John Chrysostom, On Matthew

On Matthew (homilies 1-90)

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS JOHN CHRYSOSTOM ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE ALL THE EXTANT WORKS. COMMENTARY ON THE HOLY EVANGELIST MATTHEW.

57.13 HOMILY I.

1. We ought not, indeed, to have needed the help of the scriptures, but to have presented a life so pure, that the grace of the Spirit would have been instead of books to our souls, and as these are inscribed with ink, so our hearts would have been inscribed by the Spirit. But since we have rejected this grace, come, let us embrace at least the second voyage. For that the former was better, God has shown both by what He said and by what He did. For to Noah, and to Abraham, and to his descendants, and to Job, and to Moses Himself, He did not discourse by letters, but He Himself by Himself, finding their mind pure. But when the whole people of the Hebrews fell into the very pit of wickedness, then there were letters and tablets, and the reminder through these. And one might see this having happened not only to the saints in the Old, but also to those in the New. For God gave nothing in writing to the apostles, but instead of writings 57.14 He promised to give the grace of the Spirit: For He, He says, will remind you of all things. And that you may learn that this was far better, hear what He says through the prophet: I will make a new covenant with you, giving my laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will write them, and they shall all be taught by God. And Paul, indicating this superiority, said he had received the law, not on tablets of stone, but on fleshy tablets of the heart. But as time went on they went astray, some for the sake of doctrines, others of life and morals, and there was again need of the reminder from the scriptures. Consider then how great an evil it is, that we who ought to live so purely as not even to need scriptures, but to offer our hearts to the Spirit instead of books, now that we have lost that honor, and have come to need them, do not even use this second remedy to our advantage. For if it is a fault to have needed scriptures, and not to have drawn down 57.15 the grace of the Spirit, consider how great the accusation is, not to be willing to profit even after this help, but to despise the scriptures as if they lay there for no purpose and in vain, and to draw upon ourselves a greater punishment. That this may not happen, let us attend with exactness to the things written, and let us learn how the old law was given, and how the New Covenant. How then was that law given, and when and where? After the destruction of the Egyptians, in the desert, on Mount Sinai, with smoke and fire ascending from the mountain, a trumpet sounding, thunders and lightnings occurring, while Moses entered into the darkness itself. But in the New, not so; neither in a desert, nor on a mountain, nor with smoke and darkness and gloom and storm; but at the beginning of the day, in a house, with all sitting together, all things took place with great gentleness. For the more irrational and stubborn there was need of a corporeal display, such as a desert, a mountain, smoke, the sound of a trumpet, and other such things; but for those who were more exalted and obedient and had risen above the notion of bodies, there was need of none of these things. And if a sound also occurred in their presence, it was not for the apostles' sake, but for the sake of the Jews who were present, on whose account also the tongues of fire appeared. For if even after this they said, They are full of new wine, much more would they have said this, if they had seen none of these things. And in the Old, when Moses went up, thus God

In Matthaeum (homiliae 1-90)

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΕΩΣ ΤΑ ΕΥΡΙΣΚΟΜΕΝΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ. ΥΠΟΜΝΗΜΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΓΙΟΝ ΜΑΤΘΑΙΟΝ ΤΟΝ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΣΤΗΝ.

57.13 ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Αʹ.

αʹ. Ἔδει μὲν ἡμᾶς μηδὲ δεῖσθαι τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν γραμμάτων βοηθείας, ἀλλ' οὕτω

βίον παρέχεσθαι καθαρὸν, ὡς τοῦ Πνεύματος τὴν χάριν ἀντὶ βιβλίων γίνεσθαι ταῖς ἡμετέραις ψυχαῖς, καὶ καθάπερ ταῦτα διὰ μέλανος, οὕτω τὰς καρδίας τὰς ἡμετέρας διὰ Πνεύματος ἐγγεγράφθαι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ταύτην διεκρουσάμεθα τὴν χάριν, φέρε κἂν τὸν δεύτερον ἀσπασώμεθα πλοῦν. Ἐπεὶ ὅτι τὸ πρότερον ἄμεινον ἦν, καὶ δι' ὧν εἶπε, καὶ δι' ὧν ἐποίησεν, ἐδήλωσεν ὁ Θεός. Καὶ γὰρ τῷ Νῶε, καὶ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τοῖς ἐγγόνοις τοῖς ἐκείνου, καὶ τῷ Ἰὼβ, καὶ τῷ Μωϋσεῖ δὲ οὐ διὰ γραμμάτων διελέγετο, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς δι' ἑαυτοῦ, καθαρὰν εὑρίσκων αὐτῶν τὴν διάνοιαν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἰς αὐτὸν τῆς κακίας ἐνέπεσε τὸν πυθμένα ἅπας τῶν Ἑβραίων ὁ δῆμος, τότε λοιπὸν γράμματα καὶ πλάκες, καὶ ἡ διὰ τούτων ὑπόμνησις. Καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ Παλαιᾷ ἁγίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ Καινῇ συμβὰν ἴδοι τις ἄν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἔδωκέ τι γραπτὸν ὁ Θεὸς, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ γραμμάτων 57.14 τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπηγγείλατο δώσειν χάριν· Ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἀναμνήσει, φησὶ, πάντα. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι τοῦτο πολὺ ἄμεινον ἦν, ἄκουσον διὰ τοῦ προφήτου τί φησι· ∆ιαθήσομαι ὑμῖν διαθήκην καινὴν, διδοὺς νόμους μου εἰς διάνοιαν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίας γράψω αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἔσονται πάντες διδακτοὶ Θεοῦ. Καὶ ὁ Παῦλος δὲ ταύτην ἐνδεικνύμενος τὴν ὑπεροχὴν, ἔλεγεν εἰληφέναι νόμον, οὐκ ἐν πλαξὶ λιθίναις, ἀλλ' ἐν πλαξὶ καρδίας σαρκίναις. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου προϊόντος ἐξώκειλαν, οἱ μὲν δογμάτων ἕνεκεν, οἱ δὲ βίου καὶ τρόπων, ἐδέησε πάλιν τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν γραμμάτων ὑπομνήσεως. Ἐννόησον οὖν ἡλίκον ἐστὶ κακὸν, τοὺς οὕτως ὀφείλοντας ζῇν καθαρῶς, ὡς μηδὲ δεῖσθαι γραμμάτων, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ βιβλίων παρέχειν τὰς καρδίας τῷ Πνεύματι, ἐπειδὴ τὴν τιμὴν ἀπωλέσαμεν ἐκείνην, καὶ κατέστημεν εἰς τὴν τούτων χρείαν, μηδὲ τῷ δευτέρῳ πάλιν κεχρῆσθαι φαρμάκῳ εἰς δέον. Εἰ γὰρ ἔγκλημα τὸ γραμμάτων δεηθῆναι, καὶ μὴ τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος 57.15 ἐπισπάσασθαι χάριν, σκόπησον ἡλίκη κατηγορία, τὸ μηδὲ μετὰ τὴν βοήθειαν ταύτην ἐθέλειν κερδαίνειν, ἀλλ' ὡς εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην κείμενα τὰ γράμματα περιορᾷν, καὶ μείζονα ἐπισπᾶσθαι τὴν κόλασιν. Ὅπερ ἵνα μὴ γένηται, προσέχωμεν μετὰ ἀκριβείας τοῖς γεγραμμένοις, καὶ μάθωμεν πῶς μὲν ὁ παλαιὸς ἐδόθη νόμος, πῶς δὲ ἡ Καινὴ ∆ιαθήκη. Πῶς οὖν ὁ νόμος ἐκεῖνος ἐδόθη τότε, καὶ πότε καὶ ποῦ; Μετὰ τὸν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ὄλεθρον, ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρήμου, ἐν τῷ ὄρει Σινᾶ, καπνοῦ καὶ πυρὸς ἀνιόντος ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους, σάλπιγγος ἠχούσης, βροντῶν καὶ ἀστραπῶν γινομένων, τοῦ Μωϋσέως εἰς αὐτὸν εἰσιόντος τὸν γνόφον. Ἐν τῇ Καινῇ δὲ οὐχ οὕτως· οὔτε ἐν ἐρήμῳ, οὔτε ἐν ὄρει, οὔτε μετὰ καπνοῦ καὶ σκότους καὶ γνόφου καὶ θυέλλης· ἀλλ' ἀρχομένης ἡμέρας, ἐν οἰκίᾳ, πάντων συγκαθημένων, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἡμερότητος πάντα ἐγίνετο. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἀλογωτέροις καὶ δυσηνίοις σωματικῆς ἔδει φαντασίας, οἷον ἐρημίας, ὄρους, καπνοῦ, σάλπιγγος ἠχῆς, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων· τοῖς δὲ ὑψηλοτέροις καὶ καταπειθέσι καὶ τὴν τῶν σωμάτων ἔννοιαν ὑπεραναβεβηκόσιν, οὐδενὸς ἦν τούτων χρεία. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῶν ἦχος ἐγένετο, οὐ διὰ τοὺς ἀποστόλους, ἀλλὰ διὰ τοὺς παρόντας Ἰουδαίους, δι' οὓς καὶ αἱ τοῦ πυρὸς ὤφθησαν γλῶσσαι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγον, ὅτι Γλεύκους μεμεστωμένοι εἰσὶ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον, εἰ μηδὲν τούτων εἶδον, ταῦτα ἂν εἶπον. Καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς Παλαιᾶς, Μωϋσέως ἀναβάντος, οὕτως ὁ Θεὸς