1

Catechesis de juramento

CATECHESES OF JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. Of the same. Having discoursed in the previous catechesis concerning oaths, he spoke this one on the same subject again, showing that not only perjury, but also swearing rightly has punishment, and that Christ usefully rose after three days.

Second Discourse.

Have you driven out from your mouth the wicked habit of oaths? For I have not forgotten either what I myself discussed with you, or what you promised to me concerning this subject. For indeed both I spoke and you promised, even if not in word, but by the praises of what was said. But this promise is greater 155 than the one through word; for one who promises in word often assents with his tongue, but does not assent with his mind; but one who praises what has been said makes his consent from the soul. Have you then wiped your tongue clean from the grievous stain? Have you banished the ruin from your sacred soul? I surmise that you have wiped it clean; for you are about to receive a great king and to enjoy much and spiritual teaching of the wiser fathers. And the time is sufficient, and the deadline given for correction is now at its end, and you are well-reined and compliant; "For obey your leaders and submit to them," says the Apostle, and in everything you obey them. Surmising from all these things, I think the whole matter has been set right. But I did not wish to surmise and think, but to know clearly; for then I would have more eagerly touched upon more mystical words, having put aside the care concerning oaths, and with greater confidence I would have led you by the hand to this awesome mystagogy, and I would have brought you into the very inner sanctuary and shown you the Holy of Holies and all things there, not a golden jar holding manna, but the Lord's body, the heavenly bread. I would have shown you not a wooden ark having stone tablets and the law, but blameless and holy flesh holding the Lawgiver himself. I would have shown within not a blameless sheep slain, but the Lamb of God sacrificed, a mystical sacrifice, which even the angels tremble to behold. I would have shown you not Aaron entering with a golden robe, but the Only-Begotten entering, having the first-fruits of our nature, showing to the Father himself the magnitude of the achievement; "For Christ did not enter," he says, "into holy places made with hands, copies of the true things, but into 156 heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God." There is a veil there not such as the Jewish temple had, but much more awesome. Hear then, what this veil is like, so that you may learn what kind those Holy of Holies were, and what kind these are. "Having," he says, "much boldness for the entrance into the holy places by the blood of Jesus, which he inaugurated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, his flesh." Do you see how this veil is more awesome than that one? I wished to initiate all of you into these things today.

But what am I to do? The care concerning oaths does not leave me, wasting away my soul; and I know, indeed, that many will condemn the hyperbole of what is said, upon hearing that it is wasting away my soul; for they think the sin to be a small one; but I, for this reason, lament all the more. For the other sins are both grievous and are thought to be grievous; for example murder and adultery are both grievous and are thought to be grievous, but the oath is grievous, but is not thought to be grievous. For this reason I lament and fear the sin; for this, this of the scheme

1

Catechesis de juramento

ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΥ ΚΑΤΗΧΗΣΕΙΣ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ κατηχήσει διαλεχθεὶς περὶ ὅρκων ταύτην εἶπεν εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν πάλιν ὑπόθεσιν, δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐ τὸ ἐπιορκεῖν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ εὐορκεῖν κόλασιν ἔχει, καὶ ὅτι χρησίμως ὁ Χριστὸς διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἀνέστη.

Λόγος βʹ.

Ἆρα ἀπηλάσατε ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν τὴν πονηρὰν τῶν ὅρκων συνήθειαν; οὐ γὰρ ἐπιλέλησμαι οὔτε ὧν αὐτὸς διελέχθην πρὸς ὑμᾶς, οὔτε ὧν ὑμεῖς ὑπέσχεσθε πρός με περὶ τῆς ὑποθέσεως ταύτης. καὶ γὰρ κἀγὼ διελέχθην καὶ ὑμεῖς ὑπέσχεσθε, εἰ καὶ μὴ τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐπαίνοις τῶν εἰρημένων. μείζων δὲ 155 αὕτη ἡ ὑπόσχεσις τῆς διὰ τοῦ λόγου· ὁ μὲν γὰρ ὑποσχόμενος λόγῳ πολλάκις τῇ γλώττῃ μὲν ἐπινεύει, τῇ γνώμῃ δὲ οὐκ ἐπινεύει· ὁ δὲ ἐπαινῶν τὰ εἰρημένα ἀπὸ ψυχῆς ποιεῖται τὴν συγκατάθεσιν. ἆρ' οὖν ἀπεσμήξατε τὴν γλῶσσαν ἀπὸ τῆς χαλεπῆς κηλῖδος; ἆρα ἐφυγαδεύσατε τὴν λύμην ἀπὸ τῆς ἱερᾶς ὑμῶν ψυχῆς; ἐγὼ στοχάζομαι, ὅτι ἀπεσμήξατε· καὶ γὰρ βασιλέα ὑποδέχεσθαι μέγαν μέλλετε καὶ διδασκαλίας ἀπολαῦσαι πολλῆς καὶ πνευματικῆς τῶν συνετωτέρων πατέρων. καὶ ὁ χρόνος δὲ ἱκανὸς καὶ ἡ δοθεῖσα προθεσμία πρὸς τὴν διόρθωσιν πρὸς τῷ τέλει λοιπόν ἐστι, καὶ ὑμεῖς εὐήνιοι καὶ καταπειθεῖς· "πείθεσθε γὰρ τοῖς ἡγουμένοις ὑμῶν καὶ ὑπείκετε", λέγει ὁ ἀπόστολος, καὶ ἐν παντὶ ὑπακούετε αὐτοῖς. ἀπὸ τούτων πάντων στοχαζόμενος νομίζω κατωρθῶσθαι τὸ πᾶν. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐβουλόμην στοχάζεσθαι καὶ νομίζειν, ἀλλ' εἰδέναι σαφῶς· καὶ γὰρ ἂν προθυμότερον τῶν μυστικωτέρων ἡψάμην λόγων, τὴν φροντίδα ἀποθέμενος τὴν περὶ τῶν ὅρκων, καὶ μετὰ πλείονος ἀδείας ὑμᾶς ἐχειραγώγησα πρὸς τὴν φρικτὴν ταύτην μυσταγωγίαν, καὶ εἰσήγαγον ἂν εἰς τὰ ἄδυτα αὐτὰ καὶ ἔδειξα τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖ πάντα, οὐχὶ ὑδρίαν χρυσῆν μάννα ἔχουσαν, ἀλλὰ σῶμα τὸ δεσποτικόν, τὸν ἄρτον τὸν οὐράνιον. ἔδειξα ἂν ὑμῖν οὐ κιβωτὸν ξυλίνην λιθίνας ἔχουσαν πλάκας καὶ νόμον, ἀλλὰ σάρκα ἄμωμον καὶ ἁγίαν ἔχουσαν αὐτὸν τὸν νομοθέτην. ἔδειξα ἂν ἔνδον οὐ πρόβατον ἄμωμον ἐσφαγιασμένον, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀμνὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τεθυμένον, θυσίαν μυστικήν, ἣν καὶ αὐτοὶ τρέμουσιν οἱ ἄγγελοι βλέποντες. ἔδειξα ἂν ὑμῖν οὐ τὸν Ἀαρὼν εἰσιόντα μετὰ χρυσῆς στολῆς, ἀλλὰ τὸν μονογενῆ εἰσιόντα, τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως ἔχοντα, αὐτῷ δεικνύντα τῷ πατρὶ τοῦ κατορθώματος τὸ μέγεθος· "οὐ γὰρ εἰς χειροποίητα", φησίν, "ἅγια εἰσῆλθεν ὁ Χριστός, ἀντίτυπα τῶν ἀληθινῶν, ἀλλ' εἰς 156 αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανόν, νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ θεοῦ". ἔστιν ἐκεῖ καταπέτασμα οὐχὶ τοιοῦτον, οἷον εἶχεν ὁ ναὸς ὁ Ἰουδαϊκός, ἀλλὰ πολὺ φρικωδέστερον. ἄκουσον γοῦν, οἷόν ἐστι τοῦτο τὸ καταπέτασμα, ἵνα μάθῃς οἷα μὲν ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, οἷα δὲ ταῦτα. "ἔχοντες", φησί, "πολλὴν παρρησίαν εἰς τὴν εἴσοδον τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ αἵματι Ἰησοῦ, ἣν ἐνεκαίνισεν ἡμῖν ὁδὸν πρόσφατον καὶ ζῶσαν διὰ τοῦ καταπετάσματος, τουτέστι τῆς σαρκὸς αὑτοῦ". εἶδες, πῶς τοῦτο ἐκείνου φρικωδέστερον τὸ καταπέτασμα; πρὸς ταῦτα ἐβουλόμην ὑμᾶς ἅπαντα μυσταγωγῆσαι τήμερον.

Ἀλλὰ τί πάθω; οὐκ ἀφίησί με ἡ τῶν ὅρκων φροντὶς κατατήκουσά μου τὴν ψυχήν· καὶ οἶδα μέν, ὅτι πολλοὶ καταγνώσονται τὴν τῶν λεγομένων ὑπερβολήν, ἀκούσαντες ὅτι κατατήκει μου τὴν ψυχήν· καὶ γὰρ μικρὸν εἶναι νομίζουσι τὸ ἁμάρτημα· ἐγὼ δὲ διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον θρηνῶ. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ ἔστι χαλεπὰ καὶ νομίζεται εἶναι χαλεπά· οἷον ὁ φόνος καὶ ἡ μοιχεία καὶ ἔστι χαλεπὸν καὶ νομίζεται εἶναι χαλεπόν, ὁ δὲ ὅρκος ἔστι μὲν χαλεπόν, οὐ νομίζεται δὲ εἶναι χαλεπόν. διὰ τοῦτο θρηνῶ καὶ δέδοικα τὸ ἁμάρτημα· τοῦτο γάρ, τοῦτο τῆς μεθοδείας