Introduction
The beginning of the ecclesiastical year, celebrated September 1 and known as the beginning of the Indiction, is a commemoration that is traditionally linked to the fecundity and richness of God’s creation. It occurs in a season marked by the harvest and by thanksgiving to God for his bounty and continued blessings. Among the Byzantine literary monuments associated with this commemoration is a homily attributed to St John Chrysostom, On the Beginning of the Indiction (CPG 4597). A paraenetic sermon intended to orient its audience to the proper spirit of Christian feasting, this text seems to have been fairly popular in the medieval period and exists in numerous manuscripts dating from the tenth century as well in an old Slavonic translation. Often placed at the forefront of homilaries for the month of September, it draws a familiar connection between the beginning of the Byzantine new year and creation. Yet the sermon’s principal focus is to set the creation in its proper context, as a fellow servant (σύνδουλος) of the Creator and not something to be worshipped. The admonition is in many ways a typical exhortation on the nature of Christian feasting. It contrast the festivals of the Christian Church with the celebrations of the pagan Greeks, on the one hand, and the holidays of the Jews, on the other. Emphasizing the cult of the martyrs, in particular, the sermon concludes with an extended soliloquy in which the Sea puts both Jews and pagans to shame by praising her Creator and maintaining the proper order of things, in which the servant directs her worship and awe not to her fellow servants, but to the Master.
This text has been translated into English by the students of the Fall 2024 Patristic Greek course at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.[1] The Pappas Patristic Institute is honored and grateful to be able to share their joint contribution.
On the Beginning of the Indiction
St John Chrysostom[2]
Wondrous are the festivals of the Orthodox. Radiant are the memorials of the martyrs. Unashamed are the banquets of the pious. We do not celebrate time, the measure of things that are ever in motion. We do not worship the year, which eats away at human life. We do not venerate the contest that drags us down into corruption. We do not adore creation, for everything that has been made is a fellow servant of God. We do not serve matter, for it has been brought into being out of nothing. As all these things had a beginning, so also are they subject to a final end in corruption. We do not worship heaven, for it is as solid as smoke. We do not worship the firmament, for it is but a crystalline vault. We do not worship the light, for it was created by a word (Gen 1:3). We do not worship the moon, for it is adorned with phases. We do not worship the earth, for it was drawn up out of the water (Gen 1:9). We do not worship fire, for it is a material element. We do not venerate the water, for it is a substance in flux. We do not adore time, for it has no stability but floweth away. We do not worship the day, for it is subservient to order. All things grow old in time, and in the end time itself grows old. God alone does not age, as that final day to come makes clear.
The pagan Greeks and Jews, the brethren of iniquity, captives of the devil, progeny of sin, playthings of delusion, the recalcitrance of blasphemy, ferrymen of Gehenna, serpents of impiety, and sons of the curse—let them impiously celebrate such things, filled as they are with unholy thoughts. Let the one honor their delusion and the other trample upon the Law, each one leading the other into wickedness. For they are intimately bound up with one another. The Jews learned idolatry from the Greeks, and the Greeks prophet-killing from the Jews. For the Jews demonstrated every error of the Greeks while living under the Law.
Does it make you indignant to hear such things, O Jews? Think about what you have done, and do not simply be angry at the reproach. When, pray tell, have you ever done anything but commit idolatry? In the desert you forged a golden calf (Ex 32:1-35) and raised it in triumph, being made initiates of Beel-Phegor (Num 25:3; Ps 105:28). In the land of Moab you worshiped Thamatz.[3] In Palestine you sacrificed to Dagon. In Phoenicia you adored Astarte. And in exile you worshiped Chemosh. You left behind your land, but you did not leave behind your defilement. Wherefore the Master also hates your feasts.
Listen to what the prophet says: I have hated, I have rejected your feasts, and I shall take no pleasure in your festivals (Amos 5:21). For every feast of the Jews has been an occasion for murder. You stoned Naboth during a fast (3 Kgs 21:9-16). Isaiah you sawed in two during a feast (see Hebr 1:37). Jeremiah you cast into a pit during a festival (Jer 38:6). You keep the fast in an unholy manner, unto judgments and strife. Carousing you handed over the ark in the time of Eli (1 Sam 2-4) and decapitated John (Mt 14:3-10). All of your feasting brings lamentation!
We, on the other hand, celebrate divine and wondrous things, the struggles of the martyrs, the victories of those who have gone down into the grave, the tombs of those who are no longer with us, and the healing power of bodies that have returned to the earth. First of all we celebrate the miracles performed by Christ our God when He became man for our salvation. After this, we celebrate the sufferings that His servants likewise underwent. We celebrate the crown of Stephen, inlaid with stones (Acts 7:59); the symbols of victory over death of the glorious Lawrence; and the unsullied virginity of the pure one.[4] O triad, herald of the Trinity! O relics that cure the infirm! O dust from which healings springs forth! O house that imitates the beauty of heaven!
Even the inanimate and elemental sea cries out voicelessly to you. “Even I," it says, “rebuke my fellow servants of the Creator and proclaim the Master! The footsteps of the Artificer do not weigh down on me. The feet of Christ sanctify me (Mt 14:25). Moses divided me, but He has sanctified me. Jonah I swallowed, but Christ I fear. Noah I tossed about on my waves, but I dare not even look upon Him who fashioned man with His hands. He sanctified the sea with His feet. He glorified heaven with His throne. He made the earth radiant with the manger. He illumined Hades through His burial. I am not insensible and inanimate: I, as a simple element, recognize my Creator. I do not say, along with the Jews, This man is not from God (Jn 9:16). Instead, I cry aloud in piety, This is my God, and I will glorify Him (Ex 15:2). I will show what is in my nature. I will rebuke the machinations of the murderers. I will declare the power of Him who walked on me. These Jews are fellow servants, but He is the Master, and I will shake them with the fear of him. The Master trod dry-shod on the sea, yet those in the boat were afraid. The fear caused those in trouble to cry out, yet He who loves mankind commanded them to be of good courage, saying, Be of good courage. I am; be not afraid (Mt 14:27). ‘Be of good courage, for you have the anchor of faith. You have not been shipwrecked on rocks of idolatry. Be of good courage, for the Jewish tempest has not pulled you under. Be of good courage, for the swell of heresy has not tossed you about. I am: the Word who is co-beginningless with the Father; the branch of the uncreated root; the lamb that takes away the sin of the world; the pilot who saves cities from shipwreck; the treasury of the Orthodox faith; the prize-giver in the contests of the martyrs. I am; be not afraid.’ For wherever God is found, danger is dispelled by His grace.”
His is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.
[1] Thanks are due to Gregory Carty, Rev CJ Coppersmith, Catherine Holder, Euphemios Pan, Phillip Phares, Joseph Schafer, Robert Seidel, and Daniel Vanderkolk. An earlier translation, with valuable comments on the text, can be found here.
[2] PG 59:673-674; CPG 4597; BHG 820.
[3] This reference to an otherwise unknown idol named Thamatz is unique.
[4] Whereas PG 59:674 has τῆς Ἄννης, Vat. gr. 1633, f. 1v (10th-11th c.), Paris. gr. 979, f. 291v (13th c.), Ambrosiana C 92 sup. f. 66r (14th c.) all have τῆς ἁγνῆς (possibly a reference to St Agnes).
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