John Chrysostom, On "If your enemy hungers"

You have conversed with the Master, because you have been with Christ. If we so regulate ourselves, when we go out we shall need no word for those who were left behind; but from our own profit, they will perceive their own loss, and will run quickly, so as to enjoy the same things. For seeing the beauty of your soul shining forth through their senses, even if they are more sluggish than all, they will fall in love with your comeliness. For if beauty of body gives wings to those who see it, much more could beauty of soul arouse the spectator, and exhort him to an equal zeal. Let us therefore adorn our inner man, and let us be mindful outside of the things said here; for there is especially the time for their remembrance; and just as 51.180 an athlete, whatever he learns in the wrestling school, this he displays in the contests; so also it is necessary for us, whatever we hear here, to display this in our external affairs. 5. Be mindful therefore of the things said here, so that, when you go out, and the devil takes hold of you, either through anger, or through vainglory, or through some other passion, remembering the teaching here, you may be able easily to cast off the snares of the evil one. Do you not see in the wrestling pits the trainers, who after countless labors, having now received exemption from wrestling on account of their age, sitting outside the pits by the dust itself, call out instructions to those who are inside and wrestling, how to get a hand-hold, how to drag a leg, how to get behind the back, and saying many other such things, that if you do this or that, you will easily stretch out your antagonist, they contribute the greatest things to their pupils? And you, behold your trainer, the blessed Paul, who after countless crowns, now sitting outside the pit, of the present life I mean, calls out instructions to us who are wrestling, and shouts through his Epistles, when he sees us seized by anger and by remembrance of wrongs, and being choked by the passion, If your enemy is hungry, feed him. And just as the trainer says, that if you do this or that, you will overcome the antagonist, so also this one adds: For by doing this, you will heap coals of fire on his head. But while I was reading this law, a question occurred to me which seems to arise from it, and to furnish many with a handle against Paul, which I propose to set before you today. What then is it that lies secretly in the minds of those who do not wish to examine all things with accuracy? Paul, they say, in drawing them away from anger, and persuading them to be gentle and moderate to their neighbors, has rather made them like wild beasts, and has incited them to wrath. For to say, If your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him drink, is a fine precept and full of philosophy, and useful both to the one who does it and to the one who receives it; but what follows from this has much difficulty, and does not seem to agree with the mind of him who said the former things. And what is this? The saying, that By doing this, you will heap coals of fire on his head. For by these words he has wronged both the doer and the receiver; setting the one's head on fire, and placing coals of fire on it. For what good so great could come from being fed and given drink, as the evil from the heaping of coals? The one who is well-treated, he says, he has thus wronged, by casting him into a greater punishment, and the one who does well he has in turn harmed in another way. For what can this man also gain from kindness to his enemies, when he does it in the hope of their punishment? For he who for this reason feeds and gives drink to his enemy, so that he may heap coals of fire upon his head, would not be philanthropic and kind, but cruel and harsh, through a small kindness

∆εσπότῃ διελέχθης, ὅτι τῷ Χριστῷ συνεγένου. Ἂν οὕτως ἑαυτοὺς ῥυθμίζωμεν, οὐδὲν ἐξελθόντες δεησόμεθα λόγου πρὸς τοὺς ἀπολειφθέντας· ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμετέρας ὠφελείας, τῆς οἰκείας αἰσθήσονται ζημίας, καὶ δραμοῦνται ταχέως, ὥστε τῶν αὐτῶν ἀπολαῦσαι. Τὸ γὰρ κάλλος ὑμῶν τῆς ψυχῆς διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων αὐτῶν ἀπολάμπον ὁρῶντες, κἂν ἁπάντων ὦσι νωθρότεροι, εἰς ἔρωτα τῆς εὐπρεπείας ἐμπεσοῦνται τῆς ὑμετέρας. Εἰ γὰρ σώματος κάλλος ἀναπτεροῖ τοὺς ὁρῶντας, πολλῷ μᾶλλον εὐμορφία ψυχῆς διεγείραι δύναιτ' ἂν τὸν θεατὴν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἴσον παρακαλέσαι ζῆλον. Καλλωπίσωμεν τοίνυν ἡμῶν τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, καὶ τῶν ἐνταῦθα λεγομένων ἔξω μνημονεύωμεν· ἐκεῖ γὰρ αὐτῶν μάλιστα τῆς μνήμης ὁ καιρός· καὶ καθάπερ 51.180 ἀθλητὴς, ἅπερ ἂν ἐπὶ τῆς παλαίστρας μανθάνῃ, ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγώνων ἐπιδείκνυται· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς, ἅπερ ἂν ἐνταῦθα ἀκούωμεν, ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν πραγμάτων ἐπιδείκνυσθαι χρή. εʹ. Μνημόνευσον τοίνυν τῶν ἐνταῦθα λεγομένων, ἵν', ὅτε ἐξέλθῃς, καὶ ἐπιλάβηταί σου ὁ διάβολος, ἢ δι' ὀργῆς, ἢ διὰ κενοδοξίας, ἢ δι' ἄλλου τινὸς πάθους, ἀναμνησθεὶς τῆς ἐνταῦθα διδασκαλίας, δυνηθῇς ῥᾳδίως ἀποδύσασθαι τὰ ἅμματα τοῦ πονηροῦ. Οὐχ ὁρᾶτε ἐν τοῖς σκάμμασι τοὺς παιδοτρίβας, οἳ μετὰ μυρίους ἄθλους ἀτέλειαν λοιπὸν τῶν παλαισμάτων ἀπὸ τῆς ἡλικίας λαβόντες, ἔξω τῶν σκαμμάτων καθήμενοι παρὰ τὴν κόνιν αὐτὴν, τοῖς ἔνδον οὖσι καὶ παλαίουσιν ὑποφωνοῦσιν, ὥστε χεῖρα κατασχεῖν, ὥστε σκέλος ἑλκύσαι, ὥστε λαβεῖν μετὰ τὰ νῶτα, καὶ ἕτερα πολλὰ τοιαῦτα λέγοντες, ὅτι ἂν τὸ καὶ τὸ ποιήσῃς, ἐκτενεῖς ῥᾳδίως τὸν ἀνταγωνιστὴν, τὰ μέγιστα συντελοῦσι τοῖς μαθηταῖς; Καὶ σὺ τὸν παιδοτρίβην τὸν σὸν ὅρα, τὸν μακάριον Παῦλον, ὃς μετὰ μυρίους στεφάνους ἔξω τοῦ σκάμματος καθήμενος νῦν, τῆς παρούσης λέγω ζωῆς, τοῖς παλαίουσιν ἡμῖν ὑποφωνεῖ, καὶ βοᾷ διὰ τῶν Ἐπιστολῶν, ὅταν ἴδῃ κατασχεθέντας ὑπὸ ὀργῆς καὶ ὑπὸ μνησικακίας, καὶ ἀποπνιγομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους, Ἐὰν πεινᾷ ὁ ἐχθρός σου, ψώμιζε αὐτόν. Καὶ καθάπερ ὁ παιδοτρίβης λέγει, ὅτι ἂν τὸ καὶ τὸ ποιήσῃς, περιέσῃ τοῦ ἀνταγωνιστοῦ, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος προστίθησι· Τοῦτο γὰρ ποιῶν, ἄνθρακας πυρὸς σωρεύσεις ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ μεταξὺ τούτου τοῦ ἀναγινώσκειν με τὸν νόμον, ἐπῆλθε τὸ δοκοῦν φύεσθαι ζήτημα ἐξ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πολλοῖς παρέχειν κατὰ τοῦ Παύλου λαβὴν, ὅπερ προθεῖναι τήμερον εἰς μέσον ὑμῖν. Τί ποτ' οὖν ἐστι τὸ ὑφορμοῦν ταῖς διανοίαις τῶν μὴ μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἅπαντα ἐξετάζειν βουλομένων; Ἀπάγων ὀργῆς ὁ Παῦλος, φησὶ, καὶ πείθων ἐπιεικεῖς εἶναι καὶ μετρίους τοῖς πέλας, μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς ἐξεθηρίωσε, καὶ πρὸς θυμὸν ἐπῆρε. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ εἰπεῖν, Ἐὰν πεινᾷ ὁ ἐχθρός σου, ψώμιζε αὐτὸν, ἐὰν διψᾷ, πότιζε αὐτὸν, καλὸν ἐπίταγμα καὶ φιλοσοφίας γέμον, καὶ τῷ ποιοῦντι καὶ τῷ πάσχοντι χρήσιμον· τὸ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν λοιπὸν πολλὴν ἔχει τὴν ἀπορίαν, καὶ δοκεῖ μὴ συμβαίνειν τῇ γνώμῃ τοῦ τὰ πρότερα εἰρηκότος. Ποῖον δὲ τοῦτο; Τὸ λέγειν, ὅτι Ποιῶν τοῦτο, ἄνθρακας πυρὸς σωρεύσεις ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τούτων τῶν ῥημάτων καὶ τὸν ποιοῦντα καὶ τὸν πάσχοντα ἠδίκησε· τοῦ μὲν τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀνάψας, καὶ πυρὸς ἄνθρακας ἐπιθείς. Τί γὰρ τοσοῦτον ἀπὸ τοῦ ψωμίζεσθαι καὶ ποτίζεσθαι γένοιτ' ἂν ἀγαθὸν, ὅσον κακὸν ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἀνθράκων σωρείας; Τὸν μὲν οὖν εὖ πάσχοντα, φησὶν, οὕτως ἠδίκησεν, εἰς μείζονα ἐμβαλὼν τιμωρίαν, τὸν δὲ εὖ ποιοῦντα πάλιν ἑτέρως κατέβλαψε. Τί γὰρ καὶ οὗτος τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εὐεργεσίας κερδᾶναι δύναται, ὅταν ἐλπίδι τῆς τιμωρίας αὐτὸ ποιῇ; Ὁ γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο τρέφων καὶ ποτίζων τὸν ἐχθρὸν, ἵνα ἄνθρακας σωρεύσῃ πυρὸς ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, οὐχὶ φιλάνθρωπος καὶ χρηστὸς, ἀλλ' ὠμὸς καὶ ἀπηνὴς γένοιτ' ἂν, διὰ μικρᾶς εὐεργεσίας