Dominical prayer. "And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors": if, however, we neglect this, how could it not become for us a cause of condemnation, to act in opposition to our words? Daring to utter the words of the prayer rashly and in vain, we heap up for ourselves a greater fire and provoke the indignation of the Master. A I rejoice and am glad with pleasure to see you hearing the words, and by your applause showing that you are eager to become ready and to bring into action this exhortation of the Master. For this is the healing of your souls, this is the remedy for your wounds, this is the best way, this is the greatest sign of a soul that loves God: to embrace every law from God, and not to be drawn away by the thoughts of human infirmity, but to be above the passions. Everyone therefore let him from here make this a worthy labor, and let him hasten toward a great treasure, and not delay even the slightest bit, even if it be necessary to toil, even to search, even to go a long journey, even if there be some difficulties, having removed all these obstacles, let him become concerned with one thing alone: how he might be able to bring to action what has been ordered by God, and to receive the reward of obedience. For I am not unaware that it seems burdensome and difficult to go to someone who is disposed in a hostile way, to stand before him and to converse with him; but if you consider the majesty of him who commands and the greatness of the reward, and that the benefit B does not return to him, all things will seem to you light and easy. Revolving these things, therefore, in our minds, let us overcome custom, and with a pious mind let us become fulfillers of the commandments of Christ, that we may be deemed worthy of the rewards from him, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, dominion, honor and adoration now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
NOTICE REGARDING THE FIVE FOLLOWING HOMILIES (18)
Among the most exquisite treasures of the royal library of Dresden is preserved a most polished manuscript codex, containing eleven homilies which bear the name of Saint John Chrysostom. I applied my mind all the more willingly to reading through this codex and, if it were possible, adapting it for common use, as this matter seemed to me to be of more serious importance. Having therefore obtained permission from the most illustrious curator of the Dresden Museum, the excellent man, Bernardo L. B. de Lindenau, I examined these orations and found them for the most part written in print; but five homilies I C found nowhere published, neither in the edition of Montfaucon, nor in the books of Chrysostom published separately, as many as the royal library has at hand. Omitting therefore the 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th orations of the codex, already printed in the edition of Montfaucon, I copied the first, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh homilies with all the diligence possible, compared them twice after copying, and (having added the title-inscriptions and opening words of the remaining four at the same time) I took care that the first of these homilies should be printed for the sake of a specimen and example, using this title: *Homily of John Chrysostom to those who value riches highly and have been affected in vain towards the splendid things of life. First published from the Dresden codex and rendered into Latin* (Dresden, 1837); having prayed of all and each, to whom this...
a specimen to be read, so that if they recognized those orations as already subject to the press and published, they might teach me better things. Since no one has done this for the space of two years, while on the contrary, very many learned men, kindly favoring my endeavor, have been my persuaders and exhorters to add four homilies omitted by me, I approached with prayers the Leipzig printer, Karl Christian Tauchnitz, and I have found him, prompt as he is to deserve well of the best literature, not difficult in my matter, both in undertaking it and in carrying it out skillfully and properly.
Whether these homilies, distinguished by the name of John Chrysostom, the most celebrated doctor of the Christian Church, « whose speech flowed sweeter even than honey from his tongue, » should be attributed to him or not, let the judgment rest with learned men who are far superior to me in their knowledge of Chrysostom. It is indeed agreed among all that many writers, so that they might more easily sell their works, were accustomed to adorn them with the name of Chrysostom, so that Montfaucon admits that he saw many things that falsely claimed the authority of so distinguished a Father of the Church; yet not only two passages, namely p. 10: « Neither is the race of cattle without groaning; not only worn out for us in unavoidable slavery, but also vainly slaughtered for demons in corners, » and p. 68: « he who is not recognized by any of these utterances brought against him by Arius, » are most suitable to the century in which Chrysostom lived, but also the first homily itself, with the elegance and richness of its language, and with its argument very similar to other works of the same sacred orator—for example, the homily « On the saying of the prophet: Do not fear when a man becomes rich, » and « On hospitality, » in Psalm XLIX, verse 16, in the Montfaucon edition, vol. V, p. 504: which indeed, occupying the eleventh place among our eleven homilies, appears in the Dresden codex, and seems to show us a genuine author. But in this matter I would dare neither to decide anything, nor to determine the time or place in which those orations were delivered.
Furthermore, as concerns the Latin interpretation added by me to the Greek text of the codex, it has been made deliberately literal and word for word.
I considered it altogether alien to add other animadversions than those which I have placed under the Greek text. These, however, beyond the passages of the sacred codex added by me, cite words of Chrysostom and Basil the Great on pages 10 and 52, which are most worthy to be compared with our passages, and at the same time indicate what seemed to me concerning those passages of the codex in which the reading is found to be not sound or corrupt. But with this codex, edited with the greatest care, fidelity, and diligence, no learned man will now desire the opinion or animadversions of another man concerning the argument, but without any danger of error he will easily use his own judgment.
I wrote this at Dresden, on the 21st day of April, A.D. 1839.
HOMILY V.
To those who highly esteem riches, and have been rashly affected toward the splendid things of life.
A 1-3 Angelis quidem coelum lætitiæ est domicilium, Ecclesia vero fidis loco cœlorum hospitium unicum ac legitimum, quod animis voluptatem largitur sanctorum carminum auditu. Huic intentam quondam Mariam salutis auctor beatam prædicavit: Maria, inquit, bonam partem elegit, quæ non auferetur ab ea. Solum piæ doctrinæ lucrum et viventibus nobis bonum tutamentum, et mortuis ad judicem viæ comes; sed reliquarum rerum omnium facile disperdi potest possessio, non solum quia sepulcrum successorem habet, sed etiam quia ante sepulcrum innumeras vitæ ruinas ostendit. Nam tanquam mare præsentem navigamus vitam, vehementioribus agitatam undarum fluctibus. Non opulentia constanti quiete fruitur, sed sæpe, cum a vento secundo simul cum possessoribus vehitur, repentina mergitur tempestate. Non thronus altitudo dominatus est
A of power that is unshakable; for sudden storms of dangers have uprooted prosperity. The gift of health is not without vicissitude, but on the contrary, the unexpected damage of diseases lies in wait for it. The possession of well-being sheds its leaves in various ways, and man resembles a tree, now bearing the blossom of prosperity, and now, like a tree, stripped of its foliage. If you examine the perishable things of life, you will find no neighbor who does not have decay attached to it. For so did the Creator fashion life for us, loosening the desire of those who gape at the earth, and binding fading to the appearance of life, so that when the sweetness of earthly things entices you, the hope of the temporal might stand corrected. For you have been designated a traveler of the present age, not an owner, and we pass through the use of creation only as an inn. For just as travelers, after enjoying a brief stay in an inn, depart and complete the journey ahead, so too, we who travel through the age of this life, having remained a short while in life as in a lodging, emigrate from this dwelling. For God has prepared another life for us and has made this present life a road toward the journey to that other, having ordained the needs from creation only as provisions for the journey. But for us who travel this road, wealth is not a companion of the journey for all that is acquired; for nothing of what we have held, have we held as our own. For the coat we first wear as our own, we have stripped from the nature of sheep; the shoes we wrap around our feet, we have obtained from the hide of cattle; we procure the supply of food and drink from the bosom of the earth; from there, too, is the gold which we all clutch as our own. Kings even beg pearls from shells. We live off the contribution of others and become rich. Return the wool to the sheep, and you will have no covering for your body; return their hides to the cattle, and you will find no covering for your feet; return the silken filaments to the worms, and you will not bring forth a silken garment of your own. But you will not even have an abundance of crumbs, if you do not coax the nourishing earth with the flatteries it loves. This too Christ indicated when He said: If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? B Do not boast to me of the abundance of cattle and country estates, as if glorying in what is not your own. You are the owner of only one possession: piety. Death, when it comes upon you, will not rob you of this; but it will cast you out of all other things, even against your will. For we have all received the possession of worldly goods as a substitute and for the use of this alone; each person, after enjoying it, departs, taking with him but a small memorial from life. For this is the end of all well-being, this is the conclusion of worldly goods. After a multi-acre estate and gold of many talents, we inherit a narrow and foul-smelling coffin. Truly, All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower
A of the grass. A small intensity of fever falling upon one scatters all the prosperity of life. For art indeed applies medicines from without, but death, fighting invisibly against the medicines, gradually proceeds to overpower the sick man. He, seeing the inescapable executioner standing over him and violently pushing his soul toward the exit, turns his head groaning now this way, now that, and casts his gaze about, shedding tears. B And there is no help for this violence from anywhere: not the servants standing around the bed can save the one being dragged away, nor do the tears of friends charm death, nor does gold prevent the appearance before the Judge. For death is an incorruptible executioner, having no hand obedient to gold, nor does it sell the dead for a high price, but confines all in graves as in prisons.
Look down upon the remains of the bones, and you will weep more bitterly over the vanity of life. The face is turned to ash, blackened more than soot; the eyes are bored through, consumed by decay; the mouth hangs open and often receives the passage of reptiles. Why do I linger on each limb? Decay and worms, like certain enemies, divide the whole body among themselves, meticulously probing both flesh and nerves and veins.
Is it not fitting? For the infant, looking out from the womb, immediately begins with lamentations, not laughter; for he cries as if complaining against the life of whose mortal gifts he tastes from the very beginning. For as soon as he is born, his hands and feet are immediately bound, and he is wrapped in the bonds of swaddling clothes—as if in the infancy of life providing a precursor of the grave. The infant has just come into life, and the attire of the dead has immediately been brought to him. For nature reminds those who are born of their end; therefore, even the newborn child laments, as if crying out to the mother with a complaint: "Why, O mother, have you brought me forth into this life, in which the addition of living is a wounding toward death? Why have you brought me forth into this turbulent age, not yet born? What are these swaddling clothes—these beginnings? Why have you brought me into such a life, in which even youth is miserable, wasting away before old age, and old age is to be fled, as it leads toward death? It is a hard course, C O mother, the stadium of life, having death as the turning-point for those who run. We travel a bitter path of life, having the grave as the inn for those who journey. We sail the sea of life with difficulty; for it has Hades standing as a pirate.
Do I denounce life as evil? For this is the malady of those who are justly named as mad. But I bear witness so that one may not be strongly attached to it, as it is only for a time. Paul, preaching this misery of life, introduced the nature of creation as groaning; *Every* creation, he says, *groans and travails in pain together until now*. For the whole creation is filled with gloom; and if you make an accurate investigation of existing things, you will discern the moan proper to each one. The first moan is sent up from men, through the expense of those who minister to their own corruption. D How is it not shameful that you are grieved by death? Paul also groaned for the present life, and writing to the Romans he said that the creation also groans together, and we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, groan.
A The earth also groans along with men, having received the curse for our sake; the sea laments, which, having been made by God as very beautiful from the beginning, is found to be a tomb for many after the sin. The sun also shines with a sorrowful face, lighting those who do not see its own Creator; the stars, together with the moon, groan, because while they show the Author of concord through their harmonious dance with one another, they do not persuade men. Nor is the race of cattle without groans; for they are not only beaten under the most grievous yoke of our slavery, but are also sacrificed in vain in corners to demons. The groaning of all creation is common from every side, lamenting the condition of the present life, which the prophet has aptly called an image: everything, he says, is vanity, every man who lives, yet man passes by in an image. And behold the truth of the utterance, when you accurately examine human life. For just as in a picture a king sits on a throne adorned with gold, while cities bring gifts of various colors, and the king's hand receives the tributes; but everything that is seen is shadow and stage-setting, and when the curtain is torn, the form is laid bare: in the same way, human nature is like a queen sitting in a picture; she receives the contributions of the sea and the earth, just as those were offered from certain cities; but when her life is torn like a curtain, all the beauty that was in her life vanishes. One thing, however, is greatest among the good things of men: the humility of a contrite heart and of one who always contemplates the day of death, on which, departing naked from this vital sea, we shall see the columns of our deeds displayed to all creation. B Do you want me to bring you a comparison for this? Certain persons were sailing together in one ship, and while they traversed the same sea together, they practiced various thefts against one another. The helmsman observed this accurately, but he did not yet bring forth an indictment for the thefts; but when he saw the ship approaching the harbor, he commanded all to leave the ship naked, and he found the theft of each person lying in the ship. Consider this as an example of life for me: for life is set before us in place of the sea; the creation is fitted up as a ship for us to sail in, it uses God as its helmsman, and it receives all the wages of our deeds. If anyone has traded for a corrupted life, he will store it in this ship of creation; but if he has lived a well-ordered life, whatever he has done will be kept for judgment. Then, when the harbor of the end is near, the helmsman casts us naked out of the earthly ship, C and everyone's action remains to be displayed in the solemn judgment. Therefore, let us sail the sea of life blameless; let us acquire the creation as a witness to our good works; let us pass by the greatness of present things as being similar to a shadow; let us free our soul from mortal pleasure; let us flee from the pursuit that results in ruin; let us not bind our soul with earthly snares; let us count the fleeting glory of mortals as small; so that we may flee the color of the happiness of the present, which is easily washed away; D and with prayer seeking heaven, let us traverse life on wings, vi-
of glory; let us discard the fleeting flower of this life like a garment easily washed away; let us run through the journey of this life with prayer that travels to heaven, we who are traversing the path of this world, and let us press on toward the prize of the upward call in Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY VI. On Prayer.
BHaving previously discoursed to you about fasting, and having recounted its virtues to the best of our ability, and having again in the former discourse covered your desire to hear about baptism, we wish today to set forth for you also what prayer is, what its power is, and what benefit accrues to those who practice it. I exhort you, therefore, listen kindly and attentively, applying a straight hearing to what is said. It is truly the greatest and eldest thing, and the mother of all commandments, spawning all the mandates of the Lord.
For who, while praying, can neglect a neighbor who is destitute, so that his own devotion might be in vain? Or who can be so desirous of such wealth and abundance that he accepts for the body only useless labor, while his heart is wandering elsewhere? For the disease of greed resembles a certain malady that is difficult to heal and persistent, neither bringing death quickly nor providing perfect health, but little by little loosening the body from its own sinews, until, wasting away from ulcers risen within, and after countless pains, it consigns it to the common ruin of death.
And who, being a lover of prayer, will be able to neglect fasting, instructed by the Holy Scripture itself that "fasting and prayer deliver from death"? Moreover, it is not possible for one living in gluttony and drunkenness to call upon the Lord from the heart, just as the Lord instructed His own disciples in the Gospel: "Watch," he says, "lest your hearts be weighed down by dissipation and drunkenness." For the vapor from the multitude of foods entering in occupies the hollow parts of the brain and clouds the reasoning that is useful for it, disturbing the heart itself.
Thus, prayer is in truth a sort of starting point for all commandments, forcing them all to run along with their own world. Prayer is the greatest good and conversation with God; for it is communion and union with God. And just as the eyes of the body are enlightened by seeing light, so also the soul, when extended toward God, is enlightened by being illuminated by His ineffable light. Prayer, therefore, is not that which is performed in mere external form, but that which is accomplished from the heart; not that which is enclosed by times and intervals of hours, but that which has an unceasing work by night and by day. For it is not necessary only when one goes to prayer to quickly turn the mind toward God, but it is necessary that even when one is occupied with certain duties, whether with the care of the poor, or with other concerns, or with beneficial works of generosity, the desire...