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| Concerning the honour due to the Saints and their remains.
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Chapter
XV.—Concerning the honour due to the Saints and
their remains.
To the saints honour must be paid as friends of
Christ, as sons and heirs of God: in the words of John the
theologian and evangelist, As many as received Him, to them gave He
power to became sons of God2466
.
So that they are no longer servants, but sons: and if
sons, also heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ2467
: and the Lord in the holy
Gospels says to His apostles, Ye are My friends2468
. Henceforth I call you not
servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth2469
. And further, if the Creator and
Lord of all things is called also King of Kings and Lord of
Lords2470
and God of Gods, surely also the saints
are gods and lords and kings. For of these God is and is called
God and Lord and King. For I am the God of Abraham, He
said to Moses, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob2471
. And God made Moses a god to
Pharaoh2472
. Now I
mean gods and kings and lords not in nature, but as rulers and masters
of their passions, and as preserving a truthful likeness to the divine
image according to which they were made (for the image of a king is
also called king), and as being united to God of their own free-will
and receiving Him as an indweller and becoming by grace through
participation with Him what He is Himself by nature. Surely,
then, the worshippers and friends and sons of God are to be held in
honour? For the honour shewn to the most thoughtful of
fellow-servants is a proof of good feeling towards the common
Master2473
| 2473 Basil, Orat.
in 40 Martyr. | .
These are made treasuries and pure habitations of
God: For I will dwell in them, said God, and walk in them, and I will
be their God2474
. The
divine Scripture likewise saith that the souls of the just are in
God’s hand2475
and death
cannot lay hold of them. For death is rather the sleep of the
saints than their death. For they travailed in this life and
shall to the end2476
, and
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints2477
. What
then, is more precious than to be in the hand of God? For God is
Life and Light, and those who are in God’s hand are in life and
light.
Further, that God dwelt even in their bodies in
spiritual wise2478
, the Apostle
tells us, saying, Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of
the Holy Spirit dwelling in you?2479
, and The
Lord is that Spirit2480
, and If any
one destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy2481
. Surely, then, we must ascribe
honour to the living temples of God, the living tabernacles of
God. These while they lived stood with confidence before
God.
The Master Christ made the remains of the saints
to be fountains of salvation to us, pouring forth manifold blessings
and abounding in oil of sweet fragrance: and let no one
disbelieve this2482
| 2482 Aster.,
Hom. in SS. Mart. | . For
if water burst in the desert from the steep and solid rock at
God’s will2483
and from the
jaw-bone of an ass to quench Samson’s thirst2484
, is it incredible that fragrant oil
should burst forth from the martyrs’ remains? By no means,
at least to those who know the power of God and the honour which He
accords His saints.
In the law every one who toucheth a dead body was
considered impure2485
, but these
are not dead. For from the time when He that is Himself life and
the Author of life was reckoned among the dead, we do not call those
dead who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and in
faith on Him. For how could a dead body work miracles? How,
therefore, are demons driven off by them, diseases dispelled, sick
persons made well, the blind restored to sight, lepers purified,
temptations and troubles overcome, and how does every good gift from
the Father of lights2486
come down
through them to those who pray with sure faith? How much labour
would you not undergo to find a patron to introduce you to a mortal
king and speak to him on your behalf? Are not those, then, worthy
of honour who are the patrons of the whole race, and make intercession
to God for us? Yea, verily, we ought to give honour to them by
raising temples to God in their name, bringing them fruit-offerings,
honouring their memories and taking spiritual delight in them, in order
that the joy of those who call on us may be ours, that in our attempts
at worship we may not on the contrary cause them offence. For
those who worship God will take pleasure in those things whereby God is
worshipped, while His shield-bearers will be wrath at those things
wherewith God is wroth. In psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs2487
, in contrition and in pity for the
needy, let us believers2488
| 2488 Text,
πιστοί. Variant,
πίστει in Reg. 1. | worship the
saints, as God also is most worshipped in such wise. Let us raise
monuments to them and visible images, and let us ourselves become,
through imitation of their virtues, living monuments and images of
them. Let us give honour to her who bore God as being strictly
and truly the Mother of God. Let us honour also the prophet John
as forerunner and baptist2489
| 2489 Almost all read
τὸν
πρόδρομον
᾽Ιωάννην, ὡς
προφήτην, &c. | , as apostle and
martyr, For among them that are born of women there hath not risen a
greater than John the Baptist2490
, as saith
the Lord, and he became the first to proclaim the Kingdom. Let us
honour the apostles as the Lord’s brothers, who saw Him face to
face and ministered to His passion, for whom God the Father did
foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son2491
, first
apostles, second prophets2492
, third
pastors and teachers2493
. Let us
also honour the martyrs of the Lord chosen out of every class, as
soldiers of Christ who have drunk His cup and were then baptized with
the baptism of His life-bringing death, to be partakers of His passion
and glory: of whom the leader is Stephen, the first deacon of
Christ and apostle and first martyr. Also let us honour our holy
fathers, the God-possessed ascetics, whose struggle was the longer and
more toilsome one of the conscience: who wandered about in
sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; they
wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the
earth, of whom the world was not worthy2494
. Let us honour those who were
prophets before grace, the patriarchs and just men who foretold the
Lord’s coming. Let us carefully review the life of these
men, and let us emulate their faith2495
and love
and hope and zeal and way of life, and endurance of sufferings and
patience even to blood, in order that we may be sharers with them in
their crowns of glory.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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