John Chrysostom, On "I saw the Lord"

the cause of right actions? Did he not offer up his child, the fruit of his marriage? did he not become both a father and a God-lover? was it not possible to see a priest coming from his own loins? a priest and a father? nature being conquered and piety prevailing? his inward affection being trodden underfoot and pious right actions abounding? and the father being released and the God-lover being crowned? Did you not see him wholly a child-lover and a God-lover? Did marriage hinder him? What then? Was not the mother of the Maccabees a woman? Did she not give seven children, the choir of the saints? Did she not see them bear witness? Did she not stand like an unshaken mountain? Did she not stand for each one of them bearing witness, both a mother of martyrs and she herself bore witness seven times? For as they were being tortured, she herself received the blow. For she did not bear what was happening so impassively; for she was a mother, and the outrage of nature showed its own power; but she was not conquered. For she was a sea and waves; but just as the raging sea is stilled, so also nature, being stirred up, was bridled by the fear of God. How she anointed them? how she nourished them? how she presented seven temples to God, statues of gold, or rather, even more precious than gold? 4.3 For gold does not shine so brightly as the soul of martyrs. The tyrant stood by and, being defeated by a single woman, withdrew. He besieged with weapons, and she overcame with zeal; he kindled a furnace, and she the virtue of the Spirit; he moved an army, and she came to anchor with the angels; she saw the tyrant below and considered the one reigning above; she saw the tortures below and counted the prizes above; she saw the present punishment and considered the future immortality. [Therefore Paul also said: "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen."] Did marriage become any hindrance? What then of Peter, the foundation of the Church, the manic lover of Christ, the one uneducated in speech yet superior to orators, the unlearned one who stopped the mouths of philosophers, the one who dissolved the Greek religion like a spider's web, the one who ran about the inhabited world, the one who drew the net through the sea and fished the inhabited world, did not he also have a wife? Yes, he had one. And that he had one, listen to the evangelist. For what does he say? "Jesus entered the house of Peter's mother-in-law, who was sick with a fever." Where there is a mother-in-law, there is also a wife; where there is a wife, there is also a marriage. What then of Philip? did he not have four daughters? And where there are four daughters, there is also a wife and a marriage. What then of Christ? From a virgin, indeed, but he came to a marriage and brought a gift; "For they have no wine," he says; and he made the water wine, honoring marriage by his virginity, admiring the event by his gift; that you may not abhor marriage, but hate fornication. At my own risk I guarantee your salvation, even if you have a wife. Pay attention to yourself. If a wife is useful, she is your helper. What then if she is not useful? Make her useful. Were there not good women and bad, that you might not have an excuse? Of what sort was Job's? But Sarah was good. I will show you a base and wicked woman. Job's wife did not harm her husband; she was wicked and base, for she advised him to blaspheme. What then? did she shake the tower? did she cast down the adamant? did she overcome the rock? did she drive out the soldier? did she pierce the hull? did she uproot the tree? None of these; but she dashed against it, and the tower became more secure; she raised the waves, and the ship was not sunk, but sailed with a fair wind; its fruit was harvested, and the tree was not shaken; the leaves fell, and the root remained unshaken. I say these things, that no one may make the wickedness of a wife an excuse. Is she base? Correct her. But, he says, she cast me out of paradise. But she also brought you up to heaven. The same nature, indeed,

κατορθωμάτων ὑπόθεσις; Οὐκ ἀνήνεγκε τὸ παιδίον, τὸν καρπὸν τοῦ γάμου; οὐκ ἐγένετο καὶ πατὴρ καὶ φιλόθεος; οὐκ ἦν ἰδεῖν ἱερέα ἐξ οἰκείων σπλάγχνων γενόμενον; ἱερέα καὶ πατέρα; φύσιν νικωμένην καὶ εὐλάβειαν κρατοῦσαν; σπλάγχνα πατούμενα καὶ κατορθώματα εὐσεβῆ περιγινόμενα; καὶ τὸν πατέρα λυόμενον καὶ φιλόθεον στεφανούμενον; οὐκ εἶδες ὅλον φιλόπαιδα καὶ φιλόθεον; μήτι ἐκώλυσεν ὁ γάμος; Τί δαί; ἡ μήτηρ τῶν Μακκαβαίων οὐχὶ γυνὴ ἦν; οὐχὶ ἑπτὰ δέδωκεν παῖδας τὸν χορὸν τῶν ἁγίων; οὐκ εἶδεν αὐτοὺς μαρτυρήσαντας; οὐχ εἱστήκει καθάπερ ὄρος μὴ σαλευομένη; οὐχ εἱστήκει καθ' ἕκαστον αὐτῶν μαρτυροῦσα, καὶ μήτηρ μαρτύρων καὶ ἑπτάκις ἐμαρτύρησεν; Βασανιζομένων γὰρ ἐκείνων, αὐτὴ τὴν πληγὴν ἐδέχετο. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπαθῶς οὕτω τὰ γινόμενα ἔφερεν· μήτηρ γὰρ ἦν καὶ τῆς φύσεως ἡ ὕβρις τὴν οἰκείαν δύναμιν ἐπεδείκνυτο· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐνικᾶτο. Θάλασσα γὰρ ἦν καὶ κύματα· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἡ θάλασσα μαινομένη καταλύεται, οὕτω καὶ ἡ φύσις ἐγειρομένη τῷ φόβῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐχαλινοῦτο. Πῶς αὐτοὺς ἤλειψεν; πῶς αὐτοὺς ἔθρεψεν; πῶς ἑπτὰ ναοὺς τῷ Θεῷ παρέστησεν, ἀνδριάντας χρυσοῦς, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ χρυσοῦ τιμιωτέρους; 4.3 Οὐδὲ γὰρ τοιοῦτον ἀπολάμπει χρυσός, οἷον ψυχὴ μαρτύρων. Εἱστήκει ὁ τύραννος καὶ ὑπὸ μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἡττώμενος ἀνεχώρει. Ἐκεῖνος ὅπλοις ἐπολιόρκει καὶ αὕτη προθυμίᾳ περιεγένετο· ἐκεῖνος κάμινον ἀνῆψεν καὶ αὕτη τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος· ἐκεῖνος στρατόπεδον ἐκίνει καὶ αὕτη πρὸς ἀγγέλους μεθωρμίζετο· ἑώρα κάτω τὸν τύραννον καὶ ἐνενόει τὸν ἄνω βασιλεύοντα· ἑώρα τὰς κάτω βασάνους καὶ ἠρίθμει τὰ ἄνω βραβεῖα· ἑώρα τὴν παροῦσαν κόλασιν καὶ ἐνενόει τὴν μέλλουσαν ἀθανασίαν. [∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἔλεγεν· "Μὴ σκοπούντων ἡμῶν τὰ βλεπόμενα, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα."] Μή τι κώλυμα ὁ γάμος ἐγένετο; Τί δαὶ ὁ Πέτρος, ἡ κρηπὶς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ὁ μανικὸς ἐραστὴς τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ ἀπαίδευτος τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ῥητόρων περιγενόμενος, ὁ ἀμαθὴς καὶ φιλοσόφων ἀποφράξας στόματα, ὁ τὴν ἑλληνικὴν θρησκείαν καθάπερ ἀράχνην διαλύσας, ὁ τὴν οἰκουμένην περιδραμών, ὁ σαγηνεύσας τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ ἁλιεύσας τὴν οἰκουμένην, οὐκ εἶχε καὶ οὗτος γυναῖκα; Ναί, εἶχεν. Ὅτι δὲ ἔσχεν, ἄκουσον τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ. Τί δέ φησιν; "Εἰσῆλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς πρὸς τὴν πενθερὰν Πέτρου πυρέσσουσαν." Ὅπου πενθερά, ἐκεῖ καὶ γυνή· ὅπου γυνή, ἐκεῖ καὶ γάμος. Τί δαὶ ὁ Φίλιππος; οὐ τέσσαρας θυγατέρας εἶχεν; Ὅπου δὲ τέσσαρες θυγατέρες, ἐκεῖ καὶ γυνὴ καὶ γάμος. Τί τοίνυν ὁ Χριστός; Ἀπὸ παρθένου μέν, ἀλλ' εἰς γάμον παρεγένετο καὶ δῶρον εἰσήνεγκεν· "Οὐκ ἔχουσιν γάρ, φησίν, οἶνον"· καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ οἶνον ἐποίησεν, τῇ παρθενίᾳ τὸν γάμον τιμῶν, τῇ δωρεᾷ τὸ πρᾶγμα θαυμάζων· ἵνα μὴ βδελύσσῃ τὸν γάμον, ἀλλὰ μισῇς τὴν πορνείαν. Τῷ ἐμῷ κινδύνῳ ἐγγυῶμαί σου τὴν σωτηρίαν, κἂν γυναῖκα ἔχῃς. Πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ. Γυνὴ ἐὰν εὔχρηστος ᾖ, βοηθός σού ἐστιν. Τί οὖν ἂν μὴ ᾖ εὔχρηστος; Ποίησον αὐτὴν εὔχρηστον. Μὴ οὐκ ἐγένοντο καλαὶ γυναῖκες καὶ κακαί, ἵνα μὴ ἔχῃς πρόφασιν; Ποταπὴ ἡ τοῦ Ἰὼβ ἦν; Ἡ δὲ Σάρρα καλὴ ἦν. ∆είξω σοι γυναῖκα φαύλην καὶ πονηράν. Οὐκ ἔβλαψεν τὸν ἄνδρα ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ Ἰώβ· πονηρὰ ἦν καὶ φαύλη καὶ γὰρ βλασφημεῖν αὐτῷ συνεβούλευσεν. Τί οὖν; ἔσεισεν τὸν πύργον; κατήνεγκεν τὸν ἀδάμαντα; περιεγένετο τῆς πέτρας; ἐξέκρουσεν τὸν στρατιώτην; διέτρησεν τὸ σκάφος; ἐξερρίζωσεν τὸ δένδρον; Οὐδὲν τούτων· ἀλλ' ἐκείνη προσέκρουσεν, καὶ ὁ πύργος ἀσφαλέστερος ἐγίνετο· αὐτὴ τὰ κύματα ἤγειρεν, καὶ τὸ πλοῖον οὐ κατεποντίζετο, ἀλλ' ἐξ οὐρίας ἔπλεεν· ὁ καρπὸς αὐτοῦ ἐτρυγήθη, καὶ τὸ δένδρον οὐκ ἐσαλεύθη· τὰ φύλλα ἔπεσεν, καὶ ἡ ῥίζα ἔμενεν ἀσάλευτος. Ταῦτα λέγω, ἵνα μηδεὶς προφασίσηται κακίαν γυναικός. Φαύλη ἐστίν; ∆ιόρθωσον αὐτήν. Ἀλλά, φησίν, ἀπὸ παραδείσου με ἐξέβαλεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς οὐρανούς σε ἀνήνεγκεν. Ἡ αὐτὴ μὲν φύσις,