Until this evening I had never read a word about St. Peter Chrysologus. He was bishop of Ravenna between 433 and 450, when the western imperial court was based there, and died young. His fame rests on a collection of short, effective sermons that he preached, of which something less than 200 survive. The sermons have been translated in the Fathers of the Church series; the first volume (FOC 17) was titled “selected sermons”, but two more volumes (FOC 109, 110) appeared which translated all the other genuine sermons. In the editions there are sermons like 155, 155bis, and 155ter; the FOC editors sensibly went with 155, 155a and 155b.
Sermon 155a (bis) was published under the name of Severian of Gabala, Homilia de Pythonibus et Maleficis, printed in the Patrologia Graeca 65, col.27, and its true author only established in modern times. It was under the name of Severian that I today encountered a portion of the text, and was led to investigate further.
So what is the sermon about? Much the same as sermon 155, on the same subject: the public celebrations of the new year in Ravenna by the half-pagan populace.
In Ravenna on January 1 and January 3, there was a parade of people dressed up as pagan deities and animals, in what was called the pompa circensis, marking both public games (ludi compitales) and the inauguration of civic magistrates (nuncupatio votorum). Some members of the congregation took part, and protested that such activity was just harmless amusement, a “ludus” or a “jocus”. But Chrysologus rightly saw this as a pagan survival.[1]
Here is part of what he says about this, in sermon 155a (bis):
The days are now coming, the days that mark the new year [kalendis ianuariis] are coming, and the demons arrive with all their pomp, a full-fledged workshop of idols is set up, and the new year is consecrated with age-old sacrilege.
They fashion Saturn, they make Jupiter, they form Hercules, they exhibit Diana with her young servants, they lead Vulcan around roaring out tales of his obscenities, and there are even more, whose names must be left unmentioned, since they are hideous monsters; since nature does not produce such deformities, nor does creation have any knowledge of them, art takes great pains to mold them.
Moreover, human beings are dressed as beasts, they turn men into women, violate honor, mock good judgment, deride public criticism, ridicule the world with the world as their witness, and say that they are doing these things for amusement.
These are no amusements [ioca], no, they are not; they are sins [crimina]. A human being is changed into an idol; and if it is a sin to go to idols, what do you think it is to be an idol? …
Clearly you may not have altogether intended it this way, but on the whole this is how God judges the matter: namely, that you are the reason for the continuation and present-day survival of the obscenity that characterized the centuries that were under the sway of those whose cult is perishing day by day.
Indeed, there is not enough charcoal that can blacken the faces of such gods; and so that their appearance may reach the level of utter and complete terror, straw, skins, rags, and dung are procured from all over the world, and anything connected with human shame is put on their face. Among gods like these the one who is thought to be more magnificent is the one found to be more obscene among the obscene; and the one who is considered the most magnificent of all is the one who can make monsters themselves marvel at his being so uniquely deformed. …
In short, I beseech you, in the midst of evils cease doing evil. Believe me, believe me, I tell you, they would fade away to nothing if fake Christians were not going over to them.
Have a happy (and innocent) new year!