John Chrysostom, On the Pharisee and the Harlot

61.730 For every sinner is without boldness; I have no justification; for every sinner and transgressor is without justification; I have no voice; for every condemned one is speechless; the evil conscience stops up my mouth, which my corrupted life has corrupted; the accusing wealth chokes the tongue, always crying out from within me, "Confine your word to your lips;" a mouth of sinners is without boldness for intercession, and a condemned tongue is unfit for supplication, and a counterfeit word is not acceptable for a request. In silence I teach the things concerning me to you who know all things; with my face I speak, with my form I cry out, with my eyes I proclaim my iniquities, with my tears I confess my trespasses, with my groans I announce them to you who alone cannot be hidden from. As a captive with all my weapons, I fall down before you, the king of the heavens; and all my members, through which I waged war against you, or rather against myself, I offer to you, O lover of mankind. Have mercy on this head, "For my iniquities have gone over my head"; have mercy on these hairs, which you have formed; have mercy on these eyes, which you have created; have mercy on this clay, which you yourself formed into beauty, but which I have misused in the world for formless indecency; have mercy on your image, with which the enemy has played as he wished; have mercy on your monument, which your enemy has dragged about as if it had no master; accept my tears also as a ransom, and, as you are good, forgive my crimes; only will it, and I am loosed; only nod, and I am redeemed; command, and what I desire is accomplished. For what you will, is an action; and your word is a deed. May I receive freedom from your undefiled feet, as the woman with the issue of blood stole her healing from the fringe of your garments, since you willed for this to be stolen; may I also become a story of your love for mankind to those after me. Hand down me and the things concerning me to later generations as a good reminder of your compassions; let all say that a prostitute, once lawless and condemned, approaching Jesus, was justified by him; and seeing this, let all approach with me, and let them snatch your gifts. O just Judge and lover of mankind, who through great love for mankind associates with the condemned, here I have approached you as judge, here declare to me my forgiveness; do not make a spectacle of my sins before all of creation, do not make my iniquities public at the future judgment seat; do not send me to the eternal fire, which has for its fuel the life of the indolent. Jesus Christ, Son of the Virgin Mary, and creator of the Virgin, for the sake of the Virgin, both your mother and ever-virgin, through that holy one, reclaim me the defiled, and make me pure. You also were born of a woman, as you alone know how, and you know the weakness of mortals. While the faithful woman was speaking such things within herself and praying, the Savior, being near, was allowing the desiring one to revel in her desire, and for her to handle His feet for insatiable enjoyment, while He was on the couch, and delighting in her weeping, and feasting upon the tears of repentance, and hungering for the thirst of her who was thirsting for mercy.

At this, the Pharisees were quietly whispering to one another, saying: "What is this strange and paradoxical sight? Who taught this prostitute to be chaste? Who persuaded her who was abandoned to shameful pleasures to think such things? Is this not the notorious disgrace of our city? Is this not the woman available to any who want her? Is this not she, the accusation of each man's sin? Is this not she, the enemy of chastity, and the burglar of lawful marriages? Is this not she who robs men with flattery? How then has such a woman come from such a one? How has she who loves laughter and pleasure appeared loving tears and mourning? How has she who is unwise and unseemly, who with her form and with her gaze, and with her posture and with her affected gait, and with all her limbs was betrothing everyone to death, to this chaste demeanor and

61.730 ἀπαῤῥησίαστος γὰρ ἅπας ἁμαρτωλός· οὐκ ἔχω δικαιολογίαν οὐδεμίαν· ἀδικαιολόγητος γὰρ ἅπας ἁμαρτωλὸς καὶ παράνομος· οὐκ ἔχω φωνήν· ἄφωνος γὰρ ἅπας κατάκριτος· τὸ πονηρὸν συνειδὸς ἐμφράττει μου τὸ στόμα, ὃ διέφθειρεν ὁ διεφθαρμένος μου βίος· ἄγχει τὴν γλῶσσαν ὁ κατήγορος πλοῦτος διαπαντὸς ἔσωθέν μου βοῶν, Ἐναπόκλεισόν σου τὸν λόγον τοῖς χείλεσι· στόμα ἁμαρτωλῶν πρὸς πρεσβείαν ἀπαῤῥησίαστον, καὶ γλῶσσα κατάκριτος πρὸς ἱκεσίαν ἀνάρμοστος, καὶ λόγος κίβδηλος πρὸς αἴτησιν οὐκ εὐπρόσωπος. Σιγῶσα διδάσκω τὰ κατ' ἐμὲ σὲ τὸν ἐπιστάμενον πάντα· τῇ ὄψει λαλῶ, βοῶ τῇ μορφῇ, τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς κηρύττω τὰς ἀνομίας, τοῖς δάκρυσιν ἐξαγορεύω τὰ πλημμελήματα, τοῖς στεναγμοῖς ἐξαγγέλλω σε τὸν μόνον κρύπτεσθαι μὴ δυνάμενον. Ὡς αἰχμάλωτος μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἐμῶν ὅπλων ὑποπίπτω σοι, τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν οὐρανῶν· καὶ πάντα μου τὰ μέλη, δι' ὧν ἐστρατευσάμην κατὰ σοῦ, μᾶλλον δὲ καθ' ἑαυτῆς, σοὶ προσφέρω, φιλάνθρωπε. Ἐλέησον τὴν κεφαλὴν ταύτην, Ὅτι αἱ ἀνομίαι μου ὑπερῆραν τὴν κεφαλήν μου· ἐλέησον τὰς τρίχας ταύτας, ἃς ἔπλασας· ἐλέησον τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τούτους, οὓς ἐδημιούργησας· ἐλέησον τὸν πηλὸν τοῦτον, ὃν αὐτὸς μὲν εἰς κάλλος ἐμόρφωσας, ἐγὼ δὲ τῷ κόσμῳ κατεχρησάμην εἰς ἀκοσμίαν ἄμορφον· ἐλέησον τὴν εἰκόνα τὴν σὴν, εἰς ἣν ὁ πολέμιος ἔπαιξεν, ὡς ἠθέλησεν· ἐλέησον τὴν στήλην τὴν σὴν, ἣν ὡς ἀδέσποτον ὁ σὸς ἐχθρὸς περιέσυρε· δέξαι ὡς λῦτρα καὶ δάκρυα, καὶ λῦσον ὡς ἀγαθὸς τὰ ἐγκλήματα· θέλησον μόνον, καὶ λέλυμαι· νεῦσον μόνον, καὶ λελύτρωμαι· πρόσταξον, καὶ τὸ ποθούμενον ἤνυσται. Ὃ γὰρ σὺ θέλεις, πρᾶξις· καὶ ὁ λόγος ὁ σὸς ἔργον ἐστί. Λάβω τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἐκ τῶν ἀχράντων ποδῶν σου, ὡς ἔκλεψεν ἐκ τῶν σῶν κρασπέδων τὴν ἴασιν ἡ αἱμοῤῥοοῦσα, σοῦ τοῦτο κλαπῆναι θελήσαντος· γένωμαι διήγημα τοῖς μετ' ἐμὲ τῆς σῆς φιλανθρωπίας κἀγώ. Παράπεμψον ἐμὲ, καὶ τὰ κατ' ἐμὲ ταῖς ὑστέραις γενεαῖς καλὸν ὑπόμνημα τῶν σῶν οἰκτιρμῶν· λεγέτωσαν ἅπαντες ὅτι πόρνη ποτὲ παράνομος καὶ κατάκριτος, προσελθοῦσα τῷ Ἰησοῦ, ἐδικαιώθη παρ' αὐτοῦ· καὶ καθορῶντες ἅπαντες σὺν ἐμοὶ προσιέτωσαν, καὶ τὰς σὰς ἁρπαζέτωσαν δωρεάς. Κριτὰ δίκαιε καὶ φιλάνθρωπε, καὶ τοῖς κατακρίτοις διὰ πολλὴν φιλανθρωπίαν συναναστρεφόμενος, ὧδέ σοι προσῆλθον, ὡς κριτῇ, ὧδέ μοι τὴν συγχώρησιν ὑπαγόρευσον· μὴ θριαμβεύσῃς τὰς ἐμὰς ἁμαρτίας ἐπὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως, μὴ δημοσιεύσῃς τὰς ἀνομίας μου ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι κριτηρίῳ· μὴ πέμψῃς με τῷ αἰωνίῳ πυρὶ, τῷ ὕλην κεκτημένῳ τὴν τῶν ῥᾳθύμων ζωήν. Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ, Υἱὲ τῆς Παρθένου Μαρίας, καὶ δημιουργὲ τῆς Παρθένου, διὰ τὴν Παρθένον, καὶ μητέρα σὴν, καὶ πάλιν παρθένον, ἀνάκτησαι διὰ τὴν ἁγίαν ἐκείνην ἐμὲ τὴν ἐναγῆ, καὶ ποίησον εὐαγῆ. Ἐκ γυναικὸς ἐτέχθης καὶ σὺ, ὡς σὺ μόνος ἐπίστασαι, καὶ γινώσκεις τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀσθένειαν. Τοιαῦτα λαλούσης ἐν ἑαυτῇ τῆς πιστῆς γυναικὸς καὶ δεομένης, ἐγγὺς ὢν ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐδίδου τῇ ποθούσῃ τοῦ πόθου κατατρυφᾷν, καὶ τοὺς πόδας ἐγχειρίσαι ἐκείνην πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν ἄπληστον, ἐπὶ τῆς στιβάδος ὢν, καὶ κατατρυφῶν τὸν ἐκείνης κλαυθμὸν, καὶ εὐωχούμενος τοῖς τῆς μετανοίας δάκρυσι, καὶ πεινῶν τὸ δίψος τῆς διψώσης τὸν ἔλεον.

Ἐντεῦθεν οἱ Φαρισαῖοι ἠρέμα ἐψιθύριζον πρὸς ἀλλήλους λέγοντες· Τί τοῦτο τὸ ξένον καὶ παράδοξον θέαμα; τίς τὴν πόρνην ταύτην ἐδίδαξε σωφρονεῖν; τίς τὴν ἐκκεχυμένην πρὸς αἰσχρὰς ἡδονὰς ἔπεισε τοιαῦτα φρονεῖν; οὐχ αὕτη ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς ἡμετέρας πόλεως ἐπίσημον ὄνειδος; οὐχ αὕτη ἡ τῶν ἀεὶ βουλομένων γυνή; οὐχ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἑκάστου κατήγορος; οὐχ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ τῆς σωφροσύνης ἐχθρὰ, καὶ τῶν νομίμων γάμων τοιχωρύχος; οὐχ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μετὰ κολακείας λῃστεύουσα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους; Πῶς οὖν ἐκ τοιαύτης τοιαύτη γενήσεται; πῶς ἡ φιλόγελως καὶ φιλοτερπνὴς φιλόδακρυς ἐφάνη καὶ φιλοπενθής; πῶς ἡ ἄσοφος, καὶ παράκαιρος, καὶ τῇ μορφῇ καὶ τῷ βλέμματι, καὶ τῷ σχήματι καὶ τοῖς περιέργοις βαδίσμασι, καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς μέλεσι πάντας μνηστευομένη τῷ θανάτῳ, ἐπὶ τὸ σῶφρον τοῦτο σχῆμα καὶ