John Chrysostom, Fragments on Job

you should fear poverty; nor health of body, that you should fear sickness; nor the esteem of the many, that you should shrink from an evil reputation; nor living simply and randomly, that death should not become fearsome to you; nor freedom, that you should flee slavery; but the precision of true doctrines, and the rightness of life. These things not even the devil himself will be able to strip away, if the one who possesses them guards them with fitting precision; and that most wicked and savage demon knows these things. 64.536 For this very reason, he plundered Job's substance, not to make him poor, but to force him to utter some blasphemous word, and he cut his body, not to inflict sickness, but to trip up the virtue of his soul. But nevertheless, having overcome all his contrivances, and having made him poor instead of rich, this very thing that seems to all of us most dreadful, childless instead of having many children, and having scraped his whole body more cruelly than the executioners in the courts (for their claws do not so tear the sides of those who fall into their hands, as the mouths of the worms scraped his flesh), and having surrounded him with an evil reputation (for his friends who were present said, You have not been scourged in a manner worthy of your sins, and they leveled many words of accusation against him); and he not only cast him out of the city, nor from his house, and established him in another city, but having made the dungheap his house and city, he not only did him no harm, but even rendered him more illustrious through the things he plotted against him. Nor did he take away any of his possessions, though he took away so many, but he even wrought for him a greater wealth of virtue; for after these things he enjoyed greater confidence, since he had also fought a more vehement contest. But if he who suffered such things was not wronged at all, and suffered not at the hands of a man, but from the demon more wicked than all men; what excuse will those have hereafter who say, "So-and-so wronged me and harmed me"? For if the devil, full of such great evil, having moved all his instruments, and let fly all his arrows, and having emptied all the evils that were among men with much excess into the house of the just man and upon his body, did the man no wrong, but, as I said, even benefited him more; how will some be able to blame so-and-so, as if wronged by them, but not as if from within themselves? How from within, he says, when someone is scourged by another, or has his possessions taken away, or has endured some other grievous outrage, and uttered a blasphemous word? He was harmed by this, and greatly harmed, not however by the one who outraged him, but by his own faintheartedness; for what I said before, I will also say now: No man, even if he were ten thousand times wicked, could attack more wickedly or more bitterly than that avenging demon, the devil, who is irreconcilably disposed towards us; but nevertheless this harsh demon was not strong enough, by loosing so many and such bitter arrows against him from all sides, to trip up and cast down the man before the law, the man before grace. For now in our day, many of those who mourn 64.537 let their hair grow long, but he cut it off. Why? For the one mourning, the object was to change his condition to the opposite appearance. Therefore where long hair is honored, to be shorn is a sign of mourning. And he tore his garments, in appearance lamenting his suffering, but in truth stripping for a wrestling match, and henceforth dedicating himself to the contest, so that as a naked athlete he might grapple with his opponent. "And falling on the ground he worshiped the Lord, and said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I depart there.'" This Job shattered the face of the devil, being struck, not striking; he emptied his entire quiver, being continually shot at by him; he endured every form of temptation, and each one with all excess. For the things that seem in life to be

πενίαν δείσῃς· οὐδὲ ὑγίεια σώματος, ἵνα φοβηθῇς ἀῤῥωστίαν· οὐδὲ ἡ τῶν πολλῶν ὑπόληψις, ἵνα ὑπείδῃ δόξαν πονηράν· οὐδὲ τὸ ζῇν ἁπλῶς καὶ εἰκῆ, ἵνα μὴ φοβερός σοι γένηται ὁ θάνατος· οὐδὲ ἐλευθερία, ἵνα δουλείαν φύγῃς· ἀλλ' ἡ τῶν ἀληθινῶν δογμάτων ἀκρίβεια, καὶ ἡ κατὰ τὸν βίον ὀρθότης. Ταῦτα οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος ἀποσυλῆσαι δυνήσεται, ἐὰν ὁ κεκτημένος αὐτὰ μετὰ τῆς προσηκούσης ἀκριβείας διαφυλάττῃ· καὶ ταῦτα καὶ ὁ πονηρότατος, καὶ ἄγριος δαίμων οἶδεν ἐκεῖνος. 64.536 ∆ιὰ γάρ τοι τοῦτο, καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐσύλα τοῦ Ἰὼβ, οὐχ ἵνα πένητα ποιήσῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα βλάσφημόν τι ῥῆμα ἐκβάλλειν βιάσηται, καὶ τὸ σῶμα κατέτεμνεν, οὐχ ἵνα ἀῤῥωστίαν περιβάλῃ, ἀλλὰ ἵνα ὑποσκελίσῃ τὴν κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀρετήν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως πάντα αὐτοῦ νικήσας τὰ μηχανήματα, καὶ πένητα ἀντὶ πλουτοῦντος ποιήσας, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ πᾶσιν ἡμῖν φρικωδέστατον εἶναι δοκοῦν, ἀντὶ πολύπαιδος ἄπαιδα, καὶ καταξάνας αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἅπαν, τῶν ἐν δικαστηρίοις δημίων χαλεπώτερον (οὐ γὰρ οὕτω διορύττουσιν οἱ ἐκείνων ὄνυχες τὰς πλευρὰς τῶν ἐμπιπτόντων, ὡς κατέξαναν αὐτοῦ τὴν σάρκα τῶν σκωλήκων τὰ στόματα), καὶ περιθεὶς αὐτῷ πονηρὰν δόξαν (οἱ γὰρ φίλοι αὐτῷ παρόντες ἔλεγον, Οὐκ ἄξια ὧν ἥμαρτες μεμαστίγωσαι, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀπέτεινον κατ' αὐτοῦ κατηγορίας λόγους)· καὶ οὐχὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐξέβαλε μόνον, οὐδὲ τῆς οἰκίας, καὶ εἰς ἄλλην κατέστησε πόλιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν κοπρίαν αὐτῷ, καὶ οἰκίαν, καὶ πόλιν καταστήσας, οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν αὐτῷ ἐλυμήνατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ λαμπρότερον, δι' ὧν ἐπεβούλευσεν, ἀπέφηνεν. Οὐδὲ οὐ μόνον τι τῶν ὄντων οὐκ ἀφείλετο, καίτοι τοσαῦτα ἀφελόμενος, ἀλλὰ καὶ μείζονα αὐτῷ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς ἀρετῆς εἰργάσατο· καὶ γὰρ πλείονος μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπέλαυσε παῤῥησίας, ἅτε καὶ σφοδρότερον ἀγωνισάμενος ἀγῶνα. Εἰ δὲ ὁ τοσαῦτα παθὼν, οὐδὲν ἠδίκηται, καὶ παθὼν οὐ παρὰ ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τοῦ πάντων ἀνθρώπων πονηροτέρου δαίμονος· τίς ἕξει λοιπὸν ἀπολογίαν τῶν λεγόντων, ὅτι Ὁ δεῖνά με ἠδίκησε καὶ παρέβλαψεν; Εἰ γὰρ ὁ διάβολος, ὁ τοσαύτης γέμων κακίας, πάντα αὐτοῦ κινήσας τὰ ὄργανα, καὶ πάντα ἀφεὶς τὰ βέλη, καὶ ὅσα ἦν ἐν ἀνθρώποις κακὰ, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ὑπερβολῆς εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ δικαίου, καὶ εἰς τὸ σῶμα κενώσας, οὐδὲν τὸν ἄνδρα ἠδίκησεν, ἀλλ', ὥσπερ ἔφην, καὶ μᾶλλον ὠφέλησε· πῶς δυνήσονταί τινες τὸν δεῖνα καὶ τὸν δεῖνα αἰτήσασθαι, ὡς παρ' αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς οἴκοθεν ἠδικημένοι; πῶς οἴκοθεν, φησὶν, ὅταν τις μαστιχθῇ παρά τινος, ἢ τὰ ὄντα ἀφαιρεθῇ, ἢ χαλεπήν τινα ἑτέραν ὑπομείνας ἐπήρειαν, βλάσφημόν τι ῥῆμα ἐξήνεγκε; Ἐβλάβη μὲν ἐντεῦθεν, καὶ βλάβην μεγίστην, οὐ μὴν παρὰ τοῦ ἐπηρεάσαντος, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τῆς οἰκείας μικροψυχίας· ὅπερ γὰρ ἔμπροσθεν εἶπον, καὶ νῦν ἐρῶ· Οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων, κἂν μυριάκις ᾖ πονηρὸς, τοῦ ἀλάστορος ἐκείνου δαίμονος, καὶ ἀκαταλλάκτως πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔχοντος τοῦ διαβόλου, πονηρότερον ἂν προσβάλλοι, οὐδὲ πικρότερον· ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁ χαλεπὸς οὗτος δαίμων οὐκ ἴσχυσε, τὸν πρὸ τοῦ νόμου, τὸν πρὸ τῆς χάριτος, τοσαῦτα κατ' αὐτοῦ βέλη καὶ οὕτω πικρὰ πανταχόθεν ἀφεὶς ὑποσκελίσαι καταβαλεῖν. Νῦν μὲν γὰρ ἐφ' ἡμῶν, πολλοὶ τῶν πενθούντων 64.537 τρέφουσι κόμην, ἐκεῖνος δὲ περιῄρει. ∆ιὰ τί; τῷ πενθοῦντι τὸ σπουδαζόμενον ἦν, εἰς τὸ ἐναντίον σχῆμα περιστῆσαι τὴν κατάστασιν. Ὅπου οὖν τιμᾶται κόμη, σημεῖον πένθους τὸ κείρεσθαι. ∆ιέῤῥηξε δὲ τὰ ἱμάτια, τῷ μὲν σχήματι, πρὸς πάθος ἀποδυρόμενος, τῇ δὲ ἀληθείᾳ, πρὸς πάλην ἀποδυόμενος, καὶ εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα λοιπὸν ἑαυτὸν καθιεὶς, ἵνα ὡς γυμνὸς ἀθλητὴς περιπλακῇ τῷ ἀντιπάλῳ. «Καὶ πεσὼν χαμαὶ προσεκύνησε τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ εἶπεν, Αὐτὸς γυμνὸς ἐξῆλθον ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου, γυμνὸς καὶ ἀπελεύσομαι ἐκεῖ.» Οὗτος ὁ Ἰὼβ συνέκοψε τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν ὄψιν, παιόμενος, οὐ παίων· ἐκένωσεν αὐτοῦ τὴν βελοθήκην ἅπασαν, κατατοξευόμενος παρ' αὐτοῦ συνεχῶς· ἅπαν ὑπέμεινε πειρασμῶν εἶδος, καὶ ἕκαστον μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς ἁπάσης. Τὰ γὰρ δοκοῦντα κατὰ τὸν βίον εἶναι