John Chrysostom, To the Young Widow

to cut through. But if you wish to see him face to face—for I know that this is what you desire most—keep his bed for him untouched by another man, and strive to show a life equal to his, and you will surely go to the same place with him, not for five years as here, nor twenty and a hundred, nor a thousand and twice that, nor ten thousand and many times that, but for infinite and unending ages you will dwell with him. For it is not bodily kinship that is destined to inherit those places of rest, but equality of life. For if the unchangeable nature of the life brought Lazarus, a stranger to Abraham, into his very bosom, and causes many from east and west to recline with him, the place of rest will also receive you with the good Therasius, if you are willing to show the same life as his; then you will receive him again, not in that beauty of body with which he departed, but in a certain other radiance and brilliance shining more than the rays of the sun. For this body, even if it runs at a great height, is nevertheless corruptible; but the bodies of those who have pleased God will be clothed with such glory as it is not possible to see with these eyes. And God has arranged for some faint signs and traces of these things to be given to us both in the Old and in the New Testament. For there, the face of Moses was then so illuminated with glory as to be unapproachable to the eyes of the Israelites; but in the New, that of Christ shone forth much more. For tell me, if someone promised to make him king of the whole earth, and then commanded you to be separated for twenty years for this, and after this promised to give him back to you with the diadem and the purple robe and to place you again in the same honor as him, if you would bear the separation gently and with fitting discretion? Would you not have welcomed the gift and considered it a matter worthy of prayer? Endure this now, therefore, not for a kingdom on earth, but for the one in heaven, not that you might receive him wearing a golden garment, but that you might receive incorruption and immortality and as much glory as it is fitting for those who live in heaven to have. But if you feel the length of time is very unbearable, it is likely that he will come to you sometime even in dreams, and converse in the accustomed way, and show you the longed-for sight; let this be a comfort to you instead of letters, or rather, this is even clearer than letters. For in those one can see only letters, but in these also the form of a face and a kind laugh and posture and gait, and hear an echo, and recognize the dearest voice. But since you also lament for the security which you formerly possessed because of him, and perhaps also because he showed greater hopes of success—for I heard that he was about to come straight to the throne of the prefects, which, I think, most of all twists and confounds your soul—consider those who were of greater dignity than he and ended their lives most pitiably.

And I will remind you: perhaps you hear of Theodore from Sicily; for he happened to be one of the most distinguished men. This man, surpassing all in beauty and size of body and in boldness toward the emperor, and able to do things which none of those moving about inside could, did not bear that prosperity gently, but plotted against the emperor and, being caught, he himself was beheaded most pitiably, and his wife, having nothing less than your own nobility in upbringing and lineage and all other things, was suddenly stripped of all her possessions and, having lost her freedom, was counted among the wool-workers of the treasury, and was forced to live a life more wretched than any handmaid, having this much more than the others, that she was wept for by all who saw her because of the excess of her misfortune. And it is said that Artemisia also, having become the wife of a very renowned man, because he too desired tyranny, thus came into this poverty and maiming. And the

διατεμεῖν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πρόσωπον αὐτὸν βούλει πρὸς πρόσωπον ἰδεῖν -τοῦτο γὰρ οἶδα ὅτι μάλιστα ποθεῖς-, διαφύλαξον αὐτῷ τὴν εὐνὴν ἀνέπαφον ἀνδρὸς ἑτέρου καὶ βίον ἐπιδείξασθαι σπούδασον ἴσον ἐκείνῳ, καὶ πάντως εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν ἀπελεύσῃ χῶρον αὐτῷ, οὐ πέντε ἔτη καθάπερ ἐνθάδε, οὐδὲ εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατόν, οὐδὲ χίλια καὶ δὶς τοσαῦτα, οὐδὲ μύρια καὶ πολλάκις τοσαῦτα, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀπείρους καὶ ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας αὐτῷ συνοικήσουσα. Τοὺς γὰρ τῆς ἀναπαύσεως τόπους ἐκείνης οὐχ αἱ συγγένειαι αἱ σωματικαί, ἀλλ' ἡ τῶν βίων ἰσότης κληρονομεῖν πέφυκεν. Εἰ γὰρ τὸν Λάζαρον ἀγνῶτα ὄντα τῷ Ἀβραὰμ εἰς τοὺς αὐτοὺς αὐτῷ κόλπους ἤγαγε, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν καὶ δυσμῶν μετ' ἐκείνου ἀνακλιθῆναι παρασκευάζει τὸ τῆς πολιτείας ἀπαράλλακτον, καί σε μετὰ τοῦ καλοῦ Θηρασίου ὁ τῆς ἀνέσεως ἐκδέξεται τόπος, ἂν ἐκείνῳ τὸν βίον θέλῃς ἐπιδείξασθαι τὸν αὐτόν· τότε αὐτὸν οὐκ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ κάλλει τοῦ σώματος, ὅπερ ἔχων ἀπῆλθεν, ἀπολήψῃ πάλιν, ἀλλ' ἐν ἑτέρᾳ τινὶ μαρμαρυγῇ καὶ φαιδρότητι μᾶλλον τῶν ἡλιακῶν ἀκτίνων ἀπολαμπούσῃ. Τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ σῶμα, κἂν ἐν ὕψει τρέχῃ πολλῷ, φθαρτὸν ὅμως ἐστί· τὰ δὲ σώματα τῶν εὐηρεστηκότων τῷ Θεῷ τοσαύτην ἐνδύσεται δόξαν, ὅσην οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν ἔνι τούτοις τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς. Καὶ τούτων ἡμῖν σημεῖά τινα καὶ ἴχνη ἀμυδρὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ Παλαιᾷ καὶ ἐν τῇ Καινῇ δοθῆναι παρεσκεύασεν ὁ Θεός. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ Μωϋσέως τοσαύτῃ κατελάμπετο δόξῃ τότε, ὡς ἀπρόσιτον εἶναι τοῖς τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν ὀφθαλμοῖς· ἐν δὲ τῇ Καινῇ τούτου πολλῷ πλέον ἐξέλαμψε τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, εἰ βασιλέα τις αὐτὸν ἐπηγγέλλετο πάσης ποιῆσαι τῆς γῆς, εἶτα ἐτῶν εἴκοσι χρόνον ἀποστῆναί σε ἐκέλευσεν ὑπὲρ τούτου, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτά σοι μετὰ τοῦ διαδήματος καὶ τῆς ἀλουργίδος ἀποδώσειν αὐτὸν ἐπηγγέλλετο καὶ πάλιν εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν τάξειν ἐκείνῳ τιμήν, ἂν τὸν χωρισμὸν πράως ἐνέγκῃς καὶ μετὰ σωφροσύνης τῆς προσηκούσης; ἆρα οὐκ ἂν ἠσμένισας τῷ δώρῳ καὶ πρᾶγμα εὐχῆς ἄξιον εἶναι ἐνόμισας; Τοῦτο τοίνυν ἀνάσχου καὶ νῦν, οὐχ ὑπὲρ βασιλείας τῆς ἐν τῇ γῇ, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, οὐχ ἵνα ἱμάτιον χρυσοῦν φοροῦντα ἀπολάβῃς ἀλλ' ἵνα ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ ἀθανασίαν καὶ δόξαν, ὅσην τοὺς ἐν οὐρανοῖς διάγοντας ἔχειν εἰκός. Εἰ δὲ σφόδρα ἀφορήτως ἔχεις πρὸς τὸ τοῦ χρόνου μακρόν, εἰκὸς αὐτὸν καὶ δι' ὀνειράτων ἐπιστῆναί σοί ποτε, καὶ διαλέγεσθαι τὰ ἐν συνηθείᾳ, καὶ δείξειν ὄψιν τὴν ποθουμένην· τοῦτό σοι ἀντὶ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν ἔστω παραμύθιον, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπιστολῶν τρανότερον. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ γράμματα μόνον ἔστιν ἰδεῖν, ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ τύπον ὄψεως καὶ γέλωτα προσηνῆ καὶ σχῆμα καὶ βάδισιν, καὶ ἠχῆς ἀκοῦσαι, καὶ φωνὴν ἐπιγνῶναι τὴν φιλτάτην. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀσφαλείας θρηνεῖς, ἣν δι' ἐκεῖνον πάλαι ἐκέκτησο, ἴσως δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ μείζους ἐμφαίνειν ἐλπίδας εὐδοκιμήσεως-καὶ γὰρ ἤκουον εὐθέως ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν ὑπάρχων θρόνον ἥξειν αὐτόν, ὃ μάλιστα πάντων, οἶμαι, συστρέφει σου τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ συγχεῖ-, ἐννόησον τοὺς ἐπὶ μείζονος ἀξιώματος ὄντας ἐκείνου καὶ τὸν βίον σφόδρα ἐλεεινῶς καταστρέψαντας.

Ἀναμνήσω δέ σε· Θεόδωρον ἴσως ἀκούεις τὸν ἀπὸ Σικελίας· καὶ γὰρ τῶν σφόδρα ἐπισήμων ἐτύγχανεν ὤν· οὗτος καὶ κάλλει καὶ μεγέθει σώματος καὶ παρρησίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα πάντων κρατῶν, καὶ δυνάμενος ὅσα τῶν ἔνδον στρεφομένων οὐδείς, οὐκ ἤνεγκε τὴν εὐπραγίαν πράως ἐκείνην, ἀλλ' ἐπιβουλεύσας βασιλεῖ καὶ ἁλοὺς αὐτὸς μὲν ἀπετμήθη σφόδρα ἐλεεινῶς, ἡ δὲ τούτου γυνή, καὶ ἀνατροφῆς καὶ γένους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων οὐδὲν ἔλαττον ἔχουσα τῆς εὐγενείας τῆς σῆς, πάντων ἄφνω γυμνωθεῖσα τῶν αὑτῆς καὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐκπεσοῦσα ταῖς ταμιακαῖς ἐρίθοις ἐγκατελέγετο, καὶ πάσης θεραπαινίδος οἰκτρότερον ζῆν ἠναγκάζετο βίον, τοσοῦτον ἔχουσα τῶν ἄλλων πλέον, ὅσον διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς συμφορᾶς ἐδακρύετο παρὰ τῶν ὁρώντων ἁπάντων αὐτήν. Λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἀρτεμισία ἀνδρὸς σφόδρα εὐδοκίμου γενομένη γυνή, ἐπειδὴ κἀκεῖνος τυραννίδος ἐπεθύμησεν, οὕτως εἰς ταύτην τὴν πενίαν ἐλθεῖν καὶ τὴν πήρωσιν. Τό τε