John Chrysostom, On Anna I

glory, renown, taking this from a metaphor of irrational animals; for to them also God has given only the horn in place of glory and as a weapon, and if they should lose it, they have lost the greater part of their strength; and just as an unarmed soldier, so also a bull without horns is easily captured. Therefore, through this the woman says nothing other than, "My glory has been exalted." And how was it exalted? "In my God," she says. For this reason the exaltation is also secure, having a firm and immovable root. For the glory from men imitates the worthlessness of those who glorify, whence it also easily changes; but that from God is not so, but remains immovable forever. And the prophet, showing both these things, the changeability of the one and the permanence of the other, spoke thus: All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls away. But concerning that of God, it is not so, but how? But the word of God remains forever. And this is clear also from this woman. For kings and generals and rulers, 54.664 though they have often striven greatly so that their memory might become unforgotten, and have built splendid tombs, and erected statues, and many images in many places, and left behind countless memorials of their achievements, have fallen silent, and are not known to anyone even by a mere name; but this woman is now sung of everywhere in the inhabited world; whether you go to Scythia, or to Egypt, or to the Indies, or to the very ends of the inhabited world, you will hear all singing of the achievements of this woman, and the glory of Anna takes possession of simply all the land which the sun looks upon. And not only is this marvelous, that the woman is sung of everywhere in the inhabited world, but that though so much time has passed, not only has her praise not been extinguished, but it also grows and is intensified much more, and all know her philosophy and her patience and her endurance, both in cities and in fields, and in houses, and in army camps, and on ships, and in workshops, and everywhere you will hear this woman being praised. For whenever God wishes to glorify someone, even if death should come, or a multitude of time, or anything else whatever, the things of that glory remain flourishing perpetually, and no one will be able to overshadow this renown. For this reason she also, instructing all her hearers that one must not take refuge in perishable things, but from whence good things remain for us firm and immovable, named the cause of her glory. For after saying, "My heart was made firm in the Lord," she added, "My horn was exalted in my God," here hinting at twofold good things for us, which are difficult to happen quickly. "For I was delivered from the tempest," she says, "and I put away dishonor, and I have enjoyed security, and I have partaken of glory." But one would not easily see both these things running together. For many are delivered from dangers, but they do not have a glorious life; others again enjoy glory and renown, but are forced to be in danger on account of this glory. I mean something like this: many who have often inhabited a prison, adulterers and sorcerers and tomb-robbers, and those who have committed some other such sins, have then been released from that dwelling by some royal clemency; these have been delivered from punishment, but they have not wiped away the reproaches, but have the shame following them. Other noble soldiers, pursuing a glorious and renowned life, recklessly giving themselves over to the enemy, have often received many wounds, and finally suffered an untimely death; these, having desired glory, have fallen away from security. δʹ. But in the case of the woman both these things happened: she both enjoyed security and obtained glory. So also it happened in the case of the three young men; for they were both delivered from dangers by escaping the fire, and they became renowned, having conquered the power of the element beyond its nature. Such are the achievements of God; for he grants a life at once brilliant and secure. Both of which things, therefore, she also hinting at

δόξαν, τὴν περιφάνειαν, ἀπὸ μεταφορᾶς τῶν ἀλόγων ζώων αὐτὸ τιθείς· καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνοις ἀντὶ δόξης καὶ ὅπλου τὸ κέρας μόνον ἐνέθηκεν ὁ Θεὸς, κἂν ἀποβάλωσι τοῦτο, τὸ πλέον ἀπέβαλον τῆς δυνάμεως· καὶ καθάπερ ἄοπλος στρατιώτης, οὕτω καὶ ταῦρος χωρὶς κεράτων ῥᾳδίως ἁλίσκεται. Οὐδὲν οὖν διὰ τούτου ἄλλο φησὶν ἡ γυνὴ, ἀλλ' ἢ, ὅτι Ὑψώθη ἡ δόξα μου. Καὶ πῶς ὑψώθη; Ἐν Θεῷ μου, φησί. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἀσφαλὲς τὸ ὕψος ἐστὶ, βεβαίαν καὶ ἀκίνητον ἔχον τὴν ῥίζαν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων δόξα, τῶν δοξαζόντων μιμεῖται τὴν εὐτέλειαν, ὅθεν καὶ μεταπίπτει ῥᾳδίως· ἡ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ ἀκίνητος μένει διὰ παντός. Καὶ ταῦτα ἀμφότερα δηλῶν ὁ προφήτης, κἀκείνης τὸ εὐμετάπτωτον, καὶ ταύτης τὸ μόνιμον, οὕτως ἔλεγε· Πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου. Ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐξέπεσε. Περὶ δὲ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ πῶς; Τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένει. Καὶ δῆλον τοῦτο καὶ ἀπὸ ταύτης τῆς γυναικός. Βασιλεῖς μὲν γὰρ καὶ στρατηγοὶ καὶ δυνάσται, 54.664 πολλὰ πραγματευσάμενοι πολλάκις, ὥστε αὐτῶν ἄληστον γενέσθαι τὴν μνήμην, καὶ τάφους λαμπροὺς οἰκοδομησάμενοι, καὶ ἀνδριάντας ἀναστήσαντες, καὶ εἰκόνας πολλὰς πολλαχοῦ, καὶ κατορθωμάτων ὑπομνήματα μυρία καταλιπόντες, σεσίγηνται, καὶ οὐδὲ ἀπὸ ψιλῆς προσηγορίας εἰσί τινι γνώριμοι· αὕτη δὲ ἡ γυνὴ πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ᾄδεται νῦν· κἂν εἰς Σκυθίαν ἀπέλθῃς, κἂν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, κἂν εἰς Ἰνδοὺς, κἂν εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης, πάντων ἀκούσῃ τὰ κατορθώματα τῆς γυναικὸς ταύτης ᾀδόντων, καὶ πᾶσαν ἁπλῶς, ὅσην ἥλιος ἐφορᾷ γῆν, ἡ δόξα τῆς Ἄννης καταλαμβάνει. Καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον ἐστὶ τὸ θαυμαστὸν, ὅτι πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ᾄδεται ἡ γυνὴ, ἀλλ' ὅτι τοσούτου παρελθόντος χρόνου, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐσβέσθη τὰ τῆς εὐφημίας αὐτῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὔξεται καὶ ἐπιτείνεται πολλῷ πλέον, καὶ τὴν φιλοσοφίαν αὐτῆς καὶ τὴν ὑπομονὴν καὶ τὴν καρτερίαν ἅπαντες ἴσασι, καὶ ἐν πόλεσι καὶ ἐν ἀγροῖς, καὶ ἐν οἰκίαις, καὶ ἐν στρατοπέδοις, καὶ ἐν πλοίοις, καὶ ἐν ἐργαστηρίοις, καὶ πανταχοῦ τῆς γυναικὸς ἐγκωμιαζομένης ἀκούσῃ ταύτης. Ὅταν γὰρ ὁ Θεός τινα δοξάσαι βουληθῇ, κἂν θάνατος ἐπιγένηται, κἂν χρόνου πλῆθος, κἂν ἄλλο ὁτιοῦν, μένει τὰ τῆς δόξης ἐκείνης ἀνθοῦντα διηνεκῶς, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπισκοτῆσαι τῇ περιφανείᾳ ταύτῃ δυνήσεται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὴ παιδεύουσα τοὺς ἀκούοντας ἅπαντας, ὅτι οὐ χρὴ καταφεύγειν τοῖς ἐπικήροις, ἀλλ' ὅθεν βέβαια καὶ ἀκίνητα ἡμῖν μένει τὰ ἀγαθὰ, εἶπε τὸν τῆς δόξης αἴτιον. Εἰποῦσα γὰρ, ὅτι Ἐστερεώθη ἡ καρδία μου ἐν Κυρίῳ, ἐπήγαγεν, Ὑψώθη κέρας μου ἐν Θεῷ μου, διπλᾶ ἐνταῦθα ἡμῖν αἰνιττομένη τὰ ἀγαθὰ, ἅπερ δύσκολον συμβαίνειν ταχέως. Καὶ γὰρ τοῦ σάλου, φησὶν, ἀπηλλάγην, καὶ τὴν ἀτιμίαν ἀπεθέμην, καὶ ἀσφαλείας ἀπέλαυσα, καὶ δόξης μετέσχον. Ταῦτα δὲ ἀμφότερα οὐκ ἄν τις ἴδοι ῥᾳδίως ἀλλήλοις συντρέχοντα. Πολλοὶ γὰρ κινδύνων μὲν ἀπαλλάττονται, ἐπίδοξον δὲ οὐκ ἔχουσι βίον· ἕτεροι πάλιν δόξης μὲν ἀπολαύουσι καὶ περιφανείας, κινδυνεύειν δὲ ἀναγκάζονται διὰ τὴν δόξαν ταύτην. Οἷόν τι λέγω· πολλοὶ πολλάκις τὸ δεσμωτήριον οἰκήσαντες, μοιχοὶ καὶ γόητες καὶ τυμβωρύχοι, καὶ οἱ ἕτερά τινα τοιαῦτα ἡμαρτηκότες, εἶτα ἀπό τινος φιλανθρωπίας βασιλικῆς ἀφέθησαν τοῦ οἰκήματος· οὗτοι τῆς κολάσεως μὲν ἀπηλλάγησαν, τὰ δὲ ὀνείδη οὐκ ἀπετρίψαντο, ἀλλ' ἔχουσι τὴν αἰσχύνην ἑπομένην αὐτοῖς. Ἄλλοι στρατιῶται γενναῖοι τὸν ἐπίδοξον καὶ περιφανῆ βίον διώκοντες, ῥιψοκινδύνως ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐνδόντες, πολλὰ πολλάκις ἔλαβον τραύματα, καὶ ἔσχατον ἄωρον ὑπέστησαν θάνατον· οὗτοι δόξης ἐπιθυμήσαντες, ἀσφαλείας ἐξέπεσον. δʹ. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς γυναικὸς ἀμφότερα ταῦτα συνέβη, καὶ ἀσφαλείας ἀπέλαυσε καὶ δόξης ἐπέτυχεν. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τριῶν παίδων ἐγένετο· καὶ γὰρ κινδύνων ἀπηλλάγησαν διαφυγόντες τὸ πῦρ, καὶ περιφανεῖς ἐγένοντο, ὑπὲρ φύσιν τοῦ στοιχείου νικήσαντες τὴν δύναμιν. Τοιαῦτα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ κατορθώματα· ὁμοῦ γὰρ λαμπρὸν καὶ ἀσφαλῆ χαρίζεται βίον. Ἅπερ οὖν ἀμφότερα καὶ αὕτη αἰνιττομένη