SERMON ON ALMS

An introductory note explains that St. John Chrysostom never spoke extemporaneously, but that as he walked to the church he thought over and embellished what he had prepared for this occasion, and the result was this finished address, which he delivered without notes. Presumably it was taken down in shorthand, as were most of his sermons. It is thought by some scholars, on the other hand, that this sermon as we have it is a compilation made by Eusebius.

Another sermon on the text frequently cited in this argument, 1 Cor. 16:1, similar in some respects but less finished and less beautiful, is included in the Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (First Series, Vol. VII, pp. 258–62) edited by Philip Schaff.

There is no indication as to the exact date of this Sermon, but there is internal evidence that it cannot have been preached while he was still at Antioch, before he became Bishop of Constantinople: (1) because at Constantinople he would have had no occasion to pass through the market-place and the alleys on his way to the church; and (2) because it was the citizens of Antioch, and not of Constantinople, who sent a contribution to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the incident referred to in Section VI (p. 22).

The quotations from the Bible are taken from the Douai translation of the Latin Vulgate.