John Chrysostom, Catechetical Homilies

and stained with such blood, and a sword made golden, to turn to insults and abuse and buffoonery. Revere the honor with which God has honored it, and do not bring it down to the baseness of sin; but considering again that after the hand and the tongue, the heart receives that awesome mystery, never contrive deceit against your neighbor, but keep your mind pure from all malice; thus you will be able to secure both your eyes and your hearing. For how is it not absurd, after that mystical voice borne from the heavens, I mean that of the Cherubim, to pollute your hearing with licentious songs and languid melodies? How is it not worthy of the ultimate punishment, with the eyes with which you see the ineffable and awesome mysteries, with these same eyes to look at prostitutes, and to commit adultery in the mind? You were called to a wedding, beloved; do not enter dressed in filthy garments, but take a robe suitable for the wedding. For if people invited to earthly weddings, even if they are the poorest of all, having often borrowed or bought a clean garment, thus present themselves to those who invited them; but you, who are called to a spiritual wedding and a royal banquet, consider how great a garment it would be right for you to purchase; or rather, there is no need to buy one, but he who calls you gives it to you freely, so that you cannot even plead poverty. Keep, therefore, the garment which you received; for if you lose it, you will no longer be able to use it, nor buy another; for such a garment is sold nowhere. Have you heard how those initiated long ago groaned, and beat their breast as their conscience rose up within them? Take heed, therefore, beloved, lest you too should ever suffer this; but how will you not suffer it, if you do not cast out the wicked habit of evil things? For this reason I have said before and say now, and will not cease to say, if anyone has not corrected the faults of his ways nor made virtue easy for himself, let him not be baptized. For the bath can forgive former sins; but there is no small fear and no ordinary danger, lest we should return to them again, and the remedy become a wound for us. For the greater the grace has become, the greater is the punishment for those who sin afterwards.

3. That we may not, therefore, return to our former vomit, let us discipline ourselves from this moment on. For that it is necessary first to repent and turn away from former evils, and so to approach grace, hear what John says, and what the chief of the apostles says to those about to be baptized; for the one says: Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father; and the other said again to those who asked: Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he who repents no longer touches the same things for which he repented; for this reason we are also commanded to say: I renounce you, Satan, so that we may no longer return to him. 49.235 Just as it is with painters, so let it be now; for they also, setting out their panels, and drawing white outlines, and sketching the royal portraits, before applying the reality of the colors, with full authority they erase some things, and draw others in their place, both correcting what is mistaken and changing what is amiss; but when they finally apply the paint, they are no longer able to erase and redraw, since they mar the beauty of the image, and the act becomes a crime; do this very thing yourself; consider your soul to be an image. Before, therefore, the true paint of the Spirit comes upon it, erase the habits that have been badly ingrained in you; whether to swear, or to lie, or to be insolent, or to use shameful language, or to make jokes, or if you have a habit of doing any other such unlawful things, root out the habit, so that you may not return to it again after baptism. Sins are wiped away by the

καὶ αἵματι φοινιχθεῖσαν τοιούτῳ, καὶ χρυσῆν γενομένην μάχαιραν, ἐπὶ λοιδορίας καὶ ὕβρεις καὶ εὐτραπελίας μετάγειν. Αἰδέσθητι τὴν τιμὴν, ἢν ἐτίμησεν αὐτὴν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ μὴ καταγάγῃς εἰς τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας εὐτέλειαν· ἀλλ' ἐνθυμηθεὶς πάλιν, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν χεῖρα καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν ἡ καρδία δέχεται τὸ φρικτὸν ἐκεῖνο μυστήριον, μὴ ῥάψῃς ποτὲ κατὰ τοῦ πλησίον δόλον, ἀλλὰ κακουργίας πάσης καθαρὰν διατήρει σου τὴν διάνοιαν· οὕτω καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ ἀκοὴν ἀσφαλίσασθαι δυνήσῃ. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον, μετὰ τὴν μυστικὴν ἐκείνην φωνὴν καὶ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν φερομένην, τὴν ἐκ τῶν Χερουβὶμ λέγω, πορνικοῖς ᾄσμασι καὶ κατακεκλασμένοις μέλεσι τὴν ἀκοὴν μολύνειν; πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἐσχάτης κολάσεως ἄξιον, τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, οἷς ὁρᾷς τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα καὶ φρικτὰ μυστήρια, τούτοις πόρνας ὁρᾷν, καὶ μοιχείαν ἐργάζεσθαι τὴν κατὰ διάνοιαν; Εἰς γάμον ἐκλήθης, ἀγαπητέ· μὴ εἰσέλθῃς ῥυπαρὰ ἐνδεδυμένος ἱμάτια, ἀλλὰ τῷ γάμῳ κατάλληλον λαβὲ στολήν. Εἰ γὰρ εἰς γάμους αἰσθητοὺς ἄνθρωποι καλούμενοι, κἂν ἁπάντων ὦσι πενέστεροι, χρησάμενοι πολλάκις ἢ πριάμενοι ἱμάτιον καθαρὸν, οὕτω πρὸς τοὺς καλέσαντας αὐτοὺς ἀπαντῶσι· σὺ δὲ ὁ πρὸς γάμον κληθεὶς πνευματικὸν καὶ δεῖπνα βασιλικὰ, ἐννόησον, ἡλίκον ἂν εἴη δίκαιόν σε ἱμάτιον πρίασθαι· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ ἀγοράσαι χρεία, ἀλλ' αὐτός σοι δίδωσιν ὁ καλῶν δωρεὰν, ἵνα μηδὲ πενίαν προβαλέσθαι ἔχῃς. Τήρει τοίνυν ὅπερ ἔλαβες ἱμάτιον· ἂν γὰρ ἀπολέσῃς, χρήσασθαι οὐ δυνήσῃ λοιπὸν, οὐδὲ πρίασθαι· οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ πωλεῖται τοιοῦτον ἱμάτιον. Ἤκουσας, πῶς ἐστέναξαν οἱ πάλαι μυσταγωγηθέντες, καὶ τὸ στῆθος ἐπάταξαν τοῦ συνειδότος ἐνταῦθα διαναστήσαντος; Σκόπει τοίνυν, ἀγαπητὲ, μὴ καὶ σύ ποτε τοῦτο πάθῃ· πῶς δὲ οὐ πείσῃ, τὴν πονηρὰν συνήθειαν μὴ ἐκβαλὼν τῶν κακῶν; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ πρώην εἶπον καὶ νῦν λέγω, καὶ λέγων οὐ παύσομαι, εἴ τις τὰ ἐλαττώματα τῶν τρόπων μὴ διώρθωσε μηδὲ παρεσκεύασεν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἀρετὴν εὔκολον, μὴ βαπτιζέσθω. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ πρότερα ἁμαρτήματα ἀφεῖναι δύναται τὸ λουτρόν· δέος δὲ οὐ μικρὸν καὶ κίνδυνος οὐχ ὁ τυχὼν, μήποτε πάλιν ἐπ' αὐτὰ ἐπανέλθωμεν, καὶ γένηται ἡμῖν ἕλκος τὸ φάρμακον. Ὅσῳ γὰρ μείζων γέγονεν ἡ χάρις, τοσούτῳ πλείων ἡ κόλασις τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα ἁμαρτάνουσιν.

γʹ. Ἵνα οὖν μὴ πρὸς τὸν πρότερον ἐπανίωμεν ἐμετὸν, παιδεύσωμεν ἑαυτοὺς ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη. Ὅτι γὰρ δεῖ πρότερον μετανοήσαντας καὶ τῶν προτέρων ἀποστάντας κακῶν, οὕτω τῇ χάριτι προσιέναι, ἄκουσον τί μὲν Ἰωάννης φησὶ, τί δὲ ὁ τῶν ἀποστόλων κορυφαῖος τοῖς βαπτίζεσθαι μέλλουσιν· ἐκεῖνος μὲν γάρ φησι· Ποιήσατε καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας, καὶ μὴ ἄρξησθε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, ὅτι Πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ· οὗτος δὲ τοῖς ἐρωτῶσι πάλιν ἔλεγε· Μετανοήσατε, καὶ βαπτισθήτω ἕκαστος ὑμῶν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ὁ δὲ μετανοῶν οὐκέτι τῶν αὐτῶν ἅπτεται πραγμάτων, ἐφ' οἷς μετενόησε· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ κελευόμεθα λέγειν· Ἀποτάσσομαί σοι, Σατανᾶ, ἵνα μηκέτι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπανέλθωμεν. 49.235 Καθάπερ οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν ζωγράφων γίνεται, οὕτω καὶ νῦν γινέσθω· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τὰς σανίδας προθέντες, καὶ λευκὰς περιάγοντες γραμμὰς, καὶ τὰς βασιλικὰς ὑπογράφοντες εἰκόνας, πρὶν ἢ τῶν χρωμάτων ἐπαγαγεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, μετ' ἐξουσίας ἁπάσης τὰ μὲν ἐξαλείφουσι, τὰ δὲ ἀντεγγράφουσι, καὶ διορθοῦντες τὰ ἡμαρτημένα καὶ μετατιθέντες τὰ κακῶς ἔχοντα· ἐπειδὰν δὲ τὴν βαφὴν λοιπὸν ἐπαγάγωσιν, οὐκέτι εἰσὶ κύριοι πάλιν ἐξαλεῖψαι καὶ ἀντεγγράψαι, ἐπεὶ τῷ κάλλει τῆς εἰκόνος λυμαίνονται, καὶ ἔγκλημα τὸ πρᾶγμα γίνεται· τοῦτο δὴ καὶ σὺ ποίησον· νόμισον εἰκόνα σοι τὴν ψυχὴν εἶναι. Πρὶν ἢ τοίνυν ἐπελθεῖν τὴν ἀληθῆ τοῦ Πνεύματος βαφὴν, ἐξάλειψον τὰς κακῶς ἐντεθείσας σοι συνηθείας· εἴτε ὀμνύναι, εἴτε ψεύδεσθαι, εἴτε ὑβρίζειν, εἴτε αἰσχρολογεῖν, εἴτε γελωτοποιεῖν, εἴτε ἄλλο τι τῶν τοιούτων τῶν μὴ νενομισμένων συνήθειαν ἔχεις ποιεῖν, ἔξελε τὴν συνήθειαν, ἵνα μὴ πάλιν πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐπανέλθῃς μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα. Τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἀφανίζει τὸ