In ascensionem domini

Of the same John Chrysostom, a homily on the Ascension of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. Bless, father. Today the Ascension of the Savior has opened heaven for us and pointed out the way of truth. Today the philanthropic economy of the Savior, having drawn up the earthly man from the earth, has transplanted him into heaven. Today the goodness of the Only-begotten, having snatched that old Adam, who was subjected to death and the tomb and lawless punishment, from the ancient condemnation, and having clothed him with immortality, has established him in the very palaces of eternal life. And the man who was on earth has become a fellow citizen of angels, but has also been shown to be master of archangels and of all the heavenly powers. For the Ascension of the Savior does not put him on a level with angels, but he rules over angels; for he is above every beginning and power and lordship and every name that is named, according to the salutary teaching of the Apostle: "He who," it says, "seated him at the right hand of the majesty in the heights." But when the theologian says these things, he interprets the glory, not that which he has from before the ages, but he posits the change for the better of this mortal and human race.

For the only-begotten, the God Word, coeternal and enthroned with the Father, is not being taken up (for he is master of the things above), but the mortal nature is being taken up by him; and he does not work out salvation for himself, but bestows it upon the human race. For he neither died for himself, nor rose for himself, nor was taken up for himself; for the source of immortality would not have died, nor would the resurrection have been raised. God does not rise, but raises; he is not awakened, but awakens; he is not given life, but gives life. So that you may learn that it is not the God Word who rises, but the incarnate economy, before he underwent the cross, before burial, before he showed the resurrection, he said to Martha, the sister of Lazarus: I am the resurrection. And he calls himself resurrection, to show that he raises according to his divinity, but is raised according to his humanity. He rose, therefore, for us, since he also died for us. He was taken up into the heavens, not because he himself, who fills heaven and earth, needed heaven, but taking the earthly vessel up into heaven, to show the devil the one who had been trampled upon now reigning, to show that the one whom the tyranny of the devil expelled from paradise, the love of God for humanity has made co-enthroned with itself. And God was all but saying to the malice of the devil: You wounded him on earth, I snatched him up into heaven; you brought him down into tombs, I have enshrined him in my heaven.

That, brothers, the savior did not procure this salvation for himself, nor was he taken up for his own sake, nor did he ascend for his own sake. For he was in the world even before he sojourned in the world. All these things he endured for our sake, and in his own body he raised us all up, and in the honor of the throne shared with him, given to the flesh of the savior, we were all honored and the mortal race was glorified. Listen to Paul saying: We who were dead through transgressions, he made alive together with Christ and raised us up together and seated us together. He raised us together, why also seated us together? You see that the honor was not given to himself, to the source of immortality, but to the mortal race. He raised us together and seated us together, and yet we have not yet ascended, we have not yet been seated together; but because in the firstfruits of the body of Christ the salvation of us all is stored up. He interpreted what will be as having happened, since he knows a sure pledge of the mortal race sitting above. For God set up the assumption as a counterbalance to the fall of death. Adam transgressed, he dragged down the whole race with himself; Christ was taken up, he raised up the whole race of the faithful with himself. And just as a sentence was pronounced against Adam alone, as it says: On whatever day you eat, you will die by death, and You are earth and to earth you will go, but the consequence it passed over in silence in word, but showed in experience. For it did not say you and your sons and your daughters and your whole race, but pronouncing against the root, it included the succession of the race and the fruits together with the root.

Just as there the sentence against Adam, having seized hold, dragged down the entire race together, so the taking up of the savior procured salvation for the whole race. For grace is counterbalancing to the old state. I did not say counterbalancing in terms of equal worth, but that what was lost through transgression was received through the savior's economy. And Paul bears witness, saying: Just as in Adam we all die, so in Christ we shall all be given life. And let no one be astonished if, when the savior had sojourned and proclaimed eternal life and bestowed the kingdom of heaven, this mortal race was disobedient, saying: What more have I gained by believing, if I die like the unbelievers, if I am put to death along with everyone, if I suffer the same things as those who disbelieved? What is the novelty of the grace? And how am I to find what is false and what is true? Listen to the savior saying: He who believes in me will live forever. It was said to Adam: On whatever day you eat, you will die by death. But he did not die on the day he ate, but lived in the world, though he was dead by the sentence. And by the sentence he was dead, but by the forbearance of God he lived and enjoyed life. Just as, then, the life of Adam after the sentence, extended for nine hundred and thirty years, did not annul the sentence, but the sentence overtook him, stripping the man's life over long years, so also here. Since the one who promised is once for all truthful, even if we die by nature, we live by the truthful promise. And just as living after the sentence did not constitute a prejudice for Adam, so neither does dying after the promise bring a prejudice for us.

And our race has come to be in the lump according to the promise from the beginning. It has received the benefaction, and we are in heaven through Christ. Since we came to be in tombs through Adam, through Adam we were cast out of paradise. Through Christ we were snatched up, both into heaven and into paradise. Because of Adam’s transgression we were pursued by the cherubim. For it is written that God placed the flaming sword and the cherubim to guard the way of paradise, and the cherubim were at war with Adam. They drove him away from the entrance of paradise. Because of the transgression the cherubim were hostile to Adam; because of the savior’s promise, the cherubim are friendly and the seraphim are fellow ministers. For with the voice of the seraphim the church ministers and sends up the Trisagion together with the heavenly beings, so that man may learn that the heavenly powers were not by nature at war with him, but turned away because of his transgression, and through philanthropy they received him back. There the flaming sword shut Adam out. But we are taught again that it was not the nature of fire that was at war with man, but the transgression set everything at war with him. A flaming sword pursues that one; a fiery chariot takes up Elijah. Do you see how the same fire is both hostile and friendly, not changing in nature, but serving the purpose of God? Adam was shut out of paradise; Peter receives the keys of heaven. In paradise he was plotted against by the serpent; handed over to exile in the world, in that very place of exile he treads upon the one that trod upon him.

Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon every power of the enemy. Did the transgression bring condemnation to Adam? Neither will the world bring condemnation to us, for faith acquits. Adam in paradise is disgraced by transgression; Job on the dunghill is crowned by endurance. Therefore the Lover of mankind has taken up the human race—not one race, not one region, but the whole inhabited world. For the Maker of the entire race of men saves the whole man. The formation of all is one, the calling of all is one. He does not permit the children of the Jews to boast, but see what he prepares even before the sojourn: he takes up Enoch. Enoch—what kind? The one bearing the type of ecclesiastical good order. Why does Enoch become a type of the Church? For he did not keep the Sabbath, he did not receive circumcision, he did not follow Jewish labors, but was formed for virtue by evangelical simplicity. Therefore the firstfruit of salvation was shining forth beforehand. Since we all had condemned the race as being mortal by nature, and all were ready to say that we die by nature because of ignorance—since habit made the verdict be thought nature—God, taking one from the same lump, transfers him to immortality, in order to show that it was not nature that condemned them, but sin that wounded them.

He could not have overcome the tyrant otherwise unless he endured the cross. By "tyrant" I mean the devil, who tyrannized over the Lord's creation. For there are three things that rule in the world and tyrannize over the Lord's creation. What are these? The devil, sin, and death. For through the devil comes sin, and through sin comes death. And how is it shown that these held sway? Scripture says: "And let not sin rule in your mortal flesh." And elsewhere: "And death ruled from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin." Behold, the rule of sin and death. Hear the Lord saying: "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?" A triad of tyrants was armed against the immortal Trinity. A diabolical triad opposed the holy Trinity. Behold, the ruler of this world has been judged. Why did he say "judged" and not "destroyed"? For he did not expel him by force, but by judgment. Pay close attention. God could have granted immortality to the mortal race of humans even without the economy, without the cross, and without the death of the flesh. For who can resist the will of God? Or his grace or his decree? But as we have often said before, God arranges for man not only salvation, but salvation with honor, so that he may not seem simply to pity man without struggles, but to crown him when he is successful. For if the devil had been defeated by divine power, the tyrant would have become greatly arrogant and would have said: "I conquered the whole world, but I was defeated by God; but there is no shame for one who is defeated by a superior.

For this reason the Savior raises up as an opponent to the devil the man whom he had conquered, and whom the tyranny of the devil had brought down to the lowest depths of Hades, God raised up to the highest heavens. And this is the resurrection of the Savior, the resurrection of us all, the economy for us all. Christ is proclaimed, the inhabited world is freed from evils. Whatever Christ does, he does not provide for himself, but bestows it upon us. Whether he is baptized for our sake, whether he is sanctified in appearance, sanctifying all, he is sanctified for our sake; not receiving sanctification from another power, but providing it himself to himself, supplying the attributes of divinity to the mortal nature, to the human flesh. And he himself bears witness, saying: "And for their sake I sanctify myself, so that they too may be sanctified in truth." What is it to be sanctified in truth? It is to receive from the Savior's flesh the pledge of security; that is, to be sanctified in truth is to partake of the Savior's divinity, to receive from him the spirit and to give him the body.

Observe the grace beginning from a small point and advancing into a sea. When God begins to bestow benefactions, he shows drops of beneficence: from a drop a spring, from a spring a river, from a river a boundless sea, from a sea a great abyss. Thus the Savior appeared first and alone, about to renew the race of men; he appears alone, not as one of many. From the one he advanced to twelve apostles, from the twelve apostles to seventy heralds, from the seventy heralds to five hundred brothers. For after rising, the Lord, it is said, appeared to over five hundred brothers at once. From the five hundred, four thousand are netted by the speech of Peter. By another teaching of his, five thousand believed. He advanced from hundreds to thousands, from thousands to tens of thousands, from tens of thousands to an immeasurable number. They say in Jerusalem to Paul: Do you see, brother, how many tens of thousands of Jews there are who have believed? Do you see how from one, twelve; from the twelve, seventy; from the seventy, five hundred; from the five hundred, thousands; from thousands, tens of thousands; from tens of thousands, an infinite multitude? Thus in its beginnings virtue seems to appear. But as it approaches, it provides an eternal wealth that surpasses both thought and speech and number to those who piously proclaim the truth. Thus also the blessed David, once persuaded in mind, subjects the friends of God to number and shows the desire and interprets it as unceasing, saying: But to me your friends, O God, have been greatly dishonored, their foundations have been greatly strengthened.

I will count them, and they will be more numerous than the sand. The increase observed in this church also bears witness to this economy. Consider what the assembly of orthodoxy is in this place, how few they were, how after this a multitude, how it advanced and became a people, how countless myriads overcome both the vote and the thought. It is worthy to mention the holy father Paul, who became bishop of this city, when in many storms he moored the ship in a calm harbor, how, though battered by the waves of the heretics, the ship was not capsized; but raising the sail of the cross and spreading the cloth of the good confession, he immediately received the Holy Spirit. Let what was said about Abraham through the prophet Isaiah be said about him: "Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave you birth, because he was one and I sanctified him and multiplied his seed." Who could bear the storms of the heretics? Who could look upon the squall with the naked eye? Whom did the presumption not lead to shuddering? Who did not think the truth was foreign? Everything was open to error and false teaching; and only to the truth was everything closed. The gates of the ears were closed. No one opened the true door. For the ears are doors that receive the truth. But when the ears turn away from the truth, they close like doors, as Paul says: "And they turn their ear away from the truth, but they will be diverted to myths." The gates of the souls, the ears of the souls, were closed.

Christ came when the doors were shut. He entered when the doors were shut. For not a single vice excludes his beneficence. The love of God for humanity conquers wickedness. He tolerates evils, not in order to prevail, but in order to expose them. He entered when the doors were shut. He revealed himself to the apostles through the saints, and he was present visibly in the flesh. He found the whole people leprous and cleansed them with the word of orthodoxy. He found them blind and enlightened them with the word of teaching. He found them limping concerning the right cutting of the gospel and granted them sound feet of reasoning. He found the dead and raised them. He found the lost and sought them. He cast out unbelief, transforming it into faith. For God’s aim is not to destroy sinners but sin; not to cut off unbelievers but unbelief. Just as a physician, even if he applies iron to the sick person, even if he brings a cautery, does not fight against the body but wars against the disease, and when that is expelled, he has the former enemy as a friend; and the one who formerly saw the physician as an enemy later honors him as a benefactor; so also God, like a good physician, a healer of bodies and a physician of souls, having one remedy of philanthropy, applies different drugs to the wounds. You know that the physician does not come to the iron by his own will, but when nature fights against the disease, necessity calls for sharpness; and those who see the science do not see it cutting by its own will but brought down to this by necessity. Thus also the prophets healed, wishing both to flatter and to benefit and to instruct.

But when they saw that the wounds of the sins were stronger than the knowledge (I mean of faith in its highest sense), they applied, like iron or fire, the reproof of truth. So also the blessed Isaiah from the very beginning fights against the disease, not flattering, not cajoling, not using a gentle word, but straightway begins from the harsh and severe truth, saying: "The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw against Judea and against Jerusalem." And this is the beginning of the prologue: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: I begat sons and raised them high, but they rejected me; an ox knows its owner, and a donkey the manger of its master; but Israel did not know me, and the people did not understand me. Woe to the sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless sons." And since he used these words and from the very beginning cut off impiety, he did not flatter the sinning soul with a gentle word, defending his speech, not because he is willingly provoked, but because he follows the nature of the wound, and he says to them: "There is no oil to apply, nor poultice, nor bandages. I would have liked to flatter," he says, "with a gentle word, but the nature of the wound does not accept the remedy." For he calls "oil" everywhere the gentle teaching, which has flattery—not the servile kind, but the encouraging kind.

The apostle also knows how to instruct the church with a cheerful word and gentle manner, saying: "My children, whom I am again in labor pains until Christ is formed in you," just as a nurse cherishes her own children. Thus we yearn to give you not only the Gospel but also the things concerning the soul. These are not the words of flatterers but of those who are attuned to the holy body. But since he was speaking to the healthy body of the church, he no longer used harsh remedies, but those that nourish and restore the soul. For the speech of the impious is full of flattery; the false prophets are flatterers, the prophets are physicians. Those flattered, these healed. And just as in bodies oil naturally rises above water, so also wickedness overcomes truth. And the flatterer is higher in appearance than the one who instructs in disposition. For this reason David said about the false prophets: "Their words have become softer than oil, and they themselves are darts." But the speech of the saints is not flattering, but instructive. Hence the blessed David chooses to be instructed rather than flattered by the impious: "A righteous man will instruct me in mercy and will reprove me; let not the oil of a sinner anoint my head." Such was the blessed Paul, not flattering, but teaching the truth. For her sake he suffers, for her sake he is exiled, for her sake he is crowned.

This church has become for us the firstfruits of good things. God first raised this church and made it share a name with his own resurrection. Fittingly, the name was suited to the economy. Fittingly it was called and let it be called resurrection, and let it not cease from the struggle, having wounded false belief and raised up orthodoxy. But this church raised our souls; you raised its walls. Fit together its stones, so that it may fit together your souls. Raise up all its beauty, so that the benefaction may be rendered complete. I rejoice seeing the pledge of your zeal; for if for now the things set before us are small, yet I know that a small amount of leaven leavens the whole lump. You consider the altar to be the right hand of Christ set forth, receiving with the one hand of sight, and supplying with the other hand of power. The right hand of Christ is a spiritual field, not disappointing hopes, not casting away the labors of the farmers, not obliterating their hopes. The hand of Christ is a field that is sown at once and reaped at once. Do you wish to see it as a field sown and reaped at the same time, and receiving not only living seeds but also dead ones and making them alive? In the desert, five loaves were offered to Christ, dead in the nature of the grain. For the grain of wheat lives; but the bread underwent a double death: first when it is ground, second when it is given to the fire. The benevolent right hand takes even that which has been killed and gives it life. The lordly fingers are spread out over the loaves like furrows. His right hand receives the bread, blesses it, multiplies it beyond all understanding. Do you see his right hand as a holy field?

Do you see the loaves being sown? Do you see the word bedewing them, and those dead by nature multiply, those barren by nature are brought to life into countless thousands, not denying their nature, but serving the divine power? Where Christ is present, do not seek the law of nature, but behold the authority of the powerful one. For he delivered to you the law of nature. But the master of all things is himself above the laws. For your sake there is rain, for your sake a spring, for your sake the years, for your sake the seasons; but for the craftsman none of these things is fitting. And just as today, the growth of these things has a double cycle (first the infant is conceived, born, suckles, grows, is completed into a perfect man), when God fashioned Adam, he had no need of human seed, nor a womb, nor gestation, but when he wished, he brought forth the man. So he took the loaves, blessed them, multiplied them, broke them, gave them, fed them. And behold the marvel. When we invite some to a feast, we first prepare the provisions and then invite; we first prepare and then recline. But Christ first reclines and then prepares; he did not first multiply the bread and then recline, but first reclined and then supplied the benefaction, to show that the power is swifter than the need. The bread was and he multiplied it, not flowing away but multiplying infinitely; not as heretics imagine about God, saying, "If he begot by emanation and division, he was diminished." The bread that multiplied did not flow away; death was being brought to life, and the nature that brings all things to life is subject to laws of servitude. I follow your reasoning.

Tell me how the loaves multiplied, and then interpret how God gave birth. Nevertheless, the benevolent right hand took up the bread as seed; it multiplied, broke, gave, and the hand was a treasury of good things. Looking at this right hand of the Savior, David said: The eyes of all hope in you, and you give their food in due season. You open your hand and fill every living creature with contentment. In Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belong glory, power, honor, and adoration, now and always and unto the ages of ages, amen.