In nativitatem Joannis Baptistae

A discourse of our father among the saints John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the nativity of the holy prophet, forerunner and baptist John. Blessed is God; for behold, the leaps of John in the womb have been shown in deeds. The good news through the feet of the righteous man has advanced. The grace which he announced while in the womb has met us. The world has seen the rejoicing which the forerunner depicted with his feet in the belly. Truly, "others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." Prophets were driven and cried out beforehand; righteous men were struck and did not keep silent. The list of patriarchs was in danger. Tyrants opposed, kings waged war, rulers drew up in battle array. Peoples were enraged together; the whole world contended against the struggles of the righteous. On one side they were brought to the tribunals, on the other they were lacerated with whips. From every side came punishments and tortures, from every side afflictions and lamentations, from every side dejection and darkness. But being in such dejection and such darkness of life, we are given the good news of release from the storm.

For John the Great, the forerunner of the Lord, while still bound in the swaddling clothes of nature, showed us the saving spring, and hastening to proclaim with his voice the one whom he announced with his feet, he forces the very boundaries of nature to be exceeded. He frightened Elizabeth, who was slow to give birth; he leaped, both dancing and being vexed at being held by the womb, he cried out against the cycle of months, he shook the womb as an unjust prison, he kicked against the bolts of nature, he blamed the manner of childbirth, and with his lips closed, he cried out through his movements, almost speaking such words to Elizabeth 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 King Christ, you detain the soldier of the royal proclamation, you confine and shackle the swift runner of piety, who is greater than all born of women. You do wrong, O mother; you do not know the future, you are ignorant of what is to come. The light is arriving, release the dawn; the sun is rising, let the morning star shine first; the Word is at the door and there is need of a voice; the bridegroom is near, and it is right that the bridal chamber be spread out in the Jordan; there is need of blood that purchases the world, and I must point out the lamb from afar. The human race is swaddled in sins; the one who looses the fettered has come. Henceforth there is need of a herald, so that all, having learned, may all meet. And you hold the forerunner in the womb? Do you not consider, O mother, Adam held in Hades for so many ages?

Do you not hear the groan of Eve? Do you not see the dejection of the world, or rather its ruin? The blood of Abel still cries out, making its accusation against Cain. The very elements groan together with them; for this reason, indeed, you were delivered from the affliction of childlessness, so that the one born of a barren woman might announce the one born of a virgin; for this reason I leaped in the womb in joy, so that the devil might no longer dance in the world. Such were the words of John, not yet born, to Elizabeth. But when he had come forth from her and received a greater radiance, he fittingly pointed out the maker through his works and indicated the creator with his finger through his creations, crying out with a loud voice: "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." But how shall I celebrate that ineffable and awe-inspiring birth? How shall I speak of things beyond mind and reason? What tongue shall I take up that is sufficient for the wonders? A strange conception, painless labor pains, an ear of grain without cultivation, fruit without seed, a childbirth of a strange nature, an unknown offspring, a child on earth having no father, truly a story incomparable in life: a virgin gave birth and, having given birth, remained a virgin; the birth did not hinder her virginity, did not harm her womb, did not corrupt the mother. Fittingly, the one born granted such privileges to his mother; for what he alone possessed, he gave to her alone: he himself had no brother in his birth, nor did he give to his mother a sister of the wonder. O the ambition of God toward men! Of what gifts was nature deemed worthy through the female? Whence the war began, from there the king also awarded peace.

For from the time when there was a virgin mother and a mother virgin, the groan of Eve ceased. The daughter dissolved the maternal accusation; for through her the Lord, having become incarnate, came to dwell among us. He came to change sorrows into joy; he came to alter the grievous custom; he came to reconcile the lower with the higher. And how, listen. There, paradise was insulted; here, the cave was glorified. There, the two, Adam and Eve, were driven out by sin; here, the ends of the world are led by joy. No longer do we suspect the reproach of exile; no longer do we fear the fiery sword; no longer do we dread the bolts of the gates of paradise; no longer do we fear the bites of the serpent; no longer do we borrow leaves from the fig tree; no longer do we tremble at the sound of his walking. For we have venerated the procession from the virgin; we have beheld the physician of nature. For who ever saw, who ever heard, who ever knew a physician blossoming from a weak root? Who ever appeared as mother of her own father? Who gave birth to the one who by divine power begot her? Who bore a creature seen but a creator conceived? Who both gained having a son and was not deprived of being a virgin?

What then do you say, O Jew? What do you think, that you are childish in mind, covered by the gray hair of wickedness? Why do you read your prophets—or rather, my prophets—in vain? For you hold the letters, but I hold the realities; you the covenant, I the inheritance; you boast in the law, I am magnified in grace. Why then do you fight against the prophets? Why do you flee from their divinely inspired and truthful predictions? How many generations ago did you read what has now come to pass? Did you not know that the Word of God would come among men? How then did the prophet Jeremiah say: "This is our God; no other shall be compared to him; he discovered every path of knowledge and gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel his beloved. After these things he appeared on earth and lived among men." But do you disbelieve concerning the virgin, O Jew, that she gave birth? How then did you read the prophet Isaiah crying out: "Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us." But that after the birth she remained a virgin, you were also taught beforehand by the prophet Ezekiel: "The angel led me, he says, and set me at the gate of the east and said to me: Son of man, what do you see? And I said: I see a closed gate. And he said to me: This gate, no one shall enter through it nor go out through it, except the Lord Sabaoth alone; he will enter and go out.

And the gate will be closed." But that the master of all creation was born in the humble place of Bethlehem, you also learned beforehand from the prophet Micah, who says: "And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means the least; for from you will come forth for me a leader who will shepherd my people Israel." But that Herod slaughters the infants because of the incomprehensible Christ, this too was not passed over in silence, but it is written thus: "A voice was heard in Ramah, great lamentation and wailing; Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more." These things, then, you learned beforehand, O Jew, through the prophets, so that you might be prepared to meet him, not so that you might prepare a cross. But leaving those matters aside for the present, let us bring our discourse back to its earlier course. Now the time for Elizabeth to give birth was fulfilled; and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy with her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass on the eighth day, when they came to circumcise the child and were calling his name after the name of his father, Zacharias, his mother answered and said: "He shall be called John." They also nodded to his father, asking what he might wish the child to be called; and asking for a writing tablet, he wrote on it, saying: "John is his name." And all were amazed; for his mouth was immediately opened and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke clearly, blessing God. Indeed, the infant is born, and the father's voice returns.

Thus the voice of John is shown to cry out, for even the name itself has proven to be the activity of a voice: "For I," he says, "am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." For John, having received the illumination of the Holy Spirit, pointed out the creator to his creations and indicated the maker to all, crying out with a loud voice: "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." For no longer, according to the ancient type and law, is there one temple that receives the sacrifices and takes pride in them; but throughout the whole inhabited world, churches and altars send up glory sincerely to the philanthropic God. For we have received as the high priest of our souls Jesus Christ our Lord, who committed no sin nor was any guile found in his mouth. For we have, as Paul says, a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom is due all glory, honor, and worship together with the Father who is without beginning and the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages, amen.