John Chrysostom, Against Theater

happening. Oh, what things we hoped to see, and what things we now behold! We hoped to see him assisting you with the sacrifices, ministering at the sacred rites; but now, oh, the unbearable evils! He does not stand beside the priest holding a victim, but he himself lies bound instead of a victim; nor does he utter a sound, like a lamb, but lies speechless and mute, and more helpless than a sheep he looks only at the right hand, which he often kissed as that of a loving father, and perhaps even now, seeing it holding the sword, he wishes to kiss it. You have many flocks of sheep, master, many herds of cattle; from these fulfill the sacrifice of the sacrificial animals, of the customary ones, not of those that are not to be sacrificed or eaten. Offer them all up as one whole burnt offering, if you wish, all the herds; we do not object; for the generosity of this sacrifice is lawful; but what is being done now is more a war than a sacrifice, a kind of siege, not an offering. For praying, we endure these things, which we pray not to see when we are at war; and we suffer such things in sacrifices, which we pray not to suffer. The present deed is more destructive even than war. For perhaps even an enemy would have spared him, having pitied the young man's form, his age. How will you still inhabit the land of the Canaanites, having thus surpassed even the cruelty of beasts? Perhaps all the children of the Canaanites will rise up against you, saying, let us destroy the child-kill56.552er, lest a wicked example of child-murder be set for our fathers. Cut down also the hospitable oak, the philanthropic tent, burn it, as you do the child. For no one traveling will dare to approach you any longer, you who are suspicious to them, you who did not spare your son. How then will wretched Sarah, our mistress, your wife and his mother, see you, expecting the child back holier from the sacrifice? For what do you think will happen to her when she sees the father bereft of the child? Will she not fall to the ground, undone by despair? Will she not be in immediate danger from her fall? Will you not lose your wife along with your son? How then will you cultivate another Isaac, master, when the land has been turned to stone by death? Would that Sarah's barrenness had never been loosed at all, so that you would be called neither father nor child-killer. What age so long will be able to cover with oblivion what is being done? Time past has not been strong enough to wipe away the hatred of fratricide, but even now Cain is blamed for not recognizing nature, and though his whole race was destroyed root and branch by the flood, the memory of the fratricide has not been washed away even by such a multitude of waters. But a child-killer is far worse than a brother-killer, by as much as a father is closer than a brother. Why then, master, do you bring immortal shame upon a devout and wondrous life, a shame that cannot be erased by time, nor by waters. Come now, then, listen to us, and release your son from his bonds, throw away the sword, let us extinguish the fire, let us tear down the altar itself; leave no trace at all of this faithless deed upon the earth. But if you disobey after such counsel, and contentiously serve an evil demon, we ask only this, kill us first, and we will gladly receive the slaughter. For it is better for us to fall here than to be called slaves of a child-killing master. How then, when the servants were saying and doing such things out of folly, was the forefather consecrated to the command of the Master? How would so good a deed of love for God have shone in the whole world? How would a lofty pillar of faith have been erected? How would the world have learned by deeds that the fear of God is more precious than the love of a child? For this reason he comes alone to the sacrifice, alone offering the only-begotten through the Only-Begotten to the only God. You have learned, beloved, through what has been said, the forefather's love of God; learn through what follows also the ineffable love for mankind of God; learn how those who for God's sake despise present things both advance in virtue and do not fail to obtain things of this life. So Isaac lay with his feet bound together, offering his bare neck to his father for slaughter, and the hand of the priest raised high

γινόμενον. Ὢ, οἷα ἰδεῖν ἠλπίσαμεν, καὶ οἷα νῦν θεώμεθα! Ἠλπίσαμεν αὐτὸν ὑπουργοῦντά σοι πρὸς τὰς θυσίας, λειτουργοῦντα πρὸς τὰς ἱερουργίας· νῦν δὲ, ὢ τῶν ἀνυποίστων κακῶν! οὐ παρέστηκε τῷ ἱερεῖ θῦμα κρατῶν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς κεῖται δεδεμένος ἀντὶ θύματος· οὐδὲ φωνὴν ἀφίησιν, ὡς ἀμνὸς, ἀλλ' ἄφωνος κεῖται καὶ ἄλαλος, καὶ ἀφελέστερος καὶ προβάτου πρὸς μόνην βλέπει τὴν δεξιὰν, ἣν πολλάκις ὡς φιλοστόργου πατρὸς κατεφίλησε, τάχα δὲ καὶ νῦν, μετὰ τοῦ ξίφους ἐχομένην αὐτὴν ὁρῶν, καταφιλῆσαι θέλει. Πολλαί σοι ποιμναὶ προβάτων, δέσποτα, βοῶν ἀγέλαι πολλαί· ἐκ τούτων πλήρωσον τὴν θυσίαν τῶν θυσίμων, τῶν νενομισμένων, οὐ τῶν ἀθύτων καὶ ἀβρώτων. Πάσας εἰς ἓν ὁλοκάρπωσον, εἰ βούλει, τὰς ἀγέλας· οὐκ ἀντιλέγομεν· ἔννομος γὰρ τῆς θυσίας ταύτης ἡ φιλοτιμία· τὸ δὲ νῦν πραττόμενον πόλεμος μᾶλλον ἢ θυσία, πολιορκία τις, οὐ προσφορά. Ταῦτα γὰρ εὐχόμενοι ὑπομένομεν, ἅπερ εὐχόμεθα μὴ ἰδεῖν πολεμούμενοι· καὶ τοιαῦτα πάσχομεν ἐν θυσίαις, οἷα ἵνα μὴ πάθωμεν εὐχόμεθα. Τὸ νῦν ἔργον ὀλεθριώτερον καὶ πολέμου. Τάχα γὰρ ἂν ἐφείσατο καὶ πολέμιος, τοῦ νέου τὴν μορφὴν, τὴν ἡλικίαν αὐτοῦ κατελεήσας. Πῶς οἰκήσεις ἔτι τῶν Χαναναίων τὴν χώραν, νικήσας οὕτω καὶ θηρίων ὠμότητα; Τάχα πάντες ἐπιστήσονταί σοι τῶν Χαναναίων οἱ παῖδες, ἀνέλωμεν λέγοντες, τὸν τεκνοκτό56.552 νον, μὴ πονηρὸν γένηται παιδοκτονίας παράδειγμα τοῖς ἡμετέροις πατράσιν. Ἔκκοψον δὲ καὶ σὺ τὴν φιλόξενον δρῦν, τὴν φιλάνθρωπον σκηνὴν, ἔμπρησον αὐτὴν, ὡς τὸν παῖδα. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔτι πλησιάσαι σοι τῶν ὁδευόντων τολμήσει, ὕποπτος αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχων, ὁ υἱοῦ μὴ φεισάμενος. Πῶς οὖν ἡ ἀθλία σε Σάῤῥα, ἡ ἡμετέρα δέσποινα, ἡ σὴ μὲν σύνοικος, ἡ τούτου δὲ μήτηρ, ὄψεται, ἁγιώτερον ἐκ τῆς θυσίας τὸν παῖδα προσδεχομένη; Τί γὰρ νομίζεις παθεῖν αὐτὴν ἔρημον τοῦ τέκνου τὸν πατέρα θεασαμένην; Οὐχὶ πεσεῖται εἰς γῆν ἀθυμίᾳ λυθεῖσα; οὐ παραχρῆμα κινδυνεύσει πεσοῦσα; οὐκ ἀπολέσεις μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τὴν σύνοικον; Πῶς οὖν ἄλλον Ἰσαὰκ γεωργήσεις, δέσποτα, πετρωθείσης τῷ θανάτῳ τῆς χώρας; Ὡς εἴθε μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐλύθη τῆς Σάῤῥας ἡ στείρωσις, ἵνα σὺ μήτε πατὴρ, μήτε παιδοκτόνος ἐκλήθης. Ποῖος αἰὼν οὕτω μακρὸς λήθῃ καλύψαι δυνήσεται τὸ πραττόμενον; Οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ὁ παρελθὼν χρόνος τὸ τῆς ἀδελφοκτονίας ἀπαλεῖψαι μῖσος, ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ νῦν ψέγεται Κάϊν ὡς μὴ γνωρίσας τὴν φύσιν, καὶ πρόῤῥιζον μὲν ἅπαν αὐτοῦ διὰ κατακλυσμοῦ τὸ γένος ἀπόλωλεν, ἡ δὲ μνήμη τῆς ἀδελφοκτονίας οὐδὲ πλήθει τοσούτων ὑδάτων ἐκπέπλυται. Παρὰ πολὺ δὲ τεκνοκτόνος ἀδελφοκτόνου βαρύτερον, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὅσον ἀδελφοῦ πατὴρ οἰκειότερος. Τί τοίνυν, δέσποτα, θεοσεβεῖ καὶ θαυμαστῷ βίῳ αἰσχύνην ἐπάγεις ἀθάνατον, οὐ χρόνῳ δυναμένην ἐξαλειφθῆναι, οὐχ ὕδασι. ∆εῦρο δὴ, λοιπὸν ἄκουσον ἡμῶν, καὶ τῶν δεσμῶν τὸν υἱὸν ἄφες ἐλεύθερον, ῥῖψον τὸ ξίφος, σβέσωμεν τὸ πῦρ, αὐτὸν τὸν βωμὸν κατασκάψωμεν· μηδὲν ὅλως ἴχνος ἐάσῃς ἀπίστου τολμήματος ἐπὶ γῆς. Εἰ δὲ ἀπειθεῖς μετὰ τοσαύτην παραίνεσιν, καὶ πονηρῷ φιλονεικεῖς διακονήσασθαι δαίμονι, τοῦτο μόνον δεόμεθα, πρώτους ἀπόκτεινον ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἡδέως δεχόμεθα τὴν σφαγήν. Ἄμεινον γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐνταῦθα πεσεῖν, ἢ δούλους κληθῆναι παιδοκτόνου δεσπότου. Πῶς οὖν, τοιαῦτα καὶ λεγόντων καὶ πραττόντων ἐξ ἀνοίας τῶν δούλων, ὁ προπάτωρ καθωσιώθη τῷ τοῦ ∆εσπότου προστάγματι; πῶς ἂν οὕτως ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ ἀγαθὴ φιλοθεΐας ἔλαμψε πρᾶξις; πῶς ἂν ὑψηλὴ πίστεως ἀνωρθώθη στήλη; πῶς ἂν ἔργοις ἔμαθε κόσμος, ὅτι φόβος Θεοῦ πόθου παιδὸς τιμιώτερος; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μόνος ἐπὶ τὴν θυσίαν παραγίνεται, μόνος τὸν μονογενῆ διὰ Μονογενοῦς τῷ μόνῳ προσφέρων Θεῷ. Ἐμάθετε, ἀγαπητοὶ, διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων τοῦ προπάτορος τὴν φιλοθεΐαν· μάθετε διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἄφατον φιλανθρωπίαν· μάθετε πῶς οἱ διὰ τὸν Θεὸν τῶν παρόντων καταφρονήσαντες καὶ προκόπτουσιν εἰς ἀρετὴν, καὶ τῶν προσκαίρων οὐχ ἁμαρτάνουσιν. Ἔκειτο τοίνυν συμπεποδισμένος ὁ Ἰσαάκ, καὶ γυμνὸν τῷ πατρὶ παρέχων τὸν λαιμὸν εἰς σφαγὴν, ἡ δὲ χεὶρ τοῦ ἱερέως ὑψηλὴ