John Chrysostom, On the Cross and the Thief I

God commanded to forsake the whole land, and in one place to offer the sacrifices and to pray, since all the earth was unclean, from the smoke and savor and all the other pollutions from the Hellenic sacrifices being brought upon it; but for us, since Christ has now come and cleansed the whole world, every place has become a house of prayer. For this reason Paul, being confident, now urged 49.401 to pray everywhere without fear, saying thus: I will that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands. Do you see how the world was cleansed? For because of the place we are able to lift up holy hands everywhere, since all the earth has become holy, holier than the holy places within. For there an irrational sheep was offered, but here a spiritual one; and by as much as the sacrifice is greater, by so much is the sanctification also more abundant. For this reason the cross is a festival.

2. Do you wish to learn of another of His achievements? Paradise

closed for five thousand years and more, today he has opened for us. For on this day, at this hour, God brought in the thief, having accomplished two achievements: one, that He opened paradise, and another, that He brought in a thief. Today He has restored to us our ancient fatherland, today He has led us back to our paternal city, and He has granted the home to the common nature of men; For 'Today,' He says, 'you will be with Me in paradise.' What are you saying? You are crucified and nailed, and you promise paradise? 'Yes,' He says, 'that on the cross you may learn My power.' For since the matter was grim, that you might not fix your attention on the nature of the cross, but might learn the power of the one being crucified, He works this wonder on the cross, which most of all shows His strength.

For not by raising a dead man, nor by rebuking the sea and winds, nor by casting out demons, but while being crucified, being nailed, being insulted, being spat upon, being reviled, being mocked, was He able to change the wicked mind of the thief, that from both sides you might see His power. For He both shook all of creation, and split the rocks, and He drew to Himself and honored the soul of the thief, more unfeeling than rock; for, 'Today you will be with Me in paradise,' He says. And yet the cherubim were guarding paradise; but this one is Lord even of the cherubim; a flaming sword turns there; but He Himself has authority over flame and Gehenna and life and death. And yet no king would ever endure to bring a thief, or any other of his fellow-servants, into a city, having seated him with himself. But Christ did this, and entering into the holy fatherland, He brings the thief in with Himself, not trampling upon paradise, nor shaming it with the feet of the thief, but rather honoring paradise; for it is an honor for paradise to have such a master, as to make even a thief worthy of the delight that is in paradise.

For when He brought tax collectors and prostitutes into the kingdom of heaven, He did not do this dishonoring it, but rather honoring it, showing that such is the Lord of the kingdom of heaven, as to make even prostitutes and tax collectors so approved, as to appear worthy of the honor and gift there. For just as we especially admire a physician when we see him freeing people with incurable afflictions from their sickness and restoring them to health; so also it is right to admire Christ, when He heals incurable wounds, when He restores a tax collector and a prostitute to such health as to declare them worthy of the heavens. And what such thing did the thief demonstrate, he says, that he should obtain paradise after the cross? Do you want me to speak briefly of his courage? When Peter denied below, then that one confessed above. And I say these things not accusing Peter, 49.402 far from it, but of the thief

ἐκέλευσεν ὁ Θεὸς πᾶσαν ἀφιέναι τὴν γῆν, καὶ εἰς ἕνα τόπον προσφέρειν τὰς θυσίας καὶ εὔχεσθαι, ἐπειδὴ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ ἀκάθαρτος ἦν, καπνοῦ καὶ κνίσσης καὶ πάντων τῶν ἄλλων μολυσμῶν τῶν ἐκ τῶν θυσιῶν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἐπ' αὐτὴν φερομένων· ἡμῖν δὲ, ἐπειδὴ λοιπὸν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐλθὼν πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐξεκάθαρεν, ἅπας τόπος εὐκτήριον γέγονε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ Παῦλος θαῤῥῶν παρ 49.401 ῄνει λοιπὸν ἀδεῶς προσεύχεσθαι πανταχοῦ, λέγων οὕτω· Βούλομαι προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ἐπαίροντας ὁσίας χεῖρας. Εἶδες πῶς ἐκαθάρθη ἡ οἰκουμένη; ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦ τόπου πανταχοῦ ἐπαίρειν χεῖρας ὁσίας δυνάμεθα, ἐπειδὴ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ ἁγία γέγονεν ἁγιωτέρα τῶν ἁγίων τῶν ἔνδον. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ προσηνέχθη πρόβατον ἄλογον, ἐνταῦθα δὲ πνευματικόν· ὅσῳ δὲ μείζων ἡ θυσία, τοσούτῳ πλείων καὶ ὁ ἁγιασμός. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἑορτὴ ὁ σταυρός.

βʹ. Βούλει μαθεῖν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἕτερον κατόρθωμα; Τὸν παράδεισον

πεντακισχίλια ἔτη καὶ πλείω κεκλεισμένον σήμερον ἡμῖν ἠνέῳξεν. Ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ, τὸν λῃστὴν εἰσήγαγεν ὁ Θεὸς, δύο κατορθώματα ἐργασάμενος· ἓν μὲν, ὅτι παράδεισον ἠνέῳξεν, ἕτερον δὲ, ὅτι λῃστὴν εἰσήγαγε. Σήμερον ἀπέδωκεν ἡμῖν τὴν ἀρχαίαν πατρίδα, σήμερον ἐπανήγαγεν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν πατρῴαν πόλιν, καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἐχαρίσατο τῇ κοινῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσει· Σήμερον γὰρ, φησὶν, μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Τί λέγεις; ἐσταύρωσαι καὶ προσήλωσαι, καὶ παράδεισον ἐπαγγέλλῃ; Ναὶ, φησὶν, ἵνα ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐμὴν καταμάθῃς. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ πρᾶγμα σκυθρωπὸν ἦν, ἵνα μὴ τῇ φύσει τοῦ σταυροῦ πρόσχῃς, ἀλλὰ τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ σταυρουμένου μάθῃς, ἐν σταυρῷ τὸ θαῦμα ἐργάζεται τοῦτο, ὃ μάλιστα δείκνυσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἰσχύν.

Οὐ γὰρ νεκρὸν ἀναστήσας, οὐ θαλάττῃ καὶ πνεύμασιν ἐπιτιμήσας, οὐ δαίμονας ἀπελάσας, ἀλλὰ σταυρούμενος, προσηλούμενος, ὑβριζόμενος, ἐμπτυόμενος, λοιδορούμενος, διασυρόμενος ἴσχυσε τὴν πονηρὰν τοῦ λῃστοῦ διάνοιαν μεταθεῖναι, ἵνα ἑκατέρωθεν τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ ἴδῃς. Τήν τε γὰρ κτίσιν ἐκλόνησεν ἅπασαν, καὶ τὰς πέτρας διέῤῥηξε, τῆς πέτρας τε ἀναισθητοτέραν τοῦ λῃστοῦ ψυχὴν ἐπεσπάσατο καὶ ἐτίμησε· Σήμερον γὰρ μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ, φησί. Καίτοι τὰ χερουβὶμ ἐτήρει τὸν παράδεισον· ἀλλ' οὗτος καὶ τῶν χερουβὶμ ∆εσπότης· φλογίνη ῥομφαία ἐκεῖ στρέφεται· ἀλλ' αὐτὸς καὶ φλογὸς καὶ γεέννης καὶ ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου ἐξουσίαν ἔχει. Καίτοι γε βασιλεὺς οὐδεὶς ἄν ποτε ἀνάσχοιτο λῃστὴν ἄνθρωπον, ἢ ἕτερόν τινα τῶν ὁμοδούλων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ καθίσας, οὕτως εἰς πόλιν εἰσαγαγεῖν. Ἀλλ' ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦτο ἐποίησε, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἱερὰν εἰσερχόμενος πατρίδα, μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸν λῃστὴν εἰσάγει, οὐ καταπατῶν τὸν παράδεισον, οὐδὲ καταισχύνων τοῖς ποσὶ τοῦ λῃστοῦ, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τιμῶν τὸν παράδεισον· τιμὴ γὰρ παραδείσου, τὸ τοιοῦτον ἔχειν δεσπότην, ὡς καὶ λῃστὴν ἄξιον ποιῆσαι τῆς τρυφῆς τῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ.

Καὶ γὰρ ὅτε τελώνας καὶ πόρνας εἰσήγαγεν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, οὐκ ἀτιμάζων τοῦτο ἐποίει, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐτίμα, δεικνὺς ὅτι τοιοῦτός ἐστιν ὁ Κύριος τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὡς καὶ πόρνας καὶ τελώνας οὕτως ἐργάσασθαι δοκίμους, ὡς ἀξίους φανῆναι τῆς ἐκεῖσε τιμῆς καὶ δωρεᾶς. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἰατρὸν τότε μάλιστα θαυμάζομεν, ὅταν ἴδωμεν ἀνθρώπους ἀνίατα παθήματα ἔχοντας ἀπαλλάττοντα τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας καὶ πρὸς ὑγείαν ἐπανάγοντα· οὕτω καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν θαυμάζειν δίκαιον, ὅταν τραύματα ἀνίατα θεραπεύῃ, ὅταν τελώνην καὶ πόρνην εἰς τοσαύτην ὑγείαν ἐπαναγάγῃ, ὡς ἀξίους ἀποφῆναι τῶν οὐρανῶν. Καὶ τί τοιοῦτον ὁ λῃστὴς ἐπεδείξατο, φησὶν, ἵνα παραδείσου τύχῃ μετὰ σταυρόν; Βούλει συντόμως εἴπω τὴν ἀνδρείαν αὐτοῦ; Ὅτε Πέτρος ἠρνήσατο κάτω, τότε ἐκεῖνος ὡμολόγησεν ἄνω. Καὶ ταῦτα οὐ τοῦ Πέτρου κατηγορῶν λέγω, 49.402 μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ τοῦ λῃστοῦ