John Chrysostom, On "Do not fear"

with gentleness, those dedicated to God with precision, we admire them, we praise them, we proclaim them, since this is especially the glory of man. Knowing these things, then, do not consider any of those to be enviable who are clothed in those things which have nothing in common with him. And if you see someone sitting on a chariot, raising his eyebrows, stretching himself up, touching the very clouds, not by the nature of the thing (for it is not possible), but by the desperation of his soul, or rather by his folly, do not consider this man glorious, nor lofty and great. For it is not mules pulling that make a man lofty, but the summit of virtue leading up to the arches of the heavens. And if you see another sitting on a horse, with many lictors, and strutting in the marketplace, do not call him blessed for these things, but unfold his soul, and then form a judgment about him based on what the sight of it suggests. As for the things now seen, they are ridiculous. For why do you strut in the marketplace? Tell me. Why do you drive away and put to flight those you meet, you, a man, another man? What is this arrogance? What is this desperation? For have you become a wolf, or a lion, that upon entering a city you turn everyone to flight? Nay rather, a wolf would never drive away a wolf, nor a lion a lion, but they herd together, respecting the fellowship of nature; but you, who along with nature have many other claims to gentleness, humility, and equality, why do you become more bestial than the beasts, and through your irrationality despise rational beings? And your Master led man up to heaven, but you do not even share the marketplace with him? Why do I say to heaven? He seated him on a royal throne, and you drive him even from the city? And what does the golden bridle mean to you, the one adorning the horse? and what defense will you obtain, or what pardon, when you adorn beyond need the irrational animal that is not even aware of the honor (for gold and lead are the same to it), while seeing Christ wasting away with hunger, and not allowing him to enjoy even necessary food? And why do you not endure, being a man, to mingle with men, but seek solitude in the midst of cities, and do not consider that your Master also ate with tax collectors, and spoke with a prostitute, and was crucified with robbers, and mingled with men; but being tyrannized by arrogance and desperation, are you destroying even your being a man? From this comes our great contempt for almsgiving, from this the love of greed, from this cruelty and inhumanity. For when you put a golden bridle on your horse, and a golden collar on your servant, and golden studs on a stone, and you have golden skins, and golden garments, and a golden belt, and shoes, and surround yourself with so many constraints of this wickedness, wishing to fulfill your insatiable desire, and to provide food for the cruelest beast of all, I mean the love of money; then you also strip orphans, and you lay bare widows, and you go about as a common enemy to all, unwinding a certain vain toil, and a course having no good end. For what does it mean to you for your barbarian servant to wear gold? what is the gain? what is the benefit for the soul? what is the advantage for the body? what is the income for the house, Quite the contrary in every way, an unseasonable expense, a cost full of irrationality, a pretext for licentiousness, a school of wickedness, a starting-point for a vulgar and dissolute life, a corruption of the soul, a road leading to countless evils. And the silver-bound couches, the gold-spangled ones, and the footstools, and the basins fashioned from these things, and the much laughter, how can this set your life straight? how has it made you better, or your wife, or anyone else in the household? Are not many robbers and burglars from this? Do not servants run away because of this? For when looking everywhere they see gleaming silver, is nourished in

ἐπιεικείᾳ, τῷ Θεῷ μετ' ἀκριβείας ἀνακειμένους, αὐτοὺς θαυμάζομεν, ἐπαινοῦμεν, ἀνακηρύττομεν, ἐπειδήπερ αὕτη ἀνθρώπου μάλιστά ἐστιν ἡ δόξα. Ταῦτα γοῦν εἰδότες, μηδένα ζηλωτὸν εἶναι νομίζετε τῶν ἐκεῖνα περιβεβλημένων, ἃ μηδὲν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔχει κοινόν. Κἂν ἴδῃς ἐπὶ ὀχήματός τινα καθήμενον, τὰς ὀφρῦς ἀνασπῶντα, ἀνατεινόμενον, αὐτῶν ἁπτόμενον τῶν νεφελῶν, οὐ τῇ φύσει τοῦ πράγματος (οὐ γὰρ δυνατὸν), ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀπονοίᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς, μᾶλλον δὲ τῇ ἀνοίᾳ, μὴ νόμιζε τοῦτον ἔνδοξον, μηδὲ ὑψηλὸν καὶ μέγαν. Ὑψηλὸν γὰρ οὐχ ἡμίονοι ποιοῦσιν ἕλκουσαι, ἀλλ' ἀρετῆς κορυφὴ πρὸς τὰς ἁψῖδας ἀνάγουσα τῶν οὐρανῶν. Κἂν ἄλλον θεάσῃ ἐφ' ἵππου καθήμενον, πολλοὺς ἔχοντα τοὺς ῥαβδούχους, καὶ σοβοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, μηδὲ τοῦτον μακαρίζῃς διὰ ταῦτα, ἀλλ' ἀνάπτυξον αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τότε περὶ αὐτοῦ ψηφίζου ταῦτα, ἅπερ ἡ ἐκείνης ὄψις ὑποβάλλει. Ὡς τά γε νῦν ὁρώμενα καταγέλαστα. Τί γὰρ σοβεῖς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς; εἰπέ μοι· τί δὲ ἐλαύνεις τοὺς ἀπαντῶντας, καὶ φυγαδεύεις, ἄνθρωπος ὢν, ἄνθρωπον; Τίς ὁ τῦφος; τίς ἡ ἀπόνοια; Μὴ γὰρ λύκος γέγονας, ἢ λέων, ὡς εἰσιὼν εἰς πόλιν ἅπαντας εἰς φυγὴν τρέπειν; Μᾶλλον δὲ λύκος μὲν λύκον οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἐλάσῃ, οὐδὲ λέων λέοντα, ἀλλὰ συναγελάζονται, τὴν κοινωνίαν τῆς φύσεως αἰδούμενοι· σὺ δὲ, ὁ μετὰ τῆς φύσεως καὶ ἕτερα πολλὰ δικαιώματα ἔχων ἡμερότητος, ταπεινοφροσύνης, ἰσονομίας, τί γίνῃ τῶν θηρίων θηριωδέστερος, καὶ διὰ τὸ ἄλογον τῶν λογικῶν καταφρονεῖς; Καὶ ὁ μὲν ∆εσπότης σου εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνήγαγε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, σὺ δὲ οὐδὲ ἀγορᾶς αὐτῷ μεταδίδως; Τί δὲ λέγω εἰς οὐρανόν; Εἰς θρόνον ἐκάθισε βασιλικὸν, σὺ δὲ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐξελαύνεις; Τί δέ σοι καὶ ὁ χαλινὸς εἶναι βούλεται ὁ χρυσοῦς, ὁ τὸν ἵππον κατακοσμῶν; ποίας δὲ ἀπολογίας τεύξῃ, ἢ τίνος συγγνώμης, τὸ μὲν ἄλογον καὶ οὐδὲ τῆς φιλοτιμίας αἰσθανόμενον ὑπὲρ τὴν χρείαν καλλωπίζων (ταὐτὸν γὰρ ἐκείνῳ καὶ χρυσὸς, καὶ μόλυβδος), τὸν δὲ Χριστὸν λιμῷ τηκόμενον ὁρῶν, καὶ οὐδὲ τῆς ἀναγκαίας ποιῶν ἀπολαύειν τροφῆς; Τί δὲ οὐκ ἀνέχῃ, ἄνθρωπος ὢν, ἀνθρώποις ἀναμίγνυσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐρημίαν ἐπιζητεῖς ἐν μέσαις ταῖς πόλεσι, καὶ οὐκ ἐννοεῖς ὅτι καὶ ὁ ∆εσπότης σου μετὰ τελωνῶν ἤσθιε, 55.515 καὶ μετὰ πόρνης διελέγετο, καὶ μετὰ λῃστῶν ἐσταυροῦτο, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεμίγνυτο· ἀλλὰ τῷ τύφῳ καὶ τῇ ἀπονοίᾳ τυραννούμενος, ἀπολλύεις καὶ τὸ ἄνθρωπος εἶναι; Ἐντεῦθεν ἡμῖν ἡ πολλὴ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης ὑπεροψία, ἐντεῦθεν ὁ τῆς πλεονεξίας ἔρως, ἐντεῦθεν ἡ ὠμότης καὶ ἀπανθρωπία. Ὅταν γὰρ καὶ χαλινὸν χρυσοῦν τῷ ἵππῳ περιθῇς, καὶ μανιάκην χρυσοῦν τῷ οἰκέτῃ, καὶ πέταλα χρυσᾶ τῷ λίθῳ, καὶ δέρματα χρυσᾶ παρὰ σοὶ, καὶ ἱμάτια χρυσᾶ, καὶ ζώνη[ν] χρυσῆ[ν], καὶ ὑποδήματα, καὶ τοσαύτας τῆς πονηρίας ταύτης σαυτῷ περιθῇς ἀνάγκας, βουλόμενος τὴν ἀκόρεστον ἐπιθυμίαν πληροῦν, καὶ τροφὴν, τῷ πάντων ὠμοτάτῳ θηρίῳ παρέχειν, τῇ φιλαργυρίᾳ λέγω· τότε καὶ ὀρφανοὺς ἀποδύεις, καὶ χήρας γυμνοῖς, καὶ κοινὸς περιέρχῃ πολέμιος ἅπασι, μάταιόν τινα ἀνελίττων πόνον, καὶ δρόμον οὐδὲν ἔχοντα πέρας χρηστόν. Τί γάρ σοι βούλεται τὸ τὸν οἰκέτην σου τὸν βάρβαρον χρυσοφορεῖν; τί τὸ κέρδος; τίς ἡ ὠφέλεια τῆς ψυχῆς; τίς ὄνησις σώματος; ποία πρόσοδος οἰκίας, Τοὐναντίον μὲν ἅπαν, ἄκαιρος δαπάνη, ἀνάλωμα ἀλογίας γέμον, ἀσελγείας ὑπόθεσις, διδασκαλεῖον κακίας, βαναύσου βίου καὶ διαῤῥέοντος ἀφορμὴ, φθορὰ ψυχῆς, ὁδὸς ἐπὶ μυρία φέρουσα κακά. Αἱ δὲ κλῖναι αἱ ἀργυρένδετοι, αἱ χρυσόπαστοι, καὶ τὰ ὑποπόδια, καὶ οἱ λέβητες οἱ ἐντεῦθεν κατεσκευασμένοι, καὶ ὁ πολὺς γέλως, τί σοι τὸν βίον ὀρθῶσαι δύναται; τί δὲ ἀμείνω σε ἐποίησεν, ἢ τὴν σύνοικον, ἢ ἄλλον τινὰ τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν; Οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν λῃσταὶ καὶ τοιχωρύχοι πολλοί; οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν οἰκέται δραπετεύουσιν; Ὅταν γὰρ πανταχοῦ βλέποντες ἄργυρον ἴδωσι στίλβοντα, τρέφεται ἐν