to the Lord, crying out as David does: "What shall I return to the Lord for all that he has returned to me?" A But if, O Arius, that word "uncreated" exalts the Son more than is right, it will be permitted to you, with a change, to cry out with the voice of David: "Lord, if I have called you uncreated, what will you return to me, who bestow upon you honor greater than is your due?" But against them John will shout: B "Foolish and blind, we are not worthy to loosen the thong of his shoe." From every side, therefore, let us be stirred to exalt the divine nature in words: let us meditate on great thoughts concerning God in our hymns: let us exalt with all our might him whom we honor: let us put away an impoverished mind at the time when we speak of God: let us honor the Father with the sublime praises of the Son, let us glorify the Begetter and the likeness of the nature of the Begotten with equal honor to him: let us confess the truth of the generation: C let us possess the love of the Father through the worship of him who is from him: for "He who loves me," he says, "my Father will love him" (John 14:21): to whom be glory and imperium for ages of ages. Amen.
NOTICE CONCERNING THE SERMON ON ALMSGIVING
A most inept little work, published in Greek by Savile (Vol. 6, p. 811), we publish here in a Latin translation. Savile could have omitted this oration without any loss, as being unworthy of the light, he who left not a few similar ones in darkness. But so that we might not appear to have omitted anything from Savile's editions, we have published this along with other Savilian works of the same flour.CHRYSOSTOM'S HOMILY ON ALMSGIVING
D Again, time has been given to us by the Lord and our God and Savior Jesus Christ, in which we might cast the seeds of almsgiving into your ears: again, Christ has granted us the way in which we might imitate that sower, who, when he had cast his seed into good ground, received a hundredfold. For behold, the trumpet has sounded to proclaim the works of the hands: behold, the theater of almsgiving has been readied. Let those, therefore, who are religious, generous, and lovers of the poor be called into the midst: let the lovers of crowns be called. For God is present, who bestows rewards, who grants the kingdom of heaven to those who give in exchange for money received, however small. I beseech you, let no one among you be deprived of such grace: let no one despise this great and heavenly gift because of a small amount of money, not the pauper, not the rich, not the slave, not the free, not the wise, not the unlearned, not the man, not the woman: but all, I pray, with eagerness buy the kingdom of heaven. And let no one of the poor say to me: "I am poor"—for it is necessary to approach the poor first, because they think their excuse seems probable before God. For what does the poor man often say? "I have no money, I am in need of daily food, I am pressed all day long by labor and sweat, so that I can barely manage to keep [myself] alive: I carry burdens on my shoulders, I labor with smith's work and hammer, and I use up the strength of my body: and you, sitting [there], condemn me to give my labors to others?" Do you think, I ask, that your labors are entirely yours, and do you think that the strength of your body is your own? Do you not believe that if you give even a small thing from those labors, which you call yours, you are giving alms to him who implanted in you the vigor and strength to work? Rather, give a little to the body, so that you may grant a great treasure to the soul. If, possessing ten obols, you have given nine to the body and one to the soul, are all your life’s faculties overturned for you by this? If, having fifty obols, you have distributed five to God through the needy, and forty-five to yourself, you have strengthened your soul, you have made your body more robust through the prayers of others, and you have received grace for further labor and for greater gain, and you have become wealthier than the wealthy for [the purpose of] almsgiving. But you will certainly say to me: "What gain shall I have?" You will no longer be called a pauper, but a lender to God. And from where, you will say, will this happen to me? Believe Scripture, which says: "He who has pity on the poor, lends to God" (Prov. 19:17); and you will hear from him: "Insofar as you did it to one of these least [ones], you did it to me" (Matt. 25:40). Have you not often, while sitting in the forum, seen a rich man passing by, and called him blessed, saying: "Happy is this rich man, because he is not in need of the help of others, but rather lends?" Truly, he lends to men, you to God: he receives from the labors of individuals, and sins, and not without strife and litigation; you, however, without labor and care, receive a hundredfold from God with joy: he receives for this short life, you will possess a perennial and eternal life. If you do not believe me, believe God, with an oath affirming and saying: "Amen, I say to you, you will receive a hundredfold, and you will inherit eternal life" (Matt. 19:29). Do not think, therefore, that your resources are diminished when you give to the poor; you do not become a pauper by giving to the poor. If a pauper has pity on a pauper, he does not become poorer, but is to be praised, and he acts more safely in poverty. Have you heard the prophet saying: "I was younger and also I have aged; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread" (Ps. 36:25)? And again: "The just shows mercy and lends all the day, and his seed shall be in blessing" (Ibid. v. 26)? In blessing, why? Because he who sows in blessing, reaps from blessing: for he who has care for your clothes will also care for your soul. For nothing so covers the soul as the covering of the widow, the orphan, and the pauper. For it does not permit the soul to be seen naked by God on that terrible and fearful day; but surrounded by a garment of light through almsgiving, it will appear before God with all glory: for God says through the prophet: "Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the needy and wandering into your house; and then your morning light shall appear, and your healings shall arise quickly, and your justice shall go before you" (Is. 58:7-8). If one obol is laid up for you? Do you know how much light the fruit of almsgiving brings to you? Do you want to know how great a treasure small charity made by the poor procures for us? Do you want to see which paupers, offering the least, obtained great treasures? Listen. For we will inform you about this matter not only from the New Testament, but also from the Old, so that you may gain a heavenly treasure from love of the poor. Famine was once consuming men throughout the whole earth; and such was the famine, that every day a river, as it were, of men and animals was rushing into death, not for a short time, but for three and a half years; so that all the earth was in perdition. The cause of the evil was the idolatry of the Israelites, as well as the iniquity of Ahab and Jezebel; because of which Elijah, though he was a man, was able to place bars upon the heavens, saying: "The Lord lives, if there shall be rain [except through my mouth]," for three years and six months. Finally, the lawless king perceivingA that the widow's flour and oil were lacking—those things in which she had suspended all the hope of her own life and that of her children—the prophet Elijah says to her: "Bring me a little bread in your hand." And the woman said to him: "The Lord your God lives, if I have a hearth-cake, except for a handful of flour in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse; and behold, I am gathering two sticks, and I am going in to make it for myself and for my children, and we shall eat it and die." Is there any one of us today who is driven to such poverty? God forbid. Yet from that remnant of death, the widow first made a hearth-cake for the prophet and brought it out to him, disregarding herself and her children. And what reward did she receive for this meager almsgiving? Hear clearly what the prophet says: "Thus says the Lord: The jar of flour shall not fail, and the cruse of oil shall not diminish." Until when, O prophet? "Until the Lord gives rain and dew upon the earth." For this reason, the prophet says: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord; and his hope shall be in the time of drought, and it shall not diminish nor fail." And the word of the prophet became a deed, and neither the jar failed, nor the cruse diminished. Are you poorer than this woman, O man? Is such a famine pressing upon you that you cannot perform an act of charity? It is not so; God forbid. Rather, you have [the means] and you are able, whoever you may be, and especially if you are a believer. You are ambitious regarding the body, but reckless regarding the soul. Almsgiving is the nourishment of the soul; and just as bread and wine are the nourishment and joy of the body, so also almsgiving and prayer are the healing and joy of the soul. And what will a man give as an exchange for his soul, if not almsgiving? B If you are ignorant of this, learn from the widow in the New Testament, that for two mites she gained the whole kingdom of heaven, having found God himself to be the approver of this poverty, and her fruit-bearing reached even unto the heavens. Did you not see the Savior in the holy Gospels receiving the widow who cast the two mites into the treasury, and bestowing upon her the heavenly crown? For he saw the fragrance of her soul; he saw the poor woman who loved the poor; he saw the one who was in need of money contributing to those who were not in need. Many were those who were casting much into the treasury; and God was present with those who had come, who was at once God and man, the same who does not judge by appearance, but examines the hearts of men. And what judgment does he bring forth regarding them? Let us hear: "Amen, amen I say to you, that this widow has cast in more than all." For I do not accept all that is cast in, he says, but I test the intention of those contributing. "Amen, amen I say to you, that this widow has cast in more than all." Why? Because they brought from their surplus, but she brought her whole livelihood. Therefore, since he has judged righteously, let us all say to God, as the prophet said: "Righteous are you, O Lord, and straight are your judgments"; because you test the intention of men, and you do not restrict the kingdom by the multitude of the offerings. For you do not heed the things being offered, but the disposition of those who offer them. Therefore, let none of you grow weary, I beseech you, even to cast two mites, or ten obols, into the treasury of the widows and orphans; for so the holy Scripture teaches, that according to the intention a man has, he is acceptable before God. May that table not be estranged from your fruit-bearing; but have a portion with it, that you may receive a portion with those who are receiving mercy from the merciful God, who said: "Give alms, that you may receive mercy." Just as it is believed that there is an angel C from heaven who receives the prayers of the people and offers them to God, and hastens to present the prayers to God with everyone, so that your gift of prayer may be accepted with everyone; so believe that in these matters also there is an angel who receives what is given by you to the poor, and offers these things to God. And who is this angel, but he who offered the prayers and almsgivings of Cornelius to God, and said to him: "Cornelius, your alms and your prayers have ascended for a memorial before God"? And he was formerly a Greek; but after this, when the angel spoke to him, he became a believer, and thus they were accepted. How much more so than you, the Christ-lover? D We ought now, therefore, to exhort the rich also. Mostly, indeed, the many are lovers of the poor, and do this of their own accord (for they were well trained by such men, those teachers before us, to bear fruit); but nevertheless, since they require an account even from the poor among us, I will not hesitate to exhort them, and to guide them toward almsgiving, observing these two things: that neither they themselves be accused before God, nor I be disparaged by the angels; and how, I say. For if I do not cast the sayings of the divine Scripture into your good table, like silver to the money-changer, I am immediately accused by God, and I hear from him: "You ought to have cast my money to the money-changers, and I, coming, would have demanded my own with interest." For this reason he also accused, in the holy Gospels, the one who was entrusted with the talent, and who hid it. And how does the prophet call it silver? Hear the words of the Lord: "The words of the Lord are pure words; silver refined, proven for the earth, purified sevenfold." So also God says to the prophet: "Son of man, testify to this people"; and again otherwise: "Exhort, O priests, my people; speak to the ears" of Jerusalem. Having received such commands, therefore, I exhort all of you to come to almsgiving, that I may not be disparaged by you at that hour, if, which may it not come to pass, one should hear from the Judge at that fearful day: "Wicked servant, why did you not have mercy on your fellow-servant? And now, how do you wish to receive mercy?" And again: "Repent now, for there is no time for repentance there; lest one, being accused at that fearful hour, should say that I was not taught by the shepherd, I did not learn what a man shall give in exchange for his soul, nor did he tell us that almsgiving expiates sins; he did not interpret for us the Scripture given to him, saying: 'Blessed is he who understands concerning the poor and needy; the Lord shall deliver him in the evil day'; but he only separated us from Jewish unbelief, and again denounced the superstition of the Greeks; from whose lawlessness, having been taught, we abstained." For if he had instructed us in almsgiving, we would have had the fruits of this to show. For this reason, I do not cease to exhort with boldness, but I admonish and testify to rich and poor alike, men and women together: spare your own souls, and redeem them through money from the coming wrath; lighten the burden of your sins through almsgiving; show mercy, that you may receive mercy. For almsgiving has the power of a holy baptism; and just as the holy bath cleanses the sins of men, so also almsgiving cleanses the sins of the soul of those who show mercy. It is not my word, but the holy Scripture teaches, saying: "Alms and faith purge sins." Money, even if we do not wish it, remains here; but the soul, even if we do not wish it, is led elsewhere, bearing the account of its sins. For this reason, our Lord Jesus Christ said in the Gospels: "What shall a man be profited, if he gain the world, but suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what shall a man give as an exchange for his soul?" Hear then, I beseech you, this word, that in peace it is despised, but in necessities it shows the power of God's law. For the listener often hears: "What shall a man be profited, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?" and he passes over the power of this saying. And if he despises the word in peace, he learns in necessities the power of the one who spoke it. For what does God do, when he sees someone holding fast to money, and turning away from almsgiving, and choosing to suffer everything rather than surrender his money? In necessities, he teaches him to know the law of God; and how, listen: Consider some merchant sailing the sea, and intent only on money...