1

De Babyla contra Julianum et gentiles

Of our father among the saints John, archbishop of Constantinople, Chrysostom, discourse on the blessed

Babylas and against the Greeks

1 Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he was about to go to his passion and to die the life-giving death, on that very last night, calling his own disciples aside, he discussed and advised many other things, and among the others he said something of this sort to them: 'Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do.' And yet many other teachers have existed and have had disciples and have shown wonders, as the children of the Greeks boast, but nevertheless none of them ever conceived of such a thing nor dared to say it. Nor could the children of the Greeks, even if they were shameless in all things, show such a prophecy or saying laid down among them, but while many say that many wonder-workers among them showed apparitions of the departed and phantoms of certain dead people, and they say that some voices were brought forth from tombs to some people, that any of the men who lived and were admired among them, or those whom they considered to be gods after death, said anything of this sort to his own disciples, none of them would ever maintain.

2 And if you wish, I will state the reason why, while lying shamelessly and barefacedly about all other things, they never dared to fabricate anything of this sort. For they did not abstain from this device simply or without some reason, but those destroyers saw this maliciously, that he who intends to deceive must compose things that are plausible and full of elegance and difficult to detect when exposed. For it is the custom of skilled hunters of both fish and birds not to set out their traps bare, but by carefully covering them all around with bait, so each group overcomes their respective prey. But if, having uncovered them, they presented them to be seen by those about to be caught, neither fish nor bird would ever have gotten inside those nets; rather, they would not even have approached them in the first place, but each hunter, both of the sea and of the land, would have gone home with empty hands. Since, therefore, it was their purpose to ensnare men, they did not cast the deception bare into the sea, but having fabricated and composed things that could capture the more irrational, they refrained from proceeding further with the lie, fearing the excess and being afraid that by the immoderation of the second part they might undo the first.

3 For if they had said that someone among them had promised such a thing as our Savior said to his own disciples, those deceived by them would have laughed at them as being unable even to lie plausibly. For to both foretell such things and to fulfill them with truth belongs to that blessed power alone. But if demons ever had the power to delude the deceived a little, it was when the fount of light was not yet known to the many. And even then it was shown immediately that the deeds being performed were the works of demons, by the other deceit and by the sacrifices themselves. For to command that their own altars be reddened with human blood and to order that such sacrificial victims be slaughtered by those who begat them, what excess of madness would this not conceal?

4 For those who are never sated by our misfortunes nor know any limit or end to the battle against us, but are always raging immortally, just as

1

De Babyla contra Julianum et gentiles

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου λόγος εἰς τὸν μακάριον

Βαβύλαν καὶ κατὰ Ἑλλήνων

1 Ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς μέλλων πρὸς τὸ πάθος ἤδη χωρεῖν καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἀποθνήσκειν τὸν ζωοποιὸν αὐτῇ τῇ τελευταίᾳ νυκτί, καλέσας ἰδίᾳ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητάς, ἄλλα τε διελέχθη πολλὰ καὶ παρῄνεσε καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων εἶπέ τι καὶ τοιοῦτον αὐτοῖς· "Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ, τὰ ἔργα ἃ ἐγὼ ποιῶ κἀκεῖνος ποιήσει καὶ μείζονα τούτων ποιήσει." Καίτοι πολλοὶ ἕτεροι διδάσκαλοί τε ἐγένοντο καὶ μαθητὰς ἔσχον καὶ θαύματα ἐπεδείξαντο καθὼς Ἑλλήνων παῖδες κομπάζουσι, ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδεὶς οὐδέποτε ἐκείνων τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν οὔτε εἰς νοῦν ἐβάλετο οὔτε εἰπεῖν ἐτόλμησεν. Οὐδ' ἂν ἔχοιεν Ἑλλήνων παῖδες, κἂν πάντα ἀναισχυντοῖεν, ἐπιδεῖξαι πρόρρησιν ἢ λόγον τοιοῦτον κείμενον παρ' αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ φάσματα μὲν τῶν κατοιχομένων καὶ νεκρῶν τινῶν εἴδωλα δεῖξαι πολλοὶ πολλοὺς παρ' αὐτοῖς θαυματοποιούς φασι, καὶ φωνὰς δέ τινας ἀπὸ μνημείων τισὶν ἐνεχθῆναι λέγουσιν, ὅτι δέ τις τῶν ζησάντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ θαυμασθέντων παρ' αὐτοῖς ἢ οὓς μετὰ τελευτὴν ἐνόμισαν εἶναι θεοὺς εἶπέ τι τοιοῦτον τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς οὐδεὶς ἂν αὐτῶν διισχυρίσαιτό ποτε.

2 Καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν δὲ εἰ βούλεσθε ἐρῶ, διὰ τί τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ἀπηρυθριασμένως καὶ γυμνῇ ψευδόμενοι τῇ κεφαλῇ, τοιοῦτον οὐδέποτε οὐδὲν πλάσασθαι ἐτόλμησαν. Οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ ἄνευ τινὸς λόγου ταύτης ἀπέσχοντο τῆς μηχανῆς, ἀλλ' εἶδον τοῦτο κακούργως οἱ λυμεῶνες ἐκεῖνοι, ὅτι τὸν μέλλοντα ἀπατᾶν πιθανά τινα καὶ πολλῆς γέμοντα κομψείας καὶ πρὸς τὸ φωραθῆναι δυσδιάγνωστα συντιθέναι χρή. Καὶ γὰρ τοὺς δεινοὺς τῶν τε ἰχθύων τῶν τε ὀρνίθων θηρευτὰς ἔθος οὐ γυμνὰ προτιθέναι τὰ θήρατρα, ἀλλὰ τῷ δελέατι πάντοθεν αὐτὰ περιστεί λαντας ἀκριβῶς οὕτω τῆς ἄγρας περιγενέσθαι ἑκατέρας ἑκατέρους. Εἰ δὲ ἐκκαλύψαντες αὐτὰ τοῖς ἁλίσκεσθαι μέλλουσιν οὕτω παρεῖχον ὁρᾶν, οὔτε ἰχθῦς οὔτε ὄρνις τῶν ἀρκύων ἐκείνων ἐντὸς ἂν ἐγένοντό ποτε, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδ' ἂν τὴν ἀρχὴν προσῆλθον αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ κεναῖς ἂν ἕκαστος οἴκαδε ἀπῆλθε χερσὶν ὅ τε θαλάττιος ὅ τε χερσαῖος θηρατής. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ τούτοις σαγηνεύειν ἀνθρώπους προὔκειτο οὐκ ἔρριψαν γυμνὴν τὴν ἀπάτην εἰς τὸ τοῦ πέλαγος, ἀλλὰ πλασάμενοι καὶ συνθέντες τὰ δυνάμενα τοὺς ἀλογωτέρους ἑλεῖν περαιτέρω προελθεῖν ἐφείσαντο τῷ ψεύδει δεδοικότες τὴν ὑπερβολὴν καὶ φοβούμενοι μὴ τῇ τῶν δευτέρων ἀμετρίᾳ καὶ τὰ πρότερα ἀναλύσωσαν.

3 Εἰ γὰρ εἶπον ὅτι τοιοῦτόν τι παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐπηγγείλατό τις οἷον ὁ ἡμέτερος Σωτὴρ τοῖς μαθηταῖς εἶπε τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ οἱ παρ' αὐτῶν ἠπατημένοι κατεγέλασαν ἂν αὐτῶν ὡς οὐδὲ πιθανὰ ψεύσασθαι δυνηθέντων. Τὸ γὰρ τοιαῦτα καὶ προλέγειν καὶ πληροῦν μετὰ ἀληθείας, τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης δυνάμεως μόνης ἐστίν. Εἰ δέ τι καὶ δαίμονες ἴσχυσάν ποτε φαντάσαι τοὺς ἠπατημένους μικρὸν, ἀλλ' ὅτε οὔπω τοῦ φωτὸς ἡ πηγὴ γνώριμος ἦν τοῖς πολλοῖς. Καὶ τότε δὲ αὐτόθεν ἐδείκνυτο ὅτι δαιμόνων ἦν ἔργα τὰ τελούμενα τῇ τε ἄλλῃ ἀπάτῃ καὶ ταῖς θυσίαις αὐταῖς. Τὸ γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνοις αἵμασι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν προστάττειν φοινίττεσθαι βωμοὺς καὶ παρὰ τῶν σπειράντων τὰ τοιαῦτα αὐτοῖς κελεύειν ἱερεῖα καταβάλλεσθαι, τίνα οὐκ ἂν ἀποκρύψειε μανίας ὑπερβολήν;

4 Οἱ γὰρ μηδέποτε ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων κορεννύμενοι συμφορῶν μηδὲ εἰδότες ὅρον τινὰ καὶ πέρας τῆς μάχης τῆς πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ ἀθάνατα λυττῶντες ἀεὶ καθάπερ