are they offering hymns of thanksgiving? Perhaps what I am about to say will seem burdensome, yet it needs to be said because of the listlessness of many people. When Judas partook of the last supper on that final night, while all the others were reclining, he jumped up and went out. A Those, therefore, who hurry away before the final thanksgiving are imitating him. For if that man had not gone out, he would not have become a traitor; if he had not left his fellow disciples, he would not have perished; if he had not torn himself away from the flock, the wolf would not have found him alone and devoured him; if he had not separated himself from the Shepherd, he would not have fallen prey to the beast. For this reason, that man went out after he had sung a hymn with the Jews, whereas these others go out after having sung with the Master. Do you see that the final prayer after the sacrifice happens according to that pattern? And now, beloved, let us keep this in mind, let us reflect on this, fearing the judgment placed upon this matter. He imparts his own flesh to you; B if you tear yourself away from that sacred [banquet]—he cast him out—yet you do not even respond to him with words, nor give thanks for what you have received? Rather, enjoying bodily food after the table you turn to prayer, but when you partake of spiritual food, which surpasses all creation, both visible and invisible, being human and of humble nature, do you not remain giving thanks both in words and in deeds? And how are these things not deserving of ultimate punishment? I say this, not that you may merely applaud, nor that you may shout and cry out, but that, remembering these words at the proper time, you may exhibit the appropriate decorum. They are called mysteries, and such they are; and where there are mysteries, there is much silence. Therefore, let us approach this sacred sacrifice with much silence, with much decorum, with the appropriate reverence, that we may draw God toward greater favor, and cleanse our soul, and attain the eternal good things; which may we all attain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, and power, and worship, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
MONITUM
Second, we might hesitate to conjecture about Judas the betrayer. But Tillemont establishes this timing of the period based on slight conjectures, if I am not mistaken, as will be said at greater length in the *Monitum* to the Homilies on Genesis. Regarding this second homily, whose beginning is, "I wished, beloved," as to the first homily, which begins, "A little necessity," as regards the time, we can state nothing else for certain, or as very probable, than that it was delivered some years after the second. Nor should we remain silent about the fact that [the homily] "A little necessity" has a place among genuine works in the very ancient Augustan Catalogue, but the second does not; for it is evident that, with the exception of the beginning and a few other things, which were introduced when Chrysostom himself was revising it, it was the very same [as the first]: and otherwise, as Savile correctly warned, that Augustan Catalogue is so constructed that all the minor works which are mentioned in it are true and authentic; but you should not think that all things which are absent from it are spurious; nay, there are very many more genuine works of Chrysostom than are enumerated in the same catalogue. Furthermore, since Chrysostom revised this same sermon, and in most parts [of it] changed it, so that he created two homilies out of one, it is no wonder if there is such variety in the manuscripts; since, however, the variant readings pertain to one or the other, we have enough [information] that we have published both, and we have refrained from noting those most frequent variant readings. Noteworthy in both homilies is that passage numbered 6: "And now Christ is present adorning the table." For it is not a human being who makes the proposed [elements] the body and blood of Christ. He only fulfills the role, but it is God who offers and who performs the sacrifice; but it is the power of God that accomplishes all things. "This is my body," he says: this word transforms the proposed [elements]. Here the transubstantiation and presence of Christ in the Eucharist are clearly preached, as will be said at greater length in their proper place.
As for what is said in both homilies, that he is now on the fourth day acting on behalf of his enemies, this certainly indicates that Chrysostom held these homilies in both instances, in the same year, and maintained the same order of preaching.
We are issuing a new translation of both homilies.