John Chrysostom, On Matthew

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he threatened; the dignity of the one receiving, for it was God who was receiving through the poor; the exceeding measure of the honor, that he condescended to stoop so low; the justice of the provision, for he was receiving from his own. But against all these things avarice utterly blinded those who were caught, and this when so great a threat was in place. For he also says above, that those who do not receive such people will suffer things more grievous than the people of Sodom; and here he says: Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did not do it to me. What are you saying? they are your brothers; and how do you call them the least? For this very reason they are brothers, because they are humble, because they are poor, because they are cast out. For he especially calls such people to brotherhood, the unknown, the easily despised; not speaking of monks only, and those who have taken to the mountains, but every believer; even if he be a man of the world, but is hungry and starving, and naked, and a stranger, he wishes him to enjoy all this care. For baptism makes a brother, and the communion of the divine mysteries. 2. Then, that you might see from another side also the justice of the sentence, he first praises those who have done well, and says: Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; and all that follows. For lest they should say, We did not have it, he condemns them by their fellow-servants; just as the virgins by the virgins, 58.719 and the servant who was drunk and gluttonous by the faithful servant, and the one who buried the talent by those who brought forward two, and each of those who err by those who have done well. And this comparison is sometimes made between equals, as here and in the case of the virgins; but sometimes from a greater, as when he says, The men of Nineveh will rise up and will condemn this generation, because they believed at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here; and, The queen of the south will condemn this generation, because she came to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here; and from an equal again, that They will be your judges; and again from a greater; Do you not know that we will judge angels? how much more the things of this life? And here, however, it is from an equal; for he compares the rich with the rich, and the poor with the poor. And not only in this way does he show that the verdict is justly rendered, by the fact that their fellow servants in the same circumstances had done well, but also by the fact that they did not obey even in those things in which poverty was no hindrance; such as, in giving a drink to one who is thirsty, in seeing one in prison, in visiting one who is sick. And having praised those who have done well, he shows how great his affection for them was from the beginning. For, Come, he says, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. To how many good things is this name equivalent, to be blessed, and to be blessed by a Father? And whence were they deemed worthy of such honor? what is the cause? I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, and the rest. Of how much honor, of how much blessedness are these words? And he did not say, Take, but, inherit, as something of your own, as your paternal inheritance, as yours, as owed to you from the beginning. For before you came to be, he says, these things were prepared and made ready for you, since I knew that you would be such people. And in return for what do they receive such things? In return for shelter, for a garment, for bread, for cold water, for a visit, for entry into the prison. For it is everywhere a matter of need; but there are also places where it is not even a matter of need. For surely, as I said, the sick and the one in bonds does not seek this only, but the one to be released, and the other to be delivered from sickness. But he, being gentle, demands what is in our power; or rather, even less than what is in our power, leaving it to us to be generous in doing more. But to those, Depart from me, you who are cursed; no longer by the Father; for He did not curse them, but their own works; into the eternal fire, prepared, not for you,

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ἠπείλησε· τὸ ἀξίωμα τοῦ λαμβάνοντος, Θεὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁ διὰ τῶν πτωχῶν λαμβάνων· τὸ ὑπερβάλλον τῆς τιμῆς, ὅτι τοσοῦτον καταβῆναι κατηξίωσε· τὸ δίκαιον τῆς παροχῆς, ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἐλάμβανεν. Ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἅπαντα ταῦτα ἡ φιλαργυρία καθάπαξ ἐπήρωσε τοὺς ἁλόντας, καὶ ταῦτα τοσαύτης ἀπειλῆς κειμένης. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀνωτέρω φησὶ, τοὺς οὐ δεχομένους τοὺς τοιούτους τῶν Σοδόμων χαλεπώτερα πείσεσθαι· καὶ ἐνταῦθά φησιν· Ἐφ' ὅσον οὐκ ἐποιήσατε ἑνὶ τῶν ἐλαχίστων τούτων τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου, οὐδὲ ἐμοὶ ἐποιήσατε. Τί λέγεις; ἀδελφοί σού εἰσι· καὶ πῶς ἐλαχίστους καλεῖς; ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο ἀδελφοὶ, ἐπειδὴ ταπεινοὶ, ἐπειδὴ πτωχοὶ, ἐπειδὴ ἀπεῤῥιμμένοι. Τοὺς γὰρ τοιούτους μάλιστα εἰς ἀδελφότητα καλεῖ, τοὺς ἀγνῶτας, τοὺς εὐκαταφρονήτους· οὐχὶ τοὺς μοναχοὺς λέγων τούτους μόνον, καὶ τοὺς τὰ ὄρη κατειληφότας, ἀλλ' ἕκαστον πιστόν· κἂν βιωτικὸς ᾖ, πεινῶν δὲ ᾖ καὶ λιμώττων, καὶ γυμνὸς, καὶ ξένος, πάσης αὐτὸν τῆς ἐπιμελείας ταύτης ἀπολαύειν βούλεται. Ἀδελφὸν γὰρ τὸ βάπτισμα ἐργάζεται, καὶ ἡ τῶν θείων μυστηρίων κοινωνία. βʹ. Εἶτα ἵνα καὶ ἑτέρωθεν ἴδῃς τὸ δίκαιον τῆς ἀποφάσεως, πρότερον ἐκείνους ἐπαινεῖ τοὺς κατωρθωκότας, καί φησι· ∆εῦτε, οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Ἐπείνασα γὰρ, καὶ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν· καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς ἅπαντα. Ἵνα γὰρ μὴ λέγωσιν, ὅτι Οὐκ εἴχομεν, ἀπὸ τῶν συνδούλων αὐτοὺς καταδικάζει· ὥσπερ τὰς παρθένους ἀπὸ τῶν παρθένων, 58.719 καὶ τὸν δοῦλον τὸν μεθύοντα καὶ γαστριζόμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ πιστοῦ δούλου, καὶ τὸν τὸ τάλαντον καταχώσαντα ἀπὸ τῶν τὰ δύο προσενεγκάντων, καὶ ἕκαστον τῶν διαμαρτανόντων ἀπὸ τῶν κατωρθωκότων. Καὶ αὕτη ποτὲ μὲν ἐξ ἴσου ἡ σύγκρισις γίνεται, ὡς ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν παρθένων· ποτὲ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ πλεονάζοντος, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ, Ἄνδρες Νινευῖται ἀναστήσονται, καὶ κατακρινοῦσι τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην, ὅτι ἐπίστευσαν εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα Ἰωνᾶ· καὶ ἰδοὺ πλεῖον Ἰωνᾶ ὧδε· καὶ, Βασίλισσα νότου κατακρινεῖ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην, ὅτι ἦλθεν ἀκοῦσαι τὴν σοφίαν Σολομῶνος· καὶ ἰδοὺ πλεῖον Σολομῶνος ὧδε· καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰσάζοντος δὲ πάλιν, ὅτι Αὐτοὶ κριταὶ ὑμῶν ἔσονται· καὶ πάλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ πλεονάζοντος· Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἀγγέλους κρινοῦμεν; μήτιγε βιωτικά; Καὶ ἐνταῦθα μέντοι ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰσάζοντος· καὶ γὰρ πλουσίους πλουσίοις, καὶ πένητας πένησι παραβάλλει. Οὐ ταύτῃ δὲ μόνον δείκνυσι τὴν ψῆφον δικαίως ἐκφερομένην, τῷ τοὺς ὁμοδούλους κατωρθωκέναι ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὄντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ μηδὲ ἐν τούτοις ὑπακοῦσαι, ἐν οἷς οὐδὲν ἡ πενία κώλυμα ἦν· οἷον, ἐν τῷ ποτίσαι διψῶντα, ἐν τῷ δεδεμένον ἰδεῖν, ἐν τῷ ἄῤῥωστον ἐπισκέψασθαι. Ἐγκωμιάσας δὲ τοὺς κατωρθωκότας, δείκνυσιν ὅσον ἄνωθεν ἦν αὐτῷ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὸ φίλτρον. ∆εῦτε γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Πόσων ἀγαθῶν τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα ἀντάξιον, τὸ εὐλογημένους εἶναι, καὶ παρὰ Πατρὸς εὐλογημένους; Καὶ πόθεν τοσαύτης τιμῆς ἠξιώθησαν; τίς ἡ αἰτία; Ἐπείνασα, καὶ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν· ἐδίψησα, καὶ ἐποτίσατέ με, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Πόσης ταῦτα τιμῆς, πόσης μακαριότητος τὰ ῥήματα; Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε, λάβετε, ἀλλὰ, κληρονομήσατε, ὡς οἰκεῖα, ὡς πατρῷα, ὡς ὑμέτερα, ὡς ὑμῖν ἄνωθεν ὀφειλόμενα. Πρὶν ἢ γὰρ ὑμᾶς γενέσθαι, φησὶ, ταῦτα ὑμῖν ἡτοίμαστο καὶ ηὐτρέπιστο, ἐπειδὴ ᾔδειν τοιούτους ἐσομένους ὑμᾶς. Καὶ ἀντὶ τίνων τοσαῦτα λαμβάνουσιν; Ἀντὶ στέγης, ἀντὶ ἱματίου, ἀντὶ ἄρτου, ἀντὶ ὕδατος ψυχροῦ, ἀντὶ ἐπισκέψεως, ἀντὶ εἰσόδου τῆς εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον. Καὶ γὰρ πανταχοῦ τῆς χρείας ἐστίν· ἔστι δὲ καὶ ὅπου οὐδὲ τῆς χρείας. Οὐ γὰρ δήπου, ὅπερ ἔφην, ὁ κάμνων καὶ ὁ δεδεμένος τοῦτο ἐπιζητεῖ μόνον, ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν λυθῆναι, ὁ δὲ ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας. Ἀλλ' αὐτὸς, ἥμερος ὢν, τὰ εἰς δύναμιν ἀπαιτεῖ· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τῶν εἰς δύναμιν ἐλάττω, ἡμῖν καταλιμπάνων φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ πλείονι. Ἐκείνοις δὲ, Πορεύεσθε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, οἱ κατηραμένοι· οὐκέτι ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρός· οὐ γὰρ αὐτὸς αὐτοὺς κατηράσατο, ἀλλὰ τὰ οἰκεῖα ἔργα· εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον, τὸ ἡτοιμασμένον, οὐχ ὑμῖν,