Dialogue on the Life of Chrysostom 1 part 8/9

Let this be sufficient proof to you of my trustworthiness: the care I have given to what has been said, which I hold fresh in memory, and which perhaps I shall also commit to writing on fine parchment, engraved in ink, for the remembrance of our generation and for the benefit of those who aspire to the episcopate — that they may become like the holy John, or like you who have emulated the path of the martyrs for the sake of truth, or else that they may cease bearing a burden beyond their own years, embracing instead the lay and risk-free life.

For it is better, having paid the fare to experienced pilots, to be saved as a passenger, than, having taken up the pilot's place oneself, to lose the vessel, sunk beneath the waves together with its cargo.

Having, then, related the affairs concerning the blessed John — how he trained himself, and how he distinguished himself in the churches, both that of the Antiochenes and that of the people of Constantinople, and how he was led away, and how plots were laid against him, and all the bitter things in between, which were diligently cultivated by the offenders — and having spoken also of the affairs concerning Porphyrius and the eunuch of Ephesus, report to us what remains.

Who died in prison? And who among those in communion with John were exiled? For it is right to make mention of such things, for the zeal of the living.

For if, in these ordinary affairs of life, servants who are confined, or beaten, or scourged on behalf of their masters enjoy from them goodwill and freedom, how much more are those who are punished for Christ's sake worthy of both ecclesiastical honor and goodwill? Concerning whom the apostle also says:

"Remember those in bonds, as bound with them; those who are mistreated, as being yourselves also in the body. For precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones." {THE BISHOP:} You have spoken excellently;

as for the bishops, according to the rumor that first circulated, they were drowned at sea;

but according to the true account, they were sent into exile beyond the borders, into barbarian regions, and are even now still guarded by executioners.

For a certain deacon who had traveled with them came and reported that Cyriacus was eighty miles inland from Emesa, at Palmyra, the fortress facing the Persians;

and that Eulysius was likewise three days' journey inland from Bostra of the Arabians, at a fortress called Misphas, near the Saracens;

and that Palladius was guarded in the place called Syene, neighboring the Blemmyes and the Ethiopians;

having been outraged by the cruelty of judges, his body tormented with abuses even to the knocking out of his teeth, as report has it, they confined him to his own native land.

Hilarius, a holy man now grown old, was sent away, after blows — not from a judge, but from the clergy — to the innermost part of Pontus; he is now in his eighteenth year without having tasted bread, but partaking only of plain vegetables or boiled grain.

Antonius exiled himself to the caves of Palestine.

Timothy of Maroneia and John of Lydia are said to be in Macedonia.

Rhodon of Asia went to Mytilene.

Gregory of Lydia is said to be in Phrygia.

Brisson, the brother of Palladius, having voluntarily withdrawn from his own church, spends his time on his small farm, working the soil with his own hands.

Lampetius, as they say, being supported by a certain Eleutherus in a village of Lydia, devotes himself to reading.

Eugenius is in his homeland.

Elpidius, the great bishop of Laodicea in Syria, together with Pappus, has now completed three years without having come down the stairs of his house, devoting himself wholly to prayers.

Heraclides of Ephesus has been shut up in the prison of Nicomedia — it is now the fourth year.

As for the rest of the bishops in communion with him, some, having conceived hopeless thoughts, entered into communion with Atticus, and were transferred to other churches of Thrace;

and they say Anatolius is in the Gallic provinces.

As for the presbyters, some were confined to Arabia and Palestine;

and Tigrius was confined to Mesopotamia;

Philip died a fugitive in Pontus;

Theophilus resides in Paphlagonia;

John, son of Aethrius, established a monastery in Caesarea;

Stephen, having been exiled to Arabia, was snatched away from the executioners by the Isaurians, who set him free throughout the Taurus mountains;

they say Sallustius is in Crete.

I have heard that Philip, the ascetic and presbyter of the scholae, is ill in Campania.

Sophronius the deacon is in prison in the Thebaid.

Paul the deacon, the assistant of the steward, is said to be in Africa.

Another Paul, the one of [the church of] Anastasia, is in Jerusalem.

Helladius the presbyter, the one of the palace, resides on his own small estate in Bithynia.

But most are hiding in Constantinople, while others have gone away to their homelands.

And Silvanus, the holy bishop, is in Troas, fishing and so making his living.

Stephen the ascetic, who carried the letters of the Romans, was beaten in Constantinople on this very account, and was thrown into prison for ten months.

When communion with them was offered to him, since he was not persuaded, he was scourged excessively, both on his sides and his chest (of which I myself was an eyewitness); preserved by the care of Christ, perhaps for further contests, after ten months of treatment he was exiled to Pelusium.

A certain Provincialis, a soldier of the scholae attending upon the emperor, having been slandered as a partisan of John, after manifold blows and unsparing scourging was exiled to Petra.

And a servant of Elpidius the presbyter, having been hired — so they say — for fifty gold coins to murder the holy John, was caught in the act, carrying three swords, and struck seven of those who were seizing him, one after another.

Of these, four were buried at once, while the other three, after being cared for over a considerable time, recovered and survived — while the murderer was released.

Eutropius the blessed, undefiled by women, a chanter of psalms, having been struck and excessively scourged on his sides and his forehead, so that even his eyebrows were torn away — and finally, torches soaked with oil having been pressed against both his sides down to the bare bone — breathed his last upon the wood; he was buried at midnight by the clergy who had done this deed, God bearing joint witness to his death by a vision of those chanting psalms, on account of its conformity to the Savior's passion.

And the deacon who had returned from being with the bishops related that the provincial officials who were conducting them oppressed them so greatly, by the orders of certain persons, that they prayed for death to come upon them and gave up the wish to live.

...hurrying [them] on, they compressed the journey of two days into one, bringing them in to lodge late at night and leading them out again while it was still dark at dawn, so that their stomachs could not even retain their wretched food.

And they did not spare them, assailing them with shameful and indecent words.

And they took away Palladius's servant too, having forced him also to draw up a written statement.

And Palladius had also foretold to him — as the fellow soldier who came related — saying, 'You shall travel no other road, for you will die a wretched death.' For they did not allow them to go near a church at all, but lodged them either in inns, where there were crowds of prostitutes, or in the synagogues of the Samaritans or of the Jews — especially the one from Tarsus — and there, as they were being hemmed in and distressed, [made them] contemplate yet another matter which had not been foreseen.

And one of the bishops says:

Why do we grieve over our lodgings? Surely it is not up to us where we stay, that by our own choice, behaving disgracefully, we should incur judgment? Or do you not know that all these things have happened before and will happen again, God being glorified through all of them? How many of these prostitutes, having either forgotten God or never known Him from the beginning, having beheld us in this condition, have come to the fear of God and to reflection — turning, perhaps, to what is better, or at least not sinking further into what is worse? And it is no small thing for a rational soul, harmed by passion, even to breathe a little — which is itself a spark of chastity.

as, having endured these very things, the hierophant Paul said:

'We are the fragrance of Christ among those being saved and among those perishing,' because we have become a spectacle to angels and to men. And to such a degree of cruelty did the bishops of that region who were in communion with Theophilus rise, throughout the whole East (as the ascetic who came related), that some of them not only failed to show the propriety that was due, but even with gifts persuaded the provincial officials to drive the exiled bishops out of the cities all the more swiftly.

And those who did this most of all are: the bishop of Tarsus, and the bishop of Antioch, and Eulogius the bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, and above all the bishop of Ancyra, and Ammonius the bishop of Pelusium — doing this partly by gifts, and even more by threats, provoking to fury the soldiers who were escorting them, so that they would not even permit the willing laity to receive them.

just as, in the Catholic Epistles, the blessed John writes to Gaius against a certain bishop, commending Gaius's hospitality, and exhorting him not to imitate the wicked among the bishops:

'To Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth.'

'Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.'

'For I rejoiced greatly when certain ones came and testified to me of your truth, how you walk in truth, and for the ways you have refreshed the saints.'

'I have no greater joy than this.' And after this he adds:

'And not content with these things, he himself does not receive the brothers, and he hinders those who wish to, and casts them out of the church.' Then afterward he exhorts, saying:

'Beloved, do not imitate what is evil,'

'for he who does good is of God.'

And he praised and admired the bishops of Cappadocia Secunda, in that they had greatly grieved with tears together with the exiled bishops — especially the most gentle Theodore of Tyana, and Bosporius of Colonia, who had held the episcopate for forty-eight years, and Sarapion of Ostracine, who had spent forty-five years in the ministry of the episcopate.

And Theodore, having become speechless for a long while, said:

That such things should be done, and should persist, and should prevail — and that the good should be afflicted and plundered — brings me to shudder at the thought of drawing near to that man.

{THE BISHOP:} Indeed, most understanding one, the end is near, according to him who said:

'Little children, it is the last hour,' and according to:

'And the householder went out about the eleventh hour to hire laborers for the vineyard;'

the eleventh of the twelve hours is the last — and if it was called 'last' by the Apostle four hundred years ago, how much more so now, on account of everything [that has happened].

Moreover, from the beginning these things have happened by the Lord's permission, for the training of the saints, the devil demanding to have them, just as the saving word says:

'Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to have you, to sift you like wheat;'

'but I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail.' And Jesus by no means prayed only concerning Peter alone, but concerning all who have the faith of Peter — the sieve signifying nothing other than the earthly orb, filled with pleasures and pains, through which, as through holes, the earthy fall away from the nourishing wheat down into Hades, being separated out as though sifted through perforations.

Some fall through, as through the hole of gluttony, those whose god is the belly;

and some through love of pleasure, concerning whom the prophet says:

'A spirit of fornication led them astray' (for neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, shall inherit the kingdom of God);

and some through love of money, as many as have betrothed themselves to the yoke-fellow of idolatry;

and some through wrath and anger, as many as have loved the bestial darkness, concerning whom John says:

'He who hates his brother is in darkness even until now' (for wrath, says the writer of Proverbs, destroys even the prudent);

and some through listlessness and forgetfulness, not persevering in the wakefulness of remembrance, and needing to say, 'My soul has slumbered from listlessness' (concerning whom the Word, calling them wretched, says:

'Woe to you who have cast away endurance;'

'and what will you do when the Lord visits you?')

and of others through irrational vainglory, concerning whom the psalmist foretold:

'For God has scattered the bones of those who please men.'

and others through arrogance or conceit, that is, disdain, whom the prophet censures as deserters:

'The proud transgressed exceedingly,'

'but I have not turned aside from your law.' And to each of these vices, more [vices] attend.

With conceit goes envy; with covetousness go hatred and meanness and falsehood; with wrath go anger or rancor, insults, murders; with fornication go forgetfulness [of God], fearlessness [of God], sloth, lack of zeal, unprofitable wakefulness; with vainglory go meddlesomeness, bribe-taking, pretenses, hypocrisies, partiality, deceptions; with pride go recklessness, lack of compassion, unholy deeds, derangements of mind — and with each, still others (lest I say more and burden this discourse, since what has been said is easily demonstrated).

To each of these vices God has appointed an opposing virtue:

as, against lust, chastity; against gluttony, self-control; against covetousness, righteousness; against wrath, gentleness; against sorrow, joy; against forgetfulness, remembrance; against listlessness, endurance; against folly, prudence; against cowardice, courage; against vainglory, humility; and against each, another.

And against them all, the divine Scripture.

But to conceit alone He did not give an opposing virtue, on account of its surpassing wickedness, having reserved that to Himself, as He has said:

'God resists the proud,' as the same prophet entreats, saying:

'Lift up your hands against their pride forever;'

and again, 'Render recompense to the proud.' And just as the tree is known from its fruit (as the Lord said:

'By their fruits you shall know them'), so also every man, whether he is truly holy or merely so called.

And so the prosperity of the wicked always stands unshaken in this way, God being longsuffering toward them.

For this befits Him, so that the saints, speaking in the person of those afflicted, might proclaim this very thing beforehand, for the consolation of us who now suffer.

'Why should I not be enraged? Look upon me and be astonished, laying your hand upon your cheek.'

'For if I remember, I am troubled, and pains take hold of my flesh.'

'Why do the wicked live, and grow old in riches? Their offspring is according to their soul's desire, and their children are before their eyes.'

'Their houses are prosperous, and fear is nowhere to be found; the scourge of the Lord is not upon them.'

Their cow has not miscarried, but was preserved from the heat; being with young, she did not fail.

They abide like sheep that endure forever, and their children play about them;

taking up the psaltery and the harp, and they make merry at the sound of song;

they complete their life in prosperity, and fall asleep in the repose of Hades.

How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart!

But as for me, my feet were almost shaken, my steps had well-nigh slipped. Why? Because I was jealous of the lawless, seeing the peace of sinners. And again elsewhere, denouncing their wealth, he says:

Their sheep are prolific, teeming in their pastures;

their storehouses are full, bursting forth from one into another;

their daughters are adorned, arrayed like the likeness of a temple. But marveling also at their wicked concord and peace, he adds:

There is no outcry in their streets, nor breach of the wall in their houses. Then, censuring the corrupted opinion of the multitude, he says:

"They have called blessed the people to whom these things belong." And he adds:

"Blessed is the people whose helper is the Lord, the God of Jacob." And lest, halting my citations at this point, I should render my argument perilous through its incompleteness,

hear again Habakkuk, as with a kind of beating of the breast, chafing with distress at such things, and saying:

"How long, O Lord, shall I cry out, being wronged, and you will not hear?" For he called his neighbor's injustices his own.

And being a lover of the brethren, he adds:

"I shall cry out to you, and you will not save? Why have you shown me toils and troubles, to look upon distress and impiety? Judgment has arisen against me, and the judge takes bribes."

"Therefore the law is relaxed, and judgment does not proceed to its conclusion, because the ungodly man oppresses the righteous." In this same spirit, Jeremiah, most compassionate of the saints, being perplexed on behalf of others, cries out:

"Yet I will speak of judgments with you, O Lord:"

"Why does the way of the ungodly prosper? Why do all who deal treacherously in treachery thrive? You planted them and they took root" (that is, they live on unhindered), "and they bore fruit" (by no means the fruit of the Spirit) —

"You are near in their mouth, but far from their inmost parts." And directly matching these words, the wise prophet Zephaniah, denouncing men as evil-speakers, as ones who find fault with Providence and slander the saints, speaks in the person of the Lord, saying:

"You have spoken hard words against me, says the Lord, and you have said:"

"In what have we spoken against you? You have said, 'Vain is he who serves God; and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked as suppliants before the face of the Lord Almighty? And now we call strangers blessed, and all who do lawless deeds are built up, and they have resisted God and been saved.' These things did they that fear the Lord speak, each to his neighbor." To these same things the herald of piety, Paul, adds the like, saying:

"But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." Then he signifies the lowly estate of the saints, saying:

"that we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men."

"For until this present hour we hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed dwelling, and toil, working with our own hands" (enumerating his bodily hardships) —

"being reviled, we bless;"

"we have become as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now."

of the good and righteous God, who, according to certain ineffable reasons, has stretched out the world after the fashion of a racecourse, and made us self-determining, so that, applying ourselves to affairs by our own choice, we might render a just accounting — even as the law says:

"I have set before you life and death; choose which you will." Now why he has set this before us is not for the present occasion to explain — save only that he has set it —

for it would not have been wise for us to be made unchangeable, when no contests were set before us and the will had no achievement to attain — since immutability befits only what is divine and eternal;

and that the Church has, throughout long ages, endured as a training-ground, bringing forth her own crown-bearers, men and women alike, who in bygone times did not partake of the flesh of Christ in vain;

but your disorder grieves us, and the dissolution of the churches.

THE BISHOP: I marvel at you, Theodore, most honored of men, that you confess the benefit to be very great, and yet again speak the contrary.

For while you call them blessed as crown-bearers, you also pity them as having fallen, since we have been deprived of our ecclesiastical places.

You seem to me to feel the same as those rustics who watch the Olympic games:

for they gape gladly at the prizes, yet weep piteously at the blows dealt to the competitors.

But for my part, it is better to chase after ravines and wooded glens and seas in the company of truth, than, possessing great glory of the prosperity now so reckoned, to be subject to falsehood.

For possessing truth, I shall possess all things;

for all things are servants to her;

but possessing falsehood, I would possess not even myself, since I would not belong to her.

But possessing truth, I do not simply wish to possess her as a mistress, or a slave, or a neighbor, but as a sister;

and if it be possible, also as a yoke-fellow, enjoying her delight and thereafter inheriting her, as one's own wife.

For she is the daughter of Truth that truly is, whose bridegroom is the earnest man.

For he who possesses her is vigorous, grows young again, is ageless and unfading, having a zeal hotter than fire, a word sharper than a sword, a life lighter than an eagle; he runs untiringly, as to a mother who keeps the house, toward the study of the Scriptures;

he flourishes continually in freedom from grief, is not held fast by fear, exults in fearlessness, is caught up in rapture by holy enthusiasm, hates no one, pities those who conduct their life ill, calls blessed those who mind their own affairs with contentment, and grieves with the grief of the Spirit over the negligence of the clergy — concerning whom the apostle said:

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." And he grieves the Spirit who turns his back upon it through negligence.

And — to say it all in brief — he dies with confidence, having grieved no one except the demons, and those who are their kin.

He did not squander his days in evildoing;

he doubled the sum entrusted to him, and sent ahead interest in good works, fulfilling in a short time debts of long standing.

He writes no will disposing of material goods, for while living and in his right mind he has already wrestled matter down and overcome it.

Does death knock at the door of his poor flesh? Before he even sees it standing outside, he cries out, "Let us depart hence," chanting:

and at the last he rejoices, being set free from his much-afflicted flesh, as from a crumbling little lodging-house threatening collapse;

he pricks up his ear toward him who says, "Well done, good and faithful servant," about to hear also what follows.

Let the abundance of his words be a proof to you of what has been said:

"for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." But he who lives in company with falsehood has a troubled life — at one time rejoicing beyond measure at the increase of money, or some petty glory, or the affection of some paltry harlot, or at the misfortune of his enemies;

spending sleepless nights, or nights of troubled sleep, he suspects plots even from his own true kin, trusting not even himself, disbelieving everyone as liars;

being such a man, he is cowardly as a hare, reckless as a boar, false as a chameleon, deceitful as a partridge, merciless as a wolf, savage as a mouse;

an enemy to himself, unceasingly malicious, of necessity punishing himself, yet he does not perceive it;

for while devising evil against another, he suffers evil at his own hands even beforehand.

Does death give him a prick? He gives up everything, that he might linger a little while longer, so fond is he of life;

he has squandered in vain the time given to him;

the denarius he not only failed to double, but did not even keep safe.

he trembles continually like a leaf, unwilling to grow old;

thinking foolish thoughts, he endures the infirmities of old age, and fears death as if it were a god;

God, in his eyes, is the visible world.

and what more? He grows pale, he shudders, he is in anguish;

Anticipating the judgment of God, he punishes himself, his conscience tormenting him without mercy and reminding him of each of his transgressions one by one, suffering things more dreadful than those who are scourged in their bodies with blows.

he cringes slavishly before whatever powers happen to prevail, he flatters the world shamefully; instead of one lord he has countless masters, only that he might not be a servant of the truth;

he affects to appear formidable, while fearing everyone.

Let these things, then, be said to you by us, to the best of our ability.

And if anyone should correct our unworthiness by speaking more truly and more elegantly, let us gladly receive him too as a corrector and a lover of the brethren, and let us give thanks to the Savior for all things.

Yet you also, in return, give me knowledge of the purpose of the Western synod, and set your seal upon my words, if indeed they have pleased you, as having been spoken to good profit.

When the narrator had ceased speaking, Theodore said the following:

May the Lord remember every sacrifice of John, because even unto death he did not betray his boldness of speech.

Now the purpose of the church of the Romans is this: not to hold communion with the Eastern bishops until the end, especially with Theophilus, until the Lord grants occasion for an ecumenical synod that will heal the putrefied members of those who have done these things.

For even if the blessed John has fallen asleep, yet truth remains awake, for whose sake the inquiry shall continue.

As for those who did these things in the church, I would gladly have met them face to face, saying:

Where is the priesthood? Where is holiness? Where is the gentle and common bond of nature? Where are the commandments of the Savior, that saying: 'If you bring your gift, and remember that your brother has something against you, go, first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift'?

Where is that saying, 'If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also'? Where is the meditation upon the Scriptures, that saying, 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity'? Where is that saying, 'Let brothers be useful to one another in times of need'? And why, that saying, 'A brother helped by a brother is like a fortified city' — have you reversed it, and made it instead: a brother slandered by a brother, or plundered, is like a pitiable and unwalled city?

Why then did you attempt to pursue this irreconcilable enterprise, three times and not once, wretched men? By what reasoning did you not restrain yourselves from thirsting for his blood as though against an enemy? How did it come upon you to grow so savage against one another? Whence did you display so great a transformation, as to change from the tame to the untamed and the wild? I marvel, and marveling at the perversion, I am struck with amazement, seeing the whole matter so greatly agitated over this.

Why, being lifted up with so much insolence, did you outrage the nurturing and child-rearing Church of God, as though tearing apart a fruitful womb? — so that in you the prophetic word might be fulfilled:

'Because they pursued their brother with the sword, and ravaged the womb upon the earth.' With this womb the divine and saving Word was present, and both sowed and planted you and him upon countless good and beneficial things.

...one another, unto which things it was indeed fitting — having learned what, did you resolve not even to keep peace and be at rest among yourselves, at least for the time that remained? Having then been created for the purpose of mutual assistance, why did you make light of that grace, not only failing to lighten one another's labors, but even further thrusting each other away and cutting yourselves off from your own kindred;

while the prophet cries out to you:

'Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?' But you will say to me:

'He sinned against the law.' What law? The one which you yourselves trampled underfoot, scattering it with wickedness? Where then is the law of nature, that one should correct with kindness? And why, misusing the law as though of enemies, do you pursue in your counsels, and do, things that are hostile and worthy of enmity? How much better would it have been, dwelling together and living in the same place, to share with one another common and good counsels, for the favor and pleasing of your Father? For the virtue of children and harmony of graces, exceedingly pleasing to parents, need nothing else from their own offspring than this.

Know this well also, that the bond of friendship and goodwill is nothing other than to be zealous and to do all things pleasing to the Father, and to him who is the cause of our birth, our nurture, and our continuance;

which, despising as folly, you kindled wars within the church, according to the prophet who said:

'They fixed madness in the house of the Lord,' instead of urging and exhorting one another;

then, contrary to the mind and will of the Father, working irreconcilable wars among yourselves.

I add moreover, that this greatly astonishes and disturbs both God and all who draw near to him — him being the Father of sons, and to you brothers — and does not permit him to keep silence (for he is neither indifferent nor unconcerned for the benefit of his children);

being grieved, therefore, both at your derangement of mind and at the oppression of those who are wronged, he does not judge it just to let you pass unpunished (as he has already begun to do);

for that is neither fitting for him, nor safe for you;