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Festal Letter Two
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52 FESTAL LETTER TWO A.D. 415 EJOICE IN THE LORD always; again i say, rejoice!”1 Our discourse hastens to this starting-point, and quite understandably , for it is a feast which is proclaimed. For when our message has as its purpose to announce that we should take delight in our Savior’s deeds, one can hardly think of a better way to begin it. it is right, then, that it should begin thus; it will resolutely avoid what is not to the point, shrink from irrelevant excursions, and make every effort to present to its hearers in a timely manner what it is good and beneficial to them to say. The divine word, then, has declared that there is a moment for everything.2 now the present moment suits best our work of proclamation if ever one did. Our wholly blessed feast, then, has come round in the cycle of the year, stands now at our door, and has all but stepped over the threshold to dwell in the souls of all. now it would seem to me the height of absurdity, if the Jews, who take such pride in Law and shadow and type, were to announce their own feasts with trumpet blasts, while we, who prefer what is better than what they have, and who have rightly and justly decided to place the truth above figures, as is meet, would appear far less eager in this respect than they, by sitting tranquilly and telling each other to keep quiet, and thus relegating to silence the feast which is so famous, even though God says, “Sound the trumpet on the new moon, on the day of your feast so renowned.”3 Let our discourse, then, come before us, announcing with resounding proclamation the renowned day of the feast. For even if we “ 1. Phil 4.4. 2. Cf. Eccl 3.1. 3. Ps 81.3. FESTAL LETTER TWO 53 were to keep silence about all that nature has gained from our Savior’s goodness, the stones would cry out, as our Savior himself says.4 2. now when i consider attentively each of the things that has happened, they appear as quite a throng: about these, one who kept silence would be severely and rightly censured. For if, in our concern to have a right and just attitude, we reckon it to be most important to render thanks to God for how well we have been treated, and then pay no mind at all to doing so, obviously we will have set ourselves completely against our own decisions in not choosing to do the things which, if left undone by others, might rightly lead us to charge them with idleness. Let us, then, render thanks to our Savior. But perhaps we will make our inability to speak adequately of his deeds an excuse for our hesitation and timidity, even though it would be generally agreed, i think, that conceding the victory to one’s betters leads one to be regarded not as weak, but as wise. But what could be nobler than our Savior’s deeds? What speech would not be silenced by such divine things? “Glory covers our speech,”5 as holy Scripture says. And the blessed Moses, so outstanding in virtue that he heard God say to him, “i know you beyond all others, and you have found favor with me,”6 did not blush to call himself hesitant and slow of speech,7 and unsuited to the ministry of proclamation. now if the one who spoke thus is beyond censure or any imputation of guilt—one would have to admit, the prophet is worthy of all praise—then obviously we must grant that our Savior’s deeds, which surpass the Law, also defy any attempt to give an account of them. it should be added that we are unpracticed in contests of speech, and we do not undertake to mount a display of Attic style. Let others busy themselves with such things, and with the display of oratorical brilliance; for our part, beloved, our discourse is brief, and we write because we must. “Woe to me if i do not preach the Gospel! For if i do this of my own will, i have a reward ; but if not of my own will, i am entrusted with a com4 . Cf. Lk 19.40. 5. Prv 25.2 (LXX). 6. Ex 33.17. 7. Cf. Ex 4.10. [3.145.119.199] Project MUSE (2024...