John Chrysostom, On Psalm 92

I cannot bear the pain. With how much toil and sweat do I eat my bread? See of how many evils you have become the cause for me, woman, who were called life, and were found to be death. Truly woman is the cause of death, then and now. And let not the company of women rise up against me for saying this about a woman; let me assign the blame, if they are willing to accept it. Let them not be angry with me, but with the Christ-bearer Paul. If they dare to be insolent, let them be insolent to him. We, as his disciples, deliver his words; we do not innovate our own. Let them hear Paul crying out through us: For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. I fear, then, lest as the serpent deceived Eve, it might deceive you too. Do you see that it was not the man who was tripped up, but the woman who was deceived? Who was the one deceived? Who was the one who dallied with the serpent? The serpent-mouthed and venom-spitting woman.

Who dallied with the serpent? The one who plots deceptions. No one was in paradise, except her and her husband; and fearing neither the solitude, nor anything else, she went about wandering, roaming, seeking where she might find a paramour, meditating the sowing of adultery before the union of marriage. If she had been with her husband, the 55.616 serpent would not have approached the serpent. He found her away from her husband, and lured her. For a woman who is always with her lawful husband, does not constantly endure corruption, does not accept defeat, does not incur adultery; but when her husband is separated from her, even if she is consorting with angels, she becomes easily influenced for evil. Where else do women separated from their lawful husbands practice their abominable deeds, if not in the shrines of the martyrs, on the pretext of supplication, consorting with marriage-destroyers, and despising the very martyrs? For often they even swear by the martyrs not to break off their lawless deeds. O of how many evils is Eve the teacher, of good things the destroyer! And all women who love self-control are called courageous. For there is great difference among women, as also among men, as also among angels; and as many women as love self-control, follow the Virgin, long for Susanna, embrace Sarah, cling to Rebecca; but as many as are without self-control, wander like Eve, slander like the Egyptian woman, shave like Delilah, murder the inspired like Jezebel. The saying is universal, the riddle is not partial. Let not again some of the godless, taking the words perversely, begin to have their ears bitten, preparing us for disagreements (read: discords). To us, these things are of no account. The saying is Apostolic. The riddle is on account of Eve. From which things also in the annual cycle we recapitulate the same things, bringing forward as a witness of what is said the divine Paul who said, For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Lest as the serpent deceived Eve, the wife of Adam, the cause of the fall. And again the same Apostle says, Adam was not deceived, but his wife Eve, being deceived, was in the transgression; but she shall be saved through childbearing, if they remain in faith and love and holiness with self-control, not with licentiousness. He said, She shall be saved through childbearing, not as Eve bore Cain, but as the Virgin was pregnant with Christ; to whom be the glory and the power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Οὐ φέρω τὴν ὀδύνην. Μετὰ πόσων μόχθων καὶ ἱδρώτων ἐσθίω τὸν ἄρτον; Ἴδε πόσων κακῶν γέγονας μοι πρόξενος, γύναι, ζωὴ προσαγορευθεῖσα, καὶ θάνατος εὑρεθεῖσα. Ὄντως θανάτου πρόξενος ἡ γυνὴ, ἔκτοτε καὶ νῦν. Καὶ μή μου τοῦτο λέγοντος περὶ γυναικὸς καταστασιαζέτω τὸ τῶν γυναικῶν σύστημα· ἀποδοῦναί με τὸ ἔγκλημα, εἰ θέλωσιν ὑποδέξασθαι. Μὴ ἐμοὶ ὀργιζέσθωσαν, ἀλλὰ τῷ χριστοφόρῳ Παύλῳ. Εἰ τολμῶσιν ὑβρίζειν, ἐκεῖνον ὑβριζέτωσαν. Ἡμεῖς ὡς ἐκείνου μαθηταὶ τὰ ἐκείνου παρεγγυῶμεν ῥήματα, οὐχ ἡμέτερα καινουργοῦμεν. Ἀκουσάτωσαν Παύλου δι' ἡμῶν βοῶντος· Ἡρμοσάμην γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ παρθένον ἁγνὴν παραστῆσαι τῷ Χριστῷ. Φοβοῦμαι δὴ μήπως ὡς ὁ ὄφις ἐξηπάτησεν Εὔαν, καὶ ὑμᾶς ἀπατήσῃ. Ὁρᾶς ὅτι οὐχ ὁ ἀνὴρ ἐσκελίσθη, ἀλλ' ἡ γυνὴ ἠπατήθη; Τίς ἡ ἀπατηθεῖσα; τίς ἡ τῷ ὄφει προσπαίξασα; Ἡ ὀφιόστομος καὶ ἰοβόλος γυνή.

Τίς προσέπαιξε τῷ ὄφει; Ἡ διεμπαίγματα μελετῶσα. Οὐδεὶς ἦν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ, πλὴν αὐτῆς καὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς· καὶ μήτε τὴν μόνωσιν, μήτε ἄλλο τι φοβηθεῖσα περιήρχετο πλαζομένη, ῥεμβομένη, ποῦ παράκοιτον εὕροι, πρὸ τῆς συναφῆς τοῦ γάμου τὴν μοιχοσπορίαν μελετῶσα. Εἰ προσῆν τῷ ἀνδρὶ, οὐκ ἂν ἐπλησίαζεν ὁ 55.616 ὄφις τῷ ὄφει. Ἔξω τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτὴν εὗρε, καὶ ἐδελέασε. Γυνὴ γὰρ νομίμῳ ἀνδρὶ ἀεὶ συνοῦσα, διαπαντὸς φθορὰν οὐχ ὑπομένει, ἧτταν οὐ δέχεται, μοιχείαν οὐκ εἰσπράττεται· χωρισθέντος δὲ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, κἂν μετ' ἀγγέλων ᾖ συνδιατρίβουσα, εὐεπηρέαστος γίνεται. Ποῦ ἀλλαχοῦ τὰς μυσαρὰς πράξεις ἐπιτηδεύουσιν αἱ τῶν νομίμων ἀνδρῶν χωριζόμεναι γυναῖκες, εἰ μὴ ἐν τοῖς μαρτυρίοις, προφάσει τῆς ἱκεσίας, τοῖς γαμολύταις συντασσόμεναι, καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν μαρτύρων καταφρονοῦσαι; Πολλάκις γὰρ καὶ κατὰ τῶν μαρτύρων ὀμνύουσι μὴ ἀθετῆσαι τὰς ἀθεμίτους πράξεις. Ὢ πόσων κακῶν Εὔα διδάκτρια, τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀφανίστρια. Καὶ πᾶσαι μὲν γυναῖκες αἱ σωφροσύνην ἐρῶσαι προσαγορεύονται ἀνδρεῖαι. Πολλὴ γὰρ διαφορὰ καὶ ἐν γυναιξὶν, ὡς καὶ ἐν ἀνδράσιν, ὡς καὶ ἐν ἀγγέλοις· καὶ ὅσαι γυναῖκες σωφροσύνην ἐρῶσι, τῇ παρθένῳ ἀκολουθοῦσι, τὴν Σωσάννην ποθοῦσι, τὴν Σάῤῥαν ἀσπάζονται, τὴν Ῥεβέκκαν περιπτύσσονται· ὅσαι δὲ σωφροσύνης ἐκτός εἰσιν, ὡς ἡ Εὔα πλανῶνται, ὡς ἡ Αἰγυπτία συκοφαντοῦσιν, ὡς ἡ ∆αλιδὰ ξυρῶσιν, ὡς Ἰεζάβελ τοὺς ἐνθέους φονεύουσι. Καθολικὸς ὁ λόγος, οὐ μερικὸν τὸ αἴνιγμα. Μὴ πάλιν τινὲς τῶν ἀθέων προσφάτως τὰς λέξεις δεξάμενοι, ἄρξωνται τὰς ἀκοὰς δάκνεσθαι, εἰς διανοίας (λ. διχονοίας) ἡμᾶς εὐτρεπίζοντες. Ἡμῖν τούτων λόγος οὐδείς. Ἀποστολικὸς ὁ λόγος. ∆ιὰ τὴν Εὔαν τὸ αἴνιγμα. Ἐξ ὧν καὶ τῇ ἐνιαυσιαίῳ περιόδῳ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀνακεφαλαιούμεθα, μάρτυρα τῶν λεγομένων τὸν θεσπέσιον Παῦλον παραγαγόντες τὸν εἰρηκότα, Ἡρμοσάμην γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ παρθένον ἁγνὴν παραστῆσαι τῷ Χριστῷ. Μήπως ὡς ὁ ὄφις ἐξηπάτησεν Εὔαν, γυναῖκα Ἀδὰμ, τοῦ σφάλματος τὴν αἰτίαν. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς Ἀπόστολος, Ἀδὰμ, φησὶν, οὐκ ἠπατήθη, ἡ δὲ τούτου γυνὴ Εὔα ἀπατηθεῖσα ἐν παραβάσει γέγονε· σωθήσεται δὲ διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας, ἐὰν μείνωσιν ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀγάπῃ καὶ ἁγιασμῷ μετὰ σωφροσύνης, οὐ μετὰ ἀκολασίας. Εἶπε, Σωθήσεται διὰ τῆς τεκνοποιίας, οὐχ ὡς ἡ Εὔα τὸν Κάϊν ἔτεκεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἡ παρθένος τὸν Χριστὸν ἐκυοφόρησεν· ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος ἅμα τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.