Our Holy Father John Chrysostom

SOME SPURIOUS WORKS

OF OUR HOLY FATHER JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, ON PENITENCE, AND ON THE LECTION OF DAVID CONCERNING THE WIFE OF URIAH.

^A Behold, today the blessed David has been read to us, the musician of temperance and the teacher. For whenever he moves his spiritual lyre by means of the Psalms, he soothes the hearing and tempers the mind. For this reason, the grace of the Spirit has ordered that he be sung by almost every Christian soul every single day, so that we may both gladden our hearing and derive benefit for our soul. And I am often seized by wonder, and I have often stood outside myself in thought, pondering and saying, why is it that, above all the scriptures in the Old and in the New Testament, everyone so loves the book of David, and everyone has made it their practice to carry this one alone upon their lips? Moses was a great lawgiver, who saw God face to face, who, making known to us the whole of creation from the beginning from on high, and proclaiming the Creator, said: *In the beginning God created heaven and earth* (Gen. 1, 1). And his book is most great and filled with all wisdom, and yet we barely read it in each church once or twice a week. But you will say, "That is of the Old Testament." And what of the reading of the holy Gospels? Where the miracles of the presence of Christ are proclaimed; where God associates with men, and death is dissolved by a word; where demons are put to flight by command, and lepers are cleansed by a word; where the blind receive what was lacking in their nature, cured by clay, and five thousand are fed in the desert from five loaves; where a thief is settled into paradise, and a harlot is found purer than the stars; where the streams of the Jordan are sanctified for the sanctification of our souls, and the only-begotten Son is proclaimed from heaven by the Father; where Christ renews our life, and, renewing it for the salvation of the human race, proclaiming it, says: *Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied* (Matth. V, 3, 6). Yet look, even these laws we read but once or twice a week. But you will say that royal crowns should not be displayed every day. And what of the blessed apostle Paul, the orator of Christ, the fisherman of the world, who through fourteen epistles, as if through spiritual nets, has seined the whole world for salvation; who was caught up to the third heaven, and again into paradise; who was entrusted with the mysteries of the kingdom of God, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (II Cor. XII, 4)? Since we read even him twice a week, and carry his epistle upon our lips; but we fix our minds only upon the reading, and we follow it only at that specific time. What then have I to say regarding the blessed David, as to how the grace of the Spirit has ordered him to be proclaimed every day and night? For we all carry him upon our lips as if he were myrrh. In church are the all-night vigils, and the first, and the middle, and the last is David; in the morning hymns, the first, and ^B the middle, and the last is David; in the processions for the dead, the first, and ^C the last is David; in the houses of the virgins, as they work at the loom, the first, and the middle, and the last is David. Oh, things of wonder! Many, even those who have never had any experience of letters, having learned them, commit the whole of David to heart. But he shines forth not only in the cities and churches thus at every time and for every age, but also in the fields and in the deserts and in the uninhabited land, he raises up sacred choirs to God with the greatest zeal. In the monasteries, there is a holy choir of angelic ranks, and the first, and the middle, and the last is David; in the hermitages ^D of virgins, the flocks of those who...

mimic Mary are, the first, the middle, and the last is David; in ^A the deserts, men are crucified, living with God; and the first, the middle, and the last is David. And all men, indeed, suffering the tyranny of natural sleep by night, are drawn into the depths; but David alone stands alert, and excites the servants of God to angelic vigils, turning the earth into heaven, and rendering men equal to the angels, adorning our life in all things, and having become all things to all, and in all ways rendering our life angelic: growing along with children, inciting the younger to understanding, bestowing continence upon virgins, granting security to the elders, calling sinners to repentance and saying, *Confess to the Lord, for He is good* (Ps. CXVII, 1); strengthening those who have proceeded rightly through repentance and saying, *Do not remember the sins of my youth and my ignorances* (Ibid., XXIV, 7); exciting those who have received benefits to thanksgiving and saying, *What shall I return to the Lord for all that He has returned to me?* (Ibid., CXV, 3); calling those who sin frequently to confession with these words, *If you observe iniquities, O Lord, O Lord, who shall withstand?* (Ibid., CXXIX, 3); instructing those who seek mercy from God and saying, *Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy* (Ibid., L, 1); fortifying those who are called to the priestly office and saying, *Do not cast me away from Your face* (Ibid., L, 13); instructing those dragged to court with these words, *Deliver me from the slanders of men* (Ibid., CXVIII, 134), and saying, ^B *Rescue me from my enemies, O God* (Ibid., LVIII, 2); and exciting those who are expectant and affected by benefits to thanksgiving with these words, *Waiting, I waited for the Lord, and He heeded me, and heard my prayers* (Ibid., XXXIX, 2).

O great lyre, playing upon the souls of men throughout the habitable world as if they were strings, for one confession! And how is it that a man such as this and so great, who adorns multitudes of men, and surpasses encomiastic discourses; who established an angelic regimen on earth, and is crowned in heaven with the favorable acclamation of the angels—how, I say, was it permitted that he should slip into two chief sins? For the chief sins are, *You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery* (Exod. XX, 13, 14); and it was permitted that he should slip into these chief sins. Therefore, often pondering and considering these things within myself, I am amazed in mind, and just as a ship at sea without a helmsman is tossed, carried hither and thither by the waves, so my reasonings have often been stirred by storms, considering and saying: How was a man adorned with such great goods, a king and a prophet, a servant of Christ and a father—a servant according to nature, a father according to the flesh, for *The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David* (Matt. I, 1)—adorned more by virtues than by a diadem; clothed in a purple robe, and invested with humility, saying: *O Lord, my heart is not exalted, nor have my eyes been raised, nor have I walked in great things, nor in wonders above me; if I did not feel humbly, but exalted my soul, as one weaned* (Ps. CXXX, 1, 2); he who ^C crowned the goals of tolerance, and says: *O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands, if I have rendered to those returning evil to me* (Ps. VII, 4, 5); who not only shakes off pride, but even abominates the proud and says: *He who acts with pride shall not dwell in the middle of my house; he who speaks unjust things did not direct them in the sight of my eyes* (Ibid., C, 7); who with confidence says to God: *You have examined me by fire, and iniquity was not found in me* (Ibid., XVI, 3).

But why do I speak? To what end have I used his testimonies? Often even some say: He who bears witness to himself is not worthy of faith; let another testify to his works, let another be the herald of his crowns, let another be the witness of his life, so that the testimony may be more worthy of faith. Whom, pray, have we more worthy of faith than God, who says: *I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to My own heart* (Acts XIII, 22). What could be safer than this testimony? And how was a man clear in such great good works, who is asserted to have been according to the heart of God—how, I say, was he permitted to be carried away into the chief of sins? *You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery*: and is the prophet of God both a homicide and an adulterer? For this passage was read to you today. I do not accuse the prophet, far from it; but I set your life in safety, that when you have done many things rightly, you may fortify yourself so as not to fall. For thus the Apostle also said: *He who thinks he stands, let him see that he does not fall* (1 Cor. X, 12). For this reason ^D even David himself said more frequently: *Unto the end, do not destroy* (Ps. LVII, 1, and LXX, 18): therefore he himself also supplicating said: *And even unto old age and advanced years, O God, do not abandon me*. Why, then, was he permitted to be cast down into such great sin? For three causes, which I will state: you, only, apply your mind with all attention. First, that the just may take heed for their life, whether they be ascetics or hermits; and that they may not say: "I have done many things splendidly, I am adorned with many virtues: I fast, I keep vigil, I pray, I pour out tears, I am clothed in sackcloth, I have rendered my body withered by exercises; I no longer fear the incursions of the devil, I have done those things splendidly which merit crowns." Do not err, O man; do not be elated in spirit: you have not done more than David; hear him saying: *My knees were weakened by fasting, and my flesh was changed because of the oil*; and again, *When they were troublesome to me, I was clothed in sackcloth, and I humbled my soul in fasting* (Ps. CVIII, 24, and XXXIV, 13). Hear him speaking of vigils: *At midnight I arose to confess to You*; and again, *Seven times a day I have praised You* (Ps. CXVIII, 62, and 164): hear him saying of tears: *I labored in my groaning; I will wash my bed through every night, I will drench my couch with my tears* (Ibid., VI, 7): hear him saying of the ascetic life: *For I ate ashes like bread, and I mingled my drink with weeping* (Ibid., CI, 10). But why do I bring forward to you the words of the prophet David? Hear again the testimony of God saying: *I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to My own heart* (Acts XIII, 22). And yet, after such great good works, he was carried away into such falls. Therefore be not bold, but take heed daily according to the admonition of the Apostle saying, *He who thinks he stands, let him see that he does not fall* (1 Cor. X, 12). Behold the first cause; now receive the second: That sinners may not despair of themselves, but if anyone should sin even daily, that he may confess daily. If you have sinned ten thousand times, confess ten thousand times: for there is nothing worse than despair. If anyone, when he has committed sins, has despaired, he no longer runs to the remedy. Do you not see the physicians, if they have despaired of anyone, no longer applying a remedy, but saying to the sick person: "If you wish to give something, we do not accept it; for that disease no longer admits of a remedy: the evil of the disease has surpassed the remedies of the art"? These things are said by those who despair; but if they expect health, they do all things, and apply medicines for the salvation of the sick person. Thus if anyone has despaired on account of sin, thinking there is no salvation for the penitent, he drives himself into greater evils. Therefore if you consider that the remedy and cure for the highest sins of homicide and adultery came to the prophet; even if you sin ten thousand times, you should give yourself over to confession. I say this, however, not urging to sin, but calling sinners to confession: since God, being a lover of mankind, blots out even great sins. For what is greater than homicide and adultery?

And yet, listen to the prophet himself, who sinned, saying: *I have acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid* (Ps. XXXI, 5). Therefore Christ, coming, forgave greater sins; He brought the thief into paradise, He made the tax collector an evangelist, He made the taunting and blasphemous Paul an apostle to the whole world, so that you too, when you sin, might not despair, but, by confessing, might receive healing. *Confess unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever* (Ps. CXVII, 1). Take this as the second cause; take the third as well. Our Savior was destined to arrive in His incarnate presence, and to assume the lump of our flesh, and to dwell with men; but since He was God and alone without sin, He allowed the righteous, according to their own free will, to fall into human slips; not that He Himself called them to sin, but He allowed them by their own will to walk according to their own purpose. Thus, indeed, even Abraham sinned by lacking faith, and for this reason he received a penalty from God: *And thy seed shall be in bondage… four hundred years* (Gen. XV, 13). And again Moses, when he had not glorified God, when he bestowed water from the rock upon the ungrateful; and for this reason God said to him: *And thou shalt see the land of promise, and thou shalt not enter therein* (Deut. XXXIV, 4). And he permitted even this one to fall into sin, so that He alone might be found without sin in a human body. For this reason also the prophet David, when at length he came to the confession of his sin, said this to God: *Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged* (Ps. L, 6). ^A When that day shall arrive, He says, our lump will appear there, sitting at the right hand of the majesty of God; for: *Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool* (Ps. CIX, 1, 2). On that day, therefore, the body which He took from our nature will also appear, with men being held to account. There is a body above and a body below; *for they shall look on him whom they pierced* (John XIX, 37; Zech. XII, 10). But the one is burdened with sins—that is, our own; while the other, having done no sin, but receiving the penalties of sins, is divine. For this reason: *That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged* (Ps. L, 6). How? Because He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth (Ps. LIII, 5). To Him be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. ^B

II. BY THE SAME, CONCERNING THOSE WHO LIVE IN CONTINENCE DURING THE FAST, AND THE LIFE OF VARIOUS PROPHETS.

Athletes, indeed, training every single day, both increase their skill and easily carry off the victory over their adversaries. Runners, likewise, by daily exercise, rendering their movements supple and fit, are sharpened for the quickest expectation. In the same way, the fathers authorize us to teach more frequently, so that we may acquire for ourselves speed and assurance in teaching through the exercise of the word. Come, therefore, beloved, following the footsteps of Joseph, abandoning the Egyptian sin, and stripped of hatred, let us run toward continence. For if Joseph had the covering of the flesh, did he not have a garment more brilliant than the glory of continence? The purity of continence, bracing the fathers, supported the world as adamant pillars, stretching prayers to heaven and healing the souls of men upon earth. The blessed Moses, girding himself with continence, became a pillar of salvation for the Hebrews in Egypt, and leveled the doors of the first-born of the Egyptians, while he pronounced blessed the light-bearing children of the Hebrews; and against Pharaoh and the magicians he stood as a pillar, while Joshua the son of Nun, having continence as his companion, commanded the heavenly luminaries: for he hindered the courses of the sun, and fixed the bounds of the moon, and lengthened the light of the day. And when was this? When against Gabaon [he said]: *Sun, stand thou still over Gabaon, and moon, over the valley of Elam* (Jos. X, 12). This one divided rivers, preserved a people, and brought the Hebrews back again to the holy land; this one leveled walls and overturned the cities of the impious; he saved Rahab, punished foreigners, and glorified his own kin. Samson the most valiant, keeping continence, throttled a lion, and produced water from the jawbone of an ass, and received the remedy for his thirst from there. Elijah the Tishbite, dwelling with continence, became a life-giver to the impoverished widow; for his oil poured forth as a good blessing, and he multiplied the handful of flour day by day. This same Elijah, through continence, possessed the treasuries of fire and water in the clouds; for he poured heavenly fire upon the impious, and for the failing world he emptied heavenly springs. Elisha, his disciple, possessing the same continence as his teacher, in the barren womb of the Shunammite, brought to harvest the stalk of a child through prayer; and since it behooved him to show miracles equal to his teacher, he raised one from the dead; and after death, the remains of his bones raise the dead. And Daniel the most wise, having girded himself with continence like a double-edged sword, throttled the wolves that preyed secretly, and kept the lamb of Helcias unharmed. For neither was her brilliant fleece of continence torn by an impure kiss, nor were her breasts defiled by the two-edged sword of sin. And the blessed Habakkuk, snatched up by the Holy Spirit, conveyed the meal of the laborers to Daniel, the laborer of continence. For could not God have nourished this one also, like Elijah, through ravens? But so that He might not leave him without consolation while he dwelt among wild beasts, He sends the fellow-prophet to comfort his affliction. For consider, beloved, how Daniel was in the den of the lions, having no stool, no bread, no table, no lamp, no bed, but standing crosswise in the midst of the two lions, he was imitating the Christ who was to come. And the three most holy youths, having embraced continence, wrestling with the fire, conquered its seething flame with might. ^C O virginity, which blossomed without pain the hope of the world, Christ! O wisdom of God, which did not deprive Mary of the glory of virginity, and which caused Christ, the boast of the world, to shine forth through her like light! O holy child of an unwed bride, source of incorruption, breath of immortality, beacon of the Church, scales of justice, fair pearl of the merchants, and good crown-wearer of the fearful, who are sold for much and bought by the poor; who are purchased for three obols—of faith, of hope, of love—and who lodge in the heart of the humble; the mustard seed, and leader of the host of angels; the untended grape of the all-beautiful Mary, and the unviewable Word of all-fruitful wisdom; who destroyed the mourning of death upon earth, and made ready the light of the bridal chamber in heaven; who clothed Thyself in the new grass of our body, and granted us the incorruptible breath of the flower; these are the teachings of thy wisdom, these are the sweetnesses of thy fast, these are the adornments of thy continence, these are the supports of thy Church. Thus you are accustomed to nourish your people, Jesus, not as absent, but as present; for dwelling with the Father, you are not separated from us, and while lodging with us, you do not depart from the Father. You washed our bodies with water, and loosed our sins with your Spirit; you seasoned the souls of your sheep with the salt of piety, and drew us up into the pasture of the angels; you strengthened our feet with a seal, and extended to us faith as a ladder from earth to heaven, and stationed angels as guides for us; you set tree against tree, and set side against side; you stretched out your hands to the air, and for our sake persuaded the Father [for us], and granted deep calm out of the storm. Therefore by night and by day, both silent and speaking, we send up glory to Thee, having our hopes of life in Thee, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

III. A HORTATORY DISCOURSE OF THE SAME ON TEMPERANCE

^A Those who apply themselves to certain disciplines, under the pressing authority of a teacher, exercise diligence; their assiduity is thought to proceed from the fear of the master. But when, in the master’s absence, they maintain the study of good things, this is a love of labor from a pure will. We also are students of the teachings of fasting. However, when the time of fasting is upon us, and we display philosophy, it is as though we are lovers of labor due to pedagogical training; but now, as the fasting intermits a little, those who abstain from excessive satiety possess the praise of a sincere purpose, as philosophers without necessity, and temperate by their own choice, as those who know how to retain those good things which they acquired from their previous labors. For he who proceeds to the immoderate use of foods does not know what he gathered while fasting, he does not know what fruits he stored up; but as if he had nothing deposited within, and as if he had collected no treasure for himself, he gave himself over to immoderate pleasure, and does not put barriers and gates of moderation before his desires. And it is no wonder. For such is every indigent person; he has no care for doors and gates, he fears no plots, he sleeps without anxiety, as one who has nothing that might incite thieves, since nothing can be taken from the needy. But for those who have a wealthy house, there is a guard for the treasures stored up, ^B and doormen to ward off intruders. We too have become rich through fasting; and the signs of our riches are manifest: pleasures have been brought into servitude; we rule over the belly, which we formerly served; we have acquired an incorporeal life; we are covered by a new house of abstinence, of which we have laid the foundations. That work needs strength and requires labor for it to be stabilized; but drunkenness is not for those who confirm, but for those who dissolve; it is for those who weaken the foundations, not those who strengthen them. No one undermines a foundation that (a wise man) has made firm; no one can secretly open the storehouse of a rich man. But the soul of one who is fasting is the storehouse of an apparent rich man, which needs diligent guarding, lest it be subject to theft; for the soul is stripped as if it were a house. David had a soul-house filled with good things; however, it was plundered by the robbing pleasure: for he left the entrance open, and did not secure it with the gate of sobriety. But what was that neglect of sobriety? Excessive rest of the body: for he says: "And it happened that David arose from his bed after midday, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house" (II Reg. XI, 2); in the evening, and he arose from sleep and walked: sleep, and after sleep, a walk, the softness of one desiring. What was the harm from that? "And he saw a woman washing herself from the opposite side upon her roof: and she was very beautiful. And he sent and lay with her." That he saw is unblamed; for no one would accuse the eyes for seeing things that present themselves: but that way of seeing was worthy of reproach, because it led to sin. For he did not see her form and turn away, but being enticed by her beauty, he fixed his eyes upon the spectacle: and he no longer had pupils (kóras) in his eyes, but prostitutes. So great an evil is the appetite of the eyes, unless you restrain it. The same power is ours regarding food as David’s was regarding the use of his eyes; but the transgression of sin makes that worthy of reproach which was free of blame. What then? Let the body be nurtured with food, indeed; "For the laborer is worthy of his food" (Luc. X, 7): but as we dine, let Paul be present with us, and if he sees us behaving indecorously regarding food, like a physician, he will cry out to the disorderly: "Having food and clothing, let us be content with these" (1 Tim. VI, 3). Food, not delicacies; food, not subversion from drunkenness. Delicacies once incited Israel to idolatrous dancing; for drunkenness had rendered the soul captive: for it says, "The people sat to eat and drink, and rose up to play" (Exod. XXXII, 6). Let us therefore observe what suffices for use; let the body be cared for with food, let us seek the solace of relaxation, let us not be broken by the burden of fullness, let us use moderate food, let us avoid the shame and danger of drunkenness: let us obey Paul who exhorts: "Do not be drunk with wine, in which is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit" (Ephes. V, 18); to whom be glory forever. Amen.

IV. OF THE SAME, THAT IT IS GRAVE TO CONTEMN THE CLEMENCY OF GOD. BUT IT WAS SPOKEN AFTER THE PARABLE OF THE TEN THOUSAND TALENTS HAD BEEN READ; AND AGAINST THE JEWS, WHEN AN EARTHQUAKE HAD OCCURRED.

The magnificence of our Lord’s clemency, which you have now heard, manifested to sinners, effected a huge remission of the ten thousand talents of sin. But many, often acting against the Lord’s clemency and using His gifts badly, turn the riches of clemency into a treasure of punishment for themselves: since He does not lavish mercy rashly, nor is He moved by an excessive desire for magnificence, but He exhibits the riches of His clemency, but He persuades by the abundance of His gifts. But when He sees that the gifts of His clemency are thrown away in vain, He closes the fountains of good things, He withholds the rains of clemency, weary of granting favors. How many times did He once irrigate the Jewish people with rains of good things, as He saw them empty of the fruit of gratitude, not bearing their ungrateful spirit, He cried out, "You have become a burden to me!" (Isai. I, 14). From my clemency toward you, you have appeared all the more contentious: I have become weary of granting you favors: "You have become a burden to me." Reason corresponds to that limit of patience toward them: for no other way of correcting them remains ***

V. OF THE SAME, ON THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD, FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE (Luc. VIII, 43).

To some, the scope of life has distributed other occupations, attributing to each that which seems useful and fitting; but God has bestowed upon us the single occupation of the Spirit, which becomes manifold through faith, and produces the greatest good works, as it is written: "But the same Spirit, dividing to each as He wills" (1 Cor. XII, 11). For faith alone remains with its possessors; it does not deceive the one who receives it, it does not desert the one who holds it, it does not fear thieves, it has no suspicion of robbers, it needs no seals, it requires no guards. For it has God as its guardian, who through this administers all things to all people readily. Kings desire to have this; but the private citizen possesses it, the primates seek it: but it runs to the humble, and embraces the lowly; it comes to the infirm, and leads those who have been seized by the hand, bestowing healings without price. When therefore you see, O beloved, Christ descending from the mountain, and again ascending the mountain, crossing the marsh, sailing across the sea, occupied in fields, and cities and villages; when the journeys have been accomplished here below, be mindful also of those things which He did above; do not forget the throne of the Cherubim, do not neglect divine things for the sake of human things, do not abandon heaven to oblivion, let it not fall from your memory that the Word was made flesh, as it was His good pleasure. For the Word was made flesh: as flesh He walks, as the Word He withdraws; as flesh He ascends the mountain, as

^A His custom is, He suddenly turns the crowd into joy. Behold, even today, encompassed by the crowd, He shines forth the hem of His garment, and with the rain of faith He has flooded nature. For what has the evangelist recently set forth to us, bringing in the manifold gains of faith? "For there was a certain ruler of the synagogue, a minister of the laws of Moses, and an instructor of the people, their name being Jairus. Nature had granted to him one favor: an only-begotten daughter, ^B towards whom the crowd was necessarily occupied, as is the custom of a parent who loves his children. But, as it seems, he was unaware that he was taking care of her not for succession, but for an untimely burial. For a certain grievous disease had come upon her, rendering her a neighbor to death, and cutting off the father from his pleasant hope regarding her. Yet this suffering did not conquer faith; for Jairus immediately proceeds to the Savior and beseeches Him to reach his house. But the Lord anticipates the one calling Him by His readiness; for, having arisen, He followed him. ^C But look, O believer, at what kind of righteous violence is innovated by a woman, what kind of wise theft is managed, what kind of harmless plunder is devised by a female, for it is necessary for Him, hastening toward his movement, to complete that journey quickly. A woman, it says, having an issue of blood for twelve years, coming up behind, touched the hem of His garment; for she said within herself, "If I only touch, I shall be saved." For this one, she says, is the physician who has arrived from heaven; He does not command the material of costly medicines, He does not cut with iron, He does not bring on pains; He knows the ^D things of the female; for He came down from a virgin mother just as He willed; He is not defiled by investigating hidden sufferings; He is the overseer of secret things. I am a woman, and I carry a shameful and hidden suffering; for I have an inexhaustible stream of blood and fountains of impure discharges that do not cease. I am in need, therefore, of a fountain, which is He Himself, so that He may secretly cleanse my unseemly nature; for the law does not admit such a disease. The crowd pushes me away, the wretch, as though I were defiled; but the present Physician, being the Creator of nature, who refashioned [man] from a rib, would not refuse to deliver [me] from decay; for by word alone He commands, and the suffering does not remain; 212 He is perturbed in Spirit, and He exacts the dead from Hades; from a few loaves He fills thousands, He is washed by tears and causes forgiveness to spring forth. But no one dares this unless it be faith alone, having no doubt; having taken this, therefore, as a guide for my soul, I step forward secretly, and in silence I plunder the healing by a touch; and if I remain hidden, the gain is entire, for I know that I shall be saved; but if, not remaining hidden, I should be called into the midst, I would not be condemned for having dared for the sake of healing, nor would I be made to pay back what faith has stolen; for all of her gifts are without repentance, as they belong to God; for He who said to the sea, "Be silent, be muzzled," will also speak to my hidden fountain. Come, therefore, O faith, direct the future, and quickly cut through the wave of the crowds, so that I may moor my fragile skiff of a body into that calm harbor; for a drop of His help is able to tirelessly drown the abyss of blood within me; having thus deliberated these things well, she dares the undareable, and she fears neither time, nor does she reckon poverty, nor does she count the multitude; but having vaulted over all these things through faith, or rather with faith, having secretly touched the robe of the Master, she opportunely plundered the gain of healing, believing that the union with Him was to be a riddance of her suffering; truly a riddance; for she was healed immediately from the scourge. For she had been boxing with the disease for twelve years daily and yearly, she was stealing her life away, being slaughtered at all times, and yet not dying; for the first year, and she began to have sensation of certain pains and toils; it was the second year, and it was disturbing the hidden things of this obscure city; the third year was present, and she was gripped by the swelling of nerves and veins; it was the fourth year, and a fountain of blood was proceeding from her; the fifth year, and physicians were running together from every side, uncovering limbs which it is not lawful for males to see; the sixth year was being completed, and the terrible thing was intensifying; the seventh year, and with so much wealth being emptied, the corruption of blood remained inexhaustible; the eighth year arrived, and those treating her confessed defeat; the ninth year was, and leaving her as completely hopeless, they were departing; the tenth year drew near, and the woman was wholly destitute of substance and health; the eleventh year, and no helper was standing by the pain-stricken one; the twelfth year was being counted, and the Physician of souls was present at the final hour, healing the diseases by touch and word and faith. Meeting Him, and believing in the future, she received what she wanted; but she was trembling, knowing that she had not been hidden. For what says the Savior? "Who is it that touched me? For I perceived power going out from me." He did not say, "Who is it that touched me [female]?" so that the bystanders might not occupy themselves in an ambiguous questioning of a woman; but He said, "Who is it that touched me [male/neuter]," leaving the voice in suspense, so that each one hearing might think that the undertaking was a man's: "Who is it that touched me? For I perceived power going out from me." 213 What are you saying, O Master? Have you come to be plundered? Have you set forth the kingdom for the faithful to steal? And why do you ask what you know, and seek what you do not ignore? If you were not willing to let out the power that went out, you ought to have held it back; but if you were plundered when you so willed, why are you annoyed, giving what faith forces you to give? You granted without being asked, and after giving, you accuse? You healed invisibly, and after the healing you convene a court? Yes, He says; I know who plundered me, I do not ignore who successfully stole; but I desire her to come into the midst, so that she may become a herald of the grace she obtained. For, having been so willingly plundered by her, I have purposed to confirm her gift before all: "Be of good courage, daughter, your faith has saved you." Keep, He says, what you have cleverly stolen; hold, woman, what you have invisibly snatched; possess a genuine possession, which faith has provided for you; for instead of a slave you have been named a daughter, instead of a defiled one [you are] anointed today. Be healthy from your scourge. You see, beloved, how much faith can do, how in a single moment it accomplished miracles; in silence encouraging the trembling one, having prevailed upon the Physician. Thus the Church from the Gentiles, having envied the woman with the issue of blood, and having approached the Master in faith and silence, has un-mouthed the fountain of the defiled legal bloods, and having been called a daughter, she exists as a mother of many, possessing as witness the one who long ago cried out: "For many are the children of the desolate more than of her who has a husband"; I mean the synagogue, whose husband is the law, the ruler of the synagogue, calling the Master today to the raising of the deceased child. But as the hour presses me to be a debtor of the miracle concerning her, I proclaim the Lord, the Giver of wealth, sitting by you as a surety; to whom glory is due unto the ages of ages. Amen.

VI. BY THE SAME, THAT THIS LIFE IS LIKE THE SEA, AND CONCERNING THE PASSAGE, "WHEN JESUS WENT UP WITH HIS DISCIPLES INTO THE BOAT AND FELL ASLEEP" (Luke VIII, 22, 23; Matth. VIII, 23).

Those who sail the sea, whenever they are blown upon by a straight-aiming wind and complete their voyage, becoming joyous of face, they adjust their appearance in imitation of the calm; but whenever the serenity of the calm, continuing, relaxes the sailors, and causes some to fall asleep, and others to entrust the rudders of the vessel to boys, and with the pilot being carefree, and the sailors having unloosed the labor of their art due to the stillness, and suddenly a storm of the roughest kind having splattered, the winds unexpectedly dash out upon the sea, and the sea begins to roar, becoming savage, and the multitude of waves to hinder the ship, and the stretchings of the many-folded ropes hanging about the mast, being lashed by the violent impact of the winds, hiss—then indeed, beloved, a clamorous and wailing noise arises from the passengers, expecting a watery death beside the natural one. And it is possible to see the sailors being tossed by the gale surrounding them from without, but more so by the lamentations from within.

insomuch that the helmsman himself, having become trembling from fear, can no longer use his hand to steer the ship; and all of them, crying out, despair of being able to save their lives among men. Such a thing also happened to the disciples; for ^B do you transfer yourself with me to the Gospel. Jesus ascended with his disciples into a boat (Luke VIII, 22), and easily crossed the sea. As long as the Lord Christ was awake, every contrary wind was repressed; the sea was flat for them, as if it were solid ground, nor did a wave rise up against the ship carrying Christ. But when Jesus, according to his providence, was sleeping in the boat, in accordance with the nature of the body, and not according to the dignity of the Godhead (for the eye of the Godhead is immune to sleep); then the winds, seeing their Master and Prefect sleeping—just as horses despise a charioteer held by sleep—exhaling a fierce tempest with an impetuous blast, were borne against the apostolic boat; and, a gale having arisen, which threatened an unexpected death with such a blast, with the sea surging and casting its fierce waves with a roar onto the bank—the shaper of the sands—the disciples, seeing the raging tempest, invoked Christ the most celebrated defender; saying what? Lord, save us, we perish (Matt. VIII, 25). By Economy the Lord was sleeping in the boat, not unaware of what was about to happen, nor lacking the power to induce serenity; but knowing that the sea was about to be troubled, he was sleeping for two reasons: that he might by the tempest rebuke the wavering and weak faith of the disciples, and might liquidly demonstrate to them the power of his divinity. It was possible to see, therefore, O beloved, the Lord, awake in body, becoming more vehement than himself, and the wind fleeing stealthily into its own cave, and the sea no longer intent on threats against the apostolic boat, but the waves converting themselves to adoration. Such is the course of this life, so that things never remain in the same state, but are sometimes tranquil in peace and abound in an abundance of provisions; at other times, however, they are moved and tossed by waves, like the sea, partly by the incursions of barbarians, partly by the machinations of tyrants and the perplexities of affairs, and by many other disturbances ^C and agitations. For the aforementioned history concerning the apostolic boat has this meaning; nothing indeed was done by the Lord that did not have a mystery. This life is like the sea; human nature is like the boat, carrying thoughts and mind like passengers and a helmsman. This boat, therefore, that is to say human nature, is tossed in this life by the wickedness of the devil, by the hostile demons who excite the waves of the passions; they cast the false foam of pleasures into the internal mind, and move the mind, the helmsman, with passions and submerge it into sin. But whatever human being, moved by the flame of pleasures, may be submerged into sin—that, asserting my discourse, the prophet David testifies. For when he had made shipwreck concerning continence, he was crying out, saying: "I came into the depth of the sea, and a tempest submerged me" (Ps. LXVIII, 3). For we nowhere find this in history concerning David: when did David sail? Or in what sea traveling was he submerged? Nowhere indeed. What then does it mean? Being in this life as if in a sea, and tossed by pleasures as if by waves, and with the structure of his thoughts loosened, having admitted within the wave of cupidity, and having been despoiled of the strength of a man through the wife of Uriah, he suffered a shipwreck of continence. Therefore he was saying: "I came into the depth of the sea, and a tempest submerged me." Then again repenting, and again recovering the tiller of continence from the depth of sin, and tempering his life with chastity, he was praying to God saying: "Let not the tempest of water submerge me, nor the deep ^D swallow me" (Ps. LXVIII, 16). Such a thing the Apostle also mentions, mystically indicating human nature: "Thrice I made shipwreck." For what does he say? "Thrice I made shipwreck; a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea" (II Cor. XI, 25). For human nature made shipwreck thrice: once, in paradise through the transgression; secondly, in the flood of Noah; thirdly, after the law was received, the people fell into the worship of idols, until Christ, the helmsman of our souls, coming and planting the veil of the cross in the middle of the earth, provided for us a navigation free from tempests unto the heavenly city. "A night and a day I was in the depth of the sea." He calls "night" that delay in murky error, which preceded the advent of Christ; and "day," that state in the lucid baptism, which followed the advent of Christ. Since, therefore, the whole of human nature was being tossed through the wickedness of the devil, as we have said: seeing this, the Word of God, coming into this life, enters into the hollow of the boat of the virgin Mary: the type of which we find expressed in the prophet Jonah. For Jonah is sent to Nineveh; Christ comes into this life: Jonah departs into the boat, and sleeps in the hollow of the boat; the Word also of God for nine months was sleeping, so to speak, in the womb of the virgin Mary, silent to men. Then the gale of devilish wickedness was more excited, just as against Jonah. But when Jonah was thrown into the sea, that is, when Jesus came forth from the womb of the Virgin into this life, and every wind against him also grew silent, until he should arrive at the underworld, he brought forth many signs and wonders while sailing in this life. Jonah entered into the whale, and he entered into the underworld: three days and three nights, as many as Jonah, he spent in the underworld. Jonah is cast out from the whale into Nineveh; Christ rises from the dead, and comes into this world... preaching repentance; the Ninevites repent, and the inhabitants of this world: for three days they fast, and numerous multitudes are saved; just as also in Nineveh twelve myriads of men and very many cattle. For the Lord preaching repentance and faith to this world, the twelve tribes of Israel are saved. "When the fullness of the nations shall have entered, then all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. XI, 25). That Jonah was a type of Christ, the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "As Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" (Matt. XII, 40). To him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

VII. OF THE SAME, ON THAT: THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED (Matt. XIII, 31).

^A makes mention of his illustrious end, saying: "And your remnant shall be a worm" (Isai. XIV, 11). For it was necessary for him, like a wise fisherman, to clothe the worm of the flesh with the flashing hook of divinity and to lower it into the abyss of this life, and thus to hook the dragon, so that indeed what is written in Job may be fulfilled: "Will you draw out the dragon with a hook?" (Job XL, 20). ^B "The kingdom of heaven is therefore like a grain of mustard seed." Some of those hearing this will then say: "How can the same thing be the kingdom of heaven and a grain, and both great and small in relation to it?" Because through the excess of his compassion for his own creation he has become all things to all, that he might win all. He was God, as indeed he is and shall be by his own nature, and he became man for our salvation. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (Rom. XI, 33). O grain, by which the world was created, by which darkness has been scattered and the Church renewed! This grain, suspended upon ^C the cross, possessed such greatness of power that even being bound, by a word alone he snatched the thief from the tree and rolled him into the delight of paradise; this grain, being pierced in the side with a spear, caused a draught of immortality to spring forth for those who thirst. This grain of mustard seed, brought down from the tree and placed in a garden, covered the whole heavenly realm with its branches; this grain of mustard seed, placed in a garden, and having sent its roots into Hades, and having gathered the souls there, in three days raised them into heaven; this grain of mustard seed, crushed upon the tree, struck and darkened our adversary the serpent, and having awakened Hades, turned it back to the place from whence it was left. "The kingdom of heaven is therefore like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his own garden." Sow this grain of mustard seed in ^D the garden of your soul, so that you too may say: "Awake, O north wind, and come, O south, blow upon my garden, and let my spices flow" (Cant. IV, 16). If you have this grain of mustard seed in the garden of your soul, the prophet will say to you as well: "And it shall be as a garden drunken, and as a fountain whose water shall not fail" (Isai. LVIII, 11). If you have this grain in the garden of your soul, and partake of its myrrh, it is said to you also: "The smell of your garments is like the smell of frankincense" (Cant. IV, 11, 12, 15); that is, the smell of your fleshly things is like the smell of frankincense. "A garden enclosed, a fountain sealed" are your missions. This grain of mustard seed, crushed upon the tree, and having become leaven through the all-artful and immortal wisdom, mixed into three measures of meal—that is, into soul and body and spirit—leavened the whole of humanity into one faith.

The imagery of this mystery was depicted by Abraham and his consort Sarah with their own hands

^A the Spirit’s movement; it is touched by this light; be delighted in this plant and dance with the angels, glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.

VIII. BY THE SAME, ON THE TEXT, "IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST, THERE IS A NEW CREATION; THE OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD, ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW." (II Cor. V, 17)

Great truly is the eagerness with which a farmer casts his seeds, once he sees that the field has been cleared, nor is there a multitude of thorns to hinder the growth of the shoots, nor a stone to strike against the plow. But there is a greater ease for him who is about to bring forth the sermon when he sees a prepared auditor. For I see a field cleared, and nowhere is there a thorn sprouting; and the thorn is the anxiety of wealth, which chokes the word. I say these things, not because there are no rich people present, but because I am manifesting the philosophy of the poor in the hearing of the sermon. For there is need not only of the speaker, but also of a prudent auditor; for Scripture requires both—the wise teacher and the prudent auditor—so that our labor may not turn out useless through the idleness of the hearers. ^B For the anxiety of wealth does not allow what is said to fall into the mind, but snatches away the understanding of the hearers. Since, therefore, I see all of you prepared—for I do not know the secrets of the mind, but I examine the eyes of each of you curiously, and I see eyelids standing like horns and eyes not wavering, indicating the stillness of the mind, and each one exempt from the cares of this life, observing only this, thinking only of this, how he may receive what is said—apply your mind with greater care; open the lap of your soul, so that the seeds may be sown more easily. ^C For a long time now I have wanted to let my tongue loose upon Paul’s table, and I shall not stop calling him an idiot, an obscure and ignoble man, a tentmaker. These are my prerogatives, these my praises, that I have such masters, shining not with the riches of this life, but with spiritual virtues. If someone of the Greeks says to me, "Whom do you have as a master?" I answer, "The tentmaker." "And whom else?" "The fishmonger." "And whom else?" "The tax collector." "And whom else?" "The magi and the harlot." "And whom else?" "The thief." And I am not ashamed of these, but I glory in them. "Do you glory in having a street-peddler as a master?" Assuredly. Why? Because if the lowliness of the disciple shows the power of the master, the lowliness of the master shows that the preaching is divine. For even if men preached it, still men did not invent it; if men preached it, still men did not produce it. Men are the instruments, God is the artisan; they are the ^D lyre, this mighty hand has moved the string. Therefore, the prophet, even though he was a king and clad in purple and adorned with a diadem, and addressing the world, having left behind that worldly pomp—so that no one might think he was speaking royal words—said: "My heart has erupted a good word, I speak my works to the King. My tongue is the pen of a scribe" (Ps. XLIV, 2). Why do you call it a pen? So that you might learn that what is written is not mine, but the right hand’s that holds it. For a pen does not write by itself, but [writes] whatever the hand holding it wills. And "my tongue is the pen of a scribe"—for the Holy Spirit holds it. When, therefore, the Greek says to you: "Who is your master?" do not be ashamed, do not blush, but say: "The street-peddler, the tentmaker, who stood in the forum, who stitched hides." "But who is your master?" "Plato, Pythagoras; not a street-peddler, but a philosopher." But if I say, "Who is your master?" "A philosopher; your master is from a noble fatherland; your master is rich; your master has a sharp tongue, more fluent than the rivers themselves, enjoying honor, rejoicing in the splendor of his ancestors, honored everywhere." My master, on the contrary, has: this is the victory, so that the trophy might be more brilliant. He solecizes, so that yours might Atticize; but the one who solecizes has defeated the one who Atticizes. He solecizes in language, but he philosophizes in mind; I have no need of words, but of thoughts. Mine has defeated yours: how? The idiot the wise man, the rustic the orator. "And from where," he says, "is it clear that he has won?" Impudent man, do you not see the very facts crying out? Where is Plato? Nowhere. Where is Paul? *In everyone’s mouth.* Where is Plato? There is silence about him, he is consigned to oblivion. Where, however, is Paul? He took the regal Rome, which he not only possessed while living, but even dead he conquered. He died in the body so that he might live in the spirit; the parchment was torn, yet the letters remain—for it was not written with ink, but confirmed by the Spirit. It is easier to pass by the sun than Paul’s words. 222 For what does He who granted him the words say? "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Matth. XXIV, 35). If they are mere words, refute them; if they are *things*, adore them. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. It is easier for the sun to be extinguished and the heaven to be taken from sight than for the words of my Lord to be dissolved. And the experience of things bears witness to these, and the length of time, and the incursions of enemies; for this is worthy of admiration, not only that they have not been dissolved, but that they have even overcome when besieged in war. Attend carefully to my words. Paul cried out, the fisherman and evangelist John cried out, he who cast the net and caught the Gospel, who let go the fishing-pole and took up the Word of the Master. What did he cry out, and what did the fisherman say? Let us see if I can fish out the words of the fisherman and not of the fisherman: of the fisherman, indeed, because he cried it out; not of the fisherman, however, because the words were of the Spirit. For what does he say? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (Joan. I, 1). What does the Jew say? He thinks great things of Moses, because he split the sea and divided the deep and made it stand, and changed the air, and split the rock, and brought down manna, and cut down cities along with their inhabitants, and was a victor in wars without arms. Are you thus haughty? Hear what Moses said, what the fisherman [said], so that you may see what the poverty of the old Law is, and what the abundance of grace. What, then, did Moses say? "In the beginning God made heaven and earth" (Gen. I, 1). What, however, the fisherman? He nowhere puts that word, "He made," but what? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." The one starts from created things, this one from the Creator. Do you see how he ascends higher than Moses? He heard Moses saying that God made heaven; he dismissed the heaven and ascended higher. Angels met him and he passed them by; archangels, and he went past them; Cherubim, and he did not stop there. Where are you running? "I seek something else: if the Cherubim shine, still they are works; if the Seraphim sing, they are still fellow-servants just as I am. What do you seek? If Principalities and Dominations, these also are servants and creatures; if Powers, your things also are created." "Where are you going?" "I seek the Creator Himself, I seek Him who is of the same substance as the Father; and I will not desist until I find Him, as a man can find Him." Moses spoke of the heaven, and stopped; for he did not receive the spirit that I have (Rom. VIII, 15); for he did not receive the spirit of bondage in fear, but he received the spirit of adoption of sons unto the obedience of faith. Greater things have been entrusted to me. Therefore my Lord descended from on high below, so that I, placed below, might ascend on high. "What do you seek?" "The Creator Himself; when I find Him, then I shall stand." He found, and what does he say? "In the beginning was the Word." Nowhere, "He was made"; for there is no beginning for the Creator, nor in the teaching. "In the beginning was the Word." How many tyrants have wanted to abolish this word of the fisherman, and could not; but, wherever you go, you hear that "In the beginning was the Word"—whether in the country or in the city, [this] prevailed, "In the beginning was"

the Word." ^A And in Persia, and in India, and in the land of the Moors, this saying shines more brightly than the sun. For the sun shines by day, but in the night it is hidden; but the saying sends forth its own radiance even in the night, for it is inscribed in the intuition of everyone. The one who wrote it has died, and the saying shines; the body of him who spoke it has been dissolved, and the saying flourishes above the sun. Wherever you go, the saying has gone before: "In the beginning was the Word." And everyone—both woman and man, and slave and free, and king and private citizen, and rulers and ruled—meditate upon it in their heart, and no one is able to erase this most beautiful inheritance, but it remains, preserving [its] wealth. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." The devil could not erase the saying; why? Because it was not a mere saying, but the saying of God. Do not, therefore, be ashamed when you hear: "This the fisherman uttered, this the tentmaker stitched." ^B Did you see how he sat in the very bottom of poverty and ascended to the summit of virtue? But that I may not, having begun with others, carry the discourse to other things in the rush of what is being said, allowing the thoughts to roll out, come, by using a bridle on my tongue, let us bring the subject back to the previous promise.

What, then, says the tentmaker, the man of the marketplace? For I shall not cease constantly to sound abroad these words, because of the madness of the many and their unphilosophic mind. For since many in the marketplace, when they draw water, say, "Marketplace-dweller," what is it, "Marketplace-dweller"? What is a marketplace-dweller? Tell me: is it an accusation to be a marketplace-dweller? Is it an accusation to stand in the marketplace and work? It is an accusation to remain inside and plunder the things of others. Learn what is an insult, and what is an encomium, and do not laugh; to be a man of the marketplace is not an accusation, but to be a plunderer is, to be a covetous man. What do you profit me, that you sit in your chamber, and are a wolf? What does it harm me [that] the poor man [stands] in the marketplace, walking and imitating the ox and the plowman? Are you a marketplace-dweller, are you a craftsman? These are not accusations; these are encomiums, because you gather your food from just [labors], not being busy with others' houses. It is not, then, an accusation to be a marketplace-dweller, nor to be a craftsman; but what is an accusation? To live idly; and I would that it were [only] idle, and not practicing evil. Paul was a marketplace-dweller, and stood at his workshop; and he was not such before the Gospel, but after the Gospel he was changed. ^C But he both preached and stitched skins; he preached and remained with Priscilla and Aquila, because [they were] of the same trade, for they were tentmakers by trade. O the philosophy of Paul! O the exalted mind, and the unconquerable will! O the intellect that touched the heaven! O the soul that looked down on all things that are seen! O the will that considered the phantasies of life [as] a spider's web; he did not go away to kings, he did not go away to the wealthy, he did not go away to the affluent, but he went away to tentmakers because of [their] being of the same craft, and he was not ashamed of revealing his own trade, but made it manifest to all. He stood in the marketplace preaching the Gospel, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, and he was not ashamed of the place, but prided himself on his way of life, and he stood in the marketplace; and the one was handing over skins, and the others were saying, "Raise up the dead man"; and there stood two women, the one saying, "Make for me the skin a bed-covering," and the other saying, "Raise up my son," and he answered both; and this did not become a hindrance to that, but the hands were working, and the grace was operating, and the tentmaker answered both, providing to the one that which came from [his] trade, and to the other that which came from grace. What do you wish? I make the skin into a bed-covering; for I stitch skins. What do you wish? I make your dead man to be raised; for I entreat God. ^D No reproach to [his] trade. He did not go away into a wealthy house and [an] affluent [one]; for he was fulfilling the Lord’s law that says: "Into whatever city or house you enter, ask who is worthy in it, and remain there." And indeed, is the tentmaker worthy of Paul? And very much so. Why not? Since he was a tentmaker according to the love of poverty. Shall I tell you his encomium, better than a diadem, more brilliant than purple? "Greet Priscilla and Aquila," and he puts the wife before the husband, that you may learn that virtue is greater in the woman. "Greet Priscilla and Aquila," writing to the Romans, "who for my life laid down their own necks." Did you see an encomium? Did you see living witnesses? "Who for my life laid down their own necks." A martyrdom completed, not by the shedding of blood, but by the resolve of the mind. Do not tell me, "They were not slaughtered"; for even if they were not slaughtered in the trial, yet they were slaughtered in their will; and God does not seek the end, but the preparation; since even Abraham slaughtered his son, though not slaughtering; for the knife was clean; and He says: "You did not spare your beloved son for my sake; you did not spare [him] in [your] will, but I spared [him] in the trial." "Who for my life laid down their own necks." They accepted the Apostle with blood. Did you understand what I said? For they did not sacrifice swine and birds to him, but they poured out their own blood. O the excess of hospitality! If others give[s] ten obols, they do not deign to be troubled; those [two] poured out their own blood, and despised the present life. The lover of hospitality thus appears, not like those of today, with a morose countenance, and raising [their] eyebrows, if they give a poor man ten obols, and those through a servant. But these [were] not [so], but they themselves were also becoming servants. So also Abraham and Sarah; for she kneaded the flour, not according to the sloth of the women of today, who by gold and silk garments make their nature softer. But she performs the works of a mill-woman; and her husband says to her, "Hasten and knead three measures of fine flour." And she did not say, "Are these things tolerable? Did you take me as a baker, [my] kinswoman? Did I not bring a dowry? Am I not free? You command me the things of servants; for these hopes did I come into your house?" She said none of these things, but she hastened and kneaded; for she was the wife of Abraham, not by the law of life only, but also by the virtue of [good] works. "Let hospitality be common," he says, "may we reap the fruit in common." "It is a treasure," he says; "let us partake together; I [give] the calf, you the flour." He sacrificed a calf, and [she] received Isaac; she kneaded the flour, "And her seed became as the stars of the heaven and as the sand of the sea." These things I say [to] humble human arrogance, and to treat with contempt the madness of all who are wealthy, and to comfort the poor, that no one may be baptized in poverty, nor lifted up in wealth; both these are hindrances to virtue. But the intellect holds the rank of a pilot, neither being baptized by the storm, nor rendered flaccid by the calm, but in the time of unevenness keeping the same philosophy for itself, not yet being shaken by the difference, and becoming this or that; just as Job was neither a blasphemer in poverty, nor lifted up in wealth, but when he was wealthy, he opened [his] door, [and] when he became poor, he opened his own sides; [then] being a lover of poverty, but afterward becoming a philosopher, and trampling upon the difference of worldly things. But since [so much has been said] about the tentmaker, come, let us also handle some of the things that have been said, bringing few words into the middle, but opening a boundless sea of thoughts for ourselves. For such is the treasure of the Scriptures; not by the multitude of the words, but by the power of the thoughts, [the] abundance is demonstrated to you. What, then, says the tentmaker, [his] mouth filled with holiness, the tongue [that is] fearful to death? What writes that right hand that was adorned with a chain and [was] wearing bonds, and raising the dead? What writes [it]? What says the tongue? What writes the right hand? "We, even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, but now we know [him] no longer. So that if anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creation." Pay attention, we are descending into the depth. "So that if anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creation; the old things passed away, behold, the all [things] have become new, and the all [things] are from God." A treasure, therefore, hidden, but let us dig [it] up, and [penetrate] the depths to the depth; for it is not a deep [abyss] having darkness, but a deep [abyss] springing forth light. If the discourse is unclear, I will try to make it easy even for the unlearned and the poor and the servant and the cook and the sailor and the woman and the free and the slave. For the things of God are proposed in common to all, [being] unclear [when] obscured, but becoming easy to grasp by interpretation. But if there is any slowness, by the ease of the teaching I will make the table clearer; only let

me have a mind prepared for hearing, and do not relax in any way, for I have learned by experience the obedience of your mind in listening. Therefore, I have often approached even difficult matters, although I did not expect them to be easy to grasp; but I saw that difficult things were made easy through the zeal of listening. Be a vigilant mind, and nothing will be difficult; be an intent thought, and all things are clear. Therefore, ^B if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things have passed away. Those who read these things, the Greeks, laugh and mock us. Such things, they say, Paul says: If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. "You are inflating us, O Paul" (I am repeating their words), "you have lifted up our mind, you fill our ears with new thoughts. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature." Learn first not to be rashly blinded; you are throwing yourself into a chasm. For do you know what you have heard? For the natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit: for it is foolishness unto him (1 Cor. II, 14). Do you truly know the treasure? The treasure has thorns and stones on the surface; but when it is dug through, pearls are found. Do not give me words only, but the meaning; do not give me words: learn diligently what "new creature" is; learn what "in Christ" is; learn, and descend into the light. For even a little child often sees a king passing by, and laughs; and the king looks on, and cares nothing for it. For it is not the king’s reproach, but the defect of age. Be present, I will lead you into the inner chambers: do not look simply from the vestibule: be present, I will reveal to you the whole mystery of the secret things. "And what," he says, "do you have to tell me? Has he not said that it is a new creature for Christians?" Assuredly. "Show me, then," he says, "a new creature: show me that the heaven has been made new; that before Christ arrived it was one thing, but afterwards it was made another; that the earth is another thing, the seeds other things, the nature other, that the fruit is other, the rivers other, the winds other: for all these are old; and you say that it is a new creature." Restrain yourself: the more you contradict, the more the eminence of the truth grows. "Am I insane?" he says: "do I contradict? Behold, I am quiet." Be quiet; I will question you. Question me. He says, before Christ arrived, the heaven was one thing; after He arrived, it was made another. And yet before He arrived according to the flesh, it was the same heaven; and after He arrived, the same heaven remained, and earth, and sea, and air, and winds. Why then, he says, does Paul boast, saying: If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new? "I," he says, "see nothing new." For you do not have eyes to see: draw near, I will make eyes for you, and you will see. Do you also make eyes? Certainly. Are you a creator? Certainly. Are you delirious? By no means. Make, therefore, corporeal eyes. Nay rather, what is greater, I will make the eyes of the mind. Do you make eyes for me? Most certainly. Do I not have them? No. Then you have eyes, and I do not have them: how? Tell me. When you enter into a temple, and there you see a naked statue, a mute stone, and you say, "This is a god," do you have eyes? When you call a stone a god, how do you have eyes? What use are external eyes, when the internal ones are blinded? You see that it is necessary for me to make eyes for you, so that you may see a stone as a stone, so that you do not mix things that should not be mixed, so that you do not join things that are disjoint. Do you have eyes, when you see wood and worship it, while I handle it and burn it? Do you have eyes, when you call that which is burned a god, when you make vices gods? A man is drunk and is carried about, and from drunkenness, though he is a man, he is made a brute: you say, "Drunkenness is a god," and you call it Bacchus: "Whoredom is a goddess," and you call it Venus: "Theft is a god," and you call it Mercury. When, therefore, you make vices and woods gods, how do you have eyes? You do not see things visible, and can I entrust to you things invisible? Do you see that you are in need of eyes? Bacchus is a rotten ^C stone, and Venus is wood. Do you not give credence to my words? Believe the axe, I push and throw this: give me fire, and I consume it. This is the vice of drunkenness: that law punishes it, and you make those things gods? Do you have eyes? Do you see that it is necessary that I should make eyes for you through speech? Since such were the Jews: they had eyes, and did not see; the blind man did not have them, and he saw. Christ says to the blind man, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" and he says, "I believe, and he worshipped (John IX, 35): but the Jews, seeing, crucified Him. The blind man worships, and he who sees crucifies: for this reason it says, "I have come into this world for judgment, that those who do not see might see, and those who see might be made blind." Do you have eyes? Do you wish, therefore, that I should make eyes for you through speech? The eyes of faith, the eyes of the intellect, the eyes perceiving invisible things? For such are the eyes of us who perceive by faith: they do not see visible things, but invisible. And if you wish to follow, follow; if you do not wish, I do what is mine, I instruct. For the speech is varied: it transforms the contrary, corrects those familiar, introduces many persons, and is complete in every part. Therefore, "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new." O mouth! O splendor! For I see the treasure before I reveal it; I see the whole vessel of the Creator. O eyes, what things you perceive! Turn yourself to me, raise yourself up. Creation in Scripture is called, not only a production out of non-existent things into existence, but also the changing of an existing thing for the better. It was briefly stated: but it is necessary to set this forth more clearly. God is said to create, not only when He effects that which did not exist, but also when He corrects and purges that which existed, distorted or fouled. For example: God created man; this is to effect that which did not exist: and when He makes a wicked man good, this is the changing of things for the better. There is the production of a non-existent thing; here, the changing of an existing, but depraved thing, for the better. And that you may learn that creation is said not only to be a production out of non-existence into existence, but also when He corrects and purges anything depraved, hear David saying, for even he himself had been created, and his heart had been created, but it was polluted by adultery and murder. He invokes, therefore, God and says: "Create a clean heart in me, O God" (Ps. L, 12). Was he therefore without a heart previously? How then did he strike down Goliath? How did he please God? He does not speak of the substance of the heart, but of its best disposition. Behold, therefore, creation is called not the production of a substance out of non-existence into existence, but the conversion of an existing, but corrupt, thing for the better. When you see some unbridled person made sober, say, "A mind has been created for him": when you see a harlot given to continence, say, "A mind has been created for her": when you see a rapacious man made merciful, say, "His heart has been created." For he who was a wolf, has become a sheep; he who was a hawk, is now a dove. For this reason it is called creation. For this reason also the laver of regeneration is called creation: "Putting off, for he says, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desires of his flesh, but putting on the new man made according to the image of Him who created him" (Ephes. IV, 22). Therefore, creation is His work. For "we are created in Christ Jesus in good works" (Col. II, 10): but previously in corrupt works. Then the Father took clay, and made man. The Son takes water, and makes it wine. There He has an element, and here also an element; the change of the element, and the creation is made better. "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature." You see, therefore, that it is a new creature. For what is the benefit to me if a heaven is made? Nay-

^A Nay, if I myself remain the same, if I remain diseased? If you see a physician coming into a house, and not even taking care of the sick person, but whitewashing the walls, adorning the ceiling, and not curing the patient—O man, why do you adorn the house? Does Christ also come into this world, in which he found my nature? Again, attend to my saying: The physician enters a great house, he finds the human nature sick—sick, I say, not lying upon a bed, but cast away in wickedness, the common harmony corrupted, altars ignited, the air polluted by the savor of sacrifices, children slaughtered by their parents, nature trodden underfoot, the laws of existence shaken, sympathy dishonored: "They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons" (Ps. CV, 37); men behaving wantonly like bacchanals—this one a fornicator, that one an adulterer, another a murderer—the whole earth perishing, men lying on the bed of wickedness, the devil standing by, lighting the furnace, filling the houses, the physicians failing—the prophets, I mean, accusing, not correcting; the physicians ^B sitting by, preparing medicines, yet not helping, but accusing everyone. "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that seeks after God" (Ps. XIII, 3; Ez. XXXIV, 6). Is the physician accusing the sick? What hope then is there, when the physician accuses the patient? One indeed said: "They became as neighing horses, each one neighed after his neighbor’s wife" (Jer. V, 8). Another sat in the desert as a crow: "Woe is me, for the godly man has perished from the earth, and there is none who uprightly performs among men; a curse, and falsehood, and theft, and adultery are poured out upon the earth" (Mic. VII, 2). Another: "Woe, nation of sinners!" (Is. I, 4). The physician goes out weeping; but what hope has the sick man, when he sees the physician weeping? What hope have you, when you see him who has despaired? What good have you to expect for the patient? And yet, physicians often, even knowing the final hour, in order not to grieve those related to them, overcome their passion by philosophy, and show a cheerful face of their own composure, so that they might not cast down the courage of the sick. For when the sick man sees the physician turning his countenance, what good has he to hope for? But here, the disease has so conquered that the physician himself weeps; what have I to do? Ulcers, putrefaction, worms, ten thousand evils. "Woe, sinful nation!" And another wrote whole lamentations, Jeremiah; the one mourns, the other wails, the other exhorts; God from above: "I have forsaken my house." What hope is left, when God says, ^C "I have forsaken all things, I have abandoned my inheritance, I have given my beloved soul into the hands of my enemies"? Elijah from below: "Lord, they have dug down your altars, and killed your prophets, and I am left alone, and they seek my soul" (1 Kings XIX, 10). If these things were in Judea, where the law was, where the temple was, where the ark was, where the Jewish sacrifice was; what was it where there were idols, where there was savor and smoke, unlawful rites, impieties; where the passions were deified, where they mimicked the sound of dogs, those who celebrated the orgies of Dionysus—skins of goats and the sound of dogs, so that they might lose their nobility from every side? The devil made them dogs, made them swine, made them beasts, worked them into serpents, fashioned them as white as asps. The law is powerless, the prophets are accusing. What then, O wretched man? Entering and finding the world so suffering, was he about to beautify the heaven and leave [us] in the sickness? But he did not do this, but he ran to the sick one, for whose sake heaven and earth and sea and air and all other things. ^D For this reason, he did not take on the form of heaven; for he was not about to heal heaven, but man. For this reason, he recovered the kinship of the sick one, and he comes as that very same sick one—not being sick himself! For "he committed no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth," but he came having a vessel akin to his nature. He did not come in naked divinity, so that the sick person might not flee, so that he might not scare away the prey; but just as a physician, often being noble and illustrious, having the eminence of ancestors, and clothed in silken garments, when he enters to a poor sick man in need of surgery, or something else, he strips off his garments and leaves the adornment and takes a linen cloth, and girds himself, being about to cauterize, being about to cut, and he does not seek his own worth, but the care of the sufferer; so also the Master of the angels did, whose glory is ineffable: he descended as a man, he girded himself with a linen cloth, he girded himself with our nature. For the loads of the sick are disease, disorder, fornication, theft, falsehood, false testimony; for there is no load as heavy as an evil conscience. But since the sick person fears the physician, especially when the disease is severe, lest he sharpen an iron tool, lest he burn with fire, and many of the sick chose to die in their diseases rather than endure the pain from the treatment and reap the health from the pain, so that no one might fear this—that "he has come," he says, "he demands of us an accounting of our sins; he demands from us for our transgressions; he has to punish us, and then he corrects us"—so that no one, thinking this, might flee, "Come," he says, "unto me." I did not come to judge the world

[Repeated anchor fragment from the previous page: ... ] For it is not the case that sin belongs to nature, but to choice. Behold, I present to you a healthy man, a vessel cleansed and spotless. And standing in the midst of the people, He said, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” and no one found anything that he might say. ^A What, then, now? He enters to the sick, exhorting them with words as a physician does with medicines: You have nothing evil, if you be wise; the disease is heavy, but it can be healed. He exhorts them: “Come unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you” (Matt. XI, 28). The sick were heavily laden, for burdens are disease, disorderly habits, fornication, theft, lying, false witness; for no burden is as heavy as an evil conscience. But because the sick man fears the physician, especially when the disease is severe, lest he bring the iron, lest he ignite the fire; and many of the sick have preferred to die in their diseases rather than endure the force of medicines and receive health through pain; lest anyone, because He has come, should fear this and say: He asks of us an account of our sins, He exacts from us the penalty for our transgressions, He wishes to punish us and then amend us; lest anyone, pondering this with himself, should flee away, He says, “Come unto me.” ^B “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John XII, 47). Nothing is grievous; I have no iron, I have no burning fire; I do not cauterize, I do not cut. The medicine is without pain, the healing without labour. If you do not believe, see the harlot, see the thief, see the magi, the publican, the Canaanite; I gave you the proof from the beginning. Did I cauterize? Did I cut? Did not the harlot weep only, and she became more continent than virgins? Did not the magi adore, and they became evangelists? Did not the Canaanite come, and she received the healing of her daughter? “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” “Come unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden.” I utter these words: I am the Master, I am not in need, I am not a slave subject to the law; the law accuses you, but I dissolve the accusation, I restrain the accuser himself. How? For grace has restrained him; the prophet accused, but I offer greater freedom. Coming, ^C therefore, and finding nature in an evil state—and some in fornication, others in adultery, ^D and stench and smoke polluting the air, and all other things—what does He do? Seeing our race labouring under a fever, He first washes, saying, “Wash, and be free from the disease.” He washes in the laver of regeneration, and anoints: “And with the chrism of the ointment I anoint you, and I wash, and I transmit you.” Is the power of the laver so great? It is so great. Descend below. He descends below, and the old man does not remain. There is no need for iron, nor for cutting and pain; with pleasure is the benefit, the cure is not laborious. And what shall we do that we may be saved? We have committed infinite evils, we have an evil conscience, we are perishing. He says that we should be baptized and obtain salvation. For He anoints those who are caught, He washes, then He feeds them with solid food. For after the sick man has become innocent, He feeds him, and feeds him with His own body, and gives His own blood as a drink; His own, I say, of Him who is without sin. For when you have become without sin through the laver, when you receive such a body, it anoints you, it washes you, it feeds you. This is the new creature. When a lecher enters and becomes just, is he not a new creature? When a plunderer enters and is freed from his sins, is he not a new creature? Have you seen the creature in grace? See also the creature in the institute of life. How many harlots have left the theatres, have made their silk garments common, have sprinkled themselves with ashes, have put on sackcloth, and now lead their lives in Christ; is this not a new creature? Therefore, when you see a harlot no longer a harlot, but more continent than a virgin, say: Her mind has been created, her heart has been changed, her soul has been converted from its former custom; she no longer appears in the theatre, she does not drag others into the snare, but she herself is saved; she is no longer a cause of stumbling to others, but of salvation; for lechers see, and they become chaste. Do you see the new creature? When you see the plunderer, the Greek, the one licking altars, the one raging against Christians, the one despoiling countless orphans, the one stripping countless widows, become a Christian, bestowing his own things upon the poor, and coming to the night-watches; say, “The man has been created.” Therefore, “If any be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Cor. V, 17). See the new creature in every part of the world. When you see monks occupying the summits of mountains, crucified, trampling down the necessities of nature, imitating the angels in their immunity from passions, therefore, “If any be in Christ, he is a new creature.” Go into Persia, if not in body, at least in mind; they used to take their own mothers as wives, now however they cultivate virginity; therefore, “If any be in Christ, he is a new creature.” Behold the creature even to the kings, who are adorned with a diadem. Previously kings filled all things with impiety; now, however, kings betake themselves into the church; then kings were terrible to all; now, however, the Church is terrible to them. Who would dare to say to a king, “Lay down your diadem”? The Church truly says this, and he obeys, and comes with naked head, with no one commanding, but reason exhorting; with naked head and unadorned; he casts away the diadem, and receives the cross. They enter the table likewise, the poor man and the king; not otherwise the poor man and otherwise the king; nor does the king say, “Give me more, but to the poor man more sparingly”; but with the same humility, with the same piety, “As the poor man, so also I,” therefore, “If any be in Christ, he is a new creature.” For all these things, let us give thanks to God, for to Him be glory forever. Amen.

IX. BY THE SAME. ON THAT: THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED (Matt. XVII, 5).

That father who loves his offspring, on account of his affection for us, sent a subject matter of discourse to me, and the praise with which, as I provided for you, you celebrated him, he has rewarded with this present instruction, reckoning the profit of his children as his own. I, however, joyfully accepted the exhortation, and with confidence I speak to you again, and I shall take care to most willingly follow the series of former words. For I showed you, in the preceding Sunday, Christ coming to baptism with his servants; then the Baptist who recognized the approaching Lord, refusing to administer the baptism, and finally, because of the Saviour’s commandment, fulfilling the mystery of the economy; afterwards, by writing, I represented God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ crying from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And having progressed to this testimony, I descended from the pulpit, the time interrupting the course of the discourse. Today, therefore, I wish to resume what I was then compelled to omit because of the narrowness of the time, and to add the resolution of the discourse, so that through it you might ascend to its author, namely, the Son. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is He who with me sent the holy Spirit upon himself, and again whom he had received, the Spirit he sent; this is He who before all ages was begotten from me, not created; God begotten from me alone, the only-begotten, as I alone know, and as He alone knows; this is the character of my perfection and the character of my deity; this is He who clearly bears the image of my substance. He is my Son from my own essence, incorporeally, incorruptibly, shining forth without any notion of time, not revealing himself from another substance. He is my Son by nature, not by grace, coeternal, not younger or second; He is my Son coessential with me, as light from light, as life from life, as truth from truth, as power from power, as God from God. I begat, He is begotten; and between me and Him there is nothing intermediate; I begat as it befits me to beget God by nature; He is begotten as it befits Him to be begotten, who is God the Word. Human is the name of generation, but mystical is the generation superior to time. Time knows not the mystery of my generation; the cherubim know not this—for they were created afterwards—and the seraphim, the many-faced and many-winged, covering their faces with their hands, unceasingly cry out, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth.” He says, “Holy, holier, holiest,” of those created to be elevated, and again the higher rank of deity; those who divide the one essence, the archangels, whom those who look upon the hymns do not judge, the curious ones inquire, they worship, they celebrate the sameness of the holy Trinity, that it is the same with me and with the Son and with the Spirit, offering the hymn, and having violence, they curiously investigate the hymn, and possess the life of the impassive melodies. The heavens declare the glory of God, of the one who made Him. He does not investigate the substance of the Creator. The heavens declare his glory, being, not speaking. The prophets, having comprehended the incomprehensible, have not comprehended; for the nature of all men is weak regarding this comprehension; they are not able to contain the Word who became flesh, nor to encompass Him; faith alone holds the incomprehensible, faith alone understands the unseen, faith alone reaches the inaccessible, as much as it is permitted and allowed. This is the Son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased. This is my co-worker, but not a servant; this is He who created the heaven and the earth and the cycle of the firmament on the things above...

in the places above, and in the higher places He spread it out smooth; He set the visible aspect as eyes for the stars; He made the sun to be the leader and commander of the day; He linked ^A to the nightly darkness the mist that drives away the gloom of the night; He poured out the delicate nature of the air, to be breathed easily by those who dwell in it, and to be divided easily by the faces of those who walk, and again to be joined together behind their backs indissolubly. He placed upon the flanks of the earth the ^B my Son, and in turn that which was taken from Him; do not dare to divide the unconfused union, which it is impossible to break; do not suspect either a naked God or a mere man to be the Lord who became man, but believe Him to be both God and man, the same who always remains man and comes forth as God; not having been man from eternity, but from that time being and becoming man, from whom, when He willed, He took on the seed of Abraham. And if you see this my Son hungry, or thirsty, or sleeping, ^C or walking, or weary, and having crowned its face with the myriad plants and flowers; He fixed the thin sand as a strange boundary between the land and the sea, which the sea seeing stays within its own limits, not daring to go out nor to encroach upon the neighboring land. He established the transitions of the hours, and the changes of the seasons, and the painless successions of the times; He established the visible and the invisible creation, not having needed the cooperation of time, not having needed tools for the work, not having been bathed in sweat, but having willed it only, and having brought all things forth easily. For He nodded, and the nod became substance to the things that are; He merely thought of it, and the nod came to be and stood firm; He called the things that were not as though they were; as though already existing and being slaves, they rushed together with trembling to the Master's call. ^D This is He to whom, deliberating, I said: "Let us make man according to our image and likeness" (Gen. I, 26); this is He who with me fashioned man, and for the sake of man became man; not changed into what He became—having become man by receiving the first-fruits of humanity, not by casting off the lightning of divinity—having become man and remaining God. This is He who was not separated from my bosom, and who possessed the bosom of Mary; who remains inseparable in me, and having come to be in her, became uncircumscribed; who even in the heavens exists indivisible, and dwelling in the virginal womb undefiled; for He was not defiled having created it, nor was He stained having dwelt in it. This is He who came forth from the womb of Mary, as a radiant bridegroom from an unwedded bridal chamber, who honored birth by His birth, and sealed by His delivery the virginity of her who bore Him; who entered into the world through the gates of virginity from whence He never departed, and not having broken the bolts of the gates of purity; who was carried by His mother, yet carries all things; who needed milk as an infant, and nurtures all nature as its nurturer; who was wrapped in infant swaddling clothes as a child, and who dissolves as God the swaddling clothes of sins; who lay in a manger, and was pointed out by the star, as the Creator of the stars; who was warred against by Herod, and proclaimed Lord by Simeon; who descended into Egypt and shook the things made by hands in Egypt, and fulfilled my prophecy which says: "Out of Egypt have I called my Son." He who progressed in the stature of body, but not in the divine essence; for where could He have progressed who is present everywhere and fills all things? He who was baptized by the Baptist, and filled creation with light. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. There is not another Son of mine, and another son of Mary; there is not another who was laid in the cave, and another who was worshipped by the Magi; there is not another who was baptized, and another who was not baptized; but, "This is my Son." This is He who is perceived and seen; the one invisible and seen by you, the eternal and the temporal; He who is consubstantial with me in divinity, and consubstantial with you in humanity in all things except sin. Do not seek a father for His flesh on earth, for He is fatherless below; do not seek a mother for His divinity in the heavens, for He is motherless above; do not divide His divinity from His humanity; do not become evil dividers of the indivisible, nor divide His humanity from His divinity; for it is indivisible and unconfused after the union; do not separate the things that belong to Him, but recognize the things that are in Him; do not make two persons out of the one person of Christ; do not ordain two Only-Begotten ones instead of the one Only-Begotten; do not stand by as one held by a scheme, or put to death by His own will, or guarded as a corpse in the tomb in His flesh, wait for these things as of the Word having become flesh. And again if you see this my Son scraping away leprosy with a word, or healing blindness of the eyes with clay, and reshaping nature with the word, satisfying five thousand with five loaves, and, as if in fields, cultivating on the palms of the disciples a makeshift, untilled corn, calming the sea that is raging and mimicking the peaks of the mountains by His voice, and walking upon the sea as upon ground; attribute these things to His divinity. Do not think that the high things of the events belong to one, and the low things of what happens to another, but consider that both those and these belong to one and the same; for all divine things are His, all human things are His, His are the miracles, His are the sufferings. For one and the same is my Son, working the works of His own divinity, and claiming as His own all the things of His own flesh. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This is the vine and the door of the wandering sheep; vine, having its root in heaven, but its branches on earth; vine whose body is pruned, but not the root; vine sprouting the cluster of the resurrection after the third day of being pruned. This is the door; for through Him the one who believes enters to me; this is my mediator and of His servants; for He joins those who have offended Him to me. This is my Son and lamb, the same priest and victim, the same offering and being offered, the same officiating, the same accepting the sacrifice. These things, then, you know and believe after the baptism, that the Father speaks about the Only-Begotten. And when Christ was transfigured on the mountain while the disciples were looking on, and His face emitted rays that hid the beams of the sun, even then He uttered again the same voice: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Often, therefore, the Father called the Son "Son," as one Son, and by the voice points out the Only-Begotten, for the sake of those who attempt to separate Him from the Father, for the sake of those who say that the timeless one was born in time, for the sake of those who count the worker of creation together with creation, for the sake of those who enslave the liberator, for the sake of those who fashion another son. For this reason He unceasingly bears witness: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him." If He says, "I and the Father are one"; if He says, "He who has seen me, has seen the Father," and, "I am in the Father, and the Father in me," hear Him; if He says, "The Father who sent me is greater than I," marvel at the condescension of the dispensation; if He says, "This is my body, and my blood given for you for the remission of sins," hear Him. He does not say this by separating the flesh from the divinity; for the flesh is not separated in these words; for the things of the body are of the divinity, and the things of the divinity are of the body, and not of anyone else besides Him. If He says, "My soul is sorrowful even unto death," as He rightfully took on our inseparable passions, hear Him. For there is no division of flesh and divinity; for all the things befitting God and human things we ascribe and confess to the one person and to the one hypostasis and nature of our incarnate God Jesus Christ. These things we have been taught by God and Father; these things we have been instructed by the only-begotten Son of God; these things by the

Holy Spirit. These things have been proclaimed by the Holy Scriptures; these things have been preached by the Holy Fathers. These things, therefore, we have received, these we have learned, these we hold. Why do we fight one another rashly? Why do we harass one another with war, we who are even commanded to love those who hate us? Why, abandoning the faith, do we dispute artificiously about the faith? He was begotten, he was not begotten; he suffered, but he did not suffer; he rose, but he did not rise. Why do we summon the Redeemer to court? Why do we demand accounts from our benefactor? Once it pleased Him, and as He willed, He came and suffered and died; and He rose again, and ascended into the heavens, and shall come to judge the living and the dead, just as He already came, with our form. For He did not strip off that which He loved so much; He did not leave the covering of His body in the tomb, but thus He shall come again as the judge of the living and the dead; so that Judas may see whom he betrayed to the murderers of the Lord; so that the Jews may see what head they crowned with thorns; so that, when they see Him sitting as judge upon the throne, and the Cherubim and Seraphim standing by with fear and trembling, and they say, "We did not crucify this one, we condemned some other man, Jesus the Nazarene the Bethlehemite," He may show them His side and they may see into whom they have pierced, and, even against their will, they may adore Him. ^A Why, therefore, abandoning the faith, do we reason about the faith with artifice? Why do we fulfill the desire of the common enemy? For the devil, that corrupter of the human race, calculating that if we lead our lives in peace, piety will flourish, if faith shines, the blessed life will prevail, and the pious course being successfully completed, happiness will come to those living in such a way, we shall be constituted friends of the Creator, and we shall run upward to that desired place, so that we may ascend to where He fell; see what he did, and how cunningly and deceitfully he prepared war against us, that artificious packager of evils, and wise in frauds, and various in snares, and rich in evil machinations: he prepared some who would war under the guise of piety, and armed the investigation of the faith against the faith; and to all the pious he injected a desire for contention that corrupts the soul, and set the members of the ^B Church in battle array against one another, so that he might emit a great laugh, seeing those who used his own counsels deceived by him, and, through the things which they did against one another, delighting him, and, not even after the experience of evils, recognizing the author of evils. Let us, therefore, turn against that wicked head the very thing that delights him, and let us change his joy into sorrow and inconsolable grief: let us desire the peace which he hates: let us cease to examine the words of dogma by a scale: let us no longer wish to be masters of our masters: let us hold in hatred those controversies which lead to the subversion of the hearers: let us believe just as the Fathers have handed down. We are not wiser than the Fathers, we are not more accurate than our teachers, we are not the shepherds of shepherds, but sheep: sheep do not pasture their shepherds; but shepherds, their sheep. ^C God has called us to peace, not to strife; as we have been called, so let us remain. With trembling let us return to the mystical table, in which we are participants of the heavenly mysteries, lest we be companions at the table against ourselves, and plotting against one another: lest we enjoy the common table here, and are given over to strife outside: lest we be of the same faith here, and strangers outside: lest Christ also say of us: "I have begotten and exalted and nourished sons from my flesh, but they have despised me." But He Himself, the Savior of all, the author of peace, may He drive away from you the devil who loves motions and war: may He also reconcile tranquility to His Churches, may He preserve this sacred flock, may He guard the president of the flock, may He protect our pious and Christ-loving emperor, may He gather the wandering sheep into His own folds, so that there may be one fold and one shepherd, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

X. By the same, on the saying of the Gospel, and on virginity, and an exhortatory discourse to the fallen virgins.

No enigma did the word of God deliver without purpose, nor [is it] alien to our salvation. Whence, however, I might explain my mind, I have frequently pondered, and I have examined the matter, in order to see what that which is said by the Lord in the Gospel might mean. For in many things He spoke by parable to many, explaining difficult things to some, but to others revealing those things which are clear to us, when He makes words concerning salvation, as one who is good and loves mankind, He has delivered a pattern of enigmas that is perspicuous and not confused; in some places indeed by daily things being able to explain the power of the discourse; ^D but in other places, in order that He might show the sense of what is said from the concept. The Lord was saying, "Narrow and strait is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there are that find it. Broad and spacious is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are that enter through it" (Matt. VII, 14, 13). It is a discourse of consternation, it is a figure of ignorance. Why does He say, "The way is broad to destruction"? Christ does not declare this way; for it was not made through Him. It is, therefore, a saying of commiseration, it is an enigma of healing. O benevolence toward men! O the care of our Lord! He proposes simultaneously both victory and defeat, simultaneously both clemency and such a sentence. "I know," He says, "how labile the human race is, how abject, how weak of eyes, how lubricious, how expugnable, how feeble, how easy to capture, unless it is bolstered by faith." It has heard that the way is broad, and it runs like a bird to the snare; it has heard that it is narrow, and it flees from salvation, without the utility of either being explored. For light is requested, and it flees with zeal; and especially when it hears that: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth them out of them all" (Ps. XXXIII, 20); it does not run to the helper, but takes to flight, being ignorant that it is fleeing the good, and adhering to the worse. O folly! When you heard, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous," you fainted, O man! When you heard, "Many are the scourges of the sinner" (Ps. XXXI, 10), you were not terrified! Nay, rather you feared the scourge,

^A listen to me, you dancers of David, listen to me, you descendants of Elizabeth, listen to me, you companions of John, listen to me, you heirs of God, listen to me, you who carry about in the arena the arena itself, the victory, and the umpire of the arena, listen to me, you sisters of Mary, listen to me, you mothers and brides and servants of Christ; and do not listen to me, I beg, but to the Apostle saying: "I beseech you therefore... that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God" (Rom. XII, 1). He who beseeches is worthy of belief, and do not refuse the gift. See who it is that beseeches you, and tremble at the request: he who ascended unto the third heaven, he who was deemed worthy of the voice of God, he who heard unspeakable words, beseeches: "Present your bodies pure unto God." What do you beseech, Paul? What concern is it of yours regarding virgins? Did you not say, "Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord" (1 Cor. VII, 25)? Did you not say, "Marriage is honorable" (Hebr. XIII, 4)? Did you not say, "Defraud you not one the other of the benevolence" (1 Cor. VII, 5)? Why do you now preach purity? And then, what concern is it of yours regarding the virgins? You snatched Thecla from carnal marriage and corruption, and saved her; what do you care for the rest of the virgins? Truly, he says, I am very concerned for the pure and passionless marriage. For if I acted as an intermediary for human marriage, much more shall I act as an intermediary for that of Christ with great zeal; I am the bridesman of Christ; my Master is not satisfied with one maiden, He does not desire one marriage; great is His dowry, great is His inheritance. Therefore He sent me to gather many for Him; whence he said, "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. XI, 2).

^B See with what precision the Apostle spoke, so that you would not think the marriage to be carnal. O the blindness! O the madness! Who would not desire an incorruptible and tireless marriage? The chaste bed, the immaculate bridal chamber; the undefiled bringing forth; the immortal union; the passionless childbirth; the griefless love of her spouse; the peerless dowry; the eternal enjoyment; the life free from care; the cohabitation with Christ; the conduct with angels; the delightfulness of songs worthy of God; the all-virtuous fragrance; the all-bright lamp; the universal freedom; the journey toward God; the dance with angels; the strength of the body; the purity of the soul? For she who is joined in marriage to a husband worries how she may please the flesh that is decaying; she has not yet brought forth, and she laments the mourning; lamentation often because of the husband, lamentation concerning barrenness and childlessness, lamentation concerning the plurality of children, as these die; lamentation because of children walking in disorder. But the virgin of the Lord is careful how she may please the Lord. Listen with precision to the Apostle crying out, "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." And he did not say, "Thee," but "You," so that you would not think he is speaking of carnal marriage. "I beseech you therefore," he says, "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God."

The commandment is common, but it applies especially to those who practice holiness. For those who wish to approach the Holy One in a holy manner, if they succeed here, obtain great and brilliant crowns; but those who proposed it and did not complete it, their fall becomes extraordinary. For indeed, it is terrible to fall from a height, and facts bear witness, rather than to fall from the ground. If a poor man lives in poverty until the end, he bears the reproach more lightly; but for the rich who has been driven into poverty, the will becomes worse. Thus, I think the tear is more bitter and the mourning more lamentable for the loss of virginity, than for those who act like pigs wallowing in the mud and sinning daily, since for them the habit of sin has already become a skill for their livelihood; but for those who destroy the temple of God, I think it is worthy to mourn and lament, to beat the breast and to be torn, because such a great and significant treasure has been suddenly dug up. What is it regarding you, O virgin? When or what martial sight deceived you? What swords? What spears? What shields? What noise of soldiers compelled you so quickly to depart from safety? You were both city and temple of Christ, and a wall and guardian of the city and of the gate. But ^C O the lamentation! How did you allow the enemy to open it without need? How, being enticed for a short time, did you betray that through which Christ went out and sealed? O the evil war! You tore down the wall, you destroyed your holy temple, you broke the covenants of marriage, you erased the letters, you set aside the dowry, you insulted the bed of Christ; nay, more, you lost the pledge. Do you not see the laws here, what punishments await the adulteress? And what will you do, or have you not insulted the bed of a fellow servant, but of our Master Jesus Christ who lives forever, having been entangled in mud and corruption and stench? How I shall mourn you, I do not know; for no one having fought, you were wounded; without a sword, you were cut off. How I shall judge you, I do not know; as heartless, or as unconscionable, or as a soul-slayer, or as a self-murderer. For such is the sight of that madness, finding no reproach worthy of the mourning. Did you not remember the covenants of Christ? Did you not remember the purity, in which Christ day by day was invisibly and mystically leaping and rejoicing at your side and breast? And why? Because you also were Mary so long as you kept your virginity. What wax of wickedness melted your eyes? What darkness blinded you, so that you made the members of Christ members of fornication? O the mourning! You preferred the fornicating stench to the virginal fragrance? You exchanged the mud of pleasure for the myrrh? Did you not remember that full hour of contrition, in which angels together with men were escorting you while you held lamps into the bridal chamber of Christ, singing Davidic songs, and all were proclaiming the poor and needy bride of Christ and queen?

Oh, who shall not mourn her who leaves the King, having joined herself to the rottenness of worms, ^D and scorned Him with whom she was about to live and rule, and desired him who was about to be cast by the King into the fire of Gehenna? To what end did you dig such a pit for yourself? But the breadth of the way deceived you. What breadth, I ask? What did the guide of perdition, the procurer of Gehenna, promise you? What enjoyment of life did the man-slayer promise? Did you not hear, O virgin, the Master saying in the Gospels, "If you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul, what have you profited?" But O the blindness! O the madness! O the darkness! Consider, O virgin, the loss; consider whom you select, and whom you discard, and what is given to you by the deceiver: a moment of pleasure mixed in mud, and a drop of silt in a virgin womb mixed by sin, and carrying away Gehenna of fire and the undying worm. Tremble at that indecency. For can one call this pleasure an enjoyment of life? Is this luxury, is this breadth? What is this surrender to madness? But be sober in all things and say: for we are not ignorant of his devices. Rejoice therefore always, as it is written: "Let your moderation be known unto all men" (Phil. IV, 5); let the fear of God flash in your heart. Do not become a soldier who throws away his shield, do not be a cowardly and slothful worker, do not flee the crown. Life is short, but the judgment is long. Looking toward this, brother, lift up your heart together with the Holy One, and say: "Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord" (Ps. XXVI, 14); imitate David, and with one cast of a stone strike down the enemy. Angels stand as spectators of your struggle. For, "We are become a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men" (1 Cor. IV, 9); if they see you conquering, they rejoice at the achievement; if defeated, they depart gloomy, but the demons laugh at you. Draw forth, therefore, instead of a sword, the fear of God; for the fear of God is as a two-edged sword, cutting off every evil desire.

Always, therefore, assume the fear of God, keeping in memory perpetually the last day, when the heavens shall be dissolved having been burned by fire, when the stars shall fall like leaves, and the sun and moon shall be darkened, and shall not give their light; when the Son of Man shall appear and shall descend from the heavens to the earth, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; when there shall be the running of angels, the voices of trumpets invading; when fire shall be before Him, burning and running through to burn up the world, and round about Him a violent tempest, earthquakes, and lightning flashes such as never were nor shall be until that day: so that the very powers of the heavens shall be shaken with great trembling. What kind of persons, therefore, ought we to be, my brethren? ^B What fear and what horror shall seize us? Consider Israel in the desert, how they could not sustain the whirlwind and the darkness and the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, but were eager that He should add no word to them. For indeed they could not bear what was commanded, although God was not descending in wrath, nor speaking to them with indignation, but comforting them with this consolation, that He Himself was with them. Hear therefore, my brother, if we could not bear His coming with consolation, when neither were the heavens dissolved burnt by fire, nor were the trumpets sounding as that trumpet is destined to sound, and to awaken those who have slept from eternity, nor was fire flooding the inhabited earth, nor was any of the terrors that are to be invading; what shall we do when He descends with wrath and intolerable fury, and shall sit upon the throne of His glory, and shall summon from the world from the rising of the sun to the setting, and from all the ends of the earth to discern His people, and to render to each according to his works? Woe is me! What kind of persons shall it be necessary for us to be, when we shall stand naked and exposed, about to be led to the ^C fearful tribunal? Woe is me, woe is me! Where then is the impudence? Where then is the strength of the flesh? Where is the false and useless beauty? Where then is the sweetness of human voices? Where then is the insolent and shameless boldness in speaking? Where then is the finery of garments? Where then is the impure and truly filthy pleasure of sin? Where then are those who have the dung of males as a delight? Where then are those who with drums and musical instruments drink wine? Where then is the contempt of those who live without fear? Where then is luxury and excess? For all things passed away and have dissolved like soft air. Where then is the love of money and of possessions, and the inhumanity born from thence? Where then that monstrous pride, which loathes everything, and itself is thought to be something? Where then is the empty and vain advancement and glory of men? Where then is empire and tyranny? Where then the emperor, where the prince, where the leader? Where are those in power, who are proud in the abundance of riches and despise God? Then the ^D *Vid-entes* (Seers) in this way were amazed, trembling seized them. *There are the pains as of a woman in labor; in a vehement spirit they shall be broken* (Ps. XLVII, 7). Where indeed then is the wisdom of the wise? Where are their empty wiles? Woe, woe to them! *They were troubled and moved like one drunken, and all their wisdom was devoured* (Ps. CVI, 27). Where then is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the searcher of this vain world? (1 Cor. I, 20). My brother, consider with yourself what kind of persons it behooves us to be, giving an account of those things which we have done, whether great or small: for we are to give an account even for an idle word before the just Judge. What kind of persons, therefore, ought we to be in that hour, if we are to find grace in His sight? What kind of joy indeed shall seize us when we are separated to the right of the King? What kind of persons ought we to be when all the saints greet us? There Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Noah, Job, and the holy prophets, and apostles and martyrs, and all the just greet you, who pleased God well in the life of their flesh, and whomsoever you hear and whose life you admire, whom you would have desired even to behold—they themselves come to you, and embracing you, they greet you, exulting over your salvation. What kind of persons, therefore, ought we then to be? What ineffable joy to have, when the King shall say to those who are on the right with hilarity: *Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world* (Matth. XXV, 34)? Then, my brother, you shall receive the beautiful kingdom, and the crown of beauty from the hand of the Lord, and in the future you shall reign with Christ: then you shall possess those goods, *Which God has prepared for them that love Him* (1 Cor. II, 9): then at last you shall be without care, no longer fearing any consternation of spirit. Consider with yourself, my brother, what kind of thing it is to reign in the heavens: for as we have said, you shall receive the crown from the hand of the Lord, and in the future you shall reign with Christ. Consider again, my brother, what it is to behold the face of God perpetually, what it is to have Him instead of a luminary: *for the sun shall not be to you for light by day,* as Isaias says, *nor shall the splendor of the moon illuminate you by night; but the Lord shall be to you for an everlasting light, and God for your glory* (Isai. LX, 19). Behold, my brother, what joy is deposited for those who fear the Lord and observe His commandments. After these things, however, consider also the destruction of sinners, when they are led to the terrible tribunal, what kind of shame shall invade them before the just Judge, not having a word of excuse; what kind of confusion shall seize them when separated to the left of the King, what kind of darkness shall fall upon them, when *He speaks to them in His wrath, and in His fury shall trouble them* (Ps. II, 5), saying, *Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels* (Matth. XXV, 41). Woe is me! Woe is me! What affliction and anguish their spirit shall feel, when a cry shall be made by all saying: *Let sinners be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God* (Ps. IX, 18)? Woe is me, what a place is that, where there is *weeping and gnashing of teeth* (Matth. XXV, 30), which is called Tartarus, which even Satan himself dreads! Woe is me, what a hell of unquenchable fire! Woe is me, what a sleepless and venom-spewing worm! Woe is me, what kind of angels are those set over the torments, cruel and merciless? For they reproach and rebuke them gravely. Then those who are punished shall cry to the Lord, and He shall not hear them: then they shall know that all things pertaining to this life turned out to be vain for them, and those things which they here thought to be sweet shall be found to be more bitter than gall and venom. Where then is that pleasure of sin wrongfully so called? For there is no other pleasure except the fear of the Lord. This truly is pleasure, this truly fills the soul as with marrow and fatness. Then they shall condemn themselves, and the works which they did: then they shall confess, saying that the judgment of God is just. For we heard these things, and we did not wish to turn from our wicked works. And then they shall bring forth these things, saying: Woe is me, conceived in sins not to be equaled! I have sinned above the number of the sand of the sea, and I am weighed down by the weight of sins as if I were bound by many iron chains: for there is no boldness for me to look up to the high heaven. To whom therefore shall I flee, except to Thee, lover of men, except to Thee who dost not remember sins? *Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy, and according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity: wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin: for I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me. To Thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before Thee* (Ps. L, 3-6). To Thee I flee because of Thy great goodness and mercy: I have irritated Thee, and

^A you can, impose upon yourself a necessity to occupy yourself with them more frequently, for they dissipate the reasonings which the enemy, through his wicked contrivances, scatters, or by bringing many afflictions, or by providing and offering many prosperities and freedoms. For he works these things through his craftiness and deceit, so that he may alienate man from God. For when he cannot often influence and cast him down through thoughts, then finally he brings upon him afflictions, so that he may darken his understanding, and then find he can sow what he wishes. And then he begins to suggest to the man such thoughts, and says with oaths, "From the time I do good, I have seen evil days; let us do evil, so that good things may come." Then, if one is not found sober, he swallows him alive, like Hades. But if even in these things he cannot influence him, then he brings upon him prosperity, and exalts him, and brings upon him a deceit greater and worse than all passions. For this is what makes man proud and without fear; this casts the mind into the abyss of pleasures; this makes man not to know God, nor to know his own weakness, nor to consider the day of death and judgment; for this is the path of all evils. He who loves to walk on this path of freedom and relaxation finds himself reaching the chambers of death; this is the path of which the Lord said: "Wide and broad is the path that leads to perdition" (Matt. VII, 13).

XI: Discourse of Saint John Chrysostom on the Knowledge of God, and on the Holy Theophany, and on the Newly Illuminated.

Just as those who have their bodily eyesight damaged need guides, lest by falling into a pit through ignorance they perish, so also do those who have the eyes of the soul darkened need those who will lead them to the piety of God, lest by falling into an abyss of evils through ignorance they be destroyed. And all humanity was previously enveloped in such an evil of blindness; and as it happens to those with blurred vision, that instead of things that exist they often see things that do not exist, so also those who have the eyes of the soul dazzled saw, instead of the one and only God, many that do not exist. But the physician of bodies and souls sent the Law and the prophets, healing the blindness of men, and leading them to the knowledge of Him, but men turned away from the healing through the Law and the prophets. For they shut their eyes so as not to see, and stopped their ears so as not to hear, according to the word of Isaiah, so that they might not turn and be healed. Similar things to these another prophet, Jeremiah, cried out, saying: "We have treated Babylon, and it was not healed; no cure has come up in it" (Jer. LI, 9). Babylon is interpreted as 'confusion'; for humanity has been confused by blindness. But the manner is that of the best physicians; the healing of chronic wounds surpasses the disciples. So also the only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, seeing that the impiety of men had not been healed through the Law and the prophets, arrives from the heavenly vaults, born of the holy Virgin Mary, first by the cross putting the devil to flight, second, capturing death, and by His three-day resurrection granting peace to those near and to those far off, He led all to the knowledge of Himself. ^B Where, O death, is your sting? From God is blessedness. And seeing this, the prophet David says: "Blessed are they whose iniquities were forgiven, and whose sins were covered" (Ps. XXXI, 1). Who is able to forgive sins, except God alone (Mark II, 7)? For men blessing men profit nothing, but they often even harm, as the prophet Isaiah says: "My people, those who bless you, lead you astray, and disturb the path of your feet" (Isa. III, 12); but He who blesses, together with the word, also grants the grace. And take the proof of the word. The Lord said to Peter, when He asked the disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I am?" "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father who is in heaven," not the one who is considered earthly. You have spoken the beatitude, give the grace of the kingdom of heaven. Do you see the grace following the word? And lately in the beatitudes decreed to us we heard each one of them having the grace corresponding to it. But let us return to the set subject of the present feast. For the presence of an earthly king is accustomed to grant joy and gladness to those present; but a heavenly King coming down from heaven to earth here, not only do we who are present rejoice, but the whole earth is glad. For if when the sun rises, all that is beneath is illuminated, when the Sun of righteousness has risen, how will not every soul be illuminated in this light-bearing night, concerning which the prophet David, seeing by the Holy Spirit, said: "That darkness shall not be darkened from Thee, and night shall be as day to be illuminated" (Ps. CXXXVIII, 11, 12); and again: "As is its darkness, so is its light." Do you see that he is recounting concerning the present night? For just as its darkness is seen by the eyes of the flesh, so its light appears to the eyes of the soul. O light-bearing and wonderful night, brighter than every day. Night indeed succeeds every day, but night does not succeed this light-bearing night: "For the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it" (John I, 5). Do not attend to the letter, but understand by the Spirit. Light is the only-begotten Son of God; night is the works of darkness. Therefore, when you are illuminated in your soul that is in darkness by the present light, no longer do the works of darkness grasp you; for that is why the Light arrived, that He might put to flight the darkness; the Life arrived, that it might abolish death; and first He announces the good news to the shepherds through angels, not that they should append the miracles to mere words, but that the shepherds, having taken the opportunity regarding the rational sheep, should announce the good news of the philanthropy of God to the peoples. In the holy place of Bethlehem we hastened to render the owed worship to the Lord God of us all, who deemed it worthy to become man for our sake. For He Himself was seen upon the earth, having descended from heaven for our salvation, without having left those places devoid of His presence; "For I fill heaven and earth," says the Lord, says Isaiah (Jer. XXIII, 24); and again David: "If I go up to heaven, You are there; ^C if I go down to Hades, You are present" (Ps. CXXXVIII, 8). Not yet has He happened upon earth having become man, and already the prophet signifies the presence in Hades. It is no great thing, therefore, if we also, having traversed this small distance from the city, came to this place to worship.

^A Let us go back again to the Jordan to see the mysteries accomplished therein, how the sea saw and fled from its own Lord, and the Jordan turned backward (Ps. CXIII, 3). Let us again see John baptizing Him who takes away the sin of the world (John I, 29), and the Father testifying from above to the wondrous condescension of His Son, and the kindred Spirit descending in the form of a dove and remaining upon Him to whom testimony was borne. O wondrous miracles of a wondrous King! How was the clay-formed hand, when it touched the crown of the whole world, not consumed? Who has seen, or who has ever heard of hay being near to fire and receiving no harm from the fire? For blessed indeed, and thrice blessed, is the scion of Zacharias and Elisabeth. Blessed, finally, are we too, who behold the fruits of our own loins shining forth from the holy font, like certain stars traversing the full church. But, O Father, and Word, and Spirit, substance of three persons, and power, and will, and act, grant to us, who confess Thy unconfused and undivided persons, that we may stand at Thy right hand when Thou comest from the heavens to judge the world in righteousness (Acts XVII, 31). For to Thee is due glory, honor, and adoration, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages.

XII. A Sermon by our holy father John Chrysostom on the holy Ascension of our Savior.

Since by the grace of God we have discoursed upon the passion of our Lord at the appropriate time, and likewise upon the resurrection; listen now also to the history of this further discourse. After He had risen from the dead, and had appeared to the disciples, and had been with them, and had even been touched, and had remained with them for forty days, He came to the Mount of Olives opposite Jerusalem with His disciples. And a great multitude having gathered, Jesus Himself said to the disciples: As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you (John XX, 21). Go ye therefore into all the world, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, for the remission of sins (Matt. XXVIII, 19; Mark XVI, 15). Heal the sick, cast out demons; freely ye have received, freely give (Matt. X, 8). Bless them that persecute you, bless, and curse not (Luke VI, 28). Imitate your Master. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples (John XIII, 35), if ye love them that hate you. BE ^B mindful of how many evils the Jews have inflicted upon me. The Seraphim, since they cannot gaze upon my face, cover their faces; yet the Jews spat in my face, and struck my cheek with their blows. My hands formed man from the earth, and created the most beautiful world; yet they fastened me with iron nails to the wood. If I look upon the earth, the earth trembles and is shaken; yet they, passing by and wagging their heads, mocked me. I suffered all these things from them, and did not retaliate with wrath against them. Do you think I was unable? Angels stood ready, saying: Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yoke from us (Ps. II, 3); but I did not permit it to them; rather, stretched upon the cross, with fixed hands, I invoked my Father for them, saying: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke XXIII, 34). And I suffered these things for your sake, that I might be an example to you. For if I had only spoken and not acted, my teaching would have been unfitting; I initiated the work first, and then I enjoin it upon you to do. I said, The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep (John X, 11); and I did not refuse death, though I am immortal: I said, Bless those who persecute you, and curse not (Matt. V, 44); and having suffered so much from the Jews, I did not curse them. I have done all things; I have completed all things which had been handed down about me by the prophets: and behold, I ascend to my Father (John XX, 17; XIV, 12). But do not be saddened, I will not leave you orphans; but I will send to you the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, consubstantial with the Father and with me: And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (Matt. XXVIII, 20). As I was with the prophets in the beginning, so also will I be with you. I saved Moses from ^C the hand of the Egyptians; I was with Joshua the son of Nun and by war I conquered seven tribes; I delivered Elijah from the hand of Jezebel; I conferred double grace upon Elisha; I saved David from the hand of Saul; I brought Jeremiah up from the deep pit; I took Daniel out of the jaws of the lions; I led the dance with the three youths in the furnace, and saved them, while I consumed their enemies. As I was with all them, so I shall also be with you. And lifting his eyes to the city of Jerusalem, he said: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not (Matt. XXIII, 37; Luke XIII, 34)! Woe to you, children of Jerusalem: for I came in the name of my Father, and ye did not receive me, but ye receive the devil, who always deceives you. Therefore, Your house is left unto you desolate (Matt. XXIII, 38): let not a stone remain upon a stone in your temple: the glory of your temple, which ye had, lo, I deliver to those who believe in my cross, and in my resurrection. Woe to you, children of Jerusalem—Jews—who have the type from the beginning, and have not received the truth. I gave you the figure of this my presence, that having the figure, you might recognize the truth: I gave you Moses, the law, the rod, the golden jar holding the manna: wherever the ark was, there also was my glory. But because ye were imprudent, and, at my coming, did not receive me, therefore I take away the glory from you, and deliver it to the nations, and I ascend to my Father, who sent me into the world. In place of your temple I shall erect the Church: in place of the prophets, whom I sent to you, and you [imprisoned] them, I will send my disciples into the world, to preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. I gave you the tablets of the covenant; I give to the nations the Gospels of salvation; I gave you the law, and you made it void; I give the nations grace in place of the law: I gave you the rod which budded; I give the nations the cross that flowers, and brings forth life for the world as its fruit: I gave you manna, and when you had eaten, you adored a calf instead of me; I give to the nations the heavenly bread, which descended from heaven, that is, my body; I gave you water from a crag of rock, and drinking it you provoked me; I give to the nations the cup of my blood, that they may drink eternal life. These things I bestow upon the nations, and I ascend ^D to my Father (John XX, 17). Behold, your house is left unto you desolate (Matt. XXIII, 38). When the Lord had said these things, turning to his Mother and Virgin, he said: Peace be to you, most sweet mother; do not grieve that I ascend to my Father: I will not desert you, illuminator of the world; I will not desert you, my holy temple; I will not desert you, found alone faithful and void of fraud before me; I will not desert you, mystery of the whole world; I will not desert you, incorruptible flower. Do not grieve: nay, even when you are about to depart from life, I will not send angels or archangels, but I shall come myself, and I will receive your soul, brighter than the sun and more lucid than the moon. Do not grieve, Virgin, that I ascend to my Father: you have John in my stead, the virgin, and my bosom friend. Did I not, even when I was on the cross, deliver you to him, saying: John, behold thy mother? and to you I said, Behold thy son (John XIX, 27, 26)? And now the same word from me is pronounced to you: Peace be to you, my mother and virgin. But again, turning to the disciples, he said: Peace be to you, brethren: as I have commanded you, do. Let you not, therefore, be sad,

because I go to my Father; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. I am going, and after ten days I will send the Advocate, the Holy and Life-giving Spirit. And while he was saying these things, behold, a multitude of angels encircled him, and the Seraphim, overshadowing and saying: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Sabaoth, for heaven and earth are full of his glory. ^A And immediately a luminous cloud overshadowed the mountain, and choirs of prophets were gathered on the mountain. In the midst of all the prophets, David, with his spiritual harp, happened to be there, and exhorting Jesus to ascend into heaven, he said: Be exalted above the heavens, O God, and your glory above all the earth (Ps. LVII, 6). And he was saying to the apostles: Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at the footstool of his feet, for it is holy (Ps. XCVIII, 5). And behold, while they were looking on, he was taken up, and a luminous cloud took him. And again the Lord says to the disciples: Peace be to you; my peace I give to you. And having said this, he was no longer seen. When David saw that the Lord had ascended into heaven, again rejoicing and striking his spiritual harp, he said: God has gone up in a shout, the Lord in the sound of a trumpet (Ps. XLVI, 6). From above, the Father, addressing him, was saying: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool (Ps. CIX, 1). You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; you are my lamb, you are my Word in the beginning, true; you are my power, you are my wisdom. And when he had ascended into the heavens, all the powers worshipped him; and he sat at the right hand of the Father, having fulfilled every economy, being consubstantial with the Father, of equal power, one Godhead, one authority, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; this Trinity we faithful worship, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

Homily of our holy father John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Lake of Gennesaret, and on the holy apostle Peter.

^B When the teacher is illustrious, then the disciple is compliant; then the disciple is full of hope. When the teacher is eager, then the teacher reaps a profit; when the disciple demonstrates diligence, then the disciple receives the craft of his teacher, because he embraces his studies as a friend. For otherwise it is impossible for a teacher to shine, unless he finds the lamp of the disciple watered with the oil of the love of learning; and otherwise it is impossible for it to shine, unless the teacher pours forth the channels of wisdom abundantly. For both parties have need of running and diligence, and that both contribute their measure of power for the building up of improvement: the one to sharpen the tongue, the other to prepare the hearing; the one to have an accomplished mind, the other to provide a tranquil soul. These things are necessary not only in bodily matters, but they are also to be zealously sought in spiritual matters. For just as a boy is not freed from the rod in bodily instruction unless he is vigilant in his lessons, so also a mortal is not released from condemnation in spiritual teachings unless he meditates in the law of the Lord, according to the prophet, day and night. ^C Since, therefore, these things are in this state, and we who are present are all fellow-disciples in Christ—for we all have one and the same guide and teacher, Christ, according to the divine scripture that says: And they shall all be taught by God (John VI, 45)—come, let us today prepare the twofold hearing—the spiritual, I say, and the bodily—more amply for the instruction of the Lord, so that having received the word as seed, we may be able to bear fruit from the Lord’s cultivation, in thirty, and in sixty, and in one hundred, the manifold ear of corn of obedience. For you heard just now the evangelist Luke crying out: And Jesus entering into one of the ships, which was Simon's, asked him to put off a little from the land. And sitting down, he taught the crowds from the ship (Luc. V, 3). Do you see the God-signified teaching of the teacher? Do you see the desirable crowding of the crowd? Do you see the soul-benefiting diligence of the disciples? Do you see the paid-for waiting of the men? Let no one of those who hear the word of God be weary, or depart from the lake, or come down from the mountain, or ask, saying as some of those present: Why do you stretch out the word, teacher? I have something to do, an appointment awaits me, I have not yet bought anything for lunch, or the hour of the bath has passed, or the heat is overwhelming me. Did any of those present at that time say any of these things ^D to the Master? Not at all, in no way. Why? Because they knew that he who spoke said all things are beautiful in their time. You have entered the church of God, you have been deemed worthy of Christ’s appointment; if you are not dismissed, do not depart; for if you depart before the dismissal, you are steering your path as a runaway. You spend six days on bodily things, and two hours occupy yourself in spiritual things. Do not be bitter here and cheerful outside; do not be sluggish here and observant outside; do not praise here and revile outside. We present the things of the Lord; are we speaking fables? We read the things of the prophets; do we loathe the righteous? We remember the apostles; do we despise the fathers? You often go up to a theater, and until the dismissal you do not come down; and you enter into the church, and before the divine mysteries you depart? Fear him who said: He who despises a matter shall be despised by it (Prov. XIII, 13). What then does the evangelist Luke say? It came to pass, the crowd pressing upon Jesus, and he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret (Luc. V, 1). Oh, the skillful teaching of the Lord; the river was standing by the lake; or rather, the fisher of men came by the lake, so that he might hunt the hunters of fish. For nothing is idle with the Master Christ, no place, no word, no riddle, no step. Since, therefore, Peter and Andrew, James and John were searching on the lake of Gennesaret, practicing the fishing craft, having their hope in things not manifest, casting damaged nets, contending with the immeasurable abyss, not seeing whence they should be fed, stealing rather than working, enticing rather than persuading—for without deception a fish is not caught—these the Lord, having considered with a divine and unerring gaze, as being fit for the catch of fish, came to the lake to re-net them, not using a dipped net, but a pedagogical word. And because the aforementioned apostles, trusting in the lake-running ships, did not know the Lord of the lake and of all people; for this reason the Lord came to the lake, so that he might teach the crowds, and hook the fishermen. What then the evangelist? And Jesus entering into one of the ships, which was Simon's, asked him to put off from the land a little. Do you see how he enters a ship, who does not need a ship, so that he might gain the master of the ship? But why also does the Lord comfort Simon? Why? Listen understandingly. Simon, as you just heard, having toiled through the whole night, and having achieved nothing, remained idle. He was indeed deeply distressed, washing the nets with empty hands, and attaching labor to labor, and seeing no profit. For this reason the Lord, having observed Peter having become downcast, comforts him; for he is the comforter of those who are afflicted. For no sooner did the Lord see Simon afflicted, than with an hortatory word he answered

^A him: "Lend me your little boat for a little while, sailors, so that setting foot in it, I may teach and catechize the multitude which you see following me; let your boat be a church for me, sailor: hear the word of God. Do not think me importunate; for I have come to make you better. Abandon your empty, fleshly hope, and look about for a spiritual portion; lend me your little boat for a little while, sailor." But Simon, still immersed in sorrow for his failed labor, answering the Lord, said: "Whence have you come to me, O stranger? Why are you a nuisance to me? Look about for another boat, if you wish to tarry on the pond. You see me lamenting, as one who is in need of bread, and do you promise to bring me the word of God? I shall not look about to see from where I might borrow silver ^B to feed my mother-in-law and my wife; but shall I provide you with a boat, so that I may labor in vain night and day? If you bring wages, embark into the little boat; if not, go, I beseech you: for it is a gift that sustains me, not a sermon." Then the Lord said to Simon: "Do not be vexed, Simon; you speak truly as a sailor. The word of God contributes more to sustenance than bread: I shall feed you abundantly; for I am the bread of life. Do not think my presence to be a loss to you: take as much as you wish: for I am the son of a wealthy Father, rich in children."

Having heard these things, Simon, becoming somewhat more cheerful in his countenance, receives the Lord into the little boat, and plying the oars, said to Him: "Sit in the middle, O stranger." ^C He felt as if he were carrying a passenger, not knowing that he was carrying Him who bears all things. Jesus, therefore, having entered into the boat of Simon, asked him to pull back a little from the land. And while Simon was moving it with the hope of receiving his wage, Jesus, sitting, was teaching the crowds from the little boat. But what was He teaching? Unfeigned charity, faith without hesitation, peace without deceit, inseparable brotherly love, piety not feigned, the knowledge of God without the love of silver, virginity without spot, asceticism without anxiety, an undivided marriage: that every labor for the sake of the truth must be sustained, and that those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, are not to be feared. As the Lord was teaching these things, and adding others: "He who loves his soul shall lose it;" and again, "He who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me;" and again, "Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your belts, nor a wallet, nor two tunics:" ^D as the Lord was teaching these things, Simon, hearing this—who thought that he had hired out his boat to the Lord for a wage—began to murmur and to say within himself: "Shall we have hoped to receive a wage from this man? I have fallen into the loss of a day and a night. Who is this who has encountered me today? He discourses on the rejection of possessions, teaching that no one should own anything. Perhaps he wishes me to sell my boat, so that I might distribute the price to the poor and hope to receive my wage from him?" While Simon was reasoning these things within himself, the Lord completes the task of teaching, so that He might exhibit a miracle and make Simon more certain: for it is a labor to persuade a simple man merely by word. Then when the Lord had finished His discourse, and the whole multitude was delighted, Simon approaching said to the Lord: "Your words are indeed beautiful, your voice is sweet, and your doctrine is venerable; but yet, keep your agreement with me; order that I receive my wage for the transport, so that I too, rejoicing with the multitude, may return to my house."

Then the Lord to Simon: "Just as you heard just now, Simon, do you wish to receive your wage? Launch into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch (Luc. V, 4), and receive from me the wage promised to you." But Simon to the Lord: "Shall I fish again, and let down the nets, and endure labor? Would that I had even touched them with empty hands during the night! Or are you more skillful than I in the nautical art? Or do you possess something in the invisible deep? You can be a doctor; but also a catcher of fish? Depart from me; for I see you carrying nothing. Why do I waste time? Did I not testify these things to you from the beginning?" But the Lord to Simon: "Do not look upon me, Simon, as one who is destitute, do not consider my hands and my bosom: I bear your wage not in my hands, but in my mouth. You labored all night, you caught nothing: for the Jewish thoughts are a night of poverty. In the day of grace let down your nets: for the light of good fruit are the Christian obsequies. Launch into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch." Then Simon to the Lord: "Just as you heard just now, Preceptor, laboring through the whole night we took nothing; but at your word I will let down the net." And when they had done this, they enclosed a copious multitude of fish: "but the net was breaking" (Luc. V, 5 et seqq.). O things to be admired! There is no lack of concern for Peter: "The net was breaking." And he was looking about for Christ, and was weighing the fish, and was considering the matter. He could not draw in the weight, and he was calling for helpers: "For they were signaling," he says, "to their partners who were in another boat, where were James and John, who had come to help them." They were signaling, the sailors were not shouting, who are accustomed to doing nothing without shouting and tumult. Why? Because the novelty of the thing had taken away their voice. What need was there to shout, when it was enough to signal, seeing the divine mystery? But they, too, who were in the other boat, where James and John were, running together, began to gather the fish, and the more they gathered, the more they were multiplied. For the fish were vying with each other, who should be the first to obey the command of the Lord: the small were running past the large, the middle-sized were overtaking the larger from the side, the great were leaping over the small: they were not waiting for the hands of the fishermen, they were throwing themselves into the boat by leaping. The bottom of the pond was not being stirred, no fish was enduring to remain below: for they knew Him who said: "Let the waters produce the reptile of a living soul" (Gen. I, 20).

What, then, of Simon, who had fallen into two cases, who laboring all night had taken nothing, and in the day at the word of the Lord had taken everything? As he saw the nets torn, and many other fish standing outside, and gaping so that they might be caught, and not enduring to remain far from the nets, as if having gone mad he fell before the Lord, saying: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Domine. I know at last who you are: I have never seen such a catch of fish. It is the custom, Lord, to enclose fish within a seine: but I now see the contrary, the fish occupy the seine from without. Depart from me, I beseech you. Restrain at last your divine command: leave at least two fish in the pond for breeding. Depart from me: I do not drive you away, but I declare myself wretched: 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.'" But the Lord said to Simon: "Let me depart, from your little boat, Simon, I shall go out; but I will enter into you: for this cause I came to you. For when you were catching, you were caught. What you are doing, that you have suffered. But you drag from life into death; I, however, from death into life. Do not fear, Simon: from this time on you shall be catching men" (Luc. V, 10). "Abandon the pond, catch the world with the seine; break the reed, and prepare the cross; tear asunder... and preach piety; cast the hook, and cure diseases; hold the nets in hatred, and fashion the heavenly keys; go out from the boat, and enter into the Church. Do not fear, Simon: from this time on you shall be catching men." O the power of the Lord! O the prudence of Peter! That fisherman who was caught did not say: "How absurd is that exhortation of the Master! I shall catch men! And what net shall I prepare? Where are these nets woven that catch men as wild beasts? Will this speech take me up like a hook?" Simon said none of these things; he only heard, he immediately obeyed: he did not sell the fish, abundance of things was not wanting to him, he did not arrange matters with his wife. He did not say to the Lord: "Save at least moderate means for me, Lord: I will settle with the merchants; I will leave small expenses for my household." Simon said none of these things: for he was truly a Stone. Nor did Peter only obey the Lord’s precept, but also Andrew and James and John: for these are the two faithful pairs of both brothers. Have you seen the Lord’s negotiation? For what cause He had betaken Himself into the pond? That He might both teach the crowds, and catch the fishermen with a hook. You have heard therefore the evangelist saying: "And having brought the boats to land, leaving all things, they followed Jesus" (Luc. V, 11). But what of the Lord? For it is necessary to impose an end to the discourse. As He saw the alacrity of the apostles, that leaving all things they had followed Him, He hastens to the cure, lest the devil should find a handle for incredulity: for easily

the human race, and for choosing the opposite, he hated the wicked Uzziah: the synagogue rejected him, but the Church embraced him: Moses afflicted him with insults, but Christ healed him. Why? That the love of the Lord Christ toward men might be known, and that the greed of the money-loving Jews might appear. What, therefore, did that leper say, who confounds the heterodox? Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. I do not say, Entreat, but, Command with authority: I do not say, Pray, but, Heal. For it is proper to God to heal by His own will, not by the nod of another. For I have heard the Prophet saying: Our God is in heaven and on earth; He hath done all whatsoever He would (Ps. CXIII, 3). Since, therefore, Thou hast brought all things into being by Thy will, and hast stretched out the heavens like a curtain, and hast spread the earth beneath like a sheet, and adorned all things between them in varied forms; restore to me also the garment of nature, that I may decline the Law as burdensome, but glorify grace as loving mankind, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

SYNOPSIS OF THINGS OBSERVED IN THE WORKS OF CHRYSOSTOM

Prologue

We embark upon an arduous and hitherto untried task, when, for the benefit of the reader, we intend to arrange in order the things dispersed in such a vast mass of volumes, so that they may be presented at a single glance. For truly, not only for those who have not the leisure to read those immense works in continuous reading, or for those who, in the course of twelve long volumes, would find it very difficult to extract everything according to the nature of the argument and divide it into certain chapters; but it is even wonderful to see the doctrine and theology, which pertain to the various disciplines and rites, both Antiochene and Constantinopolitan; and the innumerable things which occur concerning heretics; the many miscellaneous matters which are not ready to be reduced to any argument. Finally, the very frequent digressions which Chrysostom employs in similar matters, which are almost infinitely pertinent to the rituals and customs of his own time, and which do not look toward religion, but are related in comparisons. All these things we have already distributed into five discourses. We also intended to learn something of his style: but since this has been clearly done in the preface to the first volume, we shall consider it superfluous to repeat it.

DIATRIBE I.

Of those things which pertain to doctrine and the theological opinions of that age.

Concerning the substance of God and the Trinity of Persons, rarely does Chrysostom bring forth that which all Christians profess. But concerning the incarnation of Christ and His equality with the Father, he deals so with innumerable things that they were used against the Anomoeans, who at that time were refuted by the Catholics in Antioch and Constantinople: nor is there need to dwell longer on this matter. Against the Anomoeans, however, he fights with the argument that there were two wills in Christ, and against the Monothelites, who later arose, as if from works already given, he refutes the heresy (T. I, col. 765-766).

He describes the rite of Baptism thus: Those who were to be baptized, for thirty days before the sacred laver were prepared: before they were immersed, these words were spoken: I renounce thee, Satan, and thy pomp and thy service, and I join myself to thee, Christ (T. II, col. 259) : to which they added, I believe in the resurrection of the dead (T. X, col. 348). And afterwards they were submerged in the water. But in the sixth homily on the Epistle to the Colossians, he thus reports the words spoken to him who was about to receive baptism (T. XI, col. 312): I renounce thee, Satan, and thy pomp and thy service and thy angels. That word, and thy angels, is not had in the former: but the former was described in Antioch, the latter in Constantinople, where perhaps there was a slight difference in usage. Baptism, however, was not given at Pentecost, which he calls the metropolis of feasts (T. IX, col. 22): because, indeed, the faithful were addicted solely to the descent of the Holy Spirit, and were sent at another time (T. II, col. 463).

^A He often reproaches those who delayed their baptism until death, and enumerates the evils and dangers that follow from this (Vol. II and Vol. VIII). The names for baptism were many, he says (Vol. II), namely, the laver of regeneration, illumination; it was also called burial, circumcision, cross; and other names were also in use for baptism.

Regarding the sacrament of the Eucharist, there is no ancient father who has spoken more clearly. For in the third book *On the Priesthood*, after he had extolled the dignity of priests, who, he says, stand near that immortal nature, he says a little later: "For if one cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, unless he has been regenerated by water and the Spirit, even he who does not eat the flesh of the Lord, nor drink His blood, is deprived of eternal life" (Vol. I). In the Homily ^B *On the Betrayal of Judas* he also says these words, "This is my body" (Vol. II), transforming the things proposed, and that the devil had leaped upon Judas after he had been a partaker of the divine table, not despising the body of the Lord, which he had received, but despising the impudence of Judas himself. That the body and blood of Christ are truly in the Eucharist, he states twice also in his *Homilies on Matthew*. Moreover, in the commentary on the *Second Epistle to the Corinthians*, he speaks very clearly on these words (Vol. VII): "The cup of blessing, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?", stating: "That which is in the cup is that very thing which flowed from the side" (Vol. X). He speaks with even greater clarity on this matter regarding the body of Christ in the Eucharist in the second Homily on the *Second Epistle to Timothy* (Vol. XI): "And therefore this is the body of Christ, and indeed that [one]. He who thinks this is less than that, does not know that Christ is even now present and working." In this place he speaks of the priest offering the sacrifice.

Regarding the sacrament of penance, while speaking of confession, Chrysostom provided matter for error to those who shy away from it, and sowed anxiety in those who think rightly, when in his fifth Oration *On the Incomprehensible* he says: "I do not lead you into a theater of your fellow servants, nor do I compel you to reveal your sins to men; weigh your conscience before God, show Him your wounds, and ask for remedies from Him" (Vol. I). I have seen not a few wavering and some doubting on this matter whether, in that age, the confession of sins to a priest was in use at Antioch, where Chrysostom ^C spoke these words. They have not noticed that in the third book *On the Priesthood* he says that priests have received the power of cleansing thoroughly, and can forgive admitted sins after regeneration (Vol. I): and thus, when he speaks of the confession of sins, it is often to be understood as regarding this ministry of priests; as when he says that after sin one must proceed to confession, and that confession must precede communion (Vol. I). He states the matter more clearly when he pronounces that ulcers must be manifested to a priest (Vol. II): for by confession, he says, the burden of sins is laid down. ^D Although he says here and there that confession must be offered to God in prayers, in the mentioned places he declares that confession is also to be made to a priest.

Now let us come to a question that was agitated not long after the death of Chrysostom, and indeed arose in the final years of his life, which in our own age has exercised the talents of many for nearly an entire century: namely, concerning grace and free will. For Julian and Anianus, who were Pelagians, kept claiming that Chrysostom favored them: and Cassianus, who had adhered to Chrysostom, is considered the author of the Semipelagian heresy. Those who gave their names to such heresies thought that the Doctor favored them in his homilies, and they used his testimonies in such a way as to lend authority to their own claims, and they brought forward places that without doubt seemed opportune for defending their own opinion. For since nothing had yet arisen concerning grace and free will that caused concern or dispute, nor was the matter so difficult as to be circumscribed by certain limits of terminology, what wonder that Chrysostom, in his sermons, which he generally delivered extemporaneously, brought forward some things concerning the grace of God which, if he had treated them in calmer times and more accurately, he would undoubtedly have emended? Just as Augustine also discarded certain things he had formerly thought about the grace of God when he devoted himself to writing so many books on that subject. ^A

We cite the passages of Chrysostom here: The Homily on that saying of Paul, *But having the same Spirit of faith, etc.* (Vol. III), has this: "Wishing to show precisely that to believe and to obey the caller at the beginning is of our own good mind; but after the foundations of faith have been laid, now there is need for the help of the Spirit, that it may remain in us perpetually unshakeable and impregnable. For neither does God, nor does the grace of the Spirit anticipate our purpose; but although He calls, He waits until we accede spontaneously and by our own will, and then at last, when we have acceded, He exhibits to us His whole help." He says something similar in his Homily on John, explaining these words of the Gospel (Vol. VIII): "But Jesus turned, and seeing them following, says to them: What seek you?" He continues: "From this we are taught that God does not anticipate our wills with gifts; but where we have begun, when we have put forward the will, then He gives us many occasions of salvation."

Moreover, Homily 59 on Genesis explains the matter in such a way that he seems to be in conflict with himself (Vol. IV). For speaking of Jacob, the son of Isaac, he has this: "Although he relied upon supernal aid, nevertheless he exhibited what was his own first. So indeed let us persuade ourselves that, although we may strive a thousand times, we can do absolutely nothing rightly unless aided by supernal help. For just as unless we enjoy that subsidy, we can never do anything rightly; so, unless we have brought what is ours, we shall not be able to obtain supernal help." For if we can lay the beginning and foundations of faith without the help of God, as he said above, how can that be true that he adds here, namely that we can never do anything rightly unless aided by supernal help?

foundations of faith without the help of God, as he said above, how can that be true that he adds here, namely that we can never do anything rightly unless aided by supernal help ^A For because nothing had yet been defined in the Church concerning grace and free will, our orator did not speak of these matters with such scrupulousness as he might have done had he weighed them in the balance; for such things would doubtless have yielded more refined conclusions. But it was not permitted for an orator, who was declaiming almost daily and often extemporaneously, to be serious and circumspect with every word and statement, especially in matters that had not yet been asserted by the public laws of the Church (Volume III). However, that he was averse to the Pelagian heresy, he himself testifies at the end of the fourth epistle to Olympias, saying: "I am moved to great sorrow concerning the monk Pelagius; consider, therefore, how many and how great the crowns are which those deserve who have stood bravely in the battle, when we see men who lived in such exercise and endurance of piety being led astray."

I believe that here we are dealing with Pelagius the heresiarch and many learned men. For he was that monk, and he began to spread his errors when Chrysostom was in exile, spending the final period of his life around the year 407. All these things seem to refer to Pelagius, the author of the heresy, and they harmonize with him in such a way that no other Pelagius need be sought.

DIATRIBA II. Concerning the discipline of the age of Chrysostom, and concerning the various rites, both Antiochene and Constantinopolitan: and of the Liturgy.

Concerning the cult of the venerable cross of the Lord, the holy relics and images, and also the intercession and invocation of the saints, Chrysostom makes statements here and there which entirely express the present-day custom of the Church. It is truly remarkable what he says concerning the cult of the holy cross (namely, in Volume I): "Nothing so adorns the imperial crown as the cross, which is more precious than the whole world; and its figure, which once all used to shudder at, is now so eagerly sought after by everyone that it is found everywhere, among princes and subjects, among women and men, among virgins and the married, among servants and free men; for all frequently imprint that sign upon the better part of their limbs, and they bear it about daily upon their forehead as if it were a column. This shines forth upon the holy table, this in the ordinations of priests, this again with the body of Christ and the mystical supper. One may see it celebrated everywhere: in homes, in the marketplace, in deserts, in the roads, in the mountains, in forests, in hills, in the sea, in ships, in islands, on beds, in clothes, in armor, in chambers, at banquets, in silver and gold vessels, in pearls, in the paintings of walls, on the bodies of animals that are ill-affected, on bodies possessed by a demon, in wars, in peace, by day and by night, in the dances of those reveling, and in the associations of those mortifying themselves: so eagerly do all pursue this wonderful gift and its ineffable grace... It gleams everywhere, on the walls of houses, on roofs, in books, in cities, in villages, in uncultivated and cultivated places... Yet that very wood, upon which the holy body suffered and was crucified, why do all eagerly approach it? Why do many take a particle of it, enclosed in gold, and both men and women suspend it from their necks as an ornament, even though this wood was once a symbol of condemnation? Indeed, even Emperors, having set aside the diadem, would take up the cross (Volume I)."

He says these things frequently in his orations against the Jews, and adds that all opposing power is put to flight by the sign of the cross (Ibidem). It is also altogether unique what Chrysostom presents twice, the words of which I shall transcribe here (Volume V): "But behold, the cross itself has now become more honorable and splendid than life, and we all bear it about on our forehead; not only are we not blushing, but we are even glorying in it." Elsewhere he says it was depicted upon the forehead (Volume VII). "For this reason," he says, "both at home, and on the walls, and in windows, and on the forehead and in the mind, we depict it with great zeal (Volume V). We all bear it about on the forehead, he says, not only not blushing, but even glorying. For not only the common people, but even those who are crowned with the diadem, wear it on their forehead rather than the diadem."

Chrysostom frequently deals with the honor and cult shown to the saints, and especially to the relics of the martyrs. A significant passage is that where, discoursing on Saint Babylas, he speaks thus (Volume II): "But that merciful God, who has bestowed upon us infinite occasions for salvation, has also opened to us, among others, this way, which can call us to virtue: leaving the relics of the saints among us for a time. For after the power of the sermon, the tombs of the saints hold the second place, which encourage the minds of those who gaze upon them toward imitation. And if anyone stands by a casket of this kind, he at once perceives its efficacy... But he will truly observe that the phantasy of the deceased is stirred up in the minds of the living from these very places, if one considers how those who come for the sake of mourning, as soon as they have approached the tombs, as if they saw those who lie in the urn standing in place of the urn, from the threshold they are at once compelled. Many, indeed, afflicted with intolerable grief, established for themselves a perpetual dwelling near the tombs of the dead; which they would by no means have done, had they not perceived some consolation from the sight of the place. Why do I speak of the place and the tomb? When often the mere garment of the dead, or one word repeated in the mind, has stirred the spirit and brought back fading memory. Therefore, God has left the relics of the saints to us. And that these are not cast away by us in vain, but have been provided for our utility, the miracles which are daily brought forth by the holy martyrs can bear witness."

But the homily on Saint Eustathius of Antioch has this: "For this reason I call the bodies of the saints both fountains and roots and spiritual ointments (Volume II)." The Antiochene people, moreover, would gladly flock to the fields near the city where the tombs of the martyrs were. But because the memorials of the martyrs were intermingled with the tombs of heretics (Ibidem), therefore Flavianus, in order to consult for the devout people, collected those bones of the martyrs and placed them separately in a pure and clean spot. Chrysostom himself, in his exile, also sent relics of the martyrs to the priest Rufinus, which were in no way doubtful, he says, as he had received them from Otreius, the bishop of Arabissus (Volume III). We could add more, but these are sufficient. The cult

^A of relics he celebrates so frequently that no doubt remains on that score. He speaks no less clearly of the invocation and intercession of the saints and martyrs. When the Antiochenes, suffering from ill health, would take refuge with the Jews—who used charms to ward off diseases—Chrysostom, in order to turn them away from such things, calls them back with these words (Volume I): “Therefore, you too, if you see yourself being punished by God, do not flee to His enemies, the Jews, lest you provoke Him against yourself even more; but rather to His friends, the martyrs and the saints, who have pleased Him and who possess much authority with Him.” In his Homily on Saint Meletius (Volume II), he says: “Let us all pray together, therefore, both magistrates and private citizens, both servants and free men, receiving the blessed Meletius himself as an associate in these prayers.” And elsewhere very clearly (Volume IV): “Knowing this, beloved, let us take refuge in the prayers of the saints and beg them to intercede for us. But let us not rely only on their prayers; let us also, as we ought, rightly dispense our own, and strive to be converted to better things, so that we may give place to the prayer that is poured out for us.” Many other points could be brought forward, but one must not linger longer on so certain a matter.

Many churches in that age were called *martyria*. The term *martyrium* seems to have signified the church of the martyrs at first; and although it is ever more frequently accepted as referring to a church of the martyrs, it was sometimes used for other churches as well (Volume II. See the note and the Greco-Latin Glossary of Du Cange). In that age, great honor and reverence were shown both to churches and to *martyria*. When they entered a church, they washed their hands, and likewise before they prayed (Volume VIII): “For just as it is customary,” he says, “for fountains to be present before oratories, so that those about to worship God may raise up hands washed beforehand while praying, so did our ancestors place poor men before the doors in the place of fountains; so that just as we wash our hands with water, we might first wash our souls through charity, and only then offer our prayers.” It was also the custom for those who entered the church to kiss its vestibules. Inside the church, ^B women were separated from men by wooden boards: a custom established by our ancestors which Chrysostom relates thus (Volume VII): “There ought to be an inner wall to separate you from the women; but because you do not wish for this, our fathers thought it necessary that we should at least separate you with wooden boards. As I have heard from the elders, these partitions did not exist in the beginning.”

Chrysostom teaches a singular thing, namely, that the Christians of Antioch would embrace one another during the mysteries (Volume VIII), so that the many might be made one, and might pour out common prayers for the uninitiated, for the infirm, for the fruits of the earth, for the land, and for the sea. He recalls an ancient custom, which he calls wonderful (Volume III): “But being gathered,” he says, “then all the faithful, after hearing the doctrine, after the prayers, after the participation in the mysteries, the assembly being dismissed, did not immediately depart home; but the wealthy and more affluent, bringing food and dishes from their own houses, would call upon the poor and enjoy a common table together, with common banquets and feasts in the church itself.” He adds that these celebrations were usually held at midday.

Our doctor treats not once of the principal feast days throughout the year. Regarding the birthday of Christ, he narrates in a sermon he delivered in the year 386 that this solemnity had been brought to Antioch, not yet ten years having elapsed, from the West, where it had been celebrated from the beginning (Volume II). Because many rejected this feast day as something new and recently introduced, he proves with many arguments that Christ’s birthday falls on the twenty-fifth of December. The ancient Egyptians, however, and all the Orientals—as is the consensus of all—celebrated the feast of both the Epiphany and the Nativity of the Lord on the sixth of January: but around the middle of the fourth century, the custom of celebrating the birthday on the twenty-fifth of December was introduced into these regions. That this ancient custom held its ground until his own time in the Church of Jerusalem is testified by Cosmas the Egyptian, whom we published in the year 1706; and John of Nicaea confirms the same, when he says that the Jerusalemites assert that James, the brother of the Lord, the first bishop of Jerusalem, assigned the sixth day of January for the celebration of the birthday of Christ.

Yet, long before this, the rite of celebrating Christ’s birthday on the 25th of December had been introduced into the Antiochene Church. For he says ^C in his Homily on Saint Philogonius (Volume I): “For the feast is at hand, the most venerable and awesome of all feasts: which, if anyone were to call the metropolis of all feasts, he would not be wrong. And what is this? The Birth of Christ in the flesh. From this, the feast of the Epiphanies or Theophanies, the holy Pascha, the Ascension, and Pentecost take their origin and foundation. For if Christ had not been born in the flesh, He would not have been baptized; for that is the feast of Theophanies: He would by no means have been crucified, which is the feast of Pascha: He would not have sent the Holy Spirit, which is the feast of Pentecost.”

After the birthday of Christ, therefore, the day of the Epiphanias, or Theophanies (for it is called by both names), used to be celebrated with great devotion. On that day, the feast of the baptism of Christ was also held, and all the faithful were called to the participation of the mysteries (Volume XI). Regarding the feast of Pascha, Chrysostom says certain things above that stand in need of explanation: “If Christ,” he says, “had not been born according to the flesh, He would not have been crucified, which is Pascha.” By which he seems to signify that Christ was crucified on the day of Pascha. Where it must be observed that, as we said in the second part of the eighth volume in the Admonition to the sermon on Pascha, which we have placed among the spurious works (Volume VIII, in the Spuria), that author indeed seems to distinguish entirely the Pascha from the Sunday of the Resurrection. Nor do we find such a distinction only in the East, but also in the West. For Gregory of Tours, relating the order established by his predecessor Perpetuus, places the Resurrection of the Lord earlier than Pascha ^D

^A of the saints, as Gregory of Tours records (p. 531), was observed in this way: "On the sixth day before the Calends of April, at the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, at the Basilica of the Lord Martin. Easter, in the Church. On the day of the Ascension, in the Basilica of the Lord Martin." Regarding this, our Ruinart notes: "The feast of Easter is distinguished from the feast of the Resurrection in the older calendars, where the feast of the Resurrection is celebrated on March 27; but Easter, as everyone knows, was always celebrated in the Church according to the variation of the moon." Let the learned see whether something similar was observed at Antioch in the time of Chrysostom. Indeed, Chrysostom calls Christ's birthday the "metropolis of feasts" above; in the passage mentioned previously, he also calls Pentecost the "metropolis of feasts." But such an appellation can apply to both, because the birthday is the foundation, while Pentecost is the completion of the feasts.

He seems to speak about deacons when he says it is their duty to restrain the wicked and the openly profane from participation in the body and blood of Christ (Volume VII). He adds that they circulate in the church arrayed in a white and shining tunic. The other matters pertaining to deacons we shall bring forward soon, where we discuss the Liturgy.

Catechumens who were being initiated into the Mysteries (Volume IX), in the mystical prayer, ^B at first spoke these words: "In which we cry out, Abba, Father" (Volume VIII). But when they were being initiated, they entered into these pacts with the priests: they renounced Satan and his angels, and promised that they would never turn back to them. Therefore, women and children, so that they might be safe against the snares of the devil, hung Gospels about their necks and carried them everywhere for greater protection (Volume II).

Newly born infants were given names according to the wishes of the parents: some were names of saints, others were names of grandfathers and great-grandfathers, or of those who had been famous in their lineage (Volume IV). But Chrysostom exhorts the Antiochenes to give their children the names of the saints who had shone with virtues. This was indeed done, as is discovered in the Encomium on St. Meletius, even before this advice was given (Volume II). For he says, "When you had received him (Meletius) upon his first entry into the city, everyone was naming his son after him, thinking that by the appellation he was introducing a saint into his house; and having sent fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, the mothers assigned the name of the blessed Meletius to the children whom they had borne."

It was the custom at Antioch for adolescents to be sent to monasteries to live there for a certain time to have their morals informed (Volume I). On which matter Chrysostom says: "Therefore let us not take our sons away from their stay in the desert before the time; but let us allow the disciplines to be impressed more deeply, and the plants to be strengthened by their roots. Even if it is necessary for them to be nourished in a monastery for ten, or even twenty years, let us not be troubled, nor filled with grief; for by how much longer a one is exercised in the gymnasium, by that much greater strength he will acquire."

There were many Christian virgins in that age who abstained from marriage for their whole lives and professed perpetual virginity. At Constantinople, ^C some men were bringing certain virgins into their homes, under the guise, indeed, that they might live chastely as brothers with sisters; but it is not difficult to guess what great evils were produced from such association. They called these virgins "subintroduced," or brought in together (Volume I). There were also other virgins, wealthy in resources, whom they called "regulars." These were very studious about the cultivation of the body and induced men to stay with them at home. Against such a deadly pestilence, Chrysostom declaims after his custom.

Regarding funeral mourning, as it was in use in his time, he reports these things (Volume VI): "We who are already under grace, under the certain hope of the resurrection, to whom all sadness is forbidden, with what face do we lament our dead in the manner of the Gentiles, raise up insane wails, as if bacchanals of another kind, bare our breasts with rent tunics, and sing vain words and dirges around the body and tomb of the deceased? Finally, for what reason do we dye our garments black, if not to show that we are truly faithless and miserable, not only by our weeping, but also by our clothing?" Nobody at that time built tombs within the cities. Which custom had flowed from the ancients, as much from the Greeks as the Romans (Volume VII), as we have seen in the "Antiquity Explained" in Volume V. At Constantinople, indeed, the emperors, who were buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles, desired their bodies to be buried not near the Apostles, but outside at the very thresholds; and thus, continues Chrysostom, the Emperors became the doorkeepers of the fishermen (Volume I).

Litanies are mentioned by Chrysostom in the sermon which he delivered at Constantinople on the day of Easter in the year 399, the place of which we think should be entirely cited here (Volume VI): "Three days ago, when rain broke through and carried everything with it, and snatched the table from the mouths, if I may say so, of the farmers, while laying low the bearded grain, and devastating all other things by the abundance of moist matter, there were litanies and supplications, and our whole city ran like a torrent to the places of the Apostles, and we implored as advocates the holy Peter and the blessed Andrew, as well as that pair of apostles, Paul and Timothy." Here they signify the procession of the litany with singing, by which the people, with Chrysostom as shepherd and leader, hastened to the churches: which litanies are also called "lites" elsewhere.

Indeed, he describes the office of the reader in the eighth Homily on the Epistle to the Hebrews, delivered at Constantinople (Volume XII): "And yet, these things are read to you every week: and when the reader has ascended, he says first to whom the book belongs, namely, to this or that prophet, or apostle, or evangelist: then he says that, so that these things may be clearer to you, and not only so that you may know what is contained there, but also the reason for the things that are written, and who said them."

Liturgy.

We have provided the Liturgy in the name of Chrysostom at the end of the twelfth volume, as it was in use long after the age of Chrysostom; in which, as Savile noted, many things are held that bear upon themselves the mark of a base age: which almost nothing...

^A refers to of those things which Chrysostom commemorates in various places concerning the Liturgy of his own time. Wherefore, it seemed to the purpose if we should here recount those things which occur passim in his works concerning the Liturgy. And indeed I would have greatly desired to preserve the very order of the Liturgy in this review; but that is quite difficult, or rather entirely impossible to be done: for those passages of the Liturgy are often cited as excerpts in such a way that you do not know to which part of the Liturgy they belong.

The Liturgy, however, which Chrysostom calls Pascha, was celebrated three and sometimes four times in the week. Let it not be a burden to cite his words (Volume I). For it is not, he says, the same thing, Pascha and Quadragesima; but Pascha is one thing, Quadragesima another; since Quadragesima happens once a year, but Pascha three times in the week, sometimes even four, or rather as often as we wish. For Pascha is not a fast, but an oblation and sacrifice, which takes place in individual gatherings.

The Mysteries were celebrated with closed doors, and the uninitiated were turned away (Volume VII); for they did not know the power of the chalice (Volume II). The priest, however, lifting his hand on high, standing himself even higher, crying out in that tremendous silence, was calling some, while others he was forbidding: not doing this with his hand, but more clearly and openly with his tongue than with his hand. For that voice, rushing into our ears, like a hand drives out and casts away some, while it introduces and makes others stand (Volume XII).

As to what Chrysostom reports here and there about the Liturgy in so great a forest of works, we can scarcely, and indeed not even scarcely, as I have already said, recount them in their own order. Somethings regarding this kind of order seems to be mentioned by the eighteenth homily on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Volume X): We propose, he says, one body, one cup: you see that the people also contribute much in the prayers. For on behalf of the possessed, and for those who are in penance, prayers are made in common ^B both by the priest and by them: and all emit one and the same prayer, a prayer, I say, full of mercy. Again, when we arc those who cannot be participants of the sacrosanct table from the sacred enclosures, another prayer must be entered upon, in which we all lie upon the ground, all equally arise. To these is added, when peace is to be given and in turn received, we all mutually kiss one another. Now too in the tremendous mysteries, as the priest makes vows for the people, so the people make vows for the priest. For these words: And with your spirit, signify nothing other than this. Again, the prayer by which thanks are given to God is common. For neither does he alone give thanks, but the whole people also. For when he has first taken their voice, and they have assented that this is done worthily and justly, then at length he begins the action of thanks.

Regarding the priest celebrating the mysteries, the third homily on the Epistle to the Colossians says this (Volume XI): When he who presides over the Church has entered, he immediately says, Peace to all; when he preaches, Peace to all; when he gives a blessing, Peace to all; when he bids them to greet [one another], Peace to all; when the sacrifice has been finished, Peace to all. And again in the midst, Grace to you and peace.

But these few things indicate to us a little about the words and gestures of the priest in the Liturgy, and about the order of them among themselves. Concerning the beginning of the Liturgy, and about the prayers and other things ^C which the priest preceded the Preface, as we call it, with, Chrysostom has nothing. But he reports these words of the Preface: The priest was saying: Let us lift up our mind and hearts (Volume II). The people were responding, We have them unto the Lord. Yet as it seems clear from the preceding, the priest was continuing, Let us give thanks to the Lord our God: but the people, It is worthy and just. And that he signifies, when he says above: And they assented that this is done worthily and justly. He continues: Then at length he begins the action of thanks. The priest was indeed bringing forth a Preface not unlike our own.

In the oblation, however, the priest was saying: Whether willingly or unwillingly we have sinned, forgive (Volume XII): to which similar things are held in that Liturgy published by us under the name of Chrysostom in Vol. XII. But when he might say these words, Let us pray all together, is not indicated by Chrysostom who brings them forth (Volume XI).

Martyrs also were commemorated in the Liturgy. The names of patrons and benefactors were also always brought forth in the sacred oblations, with prayers added for their estates and properties (Volume IX). A memory of the dead was also wont to be celebrated in the venerable and horrific mysteries (Volume XI).

These things concerning the priest performing the sacred rites: nor does he report fewer things concerning the deacon, who was present at the divine mysteries, and often gave admonitions to the people with a loud voice, which things it is not easy to recite in the order in which they were said. He was crying out, however, Let us stand upright ^D properly (Volume I): by which words, he was signifying to the people standing by, not that he might raise up the body merely, but the soul also. Subsequently he was also accustomed to admonish the people thus with a loud voice (Ibid.): Know one another; so that they might in fact distinguish whether the impious, the wicked, or those judaizing were intermingled with them.

Moreover, while the sacred rites were being performed, he was suggesting a prayer to the people, which Chrysostom has reported in these very words: Let us pray for the bishop and for his old age and patronage, that he may rightly handle the word of truth, and for those who are here and everywhere in the world (Volume VI). He was also adding: For those who have died in Christ, and for those who make their memory (Volume IX).

The word, moreover, which the deacon was repeating often by crying out was this, Let us attend (Ibid.): which I have often heard said at Rome by a deacon, when I was present for the sake of the Liturgy of the Greeks. It must be noted, however, that which Chrysostom adds here, namely, that after that word, the reader begins the prophecy of Isaiah; which word had been premised, so that the people might hear the prophecy with a more attentive mind. This, moreover, the holy doctor also adds in the sermon on the Ascension: Hear in the prayer the deacons always saying, Pray for the angel of peace (Volume II).

The duty of the deacon was to quiet the tumult, if anywhere it might arise in the church (Volume IX): for which reason he admonishes that if anyone attacks another with taunts, or leans toward laughter, guffaws, and gossip, the deacon should call...

that sits on those trifles, and compels him to act modestly.

Regarding priests and deacons, Chrysostom relates the following consistently (Volume I): Priests, even when they are about to offer a blessing, once they have first prayed for peace for you, thereafter begin to bless. And indeed the deacon, while he bids the others to pray, commands this also in his prayer: that we beseech the angel of peace, and all things that have been proposed, to be peaceful; and when he dismisses you from this assembly, he prays this for you, saying: Depart in peace.

Nor must that which Chrysostom says about the possessed and the mentally afflicted, or energumens, be omitted, who, before the mysteries were celebrated, were brought in by the deacon and commanded to bow their heads; at that time a prayer was accustomed to be made for them, which preceded all others (Volume I). But he gravely rebukes those who did not recite this prayer with the others, or who were gossiping with one another at that time. The first prayer, he says, which we use for the energumens, is full of the commemoration of mercy: the second also, for those who are in penance, asks for much mercy. The third, finally, is for ourselves: and it brings in the innocent infants of the people, provoking God to mercy. For since we condemn our own sins, we pray for those who have sinned much and ought to be accused: but for ourselves, we bring in children, whose simplicity the kingdom of heaven expects imitators of (Volume VII).

DIATRIBE III.

Concerning the heretics and heresiarchs whom Chrysostom frequently mentions, and concerning their heresies.

It will be a work of no less labor to extract from such a great forest of works all the things Chrysostom mentions here and there concerning heresiarchs, concerning heresies and errors, which were rampant in the Eastern Church in his age, and to recount them in order. For besides those who had arisen in his own age, such as the Anomoeans, Macedonians, and Photinians; he also notes many of the older ones, whose sect was still numerous or not yet extinct. In addition, in his sermons he exacts and refutes many errors concerning the faith which were being spread among the common people at that time. It must be noted, however, that in those heresies which had arisen before the end of the third century, many errors are detected here which are nowhere recorded by the writers of that age. For it is no wonder that those who had once defected from the authority of the Catholic Church, which is the one rule of the true faith, fell into new errors daily.

He does not once attack the Docetae, whether those who said that Christ came into the world *doxê*, that is, in appearance only, or seemingly, as others say, or putatively, as Irenaeus says. For they thought that the coming, life, and death of Christ was *phantasia* (phantasm) only, not a thing truly accomplished. But Chrysostom, when he says that Christ remained in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, adds: and let no one suspect that this happened in appearance only (Volume VII). Indeed, this heresy, which had already arisen in the apostolic times, was still thriving in the age of Chrysostom, as can be seen in homily four on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Volume XII): Let them hide from shame, those who say that He arrived through appearance, and not in the very truth of the matter. The one who first makes mention of this heresy is Ignatius the Martyr in his Epistle to the Trallians and in his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans. It is also mentioned by Irenaeus, by Clement of Alexandria, who calls such heretics Docetae, and likewise by Origen and Eusebius.

Others, however, said that Christ passed through Mary only as water through a canal; that is, His body did not grow in the womb of the Virgin, as is wont to happen, but having already been formed, it passed through just as water through a canal—which error Chrysostom refutes (Volume VII). But Irenaeus ascribes this heretical opinion to the Valentinians (Irenaeus, p. 33), and from Irenaeus, Epiphanius brings forward the same thing (Epiphanius, p. 172). Indeed, there were certain heretics who broke into such impiety that they dared to say that the incarnation of Christ was a fable (Volume VII).

Chrysostom mentions the Gnostics only once, whom he says called themselves by this name because they thought they knew more than others knew (Volume XI). But concerning the Valentinians, who were also counted in the number of the Gnostics, he produces much in various places, which for the most part agrees with the heresy of the Marcionites and Manichaeans. Valentinus, moreover, said that matter had pre-existed before the creation of the world, whom he refutes with most valid arguments, as he does others who suggest similar things (Volume IV). He denied, however, that God was the Creator: for he was from the number of those who ascribed all things to the Aeons (Ibid). But with the Marcionites and Manichaeans, the Valentinians said that the god of the Old Testament was the author of evil, and thus they admitted two gods: namely, the god of the New Testament, whom they considered good, and the god of the Old Testament, whom they considered evil; nay, the Manichaeans called him the devil, and thus they expunged from the catalog of the Scriptures the law brought forth by Moses as having been given by an evil god (Volume I and Volume VII).

Valentinus, along with Marcion, Mani, and others, denied the incarnation of Christ (Volume III), saying through the mouth of the devil that He was neither incarnate nor had He put on flesh, but that it was a certain appearance, a phantasm, a simulation: even though the passions, and death, and the sepulcher, and hunger protested: if none of these things had happened, would the devil not have disseminated these very foul dogmas of impiety much more widely? Chrysostom repeats this same point elsewhere (Volume I).

Almost countless things are found in the works of Chrysostom concerning Marcion and the Manichaean; likewise concerning the Marcionites and the Manichaeans. Those heretics agreed in many things; but because each had many things peculiar to themselves, they must be treated separately. [Chrysostom] says that the cause of error for Marcion, Mani, and Valentinus was that they inquired as to what is the cause of evil, and through this

^A question they stirred up countless heresies (Volume I). Marcion also said that matter had pre-existed before the creation of the world (Volume IV). But the Marcionites thought the Creator was just, indeed, but not good (Volume X).

They also expunged the law of Moses from the catalogue of the divine Scriptures (Volume I). For Marcion said that the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament was not the same (Volume III). For although this is not expressly stated, it is entirely likely that he, just like Mani, admitted a bad god and a good god, and held that the bad god was the creator of the world, and he was to be understood in this way when he said that God is not the creator of the world (Volume IV).

Marcion of Pontus said that Christ had come only by appearance (Volume III), in which matter he agreed not only with the Manichaeans and Valentinians, but even with more ancient heretics who thought that Christ had come only by appearance and through phantasy. He denied the incarnation of Christ, in which matter he is most powerfully refuted by Chrysostom (Volume VI and Volume VII).

He also denied that Christ had truly suffered (Volume VII). Wherefore the holy doctor says that those who labor under the disease of Marcion are sons of the devil (Ibidem). He also said that the Father was unknown to the Son of God. The Marcionites affirmed that Christ was not the Creator: which Chrysostom refutes excellently (Ibidem). They also denied that he was born of the Virgin Mary, and that he truly rose from the dead (Volume VIII).

The Marcionites maintained that there would be no hell after death, whose impudence our doctor suppresses (Volume IX). Marcion employed the words of Paul, but in a truncated and concise manner (Volume X). But the Marcionites received only one evangelist, whom, however, they had mutilated and mixed up at their own whim.

The Marcionites were in Salamis in Cyprus, and were oppressing that whole city, he says: to which evil Chrysostom was preparing to bring a remedy, and would have successfully accomplished the whole matter, had he not been cast out and sent into exile (Volume III).

The holy doctor thus describes a certain ridiculous custom of the Marcionites (Volume X). After, he says, any catechumen among them has died, with some living person hidden under the bed of the dead man, they approach the dead man, and speak to him, and ask whether he wishes to receive baptism. Then, as he does not respond at all, the one who is hidden says for him that he wishes to be baptized: and thus they baptize him on behalf of him who has departed; as if they were acting on a stage: so much did the devil prevail in the minds of the slothful. Then, when they are accused, they put forward this word, The Apostle, they say, said, Who is baptized for the dead (1 Cor. 15:29).

Chrysostom also brings forward other sentences and sayings of Marcion and the Marcionites. God, Marcion used to say, could not, having assumed flesh, remain pure. From these things, indeed, which he speaks of here and there concerning the Marcionites, it is clear that the heresy of the Marcionites flourished in his own time: ^B indeed, he reports a disputation which he had with a certain Marcionite in the third homily on the Epistle to Philemon (Volume XI). For when he wanted to prove that God is good and clement even when He exacts punishment, and brought forward this passage: He makes the sun rise over the bad and the good, and rains upon the just and the unjust: the Marcionite who was present responded: If He did not exact an account for sins, that would be goodness; if He does exact it, it is no longer goodness. But against this, Chrysostom proved that God, if He does not exact an account, is not good, and because He does exact it, he is therefore good. But since it would be a longer task to report all his arguments, we refer to the place itself (Volume IV).

Mani and the Manichaeans, whom Chrysostom attacks here and there, said, like Marcion and Valentinus, that matter existed before the creation of the world (Volume III). For God, they said, could not create the world without matter. They admitted a good and a bad god: they affirmed that the bad god was the author of the Old Testament, but the good god of the New Testament (Volume VII) indeed, they said that the old law was from the devil (Volume I). But they despised the patriarchs and prophets because they had been in the old law (Volume IV). They denied that God was the creator (Ibidem); indeed, they honored nature as if it were not made (Volume VIII). Yet they were not consistent with themselves, if that which Chrysostom says is to be understood of them, as is entirely likely: Some, he says (Ibidem), say that there is another creator of the world, and that the visible works are not his, but of another God, contrary to himself. And they said the old law was rejected because it was made by a bad god, and was itself bad, and they used this word of the Apostle: There is indeed a rejection of the preceding commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (Heb. 7:18). Behold, Paul, they said, calls the commandment bad (Volume XII). But attend carefully, replies Chrysostom: he does not say that it is vicious and depraved, but because of its weakness and uselessness.

They affirmed that our nature is bad (Volume II): yet because impiety cannot always agree with itself, they introduced the divine essence into dogs and monkeys and wild beasts of every kind, saying that the souls of all wild beasts are from the divine essence; so that the souls of wild beasts were far nobler than the souls of humans. The Manichaeans, indeed (Volume III), and certain other heretics, said that the creature was the work of a god who is not good: some attributed one part of it, torn away from the rest, to spontaneous matter, and judged it to be unworthy of the workmanship of God. But although he does not name the Manichaeans in the book on the obscurity of the Prophecies, he nevertheless has them in view when he attacks those who said that the body is bad; and he repels their error, by which they affirmed that nature is bad (Volume VII).

The Persian Manichaeus denied the incarnation of the Word of God, as did Marcion and Valentinus, and said that Christ had come only by appearance, and thus renewed the heresy of the Docetae (Volume III). And the same Manichaeus, just like Marcion, asserted that Christ was not the creator (Volume VII).

^A The Manichaeans, says Chrysostom, are like muted and rabid dogs; they put on a pretense of modesty, but inwardly they cherish the grave madness of dogs, and hide a wolf within a sheep's skin (Volume IV). From this passage, "Amen I say to you, this day you shall be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:43), they inferred that there was a complete retribution for the soul of the thief, and that there would never be a resurrection of bodies; the same holy doctor excellently refutes them, as anyone may see. They also said that by "resurrection" is meant death and liberation from sins (Volume X).

The Manichaeans asserted, says Chrysostom (Volume VII), that evil is immutable or unchangeable, and that it cannot be overcome or uprooted; they act, he says, as agents of the devil, undoing the hands of those who wish to work at virtue and overturning all of life. For those who endeavor to persuade others of these things do not merely ruin the future, but they also turn the present upside down. Indeed, they even said that evil is unbegotten. He proves how many errors follow from this, and he drives away those who shun the light (Volume IX). Elsewhere he also produces these words: "Through the rotten mouth of the Manichaeans, the devil says that he himself is unbegotten: for," he says, "the Manichaeans said that in Paul, the 'god of this world' refers to the devil" (Volume X).

Chrysostom mentions the Encratites together with the Marcionites and Manichaeans (Volume XI). However, he speaks very rarely of this heresy; yet in his time the Encratites were still in Antioch, as Epiphanius testifies. Clement of Alexandria mentions the Encratites more than once, who in Book 7 of the *Stromata* says that they are so called "from their activity" (ἀπὸ ἐνεργείας), "from their continence" (ἀπὸ ἐγκρατείας). Origen, in *Against Celsus*, says that they did not admit the Epistles of Paul. Eusebius, however, narrates in *Hist. Eccl.*, p. 149, that the author of this heresy was Tatian. And Epiphanius also confirms this, adding that they added certain things to Tatian’s doctrine, and had used apocryphal scriptures—namely, the Acts of Andrew, John, and Thomas; that they taught that marriage was from the devil, rejected all animate things, used only water in the mysteries, thought wine to be diabolical, yet believed that there would be a resurrection, and feigned temperance.

There were many in the time of Chrysostom who gave themselves to genesis or genethlialogy, and who predicted the future from the course and conjunction of the stars; and, as is to be believed, they attracted many, who, so that they might foreknow whether good or evil things were to come to them, hurried to those astrologers so that, by paying a fee, they might learn what was about to happen to them (Volume VII). Chrysostom vehemently attacks these men (Volume XII): "How long," he says, "will you play, introducing revolution and genesis?" And he proves how vain such an art is from the false predictions which they had often put forth, and he exerts himself in every way to avert his listeners from such a curious and empty investigation. Some, indeed, from the Magi and the star which appeared at the birth of Christ, endeavored to prove that astrology is a true discipline; Chrysostom vigorously refutes and confutes them.

^B The insane heresy of the Anthropomorphites also thrived at that time. From this statement in Genesis, "Let us make man to our image and likeness" (Gen. 1:26), they inferred that God was endowed with a human form and body (Volume IV). Here other heretics rise up, he says, attacking the dogmas of the Church, and they say, "Behold, it says, 'According to our image'"; and from this they wish to attribute a human form to God; a thing which would be the height of madness, that He who lacks form and appearance, and is not subject to any change, should be reduced to human form, and that members and lineaments should be attributed to an incorporeal being: what could be equal to this madness? But because the Anthropomorphites thought they could confirm their opinion from this, because it is said in the Holy Scripture that God has hands, feet, and eyes—things which seemed to them to express human form (Volume V)—Chrysostom routs them, objecting these things in turn: "Therefore, because God is said in Scripture to bend a bow and cast arrows, shall we consider Him an archer? And because He is said to wield a sword, shall we consider Him a soldier? Would it not be the height of dementia to interpret all those things, which were only spoken metaphorically, in such a literal fashion?"

Sabellius, says our doctor (Volume I), an African by birth, when he had heard, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30), and "He who sees me, sees the Father" (John 14:9), seized upon this proximity of words, by which He appeared to approach the Father, as an occasion for impiety, so that he believed there was one person and one hypostasis. He also affirmed that the Holy Spirit does not constitute a single person of the Trinity (Volume VIII), and said that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were naked names imposed upon one person (Volume XI), namely, according to the difference of operations: this heresy, as one thriving in his own time, he drives away and agitates against in many places (Volume XII).

He attacks Paul of Samosata and his followers, who then seemed to be a great number, with more frequent darts. Now Paul of Samosata said that Christ—or rather, the Word of God—only began to exist when Mary gave birth to Him (Volume III). "For since," says Chrysostom, "the things which were done in the desert were done before Mary, and Christ (namely, the Word of God), according to Paul's view, made all those things, it is necessary that He existed both before the birth and before the parturition." For Paul of Samosata and his followers, whom the holy doctor calls Paulians, said that the Word of God did not exist before the ages, indeed not even before the birth of Mary. "For if," he says, "He did not exist before the birth of Mary, and before He offered Himself to be seen in the flesh (Ibid.), how was He giving the law, when He did not exist? And how," he says (Volume V), "was He saying, 'I will make a new covenant with you, NOT like the covenant which I made with your fathers' (Jer. 31:31-32)? How then was He giving a covenant to their fathers when He did not yet exist, as they affirm?"

For the sake of a certain woman, he says, Paul of Samosata betrayed his own salvation; and that woman was Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, who favored Paul of Samosata. But truly, regarding his errors, not the same things are reported by...

^A ecclesiastical writers, Athanasius, Eusebius, Epiphanius, and Philastrius. Some think that he, like Sabellius, rejected the identity of the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and did not admit of three persons. Theodoret, however, in book 1 *On Heretical Fables*, says that Paul of Samosata denied that Jesus Christ was God, and Philastrius states this clearly. Chrysostom attacks and refutes this opinion with these words (Volume eleven): *He himself is the one who descended, and who ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.* He also includes with them Paul of Samosata, who did not believe in the resurrection (Volume five).

The heresy of the Melchisedecians also flourished in Chrysostom's time, whom Epiphanius calls Melchisedecians (Volume six). They said that Melchisedec was greater than Christ. Others, again, said that Melchisedec was the Holy Spirit, the author of which error Epiphanius reports to be Hieracas. But the Melchisedecians put forward this argument: it is said in the Psalms concerning Christ: *You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec* (Ps. 109:4): from which they inferred that he who was in the order of Melchisedec was inferior to the head and prince of the order. Chrysostom replies that Melchisedec was only a figure of Christ, and that when he offered bread and wine, he foretold the sacrifice to be offered by Christ; and since the Apostle says, *In the name of Jesus every knee should bow* (Phil. 2:10), it follows from this that Melchisedec also bowed his knees before Christ. Theodoret also treats of the Melchisedecians in *Heretical Fables* 1.14, and John Damascene in *Heresy* 55 (Ibid. d. e.). The Jews, however, said that Melchisedec was born of fornication, and therefore was without genealogy, ^B which Epiphanius also reports. To them we say that they speak erroneously: for the genealogy of Solomon, who was born of the adulterous wife of Uriah, is nevertheless traced. But since Melchisedec was a type of the Lord, and bore the image of Christ, just as Jonah also did, for this reason Scripture kept silent about his father, so that in him, as in an image, we might contemplate Christ, who is truly without father and without genealogy.

He also attacks the Cathari, or "Pure Ones," more than once, because they called themselves Cathari or pure, though they were full of all filth, and he refers to them by no other name (Volume eleven and Volume twelve). They were in fact Novatians, regarding whose origin St. Cyprian offers much in his letters, and after him Eusebius Pamphili in his *History*, and finally Epiphanius and after him Philastrius, to recount all of which is not our intention. From the things, however, which he preached in the year 399 in Constantinople, it seems to be argued that there were many Novatians or Cathari in that city at that time who called themselves by this name (Volume twelve). For he asks and implores his listeners to rid themselves of such vanity, and to avoid their arrogance, and rather to wash away their own offenses and confess their sins.

Chrysostom mentions Arius and the Arians infrequently, because the Anomoeans, born from the stock of the Arians, were then spreading through the East and vexing the Catholic teachers: and thence it happens that he is perpetually sailing against the Anomoeans. ^C But concerning Arius, he says (T. 1, p. 410, a): *Arius insists on the diversity of the substance, drawing a distinction between the persons.* For he said the Word of God had not always been, but was made and created from nothing, not eternal, not similar in substance to the Father, nor the true Word or wisdom of God, but called so catachrestically: that it was changeable by nature, and did not know the Father, indeed not even its own nature: that it was made for our sake, so that through it as an instrument God might create us; and that it would not have been created, unless God had wished to create us.

This opinion, as if put forward by Arius, Chrysostom relates (Volume eleven): *God, who generates, could not generate without passion. And therefore, lest he should admit a certain passion in God, he said the Word was not begotten by God, but made and created.* "Arius indeed confesses the Son, but only in name: for he says that he is a creature and far lesser than the Father" (Ibidem). Arius and his followers indeed professed that the Son was a created thing and unlike the Father: yet because after their emergence they were attacked more sharply by the Catholics, thence it happened that they concealed some things in the formulas of faith and controversies, and mitigated others, and did so craftily and fraudulently for fear of impending evils, so that they might yield a little to the times. But afterwards, when under the Emperor Constantius, who was addicted to their sect, they enjoyed greater freedom, they said that the Son was unlike the Father, an *anomoios* (unlike), publicly and in the formulas of faith, and thence it came about that they were called Anomoeans. There were a great number of them both in Antioch and in Constantinople, and they contended daily with the Catholics. Our John certainly had many sermons against them (T. 1), namely, ten preached in succession at Antioch, which, having interspersed others of a different argument, he delivered partly in the year 386, partly at the beginning of 387. He also seems to have had other sermons in the following years, one of which, and an excellent one at that, I have discovered, and recently edited by Bentzelius, I have corrected in many places (T. 6).

Because there was also a frequency of Anomoeans in Constantinople, the second sermon which the bishop held in that city was against the Anomoeans. We have placed the other one, which he also gave in Constantinople against the Anomoeans, in sequence, and perhaps he said other homilies against those heretics which either lie hidden in the East or are utterly lost. The Anomoeans had reached such a point of arrogance, nay, impudence, that they said they had received all knowledge, and that they knew God as he knew himself (Volume one). They affirmed that the Son was not similar in substance to the Father (Ibidem). And they said he was not equal to the Father for this reason, because he prayed to the Father (Ibidem). They asserted everywhere that he was unequal to the Father (Ibidem). They also added that Christ did not have the supreme power of judging. Wherefore Chrysostom aptly criticized the sect of the Anomoeans when he said (Ibidem): "The untimely curiosity of reasonings planted the heresy of the Anomoeans." But their arguments are so rightly and clearly refuted: in

his sermons, that you could scarcely see anything more perfect in this genre anywhere; but we abstain from recounting them, lest we be too long.

He also attacks Macedonius and the Pneumatomachi, who were waging war against the Paraclete (Tome Two). For he argues against the Pneumatomachist when, explaining that place of Paul, *But all these things worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will* (1 Cor. 12:11), he says such things as these: "Furthermore, one and the selfsame Spirit works all these things. But you will say, He is moved by God. Truly he has never said this, but you invent it. For when he says, *Who worketh all in all* (Ibid. v. 6), he says this of human beings: he nowhere enumerates the Spirit with men, even if you speak foolishly and rave a thousand times. For he who said elsewhere, *Through the Spirit*, lest you think that 'through' is a word of diminution, nor that he is moved to operation, he subjoins that the Spirit works, not that he is moved to operation; and he works as he wills, not as he is commanded. For just as the Son says concerning the Father, *He raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them* (John 5:21): so likewise concerning himself, *He quickeneth whom he will*; so also concerning the Spirit, elsewhere [he speaks of him] as one who does all things with power, and there is nothing that hinders him," etc.

Concerning Marcellus of Ancyra and Photinus his disciple, Chrysostom relates these things: namely, that they asserted and preached the same things as Sabellius, who said that the Son and the Father and the Holy Spirit are one person (Tome Twelve). Now, we published a long diatribe on the doctrine of Marcellus in the year 1707, where we expressed his opinion as taken from Eusebius Pamphili (Collectio Nova Patrum, Vol. 2, in the beginning): "One God exists from eternity: whose Reason, or Word—for it is expressed in either way—is equally eternal, one with God himself in substance and hypostasis, so that there is no distinction between the two; and the Word is silent, internal. The Holy Spirit likewise existed in God from eternity, with no distinction similarly except of name and reason. But when God acts and speaks, then the Word goes forth as a certain emission, extension, and dilation of the deity; and after the work is performed, it returns to God and remains in its pristine condition. The Word was likewise sent forth, so that it might assume flesh; and then it became the Son of God, and also King, Christ, the image of the invisible God, and the Firstborn of all creation, whereas before it had been none of these things: and after the judgment it will lose all these, and will be one with the Father as before. But just as the Word is an extension and dilation of God, so the Holy Spirit is a further extension and dilation, which is likewise sent forth from God and returns to God as the Word, and is one with God and the Word without any distinction."

This is the opinion of Marcellus according to the explanation of Eusebius, to which Basil and Theodoret subscribe, though not so clearly, and Chrysostom echoes them in the aforementioned place. If, moreover, such was his doctrine, it differed in nothing truly from Sabellius and the Patripassians; and according to the testimony of Epiphanius, he was also suspected by Athanasius, who had formerly been his friend. Truthfully, it would be difficult to detect such great errors in his writings. However the matter may be, Marcellus, when he saw himself condemned by Basil and others, and held in suspicion by the great Athanasius, ^A sent Deacon Eugenius to them with a confession of faith (Collectio nova Patrum, Vol. 2, p. 1), in which he declared that he held the right views and in no way deflected from the faith of the Catholic Church, to which Athanasius and other Egyptian bishops subscribed. But after the death of Marcellus, his disciples, putting forward a similar confession of faith at the Synod of Diospolis, were admitted to communion both by the Synod and by Basil. You have this previously intricate matter clearly explained by us in the aforementioned book.

Photinus, however, the disciple of Marcellus, said that Christ did not exist in any way before he took his origin in the Virgin Mary. Many thought him to agree with Paul of Samosata: Chrysostom says above that he had been addicted to the error of Sabellius just like his teacher Marcellus, who followed Sabellius in many things if he truly held those views which Eusebius ascribes to him above. But Marcellus in the final course of his life issued a Catholic profession of faith. Photinus, however, seems to have written all those things which Eusebius ascribes to his teacher Marcellus.

Besides these, Chrysostom reports other things concerning many errors which flourished in his age among the Antiochenes, some of which, as is perceived from his words, were on the lips of the common people. ^B "There were many then who stubbornly refused to admit the doctrine of the future age and the resurrection" (Tome One). These without doubt thought that souls die with the body. Now, Gulielmus Pastrengius of Verona (Tome Ten), in his work *On the Origins of Things and on the Writings of Illustrious Men*, printed at Venice in the year 1547, where he refers to the works of St. John Chrysostom, mentions a book of his with this title: *Two books against the Arabs concerning the resurrection of the dead, who said that souls die with the body*. Which books of Chrysostom, if they were truly of this holy doctor, are either hidden somewhere or have completely perished. But Eusebius in *Hist. Eccl.* p. 133 says that the Arabs in the time of Origen openly said that souls die with the body and were to resurrect with it: and that a Synod, at which Origen was present, was convened against them. But those Antiochenes who, according to Chrysostom, denied the future age, did not think that either souls or bodies would resurrect. He commemorates yet another notable error of many Antiochenes in Homily 28 on Matthew. "But why," he says, "do demons willingly linger in tombs (Tome Seven)? To insert a pernicious doctrine into the minds of many, namely, that the souls of the dead become demons, which may God forbid that anyone should think. But what would you say, they ask, about many sorcerers, who kill captured boys so that they may have a soul serving them afterward? For that they kill them, many say; but that the souls of the slain are with them, whence, I ask, do you know? They themselves, they say, the demoniacs, say this: 'I am the soul of such and such a person.' But this is a fraud and diabolical fallacy: for it is not the soul of the dead person that cries out, but the demon, who simulates this to deceive the hearers. For if a soul could enter into the substance of a demon, much more easily would it enter into its own body. Moreover, who endowed with reason ...

^A can believe that a soul has been harmed, and that it joins itself to the one harming it? Or that a man can change an incorporeal force into another substance? For if this cannot be done in bodies, nor can anyone change the body of a man into the body of an ass, much less can it be done in the invisible soul, nor can anyone turn it into the substance of a demon.

Chrysostom mentions that among the Antiochenes there were also some heretics who claimed that one body falls and another rises. "How then," he says ^B (Tenth Volume), "does the resurrection take place, if indeed one falls and another rises? Whence this inquiry? Did one sin and another get punished? Did one do right and another get crowned?" Among the Constantinopolitans also, there were many who said that some would rise again and others would not, whom Chrysostom refutes with most powerful arguments (Twelfth Volume).

There were also some who said that our soul is from the substance of God; and they were rashly carried away into other errors: concerning which Chrysostom must be heard. On these words of Genesis (Fourth Volume): *And he breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul*, he says: "Here, certain ill-disposed men, moved by their own reasonings and thinking nothing worthy of God, nor considering the tempering of words, dare to say that the soul is from the substance of God. O insanity! O madness! How many ways of destruction has the devil prepared for his worshippers? That you may learn this, consider how they walk in diverse ways. For some, seizing an opportunity from this word, 'he breathed,' say that souls are from the substance of God; others, on the other hand, say that they pass into the substance of the vilest beasts: what could be worse than this madness? For because their reason is darkened and they are ignorant of the true sense of Scripture, as if blinded in the eyes of their mind they are carried into various precipices, while some exalt it above its dignity, while others depress it below its dignity: namely those who introduced metempsychosis, or the passing of a human soul into wild beasts and brute animals."

There were many in Chrysostom’s age who, denying divine providence, said that all things happen by fate, and thought that we perform either good or evil out of the necessity of fate; so that they seemed to take away all freedom of the will, and to turn man away from the pursuit of cultivating virtue and fleeing wickedness: what pestilence could be greater than this? Therefore, Chrysostom vehemently attacks the upholders of this opinion. For there were some who said that the philosophers had discovered certain excellent things, and things more outstanding than those ^C that were said about the resurrection (Sixth Volume); namely those philosophers who introduced fate, teaching that all things of this world happen without any providence, and that there should be no concern for us in things (Eleventh Volume). They added, moreover, that all things consist of atoms. Others, however, said that God exists and admitted metempsychosis, and persuaded men that at one time or another someone had been a dog, or a fish, or a lion. Indeed, in that age there were many Gentile philosophers who, dressed in the *tribonion* and equipped with a long beard, won for themselves the veneration of the people, and imbued the common people with such a doctrine, which often passed to the Christian people. The opinion of fate stood out among the others, which Chrysostom not rarely attacks.

Great was the diversity of opinions and errors among those Orientals: for moved by the lightest conjectures, which came into their mind, they rashly and incautiously brought them into the public, and immediately had followers. Hence it happened that Westerners, seeing such light and mutable divisions of opinions among them, would use this saying: "Oriental levity." But they conversely retorted "Western superciliousness," accusing those of pride who objected levity to them. Which, indeed, the levity was so great that it daily brought forth monsters in religion. But there were among them those who said that all things exist by chance (Twelfth Volume). They brought forward the same sentiment, but in different words, when they said that created things are automata. "Others," proceeds Chrysostom, "attribute the creation and providence of the world to demons, which is a sin that can hardly admit of forgiveness" (Eleventh Volume).

He also says that at that time some practiced necromancy, who attempted many most absurd things: using dust and ashes for these, so that they might divine secrets and future things by this art (Seventh Volume).

Chrysostom remembers others who said that the world is a god (Tenth Volume); but here I think it is a matter of those ancient philosophers, both Greeks and Latins, not a few of whom thought the world was a god. But the holy doctor proceeds in the same place: "Others have so ignored the beauty of the world that they considered it unworthy of God’s creation, and assigned a great part of it to a certain pernicious matter." Now this opinion was held by Valentinus and other heretics, as we saw above.

He calls that a bad heresy in which only water was used for the mystery of the chalice, which heresy Epiphanius ascribes to Tatian and the Encratites, as we saw above (Seventh Volume).

But concerning the angels he says some things which we think should be related here, in his Commentary on Genesis on this place (Fourth Volume): *As the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful, they took to themselves wives from all whom they had chosen* (Gen. 6. 2). "Let us," he says ^D, "carefully consider the individual words, lest anything latent in the bottom escape us. For it will be worth the effort to examine this passage well, so that we may overturn the fables of those who speak all things inconsiderately. And first, those things which they dare to say must be brought forth, and with the absurdity of those things which are said by them pointed out, the true sense of Scripture must also be revealed to your charity, so that you do not simply and easily accommodate your ears to those who say such blasphemous things, and dare to chatter against their own heads. For they assert that this was not said of men, but of angels: for these, they say, it called sons of God. First, let them show where angels were called sons of God: but they will nowhere be able to point it out. Men indeed have been called sons of God, but angels never. And yet of angels it says, 'Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire' (Ps. 104. 4). But of men, 'I said, You are gods' (Ps. 82. 6): and again, 'I have begotten and raised up children' (Is. 1. 2): and again,

73 THINGS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE WORKS OF CHRYSOSTOM "My firstborn son is Israel" (Exod. 4:22). But an angel is nowhere called son, nor son of God. Certainly, some were angels; but because they descended to this unrighteous work, they fell from their dignity, etc. Here Chrysostom speaks harshly against those who have understood the passage mentioned above concerning angels, and that those angels themselves took the daughters of men as wives, and that those angels were endowed with bodies. But this was the opinion of many of the ancients, namely that they were corporeal and had intercourse with the daughters of men: and some called those angels watchers. Josephus, *Antiq.* book 1, ch. 4: "Many angels of God consorted with women." Justin, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Theognostus in Photius, and others say almost the same thing. Joseph Scaliger documented this matter in his notes to Eusebius’ *Chronicle*, and countless others after him, whom it would be long to recount. However, Chrysostom says: "Let them show where angels were called sons of God. Certainly not among the LXX interpreters, whom alone Chrysostom read." In the Hebrew text of the book of Job ch. 1, v. 6, angels are called sons of God, בני האלהים, and in the Vulgate also "sons of God." Nevertheless, Chrysostom here correctly refutes those who would say that these sons of God were angels.

DISSERTATION IV. Miscellaneous matters.

—the miserable trumpets, the feast of tabernacles, the fasts—^A and many of our rank, who claim to think as we do, partly go out to behold those festivals, and partly even celebrate them and fast along with them, a depraved custom which at this time even the Church struggles to forbid.

Some had even proceeded to such a point of madness that when they wished to compel someone to swear, they would attempt to lead him to the place of the Jews, because they thought that an oath given there was more to be feared, a matter which we have narrated at greater length above in the *Life* of the holy doctor. There were also those who observed the Sabbaths with the Jews, and even celebrated the holy Pascha with those selfsame Jews (Tomo X). On which account we have treated above in the *Life of Chrysostom* for the year 387.

Not a few also there were who observed many things of the Gentiles (Ibid.): to wit, lots, auguries, omens, and the observation of days; the superstitious writing upon their offspring, even from the moment they are born, of scrolls filled with every impiety, which they place upon the heads of their children, teaching them from the very outset to throw away the effort of attaining virtue, and leading them into the deceitful tyranny of fate.

From those things, moreover, which Chrysostom relates at the end of the fourth *Homily on the Epistle to the Ephesians*, it is plain that among the Antiochene Christians there were very many who applied themselves to genethlialogy (astrology).

There were also not a few Antiochene Christians who would make their way to Daphne along with the Gentiles. Daphne was a suburb of Antioch, so named from the maiden Daphne, whom the mythologists call the daughter of the river Ladon. When she could not escape Apollo, who was pursuing her for the sake of lust, she was turned into a laurel tree after imploring the aid of her father's divinity. Furthermore, Daphne was a suburb, a pleasant place, adorned with fountains, trees, and cypresses. There was the temple of Apollo, whose elegant statue was seen in the company of the chorus of the nine Muses. Thither the Antiochene Gentiles would repair for the sake of worshipping such a deity, and among them were intermingled not a few Christians, whom Chrysostom bitterly attacks and rebukes, judging those who would not abhor such company to be unworthy of the name of Christians. When this temple, with the statue of Apollo, was struck by lightning, the idolater Libanius published a monody or lamentation, a part of which Chrysostom cites for the purpose of ridicule.

Antioch was the capital and metropolis of the East, and it contained (Tomo II) two hundred thousand inhabitants, of whose number (Tomo VII) about one hundred thousand were Christians; and the assembly of Christians at Antioch was greater (Tomo I) than at Constantinople (Tomo VII).

The Antiochene Church possessed fields, houses, the letting of buildings, vehicles, muleteers, mules, and many other things of this kind (Ibid.). Instructed with these resources, that Church possessed a treasury assigned to the feeding of those in need; "And I would have you consider," says Chrysostom, "how many widows, how many virgins it feeds daily: their catalogue certainly reaches three thousand." ^B In addition to these things, it also daily afforded sustenance to those who were in prison, the sick in the infirmary, others who were healthy, pilgrims, and those maimed in their limbs, who sat by the altar for the sake of food and clothing, as well as others who came by chance: yet its resources were not diminished. Therefore, if only ten men were willing to provide equal help, there would be no poor person.

He commemorates elsewhere (Tomo III) an ancient custom of Christians, which in his own age had already fallen into disuse: "A certain wonderful custom," he says, "was once introduced: for after the faithful had all heard the doctrine, and after the prayers and the participation of the mysteries, once the mass was dissolved, they did not immediately go home; but the rich and more opulent, bringing food and dishes from their own houses, would call the poor, and would enjoy a meal in common, and feast at common banquets in the church itself; so that both by the fellowship of the table and by the reverence for the place, charity was strengthened, with much pleasure as well as utility."

Concerning those who fled to the church either when they were to be thrown into prison or were sought for death, we promised that we would say something when we treated of the eunuch Eutropius who was being sought for death (Ibid.). It is read thus: "And he fled to the sacred vessels." But because these things do not seem to be taken literally, and because Chrysostom says a little later, "we received him in the sanctuary," that is, in the place destined only for the priests, the matter seems to be one that must be explained in another way. It might be asked, however, whether he approached the altar after the manner of the ancients and touched the altar, which was in use not only among the pagans, but even among Christians, when anyone was to be punished by death or was being sought to be cast into prison. But this question does not seem to be of such importance, and regarding Eutropius, beyond what Chrysostom has set forth, we can add nothing except by way of conjecture.

Chrysostom says in his *Homily 30 on Genesis* (Tomo IV): "We call the week 'great,' not because the hours in it are longer; for there are other times that have much greater hours." The ancients necessarily admitted greater and lesser hours, for they divided the day and the night into twelve parts or hours each; whence it followed that the diurnal hours were shorter in the winter time, but longer in the summer. Whence Martial (Book 12, epigram 1) commemorates the summer hour thus:

The hour is neither summer, nor does it perish for you entirely.

Virgil, however:

Now night had covered twice five winter hours.

Chrysostom calls a man "three-cubits tall," just as the Nubian Geographer does in the third climate ^C (Tomo V and Tomo VII): and elsewhere our doctor says, "A man is buried within three cubits, and nothing more" (Tomo V).

Chrysostom often calls the Babylonians and other Orientals (Tomo VI).

He suspected that the end of the world was at hand and imminent (Tomo VII). "The end of the world," he says, "is heralded by wars, distress, earthquakes, and love grown cold" (Tomo VIII). That which Paul [calls] the fullness...

79 ^A calls the "fullness of time," he thought it had already arrived: thus, if we say that the four-hundredth year of so many years is the end, we shall not be mistaken. But just as Chrysostom was not so accurate in the calculation of times, so in this prediction he was far off: which happened to many other holy men.

He says that the kinsmen of Christ, called Desposyni, were held in admiration for a long time, yet their proper names are unknown. Eusebius also, in Book I of his *Church History*, says that the kinsmen of Christ were called Desposyni.

Homily 41 on the Acts of the Apostles narrates a singular matter (Volume Nine). There was a certain property in which a hidden treasure lay: the buyer, however, when digging the earth, found that treasure. Upon the thing being discovered, the one who had sold it compelled the buyer to return the treasure, saying that he had sold the property, not the treasure; the other contended that he had bought the property with the treasure. The matter turned into a lawsuit, with the one wishing it returned to himself, and the other refusing. Encountering a certain man, they argued; and then they asked him to whom the treasure should be adjudged. He, however, did not pass judgment, but said that he would settle the dispute if the treasure remained with him. But upon their agreeing, once he had received the treasure he thereafter suffered countless evils: and by the event he learned that they had rightly abstained from it.

Nor is it less worthy of note that which he relates in Homily 13 on the Epistle to the Romans (Volume Nine). For things that before seemed possible to no one—virginity, contempt of death, and many other labors—these are now practiced everywhere in the world, not only among us, but even among the Scythians, Thracians, Indians, Persians, and many other barbarians; and the choirs of virgins, the multitudes of martyrs, and the brotherhoods of monks are now more numerous than those who are joined by marriage. ^B

Chrysostom sharpened his pen against certain Christians who, seduced as it seems by the Manichaeans, were castrating themselves: which custom, however, does not seem to have flourished for long (Volume Ten).

Newly born infants received the seal on their forehead from the priest (Same volume).

Chrysostom denied that the heaven is spherical and that the earth is spherical (Volume Twelve): on which matter one must see what we have said in the Preface to Cosmas the Egyptian, who, in order to maintain that opinion, brings forward a passage of Chrysostom from his Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, which you may see in the published Cosmas, p. 328. For this was the opinion of the majority of the Fathers and writers.

Preaching at Antioch, he says that it was the custom for women and children to hang Gospels around their necks (Volume Two).

DIATRIBE V

Digressions, or all those things which Chrysostom very frequently commemorates in similitudes, which do not pertain to ecclesiastical matters, and which often encompass unique things.

By birth our John was a Syrian and an Antiochene: and it is familiar to the Syrians, says Jerome, 80 ^C to use symbols and similitudes. In this matter Chrysostom is perpetually occupied in his sermons. He brings forward examples of emperors, courtiers, consuls, rich men, and men of every condition: he depicts garments, household goods, the shape and ornaments of buildings: he frequently mentions the circus games and the hippodrome. In order to distract the people from theatrical spectacles, he describes minutely the shameful things that were acted there. Here you may see the rites of weddings, the custom of hired mourners: now the singular deeds of mountebanks, now the art of tightrope walkers; the rite of exercising justice, the many kinds of illusions, and very many other things. All of which, distributed in a certain order, I have judged to be worth the trouble of reviewing here.

The dress, garments, ornaments, courtiers, and bodyguards of the Emperors

The Emperor wore a golden crown interwoven with large and most precious gems: he shone in purple clothing over his entire body (Volume One and Volume Three). Moreover, it was permitted only to the Emperor to wear purple and the diadem on his head. On his silken garments, one could see dragons depicted (Volume Six). His courtiers and bodyguards also shone with gold, their garments were interwoven with golden threads: their lances were gilded: their horses had golden bridles, and their saddles gleamed with gold.

As he went out through the city and the fields, cohorts of shield-bearers and pikemen surrounded him, who were themselves laden with gold and carried shields decorated with golden bosses; and around the bosses, golden eyes were visible; the straps extended to the top edges were ornamented with many small stones. The chariot of Augustus was entirely golden, joined to a yoke of white mules gleaming with gold (Volume One); so that everyone wondered, says Chrysostom (Volume Six), at the flower of the purple, the size of the gems, the whiteness of the mules, the golden yoke, and the glitter of the bedding, which was snow-white and shining (Volume Eight and Volume Nine). In the chariot, moreover, there were golden, swivel plates, which glittered when agitated by movement. The Emperor's horses were also laden with gold, and their bridles were golden as well.

Concerning the depicted images of the Augusti, he reports this (Volume Three): You have often seen the imperial image tinted with a blue color: then, however, [you see] the painter leading white lines, and the imperial throne, and the horses standing by, and the guards, and the conquered and captive enemies.

The consuls walked with equal splendor, as he himself says (Volume Twelve): Do you not see the Emperors and consuls carried in a chariot and adorned with gold, and the guards having everything golden, golden lances, golden shields, golden garments, and horses adorned with golden saddles?

The Emperors would hand golden tablets to their prefects as a sign of their magistracy (Volume Six). When the Emperors sent letters to be read, whether in the theater or elsewhere, they were received with great reverence and read while everyone was silent (Volume Four).

The luxury, wealth, houses, table, etc., of the nobles and the rich

The pride and luxury of the nobles and the rich ^D

of which Chrysostom writes, describing the magnificence of their houses, the elegance of their clothing, the arrangement of their tables, the throngs of parasites, and the enormous number of servants.

The nobles and all wealthy men were clothed in silk garments interwoven with gold and magnificent to behold; they were always redolent of ointments and aromatic perfumes; they were girded with golden belts, and their shoes also shone with gold. They took the greatest pains to maintain and display a huge crowd of servants and eunuchs, many of whom were barbarians. Regarding the great abundance of their wealth and the number of their servants, Chrysostom says in summary (Volume Seven): “You indeed recount so many acres of land, ten or twenty houses, as many baths, a thousand or two thousand slaves, chariots overlaid with silver plates or gold.” The eunuchs and servants were also resplendent with gold, and most of them were adorned with golden collars and armlets.

He also frequently describes the splendor and magnificence of their houses: "They build splendid houses," he says, "with wide porticoes and long galleries. The ceiling of the house was fashioned from wooden panels, and was entirely gilded; the doors, even the double ones, were of ivory. In the dining rooms and bedchambers, the walls were encrusted with marble; indeed, if any stone appeared, it was covered over with golden plates and clasps."

All the ceilings were golden, or rather, as he explains elsewhere, they were overlaid with gold; the floor was decorated and adorned with small tiles and gems, which they often covered with elegant carpets. There one could see marble columns, sometimes of wondrous size, whose capitals were golden; indeed, sometimes the entire column was covered with golden plates; you would also have seen statues adorned by the hands of the most distinguished artists of that age, which some called idols, others demons. In addition to these, the chambers were decorated with paintings and musical works.

The couches also were for the most part of ivory, sometimes wooden and gilded, or covered with silver plates; indeed, they often consisted entirely of pure silver, and gold glittered in many places. The whole of their furniture likewise displayed great opulence; the chairs and footstools also were of ivory: the basins, vessels, and indeed the chamber pots themselves were cast from gold or silver. Among these vessels and other ornaments, Laconian coverings were highly prized, which Chrysostom says were kept in wardrobes, and perhaps brought out at banquets and other celebrations.

Inveighing against such luxury and arrogance, Chrysostom somewhere relates the story of Aristippus, as it is found in Diogenes Laertius, but without mentioning his name. A certain man, he says, came into a splendid house, gleaming with marbles and the beauty of its columns; but when he had also seen that the floor was covered with carpets, he spat in the face of the master of the house. When the master rebuked him, he replied that in no other part of the house was it permitted to do so, and he felt compelled to inflict this insult upon his face.

Joined to these magnificent houses of wealthy men were wide porticoes, aqueducts and fountains, suburban baths, and walks.

He reports much more about the expenses of banquets and dinners. ^A He describes the shape and arrangement of the table: it was either gleaming with gold or covered with silver, semicircular, like what Martial calls a *sigma*, fashioned into the shape of the letter C, which at that time represented a *sigma* (Volume Eleven). It was of such bulk that two young men could scarcely move it: it was covered on all sides with a soft spread, so that the guests could recline there comfortably. All the vessels were of gold or silver: one bowl was of gold weighing half a talent, which two young men could scarcely move; moreover, amphorae resplendent with gold stood by in order.

There were also present ministers, no less ornamentally clothed and splendidly dressed, wearing loose breeches, which they call *anaxyridides*, handsome to look upon, in the very flower of their age, with well-groomed skin and a good constitution. Here you would also have seen a crowd of musicians—flutes, citharas, and pipes—and there was no lack of Indian, Arabian, and Persian ointments and aromatics.

Varieties of delicacies and choice foods were served; concerning the arrangement of the courses, he said some things that should not be overlooked. Having spoken of the side dishes, cooks, table-setters, pastry chefs, and pheasants, he adds these things: "As if governing a republic and drawing up a battle line, so these men arrange this and that first, this and that second: and some indeed first offer birds roasted over coals and stuffed with fish; others establish different beginnings to their immoderate dinners: and there is much debate concerning these things, both about their quality, and their order, and their abundance." Choice wine was also served, especially Thasian, that is, from the island of Thasos: which is highly celebrated by both Greek and Latin writers of that time.

When those men, who were preeminent in both dignity and wealth, proceeded through the city or into the forum, whether carried in a chariot shining with gold or on a horse whose bridle was golden, a herald, dressed in magnificent attire, went before them to announce the master's arrival. He himself, girded with a sash and surrounded by many lictors who kept back the plebeians, walked proudly, surrounded by a crowd of clients and parasites.

Chrysostom speaks most frequently of the adornment, arrogance, and luxury of women. "The adornment of women," he says, "consists of braided hair, earrings, and other ornaments upon the cheeks and neck: face paint and eye shadow, indeed face paint and rouge for the cheeks, garments interwoven with gold, a cloak placed upon the head; hands gilded on the outside, a shoe of black color, very shiny, ending in a point and imitating the beauty of paintings." Elsewhere he says: "Women sought after white mules, and golden bridles, the subservience of eunuchs, a great crowd of maidservants, and ridiculous pomp."

He also inveighs against youths acting arrogantly in the forum with men who were covered in sumptuous and magnificent clothing. The same youths likewise adorned their shoes with silk threads and gold.

Circensian games, the hippodrome.

The Emperors were accustomed to betake themselves to the circus and hippodrome, as spectators of the games and combats.

^A They were wont to have crowns, prizes, and garments displayed before those who were about to contend. In gymnastic contests, the victors were crowned with branches of olive or laurel. Those who raced in the Circensian spectacles knew the name, lineage, country, and training of the horses, and what victory they had won (Volume III). But those Circensian runners looked only to the Emperor; they did not care as much for the applause of others. And so great was the density of the people that not only the circus, but even the neighboring garrets, houses, and roofs were full of spectators. Among the spectators, however, were harlots and effeminate boys.

The spectators of the athletic contests, if they happened to see a vigorous athlete already crowned approaching, would all rush forward so that they might see his combats, his skill, and his strength. In the hippodrome, those running contended strenuously among themselves, and one took pains to overturn another’s chariot. Chrysostom records a singular incident regarding this (Volume XII): A slaughter, he says, committed yesterday in the hippodrome has filled the entire city with tragedy; it has drawn choruses of women around, and filled the forum with many laments, while the man who had been so miserably mangled and torn by the chariots was being carried through the middle of the forum. This man, as it happens, who was to light the nuptial torches the next day, while the bridal chamber was prepared and everything readied for the wedding, having taken his place in the stadium under the decree of the herald, while he was running below, as the charioteers were pressing on and contending with one another, was caught in the middle and underwent that violent and miserable death, with his head and extremities severed. But he who had received many wounds in the stadium, if he obtained the victory, was led home with applause (Volume I).

Olympic games.

The athletes of the Olympic games stood naked in the theater, exposed to the rays of the sun (Volume I and Volume III). But the spectators sat from midnight until noon, so that they might see to whom the crown would fall. "Do you not see," he says (Volume I), "in the Olympic contests, while the judge of the games walks through the middle, wearing a crown on his head, draped in a stole, holding a rod in his hand, how much tranquility and modesty there is while the herald declares in a voice that all should be silent and rest decently?" Among the spectators, some favored one athlete and some another, as is wont to happen in such a case (Volume I). And all night long the herald was very anxious lest any of those who had departed from the contest should behave indecorously. The master of the games, he says (Volume II), sitting outside, offers help by his words, and aids the contestant only so far as he is able by acclamations and discourses: for it is permitted to him by no law to stand closer and assist with his hands. In the Olympic contests, he says, the wrestler, the pugilist, and the pancratiast undergo the contest at different times, but at one moment all who have overcome are pronounced victors by the herald (Volume III).

Spectacles of the theaters.

Chrysostom declaims perpetually against theatrical spectacles; and rightly so, not only because theatrical scenes are of their own nature wont to draw youth toward a soft life and dissolute morals, but also because, at that time, there was no care for modesty in the theaters, as will be seen presently.

Though another is a youth, he says (Volume VII), he has his hair pulled back and makes nature itself effeminate in appearance, habit, and clothing—in everything, in short—and affects the form of a tender girl. Another, an old man, on the contrary, with hair shaved off by a razor and loins girded, after he has cast off modesty before his hair, stands ready to receive slaps and is prepared to say and do anything. Women, moreover, with bare head and all shame cast aside, stand addressing the people, having, as is evident, such a zeal for impudence, pouring every petulance and wantonness into the minds of the auditors. They have this one purpose: to tear up chastity by the root, to defile nature, and to satisfy the desire of the evil demon. For here obscene words, ridiculous attire, a similar hairstyle, gait, clothing, voice, the softness of limbs, the rolling of eyes, flutes, pipes, dramas, arguments, and finally everything is full of extreme lasciviousness.

In the theater you see a woman entering with bare head and great impudence, clothed in golden garments, using a delicate and soft gait, singing harlot’s songs, uttering slippery chants and filthy words (Volume VI). Naked women also appeared in the theaters, and sometimes swimming (Volume VII): and dancing girls were seen therein (Ibid.).

Rope-dancers.

Tumblers.

II). Some would place a pole against their face, and a boy positioned on the pole would perform countless movements (Volume II and Volume XII). Others, bearing a pole on their forehead like a tree rooted in the earth, would keep it immobile. Nor is this the only miracle, but that they would also ensure that small boys wrestled with each other at the very top of the wood: and neither hands, nor any other part of the body, but the forehead alone held that pole unshaken. There were those who swallowed very sharp nails, who chewed and devoured shoes (Volume II). There were those who carried about swallows, and, covered in soot, would utter curses against everyone (Volume VII). There were certain buffoons, who were called Cordaces, and who did everything possible to move people to laughter (Volume XI).

Of tribunals and of judgments and punishments. When a judge was about to come out to sit in the high tribunal, the jailers would bring out all the prisoners from their confinement and place them before the railings and the curtains of the tribunal, squalid, filthy, with disheveled hair, clothed in torn rags, etc. (Volume I). Those guilty of crimes and condemned to death were led off with a rope tied to their mouths (Ibid.). (It is thought that this concerns Theodore, who had aspired to tyranny.)

Wills and documents concerning marriages, debts, and inherited contracts have no force of themselves unless they have the years of the Consuls inscribed on their frontispiece (Volume VI).

A hundredth-rate interest is mentioned by Chrysostom, by which they took loans, on the condition that they would pay the hundredth part every month, so that after one hundred months the principal would be equaled (Volume VII).

Of marriages, or of rites either profane or illicit brought into marriage. The people of our age at weddings sing hymns to Venus while dancing, and many adulteries, and violations of marriages, and illegitimate loves, and illicit coitus, and many other songs of impiety and ignominy (Volume III).

In those who contracted marriages, face paint and other superfluous pigments were applied (Volume X). The bride, moreover, was led by drunken men through the city and the forum even by night with impure songs and music (Volume XI). Harlots were even summoned to the weddings; and likewise flutes, cymbals, and dances (Volume I).

Prestigiation, incantations, amulets, superstitions. From the very frequent sayings and warnings of Chrysostom, it is plain that all kinds of prestigiation were in common use in his age, both in Antioch and in Constantinople, which he lists in these words in Homily X on the First Epistle to Timothy: "For I omit other things worthy of tears, such as auguries, prophecies, observations, nativities, symbols, amulets, divinations, incantations, and magic arts" (Volume XI).

Many at that time used incantations and amulets to cure diseases (Volume I). Chrysostom also deals with certain people (Volume XI) who used charms and ligatures for protection, and who would tie golden coins of Alexander around their heads or feet (Volume II). There were also those who, for the protection of children, would hang amulets, rattles, and crimson threads on their hands (Volume X). He reports another kind of superstition in the same place: Women, he says, taking mud in the bath, and nurses too, and maids, would dip a finger and imprint it on the boy's forehead. And if anyone asks, "What does the mud mean, what does the mire mean?" "It averts the evil eye," they say, "and malice and envy." Others would place the names of rivers written on the hands of infants; others made use of ash, soot, and salt to avert the evil eye.

All kinds of prestigiation were flourishing then: observations of days, auguries, sorcery, lots, auspices, omens; as well as belief in fate (Volume XI). Regarding those, however, who were given over to omens and fate, Chrysostom reports these things (Ibid.): "Their soul is full of many terrors; for instance: 'If this one or that one is the first to meet me when I leave the house, then countless evils must necessarily befall me.' 'Now a cursed slave, when giving me my shoes, first extended the left part: grave calamities and insults are signified.' 'I myself, too, when going out, proceeded with my left foot first: this also is a sign of calamities.' And these indeed are evils at home: but when I go outside, my right eye jumps for me: this is an indication of tears." Women, when reeds clatter against the straight wood of the loom, or when they comb their hair with a comb, take this for a sign. Again, when they strike the warp with the comb, and do it more violently; then the reeds above, because of the intense blow, give out a noise when bumped against the straight wood of the loom, they take this for a sign. And other innumerable things worthy of being seen. And if an ass has brayed, and if a rooster, and if anyone has sneezed, and anything else whatsoever, as if bound by ten thousand shackles, as if they were held in darkness, they suspect everything, and are more servile than countless slaves. Chrysostom says, however, that there were certain prestige-mongers in his time who used to perform signs (Volume XII).

Funerals. Parents, brothers, and kinsmen would close the eyes of the deceased and arrange the mouth (Volume II). No one built a tomb in the city, and therefore the bodies of the dead were carried outside the city to be buried, which was an ancient custom, but one which had often been violated (Volume VII).

Black or mourning garments were used at funerals (Volume VI); which thing Chrysostom seems to disapprove of (Volume XI). When the body is carried out, he says, there are used wailings, insane lamentations, foolish things admitted at burials, untimely zeal around monuments, and a ridiculous line of professional mourners, the observation of days, as well as entrances and exits (Volume X). Chrysostom very often deals with the choirs of professional mourners, some of whom were pagans, and he wishes them...

to be kept entirely away from funerals, and for funeral rites to be performed with more moderation (Volume XII). Let us mourn, he says, but not by tearing our hair, not by baring our arms, not by lacerating our faces, not by putting on black garments. There were also some who, at funerals, would sprinkle their heads with ashes.

Guard of the public roads. The distance between the locations is now as it was formerly; yet the condition of the road is not the same as it is believed to have been of old. For now, the road is marked by constant resting-places and adorned with frequent cities and villages, and they offer no offense to the many travelers who go there, which serves the cause of security no less than the resting-places, cities, and villages themselves. Furthermore, they choose from each province men who are leaders of the cities, preeminent in bodily size and strength, and as powerful with the javelin and sling as the archers are with their arrows, or those armed with pikes. With leaders appointed whom they are to obey, they impose upon them this single duty, allowing them only the care and guardianship of protecting the road. In addition to this, they devised another care, far more diligent than all these. For by building dwellings at intervals of a thousand paces along the entire route, and placing guards there at night, they constitute by their labors and vigils a maximum defense for travelers against the assaults of robbers (Volume I).

Miscellaneous. The Kalends, or the beginning of the year, were wont to be celebrated in this way (Ibid.): all-night vigils, mockery, abuse, and nocturnal dances, the forum was garlanded, etc. After the people of Antioch had placated the Emperor Theodosius, they garlanded the forum as a sign of joy, lit lamps, and placed couches—or *lectisternia*—before their workshops (Volume II).

Some of the foreign orators, out of a certain foolish habit, would persistently move their right shoulder while walking (Ibid.); but he overcame the habit, and placed sharp swords on either side of his shoulders, so that by fear of a wound he might correct the limb that moved inappropriately. Lions, tamer than sheep, were led through the forum, and many in the shops counted their money to the keeper, who earned a great deal from this (Volume IV and Volume IX).

In the fields, boundary stones and columns do not allow the ploughed lands to be confused (Volume VI). Wild he-bears and she-bears were kept at home by the people of Antioch (Volume VII). If a bear escapes secretly, we shut the houses and run through the lanes, lest we stumble upon it. Fifteen stadia are two miles (Volume VIII). Some poor people would torture their own children, so that they might collect more generous alms. Others, when they obtained nothing by asking, would send notifications and chew on the leather of worn-out shoes; others drove sharp nails into their heads; others would linger on their bare stomachs in frozen water, and by those spectacles they would extort greater alms (Volume X). What is more burdensome and difficult than juggling with swords (Volume XII)? A harlot, *peras, phara*, that is, one who pursues the salvation of men with plates and amulets (Volume III). Books are mentioned by Chrysostom as having golden letters, such as were many in his age, as Jerome says (Volume VIII). On a deleted tablet, on a palimpsest (Volume VII). We have spoken about the palimpsest after Cicero in the *Palæographia Græca*. The hair, staff, and cloak of philosophers (Volume I). Philosophers instructed in a deep beard, wearing mantles and staves, Cynic penances (Volume II). The writings of two philosophers against the Christians in the time of Chrysostom (Volume VIII). The Persians have intercourse with their own mothers, and not just one or two, but the universal race (Volume X). We admire those Persians who do not take their own mothers as wives (Volume I). Among the Persians, fire is thought to be God (Volume II) against those who adore fire. The King of the Persians has a golden beard; for those who are skilled in these matters, it is as if beneath a covering of his hair, which curls within golden plates (Volume XI). The Hamaxobii, Scythians, and Nomads would build no building (Volume VII).

89 TESTIMONIA VETERUM 90

MONITUM. — I have thought it necessary to use the same caution in citing the writings of the ancients who, in commemorating the works of Chrysostom, have transcribed no small part of them, as I used above in selecting the writers of his life. For if I had woven together his life as it is copiously detailed by so many writers, and had related every testimony of the ancients and the fathers word for word, these surely would have constituted the fourteenth volume—nay, they could scarcely have been comprehended in one volume—and that to no profit, as we have already said above. Therefore, from ^A

EXCERPTS FROM PHOTIUS

I have read the discourses of the blessed Theodoret, which he composed on John, who is among the saints, Chrysostom; of which we have seen five thus far, from which we have transcribed the following selections. The first of these five discourses seems to succeed another prior to it, or to be a part of one. However, it discusses the source from which he came when summoned to Constantinople, and how he became its archbishop, and how he endeavored with all diligence to bring back the priesthood and the episcopal office to the ancient standard; and what he accomplished against Gainas—at once silencing him, that valiant John, and negotiating on behalf of the common interests of the state—and how envy voted his exile. And he passes over some things that occurred to the inspired man until the end of his life, or rather, he passes over most of them. The discourse that follows details certain brief praises, and is itself brief, beginning thus: "Again the memorial of John to us." The one after this also enters into the laws of encomium, but differs from those before it in the beauty of its words and thoughts. It begins as follows: "I see the present subject, needing a trumpet of many voices, now imperiled by a childish tongue, and the beauty of the athlete, described by myriad arts, now weak, set before me, the craftsman, for writing." Such is the prelude. "Another drags him to himself as a helper, being plundered; another calls upon him to be an advocate in a lawsuit; another, hungry, entreats for food, naked for clothing; another strips him; another, mourning, requires comfort; another, in bonds, begs to be released; one drags him elsewhere for the visitation of the sick; a stranger asks for lodging; another, standing by, laments his debt; another calls for him to be an overseer and conciliator of domestic strife. Not even a slave flees to another, lamenting the bitter indignation of his master; a widow cries, 'Have mercy,' another laments her orphanhood. Myriad are the turnings of the father each day toward each one, on behalf of each. Someone is carried off, and the father is the advocate; famine is troublesome, and the nourisher becomes the advocate; someone is sick, and the nourisher is transformed into a physician; someone has fallen into grief, and the nurse is found to be a comfort; the care of strangers has arrived, and he who had become all things is revealed as a host. And what need is there to speak of each one? As much time as measured out his life (not to speak of his episcopate alone), such a variety of saving works, progressing, never ceased among men. O soldier and, even after death, combatant! O formidable to enemies even after the tomb! O harmony of the lyre, loosened by death! O courts deprived of such a regulator! O saving net for men, snatched up to heaven! O tree divided between heaven and earth, providing its body to the one and its soul to the other! The mouth of the Church is enclosed in a tomb. What an eye of piety has been snatched from among men! Thou hast not died, O blessed father, but as the sun hast set; we do not grieve as for one dead, but as for one hidden from us; we do not seek thee as one dead, but as one who has departed to the heavens." But such is the third discourse. The fourth also preserves the type ^B of an encomium, beginning from the necessity of honoring fathers; of which these also are a part: "Of these shepherds, one is also John, the guileless intelligence, the many-eyed mind, the book of evangelical experience, more easily molded than wax for reconciliations, the sea for gifts, the guileless one against the deceits of those warring, the enclosure of the Church; no serpent of hypocrisy escaped him. From whence do you wish that we show John to be precious? From hospitality? And who is more hospitable than John? From the firmness in his administrations? And whom did power overawe? From the zeal regarding the Church? And whose is the harmony of the common folk’s psalmody even until now?" But such is this discourse also. The one that follows weaves the same crowns of praise, but declares the strength of his thoughts somewhat more brilliantly. All five discourses seem to have been composed after his return from exile. The excerpts of the following words are part of the current discourse: "Lend to us, O father, thy lyre, lend unto thy praise thy plectrum. For even if the hands have been loosened by the law of nature, yet the lyre resounds throughout the entire world by the gift of grace. Share with us that immortal tongue; for thy tongue alone is worthy of thy achievements. For this reason John has received John, the bold one the emulator, he who after death reproves him who preaches after death, the citizen of the wilderness the corrector of every city. Thou hast also another kinship with the apostles. Thou first didst plant altars among the wagon-dwelling Scythians; and the barbarian, scarcely leaping from his horses, learned to bend the knee and to be spread out upon the ground; and he who was not softened by the tears of the captives ^C

^A learned to weep for his sins. Nay, you also attacked the Persian archer with your preaching as with an arrow, and those armed with iron adore the Crucified. Your tongue conquered the sorceries of the Chaldeans and Magi, and the parched land of Persia flourished with houses of prayer: Babylon is no longer alien to pious worship. These things joined you to the apostles. The seeds of your tongue still flourish among us; and if anyone names John, a great sound is excited. For the ecclesiastical lyre knows an ancient plectrum, and the syllables of your name suffice instead of fingers. The queenly city saw the veils of the Seres and despised them; it saw the Indian stones and looked down upon them; nor did the flower of Tyrian purple delight it: it longed for the tongue of Chrysostom, pouring forth immortal streams of doctrine. Ancient Ephesus saw you and called you the new John: it saw, and was reminded of the evangelical thunder (Mk. 3:17). ^B Hence, beloved, the flow of speech is roughened. But let us not flee from the roughness, since peace eventually paves a way for the flow. For if, O father, you are indignant against your sailors, if you bear it heavily against your fellow-voyagers, consider that the storm of winter and the surging sea compelled them, even against their will, to cast Jonah into the waves (Jon. 1:15). It was not their hatred, but your exercise: it was not their war, but your struggles that went on; they were not driven away by a brotherly vote, but it was necessary for you to run the stadium of the martyrs. A hidden providence prepared for you the stadiums and places of contest: it was said entirely of you against the common enemy of mankind: *Hast thou considered my servant John?* (Job 1:8). A clear death was indeed owed to a clear life. The devil was fighting against Job, friends also seemed to oppose: therefore at length God heals his friends, and restores the friendly Job to his friends. I think this has happened now too, O father, and I imagine that I see the right hands of the fathers joined together. Job received multiplied possessions: you too have received greater honor from all. The inscription indicates that this final sermon was delivered in the temple of the apostles: the prologue indeed shows that the speaker delivered it after others had spoken: for he says thus: "Since the assembly also stirs me to speak, since I am called by a given signal to the common dance, because it behooves me also to strike the melody for the paternal praises; and many demand the inexorable debt, when there is nothing among us equal to your paternal virtue; lend us, O father John, your lyre."

I read the eulogy of the forty martyrs by John Chrysostom (a). The martyrs are celebrated, not that they may receive praise, but that we may be stirred by their praise to imitation. Both the just and the unjust have suffered hardships; but the former indeed for the exercise of justice, the latter however for the chastisement of sin. Therefore Scripture calls the tortures of the just "tribulations"; but those of sinners, "scourges." *Blessed are your eyes, because they see* (Mt. 13:16), that is, because they learn. For if happiness were from sight alone, the Jews themselves, who saw the Savior with their eyes, would have been blessed. But to see, in Scripture, is to comprehend with the eyes of the mind, and to understand the depths of truth: therefore the ancients called the prophets "seers" (1 Reg. 9:9). The Savior therefore proclaims the organs of virtue blessed, even if in the body they are eyes seeing well, and ears hearing with discretion. For it behooves the hearer to understand, and the one who understands to obey, as it is written: *Hear, O daughter, and see and incline thine ear* (Ps. 44:11); that is, obey, understand. ^C Sicut vas canali fluenti acclinatur, sic auditus justi ad divinæ legis fluenta se inclinat: *Inclinabo enim in parabolam aurem meam* (Ps. 48:5). Why *Inclinabo*? Because every urn receiving water takes the form of the one inclining it; therefore every hearing receiving the streams of the divine word is said to incline itself to them. I declare blessed the ribs of the martyrs, which exhibited the rib of piety as insuperable while they were being lacerated, not casting away piety. For they were beaten for the most part on the ribs, because sin originated from the rib. But sin was not the woman; for she herself is also a creature of God: but because through her, prevarication found a way. The martyrs therefore are beaten on the ribs, whence sin gushed forth. The Savior also for this reason received the lance in his ribs, *And there went out blood and water* (Jn. 19:34), the purgation of the world, and the remedy for that ancient wound. For just as the limbs of the just are celebrated one by one with praises, so the limbs of the impious are marked one by one with infamy and are declared unhappy: *Let not the foot of pride come to me, and let not the hand of the sinner move me* (Ps. 35:12). The foot of pride is the way of pride, but the hand is the action: that is, neither the action of sin, nor the path, nor the progress may befall me. Therefore Moses anoints the right ear of the priest with the blood of the lamb, and the extremity of the right hand and of the right foot (Lev. 8:23): the ear indeed, because it was to be the receptacle of the divine word; the hand, as signifying works; the foot indeed, as a symbol of progress in virtue and perfection. The fountain of the Gospel effects two things: it cleanses and provides drink, it helps those who are thirsty and cleanses sordid souls. *Your reward is copious in heaven* (Mt. 5:12), it is said once in the Gospels. That word, *copiosa*, was said once in the old law to Abraham after he had conquered kings and freed captives, when he would not receive the reward of his labors and the victory he had gained over the captives. For then God said to him: *Fear not, Abraham; thy reward shall be copious exceedingly* (Gen. 15:1). According to the word it was said once and again "copious," but according to the meaning often. For David also said, *Retribution is great* (Ps. 18:12), that is, the reward is great; and elsewhere when God says, *Copious reward*, when you understand that which is promised, understand also that ineffable word, *copious*. For it is one thing to call a reward copious for a farmer, another to call it so for a citizen; greater than both is it to call it copious for a military commander: and that which proceeds from a king is copious, in many parts greater than that which is given by others: but that which is given by God is by far more copious than all, nor can it be explained. Copious therefore is the reward of the martyrs, who are unjustly accused and tortured for God, who suffer evils, and trample upon human glory, like Abraham. For he, when the kings of Gomorrah and Sodom were offering all their cavalry and exhibiting honor because he had freed their wives and children from captivity, spurned their honor, not wishing to receive the reward of his labors from men. Therefore he was held worthy to hear from God: *Thy reward is copious* (Gen. 14:21).

"Σφορωτήρ," he says in Greek, that is, what is called by many the *ligula* ('thong'), and it is called *sphaerotera* because the craftsman often makes it by cutting round leather. Some say the name was given to it because they serve the ankles of the foot."

"Those Twelve *shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel* (Mt. 19:28). Paul also judges the world, the preacher of the world, not only Paul, but also those who feel the same with him: for hear him saying: *Know you not that the saints shall judge this world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?* (1 Cor. 6:2)."

"Another is the vengeance of nations, and another the reproof of the people. For vengeance entirely pertains to the infidels; but to the peoples who do not wish to come to the knowledge, reproofs pertain, not vengeance; for vengeance concerns enemies; but he reproves as Lord, judging sins."

"The soul of the just, when it departs from here, is carried by the hands of angels; who place it in the royal city, which is the heavenly Jerusalem."