st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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SERMONS. 107
snow; for they are glorified by their office of unfolding;
not by being united with him, as that which is worn ;
not in the way of hypostatic union
(c. iv.). "Come,
he continues, let me set before you a repast
then."
of Holy Scripture, seasoned with the grace of the
Spirit ;
not luxuriating in the arts of Grecian elo
quence, seeing that I am not overmuch versed in
the knowledge of it,
but relying on the grace of
Him who gives even the stammerer a clear tongue
of utterance
(c. v.).
He then proceeds to relate the circumstances pre
ceding the Transfiguration the question, Whom do
:
men say that /, the Son of man, am ?
put to the dis
ciples in Caesarea Philippi, when He, the Great
Teacher, had taken a rock for His temporary chair,
Himself the Rock of life ;
the answer of Peter, and
the like. It is to the faith by which St. Peter spoke
that the words are applied on this rock I will build
my church. This is the unwavering and unshaken
faith, on which, as on a rock, the Church is founded ;
of which rock thou art become the namesake." But,
though the words of Christ s promise are thus inter
preted, not of the apostle personally, but of the faith
shown in his answer, the language in which he is
afterwards addressed is "
sufficiently lofty For this
:
peace of the Church do thou supplicate Christ, who
is her spouse undefiled, who appointed thee to hold
the keys of the kingdom of heaven, who bestowed
on thee the power of binding and loosing men s
liabilities, whom with divine utterance thou proclaimedst
Son of the living God For in truth
He is God and man called the son, not of Peter,