Homily on the Martyr Barlaam · §2 · Basil of Caesarea

The hand as altar and the fire's defeat

Basil is describing the climax of Barlaam's martyrdom: the persecutors place burning incense in his outstretched right hand over a lit altar, hoping the fire will force him to drop it, but the hand remains unconquered.

They lit an altar for a drink offering to the demons, brought the martyr and stood him beside it, and ordered him to stretch his right hand out over the altar with the palm turned upward. They used the hand as a bronze altar, wickedly placing burning incense in it. For they hoped that the hand would be wrestled down by the force of the fire and would quickly be compelled to drop the incense onto the altar. What a tangled trick of the impious! “Since,” they say, “we have not bent his resolve with countless wounds, let us at least bend the hand of this stubborn wrestler in the fire. Since we have not shaken his soul with various devices, let us at least bring his right hand to the fire and make it waver.” But the wretches did not profit even from this hope. The fire gnawed through the hand, but the hand remained, bearing the flame as though it were ash. It did not turn its back to the attacking fire like a deserter, but stood unshaken, proving itself best against the fire, and giving the martyr the words of the Prophet to speak: “Blessed is the Lord my God, who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war” (Psalm 144:1; Psalm 17:35 LXX). Fire grappled with a hand, and the fire was found to bear the marks of defeat. A wrestling match was joined between the fire and the martyr’s right hand, but the victory of the right hand’s wrestling moves was something new: the fire fell through the middle of the hand, while the hand remained stretched out for the contest. O hand more stubborn than fire! O hand that never learned to bend to fire! O fire that was taught to be defeated by a hand! Iron yields to the tyranny of fire and is softened. Bronze gives way to the power of fire. Even the resistance of stones, as we know, is overcome by it. But the force of fire that overpowers everything did not bend the martyr’s stretched-out right hand, even as it burned it. Fittingly the martyr might cry out to the Master: “You held my right hand, and in your counsel you guided me, and with glory you received me” (Psalm 73:24; Psalm 72:24 LXX). What shall I call you, noble soldier of Christ? Shall I call you a statue? I fall far short of your endurance. For fire, receiving it, softens a statue, but it could not make your right hand appear to move. If I call you iron, I find that even this image falls short of your courage. For you alone persuaded the fire not to force a hand. You alone made your right hand an altar. You alone with a burning right hand struck the faces of the demons, and then with a charred hand you melted their heads along with it; now with that hand burned to ashes you blind their armies as you trample them. But why do I diminish the champion with childish stammering? Let us yield the hymn in his honor to more magnificent tongues. Let us summon the louder trumpets of the teachers for him. Rise up now for me, brilliant painters of athletic achievements. Magnify with your arts the mutilated image of the commander. Illuminate with the colors of your wisdom the crowned victor whom I have painted too dimly. May I depart defeated by your painting of the martyr’s feats. I rejoice today to be defeated by such a victory of your strength. Let me see the wrestling match of the hand against the fire painted by you more accurately. Let me see the wrestler drawn more brightly on your image. Let the demons weep, struck now too by the martyr’s feats in your work. Let the burning hand be shown again to them, victorious. Let Christ also, the umpire of the wrestling matches, be inscribed on the tablet—to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Greek

Βωμὸν γὰρ πρὸς τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων σπονδὴν ἀνακαύσαντες, ἱστᾶσι παρ' αὐτῷ ἀγαγόντες τὸν μάρτυρα, καὶ τῷ βωμῷ τὴν δεξιὰν ὑπτίαν ἐπαιωρῆσαι κελεύσαντες, ὡς χαλκῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ τῇ χειρὶ κατεχρήσαντο, λιβα νωτὸν αὐτῇ κακούργως ἐνθέντες φλεγόμενον. Ἤλπιζον γὰρ τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς βίᾳ τὴν χεῖρα καταπαλαισθεῖσαν, ἀνάγκῃ τῷ βωμῷ ταχέως λιβανωτὸν ἐπαφή σειν. Φεῦ τῆς πολυπλόκου τῶν ἀσεβῶν μαγγανείας! Ἐπειδὴ μυρίοις, φησὶ, τὴν γνώμην οὐκ ἐκάμψαμεν τραύμασι, κάμψωμεν ἐν φλογὶ τοῦ φιλονείκου παλαιστοῦ κἂν τὴν χεῖρα. Ἐπειδὴ ποικίλαις μηχα ναῖς τὴν ψυχὴν οὐκ ἐσείσαμεν, τὴν δεξιὰν γοῦν πυρὶ προσαγαγόντες σαλεύσωμεν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ταύτης οἱ δείλαιοι τῆς ἐλπίδος ἀπώναντο. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ φλὸξ τὴν χεῖρα διέτρωγεν· ἔμενε δὲ ἡ χεὶρ, ὡς τέφραν τὴν φλόγα βαστάζουσα. Οὐκ ἔδωκε τῷ πολεμοῦντι πυρὶ κατὰ τοὺς φυγάδας τὰ νῶτα, ἀλλὰ ἄτρεπτος εἱστήκει κατὰ φλογὸς ἀριστεύουσα, καὶ τὰς τοῦ Προφήτου λέγειν τῷ μάρτυρι διδοῦσα φω νάς· Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος ὁ Θεός μου, ὁ διδάσκων τὰς χεῖράς μου εἰς παράταξιν, καὶ τοὺς δακτύ λους μου εἰς πόλεμον. Πῦρ γὰρ χειρὶ συνεπλέκετο, καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς τὰ τῆς ἥττης εὑρίσκετο. Φλογὶ καὶ μάρτυρος δεξιᾷ συνεκροτεῖτο πάλη, ἀλλ' ἦν τῆς δεξιᾶς καινή τις τῶν παλαισμάτων ἡ νίκη, τῆς μὲν φλογὸς διὰ μέσου τῆς χειρὸς ἐκπιπτούσης, τῆς χειρὸς δὲ ἔτι τεταμένης πρὸς πάλην. Ὢ χειρὸς φιλονεικοτέρας πυρός! ὢ χειρὸς, κάμπτεσθαι πυρὶ μὴ μαθούσης! ὢ πυρὸς, ἡττᾶσθαι χειρὶ διδαχθέντος! Σίδηρος τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς εἴκει τυραννίδι χαυνούμενος· χαλκὸς τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς παραχωρεῖ δυναστείᾳ· οἶδε τούτῳ καὶ λίθων ἀντιτυπία νικᾶσθαι. Ἀλλ' ὁ πάντα τοῦ πυρὸς βιαζόμενος τόνος μάρτυρος τὴν δεξιὰν τεταμένην οὐκ ἔκαμψε κατακαίων. Εἰκότως ἂν ὁ μάρτυς ἐπὶ τούτῳ πρὸς τὸν Δεσπότην βοήσειεν· Ἐκράτησας τῆς χειρὸς τῆς δεξιᾶς μου, καὶ ἐν τῇ βουλῇ σου ὡδήγησάς με, καὶ μετὰ δόξης προσελάβου με. Τί σε, ὦ γενναῖε τοῦ Χριστοῦ στρατιῶτα, προσείπω; Ἀνδριάντα καλέσω; Πολύ σε τῆς καρτερίας ἠλάττωσα. Τὸν μὲν γὰρ πῦρ μαλάττει δεξάμενον· σοῦ δὲ τὴν δεξιὰν ὀφθῆναι μόνον κινουμένην οὐκ ἔπεισεν. Ἂν σιδηροῦν ὀνομάσω, καὶ τὴν τοιαύτην τῆς σῆς ἀνδρίας εὑρίσκω λειπομένην εἰκόνα. Σὺ γὰρ μόνος ἔπεισας φλόγα μὴ βιάζεσθαι χεῖρα· σὺ μόνος ἐκτήσω θυσιαστήριον δεξιάν· σὺ μόνος δεξιᾷ φλεγομένῃ τὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἐῤῥάπισας πρόσωπα, καὶ τότε μὲν ἀπηνθρακωμένῃ χειρὶ τὰς ἐκείνων κεφαλὰς συγκατέτηξας· νῦν δὲ τεφρωθείσῃ ταύτῃ τὰς αὐτῶν στρατιὰς ἀποτυφλοῖς καταπατῶν. Ἀλλὰ τί παιδικοῖς ἐλαττῶ τὸν ἀριστέα ψελλίσμασι; Ταῖς μεγαλοπρεπεστέραις τοίνυν τὸν εἰς αὐτὸν ὕμνον παραχωρήσωμεν γλώτταις· τὰς μεγαλοφωνοτέρας τῶν διδασκάλων ἐπ' αὐτῷ καλέσωμεν σάλπιγγας. Ἀνάστητέ μοι νῦν, ὦ λαμπροὶ τῶν ἀθλητικῶν κατορθωμάτων ζωγράφοι· τὴν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ κολοβωθεῖσαν εἰκόνα ταῖς ὑμετέραις μεγαλύνατε τέχναις. Ἀμαυρότερον παρ' ἐμοῦ τὸν στεφανίτην γραφέντα τοῖς τῆς ὑμετέρας σοφίας περιλάμψατε χρώμασιν. Ἀπέλθω τῇ τῶν ἀριστευμάτων τοῦ μάρτυρος παρ' ὑμῶν νενικημένος γραφῇ· χαίρω τὴν τοιαύτην τῆς ὑμετέρας ἰσχύος σήμερον νίκην ἡττώμενος. Ἴδω τῆς χειρὸς πρὸς τὸ πῦρ ἀκριβέστερον παρ' ὑμῶν γραφομένην τὴν πάλην· ἴδω φαιδρότερον ἐπὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας τὸν παλαιστὴν γεγραμμένον εἰκόνος. Κλαυσάτωσαν δαίμονες, καὶ νῦν ταῖς τοῦ μάρτυρος ἐν ὑμῖν ἀριστείαις πληττόμενοι. Φλεγομένη πάλιν αὐτοῖς ἡ χεὶρ καὶ νικῶσα δεικνύσθω. Ἐγγραφέσθω τῷ πίνακι καὶ ὁ τῶν παλαισμάτων ἀγωνοθέτης Χριστός· ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

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About this text

A festal homily delivered on the feast day of the martyr Barlaam, celebrating his endurance under torture and his victory over fire.

Basil of Caesarea (c. 330–379) wrote this homily for the congregation assembled for the martyr's feast. He preached it on the feast day of the martyr Barlaam. He preached to celebrate Barlaam's endurance under torture and his victory over fire.

Basil contrasts the old practice of mourning the dead with the Christian joy around the deaths of the saints, since death is a passage to better life. He presents Barlaam as a rustic countryman with a speech impediment and an athlete of piety who despised tortures and looked to the eternal prizes. The climax is the contest with fire, when his right hand was stretched out over a burning altar with incense in it and remained stretched out and unconquered while the persecutors hoped the fire would bend it and drop the incense. The reader will meet Barlaam, Christ for whom he suffers and who judges the contest, and Paul cited as one untrained in speech but not in knowledge. Basil gives words to the persecutors through their reasoning and puts the words of the Prophet and Psalmist into the martyr's mouth, and he speaks directly to Barlaam.

Here martyr means a witness who suffers and dies for Christ, piety means true religion toward God and impiety its opposite, and athlete, wrestler and wrestling match describe the contest of martyrdom, with crown and prize for victory. The right hand is the focus, with fire, altar, incense and demons marking the demand to offer incense to false gods, so letting the hand bend would have meant a drink offering to the demons, while the more blessed life is that better life after death. Psalm citations follow the Septuagint numbering, with modern numbers noted where they differ. At the end Basil calls on painters to depict the contest and gives glory to Christ.

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Translated from Migne PG text (Aegean University Digital Patrology, via (Greek)
Also checked Migne PG 31, archive.org scan patrologiae_cursus_completus_gr_vol_031 (Greek machine-read text) (Greek · check (same print; machine-read text compared word by word))

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