reminded them of the things they had received, and all the more bound them to the dogmas of the Church; and the prayer, invoking grace and persuading them to persevere in the same, did not allow their spirit to depart. And while this was in them, every deception of such dogmas was, like dust, blown away, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ON THE SPURIOUS OPUSCULA IN SUCCESSION
So great was the esteem for John Chrysostom in the Greek Church that writers of various ages, who devoted themselves to publishing sermons or homilies, would publish them under the forged name of Chrysostom so that they might be received with the applause of all. Booksellers, too, I suspect, in order to sell such goods more easily and at a higher price, took care to have them inscribed under Chrysostom's name. Hence it comes that such a huge number of spurious works have reached us. The greater part of these, which did not deserve the light, we would have allowed to lie in darkness, had they not already been edited by Savile and Morel.
Those places which we have marked with asterisks are either corrupt or mutilated in the Greek, or harder to understand, and were for that reason interpreted as if by divination.
THAT CHARITY ACCORDING TO GOD IS A THING WORTHY OF GOD
No man can worthily celebrate charity, the heavenly ladder. Charity sits on the throne of the Father; charity joins earthly things with heavenly things; regarding which no tongue will suffice, nor will the mind find how to praise it worthily; but the work itself shows that charity is the leader of the best way of life. For it clothes the creation of God in perfect beauty; it is the pedagogue leading the many into unity, imaging forth the multitudes of men unto the likeness of the one and holy beauty, both angels and men. For being one form, it informs every rational nature into the likeness of God; it does not rest upon those who are alienated from Him, but upon those who are to be generated by Him and have been tempered together. Since all, though many, have bent themselves into one harmony, they reveal a most beautiful and delightful concord among themselves. Thus the many and various operations of the Holy Spirit, being gathered into one and good unanimity, reveal a most godlike and most worthy beauty, most precious to God and worthy of the holy joy before the Creator.
For the sake of charity toward men, God has descended upon the earth and has lived with men, not in a hidden and separated sanctuary, as before, being worshipped, but having come down as a guest of men unto our likeness and common life, that, leading all into the intimacy of one Spirit, He might construct them as one body and one spirit. Divine charity, being a handmaid of the Lord and a minister of the Spirit, gathers things that are apart and makes those that are alienated intimate. O wondrous work of Christ, charity! O mystery of the salvation of the world! For the sake of charity the Father and God sends into the world His only-begotten Son. For Christ, he says, loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it (Eph. 5:25). Charity bears willingly the labors for one's neighbor; for the sake of charity we are commanded to be servants of one another: For by charity you serve one another (Gal. 5:13). Charity makes the private possessions of each one common to all; charity shows you your neighbor as yourself, and bears sins as if they were its own. You will be angry a little, but you will be long-suffering for the most part. For the sake of charity the flock of Christ is increased; charity calms murderous rages, blunts the weapons of enemies, and sets aside the forgetting of all one's enemies, and introduces the peaceful polity of Christ to the world. For nation shall not take up sword against nation, and they shall not learn to make war anymore (Isa. 2:4). Therefore, he says, In his days shall justice arise, and abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away (Ps. 71:7).
Brilliant too is the emblem of this peaceful polity, for charity is the leader of the blessed peace! Which drives away the enemy and the devil, the foe among men, through whom the devil indeed groans over peaceful men, but angels rejoice, seeing the image of their own peace in men; we are cheerful toward one another, and no joy is greater than when a brother is seen by a brother. Thus Paul says he is comforted in his tribulations by the presence of Titus (2 Cor. 7:6); but when he is not present, he has no rest in his spirit. Charity of God, and charity of brothers: two inseparable things. And this, says John, we have as a commandment from God, that he who loves God, loves also his brother (1 Jo. 4:21). For this is what He said also to Peter: If you love me, feed my sheep (John 21:15); that is to say, show your love for the Shepherd by busily caring for the sheep. What wall is so unbroken, fortified with harmonies of large stones and turning aside the assaults of enemies, as a gathering of saints joined by the bonds of charity, and the trials of the devil? And what beauty of plants is there like that, planted in rows, or the well-ordered arrangement of an army proceeding in decoration and seemly order? For these provide pleasure; but more delightful and sweeter than all things is the seemliness according to the natural harmony of those in charity joined to one another: for this appears honorable and precious in the eyes of the Lord. Hear David, or rather the grace of the Holy Spirit: Behold, he says, what is good, or what is pleasant? Nothing else, nothing other of the things on earth, but for brothers to dwell together (Ps. 132:1), as ointment poured upon the head. Angels dance around our choirs, and rejoice over us, because we imitate their conduct. For if there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents, according to the word of the Lord (Luke 15:7), much more over such a multitude of those being saved. For the joy of the age to come appears from this very place, a mourning for the devil, a winnowing-fan for demons, when we form choirs with one another, in one soul and one mind for the singing of hymns to God, imitating the panharmonic and glorious melody of the Cherubim. For just as they receive in succession from one another the thrice-holy hymn, so we too, having formed two choirs according to their type, and chanting responsively to one another, sing the spiritual melody. It is a wonder to those outside, desirable to those who see it, and a longing arises in those who hear, and a divine and active sense is found in us, through which we perceive
683 SPURIA. one mind, one sentiment, and we imitate the modulated and magnificent melody of the Cherubim for the singing of hymns to God. For just as they succeed each other, one taking up from another, to sing the thrice-holy hymn, so too do we, by establishing two choirs after their pattern and responding to one another, sing a spiritual melody. It is a wondrous thing to those who are outside, desirable to those who see it, and it engenders love in those who hear it, and a divine and efficacious feeling is found within us, by which we perceive that the causes of corrupt habits and dissensions have been torn away from us. Because of us, all shall glorify God, seeing a heavenly life on earth. Therefore, Paul taught us all to think the same thing and to say the same thing (Phil. 2:2); therefore, Christ sends the apostles in pairs; He even instructed women in concord, so that He might not constitute even the company of virgins lacking in this angelic imitation. Therefore He says, *I beseech Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord* (Phil. 4:2). He ordered them to count others as better than themselves, so that they might not be separated by ambition, or rather by vainglory; but, deferring honor to their neighbor, they might be joined and associated with them. Honorific surely are our things, and truly above worldly things are those which pertain to sacred and divine love. Let us look also at the teaching of the Law. You shall not be proud, He says, toward the needy, but you shall distribute liberally; the poor man shall enjoy your fruits; and the poor man shall have the remnants of the harvest and the vintage for his food; in the seventh year the slave shall be sent away into liberty; and in the fiftieth year every debt shall be cancelled; and those who have sold their possessions shall receive them back, not giving a price. You shall not exact interest; you shall not take as a pledge 684 either the mill or the upper millstone, nor shall you take the garment of the poor as a pledge, nor shall you violently invade to take a pledge. You shall not leave the beast of burden of your neighbor, even if he should be your enemy; but you shall return even the stray animal to him, having become a servant to him, as to a friend, and dissolving enmities, the occasion being offered. Furthermore, all these precepts were given for no other reason than for the sacred and desirable love of God: for the evangelical precepts also concur in this. For after He said many things pertaining to the fulfilling of the Law, He added: *Do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you* (Matt. 5:44); in all things dissolving enmity and inserting love. Let there be a debt among you, to love one another, which is never ended: for Paul says, *Owe no one anything, except to love one another* (Rom. 13:8). For just as we seek food daily, and previous satiety does not prevent us from seeking nourishment daily; but that, nature demanding, is as it were our debt: so let us follow the same form in love. *The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing* (Eccles. 1:8). Sweet is light to the eyes, and no one seeing it is fatigued by the eyes, nor by the ears in hearing: so also the desirable duty of love is to be fulfilled unweariedly, nor ought one ever to be satisfied. For much water shall not be able to extinguish love: *There remain, He says, these three: faith, hope, love* (1 Cor. 13:13). For as it was from the beginning, so it shall remain unto the ages: following which, would that we might attain eternal goods, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ON THAT SAYING, "IF THOU ART THE SON OF GOD, CAST THYSELF DOWN" (Matt. 4:6), AND "THE DEVIL TAKETH HIM UP INTO AN EXCEEDINGLY HIGH MOUNTAIN," ETC.
The sun indeed, performing its course above the earth and riding toward us from the east, takes away the night and awakens the sleepers, and hands them over to the works: but the light of divine cognition awakens the soul, illuminates thoughts, and excites it unto virtues. This truly is more to be desired by us than the light of the sun. For one can live without the sun; for he lives blind, who knows the sun only by hearing: but souls destitute of the sun of the knowledge of God are dead, even if they seem to live; of whom the Lord says: *Let the dead bury their own dead* (Matt. 8:22). But He who wrestled with the author of death delivered the life of men from both deaths. For there is a double death among us: that, namely, which proceeds from nature; and the other which happens from ignorance: for ignorance of God is like unto mortal insensibility. The devil wrought both deaths: by shattering which, Christ delivered nature from both deaths, where He restored the soul with life-giving dogmas, and by resurrection restored that which was mortal. For when he who impelled falls, he who was impelled shall stand. And the arena of that struggle has been left to the human race, that, looking upon it, human nature might be strengthened. Where is that arena? Look at the desert: for there grace raised Him up by the image, by which the tyrant is killed, and which puts the tyrant to flight through deserts. We see the desert as the place of the struggle, the devil as the hand that brings hunger upon the Lord; and three struggles, three responses: for the law of battle is that the struggle be tripled. Enumerate the triple struggle: "If you are the Son of God, say that these stones become loaves." Here the devil clashes with the Lord. But Christ says to him: *Man shall not live by bread alone.* The Lord avoided the harm. "If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down." These are the second struggles of the demon. *You shall not tempt the Lord your God.* This saying solved the attempt. "All these things I will give you, if falling you will worship me." This is the beginning of the third struggle, by which the Savior, like some athlete, threw the contentious adversary the devil out of the stadium. *Get behind me, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.* While you see the battle, learn to fight: from a spectator, may you become a pugilist. The first struggle of the Lord against the devil teaches you a struggle against the pleasures: for the beginning of the struggles was hunger; hunger, the tyrannical concupiscence; hunger, the head of pleasures. For concupiscence of food is an unbridled desire: for the belly sees a relentless pleasure, which many, not being able to cherish, have rushed to the point that they denied providence, as if God cared nothing for the famished. The devil impels Christ also to this matter, hoping that he would shake him off as a man pressed by hunger: for he did not know that divinity was conjoined to him: since he would not have attacked him if he knew he was hungry. He who knew that his nature would never be hungry, had he known that God was present, would not have spoken of food. But seeing him as a man, he addresses him as a man: "If you are the Son of God, say that these stones become loaves." An examiner of filiation not sought after, he cares for the food more pernicious than the hunger. First he had supposed divinity to arise from the tree; now, on the occasion of appetite, he shows that the desert has nothing else than stones, so that from the place of hunger increasing desperation, he might shake the mind with incredulity, and solve the question of whether he were the Son. But let us look at the tempter, and let us explore the snares of his words. "If you are the Son of God," he says, "say that these stones become loaves." You were recently called the Son, he says, when you were baptized, and we heard this voice: *This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased* (Matt. 3:17). I was mocking the appellation, the irony, the ridiculous praise, empty of honor: where truly that saying was perchance a pleasure, and you believe as though truly beloved, and you trust as though established in heaven, and you were rejoicing as being cared for by God. What father is not solicitous about a hungry son? What patron does not feed him who flees to him? You truly are being macerated for forty days fasting, and your father does not care for you as you are hungry, and despises long-lasting hunger? What father loving his offspring does not distribute bread to a hungry son?