Selected Sermons, Volume 3

130 On the Birth of a Bishop

SERMON 130 On the Birth of a Bishop1 ust as a lengthy anticipation of some great thing that was promised enkindles the spirit and wearies the mind, the awaited fulfillment of the promise stirs up all the senses and everything inside a person. This is why today, as Isaiah has said, Holy Mother Church2 has appeared festive, full of joy, and all decked out; she has clothed herself with the cloak of her delight, and as a bride3 she has put on her garland, and has arrayed and adorned herself with a variety of attire.4 As the heavens shine with starlight, and as the earth blooms with its flowers, and as a garden makes its shoots spring up, so has she made her gladness spring up in the sight of all her children , since, according to the promise made to David, today a son has been born to her in place of her father.5 195 1. A. Olivar, Los sermones, 197–98, considers this sermon to have been preached on the occasion of Chrysologus’s consecration of a suffragan bishop. I believe that it is actually his first sermon after being consecrated bishop himself, delivered as he takes possession of the diocese of Ravenna in the presence of Galla Placidia and the imperial court. Usually when Chrysologus consecrates a suffragan bishop, he concludes his sermon by welcoming the new bishop to speak immediately after him; see Sermons 130a.3 and 165 (FOTC 17.271). Such an invitation is conspicuously absent in this Sermon 130. See Introduction, FOTC 109.7–8, and, for yet another opinion regarding the occasion for this sermon , F. Sottocornola, L’anno liturgico, 112. 2. For other references to the Church as mother, see Sermon 73.3 and n. 17, and Sermons 128.3, 130a.1, 169.6, and 175.1 and 4. 3. On the Church as bride or spouse of Christ, see Sermons 22.6 (FOTC 17.69), 31.3 (FOTC 109.132), 61.13 (FOTC 17.114), 76.2, 98.6 (FOTC 17.159), 164.8, 103.5, and 175.4; in the latter two instances, the Church is described as both bride and mother. 4. See Is 61.10. F. Sottocornola, L’anno liturgico, 112, suggests that this may have been the text read at this particular liturgy. 5. See Ps 44.17 LXX; Ps 45.16. Chrysologus uses this same scriptural reference regarding a new bishop in Sermon 130a.2. On the interpretation of Ps 44 as signifying the Church’s giving birth to new bishops (sons) who trace their suc- He is not to weigh her down with a burden, nor frighten her with his authority, nor cause her anxiety or distress, nor disturb her with severity. Rather, he is to be faithful and dutiful in supporting her; make her thoroughly secure by his ever-vigilant care; attend to what is necessary through diligent labor; unite the household with his gentle guidance; be hospitable to guests; be solicitous of parents; comply with kings; collaborate with those in power; treat the elderly with reverence, the young with kindness, his brothers with love; show affection to children ; offer willing service to all through Christ. 2. David said: “Hear, O daughter, and see.”6 Let me say: “Hear, O Mother, and see”: “In place of your fathers, sons have been born to you.”7 May they be elders in their prudence,8 fathers in their seriousness, sons in their charity, young9 in their virtue, youthful in their pleasantness, infants in their innocence , “children as far as malice is concerned,”10 ignorant of worldly matters, completely possessing now the kingdom of God, as the Lord attests when he says: “Let the little children come to me, for to such as these does the kingdom of heaven belong.”11 Such does the bond of perpetual virginity produce, such does this heavenly union produce, unacquainted with sex, aware of conceiving, familiar with giving birth, unfamiliar with corruption, pure in modesty, with her virginity intact, chaste with children, prolific in her virginity.12 While so dedicated a Mother as this today celebrates the birthday feast of one of her offspring, she opens her bosom, she makes her embrace spread far and wide, she shouts, she cries out with divine canticles, in 196 ST. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS cession all the way back to the apostles (their fathers), see Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 44.32 (CCL 38.316). 6. Ps 44.11 LXX; Ps 45.10. 7...