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).