John Chrysostom, On Judas's Betrayal

shows the Master's solicitude for us, that He deemed the traitor, the thief, worthy of so many good things, and admonished him until the last evening. Did you see how the harlot was saved, because she washed; but the disciple, becoming slothful, fell? Therefore, do not despair of yourself when looking at the harlot, nor again be presumptuous when looking at the disciple's audacity; for both are destructive. For our judgment is prone to slip, our will is easily overturned; wherefore it is necessary to be secure on every side. Then one of the twelve went, Judas Iscariot. Do you see from what a choir he fell? Do you see of what teaching he deprived himself? Do you see how great an evil is sloth? Judas, he says, Iscariot, since there was another with the same name, the one called [son] of James. Do you see the evangelist's wisdom, that he makes him known to us not by his audacious deed, but by his place, while making the other known not by his place, but by his patronymic? And yet it would have been fitting to say, 'Judas the traitor'; but so that he might teach us to keep our tongue pure from accusation, he refrains even from saying 'traitor'. Let us be taught, therefore, to speak ill of none of our enemies. For if this blessed one could not bear to accuse the traitor while narrating this lawless, audacious deed, but kept silent about this, and makes him known by the place from which he came; what pardon would we be worthy of, who speak evil of our neighbors? And often not only 49.386 do we speak of our enemies with insult, but also of those who seem to have a good disposition toward us. Do not, I beseech you. This Paul also exhorts, saying: 'Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth.' For this reason, being pure from every such passion, the blessed Matthew said: 'Then one of the twelve went, the one called Judas Iscariot, and said to the chief priests: What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver him to you?' O defiled voice! O senseless audacity! Thinking on it, I tremble, beloved, how the voice leapt from his mouth, how he moved his tongue, how his soul did not depart from his body, how his lips did not grow numb, how he did not go out of his mind.

3. What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver him to you? Tell me, Judas, is this what the teacher taught you in so much time? Have you thus forgotten the constant admonitions? Did he not say for this reason, 'Acquire neither gold nor silver,' from the beginning checking the excess of your madness for money? Did he not admonish, saying, 'If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also'? For what reason, tell me, do you betray the teacher? Because he gave you authority over demons, so as to heal diseases, and to cleanse lepers, and to perform many other such wonders? In return, then, for these benefactions, do you give him these rewards? O madness, or rather, O love of money! For the love of money has done all these evil things, the root of evils, which darkens our souls and the very laws of nature, and drives us out of our minds, and does not permit us to remember friendship or kinship or anything else; but having once and for all blinded the eyes of our mind, it thus makes us walk in darkness. And that you may learn this clearly, see then how many things it cast out from the soul of Judas. When it entered, the love of money cast into oblivion his discourse, his custom, his fellowship, the wondrous teaching, all these things. Well did Paul say, that 'The love of money is the root of all evils.' -What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver him to you? Do you betray, Judas, him who holds all things together by a word? Do you sell the incomprehensible one, the creator of heaven and earth, the maker of our nature, the one who established all things by a word and a nod? Therefore, to show that he was handed over willingly, hear what he does. At the very time of the betrayal, when they came upon him with swords and clubs, holding torches and lanterns, he says to them: 'Whom are you seeking?' And they did not recognize the one they were about to arrest. So far was he from

εἶναι δείκνυσι τοῦ ∆εσπότου τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς κηδεμονίαν, ὅτι τὸν προδότην, τὸν κλέπτην τοσούτων ἠξίωσεν ἀγαθῶν, καὶ μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἑσπέρας παρῄνει. Εἶδες πῶς ἡ πόρνη μὲν ἐσώθη, ἐπειδὴ ἔνιψεν· ὁ μαθητὴς δὲ ῥᾳθυμήσας κατέπεσε; Μὴ τοίνυν ἀπογνῷς ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς τὴν πόρνην ἀφορῶν, μηδὲ θαρσήσῃς πάλιν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ μαθητοῦ τόλμαν ἀπιδών· ἀμφότερα γὰρ ὀλέθρια. Εὐόλισθος γὰρ ἡμῶν ἡ γνώμη, εὐπερίτρεπτος ἡ προαίρεσις· διὸ πάντοθεν ἀσφαλίζεσθαι χρή. Τότε πορευθεὶς εἷς τῶν δώδεκα, Ἰούδας ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης. Ὁρᾷς ποίου χοροῦ ἐξέπεσεν; ὁρᾷς ποίας διδασκαλίας ἑαυτὸν ἐστέρησεν; ὁρᾷς πόσον κακὸν ἡ ῥᾳθυμία; Ἰούδας, φησὶν, ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης, ἐπειδὴ ἕτερος ἦν τούτῳ ὁμώνυμος ὁ λεγόμενος Ἰακώβου. Ὁρᾷς τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ τὴν σοφίαν, ὅτι οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ τολμήματος, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου, δῆλον ἡμῖν αὐτὸν ποιεῖ, ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς πατρωνυμίας γνώριμον ποιῶν; Καίτοι γε ἀκόλουθον ἦν εἰπεῖν, Ἰούδαν τὸν προδότην· ἀλλ' ἵνα ἡμᾶς παιδεύσῃ καθαρὰν ἔχειν κατηγορίας τὴν γλῶσσαν, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ εἰπεῖν προδότου φείδεται. Παιδευώμεθα τοίνυν μηδένα τῶν ἐχθρῶν κακῶς μεμνῆσθαι. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ μακάριος οὗτος τοῦ προδότου οὐκ ἠνέσχετο κατηγορῆσαι, τὸ παράνομον τοῦτο τόλμημα διηγούμενος, τοῦτο μὲν ἀπεσιώπησεν, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ τόπου, ὅθεν ὥρμητο, δῆλον αὐτὸν ποιεῖ· ποίας ἂν εἴημεν ἡμεῖς ἄξιοι συγγνώμης τοὺς πλησίον κακηγοροῦντες· Καὶ πολλάκις οὐ μόνον 49.386 τῶν ἐχθρῶν μεμνήμεθα μεθ' ὕβρεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν δοκούντων πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔχειν διάθεσιν. Μὴ, παρακαλῶ. Τοῦτο καὶ Παῦλος παραινεῖ λέγων· Πᾶς λόγος σαπρὸς ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν μὴ ἐκπορευέσθω. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο παντὸς τοιούτου πάθους καθαρεύων ὁ μακάριος Ματθαῖος ἔλεγε· Τότε πορευθεὶς εἷς τῶν δώδεκα, ὁ λεγόμενος Ἰούδας ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης, πρὸς τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς εἶπε· Τί θέλετέ μοι δοῦναι, κἀγὼ ὑμῖν παραδώσω αὐτόν; Ὢ μιαρᾶς φωνῆς! ὢ τόλμης ἄνοια! ἐνθυμούμενος τρέμω, ἀγαπητοὶ, πῶς ἐξεπήδησε τοῦ στόματος ἡ φωνὴ, πῶς τὴν γλῶτταν ἐκίνησε, πῶς οὐκ ἀπέστη τοῦ σώματος ἡ ψυχὴ, πῶς οὐκ ἐνάρκησαν τὰ χείλη, πῶς οὐκ ἐξέστη τῇ διανοίᾳ.

γʹ. Τί θέλετέ μοι δοῦναι, κἀγὼ ὑμῖν παραδώσω αὐτόν; Εἰπέ μοι, Ἰούδα, ταῦτά σοι ἐπαίδευσεν ὁ διδάσκαλος ἐν τοσούτῳ χρόνῳ; οὕτω λήθην ἐποιήσω τῶν συνεχῶν παραινέσεων; οὐ διὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγε, Μὴ κτήσησθε χρυσὸν, μήτε ἄργυρον, ἄνωθεν προαναστέλλων σου τῆς περὶ τὰ χρήματα μανίας τὴν ὑπερβολήν; οὐ παρῄνει λέγων, Ἐάν τίς σε ῥαπίσῃ εἰς τὴν δεξιὰν σιαγόνα, στρέψον αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην; Τίνος ἕνεκεν, εἰπέ μοι, παραδίδως τὸν διδάσκαλον; ὅτι τὴν κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἐξουσίαν σοι παρέδωκεν, ὡς καὶ νοσήματα θεραπεύειν, καὶ λεπροὺς καθαίρειν, καὶ ἕτερα πολλὰ τοιαῦτα θαύματα ἐπιδείκνυσθαι; ἀντὶ οὖν τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν τούτων ταύτας αὐτῷ ἀποδίδως τὰς ἀμοιβάς; Ὢ τῆς μανίας, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς φιλαργυρίας! Πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα τὰ κακὰ ἡ φιλαργυρία πεποίηκεν, ἡ ῥίζα τῶν κακῶν, ἥτις τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν σκοτοῖ καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς τῆς φύσεως νόμους, καὶ αὐτῶν ἡμᾶς ἐκβάλλει τῶν φρενῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίησιν οὔτε φιλίας οὔτε συγγενείας οὔτε ἄλλου τινὸς μεμνῆσθαι· ἀλλὰ καθάπαξ πηρώσασα ἡμῶν τὰ ὄμματα τῆς διανοίας, οὕτως ἐν σκότει ποιεῖ βαδίζειν. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς τοῦτο σαφῶς, ὅρα τότε πόσα ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα ψυχῆς. Αὕτη ἐπεισελθοῦσα τὴν ὁμιλίαν, τὴν συνήθειαν, τὴν κοινωνίαν, τὴν θαυμαστὴν διδασκαλίαν, πάντα ταῦτα εἰς λήθην ἐνέβαλεν ἡ φιλαργυρία. Καλῶς ἔλεγε Παῦλος, ὅτι Ῥίζα πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἐστιν ἡ φιλαργυρία. -Τί θέλετέ μοι δοῦναι, κἀγὼ ὑμῖν παραδώσω αὐτόν; Παραδίδως, Ἰούδα, τὸν τὰ πάντα συνέχοντα λόγῳ; πωλεῖς τὸν ἀκατάληπτον, τὸν κτίστην οὐρανοῦ τε καὶ γῆς, τὸν δημιουργὸν τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως, τὸν λόγῳ καὶ νεύματι τὰ πάντα συστησάμενον; Ἵνα οὖν δείξῃ ὅτι ἑκὼν παρεδόθη, ἄκουσον τί ποιεῖ. Κατ' αὐτὸν τὸν καιρὸν τῆς προδοσίας, ὅτε ἐπῆλθον αὐτῷ μετὰ μαχαιρῶν καὶ ξύλων, λαμπάδας καὶ φανοὺς ἔχοντες, λέγει αὐτοῖς· Τίνα ζητεῖτε; Καὶ ἠγνόησαν ὃν ἤμελλον συλλαμβάνειν. Τοσοῦτον ἀπεῖχεν ἐκεῖνος τοῦ