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

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 receive your reward from God, who does all things continually for the peace of the churches. And this was also written to Venerius, bishop of Milan, and to Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia. "Farewell in the Lord." <CHAPTER Γʹ> In addition to these, the blessed Pope Innocent sent back letters of communion equally to both parties, setting aside the judgment that seemed to have been passed by Theophilus, saying that another, irreproachable synod of both western and eastern bishops should be convened, with the friends first, and then the enemies, withdrawing from the assembly, for the judgment from either party, for the most part, is not right. After a few days again, a certain presbyter of Theophilus, Peter, arrived, along with Martyrius, a deacon of the Constantinopolitans, delivering letters from the same and some pretended memoranda, in which it appeared that John had been condemned by thirty-six bishops, of whom twenty-nine were Egyptians, and seven from the other regions. Pope Innocent, having read these memoranda, and finding that neither were the charges serious, nor was John present and convicted face to face, remained hissing at the madness of Theophilus, because he had spewed forth such a summary sentence against an absent man. Dismissing them therefore with letters of reproof, he prayed to God, supplicating with fasting, that the dissension of the church might be dissolved, and that brotherly love 17 might be joined together. And the substance of the letter was this: "Brother Theophilus, we recognize both you and our brother John as being in communion, as we also made our opinion clear in our first letters. And now, not departing from the same purpose, we write the same things to you again and as often as you may send: that, unless a proper judgment follows upon what has happened in a farcical manner, it is impossible for us to withdraw irrationally from John's communion. Therefore, if you have confidence in your judgment, present yourself to the synod being held according to Christ, and there, having laid bare the charges under witness of the Nicene canons (for the Roman church does not accept another canon), you shall have undisputed security." When a little time had passed, a presbyter of Constantinople named Theotecnus arrived, delivering letters from the synod of John of twenty-five bishops from a little before; in which they reported that John had been cast out of the city with military aid, and had been sent into exile in Cucusus, and that the church had been set on fire, to whom he also gave letters of communion both to bishop John and to those in communion with him, and he exhorted them with tears to be longsuffering, being unable to help because certain men with power for evil were working against it. A little later a paltry man appeared, ugly 18 to see, hostile to perceive, Paternus by name, saying he was a presbyter of the church of the Constantinopolitans; who, being himself entirely agitated through and through, showing his hostility by his appearance, pouring out many revilings against bishop John, delivered letters from a few bishops, Acacius, Paulus, Antiochus, Cyrinus, Severianus, and some others, in which they slander John as having burned the church. So false did the report appear to us, that John for this reason did not even give a defense in a formal synod; at which Pope Innocent spat, and did not even deign to write a reply. {THE BISHOP} Deign therefore to promise me your hearing, so that I may relate each thing to you; for indeed, as Elihu says to Job, "The spirit of my belly constrains me,"—alluding by "belly" to the mind filled with words. {THE DEACON} It is necessary for me to fulfill, most excellent father, the precise account of what has befallen us, so that I may thus begin my questioning of you. Again therefore after some days, Cyriacus, the bishop of Synnada, arrived, having no letters, but able to give a harmonious narrative; who said

παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσενεγκεῖν σπουδὴν παρακέκλησθε. οὕτω γὰρ οὐχ ἡμῖν μόνοις χαρίσησθε, 16 ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ κοινῷ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν, καὶ τὸν παρὰ Θεοῦ λήψησθε μισθόν, τοῦ διὰ τὴν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν εἰρήνην πάντα ποιοῦντος διηνεκῶς. ἐγράφη δὲ αὕτη καὶ πρὸς Βενέριον, ἐπίσκοπον Μεδιο λάνου, καὶ Χρωμάτιον, ἐπίσκοπον Ἀκυληΐας. "Ἔῤῥωσο ἐν Κυρίῳ." <ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Γʹ> Πρὸς τούτοις ἀνταπέστειλεν ὁ μακάριος Ἰννοκέντιος ὁ πάπας ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς μέρεσι τὰ ἴσα τῆς κοινωνίας, ἀθετήσας τὴν δόξασαν γεγενῆσθαι κρίσιν παρὰ Θεοφίλου, εἰπὼν δεῖν ἑτέραν ἀνεπίληπτον συγκροτηθῆναι σύνοδον δυτικῶν τε καὶ ἀνατολικῶν, ὑποχωρούντων τοῦ συνεδρίου φίλων πρῶτον, ἔπειτα καὶ ἐχθρῶν, οὐδὲ γὰρ παρ' ὁποτέρων, ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον, ὀρθὸν αὐτῶν ἐστι τὸ κριτήριον. μετ' ὀλίγας πάλιν ἡμέρας ἐπέστη τις πρεσβύτερος Θεοφίλου Πέτρος, ἅμα Μαρτυρίῳ διακόνῳ τῆς Κωνσταντινου πολιτῶν, ἐπιδόντες ἐπιστολὰς τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί τινα ὑπομνημάτια δῆθεν, ἐν οἷς ἐδόκει κατακεκρίσθαι ὁ Ἰωάννης παρὰ τριάκοντα ἓξ ἐπισκόπων, ὧν οἱ μὲν εἴκοσι ἐννέα ἦσαν Αἰγύπτιοι, ἑπτὰ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων κλιμάτων. οἷς ὑπομνήμασιν ἐντυχὼν ὁ πάπας Ἰννοκέντιος, καὶ εὑρὼν μήτε τὰς αἰτίας οὔσας βαρείας, μήτε τὸν Ἰωάννην παρόντα καὶ κατὰ πρόσωπον ἐλεγχθέντα, ἔμενεν κατα συρίζων τῆς Θεοφίλου μανίας, ὅτι κατὰ ἀπόντος τοιαύτην ἀπό τομον ἐξέβρασε ψῆφον. ἀπολύσας οὖν αὐτοὺς μετὰ ἐλεγκτικῶν γραμμάτων, ηὔχετο τὸν Θεὸν ἱκετεύων μετὰ νηστείας, καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας παραλυθῆναι μὲν τὴν διχοστασίαν, συναρμοσθῆναι 17 δὲ τὴν φιλαδελφίαν. ἦν δὲ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἡ δύναμις αὕτη· " ̓Αδελφὲ Θεόφιλε, ἡμεῖς καί σε ἴσμεν κοινωνικὸν καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἰωάννην, ὡς καὶ ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις γράμμασι φανερὰν ἡμῶν τὴν γνώμην ἐποιήσαμεν. καὶ νῦν δὲ οὐκ ἐκστάντες τῆς αὐτῆς προαι ρέσεως, πάλιν σοι τὰ αὐτὰ γράφομεν καὶ ὁσάκις ἂν ἀποστείλῃς· ὅτι, ἐὰν μὴ δέουσα κρίσις παρακολουθήσῃ ἐπὶ τοῖς παιγνιωδῶς γεγενημένοις, ἀμήχανόν ἐστιν ἀλόγως ἡμᾶς ἀποστῆναι τῆς Ἰωάννου κοινωνίας. ὡς γοῦν, εἰ θαῤῥεῖς σὺ τῷ κριτηρίῳ, ἀπάν τησον τῇ κατὰ Χριστὸν γινομένῃ συνόδῳ, κἀκεῖ τὰς αἰτίας γυμνάσας ὑπὸ μάρτυσι τοῖς Νικαίας κανόσιν (ἄλλον γὰρ κανόνα ἡ Ῥωμαίων οὐ παραδέχεται ἐκκλησία), ἀναντίῤῥητον τὴν ἀσφάλειαν σχήσῃ." μικροῦ δὲ παριππάσαντος χρόνου, ἐπέστη πρεσβύτερος Κωνσταντινουπόλεως Θεότεκνος ὀνόματι, ἐπιδοὺς ἐπιστολὰς τῆς συνόδου τῆς Ἰωάννου εἴκοσι πέντε ἐπισκόπων μικρῷ πρός· ἐν οἷς ἀνεδίδαξαν καὶ στρατιωτικῇ βοηθείᾳ ἐκβε βλῆσθαι τὸν Ἰωάννην τῆς πόλεως, καὶ εἰς ἐξορίαν ἐν Κουκουσῷ πεπέμφθαι, καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐμπεπρῆσθαι, ᾧ καὶ αὐτῷ δοὺς κοινωνικὰ γράμματα πρός τε τὸν ἐπίσκοπον Ἰωάννην καὶ πρὸς τοὺς αὐτῷ κοινωνοῦντας, παρεκάλει μετὰ δακρύων μακροθυμεῖν, βοηθεῖν οὐ δυνάμενος διὰ τὸ ἀντιπράττειν τινὰς τοὺς τὸ κακὸν δυναμένους. μετὰ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐπέστη ἀνθρωπίσκος, δυσειδὴς 18 ἰδεῖν, δυσμενὴς νοηθῆναι Πάτερνος τοὔνομα, λέγων ἑαυτὸν πρεσ βύτερον τῆς Κωνσταντινουπολιτῶν ἐκκλησίας· ὃς καὶ αὐτὸς ὅλος δι' ὅλου σεσοβημένος, ἐκ τοῦ εἴδους τὴν ἔχθραν ἐπιδεικνύων, πολλὰς καταχέων λοιδορίας κατὰ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου Ἰωάννου, ἐπιδέδωκεν γράμματα ἐπισκόπων ὀλίγων, Ἀκακίου, Παύλου, Ἀντιόχου, Κυρίνου, Σευηριανοῦ, καὶ ἑτέρων τινῶν, ἐν οἷς συκο φαντοῦσι τὸν Ἰωάννην ὡς καύσαντα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν. οὕτως ψευδὴς ἡμῖν ἐφάνη ὁ λόγος, ὡς μηδὲ διὰ τοῦτο δοῦναι ἀπολογίαν τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐν ἐπισήμῳ συνόδῳ· οὗ καταπτύσας ὁ πάπας Ἰννοκέντιος, οὐδὲ ἀντιγράφων ἠξίωσεν. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Καταξίωσον οὖν ὑποσχεῖν μοι τὴν ἀκοήν, ἵνα σοι καθ' ἕκαστον ἀφηγήσωμαι· πάνυ γάρ, ὡς λέγει ὁ Ἐλιοῦς τῷ Ἰώβ, "Συνέχει με τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς γαστρός," -"γαστέρα" τὴν διάνοιαν αἰνιττόμενος πεπληρωμένην λόγων. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν ἐκπληρῶσαί με, ἀγαθώτατε πάτερ, τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς φθασάντων, ἵν' οὕτως ἄρξωμαι τῆς πρὸς σὲ ἐρωτήσεως. πάλιν τοίνυν μεθ' ἡμέρας τινὰς ἐπέστη ὁ Συννάδων ἐπίσκοπος Κυριακός, γράμματα μὲν οὐκ ἔχων, ἱκανὸς δὲ πρὸς διήγησιν ἐναρμόνιον· ὃς ἔλεγεν