John Chrysostom, On Pentecost Sermon 1

to you a shepherd; For I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. You became a sinner; he became to you the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You wished to eat; he became to you a table. You wished to drink; he became to you a cup. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. You wished to be clothed; he became to you a garment; For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. You wished to become a bride; he became to you a bridegroom; 52.805 He who has the bride is the bridegroom. You wished; he became to you a husband; For I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. You were a harlot, and you became a virgin. O new and paradoxical things! Among outsiders marriage destroys virginity, but in spiritual things he took a harlot, and made her more venerable than a virgin. Explain, O heretic, how the harlot is a virgin. I am not able to scrutinize it; but I am held by faith. But the grace of the Spirit did all these things. The grace was poured out, And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed; not of fire, but As of fire. If fire, how were they not burned? asks the Jew.

Rather, I ask the Jew, how did it not burn the bush, a dry piece of wood? What is more vehement than fire? what is more common than a bush? and neither was the wood burned, nor was the fire extinguished. And again, how did it not burn up the bodies of the three youths, but the furnace was changed into dew, and they considered the coals a rose garden? There was a battle of fire and bodies, and the victory was of the bodies; for though softer than wax, they became stronger than iron. Explain to me the things of old; but those things came beforehand, so that the truth might be believed. Why in fire the Holy Spirit? Because of the keenness of mind of those who received it. Not only for this reason, but also just as fire consumes thorns, so the Spirit consumes sins. The holy one was cast into a pit, and he muzzled the lions. The fishermen went about the world, receiving it sick, and brought it back to health; receiving it in turmoil, they guided it to good order, not wielding spears, not shooting bows, not letting loose an arrow, not having an abundance of money, nor of rhetorical words; but they were naked of garments, and clothed with Christ; poor and rich, deprived of money, but possessing the kingdom; alone and not alone, alone of men, but having their own Master. For I am, he says, with you until the end of the age.

The sheep went about the whole world in the midst of wolves. Who has seen? Who has heard? He says: I send you out like sheep in the midst of wolves. What shepherd sends sheep into the midst of wolves? But when the shepherd sees the wolf, he gathers the sheep; but Christ did the opposite; he sent the sheep to the wolves, and the sheep were not devoured by beasts, but the wolves were changed to the gentleness of sheep. And so that they might not say, We are sheep, and you send us as food for the wolves, and a table for the beasts, with one word he took away their thought. He did not say: Go away; for he was not sending them by their own power; but, Behold, I send you. You are weak; but the one sending you is powerful. Who are you? I am the one who fixed the heaven, who founded the earth, who parted the sea, who nailed the record of debt against you to the cross, who overturned the old law, who led you back to the ancient homeland, who paralyzes the strong, and strengthens the paralyzed. What is stronger than the sea? But the little sand holds back that unbearable force. Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. The beasts become a wall to the sheep, so that they may not even procure their salvation by flight. O the power of the one who sent! in the middle the sheep, and around them the wolves; but they were changed, and became sheep. For they were not by nature

σοι ποιμήν· Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός· ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων. Ἁμαρτωλὸς ἐγένου· ἐγένετό σοι Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. Φαγεῖν ἠθέλησας· ἐγένετό σοι τράπεζα. Πιεῖν ἠθέλησας· ἐγένετό σοι ποτήριον. Ὁ τρώγων μου τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αἷμα, ἐν ἐμοὶ μένει, κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ. Ἐνδύσασθαι ἠθέλησας· ἐγένετό σοι ἱμάτιον· Ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε. Νύμφη ἠθέλησας γενέσθαι· ἐγένετό σοι νυμφίος· 52.805 Ὁ ἔχων τὴν νύμφην, νυμφίος ἐστίν. Ἠθέλησας· ἐγένετό σοι ἀνήρ· Ἡρμοσάμην γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ παρθένον ἁγνὴν παραστῆσαι τῷ Χριστῷ. Πόρνη ἦς, καὶ ἐγένου παρθένος. Ὢ καινῶν καὶ παραδόξων πραγμάτων! Ἐπὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν ὁ γάμος τὴν παρθενίαν διαλύει, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν πνευματικῶν πόρνην ἔλαβε, καὶ παρθένου ἐποίησε σεμνοτέραν. Ἑρμήνευσον, ὦ αἱρετικὲ, πῶς ἡ πόρνη παρθένος. Περιεργάσασθαι οὐ δύναμαι· πίστει δὲ κατέχομαι. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐποίησε χάρις. Ἐξεχύθη ἡ χάρις, Καὶ ὤφθησαν αὐτοῖς διαμεριζόμεναι αἱ γλῶσσαι ὡσεὶ πυρός· οὐχὶ πυρὸς, ἀλλ' Ὡσεὶ πυρός. Εἰ πῦρ, πῶς οὐκ ἐκαίοντο; ἐρωτᾷ ὁ Ἰουδαῖος.

Μᾶλλον δὲ ἐγὼ τὸν Ἰουδαῖον ἐρωτῶ, πῶς οὐκ ἔκαιε τὴν βάτον φρυγανῶδες ξύλον; Τί πυρὸς σφοδρότερον; τί βάτου εὐτελέστερον; καὶ οὔτε τὸ ξύλον ἐκαίετο, οὔτε τὸ πῦρ ἐσβέννυτο. Καὶ πάλιν, πῶς τὰ σώματα τῶν τριῶν παίδων οὐ κατέκαυσεν, ἀλλ' ἡ κάμινος εἰς δρόσον μετεβάλλετο, καὶ τοὺς ἄνθρακας ῥοδῶνα ἐνόμιζον; Μάχη ἦν πυρὸς καὶ σωμάτων, καὶ ἡ νίκη τῶν σωμάτων ἐγίνετο· κηροῦ γὰρ ὄντα μαλακώτερα, σιδήρου ἐγένετο στερεώτερα. Ἑρμήνευσόν μοι τὰ τῶν παλαιῶν· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνα προέλαβεν, ἵνα πιστευθῇ ἡ ἀλήθεια. ∆ιὰ τί ἐν πυρὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον; ∆ιὰ τὸ γοργὸν τῆς διανοίας τῶν δεχομένων. Οὐ διὰ τοῦτο δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὥσπερ τὸ πῦρ τὰς ἀκάνθας ἀναλίσκει, οὕτω τὸ Πνεῦμα τὰ ἁμαρτήματα δαπανᾷ. Ἐνεβλήθη ὁ ἅγιος εἰς λάκκον, καὶ τοὺς λέοντας ἐφίμωσε. Περιῆλθον οἱ ἁλιεῖς τὴν οἰκουμένην, νοσοῦσαν αὐτὴν παραλαβόντες, καὶ πρὸς ὑγίειαν ἐπανήγαγον· στασιάζουσαν παραλαβόντες, πρὸς εὐταξίαν ἐχειραγώγησαν, οὐ δόρατα κινοῦντες, οὐ τόξα βάλλοντες, οὐ βέλος ἀφιέντες, οὐ χρημάτων ἔχοντες περιουσίαν, οὐ λόγων ῥητορικῶν· ἀλλ' ἦσαν γυμνοὶ ἀπὸ ἱματίων, καὶ ἐνδεδυμένοι τὸν Χριστόν· πένητες καὶ πλούσιοι, χρημάτων ἀπεστερημένοι, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν κεκτημένοι· μόνοι καὶ οὐ μόνοι, μόνοι ἀνθρώπων, ἔχοντες δὲ τὸν ἑαυτῶν ∆εσπότην. Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι, φησὶ, μεθ' ὑμῶν ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.

Περιῆλθον τὴν οἰκουμένην πᾶσαν τὰ πρόβατα μεταξὺ τῶν λύκων. Τίς εἶδε; τίς ἤκουσε; Λέγει· Ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς ὥσπερ πρόβατα ἐν μέσῳ λύκων. Ποῖος ποιμὴν πρόβατα ἐν μέσῳ λύκων πέμπει; Ἀλλ' ὅταν ἴδῃ τὸν λύκον ὁ ποιμὴν, συνελαύνει τὰ πρόβατα· ὁ δὲ Χριστὸς τὸ ἐναντίον ἐποίησε· τὰ πρόβατα εἰς τοὺς λύκους ἀπέστειλε, καὶ οὐκ ἐγένετο θηριάλωτα τὰ πρόβατα, ἀλλ' οἱ λύκοι εἰς τὴν τῶν προβάτων ἡμερότητα μετέστησαν. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ λέγωσιν ἐκεῖνοι, Πρόβατά ἐσμεν, καὶ πέμπεις ἡμᾶς κατάβρωμα τοῖς λύκοις, καὶ τράπεζαν τοῖς θηρίοις, μιᾷ λέξει περιεῖλεν αὐτῶν τὴν διάνοιαν. Οὐκ εἶπεν· Ἀπέλθετε· οὐδὲ γὰρ τῇ ἑαυτῶν δυνάμει ἔπεμπεν αὐτούς· ἀλλ', Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς. Ἀσθενεῖς ὑμεῖς· ἀλλὰ δυνατὸς ὁ ἀποστέλλων ὑμᾶς. Τίς εἶ σύ; Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ τὸν οὐρανὸν πήξας, ὁ τὴν γῆν θεμελιώσας, ὁ τὴν θάλασσαν διαλύσας, ὁ τὸ καθ' ὑμῶν χειρόγραφον τῷ σταυρῷ προσηλώσας, ὁ τὸν παλαιὸν νόμον ἀνατρέψας, ὁ εἰς τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπαναγαγὼν ὑμᾶς πατρίδα, ὁ τὰ ἰσχυρὰ παραλύων, καὶ τὰ παραλελυμένα ἐνισχύων. Τί τῆς θαλάσσης ἰσχυρότερον; Ἀλλὰ ἡ μικρὰ ψάμμος τὴν ἀφόρητον βίαν ἐκείνην κατέχει. Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς ὡς πρόβατα ἐν μέσῳ λύκων. Τεῖχος τὰ θηρία τοῖς πρόβασι γίνεται, ἵνα μηδὲ φυγῇ τὴν σωτηρίαν πορίσωνται. Ὢ δύναμις τοῦ ἀποστείλαντος! ἐν μέσῳ τὰ πρόβατα, καὶ κύκλῳ οἱ λύκοι· ἀλλὰ μετεβλήθησαν, καὶ ἐγένοντο πρόβατα. Οὐ γὰρ ἦσαν φύσει