24.
69 Isai. lxvi. 1.
70 Ib. i 12.
71 To tread. etc. The Arians for a time had been in possession of the churches of Constantinople.
72 Isai. xxvi. 6 (lxx.).
73 Ib. lvii. 13; lxv. 9.
74 1 Sam. vi. 1.
75 Hos. iv. 6.
76 Go through, etc. This passage refers to the oration ofrest the churches to the orthodox by Theodosius, Jan. 10, A.D. 381.
