John Chrysostom, On the Tempting Devil

for some reasonable pretext is hung on the wood and has his sides scraped, let him not consider the matter a reproach, nor give in to the pain, thinking of this holy one. But this man, he says, had sufficient consolation and comfort, in knowing that God was bringing these things upon him. This, then, is what most disturbed and troubled him, that the just God, whom he had served in every way, this one he thought was warring against him. And he could not find any reasonable pretext for what was happening; since, when he later learned the cause, see what great piety 49.272 he displayed; for when God said to him: ‘Do you think I have dealt with you otherwise than that you might be shown to be righteous?’ being astonished, he says: ‘I will lay my hand on my mouth; I have spoken once, but I will not add a second time.’ And again, ‘I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear before; but now my eye has seen you; wherefore I have despised myself, and am wasted away; and I have considered myself earth and ashes.’ 6. But if you think this is enough for consolation, you will also be able to have this comfort yourself. For even if you suffer some terrible thing not for God's sake, but from the insults of men, yet if you give thanks, and do not blaspheme the one who could prevent it, but allowed it for the sake of your trial, just as those who suffer for God's sake are crowned, so also you will obtain the same rewards, because you have nobly borne the calamities inflicted upon you by men, and have given thanks to the one who was able to prevent them, but did not wish to. Behold, then, both poverty and sickness, and both in the utmost degree, you have seen inflicted upon the righteous man. Shall I also show you the war from nature assailing that noble one then with such excess? He lost ten children, the ten all at once, the ten in the very flower of their age, the ten having displayed much virtue, and not even by the common law of nature, but by a violent and pitiable death. Who could tell of such a calamity? There is no one. When, therefore, you lose a son and a daughter together, run back to that righteous man, and you will surely find great comfort for yourself. Did these terrible things then happen to him alone? The abandonment and betrayal of friends, the jeers and insults, the mockery and laughter; to be reviled by all was something unbearable. For it is not so much the nature of the calamities, as those who reproach us in our calamities that are accustomed to bite our soul. Not only was there no one to comfort him, but many from all sides pressed upon him with reproaches. And you see him lamenting this, and saying: ‘But you also have set upon me;’ and he calls them unmerciful, and says: ‘Because my neighbors have renounced me, and my servants spoke against me, and they called me the son of concubines, and they leaped away.’ And others, he says, spat on me, and I became the talk of all, and even my own garment, he says, abhorred me. These things are not even bearable to hear, much less to endure through the deeds themselves. Extreme poverty, and an unbearable and strange and extraordinary sickness; the loss of so many children, and such children, and in such a manner; reproaches and jeers and insults from men; some mocked, others reproached, others scorned, not only enemies, but also friends; not only friends, but also servants; and they not only mocked and reproached, but also abhorred him, and this not for two or three or ten days, but for many months; and what happened to him alone, he did not even have the comfort of the night, but a greater addition to the daytime terrors was the vision of nocturnal fears. For that he endured worse things in his sleep, hear what he says: ‘Why do you frighten me in sleep, and terrify me in visions?’ What man of iron, what adamant could have endured so many terrible things? For if each of these is unbearable by itself, consider them coming together, what a tumult they raised. 49.273274 But

εὐλόγου τινὸς προφάσεως ἀναρτηθεὶς ἐν τῷ ξύλῳ διαξαίνηται τὰς πλευρὰς, μήτε ὄνειδος εἶναι νομιζέτω τὸ πρᾶγμα, μήτε πρὸς τὴν ὀδύνην ἐνδιδότω, τὸν ἅγιον τοῦτον ἐννοῶν. Ἀλλ' ἱκανὴν εἶχεν οὗτος παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν, φησὶ, τὸ εἰδέναι τὸν Θεὸν αὐτῷ ταῦτα ἐπάγοντα. Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν μάλιστα ἐτάραττε καὶ ἐθορύβει, ὅτι τὸν δίκαιον Θεὸν, καὶ παντὶ τρόπῳ παρ' αὐτοῦ θεραπευθέντα, τοῦτον ἐνόμιζεν αὐτῷ πολεμεῖν. Καὶ πρόφασίν τινα εὔλογον εὑρεῖν τῶν γινομένων οὐκ εἶχεν· ἐπεὶ, ὅτε γε ἔμαθεν ὕστερον τὴν αἰτίαν, ὅρα πόσην εὐλά 49.272 βειαν ἐπεδείξατο· ὅτε γὰρ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός· Ἄλλως με οἴει σοι κεχρηματικέναι, ἣ ἵνα δίκαιος ἀναφανῇς; καταπλαγεὶς, φησί· Χεῖρα θήσω ἐπὶ στόματί μου· ἅπαξ ἐλάλησα, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ δευτέρῳ οὐ προσθήσω. Καὶ πάλιν, Ἕως μὲν ὠτὸς ἀκοῆς ἤκουόν σε τὸ πρότερον· νυνὶ δὲ ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου ἑώρακέ σε· διὸ ἐφαύλισα ἐμαυτὸν, καὶ ἐτάκην· ἥγημαι δὲ ἐμαυτὸν γῆν καὶ σποδόν. ςʹ. Εἰ δὲ ἀρκεῖν τοῦτο εἰς παράκλησιν νομίζεις, δυνήσῃ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ταύτην τὴν παραμυθίαν ἔχειν. Κἂν γὰρ μὴ διὰ τὸν Θεὸν πάθῃς τι τῶν δεινῶν, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐπηρείας, εὐχαριστήσῃς δὲ, καὶ μὴ βλασφημήσῃς τὸν δυνάμενον κωλῦσαι μὲν, ἀφέντα δὲ τῆς σῆς ἕνεκεν δοκιμῆς, ὥσπερ οἱ διὰ τὸν Θεὸν παθόντες στεφανοῦνται, οὕτω καὶ σὺ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιτεύξῃ μισθῶν, ὅτι τὰς παρὰ ἀνθρώπων ἐπαχθείσας σοι συμφορὰς γενναίως ἤνεγκας, καὶ τῷ δυναμένῳ αὐτὰς κωλῦσαι μὲν, μὴ βουληθέντι δὲ, ηὐχαρίστησας. Ἰδοὺ τοίνυν καὶ πενίαν καὶ νόσον, καὶ ἀμφότερα μετὰ τῆς ἐσχάτης ὑπερβολῆς εἶδες ἐπενεχθέντα τῷ δικαίῳ. Βούλει σοι καὶ τὸν παρὰ τῆς φύσεως πόλεμον ἐπιδείξω μετὰ τοσαύτης ὑπερβολῆς τῷ γενναίῳ τότε ἐπιθέμενον ἐκείνῳ; ∆έκα τέκνα ἀπώλεσε, τὰ δέκα ἀθρόον, τὰ δέκα ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἄνθει τῆς ἡλικίας, τὰ δέκα πολλὴν ἀρετὴν ἐπιδεδειγμένα, καὶ οὐδὲ τῷ κοινῷ τῆς φύσεως νόμῳ, ἀλλὰ βιαίῳ θανάτῳ καὶ ἐλεεινῷ. Τίς ἂν ἔχοι τοιαύτην συμφορὰν εἰπεῖν; Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδείς. Ὅταν οὖν ἀποβάλῃς υἱὸν καὶ θυγατέρα ὁμοῦ, ἀνάδραμε πρὸς τὸν δίκαιον ἐκεῖνον, καὶ πάντως εὑρήσεις πολλὴν σαυτῷ τὴν παραμυθίαν. Ἆρα οὖν ταῦτα μόνα αὐτῷ συνέβη τὰ δεινά; Ἡ δὲ τῶν φίλων ἐγκατάλειψις καὶ προδοσία, τὰ δὲ σκώμματα καὶ αἱ λοιδορίαι, ἡ δὲ χλευασία καὶ ὁ γέλως· τὸ δὲ ὑπὸ πάντων διασύρεσθαί τι ἀφόρητον ἦν. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτως ἡ τῶν συμφορῶν φύσις, ὡς οἱ παρὰ τὰς συμφορὰς ἡμῖν ὀνειδίζοντες δάκνειν ἡμῶν εἰώθασι τὴν ψυχήν. Οὐ μόνον ὁ παρακαλῶν οὐκ ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοὶ πολλαχόθεν ἐπέκειντο ὀνειδίζοντες. Καὶ ὁρᾷς αὐτὸν τοῦτο ἀποδυρόμενον, καὶ λέγοντα· Ἀτὰρ δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπέβητέ μοι· καὶ ἀνελεήμονας αὐτοὺς καλεῖ, καί φησιν· Ὅτι ἀπείπαντό με οἱ πλησίον μου, καὶ οἱ οἰκέται μου κατ' ἐμοῦ ἐλάλουν, καὶ υἱοὺς παλλακίδων μου ἐκάλουν, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἀπεπήδων. Ἕτεροι δὲ, φησὶν, ἐνέπτυόν μοι, καὶ θρύλλημα πάντων ἐγενόμην, καὶ αὐτὴ, φησὶν, ἡ στολή μου ἐβδελύξατό με. Ταῦτά γε οὐδὲ ἀκοῦσαι φορητὰ, μήτι γε διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν ὑπομεῖναι. Πενία ἐσχάτη, καὶ νόσος ἀφόρητος καὶ καινὴ καὶ παράδοξος· παίδων ἀποβολὴ τοσούτων καὶ τοιούτων καὶ τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ· ὀνείδη καὶ σκώμματα καὶ λοιδορίαι παρὰ ἀνθρώπων· οἱ μὲν ἐχλεύαζον, οἱ δὲ ὠνείδιζον, οἱ δὲ κατεφρόνουν, οὐκ ἐχθροὶ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ φίλοι· οὐ φίλοι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἰκέται· οὐκ ἐχλεύαζον δὲ οὐδὲ ὠνείδιζον μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐβδελύσσοντο, καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐπὶ δύο καὶ τρισὶ καὶ δέκα ἡμέραις, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πολλοῖς τοῖς μησί· καὶ ὅπερ ἐπ' ἐκείνου συνέβη μόνου, οὐδὲ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς νυκτὸς εἶχε παραμυθίαν, ἀλλὰ τῶν μεθ' ἡμέραν δεινῶν προσθήκη μείζων ἦν ἡ τῶν νυκτερινῶν φόβων φαντασία. Ὅτι γὰρ χαλεπώτερα ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις ὑπέμενεν, ἄκουσον τί φησι· ∆ιὰ τί με φοβεῖς ἐν ὕπνοις, καὶ ἐν ὁράμασί με καταπλήσσεις; Ποῖος σιδηροῦς ἄνθρωπος, ποῖος ἀδάμας τοσαῦτα ἂν ὑπέμεινε δεινά; Εἰ γὰρ καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸ τούτων ἕκαστον ἀφόρητον, ἐννόησον ὁμοῦ συνελθόντα πόσον ἤγειρε θόρυβον. 49.273274 Ἀλλ'