John Chrysostom, On the Roman Martyr

Consider that the demons, having been struck by the cross, put you forward as a champion of their own altars.

Why do you pursue incomprehensible things? Why do you shoot at infinite things? For is God circumscribed by walls? The divine is uncircumscribable; for is our Master seen by eyes? For he is invisible and without form in his essence, but according to his humanity he is depicted and is seen. For does he inhabit stone and wood, selling providence in exchange for an ox and a sheep? For does an altar mediate for his transactions? This is the gluttonous begging of your demons; my Master, or rather the Master of all things, Christ, inhabits heaven, and guides the world, and a sacrifice to him is a soul aspiring to him, one food for him is the salvation of those who believe. Cease moving your weapons against the Church; the flock is on earth, and the shepherd is in heaven; the branches are on earth, and the vine is in heaven; but if you cut off the branches, you multiply the vine. Your hands are full of gore, your sword is from irrational victims; spare the guiltless beasts, and to us who rebuke you apply the sword; spare the silent irrational creatures, and slaughter us who accuse you. For I do not fear the man-slaying sword so much as the altar-axe; the man-slaying sword tears apart the body, the altar-axe destroys the soul; the man-slaying sword slaughters the victim, but the altar-axe destroys together both the victim and the one sacrificing. Cut my neck, and do not defile an altar; you have a willing victim, why do you hobble the bound bull that shakes its head? If you desire to sacrifice, sacrifice a rational victim in the vestibules of the church. The tyrant does not bear the immeasurable boldness of the martyr, but immediately begins with the tongue of the victim.

So he cuts out the tongue, not wishing to kill, but warring against the preaching; not so much envying the preacher, as bewitching the one preached, But He who catches the wise in their craftiness restores from heaven the cut out organ of the voice, and with an invisible tongue he supports the faltering sound, and he grants to the tongueless his voice, showing to the tyrant by deed the creation of man, And just as well-diggers, by stirring up the 50.617 veins, produce a wider outflow for the water, so also the tyrant, digging out the root of the tongue with a sword, was inundated by more violent streams of refutations.

I wished to dance upon the theme of the martyr until the end, but the time for due measure has come, and commands me 50.618 to be silent; for the things that have been said are sufficient for your benefit, and the teachings of the father are necessary for the completion of what has been said; but let us also embrace the things that have been said in the bosoms of memory, and let us unfold the furrows of the soul for the things about to be said, and above all let us worship Christ the wonder-worker, for to him be the glory with the Father and the all-holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

σκόπησον, ὅτι τῷ σταυρῷ πεπληγότες οἱ δαίμονές σε προστάτην τῶν βωμῶν τῶν οἰκείων προβάλλονται.

Τί διώκεις ἀκατάληπτα; τί τοξεύεις ἀπέραντα; μὴ γὰρ τοίχοις ὁ Θεὸς περιγράφεται; ἀπερίγραπτον τὸ θεῖον· μὴ γὰρ ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁ ἡμέτερος ∆εσπότης ὁρᾶται; ἀθεώρητος γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἀνείδεος τῇ οὐσίᾳ, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γράφεται καὶ ὁρᾶται. Μὴ γὰρ λίθον καὶ ξύλον οἰκεῖ, πιπράσκων ἀντὶ βοὸς καὶ προβάτου τὴν πρόνοιαν; μὴ γὰρ βωμὸς τοῖς συναλλάγμασιν αὐτοῦ μεσιτεύει; Αὕτη τῶν σῶν δαιμόνων ἡ λίχνος προσαίτησις· ὁ ἐμὸς ∆εσπότης, μᾶλλον δὲ ὁ τῶν ὅλων ∆εσπότης, Χριστὸς οὐρανὸν οἰκεῖ, καὶ κόσμον ἡνιοχεῖ, καὶ θυσία τούτῳ ψυχὴ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνανεύουσα, μία τούτῳ τροφὴ, τῶν πιστευόντων σωτηρία. Παῦσαι κατὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὰ ὅπλα κινῶν· ἐπὶ γῆς τὸ ποίμνιον, καὶ ὁ ποιμαίνων ἐν οὐρανῷ· ἐπὶ γῆς αἱ κληματίδες, καὶ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἡ ἄμπελος· ἂν δὲ ἐκτέμῃς τὰς κληματίδας, πολυπλασιάζεις τὴν ἄμπελον. Λύθρου γέμουσιν αἱ χεῖρές σου, τὸ ξίφος τὸ σὸν ἀπὸ θυμάτων ἐστὶν ἀλόγων· φεῖσαι τῶν ἀναιτίων θρεμμάτων, καὶ ἡμῖν τοῖς ἐλέγχουσιν ἔπαφες τὸν σίδηρον· φεῖσαι τῶν σιωπώντων ἀλόγων, καὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς κατηγοροῦντας ἀπόσφαττε. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτω φοβοῦμαι τὸν ἀνδροφόνον σίδηρον, ὡς τὸν ἐπιβώμιον πέλεκυν· ὁ ἀνδροφόνος σίδηρος τὸ σῶμα διασπαράττει, ὁ ἐπιβώμιος πέλεκυς τὴν ψυχὴ ἀναιρεῖ· ὁ ἀνδροφόνος σίδηρος τὸ θυόμενον κατασφάττει, ὁ δὲ ἐπιβώμιος πέλεκυς καὶ τὸ θυόμενον καὶ τὸν θύοντα συναπόλλυσι. Τέμε τὸν αὐχένα τὸν ἐμὸν, καὶ μὴ μολύνῃς θυσιαστήριον· ἔχεις αὐτοκέλευστον ἱερεῖον, τί τὸν δεσμώτην ταῦρον ἀνανεύοντα συμποδίζεις; Εἰ θύειν ἐπιθυμεῖς, ἐν τοῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας προθύροις θύε λογικὸν ἱερεῖον. Οὐ φέρει τὴν ἄμετρον ὁ τύραννος παῤῥησίαν τοῦ μάρτυρος, ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τῆς γλώττης τοῦ θύματος ἄρχεται.

Ἐκτέμνει τοίνυν τὴν γλῶτταν, οὐκ ἀνελεῖν βουλόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῷ κηρύγματι πολεμῶν· οὐ τοσοῦτον τῷ κήρυκι φθονῶν, ὅσον τῷ κηρυττομένῳ βασκαίνων, Ἀλλ' Ὁ δρασσόμενος τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν, τὸ ἐκτμηθὲν ὄργανον τῆς φωνῆς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἀποδίδωσι, καὶ ἀοράτῳ γλώττῃ τὸν χωλεύοντα φθόγγον ὑποστηρίζει, καὶ χαρίζεται τῷ ἀγλώττῳ τὴν φωνὴν, ἔργῳ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην δημιουργίαν ἐνδεικνύμενος τῷ τυράννῳ, Καὶ καθάπερ οἱ φρεωρύχοι τὰς 50.617 φλέβας διασκαλεύοντες εὐρυτέραν τῷ ὕδατι τὴν ἐκροὴν ἀπεργάζονται, οὕτω καὶ ὁ τύραννος σιδήρῳ τῆς γλώττης διορύττων τὴν ῥίζαν, σφοδροτέροις ἐπεκλύζετο τοῖς τῶν ἐλέγχων κρουνοῖς.

Ἐβουλόμην ἄχρι τέλους ἐγχορεῦσαι τῇ τοῦ μάρτυρος ὑποθέσει, ἀλλ' ὁ τῆς συμμετρίας ἐπέστη καιρὸς, καί μοι σιωπᾷν 50.618 ἐγκελεύεται· ὑμῖν τε γὰρ πρὸς ὠφέλειαν ἱκανὰ τὰ ῥηθέντα, καὶ ἀναγκαῖα τοῦ πατρὸς τὰ διδάγματα πρὸς τὸν τῶν ῥηθέντων ἀπαρτισμόν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ῥηθέντα τοῖς τῆς μνήμης κόλποις περιπτυξώμεθα, καὶ τοῖς λέγεσθαι μέλλουσι τοὺς τῆς ψυχῆς αὔλακας ἀναπτύξωμεν, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τὸν θαυματοποιὸν Χριστὸν προσκυνήσωμεν, ὅτι αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα σὺν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ παναγίῳ Πνεύματι νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.