Dialogus de vita Joannis Chrysostomi
honor, but he who is called by God. Thus 5 also Aaron, he says, did not glorify himself to become high priest. For although there were six hundred
the flight of concord, most of us who are active and eager for it have become fugitives from the country, being unable to live safely and without trou
he met with us, he did not share in words, nor in prayer, nor in communion but disembarking from the ship and running past the doors of the church, h
to share in the suffering and to do everything, so as to stop these evils. For he put a stop to none of their lawlessness here, but even after this he
and lamentations and fountains of tears in the marketplaces and the houses and in the desolate places and the whole part of the city was filled with
you are exhorted to contribute zeal from yourselves. For thus you will gratify not only us, 16 but also the community of the churches, and you will re
had fled on account of the threat contained in the imperial decree, that If anyone is not in communion with Theophilus and Arsakius and Porphyry, let
of Bishop John of the Constantinopolitans and, as it seems, it has not been accomplished. Therefore, I wrote again through the bishops and presbyters
savagery. This also the Savior God did, illuminating them with various revelations, so that also to Paul, the deacon of Saint Emilius, a most gentle
He who speaks a lie is not of God, and again from David, Because the mouth of those who speak unjust things was stopped. For he who lies truly wro
by his own choice, he was trained in the discourses for the ministry of the divine oracles. From there, being in the eighteenth year of his physical a
of those who have believed in him will be bound. {THE DEACON} But where did they recognize the presence of the Savior? {THE BISHOP} When they cried ou
of the rich, cutting away the abscesses of the soul, teaching them humility, to be of a humble mind towards other people, obeying the apostolic word,
she gives one thousand gold pieces, having made him swear by the table of the Savior that he would buy clothes and clothe the poorer women of the Alex
with his own hands on his neck, and after inflicting blows on his jaws, with clenched fingers he bloodied his nostrils, shouting 38 with a loud voice:
by an excess of conceit. But those men, driven by great necessity because they were changing places from place to place, arrive at the camp, where Bis
of the church, Dioscorus the bishop, who had grown old in the church but to the bishop John he writes: I think you are not ignorant of the decree of
of John for unlawful offenses, he took advantage of their fickleness and persuades them to submit bills of accusation against John, promising them to
Elijah was taken up did not Elisha prophesy? Paul was beheaded did he not leave behind Timothy, Titus, Apollos and ten thousand others? After these
these of the council but if as accusers, set them up for the trial, so that I may know how I should contend, whether as against adversaries or as jud
(for he is impetuous by nature, and rash and bold and exceedingly contentious—for there is nothing that appears to him by sight, <towards> which he do
brother Acacius and Antiochus whom they put forward as canons of the orthodox, because We are of the faith of those who set them forth, and our doub
reading the oracles, and others baptizing the catechumens, as was fitting because of Easter. These very things the corruptors of minds and deceivers o
a proof of the diligence of teachers, unceasingly setting right the unconquerable quality of their resolve. Theodore said: {THE DEACON} You have spoke
near him to the west), but in the western part, where the gate of the church is, the mule-team, on which he was accustomed to sit, having ordered it t
of a hierophant, a man more silent than a fish and more idle than a frog (for there are times when even action speaks, especially when the good is don
terrifying, just as bogeymen do children? Alas! Those who are clothed in worldly powers and ecclesiastical wealth with authority, with command even of
on the one hand, that he ate alone but I did not wish you, most harmonious Theodore, to ask about the things of gluttonous infants. For being a man,
he says, urging us to imitation Do not forget hospitality, he says, for by this some have entertained angels unawares. But the host must have the
fell from blessing? was it not when he served his belly, deceived by the food? When did Saul fall from the kingdom? was it not when he ate the best of
to eat bread and to put on a garment, all that you give me, I will tithe a tenth of it to you -he did not say, I will consume it at tables. That sp
to give glory to God <in> persecutions. in the refutations of error, is there any mention of a table? But again to Titus, the bishop of Crete, let us
they were seeking luxury. It was absurd to squander the food of the sick or the poor on the intemperance of the healthy. And what sort of law is this,
from seeing evil. For many of the so-called bishops, wishing to cut off the reasonable hatred directed at them on account of their own ways and their
First, that having melted down treasures he fashioned a silver object in the name of his son second, that having taken marbles from the entrance of t
love of money is a source of evils. For he who took bribes against the innocent and thought to sell the distribution of the Holy Spirit for silver,
Antoninus dies, with whom Eusebius had the lawsuit. Again a decree comes from Asia, this one from the clergy of the church of the Ephesians, and this
to buy the priesthood. They say that the ravager and falsely-named patriarch of the Jews changes the rulers of the synagogue every year, or even more
of those who deposed him and concluded the trial. <CHAPTER 19> {THE DEACON.} Forgive me, father, such things surpass drunkenness and madness and sport
ambidextrous (for even his so-called left hand was better than the right hand of others) who at first, having served in letters, was found blameles
slandering their life, waiting to have help from God. To these things Theodore, being astonished, said: {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} I see the facts as contrary to the n
Or is it proper at all to cast out any disciple, much less a monk? 100 {THE DEACON} Because they provoked him or spoke ill of him. {THE BISHOP} And ou
having led them back from vice to virtue, it will be clear that their persecutor deserves not to be persecuted, but to be pitied, as one who always ab
having provoked the physician and enchanter of souls and removed his interpreter from the workshop of salvation, 105 they were handed over to the phys
imitating him who, having found the one crushed by robbers, half-dead, on the way down to Jericho, placed him on his own beast of burden, having broug
did he give? And when Optimus died in Constantinople, he closed his eyes with his own hands. In addition to these things, he also refreshed in no smal
desiring to chasten the herd of men for their various desires towards the more austere part of life, he became his own judge and lawgiver, being stren
toward the north, and each man's axe in his hand and one man in the midst of them, clothed in a full-length robe, and a sapphire belt on his loins a
in many ways Who will boast that he has a pure heart? Or who will boldly claim to be pure from sin? but yet the blessed John did not know how to us
happen to us anonymously and beneficially? sifting the reasons, not obeying him who said: Eat whatever is sold in the meat-market, asking no question
two? {THE BISHOP} Especially if it is an unprofitable and charlatan crowd such as the one who said to Jesus: Teacher, I will follow you wherever you
an intemperate old man, and an old man who loves learning above an unlearned younger man, and a poor layman above an educated lover of money, and a vi
enjoying his disease nor raging with the same desires. For this is a fitting way of life for a teacher, not to linger with the crowds, but in quiet an
having subjected his body to shameful tortures by the cruelty of judges, to the point of knocking out his teeth, as the story goes, 127 they confined
knocking, they made the two-day journey into one, arriving late in the evening and departing in the dark of dawn, so that the stomach could not even k
and that these things are done and are prolonged and are strong, and that the good are afflicted and plundered, brings me to shudder at his approachin
Why shall I not be angry? looking upon me, marvel, and lay your hand upon your jaw. For if I remember, I am troubled, and pains take hold of my flesh.
when reviled, we bless when persecuted, we endure when slandered, we entreat we have become as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all thi
sleepless or troubled in sleep, he suspects plots even from his own family, not trusting even himself, distrusting everyone as liars. Being such a per
each other, for which it was also fitting, having learned something, did you not decide to be quiet and remain still by yourselves even for the future
to his father and to his mother, I have not seen you, and his brothers he did not acknowledge he guarded your oracles, and kept your covenant. He d
foot-soldiers' machinations for the hindering of those who travel for the truth). How then do they dare to say: By God's economy John has been cast o
a proof of the diligence of teachers, unceasingly setting right the unconquerable quality of their resolve. Theodore said: {THE DEACON} You have spoken excellently; for it was not fitting for those who were learning prudence and gentleness from the holy John to lay claim to him foolishly and in a disorderly manner. <CHAPTER 10> {THE BISHOP} Being pleased, then, at this, I beg you, do not interrupt the account which was born of evil deeds (for it seems that, for the most part, deeds give birth to words). So along with the clerics and laypeople who were seized, the wives of distinguished men were also arrested. from some they even snatched their veils, and from others they tore away their earrings along with the lobe of the ear; so that the wife of a certain Eleutherius, a very wealthy woman, seeing this, left her own veil, and having changed into the attire of slave-women, ran into the city to save her chastity (for, as was likely, she was clothed in a blooming form and a graceful figure). In this manner, then, the prisons of the various magistrates, being filled, were transformed into churches; and while hymns and offerings of the mysteries were celebrated in the prisons, scourgings and tortures and dreadful oaths contended in the churches for the anathematizing of John, who was an enemy until death to the wickedness of the devil. And when Pentecost was completed, after five 60 days Acacius and Severian and Antiochus and Cyrinus and their party, entering, say to the emperor: "O Emperor, you have been given to us by God not to be ruled, but to rule over all, it is lawful for you to do what you wish. Do not be more meek than presbyters and more pious than bishops; we have said to you in the presence of all: 'Upon our head be the deposition of John.' Do not, therefore, spare one man, having shown no mercy to all of us;" with Judaic words, and perhaps also with deeds, persuading the emperor. Thus the emperor, having sent Patricius the notary, declared the following to John: "Acacius and Antiochus and Severian and Cyrinus and their party have placed the judgment against you upon their own head. Therefore, as for your own part, commending it to God, depart from the church." So the bishop John, coming down from the episcopal residence with the bishops, after the clear and unobscured statement, says to all: "Come, let us pray and bid farewell to the angel of the church"; rejoicing indeed at the event, but grieving at the affliction of the people. And immediately one of the God-loving magistrates signals to John: "Since Lucius, a rash man and shameless in countenance, is ready in the public bath with the soldiers under him, so that, if you should speak against it or delay, he may both drag you away unwilling and cast you out; and the people of the city are in an uproar; hasten to depart secretly, lest the people, laying claim to you, should join battle with the soldiers." Then John, having kissed some of the bishops with tears (for his suffering did not permit him even to kiss the rest), bade farewell, saying to the others inside in the sacristy: "Remain here for a while, so that I may go away for a little 61 and be relieved." And entering the baptistery he calls Olympias, who was inseparable from the church, along with Pentadia and Procla, the deaconesses, and Silvina, the wife of the blessed Nebridius, who was adorning her widowhood with decorum, and says to them: "Come here, daughters, listen to me. "My affairs have come to an end," as I see. "I have finished my course," and perhaps "you will see my face no more." This is what I ask: let none of you be hindered from your accustomed good-will toward the church. And whoever should be brought unwillingly to the ordination, without disputing the matter, by the consent of all, bow your head to him as you would to John (for the church cannot be without a bishop). and so you will receive mercy. Remember me in your prayers." And overcome with tears, they were rolling about his feet. Then, having nodded to one of the venerable presbyters, he says: "Take them from here, lest they disturb the crowds." So then, being hindered for a little while, they seemed to him to yield. and so he went out towards the eastern part (for nothing
διδασκάλων ἐπι μελείας ἀπόδειξις, ἀδιαλείπτως τὸ ἄμαχον τῆς γνώμης ἐπανορ θούντων. Ὁ Θεόδωρος εἶπεν· {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Ἄριστα ἔφης·
οὔτε γὰρ ἔπρεπεν τοὺς φρόνησιν ἐκμανθάνοντας καὶ ἐπιείκειαν παρὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ Ἰωάννου ἀφρόνως καὶ τεταραγμένως αὐτοῦ ἀντιποιεῖσθαι.
<ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ιʹ> {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ἡσθεὶς οὖν ἐπὶ τούτῳ, παρακαλῶ, μὴ ἀνάκοπτε τοὺς λόγους τοὺς ὑπὸ κακῶν πραγμάτων τεχθέντας (ἔοικε
γὰρ τίκτειν ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον τοὺς λόγους τὰ πράγματα). σὺν τοῖς κατασχεθεῖσιν οὖν κληρικοῖς τε καὶ λαϊκοῖς συνελήφθησαν
καὶ γυναῖκες ἀνδρῶν ἐπισήμων. ἔστι δὲ ὧν καὶ τὰ μαφόρια ἥρπασαν, ἑτέρων δὲ τὰ ἐνώτια σὺν τῷ λοβῷ τοῦ ὠτὸς συν απέσπασαν· ὡς
ἰδοῦσάν τινος Ἐλευθέρου γυναῖκα εὐδαιμονε στάτην σφόδρα, καταλείψασαν τὸ ἑαυτῆς μαφόριον, μεταμφια σαμένην τὸ σχῆμα τὸ τῶν
δουλίδων, δρομαίαν εἰσβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῆς σωφροσύνης (ἦν γάρ, ὡς εἰκός, εὐανθῆ μορφὴν καὶ εὐφυῆ πλάσιν ἠμφιεσμένη).
τούτῳ οὖν τῷ τρόπῳ πληρωθεῖσαι αἱ φυλακαὶ τῶν διαφόρων ἀρχόντων μετε ποιοῦντο εἰς ἐκκλησίας· καὶ ὕμνοι μὲν καὶ ἀναφοραὶ μυστηρίων
ἐν ταῖς φυλακαῖς ἐπετελοῦντο, μάστιγες δὲ καὶ στρεβλώσεις καὶ ὅρκοι φρικτοὶ ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἡμιλλῶντο ἐπὶ ἀναθεμα τισμῷ
Ἰωάννου τοῦ μέχρι θανάτου ἐχθρεύσαντος τῇ κακίᾳ τοῦ διαβόλου. τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς δὲ συμπληρωθείσης, μετὰ πέντε 60 ἡμέρας εἰσελθόντες
οἱ περὶ Ἀκάκιον καὶ Σευηριανὸν καὶ Ἀντίοχον καὶ Κυρῖνον πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· "Βασιλεῦ, σὺ ἡμῖν παρὰ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἐξουσιαζόμενος,
ἀλλ' ἐξου σιάζων τῶν πάντων, ἔξεστί σοι ὃ θέλεις ποιῆσαι. μὴ γίνου πρεσβυτέρων πραότερος καὶ ἐπισκόπων ὁσιώτερος· εἴπομέν
σοι ἐπὶ πάντων· "Ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἡμῶν ἡ Ἰωάννου καθαίρεσις." μὴ τοίνυν φείσῃ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου, ἀφειδήσας πάντων ἡμῶν·" Ἰουδαϊκοῖς
ῥήμασι, τάχα δὲ καὶ πράγμασι, παραπεί σαντες τὸν βασιλέα. οὕτως ἀποστείλας ὁ βασιλεὺς Πατρίκιον τὸν νοτάριον δηλοῖ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ
τάδε· "Οἱ περὶ Ἀκάκιον καὶ Ἀντίοχον καὶ Σευηριανὸν καὶ Κυρῖνον τὸ κατὰ σὲ κρῖμα ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἔθηκαν κεφαλήν. τὸ κατὰ σαὐτὸν
οὖν ἀναθεὶς τῷ Θεῷ, ἔξελθε τῆς ἐκκλησίας." οὕτως κατελθὼν ὁ ἐπίσκοπος Ἰωάννης, μετὰ τὴν τρανὴν φάσιν καὶ ἀνεπισκίαστον, τοῦ
ἐπι σκοπείου σὺν τοῖς ἐπισκόποις, λέγει πᾶσι· "∆εῦτε, προσευξά μενοι συνταξώμεθα τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας"· γεγηθὼς μὲν ἐπὶ
τῷ πράγματι, λυπούμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ λαοῦ κακουχίᾳ. ἐξαυτῆς δέ τις σημαίνει τῶν φιλοθέων δυναστῶν τῷ Ἰωάννῃ· " ̓Επειδὴ Λούκιος,
ἰταμὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ ἀναιδὴς προσώπῳ, ἕτοιμός ἐστιν ἐν τῷ δημοσίῳ λουτρῷ σὺν τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτὸν στρατιώταις, ὅπως, εἰ ἀντείποις ἢ ἀναβάλλῃ,
καὶ ἄκοντά σε σῦραι καὶ ἐξῶσαι· περικλονοῦνται δὲ οἱ δῆμοι τῆς πόλεως· σπούδασον ἐξελθεῖν λεληθότως, ἵνα μή σου ἀντιποιούμενος
ὁ λαὸς πόλεμον συνάψῃ μετὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν." τότε ὁ Ἰωάννης καταφιλήσας τινὰς τῶν ἐπισκόπων μετὰ δακρύων (τοὺς γὰρ λοιποὺς
οὐδὲ κατα φιλεῖν συνεχώρει τὸ πάθος) συνετάξατο, εἰπὼν τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔνδον ἐν τῷ ἱερατείῳ· "Μείνατε τέως ὧδε, ἵνα ἀπελθὼν μικρὸν
61 ἀνεθῶ." εἰσελθὼν δὲ ἐν τῷ βαπτιστηρίῳ καλεῖ τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα, ἀναπάλλακτον οὖσαν τῆς ἐκκλησίας, σὺν Πενταδίᾳ καὶ Πρόκλῃ, ταῖς
διακόνοις, καὶ Σιλβίνῃ, τῇ τοῦ μακαρίου Νεβριδίου γυναικί, εὐσχήμως κοσμούσῃ τὴν ἑαυτῆς χηρείαν, καὶ λέγει αὐταῖς· "∆εῦτε
ὧδε, θυγατέρες, ἀκούσατέ μου. "τὰ κατ' ἐμὲ τέλος ἔχει," ὡς ὁρῶ. "τὸν δρόμον μου τετέλεκα," καὶ ἴσως "οὐκέτι ὄψεσθε τὸ πρόσωπόν
μου." τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ὃ παρακαλῶ· μή τις ὑμῶν ἀνακοπῇ τῆς συνήθους εὐνοίας τῆς περὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν. καὶ ὃς ἂν ἄκων ἀχθῇ ἐπὶ
τὴν χειροτονίαν, μὴ ἀμβιτεύσας τὸ πρᾶγμα, κατὰ συναίνεσιν τῶν πάντων, κλίνατε τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑμῶν ὡς Ἰωάννῃ (οὐ δύναται γὰρ ἡ
ἐκκλησία ἄνευ ἐπισκόπου εἶναι). καὶ οὕτως ἐλεηθῆτε. μέμνησθέ μου ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς ὑμῶν." συγχυθεῖσαι δὲ δάκρυσιν ἐκυλινδοῦντο
περὶ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. τότε νεύσας τινὶ τῶν σεμνῶν πρεσβυτέρων λέγει· "Λάβε ταύτας ἐντεῦθεν, ἵνα μὴ τοὺς ὄχλους ταράξωσιν."
οὕτως οὖν μικρὸν ἐμποδισθεῖσαι ἔδοξαν αὐτῷ συγχωρεῖν. καὶ οὕτως ἐξῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὸ μέρος τὸ ἀνατολικόν (οὐδὲν γὰρ
