John Chrysostom, On Great Week

In magnam feriam

338 Rightly I am anxious, held fast by the bonds of cowardice, how I shall satisfy the thirst of your love of hearing, what table of discourse I shall set forth, what I shall become in welcoming so great a people, for whom Christ alone will suffice for a feast. Therefore, the joy of the world is at the doors, the harbor of the Lord's resurrection approaches. again the irrational nation of the Jews is in an uproar, 339 again the dogs bark against the shepherd, again the slaves rise up against the master, again the workers of darkness plot against the light, again Judas devises the lawless sale, again the Jews prepare pieces of silver, that they may send to Hades the one who is free among the dead and they may learn of death being taken captive, that tombs may be shaken and the dead be winged for rising, again a disciple sells, but the learned in the law buy, and a thief on a cross theologizes.

But let us recall the voice of the traitor: “What are you willing to give me,” he says, “and I will hand him over to you.” What are they willing to give [you], Judas? The rope for hanging, the outer darkness, the estrangement from the kingdom, the separation from the saints, the fall from which there is no rising, these are your profits from the transaction with the Jews. [“What are you willing to give me?”] What can they give you equal to what you are about to lose, you utterly wicked man? And why do you sell for so little the architect of heaven and earth, the one who holds all things in his palm? When you saw your master being honored, you saw the very precious ointment being poured out upon his awesome head and condemning the generosity of the woman, you cried out: “To what purpose is this waste?” “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” And while you valued the ointment, prepared from various ingredients and compounded with some skill, at three hundred denarii, you sell the true ointment that gives the dead the fragrance of resurrection for thirty denarii? You do not know what you are selling, Judas. The intoxication of avarice has darkened you. When did you ever know a master being sold by a slave, when did you ever learn to sell light and buy darkness? And why did you insult the sign of love, and why do you work betrayal with a kiss? Well did the prophet denounce you from afar, crying: 340 “His mouth is full of cursing and bitterness and fraud; under his tongue is mischief and trouble;” “Like a sharpened razor you have practiced deceit;” and you were kissing your master. Come near, kiss; the Savior endures with long-suffering, not turning away from the foul odor of your kiss, but calling back the grace of indebtedness which he gave to you from your own lips. O how terrible a thing is avarice. Through it the disciple, broken off from the apostolic chain, inherits the rope of strangulation and shows the neck worthy of the noose, through which came forth the words of betrayal.

O what a great good is soberness. For through it the thief leapt from the cross into paradise; for when he saw the master hanging in the midst and all creation shaken with fear, and the sun indeed covered over in harsh mourning, and the light of day fleeing away, the elements denying their order, the rocks being rent—when he saw all these things, then, having read his own conscience and not being ignorant of the deeds of his fellow thief, as he saw creation being borne hither and thither and trembling, he recognized the one in the middle as the master of the trembling things and having recognized him, he immediately cried out: “Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom.” Truly a swift worker of the eleventh hour was the thief; for he fulfilled the whole work of the day of his life, in the hour he was hired, he worked eagerly. He did not shrink in faith, he did not look upon

In magnam feriam

338 Εἰκότως ἀγωνιῶ τοῖς τῆς δειλίας δεσμοῖς συνεχόμενος, πῶς ἐμπλήσω τὸ

δίψος τῆς ὑμετέρας φιληκοΐας, ποίαν προθήσω τοῦ λόγου τὴν τράπεζαν, τίς γένωμαι λαὸν τοσοῦτον δεξιούμενος, ᾧ μόνος Χριστὸς ἐπαρκέσει πρὸς ἑστίασιν. ἐπὶ θύραις λοιπὸν ἡ τοῦ κόσμου χαρά, πλησιάζει ὁ λιμὴν τῆς δεσποτικῆς ἀναστάσεως. πάλιν θορυβεῖται 339 τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὸ ἀλόγιστον ἔθνος, πάλιν κατὰ τοῦ ποιμένος ὑλακτοῦσιν οἱ κύνες, πάλιν κατὰ τοῦ δεσπότου στασιάζουσιν οἱ δοῦλοι, πάλιν βουλεύονται κατὰ τοῦ φωτὸς οἱ τοῦ σκότους ἐργάται, πάλιν Ἰούδας μελετᾷ τὴν παράνομον πρᾶσιν, πάλιν ἑτοιμάζουσιν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἀργύρια, ἵνα τῷ ᾅδῃ παραπέμψωσι τὸν ἐν νεκροῖς ἐλεύθερον καὶ μάθωσιν αἰχμαλωτιζόμενον θάνατον, ἵνα τιναχθῶσι τάφοι καὶ νεκροὶ πτερωθῶσι πρὸς ἔγερσιν, πάλιν μαθητὴς πιπράσκει, νομομαθεῖς δὲ ἀγοράζουσι καὶ λῃστὴς ἐπὶ σταυροῦ θεολογεῖ.

Ἀλλὰ τῆς τοῦ προδότου φωνῆς μνημονεύσωμεν· «τί μοι θέλετε δοῦναι», φησίν, «κἀγὼ ὑμῖν παραδώσω αὐτόν». τί [σοι] θέλουσι δοῦναι, Ἰούδα; τὸ τῆς ἀγχόνης σχοινίον, τὸ ἐξώτερον σκότος, τῆς βασιλείας τὴν ἀλλοτρίωσιν, τὸν χωρισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων, τὸ ἀνέγερτον πτῶμα, ταῦτά σοι ἐκ τοῦ συναλλάγματος τοῦ πρὸς Ἰουδαίους τὰ κέρδη. [«τί μοι θέλετε δοῦναι;»] τί σοι δύνανται δοῦναι τοιοῦτον ὅσον μέλλεις ἀπολεῖν, παμπόνηρε; ἱνατί δὲ οὕτως ὀλίγου πιπράσκεις τὸν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ἀρχιτέκτονα, τὸν ἐν παλάμῃ τὰ σύμπαντα φέροντα; ὅτε τὸν δεσπότην σου ἐθεάσω τιμώμενον, σὺ τὸ πολυτίμητον μῦρον κατὰ τῆς φοβερᾶς αὐτοῦ κεφαλῆς ἐκχεόμενον εἶδες καὶ τῆς φιλοτιμίας τοῦ γυναίου καταγινώσκων ἐβόας· «εἰς τί ἡ ἀπώλεια αὕτη;» «διατί τοῦτο τὸ μῦρον οὐκ ἐπράθη τριακοσίων δηναρίων καὶ ἐδόθη πτωχοῖς;» καὶ τὸ μὲν μῦρον τὸ ἐκ διαφόρων εἰδῶν κατασκευαζόμενον καὶ ἐν τέχνῃ τινὶ μυρεψούμενον τριακοσίων διετίμησας δηναρίων, τὸ δὲ ἀληθινὸν μῦρον τὸ ὀσφραῖνον νεκροὺς τὴν ἀνάστασιν τριάκοντα δηναρίων πιπράσκεις; οὐκ οἶδας τί πωλεῖς, Ἰούδα. ἐσκότωσέ σε τῆς φιλαργυρίας ἡ μέθη. πότε δὲ ἔγνως δεσπότην παρὰ δούλου πωλούμενον, πότε δὲ ἔμαθες πιπράσκειν φῶς καὶ ἀγοράζειν σκότος; ἱνατί δὲ τῆς ἀγάπης ἐνύβρισας τὸ γνώρισμα, ἱνατί δὲ φιλήματι τὴν προδοσίαν ἐργάζῃ; καλῶς σε στηλιτεύων πόρρωθεν ὁ προφήτης 340 ἐβόα· «οὗ ἀρᾶς τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ γέμει καὶ πικρίας καὶ δόλου, ὑπὸ τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτοῦ κόπος καὶ πόνος·» «ὡσεὶ ξυρὸν ἠκονημένον ἐποίησας δόλον»· καὶ κατεφίλεις τὸν δεσπότην σου. πρόσελθε, φίλησον· ἀνέχεται ὁ σωτὴρ μακροθύμως, οὐ τὸ δυσῶδες τοῦ σοῦ φιλήματος ἀποστρεφόμενος, ἀλλ' ἣν ἔδωκέ σοι ἐκ τῶν σῶν χειλέων ἀνακαλούμενος χρεωφειλήματος χάριν. ὦ πόσον ἡ φιλαργυρία δεινόν. διὰ ταύτης ὁ μαθητὴς ἀποστολικῆς ἀπορραγεὶς σειρᾶς, τοῦ πνιγμοῦ τὸ σχοινίον κληρονομεῖ καὶ ἄξιον δεικνύει τῆς ἀγχόνης τὸν λαιμόν, δι' οὗ προῆλθε τῆς προδοσίας τὰ ῥήματα.

ὦ πηλίκον νῆψις ἀγαθόν. διὰ ταύτης γὰρ ὁ λῃστὴς ἐπήδησεν ἀπὸ σταυροῦ εἰς παράδεισον· ὡς γὰρ εἶδε τὸν δεσπότην ἐν μέσῳ κρεμάμενον καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν κραδαινομένην τῷ φόβῳ καὶ ἥλιον μὲν ἐν χαλεπῷ κατακαλυπτόμενον πένθει, τῆς ἡμέρας δὲ τὸ φῶς ὑποφεῦγον, τὰ στοιχεῖα τὴν τάξιν ἀρνούμενα, ῥηγνυμένας τὰς πέτρας-ὡς ἅπαντα ταῦτα ἐθεάσατο, εἶτα τὸ συνειδὸς ἀναγνοὺς τὸ οἰκεῖον καὶ συλλῃστοῦ τὰς πράξεις οὐκ ἀγνοῶν, τὴν κτίσιν ὡς εἶδε τῇδε κἀκεῖσε φερομένην καὶ τρέμουσαν, τὸν ἐν μέσῳ δεσπότην τῶν τρεμόντων ἐγνώρισε καὶ γνωρίσας εὐθὺς ἀνεβόησε· «μνήσθητί μου, κύριε, ὅταν ἔλθῃς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου.» ὄντως γοργὸς ὁ λῃστὴς τῆς ἑνδεκάτης ὥρας ἐργάτης· ὅλον γὰρ τὸ τῆς ἡμέρας τοῦ βίου ἀνεπλήρωσεν ἔργον, ᾗ ἐμισθώθη ὥρᾳ προθύμως εἰργάσατο. οὐκ ὤκλασε τῇ πίστει, οὐκ ἀπεῖδεν εἰς