The fourteenth Tillemont thinks ought to be placed after the eighteenth; influenced by this reason, that Chrysostom says at the beginning, "Not a little did the devil yesterday disturb our city, but God hath also not a little comforted us again." These words, he observes, denote that the arrival of Hellebichus, and of news from Constantinople, had already occurred. But these are mere conjectures spoken at random. [988] How many suspicions and terrors think you were cast abroad among the people of Antioch, whilst they hung in doubt, and were ignorant to what result so unhappy an affair might lead? But how can we possibly argue respecting these terrors and reports, when we are doubtless ignorant of the greater part of them, and have so obscure a perception of what we do know, that we can scarcely gather from thence any indication of the time? This Homily is almost wholly on the subject of avoiding oaths.
The fifteenth Homily, Tillemont would have it, was delivered between the tenth and eleventh, both for the reasons above mentioned, and because Chrysostom has these words at the commencement, Edei kai temeron kai to prot?ro sabb?to ton peri nesteias kinesai logon. "It had been right both to-day and on the former Sabbath, to let the discourse turn on the subject of fasting." Where he understands the expression, to prot?ro, as though it were to proto,--the first Saturday in Lent, entertaining however some doubts on the point. But we, as well as Bernard Brixianus, understand it of the earlier or preceding one. [989] And we have already proved in a former paragraph, that no other Homily can be placed between the tenth and the eleventh. On the occasion of the dread with which the people of Antioch [990] were affected, he enlarges on the advantage of fear, and at the end he preaches against the custom of swearing, and of requiring an oath from others.
The sixteenth Homily was delivered when all were deliberating upon making their escape from the city, in consequence of a certain report, that a sack was to take place. Tillemont endeavours also to change the position of this Homily, and to place it between the tenth and eleventh, which, however, as we have said in our remarks upon the twelfth, it cannot admit of. Tillemont further supports his argument by these words: in No. 6, the holy Doctor says, "We have passed through the second week of the fast." He infers, therefore, that two weeks only of the fast had passed away, and Tillemont on that ground determines, that it ought to be moved out of its place. He supposes it was spoken on the third Sunday in Lent, reckoning for the first Sunday that which preceded the first day of the fast, which we call Quinquagesima Sunday. But what if at Antioch at that time, that was called the first Sunday of Lent, which according to modern custom occurs as the first within the fast? [991] For the fast did begin the Monday after Quinquagesima, and now it begins on the Wednesday, and the people of Antioch might not reckon that week for the first week of Lent, just as we do not reckon it as so, and in that way this Homily would have been delivered one week later, that is to say, taking the Sunday after the modern custom. But even then a great difficulty would remain, for this Homily would precede the thirteenth and following ones. Certainly all these points are full of perplexity, as Tillemont himself confesses, who is compelled to leave the question, without entirely coming to any conclusion upon it. Perhaps familiarity, and longer handling, will add to our knowledge on so obscure a subject, which it is possible we may be able to determine, in drawing up the life of Chrysostom at the end of his works, [992] more clearly and accurately. For which reason we have purposely determined to leave the matter doubtful. That one point only we contend for, that this Homily cannot be placed between the tenth and eleventh, for the reasons above mentioned. Certain things being premised as to the timidity of the people of Antioch, and the avoiding of oaths, Chrysostom borrows the argument of the Homily from those words of Paul, "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother;" and shews that Paul was more glorious from bonds, than from the power of miracles.
The seventeenth was delivered after Ellebichus, or Hellebichus, (styled Magister Militum), and Cæsarius, (styled Magister), the persons sent by the Emperor for the purpose of instituting an inquiry into the sedition, had arrived at Antioch. This Hellebichus, Master of the Horse or [993] Foot, is found mentioned elsewhere, and was distinguished by a reputation for justice and clemency. Cæsarius, also styled elsewhere Master of the Offices, enjoyed a similar reputation for high character. But this Homily was pronounced when the people of Antioch were almost free from fear. "We expected," says Chrysostom (No. 1.), "innumerable horrors, that the property of all was to be plundered; the habitations consumed, together with their inmates; the city snatched away from the midst of the world; and all its relics obliterated, and its soil ploughed up: but, lo! all these things stood only in expectance, and came not actually to pass." Next he relates how the monks descended from the mountains to Antioch, that they might appease the judges, while at the same time all the Greek philosophers deserted the city; and in what way also the priests strenuously exerted themselves on behalf of the people. He declares the penalties imposed by the Emperor to be light and easy, and no matter of grief or complaint, though the orchestra and public bath were closed, and the dignity of a metropolis taken away from the city of Antioch. The true dignity of Antioch was, that the disciples of Christ were first called Christians there; that the people of Antioch had brought assistance to the saints at Jerusalem, when struggling with famine; that not magnitude, but piety, is the ornament of cities. Finally, however, he says that some were yet remaining in prison; and that others were sent into exile. This Homily Tillemont assigns to the fourth week of Lent, after Wednesday, but only from conjecture. [994]
The eighteenth Homily was spoken after half the fast was over, as Chrysostom himself says at the beginning. But Tillemont thinks it may probably be assigned to the fifth Sunday of Lent. He treats moreover of the true reason for fasting; of contempt for riches; of godly sorrow, &c.
The nineteenth Homily was delivered as the title has it, te kuriake tes episozom?nes, or as Fronto Ducæus reads it, tes sozom?nms. Among the Cappadocians, episozom?ne is Ascension Day, as Allatius says in his book on the Sundays and Weeks of the Greeks, adding that the Sunday thus called is the fifth after Easter, [995] i.e. the one which precedes the Ascension of our Lord. But Savile says that it is [996] the first Sunday after Easter; from whence he got his information I know not. Yet there seems no doubt that it was some one of the last Sundays in Lent, or, as Tillemont supposes, Passion-Sunday, to which I rather incline. Chrysostom, who had been detained at home for some time by sickness, after he has prefaced his subject with some remarks on the Festival of the Martyrs, which had been just celebrated at Antioch, and on the arrival of the rustics, speaks according to his custom against oaths, and illustrates their pernicious effects by many examples.
Hitherto, in the number and order of the Homilies, we have followed the editions of Savile and Fronto Ducæus. But henceforth it is otherwise; for that which follows as the twentieth in former editions, is without doubt the twenty-first and last on the Statues. But the twenty-first is a Catechesis, which we have placed second after another Catechesis, which was inscribed as the first, as we remark in the Notice placed at the end of the Homilies on the Statues, and in front of the Catechetical Lectures; since this Catechesis ought to be placed entirely without the series of the Homilies on the Statues. But the Homily, which is in former editions the twenty-second, is without doubt the twentieth, which was delivered ten days before Easter. Therefore we proceed in this order.
The twentieth Homily has these words in the title, according to manuscripts mentioned by Fronto Ducæus, and likewise in some of ours, and particularly that in the Royal Library, numbered 1971. El?chthe d? pro d?ka hemeron tes ?gias kai zoopoiou tou Kuriou hemon 'Iesou Christou ek nekron ?nast?seos. "It was spoken ten days before the holy and life-giving Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead." This therefore is in perfect accordance with that saying of Chrysostom, a little before the end of the Homily, "Forty days have passed away." This sermon then was delivered on the Friday after the Sunday which we call Passion-Sunday. For this day was the fortieth, beginning from the Monday after Quinquagesima, which was the commencement of Lent. But it was likewise the tenth before Easter, reckoning Easter itself with it. The Homily is almost throughout against enmity and the remembrances of injuries, and at the close is, according to Chrysostom's accustomed manner, directed against oaths. The twenty-first Homily, which is the last on the Statues, seems, from what he says just at the beginning, to have been delivered on the very day of the Lord's Resurrection, and after the return of Flavian the Bishop; whose journey to the Emperor, and address to the same on behalf of the city's preservation, as well as the Emperor's reply full of lenity in which he pardons the citizens, are all particularly related by Chrysostom, occupying the whole of this discourse. But even until the return of Flavian, the people of Antioch were terrified by every day's reports, and fluctuated between hope and fear, as Chrysostom observes a little after the beginning.
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table of the events connected with the homilies on the statues.
Hom
Feb. -- .. 1
26? ..... Sedition on the proclamation of a new impost.
March 6 Saturday 2
7 Sunday, Quinquagesima 3 Three precepts for this Lent.
8 M 4 Plan for the week.
9 T 5
10 W 6
11 T 7
12 F.
13 S. 8 (proen.)
14 Sunday I. in lent
15 M 9
16 T 10 Arrival of Hellebichus and Cæsarius. Baths closed. Antioch deprived of its rank.
17 W. Trial of prisoners. Intercession of monks. Senate kept in prison: sentence to be left to the Emperor.
18 T... Departure of Cæsarius to Constantinople.
21 Sunday II. in Lent
22 M 11
23 T 12 Cæsarius arrives at Constantinople. (Sixth day, Lib.)
24 W 13 (Trials referred to as on the preceding Wednesday.)
25 T 14
26 F.
27 S 15 (Ref. to former Saturday.)
28 Sunday III. in Lent. 16 False alarm. (Second week of Fast past.)
30? T? 17 News from Cæsarius. City to be spared. Senate still in prison.
April 4 Sunday IV. in Lent. 18 (Half Fast past, not twenty days from closing of Baths.)
11 Passion Sunday
16 F 20
18 Palm Sunday. --
25 Easter 21 Return of Flavian, and full pardon, related.
June -- ..... Feast of the Martyrs. St. Chrysostom ill.
28 Sunday before Ascension 19 Homily addressed to country people.
[968] [That is events which occurred at Antioch during St. Chrysostom's sojourn in that city--Ed.]
[969] [And the Goths who were threatening the Danubian frontier.--Ed.]
[970] [These low foreign adventurers were sometimes hired by actors to get up applause in the theatre, or by men of rank, not overpopular, to raise a cheer when they appeared in public.--Ed.]
[971] See Hom. XXI., where St. Chrysostom speaks of him as especially pained at this.
[972] i. e., so far as the inference is concerned. His testimony is explicit to the fact that the tax was levied for that purpose, and he was on the spot.
[973] See the opening of the oration of Libanius, written as if to be delivered by him there, and Hom. XVII. 6, and Hom. XXI. (2).
[974] [See also Life of St. John Chrysostom, chapter xi. by Stephens, where the sedition at Antioch is described, and a summary of the Homilies on the Statues is given.--Ed.]
[975] Pascha is either Passover or Easter. St. Thos. Aquinas, in the Hymn Lauda Sion, appropriates it to the Christian Festival, calling the Jewish Phase vetus.
[976] i. e., the actual days of them on the Jewish computation. This appears the true answer to the difficulty. The Jews kept the Passover this year earlier than the Christians: viz. on the 14th day of the moon, or April 18. See l'Art de Verifier les Dates on the year. Thus the supposed difficulty becomes a confirmation of the date otherwise determined. Montfaucon understood it, "we must...if we follow the Judaizers." Tillemont is at a loss to explain the title of Homily III. against the Jews. Against those who would fast the first Passover. It may mean either the original, or that which then happened to be the earlier. The word fast is explained by taking it as their expression for keep. He thinks it necessary to tell them that the true Passover is not fasting, but the Holy Communion. Ben. t. i. p. 611, b. And this agrees with what he says is the common case, viz. that the Christian Easter is so much later, as is required to complete the week.