John Chrysostom, On Lazarus

disorderly (For let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you), that we may not use filthy language, that we may not speak jests. And this is no small labor, to show a careful observance of these things. And that you may learn how great a thing it is to be a philosopher, and how the matter allows no rest, hear what Paul says: I buffet my body, and bring it into subjection; for in saying this, he hinted at the force and the great labor, which it is necessary for those to endure who wish in all things to make the body obedient. And Christ also said to his disciples: In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. This tribulation, he says, procures rest for you; the present life is a wrestling arena; and in the wrestling arena and in the contests, he who is about to be crowned cannot enjoy rest. So if anyone wishes to be crowned, let him choose the hard and toilsome life, so that having labored for a short time here, he may enjoy perpetual honor there. ζʹ. How many despondencies befall us each day? And of how great a soul it is not to lose heart, 48.1001 nor to be vexed, but to give thanks, to glorify, to worship the one who allows these temptations to be brought upon us? how many unexpected things, how many straits? And it is necessary to afflict wicked thoughts, and not to allow the tongue to utter anything improper; just as the blessed Job, having suffered countless things, remained giving thanks to God. But there are some who, if they stumble in something, or are reviled by someone, or fall into sickness, or gout, or headache, or some other such disease, immediately blaspheme; and they endure the pain of the disease, but are deprived of the gain. What are you doing, O man, blaspheming the benefactor and Savior and protector and guardian? Or do you not perceive that you are being carried down a cliff, and casting yourself into a pit of utter destruction? For if you blaspheme, do you make the suffering lighter? You therefore intensify it, and make the pain more grievous. For because of this the devil brings countless terrible things, that he may bring you down into that pit; and if he sees you blaspheming, he easily increases the pain and makes it greater, so that, being goaded, you may despair again; but if he sees you bearing it nobly, and the more the suffering is intensified, the more you give thanks to God, he departs immediately, as henceforth attending in vain and to no purpose. And just as a dog standing by a table, if it sees the eating man continually throwing to it something of what is on the table, it remains perpetually; but if having stood by once and a second time it goes away having received nothing, it departs henceforth, as attending in vain and to no purpose; so also the devil continually gapes at us; if you throw to him, as to a dog, a blasphemous word, having received it he will attack again; but if you remain giving thanks, you have choked him with hunger, and quickly driven him away, and made him leap away. But you cannot be silent when goaded by the pain. Nor do I forbid you to speak, but instead of blasphemy, thanksgiving, instead of despair, praise. Confess to the Lord, cry out loudly praying, cry out loudly glorifying God; thus your suffering is also lightened, with the devil departing because of the thanksgiving, and the help of God arriving. For if you blaspheme, you have both repelled the alliance of God, and made the devil more vehement against yourself, and have struck yourself more with pains; but if you give thanks, you have both repelled the plots of the wicked demon, and have drawn to yourself the healing of God the guardian. But often by habit the tongue rushes to utter that wicked word. But whenever it rushes, before it brings forth the word, bite it fiercely with your teeth from all sides. It is better for it to flow with blood now, than then, desiring a drop, not to be able to obtain this comfort; it is better for it to endure temporary pain, than to undergo the punishment of everlasting torment then, just as the tongue of the rich man then, being in flames, obtained no comfort.

ἀτάκτως (Πᾶσα γὰρ πικρία καὶ θυμὸς καὶ ὀργὴ καὶ κραυγὴ καὶ βλασφημία ἀρθήτω ἀφ' ὑμῶν), ἵνα μὴ αἰσχρολογῶμεν, ἵνα μὴ ἀστεῖα λέγωμεν. Οὐ μικρὸς δὲ πόνος οὗτος, ἀκριβῆ τὴν τούτων παρατήρησιν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς πόσον ἐστὶ τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν, καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἔχει τὸ πρᾶγμα ἄνεσιν, ἄκουσον τί φησιν ὁ Παῦλος· Ὑπωπιάζω μου τὸ σῶμα καὶ δουλαγωγῶ· τοῦτο γὰρ εἰπὼν, ᾐνίξατο τὴν βίαν καὶ τὸν πολὺν πόνον, ὃν ὑπομένειν ἀνάγκη τοὺς βουλομένους ἐν ἅπασιν εὐήνιον κατασκευάζειν τὸ σῶμα. Καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς δὲ τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἔλεγεν· Ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλῖψιν ἕξετε· ἀλλὰ θαρσεῖτε, ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον. Αὕτη, φησὶν, ἡ θλῖψις ἄνεσιν ὑμῖν προξενεῖ· σκάμμα ἐστὶν ὁ παρὼν βίος· ἐν δὲ τῷ σκάμματι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσιν οὐκ ἂν δύναιτ' ἀπολαύειν ἀνέσεως ὁ στεφανοῦσθαι μέλλων. Ὥστε εἴ τις βούλοιτο στεφανωθῆναι, τὸν σκληρὸν καὶ ἐπίπονον αἱρείσθω βίον, ἵνα βραχὺν ἐνταῦθα πονήσας χρόνον, διηνεκοῦς ἀπολαύσῃ τιμῆς ἐκεῖ. ζʹ. Πόσαι προσπίπτουσι καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἀθυμίαι; ἡλίκης δέ ἐστι ψυχῆς μὴ ἀποδυσπετῆσαι, 48.1001 μηδὲ δυσχερᾶναι, ἀλλὰ εὐχαριστῆσαι, δοξάσαι, προσκυνῆσαι τὸν συγχωροῦντα τοὺς πειρασμοὺς τούτους ἐπενεχθῆναι; πόσα ἀδόκητα, πόσαι στενοχωρίαι; Καὶ δεῖ θλίβειν τοὺς πονηροὺς λογισμοὺς, καὶ μὴ συγχωρεῖν τῇ γλώττῃ φθέγγεσθαί τι τῶν ἀτόπων· καθάπερ καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἰὼβ μυρία παθὼν ἔμενεν εὐχαριστῶν τῷ Θεῷ. Εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἳ, ἐὰν προσπταίσωσιν ἐν τινὶ, ἢ παρὰ τινὸς λοιδορηθῶσιν, ἢ ἀῤῥωστίᾳ περιπέσωσιν, ἢ ποδαλγίᾳ, ἢ κεφαλαλγίᾳ, ἢ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τοιούτων νοσήματι, βλασφημοῦσιν εὐθέως· καὶ τὸν μὲν πόνον ὑφίστανται τοῦ νοσήματος, τοῦ κέρδους δὲ ἀποστεροῦνται. Τί ποιεῖς, ἄνθρωπε, τὸν εὐεργέτην καὶ Σωτῆρα καὶ προστάτην καὶ κηδεμόνα βλασφημῶν; ἢ οὐκ αἰσθάνῃ κατὰ κρημνοῦ φερόμενος, καὶ εἰς βάραθρον σαυτὸν ἐμβάλλων ἀπωλείας ἐσχάτης; μὴ γὰρ, ἐὰν βλασφημήσῃς, κουφότερον τὸ πάθος ποιεῖς; ἐπιτείνεις μὲν οὖν αὐτὸ, καὶ χαλεπωτέραν ἐργάζῃ τὴν ὀδύνην. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο ὁ διάβολος μυρία ἐπάγει δεινὰ, ἵνα εἰς ἐκεῖνό σε καταγάγῃ τὸ βάραθρον· κἂν μὲν ἴδῃ βλασφημοῦντα, ῥᾳδίως αὔξει τὴν ἀλγηδόνα καὶ μείζονα ποιεῖ, ἵνα κεντούμενος ἀποδυσπετήσῃς πάλιν· ἂν δὲ ἴδῃ σε γενναίως φέροντα, καὶ ὅσῳ τὸ πάθος ἐπιτείνεται, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον εὐχαριστοῦντα τῷ Θεῷ, ἀφίσταται εὐθέως, ὡς εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην προσεδρεύων λοιπόν. Καὶ καθάπερ κύων τραπέζῃ παρεστὼς, ἂν μὲν ἴδῃ τὸν ἐσθίοντα ἄνθρωπον συνεχῶς αὐτῷ ῥίπτοντα τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης τι κειμένων, μένει διηνεκῶς· ἂν δὲ ἅπαξ καὶ δεύτερον παραστὰς μηδὲν ἀπέλθῃ λαβὼν, ἀφίσταται λοιπὸν, ἅτε εἰκῆ προσεδρεύων καὶ μάτην· οὕτω καὶ ὁ διάβολος συνεχῶς κέχηνε πρὸς ἡμᾶς· ἂν μὲν ῥίψῃς αὐτῷ, καθάπερ κυνὶ, ῥῆμα βλάσφημον, δεξάμενος πάλιν ἐπιθήσεται· ἂν δὲ μείνῃς εὐχαριστῶν, ἀπέπνιξας αὐτὸν τῷ λιμῷ, καὶ ταχέως ἀπήγαγες, καὶ ἀποπηδῆσαι ἐποίησας. Ἀλλ' οὐ δύνασαι σιγᾷν ὑπὸ τῆς ὀδύνης κεντούμενος. Οὐδὲ ἐγὼ κωλύω σε φθέγγεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ τῆς βλασφημίας εὐχαριστίαν, ἀντὶ τῆς ἀποδυσπετήσεως εὐφημίαν. Ἐξομολόγησαι τῷ ∆εσπότῃ, βόα μεγάλα εὐχόμενος, βόα μεγάλα δοξάζων τὸν Θεόν· οὕτω σοι καὶ τὸ πάθος ἐπικουφίζεται, τοῦ διαβόλου μὲν ἀφισταμένου διὰ τῆς εὐχαριστίας, τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δὲ βοηθείας παραγινομένης. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ βλασφημήσῃς, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ συμμαχίαν ἀπεκρούσω, καὶ σφοδρότερον εἰργάσω κατὰ σαυτοῦ τὸν διάβολον, καὶ μᾶλλον σαυτὸν ἐνέπληξας ταῖς ἀλγηδόσιν· ἂν δὲ εὐχαριστήσῃς, τάς τε ἐπιβουλὰς ἀπεκρούσω τὰς τοῦ πονηροῦ δαίμονος, καὶ τὴν τοῦ κηδεμόνος Θεοῦ θεραπείαν ἐπεσπάσω πρὸς σεαυτόν. Ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς συνηθείας ὁρμᾷ πολλάκις ἡ γλῶττα τὸ πονηρὸν ἐκεῖνο φθέγξασθαι ῥῆμα. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὰν ὁρμήσῃ, πρὶν ἢ τὸ ῥῆμα ἐξενεγκεῖν, κατάδακε τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν αὐτὴν πάντοθεν σφοδρῶς. Βέλτιον αὐτὴν αἷμα ῥέειν νῦν, ἢ τότε σταγόνος ἐπιθυμοῦσαν μὴ δυνηθῆναι τῆς παραμυθίας ταύτης τυχεῖν· βέλτιον αὐτὴν πρόσκαιρον ὑπομεῖναι πόνον, ἢ διηνεκοῦς κολάσεως ὑποστῆναι τὴν τιμωρίαν τότε, καθάπερ καὶ ἡ τοῦ πλουσίου τότε γλῶττα φλεγομένη παραμυθίας ἔτυχεν οὐδεμιᾶς.