John Chrysostom, That a Monk Should Not Use Jest

presence; but you have imitated those who drink wine with the lyre and the psaltery, for whom the prophet threatened woe instead of cheerfulness. For I, he says, preached weeping and mourning and shaving of the head, and girding with sackcloth; but they made cheerfulness and joy, saying: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. And these things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, that this sin will not be forgiven them, until they die. Hearing these things, be afraid and groan; do not imitate those who ate and drank, and rose up to play; and, to say what is more bitter, sacrifices and foods and games caused a lethargy of the fear of God, and drew them out to idolatry. Be afraid lest while you are laughing the Master is angry, He who blessed those who weep, and declared wretched those who laugh, lest the devil, finding in your playing and unrestrained laughter fearlessness concerning God and forgetfulness of what is expedient, may assault your soul, and sow his own tares. There was a time when the seasons were more suitably at ease; but nevertheless, even then among the saints there was much somberness instead of excessive joy; and the psalmist says: All the day long I went about with a sad face, and, Every night I will wash my bed, with my tears I will drench my couch; being downcast over his sins, and lamenting over calamities, and over the calamities of Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah sits weeping. Therefore do not give yourself over to heaviness of head and drunkenness and jests and coarse jesting; for on this account the lyre has also been taken from you, and you do not have a drum in your hands. And Paul taught to sing praises with the heart rather than with the mouth, he who from every side restrains man from all laxity and dissoluteness.

Father Isaac played with his wife; but for you even things with a wife have been ordained to be more sober, because the time is short, so that even those who have wives should be as though they had none, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use this world as not abusing it. For the form of this world is passing away. But you do not want to be restrained, when all things are being restrained, but even in the presence of women you indifferently shed tears, and you multiply games, and you propose jests, and bringing forth shameful speech you break into it; for not bearing the burning in your intemperate body, you then bring the filth outside, and make yourself manifest; such as you are in words, such you will surely be, and much worse in the inner man. Why do you fearlessly associate with women? Why do you run down into the snare for yourself? Why do you cast yourself into danger? Why do you make yourself cheerful towards females, and dare to spend time with them? For this reason fasts, for this reason prayers, for this reason a diet of dry foods, for this reason men devise various kinds of ascetic practices, for this reason they pursue the deserts; and some are not satisfied even with bread or water, for no other reason than to flee those stumbling blocks, so that by not encountering females, a shameful fall may not occur. But you, having passed by all these things, and having considered neither the danger nor the snare, through which the first-formed man fell from so great a state of blessedness, do you not consider the weapon of the devil, by which the ancient one, having been wounded, was cast down? And the Master indeed forbade even to look at a woman, defining it as fornication; but you have gone mad to such an extent, and having placed false names on the appellation of love, under the pretext of kindness you have drawn to your 48.1057 self a female companion, as Eve did the serpent. Having bound up fire in your bosom, and having placed a lamp in hay, you will have danger from both; for either, having fallen into the very pit of the abyss, you have endangered your chastity; or if you should not suffer this, you will attach a shameful reputation to yourself, you who are commanded to provide for good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men. Therefore, having ecclesiastical admonition, you ought to observe whatever is honorable; and not only this, but also whatever is of good report.

παρουσία· ἀλλ' ἐκείνους μὲν μεμίμησαι τοὺς μετὰ κιθάρας καὶ ψαλτηρίου τὸν οἶνον πίνοντας, οἷς ἀντὶ τῆς εὐφροσύνης τὸ οὐαὶ ἠπείλησεν ὁ προφήτης. Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐκήρυξα κλαυθμὸν καὶ κοπετὸν καὶ ξύρησιν κεφαλῆς, καὶ περίζωσιν σάκκου· αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐποιήσαντο εὐφροσύνην καὶ χαρὰν λέγοντες· Φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνήσκομεν· καὶ ἀνακεκαλυμμένα εἰσὶ ταῦτα ἐν τοῖς ὠσὶ Κυρίου Σαβαὼθ, ὅτι οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτοῖς ἡ ἁμαρτία αὕτη, ἕως ἂν ἀποθάνωσιν. Ἀκούων ταῦτα φοβήθητι καὶ στέναξον· μὴ μιμήσῃ τοὺς φαγόντας καὶ πιόντας, καὶ ἀναστάντας παίζειν· καὶ ἵνα τὸ πικρότερον εἴπω, θυσίαι καὶ τροφαὶ καὶ παίγνια τοῦ πρὸς Θεὸν ληθαργῆσαι φόβου ἐποίησαν, καὶ πρὸς εἰδωλολατρείαν ἐξείλκυσαν. Φοβήθητι μὴ σοῦ γελῶντος ὁ ∆εσπότης ὀργίζηται, ὁ τοὺς μὲν κλαίοντας μακαρίσας, τοὺς δὲ γελῶντας ταλανίσας, μὴ τὴν παιγνίαν σου, καὶ τὸν ἐκκεχυμένον γέλωτα ἀφοβίαν περὶ Θεοῦ καὶ λήθην τῶν συμφερόντων ὁ διάβολος εὑρὼν ἐπιβῇ τῇ ψυχῇ σου, καὶ σπείρῃ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ζιζάνια. Ἦν ὅτε ἄνεσιν εἶχον οἱ καιροὶ μᾶλλον ἐπιτηδείως· ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ τότε πολὺ παρὰ τοῖς ἁγίοις ἦν τὸ σκυθρωπὸν ἀντὶ τοῦ περιχαροῦς· καί φησιν ὁ ψαλμῳδός· Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν σκυθρωπάζων ἐπορευόμην, καὶ, Λούσω καθ' ἑκάστην νύκτα τὴν κλίνην μου, ἐν δὲ δάκρυσί μου τὴν στρωμνήν μου βρέξω· κατηφὴς ἐπὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις γινόμενος, καὶ περὶ τῶν συμφορῶν ὀδυρόμενος, καὶ τὰς τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ συμφορὰς, κάθηται κλαίων ὁ προφήτης Ἱερεμίας. Καὶ σὺ τοίνυν μὴ καρηβαρίᾳ καὶ μέθῃ χρώμενος καὶ γελοίοις καὶ εὐτραπελίᾳ ἐκδώσῃς σεαυτόν· διὰ τοῦτο γάρ σου καὶ κιθάρα περιῄρηται, καὶ οὔτε τύμπανον ἔχεις ἐν χερσί· καὶ καρδίᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ στόματι ψάλλειν ὁ Παῦλος ἐδίδασκεν, ὁ πανταχόθεν συστέλλων τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀπὸ πάσης ἐκλύσεως καὶ διαχύσεως.

Ἔπαιζεν ὁ πατὴρ Ἰσαὰκ πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα· ἀλλὰ σοὶ καὶ τὰ πρὸς γυναῖκα σεμνότερα διατέτακται, ὅτι Ὁ καιρὸς συνεσταλμένος ἐστὶν, ἵνα καὶ οἱ ἔχοντες γυναῖκας ὡς μὴ ἔχοντες ὦσι, καὶ οἱ χαίροντες ὡς μὴ χαίροντες, καὶ οἱ ἀγοράζοντες ὡς μὴ κατέχοντες, καὶ οἱ χρώμενοι τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ ὡς μὴ καταχρώμενοι· παράγει γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου. Σὺ δὲ οὐ βούλῃ συστέλλεσθαι, πάντων τῶν πραγμάτων συστελλομένων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνώπιον γυναικῶν ἀδιαφόρως ἐκχέεις δάκρυα, καὶ πληθύνεις παίγνια, καὶ γελοῖα προτείνεις, καὶ διακλᾶσαι αἰσχρολογίας προφέρων· μὴ φέρων γὰρ τὴν ἐν τῷ ἀκολάστῳ σου σώματι πύρωσιν, λοιπὸν ἐκφέρεις τὸν βόρβορον ἔξω, καὶ ἑαυτὸν φανερὸν ποιεῖς· οἷος εἶ διὰ ῥημάτων, τοιοῦτος πάντως ἔσῃ, καὶ πολὺ χείρων ἐν τῷ ἔσω ἀνθρώπῳ. Τί ἀφόβως συναναμίγνυσαι γυναιξί; τί σεαυτῷ εἰς τὴν παγίδα κατατρέχεις; τί εἰς τὸν κίνδυνον ἑαυτὸν ἐμβάλλεις; τί φαιδρύνῃ πρὸς θηλείας, καὶ συνδιάγειν τολμᾷς; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο νηστεῖαι, διὰ τοῦτο προσευχαὶ, διὰ τοῦτο κατὰ ξηροῦ δίαιτα, διὰ τοῦτο πολυτρόπους ἀσκήσεις ἐπινοοῦσιν ἄνθρωποι, διὰ τοῦτο τὰς ἐρήμους μεταδιώκουσιν· ἔνιοι δὲ οὐδὲ ἄρτου, οὐδὲ ὕδατος κορέννυνται, δι' οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ διὰ τὸ φυγεῖν ἐκεῖνα τὰ σκάνδαλα, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐμπεσόντας ταῖς θηλείαις πτῶμα γενέσθαι αἰσχρόν. Σὺ δὲ ταῦτα πάντα παραδραμὼν, καὶ μήτε τὸν κίνδυνον ἐννοήσας μετὰ τὴν παγίδα, δι' ἧς ὁ πρωτόπλαστος ἐκ τῆς τηλικαύτης μακαριότητος ἐξέπεσεν, οὐκ ἐννοεῖς τὸ ὅπλον τοῦ διαβόλου, δι' οὗ ὁ ἀρχαῖος τρωθεὶς καταβέβληται; Καὶ ὁ μὲν ∆εσπότης καὶ τὸ ἐμβλέψαι γυναικὶ ἀπηγόρευσε, πορνείαν διαγράφων· σὺ δὲ εἰς τοσοῦτον ἐμάνης, καὶ πλαστὰ ὀνόματα ἐπιθεὶς τῇ προσωνυμίᾳ τῆς ἀγάπης, προφάσει χρηστότητος ἑαυ 48.1057 τῷ σύνοικον ἐπεσπάσω, ὡς ἡ Εὔα τὸν ὄφιν. Ἀποδήσας τὸ πῦρ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ, καὶ λύχνον εἰς χόρτον θήσας, κίνδυνον ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ἕξεις· ἢ γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ πτῶμα τοῦ βαράθρου ἐμπεσὼν περὶ τὴν σωφροσύνην ἐκινδύνευσας· ἢ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο πάθοις, φήμην αἰσχρὰν ἑαυτῷ περιάψεις, ὁ κελευόμενος προνοεῖσθαι καλὰ, οὐ μόνον ἐνώπιον Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνώπιον ἀνθρώπων. ∆ιὸ παραίνεσιν ἔχων ἐκκλησιαστικὴν ὀφείλεις παραφυλάττεσθαι ὅσα σεμνά· καὶ οὐ μόνον τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα εὔφημα.