John Chrysostom, On the Harlot

Almighty; heal the one who has received many wounds from the devil; wipe away from my soul the leprosy of my sins, as you wiped away the stain of the body of the faithful leper; dry up the springs of my iniquities, 151 as you dried up with the hem of your garment the flows of blood of the woman with the issue of blood; have mercy on me, Lord, son of David, as you had mercy on that Canaanite woman, who was of low birth, but also faithful.” As the harlot was faithfully making these supplications with tears in the secret workshop of her soul, all those reclining at table were astonished at the forbearance of the Savior, seeing him meekly bearing the kisses of a harlot and the grasp of sinful hands. But the Pharisee, who had invited him to the meal, in the unseen workshops of his soul stirred up blasphemous thoughts against him, and reproached the Savior's love for humanity as ignorance, saying to himself: “This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” The whole mindset of the Pharisee was inhuman and blind. But what does the only good and man-loving one, the provider of good things, say to him? “Simon, Simon, I have something to say to you”—I have heard the words you did not speak, I have known the counsels of your soul; I know the things you have meditated against me in your mind; and for this reason I answer you who have said nothing, so that from my answer you may learn the power of my divinity; so that from my words you may recognize that I am the creator of souls and the overseer of hearts; if, therefore, you wish to call me a prophet, or even the maker of the prophets, the man who appears to you, whatever you wish, even so believe. “Simon, Simon, I have something to say to you. A certain moneylender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he freely forgave them both. Which of them, therefore, was bound to love him more? And the Pharisee answering said: I suppose that he, to whom he forgave more. The Savior says to him: You have judged rightly”—And you too owe me many accounts for your life, and I have forgiven you just as I have forgiven this woman the offenses of her way of life, and when you invited me I readily obeyed and came under the same roof and shared the same table; not as one destitute or in need of food, but as one rich in mercy, accepting the repentance of those who come to me and forgiving their sins. Why then do you slander my 152 condescension? And why do you malign my love for humanity, of which you were the first to enjoy? Why do you demand great strictness from others, which, if I were to show it now, would not be to your advantage? Why do you call to account my goodness, of which you yourself have been in need? “And turning to the woman, he said to Simon: Do you see this woman?” —O the boundless height of God's love for humanity! O the unsurpassable greatness of the master's forbearance! He kindly addressed the confessed harlot as “woman”; he concealed the name of her wicked choice, and brought forth the common name of her nature. “Do you see this woman”—whom I saw long ago with the eyes of divinity? The one who entered uninvited to us? The one who for the first and only time was shameless with a good shamelessness? The one who, at the fitting time, showed a life-giving audacity? The one accused by you of many offenses, on account of which she approached life, and not daring, as one of no account, to stand face to face, but hiding behind, and through her former life becoming a rebuke to herself? “I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.” The feet which the sea did not wet with its waves, she washed with her tears and beseeched with her kisses. When have you known such a woman to make her own hair a towel, as she has done upon my feet? “You gave me no kiss”,

παντοδύναμε· θεράπευσον τὴν πολλὰς παρὰ τοῦ διαβόλου δεξαμένην πληγάς· ἀπόξεσόν μου τῆς ψυχῆς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τὴν λέπραν, ὡς ἀπέξυσας τοῦ πιστοῦ λεπροῦ τὴν κηλῖδα τοῦ σώματος· ξήρανον τὰς τῶν ἐμῶν ἀνομημάτων πηγὰς, 151 ὡς ἐξήρανας τῷ κρασπέδῳ τοῦ αἵματος τῆς αἱμοῤῥοούσης τοὺς ὀχετούς· ἐλέησόν με κύριε, υἱὲ ∆αυὶδ, ὡς ἠλέησας ἐκείνην τὴν Χανανείαν, τὴν ἀγενῆ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πιστήν.» Ταῦτα τῆς πόρνης πιστῶς ἐν τῷ ἀποκρύφῳ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐργαστηρίῳ καθικετευσούσης μετὰ δακρύων, ἐξεπλήσσοντο πάντες οἱ ἀνακείμενοι ἐπὶ τῇ ἀνεξικακίᾳ τοῦ σωτῆρος, ὁρῶντες αὐτὸν ἐπιεικῶς φέροντα φιλήματα πορνικὰ καὶ κρατήματα χειρῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν. Ὁ δὲ φαρισαῖος, ὁ καλέσας αὐτὸν εἰς ἄριστον, ἐν τοῖς ἀφανέσι τῆς ψυχῆς ἐργαστηρίοις βλασφήμους ἐκίνει κατ' αὐτοῦ λογισμοὺς, καὶ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος φιλανθρωπίαν ὡς ἄγνοιαν ἐμέμφετο, λέγων ἐν ἑαυτῷ· «Οὗτος, εἰ ἦν προφήτης, ἐγίνωσκεν ἂν, ποταπή ἐστιν ἡ ἁπτομένη αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἁμαρτωλός ἐστιν.» Ἀπάνθρωπον ὅλον καὶ τυφλὸν τοῦ φαρισαίου τὸ φρόνημα. Ἀλλὰ τί πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ μόνος ἀγαθὸς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν χορηγός; «Σίμων, Σίμων, ἔχω σοί τι εἰπεῖν»-ἤκουσα ὧν οὐκ ἐφθάγξω ῥημάτων, ἔγνων τῆς σῆς ψυχῆς τὰ βουλεύματα· ἐπίσταμαι τὰ κατὰ διάνοιάν σοι μελετηθέντα κατ' ἐμοῦ· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μηδὲν λαλήσαντί σοι ἀποκρίνομαι, ἵνα ἐκ τῆς ἐμῆς ἀποκρίσεως μάθῃς τῆς ἐμῆς θεότητος τὴν ἰσχύν· ἵνα ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν ῥημάτων ἐπιγνῷς, ὅτι ποιητής εἰμι ψυχῶν καὶ ἔφορος τῶν καρδιῶν· εἰ τοίνυν προφήτην με βούλει καλεῖν, ἢ καὶ δημιουργὸν τῶν προφητῶν, τὸν κατὰ τὸ βλεπόμενόν σοι ἄνθρωπον, ὃ βούλει καὶ δόξαζε. «Σίμων, Σίμων, ἔχω σοί τι εἰπεῖν· δύο χρεοφειλέται ἦσαν δανειστῇ τινι. ὁ εἷς ὤφειλε δηνάρια πεντακόσια, καὶ ὁ ἕτερος πεντήκοντα· μὴ ἐχόντων δὲ αὐτῶν ἀποδοῦναι, ἀμφοτέροις ἐχαρίσατο. Τίς οὖν αὐτὸν ὤφειλεν πλέον ἀγαπᾶν; Ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ φαρισαῖος εἶπεν· ὑπολαμβάνω, ὅτι ᾧ τὸ πλέον ἐχαρίσατο. Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ σωτήρ· ὀρθῶς ἔκρινας»-Καὶ σὺ χρεστεῖς μοι τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ζωῆς εὐθύνας πολλὰς, κἀγὼ συνεχώρησά σοι καθάπερ καὶ ταύτῃ τῆς πολιτείας τὰ ἐγκλήματα, καὶ σοῦ καλέσαντός με προθύμως ὑπήκουσα καὶ ὁμορόφιος ἐγενόμην καὶ ὁμοδίαιτος· οὐχ ὡς ἄπορος ἢ ἐνδεὴς τροφῆς, ἀλλ' ὡς πλούσιος ἐν ἐλέει τὴν τῶν προςερχομένων μετάνοιαν προςδεχόμενος καὶ τὰς τούτων ἁμαρτίας συγχωρῶν. Τί οὖν διαβάλλεις τὴν ἐμὴν 152 συγκατάβασιν; τί δὲ κακίζεις τὴν ἐμὴν φιλανθρωπίαν, ἧς πρῶτος ἀπήλαυσας σύ; τί πολλὴν ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπαιτεῖς τὴν ἀκρίβειαν, ἣν ἐὰν ἐπιδείξωμαι νῦν, οὐ συμφέρει σοι; τί λογοθετεῖς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀγαθότητα, ἧς ἐνδεὴς γέγονας καὶ αὐτός; «Καὶ στραφεὶς πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα τῷ Σίμωνι ἔφη· βλέπεις ταύτην τὴν γυναῖκα;» -ὦ φιλανθρωπίας θεοῦ ἄπειρον ὕψος· ὦ ἀνεξικακίας δεσπότου ἀνυπέρβλητον μέγεθος· τὴν ὁμολογουμένην πόρνην «γυναῖκα» προςηνῶς προςηγόρευσεν· ἔκρυψεν τὸ τῆς πονηρᾶς προαιρέσεως ὄνομα, καὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῆς φύσεως προεκόμισεν ὄνομα. «Βλέπεις ταύτην τὴν γυναῖκα»-ἣν ἐθεασάμην πάλαι τοῖς τῆς θεότητος ὀφθαλμοῖς· τὴν αὐτόκλητον ἐπειςελθοῦσαν ἡμῖν; τὴν πρῶτον καὶ μόνον ἀναισχυντήσασαν ἀναισχυντίαν καλήν; τὴν, ἐνδέοντι καιρῷ, τὴν ζωηφόρον ἐπιδειξαμένην ἀναίδειαν; τὴν ὑπὸ σοῦ κατηγορουμένην ἐπὶ ἐγκλήμασι πολλοῖς, ἐφ' οἷς προςῆλθεν τῇ ζωῇ, καὶ μὴ τολμήσασαν, ὡς ἀπρόςωπον, κατὰ πρόςωπον στῆναι, ἀλλ' ὀπίσω κρυπτομένην, καὶ διὰ τοῦ βίου τοῦ προτέρου ἑαυτῆς ἔλεγχος γινομένην; «Εἰςῆλθόν σου εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, ὕδωρ εἰς τοὺς πόδας μου οὐκ ἔδωκας, αὕτη δὲ τοῖς δάκρυσιν ἔβρεξέν μου τοὺς πόδας, καὶ ταῖς θριξὶν τῆς κεφαλῆς αὑτῆς ἐξέμαξεν.» Οὓς οὐκ ἔβρεξεν πόδας τοῖς κύμασι ἡ θάλασσα, αὕτη τοῖς δάκρυσιν ἀπέπλυνεν καὶ τοῖς φιλήμασιν ἱκέτευσεν. Πότε κατέμαθες τοιαύτην γυναῖκα τὰς ἰδίας τρίχας ἐκμαγεῖον ποιήσασαν, καθάπερ αὕτη ἐπὶ τῶν ἐμῶν ποδῶν πεποίηκεν; «Φίλημά μοι οὐκ ἔδωκας»,