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Greek · Homilies · 0380–0403

In paralyticum

Anonymus (Pseudo-John Chrysostom) · pta

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machine-draft · no human review 2 passages · 486 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

This homily, transmitted among the spuria of John Chrysostom, addresses the healing of a paralytic and uses the physical condition as a metaphor for spiritual weakness and sin. Likely composed in the late fourth or early fifth century within the Antiochene tradition, it survives in multiple Greek manuscripts and was incorporated into Byzantine liturgical use for the feast of the paralytic. The text is included in Patrologia Graeca volume 59 under Chrysostom's name, but modern scholarship regards it as pseudonymous. Its pastoral and catechetical themes link physical healing to baptismal or penitential forgiveness, and later catenae and florilegia excerpt it for doctrinal purposes.

This homily exemplifies the late antique Christian practice of using physical healing narratives as allegories for spiritual renewal, linking baptismal or penitential forgiveness to bodily restoration. It also illustrates the fluid boundaries of authorship in the Chrysostom corpus and the liturgical adaptation of patristic texts in Byzantine worship. Its survival in multiple manuscripts and excerpting in catenae attest to its enduring pastoral and doctrinal value.

Historical context

The homily was composed in Greek, probably in the late fourth to early fifth century (c. 380–403), within the Antiochene tradition of biblical exegesis and pastoral preaching. Antioch was a major center of early Christianity, known for its literal-historical interpretation of Scripture and its emphasis on moral exhortation. The work is pseudonymously attributed to John Chrysostom (c. 347–407), a prominent Antiochene preacher and later bishop of Constantinople. The text survives in multiple Greek manuscripts, often grouped with other Chrysostomica, and was used in Byzantine liturgical contexts for the second Sunday of Lent, when readings on healing miracles were common. Its inclusion in the Patrologia Graeca reflects medieval ascription rather than modern critical consensus. The homily's transmission through catenae and florilegia indicates its perceived doctrinal utility, though no critical apparatus or stemma exists for the present edition.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

11 commentary units 2 structure2 scripture2 background2 term2 reception1 caution 0 derived notes 3 open questions 2 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • coverageNo English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed.
  • limitThe English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve.
  • registerRegister: homily in ancient Greek; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 2 narrative.
  • sourceSource edition: pta — CC BY-SA 4.0

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
pta0039.pta003:1 · narrativehigh
Source
Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου λόγος εἰς τὸν παράλυτον ἤτοι εἰς τὴν β κυριακὴν τῶν νηστειῶν Ἄνωθεν μὲν ὁ προφήτης εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἡμῖν τὴν τῶν προκειμένων θαυμάτων ἀπόδειξιν ἔγραφεν· ἰσχύσατε χεῖρες παρειμέναι καὶ γόνατα παραλελυμένα· παρακαλέσατε οἱ ὀλιγόψυχοι τῇ ψυχῇ· ἰσχύσατε, μὴ φοβεῖσθε· ἰδοὺ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κρίσιν ἀποδίδωσιν· καὶ ἀνταποδώσει, αὐτὸς ἥξει καὶ σώσει ἡμᾶς· τότε ἀνοιχθήσονται ὀφθαλμοὶ τυφλῶν καὶ ὦτα κωφῶν ἀκούουσι· τότε ἀλεῖται ὡς ἔλαφος ὁ χωλὸς καὶ τρανὴ ἔσται γλῶσσα μoγγιλάλων. εἶδες ὡς ἐν εἰκόνι τὸν παράλυτον προανατυπούμενον; Βλέπε αὐτὸν ἄρτι ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος θεραπευόμενον, βλέπε νῦν πληρούμενα τὰ προφητευόμενα· ἰδοὺ γάρ, φησίν, ἔρχονται πρὸς αὐτὸν φέροντες παραλυτικόν· καὶ μὴ δυνάμενοι προσεγγίζειν αὐτῷ διὰ τὸν ὄχλον, ὀρύξαντες τὸν τόπον, ὅπου ἦν, χαλῶσι τὸν παραλυτικόν. ὦ τῆς πίστεως τῶν προσενεγκάντων· ἄλλοι προσήνεγκαν καὶ ἄλλος σώζεται· οὐκ ἔσχεν ἑαυτὸν ὁ παραλυτικὸς νοσῶν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ σῶμα· ὁ σωτὴρ θαυμάσας τῶν προσενεγκάντων τὴν πίστιν λέγει – διὰ δὲ τὴν πίστιν τῶν προσενεγκάντων σε, τέκνον · ἀφέωνταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι. ὦ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας τοῦ ἰατροῦ· οὐ μόνον ἐθεραπεύθη ὁ νοσῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τέκνον αὐτὸν ἐκάλεσε λέγων· τέκνον, ἀφέωνταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἰατροὶ πρῶτον τὰ αἴτια τῶν νοσημάτων προαναιροῦσιν καὶ οὕτω τὴν ἰατρείαν ἐπάγουσιν, τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐποίει· ἔδει γὰρ αἰτίαν τῆς νόσου τυγχάνουσαν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν προανακοπῆναι καὶ οὕτω προαναστείλας τὸ κρυπτόμενον θεραπεύει τὸ φαινόμενον.
English
A discourse of our father among the saints, Archbishop of Constantinople, Chrysostom, on the paralytic, that is, on the second Sunday of the fast. From above the prophet, announcing to us the demonstration of the miracles that lie before us, wrote: “Be strong, relaxed hands and paralyzed knees; take courage, you who are faint-hearted in soul; be strong, do not fear; for behold, our God renders judgment; and he will requite, he himself will come and save us; then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will hear; then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers will be clear.” Did you see how the paralytic is prefigured as in an image? Behold him now being healed by the Savior; behold now the prophecies being fulfilled: “For behold,” it says, “they come to him bearing a paralytic; and being unable to approach him because of the crowd, having pointed out the place where he was, they lower the paralytic.” O the faith of those who brought him! Others brought him, and another is saved. The paralytic did not have himself, being sick in both soul and body. The Savior, marveling at the faith of those who brought him, says—and because of the faith of those who brought you, child, your sins are forgiven. O the philanthropy of the physician! Not only was the sick man healed, but he also called him “child,” saying: “Child, your sins are forgiven.” For just as physicians first remove the causes of diseases and then apply the treatment, so also Christ did. For it was necessary that sin, being the cause of the disease, be first cut off, and thus, having first checked the hidden cause, he heals the visible effect.
pta0039.pta003:2 · narrativehigh
Source
Ἀλλὰ πάλιν οἱ φιλεγκλήμονες Φαρισαῖοι γογγύζουσι λέγοντες· τίς ἐστιν οὗτος, ὃς λαλεῖ βλασφημίας; ὁ δὲ σωτὴρ δημοσιεύων αὐτῶν τὴν κακὴν ἔννοιαν θεραπεύει καὶ τὸ φαινόμενον λέγων· τί ἔστιν εὐκοπώτερον εἰπεῖν· ἀφέωνταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι, ἢ εἰπεῖν· ἔγειρε καὶ περιπάτει; κρεῖττον ἦν ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ σώματος. διὰ τοῦτο πρῶτον αὐτήν, ἔπειτα τὸ σῶμα ἐθεράπευσεν. τί οὖν οἱ πάντολμοι Ἰουδαῖοι πάλιν ἐγκαλοῦσι, ὅτι ἐν σαββάτῳ τὸν παράλυτον ἐθεράπευσεν; ἐγκαλεῖς τῷ ἰατρῷ ἐν σαββάτῳ θεραπεύοντι; ἐγκάλεσόν σου τῇ γυναικί, ὅτι ἐν σαββάτῳ ἐγέννησεν. ἐγκάλει καὶ τῷ ἡλίῳ ἐν σαββάτῳ ἀνατέλλοντι· ἐγκάλεσον καὶ τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐν σαββάτῳ τὸν ὑετὸν καταπέμποντι· ἴσως καὶ τῇ γῇ ἐγκαλέσεις ἐν σαββάτῳ τὸν καρπόν σοι ἀνατελλούσῃ. εἰ δὲ τοῖς κτίσμασιν οὐκ ἐγκαλεῖς, τί κατὰ τοῦ κτίστου βοᾷς ἐν σαββάτῳ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν ποιήσαντι; Ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἀχάριστοι τυγχάνοντες τῆς βασιλείας ἑαυτοὺς ἀπεστέρησαν, ἡμεῖς δὲ τὸν εὐεργέτην ἐπιγινώσκοντες θαυμάζομεν θεραπεύοντα, δοξολογοῦμεν εὐεργετοῦντα, ὅτι αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἁπάντας αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, ἀμήν.
English
But again the quarrelsome Pharisees murmur, saying: Who is this who speaks blasphemies? The Saviour, exposing their evil intention, heals also the visible, saying: What is easier to say: Your sins are forgiven, or: Rise and walk? The soul was more valuable than the body. Therefore he healed it first, then the body. So why do the audacious Jews again accuse him, that he healed the paralytic on the Sabbath? Do you accuse the physician for healing on the Sabbath? Accuse your own wife for giving birth on the Sabbath. Accuse also the sun for rising on the Sabbath; accuse the sky for sending down rain on the Sabbath; perhaps you will also accuse the earth for yielding fruit for you on the Sabbath. If you do not accuse the creatures, why do you cry out against the Creator for doing a good deed on the Sabbath? But those, being ungrateful, deprived themselves of the kingdom; we, recognizing the benefactor, marvel at him healing, glorify him doing good, because to him belongs the glory and the power now and always and for all the ages of ages, amen.
Citation. Tergwame, “In paralyticum”, pta0039.pta003:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/pta0039.pta003#s1
Colophon. Source: pta · licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0016 · generated 2026-11-15.