Beauty and Preaching

Ὥραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ἐξεχὺθη ἡ χάρις ἐν χείλεσί σου. Προσάγεται δὲ ἡμᾶς τῇ διανοίᾳ ταύτῃ ὅ τε Ἀκύλας καὶ ὁ Σύμμαχος· ὁ μὲν εἰπών· Κάλλει ἐκαλλωπίσθης παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος· Κάλλει καλὸς  εἶ παρὰ τοὺη υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ὡραῖον οὖν κάλλει προσαγορεύει τὸν Κύριον ὁ ἐνατενίσας αὐτοῦ τῇ θεότητι. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς ἀνυμνεῖ κάλλος. Εἰδομεν γὰρ αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος, οὐδε κάλλος, ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον, ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Δῆλον οὖν, ὅτι ἐνιδών αὐτοῦ τῇ λαμπρότητι καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν μαρμαρυγῶν ἀναπλησθεὶς ὁ Προφήτης, πληγεὶς τὴν ψυχὴν τούτῳ τῳ κάλλει, πρὸς τὸν ἔνθεον ἔρωτα τῆς νοητῆς ὠραιότητος ἐκινήθη· ἧς ἐπιφανείσης τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ψυχῇ, πάντα αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀπόβλητα τὰ τέως ἀγαπώμενα καταφαίνεται. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος, ὅτε εἶδε τὸν ὡραῖον κάλλει, πάντα ἡγήσατο σκύβαλα, ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσῃ. Οἱ μὲν ἔξω τοῦ λόγου τῆς ἀληθείας μωρίαν ὀνομάζουσι τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τὸ κήρηγμα, τὴν εὐτέλειαν τῆς φράσεως τῶν Γραφῶν ἐξουθενοῦντες· ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ καυχώμενοι ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, οἶς ἐφανερώθη διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τα ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ χαρισθέντα ὑμῖν, οὐκ ἐν διδακτοϊς ἀνθρωπίνης σοφίας λόγοις, οἴδαμεν, ὅτι πλουσία χάρις ἐστὶν ἐκκεχυμένη παρὰ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τοῖς περὶ Χριστοῦ λόγοις. Διὰ τοῦτο ἐν ὀλίγῳ τῳ χρόνῳ πᾶσαν σχεδὸν τὴν οἰκουμένην διῆλθε τὸ κήρυγμα, ἐπειδὴ πλουσία καὶ ἄφθονος ἡ χάρις ἐκκέχυται ἐπὶ τοὺς κήρυκας τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, οὔς καὶ χείλη Χριστοῦ ὠνόμασεν ἡ Γραφή. Διὰ τοῦτο ἐν εὐκαταφρονήτοις λεξειδίοις πολὺ τὸ ἀγωγὸν καὶ πρὸς σωτηρίαν ὁλκὸν ἔχει τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τὸ κήρυγμα. Καὶ πᾶσα ψυχὴ κεκράτηται δόγμασιν ἀκινήτοις, διὰ τῆς χάριστος πρὸς τὴν ἀσάλευτον εἰς Χριστὸν πίστιν βεβαιουμένη. Ὅθεν φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· Δι' οὔ ἐλάνομεν χάριν καὶ ἀποστολὴν εἰς ὑπακοὴν πίστεως· καὶ πάλιν· Περισσότερον αὐτῶν πάντων ἐκοπίασα· οὐκ ἐγὼ δὲ, ἀλλ' ἡ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἡ σὺν ἐμοί. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον ΜΔ' Ψαλμον

'A beautiful appearance before the sons of men. Grace is diffused on your lips.' 1 This leads us to recall Aquila and Symmachus, the first who translates this passage as, 'Adorned with beauty you are before the sons of men.' And Symmachus has, 'Beautiful with beauty you are before the sons of men.' Beautiful, therefore, is announced the appearance of the Lord when one has perceived His Divinity. For this is not the beauty of flesh, 'For we saw him and he did not have beauty, nor elegance, but his form was unhonoured and he was wanting before the sons of men.' 2  From whence it is manifest that the Prophet, when He is clearly seen, would have Him replete with splendor, and struck by this the soul inclines to it, being moved to the Divine love of spiritual beauty, which when it blazes before the human soul reveals everything that it loved before as wretched and an abomination. Whence Paul, when he sees beauty, accounts as all else dung, that Christ he might profit. 3 They who are far from the word of truth call the preaching of the Gospel foolish and have contempt for the simple diction of Scripture, but we who glory in the cross of Christ, by which is made manifest through the Spirit those things which are bestowed on us by God, know, not by the teaching of human wisdom, that rich grace which from God has been poured out on the teachings concerning Christ. Thus in such short time the preaching spread throughout almost all the orb of the known world, since rich and abundant grace was poured on the preachers of the Gospel. By which preaching of the Gospel in contemptible speech had yet great power to persuade and attract to salvation. And every soul was overcome by immovable doctrine, through grace being strengthened to unshakeable faith in Christ . Whence the Apostle says, 'By which we received grace and apostleship that we be obedient in faith.' 4 And again, 'I have laboured more than all, not I, but the grace of God which is with me.' 5 Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 44 1 Ps 44.3 2 Is 53. 2,3 3 Philip 3.8 4 Rom 1.5 5 1 Cor 15.10