John Chrysostom, On John

God speaks through him to the nature of men, it seems to me superfluous and redundant to inquire into these things; or rather, not so superfluous, but even exceedingly necessary. For when you learn who he was, and from where, and of what parents, and of what sort, then you hear his voice and all his philosophy; then you will know well, that these things were not his, but of the divine power that moved his soul. Of what country, then, was he? Of no country, but of an insignificant village and a meaner region, which bore no good thing. For the scribes slander Galilee, saying: "Search and see that no prophet has arisen from Galilee." And the true Israelite slanders it, saying: "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" And being of this land, he was not even from any notable place. Nor was he from there of a well-known family, but of a poor fisherman for a father; so poor, as to bring his children into the same trade. For you all know, that no artisan will choose to make his son the heir of his own craft, unless extreme poverty compels him; and especially, when the craft is humble. And than fishermen, there could be nothing poorer, nor humbler, nor even more ignorant; but even among these, some are greater, and some are lesser. But this apostle of ours held the lesser rank even here; for he did not fish from the sea, but spent his time on a certain small lake, and as he was busying himself about it with his father and James his brother, and mending torn nets (which was also a sign of extreme poverty), so Christ called him. And concerning secular education, it is possible to learn from these things that he had none of it at all. Moreover, Luke also testifies in writing, that he was not only an unlearned man, but also unlettered 59.30.20; and reasonably so. For one so poor, who neither entered the marketplaces, nor met with reputable men, but was devoted to fishing, if ever he associated with anyone, conversing with fishmongers and cooks, how was he likely to be better disposed than the beasts and irrational creatures? How could he not imitate the speechlessness of the fish themselves? This fisherman, then, this man busied with lakes and nets and fish, this man from Bethsaida of Galilee, the son of a poor fisherman, and poor with the utmost poverty, this unlearned man, unlearned to the utmost degree, who learned letters neither before, nor afterward when he had been with Christ, let us see what he utters, and about what things he discourses to us. Is it about things in the fields? about things in the rivers? about contracts for fish? For these things one perhaps expects to hear from a fisherman. But do not fear; for we shall hear none of these things; but the things in the heavens, and things which no one ever learned before him. For he has come bringing us such lofty doctrines, and the best way of life, and philosophy, as is fitting for one speaking from the very treasures of the Spirit [as having just come from the heavens themselves; or rather, it was not likely that even all those there knew, which is what I have already said]. Are these the words of a fisherman, tell me? Or of a rhetorician at all? Or of a sophist or a philosopher? Or of any one educated in secular wisdom? By no means. For it is not for a simply human soul to philosophize in such a way about that undefiled and blessed nature, about the powers after it, about immortality and endless life, about the nature of bodies that will afterward be both mortal and immortal, about punishment, about the future judgment seat, about the reckonings to come, of things in words, of things in deeds, of things in thoughts and mind; and to know what man is, and what the world is; and what the true man is, and what he who seems to be, but is not; what is vice, and what is virtue. 2. For some of these things the followers of Plato and Pythagoras did investigate; for we must not even mention the other philosophers at all; so utterly ridiculous have they all become from this point of view. But those who were admired more than the others among them, and were believed to be the leaders of that science, these are the ones most of all; 59.31 who indeed of polities

Θεὸς δι' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φθέγγεται φύσιν, περιττὸν εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ καὶ παρέλκον ταῦτα ἀναζητεῖν· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ οὕτω περιττὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα ἀναγκαῖον. Ὅταν γὰρ μάθῃς τίς ἦν, καὶ πόθεν, καὶ τίνων, καὶ ποταπὸς, εἶτα ἀκούσῃς αὐτοῦ τῆς φωνῆς καὶ τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἁπάσης· τότε εἴσῃ καλῶς, ὅτι οὐκ ἐκείνου ταῦτα ἦν, ἀλλὰ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως, τῆς κινούσης αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχήν. Ποίας οὖν ἦν πατρίδος; Πατρίδος μὲν οὐδεμιᾶς, κώμης δὲ εὐτελοῦς καὶ χώρας φαυλοτέρας, καὶ οὐδὲν φερούσης ἀγαθόν. Τὴν γὰρ Γαλιλαίαν διαβάλλουσι μὲν οἱ γραμματεῖς, λέγοντες· Ἐρώτησον καὶ ἴδε, ὅτι ἐκ τῆς Γαλιλαίας οὐκ ἐγήγερται προφήτης. ∆ιαβάλλει δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀληθῶς Ἰσραηλίτης, λέγων· Ἐκ Ναζαρὲτ δύναταί τι ἀγαθὸν εἶναι; Καὶ ταύτης ὢν τῆς γῆς, οὐδὲ ἐπισήμου χωρίου τινὸς ἦν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐκ προσηγορίας γνωρίμου οὗτος ἐκεῖθεν ἦν, πατρὸς δὲ ἁλιέως πένητος· οὕτω πένητος, ὡς καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐργασίαν ἀγαγεῖν. Ἴστε δὲ ἅπαντες, ὅτι οὐδεὶς χειροτέχνης αἱρήσεται τὸν υἱὸν ποιῆσαι τῆς τέχνης τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κληρονόμον, πλὴν εἰ μὴ σφόδρα καταναγκάζοι πενία· καὶ μάλιστα, ὅταν εὐτελὴς ἡ τέχνη ᾖ. Ἁλιέων δὲ οὐδὲν πενέστερον, οὐδὲ εὐτελέστερον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀμαθέστερόν τι γένοιτ' ἄν· πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τούτοις οἱ μὲν μείζους, οἱ δὲ ἐλάττους εἰσίν. Ὁ δὲ ἀπόστολος ἡμῖν οὗτος κἀνταῦθα τὴν ἐλάσσω τάξιν ἐπεῖχεν· οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάσσης ἐθήρευεν, ἀλλ' ἐν μικρᾷ τινι λίμνῃ διέτριβε, καὶ περὶ ταύτην αὐτὸν στρεφόμενον μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ Ἰακώβου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ διεῤῥωγότα ῥάπτοντας δίκτυα (ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ τῆς ἐσχάτης πενίας ἦν), οὕτως ἐκάλεσεν ὁ Χριστός. Παιδείας δὲ ἕνεκεν τῆς ἔξωθεν, ἔστι μὲν καὶ ἐκ τούτων μαθεῖν, ὅτι οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν αὐτῷ μετῆν. Ἄλλως δὲ καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς μαρτυρεῖ γράφων, ὅτι οὐ μόνον ἰδιώτης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγράμ 59.30.20 ματος ἦν· εἰκότως. Ὁ γὰρ οὕτω πένης, καὶ μήτε εἰς ἀγορὰς ἐμβάλλων, μήτε ἀξιοπίστοις ἐντυγχάνων ἀνδράσιν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἁλείᾳ προσηλωμένος, εἴποτε δέ τινι καὶ συνεγένετο, καπήλοις ἰχθύων καὶ μαγείροις ὁμιλῶν, τί τῶν θηρίων καὶ ἀλόγων ἔμελλεν ἄμεινον διακεῖσθαι; πῶς δὲ οὐχὶ αὐτῶν μιμεῖσθαι τῶν ἰχθύων τὴν ἀφωνίαν; Οὗτος δὴ οὖν ὁ ἁλιεὺς, ὁ περὶ λίμνας στρεφόμενος καὶ δίκτυα καὶ ἰχθῦς, ὁ ἀπὸ Βηθσαϊδὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, ὁ πατρὸς ἁλιέως πένητος, καὶ πένητος πενίαν τὴν ἐσχάτην, ὁ ἰδιώτης ἰδιωτείαν καὶ ταύτην τὴν ἐσχάτην, ὁ γράμματα μήτε πρότερον μαθὼν, μήτε ὕστερον μετὰ τὸ συγγενέσθαι τῷ Χριστῷ, ἴδωμεν τί φθέγγεται, καὶ περὶ τίνων ἡμῖν διαλέγεται. Ἆρα περὶ τῶν ἐν ἀγροῖς; περὶ τῶν ἐν ποταμοῖς; περὶ συμβολαίων ἰχθύων; ταῦτα γὰρ ἴσως παρὰ ἁλιέως ἀκούσεσθαι προσδοκᾷ τις. Ἀλλὰ μὴ δείσητε· τούτων μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀκουσόμεθα· τὰ δὲ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ ἃ μηδεὶς μηδέπω ἔμαθε πρὸ τούτου. Οὕτω γὰρ ἡμῖν ὑψηλὰ δόγματα, καὶ πολιτείαν ἀρίστην, καὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἥκει κομίζων, ὡς εἰκὸς τὸν ἀπ' αὐτῶν φθεγγόμενον τῶν τοῦ Πνεύματος θησαυρῶν [ὡς ἀπ' αὐτῶν ἄρτι παραγενόμενος τῶν οὐρανῶν· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ τοὺς ἐκεῖ πάντας εἰκὸς ἦν εἰδέναι, ὅπερ καὶ ἔφθην εἰπών]. Ταῦτα οὖν ἁλιέως, εἰπέ μοι; ῥήτορος δὲ ὅλως; σοφιστοῦ δὲ ἢ φιλοσόφου; παντὸς δὲ τοῦ τὴν ἔξωθεν πεπαιδευμένου σοφίαν; Οὐδαμῶς. Οὐ γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνης ἁπλῶς ψυχῆς περὶ τῆς ἀκηράτου καὶ μακαρίας ἐκείνης φύσεως τοιαῦτα φιλοσοφεῖν, περὶ τῶν μετ' ἐκείνην δυνάμεων, περὶ ἀθανασίας καὶ ζωῆς ἀπείρου, περὶ φύσεως σωμάτων θνητῶν τε καὶ ἀθανάτων ὕστερον ἐσομένων, περὶ κολάσεως, περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος δικαστηρίου, περὶ τῶν ἐσομένων εὐθυνῶν, τῶν ἐν ῥήμασι, τῶν ἐν πράξεσι, τῶν ἐν λογισμοῖς καὶ διανοίᾳ· καὶ τί μὲν ἄνθρωπος, εἰδέναι, τί δὲ κόσμος· καὶ τί μὲν ὁ ὄντως ἄνθρωπος, τί δὲ ὁ δοκῶν μὲν εἶναι, οὐκ ὢν δέ· τί κακία, καὶ τί ἀρετή. βʹ. Τούτων γὰρ ἔνια ἐζήτησαν μὲν οἱ περὶ Πλάτωνα καὶ Πυθαγόραν· τῶν γὰρ ἄλλων οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς μνημονευτέον ἡμῖν φιλοσόφων· οὕτω καταγέλαστοι ἐντεῦθεν μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς γεγόνασιν ἅπαντες. Οἱ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων θαυμασθέντες πλέον παρ' αὐτοῖς, καὶ πιστευθέντες εἶναι κορυφαῖοι τῆς ἐπιστήμης ἐκείνης, οὗτοι μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων εἰσίν· 59.31 οἳ καὶ πολιτείας μὲν