John Chrysostom, On Judas's Betrayal

In proditionem Judae

On the betrayal of Judas, and on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. On Holy Thursday.

61.687 I see the Church mournful, her sullen countenance signifying the betrayal of her own son. For terrible is the thing that was plotted, and murder the thing that was devised, and the heavenly judge of the dead and the living is the one who suffers these things. But the most terrible thing of all, suddenly an enemy and a plotter is the one who a short while ago was a disciple and an obedient one, at once a beast is the sheep, an apostate from the light is the apostle, a seller of the Master is the discordant servant, the twelfth of the eleven disciples.

And why do I not say the name, so as not to bring reproach upon all the apostles by hiding the guilty one? One of the twelve, it says, went. Who? The one called Judas. And another, so that the innocent one may not hide the guilty one (for we find another of the apostles called by the same name), Judas Iscariot, it says, one of the twelve went. He was therefore no longer one; for he had the devil with him as a helper. This man went to the chief priests and said: What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver him to you? Tell me here, Judas, as you are putting forth for sale the Master of the world and your own teacher, at what price do you leave the worth of a disciple? What compels you to campaign as a betrayer of your own king? What preference did you see given to the other fellow disciples over you, that you plotted this lawless counsel? You who know that the Master cried out to you and the eleven apostles: If any one wants to be first among you, let him be the last of all, and the servant of all 61.688.

Did He not foretell these things, to check your plan? And did he not provoke you to serve the first, so that you, as the last, moved by unjust suffering, should not devise the deceit? If you had been giving the betrayal as a gift to the Jews, without money, a person might have supposed that, having suffered some injustice, you proceeded to take vengeance on the one who wronged you; but your saying openly: What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver him to you? reveals your deceitfulness. And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought an opportunity to betray him. What are you doing, Judas, having agreed on thirty pieces of silver for the sale of the priceless pearl? First count the stars which he created by his word alone, and then plan to betray the Word with a word. He sought an opportunity to betray him. He made the times and the ages, and against him he sought a fitting time for his own betrayal.

And when evening had come, he was reclining with the twelve disciples, and as they were eating he said: Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me; he who came in against me and you and learned what he was not strong enough to keep. And being very sorrowful, they began to say to him, each one of them, Is it I, Lord? The saying moved them all to a careful searching of their conscience, those for whom the secrets of the heart were pure. Jesus answered, saying: Why do you all slander yourselves with the traitor's enterprise? He who has dipped his 61.689 hand with me in the dish, this one will betray me. Unwillingly he points to himself, he speaks before the drama even if he does not wish to; the name is kept for now by me, until he should say before you the things plotted by him against me. And Judas, who was betraying him, answered, it says, and said: Is it I, Rabbi? He said to him: You have said it. You have freed the eleven, having made them innocent of the things being done by you.

In proditionem Judae

Εἰς προδοσίαν τοῦ Ἰούδα, καὶ εἰς τὸ πάθος τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τῇ ἁγίᾳ πέμπτῃ.

61.687 Στυγνὴν τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ὁρῶ, σκυθρωπάζουσαν μορ φὴν τὴν τοῦ οἰκείου

υἱοῦ προδοσίαν σημαίνουσαν. ∆εινὸν γὰρ τὸ μελετηθὲν, καὶ φόνος τὸ κατασκευασθὲν, καὶ κριτὴς ὁ ταῦτα πάσχων νεκρῶν καὶ ζώντων οὐράνιος. Τὸ δὲ πάντων δεινότερον, ἄφνω ἐχθρὸς καὶ ἐπίβουλος ὁ πρὸ μικροῦ μαθητὴς καὶ ὑπήκοος, ἀθρόως θηρίον τὸ πρόβατον, ἀποστάτης φωτὸς ὁ ἀπόστολος, πράτης ∆ε σπότου ὁ δοῦλος ἀσύμφωνος, τῶν ἕνδεκα μαθητῶν ὁ δωδέκατος.

Καὶ τί μὴ λέγω τὸ ὄνομα, ἵνα μὴ πᾶσιν ἐπάγω τὴν ὕβριν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις, ἀποκρύπτων τὸν αἴτιον; Πορευθεὶς, φησὶν, Εἷς τῶν δώδεκα. Τίς; Ὁ λεγόμενος Ἰούδας. Καὶ ἄλλο, ἵνα μὴ ὁ ἀναίτιος ἀπο κρύψῃ τὸν αἴτιον (εὑρίσκομεν γὰρ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ ἕτερον τῷ αὐτῷ κεκλημένον ὀνόματι), Ἰούδας ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης, φησὶν, εἷς πορευθεὶς τῶν δώδεκα. Οὐκ ἔτι οὖν εἷς· εἶχε γὰρ μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸν διάβολον συνεργόν. Οὗτος πορευθεὶς πρὸς τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς εἶπε· Τί θέλετέ μοι δοῦναι, κἀγὼ ὑμῖν παραδώσω αὐτόν; Εἰπέ μοι ἐνταῦθα, Ἰούδα, τὸν τοῦ κόσμου ∆εσπότην καὶ ἑαυ τοῦ διδάσκαλον εἰς πρᾶσιν προβαλλόμενος, τὴν ἀξίαν τοῦ μαθητοῦ ἐν ποίᾳ καταλιμπάνεις τιμῇ; τί δέ σε κατ αναγκάζει προδότην τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ βασιλέως στρατεύεσθαι; τίνα προτίμησιν εἶδες τῶν λοιπῶν συμμαθητῶν κατὰ σοῦ γινομένην, ὅτι ταύτην ἄνομον βουλὴν ἐμελέ τησας; ὃς οἶδας πρὸς σὲ καὶ τοὺς ἕνδεκα ἀποστόλους τοῦ ∆εσπότου βοήσαντος· Εἴ τις θέλει ἐν ὑμῖν εἶναι πρῶτος, ἔστω πάντων ἔσχατος, καὶ πάντων διάκονος 61.688.

Ἆρα οὐ ταῦτα προεῖπε, τὴν σὴν βουλὴν ἀναστέλ λων; καὶ διακονεῖν σε τοῖς πρώτοις ἠρέθισεν, ἵνα μὴ σὺ ὡς ἔσχατος ἀδίκῳ πόνῳ κινηθεὶς κατασκευάσῃς τὸν δόλον; Εἰ μὲν ὑπῆρχες χρημάτων ἐκτὸς τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις τὴν προδοσίαν δωρούμενος, ἂν ὑπέλαβεν ἄνθρωπος, ὅτι ἄδικόν τι ὑποστὰς πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἀδικήσαντος ἐχώρησας ἄμυναν· τὸ δὲ λέγειν σε προφανῶς· Τί θέλετέ μοι δοῦ ναι, κἀγὼ ὑμῖν παραδώσω αὐτόν; δηλοῖ τὴν σὴν δο λιότητα. Οἱ δὲ ἔστησαν αὐτῷ τριάκοντα ἀργύρια. Καὶ ἀπὸ τότε ἐζήτει εὐκαιρίαν, ἵνα αὐτὸν παραδῷ. Τί πράττεις, Ἰούδα, τριάκοντα συμφωνήσας ἀργύρια ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ ἀτιμήτου πράσεως μαργαρίτου; Ἐξαρίθμησον πρῶτον ἅπερ μόνῳ τῷ λόγῳ ἐδημιούργησεν ἄστρα, καὶ τότε λόγῳ τὸν Λόγον παραδοῦναι μελέτησον. Ἐζή τει εὐκαιρίαν, ἵνα αὐτὸν παραδῷ. Αὐτὸς τοὺς χρόνους καὶ τοὺς αἰῶνας ἐποίησε, καὶ κατ' ἐκείνου ἐζήτει και ρὸν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ προδοσίας ἁρμόδιον.

Ὀψίας δὲ γενο μένης, ἀνέκειτο μετὰ τῶν δώδεκα μαθητῶν, καὶ ἐσθιόντων αὐτῶν εἶπεν· Ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, εἷς ἐξ ὑμῶν παραδώσει με· ὁ κατ' ἐμοῦ καὶ ὑμῶν εἰσελθὼν καὶ μαθὼν ἃ φυλάξαι οὐκ ἴσχυσε. Καὶ λυ πούμενοι σφόδρα ἤρξαντο λέγειν αὐτῷ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν, μήτι ἐγώ εἰμι, Κύριε; Πάντας ἐκίνει τὸ ῥηθὲν εἰς ἀκριβῆ τοῦ συνειδότος ἐρεύνησιν, οἷς καθαρὰ τὰ τῆς καρδίας κρύφια. Ἀπεκρίθη λέγων ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Τί πάντες ἑαυτοὺς τὸ τοῦ προδότου συκοφαντεῖτε ἐγχεί ρημα; Ὁ ἐμβάψας μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ τρυβλίῳ τὴν 61.689 χεῖρα, οὗτός με παραδώσει. Ἄκων ὑποδεικνύει ἑαυτὸν, πρὸ τοῦ δράματος λέγει κἂν μὴ θέλων· τὸ ὄνομα κρατεῖται τέως ὑπ' ἐμοῦ, ἕως ἂν εἴπῃ ἐφ' ὑμῶν τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κατ' ἐμοῦ μελετώμενα. Ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ, φησὶν, ὁ Ἰούδας ὁ παραδιδοὺς αὐτὸν, εἶπε· Μήτι ἐγώ εἰμι, Ῥαββί; Λέγει αὐτῷ· Σὺ εἶπας. Ἠλευθέρωσας τοὺς ἕνδεκα, τῶν παρὰ σοῦ πραττομένων τούτους ἀθώους ποιήσας.