John Chrysostom, Letter to Cyriacus

parasites and the royal table? Was he not led away bound like a robber, carrying his naked soul out of the world into the tomb? And he cries with an empty voice: Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger and cool my tongue, for I am terribly tormented in the flame. Why do you call Abraham father, whose life you did not imitate? He received every man as a guest into his house, but you did not take care of one poor man. Is it not a thing to mourn and weep for, that he who had so much wealth was not worthy of a drop of water? For since he did not share crumbs with the poor man, he does not receive a drop of water. In winter he did not sow mercy, summer came and he did not reap. And this is the Master's economy, that he made the punishment for the ungodly and the rest for the righteous to be opposite one another, so that they might see one another and recognize one another. For then each martyr will recognize his own tyrant, and each tyrant his own martyr whom he punished. And the words are not mine.

Hear wisdom saying: then the righteous man will stand with great boldness in the presence of those who afflicted him. For just as a traveler walking in the heat, when he finds a clear spring, burning with thirst and gripped by great hunger, sits down beside a table having all kinds of food, but is prevented by someone more powerful from touching the table or enjoying the foods, he has extreme pain and punishment, because he sits beside the table and is not able to enjoy the foods. So on the day of judgment the ungodly see the saints rejoicing and are not able to enjoy the royal table. For God, wishing to punish Adam, made him work the earth opposite paradise, so that every hour and day, seeing that desirable place from which he had come out, he might always have pain in his soul. And if we do not meet one another here, yet there no one will prevent us from living with one another. And we will see those who exiled us, just as Lazarus saw the rich man and the martyrs the tyrants. Therefore, do not be discouraged, but remember the prophet saying: do not fear the scorn of men, and do not be overcome by their reviling. For like wool they will be eaten by the moth, and like a garment they will grow old. But consider also the master, how from his very swaddling clothes he was persecuted and cast away into a land of barbarians, he who holds the world, becoming a type for us not to lose heart in temptations. Remember the passion of the Savior, how many insults he endured for our sake. For some called him a Samaritan, others one possessed by a demon and a glutton and a false prophet. For they say: behold, a man who is a glutton and a drunkard, and that he casts out demons by the ruler of the demons. And what of when they led him to throw him off a cliff, and when they spat in his face and gave him blows? And what of when they gave him vinegar and gall to drink, when they struck his head with the reed? And what of when they put the cloak around him and when they crowned him with thorns and fell before him, mocking him and bringing every kind of ridicule upon him? And when those bloodthirsty dogs led him about and when he was led to his passion naked and all his disciples deserted him? And one denied him, another betrayed him, and the others fled, and he stood alone, naked in the midst of those crowds; for it was the feast that gathered everyone then. And when they crucified him as an evildoer in the midst of criminals, and he lay unburied when they took him down from the cross, until someone asked for him, in order to bury him; thus he was not deemed worthy of burial. And when they pronounced an evil slander against him, that his disciples stole him and he did not rise. But remember also the apostles, that they were persecuted from all sides and were hidden in the cities

παράσιτοι καὶ ἡ βασιλικὴ τράπεζα; Οὐχὶ ὡς λῃστὴς δεδεμένος ἀπήγετο ἐν τῷ μνήματι γυμνὴν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐκφέρων; Καὶ κράζει κενῇ τῇ φωνῇ· πάτερ Ἀβραάμ, πέμψον Λάζαρον, ἵνα βρέξῃ τὸ ἄκρον τοῦ δακτύλου αὑτοῦ καὶ καταψύξῃ τὴν γλῶσσάν μου, διότι δεινῶς ἀποτηγανίζομαι. Τί πατέρα καλεῖς τὸν Ἀβραάμ, οὗ τὸν βίον οὐκ ἐμιμήσω; Ἐκεῖνος πάντα ἄνθρωπον εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὑτοῦ ἐξένιζε, σὺ δὲ ἑνὸς πτωχοῦ φροντίδα οὐκ ἐποιήσω. Οὐκ ἔστι πενθῆσαι καὶ κλαῦσαι ὅτι ὁ τοσοῦτον πλοῦτον ἔχων σταγόνος ὕδατος ἄξιος οὐκ ἐγένετο; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ψιχίων οὐ μετέδωκε τῷ πτωχῷ σταγόνα ὕδατος οὐ λαμβάνει. Τῷ χειμῶνι οὐκ ἔσπειρεν ἔλεος, ἦλθε τὸ θέρος καὶ οὐκ ἐθέρισε. Καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ δεσπότου οἰκονομία ὅτι ἐξεναντίας ἐποίησε τὴν κόλασιν τοῖς ἀσεβέσι καὶ τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν τοῖς δικαίοις, ἵνα βλέπωσιν ἀλλήλους καὶ ἀλλήλους γνωρίζωσι. Καὶ γὰρ ἕκαστος τότε μάρτυς τὸν ἴδιον τύραννον ἐπιγνώσεται καὶ ἕκαστος τύραννος τὸν ἴδιον μάρτυρα ὃν ἐκόλασε. Καὶ οὐκ ἐμὰ τὰ ῥήματα.

Ἄκουσον τῆς σοφίας λεγούσης· τότε ἐν πολλῇ παρρησίᾳ στήσεται ὁ δίκαιος κατὰ πρόσωπον τῶν θλιψάντων αὐτόν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁδοιπόρος ἐν καύματι περιπατῶν, ἡνίκα εὕρῃ καθαρὰν πηγήν, τῇ δίψῃ φλεγό μενος καὶ πολλῇ τῇ λιμῷ συνεχόμενος παρακαθέζεται τραπέζῃ ἐχούσῃ πάντα τὰ ἐδέσματα, παρά τινος δὲ δυνατωτέρου κωλύεται μὴ ἅψασθαι τῆς τραπέζης, μηδὲ ἀπολαῦσαι τῶν ἐδεσμάτων, σφόδρα ἔχει τὴν ὀδύνην καὶ τὴν κόλασιν, ὅτι τῇ τραπέζῃ παρακαθέζεται καὶ τῶν βρωμάτων ἀπολαῦσαι οὐ δύναται. Οὕτως ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως βλέπουσι τοὺς ἁγίους εὐφραινομένους οἱ ἀσεβεῖς καὶ τῆς βασιλικῆς τραπέζης ἀπολαῦσαι οὐ δύνανται. Καὶ γὰρ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ὁ Θεὸς κολάσαι βουλόμενος ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν ἐξεναντίας τοῦ παρα δείσου ἐργάζεσθαι τὴν γῆν, ἵνα καθ' ἑκάστην ὥραν καὶ ἡμέραν βλέπων ἐκεῖνο τὸ ποθητὸν χωρίον, ὅθεν ἐξῆλθεν, ἔχῃ πάντοτε τὴν ὀδύνην ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὧδε ἀλλήλοις μὴ συντύχωμεν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ οὐδεὶς ὁ κωλύων ἡμᾶς μετ' ἀλλήλων διάγειν. Καὶ ὀψόμεθα τοὺς ἐξορίσαντας ἡμᾶς, ὥσπερ ὁ Λάζαρος τὸν πλούσιον καὶ οἱ μάρτυρες τοὺς τυράννους. Μὴ οὖν ἀθύμει, ἀλλὰ μνημόνευε τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος· μυκτηρισμὸν ἀνθρώπων μὴ φοβεῖσθε καὶ τῷ φαυλισμῷ αὐτῶν μὴ ἡττᾶσθε. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἔριον ὑπὸ σητὸς οὕτω βρωθήσονται καὶ ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται. Κατανόησον δὲ καὶ τὸν δεσπότην, πῶς εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τῶν σπαρ γάνων ἐδιώκετο καὶ εἰς βαρβάρων γῆν ἀπερρίπτετο, ὁ τὸν κόσμον κατέχων τύπος ἡμῖν γινόμενος τοῦ μὴ ἐκκακεῖν ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς. Ἀνάμνησαι τὸ πάθος τοῦ Σωτῆρος, ὅσας ὕβρεις δι' ἡμᾶς ὑπέμεινεν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν Σαμαρείτην ἐκάλουν, οἱ δὲ δαιμονῶντα καὶ γαστρίμαργον καὶ ψευδοπροφήτην. Λέγουσι γάρ· ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης καὶ ὅτι ἐν τῷ ἄρχοντι τῶν δαιμονίων ἐκβάλλει τὰ δαιμόνια. Τί δέ, ὅτε ἦγον αὐτὸν κρημνίσαι καὶ ὅτε εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐνέπτυον καὶ ῥαπίσματα αὐτῷ ἐδίδουν; Τί δέ, ὅτε ὄξος καὶ χολὴν αὐτὸν ἐπότιζον, ὅτε τῷ καλάμῳ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἔτυπτον; Τί δέ, ὅτε τὴν χλαμύδα αὐτῷ περιετίθουν καὶ ὅτε ἀκάνθαις αὐτὸν ἐστεφάνουν καὶ προσέπιπτον αὐτῷ ἐμπαίζοντες καὶ πᾶν εἶδος χλεύης αὐτῷ ἐπάγοντες; Καὶ ὅτε περιῆγον αὐτὸν οἱ αἱμοβόροι ἐκεῖνοι κύνες καὶ ὅτε ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος ἤγετο γυμνὸς καὶ πάντες αὐτὸν κατέλιπον οἱ μαθηταί; Καὶ ὁ μὲν αὐτὸν ἠρνήσατο, ὁ δὲ παρέδωκεν, οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι ἐδραπέτευσαν καὶ μόνος εἱστήκει γυμνὸς ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ὄχλων ἐκείνων· ἑορτὴ γὰρ ἦν ἡ πάντας συνάγουσα τότε. Καὶ ὅτε ὡς πονηρὸν ἐν μέσῳ κακούργων αὐτὸν ἐσταύρωσαν καὶ ἄταφος ἔκειτο, ὅτε κατήνεγκαν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ, ἕως ὅτου τις αὐτὸν ἐξῃτήσατο, ἵνα αὐτὸν θάψῃ· οὕτως ὅτι ταφῆς οὐκ ἠξιώθη. Καὶ ὅτε ψόγον πονηρὸν κατ' αὐτοῦ ἀπεφήναντο ὅτι οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἔκλεψαν αὐτὸν καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστη. Ὑπομνήσθητι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀποστόλους ὅτι πανταχόθεν ἐδιώκοντο καὶ κατεκρύπτοντο ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι