Now it happened that through some kind of satanic malice, her premature widowhood was reported to the ears of King Theodosius, who at once set himself to marry her to a kinsman of his own, one Elpidius, a Spaniard. He again and again urged the brave creature to consent, but to his vexation she refused, declaring, "If my King had desired me to live with a husband, he would not have taken away my first; but as He knew me to be unsuitable to the conjugal life, since I am unable to please a husband, He at once set him free from the bond, and delivered me from the burdensome yoke, and from slavery to a husband, while He laid upon my mind His gentle yoke of continence." At this reply, he ordered the prefect, that her property should be held under trust, until she reached her thirtieth year. The officer, instigated by Elpidius, carried out the king's command by causing her all possible annoyance; she was not allowed to have any dealings even with the most eminent of the bishops, or to attend church, in the hope that in utter weariness she might be driven to prefer the proposed marriage. But she rejoiced all the more, and gave thanks to God, and made answer to the king: "You have shown towards my humble self kindness worthy of a king, and suitable to a bishop, in commanding this very heavy burden, which caused me anxiety, to be put in trust for proper administration; you will do better yet, if you order it to be dispersed among the poor, and the Churches. Indeed, it has long been my prayer, to be delivered from the vainglory which might come from distributing it in charity, that I may not be so engrossed in material things as to lose the soul's true wealth." Hearing on his return from the war with Maximus of her enthusiasm for the disciplined life, the king ordered that she should have the control of her property.
Deac. Then John had good reason to hold her in honour, if she was so strict in her self-discipline.
Bish. Yes indeed; she abstains from flesh food, and seldom visits the baths; if her health requires it (she has chronic stomach troubles) she enters the water in her chemise, because, they say, modesty forbids her to look upon herself.
Olympias' Charities
Deac. It is reported that she has entirely maintained the blessed John.
Bish. Even if she has, what kindness did she show to him that was worthy of his virtue? She certainly spared him anxiety for his daily barley bread; and this is no small thing for Christ's workers, whose care, night and day, is for the things of Christ. As Paul says, in saluting Persis, who probably had toiled like Olympias; "Salute," he writes, "Persis the beloved, who laboured much in the Lord," "for all seek their own, and not the things of Christ." I know that she did more to maintain the blessed Nectarius----so much so, that he took her advice even in ecclesiastical affairs----and I need not mention Amphilochius, Optimus, Gregorius, Peter the brother of Basil, and Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus, those saints to whom she actually made gifts of lands and money. When Optimus was dying in Constantinople, she closed his eyes with her own hands. Besides these, she generously provided everything they required for the wretched Antiochus, Acacius, and Severianus; and to put it briefly, for every priest who visited the city, and a host of ascetics and virgins.
Chrysostom's Sparing Acceptance
However, as John had decided that he was sent to be a pattern, so to speak, to future bishops of the manner of life required of them, and therefore, that he should preach Christian repentance, as Paul says, at his own charge, without touching anything that belonged to the Church, he accepted meat for each day as it came, and avoided anxiety about such things. They say that he was like a man ashamed of himself, when he partook of material food. When apples are fully ripe, they cannot endure to stay on the branch, but look for the hand of their master; so it is with the saints. When they rise above nature in their love for the beauty of heavenly things, they long, even before the time appointed for their decease, to attain to the promise. We see the same thing in the children of great houses; when they know that honey-cakes are to follow, they often refuse to touch the food set before them, so as to save their appetites for the sweets with which they look forward to satisfying themselves. I leave my observations to the judgment of those who have set out upon the same track in the spiritual journey; for "if the wise man hear a prudent man, he will commend him, and add unto it."
> CHAPTER XVIII. CHRYSOSTOM'S IDEALS
The Example of St. Paul
Deac. You have eased my mind, honoured father, by your painstaking and complete explanation; your narrative is quite consistent with the rumours which had reached our ears, but gives them a new flavour of grace. Yet I must say, that the maintenance of the bishop would have been no burden to the Church, if the holy John had taken his share from the Church; as the writer says, "For the labourer is worthy of his food," and again, "Who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Who planteth a vineyard, and partakes not of its fruit?" Do we not find these words, and many others to the same effect, in scripture?
Bish. Appropriately and intelligently spoken, Theodorus; but add to the texts you have quoted the words that follow. True, the sacred law gives to those employed upon sacred things the right to eat of the sacrifice, but note what Paul, ever covetous of the good, adds: "I did not use the power" in things of the body, "that I may be a partaker of the gospel" in things of the spirit. He would not be "a stumbling-block to the weak"; as he says, "If any one see thee, who hast knowledge, sitting at meat" in weakness, "will not his conscience, as he is weak, be edified" into imitating thy weak doings? If the matter ended with us, and there were none coming after us to receive in their turn maintenance from the laity, it would be possible for an offender to say, Let us live as we will, and enjoy the good things of life. But as those who come after us treat us as teachers, and set our rule and our behaviour before their eyes, we are bound to live not only for ourselves, but for Him Who died and rose for us; to constrain the weakness of the laity, and to lead their ranks to a higher standard of temperance and simplicity, admonishing ourselves. As the writer says, "What man is he that feareth the Lord? He will lay down for him a law in the way that he hath chosen."
The Sense of Responsibility
For the Master lays down the law for the self-willed and miserable people who sin in thoughtlessness, welcoming the spirit of bondage; as the psalmist David says, "The Lord shall lay down a law for sinners in the way," but will punish transgressors. But the righteous man, breaking the bounds of the law of bondage, for his love of the Master, presses on to his rights of sonship by adoption, and becomes his own law-giver. Such was Job, both in deed and word---- "I made a covenant with my eyes; I will not look upon a maid." Now what was this covenant? That they who rebel against temperance should have their eyes cut out. In the same way David says, "I have sworn, and am steadfastly purposed, to keep thy righteous judgments;" where his will was hesitating and wavering, he bound it with an oath.
John followed the example of these fathers, as no bastard, but a true son, and in his longing to make the way easy for the common herd of men, enervated through divers lusts, to a sounder standard of life, he made himself his own law-giver; steeling himself by an unalterable decision, he withdrew himself from drinking parties and gatherings of triflers, jokers, and gossips, arming the eye of his soul with the panoply of the spirit, lest folly should find an entrance through revelry and improper talk, and make havoc of temperance. As the writer says, "Evil communications corrupt good manners."
Chrysostom's Action in Accordance with Scripture
This is why plots were laid against him; for even when his light shone brightly, he was offensive to them, as a lamp is offensive to watering eyes. Such was his fellow-sufferer, Jeremiah, who lamented with tears the faithlessness of the rulers and the priests, crying, "Who will give to my head water, and fountains of tears to my eyes? And I will weep for my people day and night;" and again, "Who will give me a lodging-place, the furthest in the desert? And I will leave my people, and go from them, for all commit adultery." He calls the assembly of the false prophets and priests a gathering of them that disannul the law. So in another passage he appeals to God, not because God did not know, but because we have to follow his example: "Lord, if I have sat in the assembly of them that make merry; but I lived in godly fear away from thy face; I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness." Similarly David sings, "I have not sat with the assembly of vanity, and with the transgressors I will not enter;" and he adds, to make his meaning clear, "I have hated the congregation of the evil-doers, and with the ungodly I will not sit; I will wash my hands"----my active powers----"in innocency, and will go round thine altar, O Lord."
But these men cared less than he for the altar, and turned their back upon it, not only in purpose, but in their manner of life; not content with defiling it with unwashed and blood-stained hands, with giving and accepting bribes, and making false statements in writing, they trampled upon it with muddy feet. It is of them that Ezekiel speaks in figure: "And he brought me to the door of the court, and I saw, and behold a hole in the wall. And he said unto me, Dig through, son of man. And I dug through, and behold, a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and see the wicked lawlessness, which they do here. And I went in, and behold, every likeness of creeping thing, and beast, and vain idols, abominations. And he said unto me, Thou hast seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, in the chamber" (he means, in their minds). "For they said, The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth. And he said unto me, Thou shalt see yet greater lawlessness, which these do. And he brought me to another place, and showed me; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz." And again, "He brought me into the inner house of the Lord; and behold there, twenty and four men, and their faces turned away, and their backs to the altar. And he said unto me, Are these small things, that the house of Israel doeth?"
We could not help calling to mind the passage of the prophet, at the thought of these particularly reckless people, who think that they are somewhat and deceive themselves; who disturb the peace of the Church, because they have given their backs to the Lord's table, "Whose judgment ceaseth not, and their destruction slumbereth not;" "who mind earthly things." Of them Judas the brother of James says, "These are they who are hidden rocks in your love feasts, feasting with you without fear, shepherds that feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds, wild waves of the sea foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved for ever." In calling them "clouds without water," he suggested the evil hail with which they mar the vine; "wandering stars" more distantly suggests the plot against the ship. Both ship and vine are the Church. What consequences are bound to follow from such things? Hear again the same prophet Ezekiel, telling us: "And he showed me, and behold men came from the way of the upper gate, which looketh toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand. And one man in the midst of them, clothed down to the feet, and a girdle of sapphire upon his loins. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar, and the glory of the God of Israel which was upon them went up from the cherubim to the threshold of the house. And he called the man who was clothed down to the feet, who had the girdle upon his loins. And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, even Jerusalem, and set the sign upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the lawlessness that is done in the midst of them. And to them he said"----clearly, to the six who had the slaughter weapons----"in mine hearing, Go into the city after him"----clearly, after the man who put the signs upon their foreheads----"and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; slay utterly the old man, the young man, and maiden, and little children and women. But come not near any man upon whom is the sign, and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the elders which were in the house of the Lord."
A Piece of Exegesis
If any one should imagine that this prophecy is concerned only with occurrences in Judaea, I should consider him to be in ignorance of the fact of the Lord's sojourn upon earth; for Ezekiel was not a priest prior to the Captivity. Under the dispensation of God, he was carried into captivity while quite a child, with the rest of the tribe of Levi, and only in his thirtieth year, while fulfilling his office as a priest among the exiles, was he found worthy of the vision of things to be; as he tells us himself, "And it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month; and I was in the midst of the captivity by the river Chebar." And again, shortly afterwards: "The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldaeans by the river Chebar."
If our objector, finding himself in difficulties, should now say to us: It is the Saviour who went first and set the sign of the cross upon the foreheads of the men, and then, when they would not believe the Saviour, the Roman empire followed, in the days of Vespasian, who forty years later destroyed the synagogue which had worked iniquity; we accept [as a Christian] a man who holds these views, but we urge him, as a son of the New Covenant, to follow the guidance of Paul our instructor in these mysteries, who says of all the books of this kind, "These things happened to them in figure, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."
Now I do not say this because I make it my prayer that the sword may come upon the enemies of God. God forbid. The prophet does not indicate a sword of steel, but some other punitive force, of which the same Ezekiel says, "The land upon which I bring a sword" ("I bring" for "I will allow"), "and the people of the land take a man, and set him for their watchman, and the watchman seeth the sword coming, and bloweth with the trumpet, and warneth the people, and he that heareth hear, and keepeth not guard; and the sword come and take any one, his blood will I require of him, because he heard not the sound of of the trumpet." And again: "But if the watchman seeth the sword coming, and blow not the trumpet, and give not warning to the people, and the sword come and take any one, his blood will I require at the watchman's hand, because he saw the sword, yet did not blow."
Now the blessed John slept not the sleep of unbelief, nor was he heedless with the heedlessness of pleasure-seeking, but with this peril ever before his eyes, he cried more clearly than a trumpet; no uncertain sound he uttered, but gave men certain knowledge of the sword of the devil, and urged all men to flee from it. And all who had a clear conscience like a sign upon the forehead of their souls, by the grace of God were saved with you the faithful of Rome, while all whose conscience is defiled set people and priests on fire with quarrels among themselves, so as to hide their own in the general wickedness.
The Use of the Opportunity
Deac. Admirably said. But it is admitted that it is impossible for a man to be found blameless and perfect in this earthly life; for the Scripture says repeatedly, "Who shall boast that he hath his heart pure? Or who shall be confident that he is clean from sin?" Be that as may be, the blessed John at any rate did not know how to use the opportunity, for one ought not to interfere with those in power.
Bish. My good Theodorus, I believe you are a rascal. At first you showed us the sympathy that we expected of you, and a certain amount of compunction; but little by little you are proving to have a liking for scurrilities. Why, even his recognized enemies never found such severe fault with his behaviour.
Deac. Why are you angry, father, you who have the reputation for being a lover of truth, because I said that the blessed John did not grasp the opportunity? The scripture says, "Stand not in the place of rulers," and again, "Buying up the opportunity." A specially necessary rule in dealing with men who will not accept advice or improvement.
Bish. Blessed are ye, who so interpret the scriptures. The verse in Ecclesiastes, "Stand not in the place of rulers," is addressed to those who are unworthy of, and unequal to, the priesthood, to prevent them from seizing upon it. By "rulers," he means the teachers of righteousness; first the apostles, who were rulers, clothed with the spirit of power, and next, those who follow their example. And the phrase "to buy up the opportunity" is used, not to make us hypocrites, but to bid us, when the opportunity of sin arises, to buy the opportunity by means of virtue, and not to sell it to sin. He who little by little thus buys up the opportunity, finds that he has bought up his whole existence; he has passed by the pleasures of life, to find those that are above life. This is what the martyrs have done; they gave away their life in the flesh, and inherited immortality. So they bought up the opportunity in the true sense.
Scriptural Illustrations
If my view is unsound, it will appear that Moses, Elias, Michaiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Esaias, Peter and Paul, not to mention others, were ignorant of their own opportunities. Moses, because he reproved a man, secured his safety by flight, and fed the flocks of a Gentile upon the mountains; Elias, overcome by drowsiness in his grief, fell asleep, but as he could find no shade of wall or rock, it was under a juniper bush, which gave him scanty shelter. Esaias was sawn asunder; Daniel for his piety was let down into a den of lions; Michaiah was kept a prisoner in gaol (by which we must understand some underground chamber), condemned to be fed with the bread of affliction and a bare allowance of water, that after prolonged languishing there his life might be cut short through his bad treatment; all because of his outspoken language to one of the kings. What will you say to me of John, unequalled among them that are born of women? Did he not know how to use the opportunity, because he had his head cut off for his undisguised reproof of the king's adultery; he who showed the same care for Herod as a physician, when he cuts away, or cauterizes, the incurable ailment of a patient?
No Shrinking from Reproof
On the same principle, John reproved his patients, from pity or from affection. If the Baptist did not know the opportunity, how is it that he recognized the Artificer and Maker of the ages, when he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who beareth the sin of the world "? And how is it that Paul and Peter did not know the opportunity; those pillars of the Church, who even after their deaths shut and open the opportunities of repentance to those who desire it, and knock at the door? I suppose they were specially ignorant, as one was crucified with feet in air, as a sign of his heavenward journey, the other beheaded, because of his bold speaking in Christ; that he might not fall away from the Head Who is Head indeed. Do not then listen to those who criticize and revile the bold speaking of the saints. This is the practice of the Gentiles, and of those who think themselves clever, to whom life, and scurrilous jests at the courage of the saints are dear.
Reproof must not be Personal
No, the sword must not be blunt, and the bold word must not be left unspoken. Kindness and bold speaking are as inseparable as scent and perfume. I will admit that if reproofs were offered personally, before a man's own household, or friends, or relatives, in whose presence he would not like even to blush, the bold speaker would be open, possibly, to the charge of ignorance of the right opportunity or place; but if the Church is like a butcher's shop, in which praise is given to those who do well, and blame to those who are careless, why should we be vexed at reproofs given without names being mentioned, and for our good? That means feeding our faults, instead of obeying him who said, "All that is sold in the shambles eat, asking no questions." Otherwise, we shall again find the saints to have been the occasion of stumbling to some cities and countries through their reproofs, and to have ruined others by their praises. .
The Universal in the Particular
Job is the first instance in point; he censures the land of Phoenicia, for inviting his enemy, Satan; as he says, "The peoples of the Phoenicians part him among themselves." Next, Moses and the prophets censure Egypt, and call it an iron furnace, and darkness, while they praise Palestine, and call it a land of promise; yet Egypt proves to be a land of promise to the good, and Palestine, not only an iron furnace, but outer darkness, through unbelief, to the sluggard. It is not the places that are blamed or praised, but the practices of their inhabitants. However, I need not elaborate my argument at length; it will serve for a beginning, briefly to suggest instances. When Paul calls the Cretans liars, and the Galatians foolish, and the Corinthians puffed up, and so on, was he thinking only of the faults of these particular peoples, and reproving them alone, or of those of men in general? Or again, when he calls the Romans faithful, and the Ephesians, to whom he writes in a loftier strain, enlightened, and the Thessalonians, lovers of the brethren, was his commendation intended only for those peoples? Certainly not; guided by the Spirit, he bestowed praise and blame, that the man who is worthy of praise may know it, and be strengthened in his zeal, while he who is otherwise may be distressed as he reads, and purge himself from the .cause of blame. So the Galatians are not the only foolish people, the Cretans the only liars, the Corinthians the only proud; for all these are universal failings, because the human nature which sins and works righteousness is one, and in one and the same matter tends to sinfulness or to righteousness, according to the man's conscious choice.
This was the principle of John's boldness of speech in the Church; it would be more true to say, that to the hungry he gave their portion of the meat of virtue, and banished sin with open reproofs, in obedience to him who said, "Him who sins, reprove before all, that the rest also may fear." But if some people are so grievously afflicted with pride or folly, that they wish the pleasures in which they indulge to be commended, the servants of God have no such custom. You see, those who are indignant at reproof given to covetousness, and fornication, and other foul pleasures, virtualfy declare simply that these offences, however poisonous, ought to be accepted (as Christian).
> CHAPTER XIX. A DEFENCE AGAINST THE CHARGES OF PRIDE AND INSOLENCE
Pride shown by Self-isolation
Deac. Very many thanks, father, for the visit of your brotherly love; it has been helpful to us, and a remembrance for all our lives.
After these high compliments, Theodorus held his peace; but one of the company burst in with:
Well then, how do you account for his being haughty, if he was adorned with all these excellencies?
Bish. Did you know him to be haughty by personal experience, or did some one tell you that he was so?
The speaker answered:
I do not know the man; but I heard the remark made by a certain tanner, that it was rare for him to enter into company, except in the Church, and that he chafed at lengthy interviews with persons who wished for them. It is a proof of conceit and pride, to avoid intercourse with those who desire it.
The Example of Our Lord and of the Baptist
Bish. Ah, a tanner; a man who takes the stench of his workshop home to live with him. Quite the right man to find fault with John's philosophy. If it is a proof of conceit to avoid crowds, according to your argument, John the Baptist must have been a conceited man, when he retired into the deserts. One step further, and it will be the Saviour Himself; for it is written, "Jesus, seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him" ----not the multitudes----and again, "Seeing the multitudes, he withdrew apart." It was to follow His example, so far as he could, that good Bishop John too withdrew from the multitudes, while he delighted in the company of those who really wished to learn.
Deac. A good argument from scripture proofs. But what have you to say to the charge that he was insolent, when he kept himself in retirement not only from large gatherings, but even from the society of one or two individuals?
A Single Person can be a Crowd
Bish. A single person can be a particularly unprofitable and misleading crowd. Such was the man who said to Jesus, "Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." Do you not see that the Saviour was escaping from the crowd, when He said, "Foxes have holes," etc.? But you cannot convince me, that after his baptism John ever swore, or made another swear, or slandered, or lied, or cursed, or indulged in frivolities.
Deac. No, I make no assertion of this sort; only that he was insolent.
Bish. My excellent friend, how was it possible for the man who was guilty of none of these things to be insolent, and lose control over his tongue? A small sin defiles as much as a great one.
Deac. Well then, tell me, what do these popular statements mean? And when will they cease?
Christ Himself was Similarly Reviled
Bish. Hear the whole story, and do not pay attention to idle reports; you will never find an excuse for doing that. People whose lives are not upright never have upright thoughts; they are for ever gossiping, and have no time for anything else, especially if no one dares to disagree with them. Why, they made all sorts of monstrous statements about the Saviour----God Himself, Who in life, and speech, and act, was above man, above prophet. They heaped insult upon insult, as thick as a herd of swine or a swarm of flies; such was the manner of the time. Some said, "He deceives the world;" others, "He casts out devils in Beelzebul, chief of the devils;" others, "Behold a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber;" others again, "He is a Samaritan, and has a devil." What would be the good of my gathering all their vapourings together? The Saviour Himself knew what was going on, when He said to His apostles, "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" The disciples replied by mentioning the most complimentary of the current ideas about Him: "Some say Elias, some Jeremias, others, John the Baptist;" they do not quote the language of the vilest of men. So He asked them again, distinguishing them from the "men" of whom He had spoken before (and rightly; for in mind they were not men, but the sons of God, for to us the Word "gave power to become children of God"), "But whom say ye that I am?" Then Peter, expressing the mind of them all, answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." The Saviour accepted the correctness of this answer, and declared, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock," that is, "the confession," "I will build my Church, and gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."
Abuse of the Living turns to Honour of the Dead
You will find the same characteristics in the blame or praise given not only to John, but to all. Just as at that time all the work of Christ and His apostles was being reviled----the Ephesians shouted, "These are they that have turned the world upside down,"----but all that has ceased now, and they are glorified; so you will find it when this generation has passed. John will be honoured as a martyr, when those who are set against his good reputation are brought to dust; people on the level of pigs or dogs will say, "He deceives the world," etc., while disciples will honestly and cautiously inquire into his conduct, and say, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And if, in the case, of the Saviour Christ, among so many thousands of men only twelve were found at first to recognize Jesus, while the majority even to this day talk nonsense about Him; why need we be so particular as to what is said about John, a man who was not fit to be compared with the spittle of Christ? With the spittle, do I say? Not with the hem of His garment. "All the nations," says Esaias, "shall be counted as a drop from a bottle, and as spittle."
Jesting Words taken Seriously
As for what you said about his being insolent, the facts are these. In the first place, it was impossible for him to grant favours, much less to be insolent, to everybody; but in dealing with any of his genuine disciples, or clergy, or bishops, if he noticed them boasting of their abstinence from anything, or of their correctness in the practice of bodily discipline, he playfully rallied them, by giving them nicknames expressing the opposite. For instance, he would call the teetotaller a drunkard, the man living in holy poverty covetous, the charitable man a thief. It is a kindly method of instruction for true men, to strengthen qualities which they possess, by speaking of qualities which they do not possess. The truth is, that he used to honour a self-restrained youth more than a licentious senior, a studious senior more than an ignorant junior, a layman who had embraced holy poverty more than a trained scholar who was covetous, a virtuous man living in the world more than an idle monk.
Scriptural Reproofs far more Severe
Perhaps people who are always on the look-out for honours call this insolence; but John says to those who came to put themselves under his instruction, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" And Paul, in the Acts, says to the chief priest, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall;" and the Saviour in one place says to the Jews, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign," and in another, to all the apostles, "O fools and slow of heart." In yet another He calls Peter, Satan----" Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou art an offence unto me." Yet there was no grave offence, which called for these severe expressions.
The Purpose of Self-isolation; with Scriptural Examples
Let us then make the love of learning our delight in silence, as we cannot judge spiritual persons. They are not insolent to us because they hate us, nor do they love solitude because they are puffed up with pride; their one aim is service springing from love. This again is why we find all those that are described to us in the holy records as good men, declining and turning away from ignorant persons, for fear that they may in time become used to their ways through familiarity, and so adopt a lower standard of virtue, or acquire their failings. Let Sarah be our first instance. She urged her husband Abraham to banish from the domestic hearth the son of the bond-maid, while he was still quite a child; for she objected to his playing with her son Isaac, for fear that if they amused themselves together, he might be demoralized by Ishmael's behaviour and manners. Then Jacob secured his safety by flight, and set out for Mesopotamia, to sojourn there. Next, Lot was warned by the angels to move from among the impious men of Sodom; yes, and Moses, as I said before, when he grew up, and had refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, determined to separate himself from the tyrant and his men-at-arms, and warned those who were of the same mind as himself to start off with him, and make the exodus their first care. The prophets, too, shunned the worthless crowd, and generally lived in the deserts; the apostle said of them, "They wandered in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and the holes of the earth." This was to avoid mingling with the lawless, and because they knew that association has power to deceive, and reduce to a common level those who spend their days together, and more, that such intercourse is of itself blameworthy and poisonous, and even disgraceful. It is against nature to put up with a thing one dislikes, or even to tolerate it for a short time; for like always attracts like (as the saying is, "Every beast loveth his like;" but the unlike is hostile and alien). Who in the world can train a grain-eating dove or pigeon to feed with carnivorous martens or ravens? Or the herbivorous goose or crane to herd with vultures that pick bones? For what communion hath light with darkness, or virtue with vice, or the bad with the good?
The Meaning of "all Things to all Men"
Deac. How then is it that the apostle says, "I became all things to all men, to the Jews as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to the weak as weak, that I might gain the weak; to them that are without law as without law, that I might gain them that are without law"?
Bish. This quotation, my dear sir, does not support your contention; for Paul did not say, I became careless to the careless, or frivolous to the frivolous, or covetous to the covetous, or anything of the sort, but, "I became as this or that"----not, "I became this." For "I became as this" is not the same as "I became this." The words and deeds of the apostle are "such as" (those of others). His condescension possibly did no great good, but it certainly did no harm; "I became to the Jews as a Jew, that I might gain Jews." And yet he was of the Jews, for he was circumcised; in what sense then does he say, "As a Jew," not, "I became a Jew"? He was often to be found keeping the Sabbath, and fasting, with Jews, without detriment to the teachings of the Saviour, in hopes of leading them on to a more perfect knowledge, through familiarity and companionship with him; just as physicians do not always stay with their patients, or surfer from the same complaints or the same delirious cravings as they. The manner of life which befits a teacher requires that he does not spend much time among crowds, but that he keeps quiet, and investigates the differences between various characters by careful research. This is the method of scientific physicians. They devote themselves mostly to their books, and so can diagnose the causes of complaints, and prescribe the remedies for them; they only come near to the sick so far as is necessary to discover the mischief, and administer the medicine, and do not play, or take meals, with them. Medical skill does not profess to be able to eat or play with patients, but to restore the sick to health.
Have done then, I beg, and do not keep worrying me with the same objections. Virtue is never vanquished by the cavils of chatterers. Instead of that, accept my view, and set a guard at the doors of your cars, to keep them from reporting everything they hear, and receiving it into the store-room, to the disturbance of your mind. And now allow me to tell the rest of my story; for I must hasten on my way.
And Theodorus said----
Deac. Where are the bishops who were sent with our delegates, Eulysius and Palladius, and Cyriacus and Demetrius? We have heard a vague rumour that they were banished.
Bish. If my account of the career of the blessed John appears to you clear, and to contain no hidden falsehood, and if you bear in mind what I have said, I will answer any question you wish to ask.
> CHAPTER XX. THE SUFFERINGS OF THE SAINTS, AND THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
The Value of Saintly Example
Deac. I am as fully persuaded of the truth as if I had been on the spot myself. The best proof of my acceptance of your narrative is the attention I have paid to it. While I have the recollection of it still ringing in my ears, I shall possibly commit it to writing in ink, upon a prime piece of parchment, as a memorial to our own generation, and for the benefit of those who aspire to the episcopate; so that they may either be such as was the holy John, or such as you, who have emulated the way of the martyrs on behalf of the truth, or else may give up trying to bear a burden beyond their strength, and be content with the unadventurous life of the layman.
When experienced pilots are available, it is better to pay one's fare, and get safely to port as a passenger, than to take the pilot's place oneself, and lose vessel and cargo together by shipwreck. , You have given us an account of the career of the blessed John; of the strict ordering of his life, of his splendid work in the Churches of Antioch and Constantinople, of his advancement, of the plots formed against him, and of all his bitter trials, laboriously brought upon him by ill-disposed persons in carrying out these plots. You have told us, too, about Porphyrius, and the eunuch of Ephesus. Now tell us the rest. Who died in prison? Which of those in communion with John were banished? It is but common justice that we should hold such men in memory, to encourage the living. In things which belong to earthly life, servants who for their masters' sake suffer imprisonment, or blows, or torture, are rewarded by them with kindness and emancipation; how much more do those deserve honour and good-will from the Church who suffer for the sake of Christ? The apostle says of them, "As prisoners with the prisoners, evil entreated with those that are evil entreated, as being yourselves in the body." For "right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."
The Sufferings of Chrysostom's Adherents
Bish. Excellently spoken. Listen then. At first, a rumour was circulated that the bishops had been thrown into the sea; but the true account shows that they were sent into banishment beyond the boundaries of their native provinces, into barbarian climes, where they are still kept under the guard of the police. A deacon who had been their fellow-traveller told us on his arrival that Cyriacus was at Palmyra, the frontier fort of Persia, eighty miles further inland from Emesa; that Eulysius of Bostra in Arabia was about three days' march away at a fort called Misphas, near the land of the Saracens; Palladius was under guard in the neighbourhood of the Blemmyans, a tribe of Ethiopians, at a place called Syene; Demetrius was far inland at Oasis----the one in the neighbourhood of the Mazici (there are other Oases)----and that Serapion, accused of countless unproved charges, sustained personal injuries from his savage judges (who went so far, it is said, as to draw his teeth), and was then banished to his own native country.
Hilarius, a holy man, advanced in years, was transported to the innermost Pontus, after being beaten, not by the judge, but by the clergy; a man who for eighteen years had not tasted bread, but lived on nothing but herbs and boiled wheat. Antonius went into voluntary exile among the caves of Palestine; Timotheus of Maroneia, and John of Lydia, are said to be in Macedonia; Rhodon of Asia made his way to Mitylene; Gregory of Lydia is said to be in Phrygia; Brisson, brother of Palladius, of his own free will left his Church, and is living on his own little farm, working the land with his own hands. Lampetius, they say, is being maintained in some place in Lydia, by one Eleutherus, and devoting himself to reading; Eugenius is in his own native country; Elpidius, the great Bishop of Laodicea, and Pappus, have spent three whole years without coming down the house-stairs, in their devotion to prayer. Heracleides of Ephesus has been confined for these four years in the prison of Nicomedeia.
As to the rest of the bishops in communion with John, some lost heart altogether, and communicated with Atticus, and were transferred to other Churches, in Thrace; others are lost to sight. Anatolius is said to be in Gaul.
To turn now to the priests; some were banished to Arabia and Palestine; Tigrius to Mesopotamia. Philip escaped to Pontus, and died; Theophilus is living in Paphlagonia; John, son of Aethrius, founded a monastery in Csesarea; Stephanus was banished to Arabia, but was taken by the Isaurians out of the hands of the guard, and allowed to go up to the Taurus district. Salustius is said to be in Crete. I understand that Philip the anchorite, priest in charge of the school, is lying sick in Campania. Sophronius the deacon is in prison in the Thebaid; Paul the deacon, the assistant steward, is said to be in Africa; another Paul, deacon of the Church of the Resurrection, is in Jerusalem. Helladius, the presbyter of the palace, is living on his own little farm in Bithynia. A large number are in hiding in Constantinople, others have gone to their own native countries. Silvanus the holy bishop is in Troas, supporting himself by fishing; Stephanus the ascetic was flogged at Constantinople, and thrown into prison for ten months, simply for having brought the letters from the Church of Rome. He was offered his freedom, on condition of communicating [with Atticus], and on his refusal had the skin most cruelly torn from his ribs and breast; I myself have seen the marks. However, in the gracious care of Christ his life was preserved, possibly for struggles yet to come, and after ten months of medical treatment he was banished to Pelusium.
A soldier named Provincialus, of the Imperial guard, accused of being a lover of John, was first flogged repeatedly and tortured unmercifully, and then banished to Petrae. A servant of Elpidius the priest accepted a bribe, they say, of fifty pieces of money, to kill the holy John by treachery, but was caught in the attempt with three swords upon his person, and injured seven of his captors one after the other. Four of them were at once buried, and three were under treatment for a long time before they recovered; yet the murderer was acquitted. The blessed Eutropius, undefiled of women, a singer, was terribly flogged, and the skin torn from his ribs and forehead; his eyebrows were torn off, and finally his ribs were laid bare on both sides, and burning oil-lamps placed against the bones, until he expired upon the rack, and was buried at midnight by the priestly perpetrators of the crime. But God bore witness to his death, by a vision of singers, in token of its likeness to the passion of the Saviour.
The deacon who came back to us from the bishops reported that the prefect's officers in charge of them treated them so badly, in accordance with instructions received from some source or other, that they prayed for death and release from life.
They robbed the bishops of every penny they had for the expenses of the journey, and divided it among themselves; they set them on bare-boned asses, and made a two days' journey into one, going on till late at night, and starting off before it was light in the morning, until their stomachs could not keep down even the meagre food allowed them. They never lost an opportunity of insulting them with foul and disgraceful language. They carried off the servant of Palladius, and compelled him to surrender his ledger. One of those in charge, who had cruelly ill-treated Demetrius, so as to reach Zibyne late in the evening, was racked with pain from head to foot, and died in agony; inspired men recognized this as the punishment for his cruelty. Palladius had told him before, as a fellow-soldier who returned informed us, that "Thou shalt not make another journey, but shalt die in misery." They would not allow them to go near a church, but lodged either in inns, where there were numbers of prostitutes, or in the synagogues of Samaritans or Jews, mostly from Tarsus; where their distress suggested to them a new thought, which had not occurred to them before. Said one of the bishops: "Why should we trouble about our lodgings? Does it lie with us where to stay, so that we can be responsible, as if we misbehaved ourselves of our own choice? Do you not know, that by all this that has happened, and will happen, God is being glorified in all things? How many of these prostitutes, who have forgotten God, or never had the knowledge of Him, have been brought by the sight of us in this condition to the fear and thought of God, and so perhaps been turned to better things, or at least been kept from plunging into worse? It is no small thing, to a reasonable soul, in a time of suffering, to have even a little respite; we must regard it as a stimulus to self-control. Paul the seer, who himself suffered like us, says: 'We are a sweet savour of Christ among them that are being saved and among them that are perishing, because we have been made a spectacle to angels and to men.'"
The local bishops in communion with Theophilus all over the East went so far in their savage cruelty, that some of them, so far from showing ordinary humanity, actually bribed the officers to get them out of the cities more speedily. The chief offenders in this respect were the Bishops of Tarsus and Antioch, Eulogius, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, and especially the Bishop of Ancyra, and Ammonius, Bishop of Pelusium, who made the soldiers in charge of them still more savage against them by bribes or by threats, urging them not even to allow those of the laity who wished to do so to give them hospitality.
History Repeals Itself
On similar grounds the blessed John, writing to Gaius, in his Catholic epistles, condemns a certain bishop, but commends the hospitality of Gaius, and exhorts him not to imitate wicked bishops. The words are these: "Unto Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that in all things thou may est prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when some came and declared to me, that thou walkest in truth, and wherein thou didst refresh the saints. I have no greater joy than this." And after this he adds, "I wrote unto the Church; but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not, prating against us with wicked words; and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and them that would he forbiddeth, and casteth them out of the Church." A little later he gives him the advice, "Beloved, imitate not that which is evil; for he that doeth good is of God; he that doeth evil hath not seen God."
I have quoted this whole passage, relating to the wickedness of by-gone days, to pourtray the mind of the Diotrephes' of to-day.
But (my friend) praised and admired the bishops of the second Cappadocia, for their deep sympathy, even to tears, with the banished bishops; especially the most gentle Theodorus of Tyana, and Bosphorus of Coloneia, a bishop of forty-eight years' standing,, and Serapion of Ostracine, who has held the episcopal office for forty-five years.
The Problem of the Prosperity of the Wicked
Long was Theodorus speechless with distress, and at last said----
Deac. What shall we say to all this, father? Can it be that it is the last hour, and the falling away of which Paul speaks is being ushered in by these events, "that the son of perdition, who opposeth, may be revealed"? The thought of the wicked prospering, and succeeding in their aims, and going on for so long, and having such power, while the good are being persecuted and pillaged, fills me with dread that this person is near at hand.
The Last Hour
Bish. Very certainly, most intelligent sir, the end is near; as we read, "Little children, it is the last hour;" and "The master of the house went out about the eleventh hour to hire labourers into his vineyard." The last hour is the twelfth; and if the apostle spoke of the last hour four hundred years ago, much more, by all showing, is it the last hour now.
The Test of Suffering
Again, we have to remember that from the first these things have occurred by the permission of the Lord, for the training of the saints; the devil desires to have them, as the word of the Saviour says, "Simon, Simon, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat; but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not." Assuredly the Lord did not pray for Simon alone, but for all who have Peter's faith; the sieve can only mean, the circle of earth filled with pleasures and pains, which form, so to speak, holes through which earthly people fall down to hell, separated as dust from nourishing grain by the perforations.
Some pass through the hole of gluttony----those "whose god is their belly"; some through that of love of pleasure, those of whom the prophet speaks, who were "led astray by the spirit of fornication"; for "neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor abusers of themselves, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Others pass through the hole of covetousness----those who have espoused the bride of idolatry; others through that of anger and passion----those who loved bestial darkness, of whom John says, "He that hateth his brother is in darkness until now," for "Anger," says the author of Proverbs, "destroys even the prudent;" others through accidie and forgetfulness, because they do not persevere in sleepless remembrance; whose address to God is, "My heart slept through weariness." "Woe unto you," the word warns them, "who have lost patience, and what will ye do when the Lord shall visit you?" Others pass through the hole of senseless ostentation; of whom the Psalmist declares, "For God hath scattered the bones of the men-pleasers;" others, again, through that of false pretension or pride, which is arrogance. It is these whom the prophet rebukes as deserters----" The proud have transgressed exceedingly, yet have I not swerved from thy law." Each of these vices is followed by others, worse than itself; pride by envy, covetousness by hatred, and stinginess and lying, passion by anger or revengefulness, insolence, and envyings; fornication by forgetfulness, deadness of conscience, idleness, indifference, unprofitable loss of sleep; vainglory by meddlesomeness, acts of bribery, idle fancies, hypocrisy, respect of persons, deceits; pride by foolish ideas, pitilessness, impiety, folly; and so on. I need not over-weight my argument by giving further illustrations, as what I have said is perfectly clear.
Righteousness Revealed through Trials
To each of these vices God has appointed its contrary virtue; for instance, self-control is opposed to lust, temperance to greediness, justice to covetousness, gentleness to anger, joy to sorrow, mindfulness to forgetfulness, patience to accidie, good sense to folly, courage to cowardice, humility to vainglory, and so on; and to all, holy scripture. Only to pride has He not given its contrary virtue, because of its exceeding viciousness, but has reserved Himself as its contrary, as He said, "God resisteth the proud," So, too, the prophet prays, "Lift up thine hand against their pride, even to the end," and again, "Render to the proud their desert." And just as the tree is known by its fruit (as the Lord says, "By their fruits ye shall know them"), so is each man, whether he be a saint in fact, or only in name.
Scriptural Illustrations
This is why the happiness of the wicked is always long-continued; because God bears long with them. This is always His property; He has told us to expect it, in the part played by the afflicted saints in times past, as an encouragement to us who suffer to-day. Look first at Job, the son of patience; what says he, after much suffering? Mark it well. "As for me, is my reproof of men?" he points to his blamelessness. "Why should I not be impatient? . Look unto me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. For if I remember, I am troubled, and pains take hold of my flesh. Wherefore do the wicked live, and become old in riches? Their seed is according to their desire, and their children are before their eyes; their houses prosper, nowhere is fear; the rod of the Lord is not upon them. Their cow casts not her calf; she is preserved from heat; she is with young, and faileth not. They abide as sheep for ever. Their children play, taking the psaltery and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the psalm, they fulfil their life in good things, and they sleep in the rest of Hades. Yet he saith unto God, Depart from me, I desire not to know thy ways."
David the forbearing, the singer of the divine judgments, uses similar language: "I will sing to thee of mercy and judgment, O Lord." "How good is God to Israel, even unto them that are pure in heart. But my feet were almost shaken; my steps had well-nigh slipped." Why? "For I was stirred at the lawless, when I saw the peace of sinners." And in another passage he inveighs against their wealth, as follows: "Their oxen are fat, their sheep bring forth abundantly, abounding in their streets; their garners are full, affording store from this unto that; their daughters are beautiful, adorned in the likeness of a temple." And he adds, in astonishment at the harmony and peace which they enjoy, "There is no outcry in their streets, nor falling of a fence in their houses." Then he attacks the corrupted opinions of the common herd of men, saying, "They counted as blessed the people who have these things." And he adds, "Blessed is the people whose helper is the Lord God of Jacob."
I must not end my quotations here, or I shall imperil my argument for want of completeness. Hear what Habakkuk says, as he seems to beat his breast in his distress at the same problem: "O Lord, how long shall I cry, suffering wrongfully, and thou wilt not hear?" He calls the wrongs of his neighbour his own; and in his love for his brethren he adds, "I will cry unto thee, and thou wilt not save. Why didst thou show me iniquity, and that I should look upon labours that lead to hardship and impiety? Judgment is against me, and the judge taketh reward. Therefore is the law perverted, and judgment goeth not forth, unto the end; for the wicked doth oppress the righteous."
In the same spirit Jeremiah, the most sympathetic of the saints, perplexed beyond all other men, cries, "Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I, shall plead with thee; yet will I speak judgments unto thee, O Lord. Why doth the way of the wicked prosper? All they that set at nought are at ease; thou didst plant them, and they took root" (this is instead of saying, "they spend their days in profligacy"); "and they bore fruit" (certainly not of the spirit). "Thou art near their mouth, and far from their reins." The prophet Sophonias the wise has a passage to exactly the same effect. He is reproaching men for slandering their neighbours, finding fault with the providence of God, and calling the saints unhappy. "You," he says in the person of the Lord, "made your words stout against me, saith the Lord. And ye said, Wherein did we speak against thee? Ye said, He is vain who serveth God; and what profit, that we kept his charges, and that we walked as suppliants before the Lord Almighty? And now we call strangers happy, and all that work lawless things are built up, and they resisted God, and are delivered. These things spake they that feared the Lord, each one to his neighbour."
Paul, the preacher of piety, adds his testimony to the same truth: "But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." Then he points out the low esteem in which the saints are held: "For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. For even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and have no certain dwelling-place, and labour, working with our own hands" (a description of his bodily sufferings); "being reviled, we bless, being persecuted, we endure, being defamed, we entreat, we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things even until now." The good and just God spreads the world before us, for certain ineffable reasons, like a racecourse; and has given us free will, that we may deal with circumstances according to our own choice, and pay the just penalty for our deeds. As the law says, "I have set before thy face, death and life, choose what thou wilt." Why He set it so, it is not for us to say in this present life; the fact remains, that He has so set it. It would not have been wise for us to be created impeccable, with no struggles before us, and minds not established in righteousness. Impeccability is the attribute of the eternal Godhead alone.
Deac. You have met our difficulty admirably and wisely, father; you have given eyes to the souls of our friends here, who have found this matter a continual perplexity, arising partly from their lack of acquaintance with scripture, partly from the very fact that the Church is throughout the ages appointed as a training school. She points to her victors, men and women alike, as not having eaten of the flesh of Christ in times past without paying a price. Yet the disorders among you, and the break-up of the Church, cause us distress.
The Blessedness of Truth Countervails all Suffering
Bish. You astonish me, most honoured of men. You almost unreservedly admit the beneficial results of suffering, and then turn round and say something to the contrary effect. You call us blessed, as victors, and yet you call us miserable, as banished men, because we have been deprived of our Church buildings. You seem to me to be in the same state of mind as the rustic spectators at the Olympic games, who gape with delight at the prizes, but shed tears of pity at the blows exchanged between the combatants. To my mind, it is better to hasten away to ravines, and thickets, and seas, in company with the truth, than to be burdened with falsehood, while enjoying high honour for what is in this life considered prosperity. For if I possess truth, I shall possess all things, for all things are her servants; if I have made falsehood my own, I do not possess even myself, as I am not hers. But if I possess truth, I do not wish to possess her merely as a mistress, or a servant, or a neighbour, but as a sister; nay, if it be possible, as a bride, whose sweetness I may enjoy and presently inherit as my very own wife. For she is the sister of the absolute truth, whose son-in-law the good man is. For he that bears this seal becomes young a second time, grows not old, and fades not away; he has zeal fiercer than fire, words sharper than swords, life freer than an eagle's; he devotes himself untiringly to meditation upon the scriptures, as to a house-mother; he never ceases to blossom with gladness, he is not overcome by fear, he holds up his head undaunted, he dances in his holy enthusiasm, he hates no man, he pities those who misuse life, he calls blessed those who mind their own business in contentment, he sorrows with the sorrow of the spirit at the careless lives of priests, of whom the apostle said, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." He it is that grieves the Spirit, who turns his back upon Him in carelessness.
And at last (there is much that I must pass by) in his out-spokenness he dies; he has given pain to none, save to the demons, and to those who are like them. His time has been more than enough; he did not higgle away his days in evil doings. He doubled the money that was given to him, he forwarded interest, of good works, in a short time he fulfilled long years; he makes no will disposing of his property, for by his life and thought he wrestled with it, and gravelled it. Did Death knock at the door of his frail flesh? Before he sees him outside, he cries, Let us go hence, and sings, "Woe is me, that my sojourn has been so long;" and were it not for the Master Who sent him on his mission, he would have, served him with a summons, and sued him at law, for coming too late. Well content is he, when at last he is set free from the frail flesh, with its manifold ailments, as if he were leaving a ruinous hostel, threatening to fall; he pricked up his ears at the voice of Him Who says, "Well done, good and faithful servant," confident of hearing the rest as well. Take this torrent of words as a proof of my contention; "for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
The Misery of Falsehood
But he who dwells with falsehood has a disturbed life; one moment in boundless delight at an addition to his wealth, or to his poor little reputation, or at the friendship of a wretched harlot, or at the misfortunes of his enemies; the next, sick to death with sorrow, dreaming of changes and uncertainties. He passes restless or sleepless nights, he imagines plots made against him by his closest friends, he has no confidence even in himself, and distrusts all men, as liars. Such is he; cowardly as a hare, bold as a pig, deceitful as a chameleon, unreliable as a partridge, pitiless as a wolf, untameable as a mouse; his own enemy, unceasingly jealous, inevitably punishing himself, though he does not know it; for he who is always planning evil against another, first brings evil upon himself.
Did Death prick his skin? He gives away everything, to gain a little respite, so precious is his life to him; the time given him he higgled away to no profit, so far from doubling his penny he did not even keep it safe. He trembles continually, like a leaf, in his dread of the approach of old age; he is troubled with the silly ideas of old men, he fears death as a god; for to him the visible world is God. And what then? He turns pale, he shivers with fright, he is in an agony of distress; he anticipates the judgment of God, and inflicts punishment upon himself. His conscience torments him without mercy, and reminds him of his evil doings one by one, till his sufferings are more terrible than those of criminals under the lash. He grovels like a slave to those in office for the moment, and flatters the world to his disgrace; instead of One Lord he has ten thousand masters, to save himself from being the servant of the truth. He does all he can to get himself feared, yet he himself fears every one.
The Decision of the Church of Rome
I will say no more; I have done all I can. If any one can speak more truthfully or elegantly, and put my nothingness right, I will gladly welcome him as a corrector of error and a lover of the brethren, and give thanks to the Saviour for all things. Now do you in return give me an account of the decision of the western synod, and set the seal upon my words, if they commended themselves to you as being of any value. So the narrator ceased, and Theodorus said----Deac. The Lord grant to you who have given us this narrative, to find mercy in that day, for your refusal to hold communion with such people, and for the clear account you have given us. And may the Lord remember every sacrifice of John, because he surrendered not his out-spokenness, even unto death. The decision of the Church of Rome was, under no circumstances to communicate with the eastern bishops, especially with Theophilus, until the Lord grants the opportunity for an ecumenical synod, to heal the putrefied limbs of the men guilty of these crimes. For though the blessed John has fallen asleep, yet the truth is awake, and for the truth search will be made.
Chrysostom's Enemies Interrogated
As for those that have committed these offences in the Church, gladly would I meet them face to face, and ask them, Where is your priesthood? Where is the holiness required of you? Where is the gentleness and unselfishness of the Christian character? Where are the commandments of the Saviour----" If thou art offering thy gift, and remem-berest that thy brother hath aught against thee, go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and so offer thy gift"? Where is that saying, "If any man smite thce on the right cheek, turn to him the other also "? Where is your meditation upon the scriptures? What of the verse, "Behold, what is beautiful, and what is pleasant, but for brethren to dwell together in unity"? Or, "Let brothers be helpful in times of necessity"? Why have you perverted by your actions the words, "A brother helped by a brother, is as a strong city"? A brother falsely accused, or robbed, by a brother, is like a city distressed and defenceless. Why in the world then did you, who are wretched, nay, wretched to the third degree, try to carry through this project of yours, as if no reconciliation were possible? On what principle did you let your murderous rage against John run its course, as if he were your enemy? And how has it come to you, to be so savage towards one another? Why did you let the world see such an extraordinary change in you, from gentleness to ungentleness and savagery? I am amazed, indeed, I am overwhelmed with amazement at your perversion; as I see everything thrown into this hopeless state of confusion.
And why have you so far exalted yourselves in your daring, as to insult this suckling, nursing mother, this teeming womb, the Church of God, and hack her in pieces? In you is fulfilled the prophet's words, "Because they did pursue their brother with the sword, and brought to destruction the womb upon the earth." With this womb the divine and saving Word combined, to sow and to plant you and John alike, for good and profitable works without number. What has happened to you that instead of helping one another to do your duty, you have made up your mind that you will not keep quiet, and live at peace, even in the future? You were created for mutual service; why did you mishandle the grace of God, and instead of lightening other men's burdens, actually thrust them away from you, and cut them off from their own kindred? while the prophet cries to you, "Have we not all one Father? Did not One God create us?"
The Real Law-Breakers
But you will tell me that John sinned against the law. What law? The law which you trod underfoot, and shivered into fragments by your wickedness. Where, then, is the law of nature, which bids us to right wrongs with gentleness? Why, pray, do you abuse even the law which holds between enemies, and persecute them, and carry out these schemes which you devise against them, schemes bearing all the marks of hostility? How much better would it have been, to live in harmony with them, and to share their life; to join with one another in counsels for the common good, unto rendering of thanks and well-pleasing of the Father of you all? Harmony in their enjoyment of blessings is one of the virtues of children; and this is specially acceptable to their parents, who look for nothing else from their offspring, save this. And be assured that there is no other bond of friendship and goodwill, but to be in earnest, and to do everything as it is well-pleasing to the Father, to Him Who is the source of our being, of our sustenance, of our preservation.
The Divine Vengeance in Store
But you have despised Him as a fool, and kindled wars within the Church, as the prophet said, "They established madness in the Lord's house;" instead of spurring and urging one another forward. More, you have carried on truceless wars among one another, contrary to the mind and purpose of the Father. I will go further, and say, that the thing sorely maddens, and stirs to wrath, even God Himself, and all who draw nigh to Him----His sons, your brethren----and suffers Him not to hold His peace. For He is not neglectful, or unmindful of the welfare of His children.