In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

SERMON 106 On the Fig Tree to Be Chopped Down1 ust as a skillful teacher strikes at the intellects of students who are inexperienced in listening and slow to understand by employing various teaching techniques, and arouses and enkindles their talents, so does the Lord with a variety of parables and diverse metaphors call together and invite the sluggish and slow minds of the peoples to listen to the Gospel. For indeed the Lord begins today as follows : A certain person had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came to look for fruit on it, and did not find any. So he said to his vinedresser : “Look, it has been three years now since I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree, and still I have found none. Cut it down; for why does it take up space on the land?” But he said in response: “Lord, let it be for this year, until I dig around it and apply manure, and see if it bears fruit, but if not you can cut it down then” (Lk 13.6–9). 2. A certain person had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. I ask you, what is so plain, what is so clear, what is so ordinary, what is as familiar to peasants as it is pertinent to the sophisticated, as the kind of parable that he has set before us, which comes from general experience, instructs everyone with its language, and attracts everyone by its example? An unfruitful tree is a burden to the sod, wastes space, drains the strength of the earth, causes damage to the farmer, is a nuisance to its owner, and so it is beneficial to cut it down, it is advantageous not to have it. So too the human being who squanders the gift of nature, the blessing of his soul, the benefit of reason, the excellence of 137 1. This sermon may have been preached at the end of the year since there are some eschatological references: in section 4 to Christ’s second coming, and in section 7 to the last judgment. See F. Sottocornola, L’anno liturgico, 103 and 293, n. 23. intelligence, the judgment of his mind, his artistic talent, and his good upbringing, and invests them in unfruitful and empty endeavors, robs his Author of fruit, and is of no use to his Cultivator . Just as the tree deserves to be excised from the earth, so does this person deserve to be excised from life. And just as is the case that, if an unfruitful tree is in a vineyard , while it extends its lethal shade over all the vines underneath it, it becomes hostile not only to itself, but also to vine branches that are fruitful, so too is it the case that, if a slothful and lazy human being happens to be in authority over peoples, he becomes harmful not only to himself, but to the masses, while by his example he corrupts and ruins those who follow him.2 But let us listen to why the Lord told this parable. 3. After the numbness of winter has passed, while the fig tree blooms with unripe figs and gives the appearance of fruit in its blossoms, it deceives those who are unaware and deludes the inexperienced. For soon it sheds its unripe figs, and it manages to burst forth with sluggish buds, and the tree which seemed to be ahead of all the rest is later than all the rest in bearing fruit.3 So it is right that the synagogue is compared by the Lord to the fig tree,4 since it was heated by the warmth of the Law and for a time flourished as a prefiguration of the fruits of the Church. For indeed since it was firmly grounded by having the Patriarchs as its roots, since it was raised high with its priestly stalk, since it spread out diffusely with the prophets as its branches, and since it was full of the unripe figs of the Jewish observance, it was flourishing at that time with the sole hope that it would bear fruit through Christ, or rather, that it would later bear Christ himself as its fruit, as the psalmist says: “I shall place one of the offspring of your womb upon your throne.”5 138 ST. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS 2. It is unclear whether Chrysologus had a particular ruler in mind. Given his...

Share