John Chrysostom, On Isaiah

and he was a youth, but when he passed beyond this age, then he sinned. But when he happened to be a small child, he both raised a wondrous trophy and brought down the barbarian and displayed all philosophy, and his youth was no hindrance to him for these achievements. And God did not accept Jeremiah when he put forward his age as an excuse, but brought him forth to the people of the Jews, saying that he was in no way hindered by this, if the things of his mind were strong. At this age, or rather much younger than this, Daniel judged the elders. And Josiah, not yet ten full years old, ascended the throne of the kingdom; and at that time he was well-pleasing, but after this, having grown a little careless, he marred the virtue of his soul. And what of Joseph? Did he not, being young and very young, take up that difficult war, fighting not against men but against the very tyranny of nature, and leap forth unscathed from the midst of a furnace and a flame much more terrible than the Persian one, remaining no less unharmed than the three youths? For just as they then brought forth and showed their bodies intact along with their very hairs, as if emerging from a spring rather than a furnace, so too he, freed from the accursed hands of the Egyptian woman, went forth, having suffered nothing of the sort that a human being would be likely to suffer, neither from her touch, nor from her words, nor from her appearance, nor from her clothes, nor from her perfumes, which kindled the flame of desire more fiercely than vine-wood and pitch, nor from his age itself. And these three youths themselves, being in the very flower of their age, both controlled their appetite and trod upon the fear of death, and overcame such an army and a king who vented a rage more violent than the furnace itself, and nothing terrified them, but they remained, having their spirit perpetually unenslaved. He does not say these things, therefore, to slander age; since Paul also, when he says, "Not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil," does not mean one young in age, but one newly planted, that is, catechized; for he says that to plant is to catechize and to teach, just as when he says, "I planted, Apollos watered." And Christ calls such a thing a plant, saying, "Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up." For if by "novice" he meant a young man, he would not have elevated Timothy, who was very young—and so young as to say, "Let no one despise your youth"—to so great a weight of authority, nor allowed him to bear so many Churches. And mockers shall rule over them. Do you see how he does not slander age simply, but a corrupt mind? For by the addition he made this clearer. And here by mockers he means deceivers, ironists, flatterers, those who through the grace of their words pledge them to the devil. And the people shall fall, man against man, and man against his neighbor. For just as when the timbers holding buildings together are corrupted or even removed, the walls must necessarily collapse, there being nothing to hold them up; so too, when these who were mentioned before—rulers, counselors, judges, prophets—are removed, there was nothing to prevent the people from collapsing upon themselves and for great confusion to arise.

3.4 The child will stumble against the elder, and the dishonored against the honored. The young man, he says, will oppose the old, he will look down on him, he will despise him. These things, even before the invasion of the enemies, were more grievous than any war. For when old age is dishonored by youth, and the vile and outcast trample upon those formerly revered, such a city will be in a state no less than a storm-tossed <ship>. Because a man will take hold of his brother, or of a kinsman of his father, saying: You have a cloak, become our ruler, and let my food be under your care. And answering on that day he will say: I will not be a ruler; not

καὶ μειράκιον ἦν, ἀλλ' ἡνίκα τὴν ἡλικίαν ὑπερέβη ταύτην, τότε ἥμαρτεν. Ὅτε δὲ παιδίον μικρὸν ἐτύγχανεν ὄν, καὶ τρόπαιον ἀνέστησε θαυμαστὸν καὶ τὸν βάρβαρον κατήνεγκε καὶ πᾶσαν ἐπεδείξατο φιλοσοφίαν καὶ οὐδὲν ἡ νεότης αὐτῷ πρὸς τὰ κατορθώματα ταῦτα κώλυμα γέγονε. Καὶ τὸν Ἱερεμίαν δὲ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἡλικίας προβαλλόμενον παραίτησιν οὐκ ἀπεδέξατο ὁ Θεός, ἀλλ' ἐξήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων δῆμον, οὐδὲν ἐντεῦθεν αὐτὸν κωλύεσθαι λέγων, εἰ τὰ τῆς διανοίας ἐρρωμένα εἴη. Ταύτην ἄγων τὴν ἡλικίαν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ταύτης ἐλάττονα πολλῷ, τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους ἔκρινεν ὁ ∆ανιήλ. Καὶ Ἰωσίας δὲ οὐδὲ δέκα ἔτη γεγονὼς ὅλα, ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς βασιλείας ἀνέβη θρόνον· καὶ τότε μὲν εὐδοκίμει, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα κατολιγωρήσας, μικρόν, ἐλυμήνατο τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετήν. Τί δὲ ὁ Ἰωσήφ; Οὐχὶ νέος ὢν καὶ σφόδρα νέος τὸν χαλεπὸν ἐκεῖνον ἀνείλετο πόλεμον, οὐχὶ πρὸς ἄνδρας, ἀλλὰ πρὸς αὐτὴν τῆς φύσεως τὴν τυραννίδα μαχόμενος, καὶ ἐκ μέσου καμίνου καὶ φλογὸς πολὺ τῆς Περσικῆς χαλεπωτέρας ἐξεπήδησεν ἀσινής, τῶν τριῶν παίδων οὐκ ἔλαττον ἀβλαβὴς διαμείνας; Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τὰ σώματα μετ' αὐτῶν τῶν τριχῶν ἀκέραια τότε ἐξαγαγόντες ἔδειξαν, ὡς ἀπὸ πηγῆς μᾶλλον ἢ καμίνου ἐξιόντες· οὕτω δὴ καὶ οὗτος τῶν ἐναγῶν τῆς Αἰγυπτίας χειρῶν ἀπαλλαγείς, ἐξῄει, μήτε ἀπὸ τῆς ἁφῆς, μήτε ἀπὸ τῶν ῥημάτων, μήτε ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως, μήτε ἀπὸ τῶν ἱματίων, μήτε ἀπὸ τῶν μύρων, ἃ κληματίδος καὶ πίσσης χαλεπωτέραν ἀνῆπτε τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τὴν φλόγα, μήτε ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἡλικίας παθών τι τοιοῦτον, οἷον εἰκὸς ἄνθρωπον ὄντα παθεῖν. Καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ οἱ παῖδες οἱ τρεῖς οὗτοι ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς ἡλικίας ὄντες τῷ ἄνθει, καὶ γαστρὸς ἐκράτησαν καὶ θανάτου φόβον ἐπάτησαν καὶ στρατοπέδου τοσούτου καὶ βασιλέως αὐτῆς τῆς καμίνου σφοδρότερον ἀφιέντος θυμὸν περιεγένοντο καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτοὺς κατέπληξεν, ἀλλ' ἔμειναν διηνεκῶς ἀδούλωτον τὸ φρόνημα ἔχοντες. Οὐ τοίνυν τὴν ἡλικίαν διαβάλλων ταῦτά φησιν· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος, ὅταν λέγῃ· Μὴ νεόφυτον, ἵνα μὴ τυφωθεὶς εἰς κρίμα ἐμπέσῃ τοῦ διαβόλου, οὐ τὸν νέον τὴν ἡλικίαν φησίν, ἀλλὰ τὸν νεωστὶ φυτευθέντα, τουτέστι, κατηχηθέντα· φυτεῦσαι γὰρ τὸ κατηχῆσαί φησι καὶ διδάξαι, ὥσπερ ὅταν λέγῃ· Ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσα, Ἀπολλὼς ἐπότισε. Καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς φυτείαν τὸ τοιοῦτο καλεῖ λέγων· Πᾶσα φυτεία, ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος, ἐκριζωθήσεται. Ἐπεὶ εἰ νεόφυτον τὸν νέον ἔλεγεν, οὐκ ἂν Τιμόθεον σφόδρα νέον ὄντα, καὶ οὕτω νέον, ὡς λέγειν· Μηδείς σου τῆς νεότητος καταφρονείτω, πρὸς τοσοῦτον ὄγκον ἀρχῆς ἀνήγαγεν ἂν καὶ τοσαύτας φέρειν ἐπέτρεψεν Ἐκκλησίας. Καὶ ἐμπαῖκται κυριεύσουσιν αὐτῶν. Ὁρᾷς, ὡς οὐ τὴν ἡλικίαν διαβάλλει ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ τὴν διεφθαρμένην γνώμην; Τῇ γὰρ ἐπαγωγῇ τοῦτο σαφέστερον ἐποίησεν. Ἐμπαίκτας δὲ ἐνταῦθά φησι τοὺς ἀπατεῶνας, τοὺς εἴρωνας, τοὺς κόλακας, τοὺς διὰ τῆς τῶν ῥημάτων χάριτος προπίνοντας αὐτοὺς τῷ διαβόλῳ. Καὶ συμπεσεῖται ὁ λαός, ἄνθρωπος πρὸς ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἄνθρωπος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τῶν τὰς οἰκοδομὰς συνεχόντων ξύλων διαφθαρέντων ἢ καὶ ἀναιρεθέντων, τοὺς τοίχους ἀνάγκη συρρήγνυσθαι, οὐδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ κατέχοντος· οὕτω καὶ τούτων τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἰρημένων ἀναιρεθέντων, ἀρχόντων, συμβούλων, δικαστῶν, προφητῶν, οὐδὲν τὸ κωλῦον ἦν τὸν δῆμον ἑαυτῷ συρραγῆναι καὶ πολλὴν γενέσθαι τὴν σύγχυσιν.

3.4 Προσκόψει τὸ παιδάριον πρὸς τὸν πρεσβύτην καὶ ὁ ἄτιμος πρὸς τὸν ἔντιμον. Ἐναντιώσεται δέ, φησίν, ὁ νέος τῷ γεγηρακότι, ὑπερόψεται, καταφρονήσει. Ταῦτα καὶ πρὸ τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ἐφόδου πολέμου παντὸς ἦν χαλεπώτερα. Ὅταν γὰρ ἀτιμάζηται μὲν γῆρας παρὰ νεότητος, οἱ δὲ εὐτελεῖς καὶ ἀπερριμμένοι τοὺς πρότερον αἰδεσίμους καταπατῶσιν, οὐδενὸς ἔλαττον κλυδωνιζομένης <νεὼς> ἡ τοιαύτη διακείσεται πόλις. Ὅτι ἐπιλήψεται ἄνθρωπος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἢ τοῦ οἰκείου τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, λέγων· ἱμάτιον ἔχεις, ἀρχηγὸς ἡμῶν γενοῦ, καὶ τὸ βρῶμα τὸ ἐμὸν ὑπὸ σὲ ἔστω. Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐρεῖ· οὐκ ἔσομαι ἀρχηγός· οὐ