John Chrysostom, On the Pharisee and the Harlot

In pharisaeum et meretricem

On the Pharisee, and on the prostitute. Spoken on Holy and Great Wednesday.

61.727 Every season is suitable for repentance for anyone who desires it. For it is possible for anyone who wills it, both in spring to make a good life blossom, and in summer to gather the sheaves of salvation, and in autumn to perceive the harm that is the corruption of the soul, and in winter to flee the winter of lawlessness, and in every turn to make the turn for the better, and in the night to turn away from the night of sin, and in the day to run toward the light of a pure conscience, and to run back to the one who formed us; but this present season, fenced round with self-control and fasting, is more suitable for repentance, but not for all. For the voice all but says,

"If anyone comes to me, I too will take him and lead him to the common Creator." Let us therefore give ourselves the wings of faith and repentance, and let us desire to fly up to our Maker; both we, as first-born sons of the Church, and you, who like embryos are being brought forth in the loins of the Church, and who long to embrace the blessed and painless birth-pangs, and to become children of him who fought for us (for the grace of faith is necessary for you also who are about to enjoy the same good things); we, that we may wipe clean with tears the royal tunic which we wore and stained; and you, that you may be able to put it on, and keep it better than any filth. For without sincere faith it is not possible for anyone to attain to the loving-kindness of God. Advocating my word among countless others is that prostitute who, holding faith and repentance like two lamps, ran to the heavenly bridegroom and became a bride of Christ in a single day. But since I have mentioned the blessed prostitute—for I use for now her blameworthy name (so that we might know who she was before, what she became afterward)—I wish to bring her into the holy Church, so that we too may learn from her how we ought to approach Christ and receive release from our sins.

For the things done by her are a clear teaching of the things that ought always to be done by us; and the Savior's conversation with her will be a comfort for sinners. For who, hearing that a woman spotted with ten thousand stains, just for taking refuge in him and pouring warm drops of tears on his feet, received ordination to virginity? Show the same manner, so that you may reap the same fruit. For who, considering her transformation and her reward, will not practice the same resolve, so as to find an equal requital? For what is a prostitute, but corruption, or a manifest insult to nature, or a public triumph of the female sex, an outrage of bodies and souls, a plague using pleasure, a whitewashed tomb, the unrestrained and insatiable mouth of Hades, an embellished gateway of death, a pleasant poison, boldness speaking freely, shameless shame, a fair-faced ruin, a bait of licentious devices, a snare for the young, a merchant of her own limbs, a depth of destruction, a beloved shipwreck, a common calamity of all sin, a brazen workshop, a teacher of all lawlessness, a creator of enmity toward God, the matter for the gehenna of eternal fire? But nevertheless she who was a servant of such and so many evils, since contrary to habit she fell in love with chastity, has been written in the books of the Gospels. Having unrolled these

In pharisaeum et meretricem

Εἰς τὸν Φαρισαῖον, καὶ εἰς τὴν πόρνην. Ἐλέχθη τῇ ἁγίᾳ καὶ μεγάλῃ τετράδι.

61.727 Ἅπας μὲν καιρὸς παντὶ βουλομένῳ πρὸς μετάνοιαν ἐπιτήδειος. Ἔξεστι γὰρ

ἑκάστῳ θελήσαντι καὶ ἐν τῷ ἔαρι βλαστῆσαι τὴν εὐζωΐαν, καὶ ἐν θέρει συνάξαι τῆς σωτηρίας τὰ δράγματα, καὶ ἐν φθινοπώρῳ τὴν βλάβην τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς φθορὰν κατιδεῖν, καὶ ἐν χειμῶνι τὸν χειμῶνα τῶν ἀνομημάτων φυγεῖν, καὶ ἐν πάσῃ τροπῇ τραπῆναι τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον τροπὴν, καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ τὴν νύκτα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐκκλῖναι, καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πρὸς τὸ φῶς τοῦ καθαροῦ συνειδότος δραμεῖν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν πλάσαντα ἀναδραμεῖν· ὁ δὲ παρὼν οὗτος καιρὸς ἐγκρατείᾳ καὶ νηστείᾳ περιπεφραγμένος πρὸς μετάνοιαν ἐπιτηδειότερος, ἀλλ' οὐ πᾶσι. Μόνον γὰρ οὐχὶ λέγει ἡ φωνὴ,

Εἴ τις προσίεται πρός με, κἀγὼ λαβὼν αὐτὸν τῷ κοινῷ προσαγάγω ∆ημιουργῷ. Πτερώσωμεν οὖν ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς τῆς πίστεως καὶ τοῖς τῆς μετανοίας πτεροῖς, καὶ θελήσωμεν ἀναπτῆναι πρὸς τὸν ἡμέτερον Ποιητὴν, καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὡς πρωτότοκοι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας υἱοὶ, καὶ ὑμεῖς, οἱ καθάπερ ἔμβρυα ὡς ἐν ταῖς λαγόσι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας προλοχευόμενοι, καὶ ποθοῦντες τὰς μακαρίας καὶ ἀνωδύνους ὠδῖνας ἀσπάσασθαι, καὶ γενέσθαι τέκνα τοῦ πολεμήσαντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν (ἀναγκαία γὰρ τῆς πίστεως ἡ χάρις καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς ἀπολαύειν μέλλουσι τῶν αὐτῶν ἀγαθῶν)· ἡμεῖς μὲν, ἵνα τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν βασιλικὸν, ὃν φορέσαντες ἐμολύναμεν, ἀποσμήξωμεν δάκρυσιν· ὑμεῖς δὲ, ἵνα δυνηθῆτε τοῦτον περιβαλέσθαι, καὶ φυλάξαι κρείττονα ῥύπου παντός. Ἄνευ γὰρ πίστεως εἰλικρινοῦς οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδένα τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας ἐπιτυχεῖν. Συνηγορεῖ μου τῷ λόγῳ πρὸς ἄλλοις μυρίοις ἐκείνη ἡ πόρνη ἡ τὴν πίστιν καὶ τὴν μετάνοιαν, καθάπερ δύο λαμπάδας, κρατήσασα, καὶ προσδραμοῦσα τῷ οὐρανίῳ νυμφίῳ, καὶ γενομένη νύμφη Χριστοῦ ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τῆς μακαρίας πόρνης ἐμνήσθην· λέγω γὰρ αὐτῆς τέως τὸ ἐπίψογον ὄνομα (ἵνα γνῶμεν τίς οὖσα πρότερον, τί γέγονεν ὕστερον), βούλομαι ταύτην εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν Ἐκκλησίαν ἀγαγεῖν, ἵνα μάθωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς παρ' αὐτῆς, πῶς ὀφείλωμεν τῷ Χριστῷ προσελθεῖν, καὶ λαβεῖν τὴν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπαλλαγήν.

Τὰ γὰρ παρ' ἐκείνης γεγενημένα, τῶν ὀφειλόντων ἀεὶ γενέσθαι παρ' ἡμῶν διδασκαλία σαφής· καὶ ἡ τοῦ Σωτῆρος πρὸς ἐκείνην διάλεξις τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἔσται παράκλησις. Τίς γὰρ ἀκούων ὅτι γυνὴ μυρίαις κηλῖσι κατάστικτος, ἵνα προσφύγῃ μόνον αὐτῷ, καὶ τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ σταγόνας ἐπιχέῃ δακρύων θερμὰς, παρθενίας χειροτονίαν ἐδέξατο; Τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπιδείξασθε τρόπον, ὥστε τὸν αὐτὸν τρυγήσητε καρπόν. Τίς γὰρ λογιζόμενος τὴν ἐκείνης μεταβολὴν, καὶ τὴν ἀμοιβὴν, οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀσκήσει γνώμην, ὡς τὴν ἴσην εὑρήσῃ ἀντίδοσιν; Τί γάρ ἐστι πόρνη, ἢ διαφθορὰ, ἢ προφανὴς ὕβρις τῆς φύσεως, ἢ τοῦ θήλεος γένους δημόσιος θρίαμβος, λώβη σωμάτων τε καὶ ψυχῶν, λοιμὸς τέρψει κεχρημένος, τάφος κεκονιαμένος, ᾅδου ἀκατάσχετον καὶ ἀκόρεστον στόμα, θανάτου κεκαλλωπισμένον προπύλαιον, τερπνὸν δηλητήριον, ἀναίδεια παῤῥησιαζομένη, αἰσχύνη ἀναίσχυντος, εὐπρόσωπος ὄλεθρος, τῶν ἀσελγῶν μηχανῶν δέλεαρ, τῶν νέων ἰξὸς, κάπηλος τῶν οἰκείων μελῶν, ἀπωλείας βυθὸς, ναυάγιον ἀγαπώμενον, κοινὴ συμφορὰ πάσης ἁμαρτίας, ἰταμὸν ἐργαστήριον, πάσης παρανομίας διδάσκαλος, τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἔχθρας δημιουργὸς, ὕλη τῆς γεέννης τοῦ πυρὸς τοῦ αἰωνίου; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἡ τῶν τοιούτων καὶ τηλικούτων κακῶν ὑπάρχουσα ὑπηρέτις, ἐπειδὴ παρὰ συνήθειαν σωφροσύνης ἠράσθη, ταῖς βίβλοις τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἐγγέγραπται. Ταύτας ἀναπτύξαντες