John Chrysostom, On Lazarus

being able. For both on his bed, and at his table, and in the marketplace, and in his house, and by day, and by night, and often in his very dreams he sees the images of sin, and lives the life of Cain, groaning and trembling upon the earth, and with no one knowing, he has the fire gathered within him always. This is what the rapacious and the covetous suffer; this also is what the drunkards suffer, and simply each of those who live in sin; for it is impossible for that tribunal to be corrupted. But even if we do not pursue virtue, still we are in pain because we do not pursue it, and even if we pursue vice, still when we cease from the pleasure that comes with sin, we feel the pain. Therefore, let us not say of those who are rich and wicked here, and of the righteous who enjoy things there, that it is one for one, but that it is two for nothing. For to the righteous, both things there and things here provide much pleasure; but those in wickedness and in covetousness are punished both here and there. For they are punished here both by the expectation of punishment there, and by the evil suspicion of all, and by the very act of sinning and corrupting their own soul; and after their departure from here, they endure unbearable punishments. Again, the righteous, even if they suffer countless terrible things here, are nourished by good hopes, having a pure, firm, and unshakable pleasure; and after these things, countless good things will await them, just as they did for Lazarus. For do not tell me that he was full of sores, but consider this, that within he had a soul more precious than all gold; or rather, not only his soul, but also his body; for the virtue of a body is not much flesh and good condition, but to bear so many and such torments. For it is not if someone has such wounds on his body that such a one is abominable; but if someone, having countless sores on his soul, takes no care of them; such was that rich man, all ulcerated within. And 48.980 just as the dogs licked his wounds, so demons licked that man's sins; and just as this one lived in hunger for food, so that one lived in hunger for all virtue. 12. Knowing all these things, therefore, let us be philosophers, and not say, "If God loved so-and-so, He would not have allowed him to become poor." This very thing is the greatest proof of love: For whom the Lord loves, He chastens; and He scourges every son whom He receives. And again, "Child, if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation, make your heart straight, and be patient." Let us therefore cast out from ourselves, beloved, these superfluous prejudices, and these vulgar sayings. For "filthiness," he says, "and foolish talking, and coarse jesting, let them not proceed out of your mouth." Let us, therefore, neither say these things ourselves, but even if we see others saying them, let us silence them, let us rise up vehemently against them, let us restrain their shameless tongue. If you should see, tell me, a bandit chief running down the roads, lying in wait for passersby, seizing things from the fields, burying gold and silver in caves and hiding places, and shutting up many herds there, and possessing many garments and slaves from that raid, do you, tell me, call him blessed because of that wealth, or do you call him wretched because of the justice that is about to overtake him? And yet he has not been caught, nor has he been handed over to the hands of the judge, nor has he fallen into prison, nor has he had an accuser, nor has he come under judgment, but he lives in luxury, gets drunk, enjoys much abundance; but nevertheless we do not call him blessed for the present things that are seen, but we call him wretched for the future things that are expected. Consider this also in the case of the rich and the covetous. They are like certain bandits lying in wait on the roads, seizing the things of passersby, burying the possessions of others in their own chambers as if in caves and hiding places. Let us not therefore call them blessed for the present things, but let us call them wretched for the things to come, for that fearful tribunal, for the inescapable accounts, for the outer darkness, which is about to ... them

δυνάμενος. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ κλίνης, καὶ ἐν τραπέζῃ, καὶ ἐν ἀγορᾷ, καὶ ἐν οἰκίᾳ, καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ, καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ὀνείρασι πολλάκις τὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας εἴδωλα βλέπει, καὶ τὸν τοῦ Κάϊν ζῇ βίον, στένων καὶ τρέμων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ μηδενὸς εἰδότος, ἔνδον ἔχει τὸ πῦρ συνειλεγμένον ἀεί. Τοῦτο καὶ οἱ ἁρπάζοντες, καὶ οἱ πλεονεκτοῦντες πάσχουσι· τοῦτο καὶ οἱ μεθύοντες, καὶ ἕκαστος δὲ ἁπλῶς τῶν ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ζώντων· ἀμήχανον γὰρ ἐκεῖνο διαφθαρῆναι τὸ δικαστήριον· ἀλλὰ κἂν μὴ μετίωμεν τὴν ἀρετὴν, ὅμως ὀδυνώμεθα, ἐπειδὴ μὴ μετερχόμεθα, κἂν μετίωμεν τὴν κακίαν, ὅμως παυσάμενοι τῆς ἡδονῆς τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, αἰσθανόμεθα τῆς ὀδύνης. Μὴ τοίνυν λέγωμεν ἐπὶ τῶν πλουτούντων ἐνταῦθα καὶ πονηρευομένων, καὶ τῶν δικαίων τῶν ἀπολαυόντων ἐκεῖ, ὅτι ἓν ἓν, ἀλλ' ὅτι δύο οὐδέν. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ δικαίοις καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖ καὶ τὰ ἐνταῦθα πολλὴν παρέχει τὴν ἡδονήν· οἱ δὲ ἐν πονηρίαις καὶ ἐν πλεονεξίαις, καὶ ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἐκεῖ κολάζονται. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα κολάζονται τῇ προσδοκίᾳ τῆς ἐκεῖ τιμωρίας, καὶ τῇ πονηρᾷ παρὰ πάντων ὑποψίᾳ, καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ ἁμαρτάνειν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἑαυτῶν διαφθείρειν· καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδημίαν ἀφορήτους ὑπομένουσι τιμωρίας. Πάλιν οἱ δίκαιοι, κἂν μυρία πάσχωσιν ἐνταῦθα δεινὰ, χρησταῖς συντρέφονται ταῖς ἐλπίσιν, ἡδονὴν ἔχοντες καθαρὰν, βεβαίαν, ἀκίνητον· καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τὰ μυρία αὐτοὺς διαδέξεται ἀγαθὰ, καθάπερ οὖν καὶ τὸν Λάζαρον. Μὴ γάρ μοι τοῦτο εἴπῃς, ὅτι ἥλκωτο, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο σκόπει, ὅτι χρυσοῦ παντὸς τιμιωτέραν ἔνδον εἶχε τὴν ψυχήν· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐ τὴν ψυχὴν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ· ἀρετὴ γὰρ σώματος οὐ πολυσαρκία καὶ εὐεξία, ἀλλὰ τοσαύτας καὶ τοιαύτας φέρειν βασάνους. Οὐ γὰρ, εἴ τις ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος τραύματα ἔχοι τοιαῦτα, βδελυκτὸς ὁ τοιοῦτος· ἀλλ' εἴ τις ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἕλκη μυρία ἔχων, μηδεμίαν αὐτῶν ἐπιμέλειαν ποιοῖτο· οἷος ἦν ἐκεῖνος ὁ πλούσιος, ἔνδοθεν ἡλκωμένος ἅπας. Καὶ 48.980 καθάπερ οἱ κύνες τούτου περιέλειχον τὰ τραύματα, οὕτως ἐκείνου δαίμονες τὰ ἁμαρτήματα· καὶ καθάπερ οὗτος ἐν λιμῷ τροφῆς, οὕτως ἐκεῖνος ἐν λιμῷ πάσης ἀρετῆς ἔζη. ιβʹ. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδότες ἅπαντα φιλοσοφῶμεν, καὶ μὴ λέγωμεν, ὅτι εἰ τὸν δεῖνα ἐφίλει ὁ Θεὸς, οὐκ ἂν αὐτὸν ἀφῆκε γενέσθαι πένητα. Αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο μέγιστον ἀγάπης τεκμήριόν ἐστιν· Ὃν γὰρ ἀγαπᾷ Κύριος, παιδεύει· μαστιγοῖ δὲ πάντα υἱὸν, ὃν παραδέχεται. Καὶ πάλιν, Τέκνον, ἐὰν προσέρχῃ δουλεύειν Κυρίῳ, ἑτοίμασον τὴν ψυχήν σου εἰς πειρασμὸν, εὔθυνον τὴν καρδίαν σου, καὶ καρτέρησον. Ἐκβάλωμεν οὖν, ἀγαπητοὶ, τὰς περιττὰς ταύτας προλήψεις ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν, καὶ τὰ δημώδη ταῦτα ῥήματα. Αἰσχρότης γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ μωρολογία, καὶ εὐτραπελία μὴ ἐκπορευέσθω ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν. Μήτε οὖν αὐτοὶ ταῦτα λέγωμεν, ἀλλὰ κἂν ἑτέρους ἴδωμεν ταῦτα λέγοντας, ἐπιστομίσωμεν, κατεξαναστῶμεν σφοδρῶς, ἐπίσχωμεν τὴν ἀναίσχυντον αὐτῶν γλῶτταν. Εἴ τινα ἴδῃς, εἰπέ μοι, λῄσταρχον κατατρέχοντα τὰς ὁδοὺς, τοῖς παριοῦσιν ἐφεδρεύοντα, τὰ ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν ἁρπάζοντα, εἰς σπήλαια καὶ καταδύσεις χρυσίον καὶ ἀργύριον κατορύττοντα, καὶ ἀγέλας ἀποκλείοντα πολλὰς ἐκεῖ, καὶ ἱμάτια καὶ ἀνδράποδα πολλὰ κεκτημένον ἐκ τῆς καταδρομῆς ἐκείνης, ἆρα αὐτὸν, εἰπέ μοι, μακαρίζεις διὰ τὸν πλοῦτον ἐκεῖνον, ἢ ταλανίζεις διὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν αὐτὸν διαδέχεσθαι δίκην; Καίτοι οὔπω συνείληπται, οὐδὲ εἰς χεῖρας τοῦ δικαστοῦ παραδέδοται, οὐδὲ εἰς δεσμωτήριον ἐνέπεσεν, οὐδὲ κατήγορον ἔσχεν, οὐδὲ ὑπὸ ψῆφον ἐγένετο, ἀλλὰ τρυφᾷ, μεθύει, εὐπορίας ἀπολαύει πολλῆς· ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐ διὰ τὰ παρόντα καὶ τὰ ὁρώμενα αὐτὸν μακαρίζομεν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ προσδοκώμενα ταλανίζομεν. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν πλουτούντων καὶ πλεονεκτούντων λόγισαι. Λῃσταί τινές εἰσιν ὁδοῖς ἐφεδρεύοντες, τὰ τῶν παριόντων ἁρπάζοντες, ὥσπερ ἐν σπηλαίοις καὶ καταδύσεσι, τοῖς ἑαυτῶν θαλάμοις κατορύττοντες τὰς ἑτέρων περιουσίας. Μὴ τοίνυν μακαρίζωμεν αὐτοὺς διὰ τὰ παρόντα, ἀλλὰ ταλανίζωμεν διὰ τὰ μέλλοντα, διὰ τὸ φοβερὸν ἐκεῖνο δικαστήριον, διὰ τὰς ἀπαραιτήτους εὐθύνας, διὰ τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, ὃ μέλλει αὐτοὺς