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

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 wisdom of the serpent and the innocence of the dove, obeying the two sayings, both, "Give to everyone who asks of you," and, "Do not bring every man into your house," so that by receiving a wolf instead of a sheep, or a bear instead of an ox, he does not trade gain for loss. But one must first examine the place where he has been stationed, whether it is desolate or populous, then his own suitability, whether he is able to bear strange characters; then to discern who ought to be well-treated, whether he is rich or poor, or healthy or sick, or in need of food or clothing; for in these things practical mercy is accomplished. For the blessed Abraham did not entertain consuls, nor generals, nor the prominent men of the earthly world 72, with whom are horses gleaming with muzzle or bridle, or bronze-drummed trousers belching forth from afar the sound of their arrogance; but, dwelling in a desolate place, he welcomed those who arrived there. And those crossing the desert went to the patriarch either for virtue, or because of their protracted beggary <καὶ> poverty. [For poverty is the mean between excess and deficiency: the excess of wealth, and the deficiency of beggary.] Likewise Lot also, dwelling in a city worse than the desert, rightly welcomed the visiting strangers because of the character of the inhabitants. But if someone, dwelling in a most well-ordered city, such as that of Constantine, in which all are hosts, perhaps one of the presbyters excessively, "having left the ministry of the word," devotes himself to lists of provisions, this man has unkowingly considered himself a retailer instead of a teacher, by the wateriness of his thoughts making the unmixed knowledge disappear, reaping the prophetic reproach: "Your retailers mix wine with water." For as much as wine differs from water for those who are weak, so much does teaching surpass hospitality. For the one benefits those of his own time, but the other also those after him; and the one profits only those present, but the other also those absent; those present by the tongue, those absent through what is written. Such was the Savior in the flesh, who fed the five thousand with loaves, not in a city, but in a desert, and taught those present through his tongue, and saved the world through the written Gospels (for such, especially, are the words of the spirit-bearers). And do not marvel, Theodore, if someone fills a hungry man with food, but if someone frees a soul from its ignorance. For the one who satisfies the stomach either by a gift or by money, or <δι'> bread or by vegetables, is easily found providing for the need; but the nourisher with the word is rarely found, and when found, is either not believed or is believed with difficulty, as evil spirits are always working against the salvation of souls. The Lord God, threatening to bring on this famine of the word of teaching as a form of punishment, said to the prophet: "I will send a famine upon them, not a famine 73 of bread and water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord." And concerning the perceptible famine, it is possible to be saved in another city or country after leaving the one in need, just as the holy patriarchs went down from Palestine to Egypt; but concerning the famine of the mind, which happens to the churches from no other cause than a lack of teachers, again another prophet said: "They will run to and fro from east to west seeking the word of the Lord and will not find it." For what good does not spring from teaching? And what harm is not found from inopportune food or drink? Diseases, fights, insults from the belly, and the things that follow these. When was Eve cast out of paradise? Was it not when she listened to the serpent and ate from the tree, not being content with the appointed food? When did Cain work the defilement of fratricide? Was it not when he first tasted the first-fruits, keeping the best part for his own gluttony? When did the children of Job find the table an impromptu tomb? Was it not when they were eating and drinking? When did Esau

λέγει, παρορ μῶν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὸ μίμημα· "Τῆς φιλοξενίας," λέγων, "μὴ ἐπι λανθάνεσθε· διὰ ταύτης γὰρ ἔλαθόν τινες ξενίσαντες ἀγγέλους." δεῖ δὲ τὸν ξενοδόχον τὸ μὲν φρόνιμον ἔχειν τοῦ ὄφεως, τὸ δὲ ἀκέραιον τῆς περιστερᾶς, πειθόμενον τοῖς δύο λογίοις, καὶ τῷ, "Παντὶ τῷ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου," καὶ τῷ, "Μὴ πάντα ἄνθρωπον εἰσάγαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου," ἵνα μὴ λύκον ἀντὶ προβάτου δεξά μενος, ἢ ἄρκον ἀντὶ βοός, τῇ ζημίᾳ τὸ κέρδος ἀπεμπολήσῃ. δοκιμάζειν δὲ πρῶτον τὸν τόπον ὀφείλει ἐν ᾧ τις ἐτάγη, εἰ ἔρημος ἢ πολύοχλος, εἶτα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐπιτηδειότητα, εἰ οἷός τέ ἐστιν ἀλλόκοτα βαστάζειν ἤθη· τότε διακρίνειν τὸν εὖ ὀφεί λοντα παθεῖν, εἰ πλούσιός ἐστιν ἢ πένης, ἢ ὑγιὴς ἢ ἄῤῥωστος, ἢ βρωμάτων ἐπιδέεται ἢ ἐνδυμάτων· ἐν τούτοις γὰρ ὁ πρακτικὸς ἔλεος διανύεται. ὁ γὰρ μακάριος Ἀβραὰμ οὐχ ὑπάτους, οὐδὲ στρατηγούς, οὐδὲ τοὺς ἐπ' ἐξοχῆς ἄνδρας τοῦ περιγείου κόσμου 72 ἐξένισεν, παρ' οἷς ἵπποι κημῷ ἢ χαλινῷ ἀποστίλβοντες ἢ σαρά βαρα χαλκοτύμπανα πόῤῥωθεν τῆς ὑπερηφανίας τὸν κτύπον ἀπερευγόμενα· ἀλλ' ἔρημον οἰκῶν τόπον τοὺς ἐκεῖ φθάνοντας ἐδεξιοῦτο. οἱ δὲ τὴν ἔρημον διαβαίνοντες, ἢ δι' ἀρετὴν ἀπῄεσαν πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην, ἢ διὰ πτωχείαν τὴν ἐπιτεταμένην <καὶ> πενίαν. [πενία γάρ ἐστι μεσότης ὑπερβολῆς καὶ ἐλλείψεως· ὑπερβολῆς μὲν πλούτου, ἐλλείψεως δὲ πτωχείας.] ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ Λὼτ χείρονα τῆς ἐρήμου πόλιν οἰκῶν εἰκότως ἐδεξιοῦτο τοὺς ἐπιχωριάζοντας ξένους διὰ τὸν τρόπον τῶν κατοικούντων. εἰ δέ τις πόλιν οἰκῶν εὐνομωτάτην, οἵα ἡ Κωνσταντίνου, ἐν ᾗ πάντες εἰσὶ ξενοδόχοι, περισσῶς τάχα τις τῶν πρεσβυτέρων "τὴν τοῦ λόγου καταλείψας διακονίαν," βρεβίοις σχολάζων ὀψωνίων, οὗτος λέληθεν ἑαυτὸν κάπηλον ἀντὶ διδασκάλου νομίζων, τῇ ὑδαρότητι τῶν λογισμῶν τὴν ἄκρατον ἐξαφανίζων γνῶσιν, τὸν προφητικὸν καρπούμενος ὄνειδον· "Οἱ κάπηλοί σου μίσγουσι τὸν οἶνον ὕδατι." ὅσον γὰρ διαφέρει τοῖς ἀτο νοῦσιν ὕδατος ὁ οἶνος, τοσοῦτον ὑπερβάλλει ξενοδοχίας διδασ καλία. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὠφελεῖ τοὺς κατ' αὐτόν, ἡ δὲ καὶ τοὺς μετ' αὐτόν· καὶ ἡ μὲν τοὺς παρόντας μόνον κερδαίνει, ἡ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀπόντας· τοὺς παρόντας μὲν τῆς γλώσσης, τοὺς ἀπόντας δὲ διὰ τῶν γραφομένων. οἷος ἦν ἐν σαρκὶ ὁ Σωτήρ, θρέψας μὲν τοῖς ἄρτοις πεντακισχιλίους, οὐκ ἐν πόλει, ἀλλ' ἐν ἐρήμῳ, διδάξας δὲ καὶ τοὺς παρόντας διὰ τῆς γλώσσης, σώσας δὲ τὴν οἰκουμένην διὰ τῶν γεγραμμένων Εὐαγγελίων (τοιοῦτον γὰρ οἱ λόγοι μάλιστα τῶν πνευματοφόρων). καὶ μὴ θαυμάσῃς, Θεόδωρε, εἴ τις πεινῶντα βρωμάτων ἐμπλήσῃ, ἀλλ' εἴ τίς τινος ἀγνοίας τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπαλλάξῃ. ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὴν γαστέρα χορτά ζων ἢ δωρεᾷ ἢ ἀργυρίου, ἢ <δι'> ἄρτου ἢ διὰ λαχάνων, εὐ κόλως εὑρίσκεται τὴν χρείαν παρέχων· ὁ δὲ τοῦ λόγου τροφεὺς σπανίως μὲν εὑρίσκεται, εὑρεθεὶς δέ, ἢ οὐ πιστεύεται ἢ μόλις πιστεύεται, τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων ἀεὶ ἀντιπραττόντων τῇ τῶν ψυχῶν σωτηρίᾳ. τοῦτον τὸν τοῦ λόγου τῆς διδασκαλίας λιμὸν ἐν εἴδει τιμωρίας ἀπειλῶν ἐπάγειν ὁ ∆εσπότης Θεὸς ἔλεγεν τῷ προφήτῃ· "Ἐπάξω ἐπ' αὐτοὺς λιμόν, οὐ λιμὸν 73 ἄρτου καὶ ὕδατος, ἀλλὰ λιμὸν τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι λόγον Κυρίου." καὶ περὶ μὲν τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ λιμοῦ, ἔστιν ἐγκαταλείψαντα τὴν ἐνδεομένην πόλιν ἢ χώραν ἐν ἄλλῃ σωθῆναι, ὥσπερ οἱ ἅγιοι πατριάρχαι ἀπὸ Παλαιστίνης εἰς Αἴγυπτον κατιόντες· περὶ δὲ τοῦ κατὰ νοῦν λιμοῦ, ὃς οὐκ ἄλλοθεν συμβαίνει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἢ δι' ἀπορίαν τῶν διδασκάλων, πάλιν ἔλεγεν ἕτερος προφήτης· "Περιδραμοῦνται ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἕως δυσμῶν ζητοῦντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ οὐ μὴ εὑρήσωσιν." τί γὰρ ἀγαθὸν οὐ φύεται ἀπὸ διδασκαλίας; τί δὲ ἄκαιρον οὐκ ἐφευρίσκεται ἀπὸ ἀκαίρου τροφῆς ἢ συμποσίου; νόσοι, μάχαι, ὕβρεις αἱ ὑπὸ γαστέρα, καὶ τὰ τούτων ἑξῆς. πότε ἡ Εὕα ἐκβέβληται τοῦ παραδείσου; οὐχ ὅτε τοῦ ὄφεως ἤκουσεν φαγοῦσα τοῦ ξύλου, μὴ ἀρκεσθεῖσα τῇ τεταγμένῃ τροφῇ; πότε Κάϊν τὸ τῆς ἀδελφο κτονίας εἰργάσατο μίασμα; οὐχ ὅτε τῶν ἀπαρχῶν ἀπεγεύσατο πρῶτος, τῇ ἑαυτοῦ λαιμαργίᾳ τὰ πρωτεῖα φυλάξας; πότε τὰ τέκνα τοῦ Ἰὼβ αὐτοσχέδιον τάφον τὴν τράπεζαν εὕραντο; οὐχ ὅτε ἤσθιον καὶ ἔπινον; πότε ὁ Ἠσαὺ