John Chrysostom, To Catechumens

In catechumenos

To the catechumens.

60.739 In the earthly stadiums, many endure the labor of the race, but one receives the victor's crown; and the toils of the contest and the sweat are for many, but the prize of joy is for one. But in this spiritual place of the church, the race of piety is one for all, and the crowns are equal in number to the runners. And this is no strange thing; for Christ, a wealthy and self-sufficient judge, stands in the midst of the contestants, accepting each one's zeal as a race, and preparing equal honors. For he does not prefer the powerful, and overlook the poor; he does not receive the glorious, and dismiss the weak; he does not crown gray hair, while despising youth; he does not smile upon the righteous, and look suspiciously upon the sinner running to him; but he spreads out the dragnet of his mercies equally to all, and draws all alike into the net of piety.

For he has proposed a common thing to all; and as we just heard, a decree of loving-kindness cries with a loud voice: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come, all you who sail across this salty sea of life, entrust to me the rudders of salvation; I have a skill that contends with diabolical reefs; I procure for you a trade of salvation free from tempests. Come, everyone; the great winter of sin is at hand; I have a harbor of a font that saves men, but drowns the devil. O call that strips sin bare! O voice that seizes all the substance of the demon! O medicine that goes to each of the sick! O gift flowing unhindered to those who desire it! O fount hastening to give drink to all who thirst for life! For if anyone, he says, thirsts, let him come to me and drink; if anyone thirsts for the streams of salvation, if anyone desires the living water, if anyone strives for true knowledge, if anyone thirsts the thirst of piety. For Judas also thirsted the thirst of betrayal; for Herod also thirsted for the destruction of the infants, the Synagogue thirsted for the murders of the prophets, Jezebel thirsted for the vineyard of Naboth, Delilah thirsted for the weakness of Samson, Herodias thirsted for the blood of the Forerunner, the Jews thirsted for the Savior; but they thirsted a thirst that brings destruction, they thirsted a thirst that produces fever, they thirsted a thirst that is a cause of punishment. But if anyone thirsts, as Zacchaeus thirsted to see me, as the woman with the issue of blood thirsted for healing, as the harlot thirsted to have her sins washed away, as Matthew thirsted for the dignity of an evangelist, as the thief thirsted for paradise, as Thomas thirsted for the life-giving touch of the wounds, as the Ethiopian eunuch thirsted for baptism, for which, burning with desire, he cried out to the Apostle: Behold, water, what prevents me from being baptized? Hear, O catechumen; the fount of life not only calls, but also exhorts; For come, he says, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I have prepared myself for the benefaction of my whole race; I wish to release a fount with a shower of gifts. Come, everyone; even if myriads are sick, let them approach.

Let no one think that I, the physician, grow weary healing the world; I do not tire of healing, if I did not shrink from creating; the world, receiving its share of my goods, does not exhaust my abundance; I do not become poor by giving, I rejoice when I am plundered, I am delighted when I am carried off; I am not diminished when emptied, and I am pleased when I am stolen from; and the woman with the issue of blood who stole is a witness, and for this reason was crowned in soul and body alike. Come, all you who

In catechumenos

Εἰς τοὺς κατηχουμένους.

60.739 Ἐν τοῖς ἔξωθεν σταδίοις πολλοὶ μὲν τοῦ δρόμου ὑπομένουσι κόπον, εἷς δὲ

κομίζεται τῆς νίκης τὸν στέφανον· καὶ οἱ μὲν πόνοι τοῦ ἀγῶνος καὶ οἱ ἱδρῶτες πολλῶν, τῆς δὲ χαρᾶς τὸ βραβεῖον ἑνός. Ἐν δὲ τῷ πνευματικῷ τούτῳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας χωρίῳ εἷς μὲν παρὰ πάντων τῆς εὐσεβείας ὁ δρόμος, ἰσάριθμοι δὲ τῶν τρεχόντων οἱ στέφανοι. Καὶ ξένον οὐδέν· ἀνενδεὴς γάρ τις βραβευτὴς καὶ πλούσιος ἵσταται μέσος τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων Χριστὸς, ἑκάστου μὲν τὴν προθυμίαν ὡς δρόμον δεχόμενος, ἐπίσης δὲ τὰς τιμὰς εὐτρεπίζων. Οὐ γὰρ προτιμᾶται τὸν δυνάστην, καὶ παρορᾷ τὸν πτωχεύοντα· οὐ δέχεται τὸν ἔνδοξον, καὶ τὸν ἀσθενῆ παραπέμπεται· οὐ στεφανοῖ πολιὰν, ἐξουδενοῖ δὲ νεότητα· οὐ προσμειδιᾷ τῷ δικαίῳ, προστρέχοντα δὲ τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν ὑποβλέπεται· ἀλλὰ πᾶσιν ἴσως ἐφαπλοῖ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τὴν σαγήνην, πάντας ὁμοίως ἐφέλκεται τῷ τῆς εὐσεβείας δικτύῳ.

Κοινὸν γὰρ πᾶσι προστέθεικε· καὶ ὡς ἀρτίως ἠκούσαμεν, φιλανθρωπίας διάταγμα μεγαλοφώνως βοᾷ· ∆εῦτε πρός με, πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς. ∆εῦτε πάντες οἱ τὴν ἁλμυρὰν ταύτην τοῦ βίου διαπλέοντες θάλασσαν, ἐμοὶ τῆς σωτηρίας τοὺς οἴακας ἐμπιστεύσατε· ἔχω τέχνην διαβολικαῖς ἀντιπαλοῦσαν σπιλάσιν· ἐμπορίαν ὑμῖν ἀκλυδώνιστον προξενῶ σωτηρίας. ∆εῦτε πάντες· πολὺς ἐπίκειται τῆς ἁμαρτίας χειμών· ἔστι μοι κολυμβήθρας λιμὴν ἀνθρώπους σώζων, τὸν δὲ διάβολον ἀποπνίγων. Ὢ κλήσεως τὴν ἁμαρτίαν γυμνούσης! ὢ φωνῆς πᾶσαν τὴν τοῦ δαίμονος ἁρπαζούσης οὐσίαν! ὢ φαρμάκου πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν νοσούντων βαδίζοντος! ὢ δωρεᾶς ῥεούσης τοῖς βουλομένοις ἀκώλυτα! ὢ πηγῆς πάντας τοὺς διψῶντας ζωὴν ἐπειγομένης ποτίζειν! Εἴ τις γὰρ, φησὶ, διψᾷ, ἐρχέσθω πρός με, καὶ πινέτω· εἴ τις διψᾷ τῆς σωτηρίας τὰ νάματα, εἴ τις τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ζῶντος ἐπιθυμεῖ, εἴ τις πρὸς τὴν ἀληθῆ διαλέγεται γνῶσιν, εἴ τις διψᾷ τῆς εὐσεβείας τὸ δίψος. Ἐδίψησε γὰρ καὶ Ἰούδας τῆς προδοσίας τὸ δίψος· ἐδίψησε γὰρ καὶ Ἡρώδης τῶν νηπίων τὸν ὄλεθρον, ἐδίψησεν ἡ Συναγωγὴ τοὺς φόνους τῶν προφητῶν, ἐδίψησεν Ἰεζάβελ τὸν ἀμπελῶνα τοῦ Ναβουθαὶ, ἐδίψησεν ἡ ∆αλιδὰ τοῦ Σαμψὼν τὴν ἀσθένειαν, ἐδίψησεν Ἡρωδιὰς τοῦ Προδρόμου τὸ αἷμα, ἐδίψησαν τὸν Σωτῆρα Ἰουδαῖοι· ἀλλ' ἐδίψησαν δίψος πρόξενον ἀπωλείας, ἐδίψησαν δίψος παρεκτικὸν πυρετοῦ, ἐδίψησαν δίψος κολάσεως αἴτιον. Ἀλλ' εἴ τις διψᾷ, ὡς ἐδίψησε Ζακχαῖος τὴν ἐμὴν θεωρίαν, ὡς ἐδίψησε τὴν θεραπείαν αἱμόῤῥους, ὡς ἐδίψησε πόρνη πλυθῆναι τὰς ἁμαρτίας, ὡς ἐδίψησε Ματθαῖος τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ τὸ ἀξίωμα, ὡς ἐδίψησεν ὁ λῃστὴς τὸν παράδεισον, ὡς ἐδίψησε Θωμᾶς τὴν ζωοποιὸν τραυμάτων ψηλάφησιν, ὡς ἐδίψησεν ὁ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας εὐνοῦχος τὸ βάπτισμα, ἐφ' ὃ πυρακτούμενος ἐβόα πρὸς τὸν Ἀπόστολον· Ἰδοὺ ὕδωρ, τί κωλύει με βαπτισθῆναι; Ἄκουε, κατηχούμενε· πηγὴ ζωῆς οὐ μόνον καλεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρακαλεῖ· ∆εῦτε γὰρ, φησὶ, πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς. Πρὸς ὅλην μου τοῦ γένους τὴν εὐεργεσίαν ηὐτρέπισμαι· ὄμβρῳ θέλω χαρισμάτων ἀφεῖναι πηγήν. ∆εῦτε πάντες· κἂν μυριάδες ἀσθενῶσι, προσίτωσαν.

Μηδεὶς ἀτονεῖν με τὸν ἰατρὸν νομιζέτω τὴν οἰκουμένην ἰώμενον· οὐ κάμνω θεραπεύων, εἰ κτίζων οὐκ ὤκνησα· οὐκ ἐλέγχει μου τὴν εὐπορίαν ὁ κόσμος τὰ ἐμὰ μεριζόμενος· πένης παρέχων οὐ γίνομαι, ἁρπαζόμενος χαίρω, ἐκφορούμενος τέρπομαι· οὐκ ἐλαττοῦμαι κενούμενος, καὶ κλεπτόμενος ἥδομαι· καὶ μάρτυς ἡ αἱμόῤῥους κλέψασα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ψυχὴν ἅμα καὶ σῶμα στεφθεῖσα. ∆εῦτε, πάντες οἱ