The Names of Christ Concluded and the Homily Sealed
Amphilochius is finishing his list of Christ's names and works, then closing the homily by deferring to the fathers' teaching and blessing the congregation.
He was called sheep: For he was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before the one shearing it, voiceless (Isaiah 53:7). He was called sheep because of the slaughter, and because of the partaking of his holy members, and because of the immortal protection that comes from the seal of his holy blood. He was called shepherd: For I am the good shepherd (John 10:11), because he turned back the wandering sheep and killed our adversary the lion with the staff of the cross. He was called pearl because he was born like a pearl in an oyster, between two folds of a virginal body and soul, without the seed of a man—or because he is the adornment of the soul, or because of his many-rayed and pure brightness, flashing out on every side with the radiance of divinity. He was called light: for he was the true light, which enlightens every person coming into the world (John 1:9), because he drove the dark error of the old moonless night from our understanding and opened the eyes of our governing mind, so that we might truly see that the things we formerly worshiped are not gods but works of human hands, stones and wood. He was called cornerstone, because he built up the two peoples like two walls by faith and lies upon them, joining them into one fitting of salvation. He was called sun of righteousness because of his brightness and warmth—for there is no one who will hide from his heat—and because of the twelve-rayed light of the apostles. He was called mustard seed, because he makes himself small and comes down to our condition at the beginnings of faith; then, when he has burrowed into the furrows of our soul and spread into its depths, he is lifted up to a height reaching heaven and grows warm toward piety and wisdom. He was called worm: For I am a worm and not a man (Psalm 22:6, LXX 21:7), because he hid his flashing divinity like a hook in the worm of his body, let himself down into this deep of life, and like a good fisherman drew up, to fulfill what is written: You will draw the dragon with a hook (Job 41:1, LXX 40:25). He was called man, because he wore a body that came not from pleasure and sleep but from a virgin and the Holy Spirit. But since each of us, beloved, is waiting also for the honey-flowing teaching of the fathers, let us seal our purse of words here with the Holy Spirit, so that when they come from the honey-dripping wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ they may fill the cisterns of our hearts, and each of you may sprout much fruit of piety—one may bear thirty, another sixty, another the hundredfold crown of the angels—in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father be glory, honor, and might, together with the Holy and life-giving Spirit, now and to all the ages of ages. Amen.
Greek
Πρόβατον ἤκουσεν· Ὡς γὰρ πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείραντος
αὐτὸν ἄφωνος· πρόβατον ἤκουσεν διὰ τὴν σφαγὴν καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν ἁγίων μελῶν αὐτοῦ μετάλημψιν καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου αἵματος αὐτοῦ σφραγίδος ἀθάνατον αὐτοῦ φυλακήν. Ποιμὴν ἤκουσεν· Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός, ἐπειδὴ τὰ πεπλανημένα πρόβατα ἐπέστρεψεν καὶ τὸν ἀντίδικον ἡμῶν λέοντα τῇ βακτηρίᾳ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἀπέκτεινεν. Μαργαρίτης ἤκουσεν διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν ὥσπερ μαργαρίτην ἐν μύακι ἀνὰ μέσον δύο πτυχῶν σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς παρθενικῆς ἄνευ σπορᾶς ἀνδρὸς γεγεννῆσθαι ἢ διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν κόσμιον ψυχῆς ἢ διὰ τὸ πολυφεγγὲς αὐτοῦ καὶ καθαρὸν καὶ πανταχόθεν τῇ αἴγλῃ τῆς θεότητος ἐξάστραπτον. Φῶς ἤκουσεν, ἦν γὰρ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, ἐπειδὴ τὴν ζοφερὰν πλάνην τῆς παλαιᾶς σκοτομήνης ἀπὸ τῆς διανοίας ἡμῶν ἀπήλασεν καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ ἡμῶν νοῦ διήνοιξεν, ἵνα ἴδωμεν ἀληθῶς οἷς προσεκυνοῦμεν τὸ πρίν, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶ θεοί, ἀλλ' ἔργα χειρῶν ἀνθρώπων, λίθοι καὶ ξύλα. Λίθος ἀκρογωνιαῖος ἤκουσεν, ἐπειδὴ τοὺς δύο λαοὺς καθάπερ δύο τοίχους τῇ πίστει οἰκοδομήσας ἐπάνω αὐτῶν ἐπίκειται εἰς μίαν ἁρμογὴν σωτηρίας συνάγων. Ἥλιος δικαιοσύνης ἤκουσεν διὰ τὸ φωτεινὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ θερμόν –οὐκ ἔστιν γὰρ ὃς ἀποκρυβήσεται τὴν θέρμην αὐτοῦ, καὶ διὰ τὸ δωδεκάκτινον φῶς τῶν ἀποστόλων. Κόκκος σινάπεως ἤκουσεν, ἐπειδὴ σμικρύνει ἑαυτὸν καὶ συγκαταβαίνει ταῖς ἕξεσιν ἡμῶν παρὰ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῆς πίστεως, εἶθ' ὁπόταν εἰς τοὺς αὔλακας τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν ἐμφωλεύσας εἰς βάθος διαχυθῇ, εἰς ὕψος οὐρανομῆκες ἐπαιρόμενος πρὸς εὐσέβειαν καὶ φρόνησιν ἀναθερμαίνεται. Σκώληξ ἤκουσεν· Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι σκώληξ καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, διὰ τὸ τὴν ἐξαστράπτουσαν θεότητα καθάπερ ἄγκιστρον τῷ σκώληκι τοῦ σώματος κρύψαντα αὐτὸν εἰς τόνδε τὸν βυθὸν τοῦ βίου χαλάσαντα καὶ ὥσπερ καλὸν ἁλιέα ἀνασπάσαντα πληρῶσαι τὸ γεγραμμένον· Ἄξεις δράκοντα ἐν ἀγκίστρῳ. Ἄνθρωπος ἤκουσεν, ἐπειδὴ σῶμα ἐφόρησεν οὐκ ἐξ ἡδονῆς καὶ ὕπνου συνεστώς, ἀλλ' ἐκ παρθένου καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου γεγονώς. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἕκαστος ἡμῶν, ἀγαπητοί, ἐκδέχεται καὶ τὴν τῶν πατέρων μελίρρυτον διδασκαλίαν, ἐνταῦθα τὸ βαλάντιον ἡμῶν τῶν λόγων σφραγισώμεθα ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, ἵνα αὐτοὶ ἐλθόντες ἐκ τῆς μελισταγοῦς σοφίας τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τὰς δεξαμενὰς τῶν καρδιῶν ἡμῶν πληρώσωσιν, καὶ πολὺν τὸν καρπὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἕκαστος ὑμῶν βλαστήσῃ καὶ ὁ μὲν ποιήσῃ τριάκοντα, ὁ δὲ ἑξήκοντα, ὁ δὲ ἑκατὸν τὸν στέφανον τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, μεθ' οὗ τῷ πατρὶ δόξα, τιμή, κράτος ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ καὶ ζωοποιῷ πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ εἰς τοὺς σύμπαντας αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.