John Chrysostom, On Virginity

49 Why does he exhort to virginity from the basis of present pleasures. What are you saying? Calling me to fight against demons— "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood"—, urging me to stand against the madness of nature, exhorting me with flesh and blood to accomplish the same things as the incorporeal powers, you remind me of the good things on earth and that we will not have the affliction that comes from marriage? For why did he not say thus: "For if a virgin marries, she has not sinned, but she has deprived herself of the crowns from virginity, of the great and ineffable gifts"? Why did he not recount the good things laid up for them after immortality, how, taking up their lamps to meet him, with much glory and confidence they enter with the king into the bridal chamber? How they, more than all others, shine near that throne and the royal canopies? But of these things he has not made even a brief mention, but up and down he mentions the release from the difficulties in life. "I think," he says, "that this is good." And refraining from saying, "on account of the good things to come," he says, "on account of the present necessity." Then again, saying, "But if a virgin marries, she has not sinned," and being silent about the gifts in heaven of which she has deprived herself, "Such people," he says, "will have affliction in the flesh." And not only up to this point, but even to the end he does the same thing. And he does not introduce the matter from the basis of future goods, but again has recourse to the same reason, saying, "The time is short." And instead of saying, "I want you to shine in the heavens and to be shown far more radiant than those who have married," he again holds to things here, saying, "I want you to be free from care." He does this not only here, but also when discoursing on forbearance he came to the same path of counsel. For having said, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink," and having enjoined so great a matter, and having commanded to do violence to the necessity of nature, and to arm oneself against so unbearable a pyre, in his words about rewards, being silent about heaven and the good things in heaven, he places the recompense in the harm of the one who has caused grief. "For in doing this," he says, "you will heap coals of fire on his head." For what reason, then, does he use this manner of exhortation? Not through ignorance, nor from not knowing how one might win over and persuade the hearer, but also because he, most of all men, had perfected this virtue, that of persuasion, I mean. From where is this clear? From the things said by him. How and in what way? He was discoursing to Corinthians—for first we will speak concerning the things he discussed about virginity—to Corinthians, among whom he decided to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified, to whom he was not able to speak as to spiritual people and because they were still carnal he gave them milk to drink, whom also when he sent these things he rebuked, saying, "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. For you were not yet able; but not even now are you able; for you are still carnal, and you walk as men." For this reason, from the things on earth, from the things that are seen, from the things of sense, he both exhorts them to virginity and leads them away from marriage. For he understood this well, that one might rather draw and exhort the lowly and groveling and those still stooping to the earth from the things on the earth. For why, tell me, do many of the more rustic and more crassly disposed people both swear by God and perjure themselves without fear in small and in great matters, but upon the head of their children they would not choose to swear at all? And yet, both the perjury and the punishment for that one is much greater than for this, but nevertheless they are held more by this oath than by that one. And to help the poor, the words of the kingdom do not so arouse them, although they are constantly sounded in their ears, as the hope of some benefit in the present life, either for their children or for themselves. At any rate, they become most generous about such aids, when they recover from a long illness, when they escape danger, when they obtain some power and office; and in general, the majority

49 ∆ιὰ τί ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἡδέων εἰς τὴν παρθενίαν προτρέπει. Τί λέγεις; Πρὸς δαίμονάς με μάχεσθαι καλῶν- «Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἡμῖν ἡ πάλη πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα»-, πρὸς μανίαν φύσεως ἑστάναι προτρέπων, μετὰ σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος τὰ αὐτὰ ταῖς ἀσωμάτοις δυνάμεσι κατορθῶσαι παρακαλῶν, τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ μεμνῆσαι καλῶν καὶ ὅτι θλῖψιν οὐχ ἕξομεν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν γάμων; ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ οὐχ οὕτως εἶπεν· Ἐὰν γὰρ καὶ γήμῃ ἡ παρθένος, οὐχ ἥμαρτε, τῶν δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς παρθενίας ἑαυτὴν ἀπεστέρησε στεφάνων, τῶν μεγάλων καὶ ἀπορρήτων δωρεῶν; ∆ιὰ τί μὴ διηγήσατο τὰ μετὰ τὴν ἀθανασίαν αὐταῖς ἀποκείμενα καλά, πῶς εἰς ἀπάντησιν τὰς λαμπάδας λαβοῦσαι μετὰ δόξης πολλῆς καὶ παρρησίας συνεισέρχονται εἰς τὸν νυμφῶνα τῷ βασιλεῖ; Πῶς μάλιστα πάντων πλησίον ἐκείνου τοῦ θρόνου καὶ τῶν παστάδων λάμπουσι τῶν βασιλικῶν; Ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν οὐδὲ βραχεῖαν μνήμην πεποίηται ἄνω δὲ καὶ κάτω τῆς ἀπαλλαγῆς τῶν ἐν βίῳ μνημονεύει δυσχερῶν. «Νομίζω», φησί, «τοῦτο καλὸν ὑπάρχειν.» Καὶ ἀφεὶς εἰπεῖν, διὰ τὰ μέλλοντα ἀγαθά, λέγει· «∆ιὰ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἀνάγκην.» Εἶτα πάλιν εἰπών· «Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ γήμῃ ἡ παρθένος, οὐχ ἥμαρτε», καὶ σιωπήσας τὰς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς δωρεάς, ὧν ἑαυτὴν ἀπεστέρησε, «Θλῖψιν», φησί, «τῇ σαρκὶ ἕξουσιν οἱ τοιοῦτοι.» Καὶ οὐ μέχρι τούτου μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕως τέλους τὸ αὐτὸ ποιεῖ. Καὶ οὐ παρεισάγει τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀπὸ τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ἀλλὰ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν καταφεύγει· «Ὁ καιρὸς συνεσταλμένος ἐστί» λέγων. Καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰπεῖν· θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀστράψαι ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ πολλῷ λαμπροτέρους δειχθῆναι τῶν γεγαμηκότων, πάλιν τῶν ἐνταῦθα ἔχεται λέγων· «Θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀμερίμνους εἶναι.» Οὐκ ἐνταῦθα δὲ μόνον τοῦτο ποιεῖ ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ἀνεξικακίας διαλεγόμενος ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν τῆς συμβουλῆς ἦλθεν ὁδόν. Εἰπὼν γὰρ ὅτι «Ἐὰν πεινᾷ ὁ ἐχθρός σου, ψώμιζε αὐτόν, ἐὰν διψᾷ, πότιζε αὐτόν», καὶ πρᾶγμα τοσοῦτον ἐπιτάξας καὶ τῆς φύσεως βιάσασθαι τὴν ἀνάγκην κελεύσας καὶ πρὸς οὕτως ἀφόρητον παρατάξασθαι πυράν, ἐν τοῖς περὶ τῶν μισθῶν λόγοις σιωπήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἀγαθὰ ἐν τῇ τοῦ λελυπηκότος βλάβῃ τὴν ἀντίδοσιν ἵστησι. «Τοῦτο γάρ», φησί, «ποιῶν ἄνθρακας πυρὸς σωρεύσεις ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ.» Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν τούτῳ τῆς παρακλήσεως κέχρηται τῷ τρόπῳ; Οὐ δι' ἄγνοιαν οὐδὲ διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι πῶς ἄν τις ἐπαγάγοιτο καὶ πείσειε τὸν ἀκροατὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὸ μάλιστα πάντων ἀνθρώπων ταύτην κατωρθωκέναι τὴν ἀρετήν, τὴν τοῦ πείθειν λέγω. Τοῦτο πόθεν δῆλον; Ἀπὸ τῶν εἰρημένων αὐτῷ. Πῶς καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ; Κορινθίοις διελέγετο- πρότερον γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν περὶ παρθενίας αὐτῷ διειλεγμένων ἐροῦμεν-Κορινθίοις, ἐν οἷς ἔκρινε μηδὲν εἰδέναι εἰ μὴ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν καὶ τοῦτον ἐσταυρωμένον, οἷς οὐκ ἠδυνήθη λαλῆσαι ὡς πνευματικοῖς καὶ διὰ τὸ σαρκίνους εἶναι ἔτι γάλα ἐπότιζεν, οἷς καὶ ὅτε ταῦτα ἐπέστελλεν ἐνεκάλει λέγων· «Γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα, οὐ βρῶμα. Οὔπω γὰρ ἠδύνασθε· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἔτι νῦν δύνασθε· ἔτι γὰρ σαρκικοί ἐστε, καὶ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον περιπατεῖτε.» ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ πραγμάτων, ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρωμένων, ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν καὶ προτρέπει εἰς παρθενίαν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀπάγει τοῦ γάμου. Συνεῖδε γὰρ τοῦτο καλῶς ὅτι τοὺς ταπεινοὺς καὶ χαμαιπετεῖς καὶ πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἔτι κύπτοντας ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ μᾶλλον ἐφελκύσαιτο ἄν τις καὶ προτρέψειε. ∆ιὰ τί γάρ, εἰπέ μοι, πολλοὶ τῶν ἀγροικοτέρων ἔτι καὶ παχύτερον διακειμένων τὸν μὲν Θεὸν καὶ ἐπὶ μικροῖς καὶ ἐπὶ μεγάλοις καὶ ὀμνύουσι καὶ ἐπιορκοῦσιν ἀδεῶς, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς τῶν παίδων κεφαλῆς οὐδ' ἂν ὀμόσαι ἕλοιντο τὴν ἀρχήν; Καίτοι γε καὶ ἡ ἐπιορκία καὶ ἡ κόλασις πολλῷ μείζων ταυτῆς ἐκείνη, ἀλλ' ὅμως τούτῳ μᾶλλον ἢ ἐκείνῳ τῷ ὅρκῳ κατέχονται. Καὶ πρὸς τὸ βοηθῆσαι δὲ πένησιν οὐχ οὕτως αὐτοὺς οἱ τῆς βασιλείας διεγείρουσι λόγοι, καίτοι γε συνεχῶς ἐνηχούμενοι, ὡς τὸ χρηστὸν ἐλπίσαι τι κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον ἢ ὑπὲρ παίδων ἢ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν. Τότε γοῦν μάλιστα φιλότιμοι γίνονται περὶ τὰς τοιαύτας ἐπικουρίας, ὅταν ἐκ μακρᾶς ἀνενέγκωσι νόσου, ὅταν κίνδυνον διαφύγωσιν, ὅταν δυναστείας τινὸς ἐπιτύχωσι καὶ ἀρχῆς· καὶ ὅλως τοὺς πλείονας