John Chrysostom, On Prayer

De oratione

On Prayer.

62.737 Come all, brothers, let us know the one who made us, our Lord Jesus Christ, the good and man-loving and merciful one, who does not want the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live. All of you, watch and be ready, because you do not know at what hour our Lord is coming; come, hear him saying: Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Therefore, brothers, since the judgment is at the doors, there is need of many tears, much lamentation, much prayer, a prayer not made today and tomorrow.

For prayer is an inexhaustible treasure of every good thing, a stormless harbor, a cause of tranquility, a hospital for the soul; prayer is psalmody, sanctification of soul and body; and, simply to say, prayer, opening the gates of heaven, brings every person to God, both small and great, rich and poor, the one praying with his whole soul each day it makes greater than the angels. But what is the cold argument of the many? "I am a sinner," he says, "and without boldness, full of shame, and I cannot look up and see the height of heaven, because I have sinned much both in words and in deeds and in thought, and every day and hour I have spent my life in dissipation, and with what face or boldness shall I enter the church? How shall I open my wicked and unclean mouth? How shall I move my lips, or for which of my wicked deeds shall I first entreat God?" So then, are you saying these satanic words? Learn whom Christ calls, having come upon the earth, the righteous, or sinners; for he says thus: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. "I am a sinner," 62.738 he says, "and how shall I enter the church that I may become righteous?" You speak well: "Because I hear, and I do not keep it; and what is the benefit to me?" And I say to you again: whether you keep it or you do not keep it, just enter the church, you hear the divine Scriptures, hear the reading.

I know truly, that if you enter the church, and hear the divine Gospels, and the teachers of the apostles, and the divine fathers, even if you have a heart of stone, even if you have the mind and ferocity of a wild beast, sooner or later you are able to be brought to compunction easily. Are you a sinner? Enter the church, fall down, weep, lament, groan, shed tears. Have you sinned? Confess your sins to God; say only this, "I have sinned;" say it to God who knows before its genesis; say it to God who tests hearts and reins; say it here, so that you may not be shamed and convicted there by myriads of angels and men. Tell me, what is better, to confess here in church to God alone and to your spiritual father, or to be publicly exposed there by so many myriads? Are you a sinner? Say it only, I ask nothing else of you, only groan. What compulsion is this? What affliction? What expenditure of money? What difficulty is it to say only, "I have sinned?" But you say, "I am ashamed." O wretched and miserable one, when you were committing the sin, you were not ashamed, and when you wish to repent and be saved, you are ashamed? When you were embracing the wicked harlot, and doing a wicked deed, you were not ashamed, and now you are ashamed? When you were sinning, when you were fornicating and committing adultery, you were not ashamed, and when you repent and wish to be saved, then you are ashamed? When you were seizing the property of others, when you were oppressing widows and 62.739 despising the poor, you were not ashamed, and now you are ashamed? When you were swearing by the dreadful name of God, and bearing false witness, when you were forswearing yourself, when you were doing every evil and wicked deed that God hates, you were not ashamed,

De oratione

Περὶ εὐχῆς.

62.737 ∆εῦτε πάντες, ἀδελφοὶ, γνωρίσωμεν τὸν ποιήσαντα ἡμᾶς τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, τὸν ἀγαθὸν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον καὶ οἰκτίρμονα, τὸν μὴ θέλοντα τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι καὶ ζῇν αὐτόν. Οἱ πάντες γρηγορεῖτε καὶ γίνεσθε ἕτοιμοι, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε ποίᾳ ὥρᾳ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν ἔρχεται· δεῦτε, ἀκούσατε αὐτοῦ λέγοντος· Μετανοεῖτε· ἤγγικε γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. Λοιπὸν, ἀδελφοὶ, ἐφ' ὅσον ἐπὶ θύραις ἡ κρίσις ἐστὶ, πολλῶν δακρύων, πολλοῦ ὀδυρμοῦ, πολλῆς εὐχῆς χρεία, εὐχῆς οὐ σήμερον καὶ αὔριον γενομένης.

Εὐχὴ γὰρ θησαυρὸς ἀνέκλειπτος παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ, λιμὴν ἀχείμαστος, γαλήνης ὑπόθεσις, ψυχῆς ἰατρεῖον· εὐχὴ ψαλμῳδία, ἁγιασμὸς ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος· καὶ, ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, εὐχὴ πύλας οὐρανοῦ ἀνοίγουσα, Θεῷ προσάγει πάντα ἄνθρωπον μικρόν τε καὶ μέγαν, πλούσιον καὶ πένητα, τὸν ὁλόψυχον καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν εὐχόμενον μείζονα ἀγγέλων ἐργάζεται. Ἀλλὰ τίς ὁ ψυχρὸς τῶν πολλῶν ὁ λόγος; Ἁμαρτωλός εἰμι, φησὶ, καὶ ἀπαῤῥησίαστος, αἰσχύνης γέμων, καὶ οὐ δύναμαι ἀτενίσαι καὶ ἰδεῖν τὸ ὕψος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὅτι πολλὰ ἥμαρτον καὶ ἐν λόγοις καὶ ἐν ἔργοις καὶ κατὰ διάνοιαν, καὶ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν καὶ ὥραν ἐδαπάνησα ἐν ἀσωτίᾳ τὴν ζωήν μου, καὶ ποίῳ προσώπῳ ἢ παῤῥησίᾳ εἰσέλθω εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν; πῶς ἀνοίξω τὸ πονηρὸν καὶ ἀκάθαρτόν μου στόμα; πῶς τὰ χείλη μου κινήσω, ἢ παρακαλέσω ὑπὲρ ποίων μου πονηρῶν πράξεων πρῶτον τὸν Θεόν; Οὕτως οὖν σατανικὰ ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα λέγεις; Μάθε, τίνας καλεῖ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, δικαίους, ἢ ἁμαρτωλούς· λέγει γὰρ οὕτως· Οὐκ ἦλθον καλέσαι δικαίους, ἀλλὰ ἁμαρτωλοὺς εἰς μετάνοιαν. Ἁμαρ 62.738 τωλός εἰμι, φησὶ, καὶ πῶς εἰσέλθω εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἵνα γένωμαι δίκαιος; Καλὰ λέγεις· ὅτι ἀκούω, καὶ οὐ φυλάττω· καὶ τί μοι τὸ ὄφελος; Κἀγὼ πάλιν λέγω σοι· κἂν φυλάττῃς, κἂν οὐ φυλάττῃς, μόνον εἴσελθε εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἀκούεις τῶν θείων Γραφῶν, ἄκουε τῆς ἀναγνώσεως.

Οἶδα ἀληθῶς, ὅτι ἐὰν εἰσέρχῃ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ ἀκούεις τῶν θείων Εὐαγγελίων, καὶ τῶν διδασκάλων τῶν ἀποστόλων, καὶ τῶν θείων πατέρων, κἂν λιθίνην καρδίαν ἔχῃς, κἂν θηρίου γνώμην καὶ ἀγριότητα, ὀψέ ποτε καὶ ῥᾳδίως κατανυγῆναι ἔχεις. Ἁμαρτωλὸς εἶ; εἴσελθε εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, πρόπεσον, κλαῦσον, θρήνησον, στέναξον, δάκρυσον. Ἥμαρτες; ἐξομολόγησαι Θεῷ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου· εἰπὲ μόνον τὸ, Ἥμαρτον· εἰπὲ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ εἰδότι πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτοῦ· εἰπὲ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ ἐτάζοντι καρδίας καὶ νεφρούς· εἰπὲ ἐνταῦθα, ἵνα μὴ ἐκεῖ ὑπὸ μυριάδων ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀνθρώπων αἰσχυνόμενος ἐλεγχθῇς. Εἰπέ μοι, τί ἐστι κάλλιον ὧδε ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ τῷ Θεῷ μόνῳ ἐξομολογήσασθαι καὶ τῷ πνευματικῷ σου πατρὶ, ἢ ἐκεῖ ὑπὸ τοσούτων μυριάδων δημοσιεύεσθαι; Ἁμαρτωλὸς εἶ; εἰπὲ μόνον, οὐδὲν ἄλλο σε ἀπαιτῶ, μόνον στέναξον. Ποία ἀνάγκη τοῦτο; ποία θλῖψις; ποία χρημάτων δαπάνη; Ποία δυσκολία εἰπεῖν μόνον τὸ, Ἥμαρτον; Ἀλλὰ λέγεις, ὅτι Αἰσχύνομαι. Ἄθλιε καὶ ταλαίπωρε, ὅτε ἐποίεις τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, οὐκ ᾐσχύνου, καὶ ὅτε μετανοῆσαι καὶ σωθῆναι θέλεις, αἰσχύνῃ; ὅτε περιεπλέκου τὴν πόρνην τὴν πονηρὰν, καὶ πονηρὰν πρᾶξιν ποιῶν, οὐκ ᾐσχύνου, καὶ ἄρτι αἰσχύνῃ; ὅτε ἡμάρτανες, ὅτε ἐπόρνευες καὶ ἐμοίχευες, οὐκ ᾐσχύνου, καὶ ὅταν μετανοήσῃς καὶ θέλῃς σωθῆναι, τότε αἰσχύνῃ; ὅτε ἥρπαζες τὰ ἀλλότρια, ὅτε χήρας ἔθλιβες καὶ κατ 62.739 εφρόνεις πένητας, οὐκ ᾐσχύνου, καὶ ἄρτι αἰσχύνῃ; ὅτε ὤμνυες τὸ φρικτὸν ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐψευδομαρτύρεις, ὅτε ἐπιώρκεις, ὅτε πᾶν κακὸν καὶ πονηρὰ ἔργα, ἃ μισεῖ ὁ Θεὸς, ἔπραττες, οὐκ ᾐσχύνου,