John Chrysostom, On Matthew

193

Have you come here to torment us before the time? For since the crowds said He was a man, the demons came proclaiming His divinity; and those who did not hear the sea raging and then growing calm, heard the demons shouting these things, which the sea cried out through its calmness. Then, lest the matter seem to be one of flattery, they cry out from the experience of the facts, saying: Have you come here to torment us before the time? For this reason their enmity is confessed beforehand, so that their supplication might not become suspect. For they were being scourged invisibly, and were more tempest-tossed than the sea, being goaded and set on fire, and suffering incurable things from His presence alone. For since no one dared to bring them to him, Christ Himself goes to them. And Matthew indeed says that they said: Have you come here to torment us before the time?; but the others added that they also begged Him and adjured Him not to cast them into the abyss. For they thought that their punishment was already upon them, and they were afraid as if they were already about to fall into torment. But if Luke and those with him say he was one, while this one says two, this does not indicate a disagreement. For if they had said that there was only one, and there was not another, they would have seemed to say things contrary to Matthew; but if one spoke about the one, and the other about the two, what was said is not a matter of conflict, but of a different narrative. For it seems to me that Luke, having chosen the more severe of these, spoke; which is why he also reports the calamity more tragically; for example, that breaking the bonds 57.353 and the chains, he wandered through the desert; and Mark says that he also cut himself with stones; and their words are sufficient to show their harshness and shamelessness. For have you come here to torment us before the time? he says. For they could not say that they had not sinned; but they ask not to pay the penalty before the time. For since He caught them working those incurable, terrible, and lawless deeds, and distorting and punishing His own creature in every way, they thought that, because of the excess of what had been done, He would not await the time of punishment, for this reason they begged and pleaded; and those who could not bear even iron bonds, come bound; and those running down the mountains, came out into the plains; and those preventing others from passing by, seeing the one who walled off their road, stood still. Why then do they also linger in the tombs? Wishing to implant a destructive doctrine in the many, such as that the souls of the departed become demons; which may it never be, not even to conceive of it. What then, he says, would you say, when many sorcerers take children and slaughter them, so as to have the soul cooperating with them after this? And from where is this clear? For many say that they slaughter them; but that the souls of the slaughtered are with them, from where did you know? tell me. The demon-possessed themselves, he says, cry out, 'I am the soul of so-and-so.' But this too is a kind of stage-play and diabolical deceit. For it is not the soul of the deceased that is crying out, but the demon pretending these things, so as to deceive the hearers. For if it is possible for a soul to enter into the substance of a demon, much more into its own body. Otherwise it would not be reasonable for the wronged soul to cooperate with the one who wronged it; or for a human to be able to change an incorporeal power into another substance. For if this is impossible in the case of bodies, and no one could make a human body into that of a donkey; much more is this impossible in the case of the invisible soul, and no one would be able to transfer it into the substance of a demon. 3. So these words are those of drunken old women, and bugbears for children. For it is not possible for a soul, once detached from the body, to wander here any longer. For the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God; and if those of the righteous, then also those of children; for they are not wicked either. And the souls of sinners are also immediately led away from here. And this is clear from Lazarus and the rich man; and elsewhere Christ says: This day they require your soul from you. And it is not possible for a soul that has departed the body to wander here; and especially

193

ἦλθες ὧδε πρὸ καιροῦ βασανίσαι ἡμᾶς; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν ἔλεγον οἱ ὄχλοι, ἦλθον οἱ δαίμονες τὴν θεότητα αὐτοῦ ἀνακηρύττοντες· καὶ οἱ τῆς θαλάττης κυμαινούσης καὶ πάλιν ἡσυχαζούσης οὐκ ἀκούοντες, ἤκουον τῶν δαιμόνων ταῦτα βοώντων, ἅπερ ἐκείνη διὰ τῆς γαλήνης ἔκραζεν. Εἶτα ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ κολακείας τὸ πρᾶγμα εἶναι, ἀπὸ τῆς πείρας τῶν πραγμάτων βοῶσι λέγοντες· Ἦλθες ὧδε πρὸ καιροῦ βασανίσαι ἡμᾶς; ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο πρότερον ὡμολόγηται ἡ ἔχθρα, ἵνα μὴ ὕποπτος αὐτῶν ἡ ἱκετηρία γένηται. Καὶ γὰρ ἐμαστίζοντο ἀοράτως, καὶ τῆς θαλάττης ἐχειμάζοντο μᾶλλον, κεντούμενοι καὶ ἐμπιπράμενοι, καὶ τὰ ἀνήκεστα πάσχοντες ἀπὸ τῆς παρουσίας μόνης. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐδεὶς αὐτοὺς προσενεγκεῖν ἐτόλμα, αὐτὸς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀπέρχεται ὁ Χριστός. Καὶ ὁ μὲν Ματθαῖός φησιν αὐτοὺς εἰρηκέναι· Ἦλθες ὧδε πρὸ καιροῦ βασανίσαι ἡμᾶς· οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι προσέθηκαν, ὅτι καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν καὶ ὥρκιζον, ἵνα μὴ εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον αὐτοὺς ἐμβάλῃ. Ἐνόμισαν γὰρ ἤδη τὴν κόλασιν αὐτοῖς ἐφεστάναι, καὶ ἔδεισαν ὡς ἤδη εἰς τιμωρίαν ἐμπεσούμενοι. Εἰ δὲ οἱ περὶ τὸν Λουκᾶν ἕνα φασὶν αὐτὸν εἶναι, οὗτος δὲ δύο, οὐδὲ τοῦτο διαφωνίαν ἐμφαίνει. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἶπον, ὅτι εἷς μόνος ἦν, ἕτερος δὲ οὐκ ἦν, ἐδόκουν ἐναντία λέγειν τῷ Ματθαίῳ· εἰ δὲ, ὁ μὲν περὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς, ὁ δὲ περὶ τῶν δύο διελέχθη, οὐ μάχης τὸ εἰρημένον, ἀλλὰ διαφόρου διηγήσεως. Καὶ γὰρ ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ τὸν χαλεπώτερον τούτων ἐπιλεξάμενος ὁ Λουκᾶς εἰρηκέναι· διὸ καὶ τραγικώτερον ἀπαγγέλλει τὴν συμφοράν· οἷον, ὅτι τὰ δεσμὰ 57.353 καὶ τὰς ἁλύσεις διαῤῥήσσων κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον ἐπλανᾶτο· ὁ δὲ Μάρκος ὅτι καὶ τοῖς λίθοις ἑαυτὸν ἔκοπτέ φησι· καὶ τὰ ῥήματα δὲ αὐτῶν ἱκανὰ τὸ ἀπηνὲς καὶ τὸ ἀναίσχυντον ἐνδείξασθαι. Ἦλθες γὰρ ὧδε πρὸ καιροῦ βασανίσαι ἡμᾶς; φησίν. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ οὐχ ἥμαρτον, οὐκ εἶχον εἰπεῖν· ἀξιοῦσι δὲ μὴ πρὸ καιροῦ δοῦναι τὴν δίκην. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κατέλαβεν αὐτοὺς τὰ ἀνήκεστα δεινὰ καὶ παράνομα ἐκεῖνα ἐργαζομένους, καὶ τὸ πλάσμα τὸ ἑαυτοῦ παντὶ διαστρέφοντας τρόπῳ καὶ τιμωρουμένους, καὶ ἐνόμιζον αὐτὸν δι' ὑπερβολὴν τῶν γενομένων οὐκ ἀναμένειν τὸν καιρὸν τῆς κολάσεως, διὰ τοῦτο παρεκάλουν καὶ ἐδέοντο· καὶ οἱ μηδὲ δεσμῶν ἀνεχόμενοι σιδηρῶν, ἔρχονται δεδεμένοι· καὶ οἱ τὰ ὄρη κατατρέχοντες, εἰς τὰ πεδία ἐξῄεσαν· καὶ οἱ τοὺς ἄλλους κωλύοντες διαβαίνειν, τὸν ἀποτειχίζοντα τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῖς ἰδόντες, ἔστησαν. Τί δήποτε δὲ καὶ τοῖς τάφοις ἐμφιλοχωροῦσιν; Ὀλέθριον δόγμα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐνθεῖναι βουλόμενοι, οἷον ὅτι αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν ἀπελθόντων δαίμονες γίνονται· ὃ μηδέποτε γένοιτο μηδὲ μέχρις ἐννοίας λαβεῖν. Τί οὖν, φησὶν, ἂν εἴποις, ὅταν πολλοὶ τῶν γοήτων παῖδας λαβόντες ἀποσφάττωσιν, ὥστε αὐτοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα συμπράττουσαν τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχειν; Καὶ πόθεν τοῦτο δῆλον; Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἀποσφάττουσι, πολλοὶ λέγουσιν· ὅτι δὲ αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν σφαγέντων μετ' αὐτῶν εἰσι, πόθεν ἔγνως; εἰπέ μοι. Αὐτοὶ, φησὶν, οἱ δαιμονῶντες βοῶσιν, ὅτι Ψυχὴ τοῦ δεῖνος ἐγώ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο σκηνή τις καὶ ἀπάτη διαβολική. Οὐ γὰρ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ τετελευτηκότος ἐστὶν ἡ βοῶσα, ἀλλ' ὁ δαίμων ὁ ὑποκρινόμενος ταῦτα, ὥστε ἀπατῆσαι τοὺς ἀκούοντας. Εἰ γὰρ εἰς δαίμονος οὐσίαν δυνατὸν ψυχὴν εἰσελθεῖν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον εἰς τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἑαυτῆς. Ἄλλως δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι λόγον τὴν ἠδικημένην ψυχὴν συμπράττειν τῷ ἠδικηκότι· ἣ ἄνθρωπον δύνασθαι δύναμιν ἀσώματον εἰς ἑτέραν μεταβαλεῖν οὐσίαν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν σωμάτων τοῦτο ἀμήχανον, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις ἀνθρώπου σῶμα ὄνου ἐργάσαιτο· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῆς ἀοράτου ψυχῆς τοῦτο ἀδύνατον, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις ἰσχύσειεν εἰς δαίμονος οὐσίαν αὐτὴν μετενεγκεῖν. γʹ. Ὥστε γραϊδίων μεθυόντων ταυτὶ τὰ ῥήματα, καὶ παίδων μορμολύκεια. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔνι ψυχὴν ἀποῤῥαγεῖσαν τοῦ σώματος ἐνταῦθα πλανᾶσθαι λοιπόν. ∆ικαίων γὰρ ψυχαὶ ἐν χειρὶ Θεοῦ· εἰ δὲ αἱ τῶν δικαίων, καὶ αἱ τῶν παίδων· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖναι πονηραί. Καὶ αἱ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν δὲ εὐθέως ἐντεῦθεν ἀπάγονται. Καὶ δῆλον ἀπὸ τοῦ Λαζάρου καὶ τοῦ πλουσίου· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δέ φησιν ὁ Χριστός· Σήμερον τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπαιτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ. Καὶ οὐχ οἷόν τε ψυχὴν ἐξελθοῦσαν τοῦ σώματος ἐνταῦθα πλανᾶσθαι· καὶ μάλα