John Chrysostom, On Fasting Sermons 1-7

rocky ground, sow also upon the good soil. You are responsible for sowing, and the earth for bearing fruit. If thorns come up and choke the seed, you will not be the cause; if the good soil bears fruit, it also gives back the seed of the good soil. You are a servant; I entrusted the money to you; give it to the bankers, and when I come, I will demand it back from the bankers. If they bring to me double what I entrusted to them, I will set them over great things from small ones, over spiritual things from earthly ones. But if, having received the seed, they do not prepare themselves to be worthy to bear fruit, but accept the cares of the world, which are thorns, they will become worthy of fire. And if on the rocky ground depth of earth is not found; that is, if he is found hard-hearted, and does not have faith, but dries up the seed; that one will be required to pay the penalty for his hard-heartedness. In the same way also those entrusted with the money, as many as bring forth double, will be entrusted with greater things; but he who brings only the talent that was entrusted, will be condemned to punishment. But you, preach without distinction; for you were sent as a physician to the sick. For the farmer cultivates the uncultivated land, and sows the unsown. For the 60.722 cultivated and sown land has no need of being cultivated, or of being sown a second time, nor does the healthy person have need of a physician; so also the righteous has no need of teaching. For it is not the one who sees who wishes to see again, but the blind. For so says the Lord in the Gospels: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Accordingly Paul also said: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. So also Peter said in the Acts: Brethren, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit. And do not say: We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. For this reason the prophet, having been taught to preach without distinction, cried out: Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. For just as the uncultivated land is broken up by wood and iron as the oxen pull, and so the farmer casts in the seed; so also for humans, let us too take the wood and the iron and the pulling oxen. Let the wood be for us, the cross; the iron, the nails; the oxen, the law and the prophets, drawing us by their teaching to the one who was hung upon the cross; so that seeing us prepared, He may send down the Holy Spirit for the sanctification of the waters, and for the regeneration of those who have been made new through the teaching, according to the blessed David saying: You will send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You will renew the face of the earth. Properly man was so named, because He breathed into his face, and man became a living soul. And David also says: Come to him and be enlightened, and your faces will not be ashamed. And again in the Gospels Christ, having called the disciples, breathed into their face: Receive the Holy Spirit. Let us break up new ground for ourselves, put away the old wickedness, root out the thorns of disobedience; for when Adam disobeyed, he was cast out of paradise. This he received from the Lord: Cursed is the ground in your works; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. Aware of this the prophet preached: Break up new ground for yourselves, and do not sow upon thorns; showing by this word, that we should renew ourselves 60.723 by repentance, and root out the penalty of disobedience, the thorns. And the thorns in man are strife, jealousy, anger, divisions, impurities, covetousness, adulteries, murders. Immediately the

πετρώδη, σπεῖραι καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν καλὴν γῆν. Τοῦ σπεῖραι σὺ χρεώστης, καὶ ἡ γῆ τοῦ καρποφορῆσαι. Ἐὰν ἀναβῶσιν ἄκανθαι, καὶ πνίξωσι τὸν σπόρον, σὺ οὐκ ἔσῃ αἴτιος· ἐὰν ἡ καλὴ γῆ καρποφορήσῃ, ἀποδίδωσι καὶ τῆς καλῆς γῆς τὸν σπόρον. ∆οῦλος εἶ· ἐνεπίστευσά σοι τὸ ἀργύριον· δὸς αὐτὸ τοῖς τραπεζίταις, κἀγὼ ἐλθὼν ἀπαιτήσω αὐτὸ παρὰ τῶν τραπεζιτῶν. Ἐάν μοι προσενέγκωσι διπλοῦν ὃ ἐνεπίστευσα αὐτοῖς, καταστήσω αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ μικρῶν ἐπὶ τὰ μεγάλα, ἀπὸ τῶν γηΐνων ἐπὶ τὰ πνευματικά. Ἐὰν δὲ ὑποδεξάμενοι τὸν σπόρον, μὴ ἀξίους ἑαυτοὺς παρασκευάσωσι τοῦ καρποφορῆσαι, ἀλλὰ παραδέξωνται τὰς μερίμνας τοῦ κόσμου, ὅ ἐστιν ἄκανθαι, πυρὸς ἄξιοι γενήσονται. Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ εἰς τὰ πετρώδη μὴ εὑρεθῇ βάθος γῆς· τουτέστιν, ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ σκληροκάρδιος, καὶ μὴ ἔχῃ πίστιν, ἀλλ' ἀποξηράνῃ τὸν σπόρον· ἐκεῖνος δίκην ἀπαιτηθήσεται τῆς σκληροκαρδίας αὐτοῦ. Τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ οἱ ἐμπιστευόμενοι τὸ ἀργύριον, ὅσοι διπλοῦν προσάγουσι, τὰ μείζονα ἐμπιστευθήσονται· ὃς δὲ προσενέγκῃ τὸ τάλαντον μόνον, ὃ ἐπιστεύθη, τιμωρίᾳ καταδικασθήσεται. Σὺ δὲ κήρυττε ἀδιαφόρως· τοῖς γὰρ ἀσθενέσιν ἰατρὸς ἀπεστάλης. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ γεωργὸς τὴν ἀγεώργητον γῆν γεωργεῖ, καὶ τὴν ἄσπορον σπείρει. Οὐ γὰρ ἡ 60.722 γεωργηθεῖσα γῆ καὶ ἐσπαρμένη χρείαν ἔχει τοῦ γεωργεῖσθαι, ἢ σπείρεσθαι ἐν δευτέρῳ, οὐδὲ ὁ ὑγιὴς χρείαν ἔχει τοῦ ἰατροῦ· οὕτως οὐδὲ ὁ δίκαιος τῆς διδασκαλίας. Οὐ γὰρ ὁ βλέπων βούλεται ἀναβλέψαι, ἀλλὰ ὁ τυφλός. Οὕτω γάρ φησιν ὁ ∆εσπότης ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις· Οὐκ ἦλθον καλέσαι δικαίους, ἀλλ' ἁμαρτωλοὺς εἰς μετάνοιαν. Ἀκολούθως καὶ Παῦλος ἔλεγε· Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἁμαρτωλοὺς σῶσαι, ὧν πρῶτός εἰμι ἐγώ. Οὕτως ἔλεγε καὶ Πέτρος ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσιν· Ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ, καθαρίσωμεν ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ παντὸς μολυσμοῦ σαρκὸς καὶ πνεύματος. Καὶ μὴ λέγετε· Πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ. Λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ὅτι δυνατός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων τέκνα ἐγεῖραι τῷ Ἀβραάμ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο παιδευθεὶς ὁ προφήτης ἀδιαφόρως κηρύττειν, ἐβόα· Νεώσατε ἑαυτοῖς νεώματα, καὶ μὴ σπείρετε ἐν ἀκάνθαις. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ ἀγεώργητος γῆ νεάζεται ἐν ξύλῳ καὶ σιδήρῳ ἑλκόντων τῶν βοῶν, καὶ οὕτως ὁ γεωργὸς τὸν σπόρον ἐγκαταβάλλει· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων λάβωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς τὸ ξύλον καὶ τὸν σίδηρον καὶ τὰς βόας ἑλκούσας. Ἤτω ἡμῖν τὸ ξύλον, ὁ σταυρός· ὁ σίδηρος, οἱ ἧλοι· αἱ βόες, ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται, ἕλκοντες ἡμᾶς τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ ἐπὶ τὸν κρεμασθέντα ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ· ἵνα ἰδὼν μὲν ἡμᾶς παρεσκευασμένους, καταπέμψῃ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον εἰς ἁγιασμὸν τῶν ὑδάτων, καὶ εἰς ἀναγέννησιν τῶν νενεασμένων διὰ τῆς διδασκαλίας, κατὰ τὸν μακάριον ∆αυῒδ λέγοντα· Ἐξαποστελεῖς τὸ Πνεῦμά σου, καὶ κτισθήσονται, καὶ ἀνακαινιεῖς τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς. Κυρίως ὁ ἄνθρωπος προσηγορεύετο, ὅτι Ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν. Λέγει δὲ καὶ ∆αυΐδ· Προσέλθετε πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ φωτίσθητε, καὶ τὰ πρόσωπα ὑμῶν οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ. Καὶ πάλιν ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Χριστὸς προσκαλεσάμενος τοὺς μαθητὰς, ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν· Λάβετε Πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Νεώσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς νεώματα, ἀπόθου τὴν παλαιὰν κακίαν, ἐκρίζωσον τὰς ἀκάνθας τῆς παρακοῆς· ἡνίκα γὰρ παρήκουσεν Ἀδὰμ, ἐξεβλήθη τοῦ παραδείσου. Τοῦτο ἐδέξατο παρὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου· Ἐπικατάρατος ἡ γῆ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις σου· ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀνατελεῖ σοι. Τοῦτο συνειδὼς ὁ προφήτης ἐκήρυττε· Νεώσατε ἑαυτοῖς νεώματα, καὶ μὴ σπείρετε ἐπ' ἀκάνθαις· ἐμφαίνων διὰ τοῦ λόγου, ὥστε ἡμᾶς ἀνανεῶσαι αὑτοὺς 60.723 τῇ μετανοίᾳ, καὶ ἐκριζῶσαι τῆς παρακοῆς τὸ ἐπιτίμιον, τὰς ἀκάνθας. Εἰσὶ δὲ ἄκανθαι ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἔρις, ζῆλος, θυμὸς, διχοστασίαι, ἀκαθαρσίαι, πλεονεξίαι, μοιχεῖαι, ἀνδροφονίαι. Εὐθὺς ἡ