John Chrysostom, Against the Jews

of the visible, since man is more precious than the whole world; for on his account heaven and earth and sea came to be, and sun and stars. Consider, therefore, the dignity of the one being saved, and do not despise the care of him. For even if one were to pay down countless sums of money, he does not accomplish anything like the one who saves a soul, and leads it away from error, and guides it toward piety. The one who gave to the poor man ended his hunger, the one who corrected the Judaizer destroyed impiety; that one comforted poverty, this one stopped lawlessness; that one delivered the body from pain, this one snatched the soul itself from Gehenna. I have shown you the treasure, do not betray the profit. It is not possible here to blame poverty, it is not possible to put forward destitution; the expense is of words, the cost is of speech. Let us not, therefore, hesitate, but with all zeal and eagerness, let us hunt down our brothers, and drag them unwilling into our own houses. let us set before them a meal, and share our table with them today, so that having broken their fast before our eyes, and having given us full assurance and sufficient faith of this good correction, they may become for themselves and for us agents of eternal goods, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

48.915 AGAINST THE JEWS Seventh Discourse.

1. Have you had your fill of the battle against the Jews? Or do you wish that today also

we take up the same subject again? For even if many things have been said before, nevertheless I think you desire the same hearing again. For he who has no satiety of love for Christ will also never have his fill of the battle against those who hate him. But apart from these things, this discourse is also necessary for us for another reason; for there are still remnants of their feasts left. But just as their trumpets were more lawless than those in the theaters, and their fasts were more shameful than any drunkenness and revelry, so too the tents now pitched by them are in no better a state than the inns that have prostitutes and flute-girls. And let no one condemn the boldness of this statement; for it is the utmost audacity and lawlessness not to suspect such things about them. For when they act in contention with God and in opposition to the Holy Spirit, how should one not pronounce such a judgment concerning them? This feast was once venerable, when it was celebrated according to the law, and at God's command, but now it is no longer so; for its entire dignity has been destroyed by its being celebrated contrary to the will of God. And those who are most insulting both to the law and to the ancient feasts, these are the very ones of all who seem to be celebrating them now; but we are the ones who most honor the law, we who give it rest like an aged man, and 48.916.30 do not drag it into the wrestling-pit after its hair has turned grey, nor force it to compete out of season. For that now is not the time for the law, nor for the old polity, we have sufficiently demonstrated before; come now, let us also expose the remnants today. It would have been sufficient, then, having shown through all the prophets that to do any such thing outside of Jerusalem is a certain lawlessness and impiety, to be freed from the matter. For even if it were true, what they boastfully whisper everywhere, that they will take back the city again, not even so would they be able to be acquitted of the charges of lawlessness. But nevertheless, we have demonstrated from abundance that the city will not rise again, nor will they get back their own polity. And with this having been proven, all the rest was also agreed upon, such as that neither the form of sacrifice, nor of whole burnt offering, nor the power of the law, nor anything else of that polity will be able to stand. For in the first place, the law commanded three times a year every

φαινομένου, ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς τιμιώτερος· διὰ γὰρ αὐτὸν καὶ οὐρανὸς καὶ γῆ καὶ θάλασσα γέγονε, καὶ ἥλιος καὶ ἀστέρες. Ἐννόησον τοίνυν τὸ ἀξίωμα τοῦ σωζομένου, καὶ μὴ καταφρονήσῃς αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐπιμελείας. Κἂν γὰρ μυρία τις καταβάλῃ χρήματα, οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον ἐργάζεται, ὅσον ὁ ψυχὴν διασώζων, καὶ πλάνης ἀπάγων, καὶ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν χειραγωγῶν. Ὁ πένητι δοὺς λιμὸν ἔλυσεν, ὁ τὸν Ἰουδαΐζοντα διορθώσας ἀσέβειαν ἀνεῖλεν· ἐκεῖνος πενίαν παρεμυθήσατο, οὗτος παρανομίαν ἔστησεν· ἐκεῖνος τὸ σῶμα ὀδύνης ἀπήλλαξεν, οὗτος καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τῆς γεέννης ἐξήρπασεν. Ἔδειξα τὸν θησαυρὸν, μὴ προδῶτε τὸ κέρδος. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐνταῦθα πενίαν αἰτιάσασθαι, οὐκ ἔστι πτωχείαν προβαλέσθαι· ῥημάτων ἐστὶν ἡ δαπάνη, λόγων ἐστὶ τὸ ἀνάλωμα. Μὴ τοίνυν κατοκνήσωμεν, ἀλλ', ὅση σπουδὴ καὶ προθυμία, τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς θηρεύσωμεν τοὺς ἡμετέρους, καὶ ἄκοντας εἰς τὰς οἰκίας τὰς ἑαυτῶν αὐτοὺς ἑλκύσαντες. ἄριστον παραθῶμεν, καὶ τραπέζης αὐτοῖς κοινωνήσωμεν σήμερον, ἵνα ἐπ' ὄψεσι ταῖς ἡμετέραις τὴν νηστείαν λύσαντες, καὶ πληροφορίαν ἡμῖν καὶ πίστιν ἱκανὴν παρασχόντες τῆς καλῆς ταύτης διορθώσεως, καὶ ἑαυτοῖς καὶ ἡμῖν τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν γένωνται πρόξενοι, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ καὶ μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἡ δόξα, ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

48.915 ΚΑΤΑ ΙΟΥ∆ΑΙΩΝ Λόγος ἕβδομος.

αʹ. Ἆρα κόρον ἐλάβετε τῆς πρὸς Ἰουδαίους μάχης; ἢ βούλεσθε καὶ σήμερον

τῆς αὐτῆς ὑποθέσεως ἁψώμεθα πάλιν; Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλὰ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν εἰρημένα, ἀλλ' ὅμως ὑμᾶς ἐπιθυμεῖν οἶμαι τῆς αὐτῆς ἀκροάσεως πάλιν. Ὁ γὰρ τῆς εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν ἀγάπης οὐκ ἔχων κόρον, οὐδὲ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς μισοῦντας αὐτὸν μάχης λήψεται κόρον ποτέ. Χωρὶς δὲ τούτων, καὶ ἄλλως ἡμῖν ἀναγκαῖος οὗτος ὁ λόγος· ἔτι γὰρ λείψανα τῶν ἑορτῶν αὐτῶν ὑπολέλειπται. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ αὐτῶν αἱ σάλπιγγες τῶν ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις ἦσαν παρανομώτεραι, καὶ αἱ νηστεῖαι μέθης καὶ κώμου παντὸς ἦσαν αἰσχρότεραι, οὕτω καὶ αἱ σκηναὶ αἱ νῦν παρ' αὐτῶν πηγνύμεναι, τῶν πανδοχείων τῶν πόρνας ἐχόντων καὶ αὐλητρίδας οὐδὲν ἄμεινον διάκεινται. Καὶ μηδεὶς τόλμαν καταγινωσκέτω τοῦ λόγου· τόλμα γὰρ ἐσχάτη καὶ παρανομία τὸ μὴ οὕτως ὑποπτεύειν περὶ ἐκείνων. Ὅταν γὰρ τῷ Θεῷ φιλονεικοῦντες, καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀντιπίπτοντες πράττωσι, πῶς οὐ χρὴ τοιαύτην περὶ αὐτῶν ψῆφον ἐκφέρειν; Ἦν ποτε σεμνὴ αὕτη ἡ ἑορτὴ, ὅτε κατὰ νόμον ἐγίνετο, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ κελεύοντος, νυνὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔτι· τὸ γὰρ ἀξίωμα αὐτῆς ἅπαν ἀνῄρηται τῷ παρὰ γνώμην τοῦ Θεοῦ γίνεσθαι. Καὶ οἱ μάλιστα καθυβρίζοντες καὶ τὸν νόμον καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς τὰς παλαιὰς, οὗτοι μάλιστα πάντων εἰσὶν οἱ δοκοῦντες νῦν ἐπιτελεῖν· οἱ δὲ μάλιστα τὸν νόμον τιμῶντες ἡμεῖς, οἱ καθάπερ γεγηρακότα ἄνθρωπον ἀναπαύοντες, καὶ 48.916.30 οὐχ ἕλκοντες εἰς τὰ σκάμματα μετὰ τὴν πολιὰν, οὐδὲ παρὰ καιρὸν ἀγωνίζεσθαι ἀναγκάζοντες. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι νόμου καιρὸς νῦν, οὔτε τῆς παλαιᾶς πολιτείας, ἱκανῶς μὲν καὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἀπεδείξαμεν· φέρε δὴ καὶ τὰ λείψανα γυμνάσωμεν τήμερον. Ἤρκει μὲν οὖν δείξαντα διὰ τῶν προφητῶν ἁπάντων, ὅτι τὸ ποιεῖν τι τοιοῦτον ἔξω τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων παρανομία τίς ἐστι καὶ ἀσέβεια, ἀπηλλάχθαι πραγμάτων. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀληθὲς ἦν, ὃ πανταχοῦ κομπάζοντες ἀεὶ ψιθυρίζουσιν, ὅτι τὴν πόλιν ἀπολήψονται πάλιν, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν τῆς παρανομίας ἐγκλημάτων ἐδύναντο. Πλὴν ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς ἐκ περιουσίας καὶ τοῦτο ἀπεδείξαμεν, ὅτι οὔτε ἀναστήσεται λοιπὸν ἡ πόλις, οὔτε ἀπολήψονται τὴν ἑαυτῶν πολιτείαν. Τούτου δὲ ἀποδειχθέντος, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἅπαντα συνωμολόγητο, οἷον ὡς οὔτε θυσίας εἶδος, οὔτε ὁλοκαυτώσεως, οὐχ ἡ τοῦ νόμου δύναμις, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῆς πολιτείας ἐκείνης στῆναι δυνήσεται. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἐκέλευσεν ὁ νόμος τρὶς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ πᾶν