John Chrysostom, Against Opponents of Monastic Life

they have no association; but the other things could not even come near these, but it drives those men with full force and pushes them headlong. If, then, in those things where the war blows more fiercely, they have more mastery than those who do not suffer this, it is quite clear that they will stand much more easily than these in other things, in which they are not troubled. For love of money, and desire for luxury and power and all other such things, are naturally overcome more easily by these men than by those in secular life. Just as, therefore, in a battle-line and fight we shall say that this part of the war is lighter, not where the dead fall in successive and continuous ranks, but where they are few and scattered, so also must we judge concerning these things. For the one sitting in the mountains will more easily overcome covetousness than the one who is tossed about in the midst; since that man will indeed be easily captured, and one captured by covetousness must be numbered with the idolaters. And this one will not choose to overlook his own kin, if he has money, but will easily give everything up to them, whereas that one will not only overlook them, but will also wrong them no less than strangers; and this again is another form of idolatry, more grievous than the first. And what need is there to speak of all the other things, which for monks are easy to overcome, but which cast down worldly men with great vehemence? How then are you not afraid, nor do you tremble, leading him to this life, from which he will be quickly captured by wickedness? Or does idolatry seem to you a small thing, and to be worse than the unbelievers, and to renounce the service of God by one's deeds, all of which those who are bound to this life will suffer more easily than the monks? Do you see that fear is an excuse? For if one ought to fear, it is not for those fleeing the billows, nor for those hastening to the harbor, but for those being tossed by the storm and the surge. For from that quarter shipwrecks are quicker, both because the things that trouble are more numerous, and because those who are about to stand against them are more indolent. But here the waves are not so great, and the calm is deep, and the zeal of those who will fight against these things is greater. For this reason we also draw them to the desert, not that they may simply put on sackcloth, nor that they may put on collars, 47.376 nor that they may strew ashes underneath themselves, but that before all else they may flee from evil and choose virtue. What then? Will all the married, he says, perish? I do not say this, but that they will need greater labors if they are to be saved, because of the present necessity; for the one who is unbound will run better than the one who is bound. Will he not therefore have a greater reward, and more glorious crowns? By no means; for he places this necessity upon himself, when it was possible not to place it. Therefore, since it has been clearly shown to us that we are accountable for the same things as the monks, let us run to the easier road, and let us draw our sons to it, and not plunge them into the deep, nor drag them into the abysses of wickedness, like enemies and foes. For if some others were doing these things, it would not be so terrible; but when those who have begotten them, those who have taken experience of all worldly things, those who have learned through their own deeds that the pleasure of present affairs is cold, are so mad as to draw others to these things, since they themselves are now hindered by age; and when it is necessary to account themselves wretched for their former deeds, they cast others in as well, and this when they are now standing near their end, and the judgment seat, and those reckonings, what defense will be left for them, what pardon, what mercy? For they will not only pay the penalty for their own sins, but also for those things ventured by their children, whether they are able to trip up their sons or not.

16. But perhaps you desire to see children of your children. And how, when you yourselves have not yet become fathers? For begetting does not make a father; and this the begetters themselves would agree, who, when they see their sons being driven to the extreme of wickedness, cast them out and disown them as not their own, and neither nature, nor birth, nor any other such thing could restrain them. Therefore neither

οὐκ ἔχουσιν ὁμιλίαν· τὰ δὲ ἄλλα τούτων μὲν οὐδὲ ἐγγὺς γενέσθαι δύναιτ' ἂν, ἐκείνους δὲ κατὰ κράτος ἐλαύνει καὶ ἐπὶ κεφαλὴν ὠθεῖ. Εἰ δὲ ἐν οἷς σφοδρότερον ὁ πόλεμος πνεῖ, μᾶλλον τῶν μὴ τοῦτο πασχόντων κρατοῦσιν, εὔδηλον ὅτι πολλῷ ῥᾷον τούτων ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἐν οἷς οὐκ ἐνοχλοῦνται, στήσονται. Καὶ γὰρ χρημάτων ἔρως, καὶ τρυφῆς ἐπιθυμία καὶ δυναστείας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων, εὐκολώτερον ὑπὸ τούτων ἢ τῶν βιωτικῶν ἀνύεσθαι πέφυκεν. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐν παρατάξει καὶ μάχῃ τοῦτο τοῦ πολέμου τὸ μέρος κουφότερον εἶναι φήσομεν, οὐχ ὅθεν ἐπάλληλοι καὶ συνεχεῖς πίπτουσιν οἱ νεκροὶ, ἀλλ' ὅθεν ὀλίγοι καὶ σπάνιοι, οὕτω καὶ περὶ τούτων ψηφίζεσθαι χρή. Καὶ γὰρ πλεονεξίας οὐχ ὁ στρεφόμενος ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, ἀλλ' ὁ καθήμενος ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν εὐκολώτερον περιέσται· ἐπεὶ ἐκεῖνός γε καὶ ἁλώσεται ῥᾳδίως, ἁλόντα δὲ πλεονεξίᾳ μετὰ τῶν εἰδωλολατρῶν ἀριθμεῖσθαι ἀνάγκη. Καὶ τῶν οἰκείων οὗτος μὲν οὐχ αἱρήσεται ὑπεριδεῖν, ἂν ἔχῃ χρήματα, ἀλλ' εὐκόλως αὐτοῖς πάντα προήσεται, ἐκεῖνος δὲ οὐ περιόψεται μόνον αὐτοὺς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀδικήσει τῶν ἀλλοτρίων οὐχ ἧττον· τοῦτο δὲ πάλιν ἕτερος εἰδωλολατρείας τρόπος τοῦ προτέρου χαλεπώτερος. Καὶ τί δεῖ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα λέγειν, τὰ τοῖς μονάζουσι μὲν ὄντα εὐκαταγώνιστα, τοὺς δὲ βιωτικοὺς μετὰ πολλῆς καταβάλλοντα τῆς σφοδρότητος; Πῶς οὖν οὐ δέδοικας, οὐδὲ τρέμεις ἐπὶ τοῦτον ἄγων τὸν βίον, ὅθεν ἁλώσιμος ἔσται τῇ κακίᾳ ταχέως; Ἢ μικρὸν εἶναί σοι δοκεῖ εἰδωλολατρεία, καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀπίστων εἶναι χείρω, καὶ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν δουλείαν διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐξόμνυσθαι, ἅπερ ἅπαντα πείσονται εὐκολώτερον τῶν μοναχῶν οἱ τῷ βίῳ προσδεδεμένοι; Ὁρᾷς ὅτι σκῆψις ὁ φόβος ἐστίν; Εἰ γὰρ δεδοικέναι ἐχρῆν, οὐχ ὑπὲρ τῶν τὰ κλυδώνια φευγόντων, οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα σπευδόντων, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν χειμῶνι καὶ τῇ ζάλῃ κλυδωνιζομένων. Ταχύτερον γὰρ ἐκεῖθεν τὰ ναυάγια, τῷ καὶ πλείονα εἶναι τὰ ἐνοχλοῦντα, καὶ ῥᾳθυμοτέρους τοὺς πρὸς ταῦτα στήσεσθαι μέλλοντας. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὔτε τοσαῦτα τὰ κύματα, καὶ πολλὴ ἡ γαλήνη, καὶ ἡ σπουδὴ μείζων τῶν πρὸς ταῦτα μαχησομένων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐπὶ τὴν ἔρημον ἕλκομεν, οὐχ ἵνα σάκκον ἁπλῶς περιβάλωνται, οὐδὲ ἵνα κλοιὰ περιθῶνται, 47.376 οὐδ' ἵνα σποδὸν ὑποστορέσωνται, ἀλλ' ἵνα πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων φύγωσι μὲν κακίαν, ἕλωνται δὲ ἀρετήν. Τί οὖν; οἱ γεγαμηκότες, φησὶν, ἀπολοῦνται πάντες; Οὐ τοῦτο λέγω, ἀλλ' ὅτι μειζόνων δεήσονται πόνων, εἰ μέλλοιεν σώζεσθαι, διὰ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἀνάγκην· τοῦ γὰρ δεδεμένου μᾶλλον ὁ λελυμένος δραμεῖται. Οὐκοῦν καὶ πλείονα ἕξει τὸν μισθὸν, καὶ λαμπροτέρους τοὺς στεφάνους; Οὐδαμῶς· ἑαυτῷ γὰρ ταύτην περιτίθησι τὴν ἀνάγκην, ἐξὸν μὴ περιθεῖναι. Ὥστε, ἐπειδὴ σαφῶς ἡμῖν ἀποδέδεικται ὅτι τῶν αὐτῶν ἐσμεν ὑπεύθυνοι τοῖς μοναχοῖς, ἐπὶ τὴν εὐκολωτέραν τρέχωμεν ὁδὸν, καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς ἐπὶ ταύτην ἕλκωμεν, ἀλλὰ μὴ καταποντίζωμεν, μηδὲ εἰς τὰ τῆς κακίας ἕλκωμεν βάραθρα, καθάπερ ἐχθροὶ καὶ πολέμιοι. Ταῦτα γὰρ εἰ μὲν ἄλλοι τινὲς ἐποίουν, οὐκ ἦν οὕτω δεινόν· ὅταν δὲ οἱ γεγεννηκότες, οἱ τῶν βιωτικῶν πεῖραν εἰληφότες πάντων, οἱ διὰ τῶν ἔργων μαθόντες αὐτῶν ὅτι ψυχρὰ τῶν παρόντων πραγμάτων ἡ ἡδονὴ, οὕτω μαίνωνται, ὡς ἑτέρους ἐπὶ ταῦτα ἕλκειν, ἐπειδὴ λοιπὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ἡλικίας αὐτοὶ κεκώλυνται· καὶ δέον ἑαυτοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς προτέροις ταλανίζειν, οἱ δὲ καὶ ἑτέρους ἐμβάλλουσι, καὶ ταῦτα ἐγγὺς ἑστῶτες λοιπὸν τῆς τελευτῆς, καὶ τοῦ δικαστηρίου, καὶ τῶν εὐθυνῶν ἐκείνων, ποία αὐτοῖς ἀπολογία λελείψεται, ποία συγγνώμη, ποῖος ἔλεος; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων δώσουσι δίκην, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν τοῖς παισὶ τετολμημένων, ἄν τε δυνηθῶσι τοὺς υἱοὺς ὑποσκελίσαι, ἄν τε μή.

ιςʹ. Ἀλλὰ παῖδας ἴσως ἐπιθυμεῖτε παίδων ἰδεῖν. Καὶ πῶς, οὔπω γενόμενοι πατέρες αὐτοί; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ τὸ γεννῆσαι πατέρα ποιεῖ· καὶ τοῦτο αὐτοὶ οἱ γεγεννηκότες συνομολογήσαιεν ἂν, οἳ τοὺς υἱεῖς ὅταν ἴδωσιν εἰς ἔσχατον κακίας ἐλαύνοντας, ὡς οὐκ ὄντας αὐτῶν ἐκβάλλουσι καὶ ἀπαλλοτριοῦσι, καὶ οὔτε φύσις, οὔτε γέννησις, οὔτε ἄλλο τῶν τοιούτων οὐδὲν κατασχεῖν αὐτοὺς δύναιτ' ἄν. Μὴ τοίνυν μηδὲ