John Chrysostom, On Psalm 92

unbelief brought a wave, he cried out, saying: Master, save me, I am perishing. What are you saying, O Peter? When you are in danger, then you recognize the Lord? What then of Christ? I will not leave you in the deep, I will stretch out my hand; for I hold all things in my hand. And stretching out his hand, it says, the Lord took hold of him, and says to him: O you of little faith, why did you doubt? Great was the dissension of the apostles. Before the resurrection they were shaken; after the resurrection, having reaped what is certain, they became unshakable in the faith. That they were shaken by many disputes before the resurrection, you just heard, how when evening came the apostles approached the Lord saying: Dismiss the crowd, because the place is deserted, so that they may go away into the surrounding villages and buy themselves food. See for me here also, how faithless the thought. They approached the Savior saying: Dismiss the crowd, because the place is deserted; but the Lord said to them: I should dismiss the crowd? why do you bring dishonor upon me? why do you condemn your teacher? I should dismiss the crowds, so that they may buy food? and what will those who sell them bread say? that in my presence these men will buy bread?

If we had no bread, you would have been right to permit their dismissal; but now that I am bread, how shall I dismiss those who wait for me, hungry? The crowds are waiting, and I should drive away those who are waiting? What shepherd of sheep does this? I sent Habakkuk the lentil-bearer to Daniel in the lions' den; for forty years I provided manna from heaven to the ungrateful sons of Israel, and shall I starve the grateful? No indeed, by no means. You give them something to eat. But the apostles say: We should give them something to eat? From where shall we give, who were commanded to take nothing for the journey? Except for five loaves and two fish we have nothing more; and what are these for five thousand men, besides women and children? But the Lord says to them: From where will you give? You have the treasury of faith. Did I not say to you that, If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen? Mountains are moved, and bread is not multiplied? You give them something to eat. But as they were declining and growing dizzy at the giving, the Lord said to them: Make the crowds recline. I am sent in my mind [alt. for the 55.614 ministry]; I do not refuse to serve the servants. For this has been my practice from of old. I served Adam in paradise; what I pursued there, I do not refuse here either.

2. It is certainly possible to say, what and when God the [alt. of] Adam service

pursued. Listen with understanding. For it is good to render what is due for the sixth day of the last of God’s creations, on which we made the promise. For this reason also the creator served Adam alone, taking him at the same time as both a creator and a partner in his own creations. You all know clearly, how in paradise the creator, having seated Adam in a high place, brought to him each of the animals. The Lord from the beginning did not refuse to serve a servant, his own creation; for which reasons also in the gospel just read he did not refuse to serve the servants, he made them recline on the grass, and taking the loaves he broke them, and gave them to the disciples to offer, feeding, multiplying, working wonders, providing what was needed. For which reasons also in the paradise of the ancient creation, bearing goodness, having seated Adam in a high place, the creator led each one of the animals past, so that whatever Adam wanted, he might call it that, taking him as a partner in his own creations; which the Scripture presented, saying: And God formed yet out of the ground all the beasts of the field, and all the cattle; and he brought them to Adam,

ἀπιστία κλυδώνιον ἔφερεν, ἔκραξε λέγων· Ἐπιστάτα, σῶσον, ἀπόλλυμαι. Τί λέγεις, ὦ Πέτρε; Ὅτε κινδυνεύεις, τότε γνωρίζεις τὸν ∆εσπότην; Τί οὖν ὁ Χριστός; Οὐ καταλιμπάνω σε τῷ βυθῷ, ἐκτενῶ τὴν χεῖρα· τὰ γὰρ πάντα ἐν τῇ χειρὶ βαστάζω. Ἐκτεί νας δὲ τὴν χεῖρα, φησὶν, ὁ Κύριος ἐπελάβετο αὐτοῦ, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Ὀλιγόπιστε, εἰς τί ἐδίστασας; Πολλὴ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἡ διχόνοια. Πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐκλο νοῦντο· μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τὸ βέβαιον καρπωσάμενοι, ἀπαρασάλευτοι τῇ πίστει γεγόνασιν. Ὅτι δὲ πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐκλονοῦντο πολλαῖς ἀμφιλογίαις, ἤκουες ἀρτίως, πῶς ὀψίας γενομένης προσῆλθον οἱ ἀπόστολοι τῷ Κυρίῳ λέγοντες· Ἀπόλυσον τὸν ὄχλον, ὅτι ἔρη μός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος, ὅπως ἀπελθόντες εἰς τὰς κύκλῳ κώμας, ἀγοράσωσιν ἑαυτοῖς βρώματα. Ὅρα μοι καὶ ἐνταῦθα, πῶς ἄπιστον τὸ διανόημα. Τῷ Σωτῆρι προσ ῆλθον λέγοντες· Ἀπόλυσον τὸν ὄχλον, ὅτι ἔρημός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος· ὁ δὲ Κύριος πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἀπολύσω τὸν ὄχλον; τί μοι ἀδοξίαν προσάγετε; τί καταψηφίζεσθε τοῦ διδασκάλου; ἀπολύσω τοὺς ὄχλους, ἵνα ἀγοράσωσι βρώ ματα; καὶ τί ἐροῦσιν οἱ πιπράσκοντες αὐτοῖς τοὺς ἄρ τους; ὅτι ἐμοῦ παρόντος οὗτοι ἄρτους ἀγοράσουσιν;

Εἰ μὴ ἡμῖν ἄρτος, καλῶς τὸ ἀπολύειν ἐπετρέπετε· νῦν δὲ ἄρτος ὑπάρχων, πῶς ἀπολύσω πεινῶντας τοὺς προσμέ νοντάς μοι; Οἱ ὄχλοι προσμένουσι, κἀγὼ τοὺς προσμέ νοντας ἀπελάσω; ποῖος ποιμὴν προβάτων ποιεῖ τοῦτο; Ἐγὼ τῷ ∆ανιὴλ ἐν τῷ λεοντίῳ λάκκῳ τὸν Ἀμβακοὺμ φακοφόρον παρέπεμψα· ἐγὼ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ ἐπὶ ἔτη τεσσαράκοντα οὐρανόθεν τὸ μάννα ἐχορήγουν τοῖς ἀχα ρίστοις, καὶ τοὺς εὐχαρίστους λιμαγχονήσω; Οὐ μὴν, οὐδαμῶς. ∆ότε ὑμεῖς αὐτοῖς φαγεῖν. Οἱ δὲ ἀπόστολοί φασι· ∆ῶμεν αὐτοῖς φαγεῖν; πόθεν δῶμεν τοῖς ἐπιτα γεῖσι μηδὲν αἴρειν εἰς ὁδόν; Πλὴν πέντε ἄρτων καὶ δύο ἰχθύων οὐκ ἔχομέν τι πλέον· καὶ τί εἰσι ταῦτα εἰς πεντακισχιλίους ἄνδρας ἄνευ γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων; Ὁ δὲ Κύριός φησι πρὸς αὐτούς· Πόθεν δῶτε; Ἔχετε τὸ γαζοφυλάκιον τῆς πίστεως. Οὐκ εἶπον ὑμῖν, ὅτι Ἐὰν ἔχητε πίστιν, ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐρεῖτε τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ, Ἄρθητι καὶ βλήθητι εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ γενήσεται; Ὄρη μεθίστανται, καὶ ἄρτοι οὐ πληθύνον ται; ∆ῶτε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγεῖν. Τῶν δὲ παραιτουμένων, καὶ πρὸς τὴν δόσιν ἰλιγγιώντων, ὁ Κύριος πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἀνακλίνατε τοὺς ὄχλους. Ἐγὼ τῇ διανοίᾳ [λ. ἐπὶ τῇ 55.614 διακονίᾳ] στέλλομαι· οὐ παραιτοῦμαι τοῖς δούλοις ὑπηρε τῶν. Ἀρχαῖον γάρ μου τοῦτο τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα Ἐγὼ τῷ Ἀδὰμ ὑπηρέτησα ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ· ὃ ἐκεῖ μετῆλθον, καὶ ὧδε οὐ παραιτοῦμαι.

βʹ. Ἔστι δὲ πάντως εἰπεῖν, τίνα καὶ πότε ὁ Θεὸς τὸν [φ. τοῦ] Ἀδὰμ διακονίαν

μετῆλθεν. Ἄκουε συνετῶς. Καλὸν γὰρ ἀποτίσαι τῆς ἕκτης ἡμέρας τῆς τελευταίας τοῦ Θεοῦ δημιουργίας, ἐν ᾗ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ἐποιησάμεθα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ τῷ Ἀδὰμ μόνῳ ὁ δημιουργὸς ὑπηρέτησεν, ὁμοῦ καὶ δημιουργὸν καὶ κοινωνὸν αὐτὸν λαμβά νων τῶν ἑαυτοῦ κτισμάτων. Ἴστε πάντες σαφῶς, πῶς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ὁ δημιουργὸς καθίσας τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐπὶ ὑψη λοῦ τόπου, προσήγαγεν αὐτῷ ἕκαστον τῶν ζώων. Ὁ ∆εσπότης ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐ παρῃτήσατο δούλῳ ὑπηρετῶν, τῷ ἰδίῳ κτίσματι· ἐξ ὧν καὶ ἐν τῷ παραναγνωσθέντι εὐαγ γελίῳ οὐ παρῃτήσατο ὑπηρετῆσαι τοῖς δούλοις, ἀνέκλινεν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ χόρτου, καὶ λαβὼν τοὺς ἄρτους ἔκλασε, καὶ ἐδίδου τοῖς μαθηταῖς προσφέρειν, τρέφων, πληθύνων, θαυματουργῶν, τὰ δέοντα χορηγῶν. Ἐξ ὧν καὶ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τῆς ἀρχαίας δημιουργίας φέρων τὴν ἀγαθό τητα, καθίσας τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐπὶ ὑψηλοῦ τόπου, παρῆγεν ἓν ἕκαστον τῶν ζώων ὁ δημιουργὸς, ἵνα εἴ τι βούλεται ὁ Ἀδὰμ, τοῦτο αὐτὸ καλέσῃ, κοινωνὸν αὐτὸν λαμβάνων τῶν ἑαυτοῦ κτισμάτων· ὅπερ ἡ Γραφὴ παρέστησε λέ γουσα· Καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πάντα τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ, καὶ πάντα τὰ κτήνη· καὶ ἤγαγεν αὐτὰ πρὸς τὸν Ἀδὰμ,