6 Ascension of the Lord

The command to the apostles to be witnesses to him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth was not addressed exclusively to those to whom it was immediately spoken. They alone would not be the only ones who would carry such an enormous task to completion. Similarly he seems to be speaking to the apostles very personally when he says: "Behold I am with you even to the end of the world," yet who does not know that he made this promise to the universal church which will last from now even to the consummation of the world by successive births and deaths?

And he said to them: Go into the entire world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Therefore, when you preach that whoever does not believe will be condemned, since he certainly does not believe what he has not seen, should not they themselves first be reproved, because they did not believe those to whom the Lord appeared before they had seen the Lord? But when he said to them, Go into the entire world, preach the Gospel to every creature, surely the holy Gospel was not meant to be preached to senseless things or brute animals, so that it would be said to the disciples, Preach to every creature? But under the name of every creature, every nation of the Gentiles can be designated. It had been previously said: Do not go into the way of the Gentiles; but now it is said, Preach to every creature, so that the preaching of the apostles, first repelled by Judea, would then assist us, since Judea had proudly repelled it to its own damnation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Perhaps each one says to himself: I have already believed, I will be saved. He says the truth if he holds faith by works. For true faith is that which does not contradict in behavior what it says in words. From this comes what Paul says about certain false believers: They confess to know God, but in works they deny him (Titus 1). Here John says: He who says he knows God and does not keep his commandments is a liar (1 John 2). But when it is said, He who does not believe will be condemned, what do we say about infants who cannot yet believe because of their age? For with regard to adults, there is no question. Therefore, in the Church, infants believe through others on behalf of the Savior, just as they have derived the sins from others, which are remitted to them in baptism.

I have some definite views about the de-Christianizing of the church. I believe that there are many accommodating preachers, and too many practitioners in the church who are not believers. Jesus Christ did not say, "Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right." The Gospel is something completely different. In fact, it is directly opposed to the world.

My brothers, was the holy Gospel to be preached to insensible things or to brute animals, that it is said to the disciples concerning it: "Preach to every creature"? But by the name of every creature, man is signified. For there are stones, but they neither live nor feel. There are plants and trees; they live indeed, but they do not feel. They live, I say, not through a soul, but through their verdure, because Paul also says: "Foolish one, what you sow is not brought to life unless it first dies." Therefore that lives which dies, so that it may be brought to life. Stones therefore exist, but they do not live. Trees exist and live, but they do not feel. Brute animals exist, live, and feel, but they do not discern. Angels exist, live, feel, and discern. But man has something of every creature. For he has existence in common with stones, life with trees, sensation with animals, understanding with angels. If therefore man has something in common with every creature, in a certain sense every creature is man. Therefore the Gospel is preached to every creature when it is preached to man alone, because he is taught for whose sake all things were created on earth, and from whom all things are not alien through a certain likeness.

By the name of every creature, every nation of the Gentiles can also be designated. For before it had been said: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles." But now it is said, "Preach to every creature," so that the preaching of the apostles, first rejected by Judea, might then become a help to us, when that proud people had rejected it as a testimony to their own condemnation.

But when Truth sends the disciples to preach, what else does He do in the world but scatter grains of seed? And He sends a few grains in the sowing, so that He may receive the fruits of many harvests from our faith. For so great a harvest of the faithful would never have arisen in the whole world, if those chosen grains of preachers had not come from the Lord's hand upon the rational earth.

(ubi sup.) After rebuking the hardness of their hearts, let us hear the words of advice which He speaks. For it goes on: Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. Every man must be understood by every creature; for man partakes something of every creature; he has existence as have stones, life as trees, feeling as animals, understanding as have Angels. For the Gospel is preached to every creature, because he is taught by it, for whose sake all are created, whom all things are in some way like, and from whom therefore they are not alien. By the name of every creature also every nation of the Gentiles may be meant. For it had been said before, Go not into the way of the Gentiles. (Matt. 10:5) But now it is said, Preach the Gospel to every creature, so that the preaching of the Apostles which was thrust aside by Judæa, might be an assistance to us, since Judæa had haughtily rejected it, thus witnessing to her own damnation.

For from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the word of God.

He willed that the apostles as spiritual progenitors of the new humanity would be sent by his Son into the entire world, so that all human sufferers might come to the knowledge of their creator. Insofar as any choose to follow him, they have One whom they now address in their prayers as Father, instead of God. His providence has run and at present runs its course not only among individuals but also through whole cities and states, whose overthrow he predicted by the words of the prophets. His providence indeed runs its course through the whole cosmos itself.

Then in this same way the apostles went out to found churches in every city possible. It is from these apostolic churches that all the subsequent churches, one after the other, derived the rule of faith and the seeds of doctrine. Even to today they continue to derive from the apostles that which is necessary in order that they be churches. Indeed, it is for this reason only that they are able to deem themselves as apostolic, as being the offspring of apostolic churches. As in science, every genus reverts to its original for its classification, so with the apostolic church. However many or great these churches may be, they comprise but one primitive church, founded by the apostles, from which they all spring. In this way all are primitive. All are apostolic. They all are one, by means of their unbroken unity, peaceful communion, title of descent, and bond of hospitality. These are privileges that no other rule directs than the one tradition of the same mystery.

Again, in the Pslams, David says: "Bring to God, ye countries of the nations"-undoubtedly because "unto every land" the preaching of the apostles had to "go out" -"bring to God fame and honour; bring to God the sacrifices of His name: take up victims and enter into His courts.

Note the Lord's commandment: "preach to every creature." He did not say: preach only to the obedient, but to every creature, whether they will listen or not.

Or else; to every creature, that is, whether believing or unbelieving.

Nay, he that, out of contempt, will not be baptized, shall be condemned as an unbeliever, and shall be reproached as ungrateful and foolish. For the Lord says: "Except a man be baptized of water and of the Spirit, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven." And again: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." But he that says, When I am dying I will be baptized, lest I should sin and defile my baptism, is ignorant of God, and forgetful of his own nature. For "do not thou delay to turn unto the Lord, for thou knowest not what the next day will bring forth."

The ecumenically received faith is taught in the creed and committed to memory in a form of the utmost possible brevity, so as to frame an expression in few words of that which was intended to be explained at large afterwards to persons in a state of formation and advancement in knowledge of God.

We know that the dead who die in the Lord are blessed, and they have no concern with what they would have done if they had lived a longer time. We know that those who believe in the Lord from their own heart do this of their own will and free choice. We who now believe act rightly when we pray to God for those who refuse to believe, and pray that they themselves may in time freely will to believe.

(ubi sup.) What shall we say here about infants, who by reason of their age cannot yet believe; for as to older persons there is no question. In the Church then of our Saviour children believe by others, as also they drew from others the sins which are remitted to them in baptism. It goes on: And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents.

"He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned." Perhaps each one may say within himself: "I have already believed; I shall be saved." He speaks truly, if he holds faith by works. For true faith is that which does not contradict in conduct what it says in words. Hence it is that Paul says of certain false believers: "They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their deeds." Hence John says: "He who says he knows God and does not keep His commandments is a liar."

Since this is so, we ought to recognize the truth of our faith in the consideration of our life. For then we are truly faithful, if we fulfill in works what we promise in words. On the day of baptism indeed, we promised to renounce all the works of the ancient enemy and all his pomps. Therefore let each of you bring back the eyes of his mind to consideration of himself; and if he keeps after baptism what he pledged before baptism, let him rejoice, now certain that he is faithful.

But behold, if he has by no means kept what he promised, if he has slipped into practicing wicked works, into desiring the pomps of the world; let us see if he now knows how to lament that he has erred. For before the merciful Judge, not even he will be held a deceiver who returns to the truth, even after he has lied, because almighty God, when He willingly receives our repentance, Himself hides by His own judgment that in which we have erred.

(ubi sup.) But perhaps some one may say in himself, I have already believed, I shall be saved. He says what is true, if he keeps his faith by works; for that is a true faith, which does not contradict by its deeds what it says in words. There follows: But he that believeth not shall be damned.

"Whoever believes," and this alone is not enough, but also "is baptized," for whoever has believed but has not been baptized and still remains a catechumen, that one is not yet saved.

It goes on: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. For it is not enough to believe, for he who believeth and is not baptized, but is a catechumen, has not yet attained to perfect salvation.

See, God sent apostles, and sent prophets and teachers, gave the gift of healings, which as we have found are given by the Holy Spirit, and God gave many kinds of tongues. But yet all are not apostles, all are not prophets, all are not teachers. Not all, says he, have the gift of healings, nor do all, says he, speak with tongues. For the whole range of divine gifts cannot exist in each particular individual. Each, according to his capacity, receives that which he either desires or deserves.

As the Father gives the gift of healings, so too does the Son give; as the Father gives the gift of tongues, so too has the Son also granted it.

With good reason did he say to all of us together, when we became fully aware of those gifts that were given from him by the Spirit: "And these signs will accompany those who believe; in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." These gifts were first bestowed on us the apostles when we were about to preach the gospel to every creature. Later they of necessity were afforded to others who had by the apostles come to believe. These gifts were not given for the advantage of those who perform them, but for the conviction of the unbelievers, that those whom the word did not persuade, the power of signs might put to shame.

And these signs will follow those who believe: In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Should it be said that because we do not perform these signs we do not believe at all? But these were necessary at the beginning of the Church. For as faith was to grow, it had to be nurtured by miracles. For when we plant young trees, we water them until they seem to have taken root in the ground. But if they have once fixed their roots, the watering will cease. Hence it is that Paul says: Tongues are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers (1 Cor. XIV). Do we not have of these signs and virtues what we should more subtly consider? The holy Church indeed daily spiritually performs what it did physically through the apostles. For when its priests lay hands on believers through the grace of exorcism, and deny the evil spirit dwelling in their minds, what else do they do but cast out demons? And faithful ones who have already renounced the secular words of the old life, but sound out the holy mysteries, and narrate, as far as they can, the praises and power of their Creator, what else do they do but speak in new tongues? When they remove malice from others' hearts by their good exhortations, they take up serpents. And when they hear pestilent suggestions but are not led into evil action, indeed it is deadly what they drink, but it will not harm them. Whenever they see their neighbors weakened in good work and run to help them with all their strength, and strengthen their life by the example of their actions, who waver in their own deeds, what else do they do but lay hands on the sick, that they may recover? These miracles are indeed all the greater as they are more spiritual. They are all the greater as by these not bodies, but souls are raised.

Vincentius of Thibaris said: We know that heretics are worse than Gentiles. If, therefore, being converted, they should wish to come to the Lord, we have assuredly the rule of truth which the Lord by His divine precept commanded to His apostles, saying, "Go ye, lay on hands in my name, expel demons." And in another place: "Go ye and teach the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Therefore first of all by imposition of hands in exorcism, secondly by the regeneration of baptism, they may then come to the promise of Christ. Otherwise I think it ought not to be done.

This same Macarius once went down from Scetis to a place named Terenuthis, and he climbed into an old pagan burial place to sleep. He put one of the bodies under his head as a pillow. The demons hated him when they saw his assurance and tried to frighten him by calling out, 'Lady, come with us to bathe.' Another demon answered from underneath Macarius, as though he were the dead woman, 'I have a pilgrim on top of me, and can't move.' Macarius was not frightened, but confidently thumped the body, saying, 'Get up and go if you can.' When the demons heard it, they cried out and said, 'You have defeated us,' and they fled in confusion.

What then, my brethren, because you do not these signs, do you not believe? But these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church. For that faith might grow, it needed to be nourished by miracles, because we also, when we plant shrubs, pour water on them only until we see that they have taken root in the ground; and once they have fixed their roots, we cease watering. Hence it is that Paul says: Tongues are for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers. ... For by those outward signs, life cannot be obtained by those who work them. For those bodily miracles sometimes show holiness, but do not make it; but these spiritual ones, which are wrought in the mind, do not show but make the virtue of life.

We have concerning these signs and powers things that we ought yet more carefully to consider. For holy Church daily does spiritually what then she did corporally through the apostles. For when her priests lay hands upon believers through the grace of exorcism, and forbid evil spirits to dwell in their minds, what else do they do but cast out devils? And believers who now abandon the worldly words of their former life, and utter forth holy mysteries, and declare the praises and power of their Creator as much as they are able, what else do they do but speak with new tongues? They who by their good exhortations take away malice from the hearts of others, take up serpents. And when they hear pestilent persuasions, yet are not drawn thereby to evil works, they drink indeed what is deadly, but it shall not hurt them. They who, as often as they see their neighbors grow weak in good works, run to help them with all their strength, and by the example of their own deeds strengthen the lives of those who waver in their own actions; what else do they do but lay hands on the sick that they may recover? Which miracles are so much the greater as they are spiritual; so much the greater as by them not bodies but souls are raised to life. These signs therefore, dearest brethren, you can do by God's help if you will.

And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

What then, my brethren, because you do not these signs, do you not believe? But these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church. For that faith might grow, it needed to be nourished by miracles, because we also, when we plant shrubs, pour water on them only until we see that they have taken root in the ground; and once they have fixed their roots, we cease watering. Hence it is that Paul says: Tongues are for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers.

We have concerning these signs and powers things that we ought yet more carefully to consider. For holy Church daily does spiritually what then she did corporally through the apostles. For when her priests lay hands upon believers through the grace of exorcism, and forbid evil spirits to dwell in their minds, what else do they do but cast out devils? And believers who now abandon the worldly words of their former life, and utter forth holy mysteries, and declare the praises and power of their Creator as much as they are able, what else do they do but speak with new tongues?

(ubi sup.) Are we then without faith because we cannot do these signs? Nay, but these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church, for the faith of believers was to be nourished by miracles, that it might increase. Thus we also, when we plant groves, pour water upon them, until we see that they have grown strong in the earth; but when once they have firmly fixed their roots, we leave off irrigating them. These signs and miracles have other things which we ought to consider more minutely. For Holy Church does every day in spirit what then the Apostles did in body; for when her Priests by the grace of exorcism lay their hands on believers, and forbid the evil spirits to dwell in their minds, what do they, but cast out devils? And the faithful who have left earthly words, and whose tongues sound forth the Holy Mysteries, speak a new language; they who by their good warnings take away evil from the hearts of others, take up serpents; and when they are hearing words of pestilent persuasion, without being at all drawn aside to evil doing, they drink a deadly thing, but it will never hurt them; whenever they see their neighbours growing weak in good works, and by their good example strengthen their life, they lay their hands on the sick, that they may recover. And all these miracles are greater in proportion as they are spiritual, and by them souls and not bodies are raised.

But the Lord, having suffered, and bestowing the knowledge of the Father, conferred on us salvation. For the Lord, through means of suffering, "ascending into the lofty place, led captivity captive, gave gifts to men," and conferred on those that believe in Him the power "to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy," that is, of the leader of apostasy. Our Lord also by His passion destroyed death, and dispersed error, and put an end to corruption, and destroyed ignorance, while He manifested life and revealed truth, and bestowed the gift of incorruption.

Believers, he says, will be accompanied by signs — the casting out of demons, speaking in new tongues.

For what else are hearing, reading and copiously depositing things in the memory, than several stages of drinking in thoughts? The Lord, however, foretold concerning his faithful followers, that even "if they should drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them." And thus it happens that they who read with judgment, and bestow their approval on whatever is commendable according to the rule of faith, and disapprove of things which ought to be repudiated, even if they commit to their memory heretical statements which are declared to be worthy of disapproval, they receive no harm from the poisonous and depraved nature of these sentences.

That this gift [spiritual healing] was promised to the Church is certain from Scripture. Whether any instance of it is a real instance, or change, or even (as might happen in this wicked world) fraud, is a question only to be decided by the evidence in that particular case. And unless one is a doctor one is not likely to be able to judge the evidence. Very often, I expect, one is not called upon to do so. Anything like a sudden furore about it in one district, especially if accompanied by a public campaign on modern commercial lines, would be to me suspect: but even then I might be wrong. On the whole, my attitude would be that any claim may be true, and that it is not my duty to decide whether it is.

There is, in fact, a fatal tendency in all human activities for the means to encroach upon the very ends which they were intended to serve. Thus money comes to hinder the exchange of commodities, and rules of art to hamper genius, and examinations to prevent young men from becoming learned. It does not, unfortunately, always follow that the encroaching means can be dispensed with. I think it probable that the collectivism of our life is necessary and will increase; and I think that our only safeguard against its deathly properties is in a Christian life; for we were promised that we could handle serpents and drink deadly things and yet live.

They who by their good exhortations take away malice from the hearts of others, take up serpents. And when they hear pestilent persuasions, yet are not drawn thereby to evil works, they drink indeed what is deadly, but it shall not hurt them. They who, as often as they see their neighbors grow weak in good works, run to help them with all their strength, and by the example of their own deeds strengthen the lives of those who waver in their own actions; what else do they do but lay hands on the sick that they may recover?

Which miracles are so much the greater as they are spiritual; so much the greater as by them not bodies but souls are raised to life. These signs therefore, dearest brethren, you can do by God's help if you will. For by those outward signs, life cannot be obtained by those who work them. For those bodily miracles sometimes show holiness, but do not make it; but these spiritual ones, which are wrought in the mind, do not show but make the virtue of life. The evil can have those, but only the good can enjoy these.

Whence the Truth says of certain ones: Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name done many mighty works? And then I will confess to them: I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Do not therefore, dearest brethren, love signs which may be had in common with the reprobate; but love these miracles of charity and piety which we have spoken of, which are so much the safer as they are hidden, and for which the recompense with the Lord is so much the greater as the glory among men is less.

We have faith for a defence, if we are not smitten with distrust itself also, in immediately making the sign and adjuring, and besmearing the heel with the beast.

The taking up of serpents, that is, the destruction of serpents, both sensible and intelligible, as it is said in another place: "I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions," evidently, intelligible ones (Luke 10:19). However, the expression "they will take up serpents" can also be understood literally, since, for example, Paul took a serpent in his hand without any harm to himself (Acts 28:5). "And if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them." This happened many times, as we find in the narratives. For many, drinking poison, were preserved unharmed by the power of the sign of the cross.

That is, they shall scatter before them serpents, whether intellectual or sensible, as it is said, Ye shall tread upon serpents and scorpions, which is understood spiritually. But it may also mean sensible serpents, as when Paul received no hurt from the viper. There follows: And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. (Luke 10:19) We read of many such cases in history, for many persons have drank poison unhurt, by guarding themselves with the sign of Christ. It goes on: They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recorer.

As if to say, The sheep hear not them, but Me they hear; for I am the Door, and whoever entereth by Me not falsely but in sincerity, shall by perseverance be saved.

For if you believe that father Bacchus can give a good vintage, but cannot give relief from sickness; if you believe that Ceres can give good crops, Aesculapius health, Neptune one thing, Juno another, that Fortune, Mercury, Vulcan, are each the giver of a fixed and particular thing,-this, too, you must needs receive from us, that souls can receive from no one life and salvation, except from Him to whom the Supreme Ruler gave this charge and duty. The Almighty Master of the world has determined that this should be the way of salvation,-this the door, so to say, of life; by Him alone is there access to the light: nor may men either creep in or enter elsewhere, all other ways being shut up and secured by an impenetrable barrier.

By this, then, which the Lord hath explained, that He Himself is the door, let us find entrance to what He has set forth, but not explained. And indeed who it is that is the Shepherd, although He hath not told us in the lesson we have read to-day, yet in that which follows He very plainly tells us: "I am the good Shepherd." And although He had not said so, whom else but Himself ought we to have understood in those words where He saith, "He that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To Him the porter openeth: and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out."

But what is this, "He shall go in and out, and find pasture"? To enter indeed into the Church by Christ the door, is eminently good; but to go out of the Church, is certainly otherwise than good. Such a going out could not then be commended by the good Shepherd, when He said, "And he shall go in and out, and find pasture." There is therefore not only some sort of entrance, but some outgoing also that is good, by the good door, which is Christ. But I am better pleased that the Truth Himself, like a good Shepherd, and therefore a good Teacher, hath in a certain measure reminded us how we ought to understand His words, "He shall go in and out, and find pasture," when He added in the sequel, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." For He seems to me to have meant, That they may have life in coming in, and have it more abundantly at their departure. For no one can pass out by the door-that is, by Christ-to that eternal life which shall be open to the sight, unless by the same door-that is, by the same Christ-he has entered His church, which is His fold, to the temporal life, which is lived in faith.

(Tr. xlv. c. 15) What is this, shall go in and out? To enter into the Church by Christ the Door, is a very good thing, but to go out of the Church is not. Going in must refer to inward cogitation; going out to outward action; as in the Psalm, Man goeth forth to his work. (Ps. 103:23)

"I am the door." Here it is noted that whoever enters through him enters unto salvation. Therefore he says: "I am the door," through which, namely, one enters unto salvation; and the reason is added: "If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved"; concerning which entrance, Matthew 7: "Enter ye in at the strait gate. How strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life!" because Christ was poor and lowly. Through this small door the rich, full of riches, do not enter; on account of which it is said in Matthew 19: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." This entrance is through faith and the Sacrament of Baptism; since the former is the gate of the virtues, and the latter of the Sacraments. He who enters in this way shall be saved; Mark, last chapter: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." "And he shall go in and go out and find pasture; he shall go in" through contemplation, which calls back to interior things; "and he shall go out" through action; Numbers 27: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, provide a man who may go in and go out before them." Or, as Augustine explains, "he shall go in" to the contemplation of the Divinity, "he shall go out" to the sight of the humanity, "and shall find pasture," because he is nourished in all things: the intellect in the contemplation of the Divinity, and the senses in the contemplation of the humanity; concerning which pastures, Ezekiel 34: "I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel; in the most fertile pastures I will feed them."

It is asked concerning what he says, that "he will go out and will find pasture."

Against this: "No one putting his hand to the plow should look back"; therefore no one who enters will go out.

It must be said that there is a twofold going out: one contrary to entering, and this is a going out from the Church through unbelief; and concerning this the objection is raised, and concerning this Augustine says: "To enter the Church is good, but to go out is the worst"; and concerning this, First John two says: "They went out from us, but they were not of us." The other is from contemplation to action; and this is not of regression, but of exercise. Concerning this the Psalm says: "Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening."

Therefore, however much one may be illuminated by the light of nature and acquired knowledge, one cannot enter into oneself so as within oneself to delight in the Lord, except through the mediation of Christ, who says: I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pastures. But to this door we do not draw near unless we believe in him, hope in him, and love him. It is necessary, therefore, if we wish to re-enter into the enjoyment of Truth as into paradise, that we enter through faith, hope, and charity in the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, who is as the tree of life in the midst of paradise.

The figure of the six seraphic wings intimates six stairlike illuminations, which begin from creatures and lead all the way to God, to whom no one rightly enters except through the Crucified. For he who does not enter through the door but climbs up another way, that one is a thief and a robber. If anyone indeed through this door enters, he shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.

These six considerations having therefore been traversed, as if they were the six steps of the throne of the true Solomon, by which one arrives at peace, where the true peaceful one rests in a peaceful mind as in an interior Jerusalem; and as if also the six wings of the Cherub, by which the mind of the true contemplative, filled with the illumination of supernal wisdom, may be borne upward; and as if also the first six days, in which the mind must be exercised, so that it may at last arrive at the sabbath of rest; after our mind has contemplated God outside itself through vestiges and in the vestiges, within itself through the image and in the image, above itself through the similitude of the divine light shining upon us and in that light itself, insofar as is possible according to the state of wayfaring and the exercise of our mind; when at last in the sixth step it has arrived at this point, that it contemplates in the first and highest principle and the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, those things whose likenesses can in no way be found in creatures, and which exceed all keenness of the human intellect: it remains that, in contemplating these things, it should transcend and pass beyond not only this sensible world, but also itself; in which passing over, Christ is the way and the door, Christ is the ladder and the vehicle, as it were the mercy seat placed upon the ark of God and the mystery hidden from the ages.

That it is impossible to attain to God the Father, except by His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh to the Father but by me." Also in the same place: "I am the door: by me if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved." Also in the same place: "Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Also in the same place: "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life: he that is not obedient in word to the Son hath not life; but the wrath of God shall abide upon him." Also Paul to the Ephesians: "And when He had come, He preached peace to you, to those which are afar off, and peace to those which are near, because through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father." Also to the Romans: "For all have sinned, and fail of the glory of God; but they are justified by His gift and grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Also in the Epistle of Peter the apostle: "Christ hath died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might present us to God." Also in the same place: "For in this also was it preached to them that are dead, that they might be raised again." Also in the Epistle of John: "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same also hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath both the Son and the Father."

That it is impossible to attain to the Father but by His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel according to John: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Also in the same place: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."

After His usual manner, He moulds the form of His speech to a spiritual application as though it arose naturally from the course of His story, and seems to treat things which are simple to look at and contain nothing difficult of comprehension, as images of things more obscure. For the thieves, He saith, and robbers, violently breaking into the enclosures of the sheep, do not enter by the door, but leap in by some other way, and by getting over the wall of the fold put themselves in danger. For perhaps, or rather very probably, one who is robbing in this way and rashly practising villainy may be detected and caught; but they who enter by the door itself, effect an entrance without risk, being manifestly not mean in conduct, nor yet unknown to the lord of the sheep. For he who standeth at the doors openeth to them and they run in: moreover, saith He, such as these shall be together with the sheep in great security, having effected an entrance very lawfully as it were and without guile, and without incurring any suspicion of being robbers. This therefore is the part of the story which is typical; and passing over to what is thereby intimated for our spiritual profit, we say this, that they who without the Divine sanction and will proceed to take the leadership of the people, as though altogether refusing the entrance by the Door, will perhaps also perish, doing violence to the Divine decree, at least by the motive of their endeavours. But they who are allotted a God-given leadership, and come to it by Christ, with great security and grace they will govern the most sacred fold, escaping so entirely from the anger which falls on the others that they even receive honour for their work: they will obtain crowns from above such as they do not yet dare to hope for; because their aim is not at all in any way to grieve their flocks, but rather to benefit them: they will do things well-pleasing to the Lord of the flock, and love by all means to keep safe those who belong to Him. By these words also the Lord greatly troubles the obstinate Pharisees, saying that they will certainly not be kept safe, but will utterly fall from the leadership in which they now are; and very justly, since they suppose they will possess it firmly, not by God's approval, but by their own folly. Bat herein I cannot help admiring the incomparable love for men shown by the Saviour. For the Lord is really compassionate and merciful, offering to all a way of salvation, and in divers manners inviting to it even the very obstinate and hardened. And I will take the proof of my assertion once more from the thing itself. For when He fails, either by marvellous deeds or by the longing which yearns and hopes for the glory which shall be hereafter, to persuade the Pharisees to receive His teaching; He sternly proceeds to that, by which it was likely they would be especially troubled, so that henceforth they might look upon obedience as an inevitable necessity. For knowing them to be attached to the glory of being leaders, and to eagerly reckon upon no ordinary gain from thence, He says they will be deprived of it, and will be utterly despoiled of that which was so highly valued, and which was then in their possession; unless they will yield themselves to willingly listen to Him, and seek pardon at His hands.

We are Christians and Catholics not because we worship a key, but because we have passed a door; and felt the wind that is the trumpet of liberty blow over the land of the living.

He is the Way, because he leads us through himself. He is the Door who lets us in, the Shepherd who makes us dwell in green pastures, bringing us up by waters of rest and leading us there. He protects us from wild beasts, converts the erring, brings back what was lost and binds up what was broken. He guards the strong and brings them together into the fold beyond with words of pastoral knowledge.

Where do you pasture your sheep, O good Shepherd who carries all your flock on your shoulders? For the one lamb that you took up is the entire human race, which you raised on your shoulders. Show me then the place of pasture, make known to me the waters of rest, lead me out to the good grass, call me by name that I, your sheep, may listen to your voice and may your call be the gift of eternal life.… "Show me, then," she says, "where you feed," so that I may find the pasture of salvation and be filled with the food of heaven which all people must eat if they would enter into life.

"If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pastures." For he will go in to faith, but will go out from faith to sight, from belief to contemplation, and will find pastures in eternal refreshment. His sheep therefore find pastures, because whoever follows him with a simple heart is nourished by the food of eternal greenness. But what are the pastures of these sheep, if not the inner joys of ever-verdant paradise? For the pastures of the elect are the present countenance of God, which when it is beheld without failing, the mind is satisfied without end by the food of life. In these pastures those have rejoiced in the fullness of eternity who have already escaped the snares of pleasurable temporality. There are the hymn-singing choirs of angels, there is the fellowship of the heavenly citizens. There is the sweet solemnity of those returning from the sad labor of this pilgrimage. There are the foreseeing choirs of prophets, there is the judging number of apostles, there is the victorious army of innumerable martyrs, the more joyful there as they were more harshly afflicted here; there is the constancy of confessors, consoled by the reception of their reward; there are faithful men whom the pleasure of the world could not soften from the strength of their manliness; there are holy women who conquered both the world and their sex; there are children who here transcended their years by their conduct; there are the elderly whom age rendered weak here, yet the power of good works did not abandon.

(super Ezek. Hom. xiii.) Shall go in, i. e. to faith: shall go out, i. e. to sight: and find pasture, i. e. in eternal fulness.

And by war he means the war that is in the body, because its frame has been made out of hostile elements; as it has been written, he says, "Remember the conflict that exists in the body." Jacob, he says, saw this entrance and this gate in his journey into Mesopotamia, that is, when from a child he was now becoming a youth and a man; that is, (the entrance and gate) were made known unto him as he journeyed into Mesopotamia. But Mesopotamia, he says, is the current of the great ocean flowing from the midst of the Perfect Man; and he was astonished at the celestial gate, exclaiming, "How terrible is this place! it is nought else than the house of God, and this (is) the gate of heaven." On account of this, he says, Jesus uses the words, "I am the true gate." Now he who makes these statements is, he says, the Perfect Man that is imaged from the unportrayable one from above. The Perfect Man therefore cannot, he says, be saved, unless, entering in through this gate, he be born again. But this very one the Phrygians, he says, call also Papa, because he tranquillized all things which, prior to his manifestation, were confusedly and dissonantly moved. For the name, he says, of Papa belongs simultaneously to all creatures -celestial, and terrestrial, and infernal-who exclaim, Cause to cease, cause to cease the discord of the world, and make "peace for those that are afar off," that is, for material and earthly beings; and "peace for those that are near," that is, for perfect men that are spiritual and endued with reason. But the Phrygians denominate this same also "corpse"-buried in the body, as it were, in a mausoleum and tomb. This, he says, is what has been declared, "Ye are whited sepulchres, full," he says, "of dead men's bones within," because there is not in you the living man. And again he exclaims, "The dead shall start forth from the graves," that is, from the earthly bodies, being born again spiritual, not carnal. For this, he says, is the Resurrection that takes place through the gate of heaven, through which, he says, all those that do not enter remain dead. These same Phrygians, however, he says, affirm again that this very (man), as a consequence of the change, (becomes) a god. For, he says, he becomes a god when, having risen from the dead, he will enter into heaven through a gate of this kind. Paul the apostle, he says, knew of this gate, partially opening it in a mystery, and stating "that he was caught up by an angel, and ascended as far as the second and third heaven into paradise itself; and that he beheld sights and heard unspeakable words which it would not be possible for man to declare."

The priests indeed are good, but the High Priest is better; to whom the holy of holies has been committed, and who alone has been trusted with the secrets of God. He is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and the apostles, and the Church. All these have for their object the attaining to the unity of God. But the Gospel possesses something transcendent [above the former dispensation], viz., the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, His passion and resurrection. For the beloved prophets announced Him, but the Gospel is the perfection of immortality. All these things are good together, if ye believe in love.

(Hom. lix. 3) Or, He refers to the Apostles who went in and out boldly; for they became the masters of the world, none could turn them out of their kingdom, and they found pasture.

Wherefore He, being the true Prophet, said, 'I am the gate of life; he who entereth through me entereth into life,' there being no other teaching able to save. Wherefore also He cried, and said, 'Come unto me, all who labour,' that is, who are seeking the truth, and not finding it; and again, 'My sheep hear my voice;' and elsewhere, 'Seek and find,' since the truth does not lie on the surface.

Whoever enters through Me, the door, and is brought to the Father, and becomes His sheep, that one will be saved, and not only will be saved, but will also receive great fearlessness, like both Lord and Master. For this is what is meant by the words "and will go in and go out." So too the apostles boldly went in and came out before rulers, and came out joyful and unconquerable (Acts 5:41). "And shall find pasture," that is, abundant food. And in another way: since our man is twofold, according to the expression of the Apostle Paul, "the inner and the outer" (Rom. 7:22; 2 Cor. 4:16), it can be said that he enters who cares for the inner man, and he again goes out who "puts to death the members which are on the earth" and "the deeds of the flesh" in Christ (Rom. 8:13). Such a one shall find pasture both in the age to come, according to what is said: "The Lord shepherds me, and I shall not want" (Ps. 22:1).

The door admits the sheep into the pasture; And shall go in and out, and find pasture. What is this pasture, but the happiness to come, the rest to which our Lord brings us?

Or, to go in is to watch over the inner man; to go out, (Colos. 3) to mortify the outward man, i. e. our members which are upon the earth. He that doth this shall find pasture in the life to come.

I am the door. Here he clarifies his explanation: first, of the door; secondly, of the thief (v 10). Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he repeats what he intends to explain; and secondly, he gives the explanation (v 9).

He repeats what he had already said, namely, I am the door: "If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar" (Song 8:9), that is, let us grant her an incorruptible power.

He explains this when he says, if any one enters by me, he will be saved. First, he shows that the purpose of a door, which is to keep the sheep safe, applies to himself; secondly, he mentions the manner in which they are kept safe (v 9b).

The door safeguards the sheep by keeping those within from going out, and by protecting them from strangers who want to come in. And this applies to Christ, for he is our safeguard and protection. And this is what he says: if any one, not with insincerity, enters, into the fellowship of the Church and of the faithful, by me, the door, he will be saved, i.e., if he perseveres: "For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12); "We shall be saved by his life" (Rom 5:10).

The way the sheep are safeguarded is set forth when he says that he will go in and out and find pasture. This statement can be explained in four ways. First of all, according to Chrysostom, it simply affirms the security and freedom of those who cling to Christ. For one who enters some other way than by the door does not have free entry and exit; but one who does enter by the door has free exit, because he can leave freely. Therefore, when he says, he will go in and out, the meaning is that the Apostles adhering to Christ enter with security by living with the faithful, who are within the Church, and with unbelievers who are outside, when they became masters of the whole world and no one wished to cast them out: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the congregation, who shall go out before them and come in before them…that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd" (Num 27:16). And find pasture, find delight in converting others, and find joy even when persecuted by unbelievers for the name of Christ: "Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name," as we read in Acts (5:41).

Secondly, this can be explained as Augustine does in his Commentary on John. Two things are incumbent upon anyone who acts well, namely to be well-ordered to the things that are within him, and to those that are without. Within a person is the spirit, and without is the body: "Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day" (2 Cor 4:16). Therefore, a person who clings to Christ will go in through contemplation, to protect his conscience - "When I enter my house," i.e., my conscience, "I shall find rest with her," i.e., with wisdom (Wis 8:16) - and out, namely, by good actions, to tame the body - "Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening" (Ps 104:23) - and find pasture, in a clean and sincere conscience - "I will appear before your sight: I will be satisfied when your glory appears" (Ps 16:15). Again, by his actions he will find pasture, i.e., fruit - "He shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him" (Ps 126:6).

The third explanation is also Augustine's as well as that given by Gregory in his Commentary on Ezekiel. The meaning, then, is this. Such a one will go in, i.e., into the Church, by believing - "I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle" (Ps 41:5), and this is to enter the Church Militant; and out, from the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant - "Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of the wedding" (Song 3:11); and find pasture, that is, the pastures of doctrine and grace in the Church Militant - "He makes me lie down in green pastures"; and the pastures of glory in the Church Triumphant: "I will feed them with good pasture" (Ez 34:14).

Fourthly, there is an explanation found in the work, On the Spirit and the Soul, which has been incorrectly attributed to Augustine. Here it is said that such a one will go in, that is, the saints will go in to contemplate the divinity of Christ, and out, to consider his humanity; and they will find pasture in both, because in both they will taste the joys of contemplation: "Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty" (Is 33:17).

The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill. As if He said, And well may the sheep not hear the voice of the thief; for he cometh not but for to steal: he usurpeth another's office, forming his followers not on Christ's precepts, but on his own. And therefore it follows, and to kill, i. e. by drawing them from the faith; and to destroy, i. e. by their eternal damnation.

(Tr. xlv. 15) But He Himself explains it more satisfactorily to me in what follows: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and for to kill: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. By going in they have life; i. e. by faith, which worketh by love; by which faith they go into the fold. The just liveth by faith. And by going out they will have it more abundantly: (Heb. 10:38) i. e. when true believers die, they have life more abundantly, even a life which never ends. Though in this fold there is not wanting pasture, then they will find pasture, such as will satisfy them. To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal." Here it is noted that Christ himself enters as the true shepherd, not as a thief; on account of which he says: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal," by extorting temporal goods; "and to kill," by temporally afflicting his subjects; "and to destroy," by casting them down to hell through evil example. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," that is, to preserve life as a shepherd; that "they might have life," namely, the life of grace, concerning which life, above in chapter 6: "This is the bread descending from heaven, which giveth life unto the world"; "and that they might have it more abundantly," namely, the life of glory, concerning which, below in chapter 17: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." This is called abundant, because it is said in Luke 6: "Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom."

[On how conversion revealed the true value of existence, which his former pessimism had been unable to perceive]

I have, almost all my life, been quite unable to feel that horror of nonentity, of annihilation, which, say, Dr. Johnson felt so strongly. I felt it for the very first time only in 1947. But that was after I had long been re-converted and thus begun to know what life really is and what would have been lost by missing it.

The Biological sort which comes to us through Nature, and which (like everything else in Nature) is always tending to run down and decay so that it can only be kept up by incessant subsidies from Nature in the form of air, water, food, etc., is Bios. The Spiritual life which is in God from all eternity, and which made the whole natural universe, is Zoe. Bios has, to be sure, a certain shadowy or symbolic resemblance to Zoe: but only the sort of resemblance there is between a photo and a place, or a statue and a man. A man who changed from having Bios to having Zoe would have gone through as big a change as a statue which changed from being a carved stone to being a real man.

And that is precisely what Christianity is about. This world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumour going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life.

While Our Saviour Christ was saying He Himself was the Door, and teaching that it was His both to admit those whom He would and to keep outside him who is unfit and quite useless for shepherd's work; and moreover, in addition to this, had denounced as thieves and robbers those who were self-appointed to an honour not given them from above; the wretched Pharisees again were taking counsel, deliberating Who this Man was that showed so much boldness, and considering whether He ought not Himself perhaps to be numbered among those whose coming He reproved: for they thought that He too was a false shepherd and a false teacher, as merely self-consecrated by His own determination; not that being God He had been made Man, according to the ancient declaration of the inspired Scripture. And it is indeed probable that even when they had gathered a true knowledge of Him, they rejected it as something which was intolerable to their unbelief, and refused to consider anything which was not in harmony with their own pleasure and their own dear delight; and this was to be leaders of the people and to be spoken of accordingly. When therefore He knew that such were their thoughts and that they so whispered one to another, He did not wait for them to express these ideas more openly, but answered them as was fitting, and declares that the question ought to be decided by testing their actions, as to who was the shepherd, and who was the thief; saying that it would be by no means difficult to thus discriminate, if any one would consider the object and behaviour of each. For the thief cometh, He says, for the destruction of the sheep, since the desire of taking plunder undoubtedly leads to this issue; but the really good shepherd will come without bringing any harm into the sheepfold, but rather will work for their advantage, and whatever he may understand to be for their greatest good, that he will zealously labour for.

Therefore let us now pass as from another image to the truer matter to which the force of the words applies, and let us again consider the Pharisees, how they at that time were acting like false shepherds and false teachers towards such as were, cheated by them; and then let us consider what Christ came to give, and what happiness He came to bring us. They certainly never scrupled to speak falsely, and feigning themselves to be sent from God, they prophesied (according to that which is written) out of their own hearts, and not out of the mouth of the Lord; and besides these, that Theudas also, and Judas of Galilee, drawing away people after them, were destroyed together with those who had been led to join them: but Our Lord Jesus Christ came to bestow upon us eternal life, out of the love which He had towards us. And their aims being so opposite, and the manner of their coming so different, how can it be explained except that their dispositions and offices were of opposite character? Therefore by the test of their behaviour in office we ought to discern. He says, on the one hand what they were, and on the other what He was. For thus it was possible perhaps to persuade the rulers not to think unreasonably of Him any longer by supposing Him to be one of the false shepherds, or one of those who climb up some other way into the sheepfold: but that rather Christ, the Door and the Porter and the Shepherd, had come, not only that the sheep may have life, saith He, but also something more; for besides the restoration to life of those who believe in Him, there is also the certain hope of being blessed with all good things. And probably the word more refers also to this life, meaning what is more abundant or more honourable, and implying the most perfect participation of the Spirit, although very secretly. For the restoration to life is common to both saints and sinners, to both Greeks and Jews, as well as ourselves, for: The dead shall arise, and they that are in the tombs shall awake, and they that are in the earth shall rejoice, according to the sure promise of the Saviour. But the participation of the Holy Spirit is not thus common to all, being the more than life, as it were something beyond that which is common to all; and will be bestowed only upon those who are justified by faith in Christ: and the Divine Paul also will prove this to us, saying: Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall all sleep, hut we-shall not all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For indeed all shall rise from the dead, because this is granted to all nature, through the grace of the Resurrection; and in One, that is, Christ, Who was the first and foremost to break down the dominion of death and attain eternal life, the common lot of humanity was changed and made incorruptible, even as also in one, that is, the first Adam, it was condemned to death and corruption. But there will be at that time an important difference among those who are raised, and very widely distinct will be their destiny. For those who have gone to their rest with faith in Christ, and who have received the earnest of the Spirit in the appointed time of their bodily life, will obtain the most perfect grace, and will be changed to the glory which shall be given from God. But those who have not believed the Son, and have deemed such an excellent reward of no account, shall be once more condemned by His voice, and, sharing with the rest in nothing save in the restoration to life, shall pay the penalty of such prolonged unbelief. For they shall depart down into Hades to be punished, and shall feel unavailing remorse. For, saith He, there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

My first religion was pure Paganism, which among sincere men is more shortly described as extreme fear. Then there succeeded a state of mind which is quite real, but for which no proper name has ever been found. The ancients called it Stoicism, and I think it must be what some German lunatics mean (if they mean anything) when they talk about Pessimism. It was an empty and open acceptance of the thing that happens--as if one had got beyond the value of it. And then, curiously enough, came a very strong contrary feeling--that things mattered very much indeed, and yet that they were something more than tragic. It was a feeling, not that life was unimportant, but that life was much too important ever to be anything but life. I hope that this was Christianity.

In considering the war of the Albigensians, we come to the breach in the heart of Europe and the landslide of a new philosophy that nearly ended Christendom for ever. In that case the new philosophy was also a very new philosophy; it was pessimism. It was none the less like modern ideas because it was as old as Asia; most modern ideas are. It was the Gnostics returning; but why did the Gnostics return? Because it was the end of an epoch, like the end of the Empire; and should have been the end of the Church. It was Schopenhauer hovering over the future; but it was also Manichaeus rising from the dead; that men might have death and that they might have it more abundantly.

(Hom. lix. 1) The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; this was literally fulfilled in the case of those movers of seditiona, whose followers were nearly all destroyed; deprived by the thief even of this present life. But came, He saith, for the salvation of the sheep; That they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly, in the kingdom of heaven. This is the third mark of difference between Himself, and the false prophets.

Since those who joined Theudas and Judas and the other rebels were killed and perished, He added: "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy," calling them and those like them thieves. "But I," He says, "have come that they may have life." They killed and destroyed their followers, but I came so that they might live and have something more, namely: the communion of the Holy Spirit, by which one must also understand the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, in Christ all have life, for all shall rise and live; but the righteous shall also receive something more, namely: the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mystically, the thief is the devil, steals by wicked thoughts, kills by the assent of the mind to them, and destroys by acts.

Now he considers the thief. First, he mentions the mark of the thief; secondly, he says that he himself has the opposite characteristic, I came that they may have life.

He says that those who do not enter by the door, i.e., those who have come independently of me, are thieves and robbers; and they are evil. For in the first place, the thief comes only to steal, i.e., to usurp what is not his; these are the agitators and heretics, who fasten on to those who belong to Christ: "He lies in ambush to catch the ones who are poor" (Ps 9:4). Secondly, the thief comes to kill, and he kills by bringing in perverse teachings and evil practices: "As robbers lie in wait for a man…they murder on the way" (Hos 6:9). Thirdly, the thief comes to destroy, by casting into everlasting destruction: "My people have been lost sheep" (Jer 50:6). But these traits are not in me.

I came that they may have life. This is like saying: The above have not come in by me, otherwise they would do as I do. But they do the contrary, because they steal, and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, that is, the life of righteousness, by entering into the Church Militant through faith: "My righteous one shall live by faith" (Heb 10:38). We read of this life in 1 John (3:14) that "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren." And have it abundantly, that is, have eternal life, when they leave the body. We read below of this life: "This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God" (17:3).

As far as possible, therefore, let the bishop make the offence his own, and say to the sinner, Do thou but return, and I will undertake to suffer death for thee, as our Lord suffered death for me, and for all men. For "the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; but he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, that is, the devil, and he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf seizes upon them." We must know, therefore, that God is very merciful to those who have offended, and hath promised repentance with an oath. But he who has offended, and is unacquainted with this promise of God concerning repentance, and does not understand His long-suffering and forbearance, and besides is ignorant of the Holy Scriptures, which proclaim repentance, inasmuch as he has never learned them from you, perishes through his folly. But do thou, like a compassionate shepherd, and a diligent feeder of the flock, search out, and keep an account of thy flock.

The Lord Jesus is speaking to His sheep-to those already so, and to those yet to become such-who were then present; for in the place where they were, there were those who were already His sheep, as well as those who were afterwards to become so: and He likewise shows to those then present and those to come, both to them and to us, and to as many also after us as shall yet be His sheep, who it is that had been sent to them. All, therefore, hear the voice of their Shepherd saying, "I am the good Shepherd." He would not add "good," were there not bad shepherds. But the bad shepherds are those who are thieves and robbers, or certainly hirelings at the best.

We understand the Lord Christ as the door, and also as the Shepherd; but who is to be understood as the doorkeeper? For the former two, He has Himself explained: the doorkeeper He has left us to search out for ourselves. And what doth He say of the doorkeeper? "To him," He saith, "the porter [doorkeeper] openeth." To whom doth he open? To the Shepherd. What doth he open to the Shepherd? The door. And who is also the door? The Shepherd Himself.

In respect, then, of the profound nature of this question, I shall tell you what I think. Perhaps we ought to understand the Lord Himself as the doorkeeper: for the shepherd and the door are in human respects as much different from each other as the doorkeeper and the door; and yet the Lord has called Himself both the Shepherd and the door. Why, then, may we not understand Him also as the doorkeeper? For if we look at His personal qualities, the Lord Christ is neither a shepherd, in the way we are accustomed to know and to see shepherds; nor is He a door, for no artisan made Him: but if, because of some point of similarity, He is both the door and the Shepherd, I venture to say, He is also a sheep. True, the sheep is under the shepherd; yet He is both the Shepherd and a sheep. Where is He the Shepherd? Look, here thou hast it; read the Gospel: "I am the good Shepherd." Where is He a sheep? Ask the prophet: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter." Ask the friend of the bridegroom: "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world."

But what are we to say of the hireling? He is not mentioned here among the good. "The good Shepherd," He says, "giveth His life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the Shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep." The hireling does not here bear a good character, and yet in some respects is useful; nor would he be called an hireling, did he not receive hire from his employer. Who then is this hireling, that is both blameworthy and needful? There are some in office in the church, of whom the Apostle Paul saith, "Who seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's." What means that, "Who seek their own"? Who do not love Christ freely, who do not seek after God for His own sake; who are pursuing after temporal advantages, gaping for gain, coveting honors from men. When such things are loved by an overseer, and for such things God is served, whoever such an one may be, he is an hireling who cannot count himself among the children.

But give heed to the fact that even the hirelings are needful. For many indeed in the Church are following after earthly profit, and yet preach Christ, and through them is heard the voice of Christ; and the sheep follow, not the hireling, but the Shepherd's voice speaking through the hireling. Hearken to the hirelings as pointed out by the Lord Himself: "The scribes," He saith, "and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: do what they say; but do not what they do." What else said He but, Listen to the Shepherd's voice speaking through the hirelings? For sitting in Moses' seat, they teach the law of God; therefore God teacheth by them. But if they wish to teach their own things, hear them not, do them not.

Who is the hireling that seeth the wolf coming, and fleeth? He that seeketh his own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. He is one that does not venture plainly to rebuke an offender. Look, some one or other has sinned-grievously sinned; he ought to be rebuked, to be excommunicated: but once excommunicated, he will turn into an enemy, hatch plots, and do all the injury he can. At present, he who seeketh his own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's, in order not to lose what he follows after, the advantages of human friendship, and incur the annoyances of human enmity, keeps quiet and does not administer rebuke. See, the wolf has caught a sheep by the throat; the devil has enticed a believer into adultery: thou holdest thy peace-thou utterest no reproof. O hireling, thou hast seen the wolf coming and hast fled! Perhaps he answers and says: See, I am here; I have not fled. Thou hast fled, because thou hast been silent; thou hast been silent, because thou hast been afraid. The flight of the mind is fear. Thou stoodest with thy body, thou fleddest in thy spirit.

(Tr. xlvi. 1) Our Lord has acquainted us with two things which were obscure before; first, that He is the Door; and now again, that He is the Shepherd: I am the good Shepherd. (c. xlvii. 1, 3). Above He said that the shepherd entered by the door. If He is the Door, how doth He enter by Himself? Just as He knows the Father by Himself, and we by Him; so He enters into the fold by Himself, and we by Him. We enter by the door, because we preach Christ; Christ preaches Himself. A light shows both other things, and itself too. (Tr. xlvi. 5). There is but one Shepherd. For though the rulers of the Church, those who are her sons, and not hirelings, are shepherds, they are all members of that one Shepherd. (Tr. xlvii. 3). His office of Shepherd He hath permitted His members to bear. Peter is a shepherd, and all the other Apostles: all good Bishops are shepherds. But none of us calleth himself the door. He could not have added good, if there were not bad shepherds as well. They are thieves and robbers; or at least mercenaries.

(Tr. xlvii) Christ was not the only one who did this. And yet if they who did it are members of Him, one and the same Christ did it always. He was able to do it without them; they were not without Him.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. 1) All these however were good shepherds, not because they shed their blood, but because they did it for the sheep. For they shed it not in pride, but in love. Should any among the heretics suffer trouble in consequence of their errors and iniquities, they forthwith boast of their martyrdom; that they may be the better able to steal under so fair a cloak: for they are in reality wolves. But not all who give their bodies to be burned, are to be thought to shed their blood for the sheep; rather against the sheep; for the Apostle saith, Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. (1 Cor. 13:3) And how hath he even the smallest charity, who does not love connection (convictus) with Christians? to command which, our Lord did not mention many shepherds, but one, I am the good Shepherd.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. xlix) He seeketh therefore in the Church, not God, but something else. If he sought God he would be chaste; for the soul hath but one lawful husband, God. Whoever seeketh from God any thing beside God, seeketh unchastely.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. xlix.) The wolf is the devil, and they that follow him; according to' Matthew, Which come to you in sheeps' clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matt. 7:15)

(Tr. xlvi. 8) Lo, the wolf hath seized a sheep by the throat, the devil hath enticed a man into adultery. The sinner must be excommunicated. But if he is excommunicated, he will be an enemy, he will plot, he will do as much harm as he can. Wherefore thou art silent, thou dost not censure, thou hast seen the wolf coming, and fled. Thy body has stood, thy mind has fled. For as joy is relaxation, sorrow contraction, desire a reaching forward of the mind; so fear is the flight of the mind.

(Tr. xlvi. 7) But if the Apostles were shepherds, not hirelings, why did they flee in persecution? And why did our Lord say, When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another? (Mat. 10:23) Let us knock, then will come one, who will explain.

(ad Honor. Ep. clxxx.) A servant of Christ, and minister of His Word and Sacraments, may flee from city to city, when he is specially aimed at by the persecutors, apart from his brethren; so that his flight does not leave the Church destitute. But when all, i. e. Bishops, Clerics, and Laics, are in danger in common, let not those who need assistance be deserted by those who should give it. Let all flee together if they can, to some place of security; but, if any are obliged to stay, let them not be forsaken by those who are bound to minister to their spiritual wants. Then, under pressing persecution, may Christ's ministers flee from the place where they are, when none of Christ's people remain to be ministered to, or when that ministry may be fulfilled by others who have not the same cause for flight. But when the people stay, and the ministers flee, and the ministry ceases, what is this but a damnable flight of hirelings, who care not for the sheep?

(Tr. xlvi. 1) On the good side are the door, the porter, the shepherd, and the sheep; on the bad, the thieves, the robbers, the hirelings, the wolf.

(de Verb. Dom. s. xlix) We must love the shepherd, beware of the wolf, tolerate the hireling. For the hireling is useful so long as he sees not the wolf, the thief, and the robber. When he sees them, he flees.

(Tr. xlvi. 5) Indeed he would not be an hireling, did he not receive wages from the hirer. (c. 6). Sons wait patiently for the eternal inheritance of their father; the hireling looks eagerly for the temporal wages from his hirer; and yet the tongues of both speak abroad the glory of Christ. The hireling hurteth, in that he doeth wrong, not in that he speaketh right: the grape bunch hangeth amid thorns; pluck the grape, avoid the thorn. Many that seek temporal advantages in the Church, preach Christ, and through them Christ's voice is heard; and the sheep follow not the hireling, but the voice of the Shepherd heard through the hireling.

For the sake of his flock the shepherd was sacrificed as though he were a sheep. He did not refuse death. He did not destroy his executioners as he had the power to do, for his passion was not forced on him. He laid down his life for his sheep of his own free will. "I have the power to lay it down," he said, "and I have the power to take it up again." By his passion he made atonement for our evil passions, by his death he cured our death, by his tomb he robbed the tomb, by the nails that pierced his flesh he destroyed the foundations of hell.Death held sway until Christ died. The grave was bitter, our prison was indestructible, until the Shepherd went down and brought to his sheep confined there the good news of their release. His appearance among them gave them a pledge of their resurrection and called them to a new life beyond the grave. "The good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep" and so seeks to win their love.

"I am the good shepherd." The Lord showed himself to be the good shepherd with regard to the good shepherd's entrance; here he shows secondly with regard to the good shepherd's affection; and he does this indeed in the following manner. First, Christ's friendship toward his sheep is shown; second, his diligence; third, his providence; fourth, his munificence; fifth, from this, the discord of the Jews.

First, therefore, Christ's true friendship toward the sheep is shown in comparison to the love of hirelings, which is not true love. Therefore he says: "I am the good shepherd," and he shows this: "the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep," from the vehement love which he has for them; whence he himself said below in the fifteenth chapter: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." Such a shepherd was Paul, who said in Second Corinthians twelve: "Most gladly will I spend and be spent for your souls." Not so the hireling; on account of which he says:

It is asked concerning what he says: "The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep."

From this it seems that a prelate is bound to die for his subjects. But against this: To suffer martyrdom is a work of supererogation; but no one is bound to works of supererogation unless he has bound himself by a vow: therefore it seems that a prelate is not bound to this.

Likewise it seems that all are bound to this; 1 John 3: "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

It must be said that to die for the Lord's flock can be in three ways: either for promoting it from good to better, and thus it is a matter of supererogation with respect to all prelates; or for freeing it from imminent danger, and thus every prelate is bound, because he has undertaken the care of the Lord's flock, and "their blood will be required from his hand"; or for one constituted in the extremity of necessity, who cannot escape damnation unless a man exposes himself to death; and thus I say that it is a matter of necessity with respect to all, just as selling one's possessions and giving to the poor when they are in extreme necessity.

And the arguments run according to these ways.

He is called Jesus: Sometimes He calls Himself a shepherd, and says, "I am the good Shepherd." According to a metaphor drawn from shepherds, who lead the sheep, is hereby understood the Instructor, who leads the children-the Shepherd who tends the babes. For the babes are simple, being figuratively described as sheep. "And they shall all," it is said, "be one flock, and one shepherd." The Word, then, who leads the children to salvation, is appropriately called the Instructor (Paedagogue).

The divine Instructor is trustworthy, adorned as He is with three of the fairest ornaments-knowledge, benevolence, and authority of utterance;-with knowledge, for He is the paternal wisdom: "All Wisdom is from the Lord, and with Him for evermore;"-with authority of utterance, for He is God and Creator: "For all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made;"-and with benevolence, for He alone gave Himself a sacrifice for us: "For the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep;" and He has so given it. Now, benevolence is nothing but wishing to do good to one's neighbour for his sake.

As then we say that it belongs to the shepherd's art to care for the sheep; for so "the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep;" so also we shall say that legislation, in as much as it presides over and cares for the flock of men, establishes the virtue of men, by fanning into flame, as far as it can, what good there is in humanity.

And if the flock figuratively spoken of as belonging to the Lord is nothing but a flock of men, then He Himself is the good Shepherd and Lawgiver of the one flock, "of the sheep who hear Him," the one who cares for them, "seeking," and finding by the law and the word, "that which was lost;" since, in truth, the law is spiritual and leads to felicity.

Feed us, the children, as sheep. Yea, Master, fill us with righteousness, Thine own pasture; yea, O Instructor, feed us on Thy holy mountain the Church, which towers aloft, which is above the clouds, which touches heaven. "And I will be," He says, "their Shepherd," and will be near them, as the garment to their skin. He wishes to save my flesh by enveloping it in the robe of immortality, and He hath anointed my body. "They shall call Me," He says, "and I will say, Here am I." Thou didst hear sooner than I expected, Master. "And if they pass over, they shall not slip," saith the Lord. For we who are passing over to immortality shall not fall into corruption, for He shall sustain us. For so He has said, and so He has willed. Such is our Instructor, righteously good. "I came not," He says, "to be ministered unto, but to minister." Wherefore He is introduced in the Gospel "wearied," because toiling for us, and promising "to give His life a ransom for many." For him alone who does so He owns to be the good shepherd. Generous, therefore, is He who gives for us the greatest of all gifts, His own life; and beneficent exceedingly, and loving to men, in that, when He might have been Lord, He wished to be a brother man; and so good was He that He died for us.

Having previously well and clearly shown how grievously those who lived in earlier times suffered from the hypocrisy of the false prophets and false shepherds, and having made manifest the advantages to be brought about by His own coming; having now also shown His own superiority by comparing the future destinies of the sheep, and being crowned as Conqueror by the votes of truth; He appropriately utters the words, I am the Good Shepherd. 'Certainly therefore,' He says, 'your plans against Me will be vain, since without being able to complain that I wish in any thing to damage the interests of the sheep, ye hesitate not to number Me with those who are wont to do this, and Him Who is truly good ye call evil, losing through your self-regard the ability to judge each matter fairly according to the injunction of the lawgiver.' Therefore He rebukes the rulers as unjust, as quite regardless of the words of Moses, as ignorant of the object of His coming, so that henceforth the prophet Isaiah may be acknowledged to speak truly concerning them, for he says: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that call sweet bitter, and bitter sweet; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness. For indeed will they not be found to do this, who treat the True Light, that is, Our Lord Jesus Christ, as darkness, by scrupling not to reckon our Good Shepherd as one of the falsely-named shepherds, or perhaps daring to esteem Him even less honourable than they? For such as professed themselves utterers of the Divine Word, and exercised themselves under the guise of prophecy in robbing the understanding of the common people and in cunningly stealing them from the way of truth, and led their followers astray to do their own pleasure instead of God's,----such as these were held in high esteem by those who seemed to be in power at that time. Certainly Shemaiah the Salamite opposed his own falsehood to God's words, and made himself bold against the reputation of Jeremiah; for the latter was in bonds, and the former had honour from Zedekiah as a reward for his lies. And now the wretched Pharisees going far beyond similar impiety, and characterised by more daring insolence, do not assign to Christ even the position allowed to false teachers. For indeed what did they actually say to some who were listening with great pleasure to His discourse? He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye Him? Wherefore Himself also says concerning them, by the prophet Isaiah: Woe unto them! for they have fled from Me; wretched are they, for they have been impious towards Me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me. And again: Their rulers shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. For are they not worthy of every punishment, who foolishly whet their tongue to such a sharpness as to dare to say against Christ such things as are not becoming in any way for us, but only for those who hold similar opinions, either to receive within the ears or heedlessly to repeat?

He explains the proper method of testing a good shepherd, for He teaches that in a struggle for the salvation of the flock such a one ought not to hesitate to give up even life itself freely, a condition which was of course fulfilled by Christ. For man, having yielded to an inclination for sin, at once wandered away from love to God. On this account he was banished from the sacred and Divine fold, I mean the precincts of Paradise; and having been weakened by this calamity, he became the prey of really bitter and implacable wolves, the devil who had beguiled him to sin, and death which had been germinated from sin. But when Christ was announced as the Good Shepherd over all, in the struggle with this pair of wild and terrible beasts, He laid down His life for us. He endured the cross for our sakes that by death He might destroy death, and was condemned for our sakes that He might deliver all men from condemnation for sin, abolishing the tyranny of sin by means of faith, and nailing to His cross the bond that was against us, as it is written. Accordingly, the father of sin used to put us in Hades like sheep, delivering us over to death as our shepherd, according to what is said in the Psalms: but the really Good Shepherd died for our sakes, that He might take us out of the dark pit of death and prepare to enfold us among the companies of heaven, and give unto us mansions above, even with the Father, instead of dens situate in the depths of the abyss or the recesses of the sea. Wherefore also He somewhere says to us: Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

The ordinary weaknesses of human nature will explain all the weaknesses of bureaucracy and business government all over the world. The official need only be an ordinary man to be more indifferent to other people's children than to his own; and even to sacrifice other people's family prosperity to his own. He may be bored; he may be bribed; he may be brutal, for any one of the thousand reasons that ever made a man a brute. All this elementary common sense is entirely left out of account in our educational and social systems of today. It is assumed that the hireling will not flee, and that solely because he is a hireling. It is denied that the shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep; or for that matter, even that the she-wolf will fight for the cubs. We are to believe that mothers are inhuman; but not that officials are human. There are unnatural parents, but there are no natural passions; at least, there are none where the fury of King Lear dared to find them--in the beadle. Such is the latest light on the education of the young; and the same principle that is applied to the child is applied to the husband and wife. Just as it assumes that a child will certainly be loved by anybody except his mother, so it assumes that a man can be happy with anybody except the one woman he has himself chosen for his wife.

Will you think less of him … because to seek for what had wandered, the good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep came on the mountains and hills on which you used to sacrifice and found the wanderer. And having found it, he took it upon his shoulders, on which he also bore the wood. And having borne the wandering sheep, he brought it back to the life above. And having brought it back, he numbered it among those who have never strayed.

For behold, he who is good not by an accidental gift but essentially, says: "I am the good shepherd." And he adds the pattern of that same goodness for us to imitate, saying: "The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." He did what he taught; he showed what he commanded. The good shepherd laid down his life for his sheep, so that in our sacrament he might transform his body and blood, and satisfy with the nourishment of his flesh the sheep he had redeemed. The way has been shown to us through contempt of death that we should follow; the pattern has been set before us upon which we should be formed. First it is ours to mercifully spend our external goods on his sheep; but finally, if necessary, even to offer our death for those same sheep. From that first and lesser thing one arrives at the final and greater. But since the soul by which we live is incomparably far better than the earthly substance we possess externally, when will someone who does not give his substance for his sheep give his life for them? And there are some who, because they love earthly substance more than the sheep, deservedly lose the name of shepherd.

(Hom. xiv. in Evang.) And He adds what that goodness (forma bonitatis) is, for our imitation: The good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. He did what He bade, He set the example of what He commanded: He laid down His life for the sheep, that He might convert His body and blood in our Sacrament, and feed with His flesh the sheep He had redeemed. A path is shown us wherein to walk, despising death; a stamp is applied to us, and we must submit to the impression. Our first duty is to spend our outward possessions upon the sheep; our last, if it be necessary, is to sacrifice our life for the same sheep. Whoso doth not give his substance to the sheep, how can he lay down his life for them?

A Great matter, beloved, a great matter it is to preside over a Church: a matter needing wisdom and courage as great as that of which Christ speaketh, that a man should lay down his life for the sheep, and never leave them deserted or naked; that he should stand against the wolf nobly. For in this the shepherd differs from the hireling; the one always looks to his own safety, caring not for the sheep; the other always seeks that of the sheep, neglecting his own. Having therefore mentioned the marks of a shepherd, Christ hath put two kinds of spoilers; one, the thief who kills and steals; the other, one who doth not these things, but who when they are done doth not give heed nor hinder them.

(Hom. lx. 5) Our Lord shows here that He did not undergo His passion unwillingly; but for the salvation of the world.

When, in reply to this, the Lord had figured the restoration of the lost ewe, to whom else is it credible that he configured it but to the lost heathen, about whom the question was then in hand,-not about a Christian, who up to that time had no existence? Else, what kind of (hypothesis) is it that the Lord, like a quibbler in answering, omitting the present subject-matter which it was His duty to refute, should spend His labour about one yet future? "But a `sheep' properly means a Christian, and the Lord's `flock' is the people of the Church, and the `good shepherd' is Christ; and hence in the `sheep' we must understand a Christian who has erred from the Church's `flock.

So after giving evidence derived from these facts, he said to them, "I am the good Shepherd." Therefore, if I act against the thieves, not only am I not the cause of destruction for those who obey me, but I even invite them to eternal life. And so I appear to be the Shepherd because I work for the good of the sheep. Since he asserts this decisively, he proves his argument even more so, so that he may not appear to vainly portray himself as the good Shepherd. And so, with the intention of demonstrating this with different arguments, as well as the facts themselves, he says, "The good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." If, he says, the good Shepherd is the one who accepts suffering for every affliction of his sheep, since I am going to die for the salvation of the whole world, the testimony about me is beyond doubt. "I am the good Shepherd." Indeed, if the thief kills, on the contrary, not only do I not kill, but I also give new life to men and women after taking death from them. Therefore, in every respect, I appear to be the good Shepherd according to these facts.

Then He speaks also of the sufferings and says: "I lay down My life for the sheep," expressing by this that He goes to His sufferings not by compulsion, but voluntarily. By the word "lay down" He shows that no one takes it from Me, but I Myself give it up.

Here he explains the second clause of the parable, "he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep" (10:2). First, he gives the explanation; secondly, he makes it clear (v 14). First, he explains that he is the good shepherd; secondly, he states the office of a good shepherd (v 11b); thirdly, he shows that the opposite is found in an evil shepherd (v 12).

He says, in regard to the first, I am the good shepherd. That Christ is a shepherd is clear enough, for as a flock is led and fed by the shepherd, so the faithful are nourished by Christ with spiritual food, and even with his own body and blood: "For you were straying like sheep, but now have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls" (1 Pet 2:25); "He will feed his flock like a shepherd" (Is 40:11). To distinguish himself from an evil shepherd and thief, he adds, good. Good, I say, because he fulfills the office of a shepherd, just as a soldier is called good who fulfills the office of a soldier. But since Christ had said above that the shepherd enters by the door, and here he says that he is the shepherd, and before he said he was the door (v 9), then he must enter through himself. And he does enter through himself, because he manifests himself and through himself knows the Father. We, however, enter through him, because it is by him that we are led to happiness.

Note that only he is the door, because no one else is the true light, but only shares in the light: "He," John the Baptizer, "was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light" (1:8). But we read of Christ that "He was the true light, which enlightens every man" (1:9). Therefore, no one else refers to himself as a door; Christ reserved this for himself. But being a shepherd he did share with others, and conferred it on his members: for Peter was a shepherd, and the other apostles were shepherds, as well as all good bishops: "I will give you shepherds after my own heart" (Jer 3:15). Now, although the Church's rulers, who are her children, are all shepherds, as Augustine says, yet he expressly says, I am the good shepherd, in order to emphasize the virtue of charity. For no one is a good shepherd unless he has become one with Christ by love, and has become a member of the true shepherd.

The office of a good shepherd is charity; thus he says, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. It should be noted that there is a difference between a good shepherd and an evil one: the good shepherd is intent upon the welfare of the flock, but the evil one is intent upon his own. This difference is touched upon by Ezekiel (34:2): "Ho, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?" Therefore, one who uses the flock only to feed himself is not a good shepherd. From this it follows that an evil shepherd, even over animals, is not willing to sustain any loss for the flock, since he does not intend the welfare of the flock, but his own. But a good shepherd, even over animals, endures many things for the flock whose welfare he has at heart. Thus Jacob said in Genesis (31:40): "By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night." However, when dealing with mere animals it is not necessary that a good shepherd expose himself to death for the safety of the flock. But because the spiritual safety of the human flock outweighs the bodily life of the shepherd, when danger threatens the safety of the flock the spiritual shepherd ought to suffer the loss of his bodily life for the safety of the flock. This is what our Lord says, the good shepherd lays down his life, i.e., his bodily life, for the sheep, the sheep who are his by authority and charity. Both are required, for they must belong to him and he must love them; the first without the second is not enough. Furthermore, Christ has given us an example of this teaching: "He laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 Jn 3:16).

"But the hireling, and he who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not," because he does not love them, but the profit for which he serves. On this Gregory says: "A hireling is one who holds the place of the shepherd, but does not seek the profit of souls, who yearns for earthly advantages, who rejoices in the honor of prelacy, who is delighted by the reverence shown to him by men"; of whom can be said that word from Matthew 6: "Amen I say to you, they have received their reward." This one, namely, "sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees," because he fears the wolf and does not love the sheep. "The wolf, as Gregory says, comes upon the sheep when any unjust person oppresses the faithful and the humble." Of such wolves, Acts 20: "I know," Paul says, "that after my departure ravenous wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock." At the coming of such a wolf the hireling leaves the sheep; Zechariah 11: "O shepherd and idol, abandoning the flock!" Upon this hireling's flight follows the scattering of the sheep; and therefore he says: "And the wolf seizes and scatters the sheep": Ezekiel 34: "My flocks were scattered over the face of the earth, and there was none who sought them." And the reason for the aforesaid is given, namely the defect of true friendship.

It is asked here concerning the hireling, whether he should be cast out and prohibited.

That he should be prohibited from the sheep seems to be indicated here, because he is censured.

But that he should be tolerated seems to follow: Philippians 1: "Whether by occasion or by truth Christ is announced, in this also I rejoice and shall rejoice."

But that he should be praised; Luke 15: "How many hirelings in my father's house abound in bread?" There Ambrose says that they abound in faith, hope, and charity.

It must be said that the hireling differs from the thief: because the hireling speaks the truth and preserves the sheep, but the thief speaks falsehood and tears the sheep apart, like a heretic; and this one is entirely to be cast out, but the hireling is to be tolerated. But here there is a twofold distinction: because some serve for a temporal reward, and such a one is to be tolerated, but nevertheless censured: some serve for an eternal reward, and such a one is to be tolerated and approved, but nevertheless is not entirely to be extolled; but one who serves from love alone is to be extolled with praises.

Having made a skilful comparison between the prating speeches and lawless daring of some and the splendour of His own works, and having characterised and described the former as thieves and robbers and climbers into the sheepfold by some other way, and Himself as the really Good Shepherd; He now passes on to speak of the rulers of the Jews themselves, and shows His own leadership to be better than that of the Pharisees. And the demonstration of this again He makes most evident to them by means of a comparison. For He sets in contrast as it were with their heedlessness and indifference His own watchfulness and love; and again accuses them of caring nothing for the flock, whereas He says His care for it was so intense that He despised even life, which to all is so dear. And He explains the proper method of testing a good shepherd, for He teaches that in a struggle for the salvation of the flock such a one ought not to hesitate to give up even life itself freely, a condition which was of course fulfilled by Christ. For man, having yielded to an inclination for sin, at once wandered away from love to God. On this account he was banished from the sacred and Divine fold, I mean the precincts of Paradise; and having been weakened by this calamity, he became the prey of really bitter and implacable wolves, the devil who had beguiled him to sin, and death which had been germinated from sin. But when Christ was announced as the Good Shepherd over all, in the struggle with this pair of wild and terrible beasts, He laid down His life for us. He endured the cross for our sakes that by death He might destroy death, and was condemned for our sakes that He might deliver all men from condemnation for sin, abolishing the tyranny of sin by means of faith, and nailing to His cross the bond that was against us, as it is written. Accordingly, the father of sin used to put us in Hades like sheep, delivering us over to death as our shepherd, according to what is said in the Psalms: but the really Good Shepherd died for our sakes, that He might take us out of the dark pit of death and prepare to enfold us among the companies of heaven, and give unto us mansions above, even with the Father, instead of dens situate in the depths of the abyss or the recesses of the sea. Wherefore also He somewhere says to us: Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. These words apply to the sheep tended by Christ: but let us now consider the state of the flocks of those others. Surely, by him who looks carefully and fairly into their condition, those others will be detected as nothing else than hirelings and false shepherds and wretches and betrayers and cowards, who have never taken any thought for the benefit of the sheep, but eagerly grasp on every side at whatever seems pleasing in any way to themselves individually. For they were hirelings, according to the Saviour's words, whose own the sheep were not. No: the sheep were Christ's, Who hired those men from the beginning, and appointed the priests to the highest honours and headships over the people of the Jews: but they, [dishonouring] so dignified [a position], and altogether neglecting the sheepfold, betrayed the sheep to the wolf, and we will briefly explain how they did it. In earlier times the numerous people of the Jews acknowledged God only for their king: to Him they paid the half-shekel, to Him they offered sacrifices and brought the observance of the Law as a sort of tribute. But there came upon them like some savage wolf a man of foreign race, imposing on them the name and the reality of slavery, and laying on them the yoke of a human sovereignty, compelling them somehow to adopt a strange and unwonted manner of life, demanding tribute, plundering the kingdom of God. For it was of course necessary for them when reduced to such distress to submit to the enactments of their conqueror. The foreigner came, overthrowing the rule which is from God, that is, the tribe ordained to minister in holy things, to whom judgment and the magistracy were committed by God; changing everything and exercising oppression; causing his own image to be struck on the coins, and practising all manner of arrogance. Against such intolerable insolence the shepherds did not show vigilance. They saw the wolf coming, and abandoned the flock, and fled, for the sheep were not their own; they did not call upon Him Who was able to help, Who delivered them out of the hands of the people of Babylon, and turned away the Assyrians, Who slew by the hand of an angel a hundred and eighty five thousand of the foreigners. And that the people of Israel were in no small degree injured and demoralised by the acceptance of the rule of the aliens, I mean under those of foreign race, thou mayest learn from the actual result. For at one time Pilate rebuked the unlawful boldness of the Jews, because they bade him crucify the Lord, and when he publicly said: Shall I crucify your King? they then actually at once threw aside their servitude under God, and burst asunder the bonds of their old allegiance, and proceeded to subject themselves as it were to a new yoke, exclaiming without more ado: We have no king but Caesar. And these things, both what the people did and what they cried out, appeared to their leaders to be right and proper; certainly therefore we must ascribe to them the authorship of all the people's misfortunes. So they are condemned, and very reasonably, as betrayers of the sheep, as wretches and cowards and most certainly 12 fond of fighting, even refusing altogether to protect and defend the sheep placed in their charge. Wherefore also God reproves them, saying: For the shepherds became brutish, and did not seek the Lord; therefore none of the flock had understanding, and they were scattered. From the events themselves therefore it is made manifest that Christ is a really Good Shepherd of sheep, but that the others are corrupters rather than good [shepherds] and are altogether to be excluded from any praise for sincerity.

The ordinary weaknesses of human nature will explain all the weaknesses of bureaucracy and business government all over the world. The official need only be an ordinary man to be more indifferent to other people's children than to his own; and even to sacrifice other people's family prosperity to his own. He may be bored; he may be bribed; he may be brutal, for any one of the thousand reasons that ever made a man a brute. All this elementary common sense is entirely left out of account in our educational and social systems of today. It is assumed that the hireling will not flee, and that solely because he is a hireling. It is denied that the shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep; or for that matter, even that the she-wolf will fight for the cubs. We are to believe that mothers are inhuman; but not that officials are human. There are unnatural parents, but there are no natural passions; at least, there are none where the fury of King Lear dared to find them--in the beadle. Such is the latest light on the education of the young; and the same principle that is applied to the child is applied to the husband and wife. Just as it assumes that a child will certainly be loved by anybody except his mother, so it assumes that a man can be happy with anybody except the one woman he has himself chosen for his wife.

He is called not a shepherd but a hireling who feeds the Lord's sheep not out of heartfelt love but for temporal wages. Indeed, a hireling is one who holds the position of shepherd but does not seek the profit of souls; he gapes after earthly advantages, rejoices in the honor of his office, feeds on temporal gains, and delights in the reverence shown him by men. For these are the wages of the hireling: that for the very labor he performs in governance, he finds here what he seeks, and remains a stranger to the inheritance of the flock hereafter. But whether one is truly a shepherd or a hireling cannot be known with certainty if no occasion of necessity arises. In times of tranquility, the hireling often stands guard over the flock just as the true shepherd does; but when the wolf comes, it reveals with what spirit each one was standing guard over the flock. For the wolf comes upon the sheep when any unjust man and plunderer oppresses the faithful and humble. But he who appeared to be a shepherd and was not abandons the sheep and flees, because while he fears danger to himself from the wolf, he does not presume to resist his injustice. He flees not by changing his location but by withdrawing his support. He flees because he saw injustice and remained silent. He flees because he hid himself in silence.

But there is another wolf who without ceasing daily tears apart not bodies, but minds, namely the malignant spirit, who prowling around lies in wait for the sheepfolds of the faithful and seeks the deaths of souls. Concerning this wolf it is soon added: "And the wolf seizes and scatters the sheep." The wolf comes and the hireling flees, because the malignant spirit tears apart the minds of the faithful in temptation, and he who holds the place of pastor has no care of solicitude. Souls perish, and he himself rejoices in earthly advantages. The wolf seizes and scatters the sheep when he drags one person into lust, inflames another with avarice, raises another up in pride, divides another through wrath, goads this one with envy, trips up that one in deceit. The devil, as it were, scatters the flock like a wolf when he slays the faithful people through temptations. But against these things the hireling is kindled by no zeal, aroused by no fervor of love: because while he seeks only external advantages, he negligently permits the internal losses of the flock.

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) Some there are who love earthly possessions more than the sheep, and do not deserve the name of a shepherd. He who feeds the Lord's flock for the sake of temporal hire, and not for love, is an hireling, not a shepherd. An hireling is he who holds the place of shepherd, but seeketh not the gain of souls, who panteth after the good things of earth, and rejoices in the pride of station.

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) But whether a man be a shepherd or an hireling, cannot be told for certain, except in a time of trial. In tranquil times, the hireling generally stands watch like the shepherd. But when the wolf comes, then every one shows with what spirit he stood watch over the flock.

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) The wolf too cometh upon the sheep, whenever any spoiler and unjust person oppresses the humble believers. And he who seems to be shepherd, but leaves the sheep and flees, is he who dares not to resist his violence, from fear of danger to himself. He flees not by changing place, but by withholding consolation from his flock. The hireling is inflamed with no zeal against this injustice. He only looks to outward comforts, and overlooks the internal suffering of his flock. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. The only reason that the hireling fleeth, is because he is an hireling; as if to say, He cannot stand at the approach of danger, who doth not love the sheep that he is set over, but seeketh earthly gain. Such an one dares not face danger, for fear he should lose what he so much loves.

(Hom. lx. 5) He then gives the difference between the shepherd and the hireling: But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth.

That "the harvest is great, but the workmen are few," this also is well-known and manifest. Let us, therefore, "ask of the Lord of the harvest" that He would send forth workmen into the harvest; [Matthew 9:37-38] such workmen as "shall skilfully dispense the word of truth;" workmen "who shall not be ashamed;" faithful workmen; workmen who shall be "the light of the world;" [Matthew 5:14] workmen who "work not for the food that perisheth, but for that food which abideth unto life eternal;" [John 6:27] workmen who shall be such as the apostles; workmen who imitate the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; who are concerned for the salvation of men; not "hireling" [John 10:12-13] workmen; not workmen to whom the fear of God and righteousness appear to be gain; not workmen who "serve their belly;" not workmen who "with fair speeches and pleasant words mislead the hearts of the innocent;" [Romans 16:18] not workmen who imitate the children of light, while they are not light but darkness — "men whose end is destruction;" [Philippians 3:9] not workmen who practise iniquity and wickedness and fraud; not "crafty workmen;" [2 Corinthians 11:13] not workmen "drunken" and "faithless;" nor workmen who traffic in Christ; not misleaders; not "lovers of money; not malevolent."

Why, a shepherd like this would be kicked off the farm! The wages held for him until the time of his discharge would be kept from him as compensation! In fact, the master's losses would need to be compensated from this shepherd's savings.

But Christ, confirming these foreshadowings Himself, adds: "The bad shepherd is he who, on seeing the wolf, flees, and leaves the sheep to be torn in pieces." Why, a shepherd like this will be tuned off from the farm; the wages to have been given him at the time of his discharge will be kept from him as compensation; nay, even from his former savings a restoration of the master's loss will be required; for "to him who hath shall be given, but from him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have.

He also hints at the rebels, mentioned more than once. "They," He says, "did not lay down their lives for the sheep, but abandoned their followers, for they were hirelings." But the Lord Himself did the opposite. When they seized Him, He said: "If you seek Me, then let these go their way, that the word might be fulfilled, that none of them perished" (Jn. 18:8–9, 12), and this at a time when the Jews came against Him worse than wolves against sheep. "For they came," it says, "with swords and clubs to seize Him" (Lk. 22:52). By the wolf here one can also understand the mental enemy, whom Scripture calls both a lion (1 Pet. 5:8), and a scorpion (Luke 10:19), and a serpent (Gen. 3:1; Ps. 91:13). It is said that he "snatches" the sheep when he devours someone through an evil deed; he "scatters" when by means of evil thoughts he disturbs the soul. He can rightly be called a thief as well, who "steals" through crafty thoughts, "kills" through consent to them, and "destroys" through the deed itself. Sometimes a malicious thought assails someone — this is the stealing. If the person consents to the wicked suggestion, then, one might say, the devil kills him. And when the person actually carries out the evil, then he perishes. Perhaps this is also what the words mean: "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy."

Now he considers the evil shepherd, showing that he possesses characteristics contrary to those of the good shepherd. First, he mentions the marks of an evil shepherd; secondly, he shows how these marks follow one another (v 12). Concerning the first he does two things: first, he gives the marks of an evil shepherd; secondly, he mentions the danger which threatens the flock because of an evil shepherd: the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

Note that from what has been said about the good and evil shepherd, there are three differences in their traits: first in their intentions; secondly, in their solicitude; and thirdly in their affections.

First, they differ in their intentions, and this is implied by their very names. For the first is called a good shepherd, and this implies that he intends to feed the flock: "Should not shepherds feed the sheep?" (Ez 34:2). But the other one, the evil shepherd, is called a hireling, as though he were intent on his wages. Thus they differ in this: the good shepherd looks to the benefit of the flock, while the hireling seeks mainly his own advantage. This is also the difference between a king and a tyrant, as the Philosopher says, because when a king rules he intends to benefit his subjects, while a tyrant seeks his own interest. So a tyrant is like a hireling: "If it seems right to you, give me my wages" (Zech 11:12).

But may not even good shepherds seek a wage? It seems so, for "Reward those who wait for thee" (Si 36:16); "The Lord God comes…his reward is with him" (Is 40:10); "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare!" (Lk 15:17).

I answer that wages can be taken in a general sense and in a proper sense. In a general sense, a wage is anything conferred by reason of merits. And because everlasting life, which is God - "This is true God and eternal life" (1 Jn 5:20) - is conferred by reason of merits, everlasting life is said to be a wage. And this is a wage that every good shepherd can and should seek. In the strict sense, however, a wage is different from an inheritance, and a wage is not sought after by a true child, who is entitled to the inheritance. A wage is sought after by servants and hirelings. Thus, since everlasting life is our inheritance, any one who works with an eye towards it is working as a child; but any one who aims at something different (for example, one who longs for worldly gain, or takes delight in the honor of being a prelate) is a hireling.

Secondly, they differ in their solicitude. We read of the good shepherd that the sheep are his own, not only as a trust, but also by love and solicitude: "I hold you in my heart" (Phil 1:7). On the other hand, it is said of the hireling, whose own the sheep are not, i.e., the hireling has no care for them: "My shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves" (Ez 34:8).

Thirdly, they differ in their affections. For the good shepherd, who loves his flock, lays down his life for it, i.e., he exposes himself to dangers that affect his bodily life. But the evil shepherd, because he has no love for the flock, flees when he sees the wolf. Thus he says, he sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. Here, the wolf is understood in three ways. First, for the devil as tempting: "What fellowship has a wolf with a lamb? No more has a sinner with a godly man" (Si 13:17). Secondly, it stands for the heretic who destroys: "beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves" (Matt 7:15); "I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:29). Thirdly, it stands for the raging tyrant: "Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves" (Ez 22:27). Therefore, the good shepherd must guard the flock against these three wolves, so that when he sees the wolf, i.e., the devil tempting, the deceiving heretic and the raging tyrant, he can oppose him. Against those who do not, we read, "You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel" (Ez 13:5).

Accordingly, we read of the evil shepherd that he leaves the sheep and flees: "Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock" (Zech 11:17). As if to say: You are not a shepherd, but only appear to be one: "Even her hired soldiers in her midst are like fatted calves; yea, they have turned and fled together, they do not stand" (Jer 46:21).

But in Matthew (10:23) we find the contrary: "When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next." Therefore, it seems to be lawful for a shepherd to flee. I reply that there are two answers to this. One is that given by Augustine in his Commentary on John. There are two kinds of flight: that of the soul and that of the body. When we read here, he leaves the sheep and flees, we can understand it to mean the flight of the soul: for when an evil shepherd fears personal danger from a wolf, he does not dare to resist his injustices but flees, not by running away, but by withdrawing his encouragement, refusing to care for his flock.

This should be the explanation when considering the first kind of wolf, the tempting devil, because it is not necessary to physically flee from the devil.

But since sometimes a shepherd does flee physically because of certain wolves, such as powerful heretics and tyrants, another answer must be given, as found in Augustine's Letter to Honoratus. As he says, it seems lawful to flee, even physically, from the wolves, not only because of the authority of our Lord, as cited above, but because of the example of certain saints, as Athanasius and others, who fled from their persecutors. For what is censured is not the flight itself, but the neglect of the flock; so, if the shepherd could flee without abandoning his flock, it would not be blameworthy. Sometimes it is the prelate himself who is the one sought, and at other times, it is the entire flock. It is obvious that if the prelate alone is sought, others can be assigned to guard the flock in his territory, and console and govern the flock in his place. So if he flees under these circumstances, he is not said to leave the sheep. In this way, it is lawful to flee in certain cases. But if the whole flock is sought, then either all the shepherds should be with the people, or some should remain while the others leave. But if all desert the flock, then these words apply, he sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.

Here he mentions the twofold danger that threatens. One is the ravaging of the sheep; so he says, and the wolf snatches them, i.e., takes for himself what belongs to another, for the faithful are Christ's sheep. Therefore, leaders of sects and wolves snatch the sheep when they entice Christ's faithful to their own teachings: "My sheep have become food for all the wild beasts" (Ez 34:8). The other danger is that the sheep be scattered; so he says, and scatters them, insofar as some are led astray and others persevere: "My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them" (Ez 34:6).

"But the hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and the sheep are not his concern," that is, because he loves the reward and not the sheep. Whence Gregory: "He who, in presiding over the sheep, does not love the sheep but seeks earthly gain, cannot stand firm in danger for the sheep." Of such is said Ezekiel 13: "You did not go up against the adversary, nor did you set yourselves as a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle on the day of the Lord." Gregory: "He flees, because he kept silent," because he was afraid: for fear is flight.

The ordinary weaknesses of human nature will explain all the weaknesses of bureaucracy and business government all over the world. The official need only be an ordinary man to be more indifferent to other people's children than to his own; and even to sacrifice other people's family prosperity to his own. He may be bored; he may be bribed; he may be brutal, for any one of the thousand reasons that ever made a man a brute. All this elementary common sense is entirely left out of account in our educational and social systems of today. It is assumed that the hireling will not flee, and that solely because he is a hireling. It is denied that the shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep; or for that matter, even that the she-wolf will fight for the cubs. We are to believe that mothers are inhuman; but not that officials are human. There are unnatural parents, but there are no natural passions; at least, there are none where the fury of King Lear dared to find them--in the beadle. Such is the latest light on the education of the young; and the same principle that is applied to the child is applied to the husband and wife. Just as it assumes that a child will certainly be loved by anybody except his mother, so it assumes that a man can be happy with anybody except the one woman he has himself chosen for his wife.

Hence it is soon added: "But the hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and the sheep do not pertain to him." For the sole reason why the hireling flees is because he is a hireling. As if it were said openly: He who in presiding over the sheep does not love the sheep but seeks earthly gain cannot stand firm in danger to the sheep. For while he embraces honor, while he rejoices in temporal advantages, he trembles to oppose himself against danger, lest he lose what he loves. But because our Redeemer made known the faults of the false pastor, He again shows the form upon which we ought to be imprinted.

The Lord acts quite differently from this thief. He gives divine life, illuminates both our thoughts with good inspirations and our bodies with good deeds; He gives also something superabundant, namely that we can bring benefit to others as well through the gift of teaching, and also the Kingdom of Heaven, as if granting us some additional reward. He is truly the Good Shepherd, and not a hireling, as were the Jewish leaders, who did not care for the people but had in view only to receive payment from them. For they sought not the benefit of the people, but their own profit from the people.

Now he shows how the above-mentioned marks are related, for the third follows from the first two. Since the evil shepherd seeks his own advantage and has no love or solicitude for the flock, it follows that he is not willing to endure any inconvenience for them. Thus he says of the hireling, he flees, for this reason, because he is a hireling, that is, he seeks his own advantage, which is the first mark; and cares nothing for the sheep, i.e., he does not love them, and is not solicitous for them, which is the second mark. So we read in Job (39:16) about the evil shepherd: "She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers." The opposite is true of the good shepherd, for he seeks the welfare of his flock, and not his own: "Not that I seek the gift; but I seek the fruit which increases to your credit" (Phil 4:17). Furthermore, he is concerned for his sheep, that is, he loves them and is solicitous for them: "I hold you in my heart" (Phil 1:7).

When He saith, "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father," who can be ignorant of His meaning? For He knoweth the Father by Himself, and we by Him. That He hath knowledge by Himself, we know already: that we also have knowledge by Him, we have likewise learned, for this also we have learned of Him. For He Himself hath said: "No one hath seen God at any time; but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." And so by Him do we also get this knowledge, to whom He hath declared Him. In another place also He saith: "No one knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any one the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." As He then knoweth the Father by Himself, and we know the Father by Him; so into the sheepfold He entereth by Himself, and we by Him.

"I am the good shepherd." Here Christ's diligence toward the sheep is noted, which consists in the discernment and knowledge of the sheep, on account of which he calls himself the good shepherd: wherefore he says: "I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and my sheep know me"; and in this is noted his diligence, according to that word of Proverbs 27: "Be diligent to know the countenance of your cattle, and consider your flocks"; 2 Timothy 2: "The Lord knows who are his." This diligence he makes manifest through a comparison; whence he adds:

You may learn, if you will, the profound wisdom of the most holy Shepherd and instructor, the Lord of the universe and the Word of the Father. He presents himself to us by way of allegory as the shepherd of the sheep, and so in this way serves also as the teacher of children. Speaking through Ezekiel to the Jewish elders, he gives them a salutary example of true care. "I will bind up the injured and will heal the sick; I will bring back the strays and pasture them on my holy mountain." These are the promises of the good Shepherd. Pasture us children like sheep, O Lord. Fill us with your own food, the food of righteousness. As our instructor, feed us on your holy mountain, the church above the clouds that touches the heavens.

Again He exults in having gained the victory and obtained the suffrages [of His hearers to the effect] that He ought to be acknowledged as ruler of the Jews, suffrages not expressed by the open testimony of any, but arising from the investigation of facts which has just been |79 undertaken. For just as after He contrasted His own works with the villainies brought about by the false-prophets, and showed the result of His doings to be better than that of their falsehood: for He says that they came, unbidden, merely to steal and to kill and to destroy, to tell lies and to say things unlawful; but that He Himself was come that the sheep might have not life merely, but also something more; beautifully and rightly He exclaimed: I am the Good Shepherd: so also here, after characterising the really good shepherd as one who is ready to die on behalf of the sheep, and willing to lay down his life for them, whereas the hireling, even the foreign ruler, is a wretch and a coward and worthy of all such names previously given him; since He knows that He Himself is going to lay down His life for the sheep, with good reason He again cries aloud: I am the Good Shepherd. For He Who in all things hath the pre-eminence must of course be superior to all, so that the Psalmist once more may appear truthful, when he says somewhere unto Him: That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words and victorious when Thou art judged.

And besides what has been said, this other matter also deserves consideration. For my own part I think that teaching intended to be of great benefit to the people of the Jews was urged upon them by the Lord, not merely by His own words, but also the utterances of the Prophets, to persuade them to a willingness to think according to right reason, and to know of a certainty that He is the Good Shepherd and the others are not so. And whence? Surely it would not be unreasonable to suppose that even if they were not persuaded by words of His, yet at any rate they would not be unwilling to yield to those of their own Prophets. He accordingly says: I am the Good Shepherd, bringing to their remembrance as it were the words spoken by the voice of Ezekiel and recalling them to the minds of the Jews. For thus speaks the Prophet concerning Christ and those whose lot it was to rule the flock of the Jews: Thus saith the Lord God: O shepherds of Israel, do shepherds feed themselves? do not shepherds feed their flocks? Behold, ye consume the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool, and ye slay them that are fat; but ye feed not My sheep. The diseased ye have not strengthened, neither have ye refreshed the side, neither have ye bound up the broken, neither have ye turned back the strayed, neither have ye sought the lost; but ye have killed even the strong with hardships. And My sheep were scattered because there were no shepherds, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field: and My sheep were scattered on every mountain, and upon every high hill, and over the face of all the earth; and there was none who sought them or turned them back. For the one aim of the rulers of the Jews was to look only for their own gain, and to make money out of the offerings of their subjects, and to collect tributes, and to impose burdens over and above the law, but certainly not to take any account of anything which was likely to benefit or able to keep in safety the people in their charge. Wherefore again the really excellent Shepherd speaks concerning them in these words: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep at their hands, and. I will cause them to cease from feeding My sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: and I will deliver My sheep out of their mouth, and they shall no longer be unto them for meat. And again, after other words: And I will set up One Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My Servant David; and He shall be their Shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and David shall be a Prince among them: I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with David a covenant of peace, and I will cause the evil beasts to disappear out of the land; and they shall dwell in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will set them round about My hill, and I will give you rain, even the rain of blessing, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. Surely in these words God very well and distinctly declares that the unholy multitude of the Pharisees shall be removed from the leadership of the Jews, and manifestly announces that after them shall be set over the rational flocks of believers He Who is of the seed of David according to the flesh, even Christ. For by Him God hath concluded a covenant of peace, namely, the Evangelic and Divine proclamation, which leads us to reconciliation with God, and wins the kingdom of heaven. Likewise also through Him comes the rain of blessing, that is, the first-fruits of the Spirit, making as it were a fruitful land of the soul in which it dwells. And since the Pharisees caused no small grief to their sheep, in no wise feeding them, but rather suffering them to be in many ways tormented, whereas Christ saved His sheep and was shown to be a giver and promoter of blessings from above, He appears to be right in this which He says of Himself: I am the Good Shepherd.

And let no one find it a stumbling-block, I pray you, that God the Father called Him Who was made Man of the seed of David a servant, although He is by Nature God and Very Son; but let it rather be understood, that He has humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant. He is therefore called by God the Father by a name suitable to His assumed form.

When Jesus says, "I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father," it is equivalent to saying, I shall enter into a close relationship with my sheep, and my sheep shall be brought into a close relationship with me, according to the manner in which the Father is intimate with me, and again I also am intimate with the Father. For God the Father knows his own Son and the fruit of his [i.e., the Father's] substance because he is truly his parent. And again, the Son knows the Father, beholding him as God in truth, since he is begotten of him. In the same way, we also, being brought into a close relationship with God the Father, are called his family and are spoken of as children, according to what he himself said: "Behold, I and the children whom God has given me." Truly, we are called the family of the Son, and in fact we are part of his family. Through our relationship to the Son, we are related to God the Father, because the Only Begotten, who is God of God, was made man, and though separate from all sin, he assumed our human nature.

"I am the good Shepherd." And He adds: "And I know my sheep," that is, I love them, "and my sheep know me." As if He were saying openly: Those who love follow in obedience. For he who does not love the truth has not yet come to know it at all.

Since, therefore, you have heard, most beloved brethren, our peril, consider in the Lord's words also your own peril. See whether you are his sheep, see whether you know him, see whether you know the light of truth. But I say "know" not through faith, but through love. I say "know" not from belief, but from action. For the same John the Evangelist who speaks these things testifies, saying: "He who says that he knows God, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar."

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) As if He said, I love My sheep, and they love and follow Me. For he who loves not the truth, is as yet very far from knowing it.

From both Christ distinguisheth Himself; from those who came to spoil, by saying, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have more abundantly"; and from those who cared not for the sheep being carried away by wolves, by never deserting them, but even laying down His life for them, that the sheep might not perish. For when they desired to kill Him, He neither altered His teaching, nor betrayed those who believed on Him, but stood firm, and chose to die. Wherefore He continually said, "I am the good Shepherd." Then because His words appeared to be unsupported by testimony, (for though the, "I lay down My life," was not long after proved, yet the, "that they might have life, and that they might have more abundantly," was to come to pass after their departure hence in the life to come,) what doth He? He proveth one from the other; by giving His mortal life (He proveth) that He giveth life immortal. As Paul also saith, "If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved." (Rom. v. 10.) And again in another place, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii. 32.)

Then because He said above "And the sheep hear his voice, and follow him," lest any should say, "What then is this to those who believe not?" hear what He addeth "And I know My sheep, and am known of Mine." As Paul declared when he said, "God hath not rejected His people whom He foreknew"; and Moses, "The Lord knew those that were His"; "those," He saith, "I mean, whom He foreknew." Then that thou mayest not deem the measure of knowledge to be equal, hear how He setteth the matter right by adding, "I know My sheep, and am known of Mine." But the knowledge is not equal. "Where is it equal?" In the case of the Father and Me, for there, "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father." Had He not wished to prove this, why should He have added that expression? Because He often ranked Himself among the many, therefore, lest any one should deem that He knew as a man knoweth, He added, "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father." "I know Him as exactly as He knoweth Me." Wherefore He said, "No man knoweth the Son save the Father, nor the Father save the Son", speaking of a distinct kind of knowledge, and such as no other can possess.

And from this you can learn the difference between a shepherd and a hireling. The hireling does not know the sheep, which comes from the fact that he does not watch over them constantly. For if he constantly watched, he would know them. But the shepherd, such as the Lord is, knows His own sheep, and therefore cares for them, and they in turn know Him, because they benefit from His watchfulness and by habit recognize their Protector. Look. First He knows us, and then we know Him. And it is not possible to know God otherwise than by being known by Him (1 Cor. 13:12). For He first made Himself one with us through the flesh, becoming Man, and then we were made one with Him, receiving the gift of deification. Wishing to show that those who did not believe are unworthy of being known by God and are not His sheep, He said: "I know My own, and My own know Me," as it is written: "The Lord knows those who are His" (2 Tim. 2:19).

Hence the difference of the hireling and the Shepherd. The hireling does not know his sheep, because he sees them so little. The Shepherd knows His sheep, because He is so attractive to them.

For the deceivers did not expose their lives for the sheep, but, like hirelings, deserted their followers. Our Lord, on the other hand, protected His disciples: Let these go their way. (infr. 18:8)

Here our Lord proves his explanation. First, he restates what he intends to prove; secondly, he gives the proof, I know my own (v 14b); and thirdly, he amplifies on it (v 17).

He says, I am the good shepherd, which has been explained above: "As a shepherd seeks out his flock…so will I seek out my sheep" (Ez 34:12).

Then he says, I know my own, he proves what he says. Now he says two things about himself, that he is a shepherd, and that he is good. First, he proves that he is a shepherd; secondly, that he is a good shepherd.

He proves he is a shepherd by the two signs of a shepherd already mentioned. The first of these is that he calls his own sheep by name. Concerning this he says, I know my own: "The Lord knows those who are his" (2 Tim 2:19). I know, I say, not just with mere knowledge only, but with a knowledge joined with approval and love: "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins" (Rev 1:5). The second sign is that the sheep hear his voice and know him. And concerning this he says, and my own know me. My own, I say, by predestination, by vocation and by grace. This is like saying: They love me and obey me. Thus, we must understand that they have a loving knowledge about which we read: "They shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest" (Jer 31:34).

Now concerning their blasphemous assertion who say that the Son does not perfectly know the Father, we need not wonder: for having once purposed in their mind to wage war against Christ, they impugn also these words of His, "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father." Wherefore, if the Father only in part knoweth the Son, then it is evident that the Son doth not perfectly know the Father. But if it be wicked thus to speak, and if the Father perfectly knows the Son, it is plain that, even as the Father knoweth His own Word, so also the Word knoweth His own Father, of whom He is the Word.

"As the Father knows me, and I know the Father," so, supply, I know my own, and my own know me. Chrysostom: "'As' is a mark of similitude, not of equality," just as below in chapter 17 the Son, praying to the Father for his disciples, says, "that they may be one, as we also are." This diligence he also makes manifest through its effect: whence he says: "And I lay down my life for my sheep." So the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 15: "I die daily for your glory, brethren"; and the Lord himself, Jeremiah 12: "I have given my beloved soul into the hands of the wicked."

And I know Mine own, and Mine own know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father.

Without sufficient thought any one might say that by these words the Lord wished to signify nothing more than this:----that He would be well-known to His own people, and would freely bestow knowledge concerning Himself upon those who believe on Him; and also that He would recognize His own people, manifestly implying that the recognition would not be without profit to those whose lot it might be to experience it. For what shall we say is better than being known by God? But since what is here expressed somehow claims for itself a keener scrutiny, especially because He added: As the Father knoweth Me and I know the Father; come and let us proceed towards such an understanding of the words before us. For I do not think that any living being who has a sound mind will say that he has power to be able to attain to such knowledge concerning Christ as that which we may suppose God the Father has concerning Him. For the Father alone knows His own Offspring, and is known by His own Offspring alone. For no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; nor again doth any know what the Father is, save the Son, according to the saying of the Saviour Himself. For that the Father is God and the Son likewise is Very God, we both know and have believed: but what their ineffable Nature is in its Essence is utterly incomprehensible to us and to all other rational creatures. How then shall we know the Son in like measure as the Father doth? For we must consider in what sense He declares that He will recognize us and be recognized by us, as He knoweth the Father and the Father Him.

Therefore we must also investigate what meaning we shall consistently attach to the words so as not to be out of harmony with the context; this we must seek for. For my part, I will not conceal that which comes into my mind; nevertheless let it be accepted [only] by such as are willing. For I think that in these words He means by "knowledge" not simply "acquaintance," but rather employs this word to signify "friendly relationship," either by kinship and nature, or as it were in the participation of grace and honour. In this way it is customary for the children of the Greeks to say they "know" not only those who are of more distant family relationship, but also, even their actual brothers. And that the Divine Scripture too speaks of friendly relationship as knowledge, we shall perceive from what follows. For Christ somewhere says concerning those who were not at all in friendly relationship with Him: Many will say to Me in that day, namely, in the Day of judgment, Lord, Lord, did we not by Thy Name do many mighty works, and cast out devils? Then will I profess unto them, Verily, I say unto you, I never knew you. Again if "knowledge" means simply "acquaintance," how can He Who has all things naked and laid open before His eyes, as it is written. Who even knows all things before they be,----how can He be without knowledge of any living beings? It is therefore quite unintelligible, or rather it is positively impious, to suspect that the Lord is without knowledge of any; and we will rather think that He means to speak of them as brought into no friendly relationship or communion with Him. As though He says: "I do not know you to have been lovers of virtue, or to have honoured My word, or to have joined yourselves unto Me by good works." Conformably with this thou wilt also understand what is spoken with regard to the all-wise Moses, when God says to him: I know thee above all [other men], and thou hast found grace in My sight; which signifies: "Thou, more than any other man, hast been brought into friendly relationship with Me, and hast obtained much grace." And when we say this, we do not take away the signification of "acquaintance" from the word "knowledge," but simply attach a more suitable meaning in harmony with our ideas on the subject. Accordingly, when He says: I know Mine, and am known by Mine, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father; it is equivalent to saying: "I shall enter into friendly relationship with My sheep, and My sheep shall be brought into friendly relationship with Me, according to the manner in which the Father is intimate with Me, and again I also am intimate with the Father." For just as God the Father knows His own Son and the Fruit of His Substance, by reason of being really His Parent; and again, the Son knows the Father, holding Him as God in truth, inasmuch as He is Begotten of Him: in the same way, we also, being brought into friendly relationship with Him, are called His kindred and are spoken of as children, according to that which was said by Him: Behold, I and the children whom God hath given Me. And we both are and are called the kindred in truth of the Son, and through Him of the Father; because the Only-Begotten, being God of God, was made Man, assuming the same nature as ours, although separate from all sin. Else how are we the offspring of God, and in what way partakers of the Divine Nature? For not in the mere will of Christ to receive us into friendly relationship have we our full measure of boasting, but the power of the thing itself is realised as true by all of us. For the Word of God is a Divine Nature even when in the flesh, and we are His kindred, notwithstanding that He is by Nature God, because of His taking the same flesh as ours. Therefore the manner of the friendly relationship is similar. For as He is closely related to the Father, and through the sameness of their Nature the Father is closely related to Him; so also are we to Him and He to us, in so far as He was made Man. And through Him as through a Mediator are we joined with the Father. For Christ is a sort of link connecting the Supreme Godhead with manhood, being both in the same Person, and as it were combining in Himself these natures which are so different: and on the one hand, as He is by Nature God, He is joined with God the Father; whereas on the other hand, as He is in truth a Man, He is joined with men.

But perhaps some one will say, "Dost thou not see, O fellow, to what a perilous hazard thy argument is leading thee? For if in so far as He became Man we shall think that He knows His own, that is, comes into friendly relationship with His sheep; who remains outside the fold? For they will be all together in friendly relationship, because they are men just as He is Man. Why then does He any longer use the superfluous word 'Mine?' And what is the peculiar mark of those that are really His? For if all are in friendly relationship from the above-mentioned cause, what greater advantage will those who know Him intimately have?"

We say in reply, that the manner of the friendly relationship is common to all, both to those who have known Him and to those who have not known Him; for He became Man, not showing favour to some and not to others, out of partiality, but pitying our fallen nature in its entirety. Yet the manner of the friendly relationship will avail nothing for those who are insolent through unbelief, but rather will be allotted as a distinguishing reward to those who love Him. For just as the doctrine of the resurrection extends to all men, through the Resurrection of the Saviour, Who causes to rise with Himself the nature of man in its entirety, yet it will profit nothing those who love sin, (for they will go down into Hades, receiving restoration to life only that they may be punished as they deserve); nevertheless it will be of great profit to those who have practised the more excellent way of life, (for they will receive the resurrection to the participation of the good things which pass understanding): in just the same way I think the doctrine of the friendly relationship applies to all men, both bad and good, yet is not the same thing to all; but while to those who believe on Him it is the means of true kinship and of the blessings consequent upon that, to those who are not such it is an aggravation of their ingratitude and un-holiness. Such is our opinion on this subject, but let any one who can do so think out the more perfect meaning.

Now however we must notice at the same time how true and carefully accurate the language is, for Christ is not found to treat subjects in inconsistent and varying ways, but to put every separate thing in its own and most suitable place. For He did not say: "Mine know Me and I know Mine," but He introduces in the first place Himself as knowing His own sheep, then afterwards He says that He shall be known by them. And if knowledge be taken in the sense of acquaintance, as we were saying at the beginning it might be, thou wilt understand something like this: "We did not first know Him, but He first knew us." For instance, Paul when writing to some of the Gentiles says something of this sort, as follows:----Wherefore remember, ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For out of His unbounded kindness Christ introduced Himself to the Gentiles, and knew them before that He was known by them. And if knowledge be understood as friendship and relationship, again we say likewise: "It was not we who began this state of things, but the Only-Begotten Son of God." For we did not lay hold of the Godhead which is above our nature, but He Who is in His Nature God took hold of the seed of Abraham, as Paul says, and became Man, so that being made like unto His brethren in all things, except sin, He might receive into friendly relationship him who of himself had not this privilege, that is, man. Therefore, as a matter of course, He says that He first knew us, then afterwards that we knew Him.

And I lay down My life for the sheep.

Thus He was prepared on behalf of those who were now His friends and relations to afford protection in every way, and He promises even willingly to incur peril, giving a proof in fact by taking this upon Himself that He really is the Good Shepherd. For some, abandoning the sheep to the wolves, were well designated on that account as wretches and hirelings; but since He knew that He must strive on their behalf so vigorously as not even to shrink from death, He might with good reason be deemed a Good Shepherd. And by saying: I lay down My life for the sheep, because I am the Good Shepherd, He covertly rebukes the Pharisees, and gives them perhaps to understand that one day they would act thus franticly, and reach such a pitch of madness against Him, as to compass the death of One Who by no means deserved this, but rather was worthy of all praise and admiration, both because of the deeds which He wrought and on account of His excellent skill in the duties of a shepherd.

Nevertheless we must remark that Christ did not unwillingly endure death on our behalf and for our sakes, but is seen to go towards it voluntarily, although very easily able to escape the suffering, if He willed not to suffer. Therefore we shall see, in His willingness even to suffer for us, the excellency of His love towards us and the immensity of His kindness.

Christ did not endure death against his will on our behalf and for our sakes. Rather, we see him go toward it voluntarily, although he could easily escape the suffering if he did not want to suffer. Therefore, in his willingness even to suffer for us, we shall see the excellent quality of his love toward us and the immensity of his kindness.

Hence in this passage the Lord immediately adds: "As the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for my sheep." As if he were openly saying: In this it is established that I both know the Father and am known by the Father, because I lay down my life for my sheep; that is, by that charity with which I die for the sheep, I show how much I love the Father.

(Hom. in Evang. xiv.) And I lay down My life for My sheep. As if to say, This is why I know My Father, and am known by the Father, because I lay down My life for My sheep; i. e. by My love for My sheep, I show how much I love My Father.

Then because His words appeared to be unsupported by testimony, (for though the, "I lay down My life," was not long after proved, yet the, "that they might have life, and that they might have more abundantly," was to come to pass after their departure hence in the life to come,) what doth He? He proveth one from the other; by giving His mortal life He proveth that He giveth life immortal.

"I lay down My life." This He saith continually, to show that He is no deceiver. So also the Apostle, when he desired to show that he was a genuine teacher, and was arguing against the false apostles, established his authority by his dangers and deaths, saying, "In stripes above measure, in deaths oft." For to say, "I am light," and "I am life," seemed to the foolish to be a matter of pride; but to say, "I am willing to die," admitted not any malice or envy. Wherefore they do not say to Him, "Thou bearest witness of thyself, thy witness is not true," for the speech manifested very tender care for them, if indeed He was willing to give Himself for those who would have stoned Him.

(Hom. lx. 1) Then that thou mayest not attribute to the Shepherd and the sheep the same measure of knowledge, He adds, As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: i. e. I know Him as certainly as He knoweth Me. This then is a case of like knowledge, the other is not; as He saith, No man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father. (Luke 10:23)

(Hom. lx. 1) He gives it too as a proof of His authority. In the same way the Apostle maintains his own commission in opposition to the false Apostles, by enumerating his dangers and sufferings.

The force of love makes a person brave because genuine love counts nothing as hard, or bitter, or serious or deadly. What sword, what wounds, what penalty, what deaths can avail to overcome perfect love? Love is an impenetrable breastplate. It wards off missiles, sheds the blows of swords, taunts dangers, laughs at death. If love is present, it conquers everything.But is that death of the shepherd advantageous to the sheep? Let us investigate. It leaves them abandoned, exposes them defenseless to the wolves, hands over the beloved flock to the gnawing jaws of beasts, gives them over to plunder and exposes them to death. All this is proved by the death of the Shepherd, Christ. From the time when he laid down his life for his sheep and permitted himself to be slain through the fury of the Jews, his sheep have been suffering invasions from the piratical Gentiles. Like prisoners to be slain in jails, they are shut up in the caves of robbers. They are torn unceasingly by persecutors who are like raging wolves. They are snapped at by heretics who are like mad dogs with savage teeth.… In the light of all this, does the Shepherd prove his love for you by his death? Is he proving his love because, when he sees danger threatening his sheep, when he cannot defend his flock, he prefers to die before he sees any evil done to the sheep? But what are we to do, since the Life himself could not die unless he had decided to? Who could have taken life away from the Giver of life if he were unwilling?… Therefore, he willed to die—he who permitted himself to be slain although he was unable to die. And so, let us investigate the strength and the reason of this love, the cause of this death and the utility of this passion. Clearly, there is an established strength, a true reason, a lucid cause, a patent utility in all this blood. For unique power sprang forth from the one death of the Shepherd. For the sake of his sheep the Shepherd met the death that was threatening them. He did this that, by a new arrangement, he might, although captured himself, capture the devil, the author of death; that, although slain himself, he might punish; that, by dying for his sheep, he might open the way for them to conquer death.

Therefore, by giving a pattern like this, the Shepherd went before his sheep; he did not run away from them. He did not surrender the sheep to the wolves, but he consigned the wolves to the sheep. For he enabled his sheep to pick out their robbers in such a way that the sheep, although slain, should live; although mangled, should rise again and, colored by their own blood, should gleam in royal purple and shine with snow-white fleece.In this way, when the good Shepherd laid down his life for his sheep, he did not lose it. In this way he held his sheep; he did not abandon them. Indeed, he did not forsake them but invited them. He called and led them through fields full of death and a road of death to life-giving pastures.

In a later passage He declares that He is known by the Father, and the Father by Him; adding that He was so wholly loved by the Father, that He was laying down His life, because He had received this commandment from the Father.

There is a different way of knowing. You see, I made them my own, for they are my own possession, … and they recognize me as the master. But then he also said, "Just as the Father knows me, I, also, know the Father," as if to say, I know the sameness of the nature and of the substance of the Father, being consubstantial with him, and he also knows mine. Nevertheless, I am not like the earlier teachers or like those who are teachers now, which is why I choose the danger on behalf of the sheep.

Lest anyone think that He was learning as a man, He added: "As the Father knows Me, and I know the Father," that is — I know Him as truly as I know Myself. He frequently repeats "I lay down My life for the sheep" in order to show that He is not a deceiver. For the expressions "I am the Light, I am the Life" seemed arrogant to the foolish. But the words "I wish to die" contain no self-boasting, but on the contrary express great care, since He wishes to give Himself up for the people who were casting stones at Him.

He shows that he is a good shepherd by mentioning that he has the office of a good shepherd, which is to lay down his life for his sheep. First, he shows the reason for this; secondly, he gives a sign of it; and thirdly, he shows the fruit of his sign.

The reason for this sign, that is, of his laying down his life for his sheep, is the knowledge he has of the Father. Concerning this he says, as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. This statement can be explained in two ways. In one way, so that "as" indicates just a similarity in knowledge; and taken this way, such knowledge can be given to a creature: "I shall know even as I am known" (1 Cor 13:12), i.e., as I am known without obscurity, so I will know without obscurity. In another way, the "as" implies an equality of knowledge. And then to know the Father as he is known by him is proper to the Son alone, because only the Son knows the Father comprehensively, just as the Father knows the Son comprehensively: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son" (Matt 11:27), that is, with a comprehensive knowledge. Our Lord says this because in knowing the Father, he knows the will of the Father that the Son should die for the salvation of the human race. He is also saying here that he is the mediator between God and man. For as he is related to the sheep as known by them and as knowing them, so also he is related to the Father, because as the Father knows him, so he knows the Father.

Then when he says, and I lay down my life for the sheep, he gives the sign: "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us" (1 Jn 3:16). But since there are three substances in Christ, namely the substance of the Word, of the soul, and of the body, one might ask who is speaking when he says, I lay down my life. If you say that the Word is speaking here, it is not true, because the Word never laid down his soul, since He was never separated from his soul. If you say that the soul is speaking, this too seems impossible, because nothing is separated from itself. And if you say that Christ says this referring to his body, it does not seem to be so, because his body does not have the power to take up its soul. Therefore, one must say that when Christ died, his soul was separated from his flesh, otherwise Christ would not have been truly dead. But in Christ, his divinity was never separated from his soul or his flesh; but was united to his soul, as it descended to the lower world, and to his body, as it lay in the tomb. And therefore, his body, by the power of his divinity, laid down his soul by the power of his divinity, and took it up again.

So listen to this unity being even more urgently drawn to your attention: "I have other sheep," he says, "who are not of this fold." He was talking, you see, to the first sheepfold of the race of Israel according to the flesh. But there were others, of the race of the same Israel according to faith, and they were still outside, they were of the Gentiles, predestined but not yet gathered in. He knew those whom he had predestined. He knew those whom he had come to redeem by shedding his blood. He was able to see them, while they could not yet see him. He knew them, though they did not yet believe in him. "I have," he said, "other sheep that are not of this fold," because they are not of the race of Israel according to the flesh. But all the same, they will not be outside this sheepfold, because "I must bring them along too, so that there may be one flock and one shepherd."

Let them all be in the one Shepherd and speak with the one voice of the Shepherd, which the sheep may hear and follow their shepherd, not this or that shepherd, but the one Shepherd. And in him let them all speak with one voice, not with conflicting voices.

But of the one sheepfold and of the one Shepherd, you are now indeed being constantly reminded; for we have commended much the one sheepfold, preaching unity, that all the sheep should enter by Christ, and none of them should follow Donatus. Nevertheless, for what particular reason this was said by the Lord, is sufficiently apparent. For He was speaking among the Jews, and had been specially sent to the Jews, not for the sake of that class who were bound up in their inhuman hatred and persistently abiding in darkness, but for the sake of some in the nation whom He calls His sheep: of whom He saith, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

But perhaps some one thinks that, as He Himself came not to us, but sent, we have not heard His own voice, but only the voice of those whom He sent. Far from it: let such a thought be banished from your hearts; for He Himself was in those whom He sent. Listen to Paul himself whom He sent; for Paul was specially sent as an apostle to the Gentiles; and it is Paul who, terrifying them not with himself but with Him saith, "Do ye wish to receive a proof of Him who speaketh in me, that is, of Christ?" Listen also to the Lord Himself. "And other sheep I have," that is, among the Gentiles, "which are not of this fold," that is, of the people of Israel: "them also must I bring." Therefore, even when it is by the instrumentality of His servants, it is He and not another that bringeth them. Listen further: "They shall hear my voice." See here also, it is He Himself who speaks by His servants, and it is His voice that is heard in those whom He sends. "That there may be one fold, and one shepherd." Of these two flocks, as of two walls, is the corner-stone formed. And thus is He both door and the corner-stone: all by way of comparison, none of them literally.

(de Verb. Dom. s. 1) The sheep hitherto spoken of are those of the stock of Israel according to the flesh. But there were others of the stock of Israel, according to faith, Gentiles, who were as yet out of the fold; predestinated, but not yet gathered together. They are not of this fold, because they are not of the race of Israel, but they will be of this fold: Them also I must bring.

(Tr. xlvii. 4) What does He mean then when He says, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel? Only, that whereas He manifested Himself personally to the Jews, He did not go Himself to the Gentiles, but sent others.

"And other sheep I have." Here Christ's providence toward the sheep is noted, which consists in the gathering together of his sheep, just as a shepherd gathers the sheep into one, lest they suffer attack.

Therefore he says: "And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold," namely the faithful predestined from among the Gentiles: "and them I must bring," as those who are straying: whence First Peter chapter two: "You were as sheep going astray, but are now converted to the shepherd and bishop of your souls." "And they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd," on account of the union of the Church from Jews and Gentiles: whence Ephesians chapter two: "He is our peace, who has made both one," namely Gentiles and Jews into one fold. And he himself is the one shepherd; Ezekiel chapter thirty-four: "I will raise up over them one shepherd, who shall feed them, my servant David."

It is asked concerning what he says: "I have other sheep which are not of this fold": because no sheep is a sheep when it is outside the Church, none is innocent.

Likewise, how does he say: "It is necessary for me to bring them?" Because Matthew fifteen: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel": therefore he ought not to have brought them.

It must be said that he calls those sheep from the Gentiles, not yet called according to present justice, his own, because they were chosen according to eternal predestination. He brought them by the merit of his passion and by the word of preaching, not his own, but of the Apostles, because he himself in his own person had come specially and principally to preach to the Israelite people, to whom he had been promised and by whom he was to be killed.

And according to this, that passage of Matthew fifteen is to be understood: "I was not sent," etc.

It takes all sorts to make a world; or a church. This may be even truer of a church. If grace perfects nature it must expand all our natures into the full richness of the diversity which God intended when He made them, and heaven will display far more variety than hell. "One fold" doesn't mean "one pool". Cultivated roses and daffodils are no more alike than wild roses and daffodils.

He is called Jesus: Sometimes He calls Himself a shepherd, and says, "I am the good Shepherd." According to a metaphor drawn from shepherds, who lead the sheep, is hereby understood the Instructor, who leads the children-the Shepherd who tends the babes. For the babes are simple, being figuratively described as sheep. "And they shall all," it is said, "be one flock, and one shepherd." The Word, then, who leads the children to salvation, is appropriately called the Instructor (Paedagogue).

"And other sheep there are also," saith the Lord, "which are not of this fold"-deemed worthy of another fold and mansion, in proportion to their faith. "But My sheep hear My voice," understanding gnostically the commandments. And this is to be taken in a magnanimous and worthy acceptation, along with also the recompense and accompaniment of works. So that when we hear, "Thy faith hath saved thee," we do not understand Him to say absolutely that those who have believed in any way whatever shall be saved, unless also works follow. But it was to the Jews alone that He spoke this utterance, who kept the law and lived blamelessly, who wanted only faith in the Lord. No one, then, can be a believer and at the same time be licentious; but though he quit the flesh, he must put off the passions, so as to be capable of reaching his own mansion.

Who, then, is so wicked and faithless, who is so insane with the madness of discord, that either he should believe that the unity of God can be divided, or should dare to rend it-the garment of the Lord-the Church of Christ? He Himself in His Gospel warns us, and teaches, saying, "And there shall be one flock and one shepherd." And does any one believe that in one place there can be either many shepherds or many flocks? The Apostle Paul, moreover, urging upon us this same unity, beseeches and exhorts, saving, "I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that ye be joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." And again, he says, "Forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Do you think that you can stand and live if you withdraw from the Church, building for yourself other homes and a different dwelling, when it is said to Rahab, in whom was prefigured the Church, "Thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all the house of thy father, thou shalt gather unto thee into thine house; and it shall come to pass, whosoever shall go abroad beyond the door of thine house, his blood shall be upon his own head? " Also, the sacrament of the passover contains nothing else in the law of the Exodus than that the lamb which is slain in the figure of Christ should be eaten in one house. God speaks, saying, "In one house shall ye eat it; ye shall not send its flesh abroad from the house." The flesh of Christ, and the holy of the Lord, cannot be sent abroad, nor is there any other home to believers but the one Church. This home, this household of unanimity, the Holy Spirit designates and points out in the Psalms, saying, "God, who maketh men to dwell with one mind in a house." in the house of God, in the Church of Christ, men dwell with one mind, and continue in concord and simplicity.

In divers manners He rattles His blows around the lawless Pharisees; for that they would almost immediately be thrust out from the charge of the sheep and that in their stead He Himself would govern and lead them, He intimates by many sayings. And He throws out hints that, having joined the flocks of the Gentiles to the better disposed of Israel, He will rule not merely the flock of the Jews, but will at once extend the light of His own glory over the whole earth, and call the nations in every quarter to the knowledge of God; not suffering Himself to be known in Judaea only, as was the case in early times, but rather in every country under heaven giving the information which leads to the enjoyment of the true knowledge of God. And that Christ was appointed to be a Guide of the Gentiles unto piety, any one may learn, and very easily; for the inspired Scripture is full of testimonies to this, and perhaps it would not be wrong to pass it over altogether, leaving it to the more studious to seek out such passages; but nevertheless I will adduce two or three sentences from the Prophets concerning this, before I pass on to what follows, Well then, God the Father somewhere says with regard to Christ: Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the Gentiles, a leader and commander to the Gentiles. For Christ bore witness to the Gentiles, giving them instruction unto salvation, and frankly telling them the things whereby they must be saved. And the Divine Psalmist, as if calling those in all quarters into one joyous company, and bidding all under the sun to gather themselves together to a heavenly feast says: O clap your hands, all ye Gentiles; shout unto God with the voice of exultation. But if it may seem good to any one to inquire into the cause of such a glorious and noble act of praise, he will find it clearly expressed: For God is the king of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding: God reigneth over all the Gentiles. And somewhere also he has introduced the Lord Himself announcing in His own words the Evangelic Proclamation to all the Gentiles together; for in the eight and fortieth Psalm He says: Sear this, all ye Gentiles; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world, both the low-born and the nobles, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. For how shall any one mention any thing wiser than the Gospel precepts, or what shall we find so full of hidden understanding as the instruction which comes through Christ? Therefore, for our explanation must revert to what we began with, He clearly foretells that the multitude of the Gentiles shall be united into one flock with the obedient of Israel. But "For what reason," some one who is more keenly searching into the signification of this passage may say, "does the Saviour, when addressing the rulers of the Jews, and speaking to men whose hearts burned with hatred and envy, reveal mysteries? For tell me why such men should be informed that He would rule the Gentiles, and that He would gather into His own folds the sheep from beyond the limits of Judaea? "What then shall we say to this, and how shall we explain it? Not as to friends does He impart mysteries [to these men], but neither does He deem the explanation of these matters useless to them: on the other hand, He thus speaks because He knew it would profit them as much as anything He could do; for this was His object, although the mind of His hearers, being quite obstinate and not yielding to obedience, remained inflexible. And because He was aware that they knew the writings of Moses and the announcements of the Holy Prophets, and in the Prophets the statements are frequent and abundant that Christ was to |89 convert the Gentiles also to the knowledge of God: on this account He set this matter before them as a most manifest sign that He was clearly the One fore-announced. He publicly declared that He would call even those sheep who were not of the Jewish fold, in order (as we said just now) that they might believe Him to be really the One Whom the company of the holy men had foretold.

But because he had come to redeem not only Judea but also the Gentiles, he adds: "And I have other sheep which are not of this fold, and those I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." The Lord was looking upon our redemption, we who come from the Gentile people, when he said he would bring other sheep also. This you see happening daily, brethren; this you see accomplished today with the reconciled Gentiles. For he makes one fold, as it were, from two flocks, because he unites the Jewish and Gentile peoples in his faith, as Paul attests, who says: "He is our peace, who has made both one." For while he chooses the simple from both nations for eternal life, he leads his sheep to their proper fold.

Let us seek, therefore, dearly beloved brethren, these pastures, in which we may rejoice with the solemnity of so many fellow citizens. Let the very festivity of those who rejoice invite us. Surely if the people were celebrating a market somewhere, if they were gathering at the dedication of some church with a proclaimed solemnity, we would all hasten to be found there together, and each one would be eager to be present, and would consider himself afflicted with grave loss if he did not witness the solemnity of common joy. Behold, in the heavens the joy of the elect citizens is celebrated, all rejoice together over one another in their assembly, and yet we, lukewarm in our love of eternity, burn with no desire, we do not seek to be present at so great a solemnity, we are deprived of joys, and yet we are happy. Let us therefore kindle our spirit, brethren, let faith grow warm again in what it has believed, let our desires burn toward heavenly things, and thus to love is already to go. Let no adversity call us back from the joy of the inner solemnity, because even if someone desires to go to an intended place, no roughness of the road changes his desire. Let no flattering prosperity seduce us, because he is a foolish traveler who, seeing pleasant meadows along the way, forgets to go where he was heading. Therefore let the soul yearn with all desire for the heavenly homeland, let it seek nothing in this world, which it knows it will soon leave behind, so that if we are truly sheep of the heavenly Shepherd, because we are not fixed on the delight of the way, we may be satisfied with eternal pastures upon arrival.

(Hom. xiv.) But as He came to redeem not only the Jews, but the Gentiles, He adds, And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.

(Hom. Evang. xiv.) Of two flocks He maketh one fold, uniting the Jews and Gentiles in His faith.

Observe again, the word "must," here used, doth not express necessity, but is declaratory of something which will certainly come to pass. As though He had said, "Why marvel ye if these shall follow Me, and if My sheep shall hear My voice? When ye shall see others also following Me and hearing My voice, then shall ye be astonished more." And be not confounded when you hear Him say, "which are not of this fold", for the difference relateth to the Law only, as also Paul saith, "Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision." "Them also must I bring." He showeth that both these and those were scattered and mixed, and without shepherds, because the good Shepherd had not yet come. Then He proclaimeth beforehand their future union, that, "They shall be one fold." Which same thing also Paul declared, saying, "For to make in Himself of twain one new man." (Eph. ii. 15.)

Remember in Thy good mercy the Holy and only Catholic and Apostolic Church throughout the whole world, and all Thy people, and all the sheep of this fold.

This sentence alludes to those among the Gentiles who will believe, because many among the Gentiles as well as many among the Jews are destined to gather together into a single church and to acknowledge one shepherd and one lord, who is Christ. This has indeed actually happened. But at that time the miracles confirmed the words; now the fulfillment of the words confirms the miracles accomplished then even though this did not appear at that time.

This speaks of the Gentiles. They are not of that fold which is under the law. For the Gentiles are not fenced in by the law. For both these are in the dispersion, and those have no shepherds. And the prudent and most capable of faith among the Jews were without shepherds; consequently, all the more so the Gentiles. I "must" gather both the Gentiles and the Jews. The word "must" here does not signify compulsion, but rather that which will inevitably follow. "In Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Gentile" (Gal. 3:28), and no distinction whatsoever. For all share one form, one seal of baptism, one Shepherd, the Word of God and God. Let the Manichaeans be ashamed, who reject the Old Testament, and let them hear that there is one flock and one Shepherd; for one and the same God is the God of the Old and the New Testament.

For there is one sign of baptism for all, and one Shepherd, even the Word of God. Let the Manichean mark; there is but one fold and one Shepherd set forth both in the Old and New Testaments.

Then when he says, and I have other sheep, he sets down the fruit of Christ's death, which is the salvation not only of the Jews but of the Gentiles as well. For since he had said, "I lay down my life for the sheep," the Jews, who regarded themselves as God's sheep - "We thy people, the flock of thy pasture" (Ps 79:13) - could have said that he laid down his life for them alone. But our Lord adds that it is not only for them, but for others too: "He prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (11:51).

In regard to this fruit our Lord does three things. First, he mentions the predestination of the Gentiles; secondly, their vocation through grace; and thirdly their justification.

As to the first he says, and I have other sheep, that is, the Gentiles, that are not of this fold, i.e., of the family of the flesh of Israel, which was in a way a flock: "I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob" (Mic 2:12). For as sheep are enclosed in a fold, so the Jews were kept enclosed within the precepts of the Law, as we read in Galatians (c 3). These other sheep, I say, that is, the Gentiles, I have from my Father through an eternal predestination: "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage" (Ps 2:8); "I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Is 49:6).

As to the second he says, I must bring them also, i.e., according to the plans of divine predestination it is time to call them to grace.

This seems to conflict with what our Lord says in Matthew (15:24): "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." I answer that Jesus was sent only to the sheep of the house of Israel in the sense of preaching to them personally, as we read in Romans (15:8): "Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs." It was through the apostles that he brought in the Gentiles: "From them I will send survivors to the nations" (Is 66:19).

In regard to the third he says, and they will heed my voice. Here he mentions three things necessary for righteousness in the Christian religion. The first is obedience to the commandments of God. Concerning this he says, and they will heed my voice, i.e., they will observe my commandments: "Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:20); "People whom I had not known," i.e., whom I did not approve, served me. As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me" (Ps 18:43).

The second is the unity of charity, and concerning this he says, so there shall be one flock, i.e., one Church of the faithful from the two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles: "One faith" (Eph 4:5); "For he is our peace, who has made us both one" (Eph 2:14).

The third is the unity of faith, and in regard to this he says, one shepherd: "They shall all have one shepherd," that is, the Jews and the Gentiles (Ez 37:24).

Nor was it a violation of His promise, but rather a mercifully hastened fulfilment on account of the cowardice of the disciples.

(de Con. Ev. l. iii. c. 25.) This manifestation of our Lord after His resurrection, John also relates. But when John says that the Apostle Thomas was not with the rest, while according to Luke, the two disciples on their return to Jerusalem found the eleven gathered together, we must understand undoubtedly that Thomas departed from them, before our Lord appeared to them as they spoke these things. For Luke gives occasion in his narrative, that it may be understood that Thomas first went out from them when the rest were saying these things, and that our Lord entered afterwards. Unless some one should say that the eleven were not those who were then called Apostles, but that these were eleven disciples out of the large number of disciples. But since Luke has added, And those that were with them, he has surely made it sufficiently evident that those called the eleven were the same as those who were called Apostles, with whom the rest were.

While they were talking about these things, Jesus stood in their midst, and said to them: Peace be with you. It is I, do not be afraid. This appearance of the Lord after the resurrection is also understood to be mentioned by John, who speaks thus: So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were closed where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them: Peace be with you, etc. But what John says, that Thomas was not with them at the time, agrees with the account according to Luke, when the two, of whom one was Cleopas, returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, it is undoubtedly to be understood that Thomas had gone out from there before the Lord appeared to them while they were speaking these things.

First, we must note and diligently remember that the Lord condescended to stand in the middle of his disciples who were speaking around him and to reveal his presence in a vision of himself. This is what he promised elsewhere to all the faithful, saying, "Where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst." In order to strengthen the steadfastness of our faith, which the presence of the divine benevolence always brings, he wished sometimes to show this by the presence of a physical vision of himself. Although we are lying far below the apostles' feet, in our case we must trust that this same thing happens to us by his mercy. He is in our midst as often as we come together and gather in his name. His name is Jesus, that is, "Savior." When we come together to speak about receiving our eternal salvation, it is undoubtedly true that we are gathered in the name of Jesus. It is not permissible to doubt that he is present among us as we are talking about the things that he himself loves. The more truly he is present, the better we retain in a more perfect heart what we profess with our mouth.

We must also see that when the Savior appeared to his disciples, he immediately imposed on them the joys of peace. He repeated that same thing that is a part of the celebrated glory of immortality that he gave as a special pledge of salvation and life when he was about to go to his passion and death. "Peace I leave to you. My peace I give you." The angels seen soon after he was born also proclaimed the grace of this favor to the shepherds, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will." Certainly the entire divinely arranged plan of our Redeemer's coming in the flesh is the reconciliation of the world. For this purpose, he became incarnate, suffered and was raised from the dead. He did this to lead us, who had incurred God's anger by sinning, back to God's peace by his act of reconciliation. The prophet correctly gave him the names "Father of the world to come" and "Prince of Peace." The apostle also wrote about him to those from among the nations who had believed. He said, "Coming, he brought the good news of peace to you who were from far off and peace to those who were near, since through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father."

Second, as to the common appearance, he adds: But while they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in their midst and said to them: Peace be to you. He stood in their midst, because he himself is the mediator: 1 Timothy 2: "The mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus"; and therefore John 1: "But there stood one in your midst, whom you do not know." And therefore as a figure of this, Apocalypse 1: "I saw in the midst of seven golden candlesticks one like the Son of Man," etc. But he said: Peace be to you, because he himself is the maker of peace: Ephesians 2: "He himself is our peace, who made both one"; and Colossians 1: "Making peace through his blood, whether the things on earth or the things in heaven." He is also the giver of peace: John 14: "Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you." He is also the announcer of peace: Ephesians 2: "Coming, he announced peace to those who were near and to you who were far off." And therefore the Gospel of Christ is the Gospel of peace: Isaiah 52: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who announces and preaches peace," etc.

And because men are accustomed to be astonished by an unusual appearance, therefore he adds: I am he, do not be afraid. Truly he says: I am he, because it belongs to him to say: "I am who I am," as is said in Exodus 3. It belongs to him to drive away fear, and therefore he says: Do not be afraid. He was strengthening them because he appeared among them in an unusual manner, and such a mode of appearing frightens and disturbs.

If anything is clear from the records of Our Lord's appearances after His resurrection, it is that the risen body was very different from the body that died and that it lives under conditions quite unlike those of natural life. It is frequently not recognized by those who see it: and it is not related to space in the same way as our bodies. The sudden appearances and disappearances suggest the ghost of popular tradition: yet he emphatically insists that He is not merely a spirit and takes steps to demonstrate that the risen body can still perform animal operations, such as eating. What makes all this baffling to us is our assumption that to pass beyond what we call Nature – beyond the three dimensions and the five highly specialized and limited senses – is immediately to be in a world of pure negative spirituality, a world where space of any sort and sense of any sort has no function. I know no grounds for believing this. To explain even an atom Schrodinger wants seven dimensions: and give us new senses and we should find a new Nature. There may be Natures piled upon Natures, each supernatural to the one beneath it, before we come to the abyss of pure spirit; and to be in that abyss, at the right hand of the Father, may not mean being absent from any of these Natures – may mean a yet more dynamic presence on all levels. That is why I think it very rash to assume that the story of the Ascension is mere allegory. I know it sounds like the work of people who imagined an absolute up and down and a local heaven in the sky. But to say this is after all to say "Assuming that the story is fake, we could thus explain how it arose." Without that assumption we find ourselves "moving about in worlds unrealized" with no probability – or improbability – to guide us. For if the story is true then a being still in some mode, though not our mode, corporeal, withdrew at His own will from the Nature presented by our three dimensions and five senses, not necessarily into the non-sensuous and undimensioned but possibly into, or through, a world or worlds of super-sense and super-space. And He might choose to do it gradually. Who on earth knows what the spectators might see? If they say they saw a momentary movement along the vertical plane – then an indistinct mass – then nothing – who is to pronounce this improbable?

For the two Evangelists, that is, Luke and John, write that He appeared to the eleven alone in Jerusalem, but those two disciples told not only the eleven, but all the disciples and brethren, that both the angel and the Saviour had commanded them to hasten to Galilee; of whom also Paul made mention, saying, Afterwards he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at once. (1 Cor. 15:6.) But the truer explanation is, that at first indeed while they remained in secret at Jerusalem, He appeared once or twice for their comfort, but that in Galilee not in the assembly, or once or twice, but with great power, He made a manifestation of Himself, showing Himself living to them after His Passion with many signs, as Luke testifies in the Acts. (Acts 1:3.)

(Orat. 22.) Let us then reverence the gift of peace, which Christ when He departed hence left to us. Peace both in name and reality is sweet, which also we have heard to be of God, as it is said, The peace of God; (Phil. 4:7.) and that God is of it, as He is our peace. (Eph. 2:14.) Peace is a blessing commended by all, but observed by few. What then is the cause? Perhaps the desire of dominion or riches, or the envy or hatred of our neighbour, or some one of those vices into which we see men fall who know not God. For peace is peculiarly of God, who binds all things together in one, to whom nothing so much belongs as the unity of nature, and a peaceful condition. It is borrowed indeed by angels and divine powers, which are peacefully disposed towards God and one another. It is diffused through the whole creation, whose glory is tranquillity. But in us it abides in our souls indeed by the following and imparting of the virtues, in our bodies by the harmony of our members and organs, of which the one is called beauty, the other health.

The report of Christ's resurrection being published every where by the Apostles, and while the anxiety of the disciples was easily awakened to see Christ, He that was so much desired comes, and is revealed to them that were seeking and expecting Him. Nor in a doubtful manner, but with the clearest evidence, He presents Himself, as it is said, And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them.

The Lord, arranging all things for our salvation, stands in the midst of the disciples, with the intention of assuring them of the resurrection. And first, by the customary greeting of peace He calms their agitation, and then He shows that He Himself is their Teacher, who loves this greeting and who armed them with this greeting when He sent them out to preach (Matt. 10:12; Luke 10:5).

The Lord then standing in the midst of the disciples, first with His accustomed salutation of "peace," allays their restlessness, showing that He is the same Master who delighted in the word wherewith He also fortified them, when He sent them to preach. Hence it follows, And he said to them, Peace be unto you; I am he, fear not.

And He said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? What kind of thoughts, if not false, morbid, pernicious? For Christ would have lost the fruit of His passion if the truth of the resurrection did not exist. Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? As a good farmer would say: What I planted there, I will find there, not thorns which I did not plant. Let it descend into your heart, because it is from above. But these thoughts did not descend from above, but in the very heart like a bad herb they arose.

What thoughts indeed but such as were false and dangerous. For Christ had lost the fruit of His passion, had He not been the Truth of the resurrection; just as if a good husbandman should say, What I have planted there, I shall find, that is, the faith which descends into the heart, because it is from above. But those thoughts did not descend from above, but ascended from below into the heart like worthless plants.

And he said to them: Why are you troubled, etc. After having described the plurality of the appearances, he here describes the probability of the appearance and its probable certitude. Now body and spirit can be proved and discerned with certain discernment in two ways, namely through the use of touch and taste, and according to this Christ proves in two ways that he has a true body according to this twofold sense.

First, as regards the testimony of touch, he says: And he said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? He says arise pointedly, because good thoughts descend from above; James 1: "Every best gift is from above, coming down," etc.; but evil thoughts arise from below: Apocalypse 9: "The smoke of the pit arose, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit."

To convince them firmly and absolutely that he is the same one who suffered, he immediately shows that being God by nature, he knows what is hidden. The tumultuous thoughts within them do not escape him. He said, "Why are you troubled?" This is a very clear proof that the one they see before them is not some other person. He is the same one whom they saw suffering death upon the cross and laid in the tomb, even the one who sees mind and heart and from whom nothing that is in us is hid. He gives this to them as a sign: his knowledge of the tumult of thoughts that was within them.

And it is acknowledged by all that to know hearts belongs to God alone (Ps. 139). He adds yet another proof as well – the touching of the hands and feet.

Because by the word of peace the agitation in the minds of the Apostles was not allayed, He shows by another token that He is the Son of God, in that He knew the secrets of their hearts; for it follows, And he said to them, Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?

Finally, the disturbed disciples believed that they were seeing a spirit; and therefore the Lord, in order to show us the appearance of the resurrection: Touch, he said, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have. Therefore, he penetrated not through an incorporeal nature, but through the quality of a resurrected body, impermeable to use and closed. For what is touched is a body: what is felt is a body: but we will rise in a body: For there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body; but the former is more refined, the latter more dense, since it is still concreted by the quality of earthly corruption.

For how could He not offer to touch the body in which the marks of wounds remained, the traces of scars which the Lord displayed? In this body He not only strengthens faith, but also sharpens devotion; He chose to bear the wounds inflicted for us, He did not choose to abolish them; so that He could show to God the Father the price of our freedom. The Father places such a one at His right hand, embracing the trophies of our salvation: there He will show us such martyrs with their scars as a crown.

Our Lord said this in order to afford us an image of our resurrection. For that which is handled is the body. But in our bodies we shall rise again. But the former is more subtle, the latter more carnal, as being still mixed up with the qualities of earthly corruption. Not then by His incorporeal nature, but by the quality of His bodily resurrection, Christ passed through the shut doors.

And because these thoughts were coming from within, therefore he outwardly sets forth the means by which they may be purged, when he adds: See my hands and feet, that it is I myself, as if to say: if you think you are being deceived by sight, at least become certain through the sense of touch.

And therefore he adds: Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having. This he did as a proof of his resurrection: whence it is said in 1 John 1: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life, and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and declare unto you the eternal life." This he also did as a proof of the resurrection and an example of our glorification: whence the Gloss says: "While he shows bones and flesh to be touched, he openly signifies the state of his or our resurrection: in which our body will be both subtle through the effect of spiritual power, and palpable through the truth of nature."

But these two seem to be simultaneously contrary and not to establish faith, but rather to impede it. Whence the Gloss: "After the resurrection the Lord showed two contraries in his body: both a palpable body of the same nature, to instruct unto faith, and an incorruptible one of another glory, to invite to the reward." — But Gregory resolves these, saying: "The Lord showed two wondrous things and, according to human reason, contrary to each other"; but according to truth they are not contrary, because the glorified body both through its power can alter the sense and resist or move another body, and through its virtue can penetrate bodily perception. Whence this was not contrary, although it may seem so.

In another way, he proves that death is conquered and that human nature has put off corruption in him. He shows his hands, his feet and the holes of the nails. He permits them to touch him and in every way convince themselves that the very body that suffered was risen. Let no one quibble at the resurrection. Although you hear the sacred Scripture say that the human body is sown a physical body but raised a spiritual body, do not deny the return of human bodies to incorruption.

Here then was a most evident sign that He whom they now see was none other but the same whom they had seen dead on the cross, and lain in the sepulchre, who knew every thing that was in man.

Now our Lord testifying that death was overcome, and human nature had now in Christ put on incorruption, first shows them His hands and His feet, and the print of the nails; as it follows, Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

(Mor. 14. c. 55.) For in that glory of the resurrection our body will not be incapable of handling, and more subtle than the winds and the air, (as Eutychius said,) but while it is subtle indeed through the effect of spiritual power, it will be also capable of handling through the power of nature.

And I know that He was possessed of a body not only in His being born and crucified, but I also know that He was so after His resurrection, and believe that He is so now. When, for instance, He came to those who were with Peter, He said to them, "Lay hold, handle Me, and see that I am not an incorporeal spirit." "For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have." And He says to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger into the print of the nails, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; " and immediately they believed that He was Christ. Wherefore Thomas also says to Him, "My Lord, and my God." And on this account also did they despise death, for it were too little to say, indignities and stripes. Nor was this all; but also after He had shown Himself to them, that He had risen indeed, and not in appearance only, He both ate and drank with them during forty entire days. And thus was He, with the flesh, received up in their sight unto Him that sent Him, being with that same flesh to come again, accompanied by glory and power. For, say the [holy] oracles, "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen Him go unto heaven." But if they say that He will come at the end of the world without a body, how shall those "see Him that pierced Him," and when they recognise Him, "mourn for themselves? " For incorporeal beings have neither form nor figure, nor the aspect of an animal possessed of shape, because their nature is in itself simple.

For I know that after His resurrection also He was still possessed of flesh, and I believe that He is so now. When, for instance, He came to those who were with Peter, He said to them, "Lay hold, handle Me, and see that I am not an incorporeal spirit." And immediately they touched Him, and believed, being convinced both by His flesh and spirit. For this cause also they despised death, and were found its conquerors. And after his resurrection He did eat and drink with them, as being possessed of flesh, although spiritually He was united to the Father.

When, therefore, the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made, from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which [flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a member of Him?—even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians, that "we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." He does not speak these words of some spiritual and invisible man, for a spirit has not bones nor flesh; but [he refers to] that dispensation [by which the Lord became] an actual man, consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones,—that [flesh] which is nourished by the cup which is His blood, and receives increase from the bread which is His body. And just as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground fructifies in its season, or as a corn of wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed, rises with manifold increase by the Spirit of God, who contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible incorruption, because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness...

The resurrection of the Lord was truly the resurrection of a real body, because no other person was raised than he who had been crucified and died. What else was accomplished during that interval of forty days than to make our faith entire and clear of all darkness? For a while, he spoke with his disciples and remained with them, ate with them and allowed himself to be felt with careful and inquisitive touch by those who were under the influence of doubt. This was his purpose in going in to them when the doors were shut. He gave them the Holy Ghost by his breath. After giving them the light of intelligence, he opened the secrets of holy Scripture. In his same person, he showed them the wound in the side, the prints of the nails and all the fresh tokens of the passion. He said, "See my hands and feet. It is I myself. Handle me and see. A spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have." He did all this so that we might acknowledge that the properties of the divine and the human nature remain in him without causing a division. We now may know that the Word is not what the flesh is. We may now confess that the one Son of God is Word and flesh.

But what need of so tortuous a construction, when He might have simply said, "A spirit hath not bones, even as you observe that I have not? "Why, moreover, does He offer His hands and His feet for their examination-limbs which consist of bones-if He had no bones? Why, too, does He add, "Know that it is I myself," when they had before known Him to be corporeal? Else, if He were altogether a phantom, why did He upbraid them for supposing Him to be a phantom? But whilst they still believed not, He asked them for some meat, for the express purpose of showing them that He had teeth.

A phantom, too, it was of course after the resurrection, when, showing His hands and His feet for the disciples to examine, He said, "Behold and see that it is I myself, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have; " without doubt, hands, and feet, and bones are not what a spirit possesses, but only the flesh.

To God their beauty, to God their youth (is dedicated). With Him they live; with Him they converse; Him they "handle" by day and by night; to the Lord they assign their prayers as dowries; from Him, as oft as they desire it, they receive His approbation as dotal gifts.

"You," He says, "consider Me a spirit or an apparition, such as commonly appear from the dead, especially at tombs. But know that a spirit has neither flesh nor bones, whereas I have both flesh and bones, albeit most divine and spiritual. For the Lord's body, though it was not a spirit, was 'spiritual,' that is, free from all material coarseness and governed by the spirit. The body that we now have is 'natural,' that is, it is governed by the soul and animated by natural and psychic properties and powers. But the body as it will be after the resurrection, Paul calls spiritual (1 Cor. 15:44), that is, it is animated and governed by the Spirit of God, not by the soul, having been ineffably and spiritually re-created for incorruption and preserved in it. This is how one must think of the Lord's body after the resurrection: namely, as spiritual, subtle, free from all coarseness, needing neither food nor anything else, although the Lord did eat for the sake of assurance. For if He ate, He ate not according to the nature of His body, but by a special dispensation, namely, to show that the very same body that had suffered had risen. But it was in the nature of this body to pass through closed doors and to move effortlessly from place to place."

But He adds also another proof, namely, the handling of His hands and feet, when He says, Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. As if to say, Ye think me a spirit, that is to say, a ghost, as many of the dead are wont to be seen about their graves. But know ye that a spirit hath neither flesh nor bones, but I have flesh and bones.

But some one will say, If we allow that our Lord ate after His resurrection, let us also grant that all men will after the resurrection take the nourishment of food. But these things which for a certain purpose are done by our Saviour, are not the rule and measure of nature, since in other things He has purposed differently. For He will raise our bodies, not defective but perfect and incorrupt, who yet left on His own body the prints which the nails had made, and the wound in His side, in order to show that the nature of His body remained the same after the resurrection, and that He was not changed into another substance.

While they were still flustered for joy, they were rejoicing and doubting at the same time. They were seeing and touching, and scarcely believing. What a tremendous favor grace has done us! We have neither seen nor touched, and we have believed. While they were still flustered for joy, he said, "Have you got here anything to eat? Certainly you can believe that I am alive and well if I join you in a meal." They offered him what they had: a portion of grilled fish. Grilled fish means martyrdom, faith proved by fire. Why is it only a portion? Paul says, "If I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." Imagine a complete body of martyrs. Some suffer because of love, while others suffer out of pride. Remove the pride portion, offer the love portion. That is the food for Christ. Give Christ his portion. Christ loves the martyrs who suffered out of love.

But while they still did not believe for joy and marvelled, he said: "Have you anything here to eat?" To show forth the truth of his resurrection, he not only allowed himself to be touched by the disciples but also deigned to eat with them. Not indeed because he needed food after the resurrection, nor signifying that in the resurrection which we await we will need food, but so that he might confirm the nature of the resurrected body in such a manner that they would not think it a mere spirit, nor believe he appeared to them in semblance alone. He ate by power, not necessity. For the thirsty earth absorbs water differently from how the burning rays of the sun draw it; the former out of need, the latter by power.

Second, as to the testimony of taste, he adds: But while they yet did not believe and wondered for joy, he said: Have you here anything to eat? — so that if sight does not move them, hearing does not move them, touch does not move them, at least taste might move them. And this is an express sign of resurrection. Hence the Lord, after he raised the girl, "commanded that something be given her to eat," above, chapter eight. And John, chapter twelve, says of Lazarus that "he was one of those reclining at table." And thus Christ proved by the use of the senses that he had truly risen, so that the disciples might be made certain, and we through them.

For is there not within a temperate simplicity a wholesome variety of eatables? Bulbs, olives, certain herbs, milk, cheese, fruits, all kinds of cooked food without sauces; and if flesh is wanted, let roast rather than boiled be set down. "Have you anything to eat here?" said the Lord to the disciples after the resurrection; and they, as taught by Him to practise frugality, "gave Him a piece of broiled fish;" and having eaten before them, says Luke, He spoke to them what He spoke.

To produce in them a more firmly settled faith in his resurrection, he asked for something to eat. They brought a piece of broiled fish, which he took and ate in the presence of them all. He did this only to show them that the one risen from the dead was the same one who ate and drank with them during the whole previous period of time when he talked with them as a man, according to the prophet's voice. He intended them to perceive that the human body certainly does need sustenance of this kind but a spirit does not.… The power of Christ surpasses human inquiry. It is not on the level of the understanding of ordinary events. He ate a piece of fish because of the resurrection. The natural consequences of eating by no means followed in the case of Christ, as the unbeliever might object, knowing that whatsoever enters the mouth must necessarily come out into the drain. The believer will not admit these quibbles into his mind but leaves the matter to the power of God.

The Lord had shown His disciples His hands and His feet, that He might certify to them that the same body which had suffered rose again. But to confirm them still more, He asked for something to eat.

But what need of so tortuous a construction, when He might have simply said, "A spirit hath not bones, even as you observe that I have not? "Why, moreover, does He offer His hands and His feet for their examination-limbs which consist of bones-if He had no bones? Why, too, does He add, "Know that it is I myself," when they had before known Him to be corporeal? Else, if He were altogether a phantom, why did He upbraid them for supposing Him to be a phantom? But whilst they still believed not, He asked them for some meat, for the express purpose of showing them that He had teeth.

(de Con. Ev. lib. i. c. 11.) Let those then who dream that Christ could have done such things by magical arts, and by the same art have consecrated His name to the nations to be converted to Him, consider whether He could by magical arts fill the Prophets with the Divine Spirit before He was born. For neither supposing that He caused Himself to be worshipped when dead, was He a magician before He was born, to whom one nation was assigned to prophesy His coming.

And he said to them: These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. That is, while I was still in the mortal flesh in which you also are. For then he had been resurrected in the same flesh, but was not with them in the same mortality. And indeed he was with them for forty days after he rose again (as it is read) by the exhibition of bodily presence, but he was not with them in the fellowship of human frailty.

Because it is necessary to fulfill all things that are written in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me. See how he dispelled all doubts. He was seen, he was touched, he ate, he was indeed himself. Yet, lest he should appear to deceive human senses in any way, he directed them to the Scriptures. Let the pagans say what they will, he was a magician, he could show himself in this way. But could a magician have prophesied about himself before he was born? Produce the Scriptures, because what you see was foreseen, what you behold was foretold. Hear, daughter, see (Psalm 44); hear what was foretold, see what was fulfilled.

When he was about to ascend into heaven, our Lord first took care to instruct his disciples diligently concerning the mystery of faith in him. They might therefore preach it with greater certainty to the world, because they had received it from the mouth of Truth himself and recognized that the words of the prophets had long ago foreshadowed it. He appeared to them after the triumph of his resurrection, according to what we heard just now when the Gospel was read. He said, "These are the words which I spoke to you when I was still with you." That means, "When I still had a corruptible and mortal body like yours." "Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." He said that he fulfilled the mysteries which Moses, the prophets and the psalms proclaimed. It is perfectly evident that the church is one in all its saints and that the faith of all the chosen is the same, of those who preceded and who followed his coming in the flesh. We are saved through faith in his incarnation, passion and resurrection that have been accomplished.

But after that He was seen, touched, and had eaten, lest He should seem to have mocked the human senses in any one respect, He had recourse to the Scriptures. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, when I was yet with you, that is, when I was yet in the mortal flesh, in which ye also are. He indeed was then raised again in the same flesh, but was not in the same mortality with them. And He adds, That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me.

The second key is the understanding of the Incarnate Word, through whom all things are restored. "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled that are written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. Then He opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures." Who is speaking? The Word of God, of whom John writes: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," where He displayed two natures within a single Person. Hence: "Christ is the consummation of the Law unto justice for everyone who believes." The two Cherubim are the two Testaments whose gaze is directed upon Christ. He opened their minds when they understood the Scriptures, meaning that the book of Scriptures is understood precisely through that key, the Incarnate Word, the one eminently concerned with the works of restoration. For unless you understand the order and origin of restoration, you cannot understand Scriptures.

And he said to them: These are the words etc. After having described the plurality of appearances as testimony, and their probability as argument, he here describes their infallibility as the firmament of faith. The firmness of the appearance is through two things, namely through the testimony of Scripture and through the light of understanding, from which our mind is rendered certain concerning those things which pertain to our restoration. And accordingly the Evangelist describes the appearance of Christ as doubly confirmed, namely through the authentic testimony of Scripture and through the infused light of understanding.

First therefore, as regards the authentic testimony of Scripture, he says: And he said to them: These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that is, through familiar conversation in the flesh, according to that passage in Baruch chapter three: "After these things he was seen upon earth and conversed with men." He foretold these things for the assertion of faith, according to John chapter fourteen: "And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it shall come to pass, you may believe." These words therefore he himself foretold as a true Prophet, nor did he alone foretell them, but he also foretold that the whole of Scripture would foretell this.

And therefore he adds: That all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me. In these three, Christ comprehends the entire Old Testament, which is as it were tripartite, for the firmness of testimony, because "in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word stands," as is said in Deuteronomy chapter nineteen; and for the representation of the most blessed Trinity. For the Law, on account of the authority of commanding, is appropriated to the Father; Prophecy, on account of the perspicacity of understanding, to the Son; the Psalms, on account of the sweetness of praying, to the Holy Spirit. All bear testimony to Christ as the most excellent ruler, teacher, and priest. And therefore all things have been fulfilled in him, according to that passage in Matthew chapter five: "One jot or one tittle shall not pass from the Law until all things be accomplished." Because therefore in the Law all these things which happened concerning Christ regarding his passion and resurrection are foretold, it is established that this is irrefragably true and certain, as confirmed through firm and authentic testimony. Whence the Gloss: "He removes all ambiguity: he was seen, he was touched, he ate; and lest he should seem to have deceived the human senses in any way, he turns to the Scriptures, so that even if he might seem to have been able to do what he wished by magical arts, as the pagans say, at least they might see that he could not have prophesied before he was born." Christ therefore, by fulfilling what the Scriptures say, proved that they were true; and by showing that those things which had been done concerning him were foretold in the Scriptures, he establishes irrefragably that they are true and to be believed.

I can't say for certain which bits came into Christianity from earlier religions. An enormous amount did. I should find it hard to believe Christianity if that were not so. I couldn't believe that nine hundred and ninety-nine religions were completely false and the remaining one true. In reality, Christianity is primarily the fulfillment of the Jewish religion, but also the fulfillment of what was vaguely hinted in all the religions at their best. What was vaguely seen in them all comes into focus in Christianity—just as God Himself comes into focus by becoming a man.

When he restrained their thoughts by what he said, by the touch of their hands and by sharing food, he then opened their minds to understand that he had to suffer, even on the wood of the cross. The Lord reminds the disciples of what he said. He had forewarned them of his sufferings on the cross, according to what the prophets had long before spoken. He also opens the eyes of their hearts for them to understand the ancient prophecies.

Therefore did the Lord also say to His disciples after the resurrection, "O thoughtless ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? " And again does He say to them: "These are the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they should understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and that repentance for the remission of sins be preached in His name among all nations." Now this is He who was born of Mary; for He says: "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected, and crucified, and on the third day rise again." The Gospel, therefore, knew no other son of man but Him who was of Mary, who also suffered; and no Christ who flew away from Jesus before the passion; but Him who was born it knew as Jesus Christ the Son of God, and that this same suffered and rose again, as John, the disciple of the Lord, verities, saying: "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have eternal life in His name," -foreseeing these blasphemous systems which divide the Lord, as far as lies in their power, saying that He was formed of two different substances.

Therefore, when these times also were completed, and the Jews subdued, there afterwards ceased in that place "libations and sacrifices," which thenceforward have not been able to be in that place celebrated; for "the unction," too, was "exterminated" in that place after the passion of Christ. For it had been predicted that the unction should be exterminated in that place; as in the Psalms it is prophesied, "They exterminated my hands and feet." And the suffering of this "extermination" was perfected within the times of the lxx hebdomads, under Tiberius Caesar, in the consulate of Rubellius Geminus and Fufius Geminus, in the month of March, at the times of the passover, on the eighth day before the calends of April, on the first day of unleavened bread, on which they slew the lamb at even, just as had been enjoined by Moses. Accordingly, all the synagogue of Israel did slay Him, saying to Pilate, when he was desirous to dismiss Him, "His blood be upon us, and upon our children; " and, "If thou dismiss him, thou art not a friend of Caesar; " in order that all things might be fulfilled which had been written of Him.

The disciples learned that their Maker subjected himself to countless kinds of abuses at the hands of the wicked and even to the sentence of death for their salvation. This effectively stirred them up to tolerate adversities of every kind for their salvation. They remembered that through his sacraments they had been cleansed, sanctified and united to the body of him who, when he had tasted death for them, presented an example of a speedy rising from death. For what other reason might they more fittingly receive the hope of their own resurrection?"It was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day," he said, "and for you to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name among all nations." There was certainly a necessary sequence. First, Christ had to shed his blood for the redemption of the world. Then, through his resurrection and ascension, he opened to human beings the gate of the heavenly kingdom. Last, he sent those who would preach to all nations throughout the world the word of life and administer the sacraments of faith. By these sacraments, they could be saved and arrive at the joys of the heavenly fatherland, with the human being Jesus Christ. He is the very mediator between God and human beings working with them. He lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

But Christ would have lost the fruit of His Passion had He not been the Truth of the resurrection, therefore it is said, And to rise from the dead. He then after having commended to them the truth of the body, commends the unity of the Church, adding, And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.

Now these mysteries of the Scriptures are principally referred to Christ with regard to the head and with regard to the body. With regard to the head, he adds: And he said to them: Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day: this is most frequently stated in the Scriptures, and especially in the Law through figures, in the Prophets through words, and in the Psalms most abundantly, because they treat of the resurrection and the passion. — With regard to the body, however, he adds: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. This, I say, is written in the Law and in the promise to Abraham: Genesis twenty-two: "In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed"; and Genesis forty-nine: "He shall be the expectation of the nations." This is written in the Psalm: "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance"; and again: "Praise the Lord, all you nations." This in the Prophets: whence Isaiah forty-nine: "It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to restore the remnants of Israel; I have given you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation," etc. And this preaching was foretold to begin from Jerusalem: Isaiah two: "Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem"; and Isaiah sixty-two: "For Zion's sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteous one goes forth as brightness"; and the Psalm: "The Lord shall send forth the rod of your power out of Zion."

After this He teaches them that "thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer." How then is it "thus"? On the wood of the Cross. Since destruction entered through a tree, corruption also had to be destroyed through a tree, and the delight of the tree had to be abolished by the Lord, who unconquerably endured the sufferings on the tree.

But He taught them by His words; for it follows, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, that is, by the wood of the Cross.

What did he tell them from the Scriptures? He said, "Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." The disciples could not see this. They could see Christ talking about the church that would be. When Christ said something they could not see, they believed him. They could see the head, but they could not yet see the body. We can see the body, but we believe about the head. They are two: husband and wife, head and body, Christ and the church. He showed himself to the disciples and promised them the church. He showed us the church and ordered us to believe about himself. The apostles saw one thing, but they did not see the other. We also see one thing and do not see the other. Having the head there with them, they believed about the body. Having the body here with us, we should believe about the head.

And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. The rage of the heretics is not hidden in a corner; the Church is spread throughout the whole world; all nations have the Church, let no one deceive us, it is the true one, it is catholic, it began at Jerusalem, it reached us, and it is there and here. For it did not leave there to come here. It grew, it did not migrate. And rightly it is written among the other sacraments of the Lord's mercy, and it was fitting that the ministers of the word, who were to preach repentance and remission of sins in the name of Christ crucified and risen from the dead among all nations, should begin at Jerusalem, not only because the oracles of God were entrusted to them, because theirs is the adoption of sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the service, and the promises, because theirs are the fathers, and from them is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever (Rom. IX), but also so that the nations, entangled in various errors and crimes, might be called to the hope of obtaining pardon, by this very sign of Divine mercy, which they would see granted even to those who crucified the Son of God, not only the pardon of guilt by the Father, but also the joy of eternal life.

The preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins through confession of Christ's name appropriately started from Jerusalem. The first root of faith in him would be brought out where the splendor of his teaching and virtues, the triumph of his passion, the joy of his resurrection and ascension were accomplished. The first shoot of the blooming church, like some kind of great vine, would be planted. By an increase in the spreading of the Word, the church would extend the branches of its teaching into the whole wide world. The prophecy of Isaiah would be brought to fulfillment. He said, "The law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he will judge the nations and convict many peoples." It was appropriate that the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, good news to be proclaimed to idolatrous nations and those defiled by various evil deeds, should start from Jerusalem. Perhaps some of the nations, thoroughly terrified by the magnitude of Jerusalem's offenses, might doubt the possibility of obtaining pardon if it performed fruits worthy of repentance. He granted pardon even to those at Jerusalem who had blasphemed and crucified the Son of God.

Not only because to them were entrusted the oracles of God, and theirs is the adoption and the glory, but also that the Gentiles entangled in various errors might by this sign of Divine mercy be chiefly invited to come to hope, seeing that to them even who crucified the Son of God pardon is granted.

For it was said, Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. (Ps. 2:8.) But it was necessary that those who were converted from the Gentiles should be purged from a certain stain and defilement through His virtue, being as it were corrupted by the evil of the worship of devils, and as lately converted from an abominable and unchaste life. And therefore He says that it behoves that first repentance should be preached, but next, remission of sins, to all nations. For to those who first showed repentance for their sins, by His saving grace He granted pardon of their transgression, for whom also He endured death.

(Hom. i. in Act.) Further, lest any should say that abandoning their acquaintances they went to show themselves, (or as it were to vaunt themselves with a kind of pomp,) to strangers, therefore first among the very murderers themselves are the signs of the resurrection displayed, in that very city wherein the frantic outrage burst forth. For where the crucifiers themselves are seen to believe, there the resurrection is most of all demonstrated.

Even to the last He taught us (the same truth of His mission), when He sent forth His apostles to preach His gospel "among all nations; " for He thus fulfilled the psalm: "Their sound is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Here the Lord speaks of baptism. For in it repentance is accomplished through confession and the putting away of former wickedness and impiety, and forgiveness of sins follows. How should we understand that baptism is performed in the name of Christ alone, when elsewhere we are taught to perform it in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? (Matt. 28:19). First, we shall say that when we say baptism is performed in the name of Christ, we do not mean that it must be performed in the name of Christ alone, but that one must perform baptism that is neither Jewish nor that of John, which served only for repentance, but the baptism of Christ, with which Christ was baptized, that is, a spiritual baptism that grants communion of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins, which He Himself demonstrated when He was baptized for our sake in the Jordan and manifested the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. Then, understand baptism in the name of Christ as follows: baptism into the death of Christ. For just as He died and on the third day rose again, so we too are figuratively buried in water, then come out of it incorruptible in soul and receive a pledge to be incorruptible in body itself. And in another way: the name Christ (the Anointed One) in itself presents both the Father who anointed, and the anointing of the Spirit, and the Son who was anointed. Forgiveness of sins comes "in the name of the Lord." Where then are the foul tongues of those who baptize in the name of Montanus and Priscilla and Maximilla? Truly, for those baptized in this way there is no forgiveness whatsoever, but rather sins are added, and therefore they have fallen into terrible perdition. The word went out "among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." For when in Christ all of human nature was united and assumed, it no longer needed to be divided into two groups—Jews and Gentiles—but, beginning from Jerusalem, the word needed to dwell also among the Gentiles, so as to unite the entire human race.

But herein that He says, Repentance and remission of sins, He also makes mention of baptism, in which by the putting off of our past sins there follows pardon of iniquity. But how must we understand baptism to be performed in the name of Christ alone, whereas in another place He commands it to be in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. First indeed we say that it is not meant that baptism is administered in Christ's name alone, but that a person is baptized with the baptism of Christ, that is, spiritually, not Judaically, nor with the baptism, wherewith John baptized unto repentance only, but unto the participation of the blessed Spirit; as Christ also when baptized in Jordan manifested the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. Moreover you must understand baptism in Christ's name to be in His death. For as He after death rose again on the third day, so we also are three times dipped in the water, and fitly brought out again, receiving thereby an earnest of the immortality of the Spirit. This name of Christ also contains in itself both the Father as the Anointer, and the Spirit as the Anointing, and the Son as the Anointed, that is, in His human nature. But it was fitting that the race of man should no longer be divided into Jews and Gentiles, and therefore that He might unite all in one, He commanded that their preaching should begin at Jerusalem, but be finished with the Gentiles. Hence it follows, Beginning at Jerusalem. (Rom. 3:2, Rom. 9:4.)

But you are witnesses of these things. After the described revelation of the resurrection and the appearance of the risen one and the certainty of the appearance, here fourthly is treated the divulgation of the already known truth. And because this divulgation was made through the Holy Spirit given to the Apostles after the ascension of Christ, therefore for describing this more fully four things are introduced by the Evangelist, namely the commissioning of the office of preaching, the promise of spiritual charisms, the ascension of Christ, and the devotion of the disciples. First therefore, as regards the office of preaching, he says: But you are witnesses of these things: you, I say, "who have seen and heard," so that you can say that word of John 3: "What we know we speak, and what we have seen we testify"; and John 19: "He who saw it has borne witness." Now to assert the truth of the faith is nothing other than to bear witness: whence Acts 23: "As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."

And therefore Isaiah 43: "Truly, you are my witnesses, says the Lord." These are the Apostles, to whom Acts 1: "You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth"; and therefore Peter in Acts 10: "We are witnesses of all things that he did in the region of the Jews." "God raised him on the third day and granted him to be made manifest not to all the people, but to witnesses pre-ordained by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the Prophets bear witness." Now the Apostles were "witnesses beyond all exception," both on account of their courage and holiness and on account of their truthfulness and on account of their steadfastness, because they suffered for this truth even unto death, so that they could truly be called witnesses, that is, martyrs. And therefore Hebrews 12: "Having so great a cloud of witnesses set over us, let us run with patience the race set before us, looking to the author and finisher of faith, Jesus," etc.

But if those things which Christ foretold are already receiving their accomplishment, and His word is perceived by a seeing faith to be living and effectual throughout the whole world; it is time for men not to be unbelieving towards Him who uttered that word. For it is necessary that He should live a divine life, whose living works are shown to be agreeable to His words; and these indeed have been fulfilled by the ministry of the Apostles. Hence He adds, But ye are witnesses of these things, &c. that is, of My death and resurrection.

That is, the sufferings and the resurrection.

But let us consider how according to John they received the Holy Spirit, while here they are ordered to stay in the city until they should be endued with power from on high. Either He breathed the Holy Spirit into the eleven, as being more perfect, and promised to give it to the rest afterwards; or to the same persons He breathed in the one place, He promised in the other. Nor does there seem to be any contradiction, since there are diversities of graces. Therefore one operation He breathed into them there, another He promised here. For there the grace of remitting sins was given, which seems to be more confined, and therefore is breathed into them by Christ, that you may believe the Holy Spirit to be of Christ, to be from God. For God alone forgiveth sins. But Luke describes the pouring forth of the grace of speaking with tongues.

For when the Lord not only shed his blood but also expended his very death for the making of the medicine; he rose again to demonstrate the example of resurrection. By his patience, he suffered to teach our patience; and in his resurrection, he demonstrated the reward of patience. Also, as you know and as we all confess, he ascended into heaven, then from him the Holy Spirit was sent, formerly promised. For he had said to his disciples: Stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high. Therefore, his promise came, the Holy Spirit came, filled the disciples, they began to speak in the tongues of all nations: a sign of unity proceeded in them. For then one man spoke in all tongues; because the unity of the Church was going to speak in all tongues. Those who heard were astonished. For they knew that they were simple men, of only one language; and they marveled and were amazed that men of one language, or at most two, spoke in the tongues of all nations: they were stunned with amazement, lost their arrogance, turned from mountains into valleys. Now if they are humble, they are valleys; they hold what is poured in, they do not release it. If water comes upon a high place, it runs down and flows away: if water comes to a concave and low place, it is held and stays. They were now such; they were astonished, they marveled, they had lost their cruelty.

Listen further. He ascended into heaven, and was taken from the sight of the disciples; he left those watching and made them witnesses. It was said to them: Why do you stand? This Jesus, who was taken up from you, will come in the same way. In the same way, how is that? In the same form, in the same flesh: They will see the one whom they pierced. He will come in the same manner as you saw Him going into heaven. Certainly, they saw, certainly they touched, they felt: they strengthened their faith both by seeing and by touching. They escorted Him ascending into heaven with their eyes: they listened attentively to the angel's voice proclaiming the coming Christ. Yet, now that all these things have been accomplished in them so that they might become witnesses of Christ, and endure all things bravely for the preaching of the truth, and contend against falsehood even unto blood, it was not that vision alone, nor the touching of the Lord's limbs that afforded them this power. But who granted them this? Hear the Lord Himself: But stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high. You have seen and touched; but you cannot yet preach and die for what you have seen and touched until you are clothed with power from on high. Let them go now, and ascribe to men their abilities, if they can. Peter was there, but he was not yet established on the rock; he was not yet clothed with power from on high; for no one can receive it unless it is given to him from heaven.

(de Trin. 15. c. 26.) Or the Lord after His resurrection gave the Holy Spirit twice, once on earth, because of the love of our neighbour, and again from heaven, because of the love of God.

But you are witnesses of these things, and I send the promise of my Father upon you. The grace of the Holy Spirit is called the promise of the Father, and in the Gospel of John it is more fully and also briefly intimated here...

"But you, stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. About which power, that is, the Holy Spirit, the angel also says to Mary: And the power of the Most High shall overshadow you (Luke 1). And the Lord himself elsewhere says: For I know that power has gone out from me (Luke 8). And even Luke more openly mentions in the Acts of the Apostles that the promised power from on high and the commanded stay in the city. He commanded them (he says) not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard from my mouth. Because John indeed baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now (Acts 1). And a little later: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses (Ibid.). It should be noted indeed that there are those who are prevented from the office of preaching either by imperfection or by age, and yet are driven by rashness, who should be warned to consider that Truth itself, which could suddenly strengthen those whom it wished, as an example to followers so that the imperfect would not presume to preach, after fully instructing the disciples in the power of preaching, immediately added: But you, stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. We indeed stay in the city if we confine ourselves within the enclosures of our minds, so that speaking outwardly we do not wander, so that when we are perfectly clothed with divine power, then we may go out as if from ourselves also instructing others."

He said, "You are witnesses of these things. And I send upon you the promise of my Father." He calls the gift of the Holy Spirit "the promise of his Father." … He added something about their promised waiting when he said, "Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." He pledged that power would come down upon them from on high, because although they already possessed the Holy Spirit, they received him more fully once Christ ascended into heaven. Even before his passion, by the power of the Holy Spirit they were casting out many demons, healing many sick persons and preaching the word of life to whom they could. Once he had risen from the dead, they were especially refreshed by the grace of the same Spirit. John writes, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." He clothed them with his greater virtue from on high when they received him in fiery tongues ten days after the Lord's ascension. They were inflamed with such great assurance of strength that any threats from the rulers could not prevent them from speaking to everyone in the name of Jesus.

But concerning the power, that is, the Holy Spirit, the Angel also says to Mary, And the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. (Luke 1:35.) And the Lord Himself says elsewhere, For I know that virtue is gone out of me. (Luke 8:45.)

Secondly, as to the promise of spiritual charisms, he adds: And I send the promise of my Father upon you. He says pointedly I send, because even then he gave the Holy Spirit in a breath, as is said in John 20: "As the Father has sent me, so I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed upon them, saying: Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you shall forgive," etc. This is the gift promised in the Scriptures: Ezekiel 36: "I will give you a new spirit," etc. This spirit Christ himself also frequently promised in the Gospel; John 7: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink"; and John 15: "When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth." This, therefore, he then gave in hidden manner, but afterward he was to give it abundantly and openly, namely after ten days, in which they were to prepare themselves for that fullness.

Therefore he adds: But you, stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Gregory: "Unless the anointing of the Holy Spirit teaches inwardly, the preacher labors outwardly in vain"; whence Matthew 10: "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you."

Although the Lord could have given the Holy Spirit immediately, he nevertheless wished to delay, both for the sake of inflaming the desire of the disciples to ask, according to that saying in Matthew 7: "Ask, and it shall be given to you." "For if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the good Spirit to those who ask him?" And for the sake of preserving the mystery, because on the fiftieth day after the passion—which is the number of remission and is composed of seven weeks of days with one unity added—to designate the sevenfold gift of the Holy Spirit. And lastly for the sake of example; whence the Gloss: "Although he could have strengthened them suddenly if he wished, he delayed so as to give an example to those who followed, lest the imperfect presume to preach before the proper time." Therefore Ecclesiastes 3: "A time to be silent and a time to speak"; and Sirach 18: "Before you speak, learn." Whence Jerome: "We learn that after much silence we may from disciples be made teachers. For it is the discipline of the Pythagoreans to be silent for five years, and after being instructed, to speak."

The Savior promises the disciples the descent of the Holy Spirit, which God announced of old by Joel. He also promises power from above, so that they might be strong, invincible and fearlessly preach the divine mystery to people everywhere.He says to them that they received the Spirit after the resurrection, "Receive the Holy Spirit." He adds, "Wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." It will not be in water any longer, because they already had received that, but it will be with the Holy Spirit. He does not add water to water but completes that which was deficient by adding what it lacked.

(de Past. 3. c. 25.) They then are to be warned, whom age or imperfection hinders from the office of preaching, and yet rashness impels, lest while they hastily arrogate to themselves so responsible an office, they should cut themselves off from the way of future amendment. For the Truth Itself which could suddenly strengthen those whom it wished, in order to give an example to those that follow, that imperfect men should not presume to preach, after having fully instructed the disciples concerning the virtue of preaching, commanded them to abide in the city, until they were endued with power from on high. For we abide in a city, when we keep ourselves close within the gates of our minds, lest by speaking we wander beyond them; that when we are perfectly endued with divine power, we may then as it were go out beyond ourselves to instruct others.

(Hom. i. in Act.) But as a general does not permit his soldiers who are about to meet a large number, to go out until they are armed, so also the Lord does not permit His disciples to go forth to the conflict before the descent of the Spirit. And hence He adds, But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

(ut sup.) But why did not the Spirit come while Christ was present, or immediately on His departure? Because it was fitting that they should become desirous of grace, and then at length receive it. For we are then most awakened towards God, when difficulties press upon us. It was necessary in the mean time that our nature should appear in Heaven, and the covenants be completed, and that then the Spirit should come, and pure joys be experienced. Mark also what a necessity He imposed upon them of being at Jerusalem, in that He promised that the Spirit should there be given them. For lest they should again flee away after His resurrection, by this expectation, as it were a chain, He kept them all there together. But He says, until ye be endued from on high. He did not express the time when, in order that they may be constantly watchful. But why then marvel that He does not reveal to us our last day, when He would not even make known this day which was close at hand.

Or He said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit, that He might make them fit to receive it, or indicated as present that which was to come.

After His resurrection He promises in a pledge to His disciples that He will send them the promise of His Father; and lastly, He commands them to baptize into the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, not into a unipersonal God.

Then, lest they be inwardly troubled by thoughts (such as, for example), how shall we, simple people, bear witness and be sent to the Gentiles, how shall we stand directly against the people of Jerusalem, who even killed You, Lord — for this reason He says: take courage, for I will soon send upon you "the promise of My Father," of which I spoke through Joel: "I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh" and so forth (Joel 2:28). So then, you who are now fearful and faint-hearted, remain in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power not human, but heavenly. He did not say: until you "receive," but: until you "are clothed," showing through this that the spiritual armor would guard them from all sides.

Afterwards, lest they should be troubled at the thought, How shall we private individuals give our testimony to the Jews and Gentiles who have killed Thee? He subjoins, And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, &c. which indeed He had promised by the mouth of the prophet Joel, I will pour my Spirit upon all flesh. (Joel 2:18.)

That is, not with human but heavenly power. He said not, until ye receive, but be endued with, showing the entire protection of the spiritual armour.

Our Lord's discourse to the Jews began in connection with the man who was born blind and was restored to sight. Your Charity therefore ought to know and be advised that today's lesson is interwoven with that one. For when the Lord had said, "For judgment I am come into this world; that they who see not might see, and they who see might be made blind,"-which, on the occasion of its reading, we expounded according to our ability,-some of the Pharisees said, "Are we blind also?" To whom He replied. "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; [therefore] your sin remaineth." To these words He added what we have been hearing today when the lesson was read.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." For they declared that they were not blind; yet could they see only by being the sheep of Christ. Whence claimed they possession of the light, who were acting as thieves against the day? Because, then, of their vain and proud and incurable arrogance, did the Lord Jesus subjoin these words, wherein He has given us also salutary lessons, if we lay them to heart. For there are many who, according to a custom of this life, are called good people,-good men, good women, innocent, and observers as it were of what is commanded in the law; paying respect to their parents, abstaining from adultery, doing no murder, committing no theft, giving no false witness against any one, and observing all else that the law requires-yet are not Christians; and for the most part ask boastfully, like these men. "Are we blind also?" But just because all these things that they do, and know not to what end they should have reference, they do to no purpose.

Such, accordingly, for the most part seek to persuade men to live well, and yet not to be Christians. By another way they wish to climb up, to steal and to kill, not as the shepherd, to preserve and to save. And thus there have been certain philosophers, holding many subtle discussions about the virtues and the vices, dividing, defining, drawing out to their close the most acute processes of reasoning, filling books, brandishing their wisdom with rattling jaws; who would even dare to say to people, Follow us, keep to our sect, if you would live happily. But they had not entered by the door: they wished to destroy, to slay, and to murder.

For there are countless numbers who not only boast that they see, but would have it appear that they are enlightened by Christ; yet are they heretics. Have even they somehow entered by the gate? Surely not. Sabellius says, He who is the Son is Himself the Father; but if the Son, then is there no Father. He enters not by the door, who asserts that the Son is the Father. Arius says, The Father is one thing, the Son is another thing. He would say rightly if he said, Another person; but not another thing. For when he says, Another thing, he contradicts Him who says in his hearing, "I and my Father are One." Neither does he therefore enter by the door; for he preaches a Christ such as he fabricates for himself, not such as the truth declares Him.

Keep hold of this, that Christ's sheepfold is the Catholic Church. Whoever would enter the sheepfold, let him enter by the door, let him preach the true Christ. Not only let him preach the true Christ, but seek Christ's glory, not his own; for many, by seeking their own glory, have scattered Christ's sheep, instead of gathering them. For Christ the Lord is a low gateway: he who enters by this gateway must humble himself, that he may be able to enter with head unharmed. But he that humbleth not, but exalteth himself, wishes to climb over the wall; and he that climbeth over the wall, is exalted only to fall.

(Tr. xlv. 2. et sq.) Or thus: Many go under the name of good men according to the standard of the world, and observe in some sort the commandments of the Law, who yet are not Christians. And these generally boast of themselves, as the Pharisees did; Are we blind also? But inasmuch as all that they do they do foolishly, without knowing to what end it tends, our Lord saith of them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, hut climbeth up some other way, the name is a thief and a robber. Let the Pagans then, the Jews, the Heretics, say, "We lead a good life;" if they enter not by the door, what availeth it? A good life only profiteth, as leading to life eternal. Indeed those cannot be said to lead a good life, who are either blindly ignorant of, or wilfully despise, the end of good living. No one can hope for eternal life, who knows not Christ, who is the life, and by that door enters into the fold. Whoso wisheth to enter into the sheepfold, let him enter by the door; let him preach Christ; let him seek Christ's glory, not his own. Christ is a lowly door, and he who enters by this door must be lowly, if he would enter with his head whole. He that doth not humble, but exalt himself, who wishes to climb up over the wall, is exalted that he may fall. Such men generally try to persuade others that they may live well, and not be Christians. Thus they climb up by some other way, that they may rob and kill. They are thieves, because they call that their own, which is not; robbers, because that which they have stolen, they kill.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. xlix) He enters by the door, who enters by Christ, who imitates the suffering of Christ, who is acquainted with the humility of Christ, so as to feel and know, that if God became man for us, man should not think himself God, but man. He who being man wishes to appear God, does not imitate Him, who being God, became man. Thou art bid to think less of thyself than thou art, but to know what thou art.

The Son of God shows himself as light and guide by the example of a good life. The Lord manifested above that he is a guide by the word of wisdom and by the miracle of power; here he manifests it by the example of a good life. For by the first two modes he directed as a teacher, but here in the third he directs as a pastor. In this chapter, therefore, the Lord intends to show himself as the true and good shepherd: and it is divided into two parts: because first the Lord demonstrates the good shepherd in a proverb and parable; second, he expounds the proverb and applies it to himself, so that through this he may show himself the true shepherd, at the passage: "Jesus therefore said to them again."

The first part demonstrates the good shepherd in a parable. He therefore describes the good shepherd in the proverb in this order: for first he determines the entrance of the good and true shepherd; second, the sign; third, the office of the good shepherd; fourth, he says that this proverb was hidden from the Jews.

He determines the entrance of the good and true shepherd by comparison with its opposite, because "opposites placed next to each other shine forth more clearly"; and the entrance of the shepherd is through the door, but that of the thief through another place. Therefore he says: "Amen, amen, I say to you" — the Lord continues his discourse, speaking to the Pharisees — "He who does not enter through the door into the sheepfold," that is, into the Church of God, in which the Lord's flock is contained, "but climbs up from elsewhere," as one proud and ambitious; "he is a thief and a robber: a thief," because he claims what belongs to another as his own; "a robber," because he destroys and kills the goods of another. Concerning this ascent of the bad shepherd, Jerome says: "We rejoice at the ascent; let us fear the descent: the joy of having held the heights is not so great as the sorrow of having fallen from the heights." Thus ascended that prince of robbers and the ambitious, of whom it is said in Isaiah fourteen: "I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven." He who thus enters in a disordered manner is a thief and not a shepherd.

The figure of the six seraphic wings intimates six stairlike illuminations, which begin from creatures and lead all the way to God, to whom no one rightly enters except through the Crucified. For he who does not enter through the door but climbs up another way, that one is a thief and a robber. If anyone indeed through this door enters, he shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.

I cannot help admiring in every particular that divine utterance: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth." Then the Lord says in explanation, "I am the door of the sheep." Men must then be saved by learning the truth through Christ, even if they attain philosophy.

Those, then, who follow impious words and dictate them to others, inasmuch as they pervert the divine words instead of using them rightly, neither enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, nor do they permit those whom they have deluded to attain the truth. They do not have the key for the entrance but a false key. Using this counterfeit key, they do not enter in as we enter in, that is, through the tradition of the Lord by drawing aside the curtain. Instead they burst through the side door and dig clandestinely through the wall of the church. They step over the truth and constitute themselves the Mystagogues of the soul of the impious.

Very probably it may seem to those who listen carelessly that the language of the parable before us is not introduced very appositely: because after a discussion on blindness and recovery of sight, we straightway come upon statements about sheep, and a fold, and a door. But he in whom dwells a wise mind, which hastens more diligently to compare the ideas, will perceive here also that the argument proceeds so to speak straight forward, and swerves not at all from what is right and fitting. And here I will once more repeat what I have said many times before. It was the custom of the Saviour Christ, when any came unto Him, to reply not merely to the words which they expressed through their voice, but to speak with reference to their inward thoughts also, since He sees both heart and reins; for to Him all things are naked and laid open, and there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight. Wherefore also He saith to one of the saints: Who is this that hideth counsel from Me, and hath words in his heart, and thinketh to conceal them from Me? When therefore the unholy company of Pharisees craftily asked, as we said just now, if they were blind also, in order that if he said truly what they were, namely blind, he might again be accused as one who reviled the magistrates and spoke evil of those whose lot it was to rule the people, (for they prided themselves inordinately upon this); Our Lord Jesus Christ, fighting in this case again with their inward thought, necessarily and profitably introduces the parable, implying (somewhat obscurely and as it were in riddles) that on account of their arrogant selfishness they would not be firmly maintained in the leadership, and that the dignity would not be confirmed to such as insulted in their pride God the Giver of it; and teaching that this dignity would only belong to those who should be called by Him to the leadership of the people. Therefore He says that Himself is the Door introducing of His own will to the leadership of His rational flocks the man who is prudent and God-loving. But him who thinks himself able to take by violence and tyranny the honour that is not given to him, He calls a thief and a robber, climbing up some other way. Such were some concerning whom He speaks perhaps by one of the Prophets; They reigned as kings, and not by Me; they ruled, and not by My Spirit. And He intimates by the words before us, that if they would take pleasure in being rulers of the people they must believe and must receive through Him the Divine call to undertake this dignity, in order that they might have their rule unshaken and well established; which of course was the case with the holy Apostles, and with the Teachers of the holy Churches after them; to whom also the porter openeth. That is, either the Angel who is appointed to preside over the churches and to assist those whose lot is to minister in holy things for the good of the people, or else the Saviour Himself, Who is at the same time both the Door and the Lord of the Door. At all events, He very well asserts that the flock of sheep rightly obey and yield to the voice of the shepherd, but very quickly turn away from the voice of strangers; so that thou mayest understand a true matter by extending the application of the argument to something more general. For in the churches we teach by bringing forward our doctrines from the inspired Scripture, and setting forth the Evangelic and Apostolic Word as a sort of spiritual nourishment. And they who believe in Christ and are conspicuous for unperverted faith, are obedient listeners to such teaching; but they turn away from the voices of falsifiers, and avoid them as a deadly evil. But then, some one will say, what is herein intimated to the Pharisees? Gathering it up into a short and summary explanation I will tell thee this again. He shows Himself therefore as Lord of the fold, and Door and Porter, that they may accurately learn that they will not have their position of leadership confirmed to them, unless they come to it through Him and thus possess the God-given honour. And by adding that the sheep obey their own shepherds, but run away from strangers, He again skilfully hints that the Pharisees would never be leaders of those that should become believers in Him, but that His sheep would refuse their instruction and attach themselves to the shepherds appointed by Him.

And not without a cause hath the Evangelist mentioned, that they of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said, "Are we blind also?" but to remind thee that these were the men who first withdrew from and then stoned Him, for they were persons who followed Him superficially, and who easily changed to the contrary opinion. How then doth He prove that He is not a deceiver, but a Shepherd? By laying down the distinguishing marks both of the shepherd, and of him who is a deceiver and a spoiler, and from these affording them opportunity of searching into the truth of the matter. And first He showeth who is a deceiver and a spoiler, calling him so from the Scriptures, and saying,

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."

Observe the marks of a robber; first, that he doth not enter openly; secondly, not according to the Scriptures, for this is the, "not by the door." Here also He referreth to those who had been before, and to those who should be after Him, Antichrist and the false Christs, Judas and Theudas, and whatever others there have been of the same kind. And with good cause He calleth the Scriptures "a door," for they bring us to God, and open to us the knowledge of God, they make the sheep, they guard them, and suffer not the wolves to come in after them. For Scripture, like some sure door, barreth the passage against the heretics, placing us in a state of safety as to all that we desire, and not allowing us to wander; and if we undo it not, we shall not easily be conquered by our foes. By it we can know all, both those who are, and those who are not, shepherds. But what is "into the fold"? It refers to the sheep, and the care of them. For he that useth not the Scriptures, but "climbeth up some other way," that is, who cutteth out for himself another and an unusual way, "the same is a thief." Seest thou from this too that Christ agreeth with the Father, in that He bringeth forward the Scriptures? On which account also He said to the Jews, "Search the Scriptures" (c. v. 39); and brought forward Moses, and called him and all the Prophets witnesses, for "all," saith He, "who hear the Prophets shall come to Me"; and, "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me." But here He hath put the same thing metaphorically. And by saying, "climbeth up some other way," He alluded to the Scribes, because they taught for commandments the doctrines of men, and transgressed the Law (Matt. xv. 9); with which He reproached them, and said, "None of you doeth the Law." (c. vii. 19.) Well did He say, "climbeth up," not "entereth in," since to climb is the act of a thief intending to overleap a wall, and who doeth all with danger. Hast thou seen how He hath sketched the robber? now observe the character of the shepherd. What then is it?

"He that entereth in by the door, the same is the shepherd of the sheep; to him the doorkeeper openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own by name. And when he hath brought them out, he goeth before them."

He hath set down the marks of the shepherd, and of the evil doer; let us now see how He hath fitted to them what followeth. "To him," He saith, "the doorkeeper openeth"; He continueth in the metaphor to make the discourse more emphatic. But if thou shouldest be minded to examine the parable word by word, there is nothing to hinder thee from supposing Moses to be the doorkeeper, for to him were entrusted the oracles of God. "Whose voice the sheep hear, and he calleth his own by name." Because they everywhere said that He was a deceiver, and confirmed this by their own unbelief, saying, "Which of the rulers hath believed on him?" (c. vii. 48.) He showeth that they ought not on account of the unbelief of those persons to call Him a spoiler and deceiver, but that they, because they gave no heed to Him were consequently even excluded from the rank of sheep. For if a shepherd's part is to enter through the usual door, and if He entered through this, all they who followed Him might be sheep, but they who rent themselves away, hurt not the reputation of the Shepherd, but cast themselves out from the kindred of the sheep. And if farther on He saith that He is "the door," we must not again be disturbed, for He also calleth Himself "Shepherd," and "Sheep," and in different ways proclaimeth His dispensations. Thus, when He bringeth us to the Father, He calleth Himself "a Door," when He taketh care of us, "a Shepherd"; and it is that thou mayest not suppose, that to bring us to the Father is His only office, that He calleth Himself a Shepherd. "And the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep, and leadeth them out, and goeth before them." Shepherds indeed do the contrary, for they follow after them; but He to show that He will lead all men to the truth, doeth differently; as also when He sent the sheep, He sent them, not out of the way of wolves, but "in the midst of wolves." (Matt. x. 16.) For far more wonderful is this manner of keeping sheep than ours. He seemeth to me also to allude to the blind man, for him too, having "called," He "led out" from the midst of the Jews, and the man heard "His voice," and "knew" it.

"And a stranger will they not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers."

Certainly here He speaketh of Theudas and Judas, (for "all, as many as believed on them, were scattered" [Acts v. 36], It saith,) or of the false Christs who after that time should deceive. For lest any should say that He was one of these, He in many ways separateth Himself from them. And the first difference He setteth down is His teaching from the Scriptures; for He by means of these led men to Him, but the others did not from these draw men after them. The second is, the obedience of the sheep; for on Him they all believed, not only while He lived, but when He had died; the others they straightway left. With these we may mention a third difference, no trifling one. They did all as rebels, and to cause revolts, but He placed Himself so far from such suspicion, that when they would have made Him a king, He fled; and when they asked, "Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar?" He bade them pay it, and Himself gave the two drachm piece. (Matt. xvii. 27.) Besides this, He indeed came for the saving of the sheep, "That they might have life, and that they might have more abundantly" (ver. 10), but the others deprived them even of this present life. They betrayed those who were entrusted to them and fled, but He withstood so nobly as even to give up His life. They unwillingly, and by compulsion, and desiring to escape, suffered what they suffered, but He willingly and by choice endured all.

(Hom. lix. 2) Our Lord having reproached the Jews with blindness, they might have said, We are not blind, but we avoid Thee as a deceiver. Our Lord therefore gives the marks which distinguish a robber and deceiver from a true shepherd. First come those of the deceiver and robber: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. There is an allusion here to Antichrist, and to certain false Christs who had been, and were to be. The Scriptures He calls the door. They admit us to the knowledge of God, they protect the sheep, they shut out the wolves, they bar the entrance to heretics. He that useth not the Scriptures, but climbeth up some other way, i. e. some self-chosen1, some unlawful way, is a thief. Climbeth up, He says, not, enters, as if it were a thief getting over a wall, and running all risks. Some other way, may refer too to the commandments and traditions of men which the Scribes taught, to the neglect of the Law. When our Lord further on calls Himself the Door, we need not be surprised. According to the office which He bears, He is in one place the Shepherd, in another the Sheep. In that He introduces us to the Father, He is the Door; in that He takes care of us, He is the Shepherd.

Each year, when spring with its breezes begins to usher in the birth of so many sheep and to deposit the numerous young of the fruitful flock about the fields, the meadows and the paths, a good shepherd puts aside his songs and leisure. He anxiously searches for the tender little sheep, picks them up and gathers them together. Happy to carry them, he places them about his neck, on his shoulders and in his arms. He wants them to be safe as he carries or leads them to the protecting sheepfolds.That is the case with ourselves, too. When we see our ecclesiastical flock gaining rich increase under the favoring smile of the spring of Lent, we put aside the resonant tones of our treatise and the customary fare of our discourse. Concerned about our very heavy labor, we give all our concern to gathering and carrying in the heavenly [lambs].

Our current circumstance is a lot like the sheepfold: the thief comes from wherever it is possible for him to hide. His desire is to steal. But the shepherd who has authority to use the entrance leads the sheep out to pasture, and they follow him, knowing their own shepherd, while they avoid the others whose voice they do not know.

The Lord, with the words that you are truly blind in soul through the ailment of unbelief, rebuked the Pharisees for their unbelief. So that they could not say, "We turn away from You not out of our blindness, but to avoid deception," He delivers a lengthy discourse on this matter. What kind exactly? He sets forth the marks of both the true shepherd and the wolf—the destroyer—and thus shows concerning Himself that He is good, appealing to His works as testimony. First He sets forth the distinctive characteristics of the destroyer. "He," He says, "does not enter by the door, that is, by the Scriptures, for he is not witnessed to by either the Scriptures or the prophets." The Scriptures are truly the door, for through them we draw near to God. They do not allow wolves to enter, for they cut off heretics, placing us in safety and imparting to us knowledge about everything we might wish to know. So then, a thief is one who does not enter through the Scriptures "into the sheepfold" to care for the sheep, but climbs up "some other way," that is, carves out for himself another and unusual path, such as Theudas and Judas. They, before the coming of Christ, deceived the people, destroyed them, and perished themselves (Acts 5:36–37). Such also will be the abominable antichrist. For their testimony is not from the Scriptures. He also hints at the scribes, who did not fulfill a single word of the commandments of the law, yet taught the commandments and traditions of men. He fittingly said "climbs up." This refers to the thief, who jumps over the fence and does everything at great risk. These are the signs of a robber.

After our Lord showed that his teaching had power to enlighten, he here shows that he has power to give life. First, he shows this by word; secondly, by a miracle (chap 11). Concerning the first he does three things. First, he shows that he has life-giving power; secondly, his manner of giving life (v 11); thirdly, he explains his power to give life (v 19). The first part is divided into three parts. First, our Lord relates a parable; secondly, the Evangelist mentions the necessity for explaining it (v 6); thirdly, our Lord explains the parable (v 7).

He relates the parable to them, saying, Truly, truly, I say to you. It concerns two things, a thief and the shepherd of the sheep. Thus he does three things. First, he mentions the mark of a thief and robber; secondly, a characteristic of the shepherd (v 2); thirdly, the effect each of these has (v 4).

To understand this parable we must consider who the sheep are, namely, that they are the faithful of Christ and those in the grace of God: "We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand" (Ps 95:7); "You, the people, are the sheep of my pasture" (Ez 34:31). And so the sheepfold is the multitude of the faithful: "I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob, I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold" (Mic 2:12). The door of the sheepfold is explained in different ways by Chrysostom and by Augustine.

According to Chrysostom, Christ calls Sacred Scripture the door, according to "Pray for us also that God may open to us a door for the word" (Col 4:3). Sacred Scripture is called a door, as Chrysostom says, first of all, because through it we have access to the knowledge of God: "which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures" (Rom 1:2). Secondly, for just as the door guards the sheep, so Sacred Scripture preserves the life of the faithful: "You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life" (5:39). Thirdly, because the door keeps the wolf from entering; so Sacred Scripture keeps heretics from harming the faithful: "Every scripture inspired by God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction" (2 Tim 3:16). So, the one who does not enter by the door is the one who does not enter by Sacred Scripture to teach the people. Our Lord says of such: "In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men" (Matt 15:9); "You have made void the word of God" (Matt 15:6). This, then, is the mark of the thief: he does not enter by the door, but in some other way.

He adds that the thief climbs, and this is appropriate to this parable because thieves climb the walls, instead of entering by the door, and drop into the sheepfold. It also corresponds to the truth, because the reason why some teach what conflicts with Sacred Scripture is due to pride: "If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing" (1 Tim 6:3). Referring to this he says that such a person climbs, that is, through pride. The one who climbs in by another way, that man is a thief, because he snatches what is not his, and a robber, because he kills what he snatches: "If thieves came to you, if plunderers by night - how you have been destroyed" (Obad v 5).

According to this explanation, the relation with what preceded is made in this way: Since our Lord had said, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt," the Jews might have answered: "We do not believe you, but this is not due to our blindness. It is because of your own error that we have turned away from you." And so our Lord rejects this, and wishes to show that he is not in error because he enters by the door, by Sacred Scripture, that is, he teaches what is contained in Sacred Scripture.

Against this interpretation is the fact that when our Lord explains this further on, he says, I am the door. So it seems that we should understand the door to be Christ. In answer to this, Chrysostom says that in this parable our Lord refers to himself both as the door and the shepherd; but this is from different points of view, because a door and a shepherd are different. Now aside from Christ nothing is more fittingly called a door than Sacred Scripture, for the reasons given above. Therefore, Sacred Scripture is fittingly called a door.

According to Augustine, the door is Christ, because one enters through him: "After this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door!" (Rev 4:1). Therefore, any one who enters the sheepfold should enter by the door, that is, by Christ, and not by another way.

Note that both the sheep and their shepherd enter into the sheepfold: the sheep in order to be secure there, and the shepherd in order to guard the sheep. And so, if you wish to enter as a sheep to be kept safe there, or as a shepherd to keep the people safe, you must enter the sheepfold through Christ. You must not enter by any other way, as did the philosophers who treated the principle virtues, and the Pharisees who established the ceremonial traditions. These are neither sheep nor shepherds because, as our Lord says, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, i.e., does not enter by Christ, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber, because he destroys both himself and others. For Christ and no one else is the door into the sheepfold, that is, the multitude of the faithful: "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 5:1); "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

According to this exposition, the connection with what went before is made in this way: Because they said that they could see without Christ - "now that you say, 'We see'" - our Lord shows that this is not true, because they do not enter by the door. Thus he says, Truly, truly, I say to you.

It should be noted that just as one who does not enter by the door as a sheep cannot be kept safe, so one who enters as a shepherd cannot guard the sheep unless he enters by the door, namely, by Christ. This is the door through which the true shepherds have entered: "And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was" (Heb 5:4). Evil shepherds do not enter by the door, but by ambition and secular power and simony; and these are thieves and robbers: "They set up princes, but without my knowledge," that is, without my approval (Hos 8:5). Further, he says such a person climbs in by another way, because the door, namely, Christ, since it is small through humility - "Learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart" (Matt 11:29) - can be entered only by those who imitate the humility of Christ. Therefore, those who do not enter by the door but climb in by another way are the proud. They do not imitate him who, although he was God, became man; and they do not recognize his lowering of himself.

Who is he who enters by the door? It is he who enters in by Christ. Who is he? He is the one who imitates the suffering of Christ, who is acquainted with the humility of Christ, so as to feel and know that if God became man for us, [a] man should not think himself God but man [humankind]. He who being man wishes to appear God does not imitate him who, being God, became man. You are not asked to think less of yourself than you are but to know what you are.

"But he who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep:" he enters through the door who enters through truth. Concerning this entrance, First Thessalonians two: "You yourselves know, brethren, our entrance to you"; and it is added there: "For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as you know, nor seeking an occasion of avarice, nor seeking glory from men."

(Hom. lix. 2) You have seen His description of a robber, now see that of the Shepherd: But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

The shepherd of the sheep is the one who is worthily endowed with the gift of teaching. He is the one who uses the lawful entrance, that is, who lives with all his heart according to the doctrine of the law and so enters into the sheepfold, as is only right. Then he leads all the others, like sheep, to the pastures of doctrine by showing them the food of the Word with which they must nourish themselves first and continually afterwards. He also leads them by showing them the power of the Word, how Scripture must be understood and from which doctrine they must abstain—doctrine that others may deceitfully propose to them for the slaughter of the sheep.… The thief and bandit is the exact opposite. He neither uses the lawful entrance, nor does he show respect for the precepts of the law. This is how he teaches the people given to him. In vain he tries to take hold of the entrance and of the dignity of the teacher, even though he does nothing that is required for such an honor. He is inconsiderate and does everything without regard to how it may harm the sheep. Indeed how can he be useful to others when he does not exercise himself in the precepts of the law? Take a look if you want, our Lord says, and discern between me and you as to who uses the lawful entrance. See who diligently follows the precepts of the law. See to whom Moses, the gatekeeper of the sheepfold, opens the gate and whom he praises for finishing his work. See whose works themselves testify to his worthiness to be called the Shepherd.

Here are the signs of the Shepherd. The Shepherd enters through the Scriptures. The Pharisees often called the Lord a deceiver and proved this by their own unbelief, saying, "Have any of the rulers believed in Him?" (John 7:48). Therefore the Lord shows that it is not He who should be considered a destroyer because they do not believe, but rather they should be excluded from the number of the sheep. "I," He says, "enter by the door." Clearly, I am truly the Shepherd. You did not follow Me and thereby showed about yourselves that you are not sheep.

Now he considers the shepherd. First, he mentions the mark of the shepherd; secondly, he shows through signs that he is the shepherd (v 3).

The mark of the true shepherd is to enter by the door, that is, by the testimony of Sacred Scripture. Thus Christ said: "Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled" (Lk 24:44). He is called a shepherd: "I am not troubled when I follow you as my shepherd" (Jer 17:16); "He rebukes and trains and teaches them, and turns them back, as a shepherd his flock" (Sir 18:13).

But if the door is Christ, as Augustine explains it, then in entering by the door, he enters by himself. And this is special to Christ: for no one can enter the door, i.e., to beatitude, except by the truth, because beatitude is nothing else than joy in the truth. But Christ, as God, is the truth; therefore, as man, he enters by himself, that is, by the truth, which he is as God. We, however, are not the truth, but children of the light, by participating in the true and uncreated light. Consequently, we have to enter by the truth which is Christ: "Sanctify them in the truth" (17:17); "If any one enters by me, he will be saved" (10:9). If one wishes to enter even as a shepherd, he must enter by the door, that is, Christ, according to his truth, will and consent. Thus we read in Ezekiel (24:23): "And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them." This is like saying: They must be given by me, and not by others or themselves.

To Him the porter openeth.

(Tr. xlvi. 2) Or, the porter is our Lord Himself; for there is much less difference between a door and a porter, than between a door and a shepherd. And He has called Himself both the door and the shepherd. Why then not the door and the porter? He opens Himself, i. e. reveals Himself. If thou seek another person for porter, take the Holy Spirit, of whom our Lord below saith, He will guide you into all truth. (c. 16:13) The door is Christ, the Truth; who openeth the door, but He that will guide you into all Truth? Whomsoever thou understand here, beware that thou esteem not the porter greater than the door; for in our houses the porter ranks above the door, not the door above the porter.

(Tr. xlv. 12) He knew the names of the predestinated; as He saith to His disciples, Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Luke 19:14) And leadeth them out.

(Tr. xlv. 14) And who is He who leads them out, but the Same who loosens the chain of their sins, that they may follow Him with free unfettered step?

(Tr. xlv. c. 14) And who is this that goeth before the sheep, but He who being raised from the dead, dieth no more; (Rom. 6:9) and who said, Father, I will also that they, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am? (Infra 17:24)

"To him the doorkeeper opens." Here the sign of the true pastor is touched upon, in this, that he is recognized by the doorkeeper and the flock. Therefore he says: "To him the doorkeeper opens," knowing him to be the pastor. This doorkeeper is Christ, who holds the key: whence Isaiah twenty-two: "I will place the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." "And the sheep hear his voice," because they willingly obey the good pastor; Hebrews, last chapter: "Obey your leaders and submit to them: for they watch over you, as those who must render an account for your souls."

"And he calls his own sheep by name." Here the good pastor's office is touched upon, which is threefold: to call, to lead out, and to direct: he calls by name through knowing; he leads out to pastures through instructing; but he goes before them through providing good example. This belongs to Christ the pastor through excellence, to others through imitation. Whence first he says: "And he calls his own sheep by name," namely Christ; Second Timothy two: "The Lord knows those who are his," and concerning imitation of him: Proverbs twelve: "The just man knows the souls of his beasts." "And he leads them out," to pastures, namely Christ: Ezekiel thirty-four: "I will lead them out from the peoples and gather them from the lands and bring them into their own land," which was flowing with milk. So also the imitator of Christ, as Moses and Aaron; the Psalm: "You led your people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron."

The gatekeeper is either the angel who is appointed to preside over the churches and to assist those whose lot is to minister in holy things for the good of the people, or else [the gatekeeper is] the Savior himself, who is at the same time both the Door and the Lord of the door.

These I call by name … and they follow me, for I herd them up beside the waters of rest. They follow every shepherd whose voice they love to hear.… But they will not follow a stranger. Instead, they will flee from him because they have a habit of distinguishing the voice of their own from that of strangers.

(Hom. xlix. 2) The porter perhaps is Moses; for to him the oracles of God were committed.

(Hom. lix. 3. c. 7, 48.) As they had called Him a deceiver, and appealed to their own unbelief as the proof of it; (Which of the rulers believeth on Him?) He shows here that it was because they refused to hear Him, that they were put out of His flock. The sheep hear His voice. The Shepherd enters by the lawful door; and they who follow Him are His sheep; they who do not, voluntarily put themselves out of His flock. And He calleth His own sheep by name.

(Hom. lix. 2) He led out the sheep, when He sent them not out of the reach of, but into the midst of, the wolves. There seems to be a secret allusion to the blind man. He called him out of the midst of the Jews; and he heard His voice.

My child, diligently apply yourself to the reading of the sacred Scriptures. Apply yourself, I say. For we who read the things of God need to do so often, otherwise we might say or think something too rashly about them. And applying yourself in this way to the study of the things of God, with faithful preconceptions that are well pleasing to God, knock at its locked door, and it will be opened to you by the gatekeeper, of whom Jesus says, "To him the gatekeeper opens." And applying yourself in this way to the divine study, seek the meaning of the holy Scriptures that so many have missed, but do so in the right way and with unwavering trust in God. Do not be satisfied with knocking and seeking; for prayer is, of all things, indispensable to the knowledge of the things of God. This is what the Savior encourages us to do, saying not only, "Knock, and it shall be opened to you; and seek, and you shall find," but also, "Ask, and it shall be given to you."

Wherefore He, being the true Prophet, said, 'I am the gate of life; he who entereth through me entereth into life,' there being no other teaching able to save. Wherefore also He cried, and said, 'Come unto me, all who labour,' that is, who are seeking the truth, and not finding it; and again, 'My sheep hear my voice;' and elsewhere, 'Seek and find,' since the truth does not lie on the surface.

"The doorkeeper opens to Him." By the doorkeeper, understand perhaps Moses as well, for to him were entrusted the words of God. Moses opened the door to the Lord, without doubt, by speaking about Him. The Lord Himself said: "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me also" (John 5:46). Or the doorkeeper is the Holy Spirit. Since the Scriptures, understood through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, point us to Christ, it is rightly said that the Holy Spirit is the doorkeeper. By Him, as the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge, the Scriptures are opened, through which the Lord enters into His care for us and through which He is shown to be the Shepherd. And the sheep listen to the voice of the Shepherd.

Or, the Holy Spirit is the porter, by whom the Scriptures are unlocked, and reveal the truth to us.

Now he mentions the signs of a good shepherd; and there are three. The first relates to the gatekeeper, and is that the good shepherd is let in by him. As to this he says, to him the gatekeeper opens. This gatekeeper, according to Chrysostom, is the one who opens the way to a knowledge of Sacred Scripture. The first one to do this was Moses, who first received and established Sacred Scripture. And Moses opened to Christ, because as was said above: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me" (5:46).

Or, according to Augustine, the gatekeeper is Christ himself, because he brings us himself. He says, "He opens himself who reveals himself, and we enter only by his grace." "For by grace you have been saved" (Eph 2:8). It does not matter if Christ, who is the door, is also the gatekeeper; for certain things are compatible in spiritual matters that cannot occur in physical reality. Now there seems to be a greater difference between a shepherd and a door than between a door and a gatekeeper. Therefore, since Christ can be called both a shepherd and a door, as was said, much more so can he be called a door and a gatekeeper. But if you prefer that someone other than Moses or Christ be the gatekeeper, then consider the Holy Spirit the gatekeeper, as Augustine says. For it is the office of a gatekeeper to open the door, and it says below of the Holy Spirit that "He will guide you into all the truth" (16:13). And Christ is the door insofar as he is the Truth.

The second sign relates to the sheep, and it is that they obey the shepherd. This is what he says, the sheep hear his voice. This is reasonable if the resemblance to a natural shepherd is considered: because just as sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd due to familiar experience, so righteous believers hear the voice of Christ: "O that today you would harken to his voice" (Ps 95:7).

But what of the fact that many who are Christ's sheep did not hear his voice, as Paul; or that some who were not his sheep did hear it, as Judas? One might reply that Judas was Christ's sheep for that time as to his present righteousness. And Paul, when he did not hear the voice of Christ, was not a sheep but a wolf; but when the voice of Christ came it changed the wolf into a sheep. This reply could be accepted if it were not contrary to a statement in Ezekiel (34:4): "The crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back." It seems from this that even when they were crippled and strayed they were sheep. Therefore, one must say that here our Lord is speaking of his sheep not only according to their present righteousness but even according to their eternal predestination. For there is a certain voice of Christ that only the predestined can hear, i.e., "He who endures to the end" (Matt 10:22).

Again, he says, the sheep hear his voice, because they might offer as an excuse for their unbelief the fact that not only they, but none of the leaders believed in him. So he says in answer to this, the sheep hear his voice, as if saying: They do not believe because they are not my sheep.

The third sign is taken from the actions of the shepherd. Here he mentions four actions of a good shepherd: the first being that he knows his sheep. He says, he calls his own sheep by name, which shows his knowledge of and familiarity with his sheep, for we call by name those whom we know familiarly: "I know you by name" (Ex 33:17). This is part of the office of a shepherd according to: "Be diligent to know the countenance of your flock" (Prv 27:23). This applies to Christ according to his present knowledge, but even more so considering eternal predestination, by which he knew them by name from eternity: "He determined the number of the stars, he gives to all of them their names" (Ps 147:4); "The Lord knows those who are his" (2 Tim 2:19).

The second action of a good shepherd is that he leads them out, i.e., he separates them from the society of those who are evil: "He brought them out of darkness and gloom" (Ps 107:14).

And the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.

(Tr. xlv. 10. ct seq.) But here is a difficulty. Sometimes they who are not sheep hear Christ's voice; for Judas heard, who was a wolf. And sometimes the sheep hear Him not; for they who crucified Christ heard not; yet some of them were His sheep. You will say, While they did not hear, they were not sheep; the voice, when they heard it, changed them from wolves to sheep. Still I am disturbed by the Lord's rebuke to the shepherds in Ezekiel, Neither have ye brought again that which strayed. (Ezek. 34:4) He calls it a stray sheep, but yet a sheep all the while; though, if it strayed, it could not have heard the voice of the Shepherd, but the voice of a stranger. What I say then is this; The Lord knoweth them that are His. (2 Tim. 2:19) He knoweth the foreknown, he knoweth the predestinated. They are the sheep: for a time they know not themselves, but the Shepherd knows them; for many sheep are without the fold, many wolves within. He speaks then of the predestinated. And now the difficulty is solved. The sheep do hear the Shepherd's voice, and they only. When is that? It is when that voice saith, He that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Mat. 10:32) This speech His own hear, the alien hear not.

"And when he has sent forth his own sheep, he goes before them," he leads the way by showing good example, as Christ; Micah two: "He ascends, opening the way before them." Whence he said below in the thirteenth chapter: "I have given you an example, that just as I have done to you, so you also should do." So also the imitator of Christ: whence First Corinthians eleven: "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." But few are such: whence Isaiah twenty-four: "As the people, so shall be the priest." This threefold office of the good pastor has a great effect upon the sheep, which is the direction of the sheep through imitation: on account of which he says: "The sheep follow him," namely the true pastor. The sheep are simple and humble, of whom Hugh says: "The humility of a sheep is that you do not desire to be in charge and that you love to be subject. Many, fleeing labor, wish to be in charge and disdain to be subject: these are not sheep, because they do not follow." Therefore the sheep follow, because "they know his voice," namely that it is a voice of consolation, according to that passage of Matthew eleven: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." The good pastor calls to refreshment.

And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, He leadeth them out from the darkness of ignorance into light, while He goeth before in the pillar of cloud, and fire.

(Hom. lix. 2) Shepherds always go behind their sheep; but He, on the contrary, goes before, to show that He would lead all to the truth.

From where then does He lead out His own sheep? From the midst of the unbelievers, just as, for example, He led the blind man out from the midst of the Jews, who both heard Him and recognized Him. And He goes before the sheep, although with bodily shepherds it is the opposite, for they walk behind the sheep. By this He shows that He will lead all to the truth. And He sends the disciples "as sheep into the midst of wolves" (Matt. 10:16). Thus, truly, the pastoral ministry of Christ is extraordinary.

The third action of a good shepherd is that having separated them from evil and having brought them into the sheepfold, he has brought out all his own, from the sheepfold. He does this, first, for the salvation of others: "I will send survivors to the nations" (Is 66:19); "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves" (Matt 10:16), so that they can make sheep out of the wolves. Secondly, they are to show the direction and way to eternal life: "To guide our feet into the way of peace" (Lk 1:79).

Fourthly, the good shepherd goes before his sheep by the example of a good life; so he says, he goes before them, although this is not what the literal shepherd does, for he follows, as in "I took him from following the ewes" (Ps 78:70). But the good shepherd goes before them by example, "not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock" (1 Pet 5:3). And Christ does go before them: for he was the first to die for the teaching of the truth - "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt 16:24); and he went before all into everlasting life - "He who opens the breach will go up before them" (Mic 2:13).

Now he considers the effect that both the thief and the shepherd have upon the sheep. First, he mentions the effect of the good shepherd; secondly, the effect of the wolf and the thief (v 5).

He says, first, that the sheep follow him who goes before them. This is easy to see, because subjects follow in the steps of their leaders, as is stated: "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps" (1 Pet 2:21); "My foot has held fast to his steps" (Job 23:11). The sheep follow for they know his voice, i.e., they know it and take delight in it: "Let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet" (Song 2:14).

"But they do not follow a stranger, but flee from him," that is, an evil shepherd or a wolf, because they do not know the voice of strangers, that is, they do not approve of it. These strangers are false christs and false prophets and false apostles, of whom it is said in Second Corinthians eleven, that "they are deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ." These they do not follow: for they have been warned by their own shepherd; Matthew seven: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

(Hom. xlix. 3) The strangers are Theudas, and Judas, and the false apostles who came after Christ. That He might not appear one of this number, He gives many marks of difference between Him and them. First, Christ brought men to Him by teaching them out of the Scriptures; they drew men from the Scriptures. Secondly, the obedience of the sheep; for men believed on Him, not only during His life, but after death: their followers ceased, as soon as they were gone.

"A stranger they will not follow," because they do not know the voice of a stranger. And here, without a doubt, He hints at Theudas and Judas, whom the sheep did not follow, for few were deceived, and even those, after their death, fell away. But Christ, both during His life, and especially after His death, "the whole world went after Him" (John 12:19). He also hints at the antichrist, for he too will deceive only a few, and after his destruction will have no followers. The words "they do not go" show that after the death of the deceivers, no one will heed or follow them. So then, the Scriptures are the door. Through this door the Lord leads the sheep out to pasture. And what is the pasture? The future enjoyment and repose into which the Lord leads us. If in other places He also calls Himself the door, one should not marvel at this. For when He wishes to depict His care for us, He calls Himself the shepherd, and when He wishes to show that He leads us to the Father, then He calls Himself the door, just as He Himself in different senses is both Sheep and Shepherd. Furthermore, by the door are understood the words of the divine Scriptures; and the Lord Himself is and is called the Word; consequently, He may also be called the Door.

He alludes to Antichrist, who shall deceive for a time, but lose all his followers when he dies.

The effect that the thief has is that the sheep do not follow him for very long, but only for a time; so he says, a stranger they will not follow, i.e., they do not follow a false and heretical teacher: "The children who are strangers have lied to me" (Ps 17:46). Thus Paul did not follow false teachers for long. But they will flee from him, because "Bad company ruins good morals" (1 Cor 15:33). They flee for they do not know, that is, do not approve of, the voice of strangers, meaning their teaching, which spreads stealthily like a cancer.

Return then with me to what I was saying, in case it is so to be understood that we may both escape from the question. For I see how I, according to the catholic faith, may escape without tripping or stumbling; whilst thou, on the other hand, shut in on every side, art seeking a way of escape. See by what way thou hast entered. Perhaps thou hast not understood this that I said, See by what way thou hast entered: hear Himself saying, "I am the door." Not without cause, then, art thou seeking how thou mayest get out; and this only thou findest, that thou hast not entered by the door, but fell in over the wall. Therefore raise thyself up from thy fall how thou canst, and enter by the door, that thou mayest go in without stumbling, and go out without straying. Come by Christ, not bringing forward of thy own heart what thou mayest say; but what He shows, that speak.

(ut sup.) Our Lord feedeth by plain words, exerciseth by obscure. For when two persons, one godly, the other ungodly, hear the words of the Gospel, and they happen to be such that neither can understand them; one says, What He saith is true and good, but we do not understand it: the other says, It is not worth attending to. The former, in faith, knocks, yea, and, if he continue to knock, it shall be opened unto him. The latter shall hear the words in Isaiah, If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. (Isa. 7:9)

(Tr. xlv. 8) Lo, the very door which He had shut up, He openeth; He is the Door: let us enter, and let us enter with joy.

The second part expounds the parable and applies it to Christ.

"Jesus therefore said to them again." This is the second part of the chapter, in which the Lord explains the proverb set forth by applying it to himself, showing himself to be the true shepherd with respect to those three things which were stated above in the proverb: first, with respect to the true shepherd's entrance; second, with respect to the true shepherd's affection, at the passage: "I am the good shepherd"; third, with respect to the shepherd's sign, at the passage: "The feast of the Dedication took place."

First, therefore, he shows himself to be the true shepherd with respect to his entrance, in this order: first, that no one enters rightly except through him; second, that whoever enters through him enters rightly; third, that he himself is not only the way of entering, but also enters rightly himself.

He shows, therefore, first that no one enters rightly into the sheepfold except through him; on account of which he says: "Amen, amen I say to you: I am the door of the sheep; I" distinctively, and no other, because there is no entrance except through me.

It is asked here concerning this, that the Lord compares himself here to a door, because above he compared himself to a doorkeeper: how is the same one the door and the doorkeeper and the shepherd?

It must be said that, as is said below in the fourteenth chapter, Christ is the way, the truth, and the life: because he is the way to the Father, therefore the door; because he is truly the truth, which teaches the way, therefore the doorkeeper; because he is the life, therefore the shepherd, who feeds and preserves life.

He most thoroughly knew, being by nature God, and beholding that which lies in the depth, that the Pharisees understood none of His sayings, although accustomed to pride themselves greatly on their learning in the Law, and excessively supercilious in thinking themselves wise. Therefore He gives them a very clear explanation, and winding up as it were the long thread of the argument, He tells them in few words the main scope of the parable. For being naturally good, He leads on towards a clear comprehension those even who do not deserve it, that perhaps by some method the light may reach them. And He distinctly says that Himself is the Door of the sheep, teaching something which is generally acknowledged; for only through faith in Him are we admitted into relationship with God, and He Himself is a witness to this, saying: No one cometh unto the Father, but by Me. Either therefore He wishes to signify something of this sort, or, as is more suitable to the questions we are considering He once more makes it clear that we come to the rule and leadership of rational flocks through Him, according to what is said by Paul: For no man taketh the honour unto himself, but he that is called of God. For instance, no one of the holy Prophets consecrated himself; no, nor even will the great and shining company of the Apostles be found to have been self-called to this office. For they were consecrated through the will of Christ, Who called them to the apostleship by name, and individually, as He says in the parable before us. For we know how in the Gospel according to Matthew the names of the Apostles are set down in order, and immediately following is the manner of their public proclamation: for. These twelve, he says, the Saviour consecrated; whom also He named Apostles. Seeing therefore that the foolish Pharisees wished to be rulers, and were immoderately boastful of the name and character of leadership, He profitably teaches that Himself is the bestower of leadership upon men and mighty to conduct them to it without difficulty. For being the Door of the sacred and Divine fold, He both will admit him who is fit, and also will block the entrance against him who is not.

Jesus sees that the foolish Pharisees wanted to be rulers and that they were unwisely boastful of the name and character of leadership. And so it is good that he teaches them that he himself is the one who confers leadership in the church. And he bestows this authority without difficulty. For since Jesus is "the door" of the sacred and divine fold, he will both admit the one who is fit for leadership but also will block the entrance to the one who is unfit to lead the flock.

No one, then, he says, can be saved or return (into heaven) without the Son, and the Son is the Serpent. For as he brought down from above the paternal marks, so again he carries up from thence those marks roused from a dormant condition and rendered paternal characteristics, substantial ones from the unsubstantial Being, transferring them hither from thence. This, he says, is what is spoken: "I am the door." And he transfers (those marks), he says, to those who close the eyelid, as the naphtha drawing the fire in every direction towards itself; nay rather, as the magnet (attracting) the iron and not anything else, or just as the backbone of the sea falcon, the gold and nothing else, or as the chaff is led by the amber. In this manner, he says, is the portrayed, perfect, and con-substantial genus drawn again from the world by the Serpent; nor does he (attract) anything else, as it has been sent down by him. For a proof of this, they adduce the anatomy of the brain, assimilating, from the fact of its immobility, the brain itself to the Father, and the cerebellum to the Son, because of its being moved and being of the form of (the head of) a serpent. And they allege that this (cerebellum), by an ineffable and inscrutable process, attracts through the pineal gland the spiritual and life-giving substance emanating from the vaulted chamber (in which the brain is embedded). And on receiving this, the cerebellum in an ineffable manner imparts the ideas, just as the Son does, to matter; or, in other words, the seeds and the genera of the things produced according to the flesh flow along into the spinal marrow. Employing this exemplar, (the heretics) seem to adroitly introduce their secret mysteries, which are delivered in silence. Now it would be impious for us to declare these; yet it is easy to form an idea of them, by reason of the many statements that have been made.

(Hom. lix. 3) Our Lord, to waken the attention of the Jews, unfolds the meaning of what He has said; Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

He says that he is the door of the sheep because he is the principal access to truth for everyone. His doctrine that he has uniquely established calls everyone that is summoned by it. He established laws, as was his prerogative, so that we might live through them according to his will. And he was the Word through which all might know the Father. Therefore let us abandon the works of the law and apply ourselves to obey the precepts of Christ. Let us devote our entire being to the principles of the gospel and employ all diligence in fulfilling his laws. Thus, he very appropriately called himself the door of the sheep, since there is no other way to seek out the truth except by believing first of all in our Lord, and by drawing near to the entrance of truth through his commandments, finding pleasure in the good things we possess because of our nearness to God the Father.

Jesus told them in these words a parable, or comparison, and used obscure speech in order to make them more attentive. When He has achieved this, He resolves the obscurity and says: "I am the Door."

Now our Lord explains the similitude. If the above similitude is examined correctly, it contains two principal clauses, followed by others. The first is: "He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door…is a thief and a robber." The second is: "He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." Accordingly, this section is divided into two parts. First, he explains the first clause; then the second clause (v 11). Concerning the first he does two things: first, he explains the first clause; secondly, he proves it (v 7). The first clause mentions a door, a thief and a robber; so first he explains the door, then the thief and then the robber (v 8).

Concerning the first he says, So Jesus again said to them, to gain their attention and have them understand the similitude: "The man of understanding may acquire skill to understand a proverb and a figure" (Prv 1:6). Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door. Now the purpose of a door is to conduct one into the inner rooms of a house; and this is fitting to Christ, for one must enter into the secrets of God through him: "This is the gate of the Lord," that is, Christ, "the righteous shall enter through it" (Ps 118:20). He says, I am the door of the sheep, because through Christ not only the shepherds are brought into the present Church or enter into everlasting happiness, but the sheep also. Thus he says below: "My sheep hear my voice…and they follow me; and I give them eternal life" (10:27).

"All that ever came are thieves and robbers." What is this, Lord, "All that ever came"? How so hast Thou not come? But understand; I said, "All that ever came," meaning, of course, exclusive of myself. Let us recollect then. Before His coming came the prophets: were they thieves and robbers? God forbid. They did not come apart from Him, for they came with Him. When about to come, He sent heralds, but retained possession of the hearts of His messengers. Do you wish to know that they came with Him, who is Himself ever existent? Certainly He assumed human flesh at the time appointed. But what means that "ever"? "In the beginning was the Word." With Him, therefore, came those who came with the word of God. "I am," said He, "the way, and the truth, and the life." If He is the truth, with Him came those who were truthful. As many, therefore, as were apart from Him, were "thieves and robbers," that is, had come to steal and to destroy.

(Tr. xlv. 8) All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers. Understand, All that ever came at variance with Me. The Prophets were not at variance with Him. They came with Him, who came with the Word of God, who spake the truth. He, the Word, the Truth, sent heralds before Him, but the hearts of those whom He sent were His own. They came with Him, inasmuch as He is always, though He assumed the flesh in time: In the beginning was the Word. His humble advent in the flesh was preceded by just men, who believed on Him as about to come, as we believe on Him come. The times are different, the faith is the same. Our faith knitteth together both those who believed that He was about to come, and those who believe that He has come. All that ever came at variance with Him were thieves and robbers; i. e. they came to steal and to kill; but the sheep did not hear them. They had not Christ's voice; but were wanderers, dreamers, deceivers. Why He is the Door, He next explains, I am the Door; by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved.

"All, as many as came, are thieves and robbers," because, namely, they had not entered through me; and the sign of this he adds: "But the sheep did not hear them." This door was closed for a long time, but in the Passion it was opened, so that "the fullness of the Gentiles might enter." Concerning this door, Revelation 4: "After this I looked; and behold, a door opened in heaven"; truly opened, because, as is said above in chapter 6, "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

It is asked concerning what he says: "All who came are thieves."

Against this: The Prophets and Patriarchs and John the Baptist came; therefore according to this all were evil, as the heretics say.

It is answered to this that the emphasis should be placed on what is said, "came," namely by their own authority, not by divine authority, as the false prophets, of whom Jeremiah twenty-three says: "I did not send them, and they ran"; but the good ones did not come, but were sent. Whence Augustine says: "They did not come apart from him, but they came with him." For he himself is the truth; and therefore all who preached the truth came with him.

The devil is called "thief and robber;" having mixed false prophets with the prophets, as tares with the wheat. "All, then, that came before the Lord, were thieves and robbers;" not absolutely all men, but all the false prophets, and all who were not properly sent by Him. For the false prophets possessed the prophetic name dishonestly, being prophets, but prophets of the liar. For the Lord says, "Ye are of your father the devil; and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it."

Practising all kinds of enchantment upon the obstinate mind of the Pharisees, and trying to turn them to sound reason, He attempts to show them that it is a bootless and perilous thing to dare to act as leaders, without the election from above or the Divine counsel, but thinking that rule may be obtained by human folly, although the Bestower of it may be unwilling. Wherefore, having plainly said that Himself is the Door, which signifies the only means of admitting such as are fit to the leadership, He straightway brings forward the attempts of those who lived in earlier times, so that, beholding delineated as in a picture the result to which such action leads, they might then clearly understand that the ability to govern and lead flocks of people comes only through grace given from above, and not from ambitious endeavours. Therefore here also his speech is profitable, bringing to mind the history of those who lived in earlier times: All that came are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. For certain men came forward publicly, pretending to have the office of good shepherds; but since there was none who committed the leadership unto them, and who |68 could persuade those whom they ought to have ruled to obey them, the multitude of the sheep ran away from them.

But by no means must we suspect, because He said: All, that the apostleship of the holy Prophets is set at naught by Our Saviour Christ; for the saying is not against them, but against others. For since His object was to speak about false shepherds and such as climbed up some other way into the fold of the sheep, of necessity the language was used with respect to those who had been clearly signified beforehand: He says: All, but we will in no wise think that the persons of the holy Prophets are hereby renounced; for how could they be renounced by Him Who established the truth of their plain declarations regarding His own coming; "Who saith: I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets; Who consecrated Moses, and said unto Jeremiah: Say not, I am too young: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak; and to the blessed Ezekiel: Son of man, I will send thee to the house of Israel, who are provoking Me bitterly? The scope of the language therefore is not directed against the company of the holy Prophets, but looks rather to such as at any time pretended to prophesy in Judaea, stating falsely that they came from God, and persuading the people not to obey those who were in truth God's prophets, but to join in undertakings and opinions devised by themselves; concerning whom the Lord God, the Sovereign of all, Himself somewhere says again: I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. And unto the blessed Jeremiah: The prophets prophesy lies in My name: I sent them not, neither did I speak unto them, neither did I command them: for they prophesy unto you visions and divinations and prophecies out of their own hearts. If they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them come before Me. What hath the chaff to do with the wheat? For the word that truly is from God has the power of nourishing greatly, and strengthens man's heart, as it is written, but that of the unholy false prophets and false teachers, being thoroughly clean-threshed and chaff-like, conveys no profit to the hearers. When therefore He names those who preceded His coming thieves and robbers, He signifies either the lying and deceiving multitude of whom we have just spoken, or thou mayest apply the force of the words to those also who are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. For the rulers of the Jews having on one occasion gathered the holy Apostles together, and brought them into their own most lawless council-chamber, were taking counsel to banish them from Jerusalem, and to force them to be continually facing extreme dangers; but Gamaliel reminded them of certain false teachers in the following words:----Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves as touching these men, what ye are about to do. For before these days rose up Theudas, giving himself out to be some great one; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed, and came to naught. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the enrolment, and drew away some of the people after him: he also perished; and all who obeyed him were scattered abroad. From these considerations then thou seest clearly and indisputably that Christ's words do not refer to the holy Prophets, but to those of the opposite description, in order that even against their will He might persuade the Pharisees not to seek in their own foolish notions a pretext for rashly making themselves guides, when God was not willing for them to be at the head of the people, but in all things to subject their authority to the Divine approbation; and to hasten to enter by the real Door rather than to endeavour to climb up by some other way into the sheepfold after the manner of plunderers.

All the prophets, therefore, and the law spoke by means of the Demiurge,-a silly god, he says, (and themselves) fools, who knew nothing. On account of this, he says, the Saviour observes: "All that came before me are thieves and robbers." And the apostle (uses these words) "The mystery which was not made known to former generations." For none of the prophets, he says, said anything concerning the things of which we speak; for (a prophet) could not but be ignorant of all (these) things, inasmuch as they certainly had been uttered by the Demiurge only. When, therefore, the creation received completion, and when after (this) there ought to have been the revelation of the sons of God-that is, of the Demiurge, which up to this had been concealed, and in which obscurity the natural man was hid, and had a veil upon the heart;-when (it was time), then, that the veil should be taken away, and that these mysteries should be seen, Jesus was born of Mary the virgin, according to the declaration (in Scripture), "The Holy Ghost will come upon thee"-Sophia is the Spirit-" and the power of the Highest will overshadow thee"-the Highest is the Demiurge,-"wherefore that which shall be born of thee shall be called holy." For he has been generated not from the highest alone, as those created in (the likeness of) Adam have been created from the highest alone-that is, (from) Sophia and the Demiurge. Jesus, however, the new man, (has been generated) from the Holy Spirit-that is, Sophia and the Demiurge-in order that the Demiurge may complete the conformation and constitution of his body, and that the Holy Spirit may supply his essence, and that a celestial Logos may proceed from the Ogdoad being born of Mary.

(Hom. lix. 3) He saith not this of the Prophets, as the heretics think, but of Theudas, and Judas, and other agitators. So he adds in praise of the sheep, The sheep heard them not; but he no where praises those who disobeyed the prophets, but condemns them severely.

Those who teach with a dishonest and defiled soul steal. Of them it might be said, "All who came before me are thieves and robbers." Such people use the gospel without being affected by it in faith or in living. Instead, they use the good news of the word in a way in which it was not intended. Such a person is a thief, and it will be said of him, "you who preach not to steal—you still steal."

"All that ever came before Me." He said this not about the prophets, as the Manichaeans madly claim. They use this saying to prove that the Old Testament is not from God and that the prophets were not sent by God. "Behold," they say, "the Lord said that all who ever came are thieves and robbers." But He said this not about the prophets, but about Theudas and Judas and the other seditious men. And that He spoke about them is evident from what He added: "the sheep did not listen to them." For the sheep did not listen to these seditious men, but they did listen to the prophets, and as many as believed in Christ all believed through them. And in another sense: "the sheep did not listen to them." He said this as a commendation. But nowhere is it seen that He commended those who did not listen to the prophets; on the contrary, He strongly condemns and reproaches them. Then, pay attention to the precision of the expression "as many as came," and He does not say "as many as were sent." For the prophets came because they were sent, but the false prophets, like the aforementioned rebels, set about corrupting those they deceived when no one had sent them. Thus God also says: "I did not send them, yet they ran" (Jer. 23:21).

Then when he says, All who came before me are thieves and robbers, he explains what he had said about thieves and robbers. First, he shows who the thieves and robbers are; secondly, their sign.

In regard to the first, we should avoid the error of the Manicheans, who rejected the Old Testament on the ground that it says here that all who came before me are thieves. They maintained that the fathers of the Old Testament, who came before Christ, were evil and have been damned.

The falsity of this view is clear from three things. First, from what this parable says. For the statement, all who came before me, is intended as a description of the previous statement, which mentioned those who do not enter by the door. Therefore, all who came before me, but not through me, that is, not entering by the door, are thieves and robbers. It is clear that all the patriarchs and prophets, whom the Christ-to-come had sent forerunners, entered by the door, i.e., Christ. For although he took flesh and became man in time, he was the Word of God from all eternity: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever" (Heb 13:8). Indeed, the prophets were sent by the Word and Wisdom of God: "In every generation she," the Wisdom of God, "passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets" (Wis 7:27). Accordingly, we expressly read in the prophets that the word of God came to this or that prophet, who prophesied by participating in the Word of God.

Secondly, the falsity of the teaching of the Manicheans is seen when our Lord says, all who came before me, implying that they were thrusting themselves forward on their own authority and were not sent by God: "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran" (Jer 23:21). Indeed, such prophets have not come from the Word of God: "Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing" (Ez 13:3). But the fathers of the Old Testament were not of this type, as has been said.

Thirdly, this falsity is seen from the fact that he shows what effect their words had, for we read, but the sheep did not heed them. Therefore, those whom the sheep did heed were not thieves and robbers. Now the people of Israel did listen to the prophets, and those who did not heed them were rebuked in Sacred Scripture: "Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute?" (Acts 7:52); "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you!" (Matt 23:37).

Having excluded this error, it must be said that all who came before me, that is, independently of me, without divine inspiration and authority, and not with the intention of seeking the glory of God but acquiring their own, are thieves, insofar as they take for themselves what is not theirs, that is, the authority to teach - "Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves" (Is 1:23) - and robbers, because they kill with their corrupt doctrine - "You make it a den of robbers" (Matt 21:13); "As robbers lie in wait for a man…they murder on the way" (Hos 6:9). But the sheep, that is, the predestined, did not heed them, the thieves and robbers, otherwise they would not have been Christ's sheep, because, as was said before, "A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him." Furthermore, this is commanded in Deuteronomy: "You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams" (13:3).

As if to say, The sheep hear not them, but Me they hear; for I am the Door, and whoever entereth by Me not falsely but in sincerity, shall by perseverance be saved.

For if you believe that father Bacchus can give a good vintage, but cannot give relief from sickness; if you believe that Ceres can give good crops, Aesculapius health, Neptune one thing, Juno another, that Fortune, Mercury, Vulcan, are each the giver of a fixed and particular thing,-this, too, you must needs receive from us, that souls can receive from no one life and salvation, except from Him to whom the Supreme Ruler gave this charge and duty. The Almighty Master of the world has determined that this should be the way of salvation,-this the door, so to say, of life; by Him alone is there access to the light: nor may men either creep in or enter elsewhere, all other ways being shut up and secured by an impenetrable barrier.

By this, then, which the Lord hath explained, that He Himself is the door, let us find entrance to what He has set forth, but not explained. And indeed who it is that is the Shepherd, although He hath not told us in the lesson we have read to-day, yet in that which follows He very plainly tells us: "I am the good Shepherd." And although He had not said so, whom else but Himself ought we to have understood in those words where He saith, "He that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To Him the porter openeth: and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out."

But what is this, "He shall go in and out, and find pasture"? To enter indeed into the Church by Christ the door, is eminently good; but to go out of the Church, is certainly otherwise than good. Such a going out could not then be commended by the good Shepherd, when He said, "And he shall go in and out, and find pasture." There is therefore not only some sort of entrance, but some outgoing also that is good, by the good door, which is Christ. But I am better pleased that the Truth Himself, like a good Shepherd, and therefore a good Teacher, hath in a certain measure reminded us how we ought to understand His words, "He shall go in and out, and find pasture," when He added in the sequel, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." For He seems to me to have meant, That they may have life in coming in, and have it more abundantly at their departure. For no one can pass out by the door-that is, by Christ-to that eternal life which shall be open to the sight, unless by the same door-that is, by the same Christ-he has entered His church, which is His fold, to the temporal life, which is lived in faith.

(Tr. xlv. c. 15) What is this, shall go in and out? To enter into the Church by Christ the Door, is a very good thing, but to go out of the Church is not. Going in must refer to inward cogitation; going out to outward action; as in the Psalm, Man goeth forth to his work. (Ps. 103:23)

"I am the door." Here it is noted that whoever enters through him enters unto salvation. Therefore he says: "I am the door," through which, namely, one enters unto salvation; and the reason is added: "If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved"; concerning which entrance, Matthew 7: "Enter ye in at the strait gate. How strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life!" because Christ was poor and lowly. Through this small door the rich, full of riches, do not enter; on account of which it is said in Matthew 19: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." This entrance is through faith and the Sacrament of Baptism; since the former is the gate of the virtues, and the latter of the Sacraments. He who enters in this way shall be saved; Mark, last chapter: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." "And he shall go in and go out and find pasture; he shall go in" through contemplation, which calls back to interior things; "and he shall go out" through action; Numbers 27: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, provide a man who may go in and go out before them." Or, as Augustine explains, "he shall go in" to the contemplation of the Divinity, "he shall go out" to the sight of the humanity, "and shall find pasture," because he is nourished in all things: the intellect in the contemplation of the Divinity, and the senses in the contemplation of the humanity; concerning which pastures, Ezekiel 34: "I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel; in the most fertile pastures I will feed them."

It is asked concerning what he says, that "he will go out and will find pasture."

Against this: "No one putting his hand to the plow should look back"; therefore no one who enters will go out.

It must be said that there is a twofold going out: one contrary to entering, and this is a going out from the Church through unbelief; and concerning this the objection is raised, and concerning this Augustine says: "To enter the Church is good, but to go out is the worst"; and concerning this, First John two says: "They went out from us, but they were not of us." The other is from contemplation to action; and this is not of regression, but of exercise. Concerning this the Psalm says: "Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening."

Therefore, however much one may be illuminated by the light of nature and acquired knowledge, one cannot enter into oneself so as within oneself to delight in the Lord, except through the mediation of Christ, who says: I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pastures. But to this door we do not draw near unless we believe in him, hope in him, and love him. It is necessary, therefore, if we wish to re-enter into the enjoyment of Truth as into paradise, that we enter through faith, hope, and charity in the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, who is as the tree of life in the midst of paradise.

The figure of the six seraphic wings intimates six stairlike illuminations, which begin from creatures and lead all the way to God, to whom no one rightly enters except through the Crucified. For he who does not enter through the door but climbs up another way, that one is a thief and a robber. If anyone indeed through this door enters, he shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.

These six considerations having therefore been traversed, as if they were the six steps of the throne of the true Solomon, by which one arrives at peace, where the true peaceful one rests in a peaceful mind as in an interior Jerusalem; and as if also the six wings of the Cherub, by which the mind of the true contemplative, filled with the illumination of supernal wisdom, may be borne upward; and as if also the first six days, in which the mind must be exercised, so that it may at last arrive at the sabbath of rest; after our mind has contemplated God outside itself through vestiges and in the vestiges, within itself through the image and in the image, above itself through the similitude of the divine light shining upon us and in that light itself, insofar as is possible according to the state of wayfaring and the exercise of our mind; when at last in the sixth step it has arrived at this point, that it contemplates in the first and highest principle and the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, those things whose likenesses can in no way be found in creatures, and which exceed all keenness of the human intellect: it remains that, in contemplating these things, it should transcend and pass beyond not only this sensible world, but also itself; in which passing over, Christ is the way and the door, Christ is the ladder and the vehicle, as it were the mercy seat placed upon the ark of God and the mystery hidden from the ages.

That it is impossible to attain to God the Father, except by His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh to the Father but by me." Also in the same place: "I am the door: by me if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved." Also in the same place: "Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Also in the same place: "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life: he that is not obedient in word to the Son hath not life; but the wrath of God shall abide upon him." Also Paul to the Ephesians: "And when He had come, He preached peace to you, to those which are afar off, and peace to those which are near, because through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father." Also to the Romans: "For all have sinned, and fail of the glory of God; but they are justified by His gift and grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Also in the Epistle of Peter the apostle: "Christ hath died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might present us to God." Also in the same place: "For in this also was it preached to them that are dead, that they might be raised again." Also in the Epistle of John: "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same also hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath both the Son and the Father."

That it is impossible to attain to the Father but by His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel according to John: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Also in the same place: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."

After His usual manner, He moulds the form of His speech to a spiritual application as though it arose naturally from the course of His story, and seems to treat things which are simple to look at and contain nothing difficult of comprehension, as images of things more obscure. For the thieves, He saith, and robbers, violently breaking into the enclosures of the sheep, do not enter by the door, but leap in by some other way, and by getting over the wall of the fold put themselves in danger. For perhaps, or rather very probably, one who is robbing in this way and rashly practising villainy may be detected and caught; but they who enter by the door itself, effect an entrance without risk, being manifestly not mean in conduct, nor yet unknown to the lord of the sheep. For he who standeth at the doors openeth to them and they run in: moreover, saith He, such as these shall be together with the sheep in great security, having effected an entrance very lawfully as it were and without guile, and without incurring any suspicion of being robbers. This therefore is the part of the story which is typical; and passing over to what is thereby intimated for our spiritual profit, we say this, that they who without the Divine sanction and will proceed to take the leadership of the people, as though altogether refusing the entrance by the Door, will perhaps also perish, doing violence to the Divine decree, at least by the motive of their endeavours. But they who are allotted a God-given leadership, and come to it by Christ, with great security and grace they will govern the most sacred fold, escaping so entirely from the anger which falls on the others that they even receive honour for their work: they will obtain crowns from above such as they do not yet dare to hope for; because their aim is not at all in any way to grieve their flocks, but rather to benefit them: they will do things well-pleasing to the Lord of the flock, and love by all means to keep safe those who belong to Him. By these words also the Lord greatly troubles the obstinate Pharisees, saying that they will certainly not be kept safe, but will utterly fall from the leadership in which they now are; and very justly, since they suppose they will possess it firmly, not by God's approval, but by their own folly. Bat herein I cannot help admiring the incomparable love for men shown by the Saviour. For the Lord is really compassionate and merciful, offering to all a way of salvation, and in divers manners inviting to it even the very obstinate and hardened. And I will take the proof of my assertion once more from the thing itself. For when He fails, either by marvellous deeds or by the longing which yearns and hopes for the glory which shall be hereafter, to persuade the Pharisees to receive His teaching; He sternly proceeds to that, by which it was likely they would be especially troubled, so that henceforth they might look upon obedience as an inevitable necessity. For knowing them to be attached to the glory of being leaders, and to eagerly reckon upon no ordinary gain from thence, He says they will be deprived of it, and will be utterly despoiled of that which was so highly valued, and which was then in their possession; unless they will yield themselves to willingly listen to Him, and seek pardon at His hands.

We are Christians and Catholics not because we worship a key, but because we have passed a door; and felt the wind that is the trumpet of liberty blow over the land of the living.

He is the Way, because he leads us through himself. He is the Door who lets us in, the Shepherd who makes us dwell in green pastures, bringing us up by waters of rest and leading us there. He protects us from wild beasts, converts the erring, brings back what was lost and binds up what was broken. He guards the strong and brings them together into the fold beyond with words of pastoral knowledge.

Where do you pasture your sheep, O good Shepherd who carries all your flock on your shoulders? For the one lamb that you took up is the entire human race, which you raised on your shoulders. Show me then the place of pasture, make known to me the waters of rest, lead me out to the good grass, call me by name that I, your sheep, may listen to your voice and may your call be the gift of eternal life.… "Show me, then," she says, "where you feed," so that I may find the pasture of salvation and be filled with the food of heaven which all people must eat if they would enter into life.

"If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pastures." For he will go in to faith, but will go out from faith to sight, from belief to contemplation, and will find pastures in eternal refreshment. His sheep therefore find pastures, because whoever follows him with a simple heart is nourished by the food of eternal greenness. But what are the pastures of these sheep, if not the inner joys of ever-verdant paradise? For the pastures of the elect are the present countenance of God, which when it is beheld without failing, the mind is satisfied without end by the food of life. In these pastures those have rejoiced in the fullness of eternity who have already escaped the snares of pleasurable temporality. There are the hymn-singing choirs of angels, there is the fellowship of the heavenly citizens. There is the sweet solemnity of those returning from the sad labor of this pilgrimage. There are the foreseeing choirs of prophets, there is the judging number of apostles, there is the victorious army of innumerable martyrs, the more joyful there as they were more harshly afflicted here; there is the constancy of confessors, consoled by the reception of their reward; there are faithful men whom the pleasure of the world could not soften from the strength of their manliness; there are holy women who conquered both the world and their sex; there are children who here transcended their years by their conduct; there are the elderly whom age rendered weak here, yet the power of good works did not abandon.

(super Ezek. Hom. xiii.) Shall go in, i. e. to faith: shall go out, i. e. to sight: and find pasture, i. e. in eternal fulness.

And by war he means the war that is in the body, because its frame has been made out of hostile elements; as it has been written, he says, "Remember the conflict that exists in the body." Jacob, he says, saw this entrance and this gate in his journey into Mesopotamia, that is, when from a child he was now becoming a youth and a man; that is, (the entrance and gate) were made known unto him as he journeyed into Mesopotamia. But Mesopotamia, he says, is the current of the great ocean flowing from the midst of the Perfect Man; and he was astonished at the celestial gate, exclaiming, "How terrible is this place! it is nought else than the house of God, and this (is) the gate of heaven." On account of this, he says, Jesus uses the words, "I am the true gate." Now he who makes these statements is, he says, the Perfect Man that is imaged from the unportrayable one from above. The Perfect Man therefore cannot, he says, be saved, unless, entering in through this gate, he be born again. But this very one the Phrygians, he says, call also Papa, because he tranquillized all things which, prior to his manifestation, were confusedly and dissonantly moved. For the name, he says, of Papa belongs simultaneously to all creatures -celestial, and terrestrial, and infernal-who exclaim, Cause to cease, cause to cease the discord of the world, and make "peace for those that are afar off," that is, for material and earthly beings; and "peace for those that are near," that is, for perfect men that are spiritual and endued with reason. But the Phrygians denominate this same also "corpse"-buried in the body, as it were, in a mausoleum and tomb. This, he says, is what has been declared, "Ye are whited sepulchres, full," he says, "of dead men's bones within," because there is not in you the living man. And again he exclaims, "The dead shall start forth from the graves," that is, from the earthly bodies, being born again spiritual, not carnal. For this, he says, is the Resurrection that takes place through the gate of heaven, through which, he says, all those that do not enter remain dead. These same Phrygians, however, he says, affirm again that this very (man), as a consequence of the change, (becomes) a god. For, he says, he becomes a god when, having risen from the dead, he will enter into heaven through a gate of this kind. Paul the apostle, he says, knew of this gate, partially opening it in a mystery, and stating "that he was caught up by an angel, and ascended as far as the second and third heaven into paradise itself; and that he beheld sights and heard unspeakable words which it would not be possible for man to declare."

The priests indeed are good, but the High Priest is better; to whom the holy of holies has been committed, and who alone has been trusted with the secrets of God. He is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and the apostles, and the Church. All these have for their object the attaining to the unity of God. But the Gospel possesses something transcendent [above the former dispensation], viz., the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, His passion and resurrection. For the beloved prophets announced Him, but the Gospel is the perfection of immortality. All these things are good together, if ye believe in love.

(Hom. lix. 3) Or, He refers to the Apostles who went in and out boldly; for they became the masters of the world, none could turn them out of their kingdom, and they found pasture.

Wherefore He, being the true Prophet, said, 'I am the gate of life; he who entereth through me entereth into life,' there being no other teaching able to save. Wherefore also He cried, and said, 'Come unto me, all who labour,' that is, who are seeking the truth, and not finding it; and again, 'My sheep hear my voice;' and elsewhere, 'Seek and find,' since the truth does not lie on the surface.

Whoever enters through Me, the door, and is brought to the Father, and becomes His sheep, that one will be saved, and not only will be saved, but will also receive great fearlessness, like both Lord and Master. For this is what is meant by the words "and will go in and go out." So too the apostles boldly went in and came out before rulers, and came out joyful and unconquerable (Acts 5:41). "And shall find pasture," that is, abundant food. And in another way: since our man is twofold, according to the expression of the Apostle Paul, "the inner and the outer" (Rom. 7:22; 2 Cor. 4:16), it can be said that he enters who cares for the inner man, and he again goes out who "puts to death the members which are on the earth" and "the deeds of the flesh" in Christ (Rom. 8:13). Such a one shall find pasture both in the age to come, according to what is said: "The Lord shepherds me, and I shall not want" (Ps. 22:1).

The door admits the sheep into the pasture; And shall go in and out, and find pasture. What is this pasture, but the happiness to come, the rest to which our Lord brings us?

Or, to go in is to watch over the inner man; to go out, (Colos. 3) to mortify the outward man, i. e. our members which are upon the earth. He that doth this shall find pasture in the life to come.

I am the door. Here he clarifies his explanation: first, of the door; secondly, of the thief (v 10). Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he repeats what he intends to explain; and secondly, he gives the explanation (v 9).

He repeats what he had already said, namely, I am the door: "If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar" (Song 8:9), that is, let us grant her an incorruptible power.

He explains this when he says, if any one enters by me, he will be saved. First, he shows that the purpose of a door, which is to keep the sheep safe, applies to himself; secondly, he mentions the manner in which they are kept safe (v 9b).

The door safeguards the sheep by keeping those within from going out, and by protecting them from strangers who want to come in. And this applies to Christ, for he is our safeguard and protection. And this is what he says: if any one, not with insincerity, enters, into the fellowship of the Church and of the faithful, by me, the door, he will be saved, i.e., if he perseveres: "For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12); "We shall be saved by his life" (Rom 5:10).

The way the sheep are safeguarded is set forth when he says that he will go in and out and find pasture. This statement can be explained in four ways. First of all, according to Chrysostom, it simply affirms the security and freedom of those who cling to Christ. For one who enters some other way than by the door does not have free entry and exit; but one who does enter by the door has free exit, because he can leave freely. Therefore, when he says, he will go in and out, the meaning is that the Apostles adhering to Christ enter with security by living with the faithful, who are within the Church, and with unbelievers who are outside, when they became masters of the whole world and no one wished to cast them out: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the congregation, who shall go out before them and come in before them…that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd" (Num 27:16). And find pasture, find delight in converting others, and find joy even when persecuted by unbelievers for the name of Christ: "Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name," as we read in Acts (5:41).

Secondly, this can be explained as Augustine does in his Commentary on John. Two things are incumbent upon anyone who acts well, namely to be well-ordered to the things that are within him, and to those that are without. Within a person is the spirit, and without is the body: "Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day" (2 Cor 4:16). Therefore, a person who clings to Christ will go in through contemplation, to protect his conscience - "When I enter my house," i.e., my conscience, "I shall find rest with her," i.e., with wisdom (Wis 8:16) - and out, namely, by good actions, to tame the body - "Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening" (Ps 104:23) - and find pasture, in a clean and sincere conscience - "I will appear before your sight: I will be satisfied when your glory appears" (Ps 16:15). Again, by his actions he will find pasture, i.e., fruit - "He shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him" (Ps 126:6).

The third explanation is also Augustine's as well as that given by Gregory in his Commentary on Ezekiel. The meaning, then, is this. Such a one will go in, i.e., into the Church, by believing - "I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle" (Ps 41:5), and this is to enter the Church Militant; and out, from the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant - "Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of the wedding" (Song 3:11); and find pasture, that is, the pastures of doctrine and grace in the Church Militant - "He makes me lie down in green pastures"; and the pastures of glory in the Church Triumphant: "I will feed them with good pasture" (Ez 34:14).

Fourthly, there is an explanation found in the work, On the Spirit and the Soul, which has been incorrectly attributed to Augustine. Here it is said that such a one will go in, that is, the saints will go in to contemplate the divinity of Christ, and out, to consider his humanity; and they will find pasture in both, because in both they will taste the joys of contemplation: "Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty" (Is 33:17).