qu amarulenta noftra deguitatio {2- pa - proirapiarel tquirate aclenitate. Si coarguit quidem, fed non percutit : fi OF civ F eens erent LaF ageuinar ron cee ao uttamen ava cuArayPoy, : fizelo infammatusMalchi au- aryralga Maze réwrys 76 Sth reaped rt droxdlasy, fi users i ee nate THE - @ ag, ha xaxtav nee, FATHERS Sh naceperc con OF THE rarSeuime, Pee ‘Farad inenees = CHURCH — esnciba dmajusac pr2f are is mortem ipia te talerit, nos con: bua eo oA fas & injurias a ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM us? Quin hac ¢ aie 9 momdnic ENTARY ON SAINT JOHN Torree oka Raseide aul THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST pipet dete)de quit HOMILIES 1-47 Ree edifferui. Hid: wihG» xo} ¢ E hitempla, n¢ Translated by Sister Thomas Aquinas Goggin, S.C.H. aaa XG quod viva vive or ime vive, holo ad@- Wen ificia perfecta, Dii denique, Triniratis rata beneficio. Hi populos habent, nos ielos: hi temeritatem & audaciam, nos tm:hi minas,nos orationes:hi quod per- iunt, nos quod ferimus : hi aurum & ar- itum, nos repur} pdoctrinam, Feci- ibi * duplices é ase cont ( aaa flatilem, fene! coaetay, at hac dum fide mea fublimiora: fant, nec coe~ adquostendo. At mihigrex us 2 Berane non fertur, At mi- ? fedquz lupis non pateat, fed quz ‘onem nonadmittat,nec a furibus, & ex- \stranscendatur. Necdubitoquineam dque latiorem aliquando vifurus fim. ikosenimexhis , quinuncinluporum mero fant, inter oves , ac fortaffe etiam Srot djpuc, tsi alyeruc st orisw nuscig” Brot rd aires civ A) evzecday aro 76 Pei Pew, rpee aro en ov Kal epyugons Henets Sapevor. EM ONT AG a ‘a aes 47a princi vent easy Frese Sugiow, ar Beuicaisens upmAcrega xo) F Be Dégopeay. winepov worrd wei emi xpnyavaw Degcusvev. sevyu awAqy Auxasc dverioatG , ow, de zon Ans jade Umrepbawo, a4 4 EevaIs. eouscey rauray ev oii TUTégay Toes Ho} Taw VI AI Careic dobuijoray we da tuzevTHE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH A NEW TRANSLATION VOLUME 33THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH A NEW TRANSLATION EDITORIAL BOARD Roy Joszra Derzrragt The Catholic University of America Editorial Director Ruoorpe Araesmann, OSA. Fordham University Steeuan Kurtnen The Catholic University of America Martin R. P, McGuine The Catholic University of America Witrni> Parsons, SJ. The Catholic University of America Bennano.M, Pezetes The Catholic University of America Ronert P. RusseLt, O0.5.A. Villanova University Ansexss SrriTmmatrer, 0.5.8. St, Anselm's Priory James Eowaxp Topin Queens ColtegeSAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM COMMENTARY ON SAINT JOHN THE APOSTLE AND. EVANGELIST Homilies 1-47 Translated by SISTER THOMAS AQUINAS GOGGIN, S.C:H. New York Fatuers or THE Cxurcu, Inc: 1957Noue Qzsrat: JOHN A, GOODWINE Censor Librorun IMPFRIMATUR: @& FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN ‘Archbishop. of New York November 13, 1956 Copyright 1957 by FATHERS OF THE GHURCH, INC. 475, Fitth ‘Avenue, New York 17)N. ¥. ‘Ail-vights reserved Lithography by Bishop Litho, Inc. USACONTENTS Homily Page 1 3 2 1g 8 27 4 43 5 87 6 0 7 v4 8 80 9 88 10 5 MW 108 42 110 18 9 14 130 15 141 16 150: 7 161 18 178: 49 186 20 193Homily Page ~2 201 2g 212 23 221 2 282 25 241 26 250 27 259 28 267 29 277 $0 287 31 296 82 SIL 38. 492 84 381 35 342 36 351 87 389 38 $67 39 384 40 403 41 415 42 425 48 486 44 442 45 448 46 462 4] 492 4.INTRODUCTION lOHN OF CONSTANTINOPLE his contemporaries called the great Chrysostom and left it to a later day— Ef though one not far removed from his own—to coin the epithet by which he is known to posterity.! Endowed with a gift of truly golden eloquence, St. John lived in a milieu peculiarly adapted to foster the development of such a talent, and he was not one to bury his. Like the Gospel prototype, he multiplied it many times over by prudent use. But as in the case of many a gifted man, the extent of his greatness was really appreciated only after his days had ended on a minor chord. St. John Chrysostom’s life is one of the most completely doc- umented of the lives of the fourth-century Church Fathers. Biographical sources* include reliable witnesses close to his own time, and some information may, of course, be obtained 1 The first authentic mention is found in a Latin writer, Facundus of Hermiane, about 547, and several other instances survive, showing its use later in that century. Universal acceptance of the surname dates only from the eighth century. CE. Baur, 5. Jean Chrysostome et sex oetures, 58-60, 2 For an exhaustive summary ‘of the biographical sources, cf. Baur, Der heilige Johannes Chrysostomus und seine Zeit, 1 xi-xxvii, vitviii SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM from his own works.? Probably the most important ancient biographical source is the Dialogus de vita Chrysostomi written shortly after St. John’s death by Palladius, Bishop of Hellenopolis, in about 408. With Plato’s Pkaedo as model, the bishop used the device of an imaginary conversation be- tween an anonymous Eastern bishop and Theodore, a deacon. As a personal friend of the subject of his biography and an eyewitness of the events related, Palladius. was in'a_ position to give a story valuable for its wealth of detail, though some allowance must be made for possible bias. The Ecclesiastical Histories of Sozomen, Socrates, and ‘Theodoret are also ancient biographical sources for St. John, ranking as such in the order named. They must, however, be used with. caution. Other potential sources of biographical data merit only rapid mention, since‘their authors are hagio- graphers rather than historians. Critical biographers in modern times have thoroughly explored, and assessed by scientific historical methods, this mass of biographical evidence. Their appraisal results in a simple but tragic tale which in brief outline is .as follows. In Antioch in Syria between 344 and 347 a magister m- litum Orientis, Secundus by name, and his young wife Anthusa became the parents of their second child, John. Shortly thereafter, Secundus died, leaving Anthusa to carry on by herself the difficult task of rearing and educating their son.’ Later in life, St. John acknowledged gratefully how much he owed to his mother’s devoted care. Deeply religious herself, she saw to it that he received thorough instruction in piety. She sent him to the best secular schools available in Antioch, where he followed the program of studies customary at the time and 3 An impressive number of Mss. of his works is extant. Bandy gives asum- maty in DTC 18 (1924) 669-872; cf. Baur, 5. Jean 32. 4 Their elder daughter died in her youth,INTRODUSTION ix had very able.teachers, among them the well-known Libanius. Throughout these formative years the boy seems to have shown himself co-operative and receptive. Though he was brought up as a Christian, John was not baptized until about 369. Such deferment of. baptism was.the common custom during the second half of the fourth century, even. among the very pious. Meletius, Bishop of Antioch, who baptized him, had an important influence on him at this period when his religious education, begun under Anthusa, was completed, The teaching of Meletius was supplemented by that of a remarkable man of learning, Diodorus, one of the directors of the religious school which the young John. attended at this time. Under his guidance John began to withdraw from the pur- suit of classical and profane studies and to apply himself more and more to the study of Scripture,‘ living all the while an ascetic and religious life. It was Diodorus who founded the exegetical school of Antioch, which was less preoccupied with allegory than the school of Alexandria was, and more inclined to accept the literal or historical sense. of Scripture. It is this spirit which inspired St. John Chrysostom in his commentaries on the Gospel of St. John as found in the Homilies in. the present volume, and which adds greatly to the interest and efficacy of his exegesis. Unlike a fellow student, Theodore, later Bishop of Mopsuestia, who afterward fell into heresy,’ St. John applied with prudence and moderation the principles taught by Diodorus. After his baptism St. John entered one of the-ascetic societies near Antioch, and several years later felt. drawn to live the 5 Like other educated churchmen of the day— Nevertheless, in all respects these philosophers have been more shamefully ridiculous than. children. They have wasted their whole life 5 Plato, The attitude manifested by St, John Chrysostom here is typical of that of the Church Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries, who in general esteemed Plato as the most Christian of the pagan phi- lesophers, though fully alert to the danger to the faith immanent both in the attractive doctrines of Plato and in their liter development in Platonism, Like St. John, they were uncompromising in their round condemnation of such doctrines as he mentions here. Cf, R, Arriou, ‘Platonisme des Peres,’ DTC 12 (1929) 2258-2992,HOMILIES 15 in making women common to all, and upsetting the order of life itself, and corrupting the. sanctity of marriage, and making other such ridiculous. legislation.’ And with regard to their teachings about the soul, they have omitted nothing at all that is excessively shameful, saying that the souls of men become flies and gnats, and shrubs,’ declaring that. God Him- self. is a soul, and making other such unseemly statements. This is not the only thing worthy of blame, but the fickleness of their words as well. For, even as people are tossed this way and that in the Strait of Euripus, so they have never persevered in the same ideas, since they make all their statements from obscure and undependable reasoning. But this fisherman of ours is not like this. He speaks all things with assurance-and, as one founded on a rock, he never wavers. And as he has been deemed worthy to be in the very sanctuary and possesses the Lord of all speaking within him; he has felt no human influence. They, on the contrary, are like Persons. who have not been deemed worthy to enter the royal palace even in a dream, yet spend. time outside in the market- place with other men, and from their own imagining conjure up what cannot be seen. Thus, [these philosophers] have strayed into gross error, since they have desired to speak about things unspeakable and, like the blind and. the intoxicated, have knocked up agairist one another in. their very wandering; not only against one another, but also against themselves, by everywhere and always changing their minds about the same Taatters. But this unlettered man, this ordinary citizen, coming from Bethsaida, the son of Zebedec—even if the heathen ridicule, times without number, the coarseness of the. names; I shall utter them nonetheless with more boldness. In the measure in-which his nation appears barbarous to them and foreign to pagan education, so much the brighter do our claims 6 CE. Plato, Republic, esp. 5:449D-466. 7 Empedoctes; cf. Diogenes Laertius 8.2,16 SAINT. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM appear. The ‘barbarian’ and ‘illiterate’ utters such words -as , 26 man‘on earth has ever known, and not merely speaks them, but also convinces. by them—though if the former alone were true it would still be a. great marvel. But if, actually, in addition, he furnishes another proof greater than this, that his words are God-inspired, in the fact that all his hearers through all time believe, who will not marvel at the power dwelling within him? And this is so, because that is the greatest proof, as I have. said; that he does not.draw up his. teaching from his own resources. This “barbarian,’ then, by the writing of his Gospel has taken possession of the whole world. With his body he has gained control of the middle. of Asia, where of old all those of Greek persuasion used to. teach. philosophy, arid there he is fearful to the demons; shining in the midst of his enemies, dispersing their darkness, and destroying ‘the stronghold of the demons, And by his soul he has withdrawn to that place which ‘was suited to-one who has done such things. Indeed, he has blotted out. and obliterated all the teachings of the pagans, while his become brighter day by day. From the time when both he and the other fishermen lived; the teachings of Pythagoras. have fallen silent, as well as those of Plato, which. at one time seemed authoritative—and many do not even know them by name. Yet, Plato was summoned to hold converse with rulers, they say, and had many followers, and sailed to Sicily? And Pythagoras, having gained Magna Graecia, performed countless magic tricks there. To converse with. cattle (they say that he actually did this) was nothing else than witchcraft. And a very clear conclusion follows from this: that he who conversed in this way with brute 8 Such information relevant to the ancient pagan philosophers, so casually imparted by St. John, shows that he was Tar from sharing In the ignorance ‘in that regard which he notes as common jin his day. Under Libanius and other teachers he had, of course, followed the usual program of higher studies which regularly included such knowledge.HOMILIES 7 beasts has in no way helped the human-race, but even has done it the greatest harm. Surely, the nature of man: was. more suited to the teaching of philosophy; nevertheless he conversed, they say, with eagles and oxen, by using witchcraft. He did not cause. irrational natufe to exercise the power.of reason (since this is impossible for a man to do), but he deceived the ignorant by. tricks. Refraining from teaching man anything useful, he taught that to cat beans was the same as to eat the heads of one's ancestors, and persuaded his followers that the soul of their teacher once was.a shrub, then a maiden, then a fish.® It is not unreasonable, is it, that all those teachings are extinct and completely obliterated? This is to be expected and is the-logical result. But not so with the teachings of that ordinary and unlettered man; on the contrary, Syrians, and. Egyptians, and Indians, and: Persians, and Ethiopians..and countless other nations, having translated to their language the teachings originating from him, barbarians though they are, have learned to study philosophy. Not in vain, then, have I said that the whole world has become a theatre for him. He has not trumped up: foolishness about the nature of brute beasts, to: the neglect of his fellow human beings,’a procedure which would bea mark of exceed- ing vanity and extreme foolishness. But, guiltless of this fault along with the rest, he strove for one single object: that the whole world might learn something that would be both useful to it and capable of conducting it, from earth to heaven, Wherefore, he did not conceal his teaching in gloom and darkness, as did those others who veiled the evil.contained in their teaching in the obscurity of what was said, as in a cloak; on the contrary, the teachings.of John are clearer than sun- beams, and so they lie open to all the men in the.world. He did not teach as that other” did, bidding his: disciples 9 This teaching comes down to us from Empedocles Fr, 117D. 10 Pythagoras; cf. Diogenes. Laertius 8.1.18 SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM to be-silent for five years, or to sit like senseless stones, nor did he deceitfully preach that everything consists in numbers. ‘But having torn away all this satanic obscurity and perversion, he mingled so much simplicity with his words that all he said» was clear, not-only to men and scholars, but even to women and children. He believed that they were both true and useful for all his hearers, and all the years subsequent to him corroborate this. He has drawn the whole world after’ him and has. rid our life of all bizarre show, once we have heard these words. Wherefore, we who listen to them prefer to. part from our life rather than from the teachings he has given us. From this, then, and from all other considerations, it is plain that no part of the teachings of this man is human, but divine and heavenly are the instructions which have come to us through this divine soul. We shall not see noise of words or pomposity of style, or careful ordering and artificial, fool- ish: arrangement of nouns and verbs (for these things are. far removed from all philosophy), but invincible and divine , strength, irresistible power of authentic doctrines, and a wealth of good things without number. Now, undue attention to. style was such an ‘excess, and worthy of mere sophists—not. so much, even, of sophists, as of silly young men—that their philosopher himself"! repre- sents his teacher as very much.ashamed of this art and-saying to the jury that they will hear from him utterances made simply and extemporaneously, not adorned with elaborate expressions or decked out with artificially chosen nouns. and verbs. “It would not,:of course, be befitting my age, gentle- men,’ he says, ‘for me to come in to you like a lad inventing speeches.’!? Yet see how very ridiculous [Plato] is. That which he has represented his master-as avoiding, on the ground that it is disgraceful, and unworthy of philosophy, and the work of striplings, ‘this he himself has practiced most of all. Thus, M1 Le, Plato. 12 Plato Apol. Socr. 1b.HOMILIES 19 they were altogether enslaved to vainglory, and nothing in Plato, except this, is out of the ordinary.’* And just as, if you should uncover those sépulchres which have been whitened outside, you would find them full of corruption and naus¢ous odors and rotting bones, so also, if you should strip the teachings of the philosopher of their stylistic adornment, you would observe them to be full of much disgusting matter, especially when he discusses the soul, since he both honors it and desecrates it immoderately. And this is the diabolic trick: never to observe due proportion, but to lead: those caught by. the strategy to blasphemy, by means of exaggerations in Both directions, For at one. time he says that the soul is of the substance. of God, but, having thus raised it up: inordinately and sacrilegiously, he wantonly affronts it with a different excess, bringing it into swine, asses, and ‘animals even less esteemed than these. But, enough of this; we have carried the discussion beyond due measure. If it.were possible to learn something useful from this. review, it would be necessary to spend: even .more time on it. But, if the object is only to observe-how gréat. un- secmliness and absurdity these things possess, then we have. carried on the discussion further than necessary. Wherefore, putting aside their fictions, let us take hold of our own teach- ings which have been brought down to us from above by the. tongue of this fisherman, and which contain nothing merely human. Come, then, let us bring forth into the midst his own words, recalling now that which we urged at the begin- ning of our discourse. so as to pay attention to his words with diligence. What, then, does this Evangelist say at once, as he begins? ‘In the beginning. was the Word and the Word was with God.” 18 St. John admired Plato asa. master of artistic prose. His .scomful words here, are in keeping with the attitude of aloofness to letters which be felt constrained to manifest officially. Cf. Homily Sak20 SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM Do you see the great freedom and power of the words, how he ‘speaks without equivocating or conjecturing, but declares “everything openly? It is characteristic of a teacher. not to be uncertain about what he says. If he who gives instruction to others needs another who is able to confirm his words, he should by rights join the ranks not of teachers, but of pupils. And if someone should: say: ‘Why, omitting the First Cause, does he at once speak to us ‘about the second?” we shall decline to speak of ‘first’ and ‘second’; for the Divinity is superior to number and the sequenice of time. Therefore, we have refrained from using these expressions, and we affirm that the Father is the Unbegotteh, and:the Son is begotten of the Father. "Yes, of course,’ he replies, ‘but why doés he pass over the Father and discuss the Son? Becausc'He was knowi to all, if not as the Father, at least as God; but the Only-begotten was not. known. Therefore with reason he hastened, right from the introduction, to bring knowledge of Him to those who-did not know ‘Him. Elsewhere he has not been-silent about the Father, in the sections of his work appropriate to this discussion, And notice, I beg, his spiritual prudence. He knows that men pay greatest honor to the First Cause, that which has no beginning, and have esteemed It as. God. For this reason he begins from that point first, and goes on to say that God is—and not, as Piato does, that He now is intellect or, at.another time, soul, These state- ments fall far short of this divine and pure nature, which in truth has nothing in commen with us, but is removed from participation in created things (I mean, does not share in their substance, but not that He does not share in their existence). Because of. this, then, he-has called Him ‘Word.’ Since he intends to teach that this Word is the only-begotten Son. of God, that no one may conceive the suspicion that His is.a begetting subject to suffering, he anticipates this evil suspicion