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
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 these misfortunes. For because of the excess of lawlessness, not only those who were suffering, but also those who were enduring no such thing, grieved with us; not only those of the same faith, but also the heretics and Jews and Greeks; and as if the city had been captured by storm, so everything was in clamor and disturbances and wailing. And these things were dared against the will of the most pious emperor, as night was falling, with bishops contriving them, who were not ashamed to have drill-instructors going before them instead of deacons. But when day came, 14 the whole city moved outside the walls, under trees and in glens, like scattered sheep, celebrating the festival. It is possible for you henceforth to reckon all the things from this; for as I said before, it is not possible to go over in my account all the things that happened in detail. And the grievous thing is that so many and such great evils have not yet even now received a resolution, nor even the hope of a resolution, but the terror is intensified each day, and we have become a laughingstock to many; or rather, no one laughs, even if he were to transgress ten thousand times, but all lament, as I said, the culmination of evils, this new lawlessness. Who could describe the disturbances of the other churches? For the trouble did not stop here, but reached as far as the East. And just as from a head, when a wicked discharge has poured forth the other members are corrupted, so also now, as if from some spring of this great city the evils began, the disturbances proceeded everywhere on their way. And clergy everywhere rose up against bishops, and the laity, some were divided, others are about to be; and everywhere birth pangs of evils and the overturning of the whole inhabited world. Having learned everything, therefore, most honored and most reverent lords, show forth the courage and zeal that befits you, so as to check such great lawlessness that has come upon the churches [we beseech you]. For if this custom should prevail, and it become permissible for those who wish to go into the provinces of others from such great distances and to expel whomever they might wish, acting on their own authority whatever they might wish, know that all things will be lost and an undeclared war will overrun the whole inhabited world, with all men both striking and being struck by all. Therefore, that such great confusion may not overtake all that is under the sun, 15 I beseech you to decree that the things that have thus happened lawlessly in our absence and from one side, and with us not refusing judgment, have no force (just as indeed they have none by their own nature), and that those who have committed such lawless acts be subjected to the penalty of the ecclesiastical law; and that we, who have not been convicted, not been refuted, not been proven responsible, may enjoy your affairs as is customary, and your love, and all other things, just as before. But if even now those who committed such lawless acts wish to press the charges for which they unjustly expelled us, with the records being given to us, with the written accusations of the accusers being made public, with an impartial tribunal being seated, let us both plead our case and defend ourselves and show ourselves to be not liable for the things brought against us, just as indeed we are. For the things that have now been done by them are outside of all proper procedure and every law and ecclesiastical canon. <And why do I say ecclesiastical canon?> Indeed, such things were never dared even in the secular courts, or rather not even in a barbarian court. Neither Scythians nor Sarmatians would ever have judged, giving sentence from one side, with the accused being absent, and declining not a trial but a hostile proceeding, calling for ten thousand judges, saying that he himself is not liable, being ready in the presence of the whole world to refute the charges, and to show himself innocent in all things. Therefore, having considered all these things and having learned everything more clearly from my lords our most reverent brothers the bishops, the
καὶ θρῆνοι καὶ πηγαὶ δακρύων κατὰ τὰς ἀγορὰς καὶ τὰς οἰκίας καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐρήμους· καὶ τὸ πᾶν τῆς πόλεως μέρος τῶν συμφορῶν
ἐπληροῦτο τούτων. διὰ γὰρ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς παρανομίας οὐχ οἱ πάσχοντες μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ μηδὲν τοιοῦτον ὑπομένοντες συνήλγουν
ἡμῖν· οὐχ οἱ ὁμόδοξοι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ αἱρετικοὶ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ Ἕλληνες· καὶ ὡς τῆς πόλεως κατὰ κράτος ἁλούσης, οὕτως
ἐν θορύβῳ καὶ ταραχαῖς καὶ ὀλολυγαῖς πάντα ἦν. καὶ ταῦτα ἐτολμᾶτο παρὰ γνώμην τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου βασιλέως, νυκτὸς καταλαμβανούσης,
ἐπισκόπων αὐτὰ κατασκευαζόντων, οἳ οὐκ ᾐσχύνοντο καμπιδούκτορας ἀντὶ τῶν διακόνων προηγουμένους ἔχοντες. ἡμέρας δὲ γενομένης,
14 πᾶσα ἡ πόλις ἔξω τειχέων μετῳκίζετο, ὑπὸ δένδρα καὶ νάπας, καθάπερ πρόβατα διεσπαρμένα, τὴν ἑορτὴν ἐπιτελοῦντες. ἔξ εστιν
ὑμῖν τὰ ἐντεῦθεν λογίσασθαι λοιπὸν ἅπαντα· ὅπερ γὰρ ἔφθην εἰπών, οὐχ οἷόν τε πάντα ἐπελθεῖν τῷ λόγῳ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον γενόμενα.
καὶ τὸ δὴ χαλεπόν, ὅτι τοσαῦτα καὶ τηλι καῦτα κακὰ οὐδέπω καὶ νῦν λύσιν ἔλαβεν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐλπίδα λύσεως, ἀλλ' ἐπιτείνεται
καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τὸ δεινόν, καὶ γέλως γεγόναμεν πολλοῖς· μᾶλλον δὲ γελᾷ μὲν οὐδείς, κἂν μυριάκις παρανομήσῃ, θρηνοῦσι δὲ
πάντες, ὅπερ ἔφην, τὸν κολοφῶνα τῶν κακῶν, τὴν καινὴν ταύτην παρανομίαν. τίς ἂν εἴποι τὰς τῶν λοιπῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ταραχάς; οὐδὲ
γὰρ ἐνταῦθα ἔστη τὸ χαλεπόν, ἀλλὰ μέχρι τῆς ἑῴας ἔφθασεν. καὶ καθάπερ ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς πονηροῦ ῥεύματος ἐκχυθέντος τὰ λοιπὰ διαφθεί
ρεται μέλη, οὕτω δὴ καὶ νῦν ὥσπερ ἐκ πηγῆς τινος τῆς μεγάλης ταύτης πόλεως τῶν κακῶν ἀρξαμένων, ὁδῷ τὰ τῶν θορύβων πανταχοῦ
προέβη. καὶ κληρικοὶ πανταχοῦ ἐπανέστησαν ἐπι σκόποις, καὶ λαοί, οἱ μὲν διετμήθησαν, οἱ δὲ μέλλουσι· καὶ πανταχοῦ κακῶν ὠδῖνες
καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης πάσης ἀνατροπή. μαθόντες τοίνυν ἅπαντα, κύριοι τιμιώτατοι καὶ εὐλαβέστατοι, τὴν προσήκουσαν ὑμῖν ἀνδρείαν
καὶ σπουδὴν ἐπιδείξασθε, ὥστε παρανομίαν τοσαύτην ἐπεισελθοῦσαν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἀνα στεῖλαι [παρακαλοῦμεν]. εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο κρατήσειεν
τὸ ἔθος, καὶ ἐξὸν γένηται τοῖς βουλομένοις εἰς ἀλλοτρίας ἀπιέναι ἐπαρχίας ἐκ τοσούτων διαστημάτων καὶ ἐκβάλλειν οὓς ἂν ἐθέλοιεν,
κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἰδίαν πράττοντες ἅπερ ἂν ἐθέλοιεν, ἴστε, ὅτι πάντα οἰχήσεται καὶ πόλεμος ἀκήρυκτος πᾶσαν ἐπιδραμεῖται τὴν οἰκουμένην,
πάντων πάντας τε βαλλόντων καὶ βαλλομένων. ἵν' οὖν μὴ τοσαύτη σύγχυσις καταλάβῃ τὴν ὑφ' ἡλίῳ πᾶσαν, 15 ἐπιστεῖλαι παρακαλῶ
τὰ μὲν οὕτως γεγενημένα παρανόμως ἀπόντων ἡμῶν καὶ ἐκ μιᾶς μοίρας, καὶ οὐ παραιτουμένων κρίσιν, μηδεμίαν ἔχειν ἰσχύν (ὥσπερ
οὖν οὐδὲ ἔχει τῇ οἰκείᾳ φύσει), τοὺς δὲ τοιαῦτα παρανομήσαντας τῷ ἐπιτιμίῳ ὑποβάλλεσθαι τοῦ ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ νόμου· ἡμᾶς δὲ
τοὺς οὐχ ἁλόντας, οὐκ ἐληλεγμένους, οὐκ ἀποδειχθέντας ὑπευθύνους, τῶν πραγμάτων ἀπολαύειν τῶν ὑμετέρων συνήθως, καὶ τῆς ἀγάπης,
καὶ πάντων τῶν ἄλλων, ὥσπερ καὶ ἔμπροσθεν. εἰ δὲ βούλοιντο καὶ νῦν οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα παρανομήσαντες τὰ ἐγκλήματα γυμνάζειν, ἐφ'
οἷς ἡμᾶς ἀδίκως ἐξέβαλον, τῶν ὑπομνημάτων ἡμῖν δοθέντων, τῶν λιβέλλων τῶν κατηγόρων φανέντων, δικαστηρίου καθίσαντος ἀδεκάστου,
καὶ δικασώμεθα καὶ ἀπολογησώμεθα καὶ δείξωμεν ἑαυτοὺς ἀνευθύνους τῶν ἐπαγομένων ἡμῖν, ὥσπερ οὖν καί ἐσμεν. τὰ γὰρ νῦν γεγενημένα
παρ' αὐτῶν ἐκτός εἰσι πάσης ἀκολουθίας καὶ παντὸς νόμου καὶ κανόνος ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ. <καὶ τί λέγω κανόνος ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ;>
οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς ἔξω μὲν οὖν δικα στηρίοις τοιαῦτα ἐτολμήθη ποτέ, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ ἐν βαρβαρικῷ δικαστηρίῳ. οὐδὲ Σκύθαι καὶ Σαρμάται
οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἐδίκασαν ἐκ μιᾶς μοίρας κρίναντες, ἀπόντος τοῦ αἰτιωμένου, καὶ παραιτου μένου οὐ κρίσιν, ἀλλ' ἀπέχθειαν, καλοῦντος
δικαστὰς μυρίους, ἀνεύθυνον ἑαυτὸν λέγοντος εἶναι, ἑτοίμου ὄντος τῆς οἰκουμένης παρούσης ἀποδύσασθαι τὰς αἰτίας, καὶ δεῖξαι
ἑαυτὸν ἀθῷον ἐν ἅπασιν ὄντα. ταῦτ' οὖν ἅπαντα λογισάμενοι καὶ παρὰ τῶν κυρίων μου τῶν εὐλαβεστάτων ἀδελφῶν ἡμῶν τῶν ἐπισκόπων
σαφέστερον ἅπαντα μαθόντες, τὴν
