John Chrysostom, On John

itself dissolving into thanksgiving, and praise of God, and continual prayers of those who have been well-treated, and a warmer love? Let us sacrifice, therefore, beloved, let us sacrifice upon these altars every day. For this sacrifice is greater than prayer and fasting and many other things; if only it be from just gain and such labors, and be pure from all covetousness and robbery and violence. For God accepts such offerings, but the others he both turns away from and 59.91 hates. For He does not wish to be honored from the misfortunes of others. For such a sacrifice is unclean and profane, and would rather provoke than propitiate God. Therefore one must use all diligence, so as not to outrage the one being honored in the course of showing honor. For if Cain, for offering the second-rate things, and that without having wronged another, paid the ultimate penalty, when we offer something from robbery and covetousness, how shall we not suffer worse things? For this is why God has shown us the nature of this commandment, that we should have mercy, not that we should punish our fellow-servants. But he who takes from others and gives to another has not had mercy, but has punished, and has committed the ultimate injustice. Just as, therefore, a stone could not produce oil, so neither can harshness produce love for humanity. For when it has such a root, 59.92 such a thing is no longer almsgiving. Therefore I exhort you not to look to this only, that we may give to the needy, but also that it not be from the robbery of others. For one praying, and one cursing, whose voice will the Master hear? If we thus conduct ourselves with exactness, we will be able, by the grace of God, to obtain much love for humanity and mercy and forgiveness for the sins we have committed all this long time, and to escape the river of fire; from which may it be that all of us, being delivered, may ascend into the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be the glory, together with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen. 59.91 HOMILY 14. And of his fulness have we all received, and grace for grace. 1. Formerly we said that John, solving the difficulty of those who were about to ask themselves, how Christ, having come later to the preaching, became before him and more glorious, added this: ‘Because he was before me.’ And this is one reason; but he also sets down a second one, which he now states. And what is this? ‘Of his fulness,’ he says, ‘have we all received, and grace for grace.’ And after these things he states yet another. And what is this one? ‘For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’ And what, he says, is this: ‘Of his fulness have we all received’? For to this for the present we must direct our discourse. He does not have the gift by participation, he says, but is the very fount and very root of all good things, life itself, and light itself, and truth itself; not containing the wealth of good things within Himself, but also overflowing with it to all others, and after overflowing remaining full; for in no way is He diminished by His supply to others, but always gushing forth and imparting these good things to all, He remains in the same perfection. But what I bear is both by participation (for from another I received it), and some small part of the whole, and as it were a mean drop compared to a speechless abyss and an infinite sea; or rather, not even this example can represent what we are attempting to say. For if you should take a drop from the sea, by this very act you have lessened the sea, even if the lessening is imperceptible. But concerning that fount, it is not possible to say this; but however much one may draw, it remains undiminished. Therefore we must especially come to another example; for it is weak and unable to represent what we seek, but it guides us better than the former one toward the meaning now before us. For let us suppose there to be a fount of fire, and then from that fount ten thousand lamps to be lit, and twice as many, and three times, and many times; does not the fire remain at the same fulness even after having imparted to so many its

εὐχαριστίαν ἀναλυομένην αὐτὴν, καὶ αἶνον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ συνεχεῖς εὐχὰς τῶν εὖ παθόντων, καὶ θερμοτέραν ἀγάπην; Θύωμεν τοίνυν, ἀγαπητοὶ, θύωμεν εἰς ταῦτα τὰ θυσιαστήρια καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν. Αὕτη γὰρ καὶ εὐχῆς καὶ νηστείας καὶ πολλῶν ἑτέρων ἐστὶ μείζων ἡ θυσία· μόνον ἂν ἐκ δικαίου κέρδους καὶ πόνων τοιούτων, καὶ πάσης ᾖ καθαρὰ πλεονεξίας καὶ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ βίας. Τοιαύτας γὰρ προσίεται προσφορὰς ὁ Θεὸς, τὰς ἑτέρας καὶ ἀποστρέφεται καὶ 59.91 μισεῖ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ βούλεται ἐξ ἀλλοτρίων τιμᾶσθαι συμφορῶν. Ἀκάθαρτος γὰρ καὶ βέβηλος ἡ τοιαύτη θυσία, καὶ παροξύνειεν ἂν μᾶλλον, ἢ ἐξιλεώσειε τὸν Θεόν. ∆ιὸ πάσῃ δεῖ κεχρῆσθαι σπουδῇ, ὥστε μὴ ἐν τάξει θεραπείας τὸν τιμώμενον ἐξυβρίζειν. Εἰ γὰρ τὰ δευτερεῖα προσενεγκὼν ὁ Κάϊν, καὶ ταῦτα οὐδὲ ἠδικηκὼς ἕτερον, ἔδωκε δίκην τὴν ἐσχάτην, ὅταν καὶ ἐξ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ πλεονεξίας προσφέρωμέν τι, πῶς οὐ πεισόμεθα χαλεπώτερα; ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ τὸ εἶδος τῆς ἐντολῆς ταύτης ὑπέδειξεν ἡμῖν ὁ Θεὸς, ἵνα ἐλεῶμεν, οὐχ ἵνα κολάζωμεν τοὺς ὁμοδούλους. Ὁ δὲ τὰ ἑτέρων λαμβάνων, καὶ ἑτέρῳ διδοὺς, οὐκ ἠλέησεν, ἀλλ' ἐτιμωρήσατο, καὶ ἠδίκησεν ἀδικίαν τὴν ἐσχάτην. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἔλαιον οὐκ ἂν τέκοι λίθος, οὕτως οὐδὲ ἀπήνεια φιλανθρωπίαν. Ὅταν γὰρ τοιαύτην ἔχῃ ῥί 59.92 ζαν, οὐκ ἔτι ἐλεημοσύνη τὸ τοιοῦτόν ἐστι. ∆ιὸ παρακαλῶ μὴ πρὸς τοῦτο ὁρᾷν μόνον, ὅπως παρέχωμεν τοῖς δεομένοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅπως μὴ ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἑτέρων ἁρπαγῆς. Εἷς γὰρ εὐχόμενος, καὶ εἷς καταρώμενος, τίνος φωνῆς ἀκούσεται ὁ ∆εσπότης; Ἂν οὕτως ἑαυτοὺς μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἄγωμεν, δυνησόμεθα τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι πολλῆς φιλανθρωπίας καὶ ἐλέους καὶ συγγνώμης τυχεῖν ἐφ' οἷς ἡμάρτομεν πάντα τὸν μακρὸν τοῦτον χρόνον, καὶ τὸν τοῦ πυρὸς ποταμὸν ἐκφυγεῖν· οὗ γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἀπαλλαγέντας, εἰς τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνελθεῖν βασιλείαν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ καὶ μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἡ δόξα, ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 59.91 ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Ι∆ʹ. Καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλά βομεν, καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος. αʹ. Πρώην ἐλέγομεν ὅτι Ἰωάννης τὴν ἀπορίαν λύων τῶν μελλόντων πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ζητεῖν, πόθεν ὁ Χριστὸς ὕστερον ἐπὶ τὸ κήρυγμα ἐλθὼν, πρῶτος αὐτοῦ γέγονε καὶ λαμπρότερος, ἐπήγαγε τὸ, Ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν. Καὶ μία μὲν αὕτη αἰτία· τίθησι δὲ καὶ δευτέραν πάλιν ἣν νῦν φησι. Τίς δέ ἐστιν αὕτη; Ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς, φησὶ, πάντες ἐλάβομεν, καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος. Καὶ μετὰ τούτων λέγει πάλιν καὶ ἄλλην. Ποίαν δὲ ταύτην; Ὅτι ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο. Καὶ τί ποτέ ἐστι, φησὶ, τὸ, Ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν; Ἐπὶ γὰρ τοῦτο τέως ἀκτέον τὸν λόγον. Οὐ μεθεκτὴν, φησὶν, ἔχει τὴν δωρεὰν, ἀλλ' αὐτοπηγὴ καὶ αὐτόριζα ἐστὶ πάντων τῶν καλῶν, αὐτοζωὴ, καὶ αὐτοφῶς, καὶ αὐτοαλήθεια· οὐκ ἐν ἑαυτῷ συνέχων τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸν πλοῦτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας ὑπερβλύζων αὐτὸν, καὶ μετὰ τὸ ὑπερβλύσαι μένων πλήρης· ἐν οὐδενὶ γὰρ ἐλαττούμενος ἐκ τῆς εἰς ἑτέρους χορηγίας, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ πηγάζων καὶ πᾶσι τούτων μεταδιδοὺς τῶν καλῶν, ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς μένει τελειότητος. Ὃ δὲ ἐγὼ φέρω, μεθεκτόν τέ ἐστι (παρ' ἑτέρου γὰρ ἔλαβον αὐτὸ), καὶ μικρόν τι τοῦ παντὸς, καὶ οἱονεὶ σταγὼν εὐτελὴς πρὸς ἄβυσσον ἄφατον καὶ πέλαγος ἄπειρον· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο τὸ παράδειγμα παραστῆσαι δύναται ὅπερ ἐπιχειροῦμεν εἰπεῖν. Σταγόνα μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ πελάγους ἂν ἐξέλῃς, αὐτῷ τούτῳ τὸ πέλαγος ἠλάττωσας, εἰ καὶ ἀφανὴς ἡ ἐλάττωσις. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς πηγῆς ἐκείνης οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο εἰπεῖν· ἀλλ' ὅσον ἄν τις ἀρύσηται, μένει μηδὲν ἐλαττουμένη. ∆ιὸ χρὴ μάλιστα ἐφ' ἕτερον ὑπόδειγμα ἐλθεῖν· ἀσθενὲς μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸ καὶ οὐ δυνάμενον ὅπερ ζητοῦμεν παραστῆσαι, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ προτέρου χειραγωγοῦν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν ἔννοιαν τὴν προκειμένην ἡμῖν νῦν. Ὑποθώμεθα γὰρ εἶναι πυρὸς πηγὴν, εἶτα ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς ἐκείνης μυρίους ἀνάπτεσθαι λύχνους, καὶ δὶς τοσούτους, καὶ τρὶς, καὶ πολλάκις· ἆρα οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς μένει πληρότητος τὸ πῦρ καὶ μετὰ τὸ μεταδοῦναι τοσούτοις τῆς