John Chrysostom, On the Assumption of Our Lord Jesus Christ

In assumptionem domini nostri Jesu Christi

On the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

61.711 The device of sin has been turned against sin. For the cross was the device of sin, to clothe the sinless body with death; but the cross became for the crucified flesh a mechanism for the ascent into heaven, and what was said about sin has been changed. For formerly Paul proclaimed, *Sin, taking occasion through the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me*; but now the saying is fitting for the device of righteousness: for righteousness, taking occasion through sin, deceived it and killed it. This astounded Paul and moved him to that cry, *Great is the mystery of godliness*. For resurrection was hidden in the cross, and the birth of immortal life; the King, being born from Hades, brought forth blossoming immortality for men. Truly a very great mystery. How then is the mystery known? *He was manifested*, it says, *in the flesh*. And what is the manifestation? *He was justified in the Spirit*. What is the proof of righteousness? *He was seen by angels*. Angels, he says, knew the worth of the one who appeared; they came and ministered to him.

Credible, O Paul, are the heralds of righteousness, and they extol the power of Christ; show men, however, a sign of his strength. *He was preached*, he says, *among the nations*. The theological word about him ran, and this while being hindered by all; the preaching, though hindered, was spread abroad. What then if what is preached is only by hearing, and having been preached to the nations has become nonsense to those who heard? *He was preached*, he says, *and believed on in the world*. Then, showing this belief to be unhindered, *He was taken up*, he says, *in glory*. The strength of the Church was proclaimed, or rather the superintendence of the whole world together. For the common help of human nature is the humanity taken up today; for after it, punishments are more moderate. And consider for me the ancient punishments of men from God, and you will find the public benefit of the ascension. For one sin Adam was cast out, having stumbled; Cain was condemned to a long trembling of the body; heaven rained fire, as a gangrene of the earth, cauterizing Sodom; a woman was transformed into a pillar for transgressing the law of her flight. But what sort of differences there were for the peoples, hear the Scripture, as it relates in a lament: *They tempted*, it says, *God, and were destroyed by the serpents*. *They murmured*, it says, *and were destroyed by the destroyer*. *They committed fornication*, it says, *and twenty-three thousand fell in one day*. *The Lord*, it says, *sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed, and seventy thousand men died*. Why should I relate to you the proposals of God to the king at that time? *Thus says the Lord*, he says: *Choose for yourself either three years of famine in the land, or to flee for three months before your enemies while they pursue you, or else three days' pestilence in your land*. The writers of the Greeks also recount dramatically the misfortune of ancient times: the immensity of floods, the excess of conflagrations, famines of many years, the universal destruction of earthquakes, effusions of kindred blood, waves of successive wars. There was then no peace from the battle-lines of heaven and 61.712 earth, not for Greeks, not for barbarians, not for Jews. For it awaited the mediator who makes peace between the things above and the things below; about whom Paul says: *He himself is our peace, who has abolished in his flesh the enmity*. How many now are more wanton than the Sodomites? And the air does not pour out fire upon them, as before.

For it has received the surpassing mediator of peace and has been made gentle toward the race of men. How many are more wicked than the generation of Noah? and by a flood

In assumptionem domini nostri Jesu Christi

Εἰς τὴν ἀνάληψιν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

61.711 Τὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀντέστραπται τέχνημα. Τέχνη μὲν γὰρ τῆς ἁμαρτίας σταυρὸς, καὶ τὸ σῶμα θανάτῳ περιβαλεῖν ἀναμάρτητον· γέγονε δὲ ὁ σταυρὸς τῇ σταυρωθείσῃ σαρκὶ τῆς εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνόδου μηχάνημα, καὶ τὸ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ῥηθὲν μεταβέβληται. Πρότερον μὲν γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος ἐκήρυττεν, Ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀφορμὴν λαβοῦσα διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς, ἐξηπάτησέ με, καὶ δι' αὐτῆς ἀπέκτεινε· νῦν δὲ τῆς δικαιοσύνης τὸ ῥῆμα μηχανήματι πρέπον· ἡ γὰρ δικαιοσύνη ἀφορμὴν λαβοῦσα διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐξηπάτησεν αὐτὴν καὶ ἀπέκτεινε. Τοῦτο τὸν Παῦλον ἐκπλῆξαν, εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν φωνὴν ἐνεκίνησε, Μέγα ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον. Ἀνάστασις γὰρ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ κεκρυμμένη, γέννησις δὲ ἀθανάτου ζωῆς· ἀθανασίαν ἀνθήσασαν τικτόμενος ἐξ ᾅδου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὁ βασιλεύς. Ἀληθῶς μυστήριον παμμέγα. Πῶς οὖν γνωστὸν τὸ μυστήριον; Ἐφανερώθη, φησὶν, ἐν σαρκί. Καὶ τίς ἡ φανέρωσις; Ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι. Ποῖον τὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης τεκμήριον; Ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις. Ἔγνωσαν ἄγγελοι, φησὶ, τὴν τοῦ φανέντος ἀξίαν· προσῆλθον καὶ διηκόνουν αὐτῷ.

Ἀξιόπιστοι μὲν, Παῦλε, τῆς δικαιοσύνης οἱ θεσπισταὶ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ σεμνύνουσι δύναμιν· δεῖξον μέντοι ἀνθρώποις τῆς ἰσχύος τῆς ἐκείνου σημεῖον. Ἐκηρύχθη, φησὶν, ἐν ἔθνεσιν. Ἔδραμε λόγος περὶ αὐτοῦ θεολόγος, καὶ ταῦτα παρὰ πάντων ἐμποδιζόμενος· ἐπλατύνθη κωλυόμενον κήρυγμα. Τί οὖν εἰ μέχρις ἀκοῆς τὸ κηρυττόμενόν ἐστι, καὶ κηρυχθὲν ἔθνεσι γέγονε τοῖς ἀκούσασι λῆρος; Ἐκηρύχθη, φησὶ, καὶ ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ. Εἶτα καὶ τούτου πιστευθέντος δεικνὺς ἀκώλυτον, Ἀνελήφθη, φησὶν, ἐν δόξῃ. Ἐκηρύχθη ἡ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἰσχὺς, μᾶλλον δὲ πάσης ὁμοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐπίστασις. Κοινὴ γὰρ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσεως βοήθεια, ἡ σήμερον ἀνθρωπότης ἀναληφθεῖσα· τὰ γὰρ τῶν κολάσεων μετ' αὐτὴν μετριώτερα. Καί μοι σκόπει τὰς παλαιὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκ Θεοῦ τιμωρίας, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀναλήψεως εὑρήσεις δημωφελές. Ἐξ ἑνὸς ἁμαρτήματος ἔῤῥιπτο προσκρούσας Ἀδάμ· μακρῷ σώματος τρόμῳ κατεκέκριτο Κάϊν· ἔβρεξε πῦρ οὐρανὸς, ὡς σηπεδόνα τῆς γῆς, καυστηριάζων τὰ Σόδομα· μετεπλάττετο πρὸς στήλην γυνὴ δρόμου παραχαράξασα νόμον. Αἱ δὲ εἰς δήμους ὁποῖαι διαφοραὶ, ἄκουσον τῆς Γραφῆς, ὡς θρηνῳδίᾳ διηγουμένης· Ἐπείρασαν, φησὶ, τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ὄφεων ἀπώλοντο. Ἐγόγγυσαν, φησὶ, καὶ ἀπώλοντο ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀλοθρευτοῦ. Ἐπόρνευσαν, φησὶ, καὶ ἔπεσαν ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ εἴκοσι τρεῖς χιλιάδες. Ἔδωκε, φησὶ, Κύριος θάνατον ἐπὶ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ πρωΐθεν, καὶ ἕως ὥρας ἀρίστου, καὶ ἀπέθανον ἑβδομήκοντα χιλιάδες ἀνδρῶν. Τί ἄν σοι τὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς βασιλέα τότε διηγοίμην προτάσεις; Τάδε λέγει Κύριος, φησίν· Αἴτησαι σεαυτῷ τρία ἔτη λιμὸν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ἢ τρεῖς μῆνας τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου καταδιώκειν σε, ἢ τρεῖς ἡμέρας θάνατον ἐν τῇ γῇ σου. Τραγῳδοῦσι καὶ γραφεῖς Ἑλλήνων τὴν τῶν παλαιῶν χρόνων κακοπραγίαν, κατακλυσμῶν ἀμετρίαν, ὑπερβολὴν ἐκπυρώσεως, πολυετίαν λιμῶν, σεισμῶν ὄλεθρον πάνδημον, αἱμάτων ἐμφυλίους ἐκχύσεις, κύματα πολέμων ἐπαλλήλων. Οὐκ ἦν τότε τῶν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ 61.712 γῆς παρατάξεων, οὐχ Ἕλλησιν, οὐ βαρβάροις, οὐκ Ἰουδαίοις εἰρήνη. Ἔμενε γὰρ τὸν εἰρηνοποιοῦντα τὰ ἄνω καὶ τὰ κάτω μεσίτην· περὶ οὗ Παῦλός φησιν· Αὐτός ἐστιν εἰρήνη ἡμῶν, ὁ κωλύσας τὴν ἔχθραν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ. Πόσοι νῦν Σοδομιτῶν ἀσελγέστεροι; καὶ πῦρ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ὁ ἀὴρ, ὡς τὸ πρὶν, οὐκ ἐκχέει.

Ἐδέξατο γὰρ τὸν τῆς εἰρήνης περιόντα μεσίτην καὶ τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων προημέρωσε γένει. Πόσοι τῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ Νῶε γενεᾶς μοχθηρότεροι; καὶ κατακλυσμῷ