John Chrysostom, On John

intimacy and closeness to him? for this is ridiculous; thus you will not be able to say this about your brother either. For we were all baptized into one body, 59.102 he says. Why into one body? So that we may not be divided, but by our gathering and friendship toward one another, we may maintain the coherence of one body. Let us not, then, despise one another, lest we overlook ourselves. For no one ever hated his own flesh, he says, but nourishes and cherishes it. For this reason God has given us this world as one house, he has distributed all things equally, he has lit one sun for all, he has stretched out one roof, the heaven, he has set one table, the earth. He gave also another table, much greater than this one, but this one also is one; the initiated know what is being said; he bestowed one manner of spiritual birth on all; one fatherland for all, the one in the heavens; we all drink from the same cup. He did not bestow more and what is more honorable to the rich, and what is cheaper and less to the poor, but called all equally; the carnal things he provided with equal honor, the spiritual things similarly. From where, then, is the great inequality in life? From the greed and arrogance of the rich. But, brothers, let these things be no more, nor let us, when the universal and more necessary things gather us to the same place, be divided by earthly and cheap things, I mean wealth, and poverty, and physical kinship, and enmity and friendship. For all these things are a shadow, and cheaper than a shadow, to those who have the bond of love from above. Let us therefore keep this unbroken, and nothing of the evil spirits that divide so great a union will be able to enter in; may we all attain to this, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

59.101 HOMILY 16. For this is the testimony of John, when

the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him, to ask him, Who are you?

a. Envy is a terrible thing, beloved, terrible and destructive to those who envy, not to those who are envied. For it first maims and corrupts them, like some death-bearing poison seated in their souls. And if it should ever harm the envied, it is a small harm and of no account, and one in which the gain is greater than the loss. And not only in the case of envy, but in all other things, it is not the one who suffers evil, but the one who does evil, who is the one who has received the harm. For if this were not so, Paul would not have commanded the disciples to be wronged rather than to wrong, saying, Why are you not rather wronged? Why are you not rather defrauded? For he knows well that destruction everywhere follows not the one who suffers evil, but the one who does evil. All these things have been said by me on account of Jewish envy. For those who had poured out from the cities to John, and had condemned their own sins, and had been baptized, they themselves after the baptism, as if from some change of mind, send to ask him: Who are you? Truly a brood of vipers and serpents, and if anything is more severe than these. O wicked and adulterous and perverse generation, after being baptized, then do you investigate and busy yourself about the baptizer? And what could be more irrational than this irrationality? How did you go out? how 59.102 did you confess your sins? how did you run to the one baptizing? how did you ask him about what should be done? For all these things were done by you irrationally, you who were ignorant of the beginning and the purpose. But the blessed John said none of these things, nor did he accuse or reproach them, but with all gentleness he answers them. But for what reason

οἰκειότης καὶ ἐγγύτης πρὸς αὐτόν; καταγέλαστον γὰρ τοῦτο· οὕτως οὐδὲ περὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ δυνήσῃ τοῦτο εἰπεῖν. Οἱ γὰρ πάντες εἰς ἓν σῶμα ἐβαπτίσθημεν, 59.102 φησί. ∆ιατί εἰς ἓν σῶμα; Ὥστε μὴ διεσπάσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους συνόδῳ καὶ φιλίᾳ σώματος ἑνὸς ἀκολουθίαν διατηρεῖν. Μὴ δὴ καταφρονήσωμεν ἀλλήλων, ἵνα μὴ ἑαυτῶν ὑπερίδωμεν. Οὐδεὶς γάρ ποτε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σάρκα ἐμίσησε, φησὶν, ἀλλ' ἐκτρέφει καὶ θάλπει αὐτήν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οἰκίαν μίαν τοῦτον ἡμῖν τὸν κόσμον ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεὸς, πάντα ἐξίσου διένειμεν, ἕνα ἀνῆψε πᾶσιν ἥλιον, ἕνα ἐξέτεινεν ὄροφον, τὸν οὐρανὸν, μίαν ἀνῆκε τράπεζαν, τὴν γῆν. Ἔδωκε καὶ ἑτέραν ταύτης πολλῷ μείζονα τράπεζαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτην μίαν· ἴσασιν οἱ συμμύσται τὸ λεγόμενον· ἕνα τρόπον γεννήσεως ἅπασιν ἐχαρίσατο τὸν πνευματικόν· μία πᾶσι πατρὶς, ἡ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ἐκ τοῦ ποτηρίου τοῦ αὐτοῦ πάντες πίνομεν. Οὐ τῷ μὲν πλουτοῦντι πλέον καὶ τιμιώτερον, τῷ πένητι δὲ εὐτελέστερον καὶ ἔλαττον ἐχαρίσατο, ἀλλὰ πάντας ἐξίσης ἐκάλεσε· τὰ σαρκικὰ ὁμοτίμως, τὰ πνευματικὰ ὁμοίως παρέσχε. Πόθεν οὖν ἡ ἀνωμαλία πολλὴ κατὰ τὸν βίον; Ἐκ τῆς τῶν πλουτούντων πλεονεξίας τε καὶ ἀλαζονείας. Ἀλλὰ μὴ, ἀδελφοὶ, μηκέτι ταῦτα γενέσθω, μηδὲ τῶν καθολικῶν καὶ ἀναγκαιοτέρων εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ συναγόντων ἡμᾶς, ἀπὸ τῶν γηΐνων καὶ εὐτελῶν διαιρώμεθα, πλούτου λέγω, καὶ πενίας, καὶ συγγενείας σωματικῆς, καὶ ἔχθρας καὶ φιλίας. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα σκιὰ, καὶ σκιᾶς εὐτελέστερα, τοῖς τὸν σύνδεσμον ἔχουσι τῆς ἀγάπης ἄνωθεν. Τοῦτον οὖν φυλάττωμεν ἀῤῥαγῆ, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐπεισελθεῖν δυνήσεται τῶν πνευμάτων τῶν πονηρῶν καὶ διαιρούντων τὴν τοσαύτην ἕνωσιν· ἧς γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, 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.

59.101 ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΙΣΤʹ. Αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ μαρτυρία τοῦ Ἰωάννου, ὅτε

ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων ἱερεῖς καὶ Λευΐτας, ἵνα ἐρωτήσωσιν αὐ τόν· Σὺ τίς εἶ;

αʹ. ∆εινὸν ἡ βασκανία, ἀγαπητὲ, δεινὸν καὶ ὀλέθριον τοῖς βασκαίνουσιν, οὐ

τοῖς βασκαινομένοις. Πρώτους γὰρ αὐτοὺς λυμαίνεται καὶ διαφθείρει, καθάπερ ἰός τις θανατηφόρος ἐγκαθήμενος αὐτῶν ταῖς ψυχαῖς. Εἰ δέ που καὶ τοὺς φθονουμένους παραβλάψειε, μικρὰν καὶ οὐδενὸς ἀξίαν βλάβην, καὶ μεῖζον τῆς ζημίας τὸ κέρδος ἔχουσαν. Καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς βασκανίας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων, οὐχ ὁ παθὼν κακῶς, ἀλλ' ὁ δράσας κακῶς, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τὴν βλάβην δεξάμενος. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο ἦν, ἀδικεῖσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ ἀδικεῖν προσέταξεν ὁ Παῦλος τοῖς μαθηταῖς, ∆ιατί οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἀδικεῖσθε; λέγων· διὰ τί οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἀποστερεῖσθε; Οἶδε γὰρ ἀκριβῶς οὐ τῷ πάσχοντι κακῶς, ἀλλὰ τῷ ποιοῦντι κακῶς, τὸν ὄλεθρον ἑπόμενον πανταχοῦ. Ταῦτα δή μοι πάντα διὰ τὴν βασκανίαν εἴρηται τὴν Ἰουδαϊκήν. Οἱ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων ἐκχυθέντες πρὸς τὸν Ἰωάννην, καὶ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων καταγνόντες τῶν οἰκείων, καὶ βαπτισάμενοι, αὐτοὶ μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα καθάπερ ἔκ τινος μεταμελείας πέμπουσιν ἐρωτῶντες αὐτόν· Σὺ τίς εἶ; Ὄντως γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν καὶ ὄφεις, καὶ εἴ τι τούτων χαλεπώτερον. Γενεὰ πονηρὰ καὶ μοιχαλὶς καὶ διεστραμμένη, μετὰ τὸ βαπτίσασθαι, τότε τὸν βαπτιστὴν περιεργάζῃ καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖς; Καὶ τί ταύτης τῆς ἀλογίας ἀλογώτερον γένοιτ' ἄν; Πῶς ἐξῄειτε; πῶς 59.102 ἐξωμολογεῖσθε τὰ ἁμαρτήματα; πῶς ἐπετρέχετε τῷ βαπτίζοντι; πῶς αὐτὸν ἠρωτᾶτε περὶ τῶν πρακτέων; Ταῦτα γὰρ ὑμῖν ἅπαντα ἀλόγως ἐπράττετο, τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἀγνοοῦσιν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων εἶπεν, οὐδὲ ἐνεκάλεσεν ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης, οὐδὲ ὠνείδισεν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ ἐπιεικείας ἁπάσης ἀποκρίνεται πρὸς αὐτούς. Τίνος δὲ ἕνεκεν