The Forerunner’s Solitary Witness

They seek the redundant and the herded. Yet to each soul the Creator has given a distinct body, whence John, though called a second Elijah and spoken of due to zeal toward him, is nevertheless not in soul and body; but the One who has given spiritual energy to that one, this same One also grants to John the Baptist and forerunner a measure of gift, just as that one received. The One who supplied power to the ancient promises to supply it to the new.

He will turn back the hearts of fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. 'Fathers' refers to Israel, 'children' to the nations by the course of time; yet the fathers turn back to the children, for the children draw near the fountain of life, and they take hold of the banquet of joy as those who are wise and faithful, and having taken the table of light in advance, they encircle it. Thus those called 'fathers' are rightly named 'disobedient', for concerning them Isaiah the prophet has proclaimed: 'I know that you are stubborn, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead is bronze,' that the inflexibility of the synagogue and the utter disobedience of its heirs may be explained. But 'the just' are those from the nations; for if they once barely knew justice, now they pursue it with diligence; if they did not know the door of godliness, now they run into the bridal chamber with joy, entering therein; if they were once far from the light, now they behold the whole sun with pure eyes.

Why does Gabriel, in fulfilling another promise, declare, 'To prepare for the Lord a people made ready'? Who made them ready, if not Christ? For the One who formed also raised up; the One who set the wheel in motion from the beginning, this One later unrolled it. The One who said, 'Let a living soul come into being,' this One spoke; 'I do not wish the sinner to perish.' And these things, Gabriel, descending from heaven, proclaimed. In those words, John leaped within Elizabeth's womb and came to be; taking the One in the womb, he greets from the womb, and the One in the womb still theologizes, bound by the womb's bonds, while being held fast. Then, born, he is sent into the wilderness, that he may be like the wild beasts, that he may converse with God, that he may become free from the smokes and tumults of labors, that he may practice courage, that he may be instructed by the sensible beasts what manner they need to box the hidden ones and to fight against those who lurk. With age advancing and time progressing, he becomes a dinner guest at a table lacking a cook, not even hiring one; for wild honey was his food, completely unseasoned, and locusts were his food, of which the sacrifice was impious, the slaughter of goats unprofitable, needing no coals; he had no need of an external oven, but he acquired the oven from himself; and camel's hairs clothed the Baptist, that the spirit might warm the shivering body, and the melting flesh might cause the worms of pleasures to die; but also a leather girdle he wore around his loins.

He dwelt apart, sustained not by the craft of kitchens nor the hire of cooks, but by what the wilderness freely gave: honey untouched by art, locusts untouched by altar or slaughter, needing neither fire nor fuel. His garment was of camel's hair, girt with leather, not for show but to warm the frame and chill the flesh, that the worms of delight might perish in the melting. Thus he lived, not as one who prepares meals, but as one whose life itself became the preparation.

The mortification of pleasures shone brighter than gold; the sanctification flashed like electrum; the purity of many-shining stones concealed their radiant beams.

Thus, having practiced philosophy, the true ascetic was made complete — a guileless runner, a blameless soldier, a just leader of brides, a pious herald, a mediator, a forerunner, one who keeps himself from every sort of evil deed.

How often did the devil, seeing him philosophize thus, envy him? Yet he had no power to slander.

And what, being exceedingly thirsty, longing, and in need? What then — to slander the athlete, to mock the soldier, to jeer at the one who holds nothing in his hands? What prosperity could one proclaim of him who has no kinship to the well-being of life?

He had no children to slander, for he did not sow them; no daughters, since he did not obtain a father; no fields, for he did not possess them; no houses, since he did not raise them; no donkeys, oxen, or camels, for he acquired none; no woman, whom he did not know, did not have, did not marry.

Let John therefore be hymned — again I say — since to all he imparted beneficially the proclamation of preservation.