John Chrysostom, Fragments on Job

calamity, seems to men to be the cause of all terrible things together. And a second after that, or rather, before that, the plague of the body. For who has received such a thing? Little by little his body was being consumed, and a spring of worms gushed forth for him from everywhere from his limbs, and this flow was continuous, and the stench from everywhere was great; and the body, being divided little by little and rotting with such a wasting away, made food unpleasant, and the famine for him was strange and paradoxical; for he was not able to enjoy the food when it was given. "For I see my food as filth," he says, "like the smell of a lion." What could be more grievous than this punishment? Sleep did not give rest, food did not nourish. "Like the smell of a lion," he says; for this 64.593 beast is exceedingly foul-smelling; for since it has greediness from its nature, in another way God has made it baser than the others; and they say that even the leftovers of its food are inedible to other animals, because of the stench breathed upon them from it. What then might one call that strange famine, which cannot even be explained? the voluntary, the involuntary, for I do not know what to call it, nor do I find a name to give to the paradoxical kind of calamity; for indeed he abstained from the table set before him, and did not touch the food he saw. for the stench from the wounds around his body, meeting him beforehand, destroyed his appetite, and filled the very table with unpleasantness; and indicating this, he said, "For I see my food as filth." And the necessity of the famine was forcing him to touch what was set before him, but the excess of the stench, coming from his flesh, overcame the force of the famine. For this reason, as I said, I do not know what to call it; voluntary? but he wished to taste what was set before him; but involuntary? but the food was present, and there was no one preventing him. "For what is my strength, that I should endure?" What power do I have, so as to persevere in such great things? Therefore he does not endure from strength, but from piety, and fear of God; for otherwise he would have done away with himself. but now he entrusts the matter to prayer, and not to his own daring. "My nearest did not look upon me; like a torrent failing, or like a wave, they have passed me by." And this too is the work of abandonment by God, that his own kinsmen despise him when he is suffering such things. For when He turns away, and a man is stripped of help from God, all things are hostile and warlike. How then, he says, do you bring accusations against one who has fallen into evils of great size, and stands outside of all comfort, who is grieved and vexed at the things for which everything has unexpectedly been turned against me? "Those who held me in reverence, have now fallen upon me." Of Chrysostom and Polychronius. What am I saying, he says, that my nearest spit on me? They were indeed aggravating my calamities, and this too, a little before trembling even at my name. "So that seeing my wound, you were afraid." See to it, he says, that you not be called to account for your cruelty; even if nothing else, neither friendship, nor good deed, nor anything else makes you more reasonable, the very sight of my wounds ought to have filled you with much reasonableness. "For what? Did I ask anything of you? Or do I need strength from you, 64.596 so as to save me from enemies, or to deliver me from the hand of the powerful?" Have I, he says, in any way become burdensome to you, that you have treated me so unmercifully? Or did I urge you to an alliance with me against my adversaries? Or did I beseech you to console my poverty with a gift? But surely I did not need you before, nor now, but you came of your own accord, as if to comfort; why then are you doing the work of enemies? "Teach me, and I will be silent; if I have erred in anything, tell me." And if I seem to have sinned in anything, make this known to me also. For they did not have manifest accusations to bring forward, but simply from conjecture; and that he was of a virtuous life, was manifest; but that he was not, these men conjectured from his punishments. "For not from you

συμφορὰ, πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν δεινῶν ὑπόθεσις εἶναι δοκεῖ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. ∆ευτέρα δὲ μετ' ἐκείνην, μᾶλλον δὲ πρὸ ἐκείνης, ἡ τοῦ σώματος πληγή. Τίς γὰρ τοιαύτην ἐδέξατο; Κατὰ μικρὸν αὐτῷ τὸ σῶμα ἐδαπανᾶτο, καὶ πηγὴ σκωλήκων αὐτῷ πανταχόθεν ἔβρυεν ἀπὸ τῶν μελῶν, καὶ διηνεκὴς ἦν αὕτη ἡ ἐπιῤῥοὴ, καὶ πολλὴ πανταχόθεν ἡ δυσωδία· καὶ τὸ σῶμα κατὰ μικρὸν διαιρούμενον καὶ τοιαύτῃ τηκεδόνι σηπόμενον, ἀηδῆ τὰ σιτία ἐποίει, καὶ λιμὸς ἦν αὐτῷ ξένος καὶ παράδοξος· οὐ γὰρ διδομένης ἠδύνατο τῆς τροφῆς ἀπολαύειν, Βρόμον γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁρῶ τὰ σῖτά μου, ὥσπερ ὀσμὴν λέοντος. Τί ταύτης τῆς τιμωρίας γένοιτο χαλεπώτερον; Οὐχ ὕπνος ἀνέπαυεν, οὐ τροφὴ ἔτρεφεν· Ὥσπερ ὀσμὴ λέοντος, φησί· δυσ 64.593 ῶδες γὰρ τὸ θηρίον τοῦτο μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔχει τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως πλεονεξίαν, ἑτέρως αὐτὸ τῶν ἄλλων φαυλότερον ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεός· φασὶ δὲ, ὅτι καὶ τὰ λείψανα τῆς τούτου τροφῆς ἄβρωτά ἐστι τοῖς ἄλλοις ζώοις, διὰ τὴν ἐπιπνεομένην αὐτοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ δυσοσμίαν. Τί οὖν ἄν τις εἴποι τὸν λιμὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν καινὸν, καὶ μηδὲ ἑρμηνευθῆναι δυνάμενον; τὸν ἑκούσιον, τὸν ἀκούσιον, οὐ γὰρ οἶδα πῶς αὐτὸν καλέσω, οὐδὲ εὑρίσκω ὄνομα ἐπιθεῖναι τῷ παραδόξῳ τῆς συμφορᾶς εἴδει· καὶ γὰρ παρακειμένης ἀπείχετο τῆς τραπέζης, καὶ ὁρωμένων οὐχ ἥπτετο τῶν σιτίων· τῶν γὰρ περὶ τὸ σῶμα τραυμάτων ἡ δυσωδία προαπαντῶσα, κατέλυε τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, καὶ αὐτὴν ἐνεπίμπλα τὴν τράπεζαν τῆς ἀηδίας· καὶ τοῦτο δηλῶν, ἔλεγε, Βρόμον γὰρ ὁρῶ τὰ σῖτά μου. Καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀνάγκη τοῦ λιμοῦ τῶν προκειμένων ἅπτεσθαι ἐβιάζετο, ἡ δὲ ὑπερβολὴ τῆς δυσωδίας, τῆς ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν γινομένης, ἐνίκα τοῦ λιμοῦ τὴν βίαν. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο, ὡς εἶπον, οὐκ ἔχω πῶς αὐτὸν καλέσω· ἑκούσιον; ἀλλ' ἐβούλετο ἀπογεύσασθαι τῶν προκειμένων· ἀλλ' ἀκούσιον; ἀλλὰ παρῆν τὰ σιτία, καὶ οὐδεὶς ὁ κωλύων ἦν. «Τίς γάρ μου ἡ ἰσχὺς, ὅτι ὑπομένω;» Ποίαν ἔχω δύναμιν, ὥστε τηλικαῦτα καρτερῆσαι; οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἀπὸ ἰσχύος ὑπομένει, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ εὐλαβείας, καὶ φόβου Θεοῦ· ἢ γὰρ ἂν ἑαυτὸν διεχειρίσατο· νῦν δὲ εὐχῇ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐπιτρέπει, καὶ οὐχὶ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ τόλμῃ. «Οὐ προσεῖδόν με οἱ ἐγγύτατοί μου· ὥσπερ χειμάῤῥους ἐκλείπων, ἢ ὥσπερ κῦμα, παρῆλθόν με.» Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐγκαταλείψεως ἔργον, τὸ καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους ὑπερορᾷν τοιαῦτα πάσχοντας. Ὅταν γὰρ αὐτὸς ἀποστῇ, καὶ γυμνωθῇ τῆς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ βοηθείας ὁ ἄνθρωπος, πάντα ἐχθρὰ καὶ πολέμια. Πῶς οὖν, φησὶ, καὶ μεγέθει κακῶν περιπεπτωκότι, καὶ τῆς παρὰ πάντων ἐκτὸς καθεστῶτι παραψυχῆς ἐγκαλεῖτε, ἀνιωμένῳ, καὶ δακνομένῳ ἐφ' οἷς ἀδοκήτως πάντα εἰς τοὐναντίον μοι περιέστη; «Οἵτινές με διευλαβοῦντο, νῦν ἐπιπεπτώκασί μοι.» Χρυσοστόμου καὶ Πολυχρονίου. Τί λέγω, φησὶν, ὡς διέπτυον οἱ ἐγγύτατοι; ἐπέτριβον μὲν οὖν τὰς συμφορὰς, καὶ ταῦτα, ὀλίγῳ πρότερον καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν ἐπωνυμίαν τρέμοντες. «Ὥστε ἰδόντες τὸ ἐμὸν τραῦμα, φοβήθητε.» Ὁρᾶτε, φησὶ, μὴ δίκας ἐξαιτηθῆτε τῆς ἀγριότητος· εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἕτερον, μήτε φιλία, μήτε εὐεργεσία, μήτε ἄλλο μηδὲν ὑμᾶς ἐπιεικεστέρους ποιεῖ, αὐτὴ τῶν ἐμῶν τραυμάτων ἡ θεωρία πολλῆς ὑμᾶς ὤφειλεν ἐμπλῆσαι τῆς ἐπιεικείας. «Τί γάρ; μή τι ὑμᾶς ᾔτησα; ἢ τῆς παρ' ὑμῶν 64.596 ἰσχύος ἐπιδέομαι, ὥστε σῶσαί με ἐξ ἐχθρῶν, ἢ ἐκ χειρὸς δυναστῶν ῥύσασθαί με;» Μὴ, φησὶν, ἔν τινι ἐπαχθὴς ὑμῖν γέγονα, ὅτι μοι ἀνελεημόνως οὕτως ἐχρήσασθε; ἢ πρὸς συμμαχίαν ἐμὴν κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων ὑμᾶς προετρεψάμην; ἢ δόσει τὴν πενίαν παραμυθήσασθαι ἱκέτευσα; ἀλλὰ μὴν οὔτε πρότερον ὑμῶν ἐδεήθην, οὔτε νῦν, ἀλλ' αὐτόματοι παρεγένεσθε, ὡς δὴ παρακαλέσαντες· τί οὖν τὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν διαπράττεσθε; «∆ιδάξατέ με, ἐγὼ δὲ κωφεύσω· εἴ τι πεπλάνημαι, φράσατέ μοι.» Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἡμαρτηκέναι τι δοκῶ, καὶ τοῦτό μοι γνωρίσατε. Οὐ γὰρ δὲ εἶχον ἐκεῖνοι φανερὰ ἐγκλήματα προβάλλεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἁπλῶς ἀπὸ στοχασμοῦ· καὶ ὅτι μὲν βίου ἐναρέτου ἦν, φανερὸν ἦν· ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἦν, ἐστοχάζοντο οὗτοι ἀπὸ τῶν τιμωριῶν. «Οὐ γὰρ παρ' ὑμῶν