John Chrysostom, To the People of Antioch

he cast off all things, then he became stronger, and raised a glorious victory against the devil. Moreover, the poor man cannot even be insulted, if he knows how to be a philosopher. For what I said about pleasure, that pleasure is not in the luxury of the foods, but lies in the disposition of those being feasted 49.46, this I also say about insolence; that insolence not from the intention of those insulting, but from the disposition of those suffering it either is constituted or is destroyed; for instance, I say; has someone uttered many insults, spoken and unspoken? if you laugh at the insults, if you do not accept the words, and become superior to the blow, you have not been insulted. And just as if we had a body of adamant, even if we were struck by countless arrows from all sides, we would not have received the blows; for not from the hand that shoots the arrows, but from the bodies that suffer them do the wounds happen; so indeed also here not from the madness of those who insult, but from the weakness of those who are insulted the insults, and the dishonors of the insults, are constituted. For if we know how to be a philosopher, we cannot even be insulted, nor suffer any of the terrible things. So-and-so insulted you, but you did not feel it, you were not pained? you were not insulted, but rather you struck more than you were struck. For whenever the one who insults sees that his blow does not reach the soul of those reviled, he himself is bitten more severely, and with those being insulted remaining silent, the blow of the insults automatically having returned is borne against the one who sent it.

9. Let us therefore philosophize in all things, beloved, and poverty will be able to harm us in no way, but will even benefit us in the greatest ways, and will make us more glorious, and wealthier than all the rich. For what, tell me, was poorer than Elijah? But because of this he conquered all the rich, because he was so poor, and he chose poverty itself from a rich mind. For since he considered all the wealth of possessions to be less than his own magnanimity, and not worthy of his philosophy, for this reason he embraced such poverty; for if he had considered present things to be great, he would not have acquired only a sheepskin, but he so despised all present vanity, and saw all gold as mud cast aside, that he acquired nothing more than that garment. For this reason the king was in need of the poor man, and gaped at the mouth of the one having nothing more than a sheepskin, he who had so much gold; thus the sheepskin was more glorious than the purple robe, and the cave of the just man than the royal courts. For this reason also, when ascending into heaven, he left behind nothing else but the sheepskin for his disciple. With this, he says, I wrestled with the devil, you also take this and arm yourself against him; for a powerful weapon is the state of having no possessions, and an unconquerable lodging, and an unshakeable tower. He received the sheepskin as the greatest inheritance, Elisha did; for it was truly the greatest inheritance, more precious than all gold. And from then on he was a double Elijah, and there was an Elijah above, and an Elijah below. I know that you count that just man blessed, and each of you wishes that you were him. What then if I should show you, that all of us who have been initiated have received something else much greater than that? For Elijah on the one hand left a sheepskin for his disciple; but the Son of God, ascending, left His own flesh for us; but Elijah, having taken it off, but Christ both left it for us, and ascended having it. Let us not therefore fall down, nor let us lament, nor let us fear the difficulty of the times; for He who did not refuse to pour out His blood for all, and having given us a share of His flesh and again of His blood itself, what will He refuse to do for the sake of our salvation? Being confident therefore 49.47 in these hopes, let us exhort him continuously, and let us attend to prayers and supplications, and let us take care for the remaining virtue with all diligence, so that we may both escape the impending danger, and attain the good things to come; 49.48 of which may it be that all of us are deemed worthy, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be the glory together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

πάντα ἀπέβαλε, τότε γέγονεν ἰσχυρότερος, καὶ λαμπρὰν ἤρατο κατὰ τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν νίκην. Ἄλλως δὲ οὐδὲ ὑβρίζεσθαι δύναται ὁ πένης, ἂν εἰδῇ φιλοσοφεῖν. Ὅπερ γὰρ ἔφην περὶ τῆς ἡδονῆς, ὅτι ἡ ἡδονὴ οὐκ ἐν τῇ πολυτελείᾳ τῶν σιτίων, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ διαθέσει τῶν ἑστιωμένων 49.46 κεῖται, τοῦτο καὶ περὶ τῆς ὕβρεως λέγω· ὅτι ἡ ὕβρις οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς γνώμης τῶν ὑβριζόντων, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς διαθέσεως τῶν πασχόντων ἢ συνίσταται ἢ ἀπόλλυται· οἷόν τι λέγω· ὕβρισέ τις πολλὰ ῥητὰ καὶ ἄῤῥητα; ἂν καταγελάσῃς τῶν ὕβρεων, ἂν μὴ παραδέξῃ τὰ ῥήματα, καὶ ἀνώτερος γένῃ τῆς πληγῆς, οὐχ ὑβρίσθης. Καὶ καθάπερ εἰ σῶμα ἀδαμάντινον εἴχομεν, εἰ καὶ μυρίοις πανταχόθεν ἐβαλλόμεθα βέλεσιν, οὐκ ἂν ἐδεξάμεθα τὰς πληγάς· οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀφιείσης τὰ βέλη χειρὸς, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν πασχόντων σωμάτων τὰ τραύματα γίνεται· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς μανίας τῶν ὑβριζόντων, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς ἀσθενείας τῶν ὑβριζομένων αἱ ὕβρεις, καὶ αἱ τῶν ὕβρεων ἀτιμίαι συνίστανται. Ἂν γὰρ εἰδῶμεν φιλοσοφεῖν, οὐδὲ ὑβρίζεσθαι δυνάμεθα, οὐδὲ πάσχειν τι τῶν δεινῶν. Ὕβρισεν ὁ δεῖνα, ἀλλ' οὐκ ᾐσθάνθης, οὐκ ἤλγησας; οὐχ ὑβρίσθης, ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον ἔπληξας ἢ ἐπλήγης. Ὅταν γὰρ ὁ ὑβρίσας ἴδῃ μὴ καθικνουμένην αὐτοῦ τὴν πληγὴν τῆς τῶν λοιδορηθέντων ψυχῆς, αὐτὸς δάκνεται μειζόνως, καὶ τῶν ὑβριζομένων σιγώντων, αὐτόματος ἡ πληγὴ τῶν ὕβρεων κατὰ τοῦ πέμψαντος ὑποστρέψασα φέρεται.

θʹ. Φιλοσοφῶμεν τοίνυν ἐν ἅπασιν, ἀγαπητοὶ, καὶ οὐδὲν ἡμᾶς πενία παραβλάψαι δυνήσεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὠφελήσει τὰ μέγιστα, καὶ λαμπροτέρους ἐργάσεται, καὶ πάντων τῶν πλουτούντων εὐπορωτέρους. Τί γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, τοῦ Ἠλία πενέστερον ἦν; Ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο πάντας ἐνίκα τοὺς πλουτοῦντας, ἐπειδὴ οὕτω πένης ἦν, καὶ αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν πενίαν ἀπὸ πλουσίας εἵλετο διανοίας. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἅπαντα τῶν χρημάτων τὸν πλοῦτον ἐλάττονα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μεγαλοψυχίας ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι, καὶ οὐκ ἄξιον αὐτοῦ τῆς φιλοσοφίας, διὰ τοῦτο πενίαν τοσαύτην ἠσπάσατο· ὡς εἰ μεγάλα τὰ παρόντα ἐνόμισεν εἶναι, οὐκ ἂν μηλωτὴν ἐκτήσατο μόνον, ἀλλ' οὕτω κατέγνω τῆς παρούσης ματαιότητος ἁπάσης, καὶ ὡς πηλὸν ἐῤῥιμμένον τὸ χρυσίον ἅπαν ἑώρα, ὡς τῆς περιβολῆς ἐκείνης μηδὲν κτήσασθαι πλέον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ πένητος ἐδεῖτο, καὶ πρὸς τὸ στόμα ἐκεχήνει τοῦ μηδὲν πλέον μηλωτῆς ἔχοντος, ὁ τοσοῦτον χρυσίον ἔχων· οὕτω λαμπροτέρα τῆς πορφυρίδος ἡ μηλωτὴ ἦν, καὶ τῶν βασιλικῶν αὐλῶν τὸ σπήλαιον τοῦ δικαίου. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνιὼν, οὐδὲν ἕτερον, ἀλλ' ἢ τὴν μηλωτὴν τῷ μαθητῇ κατέλιπε. Μετὰ ταύτης, φησὶ, τῷ διαβόλῳ ἐπάλαισα, ταύτην καὶ σὺ λαβὼν ὁπλίζου κατ' ἐκείνου· ἰσχυρὸν γὰρ ὅπλον ἀκτημοσύνη, καὶ ἀκαταγώνιστον καταγώγιον, καὶ πύργος ἀσάλευτος. Ἐδέξατο καθάπερ μεγίστην κληρονομίαν τὴν μηλωτὴν ὁ Ἑλισσαῖος· καὶ γὰρ ἦν ἀληθῶς μεγίστη κληρονομία, παντὸς χρυσίου τιμιωτέρα. Καὶ ἦν ἐκ τότε διπλοῦς Ἠλίας ἐκεῖνος, καὶ ἦν ἄνω Ἠλίας, καὶ κάτω Ἠλίας. Οἶδα ὅτι μακαρίζετε τὸν δίκαιον ἐκεῖνον, καὶ ἐβούλεσθε αὐτὸς ἕκαστος ἐκεῖνος εἶναι. Τί οὖν ἂν ὑμῖν ὑποδείξω, ὅτι ἕτερόν τι πολλῷ μεῖζον ἐκείνου πάντες ἐλάβομεν οἱ μεμυσταγωγημένοι; Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἠλίας μηλωτὴν ἀφῆκε τῷ μαθητῇ· ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀναβαίνων τὴν σάρκα ἡμῖν κατέλιπε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ· ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Ἠλίας ἀποδυσάμενος, ὁ δὲ Χριστὸς καὶ ἡμῖν κατέλιπε, καὶ ἔχων αὐτὴν ἀνῆλθε. Μὴ τοίνυν καταπίπτωμεν, μηδὲ ὀδυρώμεθα, μηδὲ δυσκολίαν φοβώμεθα καιρῶν· ὁ γὰρ τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ μὴ παραιτησάμενος ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων ἐκχέαι, καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῖν μεταδοὺς καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ αἵματος πάλιν, τί παραιτήσεται ποιῆσαι τῆς ἡμετέρας ἕνεκεν σωτηρίας; Ταύταις τοίνυν 49.47 θαῤῥοῦντες ταῖς ἐλπίσι, παρακαλῶμεν αὐτὸν διηνεκῶς, καὶ εὐχαῖς καὶ ἱκετηρίαις προσανέχωμεν, καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπιμελώμεθα μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἁπάσης, ἵνα καὶ τὸν ἐπικείμενον διαφύγωμεν κίνδυνον, καὶ τῶν μελλόν 49.48 των ἐπιτύχωμεν ἀγαθῶν· ὧν γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἀξιωθῆναι, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ καὶ μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἡ δόξα ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.