John Chrysostom, On the Beginning of Acts

of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be glory, honor, power, together with the holy and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

That it is not without danger for the hearers to be silent about the things said in church, and for what reason the Acts during Pentecost

are read, and why Christ, having risen, did not show himself to all, and that clearer than sight he provided the proof of the resurrection

through the signs of the apostles.

1. The greater part of the debt incurred by us from the title of the apostolic Acts we have paid to you in the preceding days; but since a small remnant still remained, I have risen today to deposit this also with you. But if you guard carefully the things that have been said, and hold them with much diligence, you would know, you who have received the silver, and who are to give an account of this silver to the Master on that day, when those entrusted with the talents are called, and they are held to account; when Christ comes and demands this silver from the bankers with its interest. For you ought, he says, to have deposited my silver with the bankers, and I, at my coming, would have demanded it back with interest. O the great and ineffable love for humanity of the Master! He who forbids men to demand interest, himself demands interest. Why? Because that interest is reviled and worthy of accusation; but this one is praiseworthy and worthy of much acceptance. That interest, therefore, the interest on money I mean, harms both the one who takes and the one who gives, and it destroys the soul of the one who takes, and it crushes the poverty of the one who gives. For what could be more grievous than when someone makes merchandise of his neighbor's poverty, and traffics in the misfortunes of his brothers? when someone, wearing a mask of philanthropy, displays all inhumanity, and, while about to stretch out a hand, pushes the one in need of help into the abyss? What are you doing, man? The poor man did not come to your doors for this reason, that you might increase his poverty, but that you might relieve his poverty; but you do the same thing as those who mix poisons with medicines; for they, by mixing it with the usual 51.98 food, make the plot unnoticeable, and these, hiding the destruction of interest under the pretext of philanthropy, do not allow those who are about to drink this deadly drug to perceive the harm. Therefore it is opportune to say about those who lend at interest and those who borrow what has been said about sin. And what has been said about sin? For a time, it says, it sweetens the throat, but afterward you will find it more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword. This, then, also happens in the case of those who borrow; for when the one in need receives the money, he receives a certain small and temporary comfort; but later, when the interest increases, and the burden becomes greater than his strength, he will see that which was sweet and soothed the throat become more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword, being forced to give up all his ancestral property at once.

2. But let us turn the discourse from sensible things to spiritual things. You ought, he says, to have deposited my silver with the bankers, calling you, the hearers of these words, bankers of that silver. And for what reason did God call you bankers? To teach everyone to show the same diligence in the testing of what is said, as they have diligence in the examination and receipt of coins. For just as bankers cast out the counterfeit and spurious coin, but accept the genuine and sound, and

Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ καὶ μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ δόξα, τιμὴ, κράτος, ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ καὶ ζωοποιῷ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Ὅτι οὐκ ἀκίνδυνον τοῖς ἀκροαταῖς τὸ σιγᾷν τὰ λεγόμενα ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν αἱ Πράξεις ἐν τῇ Πεντηκοστῇ

ἀναγινώσκονται, καὶ διὰ τί οὐκ ἔδειξε πᾶσιν ἑαυτὸν ἀναστὰς ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ ὅτι τῆς ὄψεως σαφεστέραν παρέσχε τὴν τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀπόδειξιν

τὴν διὰ τῶν σημείων τῶν ἀποστόλων.

αʹ. Τὸ μὲν πλέον τοῦ χρέους τοῦ συντεθέντος ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς τῶν Πράξεων τῶν ἀποστολικῶν ἐν ταῖς ἔμπροσθεν ὑμῖν κατεβάλομεν ἡμέραις· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἔτι μικρὸν ἐναπέμεινε λείψανον, ἀνέστην καὶ τοῦτο καταθήσων ὑμῖν σήμερον. Εἰ δὲ μετ' ἀκριβείας φυλάττετε τὰ εἰρημένα, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς κατέχετε σπουδῆς, ὑμεῖς ἂν εἰδείητε οἱ τὸ ἀργύριον ὑποδεξάμενοι, καὶ τῶν ἀργυρίων τούτων μέλλοντες τὸν λόγον διδόναι τῷ ∆εσπότῃ κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, ὅταν οἱ τὰ τάλαντα πιστευθέντες καλῶνται, καὶ τὰς εὐθύνας ὑπέχωσιν· ὅταν ἐλθὼν ὁ Χριστὸς ἀπαιτῇ τοὺς τραπεζίτας τὸ ἀργύριον τοῦτο μετὰ τῶν τόκων. Ἔδει γάρ σε, φησὶ, καταβαλεῖν τὸ ἀργύριόν μου ἐπὶ τοὺς τραπεζίτας, καὶ ἐγὼ ἐλθὼν μετὰ τόκου ἂν ἀπῄτησα αὐτό. Ὢ τῆς πολλῆς καὶ ἀφάτου φιλανθρωπίας τοῦ ∆εσπότου! Ἀνθρώπους κωλύων ἀπαιτεῖν τόκους, αὐτὸς ἀπαιτεῖ τόκους. ∆ιὰ τί; Ἐπειδὴ ἐκεῖνος ὁ τόκος διαβεβλημένος ἐστὶ καὶ κατηγορίας ἄξιος· οὗτος δὲ ἐπαινετὸς καὶ πολλῆς ἀποδοχῆς ἐστιν ἄξιος. Ἐκεῖνος τοίνυν ὁ τόκος, ὁ τῶν χρημάτων λέγω, καὶ τὸν λαμβάνοντα, καὶ τὸν διδόντα ζημιοῖ, καὶ τοῦ μὲν λαμβάνοντος ἀπόλλυσι τὴν ψυχὴν, τοῦ δὲ διδόντος ἐπιτρίβει τὴν πενίαν. Τί γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο χαλεπώτερον, ἀλλ' ἢ ὅταν τις τὴν πενίαν τοῦ πλησίον ἐμπορεύηται, καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀδελφῶν πραγματεύηται συμφοράς; ὅταν τις προσωπεῖον φιλανθρωπίας ἔχων πᾶσαν ἀπανθρωπίαν ἐπιδείκνυται, καὶ ὁ χεῖρα μέλλων ὀρέγειν πρὸς τὸ βάραθρον ὠθῇ τὸν βοηθείας δεόμενον; Τί ποιεῖς, ἄνθρωπε; Οὐ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς σὰς ἦλθε θύρας ὁ πένης, ἵνα αὐξήσῃς αὐτοῦ τὴν πενίαν, ἀλλ' ἵνα λύσῃς αὐτοῦ τὴν πενίαν· σὺ δὲ ταυτὸν ποιεῖς, οἷον οἱ τὰ δηλητήρια κεραννύντες φάρμακα· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τὴν συνήθη 51.98 τροφὴν αὐτοῖς ἀναμίξαντες ἀνεπαίσθητον ποιοῦσι τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν, καὶ οὗτοι φιλανθρωπίας προσχήματι τῶν τόκων τὸν ὄλεθρον κρύψαντες, οὐκ ἐῶσιν αἰσθέσθαι τῆς βλάβης τοὺς μέλλοντας πίνειν τὸ θανάσιμον τοῦτο φάρμακον. ∆ιόπερ εὔκαιρον, ὃ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας εἴρηται, καὶ περὶ τῶν τοκιζόντων καὶ δανειζομένων εἰπεῖν. Τί δὲ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας εἴρηται; Πρὸς καιρὸν, φησὶ, γλυκαίνει τὸν λάρυγγα, ὕστερον δὲ πικρότερον χολῆς εὑρήσεις, καὶ ἠκονημένον μᾶλλον μαχαίρας διστόμου. Τοῦτο τοίνυν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν δανειζομένων γίνεται· ὅταν μὲν γὰρ λαμβάνῃ τὰ χρήματα ὁ δεόμενος, παραμυθίαν λαμβάνει μικράν τινα καὶ πρόσκαιρον· ὕστερον δὲ τῶν τόκων αὐξομένων, καὶ τοῦ φορτίου μείζονος τῆς δυνάμεως γενομένου, ἐκεῖνο τὸ γλυκὺ καὶ λιπάναν τὸν λάρυγγα πικρότερον χολῆς ὄψεται γινόμενον, καὶ ἠκονημένον μᾶλλον μαχαίρας διστόμου, τῶν πατρῴων πάντων ἀποστῆναι ἀθρόον ἀναγκαζόμενος.

βʹ. Ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐπὶ τὰ πνευματικὰ τὸν λόγον μετάγωμεν. Ἔδει σε, φησὶ, καταβαλεῖν τὸ ἀργύριόν μου ἐπὶ τοὺς τραπεζίτας, ἐκείνου τοῦ ἀργυρίου τραπεζίτας ὑμᾶς καλῶν τοὺς τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων ἀκροατάς. Καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν τραπεζίτας ὑμᾶς ἐκάλεσεν ὁ Θεός; Παιδεύων ἅπαντας τὴν αὐτὴν σπουδὴν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι περὶ τὴν δοκιμασίαν τῶν λεγομένων, ὅσην ἐκεῖνοι σπουδὴν ἔχουσι περὶ τὴν ἐξέτασιν καὶ εἴσοδον τῶν νομισμάτων. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ τραπεζῖται τὸ μὲν κίβδηλον καὶ παράσημον ἐκβάλλουσι νόμισμα, τὸ δὲ δόκιμον καὶ ὑγιὲς δέχονται, καὶ