Abstract EN:

In his two Homelies on the impotence of the devil, John Chrysostom combines the pedagogy of a preacher with the experience of a mystic in order to arm the souls of his faithful against evil and to bring them to an interior transformation (μετάνοια). Far from (exhibiting) any doctrinal or theological sophistication, yet always leaning upon the authority of the Bible, he endeavours to instil the idea – paradoxical as often are the ways of God - that from outward evil good can be born, because the true good, as also the true evil, is within. Thus, in the First Homely, he establishes the theoretical basis for his teaching, develops his arguments about the devil, expounds the true causes of evil (the ῥᾳθυμία and the προαίρεσις), seizes the chance to combat the Manichean heresy and puts forward five ways of repentance. In the second, he endeavours to demonstrate why it is useful that the devil is not banished from the world. Multiplying his examples, associations of ideas and unusual or paradoxical images, he highlights the importance of the free choice, succeeds to avoid making the Christian truths appear commonplace and to endow them with all their potency, while gradually arousing the wonder, attention and finally support of his audience. A successful analysis of what so far was presented as the first homely On Devil the Tempter, but which more certainly is the third homely in the series on The Obscurity of the Prophesies, can only be conducted if we restore the text to the context in which it belongs. This we will attempt to achieve in a further edition of the complete series.