Sermons on Job

1Today the athlete of the inhabited world has come to us. He has come to us as a stranger and a combatant of equal honor to the angels, he who is much struck by the devil and much testified to by God; he who is much beaten by the devil and much receives rewards from the watching angels; he who is much scourged by the Enemy and has been raised up by God as a great crown-bearer for the world.

For thus, conversing with himself, he was saying: 'Do you think I have dealt with you for any other reason than that you might appear righteous?' Who then is able to praise such a one worthily? Who will dare to weave rewards worthy of his manliness? Who will attempt to ascend to an infinite sea of praises? For just as no one possessing understanding would ever dare to cross the expanse of the sea with human steps, so no one of the wise and great teachers will ever attempt to relate to the listeners the praises worthy of that courage and of the triple-layered soul. For all human wisdom his achievements surpass; all crown-bearing his contests surpass.

Do we not receive an angelic tongue, so that, having touched with our fingertips, so to speak, that jar of myrrh, we might all at once fill the assembly? For only if we attempt to touch the vessel of Job and shake it a little, immediately the assembly is filled with the fragrance of the myrrh. Let us then hear the history being told concerning him: In all these things happening to him, Job did not sin with his lips against the Lord. Did you see the testimony that was rousing the praise of the angels? Did you see the testimony that was shaming the devil with his attempts? In all these things happening to him, he did not sin. This is the testimony of God...

It is a testimony before the whole church, like a precious myrrh, that brings joy to those who hear it. Oh, the precious vessel kept in one place in Arabia, its fragrance spreading through the whole inhabited world! Oh, the vessel, struck by myriads of stones, wounds, and arrows from the devil, yet not pouring out the myrrh! Great toil was exerted by the blow, so that the vessel might be crushed and the myrrh of piety might be vanished; and through the stench of the wounds, it strove to dim the fragrance of the myrrh.

For even his body escaped the pulling of the wounds; but the vessel remained being wounded, and the myrrh was not lost, so that we might also say to him with confidence: 'Name to you, having been emptied, myrrh.' It is necessary, therefore, to raise up the athlete naked, as he was before, so that seeing that wonderful image, we may be strengthened by the nature of things: that God, wishing to show the devil that He has righteous men on the earth—no longer deceived by flattery according to Adam, but crowned through myriads of torments and scourges—continued this drama to happen.

'Depart, you great-minded ones,' he says, 'who, having deceived Adam and flattered the woman, cast out man from paradise; behold, a man living divided by the commands of Scripture, and having through intellect established the unwritten law of nature. Bring forward myriads of insults, myriads of flatteries, myriads of torments, if you are able to shake this best soul.' Behold, you cast the first man out of paradise. See now, attempt, if you can, even to trip the athlete from his feet by hardship.

But, if it seems good, let us run back a little upward into this history: There was a certain man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. And that man was blameless, righteous, God-fearing, true, abstaining from every evil thing. Such was also Adam before...

2Regarding being persuaded by the woman. Because of this, that one was not persuaded by the woman, so that he would not become like him. That one, clothed in incorruptibility, as his Creator knew, and so that he might be persuaded by the woman, became naked and was judged. This one was naked and was not persuaded by the woman, and so that he might not be persuaded by the woman, he put on the crown-bearing of the angels.

That one, so that he might be persuaded by the woman, fell from the delight of paradise, and made the mother earth a place of thorns, and inherited death; this one, so that he might not be persuaded by the woman, took freedom from toil and from plagues, and inherited the kingdom of the heavens. That one, defending himself to God, was saying: 'The woman whom you gave to me, she gave to me, and I ate.' Oh, what a defense lacking in forgiveness! She said, 'Eat'; I said, 'Do not eat.' Why then did you listen to the woman and fail to listen to God? But the blessed Job was not so.

But how? After striking back, he said: 'You have spoken like one of the foolish women.' There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. Why did he name the land Uz? Because of you, so that you might learn that the fellowship of sinners is not able to make the righteous sin, but the choice of the pious must have a stable and firm opinion. For this is the land of Arabia, a dwelling place of weary and corrupted men. All were lawless, all were God-hating, all were unstable, all were proud, and descendants of Isaiah, and bearing many sins; but such a sea of impiety was not able to extinguish the shining one of piety; such a land of evils was not able to stifle the beautiful breath of endurance.

Therefore, the devil attempted to approach him. Why? Because he saw him becoming rich through alms rather than through money. Listen to him saying truthfully: 'I was an eye to the blind, and a leg to the lame'; and again, 'I wept for the helpless, and sighed seeing a man in necessity.' And not only through words, but also through works he was exceedingly rich, a whole treasure of goodness being found for those in need. For what does he say elsewhere? 'I did not go out from my house begging with an empty womb; the mouth of the widow blessed me; and from the fleece of my sheep my shoulders were warmed.'

Thus it is clear that a complete treasure flows through all things: through words, through works, through alms, through the protection of the penitent, and through the assistance of those who pray. But observe what the devil does: he first snatches away all that previously belonged to him, and lastly he takes the children. He took first the herds of camels, he took the flocks of sheep, the great number of donkeys, and the largest herd of oxen; he removed everything, and lastly the children.

Why? Pay attention then with all precision: first he took all his possessions, then the children; he took the hereditary things, and then he destroyed the heirs, so that he might strike him in every way, even through the children. First he began to make existence vanish; first he began to snatch the hereditary things while the heirs were still living, so that while the sons and daughters were standing, he might take advantage of the loss of the properties to strike the righteous man with despondency. For the evil demon aims lest, with the children having been lost beforehand, he should even come to the realization of the loss of the properties.

But the truly unyielding and brave athlete—he who is much struck and yet is crowned through all things, he who receives many arrows and through those very arrows pierces the devil, he who, being armed on both right and left with the weapons of righteousness, does not grow weary, does not weep, and is not shaken—he neither was bent by the loss of the properties, nor did he allow the death of the children to plunder his piety. Instead, he remained like an unshakeable tower, being uprooted from below upon the earth and yet being established, and secured even unto the heavenly heights.

A first angel came and says to Job: The pairs of oxen were plowing, and the raiders came and plundered them, and they killed the servants with swords. While this one was speaking, another angel came and says to Job: Fire fell from heaven and burned up your sheep, and the shepherds were likewise consumed. Look what the devil does. For because he saw him standing bravely in the first and second plague, and not at all shaken from his tribulations, fighting and not flinching, he devises some device...

3To do such a thing: fire is cast from the air, so that it might seem that fire is being sent from heaven, and so that he, thinking that God is fighting him from the heavens, might blaspheme God, fighting Him unjustly through such a division. He says, 'Fire fell from heaven and consumed your sheep and your shepherds.' While he was still speaking this, another angel came and said to Job: 'The horsemen made three heads for us, and they surrounded the camels and captured them, and they killed the boys with swords.'

But even in all these things the blessed Job remained, like an unshakable pillar, like an unmoving tower, like an undefeated combatant, unbending and unyielding, rather attacking than being attacked. For when someone is weary from being lowly, fighting much and benefiting nothing, fighting much and not at all prevailing, he himself is rather the one receiving the lashes for his vain labors. While he was still speaking this, another angel came.

The war is continuous, but in vain for the one suffering; the arrows are more frequent, but the rewards are more splendid. He does not allow him even to breathe for a moment, so that he might not reason something wise according to the innate piety of the wrestling match. He sent all the arrows, and he did not defeat the athlete; he emptied his quiver, but he was not emptied of his endurance. Let the lawless be shamed for nothing.

Since then he himself turned away humbled and crushed, having wrestled much and having been defeated through all things. For he sent strikes against the shepherds, against the herdsmen, against the sheep, against the camels, against the sons, against the daughters, against the household, against the body, through friends, through servants, through worms, through wounds, through sores. He emptied everything, and did not break his piety. He breached the wall, but did not empty the treasure.

Whatever swords the tyrant of the inhabited world moved, through fire, through swords, through earth, through captivity, through blood; he pierced everything, and made the athlete rather more courageous. For this reason also the prophet cried out saying: 'The swords of the Enemy have run out to an end.' Perhaps also he says to him: 'It is hard for you to strike against thorns.' He took all the money, the possessions...

And who is this last messenger? 'While your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking in the house of their elder brother, suddenly a spirit came from the desert, and it struck the four corners of the house, and the house fell upon your children, and they died.' And so that you may know, beloved, that it was not a man who was discussing these things to Job, but the devil himself, disguised in the form of a man; learn this with all precision: 'While your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking at the side of their elder brother, suddenly a spirit came from the desert, and it struck the four corners of the house, and the house fell upon your children, and they died.'

How do you know, tell me, that it came from the desert and struck the four corners of the house? You are a man, and how did you see the spirit? With what eyes did you behold it? And how did the spirit strike the four corners of the house? If you are a man, and you were inside the house, then surely the house also encompassed you; but if you were outside, how were you seeing the things happening within? If you are a spirit, show who you are; do not disguise yourself in the form of a man.

He says: 'Of your sons and your daughters eating and drinking at the side of their elder brother.' See how the blessed Job was filled with all understanding and wisdom, and how he was securing the friendship of the children. For he reasoned that since Cain and Abel were two brothers, being the only ones in the inhabited world, they had no occasion for war; for all the earth lay commonly under the authority of both. And thus, envying the honor of Abel, Cain rose up and murdered his brother.

Because of this, the blessed Job offered sacrifices to God concerning the unknown every day, countering the first impulse, and saying: 'May my children never conceive evil in their hearts toward God.' And concerning the things happening to them, whether in word or in contention, he made them eat with one another every day, remembering that even if they should have some pettiness toward one another, the table and the arrangement of the bread make them be transformed into friendship, and cast out the malice that was approaching, knowing that through the...

4The table of continuous life is released to them by the hardships that fall upon them. But the slanderous devil, in such a time, sought to destroy the children who had committed no sin. In the hour of midday, when all were united and joining together for peace, he sent the unmerciful war against them. They were practicing friendship, but he wielded a sword; they were building up love, but he was destroying the house. At that very hour, the house became a tomb, the table a vessel of calamity, the shipwreck a pastoral fold, and everything became full of beasts.

What then is that brave man? He was not broken, and he did not fall. How shall I praise him? What word will be sufficient? What toil will be enough for such a narrative? O brave and blessed soul! O, you who do not possess an excess of great endurance! Truly, beloved, my soul is poured out and my conscience is disturbed, even as I see Job being crowned. But I am more poured out in soul now, seeing the crowned one, whereas he then saw the calamity of the children before his eyes. I am poured out in soul, and I think you are likewise divided.

How then shall I speak this great tragedy, even while bearing the diadem of encomiums upon my tongue? Parents according to the flesh, when they have a son following them with his last breaths, sit around; they listen to his last words, they clasp his hands, they arrange instructions concerning the deceased, they kiss the mouth, the last affections of the fathers. Then the boy has given up the soul, as the one who gave command instructed; the parents shape the body, stretch out the hands, close the eyes, straighten the head, stretch out the feet, wash him, clothe him in worthy burial garments, and console themselves regarding their own calamity.

But what is this compared to this brave athlete? He departed into the house which was at once the same and one, and at the same hour a house and a tomb, a banquet and a grave, a feast and mourning becoming. He searched and sought the limbs of the children, and found wine and blood, bread and a hand, an eye and dust. At times he took a hand, at times a foot, and at other times he lifted up a head along with the earth, and the stones, and the timbers; and at times a part of the belly, and at other times of the...

The internal organs were being scattered along with the flesh. That sky-reaching combatant sat, looking upon the limbs of the children, which were torn apart. He sat having joined limb to limb, hand to arm, head to chest, and knees to thighs. For the calamity was not merely one of the occurrences, but a destruction surpassing all reason, arising from diabolical activity and tyranny. Thus Job sat, the truly patient and unyielding, the blessed one, distinguishing the limbs of his children, lest he should mix the limbs of the females with the males, or the male form should be joined to the female limbs. O brave soul, surpassing even the praise of the angels! Why? Because in all these things happening to him, Job committed no sin against the Lord; rather, instead of all these, he offered a complete thanksgiving to God instead of a sacrifice, saying: 'Blessed be the name of the Lord, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.'

To the righteous and blessed Job, Discourse 4. 1. Great matters require great narrations, and the brilliant histories of the righteous require a brilliant tongue and intellect; the intellect sincerely contemplating the divine Scriptures, and the tongue boldly interpreting the divine. I speak especially regarding the present subject, that is, of those who labored for the blessed Job, which things, passing through all that walks under heaven, turn away the reason of his endurance. Moreover, even if the argument of the subject conquers our weakness, I know well that the grace of God provides the argument, not because of the worth of the speaker, but because of the embassy of the Fathers.

But let us come to the narration: There was a certain man in the land of Ausitis. It is necessary first to observe what power the preface possesses, and for whose sake the historian has fashioned the preface, 'There was a certain man.' Since he was about to narrate a virtuous life, greatly surpassing our own condition, he had to show the nature in advance so that no one, looking upon the excess of the struggles, might think it to be a foreign nature and not a human one. Thus, you might marvel at the intention: that being a man, he lived more excellently than a man, having shared a common nature with all,

5He has brought the soul up higher than the world. There was a certain man in the land of Ausitis. He preaches him from his nature, and he preaches him from the land, so that just as having heard of him as a man, you marvel that he lived as one above a man, so if you learn also about the land from which so much fruit blossomed, you will truly marvel at what kind of rose has grown in the midst of thorns. Pay attention precisely.

The land, therefore, of the Ausitis, was the land of Esau; for the Ausitis was from Esau. And he names the land of the profane and evil Esau, as the Apostle says: 'Is there not a harlot or a profane man, like Esau?'—so that you may marvel from what educations of wickedness such a fruit of truth has blossomed. But not only did the land of Esau bring him forth, but also the root of Esau was himself; for he was a descendant of the slanderer. For the Scripture says that Job was the fifth from Abraham. And how fifth, listen: Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Esau, Esau begat Raguel, Raguel begat Zarrah, Zarrah begat Job. He therefore had the succession coming down from Abraham through Esau to him. Thus he shows the root, so that you may marvel at the fruit.

And who was Esau? A harlot and a profane man. And who was Job? The one from the harlot, this same venerable and marvelous man, the one now set before us for narration, the one saying: 'If my eye had followed a woman not mine own, would my wife be pleased with another man?' Esau had much mixture of women, being insatiable toward debauchery; but Job had the law of life in his manner, and he abstained so much that he did not seek out the beauty of strangers; and from fornication and adultery he abstained so much that he did not even attend to the women not yet betrothed, that is, the unremembered virgins; for it is necessary to use a more explicit expression. He abstained so much from attacking foreign marriages that even toward the unremembered virgin, for whom there was no danger, he did not incline his eye before...

Regarding unchastity. And who is witnessing these things? Job himself. He says, 'A covenant was distributed to my eyes, and I did not understand it in my youth.' See to what extent the things of piety reached him through discipline. He trains the eye toward piety, and he trains the limbs toward righteousness; and though bearing the succession from fornication, he shone out with the greatest self-control.

Esau was a brother-slayer in intention; for even if the deed did not come to pass, the intention is accused. For it is said that Esau said in his heart, 'Let the days of my father's mourning approach, and I will rise up against Jacob my brother.' The root, therefore, is brother-slaying; but he who blossomed from the root is the champion of righteousness. That one waged war by nature and regarded his brother as a stranger; but this one regarded strangers as brothers, saying, 'I became to the orphans as a father, and instead of a husband to their mother. A justice which I did not know, I searched out, and I stopped the unrighteous.' And he who carries the succession from Esau appropriates all foreign things, by setting foreign things as his own.

Esau reckoned in his mind to kill Jacob; but Job offered sacrifices for his sons, thinking, 'Lest they have sinned in thought.' Because that one had planned murder in thought, this great and brave athlete, fearing that these too might receive the venom of sin in thought, offered a sacrifice and one calf for sins. For Job said, 'Perhaps my sons have thought evil toward God?' Consider the precision to which the discipline of character reached him. And what does he do? Since Esau and Jacob, the ancestors, were at war with one another—not because Jacob agreed to evil, but because Esau began toward evil—he dissolves the disagreement of the ancestors by the table. He makes his sons feast with one another every day, so that the habitual table might dissolve the venom of evil.

6The children of Job loved one another, being trained in concord from their youth, practicing peace and being educated in harmony, eating and drinking together. He says that they also took the three sisters to eat and drink with them. What is the benefit of this to the listener? And why did he add the sisters to the fellowship? It was so that it might be shown to what extent temperance governed their banquet, and that it was not a riotous and spilled laughter, nor an intemperance insulting the table; for this reason he introduces the well-mannered virgins, to show that the occasion of the banquet was not being insulted by drunkenness, but was being crowned by harmony.

There was a certain man in the land of Ausiti: a dove among hawks, a sheep among wolves, a star among the clouds, a cypress among thorns, the plant of righteousness in the village of unrighteousness. And that man was blameless.

Pay close attention. Those from the outside set the definition: 'What is man?' 'Man is,' he says, 'a rational, mortal animal.' Such are the definitions the philosophers desire; but the Scripture does not give such definitions, but rather what? A blameless, righteous, true man. If anyone asks you and demands a definition, 'What is man?' say to him, 'Blameless, righteous, true, abstaining from every evil thing'; for as one has not been testified to regarding such accomplishments, no man exists. For if he possesses the character of nature, but insults it with the wickedness of his will, he hears from the prophet: 'Being a man in honor, he did not understand; he was cast down with the mindless cattle, and was made like them.' And that man was blameless.

The praise is not small. Test the word so that you may marvel at the intention. An accusation is one thing, and a reproach is another; for an accusation is brought against the heaviest of sins, but a reproach occurs regarding the lightest of faults. Therefore the writer wished to show that the righteous man was not only far from accusations, but also from reproaches. No one called him out as one who had done great things, just as no one reproached him as one who had done small things. This is a great proof: that he, whose life was in the middle, was beyond reproach. For if you do not have an accusation to bring concerning adultery or murder, such a man is beyond reproach; but with a reproach, you bring insult, slander, or invective.

Such a person is outside of blame, yet he flees from reproach as if from a drunken stupor. He wished to show that he was far from even the smallest of stings, saying: He was blameless, righteous, truthful, and God-fearing, abstaining from every evil thing. Therefore, God, intending to show Abraham that the first thing in virtue is the blameless, says to him: You are well-pleasing before me, and become blameless. The term 'blameless' is understood as an extremity of manner.

But the apostle Paul, since he had among the Gentiles those drawn away from polytheism, those gathered from wickedness, and those gathered from fornication and adultery, did not add the extremity of virtue. Rather, as he came into the inhabited world filled with fornication and adultery, he wished also to establish shepherds for the world, since at that time the beautiful things of virtue were scarce, appointing bishops, saying to Titus: Appoint bishops, as I commanded you, if anyone is faultless. 'Blameless' had no place then, since, as I said, the peak of piety was scarce. Blamelessness is great, but faultlessness is the middle; and blamelessness is great among evils, while the good is small.

For this reason he said: A man of one woman. Not because this is now observed in the Church—for the priest must be crowned with perfect purity and holiness—but because then, in regard to those in fornication, the matter was great, he says: Appoint bishops, as I commanded you, if anyone is faultless, a man of one woman; not because he laid down this law, but because he recognized the plan. For he knew that when the word of piety is blooming, nature itself will possess the good as a pleasant thing, and the selection will be of the better ones.

Blameless, righteous. Therefore, it is not possible to become righteous without having first become blameless. Truthful. What does the truthful man intend? He who does not shape his appearance differently from his actual state, who does not shape himself in temperance while being clothed in intemperance, who does not show justice in outward form while bearing injustice in the heart. This man is truthful, and immediately God-fearing. For when there is blamelessness, when there is righteousness, and when there is truth, then true God-fearingness is composed. Abstaining from every evil thing. Since many abstain from many sins, but they do not abstain from all...

7He says that he intends to set forth the peak of virtue: abstaining from every evil thing. Therefore David also says: those who love the Lord, hate evils. For it is not possible to be both God-fearing and to do evil.

And he sets forth his very existence, because he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred nomad donkeys. Why does he set these forth? Not so that you may marvel at Job's wealth, but showing you, the listener, the fullness of his being that, when you see him after this having been stripped of his possessions and not complaining, you may marvel that, being deprived of so many good things, he does not reject the benefactor, nor insult the Creator. These things, therefore, were written, not so that you may marvel at wealth, but so that you may praise the endurance and the patience of the righteous, and always have the fear of God before your eyes. But the sequence of the argument will be stored up for another time.

For the devil, brothers, since he saw him prospering with this temporary wealth, and by this temporary wealth storing up eternal wealth, reasoned that just as righteousness was entwined with him while he was prospering, so also poverty and virtue will be entwined with him while he is impoverishing. Therefore he tries to strip him of material things, so that he may strip him of his advantages.

Here, then, let those who say precisely: 'Was not Job rich? Was not Abraham rich? Why then do you propose poverty to us?' pay attention. I will say also to you: become rich according to Job, and I pray that you may acquire more; become according to Abraham, and all the earth will be joined to you for wealth. Say also you, as Job: 'My door is opened to everyone afflicted'; say, 'I warmed the shoulders of the poor'; say, 'From the fleece of my sheep the shoulders of the poor were warmed'; say, 'And the mouth of the widow blessed me'; and get rich with the wealth that you desire. For wealth will be found not for yourself, but for the poor, being managed. For my door, he says, is opened to everyone afflicted.

Imitate the extremity of this love of the poor; clothe yourself with the zeal of endurance; be manly against the adversaries; think of equal things. But these things are only to this extent. May it happen to us, having zeal and endurance at home, to have also the sequence of the lacking...

He remains, demanding from us those things which are lacking, and making us follow the sequence of the contemplations. May it happen to us through knowledge to fulfill the feast, and having shared in the sufferings of the saints, to share also in the passion of Christ. For truly, brothers, the sufferings of the saints preceded the passion of Christ justly. For the sufferings of the righteous preceded like lightning bolts, so that after these things Christ might appear, as Paul says, the one suffering with all and being glorified with all.

Therefore, having followed the prayers and supplications of the holy Fathers, and having followed what has been spoken, and having expected the things that are lacking, let us send up glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. To the righteous and blessed Job, Word 3. 1. Bring it forth, so that we might also grasp the premise, and you the listening; and let us all become acquainted with the evening sequence of Job, and with faith let us present ourselves to the word of endurance.

For it is incongruous that Job, sitting upon misery, should not grow numb toward piety, while we, dancing in the church, should be hesitant toward the truth; and that he, being surrounded by myriad wailings of his own misfortune, should not have his soul overthrown, while we, wandering through hymns and spiritual songs and divine Scriptures, should surrender our readiness with laziness. Job, the body being eaten away by worms, preserved the soul unharmed toward piety; worms did not overcome him, so shall those who have strengthened us overcome us? Let us also become men, men according to the measure that is pre-allotted.

For the man is characterized by the blameless, the righteous, the true, and the God-fearing. And just as by common custom, when someone sends his own servant or son on some deed, he is encouraged, saying: 'As a man, grasp this deed,' and he makes the common name his own wonder; even if all are called men, only he is a true man, the one preserving the image and not making the prototype beauty vanish. He called him a man, so that from the common nature you might praise the intention. He called him from the land of Ausitis, so that from the land of the unclear you might praise the fruit of impiety. His possessions said to him, so that...

8You will marvel at the advantages. He spoke to him of wealth, not so that you would praise the property, but so that you would marvel at it being stripped away. For he was stripped of all things, but he was not stripped of piety; rather, he was like a city under siege, stripped of all external things, but guarded only by the wall.

He was stripped of children, and he did not lose the fruits of piety. For he had children who were the ways of piety; he had daughters who were the virtues. Three daughters to him according to the flesh, and three virtues to him according to the spirit, just as Paul says: but these three remain, faith, hope, love; and greater than these is love.

He was stripped of all, and he did not deny the creator of nature; for he knew that children are a consolation of succession, but God is the farmer of the root. He did not find it hard seeing the fruits being cast off; for he knew that the farmer of the root remains for the age.

He was stripped of the sheep, and he himself was a sheep guarded by God; he was stripped of the oxen, and while the pairs of oxen were taken away, the yoke of the soul and the body was not cut, but the flesh and the soul, having harmonized together toward piety, drew the plow. And he received the fruits of virtue in a manner of endurance, so that he might increase the fruits of endurance.

Thus there were three thousand camels to him, and five hundred nomadic donkeys. I think that what was taken was small, compared to what was taken. For if to each poor person one provides, as he himself says, 'I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame,' the existence would have been small compared to the purpose; the provision of hospitality was greater than the property of the entrance.

Job was poor, not sufficient in his inclination; and he was indeed rich in possession, but poor in the power of choice. And he had, he says, also great works upon the earth. And what are these? Love of the poor and hospitality, extreme humility, immeasurable almsgiving, and whatever contributes to virtue.

But he who is thus adorned is not so by the temporary wealth, but by the wealth of piety. Another wise man, taking the word generally, thinks that great works are vineyards and olive groves and fertile fields, and such things. But truly there were great works to him upon the earth, adorning him with the heavenly wealth. And the devil...

As I said previously, the all-deceiving one surmised that just as virtue was entwined with him while he was rich, so it would be entwined with Job while he was impoverished; he seeks to strip him of his possessions so that he might also strip him of the advantages of virtue. He asks of God for a trial against the righteous so that you may gain courage, knowing that no demon has authority against a Christian, nor against a man who fears God, unless permission comes from above, either for the sake of discipline or for the sake of forgiveness. For God, when He leads toward training, either demands a reckoning for sins or exercises virtue through divine decrees.

Therefore the devil was not able to fight Job until he was permitted by God. And do not marvel, beloved, if he did not have authority against Job without having received permission. For he does not even have authority over swine. Listen how the Legion pleaded, saying: 'If you cast us out, permit us to go into the swine.' If he has no authority over swine without being permitted, how can he have authority against those who have become in the image of God without being commanded? It happened, he says, as on this day, when the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil stood among them.

Does the devil then stand with the angelic liturgy, and does the unclean spirit stand among the holy spirits? But neither the holy angels stood before God bodily, nor Satan bodily; rather, every ministry is called a 'standing.' Just as Elijah, living upon the earth, was said to stand before God, as it is said: 'As the Lord lives, before whom I stand today'—not that he stood having ascended into the heavens, but that he served by divine command; so also the devil stood, not in the heavenly region, nor in the super-cosmic powers, but as a creature of God commanded to do his duty. Listen, so that you do not snatch my word and say, 'Has God used a devil as a servant?' Just as among human authorities there are visible soldiers who serve in honors, and there are acknowledged soldiers set apart for punishments, so also here, for the good ministries and the administrations concerning men, angels...

9Holy ones are sent; and toward the punishments of lawless men, demons are sent. Listen: When Paul remembers the holy angels, he says, 'Are not all they liturgical spirits, sent for service for those about to inherit salvation?' It is therefore clear that the holy angels serve the salvations of men, while the bitter demons serve the punishments of sinners. For David says that he sent a wrath, an anger, and a tribulation into Egypt, a sending through evil angels.

Thus the wicked and unclean demons, even if they have been dismissed from their own purpose, lie under the yoke of slavery, and are commanded as slaves to perform what is commanded. And do not marvel if God commands demons. The apostles have used the devil as a slave. Paul says, 'Because some strayed concerning the faith, I delivered these to Satan, so that they might be disciplined not to blaspheme.' And again concerning one who had committed fornication and owed a penalty, what does the same Paul say? 'Having gathered your spirit and mine, with the power of the Lord Jesus, I judged him who did this thing, to deliver this one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.'

In order that the demons may not think that they have reigned always according to divine authority, they are commanded even while disobeying to do what is commanded—not things contributing to uprightness, but things bringing punishment. Did you not see also the rulers among us, when they invite someone with honor, how they send runners called Roman messengers; but when they drag some with dishonor, they send out others, unbridled and harsh soldiers? So also God sends ministerial angels to the holy ones for salvation; but when He wishes to punish, He permits it to the demons. Because of this, when it was decided against Ahab...

God says, 'Who will go and deceive Ahab, and fall?' And an evil spirit answered, 'Here I am.' For it is known that the devil has been appointed for this purpose. Therefore, these demons—and forgive me, for I am discussing invisible and imperceptible matters; indeed, I would not have attempted to speak of such things from the beginning unless I were taking my starting points from the Holy Scripture, for it is not within human intellect to separate the invisible from the sensible, but since it is impossible to contradict what God has said, we follow what is written, whether we wish to or not—therefore, the most wicked demons are sent privately to exact punishment from the wicked, but they are also sent toward the righteous, not to punish them, but to tempt them.

Since a holy angel is not commanded to serve in temptation (for God does not command anything unworthy of an angel), demons are permitted this temptation. And do not marvel if demons are sent toward the righteous; for the Master of all things was once led from the Jordan into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. If the devil tempted the Lord and Savior of all things, why should you marvel if a demon is sent toward a righteous man for the gymnasium of endurance? It is sent, not by God commanding it, but by Him permitting it.

The Scripture fashions the word as if in personification. For a voice from God does not move toward an evil demon, nor is it worthy of that transgressive intent. For His nature is good, but the intent is evil; thus, it is not worthy of the unblemished voice. If, however, you say, 'The Lord said to the devil; I will tell you from David,' or 'To the sinner God said, Why do you recount my rights?'—did He then utter a voice toward the sinner? No; but through the things through which He speaks, He speaks toward the unworthy via those very things. God commanded the sea monsters. Did He send a voice, or a command...

10Why be agitated? God commanded the worm in the morning. If the discourse is shaped in this way, such that God spoke to the devil, do not bring forth this worthless one from a position of equality, as if he had a purpose before the Lord. The appointed order; yet the devil came and stood in the midst of the angels, so that you might learn that while he took an angelic nature, he demonstrated a treacherous purpose.

For devil, brothers, is not a name of nature, but of choice. Why devil? For he did not become a devil from the beginning, but an angel was created; but he was named devil as one who slanders God toward men and man toward God, and as one who sets up the Lord against the servant and the servant against the Lord. For when the devil brings accusations against us, saying, 'How many evils are in the world? Where is God? Why does he not protect?' he slanders the Creator toward us; for this has been the work of the devil from the beginning.

He slanders God toward Adam, saying, 'God said that on whatever day you eat from the tree, you will be like gods.' He says that God hindered you from eating. There he slanders God toward Adam; here he slanders Job toward God: 'Does Job serve God for nothing?' That is, he is a hireling, not virtuous; he performs a wage for his prosperity; take away the money, and his purpose is stripped bare. Since God saw the righteous being insulted by that suspicion, he removes the possessions so that he might remove the suspicion and show piety naked.

And see the purpose of the evil demon. The Lord said to the devil, 'Whence have you come?' Then the proud and arrogant one, knowing neither his own rank nor the value of the one asking, says, 'Having gone around the earth and walked under the heaven, I am here.' He cries out once, desiring to show that he holds what is under heaven, that all the earth has been handed to him, and that he has all men under his feet. 'Having gone around the earth and walked under the heaven, I am here,' he said. The arrogance of the devil is cut away. For since he thought he held the image of God, he is cast out from the earth so as to no longer walk, and the Lord of all banishes him. For he is the one who promised, 'I will dwell in them, and walk...'

I will be their God. The devil wandered about. When idolatry was poured out, when impiety prevailed, and when all the things of evil reached their peak, the devil wandered about; but when holiness, righteousness, and truth are among those guarding the truth, God dwells and wanders about.

Pay attention, therefore, to your mind, he says, concerning my servant Job, whether there is no one on the earth, like him, who is blameless, righteous, true, and holding himself back from every evil? Since he said that they have gone all around under heaven, and he was boasting as if ruling all things, the word of truth parries his arrogance by saying to him: 'Did you see the man under you who has not wandered, since you rule all things, as you said? Did you see the one who has overcome all your evil? Did you see the one who struck you, the one who strikes all? Did you see the one who released your tyranny, and released injustice by righteousness, and impiety by piety?'

But he resists God and says: 'He serves you not for nothing.' Possessions were added so that he might insult his manner, so that he might insult his character, and so that he might show the illegitimacy of virtue through suspicions. You have given him, he says, abundance; take away the abundance, and the hypocrisy is stripped bare. God says to him: 'Touch all that he has.' For God knows that he has an insatiable intention toward greed; and he says: 'Behold, I give you authority over all things, but of him only do not touch.'

He limits the evil of the devil with boundaries. See then how he aims a bow against the righteous, and how he sends arrows. He went out, and first the worker of evils himself is shaped, presenting himself as an angel of evils; he himself struck the livestock, and he himself announces the plague. For the devil said to Job, he says: 'The pairs of your oxen were stolen, and the females were eaten by donkeys, and the captors came, and they slaughtered your children, and I was left alone, and I came to announce it to you.'

This is the first trial of the devil, the first arrow against the brave combatant. But Job resisted with the door of faith, which is able to quench all the fiery arrows of the evil one. The pairs of oxen were lost, and the soul was not divided. The donkeys were lost, and the noble colt the bridle of piety did not...

11He refused. He saw a bitter message of the destruction of his possessions, and he remained like a secure and unconquerable tower. The devil, being bitter in his malice and bitter in his choice, regretted thus having announced it. And pay attention, I urge you, so that the thought of the Evil One does not slip from your mind, which the Apostle also says, having observed it closely: For we do not ignore his thoughts.

As he had announced to him, that the pairs of oxen were plowing, and the females of the donkeys were in heat, and the captors had come, he saw Job bearing the message with a brave soul; he regretted that he had announced badly, and the devil said only to himself: I have announced badly, having said to him that men had fought against him. It is possible to reason that if men had fought against him and wronged him, what is that against God? He says, I have shot badly, I did not aim at the mark, the aim failed, the arrows went astray. I said that men had captured; this one is able to say: Why then shall I write the injustice of men upon God? Others are the wrongdoers, and another will be the blasphemer.

In order that he might transfer his mind from men to God, and show him that it is not men who are harming, but God fighting, he says to him, 'Fire fell from heaven.'n.'n.'. You cannot say that enemies threw it from above; that would insult the wrongdoer and blaspheme the fighter. Fire fell from heaven. Why do you worship the wrongdoer, why do you prostrate yourself to the one destroying your possessions? Fire fell from heaven. Job heard, and again brought forth bravely. For his endurance was truly endurance, extended until the end, concerning which the Savior says: But the one who endures until the end, this one will be saved.

Fire fell from heaven. Day by day I labored offering sacrifices for the children; what he, laboring day by day, offered, God received into sacrifice without delay. Fire fell from heaven. If I alone was clothed, I was justly grieved; but if the poor were clothed, is the Master not able to neglect the poor? I know that what he received into sacrifice, He returns fivefold. For were the possessions gathered from injustice? For did I not acquire the sheep from greed? From the fleece of my sheep, the shoulders of the poor were warmed, and the mouth of the widow was blessed.

Let him afflict me. I know what God is doing. Now, let Him take my existence as a sacrifice, for He multiplies my essence into an abundance of virtue. The external arrows do not shake me, because I am being strengthened by the internal ones; rather, the arrows of God strengthen me more from within. For the arrows of the Mighty are being struck, concerning which David said, 'Your arrows have fallen upon me.' The arrows—what kind? The arrow of piety, the arrow of righteousness, the arrow of longing toward God, the arrow of zeal for virtue; with these divine arrows the soul is pierced.

Thus, having brought upon him every trial and having stripped him of his possessions, but not having stripped him of virtue, the devil now moves against his very nature. He violates the cultivation of nature, tearing the branches from the root and crushing the children of the good combatant; he removes the fruit in order to grieve the one who begot him. And what is he doing? Look also at the message of the Evil One, how it is full of irony and overflowing with deception, capable of shattering the soul of the brave man. He says to him, 'Regarding your sons and your daughters who were eating and drinking in the house of your elder son, a great spirit came from the wilderness, and it shook the house, and it fell upon your little ones, and they died.' This word is ironic, capable of inciting grief. He did not say, 'Upon your children,' but 'Upon the little ones,' so that, having heard of the little ones, he might enter into mourning and bend in sympathy. 'A great spirit came from the wilderness.' Again, he slanders the Judge, for a spirit does not obey men, but God. 'It fell upon your little ones, and they died.'

Then Job arose; for thus it has been written. It is a good thing that he arose; for he did not fall by the plague, but arose by the power of piety; he arose and he worshiped. Worship is a reward for afflictions. Being struck, he blesses; being cast into misfortunes, he gives thanks. And he shaved his head. Now, many among us who are mourning grow their hair, but he shaved his. Why? To turn the condition of the one who is striving into the opposite form for the sake of the one who mourns. Wherever hair is honored, the refusal to shave is a sign of mourning. For everywhere an opposite form is sought from those who mourn. And he tore his garments; being drawn toward the passion by the outward appearance, but by the reality...

12Stripping oneself for the sake of virtue. One strips off the garment so that, like a naked athlete, he may grapple with the opponent and, through an unutterable struggle, be awarded the prize of righteousness. He who was clothed in righteousness stripped the garment; and the great singer of piety says: 'The Lord gave, the Lord took away; as it pleased the Lord, so it happened; blessed be the name of the Lord forever.' O generous soul! This voice became an arrow against the devil; he sent this voice out as arrows against the demons, shattering the phalanx of the adversaries. 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall depart.' This voice is apostolic, even before the apostolic ages: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall depart,' just as the Apostle says: 'We have brought nothing into the world'; it is clear that we are unable to bring anything out. The Lord gave, the Lord took away.

He was taken from all things, so that I may cut short the discourse, and the woman alone remained, the ancient instrument of the devil. The woman remained, not because the devil spared her, but because he kept her as a weapon for himself. For since he knew that through a woman he had brought the first man to trial, he guards the woman so that he may use a similar weapon for the attack. But there he found Adam, whereas here he does not find Adam. There he found Adam and Eve; but here he found Eve and does not find Adam. The woman says to him: 'How long will you endure?' These are truly the words of the devil. For the phrase 'How long' was the voice of one being tortured. I am being tortured, and you say, 'How long?' I am being struck, and you are indifferent to the wounds of the one being tortured? How long will you sit waiting day after day for salvation?

The devil willfully does not praise the virtue of the righteous man, but proclaims his endurance, because he was struggling in hope. 'How long?' Then see the wisdom of the writer. And having looked at her, he says, 'Job said.' He did not say, approaching her, but, having looked at her. Having looked, why? For did he not know his own wife? Did he not converse with her? Did he not beget children from her? Why then did he look? The 'looking' shows that he does not see her, but the one in her. Job looked at the devil; he saw the one speaking in the serpent, and now speaking in the woman. And he says: 'As one of the...

You spoke as a fool. Why did He not say, 'Like one of the impious,' or 'Like one of the atheists'? Perhaps He did not consider her an atheist, but rather one seized by folly. Otherwise, brothers, the designation of a fool is given primarily to the one denying God; for he says in his heart, 'There is no God.' To speak as one of the fools is like saying, 'As Eve spoke: If we received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not also receive evils?' O generous soul! Test his soul right there.

Job did not know that he was struggling for virtue; he did not know that he is crowned for endurance; but he simply thought the calamity was a divine act. He thought evils were coming, and thinking they were evils, he did not blaspheme as one would against evils. If, thinking they were evils, he struggled thus, would he not have struggled much more if he had known the crown? But why did God not say to him beforehand, 'See what you are doing; the devil is about to array himself against you, he is about to arm himself against you; struggle, be strong, so that he may not turn away your mind, so that he may not seize your thoughts, so that he may not besiege your soul; be strong, and do not think it easy for God to command the athlete to the wrestling match.'

For the Lord says to Peter, 'Peter, behold, Satan has demanded you, to sift you like wheat.' To the apostles, He announces the trials; but to Job, He does not announce the trials, nor the contest. Is this not injustice on the part of God? May it never be. He encourages some and abandons others. Why does He not say to him as He does to the apostles? Perhaps God knew the devil's malice, knew the envy, and knew the suspicion capable of blunting virtue.

If God had said to him, 'Watch yourself and struggle; if you endure to the end, I will give you twice what you have, you will inherit the kingdom of heaven, you will receive crowns of immortality, and the whole world will be full of praises of your body and your commendations'; if He had said these things, the righteous man would indeed have struggled, but the devil would have again found an opportunity; and if, having struggled, he had conquered thus, he would say to God, 'Did I not struggle for nothing? Promise me immortality, promise me a kingdom, promise me crowns.' Therefore, if having received the enjoyment of the temporal things, he was thought not to be righteous but merely a hireling; if he received the promise of the eternal things...

13Did the devil not take an opportunity rather? Instead, he hides the crowns so that he may strip the athletes; he hides the prize so that he may show the athlete. For what reason, he asks, did he not also hide it from the apostles? For if it were for this reason he did not speak to Job, why did he not remain silent about the contest also regarding the apostles in the same manner? Job struggled alone; he suffered for himself, and he struggled for himself. But the apostles were preachers of the earth and teachers of the inhabited world. For them, indeed, it was not possible to hide it, but for the world the matter became a loss.

Paul was able to struggle without the promise of crowns; Peter was able to show manliness without the promise; the apostles were able to struggle for the sake of virtue without receiving the promise of good things. But Paul is not everywhere, nor is Peter everywhere; for many souls are weak, and many minds are faltering. For if today, while the kingdom is being preached, the coming enjoyment of good things, the angelic fellowship, and the luxury that is in paradise, are being proclaimed, many despise the promised things because they have been attached to present things; if it were indeed silenced, who would run to piety?

It is fitting, then, brothers, that for Job he does not show the things to come, so that he may show the intention to be more stable; but to the apostles the things to come are promised, so that he may rouse the souls of the hearers and strengthen the mind of the inhabited world. Many now hear about the kingdom and despise it; many receive Christ and put on wickedness; many do not withdraw from evil. Many honor fasts today and say: Today I say nothing to my adversary; let the day of the passion of Christ pass by, and I will exercise the judgment, I will avenge the insult, and I will do many things.

Are you not a brother of Esau, remembering these things? You say the same things that Esau said. For Esau also desired to kill his brother, but he loved his father. And what did he say? Let the days of my father's mourning draw near, and then I will kill...

Save my brother; let the death of my father pass, and then I will lift myself up. And what do you say? Let the passion of Christ pass, and then I will fight against my enemy. See lest you be a brother of Esau. Listen to what Paul says: let no one be a fornicator or profane like Esau, so that many are not defiled through him. These things are said to me, not for provocation, but for the understanding of the brothers and for salvation. And may it happen to us, being instructed by the word and being led by histories, standing firm in the contests of the holy Fathers and prophets, to always send back glory to God, now and forever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Concerning the righteous and blessed Job, the Word. 4. Everywhere and upon all things, so to speak, the words of the divine narratives are inferior to the realities, and the expressions of the hypotheses are weaker; but this is absolutely true regarding those things established in the blessed Job. No one is ever able to present the word of the hypothesis alongside the word of its own excellence. For even if ten thousand things are said about it, the word of the power according to its worth is left behind. Since therefore the things according to power have been said to us in moderation, nothing prevents even today from grasping the same narratives. And let no one suppose that the hypothesis is insulted if we truncate the narrative. For Job does not ache when being cut; for if being cut in the body he did not ache, will he ache being cut in the narrative?

We knew from the previously spoken narratives how he lost all things, but rather he found all things. For having lost all beautiful things, he did not lose the root of beauty. He lost the lyre, but the musician remained; he lost the fruits of prosperity, but the farmer of well-being remained; he was stripped of all possessions, and was not stripped of virtue. He pre-emptively gave the possessions to the devil, casting off life, just as Joseph cast off the garment to the dishonorable one. In suffering, he did not suffer. For it is necessary even for nature to confess the passion, and of the soul...

14To celebrate his courage. The traits of nature were displayed, and the excellences of virtue were displayed. He heard the affliction of the children and tore his garments, in order to show the compassion of nature. For if he had not suffered, he would not have been admired as a lover of mankind, but would have been known as unfeeling. But he suffered as a man, yet he endured as a lover of God; he rebuked the weakness of nature, but did not surrender the manner of piety. He tore his garments, yet he worshiped.

The devil was not so struck as he was wounded; he was not so injured as he was smitten. But having let Job compete well in the first struggle, God gives him into another struggle, so that he may weave for him a more brilliant crown of endurance. For again the angels appear for the second time, and the devil is questioned in the midst by the One who knows all. From where do you come? See the wisdom of God; see the cunning of the devil. God knew where he had come, that having been defeated by the righteous, he had come; but God wills to see whether he confesses the defeat with a good mind.

From where have you come? The devil, hiding the defeat because he was ashamed, uses the same first voice: 'Having gone around the earth and walking under the heaven, I am present.' Is this why you went out? Is this what you asked for? Did you not say, 'Deliver to me the possessions of Job'? Why do you hide the struggle, so that you might destroy the crown of victory? Speak the struggle, cursed one; speak also the wrestling, so that you may proclaim the victory. But what the devil hid out of envy, the Master of all celebrates with virtuous philosophy. 'Do you pay attention with your mind against my servant?' What you hide, I know.

For God asks many times, not so that he might learn, but so that he might exercise the intention of those being questioned, to see if they confess with a good mind. Thus he asked Cain: 'Where is Abel your brother?' He was foolish, he who did the evil, even if he stood as an accuser of himself, so that his own accusation might blunt the greatness of the crime. For everyone accusing himself provokes the indignation of the judge. Just as then he asked Cain: 'Where is Abel your brother?' And he, supposing the question to be from ignorance, says, 'I do not know; am I the guardian of my brother?' And when he tested the intention, then he rebuked the impiety, saying, 'The voice of the blood of your...'

He cries to me from the earth of a thousand sufferings; thus, if he asks and sees one wandering alone, he reproves one doing evil. And now, since he asks the devil and does not learn from him the defeat which he has suffered, he himself mocks his defeat and recalls the victory of the righteous.

Pay attention with your mind to my servant Job, that there is no one like him on the earth. Pay attention precisely there, I beg you, and do not pass over the words of the divine Scriptures. In the first testimony, 'blameless' was nowhere said, but in the second. In the first, God says: 'Pay attention with your mind to my servant Job, that there is no one like him on the earth, a man blameless, righteous, true, turning away from every evil thing?' The word 'blameless' was not added there; but after the struggle and the contest, he adds it to him like a crown, the good report accompanying his agonies. Because, since he endured the affliction blamelessly through a thousand sufferings, he did not blaspheme against the Lord, but judged all things with goodness and in peace, saying: 'If we received the good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the bad?' Since the word was 'blamelessness,' he weaves the crown of blamelessness, because 'There is no man like him, a blameless man.'

And you, why did you say you would destroy his possessions for nothing? Instead of saying, 'Did you envy his wealth?' you said, as a pretext, that the man serves God piously; he was stripped of his possessions, but he was not stripped of the truth. You, therefore, devil, said you would destroy his possessions for nothing. Evil does not lack its own evil intention. It finds again another suspicion capable of extinguishing the courage of the upright. He says therefore to God: 'Skin for skin, and all that a man has, he will give for his soul.' Nothing, he says, is great, if he lost possessions; he contemptuously disregarded all things in order that he might save himself. But if you wish to test him, touch his flesh; he will surely bless you to your face. The 'He will bless' is instead of 'He will curse.' For the Scripture covered the bad report with a good report.

Why are these things written? So that you, the faithful, may learn, when you recount the shameful things of others, to cover them with the dignity of words. Do not act shamefully with dignity, but act with dignity when you avoid the speech of shameful things. Because of this the Apostle says:

15Let no shameful word proceed from your mouths. God delivers the combatant into a second trial, not because He learns from the trial what the combatant was like, but to shame the devil through the trial. For God knows all things before they happen.

The devil went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with a wicked wound from head to foot. He made a single wound, a single boil, upon his whole body. For it was necessary that the combatant be crowned through his whole being. From head to foot, the wound is salvation. The wound is the victory; a wound that, according to appearance, is a flowing ulcer, but according to understanding, is a fullness of praise. The ulcers of the wound became in a short time, but the praises, which the struggle produced, are not consumed throughout all eternity. He struck him with a wicked wound from head to foot, so that he might be revealed as a crowned one through all his members.

Then, because the place could not receive one so afflicted in body, the whole household cast this man out, as one disgraced—for Job's wound was nothing other than a disgrace. The one who was a stranger to the world went out from the city; he went out from the city and sat on ashes; he went out from the city not having a worldly struggle, but surpassing the present condition. For being outside the city and the wall was an image of the Cross of Christ. For this reason Paul says: Just as the blood of animals is brought into the holy things, their bodies are burned outside the camp. For this reason also Jesus, in order to sanctify the people, suffered outside the gate. Christ outside the gate; Job sat on ashes outside the city. The seed of piety, the seed of endurance, being trodden upon by afflictions, sat on ashes, waiting for Him who raises the poor from the earth, and Him who raises the needy from the ash heap.

He saw, brothers, the body hemorrhaging, but the soul being strengthened; he saw the body bearing worms, but the soul producing piety; he saw the earthly vessel decaying, and he remembered the words of Paul; for it was necessary for him to say: Just as the man outside of us decays, so much the man within is renewed day by day. He took a potsherd, in order to scrape the ulcer...

The shard washes away the filth, and endurance defeats the adversary. It was fitting for him to say to the one holding the shard: 'We hold this treasure in a shard vessel.' He sat upon the dung-heap, which raises many from the dung-heap; he took a shard to wash the filth, so that the living clay might wash away the dead clay.

The three friends came; for misfortunes call friends to consolation. Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad came, three kings to one king. For he was a king before this, saying: 'I was among them as a king in single garments.' And they sat, he says, opposite Job for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke. For moderate misfortunes receive consolation, but the greatness of misfortunes is honored by silence.

For, brothers, there is a time when suffering overcomes consolation; and just as in the height of sickness every treatment is sent away, so also sufferings in the height of misfortunes cast out every exhortation. They were silent, participating in the suffering through silence.

And what does he do? Since misfortune conquered them, and no one dared to cast a voice of consolation, he begins the words first. Job opens a door to those who do not suffer. For we know, brothers, that in misfortunes, or in mourning, or in any other state of degradation, each one is ashamed to be the first to cast a voice, lest someone might seem an unseasonable introducer of virtue or opinion; but if he sees another having begun, he follows without danger. This, brothers, experience teaches, and circumstances suggest.

As when he saw that suffering had shut out the consolation of the friends, the sufferer opens a door and immediately begins to lament the misfortune, fleeing everywhere from the suspicion of blasphemy. The first voice of Job: 'Cursed be the day on which I was born, and let that night be darkness.' He does not say these things as an impious man, but as a sufferer.

And see what he does: just as when someone, being seized by a terrible fit, is cut by iron by the physician, having no way to resist the cutter, he seizes those standing around and bites those present, having nothing to accuse them of, yet not being strong enough to stretch out his hand to the physician; so also Job, fearing the magnitude of blasphemy, insults the lifeless, and fills the fullness of his suffering, not of God.

16He does not dare, but instead accuses himself and his own day; for he curses not the creation, but his own day. For he says, I have authority over my own day; I do not curse the creation, but I curse my own day. Accursed is the day in which I was born, and may that night be darkness. Jeremiah also says these things: Woe is me, O mother, for what kind of man have you given birth to, one who is judged and prosecuted? Accursed is the day in which I was born.

The saints sing these things out so that, through these things, you may learn that they did not pass through life living in luxury, but having endured myriad evils, they passed through the struggles. Thus Jeremiah also wept, saying: Woe is me, O mother, for what kind of man have you given birth to? He suffered as a man, yet he endured as a lover of God.

Moses likewise—the great and divine lawgiver of God, who received the holy tablets, the first guide of those things profitable to life—says that he is weighed down by God by the multitude of misfortunes: Lord, you said that you have found favor with me, and I know you are found by all; and if I have found favor in your sight, take my soul from me, for I am not able to bear the weight of this people. A little, and they will stone me. Did I not cause them pain? Did I not give birth to them? For you say to me: Carry them as a nurse carries a child; but I am not able to bear the weight of the people's faults. However, even while stripping himself and mourning as a man, he did not blaspheme as an atheist, but he was showing the sufferings of nature, which convicted him.

In the same way, each of the prophets strips himself, and Habakkuk says: Why have you shown me labors and pains, to look upon the miseries of men? For the prophetic choir saw the injustice and could not bear it, but Habakkuk cried out, saying: Why have you shown me labors and pains? Judgment has become before me, and the judge takes, and because of this the judgment goes out perverted. The ruler asks, and the judge takes, and the law is made void. Thus all the righteous suffered, and they cried out toward the difficulty of the world. But if you had not taken these things, you would not have arrived at the harmony of your own will; do not say, I am better than Jeremiah who cried out...

Lest the words of healing become wounds to you. These things are written so that you may learn how much struggle they endured, and how much danger their lives passed through. Do you wish to learn what kind of person you ought to be? Learn from what follows grace. Prophets suffered, and apostles also suffered; but some who suffered were struck, while those suffering boasted. Paul came into the midst, suffering yet not weeping; being struck yet not being stripped away; being tormented yet boasting. And what does he say? Not only this, but we also boast in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works endurance, endurance testing, testing hope, and hope does not put us to shame.

Again, the apostles, having been struck, went away rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were counted worthy to be dishonored for the name of Christ. Therefore, do not take what was before grace as a following of grace. For these things were said to us so that you might learn hope from pains. So also Job curses the day and suffers in soul, yet he does not torment his soul with impiety, but endures the wounds, and he does not wound his soul with blasphemy.

Now, since it is necessary to conclude, we will briefly summarize the matter for you. In the struggle concerning Job, besides God, everyone was ignorant of the purpose of the struggle. Job did not know for what reason he was struggling; he did not know that contests were set before him for training. The friends were ignorant of God's purpose, and the devil was ignorant of what was to come. For if he knew he would be defeated, he would not have attempted it. Job did not know what would result from the struggle.

While God gave out of forgiveness, Job knew—not by foreknowledge, but by learning from God. But the devil did not know to what end the contests would meet. For if he knew, he would not have attempted it, lest he draw the shame more heavily upon himself; but what he suffered among the witnesses, he also suffered in Job. A witness fell so as to extinguish the Church, not knowing that after the witnesses the Church will bloom. Therefore, everyone was ignorant, except God. The friends, being ignorant of God's purpose and ignorant of Job's testing, chose rather to condemn Job as one deserving of suffering, as if in a comparison of ignorance, or—

17To know that God has judged unworthily. Pay close attention: they intended to condemn a man as worthy of suffering his own sin, or rather, they spoke against God, saying that He judged unworthily. In one respect they acted with purpose, calling God outside of justice; but in another respect they were sinning, for they were condemning the innocent. Ignorance excuses those who are ignorant, and it is acceptable that they philosophize in ignorance and are not rejected, seeing God's justice. They record the justice of Job, but they praise the justice of God.

Then Job begins to be reproved by his friends; and they say to him: When did true upright ones perish? When did you see righteous ones being destroyed utterly? If you have not sinned, they say, and done what is worthy of sin, the righteous one would not have unjustly wronged you. Many are your sins. But if you have not sinned, whence is this, if not that your sons sinned? And often you have wronged the widow and afflicted the orphans. If these things have happened, even God has justly brought this verdict upon you.

Job realizes for himself that he has not done such a thing, and he realizes also that God is not judging unjustly. Since Job saw that among men he has been condemned, but his conscience does not condemn him, and his God does not recognize him as guilty, he had no way to persuade men. He transfers the argument to the Judge, and turns the eye of the soul toward the things above, not blaspheming but being distressed, and says to Him: You who know the mind of men, why have you struck me? You have made me to encounter your justice; you know my heart.

Then Job cries out greatly, not from malice but from innocence; and, in order that I may cut the many down to a few (for the material of justification is much), he says...

“Who will give a judge between me and you, so that I may know how many my sins are, since you have judged me thus?” The word is fearsome, but it comes from a lack of malice. For God, foreknowing, said that there is no one who is innocent according to him; yet to the innocent, no word is reckoned as being toward wickedness.

For always, brothers, all we humans—if not God—judge not by the outward things, but by the intention of those who act. A son insults a father, and the matter is incomprehensible to both the one suffering and the one hearing. Such a person is called a father-hater and a mother-hater, impious and lawless, because he uttered a voice against a father and dared to speak ill of his own root. Yet he who is judged by such thoughts is condemned by the perfect; but an innocent child, even if he strikes his father or his mother or even insults them, is more desirable for all joy.

Often mothers provoke children into insult, not through the insult itself, but by exulting in their own innocence, their integrity, and the removal of character. In this way, God, knowing that he speaks not from malice but from innocence (for he testifies to him, saying, 'He still holds to his innocence'), receives what comes from Job, even as he is called to judgment by him. The word is fearsome: to call the servant 'Master' into judgment; to call a man 'God'; to call the creature 'the Creator'; to call the clay 'the Maker.' Nonetheless, as I have said, the word is one of innocence, not of malice.

However, brothers, innocence was not apart from understanding, but was within all wisdom. Do you wish to learn more precisely? Job did not ask for anything that he had not done. He knew himself to be a servant of God, and he knew God to be his own Master. But since he himself was often judged in relation to his own slaves, he gave them the worth of equal speech; and if ever a slave was being tested with him, it was not as a slave.

18He did not rebuke, but instead took up his defense; in doing so, he requested his right, being persuaded by the word that with the measure you measure, it shall be measured to you. He asks: Who will provide a judge? And when did you preserve the right of equal speech for a slave? Listen to him as he enumerates his virtues, and this is not out of mere zeal, but out of malice, for he says: I have not refused the judgment of my servant and my handmaid, even though they judge toward me. I will give an answer to God. Is it not as I was made? Having understood these things, he granted the common right of equal speech to the commonality of nature.

But we, brothers, are not such. Do you marvel at the righteous? Know yourself. For often when someone is accused, I do not speak of a slave, but of one who has risen slightly; if he answers justly, he rebukes as one who is being corrected and dares to speak from a position of equality. He says, do you dare to speak from equality of status? Do you demand what is right? Then receive the just equal speech. The arrogant man accuses, yet he neither accepts a defense nor is shamed by silence. If the accused remains silent, he is found out, for he did not loosen his lips; if he speaks, he has dared, as it is said, to cast his voice toward the master.

Then another, full of pride, if he is persuaded on behalf of the righteous or a noble man, requesting that a word be exchanged to bring about peace and to cease malice through love, is immediately carried away by pride and says: Do I come down to this one? O, the pride! Where have you stood that you should come down? Do I come down to this one? He speaks as if treading upon the heavens and the clouds. You tread the same earth, you are fed from the same source, to it you return, and in it you are buried; so where do you come down? Will you not be ashamed, will you not be shamed by the passion of the Lord? Will you not be ashamed to say to your equal: Do I come down to this one? Will you not be ashamed to say these things, thinking that Jesus came down through you? Toward such opinions and such pride it is proper to always cry out with Isaiah: Why does the earth and the dust swagger?

Nevertheless, let us return to what is before us. Who will give a judge between me and you? The righteous judge appears at the end, appearing to him from the whirlwind and the clouds. Job appears from the clouds, he who is about to pour out the rain of blessing. He appears to him from the clouds, he who is about to water the seed being trodden, and he awakens Job, soothing the passions and scattering them; he only soothes and raises up the fallen. He says to him: Arise, and live as a man girds his loins. And I will ask you, and you shall answer me. Since you have called me to judgment and said, Who will give a judge between me and you? Arise, brave combatant, he who has not fallen by the blow of affliction; arise. For if anyone, having been disciplined, bravely endures affliction and discipline, he hears from God, 'Arise,' just as He says to Jerusalem: 'Arise, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of my wrath. Gird yourself as a man girds his loins.' And I will ask you, and you shall answer me. He did not say: I will need you, and you shall answer me.

19For you did not call me for judgment, he says, but you called me so that I might be compared to you. You asked for a judge between me and you; you yourself become the judge. Do you suppose I have used you in some other way, than so that you might appear righteous? Do you think, he says, that I brought this calamity upon you for any other reason, than so that I might make you appear just? And look closely at the precision of such words.

He did not say: Do you suppose I have used you in some other way, than so that you might become righteous? For the calamity did not make him righteous, but it made his righteousness known. Do you suppose I have used you in some other way, than so that you might appear righteous? For to me, he says, you were known even before the struggles; but to the world, through the calamity, you are made known, and to the world, through the struggle, you are proclaimed. For this reason I have used you, not to harm, but to crown; not to shame, but to brighten.

Moreover, since through wickedness you went out from the measures of nature, I correct you by your integrity. For even if someone sins from wickedness, God corrects the things that come from wickedness. Since you have called God entirely into judgment, tell me, with what kind of hospitality have you called me against you? Where were you when I was laying the foundation of the earth? You became a contemporary of the Creator, in order that you might call him to judgment? He was before the ages, but you are after many ages.

When I was flattening the earth, you were not present; when the sea, you were not present; or whatever such things, you were not present. All creation came to be, and you were nowhere. Did you then call the one more ancient than the ages, the Creator of the creation, into judgment? When I was spreading grass upon the earth, when I settled its pillars, when I brought it out from its mother's womb, when the sea was being brought forth, where were you? When I covered it with a cloud and surrounded it with mist, where were you?

He is struck down as if having spoken unworthily, from wickedness, but not from ignorance. And what does he do? He does not rebuke him over all things, but as a friend, privately, he corrects him. As he has said these things, and things near to them (for it is not the time to interpret every word in part), and Job, having become knowing of himself (for the righteous is corrected in his error from the first rebuke), says: Lord, once my ear had heard of you, but now my eye has seen you, and I despise myself; and I consider myself dust and ashes.

And, I have spoken once, but on the second I will not add. See how the error is recalled by one having well received the reproach. I have spoken once, and this was from wickedness, not from malice; but on the second I will not add. For who am I, being judged against the Lord? Did Job not foresee through wickedness? He learns after the rebuke. Then, what is God? He does not forgive him by waiving the judgment, but says: Not to die, but to live like a man holding his loins. Stand, he says, like a man. Do not think that because of this I overwhelmed you with power, fleeing from the just, but I corrected your wickedness. However, I do not waive the judgment; judge me justly, and demand an account of the...

20You were judged so that you might be crowned, judged so that you might be praised by all under heaven. Before the suffering, one person knew you; after the suffering, all under heaven will know you. Your hardship becomes more brilliant than any royal procession. Those bearing the diadem desire to see your struggle and the toil of the athletic contests.

I made your hardship a paradise; I cultivated it toward piety, bringing forth a heavenly plant. You received heavenly things; now receive also the earthly things, taking all things twofold. Here, every Christian, learn your hope, the excellence of your promise. For to Job double is promised, and double is given; but the Savior says to his own disciples: whoever has left father, or mother, or sisters for my sake, shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.

But attend to that precisely, so that while the friend is corrected privately, Job's friends are reproved publicly. And God says to them: Why did you not speak rightly concerning my servant Job? But, O Judge, we set forth the word on your behalf, we proclaimed your righteousness, we judged a man, but we showed your righteousness to be innocent. Therefore, attend here to the judgment of God. For if he does not accept those speaking on his behalf against the righteous, will he accept those speaking against the righteous in an unrighteous way?

Thus he reproves his friends, and says: Now, if not for my servant Job, I would have destroyed you. Thus at once he reproves and he saves. He saves because they said nothing evil against God; but he reproves the righteous, restoring his integrity. And he honors the friends through him; but he honors the righteous through the contest, and gives him double, and from his darkness his light shone then and now.

Having said one more thing, let us show the excellence. He received the sheep twofold, and oxen, camels, and donkeys twofold; but the children, having lost ten, he did not receive twenty. Here one must seek how the cattle indeed are twofold, but the children are simple. Because the cattle and the possessions, being lost, were lost completely, but a man dying is preserved unto life and is raised unto resurrection.

He does not give him the children twofold, so that he might not cut off the hope of those who departed, but so that he might show him that they, even if they were taken early, yet they live. They all indeed are provided for him; but he gives him only ten, so that Job might be found not passing from life to death, but passing from house to house. For having completed ten years of life, they sent him to the grave; ten again on the day of resurrection they will receive him from the grave into kingship, and he will enjoy those unutterable and eternal goods in unison. May all of us be worthy of this, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and the power, now and always and unto the ages. Amen.