John Chrysostom, On Lazarus

not these, but those who are punished both here and there. For he who has paid the penalty here will feel 48.998 a lighter punishment there; but he who is forced to endure the entire punishment there, will have an inexorable penalty. Just as this rich man, having atoned for none of his own sins here, was punished so grievously that he was not able even to obtain a small drop. And of these very ones who sin, but suffer nothing terrible here, I count far more wretched those who, along with not being punished here, also enjoy luxury and security. For just as not paying the penalty for sins here makes the punishment there more grievous, so indeed for sinners to enjoy much relaxation and luxury and prosperity, becomes for them a provision and a pretext for greater punishment and penalty there. For when we are honored by God while sinning, this very thing will be most able to cast us more grievously into the fire. For if one who only enjoys long-suffering does not use it as he ought, he will have a more grievous punishment; when with long-suffering he also has the greatest honors, and then persists in wickedness, who will deliver him from that punishment? For that those who enjoy long-suffering here gather for themselves the entire evil there, if we do not repent, hear what Paul says: But do you suppose this, O man, you who judge those who do such things and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that God’s goodness leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Therefore, when we see some who are rich, living in luxury, smelling of perfumes, spending the day in drunkenness, being in power and great glory and with much ostentation and prominence, and sinning, and suffering nothing terrible, for this very reason let us weep and lament for them most of all, because while sinning they are not punished. For just as if you saw someone afflicted with dropsy or a disease of the spleen, or having some gangrene and countless sores all over, and then on top of all this being drunk, living in luxury, and aggravating the disease, you not only do not admire, nor do you count him blessed for his luxury, but for this very reason you pity him most of all; so also consider it in the case of the soul. When you see a man living with wickedness, and enjoying much prosperity, and suffering nothing terrible, for this reason lament all the more, because being afflicted with a disease and a most grievous gangrene, he aggravates the illness, becoming worse through luxury and relaxation. For punishment is not an evil, but sin is an evil. For the latter separates from God, but the former gathers us to God, and puts an end to wrath. From where is this clear? Hear the prophet saying: Comfort, comfort my people, you priests; speak to the heart of Jerusalem, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for her sins. And again: Lord our God, give us peace; for you have rendered all things to us. And that you may learn that some are punished here, some there, and some both here and there, hear 48.999 what Paul says, accusing those who unworthily partake of the mysteries. For having said that whoever eats and drinks the body and blood of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of Christ, he immediately added: For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. For if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged; but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world. Do you see how punishment here snatches us away from the punishment there? And concerning the one who has committed fornication, he says: Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And from Lazarus this is also clear, that if he did any evil, having washed it away here, he thus departed there clean; and

οὐ τούτους, ἀλλὰ τοὺς καὶ ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἐκεῖ κολαζομένους. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τιμωρίαν δοὺς, κουφοτέρας 48.998 αἰσθήσεται τῆς ἐκεῖ κολάσεως· ὁ δὲ πᾶσαν ἀναγκαζόμενος ἐκεῖ τὴν κόλασιν ὑπομεῖναι, ἀπαραίτητον ἕξει τὴν δίκην· καθάπερ καὶ οὗτος ὁ πλούσιος ἐνταῦθα μηδὲν διαλυσάμενος τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων, οὕτω χαλεπῶς ἐκολάζετο, ὡς μηδὲ σταγόνος μικρᾶς δυνηθῆναι ἐπιτυχεῖν. Καὶ τούτων δὲ αὐτῶν τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων μὲν, μηδὲν δὲ ἐνταῦθα πασχόντων δεινὸν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐκείνους ταλανίζω τοὺς μετὰ τοῦ μὴ τιμωρεῖσθαι ἐνταῦθα καὶ τρυφῆς καὶ ἀδείας ἀπολαύοντας. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ μὴ δοῦναι δίκην ἐνταῦθα τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων χαλεπωτέραν ἐκεῖ ποιεῖ τὴν τιμωρίαν· οὕτω δὴ τὸ πολλῆς ἀνέσεως ἀπολαύειν τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας καὶ τρυφῆς καὶ εὐπορίας, ἐφόδιον αὐτοῖς καὶ ὑπόθεσις κολάσεως καὶ τιμωρίας ἐκεῖ γίνεται μείζονος. Ὅταν γὰρ ἁμαρτάνοντες τιμώμεθα ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς μάλιστα εἰς τὸ πῦρ μειζόνως ἐμβαλεῖν δυνήσεται. Εἰ γὰρ μακροθυμίας τις ἀπολαύων μόνον, ἂν εἰς δέον αὐτῇ μὴ χρήσηται, χαλεπωτέραν ἕξει τὴν τιμωρίαν· ὅταν μετὰ τῆς μακροθυμίας καὶ τιμὰς ἔχῃ μεγίστας, εἶτα ἐπιμένῃ τῇ πονηρίᾳ, τίς αὐτὸν ἐξελεῖται τῆς κολάσεως ἐκείνης; Ὅτι γὰρ οἱ μακροθυμίας ἐνταῦθα ἀπολαύοντες συνάγουσιν ἑαυτοῖς ὁλόκληρον ἐκεῖ τὸ κακὸν, ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήσωμεν, ἄκουσον τί φησιν ὁ Παῦλος· Λογίζῃ δὲ τοῦτο, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, ὁ κρίνων τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντας, καὶ ποιῶν αὐτὰ, ὅτι σὺ ἐκφεύξῃ τὸ κρῖμα τοῦ Θεοῦ; Ἢ τοῦ πλούτου τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἀνοχῆς καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας καταφρονεῖς, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει; Κατὰ δὲ τὴν σκληρότητά σου καὶ ἀμετανόητον καρδίαν θησαυρίζεις σεαυτῷ ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως καὶ δικαιοκρισίας τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὅταν οὖν ἴδωμέν τινας πλουτοῦντας, τρυφῶντας, μύρων ὄζοντας, ἐν μέθῃ διημερεύοντας, ἐν δυναστείᾳ ὄντας καὶ δόξῃ πολλῇ καὶ πολλῇ τῇ φαντασίᾳ καὶ περιφανείᾳ, καὶ ἁμαρτάνοντας, καὶ μηδὲν πάσχοντας δεινὸν, δι' αὐτὸ τοῦτο αὐτοὺς μάλιστα δακρύωμεν καὶ θρηνῶμεν, ὅτι ἁμαρτάνοντες οὐ κολάζονται. Ὥσπερ γὰρ εἴ τινα εἶδες ὑδέρῳ ἢ σπληνὶ κατεχόμενον, ἢ σηπεδόνα τινὰ ἔχοντα καὶ ἕλκη μυρία πάντοθεν, εἶτα ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις μεθύοντα, τρυφῶντα, καὶ τὸ νόσημα ἐπιτείνοντα, οὐ μόνον οὐ θαυμάζεις, οὐδὲ μακαρίζεις διὰ τὴν τρυφὴν, ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτὸ τοῦτο μάλιστα ταλανίζεις αὐτόν· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς λογίζου. Ὅταν ἴδῃς ἄνθρωπον πονηρίᾳ συζῶντα, καὶ πολλῆς ἀπολαύοντα τῆς εὐημερίας, καὶ οὐδὲν πάσχοντα δεινὸν, διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον θρήνησον, ὅτι νοσήματι κατεχόμενος καὶ σηπεδόνι χαλεπωτάτῃ, τὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν ἐπιτείνει, διὰ τῆς τρυφῆς καὶ τῆς ἀνέσεως χείρων γινόμενος. Οὐ γὰρ ἡ κόλασις κακὸν, ἀλλ' ἡ ἁμαρτία κακόν. Αὕτη μὲν γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ διίστησιν, ἐκείνη δὲ συνάγει ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ καταλύει τὴν ὀργήν. Πόθεν τοῦτο δῆλον; Ἄκουσον τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος· Παρακαλεῖτε, παρακαλεῖτε τὸν λαόν μου, ἱερεῖς, λαλήσατε ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ὅτι ἐδέξατο ἐκ χειρὸς Κυρίου διπλᾶ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῆς. Καὶ πάλιν· Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, εἰρήνην δὸς ἡμῖν· πάντα γὰρ ἀπέδωκας ἡμῖν. Καὶ ἵνα μάθητε ὅτι οἱ μὲν ἐνταῦθα, οἱ δὲ ἐκεῖ κολάζονται, οἱ δὲ καὶ ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἐκεῖ, ἀκούσατε 48.999 τι φησιν ὁ Παῦλος κατηγορῶν τῶν ἀναξίως κοινωνούντων τοῖς μυστηρίοις· εἰπὼν γὰρ, ὅτι Ὁ ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων τὸ σῶμα καὶ αἷμα ἀναξίως τοῦ Κυρίου ἔνοχος ἔσται τοῦ σώματος καὶ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐπήγαγεν εὐθέως· ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐν ὑμῖν πολλοὶ ἀσθενεῖς καὶ ἄῤῥωστοι, καὶ κοιμῶνται ἱκανοί. Εἰ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκρίνομεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐκρινόμεθα· νῦν δὲ κρινόμενοι ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου, παιδευόμεθα, ἵνα μὴ σὺν τῷ κόσμῳ κατακριθῶμεν. Ὁρᾷς πῶς ἡ ἐνταῦθα κόλασις ἐξαρπάζει τῆς ἐκεῖ τιμωρίας ἡμᾶς; Καὶ περὶ τοῦ πεπορνευκότος δέ φησι· Παράδοτε τὸν τοιοῦτον τῷ Σατανᾷ εἰς ὄλεθρον τῆς σαρκὸς, ἵνα τὸ πνεῦμα σωθῇ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Λαζάρου δὲ τοῦτο δῆλον, ὅτι εἴ τι κακὸν ἐποίησεν, ἐνταῦθα τοῦτο ἀπονιψάμενος, οὕτως ἀπῆλθεν ἐκεῖ καθαρός· καὶ