John Chrysostom, On "The Lord went up to the temple"

In illud: Ascendit dominus in templo

On the text, When the Lord went up into the temple, in the midst of the feast and on Melchizedek. On Mid-Pentecost.

61.739 Pomegranates and apple and palm and the other fruits sweeten the body's throat; but the divine words of holy teachers, mixed with love, conveyed to the hearing by their teaching, sweeten the soul's larynx. And just as he who has harvested the fruits of the trees, in partaking of the fruits gives praise to the trees; so also he who has harvested the divine words of the teachers in the basket of his hearing, then conveys them to the mind, and having tasted the sweetness of the word, sending forth praises to the teacher from his lips, says: How sweet are thy words to my throat, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth! And the most wise Solomon, comparing good words to honeycombs, says: Good words are honeycombs. For just as the throat, tasting foods, knows how to distinguish the good from the bad; so also the mind of the soul knows how to distinguish good words from bad, as it says in Job: For the throat tastes food, but the mind discerns words.

And let no one think that the householder has in his own paradise various trees, I mean palms and apples and olives, but that the Lord in his own paradise of the Church does not have various trunks of the fathers, each according to his own goodness offering from the depth of his heart the fruits of his words for the enjoyment of those who enter. For one of them is like a flourishing olive tree, thick with the leaves of faith, and fruitful with the works of piety; another is like a palm tree crowned with the branches of victory over the devil, and offering the sweetest fruit of good works to the poor; concerning whom the Scripture says, The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. And another is like an apple, offering two pleasures to men, both the sense of smell, I mean, and sweetness to the throat; and praising such a one in the Song of Songs, what does the bride, the Church, say? As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons of Israel. And she says, Under his shadow I delighted to sit, and his fruit was sweet to my throat. But what shall I do, beloved, who possess but a small leaf of words and fruits, being able neither to refresh those who are scorched, nor to nourish the hungry with the fruits of my words? For it were good for me to learn with you the teachings of the holy fathers. But since the fear of God and your desire stir us to speak, let us take two or three words of the most sweet Gospel as if they were dates, and having tasted them, let us stir you up; for thus, zealous in spirit, you will eagerly hasten to the fruit-bearing trees of the holy fathers.

We have just heard the evangelist say, In the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. The word of the Gospel has not passed away, since the time of the feast is present, the reading of the Gospel is fitting for those present, the narrative is appropriate for the day; for the power of the word is a sister to the present feast. In the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple; but when the feast was over, He no longer goes up into the temple, but runs up to heaven. But in the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple. But he speaks of a feast, not that which is celebrated among Greeks and Jews, where there are drunkennesses and revelries and songs

In illud: Ascendit dominus in templo

Εἰς τὸ, Ὅτε ἀνέβη ὁ Κύριος εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν, μεσούσης τῆς ἑορτῆς καὶ εἰς τὸν Μελχισεδέκ. Τῇ μεσοπεντηκοστῇ.

61.739 Ῥοαὶ καὶ μῆλον καὶ φοίνιξ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀκροδρύων καρποὶ τὸν τοῦ

σώματος ἡδύνουσι φάρυγγα· θεῖοι δὲ λόγοι ἁγίων διδασκάλων ἀγάπῃ κεκερασμένοι, τῇ ἀκοῇ τῆς διδασκαλίας παραπεμπόμενοι, τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς γλυκαίνουσι λάρυγγα. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ τοὺς καρποὺς τῶν δένδρων τρυγήσας, ἐν τῇ τῶν καρπῶν μεταλήψει ἐπαίνους τοῖς δένδροις ἀποδίδωσιν· ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ τὰ θεῖα λόγια τῶν διδασκάλων ἐν τῷ καρτάλλῳ τῆς ἀκοῆς ἐντρυγήσας, εἶτα τῷ νῷ παραπέμψας, καὶ τὴν τοῦ λόγου γλυκύτητα γευσάμενος, τῷ διδασκάλῳ ἐπαίνους ἐκπέμπων ἐκ χειλέων λέγει· Ὡς γλυκέα τῷ λάρυγγί μου τὰ λόγιά σου, ὑπὲρ μέλι καὶ κηρίον τῷ στόματί μου! Καὶ ὁ σοφώτατος δὲ Σαλομὼν τοὺς καλοὺς λόγους κηρίοις μέλιτος παρεικάσας φησί· Κηρία μέλιτος λόγοι καλοί. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ λάρυγξ τὰ βρώματα γευόμενος, οἶδε τὰ καλὰ ἀπὸ τῶν φαύλων διακρίνειν· ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ νοῦς τῆς ψυχῆς τὰ χρηστὰ ῥήματα οἶδεν ἀπὸ τῶν φαύλων διακρίνειν, ὥσπερ φησὶν ἐν τῷ Ἰώβ· Λάρυγξ μὲν γὰρ σῖτα γεύεται, νοῦς δὲ ῥήματα διακρίνει.

Καὶ μηδεὶς νομιζέτω ἔχειν μὲν τὸν οἰκοδεσπότην ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ παραδείσῳ δένδρα διάφορα, φοίνικας λέγω καὶ μῆλα καὶ ἐλαίας, τὸν δὲ Κύριον ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ παραδείσῳ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας μὴ ἔχειν διάφορα στελέχη τῶν πατέρων, ἕκαστον κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν χρηστότητα πρὸς τὴν τῶν εἰσπορευομένων ἀπόλαυσιν ἐκ βάθους τῆς καρδίας τοὺς καρποὺς τῶν λόγων προσφέροντα. Ὁ μὲν γάρ τίς ἐστιν αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ ἐλαία εὐθαλὴς, τοῖς φύλλοις τῆς πίστεως κατάκομος, καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις τῆς εὐλαβείας κατάκαρπος· ἄλλος δέ ἐστιν ὥσπερ φοίνιξ τοῖς βαΐοις τῆς κατὰ διαβόλου νίκης κατεστεμμένος, καὶ τὸν γλυκύτατον καρπὸν τῆς εὐποιίας τοῖς πένησι προβαλλόμενος· περὶ οὗ φησιν ἡ Γραφὴ, ∆ίκαιος ὡς φοίνιξ ἀνθήσει. Ἕτερος δέ τίς ἐστιν, ὥσπερ μῆλον, δύο τέρψεις παρέχων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, τήν τε ὄσφρησίν φημι, καὶ τὴν γλυκύτητα τῷ φάρυγγι· καὶ τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐγκωμιάζουσα ἐν τοῖς Ἄσμασι τῶν ᾀσμάτων ἡ νύμφη Ἐκκλησία τί φησιν; Ὡς μῆλον ἐν τοῖς ξύλοις τοῦ δρυμοῦ, οὕτως ἀδελφιδός μου ἐν μέσῳ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ. Καί φησιν, Ἐν τῇ σκιᾷ αὐτοῦ ἐπεθύμησα καὶ ἐκάθισα, καὶ καρπὸς αὐτοῦ γλυκὺς ἐν τῷ λάρυγγι. Τί δὲ ποιήσω, ἀγαπητοὶ, ἐγὼ, ὁ ὀλιγοστὴν φυλλάδα λογίων καὶ καρπῶν κεκτημένος, μήτε τοὺς καυσαμένους ἀναψύξαι ἰσχύων, μήτε τοὺς πεινωμένους τοῖς καρποῖς τῶν λόγων ἐκθρέψαι δυνάμενος; Καλὸν γάρ μοι ἦν μεθ' ὑμῶν μανθάνειν τὰ τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων διδάγματα. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ φόβος Θεοῦ καὶ ὁ πόθος ὑμῶν πρὸς τὸ λέγειν ἡμᾶς διεγείρει, δύο ἢ τρεῖς λόγους τοῦ γλυκυτάτου Εὐαγγελίου λαβόντες καθάπερ φοίνικας, καὶ ἀπογεύσαντες, ὑμᾶς διεγείρωμεν· οὕτω γὰρ προθύμως ἐπὶ τὰ καλλίκαρπα δένδρα τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ζέοντες τῷ πνεύματι ἐπειχθήσεσθε.

Ἀρτίως ἠκούσαμεν τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ λέγοντος, Μεσαζούσης τῆς ἑορτῆς ἀνέβη ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν, καὶ ἐδίδασκεν. Οὐ παρῆλθεν ὁ λόγος τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, ἐπειδὴ ἐνέστηκεν ὁ τῆς ἑορτῆς καιρὸς, πρέπουσα τοῖς παροῦσιν ἡ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου ἀνάγνωσις, ἁρμόζουσα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἡ διήγησις· ἀδελφὴ γάρ ἐστι τῆς ἐνεστώσης ἑορτῆς ἡ τοῦ λόγου δύναμις. Μεσαζούσης τῆς ἑορτῆς ἀνέβη ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὸ ἱερόν· τελεσθείσης δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς, οὐκέτι ἀναβαίνει εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνατρέχει. Μεσαζούσης δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς ἀνέβη ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὸ ἱερόν. Ἑορτῆς δὲ λέγει, οὐ τῆς παρ' Ἕλλησι καὶ Ἰουδαίοις γινομένης, ἔνθα μέθαι καὶ κῶμοι καὶ ᾄσματα