John Chrysostom, On Lazarus

This is wont to disturb us. But nevertheless, though the waves were so great, and came one after another, the boat was not sunk; but as one lying in a furnace, enjoying as it were a continual dew, so he practiced philosophy. 11. For he said nothing of this sort to himself, such as many are likely to say, that this rich man, if he departs and is punished there and pays the penalty, it has become one for one; but if he enjoys the same honors there too, it has become two to nothing. Or do not you, the many, spread these things about in the marketplaces, bringing into the church things from the hippodrome and the theaters outside? I am ashamed, therefore, and I blush to bring these words forward; but yet it is necessary to say these things, so that you may be freed from the disorderly laughter and the shame and the harm from these words. Many often say these things, laughing; but this too is of diabolical malice, to introduce corrupt doctrines into our life under the guise of witty sayings. For many spread these things about continually in workshops, and in the marketplace, and in homes; which is a mark of extreme unbelief and madness and is truly laughable and of a childish mind. For to say that if the wicked depart and are punished, and not to be strongly persuaded that they will certainly be punished, is the part of unbelievers and doubters; but if this should happen, which indeed will happen, to think that they have enjoyed a retribution equal to that of the righteous, this is of extreme folly. What do you say, tell me? If the rich man departs and is punished there, has it become one for one? And how could that be reasonable? For how many years here do you wish to set that he enjoyed his wealth? Do you wish that we set it at one hundred? But I set it at two hundred, and three hundred and twice that. And, if you wish, even a thousand, which is impossible; For the days of our years, he says, are eighty years; but still let it be set at a thousand. Can you show, tell me, a life here that has no end, nor knows a limit, such as is that of the righteous there? If someone, then, tell me, in a hundred years saw a pleasant dream for one night, and having enjoyed much luxury in his sleep, were to be punished for the hundred years, would you be able to say in this case, one for one, and to make that one night of dreams a counterbalance to the hundred years? It is not possible to say. Consider this, then, also concerning the life to come. For what one dream is to a hundred years, this is the present life in relation to the life to come; or rather, much more so; as a small drop is to a boundless sea, so are a thousand years to that future glory and enjoyment. For what more could one say, than that it has no limit and knows no end, and as great as is the distance between dreams and the 48.979 truth of things, so great is the difference between this state and that one? And besides, even before the punishment there, those who practice wickedness and live in sins are punished from here. For do not simply tell me of the one enjoying a sumptuous table, and the one clothed in silk garments, and leading about herds of slaves, and strutting in the marketplace; but unfold for me this man's conscience, and you will see a great turmoil of sins within, continual fear, a storm, confusion, just as in a court of justice the mind has ascended to the royal throne of the conscience, and sits like some judge, and presents the thoughts like executioners, and hangs the intellect, and tortures it for its sins, and cries out loudly, with no one knowing, except God alone who knows how to see these things. For the adulterer, even if he is ten thousand times rich, even if he has no one to accuse him, does not cease accusing himself within; and the pleasure is temporary, but the pain is continual, fear and trembling from every side, suspicion and agony; he fears the narrow streets, he trembles at the very shadows, his own servants, those who know, those who do not know, the wronged woman herself, the insulted husband; he goes about carrying a bitter accuser, the conscience, being self-condemned, and not even for a little while to catch his breath

τοῦτο ἡμᾶς εἴωθε θορυβεῖν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως τοσούτων ὄντων τῶν κυμάτων, καὶ ἐπαλλήλων φερομένων οὐ κατεποντίσθη τὸ σκάφος· ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν καμίνῳ κείμενος, καθάπερ δρόσου διηνεκοῦς ἀπολαύων, οὕτως ἐφιλοσόφει. ιαʹ. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε πρὸς ἑαυτὸν οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον, οἷον πολλοὺς λέγειν εἰκὸς, ὅτι οὗτος ὁ πλούσιος, ἂν μὲν ἀπελθὼν ἐκεῖ κολασθῇ καὶ δῷ τιμωρίαν, ἓν ἓν γέγονεν· ἂν δὲ κἀκεῖ τῶν αὐτῶν ἀπολαύσῃ τιμῶν, δύο γέγονεν οὐδέν. Ἢ οὐ ταῦτα περιφέρετε ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς ὑμεῖς οἱ πολλοὶ, τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς ἱπποδρομίας καὶ τῶν ἔξω θεάτρων εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν εἰσάγοντες; Αἰσχύνομαι μὲν οὖν εἰς μέσον ταῦτα προτιθεὶς τὰ ῥήματα καὶ ἐρυθριῶ· πλὴν ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη ταῦτα εἰπεῖν, ἵνα ὑμεῖς ἀπαλλαγῆτε τοῦ ἀτάκτου γέλωτος καὶ τῆς αἰσχύνης καὶ τῆς βλάβης τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων. Ταῦτα πολλοὶ πολλάκις γελῶντες λέγουσιν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο διαβολικῆς κακουργίας ἐστὶν, ἐν τάξει ῥημάτων ἀστείων διεφθαρμένα εἰσάγειν εἰς τὸν βίον ἡμῶν δόγματα. Ταῦτα γὰρ συνεχῶς καὶ ἐν ἐργαστηρίοις, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις πολλοὶ περιφέρουσιν· ὅπερ ἐσχάτης ἀπιστίας ἐστὶ καὶ παρανοίας καὶ γέλωτος ὄντως καὶ παιδικῆς διανοίας. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ λέγειν, ὅτι ἐὰν ἀπελθόντες οἱ πονηροὶ κολασθῶσι, καὶ μὴ σφόδρα πεπεικέναι ἑαυτοὺς, ὅτι κολασθήσονται πάντως, ἀπιστούντων ἐστὶ καὶ διαμφισβητούντων· τὸ δὲ, εἰ καὶ τοῦτο συμβαίη, ὅπερ οὖν καὶ συμβήσεται, νομίζειν τῆς ἴσης αὐτοὺς τοῖς δικαίοις ἀνταποδόσεως ἀπολελαυκέναι, τοῦτο ἐσχάτης ἀνοίας. Τί λέγεις, εἰπέ μοι; ἐὰν ἀπελθὼν ὁ πλούσιος ἐκεῖ κολάζηται, ἓν ἓν γέγονε; καὶ πῶς ἂν ἔχοι λόγον; Πόσα γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐνταῦθα βούλει θεῖναι ἀπολελαυκέναι τῶν χρημάτων ἔτη; βούλει θῶμεν ἑκατόν; Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ διακόσια τίθημι, καὶ τριακόσια καὶ δὶς τοσαῦτα. καὶ, εἰ βούλει, καὶ χίλια, ὅπερ ἀδύνατον· Αἱ ἡμέραι γὰρ, φησὶ, τῶν ἐτῶν ἡμῶν, ὀγδοήκοντα ἔτη· πλὴν ἀλλὰ κείσθω καὶ χίλια. Μὴ ζωὴν ἔχεις, εἰπέ μοι, ἐνταῦθα δεῖξαι τέλος οὐκ ἔχουσαν, οὐδὲ πέρας ἐπισταμένην, οἵαπερ ἐστὶν ἡ τῶν δικαίων ἐκεῖ; Εἴ τις οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, ἐν ἔτεσιν ἑκατὸν μίαν νύκτα ὄναρ ἰδὼν χρηστὸν, καὶ πολλῆς καθ' ὕπνους ἀπολαύσας τρυφῆς, τὰ ἑκατὸν ἔτη κολάζοιτο, ἆρα δυνήσῃ λέγειν ἐπὶ τούτῳ, ἓν καὶ ἓν, καὶ τὴν μίαν νύκτα τῶν ὀνειράτων ἐκείνων τοῖς ἑκατὸν ἔτεσιν ἀντίῤῥοπον ποιεῖσθαι; Οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. Τοῦτο δὴ καὶ περὶ τῆς μελλούσης ζωῆς λογίζου. Ὅπερ γάρ ἐστιν ὄναρ ἓν πρὸς ἑκατὸν ἔτη, τοῦτό ἐστιν ὁ παρὼν βίος πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν ζωήν· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πολλῷ πλέον· ὅσον ἐστὶ σταγὼν μικρὰ πρὸς πέλαγος ἄπειρον, τοσοῦτόν ἐστι χίλια ἔτη πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἐκείνην καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν. Καὶ τί γὰρ ἂν ἔχοι τις πλέον εἰπεῖν, ἢ ὅτι πέρας οὐκ ἔχει καὶ τέλος οὐκ οἶδε, καὶ ὅσον ἐστὶ τὸ μέσον ὀνείρων καὶ τῆς 48.979 τῶν πραγμάτων ἀληθείας, τοσοῦτόν ἐστι τῆς καταστάσεως ταύτης καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖ τὸ διάφορον; Ἄλλως δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἐκεῖ κολάσεως, ἐντεῦθεν οἱ πονηρευόμενοι καὶ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ζῶντες κολάζονται. Μὴ γάρ μοι τὸν τραπέζης ἀπολαύοντα πολυτελοῦς ἁπλῶς εἴπῃς, καὶ τὸν ἱμάτια περιβεβλημένον σηρικὰ, καὶ ἀνδραπόδων ἀγέλας περιφέροντα, καὶ σοβοῦντα ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς· ἀλλ' ἀνάπτυξόν μοι τούτου τὸ συνειδὸς, καὶ ὄψει πολὺν ἔνδοθεν θόρυβον τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, φόβον διηνεκῆ, χειμῶνα, ταραχὴν, καθάπερ ἐν δικαστηρίῳ τὸν νοῦν ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον ἀναβάντα τὸν βασιλικὸν τοῦ συνειδότος, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ δικαστὴν καθήμενον, καὶ τοὺς λογισμοὺς παριστῶντα, καθάπερ δημίους, καὶ ἀναρτῶντα τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ καταξαίνοντα ὑπὲρ τῶν ἡμαρτημένων, καὶ ἐμβοῶντα μεγάλα, μηδενὸς εἰδότος, ἀλλ' ἢ τοῦ ταῦτα ἐπισταμένου βλέπειν Θεοῦ μόνου. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ μοιχεύων, κἂν μυριάκις ᾖ πλούσιος, κἂν μηδένα κατηγοροῦντα ἔχῃ, οὐ παύεται ἑαυτοῦ κατηγορῶν ἔνδον· καὶ ἡ μὲν ἡδονὴ πρόσκαιρος, ἡ δὲ ὀδύνη διηνεκὴς, φόβος πανταχόθεν καὶ τρόμος, ὑποψία καὶ ἀγωνία· τοὺς στενωποὺς δέδοικε, τὰς σκιὰς αὐτὰς τρέμει, τοὺς οἰκέτας τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ, τοὺς συνειδότας, τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας, τὴν ἠδικημένην αὐτὴν, τὸν ὑβρισμένον ἄνδρα· περιέρχεται πικρὸν κατήγορον περιφέρων τὸ συνειδὸς, αὐτοκατάκριτος ὢν, καὶ οὐδὲ μικρὸν ἀναπνεῦσαι