Dialogus de vita Joannis Chrysostomi

 honor, but he who is called by God. Thus 5 also Aaron, he says, did not glorify himself to become high priest. For although there were six hundred

 the flight of concord, most of us who are active and eager for it have become fugitives from the country, being unable to live safely and without trou

 he met with us, he did not share in words, nor in prayer, nor in communion but disembarking from the ship and running past the doors of the church, h

 to share in the suffering and to do everything, so as to stop these evils. For he put a stop to none of their lawlessness here, but even after this he

 and lamentations and fountains of tears in the marketplaces and the houses and in the desolate places and the whole part of the city was filled with

 you are exhorted to contribute zeal from yourselves. For thus you will gratify not only us, 16 but also the community of the churches, and you will re

 had fled on account of the threat contained in the imperial decree, that If anyone is not in communion with Theophilus and Arsakius and Porphyry, let

 of Bishop John of the Constantinopolitans and, as it seems, it has not been accomplished. Therefore, I wrote again through the bishops and presbyters

 savagery. This also the Savior God did, illuminating them with various revelations, so that also to Paul, the deacon of Saint Emilius, a most gentle

 He who speaks a lie is not of God, and again from David, Because the mouth of those who speak unjust things was stopped. For he who lies truly wro

 by his own choice, he was trained in the discourses for the ministry of the divine oracles. From there, being in the eighteenth year of his physical a

 of those who have believed in him will be bound. {THE DEACON} But where did they recognize the presence of the Savior? {THE BISHOP} When they cried ou

 of the rich, cutting away the abscesses of the soul, teaching them humility, to be of a humble mind towards other people, obeying the apostolic word,

 she gives one thousand gold pieces, having made him swear by the table of the Savior that he would buy clothes and clothe the poorer women of the Alex

 with his own hands on his neck, and after inflicting blows on his jaws, with clenched fingers he bloodied his nostrils, shouting 38 with a loud voice:

 by an excess of conceit. But those men, driven by great necessity because they were changing places from place to place, arrive at the camp, where Bis

 of the church, Dioscorus the bishop, who had grown old in the church but to the bishop John he writes: I think you are not ignorant of the decree of

 of John for unlawful offenses, he took advantage of their fickleness and persuades them to submit bills of accusation against John, promising them to

 Elijah was taken up did not Elisha prophesy? Paul was beheaded did he not leave behind Timothy, Titus, Apollos and ten thousand others? After these

 these of the council but if as accusers, set them up for the trial, so that I may know how I should contend, whether as against adversaries or as jud

 (for he is impetuous by nature, and rash and bold and exceedingly contentious—for there is nothing that appears to him by sight, <towards> which he do

 brother Acacius and Antiochus whom they put forward as canons of the orthodox, because We are of the faith of those who set them forth, and our doub

 reading the oracles, and others baptizing the catechumens, as was fitting because of Easter. These very things the corruptors of minds and deceivers o

 a proof of the diligence of teachers, unceasingly setting right the unconquerable quality of their resolve. Theodore said: {THE DEACON} You have spoke

 near him to the west), but in the western part, where the gate of the church is, the mule-team, on which he was accustomed to sit, having ordered it t

 of a hierophant, a man more silent than a fish and more idle than a frog (for there are times when even action speaks, especially when the good is don

 terrifying, just as bogeymen do children? Alas! Those who are clothed in worldly powers and ecclesiastical wealth with authority, with command even of

 on the one hand, that he ate alone but I did not wish you, most harmonious Theodore, to ask about the things of gluttonous infants. For being a man,

 he says, urging us to imitation Do not forget hospitality, he says, for by this some have entertained angels unawares. But the host must have the

 fell from blessing? was it not when he served his belly, deceived by the food? When did Saul fall from the kingdom? was it not when he ate the best of

 to eat bread and to put on a garment, all that you give me, I will tithe a tenth of it to you -he did not say, I will consume it at tables. That sp

 to give glory to God <in> persecutions. in the refutations of error, is there any mention of a table? But again to Titus, the bishop of Crete, let us

 they were seeking luxury. It was absurd to squander the food of the sick or the poor on the intemperance of the healthy. And what sort of law is this,

 from seeing evil. For many of the so-called bishops, wishing to cut off the reasonable hatred directed at them on account of their own ways and their

 First, that having melted down treasures he fashioned a silver object in the name of his son second, that having taken marbles from the entrance of t

 love of money is a source of evils. For he who took bribes against the innocent and thought to sell the distribution of the Holy Spirit for silver,

 Antoninus dies, with whom Eusebius had the lawsuit. Again a decree comes from Asia, this one from the clergy of the church of the Ephesians, and this

 to buy the priesthood. They say that the ravager and falsely-named patriarch of the Jews changes the rulers of the synagogue every year, or even more

 of those who deposed him and concluded the trial. <CHAPTER 19> {THE DEACON.} Forgive me, father, such things surpass drunkenness and madness and sport

 ambidextrous (for even his so-called left hand was better than the right hand of others) who at first, having served in letters, was found blameles

 slandering their life, waiting to have help from God. To these things Theodore, being astonished, said: {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} I see the facts as contrary to the n

 Or is it proper at all to cast out any disciple, much less a monk? 100 {THE DEACON} Because they provoked him or spoke ill of him. {THE BISHOP} And ou

 having led them back from vice to virtue, it will be clear that their persecutor deserves not to be persecuted, but to be pitied, as one who always ab

 having provoked the physician and enchanter of souls and removed his interpreter from the workshop of salvation, 105 they were handed over to the phys

 imitating him who, having found the one crushed by robbers, half-dead, on the way down to Jericho, placed him on his own beast of burden, having broug

 did he give? And when Optimus died in Constantinople, he closed his eyes with his own hands. In addition to these things, he also refreshed in no smal

 desiring to chasten the herd of men for their various desires towards the more austere part of life, he became his own judge and lawgiver, being stren

 toward the north, and each man's axe in his hand and one man in the midst of them, clothed in a full-length robe, and a sapphire belt on his loins a

 in many ways Who will boast that he has a pure heart? Or who will boldly claim to be pure from sin? but yet the blessed John did not know how to us

 happen to us anonymously and beneficially? sifting the reasons, not obeying him who said: Eat whatever is sold in the meat-market, asking no question

 two? {THE BISHOP} Especially if it is an unprofitable and charlatan crowd such as the one who said to Jesus: Teacher, I will follow you wherever you

 an intemperate old man, and an old man who loves learning above an unlearned younger man, and a poor layman above an educated lover of money, and a vi

 enjoying his disease nor raging with the same desires. For this is a fitting way of life for a teacher, not to linger with the crowds, but in quiet an

 having subjected his body to shameful tortures by the cruelty of judges, to the point of knocking out his teeth, as the story goes, 127 they confined

 knocking, they made the two-day journey into one, arriving late in the evening and departing in the dark of dawn, so that the stomach could not even k

 and that these things are done and are prolonged and are strong, and that the good are afflicted and plundered, brings me to shudder at his approachin

 Why shall I not be angry? looking upon me, marvel, and lay your hand upon your jaw. For if I remember, I am troubled, and pains take hold of my flesh.

 when reviled, we bless when persecuted, we endure when slandered, we entreat we have become as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all thi

 sleepless or troubled in sleep, he suspects plots even from his own family, not trusting even himself, distrusting everyone as liars. Being such a per

 each other, for which it was also fitting, having learned something, did you not decide to be quiet and remain still by yourselves even for the future

 to his father and to his mother, I have not seen you, and his brothers he did not acknowledge he guarded your oracles, and kept your covenant. He d

 foot-soldiers' machinations for the hindering of those who travel for the truth). How then do they dare to say: By God's economy John has been cast o

honor, but he who is called by God. Thus 5 also Aaron," he says, "did not glorify himself to become high priest." For although there were six hundred thousand men and many among them had zeal, one was proclaimed, Aaron, whose miraculous staff, which budded with nuts, shamed the many into believing that the priest was inspired by God. But some, ignorant of what is good, wounded by the passion for empty glory, suspecting this to be a common or divisible thing, self-appointed, leap upon the matter, finding an end worthy of their madness, making the very earth of the congregation a witness to their own presumption. For Dathan and Abiram, having lusted for the dignity with a fornicating eye, were swallowed up and perished with their followers, finding their own assembly to be their makeshift tomb. After them Uzzah, not mindful of what had happened before, drawn by passion, lusted for the matter. And indeed one day as the ark was being carried on a cart along the road, it happened that the pulling calf stumbled and shook the ark. Uzzah, therefore, who was following, took hold of it with his hand, not allowing the vessel to be overturned. But when God saw, and it did not please him, because from this a custom arises for the presumptuous, he restrained it, striking Uzzah unto death, teaching those after him to cease from such madness. Then late, after long ages, after the coming of Christ, Simon the magician from the village of Gitta, a sophist of doctrines contrary to the truth, being cunning in wickedness, devises a scheme, pretending to fear the punishment of the ancients, so that by sowing similar things, he would not reap the same. He therefore approaches the apostles with flattery, hiding the wolf under the fleece, with sums of gold, so as not to seem to be seizing what he was eager to purchase wickedly, saying those things that befit him and all who imitate him. "Take," he says, "this money and give me the authority of your dignity, so that on whomever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit." And he had been baptized in the name of Jesus. To him the choir of the apostles answered, "Begone, man; the grace of God cannot be bought." But as he persisted in knocking at the door with his words, they said a second time: "Why do you buy what you find for free, 6 by living worthily?" But when he considered the toils of such a life and the sloth of his own mind and the uncertainty of the matter, he again uncovered the gold from the purse, thinking to entice the disciples of the Savior with deceit. Incensed at this, "He who catches the wise in their own craftiness," spoke through Peter, saying: "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money"; to which he added the medicine of repentance, anointing him with long-suffering, saying, "Repent, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity"; for being a lover of souls, he does not wish the destruction of those who sin. Since, therefore, the aforementioned things have been demonstrated according to our ability, O great-named Theodore, and minister of the mysteries of truth, inquire from us about those things which you chose to learn. {THE DEACON} From where have you now come to us at this time? {THE BISHOP} From the east, clearly; for I have now seen Rome for the first time. {THE DEACON} What chiefly brought you? {THE BISHOP} The desire for your peace. {THE DEACON} For is there another besides yours? {THE BISHOP} There is no other, but it is indeed one, which the Savior has given from the heavens, having said to the apostles: "My peace I give to you." And for the sake of a sure grace he said it a second time: "My peace I leave with you," —appointing the "I give," indeed, to himself, but the "I leave," to the Holy Spirit, so that in the Spirit through Christ they might reveal the knowledge of the Father to the nations. But just as in the case of paralyzed limbs the energies of the soul return to the healthier parts of the limbs, this indeed is what the wretched East has suffered. For its limbs having been paralyzed and being unable to perform their proper functions on account of the

τιμήν, ἀλλ' ὁ καλούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ. οὕτως 5 καὶ Ἀαρών," φησιν, "οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ἐδόξασεν γενέσθαι ἀρχιερέα." ἑξακοσίων γὰρ οὐσῶν χιλιάδων ἀνδρῶν καὶ πολλῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ζῆλον ἐχόντων, εἷς ἀνηγορεύθη ὁ Ἀαρών, οὗ τὸ παράδοξον τῆς ῥάβδου, βλαστησάσης κάρυα, ἐδυσώπησε τοὺς πολλοὺς θεόληπ τον εἶναι τὸν ἱερέα. τινὲς δὲ τῶν καλῶν ἀνεπιστήμονες, πάθει τρωθέντες κενῆς εὐδοξίας, τῶν κοινῶν ἢ τῶν μεριστῶν ὑποτοπή σαντες εἶναι ταύτην, αὐτοχειροτόνητοι ἐπισκιρτῶσι τῷ πράγματι, ἄξιον τὸ τέλος τῆς μανίας εὑρόμενοι, αὐτὴν τὴν γῆν τῆς συναγωγῆς τῆς προπετείας τῆς ἑαυτῶν καταστήσαντες μάρτυρα. ∆αθὰν γὰρ καὶ Ἀβειρών, πορνικῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τοῦ ἀξιώματος ἐρασθέντες, ὑποβρύχιοι σὺν τοῖς πειθομένοις ἀπώλοντο, αὐτοσχέδιον τάφον τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐκκλησίαν εὑρόμενοι. μετὰ τούτους Ὀζά, οὐ μεμνη μένος τῶν προλαβόντων, ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους συρόμενος, ἤρα τοῦ πράγματος· καὶ δὴ τῆς κιβωτοῦ μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐφ' ἁμάξης ἐν ὁδῷ ἀγομένης, ἔτυχεν τὸν ἕλκοντα μόσχον ὑποτινάξαντα διασεῖ σαι τὴν κιβωτόν. παρακολουθῶν οὖν Ὀζὰ ἐπελάβετο τῇ χειρί, οὐ συγχωρήσας ἀνατραπῆναι τὸ σκεῦος. ὡς δὲ εἶδεν ὁ Θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἤρεσεν αὐτόν, ὅτι ἐκ τούτου γίνεται συνήθεια τοῖς προπετέ σιν, εἴργει, τὸν Ὀζὰ πατάξας ἕως θανάτου, παιδεύων τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα παύσασθαι τῆς τοιαύτης μανίας. ὀψὲ δέ ποτε μετὰ μακροὺς τοὺς χρόνους, μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν, Σίμων ὁ μάγος ὁ ἀπὸ Γίτθων τῆς κώμης, σοφιστὴς τῶν ἐναντίων τῆς ἀληθείας δογμάτων, πανοῦργος ὑπάρχων ἐν πονηρίαις, σοφίζεται τὸ πάθος, φοβούμενος δῆθεν τῶν παλαιῶν τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν, ἵνα μὴ τὰ ὅμοια σπείρας, θερίσῃ τὰ ἴσα. προσέρχεται τοίνυν κολακείᾳ τοῖς ἀπο στόλοις, τῷ κωδίῳ τὸν λύκον ἐγκρύψας, μετὰ χρημάτων χρυσίου, ὡς οὐ δοκῶν ἁρπάζειν ἃ κακῶς ἀγοράζειν ἐσπούδαζεν, ἐκεῖνα λέγων ἃ πρέπει ἐκεῖνον καὶ ὅσοι τοῦτον μιμοῦνται. "Λάβετέ," φησι, "τὰ χρήματα ταῦτα καὶ δότε μοι τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀξίας, ἵνα ᾧ ἐὰν ἐπιθῶ τὰς χεῖρας, λαμβάνῃ Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον." ἦν δὲ βεβαπτισμένος εἰς τὸ ὄνομα Ἰησοῦ. ᾧ προσαποκρίνεται ὁ χορὸς τῶν ἀποστόλων· "Ἄπαγε, ἄνθρωπε· χάρις Θεοῦ πιπρά σκεσθαι οὐκ ἀνέχεται." ὡς δ' ἐπέμενε κρούων τὴν θύραν τοῖς λόγοις, ἔφησαν ἐκ δευτέρου· "Τί ἀγοράζεις ὃ δωρεὰν εὑρίσκεις, 6 βιώσας ἀξίως;" ὡς δὲ ἐνενόει τοῦ βίου τοὺς πόνους καὶ τὸν ὄκνον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ διανοίας καὶ τὸ τοῦ πράγματος ἄδηλον, πάλιν ἐγύμνου τὸ χρύσιον τοῦ βαλαντίου, δελεάζειν οἰόμενος ἐν ἀπάτῃ τοὺς μαθητὰς τοῦ Σωτῆρος. ἀγανακτήσας πρὸς τούτοις "ὁ δρασσόμενος τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν," ἐφθέγξατο διὰ τοῦ Πέτρου λέγων· "Τὸ ἀργύριόν σου σὺν σοὶ εἴη εἰς ἀπώλειαν, ὅτι τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐνόμισας διὰ χρημάτων κτᾶσθαι"· ᾧ περιέ θηκεν τῆς μετανοίας τὸ φάρμακον, ἀλείφων αὐτὸν ἐν μακροθυμίᾳ, "Μετανόησον," λέγων, "εἰ ἄρα ἀφεθήσεταί σοι ἡ ἐπίνοια τῆς καρδίας σου. εἰς γὰρ χολὴν πικρίας καὶ σύνδεσμον ἀδικίας ὁρῶ σε ὄντα"· οὐ γὰρ βούλεται τῶν πλημμελούντων τὴν ἀπώλειαν φιλόψυχος ὤν. ἀποδεδειγμένων οὖν κατὰ δύναμιν τῶν προειρη μένων, Θεόδωρε μεγαλώνυμε, καὶ μυστηρίων τῆς ἀληθείας διάκονε, πύθου παρ' ἡμῶν περὶ ὧν προείλου μαθεῖν. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Πόθεν σε νῦν παραγενόμενον ἔχομεν τέως; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνατολῆς δηλονότι· ἐν πρώτοις γὰρ νῦν τὴν Ῥώμην τεθέαμαι. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Τί σε μάλιστα ἤγαγεν; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ὁ τῆς ὑμετέρας εἰρήνης πόθος. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Ἄλλη γάρ τίς ἐστι παρὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Οὐκ ἔστι μὲν ἄλλη, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάνυ γε μία, ἣν ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν δέδωκεν ὁ Σωτὴρ εἰρηκὼς τοῖς ἀποστόλοις· "Εἰρήνην τὴν ἐμὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν." ὑπὲρ δὲ βεβαίας χάριτος ἐδευτέρωσεν· "Εἰρήνην τὴν ἐμὴν ἀφίημι ὑμῖν," -τὸ μὲν οὖν, "δίδωμι," τάξας ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ, τὸ δέ, "ἀφίημι," ἐπὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Ἁγίου, ἵν' ἐν Πνεύματι διὰ Χριστοῦ τὴν τοῦ Πατρὸς ἀποκαλύψωσι γνῶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν παραλυθέντων μελῶν αἱ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐνέργειαι ἐπὶ τὰ ὑγιεινότερα τῶν μελῶν ἀνακάμπτουσι μέρη, τοῦτο δὴ πέπονθε καὶ ἡ ἀθλία ἑῴα. παραλυθέντων γὰρ αὐτῆς τῶν μελῶν καὶ τὰς οἰκείας ἐνεργείας ἀποτελεῖν μὴ δυνα μένων διὰ τὴν τῆς