John Chrysostom, On John

In Joannem (homiliae 1-88)

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ALL HIS EXTANT WORKS. COMMENTARY On Saint John the

Apostle and Evangelist.

59.23 HOMILY 1.

1. The spectators of the public games, when they learn that a noble athlete and champion has come from somewhere, all run together 59.24 to see his wrestling matches, and all his skill and strength; and you may see a whole theater of many thousands, all there straining the eyes both of their body and of their mind, so that 59.25 nothing of what happens may escape them. And if some wonderful musician should come to town, again in like manner these same people fill the theater, and leaving all things that are in their hands, though they are often necessary and urgent, they go up and sit down, listening with much earnestness to the songs and the instrumental music, and scrutinizing the harmony of them both. And this, the many. But those who are skilled in rhetoric do this very same thing again for the sophists. For these too have theaters, and hearers, and applause, and noise, and the most rigorous scrutiny of what is said. If then, for rhetoricians and musicians and athletes, some as spectators, others as both spectators and hearers, sit with so much eagerness; how much diligence and eagerness would it be right for you to show us, when not some musician, nor a sophist is now descending into the contest, but a man speaking from the heavens, and uttering a voice more clear than thunder? For it has held, and seized, and filled the whole world with its cry, not by shouting loudly, but by moving his tongue with divine grace. And the wonderful thing is that, though the cry is so great, it is not harsh or unpleasant, but sweeter and more longed for than any musical harmony, and knows how to charm more; and in addition to all this it is most holy and most awesome, and so full of mysteries, and bringing so many good things, that those who receive and keep them with exactness and zeal can no longer be men, nor remain on the earth, but stand above all worldly things, and having been changed to the angelic state, so to inhabit the earth as if it were heaven. For the son of thunder, the beloved of Christ, the pillar of the Churches throughout the world, who has the keys of heaven, who drank the cup of Christ, and was baptized with His baptism, who reclined on the Master's breast with great boldness, he it is who now enters before us; not acting a part in a play, nor hiding his head with a mask (for he will say no such things), nor mounting upon a platform, nor stamping on the stage with his foot, nor adorned with golden robes; but he enters having a garment of ineffable beauty. For having put on Christ he will appear to us, his beautiful feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, having his belt not around his chest, but around his loins; not of purple hide, nor gilded over with gold, but woven and composed of truth itself. He will appear to us now, having no hypocrisy; for there is no hypocrisy in him, nor fiction and myth; but with a bare head he announces the bare truth; not being one thing, and persuading his hearers of other things about himself by his bearing, by his look, by his voice; not needing instruments for his proclamation, such as a cithara or a lyre, or any other such thing; but all things with the

In Joannem (homiliae 1-88)

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΥ ΤΑ ΕΥΡΙΣΚΟΜΕΝΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ. ΥΠΟΜΝΗΜΑ Εἰς τὸν ἅγιον Ἰωάννην τὸν

Ἀπόστολον καὶ Εὐαγγελιστήν.

59.23 ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Αʹ.

αʹ. Οἱ τῶν ἀγώνων τῶν ἔξωθεν θεαταὶ, ὅταν τινὰ γενναῖον ἀθλητὴν καὶ στεφανίτην ποθὲν ἥκοντα μάθωσι, συντρέχου 59.24 σιν ἅπαντες ὥστε ἰδεῖν αὐτοῦ τὰ παλαίσματα, καὶ τὴν τέχνην καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν ἅπασαν· καὶ ἴδοις ἂν ὁλόκληρον θέατρον μυριάδων πολλῶν, πάντας ἐκεῖ καὶ τοὺς τοῦ σώματος καὶ τοὺς τῆς διανοίας συντείνοντας ὀφθαλμοὺς, ὥστε 59.25 μηδὲν αὐτοὺς τῶν γινομένων παραδραμεῖν. Καὶ μουσικὸς δὲ εἴ τις θαυμαστὸς ἐπιδημήσειε, πάλιν ὁμοίως οἱ αὐτοὶ δὴ οὗτοι πληροῦσι τὸ θέατρον, καὶ πάντα ἀφέντες τὰ ἐν χερσὶν, ἀναγκαῖα πολλάκις ὄντα καὶ κατεπείγοντα, ἀναβάντες κάθηνται, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σπουδῆς τῶν ᾠδῶν καὶ τῶν κρουμάτων ἀκούοντες, καὶ τὴν ἀμφοτέρων βασανίζοντες συμφωνίαν. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οἱ πολλοί. Οἱ δὲ ῥητορικῶν ἔμπειροι λόγων, καὶ αὐτοὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τῶν σοφιστῶν τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πράττουσιν. Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ τούτοις θέατρα, καὶ ἀκροαταὶ, καὶ κρότοι, καὶ ψόφος, καὶ βάσανος τῶν λεγομένων ἐσχάτη. Εἰ δὲ ῥητορικῶν αὐλητικῶν τε καὶ ἀθλητικῶν ἀνδρῶν, τῶν μὲν θεαταὶ, τῶν δὲ ὁμοῦ θεωρηταὶ καὶ ἀκροαταὶ μετὰ τοσαύτης κάθηνται τῆς προθυμίας· πόσην ἡμῖν καὶ σπουδὴν καὶ προθυμίαν ἂν εἴητε δίκαιοι παρασχεῖν, οὐκ αὐλητικοῦ τινος, οὐδὲ σοφιστικοῦ νῦν εἰς ἀγῶνα καθιέντος, ἀλλ' ἀνδρὸς ἀπὸ τῶν οὐρανῶν φθεγγομένου, καὶ βροντῆς λαμπροτέραν ἀφιέντος φωνήν; Πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπέσχε, καὶ κατέλαβε, καὶ ἐνέπλησε τῇ βοῇ, οὐ τῷ μέγα ἀνακραγεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῷ μετὰ τῆς θείας χάριτος κινῆσαι τὴν γλῶτταν. Καὶ τὸ δὴ θαυμαστὸν, ὅτι οὕτω μεγάλη οὖσα ἡ βοὴ, οὐκ ἔστι τραχεῖά τις, οὐδὲ ἀηδὴς, ἀλλὰ πάσης μουσικῆς ἁρμονίας ἡδίων καὶ ποθεινοτέρα, καὶ θέλξαι ἐπισταμένη πλέον· καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἅπασιν ἁγιωτάτη καὶ φρικωδεστάτη, καὶ τοσούτων γέμουσα ἀποῤῥήτων, καὶ τοσαῦτα κομίζουσα ἀγαθὰ, ἃ τοὺς μετὰ ἀκριβείας καὶ προθυμίας λαβόντας καὶ διαφυλάττοντας, οὐκ ἔνι λοιπὸν ἀνθρώπους εἶναι, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς μένειν, ἀλλ' ἀνωτέρω πάντων ἑστάναι τῶν βιωτικῶν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀγγελικὴν μεθαρμοσαμένους λῆξιν, καθάπερ τὸν οὐρανὸν, οὕτω τὴν γῆν οἰκεῖν. Ὁ γὰρ τῆς βροντῆς υἱὸς, ὁ ἀγαπητὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ στῦλος τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην Ἐκκλησιῶν, ὁ τὰς κλεῖς ἔχων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὁ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ Χριστοῦ πιὼν, καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα βαπτισθεὶς, ὁ κατακλιθεὶς ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος τὸ ∆εσποτικὸν μετὰ παῤῥησίας πολλῆς, οὗτος ἡμῖν εἰσέρχεται νῦν· οὐ δρᾶμα ὑποκρινόμενος, οὐδὲ προσωπείῳ κρύπτων τὴν κεφαλὴν (οὐ γὰρ τοιαῦτα ἐρεῖ), οὐδὲ ἐπ' ὀκρίβαντος ἀναβαίνων, οὐδὲ ὀρχήστραν τῷ ποδὶ κατακρούων, οὐδὲ ἐσθῆτι κεκοσμημένος χρυσῇ· ἀλλ' εἰσέρχεται στολὴν ἔχων ἀμήχανον ἔχουσαν κάλλος. Τὸν γὰρ Χριστὸν ἐνδεδυμένος ἡμῖν φανεῖται, τοὺς πόδας ὑποδεδεμένος τοὺς ὡραίους ἐν ἑτοιμασίᾳ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τῆς εἰρήνης, τὴν ζώνην οὐ περὶ τὸ στῆθος ἔχων, ἀλλὰ περὶ τὴν ὀσφύν· οὐκ ἀπὸ δέρματος φοινικοῦ, οὐδὲ ἄνωθεν ἠλειμμένην χρυσῷ, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξυφασμένην καὶ συγκειμένην αὐτῆς. Οὗτος ἡμῖν φανεῖται νῦν, οὐχ ὑπόκρισιν ἔχων· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὑπόκρισις παρ' αὐτῷ, οὐδὲ πλάσμα καὶ μῦθος· ἀλλὰ γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇ γυμνὴν ἀπαγγέλλει τὴν ἀλήθειαν· οὐχ ἕτερος μὲν ὢν, ἕτερα δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἀκούοντας πείθων τῷ σχήματι, τῷ βλέμματι, τῇ φωνῇ· οὐκ ὀργάνων πρὸς τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν δεόμενος, οἷον κιθάρας ἢ λύρας, ἤ τινος τῶν τοιούτων ἑτέρου· ἀλλὰ πάντα τῇ