Eulogy for Saint Luke
Hesychius, a presbyter of Jerusalem, delivers a eulogy for Saint Luke, the apostle and evangelist, despite feeling unworthy and unskilled in speech, driven by his desire to fulfill his duty.
He sees a contest of words and deeds at the present festival and considers it a greater victory to be defeated in praise of the blessed Luke, who has conquered all creation in heaven and on earth through teaching and wonders.
What is greater than an evangelist, and what is equal to his grace, which enables him to transcend all sensory motion with his mind, calm the paternal depths with his tongue, and become the thunder of the ineffable mystery?
Though weak and subject to passions and diseases, Luke has ascended to heaven in his thoughts, seen the eternal generation with faith, and beheld the Word proceeding from the paternal depths and God born of God.
He saw the coessential Trinity being worshiped on the throne, distinguished in hypostases and united in nature, without the Trinity being confined to one person or the essence being extended to a number.
The evangelist is even bolder than the seraphim, for while they hide their vision because of the lightning, he theologized the birth through grace.
Coming down from heaven to earth, Luke entered the fearful cave and, with the eyes of faith, beheld the mystery of God's change and transformation above, where he saw a virgin who was also a mother, a womb that was wider than heaven itself, and a birth that was not the beginning of God but an epiphany.
He saw the creator of all ages incarnate as an infant, God emptied of His divine form and taking on the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7).
In this cave, Luke saw the manger as the bed of mystery, the swaddling clothes as the ransom of the world, the cross as a bridge to heaven, and the tomb as the destruction of death.
He saw the wealth of the Holy Spirit, eternal and incomprehensible, and the one who holds the earth fleeing to Egypt in the flesh.
The mystery was hidden from the seraphim, but Luke theologized the wonder. Because of this, Paul, proclaiming the dignity of the evangelists, cried out: 'that now the rulers and...
Greek
In sanctum Lucam (homilia 21) [Dub.] ̔Ησυχίου, πρεσβυτέρου Ἱεροσολύμων, ἐγκώμιον εἰς τὸν ἅγιον Λουκᾶν τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ εὐαγγελιστήν. 1 Φόβῳ τοῦ σιωπᾶν μὴ ἀνεχόμενος περὶ τῆς παρούσης ἑορτῆς, εἰ καὶ λίαν εἰμὶ ἀμαθὴς τῷ λόγῳ ὁ τάλας ἐγὼ καὶ οὐκ ἀξίως ἔχων τοῦ λέγειν, ὅμως τῷ πόθῳ ἑλκόμενος τὸ χρέος κατὰ δύναμιν ἀπο δίδωμι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ λόγων καὶ ἔργων ἅμιλλαν ὁρῶ ἐπὶ τῆς παρούσης πανηγύρεως, τῶν μὲν λόγων βιαζομένων παραστῆσαι τῶν ἔργων τὸ μέγεθος, τῶν δὲ ἔργων πάλιν φιλονεικούντων δι' ὑπερ βολὴν θαυμάτων νικῆσαι τῶν λόγων τὸ τάχος, ὅμως νίκην μᾶλλον βελτίω τὴν τοιαύτην ἡγοῦμαι, εἰ φανείην εἰς ἐπαίνους ἡττώμενος τοῦ μακαρίου Λουκᾶ, ὃς εἰς διδασκαλίαν καὶ θαύματα πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς κτίσιν ἐνίκησεν. 2 Τί γὰρ εὐαγγελιστοῦ μεῖζον; Τί δὲ τῆς χάριτος ἐκείνου ἴσον, ὃς τῷ λογισμῷ πᾶσαν τὴν αἰσθητὴν κίνησιν ὑπερβαίνει, ὃς τῇ γλώττῃ τοὺς πατρικοὺς κόλπους ἠρεύνησεν, ὃς γέγονεν τοῦ ἀπορ ρήτου μυστηρίου βροντή; Ἄνθρωπος ὢν τρίπηχυς, πηλῷ συμ πεπλεγμένος, πάθεσι πυκτεύων, ὑποκείμενος νόσοις, συγκεκλη ρωμένος θανάτῳ, εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνέβη τοῖς λογισμοῖς, εἶδε τῇ πίστει τὴν ἄναρχον γέννησιν, ἐθεάσατο τὸν Λόγον ἐκ πατρικῶν κόλπων ἀπαθῶς προελθόντα καὶ θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ γεννηθέντα καὶ εἰς δύο θεοὺς τὴν ἄκτιστον οὐσίαν μὴ μερισθεῖσαν, εἶδε τὴν ἐπὶ θρόνου ὁμοούσιον τριάδα προσκυνουμένην, ἐν ὑποστάσεσι διῃ ρημένην καὶ φύσει ἡνωμένην, οὔτε τῆς τριάδος εἰς ἓν πρόσωπον συγκεκλεισμένης, οὔτε τῆς οὐσίας εἰς ἀριθμὸν ἐκτεινομένης. Καὶ τῶν σεραφὶμ ηὑρέθη τολμηρότερος ὁ εὐαγγελιστής· ἐκεῖνα μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἀστραπὴν τὴν ὄψιν καλύπτει, οὗτος δὲ διὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν γέννησιν ἐθεολόγησεν. 3 Πάλιν δὲ οὐρανόθεν εἰς γῆν καταβὰς καὶ ἐγκύψας τῷ φρικτῷ σπηλαίῳ, τοῖς τῆς πίστεως ὄμμασιν εἶδε μυστήριον θεοῦ τροπῆς καὶ ἀλλοιώσεως ἀνώτερον, εἶδε παρθένον ἀνύμφευτον μητέρα, εἶδε γαστέρα οὐρανοῦ πλατυτέραν, εἶδε τόκον οὐκ ἀρχὴν θεοῦ ἀλλ' ἐπιφάνειαν, εἶδε βρέφος σαρκωθέντα τὸν δημιουργὸν πάν των τῶν αἰώνων, εἶδε θεὸν ἐν δούλου μορφῇ κενωθέντα, εἶδε φάτνην μυστηρίου κλίνην, εἶδε σπάργανα οἰκουμένης λύτρα, εἶδε σταυρὸν εἰς οὐρανὸν γέφυραν, εἶδε τάφον κατὰ θανάτου ὅπ λον, εἶδε Πνεύματος ἁγίου πλοῦτον αἰώνιον καὶ ἀπερινόητον, εἶδεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον φυγόντα σαρκὶ τὸν κατέχοντα τὴν γῆν δρακί. Καὶ τὸ μὲν μυστήριον ἔλαθε τὰ σεραφίμ, ὁ δὲ εὐαγγελιστὴς τὸ θαῦμα ἐθεολόγησεν· διὰ τοῦτο Παῦλος, τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν τὸ ἀξίωμα κηρύττων, ἐβόα· «ἵνα γνωρισθῇ νῦν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς καὶ ταῖς
About this text
Hesychius of Jerusalem, In sanctum Lucam (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 93 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.