Those who gaze upon the meadows from afar, on the one hand, (30) behold the multicoloured grace of the flowers, whilst on the other hand, they recognise their charm when, drawing near, they touch them with their own hands. Reflect, brother, on such an order of the Church, for, to those who wish it, (35) the God-inspired readings of the Holy Scriptures stand before them like fragrant flowers. For who could behold, in the spiritual Eden, the prophets dancing, the apostles guiding, the martyrs praying, the angels fighting together against the devil, and the teachers suffering for the true faith? [Who could behold] the grace of the Spirit bestowed in abundance, the speaking flocks sealed (40) with the Lord’s blood, and, above all that has been said, [who could behold] the summit of all goodness, the guarantee of our hopes, the highest point of delight, the fulfilment of joy—that is, the Gospel of Christ, in which the fulfilment of our life lies hidden? (45) Let us therefore look upon the Lord Christ as He rejoices fully in His servants, through whom we see that the passions are put to flight, the sea trembles with fear, the winds are stilled, death is condemned, hell is plundered, the demons are cast out, and sinners return (50) to their own Lord.
Indeed, Christ has made these gifts known in the divine Gospels, in which He shows that the righteous shine brighter than the sun, the limbs of the paralysed are strengthened, bedridden paralysed people run, tax collectors receive the worthy (55) of evangelists, leprosy is shaken off like dust by a natural act of will, fever departs unnoticed at the Lord’s word, the dead are easily brought back to life, tombs release to life those they held within them, the pride of a Pharisee is humbled [and] the humility of a tax collector is exalted [to heaven].
Indeed, the offering of small crumbs of bread is, consequently, something capable of satisfying the hunger of so many good people who have been fed through them (60). (596) I am convinced that, as always, you will understand our words on this occasion too, (28) filling the storehouses of your souls with the abundance of the virtues preached in public (30). Of course, since you too, by God’s grace, are reclining at this humble table, and I, too, placing my hope in your loving disposition, have subjected the neck of my soul to the yoke of the teacher.
Come, then, [for] right now I shall present the [biblical] reading to you. For you (35), all you who are rich, I, the poor host, stand before you, preparing a feast of the Word. ‘Two men,’ says [the evangelist], ‘went up to the temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector’1). The Pharisee was the boastful worker of righteousness, he who had reaped the field of virtues prematurely (40), he who was rich in arrogance rather than in riches, he who shook forth the fruit of virtues with subtle arrogance, the architect of pride, the accuser of all creation, the proof of a lack of love for people, the unforgiving reviler, the disturbance of the tax collector’s prayer. Yet let no one (45) take my words as intended to cause offence, but, listening to the Pharisee’s own words, let them understand that what is said is true: ‘O God,’ says [the Pharisee], ‘I thank You that I am not like other men!’ Do you consider yourself more righteous than everyone else? ‘I am not like other men’ (50). What are you doing, Pharisee? You do not consider the common nature of your own humanity [alongside that of other people]! You have become an unfeeling man, yet you also pretend to be a lover of mankind! Even if you have in mind [what constitutes] a merciful man, give up these arrogant words! In any case, be grateful that you are not like some people, but do not say that you are not ‘like other people: extortioners, the unjust, (55), adulterers’. Apart from you, are they all robbers, you Pharisee? Are they all unjust, and only you alone happen to be just? Are they all adulterers, and only you possess the virtue of self-restraint? ‘I am not like other people—extortioners, the unjust, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.’
Now (60) (597) the man’s mind has begun to take flight. Now the wing of his soul soars towards heaven. Why do you humiliate him with the arrogance of your words, preventing him from lifting up his confession of sins to the Lover of mankind? Why do you insult the one who lies wounded [because of sin]? Why do you heap (5) wood onto his [inner] fire? Why are you the accuser of his conscience, which beats insistently?
‘Or like this tax collector’. In fact, what did you see, man, that the tax collector was doing? Did you see him robbing? Did you see him plundering the labours of others? Did you see him seizing other people’s possessions? Did you see him reaping what he had not sown? Did you see him gathering where he had not (10) scattered? Did you see him setting any snare for passers-by [through the country]? O Pharisee, you saw nothing of the sort, but [you can] look upon the pitiful sight, the sight worthy of compassion and aid, for [the tax collector] lies prostrate on his face, beating his breast as if it were a workshop of evil deeds [and] does not dare (15) to lift his eyes to heaven! Perhaps he even expects condemnation from the stars, or, rather, imagines that the multitude of his sins are inscribed upon the firmament. He stood far from the temple as one who had judged himself [unworthy of it, and] cried out in a loud voice: ‘Have mercy on me!’, since he had already condemned himself.
Have you not read what is written (20): ‘Do not provoke a man to anger in his distress!’2 He is helpless, [and] because of the multitude of his accusations, his anxieties have completely overwhelmed him. His conscience took hold of his right hand as he struck his chest [and] made this a public accusation against him. Did it not move you (25) to tremble? Did it not stir you to compassion, since he bowed his face to the ground? Did it not quell your inhuman thoughts, since he did not dare to lift his eyes to heaven? Indeed, when he was extorting money [from the people], that was when you ought to have spoken such words against him, even though at that moment he ought not only (30) to have been accused by you, but by every citizen individually. Of course, when he acknowledged his own sins, when he realised the wounds of his soul, he ran to the Physician who heals without charge. When he remembered his sins, he sought the help of the merciful Lord. Therefore, O Pharisee, did you not insult him in vain? (35)
‘Not even like this tax collector’. Yet are there not other tax collectors who love the sweet lament of repentance? If you have a great desire to blame sinners, turn your tongue against those who are still entangled in the snares of greed for gain (40). In fact, if you give in to this desire, your hatred is pointless, for not only can you not harm the man, but you also provoke the Lord, since He shows His forgiveness all the more swiftly.
2. ‘And the tax collector,’ says [the evangelist], ‘standing at a distance, would not (45) even lift his eyes to heaven’. No doubt he too boldly echoed the words of Manasseh: ‘I am not worthy to look up to the heights of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities’3 Indeed, many evils were then gathered in the tax collector’s soul: (50) an insatiable desire for money, a thirst for injustice that knew no bounds [and] endless plundering. It is a common occurrence in human nature [to find] an evil tax collector, an unjust enforcer of the law, an unaccused extortioner, a fearless thief, an innocent robber, an inherent scourge, a wolf amongst speechless sheep, (55) a beast in human form. With all these evils, the tax collector ascended to the temple. Indeed, when he had done all these terrible things and with great difficulty realised the burden of his sins upon his soul, when, consequently, he broke his neck, then he sought to relieve himself of the burden [of his sins], and, although he had no way (60) of [relieving himself of this] weight, he struck his chest. Moreover, he possessed great wisdom and found a unique way of deliverance, for he remembered the voice of the Lord crying out to sinners: ‘Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!’4 Remembering (65) these words, he approached the temple (598) of God bearing the burden of his sins. Therefore, since he was powerless and could no longer bear [the burden of his sins], he immediately fell on his face and said to the Lord: ‘Have mercy on me, a sinner!’5
It so happens, says [the tax collector], that I am devoid of any good deed. I am troubled because of my dreadful evils. My transgressions exceed the number of grains of sand in the sea (5) [and] have multiplied more than the hairs on my head. I see that Your judgement has already been pronounced concerning those who have suffered injustice at my hands. I know that before Your [judgement] seat the books will be opened, in which the sighs of those who have journeyed [through this life] have truly been recorded (10). There is no form of injustice that escapes Your impartial knowledge. I have no time for excuses; there is no place left for me to flee. I dare not lift my eyes to heaven. I fear that even the earth might see my deeds, since even (15) the lifeless things bring charges against the sinner.
…running to You, Lord of all, I have found my help in this prayer: ‘Be my atonement, O You who are holy!’ Great is the depth of my wickedness! Yet what cannot be cleansed by the abundance of Your goodness?
Therefore, running to You, Lord of all, I have found help in this prayer: ‘Be my atonement, O You who are holy!’ Great is the depth of my wickedness! Yet, (20) what [cannot be cleansed] by the abundance of Your goodness? Among men, my salvation is an impossible thing, but with You, Lord, all things are possible. If, on the one hand, You came to earth for the righteous, and, being deeply disgusted by the place where public revenues are gathered, I have fled to Your temple, and if, on the other hand, You have also given sinners a word of justification, and if, rather, You have lived out [this word] in their company, do not give me the impression that with You (25) my hopes are in vain, but heal my broken heart [and] revive me, who am dead because of my sins. The harlot touched You and cleansed herself of the filth of her wickedness. You granted a faithful woman the hem of Your garment to touch, and You stopped the flow of blood. You drew near to a paralysed man (30) who lay stretched out, and You raised a [royal] servant from his bed and restored him to health. You saw a blind man wandering by the wayside and restored to him the joy of sight. On the one hand, You anointed the part of his body that was lacking, restoring with clay the body taken from the earth; and on the other hand, You opened the door to communion with the light, revealing to man the beauty of creation. You saw (35) a woman weeping, and, lashing out at hell before the time of the Resurrection, You brought Lazarus out of it as from the mouth of a lion, snatching the man from the [clutches] of death. After You looked with mercy upon a man as he prostrated himself before You and was plunged into the dreadful despair of childlessness, You immediately (40) heeded his pleas and called for the child; and when You called her, the girl was raised to life and death fled. Seeing her own little girl torn apart by the devil, even the Canaanite woman cried out to You, and when she said in a loud voice, ‘Have mercy on me!’, she did not lose hope, since (45) You praised her faith, for You drove the wolf away from the [speaking] sheep and cast out the one who dwelt within her with a fit of rage. You put an end to the mother’s sorrow, graciously restoring her little girl’s [spiritual] senses.
You fed a multitude [of people] in the wilderness with small loaves, but I too suffer from a hunger for righteousness and, with a humble heart, I earnestly seek Your love for mankind (50). Have mercy on me too, as one of those who remain in Your mind! I have defiled my soul like the adulteress before her repentance. To all I am unclean, like the woman with the issue of blood who, before her healing, considers herself unclean. My soul is paralysed, more so than the body of the paralytic. I am blind (55) in the eyes of my soul, just as the man born blind is in the eyes of his body. I am dead because of my sins, my soul confined within my body just as Lazarus was confined within his tomb. I almost bear within myself the wickedness of everyone. But You, Who have shown mercy to all, have mercy on me too (60), since I fall before You in prayer! ‘O God, be my atonement, I who am a sinner!’
Why, then, is the Merciful Judge the generous Rewarder of those who run the race of repentance? [Because], when the Pharisee boasted, He bore it patiently, and when the tax collector repented, He rejoiced (599). [The Judge] rewarded each according to his deserts, for one, by his own words, cast away the salvation of his soul, as though he were casting it away because of violent winds, whilst the other, humbling himself, awaited no other accuser. Certainly, he acquitted (5) the tax collector, who had become his own accuser, of judgement, whilst he showed the Pharisee to be more wretched than the tax collector, since he had publicly boasted of his spiritual achievements.
Both had a certain [inner] disposition: one had an intention [to ascend] from [spiritual] poverty towards virtue, whilst the other was slipping from wealth into [spiritual] poverty.
Both had a certain [inner] disposition: one had an intention [to ascend] from [spiritual] poverty towards virtue, whilst the other had a descent from wealth into [spiritual] poverty. Indeed, what did the Lord say? ‘Truly I tell you, this man went home justified (10) rather than the other’6 O, how evil is the disease of pride! The Pharisee returned laden with leaves, having crowned himself with his own deeds as though they were flowers. The tax collector, having no answer to offer, prayed alongside him7. Yet one, humbling himself of his own accord, was exalted (15), whilst the other, aiming for an unworthy height, endured [before men] an exposure worthy of ridicule. Would it not have been better to use (600) words of humility? Would it not have been better to heed the prophetic word which says: ‘Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up!’8? Would it not have been more beneficial to have kept his tongue in check and safeguarded the [inner] wealth he had acquired with such great effort? In fact, the virtues he had accumulated over time (5), in a brief moment of crisis, he squandered because of his tongue. Did the Pharisee not hear what is written: ‘Everyone who is proud is an abomination to God’? 9 Had he not been taught what was so wisely said: ‘Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing’? 10 He probably knew both, but the power (10) of vain glory prevailed.
Let us, therefore, acquire [too] the humility of the tax collector and cast off the burden of our sins! Let us abhor the pride through which the Pharisee lost the wealth of virtues, for ‘the Lord opposes the proud, but to the humble He gives (15) grace’11! To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen!
*I have translated this homily in accordance with the original Greek: St John Chrysostom, Εἰς τὸν τελώνην καὶ τὸν Φαρισαῖον λόγος [In publicanum et pharisaeum] in PG 59, coll. Patrologiae cursus completus (series Graeca) 59, Paris, 1857–1866, 595–600.