John Chrysostom, On Timothy

These countless evils they themselves have. But when they also lie readily, and are deceitful and gluttonous and idle, there is need of severe and striking speech; for by gentleness such a person would not be persuaded. Rebuke them therefore. Here he does not mean strangers, but their own people. Sharply. Give, he says, a deeper blow. For not all are to be treated in one way, but differently and variously, and according to the subjects. He nowhere exhorts here. For just as he who strikes the gentle and noble man destroys and ruins him; so he who flatters one who is in need of severity corrupts him and does not 62.679 allow him to rise up. That they may be sound, he says, in the faith. So then this is health, to introduce nothing spurious nor foreign. But if those who observe foods are not sound, but are sick and weak (For him that is weak in the faith, he says, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations); what might one say about those who fast the same things with them, about those who keep the Sabbath, about those who go to places dedicated to them? I mean the one in Daphne, the so-called cave of Matrona, the place in Cilicia called that of Cronus. And how are these sound? Therefore they need a more severe blow. Why then in the case of the Romans does he not do the same thing? Because their characters were not such, but they happened to be more noble. Not giving heed, he says, to Jewish fables. The Jewish rites are a fable in a twofold sense, both because it is a perversion, and because the matter is out of season; for then it becomes a fable. For when it ought not to happen, and having happened it is harmful, it is a fable, just as it is useless. As therefore one must not obey those, so neither these; for it is not being sound. For if you believe in the faith, why do you introduce other things, as if the faith were not sufficient to justify? why do you enslave yourself and subject yourself to the Law? Do you not have confidence in the matter? This belongs to one who is sick and unbelieving; for it is the mark of a faithful mind not to doubt; but such a one does doubt. All things indeed, he says, are pure to the pure. Do you see that what was said is relative? But to them that are defiled, he says, and unbelieving, nothing is pure. 3. Things are not then pure or impure according to their own nature, but according to the disposition of those who partake of them. But both their, he says, mind and conscience are defiled. They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate. Therefore the swine is also clean; why then was it forbidden as unclean? It was not unclean by nature; for all things are clean. since nothing is more unclean than a fish, which indeed even tastes of human bodies; but it was permitted, and was considered to be clean. Again, nothing is more unclean than a bird, for it eats worms; nothing than a stag; for they say it is called elaphos from eating snakes; but all these things were eaten. For what reason then did He forbid the swine and certain other such things? Not as being unclean, but to cut off excess luxury. But if He had said this, He would not have persuaded them; but now by the fear of uncleanness He restrained them. For what, tell me, is more unclean than wine, if one must examine these things? what of water, tell me, with which they were especially purified? They did not touch the dead, and yet they were purified with what was dead; for what is slain 62.680 is dead, and with this they were purified. Thus was the teaching for children. But consider: Does not wine have its substance from dung? For just as the vine draws moisture from the earth, so also from the dung lying nearby. And in general, if we wish to be precise, all things are unclean. But nothing, if we wish not to be precise, is unclean, but all things are pure; God made nothing unclean; for nothing is unclean, except sin alone; for it touches the soul, and defiles it. But this is a human prejudice. But to them that are defiled, he says, and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and conscience are defiled. For how in the pure

Τάδε μυρία κακὰ αὐτοὶ ἔχουσιν. Ὅταν δὲ καὶ ψεύδωνται προχείρως, καὶ δολεροὶ ὦσι καὶ γαστρίμαργοι καὶ ἀργοὶ, σφοδροῦ καὶ πληκτικοῦ τοῦ λόγου δεῖ· προσηνείᾳ γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἀχθείη ὁ τοιοῦτος. Ἔλεγχε οὖν αὐτούς. Ἐνταῦθα οὐ τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους φησὶν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς οἰκείους. Ἀποτόμως. Βαθυτέραν, φησὶ, δίδου τὴν πληγήν. Οὐ γὰρ πᾶσιν ἑνὶ τρόπῳ προσενεκτέον, ἀλλὰ διαφόρως καὶ ποικίλως, καὶ πρὸς τὰ ὑποκείμενα. Οὐδαμοῦ παρακαλεῖ ἐνταῦθα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ τὸν ἐπιεικῆ καὶ εὐγενῆ πλήττων ἀναιρεῖ καὶ ἀπόλλυσιν· οὕτως ὁ τὸν δεόμενον σφοδρότητος κολακεύων διαφθείρει καὶ οὐκ 62.679 ἀφίησι διαναστῆναι. Ἵνα ὑγιαίνωσι, φησὶν, ἐν τῇ πίστει. Ἄρα τοῦτο ὑγεία, τὸ μηδὲν νόθον μηδὲ ἀλλότριον ἐπεισάγειν. Εἰ δὲ οἱ βρώματα παρατηροῦντες οὐχ ὑγιαίνουσιν, ἀλλὰ νοσοῦσι καὶ ἀσθενοῦσι (Τοὺς γὰρ ἀσθενοῦντας, φησὶ, τῇ πίστει προσλαμβάνεσθε μὴ εἰς διακρίσεις διαλογισμῶν)· τί ἂν εἴποι τις περὶ τῶν τὰ αὐτὰ νηστευόντων αὐτοῖς, περὶ τῶν σαββατιζόντων, περὶ τῶν εἰς τόπους ἀπερχομένων ἐκείνοις ἀφιερωμένους; τὸν ἐν ∆άφνῃ λέγω, τὸ τῆς Ματρώνης λεγόμενον σπήλαιον, τὸν ἐν Κιλικίᾳ τόπον τὸν τοῦ Κρόνου λεγόμενον. Πῶς δὲ οὗτοι ὑγιαίνουσι; ∆ιὸ χρὴ σφοδροτέρας αὐτοῖς τῆς πληγῆς. ∆ιὰ τί οὖν ἐπὶ Ῥωμαίων τὸ αὐτὸ οὐ ποιεῖ; Ὅτιοὐ τοιαῦτα τὰ ἤθη ἐκείνων, ἀλλ' εὐγενέστεροι ἐτύγχανον. Μὴ προσέχοντες, φησὶν, Ἰουδαϊκοῖς μύθοις. ∆ιπλῇ μῦθος τὰ Ἰουδαϊκὰ, καὶ ὅτι παραποίησις, καὶ ὅτι παρὰ καιρὸν τὸ πρᾶγμα· λοιπὸν γὰρ μῦθος γίνεται. Ὅταν γὰρ μὴ δεῖ αὐτὸ γενέσθαι, καὶ γενόμενον βλάπτῃ, μῦθός ἐστιν, ὥσπερ ἄχρηστόν ἐστιν. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐκείνοις οὐ δεῖ πείθεσθαι, οὕτως οὐδὲ τούτοις· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ὑγιαίνειν. Εἰ γὰρ πιστεύεις τῇ πίστει, τί ἕτερα ἐπεισάγεις, ὡς οὐκ ἀρκούσης τῆς πίστεως δικαιῶσαι; τί καταδουλοῖς ἑαυτὸν καὶ ὑποβάλλεις τῷ νόμῳ; οὐ θαῤῥεῖς τῷ πράγματι; Τοῦτο νοσοῦντός ἐστι καὶ ἀπιστοῦντος· πιστῆς γὰρ διανοίας μὴ ἀμφιβάλλειν· ἀμφιβάλλει δὲ ὁ τοιοῦτος. Πάντα μὲν, φησὶ, καθαρὰ τοῖς καθαροῖς. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι πρός τί ἐστι τὸ εἰρημένον; Τοῖς δὲ μεμιαμμένοις, φησὶ, καὶ ἀπίστοις οὐδὲν καθαρόν. γʹ. Οὐκ ἄρα παρὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν καθαρὰ ἢ ἀκάθαρτα, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν τῶν μεταλαμβανόντων. Ἀλλὰ μεμίανται αὐτῶν, φησὶ, καὶ ὁ νοῦς καὶ ἡ συνείδησις. Θεὸν ὁμολογοῦσιν εἰδέναι, τοῖς δὲ ἔργοις ἀρνοῦνται, βδελυκτοὶ ὄντες καὶ ἀπειθεῖς καὶ πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἀδόκιμοι. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ὁ ὗς καθαρόν· τί οὖν ὡς ἀκάθαρτον ἀπηγόρευται; Οὐ τῇ φύσει ἀκάθαρτον ἦν· πάντα γὰρ καθαρά· ἐπεὶ οὐδὲν ἰχθύος ἀκαθαρτότερον, ὅπου γε καὶ ἀνθρωπίνων ἀπογεύεται σωμάτων· ἀλλ' ἐπετέτραπτο, καὶ καθαρὸν εἶναι ἐδόκει. Πάλιν οὐδὲν ὄρνιθος ἀκαθαρτότερον· σκώληκας γὰρ ἐσθίει· οὐδὲν ἐλάφου· καὶ γὰρ καὶ παρὰ τοῦτό φασιν αὐτὸν καλεῖσθαι ἔλαφον διὰ τὸ ὄφεις ἐσθίειν· ἀλλὰ πάντα ταῦτα ἠσθίετο. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν τὸν ὗν καὶ ἕτερά τινα τοιαῦτα ἀπηγόρευσεν; Οὐχ ὡς ἀκάθαρτα, ἀλλὰ τὸ πλέον τῆς τρυφῆς περικόπτων. Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν τοῦτο εἶπεν, οὐκ ἂν ἔπεισε· νῦν δὲ τῷ φόβῳ τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας αὐτοὺς κατέσχε. Τί γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, οἴνου ἀκαθαρτότερον, εἰ ταῦτα ἐξετάζειν χρή; τί δὲ ὕδατος, εἰπέ μοι, ᾧ μάλιστα ἐκαθαίροντο; νεκρῶν οὐχ ἥπτοντο, καὶ νεκρῷ καθηγνίζοντο· τὸ γὰρ σφαζόμενον 62.680 νεκρὸν, καὶ τούτῳ ἐκαθαίροντο. Οὕτω παίδων ἦν ἡ διδασκαλία. Σκόπει δέ· Ὁ οἶνος οὐχὶ ἀπὸ κόπρου τὴν σύστασιν ἔχει; ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἕλκει ἡ ἄμπελος τὴν νοτίδα, οὕτω καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς κόπρου τῆς παρακειμένης. Καὶ ὅλως, εἰ βουλοίμεθα ἀκριβολογεῖσθαι, πάντα ἀκάθαρτα. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν, εἰ βουλοίμεθα μὴ ἀκριβολογεῖσθαι, ἀκάθαρτον, ἀλλὰ πάντα καθαρά· οὐδὲν ὁ Θεὸς ἀκάθαρτον ἐποίησεν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀκάθαρτον, εἰ μὴ ἡ ἁμαρτία μόνη· ψυχῆς γὰρ ἅπτεται, καὶ ταύτην ῥυποῖ. Τοῦτο δὲ πρόληψίς ἐστιν ἀνθρωπίνη. Τοῖς δὲ μεμιαμμένοις, φησὶ, καὶ ἀπίστοις οὐδὲν καθαρὸν, ἀλλὰ μεμίανται αὐτῶν καὶ ὁ νοῦς καὶ ἡ συνείδησις. Πῶς γὰρ ἐν τοῖς καθαροῖς