regions, how many Churches there are; how many again toward the sunset, and the great Rome likewise, and toward the sides and the regions of the south, and the country of the Cappadocians, and all that lie between, islands, deserts, and the ends of the earth. Consider again the multitudes of the Churches, the clergy, and the masses of the people, men and women, if you can enumerate them. But it is easier to count the sand of the sea than such great multitudes. And all these are disciples of John, taught by him to theologize: *In the beginning was the Word*. And in the marketplace they chant this, *In the beginning was the Word*; and wayfarers, and those who sail the seas and practice the art of navigation, intone this, *In the beginning was the Word*; and in the wildernesses, and on the mountains, both the unlearned and the wise, and the small and the great, and everyone who understands, theologizes these things, *In the beginning was the Word*; and finally, with the number everywhere increasing, those who cry out unceasingly the "was" and "was," those who said "It was not" have perished. The theologians have been multiplied, and the vain-talkers have perished; the pious have flourished, and the impious have stumbled; the faithful have been gladdened, and the unfaithful have wasted away. The bow of the mighty has been broken, and the weak have girded themselves with strength. The foolish things of the world have been put to shame, and the wise of the world have been brought to naught. But until when shall I not stay my speech concerning them? For if I persist in speaking, I shall not attain to describe the height of their glory. For the glory which the teacher received from the Father, he has given to them. And why then do I persist in pursuing the unattainable? For even what we have dared to say is not as much as the choir of the holy disciples deserves, but as much as is possible for our own strength; for every man is at a loss to praise them worthily. Whence I also speak with fear, the things I speak concerning them, lest perhaps through my own inadequacy, and the smallness and poverty of my speech, I belittle the praises of them, and cause them to be indignant against me. Nevertheless, even as they are compassionate toward all, so now they will forgive our weakness. For if, when reviled, they bless, when persecuted they endure, when slandered they entreat, how much more, when praised according to our ability, will they not be indignant, knowing the weakness of nature, even if they have now received what is above nature from the God who has loved them. And finally, those who were once poor have become rich, the obscure famous, the illiterate wise, fishermen of fish, fishers of men; and having thus finished their course, they departed to the life that has no end, to their own teacher and Lord Jesus Christ: to Him be glory. Amen.
D 2. They handed down to their successors the nets and the traps, and the authority which they received from Him who has all authority in heaven and on earth. For, "Behold," He says, "I give to you the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Luc. 10. 19). Therefore, those who succeed them in authority and leadership and zeal, as has been said, the honored teachers, the high priests, and shepherds of the flock of Christ, walking in the footsteps of the apostles, the noble champions of the Trinity, who, having passed beyond the status of the law and having received the life-giving Spirit, like a plow, excavate deeply, and search, and clearly reveal the meaning in the divine Scriptures to all—those who strengthened the faith and drove away malicious unbelief, who established the orthodox with divine dogmas, and crushed those who hold wrong opinions with divine missiles, who found the hidden wine of compunction and gave drink to the thirsting flock, who took up the shepherd's staff themselves, and sounded the divine trumpets, the ministers and guards and workers of the vineyard, the orators of the divine dogmas, and swords against the heretics, who were appointed bishops by the holy Spirit, as the holy Paul said: *Shepherd the Church of God* (Act. 20. 28); who have not shrunk from the impending tribulations, and have obtained the promised crown of life; who have avoided youthful desires, and have inherited the blessed hope; the generals of the great King, rich in the word of God, and poor in spirit; the imitators of the apostles and types of the faithful; the leaders of the cities and heralds of the world; who laid down their souls for the flock, and shed their own blood for the faith; who imitated that ancient Abraham, and have rested in his bosom; in the same way, these too, as defenders of the Lord, having received the information concerning the evil-named and wrong-thinking men, who corrupted the divine Scriptures and threw the truth into confusion, and having turned away from the straight path, capture souls, dragging them into the eternal darkness of heresy—all the faithful, being gathered together unanimously, with Davidic zeal, like the stones from the brook, that is, from the Gospel, and having taken up the unbreakable faith of the holy Trinity, declared a unified war against the countless and impious heretics, like-minded and agreeing on the one thing, saying with the Apostle: *One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, one Holy Spirit, the illumination of all, one divinity, one God*: to Him be glory and power always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
CONCERNING THE DENIAL OF PETER, AND CONCERNING THE CROSS, AND HOW JOSEPH BECAME A FIGURE OF CHRIST, HOMILY.
1. It is necessary in the present time both to pay the debt of Joseph, and to announce the calling of the Cross. This day Joseph is crowned, and the Cross is planted; this day Peter denies, and the robber rejoices; this day the law is fulfilled, and the prophesied Christ is glorified; this day is truly fulfilled the saying regarding the Lord's death: *In his own snare the sinner is caught* (Ps. 9. 16). And who is the sinner? The devil, the inventor of sin. And what is the snare constructed by him? The cross.
and nothing else: for he incited the Jews to fabricate the cross, thinking that he would capture with guile him who cannot be captured by guile, and would encompass with death him who is free among the dead: that stranger not understanding that the cross blunts the sting of sin, and will ensure that it strikes down the head of his insolence, shuts his mouth of blasphemy, plucks out the feathers of his incursion, and shows him desert and needy in the deserts. Today also the oracle of the prophet David is fulfilled, *A testimony in Joseph* (Ps. 80. 6): that is, the Lord was depicted and prefigured long before in Joseph, in those things which were to happen in the last days. For many similarities are found in Joseph and in the Lord; for instance, Joseph was sought by snares by his own kinsmen A. Joseph was stripped of his tunic; the soldiers divide the one which the Lord had woven from above. For they said, *They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots* (John 19. 24; Ps. 21. 19). Joseph was accused before his father: in equal proportion, the Jews also calumniated the Lord before the Father, when they called him the son of a carpenter: and again, the parasites of the Jews, the heretics, when they maintain by their doctrines that he is of another substance. Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites; the Lord to the Jews and Pharisees. Joseph was cast into an empty cistern and ascended unhurt; the Lord was buried in a new tomb and rose on the third day. But what need is there of more words? Joseph brought infamy upon the Egyptian woman, the Lord disgraced the synagogue; Joseph was recognized by his brothers; the Lord was manifested to the disciples after the resurrection; Joseph was shut in prison with two eunuchs and declared their dreams to them; one of them was devoured by birds, but the other was restored to his homeland: the Lord was crucified with two thieves, and sent the unbelieving one into the food of Gehenna, but constituted the faithful one a prince and citizen of paradise. But the Lord manifested to the Father the four-horse chariot of the evangelists; Joseph was announced as having been devoured by beasts, and was heralded by the voice of a crier as king; the Lord was crucified as a man, and glorified as God. Hear indeed yet another prophecy pertaining to the cross: *Ascending on high, thou ledst captivity captive; and thou gavest gifts to men* (Eph. 4. 8). What is that height? Who is that ascender? Who is the captivity? What are the gifts to men? The height is the precious cross, because of the incomprehensible mystery: the ascender is Christ the Lord; *For he who descended is the same as he who ascended*. Furthermore, what is, *Thou ledst captivity captive*? When Lord came, he reformed through grace the captivity that had been taken prisoner by sin, giving gifts to men. What gifts? The remission of sins, the gift of adoption, the inheritance of the kingdom, the specimen of immortality, and the pledge of sitting at the right hand. Who indeed is the witness to this thing? The Lord himself, who said: *When I am lifted up, I will draw all things to myself* (John 12. 32); that is, When I am crucified, then all will believe in me. You heard a little earlier another testimony looking to the cross, more evident, of Isaiah the prophet crying out and saying: *As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth* (Isa. 53. 7). What, then, is the sheep? Who is the lamb? What is the slaughter? What the shearing? Who are the slaughterers and shearers? The sheep and the lamb is Christ the Lord, by the figure of the sheep because of the fleece of baptism; the lamb, because of the sacrifice in the flesh: that slaughter is of his side, by which the side is healed. Who are the slaughterers and shearers? The Sadducees and Pharisees: for first they sheared him badly with blasphemy, and then they killed him with envy. For just as in this life of ours the man who is sheared is not affected by any pain and appears beautiful in form: so B when Christ received the wound, he sustained it as a shearing, and endured no pain, and indicated the beauty of the resurrection. It is written of him, *Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men* (Ps. 44. 3). Jeremiah also spoke in terms consonant with Isaiah, saying: *I came as an innocent lamb* (Jer. 11. 19), *to be sacrificed*. Aptly he was called a lamb, as one who did not contend in his passion, as one who did not kick in the slaughter. Nevertheless, although the Jews killed him, we have feasted; and their crime it is, our good deed: their slap, our liberty: their punishment, and our blessing. Light arrived, Christ is celebrated. Today is fulfilled also the prophetic oracle of David, which pertains most to this mystery of the cross: *They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink* (Ps. 68. 21). Therefore keep in memory, most beloved, how the Lord suspended on the cross cried out saying, *I thirst* (John 19. 28): and immediately one ran, and filling a sponge with vinegar and gall, offered it to the Lord. But for what reason did the Lord show his thirst, who caused the very hard rock to turn into a pool? Because, indeed, what was written had to be fulfilled: *They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink*. Such are the winepresses of the Jewish vine. *For their vine is the vine of Sodom, and their shoot is from Gomorrah* (Deut. 32. 32). Indeed, their winepresses are vinegar and bitterness, but our harvest is sweetness and immortality. Therefore the prophet urged, saying: *Taste and see that the Lord is sweet* (Ps. 33. 9). C And Jesus, calling his disciples, said to them to their face: *In this night you will take scandal in me. For it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered* (Matt. 26. 31). Do you see that all things are testified? That all things are settled? That nothing is idle? That nothing is vain? *You will all take scandal in me. For it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.* Oh, the exact diligence of the Holy Spirit! For although the prophet pronounced this, yet the Spirit suggested the event. He did not say, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will perish; but he said, *And they will be scattered*; that is, they will take scandal for a short time: but a little later they will retain the faith, calling the Shepherd Lord: since he himself is the good shepherd who left ninety-nine sheep and came to the one that had wandered (Matt. 18. 12); he came to Adam who had wandered. Furthermore, the apostles were also called sheep, as those who obey the Savior's staff, and are fed by the Lord's body, and are sheltered in the fields of the kingdom of heaven. For just as at this time if a wolf comes into the fold and snatches a sheep, the remaining sheep are scattered, they rush forth and flee; but if they hear the shepherd merely whistling, they run together again and are gathered: so too the disciples of the Lord, when they saw the cross as a wolf, they fled, they departed quickly; but when they only heard of the Lord's resurrection, they immediately ran, and recognized him, and were not separated from the heavenly fold. These things therefore being said by the Lord to his disciples, *You will all take scandal in me this night*, Peter, receiving another meaning, since he wished to commend himself and to be found more zealous and more loving than the rest of the disciples of the Lord
A regarding whom you have spoken, saying: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16.18). Therefore, do I deny you, the prince of the apostles, the pillar of the Church? Why, then, with confidence in me, did you cry out: “Even if all are scandalized, I will not be scandalized” (Matt. 26.33)? But Christ said to him: “What are you saying and contradicting, Peter? Do you set yourself against the words of God? Have you found me to be a liar? Are you not praying to be strengthened, but rather promising not to be shaken? Did not this same heat of yours make you much worse? You showed this rashness of yours even when walking upon the sea, had I not quickly stretched forth my hand. Did you not also err on the mountain of the Transfiguration, wanting to build three tabernacles, and placing me, the Master, on the same level as my friends (Mark 9.5)? Did you not beseech me not to go up to Jerusalem (Matt. 16.22), not bearing the threat of the Jews? Indeed, Peter, I did not wish to make you public, but you have corrected the prophetic eye of my divinity. Behold, I tell you what you are about to do, so that from what concerns yourself you may know who you are: “Amen, amen, I say to you, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” But Peter, again being deceived in his mind, not knowing the changeability of human nature, answered the Lord, saying: “Why do you frighten me? I know how to despise death, and I will never deny you.” But the Lord said to Peter: “It is well that you promised, but not long hence you shall know, for the time is at the door, so that both your promise and my prediction may be made manifest.” What, then, is the end of the matter? For the evening is at hand. For when the Lord was seized and led into the house of the high priest, and all the disciples were scattered, Peter alone followed into the house of the high priest, as if he were to do what had been decreed. When Christ was detained within, Peter sat in the outer courtyard, bold and unyielding, as if he had already brought home the victory. What then? After he had sat for a long time, neither seeing a sword being sharpened, nor bridles prepared, nor confiscation promised, nor exile decreed, a small, cheap, bought-for-money maid-servant, approaching Peter, says: “What are you doing here, man? Where is the power of your Master? See, he is locked within; see, he is about to be handed over to the cross.” Peter, having cast off from his memory his boldness, answered saying: “What are you buzzing in my ears, girl? I do not know the man.” O the things that have happened! He who said, “Even if it be necessary for me to die with you,” now denies him. This first denial having occurred, Peter, being troubled, jumped out as if from the fire of the courtyard, running outside the gate. And what? Again another maid met him. O the things that have come to pass! Nowhere is there a soldier, nowhere a sword, but a cheap girl met Peter and countered him, saying: “Why are you troubled, man? Where are you hastening? Why are you anxious? Did I not always see you walking with the Galilean? How then, having gone out of the gate, are you running?” But Peter no longer answered simply, but with an oath says: “I do not know this man.” Do you see the prediction of God and the fall of man? Then, the second denial having been completed, the third denial follows as follows: “After a little while, those standing by approached and said to Peter: ‘Truly you also are one of them; for your speech makes you manifest.’” But Peter began to curse and to swear: “I do not know the man.” Where is Peter’s rash promise? He who previously had said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” here says, “I do not know this man”? Perhaps Peter was unintentionally vigilant regarding this expression; he did not say, “I do not know the Word of God,” but he said, “I do not know this man.” He stumbled concerning what was seen, not concerning what was understood. Wherefore also the Lord, foreknowing, said: “Whoever shall speak a blasphemy against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him.” What then of Peter? “I do not know this man,” and immediately the cock crowed, the undeceivable accuser B of Peter, the forerunner of the Master’s decision, the announcer of the denial, the manifestor of the foreknowledge, and the undersigner of the tears of repentance.
3. And these things may suffice; let us now exercise the discourse on almsgiving, exhorting your love and saying, as it has been said in the Gospel: “Make for yourselves friends from the mammon of unrighteousness; that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles” (Luke 16.9). He well said, “eternal.” For here, even if you have a magnificent house, it is utterly destroyed, perishing with time; or rather, even before its destruction by time, death, encroaching, casts you out of this magnificent dwelling; and often, even before death, the difficulties of certain matters and the incursions of calumniators and plots cause one to fall from it. But there, it is not possible to suspect any of these things—neither decay, nor death, nor fall, nor the insult of calumniators, nor anything else, but the dwelling is immovable and immortal. For this reason he called them eternal. “Make for yourselves friends from the mammon of unrighteousness.” Do you see how great is the philanthropy C of the Master, how great is his goodness and gentleness? For he did not simply set this addition, but since for many rich men wealth has been collected from rapine and greed, he says: “Evil, indeed, it was not that you should collect money thus; but since you have collected it, put a stop to the rapine and the greed, and use the money for what is necessary.” I do not say that you should give alms by plundering, but that by standing back from greed, you should put the wealth toward almsgiving and philanthropy. For if someone does not cease from rapine, he will not even perform almsgiving; but even if he should lay down myriads of money into the hands of those in need, since he is plundering and being greedy for the things of others, he is reckoned by God as equal to murderers. Wherefore it is necessary first to stand back from greed, and thus to show mercy to those in need. For great is the power of almsgiving. But let no one think the continuity of the reminder is a reproach to the hearers. For in contests, spectators excite those runners whom they see getting close to the prize and having great hopes of victory. And I, therefore, since with much eagerness I always see you receiving the discourses concerning almsgiving, for this reason I myself more continuously give counsel regarding these things. The poor are the physicians of our souls, benefactors and protectors; for you do not give as much as you receive. You give money, and you receive the kingdom of heaven: you loosen poverty, and you reconcile the Master to yourself. Do you see that the recompense is not equal? These things are on earth, those in heaven; these things perish, those remain; these things decay, those are above every corruption. For this reason also our fathers positioned the poor before the doors of the houses of prayer, so that even the most slothful and most inhuman person might be roused by this very sight of the poor to a reminder of almsgiving. For when there stands a chorus of old men, bowed down, clothed in rags, squalid, filthy, having staffs, scarcely able to stand D, and often even with their eyes gouged out, and maimed in body, who is such an adamant that he is not bent toward sympathy by their age, and weakness, and maiming, and poverty, and vileness, and everything simply that bends one toward compassion, and that he should withstand and remain unmoved against all these things? For these reasons they stand before our doors, more powerfully than any speech drawing those entering toward philanthropy. For just as it is thought that there are fountains in the courtyards of the houses of prayer, in order that those who are about to pray to God, having first washed their hands, may thus stretch them out for prayer; so also the fathers placed the poor instead of springs and fountains before the doors, so that, just as we wash our hands with water, so, cleansing the soul first with philanthropy, we might thus pray. For the nature of water does not wash away the stains of the body as much as the power of almsgiving cleanses the blemishes of the soul. Just as, therefore, you do not dare to enter and pray with unwashed hands, even though that crime is lesser; so do not ever come to prayer without almsgiving. Even though we often have clean hands, if we do not first wash them with water, we do not stretch them out to prayer.
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For the nature of water does not wash away the stains of the body as well as the virtue of almsgiving wipes away the filth of the soul. Therefore, just as you do not dare to offer prayers with unwashed hands—although that is the lesser offense—so you must never approach prayer without almsgiving. And yet, even when we have perfectly clean hands, we do not lift them up in prayer unless we have first washed them: such is the power of custom. Let us do this, then, with almsgiving. Even if we are not conscious of any great sin, let us still wash away our conscience with the alms that we provide. You have gathered many evils from the marketplace: an enemy has provoked you, a judge has forced you to perform tasks that were improper; absurd words have often escaped your lips, a friend has persuaded you to do something joined with sin; many other things have clung to you, as is likely for a human being while moving through the marketplace, while sitting in judgment, while conducting the business of the city. Before you approach God to ask for pardon and offer a defense for all these things, cast your money into the hands of the poor and wash away those stains, so that you may thus call with confidence upon Him who is able to forgive these sins of yours. If you accustom yourself never to enter these sacred vestibules without almsgiving, you will at no time, whether deliberately or inadvertently, cease from this good work; for such is the force of custom. And just as you do not dare to pray with unwashed hands, no matter what happens, once that has become a custom for you, so too with almsgiving: if you impose this law upon yourself, you will observe it each day, both knowingly and unknowingly, impelled by custom.
Prayer is fire, especially when it is offered by a soul that is vigilant and attentive; yet this fire also needs oil, so that it may reach the very vaults of heaven, and the oil of this fire is nothing other than almsgiving. Pour in the oil, therefore, liberally, so that, perceiving the joy that comes from a deed rightly done, you may perform your prayers with greater confidence and more ardent zeal of soul. For just as those who are conscious of no good work cannot offer prayers with confidence, so those who have performed some excellent deed, and who turn to prayer after that righteousness, exhilarated by the remembrance of that excellent deed, offer their prayers with greater zeal of soul. That our prayer may be rendered more valid by this method, therefore, with our mind aroused and awakened in supplications by the memory of our good works, let us approach prayer with almsgiving, and let us diligently remember all that has been said—above all, let us keep in perpetual memory that likeness of the poor standing before the doors of the churches, who provide for us for the cultivation of the soul what a fountain provides for the use of the body. For if we are perpetually mindful of this, and by doing so constantly wash our mind, we shall be able to offer pure prayers, and to gain for ourselves great confidence and favor before God, and to attain the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
WARNING
Various beginnings of this homily are found in manuscript codes. For some begin thus: *Great and marvelous things yesterday...*, while the more numerous copies have: *I thought that I had said great and marvelous things yesterday.* One, as will soon be seen, has: *I think...* Fronton du Duc had first considered it a genuine work of Chrysostom, but afterwards noticed that it was a centone, regarding which matter he himself should be heard. We have not trusted merely to the Royal and Medicean manuscript codes asserting that this treatise belongs to Chrysostom, but also to certain Italian ones, which include a volume under the title of *The Book of Pearls*; for among those it is numbered as the forty-fourth homily, *On the text, "We shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ"; beginning: I thought that I had said great and marvelous things.* However, since the treatise was already printed while we were going through these notes, we discovered that we had been deceived by the librarians, when they stitched a new beginning onto the moral exhortation of the twenty-fifth homily on the Epistle to the Romans and the thirty-first, as if two bodies were joined to one head: a thing which imposed upon many, who think that most of the homilies to the people of Antioch were delivered separately, and do not perceive that they are nothing other than centones, compiled from the moral exhortations of other Sermons or Commentaries.
ON THE SECOND ADVENT OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND ON THAT TEXT, "WE SHALL ALL STAND BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF CHRIST, AND EACH ONE SHALL RENDER AN ACCOUNT TO GOD" (Rom. 14.10, 12).
I thought that I had said great and marvelous things to you yesterday; and indeed they were great by their own nature, and exceeded every capacity of speech; nevertheless, what has been read today surpasses them as much as ours are surpassed by them. Although I did not think that anything could exceed those [former] words, yet when those things that were read today were added, they appeared far more splendid. And what indeed has been read today? "We shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ: for it is written, I live, says the Lord, for every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God" (Is. 45.23-24). So then each one of us shall render an account for himself to God. See, he did not say simply, "Each will bow in worship," but also, "Each will confess," that is, he will be asked for an account of the things he has done. Always, therefore, be anxious, O man, to behold the common Lord sitting upon the tribunal...