Eusebius (»Alexandrinus«): De die dominica (Versio A) (3)

We keep the day of the Lord only to stay away from work and to have opportunity to pray. But if you stay away from work and do not go to church, you gain nothing. To the contrary, you hurt yourself greatly. Many wait for the day of the Lord, but not all for the same end. Those who have fear for God wait for the day of the Lord, that they may send their prayer to God and enjoy the dear body and blood. But the careless and the negligent wait for the day of the Lord that they may stay away from work and spend their time with bad people. And what happened gives evidence that I do not lie: Go to the main street on any day and you will find nobody. Go on the day of the Lord and you will find some playing the lyre, others beating and dancing, others sitting and joking with their neighbor and scolding, others wrestling, others wrangling with each other, others nodding to bad things, and if somewhere there is a lyre and a dance, then all run. The announcer calls to the church and all display hesitation and inability. A sound of the lyre or of the flute or a beat of dancing is produced, and all come there very fast as if they had wings. What do those who come to church look at? I say it to you: the Lord Christ offered on the holy table while the Seraphim sing the three-holy hymn, the Holy Spirit’s arrival and visit, the prophet and king David celebrating, the praised apostle Paul, who resonates his teaching in the ears of everybody, the hymn of the angels, the never-ending hallelujah, the evangelical voices, the Lord’s commandments, the admonition and counsel of the holy bishops and presbyters, all spirituals, all heavenly things, all relief of salvation and kingdom. Who comes to the church hears that and sees that. What see those who run to the theater? Prostitutes, devilish songs, voices full of filth and anarchy, women dancing, or rather being possessed by a demon. For what does the female dancer? It’s nothing other than that she is voluntarily possessed by a demon. Equally the lyre-player assaults his wooden instrument like a demon. All those spectacles of the theater are demonic, all are causing destruction, all are amusements of demons. That’s why their reward is good-for-nothing. Such was the banquet of Herod. As Herodias entered, she danced and cut off the head of John the Baptist, and (then) she inherited the Hades under the earth. Now, those who loved her lascivious dance have their share and their condemnation with her.