John Chrysostom, On the Nativity of John the Baptist

On the Nativity of John the Baptist

Of our father among the saints John, archbishop of Constantinople, Chrysostom, a discourse on the birth of the

holy prophet, forerunner and baptist John

1 Blessed be God; for behold, the leapings of 20John20 in the womb have been shown in deeds; the gospels of the just one have gone forth through his feet; the grace which he announced while in the womb has met us; the world has seen the exultation which the forerunner depicted with his feet in the womb. Truly, “others have labored, and you have entered into their labor”; driven on, the prophets cried out beforehand, being beaten, the just did not keep silent; the line of patriarchs was in peril; tyrants acted against them, kings warred, rulers drew up in battle array; peoples were enraged, the whole world struggled against the contests of the just; on one side they were led to tribunals, on the other they were torn by scourges; from all sides were punishments and tortures, from all sides afflictions and lamentations, from all sides dejection and darkness; but being in such dejection and in so great a darkening of life, we proclaim the end of the winter.

2 For 20John20, the great forerunner of the Lord, while still bound in the swaddling clothes of nature, showed to us the saving spring, and hastening to proclaim with his voice him whom he announced with his feet, he forces the very boundaries of nature to come forth; as if to startle 20Elizabeth20 for being slow to give birth, he leaped, dancing and at the same time being displeased at what he was held by in the womb, he cried out against the period of months, he shook the womb as an unjust prison, he kicked at the bolts of nature, he found fault with the manner of birth, and with lips closed he cried out by his movements, all but speaking such things as these to 20Elizabeth20 by his motion: “You do wrong, O mother, by delaying; you carry a prophet in your womb, you hold back the joy of the world, you bear the forerunner of Christ the king, you restrain the soldier of the royal proclamation, you bind tightly the witness and the greatest of all those born of women and you hinder the swift messenger of piety. You do wrong, O mother; you do not know the things to come, you are ignorant of what will be. The light is coming, release the dawn; the sun is rising, let the morning star shine forth; the word is at the doors and there is need of a voice; the bridegroom is near and it is right for the bridal chamber to be prepared in the 20Jordan;20 there is need of blood purchasing the world and it is necessary for me to point out the lamb from afar. The human race is wrapped in the swaddling clothes of sins; he has come who looses those who are bound. Therefore, there is need of one who calls, so that all, having learned, might all meet him. And you hold the forerunner in the womb?

Do you not consider, O mother, 20Adam20 held in Hades for so many ages? Do you not observe the groaning of 20Eve20? Do you not see the dejection of the world, or rather, its destruction? The blood of 20Abel20 still cries out, making its plea against 20Cain20. The elements themselves also groan with these; for it was for this reason that you were delivered from the affliction of childlessness, so that he from the barren woman might announce him from the virgin; for this reason I leaped with exultation in the womb, so that the devil might no longer dance in the world.” Such things therefore, not yet having been born, John.20 to 20Elizabeth. But having come forth from her and having received a greater radiance, he fittingly pointed out the creator to his creations and with his finger indicated the fashioner to his fashioned works, crying with a loud voice: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

In nativitatem Joannis Baptistae

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου λόγος εἰς τὸ γενέθλιον τοῦ

ἁγίου προφήτου, προδρόμου καὶ βαπτιστοῦ Ἰωάννου

1 Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεός· ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ἐδείχθη τὰ ἐν γαστρὶ τοῦ 20Ἰωάννου20 σκιρτήματα· προέβη τοῦ δικαίου τὰ διὰ τῶν ποδῶν εὐαγγέλια· ἀπήντησεν ἡ χάρις ἣν ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ τυγχάνων ἐμήνυσεν· εἶδεν ὁ κόσμος τὴν ἀγαλλίασιν ἣν ἐν τῇ νηδύϊ ὁ πρόδρομος τοῖς ποσὶν ἐζωγράφησεν. Ὄντως «ἄλλοι κεκοπιάκασιν καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰς τὸν κόπον αὐτῶν εἰσεληλύθατε»· ἐλαυνόμενοι προεβόουν προφῆται, οὐκ ἐσίγων τυπτόμενοι δίκαιοι· πατριαρχῶν κατάλογος ἐκινδύνευεν· ἀντέπραττον τύραννοι, βασιλεῖς ἐπολέμουν, ἄρχοντες παρετάσσοντο· συνωργίζοντο δῆμοι, ὁ κόσμος ὅλος ἀντηγωνίζετο τοῖς τῶν δικαίων ἀγῶσιν· ἔνθεν παρήγοντο βήμασιν, ἐκεῖθεν κατεξαίνοντο μάστιξιν· πανταχόθεν κολαστήρια καὶ στρεβλώσεις, πανταχόθεν θλίψεις καὶ ὀδυρμοί, πανταχόθεν κατήφεια καὶ σκότος· ἀλλ' ἐν τοιαύτῃ κατηφείᾳ καὶ τηλικαύτῃ τοῦ βίου σκοτώσει τυγχάνοντες λύσιν τοῦ χειμῶνος εὐαγγελιζόμεθα.

2 20Ἰωάννης20 γὰρ ὁ μέγας τοῦ κυρίου πρόδρομος ἔτι δεδεμένος ὢν τοῖς σπαργάνοις τῆς φύσεως τὸ σωτήριον ἔαρ ὑπέδειξεν ἡμῖν καὶ σπεύδων κηρύξαι τῇ φωνῇ ὃν ἐμήνυσε τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοὺς βιάζεται τοὺς ὅρους τῆς φύσεως ἐξελθεῖν· ὡς βραδυτοκοῦσαν τὴν 20Ἐλισάβετ20 ἐσόβει, ἐσκίρτα χορεύων ὁμοῦ τε καὶ δυσχεραίνων ἐφ' οἷς ὑπὸ τῆς νηδύος κεκράτητο, τῆς περιόδου τῶν μηνῶν κατεβόα, ὡς ἄδικον φυλακὴν τὴν μήτραν ἐτίνασσεν, ἐλάκτιζεν τὰ κλεῖθρα τῆς φύσεως, τὸν τοῦ τοκετοῦ ἐμέμφετο τρόπον καὶ μεμυκότων τῶν χειλέων ἐβόα τοῖς σχήμασιν μονονουχὶ τοιαῦτα πρὸς τὴν 20Ἐλισάβετ20 τῇ κινήσει φθεγγόμενος· «Ἀδικεῖς, ὦ μῆτερ, βραδύνουσα, προφήτην ἐν γαστρὶ περιφέρεις, τὴν τῆς οἰκουμένης χαρὰν συνέχεις, τὸν πρόδρομον τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοῦ βαστάζεις, τὸν στρατιώτην τοῦ βασιλικοῦ κηρύγματος κατέχεις, τὸν μάρτυρα καὶ πάντων ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν μείζονα περισφίγγεις καὶ συμποδίζεις τὸν ταχυδρόμον τῆς εὐσεβείας. Ἀδικεῖς, ὦ μῆτερ· οὐκ οἶδας τὰ μέλλοντα, ἀγνοεῖς τὰ ἐσόμενα. Τὸ φῶς παραγίνεται, τὸν ὄρθρον ἀπόλυσον· ἀνατέλλει ὁ ἥλιος, ὁ ἑωσφόρος προλάμψῃ· ἐπὶ θύραις ὁ λόγος καὶ χρεία φωνῆς· ἐγγὺς ὁ νυμφίος καὶ δίκαιόν ἐστιν ἁπλωθῆναι τὸν θάλαμον ἐν τῷ 20Ἰορδάνῃ·20 αἵματος χρεία ἀγοράζοντος τὸν κόσμον καὶ χρή με πόρρωθεν τὸν ἀμνὸν ὑποδεῖξαι. Ἐσπαργάνωται τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γένος ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις· ἦλθεν ὁ λύων τοὺς πεπεδημένους. Λοιπὸν χρεία κλήτορος, ἵνα πάντες μαθόντες ἀπαντήσωσιν ἅπαντες. Καὶ σὺ κατέχεις ἐν μήτρᾳ τὸν πρόδρομον;

Οὐκ ἐννοεῖς, ὦ μῆτερ, τὸν 20Ἀδὰμ20 τοσούτους αἰῶνας ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ κρατούμενον; Οὐ σκοπεῖς τῆς 20Εὔας20 τὸν στεναγμόν; Οὐ βλέπεις τοῦ κόσμου τὴν κατήφειαν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀπώλειαν; Ἔτι κράζει τοῦ 20Ἄβελ20 τὸ αἷμα τὴν κατὰ τοῦ 20Κάϊν20 ἐντυχίαν ποιούμενον. Συνστενάζει τούτοις καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ πάντως καὶ ἀπηλλάγης τοῦ πάθους τῆς ἀτεκ νίας, ἵνα μηνύσῃ ὁ ἐκ στείρας τὸν ἐκ παρθένου· διὰ τοῦτο ἐγὼ ἐν μήτρᾳ ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει ἐσκίρτησα, ἵνα μηκέτι ὀρχήσηται διάβολος ἐν κόσμῳ.» Τοιαῦτα οὖν μήπω τεχθεὶς πρὸς τὴν 20Ἐλισάβετ ὁ Ἰωάννης.20 Προελθὼν δὲ ἐξ αὐτῆς καὶ μείζονα δεξάμενος εἰκότως τὴν ἔκλαμψιν ὑπεδείκνυε τὸν ποιητὴν τοῖς ποιήμασι καὶ τὸν πλάστην ἐδακτυλοδείκτει τοῖς πλάσμασι μεγαλοφώνως βοῶν· «Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου.»