John Chrysostom, Sermon 3-2 on Genesis

shall I cover the indecency of my flesh? when shall I put shoes on my feet so as not to be pricked by the thorn that sprung up for me from God? when shall I make a covering to wipe away the sweat of my face, which you, woman, caused for me out of foolishness? You, remaining idle, do not see the calamity; but when you bear a child, then the justice of the sentence will rise upon you. When the offspring is about to come forth from your womb, then you will remember my words; when you endure the pains in anguish, then the time of the sentence will blossom for you; when the birth pangs seize you, then you will remember the curse of God. These things and others like them Adam addressed to his spouse in bitterness of soul; striking Eve with these words each day, 56.535 he sang an inconsolable song; the first-formed man, possessing a sea of these afflictions, fulfilled with much labor the divinely-driven wrath. You have heard, O children, of Adam's creation; you have known the worth of his honor; you have learned the things given to him by God; you have witnessed his expulsion for the transgression; you have lamented his inconsolable tragedy; you have seen him opposite paradise, having become gloomy and dejected. Shall we stop the discourse here, or shall we relate what most hateful inheritance Eve left for us, for the generations to come? It is necessary to lengthen the discourse in order to show to all the blow that came from God out of the curse; how the justice has become manifest to us, and preserves its boundaries until the age, and the unfailing mouth of God that declared to her: I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your groaning; and he makes the word more certain for these generations. For just as a daughter represents the form of her mother, whether in the eye, or in the face, or in stature; so also now the cosmic justice has entered in until the age, and until the consummation its measures will not be shaken. 5. But having opened your mind, give yourselves over to the examination of the narrative, and having placed the accounts of the truth in your thoughts, listen to these things gladly. For we have not cleared the stage of the discourse for modest and just women, but the discourse of the narrative will recount the story of wicked, intemperate, and profane women. What order of them will the discourse present? of virgins, not ignorant of the bed of men? of those who have entered into marriage and become mothers through childbearing? or of those left in widowhood, and not possessing the fear of God? But it is certainly right and proper to examine the first age first, and thus to proceed to the subsequent ranks. Come, then, let us bring into the midst the order of the young women, of those who seem to be virgins, and who boast in their purity, and let us present the discourse concerning these. What shall I say of them? Their postures, their character, their cunning, how they hunt the young men with their nets and their baits. Often passing through their bedchambers, and running from place to place, they make a clatter with the tread of their feet, and with shameless smiles they make the ears of the young men echo with noises and clappings, and fluttering their hands from window to window, they shamelessly extend them as far as their breasts; shooting at the eyes of the intemperate with satanic nods, wearing gold upon their breast, and having put rings on their own hands, and in their ears with pearls and jacinth changing the form of their image, and of the face the

ἀσχημοσύνην τῆς σαρκός μου σκεπάσω; πότε ὑποδύσομαι τοῖς ποσὶ πρὸς τὸ μὴ κατακεντᾶσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς θεόθεν ἀνατειλάσης μοι ἀκάνθης; πότε σκέπασμα ποιήσω πρὸς τὸ σπογγίσαι τὸν τοῦ προσώπου μου ἱδρῶτα, ὅν μοι προεξένησας, γύναι, ἐξ ἀφροσύνης; Σὺ ἀέργως μένουσα οὐχ ὁρᾷς τὴν συμφοράν· ὅτε δὲ τέξεις τέκνον, τότε τῆς ἀποφάσεως ἡ δίκη ἐπὶ σοὶ ἀνατελεῖ. Ὅτε τὸ ἔκγονον ἀπὸ τῆς κοιλίας σου μέλλει ἐξέρχεσθαι, τότε μνησθήσῃ τῶν ῥημάτων μου· ὅτε ἐν ὀδύνῃ τοὺς πόνους ὑπομενεῖς, τότε τῆς ἀποφάσεως ὁ καιρός σοι ἐξανθήσει· ὅτε σε καταλαβοῦσιν αἱ ὠδῖνες, τότε τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς κατάρας μνημονεύσεις. Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια ὁ Ἀδὰμ πρὸς τὴν ὁμόζυγον ἐν πικρίᾳ ψυχῆς προσεφώνει· τούτοις τοῖς λόγοις καταπλήττων τὴν Εὔαν καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, 56.535 ἀπαραμύθητον τὴν ᾠδὴν ἐτραγῴδει· τούτων τῶν θλίψεων ὁ πρωτόπλαστος τὸ πέλαγος κεκτημένος, τὴν θεήλατον πολυμόχθως ἐξεπλήρου ὀργήν. Ἠκούσατε, ὦ τέκνα, τοῦ Ἀδὰμ τὴν διάπλασιν· ἐγνώκατε αὐτοῦ τῆς τιμῆς τὴν ἀξίαν· ἐμάθετε τὰ ἐκ Θεοῦ δοθέντα αὐτῷ· ἐθεάσασθε αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς παραβάσεως τὴν ἐξέωσιν· ἐκλαύσατε αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀπαραμύθητον τραγῳδίαν· ἐβλέψατε αὐτὸν ἀπέναντι τοῦ παραδείσου στυγνὸν καὶ κατηφῆ γεγονότα. Στήσομεν μέχρι τούτου τὸν λόγον, ἢ διηγησόμεθα ἅπερ ἡμῖν ἡ Εὔα κληρονομίαν ἐχθίστην κατέλιπε ταῖς μετέπειτα γενεαῖς; Ἀναγκαῖον μηκῦναι τὸν λόγον πρὸς τὸ ὑποδεῖξαι πᾶσι τὴν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας θεόθεν γενομένην πληγήν· πῶς εὔδηλος ἡμῖν ἡ δίκη γέγονε, καὶ τοὺς ὅρους αὐτῆς μέχρις αἰῶνος συντηρεῖ, καὶ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀψευδὲς στόμα τὸ ἀποφηνάμενον αὐτῇ· Πληθύνων πληθυνῶ τὰς λύπας σου καὶ τὸν στεναγμόν σου· καὶ βεβαιοτέραν τὴν λέξιν φανεροῖ ταῖς γενεαῖς ταύταις. Ὥσπερ γὰρ μορφὴν μητρὸς εἰκονίζει θυγάτηρ, εἴτε δι' ὀφθαλμοῦ, εἴτε διὰ προσώπου, εἴτε διὰ ἡλικίας· οὕτω καὶ νῦν μέχρις αἰῶνος εἰσῆλθε κοσμικὴ ἡ δίκη, καὶ ἕως τῆς συντελείας τὰ μέτρα αὐτῆς οὐ παρασαλευθήσονται. εʹ. Ἀλλὰ τὸν νοῦν ὑμῶν ἀναπετάσαντες πρὸς τὴν τῆς διηγήσεως ἐξέτασιν ἐμφιλοχωρήσατε, καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας διηγήματα ἐν ταῖς ὑμῶν διανοίαις περιθέντες, ἀσμένως ταῦτα ἀκούσατε. Οὐ γὰρ περὶ σωφρόνων καὶ δικαίων γυναικῶν τὸ θέατρον τοῦ λόγου ἀνεκαθήραμεν, ἀλλὰ περὶ πονηρῶν καὶ ἀκολάστων καὶ βεβήλων ὁ λόγος τῆς διηγήσεως ἀνιστορήσει. Ποίαν τάξιν αὐτῶν ὁ λόγος παραστήσει; τῶν παρθένων, τῶν ἀνδρῶν κοίτην μὴ ἀγνοούντων; τῶν ἐν γάμῳ περιελθόντων καὶ τεκνογονίαις μητέρων γενομένων; ἢ τῶν ἐγκαταλιμπανομένων ἐν χηρείαις, καὶ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβον μὴ κεκτημένων; Ἀλλὰ πάντως τὴν πρώτην ἡλικίαν δίκαιον καὶ ὅσιόν ἐστι πρῶτον ἐξετάσαι, καὶ οὕτως εἰς τὰς μετέπειτα ἀξίας ἐπεισελθεῖν. Φέρε οὖν τῶν νεανίδων τὸ τάγμα εἰς μέσον παρεισάξωμεν, τῶν δοκούντων εἶναι παρθένων, καὶ ἐγκαυχωμένων τῇ ἁγνείᾳ αὐτῶν, καὶ περὶ τούτων τὸν λόγον παραστήσωμεν. Τί αὐτῶν εἴπω; Τὰ σχήματα, τὸ ἦθος, τὴν σύνεσιν, πῶς ἀγρεύουσι τοὺς νέους τοῖς δικτύοις αὐτῶν καὶ τοῖς δελεάσμασι. Πολλάκις ἐν τοῖς κουβουκλείοις αὐτῶν διερχόμεναι, καὶ τόπον ἐκ τόπου διατρέχουσαι, διὰ τοῦ βαδίσματος τῶν ποδῶν κτύπον ἀποτελοῦσι, καὶ μειδιάμασιν ἀσχημοσύνης θορύβων καὶ κρότων τὰς ἀκοὰς τῶν νέων διηχοῦσι, καὶ ἐκ θυρίδος εἰς θυρίδα ἀναπετῶσαι τὰς χεῖρας, μέχρι στέρνων ἀναισχύντως αὐτὰς ἐπιδιδόασι· νεύμασι σατανικοῖς τοξεύουσαι τῶν ἀκολάστων τὰς ὄψεις, χρυσίον ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος φέρουσαι, καὶ δακτυλίους ἐν ταῖς ἑαυτῶν χερσὶ περιβεβλημέναι, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀκοαῖς αὐτῶν ἐκ μαργάρων καὶ ὑακίνθων τὴν τῆς εἰκόνος μορφὴν ἀλλοιοῦσαι, καὶ τοῦ προσώπου τὸ