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
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, you ought to seek after the virtues of men, how he was regarding fearlessness, regarding money, regarding temperance, and gentleness and justice, mercy, and prudence and courage and forgetfulness or memory. "For food does not commend us to God, neither if we eat nor if we do not eat," but knowledge working with practice. But he himself ate alone, as I know in part, for these reasons: first, he did not drink wine on account of the heat of his head, unless perhaps in the hot weather he used that which was made with roses; second <δέ>, because his stomach had no regularity from some weakness, so that often the things prepared appeared unpleasant and he sought things that were not present. Then there were times when he even forgot his food, prolonging it until evening, partly being distracted by ecclesiastical cares, and partly being drawn away by spiritual contemplations; for he strove to be at a loss in nothing of the divine Scriptures, -and such things somehow love either fasting or light eating. But it is the custom for feasters, if someone does not eat with them or drink with them or laugh with them 70 with meaningless laughter, holding the cup lukewarm on the tips of his fingers, to turn the friendliness of the table into slander. But the whole (as I think) and more truly: he was exceedingly sparing towards those of luxury, considering the expense on such people to be sacrilege; at the same time also cutting off the occasions for theft from the stewards, so that they might not multiply tenfold the prices of provisions in the accounts, having usurped the needs of the poor. In addition to these things, considering the populace of the city, he reflected that either he ought to deem every rank worthy of this honor as a steward of Christ, or to provide the thing to no one. And looking at both the noises of the table and at the multitude of the expenses of the poor, he shuddered at the matter, bidding a long farewell to such slanders, chanting to himself that from the Acts, "Men and brethren, it is not right for us to serve tables, but let us appoint devout men over this business; but we will give ourselves to the word and to prayer." For just as a race horse that can no longer run a race is put to a mill, going around in an endless circle; so a teacher who has grown weary of the words of virtue puts forward the hunt from the table; and would that it were at least for the hungry and needy, from which it is possible also to gain the blessing of the Master, the, "I was hungry, and you fed me"; but rather only for the rich for the sake of being well spoken of, or of fading glory, or of being invited in return, or if none of these, so that he might not be spoken of ill, not remembering the denunciation of the Lord saying, "Woe to you, when all men shall speak well of you" -he did not say, "the poor," but, "men"; - "for so their fathers did to the false prophets." Let us not then seek, like the vainglorious, O Theodore, the glory of a false prophet. "For John came, neither eating nor 71 drinking, in the way of righteousness; and they say, 'He has a demon.' 71 The Son of Man came, eating and drinking; and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'" {THE DEACON.} Not at all, O best father, by censuring or running down such asceticism did I bring the question to your accuracy; for I knew both from his reputation itself and from his writings that have reached us, whether homilies or epistles, the mind of the man; but that by learning his purpose I might emulate the practice. For who is so completely foolish as to be ignorant that the loss is greater than the gain from a table, unless perhaps a need arises in necessity to entertain saints? {THE BISHOP.} I also said these things, most truth-loving Theodore, not disparaging the patristic virtue, especially that of hospitality. For it is one of the other virtues that contribute to piety, through which also the lordly patriarchs, one ensnared the Savior God at his table, another entertained angels, the one in old age finding a son, the other salvation from Sodom as a reward with his daughters; concerning whom also the apostle
μέν, ὅτι μόνος ἤσθιεν· οὐκ ἐβου λόμην δέ σε, Θεόδωρε ἐμμελέστατε, τὰ τῶν γαστριμάργων νηπίων διερωτᾶν. ἀνὴρ γὰρ ὑπάρχων, τὰς
ἀνδρῶν ἀρετὰς ἐπι ζητεῖν ὀφείλεις, πῶς εἶχεν περὶ ἀφοβίας, περὶ χρημάτων, περὶ σωφροσύνης, πραΰτητός τε καὶ δικαιοσύνης, ἐλεημοσύνης,
φρο νήσεώς τε καὶ ἀνδρείας καὶ λήθης ἢ μνήμης. "βρῶμα γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὐ παρίστησι τῷ Θεῷ, οὔτε ἐὰν φάγωμεν οὔτε ἐὰν μὴ φάγωμεν,"
ἀλλὰ γνῶσις μετὰ πράξεως ἐνεργουμένη. αὐτὸς δὲ ἤσθιεν μόνος, ὡς ἐκ μέρους γινώσκω, διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας· πρῶτον μέν, οἶνον
οὐκ ἔπινεν διὰ τὴν τῆς κεφαλῆς θέρμην, εἰ μή που ἐν τοῖς καύμασι τὸ διὰ ῥόδων ἐχρῆτο· δεύτερον <δέ>, ὅτι τάξιν ὁ στόμαχος
αὐτοῦ οὐκ εἶχεν ἀπό τινος ἀσθενείας, ὡς πολλάκις τὰ εὐτρεπισθέντα ἀηδῆ φανῆναι καὶ ἐπιζητεῖν τὰ μὴ παρόντα. εἶτα ἦν ὅτε καὶ
λήθην ἐλάμβανε τῶν βρωμάτων, παρατείνων ἕως ἑσπέρας, τοῦτο μὲν ταῖς ἐκκλησιαστικαῖς διασπώμενος φροντίσι, τοῦτο δὲ ταῖς πνευματικαῖς
περισπώμενος θεωρίαις· ἠγωνίζετο γὰρ μηδὲν ἀπορεῖν τῶν θείων Γραφῶν, -φιλεῖ δέ πως τὰ τοιαῦτα ἢ τὴν ἀσιτίαν ἢ τὴν κουφοσιτίαν.
ἔθος δὲ τοῖς δαιτυ μόσιν, ἐὰν μὴ αὐτοῖς τις συμβρώσῃ ἢ συμβροχθίσῃ ἢ συγκαχάσῃ 70 γέλωτι ἀσήμῳ, ἐπ' ἄκρων δακτύλων χλιαρὰν
φέρων τὴν κύλικα, εἰς κακηγορίαν ἄγειν τὴν τῆς τραπέζης φιλοφροσύνην. τὸ δ' ὅλον (ὡς οἶμαι) καὶ ἀληθέστερον· φειδωλὸς ἦν εἰσάγαν
πρὸς τοὺς τῆς τρυφῆς, ἱεροσυλίαν νομίζων τὴν εἰς τοὺς τοιούτους δαπάνην· ὁμοῦ καὶ τῶν οἰκονόμων τὰς τῆς κλοπῆς ἀφορμὰς περικόπτων,
ἵνα μὴ δεκαπλασιάσωσι τὰς τιμὰς τῶν ὀψωνίων ἐν τοῖς βρεβίοις, τὰς τῶν πενήτων σφετερισάμενοι χρείας. πρὸς τούτοις τὸ πλῆθος
τῆς πόλεως ἐννοῶν ἐσκόπει, ὅτι ἢ πᾶν ἀξίωμα ὀφείλει ταύτης τῆς τιμῆς ἀξιῶσαι ὡς Χριστοῦ οἰκονόμος, ἢ μηδενὶ παρασχεῖν τὸ πρᾶγμα.
ἀποβλέψας δὲ εἴς τε τοὺς τῆς τραπέζης θορύβους καὶ εἰς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀναλωμάτων τῶν πτωχικῶν, ἐφρικίασεν πρὸς τὸ πρᾶγμα, μακρὰν
χαίρειν εἰπὼν ταῖς τοιαύταις κακολογίαις, τὸ τῶν Πράξεων ἑαυτῷ κατεπᾴδων, "Ανδρες ἀδελφοί, οὐκ ἐξὸν ἡμῖν τραπέζαις διακονεῖν,
ἀλλὰ καταστήσωμεν ἄνδρας εὐλαβεῖς ἐπὶ τῆς χρείας· ἡμεῖς δὲ σχολάσωμεν τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῇ προσευχῇ." ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀγωνιστὴς ἵππος
σταδιοδρομεῖν οὐκέτι δυνάμενος μύλωνι ἐγκατατάσσεται, ἀτέλεστον κύκλον γυρεύων· οὕτως ἀποκνήσας διδάσκαλος πρὸς τοὺς τῆς ἀρετῆς
λόγους, τὴν ἐκ τῆς τραπέζης προβάλλεται θήραν· καὶ εἴθε κἂν τοῖς πεινῶσι καὶ δεομένοις, ὅθεν ἔνεστι καὶ κερδᾶναι τὸν μακαρισμὸν
τοῦ ∆εσπότου, τό, "Ἐπείνων, καὶ ἐχορτάσατέ με"· ἀλλ' ἢ μόνοις πλουσίοις τοῦ εὖ ἀκοῦσαι χάριν, ἢ δόξης μαραινομένης, ἢ τοῦ
ὁμοίως ἀντικληθῆναι, ἢ εἰ τούτων οὐδέν, ἵνα μὴ κακὸς ἀκούσῃ, οὐ μεμνημένος τοῦ ταλανισμοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου λέγοντος· "Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν,
ὅταν καλῶς ὑμῖν εἴπωσιν πάντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι" -οὐκ εἶπεν, "οἱ πτωχοί," ἀλλ', "οἱ ἄνθρωποι"· - "κατὰ ταὐτὸν γὰρ ἐποίουν τοῖς
ψευδοπροφήταις οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν." μὴ ζητῶμεν οὖν ὡς οἱ κενόδοξοι, ὦ Θεόδωρε, ψευδο προφήτου δόξαν. "ἦλθεν γὰρ Ἰωάννης, μήτε
ἐσθίων μήτε 71 πίνων, ἐν ὁδῷ δικαιοσύνης· καὶ λέγουσι, "∆αιμόνιον ἔχει." 71 ἦλθεν ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων· καὶ
λέγουσιν, "Ἰδού, ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, τελωνῶν φίλος καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν."" {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Οὐ πάντως, ὦ ἄριστε πάτερ, ψέξας ἢ
καταδραμὼν τῆς τοιαύτης ἀσκήσεως, τὴν πεῦσιν προσήγαγον τῇ σῇ ἀκρι βολογίᾳ· ᾔδειν γὰρ καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς φήμης καὶ ἐκ τῶν εἰς
ἡμᾶς φθασάντων αὐτοῦ συγγραμμάτων, ἢ ὁμιλιῶν ἢ ἐπιστολῶν, τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διάνοιαν· ἀλλ' ἵνα τὸν σκοπὸν μαθὼν ζηλώσω τὸ πρᾶγμα.
τίς γὰρ οὕτως εἰς ἅπαν ἠλίθιος, ἵνα ἀγνοήσῃ ὅτι μείζων ἡ ζημία τοῦ ἐκ τραπέζης κέρδους, εἰ μή που χρεία γένηται ἐν ἀνάγκῃ
ξενίσαι ἁγίους; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ταῦτα εἶπον κἀγώ, φιλαληθέστατε Θεόδωρε, οὐκ ἐξευτελίζων τὴν πατρικὴν ἀρετήν, μάλιστα τῆς φιλοξενίας.
μία γάρ ἐστι τῶν λοιπῶν ἀρετῶν τῶν εἰς εὐσέβειαν συντει νουσῶν, δι' ὧν καὶ οἱ κύριοι πατριάρχαι, ὁ μὲν τὸν Σωτῆρα Θεὸν τῇ
τραπέζῃ ἐθήρευσεν, ὁ δὲ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ἐξένισεν, ὁ μὲν υἱὸν ἐν γήρει, ὁ δὲ σωτηρίαν τὴν ἐκ Σοδόμων μισθὸν σὺν ταῖς θυγατράσιν
εὑράμενοι· περὶ ὧν καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος
