On the Transfiguration (homily 14) (formerly under the name of John Chrysostom)

Of our father among the saints, John, archbishop of Constantinople, Chrysostom, a discourse on the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus

Christ's. A most venerable table has the bountiful host, Christ, set before us today, not honored by custom, but known by the knowledge of God; a table not craving earthly things, but holding to heavenly things; a table not made splendid by Solomon's dishes, but crowned with divine laws; a table not blessed for its abundance of food, but revered for its divine thoughts. For what is richer than Solomon's table which provided each day, as the third book of Kings records, thirty kors of fine flour and sixty kors of ground meal, and ten tender and choice calves, and twenty pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides deer and gazelles and choice fowl? But such an abundance of dishes in no way benefited the great Solomon or guided him toward perfect virtue; on the contrary, by raging without measure, it caused him to be corrupted in the end. But the Lord's table, set bountifully before us today, the immaterial, the unsuperfluous, the incorruptible, the immortal, the indescribable, the unaccountable, awards not only earthly but also heavenly things; for it does not set forth thirty kors of fine flour, but bestows the kingdom of heaven, leavened into three measures of meal; nor again does it offer sixty kors of meal, but the heavenly bread itself, I mean the Lord Christ himself, he awards to all the faithful each day. But I think I speak superfluously, comparing Solomon's sensible meal with the Lord's spiritual table; for there were ten choice calves, but here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; there, twenty pasture-fed oxen, but here, innumerable martyrs benefit souls and bodies; there, deer adorned with the preeminence of their horns, here, prophets comparing spiritual things with spiritual; there, gazelles struck in the liver by an arrow, here, apostles illuminating the world with divine writings; there, irrational birds fluttering, here, a pious people leaping spiritually; there, a hundred irrational sheep gladdening only the house of Solomon, but here, our rational sheep, Christ, is divided throughout the whole earth and in no way receives diminution. You heard just now this rational sheep, Christ, speaking to the apostles of the time of the Lord's passion, so that at the time of the passion they might not suffer passion. For what does the evangelist Matthew say? As you just heard: Then Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the chief priests and scribes and elders of the people, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Have you seen a master's table possessing a dish raised from the dead? What such thing did Solomon's table have? There, all things slaughtered unwillingly passed into non-existence; here our rational sheep, Christ, although he was slaughtered, yet he was slaughtered by his will, buried by his will, rose by his will, ascended to the heavens by his will, and by his will he will come in the glory of his Father, to render to each according to his deed. Then he began: well the

In transfigurationem (homilia 14) (olim sub nomine Joannis Chrysostomi)

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου λόγος εἰς τὴν μεταμόρφωσιν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ

Χριστοῦ Ἄγαν αἰδέσιμον ἡμῖν ὁ δαψιλὴς ἑστιάτωρ Χριστὸς καὶ σήμερον προέθηκε τράπεζαν οὐ τῇ συνηθείᾳ τιμωμένην, ἀλλὰ τῇ θεογνωσίᾳ γνωριζομένην· τράπεζαν οὐ τῶν ἐπιγείων γλιχομένην, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐπουρανίων ἐχομένην· τράπεζαν οὐ τοῖς Σολομωνιακοῖς ὄψοις φαιδρυνομένην, ἀλλὰ τοῖς θεϊκοῖς νόμοις στεφανουμένην· τράπεζαν οὐ πλήθει σιτίων μακαριζομένην, ἀλλὰ θείοις νοήμασι σεμνυνομένην. Τί γὰρ τῆς Σολομωνιακῆς τραπέζης πλουσιώτερον τῆς δαπανησάσης καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, καθὼς ἡ τρίτη τῶν Βασιλειῶν περιέχει, τριάκοντα κόρους σεμιδάλεως καὶ ἑξήκοντα κόρους ἀλεύρου κεκοπανισμένου καὶ δέκα μόσχους ἁπαλοὺς καὶ ἐκλεκτοὺς καὶ εἴκοσι βόας νομάδας καὶ ἑκατὸν πρόβατα, ἐκτὸς ἐλάφων καὶ δορκάδων καὶ ὀρνίθων ἐκλεκτῶν; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τὸν μέγιστον Σολομῶνα ἡ τοσαύτη τῶν ὄψων πληθὺς εὐεργέτησεν ἢ πρὸς τελείαν ἀρετὴν ἴθυνεν· τοὐναντίον δὲ αὐτὸν πρὸς τῷ τέλει διαφθεῖραι πεποίηκεν ἀμέτρως βακχεύσασα. Ἡ δέ γε τοῦ κυρίου τράπεζα καὶ σήμερον ἡμῖν δαψιλῶς προτεθεῖσα, ἡ ἄϋλος, ἡ ἀπέριττος, ἡ ἄφθαρτος, ἡ ἀθάνατος, ἡ ἀπερίγραπτος, ἡ ἀλογοθέτητος, οὐ μόνον τὰ ἐπίγεια ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐπουράνια βραβεύει· οὐ γὰρ τριάκοντα κόρους σεμιδάλεως προΐεται, ἀλλὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰς ἀλεύρου σάτα τρία ἐζυμωμένην χαρίζεται· οὐδ' αὖ ἑξήκοντα κόρους ἀλεύρου προβάλλεται, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν τὸν ἐπουράνιον ἄρτον, λέγω δὴ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ ὁ δεσπότης Χριστὸς πᾶσι τοῖς πιστοῖς καθ' ἑκάστην βραβεύει. Ἀλλ' οἶμαι περιττολογεῖν, τὸ τοῦ Σολομῶνος αἰσθητὸν ἄριστον τῇ τοῦ κυρίου πνευματικῇ τραπέζῃ συγκρίνων· ἐκεῖ γὰρ δέκα μόσχοι ἐκλεκτοί, ἐνταῦθα δὲ ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου· ἐκεῖ εἴκοσι βόες νομάδες, ἐνταῦθα δὲ μάρτυρες ἀναρίθμητοι ψυχὰς καὶ σώματα εὐεργετοῦσιν· ἐκεῖ ἔλαφοι ἐξοχῆς κεράτων ποικιλλόμενοι, ἐνταῦθα προφῆται πνευματικὰ πνευματικοῖς συγκρίνοντες· ἐκεῖ δορκάδες τοξεύματι τὸ ἧπαρ πληττόμεναι, ἐνταῦθα ἀπόστολοι θείοις γράμμασι τὴν οἰκουμένην φωτί ζοντες· ἐκεῖ ὄρνεις ἀλόγως πτερυσσόμεναι, ἐνταῦθα λαὸς εὐσεβὴς πνευματικῶς σκιρτῶντες· ἐκεῖ ἑκατὸν ἄλογα πρόβατα τὸν οἶκον Σολομῶνος μόνον εὐφραίνοντα, ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὸ λογικὸν ἡμῶν πρόβατον Χριστός, παν ταχοῦ γῆς μεριζόμενον καὶ μηδαμῶς μείωσιν δεχόμενον. Ἤκουες ἀρτίως αὐτοῦ τοῦ λογικοῦ προβάτου Χριστοῦ λέγοντος πρὸς τοὺς ἀποστόλους τοῦ κυριακοῦ πάθους τὸν καιρόν, ὅπως ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τοῦ πάθους πάθος μὴ ὑπομείνωσιν. Τί γάρ φησιν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς Ματθαῖος; Καθὼς ἀρτίως ἤκουες· Τότε ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς δεικνύειν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἀνελθεῖν καὶ πολλὰ παθεῖν παρὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ γραμματέων καὶ πρεσβυτέρων τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγερθῆναι. Εἶδες δεσποτικὴν τράπεζαν νεκροέγερτον ὀψώνιον κεκτημένην; Τί τοιοῦτον εἶχεν ἡ Σολομῶνος τράπεζα; Ἐκεῖ πάντα σφαγιασθέντα ἀβουλήτως εἰς ἀνυπαρξίαν ἐχώρησεν, ἐνταῦθα τὸ λογικὸν ἡμῶν πρόβατον Χριστός, εἰ καὶ ἐσφάγη, ἀλλ' ὅμως βουλήσει ἐσφάγη, βουλήσει ἐτάφη, βουλήσει ἀνέστη, βουλήσει εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνῆλθεν, βουλήσει ἐλεύσεται ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, ἀποδι δοὺς ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτοῦ. Τότε ἤρξατο· καλῶς ὁ