John Chrysostom, Sermon on the Captive Eutropius

has seen, and ear has not heard, and upon the heart of man has not entered. He wrote therefore in the dowry immortality, praise with angels, deliverance from death, freedom from sin, inheritance of a kingdom (great is the wealth), righteousness, sanctification, deliverance from present things, the finding of things to come. Great for me was the dowry. Pay close attention; see what He does. He came to take the harlot—for so I call her, as she was unclean—so that 52.408 you might learn the bridegroom's love. He came, He took me, He writes a dowry for me; He says: Do I give you my wealth? How? Have you lost, He says, paradise? take it. Have you lost, He says, comeliness? take it; take all these things. But my dowry was not given to me here. 13. Pay attention, for this reason He foretells concerning this dowry; He wrote for me in the dowry resurrection of bodies, incorruptibility. For incorruptibility does not in every case follow the resurrection, but these were two things. For many have risen, and fallen again, just like Lazarus, and the bodies of the saints. But this one is not so, but resurrection, incorruptibility, the dance with angels, the meeting of the Son in the clouds, and the, "So shall we ever be with the Lord," the deliverance from death, the freedom from sin, the drowning of the end. Which is that? What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love Him. Do you give me good things, which I do not know? He says, Yes; here I betroth, here love me. Why do you not give me the dowry here? When you come to my Father, when you come into the royal courts. I came to you, not you to me? I came not that you might remain, but that I might take you and ascend. Do not seek the dowry here; all is in hope, all is in faith. And you give me nothing here? He says: Take a pledge, so that you may trust me concerning the future; take a deposit, take also an earnest. For this reason Paul says, "For I have betrothed you." As a betrothal gift God has given us the present things; the present things are a betrothal gift, it is a pledge; the entire dowry remains there. How? I say: here I grow old, there I do not grow old; here I die, there I do not die; here I grieve, there I do not grieve; here poverty, and sickness, and plots, there nothing of the sort; here darkness, and light, there only light; here plotting, there freedom; here sickness, there health; here life having an end, there life having no end; here sin, there righteousness, and sin nowhere; here envy, there nothing of the sort. Give me, he says, these things. Wait, so that your fellow servants also may be saved, wait. The one who establishes us, and who gave us the pledge. What pledge? The Holy Spirit, the gift of the Spirit. But I speak concerning the Spirit. He gave to the apostles the ring, saying: Take and give to all. Is the ring divided? It is divided and not parted; it is divided and not consumed. Learn the gift of the Spirit; Peter received, and Paul received the Holy Spirit. He went about the inhabited world, freed sinners from sins, straightened the lame, clothed the naked, raised the dead, cleansed lepers, silenced the devil, choked demons, conversed with God, planted the Church, tore down temples, overturned altars, loosed wickedness, planted virtue, made men angels. 14. All these things we were. A pledge filled the entire inhabited world. And when I say all, I mean, as much as the sun looks upon—earth, sea, islands, mountains, glens, and 52.409 hills. Paul went about as if winged, wrestling with one mouth, the tentmaker, the one handling the chisel, and sewing skins; and this trade did not become a hindrance to virtue, but the tentmaker stronger than demons, the uneloquent than philosophers

εἶδε, καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσεν, καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη. Ἔγραψε τοίνυν εἰς τὴν προῖκα ἀθανασίαν, αἶνον μετὰ ἀγγέλων, ἀπαλλαγὴν θανάτου, ἐλευθερίαν ἁμαρτίας, κληρονομίαν βασιλείας (πολὺς ὁ πλοῦτος), δικαιοσύνην, ἁγιασμὸν, ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν παρόντων, εὕρεσιν τῶν μελλόντων. Μεγάλη μοι ἦν ἡ προῖξ. Πρόσχες μετὰ ἀκριβείας· βλέπε τί ποιεῖ. Ἦλθε λαβεῖν τὴν πόρνην, λέγω γὰρ αὐτὴν, ὡς ἦν ἀκάθαρτος, ἵνα 52.408 μάθῃς τοῦ νυμφίου τὸν ἔρωτα. Ἦλθεν, ἔλαβέ με, γράφει μοι προῖκα· λέγει· ∆ίδωμί σοι πλοῦτον τὸν ἐμόν; Πῶς; Ἀπώλεσας, λέγει, παράδεισον; λάβε αὐτόν. Ἀπώλεσας, λέγει, τὸ εὐειδές; λάβε αὐτό· λάβε ταῦτα πάντα. Ἀλλ' ἡ προῖξ μου οὐκ ἐδόθη μοι ὧδε. ιγʹ. Πρόσεχε, διὰ τοῦτο εἰς τὴν προῖκα ταύτην προλέγει· ἔγραψέ μοι ἐν τῇ προικὶ ἀνάστασιν σωμάτων, ἀφθαρσίαν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀκολουθεῖ πάντως τῇ ἀναστάσει ἡ ἀφθαρσία, ἀλλὰ δύο ἦν ταῦτα. Καὶ γὰρ πολλοὶ ἀνέστησαν, καὶ πάλιν ἔπεσον, ὥσπερ ὁ Λάζαρος, καὶ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἁγίων. Ἀλλ' οὗτος οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἀνάστασιν, ἀφθαρσίαν, τὴν μετὰ ἀγγέλων χορείαν, τὴν τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἀπάντησιν ἐν νεφέλαις, καὶ τὸ, Οὕτω πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα, τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τοῦ θανάτου, τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, τὸν καταποντισμὸν τῆς τελευτῆς. Ποῖον ἐκεῖνον; Ἃ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδε, καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσεν, καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη ἃ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν. Ἀγαθά μοι δίδως, ἃ οὐκ οἶδα; Λέγει, Ναί· ὧδε ἁρμόζω, ὧδέ με φίλει. Εἰς τί οὐ δίδως μοι τὴν προῖκα ὧδε; Ὅταν ἔλθῃς πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα μου, ὅταν ἔλθῃς εἰς τὰς βασιλικὰς αὐλάς. Ἐγὼ πρὸς σὲ ἦλθον, μὴ γὰρ σὺ πρὸς μέ; Ἦλθον οὐχ ἵνα μείνῃς, ἀλλ' ἵνα λάβω σε καὶ ἀνέλθω. Μὴ ζήτει ὧδε τὴν προῖκα· πάντα ἐν ἐλπίδι, πάντα ἐν πίστει. Καὶ οὐδέν μοι δίδως ἐνταῦθα; Λέγει· Λάβε ἀῤῥαβῶνα, ἵνα μοι πιστεύσῃς περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος· λάβε ὑπόβολα, λάβε καὶ μνῆστρα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο Παῦλος λέγει, Ἡρμοσάμην γὰρ ὑμᾶς. Ὡς μνῆστρα ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν τὰ παρόντα ὁ Θεός· μνῆστρά ἐστι τὰ παρόντα, ἀῤῥαβών ἐστιν· ἡ προῖξ ὅλη ἐκεῖ μένει. Πῶς; ἐγὼ λέγω· ὧδε γηρῶ, ἐκεῖ οὐ γηρῶ· ὧδε θνήσκω, ἐκεῖ οὐ θνήσκω· ὧδε λυποῦμαι, ἐκεῖ οὐ λυποῦμαι· ὧδε πενία, καὶ νόσος, καὶ ἐπιβουλαὶ, ἐκεῖ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον· ὧδε σκότος, καὶ φῶς, ἐκεῖ φῶς μόνον· ὧδε ἐπιβουλὴ, ἐκεῖ ἐλευθερία· ὧδε νόσος, ἐκεῖ ὑγίεια· ὧδε ζωὴ ἔχουσα τέλος, ἐκεῖ ζωὴ οὐκ ἔχουσα τέλος· ὧδε ἁμαρτία, ἐκεῖ δικαιοσύνη, ἁμαρτία δὲ οὐδαμοῦ· ὧδε φθόνος, ἐκεῖ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον. ∆ός μοι, φησὶν, ταῦτα. Ἀνάμενε, ἵνα καὶ οἱ σύνδουλοί σου σωθῶσιν, ἀνάμενε. Ὁ βεβαιῶν ἡμᾶς, καὶ δοὺς ἡμῖν τὸν ἀῤῥαβῶνα. Ποῖον ἀῤῥαβῶνα; Τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, τοῦ Πνεύματος τὴν χορηγίαν. Ἀλλὰ λέγω περὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἔδωκε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις τὸν δακτύλιον, εἰπών· Λάβετε καὶ δότε πᾶσιν. Ὁ δακτύλιος μερίζεται; Μερίζεται καὶ οὐ διαιρεῖται· μερίζεται καὶ οὐκ ἀναλίσκεται. Μάθε Πνεύματος χορηγίαν· ἔλαβε Πέτρος, ἔλαβε καὶ Παῦλος Πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Περιῆλθε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἀπήλλαττεν ἁμαρτημάτων, χωλοὺς διώρθου, γυμνοὺς ἐνέδυε, νεκροὺς ἤγειρε, λεπροὺς ἐκαθάριζε, διάβολον ἐπεστόμιζε, δαίμονας ἀπέπνιγε, τῷ Θεῷ διελέγετο, Ἐκκλησίαν ἐφύτευσε, ναοὺς κατέσκαψε, βωμοὺς ἀνέτρεψε, τὴν κακίαν ἔλυσε, τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐφύτευσε, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀγγέλους ἐποίησε. ιδʹ. Ταῦτα πάντα ἦμεν. Ἀῤῥαβὼν ἐπλήρωσε τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν. Ἅπασαν δὲ ὅταν εἴπω, λέγω, ὅσην ἥλιος ἐφορᾷ γῆν, θάλασσαν, νήσους, ὄρη, νάπας, καὶ 52.409 βουνούς. Περιῆλθε καθάπερ ὑπόπτερος ὁ Παῦλος ἑνὶ στόματι παλαίων, ὁ σκηνοποιὸς, ὁ σμίλην μεταχειριζόμενος, καὶ δέρματα ῥάπτων· καὶ αὕτη ἡ τέχνη κώλυμα τῇ ἀρετῇ οὐκ ἐγένετο, ἀλλ' ὁ σκηνοποιὸς δαιμόνων ἰσχυρότερος, ὁ ἄστομος φιλοσόφων