John Chrysostom, Sermon When He Went into Exile

they behead, John the Forerunner; if they beat with rods, Paul; if they saw asunder, Isaiah. Would that it were with a wooden saw, that I might enjoy the cross of my longing. The embodied one makes war on the incorporeal; she who is entangled with baths and perfumes and with a man, makes war on the pure and spotless Church. But she herself will sit a widow, while her husband is still living; because you are a woman, and you wish to make the Church a widow. Yesterday evening she called me the thirteenth apostle, and today she has called me Judas. Yesterday she sat with me in freedom, and today she has leapt upon me like a wild beast.

The sun should have been extinguished for us, and the moon not appeared, and only the word of Job not forgotten. For Job, having endured so great a blow, cried out nothing else than this, Blessed be the name of the Lord forever. For when his wife cried out, saying: Say some word against the Lord, and die, he rebuked her, saying: Why have you spoken as one of the foolish women? O joyless woman! o poultice of pains! Woman, did Job ever say such things to you when you were sick? and did he not wipe away your sickness with prayers and good deeds? When he lived in royal courts, when he had his wealth, when he had the royal retinue, you said nothing of the sort, and now seeing him sitting on a dunghill, and coiled up by worms, you say this, Say some word against the Lord, and die. Was his temporary discipline not enough for him, but you also procure for him eternal punishment through your word? But what did the blessed Job say? Why have you spoken like one of the foolish women?

If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the evil things? And what does the lawless and hateful one, this new Jezebel, I say, not cry out and say from... and across.... flee... but she sends me consuls and tribunes, and only threatens. And what has it amounted to for me? Spiders sent by a spider. All brothers, because in labors lies victory, and in contests lies a crown, as the divine Paul just said, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, and hereafter there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day; for to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

ἀποκεφαλίσωσι, Ἰωάννην τὸν πρόδρομον· ἐὰν ῥαβδίσωσι, Παῦλον· ἐὰν πρίσωσι, τὸν Ἡσαΐαν. Εἴθε ξυλίνῳ πρίονι, ἵνα τοῦ σταυροῦ τοῦ πόθου ἀπολαύσω. Ἡ σεσωματωμένη πολεμεῖ τὸν ἀσώματον· ἡ λουτροῖς καὶ μυρίσμασι καὶ μετ' ἀνδρὸς περιπλεκομένη, πολεμεῖ τὴν καθαρὰν καὶ ἄσπιλον Ἐκκλησίαν. Ἀλλά γε καὶ αὐτὴ καθίσει χήρα, ἔτι ζῶντος τοῦ ἀνδρός· ὅτι γυνὴ εἶ, καὶ χηρεῦσαι θέλεις τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν. Ἑσπέρας ἐκάλει με τρισκαιδέκατον ἀπόστολον, καὶ σήμερον Ἰούδα προσεῖπε. Χθὲς μετ' ἐλευθερίας συνεκάθητό μοι, καὶ σήμερον ὡς θηρίον μοι ἐπεπήδησε.

Ἔδει τὸν ἥλιον παρ' ἡμῖν σβεσθῆναι, καὶ τὴν σελήνην μὴ φανῆναι, καὶ μόνον τοῦ ῥήματος Ἰὼβ μὴ ἐπιλαθέσθαι. Καὶ γὰρ Ἰὼβ, ὁ τηλικαύτην ὑπομείνας πληγὴν, ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἐβόα ἢ ὅτι, Εἴη τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου εὐλογημένον εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ὅτε γὰρ ἡ τούτου γυνὴ ἐβόα λέγουσα· Εἰπόν τι ῥῆμα πρὸς Κύριον, καὶ τελεύτα, ἐπετίμησεν αὐτῇ λέγων· Ἵνα τί ὡς μία τῶν ἀφρόνων γυναικῶν ἐλάλησας; Ὢ ἀχαροῦς γυναικός! ὢ μάλαγμα ὀδυνῶν! Ἆρα, γύναι, σοῦ ποτε ἀῤῥωστούσης τοιαῦτά σοι ἐφθέγξατο Ἰώβ; καὶ οὐχὶ εὐχαῖς καὶ εὐποιίαις ἀπεσμήξατό σου τὴν νόσον; Ὅτε ἐν βασιλικαῖς αὐλαῖς διῆγεν, ὅτε τὰ χρήματα εἶχεν, ὅτε τὴν θεραπείαν τὴν βασιλικὴν, οὐδὲν τοσοῦτον ἔλεγες, καὶ νῦν ὁρῶσα ἐπὶ κοπρίας καθήμενον, καὶ ὑπὸ σκωλήκων συνειλισσόμενον, τοῦτο λέγεις, Εἰπόν τι ῥῆμα πρὸς Κύριον, καὶ τελεύτα. Οὐκ ἤρκει αὐτῷ ἡ πρόσκαιρος παιδεία, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τοῦ ῥήματος αἰωνίαν αὐτῷ τὴν κόλασιν προξενεῖς; Ἀλλὰ τί ὁ μακάριος Ἰώβ; Ἵνα τί ὥσπερ μία τῶν ἀφρόνων γυναικῶν ἐλάλησας;

Εἰ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἐδεξάμεθα ἐκ χειρὸς Κυρίου, τὰ κακὰ οὐχ ὑποίσωμεν; Τί δὲ καὶ ἡ παράνομος καὶ στυγερὰ, αὕτη ἡ νέα, φημὶ, Ἰεζάβελ οὐ βοᾷ καὶ λέγει ἐκ... καὶ διαπερα.... ἀποδρ... ἀλλὰ ἀποστέλλει μοι ὑπάτους καὶ τριβούνους, καὶ μόνον ἀπειλεῖ. Καὶ τί μοι ἀνῆκεν; Ἀράχναι ὑπὸ ἀράχνης ἀποστελλόμεναι. Ἀδελφοὶ πάντες, ὅτι καὶ ἐν πόνοις ἀπόκειται νίκη, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσιν ἀπόκειται στέφανος, ὡς ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος ἀρτίως ἔλεγε, Τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα, καὶ λοιπὸν ἀπόκειται ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης στέφανος, ὃν ἀποδώσει μοι Κύριος ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ δίκαιος κριτής· ὅτι αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.