John Chrysostom, On Almsgiving

De eleemosyna

HOMILY 3. On almsgiving, and on the rich man and Lazarus.

64.433 A. Great is the benefit of almsgiving. Nothing else is equal to almsgiving. No virtue has such power to wipe away sins. For this reason Holy Scripture also says: He who has mercy on the poor, lends to God. If you lend a man gold, he is bound by securities and by written contracts. But with God it is not so. But you give to the martyrs' shrines, to the poor, and God undertakes to repay the loan. What you lent to the poor, he hastens to discharge the pledge, and he does not simply repay, but repays with great blessing, saying: Come, you blessed of my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. If you lend to a man, sometimes he does not repay the loan, nor does he want to see your face; 64.436 but God, having borrowed on behalf of those who abide at the martyrs' shrines and the poor, does not repay the loan and send them away, but also makes the lenders fellow-heirs, saying: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. When did the Lord prepare it? When? When you bore fruit in the churches and at the martyrs' shrines, when you celebrated the memorials of the saints, when you lent your bread to the poor, when you received the poor into your house, when you clothed the poor with a garment, when you visited the sick and those in prison, when you were doing these things, I was preparing the kingdom. B. And see the greatness of almsgiving, that no virtue is preferred to it. For he did not say, You kept your virginity for my sake; he said none of these things. I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. Great also are virginity, and fasting, and the other virtues; but they happen to be less than almsgiving. The five foolish virgins also kept their virginity; but since they had no almsgiving, they remained outside the bridal chamber. For the five wise virgins had almsgiving along with their virginity; for this reason they entered the bridal chamber. But the five foolish virgins kept only their virginity, expecting through it to enter the kingdom of heaven, and they acquired nothing else, neither almsgiving nor anything else. For this reason the Lord also says to them: Depart from me, I do not know you. For this reason they were also called foolish, because they kept only their virginity, and did not practice almsgiving. C. For just as if someone lights a lamp, and does not put oil in, it is extinguished; so also if one acquires virginity, and does not nourish the poor with the oil of almsgiving, he has gained nothing. Great is the business of almsgiving. If you desire to buy a cloak or oxen, you take up expenses and gold, and you go to a market, and burning in the sun you sometimes hunger and thirst. And enduring all these things, you are barely able to achieve your goal; and when you succeed, the seller will not give it as you wish, but as he himself pleases. You swear, I will not buy it for so much; he swears, I will not sell it for so much. And the first sin comes between you, as Solomon said, that: Between selling and buying sin will arise. For it is necessary for one to swear falsely, or both. For often neither the buyer in a single word, nor the seller. And when after so much labor you acquire what you desire, you do not have security. For often before arriving

De eleemosyna

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Γʹ. Περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης, καὶ εἰς τὸν πλούσιον καὶ τὸν Λάζαρον.

64.433 Αʹ. Μεγάλη τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης ἡ εὐεργεσία. Οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐξισάζεται τῇ ἐλεημοσύνῃ. Οὐδεμία ἀρετὴ ἐξισχύει οὕτως ἐξαλεῖψαι ἁμαρτίας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ θεία Γραφή φησιν· Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχῷ, δανείζει Θεῷ. Ἐὰν δανείσῃς ἀνθρώπῳ χρυσίον, δεσμεύει τοῖς τραύμασι καὶ τοῖς γράμμασιν. Ἐπὶ δὲ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν οὕτως. Ἀλλὰ τοῖς μαρτυρίοις διδοῖς, τοῖς πένησιν, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς προσκαλεῖ ἀποδοῦναι τὸ δάνειον. Ἂ ἐδάνεισας τῷ πένητι, σπεύδει λῦσαι τὴν ἐγγύην, καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἀποδίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πολλῆς εὐλογίας ἀποδιδοῖ λέγων· ∆εῦτε οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου· κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Ἄνθρωπον ἐὰν δανείσῃς, οὐκ, ἔστιν ὅτε, ἀποδίδωσι δάνειον, οὐδὲ τὸ πρόσωπόν σου θέλει ἰδεῖν· ὁ Θεὸς δανεισάμενος ἀντὶ τῶν παραμενόντων τοῖς μαρτυρίοις, καὶ τῶν πενήτων, οὐκ ἀποδίδωσι τὸ δάνειον καὶ ἀποπέμπει, ἀλλὰ καὶ συγκληρονόμους ποιεῖ τοὺς δανειστὰς, λέγων· ∆εῦτε οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μοι, κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Πότε ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Κύριος; Πότε; ὅτε σὺ ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις καὶ ἐν τοῖς μαρτυρίοις ἐκαρποφόρεις, ὅτε σὺ τὰς μνήμας τῶν ἁγίων ἐπετέλεις, ὅτε σὺ τοῖς πένησιν τὸν ἄρτον ἐδάνειζες, 64.436 ὅτε σὺ τοὺς πτωχοὺς εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου ἐδέχου, ὅτε σὺ τοὺς πτωχοὺς περιετίθεις ἱμάτιον, ὅτε σὺ τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς καὶ τοὺς ἐν φυλακῇ ἐπεσκέπτου, ὅτε σὺ ταῦτα ἐποίεις, ἐγὼ τὴν βασιλείαν ἡτοίμαζον. Βʹ. Καὶ βλέπε τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης, ὅτι οὐδεμία ἀρετὴ ἐγκρίνεται αὐτῆς. Οὐκ εἶπεν γὰρ, ὅτι Παρθενίαν δι' ἐμὲ ἐφυλάξατε· οὐδὲν τούτων εἶπεν. Ἐπείνασα, καὶ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν. Μεγάλη καὶ ἡ παρθενία, καὶ ἡ νηστεία, καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ ἀρεταί· ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης ἔλαττον τυγχάνουσαι. Ἐφύλαξαν καὶ πέντε παρθένοι αἱ μωραὶ παρθενίαν· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐλεημοσύνην οὐκ εἶχον, ἔμειναν ἔξω τοῦ νυμφῶνος. Αἱ γὰρ πέντε φρόνιμοι μετὰ τῆς παρθενίας καὶ ἐλεημοσύνην εἶχον· διὰ τοῦτο εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸν νυμφῶνα. Αἱ δὲ πέντε μωραὶ τὴν παρθενίαν μόνον ἐφύλαξαν προσδοκῶσαι δι' ἐκείνης εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐκτήσαντο, οὐδὲ ἐλεημοσύνην, οὐδ' ἕτερόν τι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Κύριός φησιν πρὸς αὐτάς· Ἀπέλθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ μωραὶ ἐκλήθησαν, ὅτι τὴν παρθενίαν μόνον ἐφύλαξαν, καὶ ἐλεημοσύνην οὐκ ἐποίησαν. Γʹ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐάν τις ἅψῃ λύχνον, καὶ μὴ ἐμβάλῃ τὸ ἔλαιον, σβέννυται· οὕτως καὶ ἐὰν κτήσηται παρθενίαν, καὶ μὴ τῷ ἐλαίῳ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης θρέψῃ τὸν πένητα, οὐδὲν ἐκέρδησεν. Μεγάλη τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης ἡ πραγματεία. Ἐὰν ἐπιθυμῇς ἀγοράσαι ἱμάτιον ἢ βόας, ἐπαίρεις δαπάνας καὶ χρυσίον, καὶ πορεύῃ εἰς πανήγυριν, καὶ καυσούμενος ἐνίοτε πεινᾷς καὶ διψᾷς. Καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ὑπομένων, μόλις δύνασαι τοῦ σκοποῦ τυχεῖν· καὶ ὅταν ἐπιτύχῃς, οὐχ ὡς θέλεις δώσει ὁ πωλῶν, ἀλλ' ὡς αὐτὸς ἀρέσκεται. Ὀμνύεις σὺ, Οὐκ ἀγοράζω τοσούτου· ὀμνύει ἐκεῖνος, Οὐκ ἐπιπράσκω τοσούτου. Καὶ γίνεται ἀνὰ μέσον ὑμῶν πρώτη ἁμαρτία, καθὼς εἶπεν Σολομὼν, ὅτι· Ἀνὰ μέσον πράσεως καὶ ἀγορᾶς γενήσεται ἡ ἁμαρτία. Ἀνάγκη γὰρ τὸν ἕνα ἐπιορκῆσαι, ἢ τοὺς δύο. Πολλάκις γὰρ οὔτε ὁ ἀγοράζων ἐνὶ ῥήματι, οὔτε ὁ πωλῶν. Καὶ ὅτε μετὰ τοσούτου κόπου κτῆσθαι ὃ ποθεῖς, οὐκ ἔχεις τὸ ἀσφαλές. Πολλάκις γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ φθάσαι