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
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 small measure in all things the pitiable ones, Antiochus and Acacius and Severian, and simply, in part, all the visiting clergy, and countless ascetics or virgins. John, however, since he had been appointed—so to speak— 111 a model sent to later bishops of how they ought to live, according to Paul, "to preach repentance at his own expense," touching none of the church’s possessions, he took only the food for the day, always shunning such a concern. And it is said that he seemed to be ashamed when he partook of sensible food. For just as with apples, when they are perfectly ripe, they do not endure to remain on the branch, seeking the hand of the master; so also with the saints, when they have fallen preternaturally in love with the beauty of heavenly things, they hasten to obtain the promise before the appointed departure; just as also with the children of masters, for they often, in anticipation of honey-cakes, do not touch the food set before them, in order to preserve their appetite, so that they may be filled with the expected sweetness. But those who have entered upon the same track of the spiritual journey will recognize these words; "for, if a wise man hears a prudent word, he will praise it and add to it." <CHAPTER 18> {THE DEACON.} You have consoled me, honored father, by laboriously recounting to me concerning all things the same matters as the preceding report, seasoning what was said with a certain grace. But I say this, that the bishop's food would not have burdened the church at all, if the holy John had partaken of the church's things, according to the one who said: "For the laborer is worthy of his food," and again, "Who tends a flock, and does not eat of the milk of the flock? Or who plants a vineyard, and does not partake of its fruit?" Are not these and many other things from the Scripture? {THE BISHOP.} You have spoken fittingly and prudently, O Theodore; but add to the words you have spoken also the following sayings. For though authority is given by the sacred law for "those who perform sacred duties to eat of the sacred things," what does Paul, that coveter of good things, add? —"I have not used this authority" in 112 material things, "that I might become a fellow partaker of the Gospel" in spiritual things, not becoming "a stumbling block to the weak," according to the one who said, "For if someone sees you who have knowledge" reclining in weakness, "will not his conscience, being weak, be emboldened" to imitate the weak things? For if matters stood only with us, with no one succeeding us in the care of the people, one could sinfully say: "Let us live as we wish, enjoying the things of this life." But since those after us use us as teachers, putting forward our law and custom, it is necessary "to live not only for ourselves, but for him who died for us and was raised," and, doing violence to the weakness of the people, to lead our order to the more temperate and more simple way, admonishing ourselves, according to the one who says: "Who is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way that he should choose." For to the rash and wretched who sin heedlessly the Master gives laws, as to those who embrace the "spirit of slavery," according to the psalmist David: "The Lord will give laws to sinners in the way," and he will punish transgressors; but the righteous man, having transgressed the measures of the law of slavery because he loves the Master, hastening to the portion of sonship, becomes a lawgiver to himself. Such a one was Job, both doing and saying: "I made a covenant with my brothers, and I will not look upon a virgin." And what was the covenant? —that they, having acted disorderly, should be cut off unto temperance; And similarly David says: "I have sworn and I am determined to keep the judgments of your righteousness"; having bound by an oath the wavering and doubting of his mind. an imitator of which fathers, as a genuine son and not an illegitimate one, was John, the flabby
ἐδωρήσατο; Ὀπτίμου δὲ τελευτῶντος ἐν Κωνσταντι νουπόλει καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἰδίαις χερσὶν ἐκάμμυσεν. πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τοὺς
ἐλεεινοὺς οὐ μετρίως ἀνέψυξεν ἐν πᾶσιν, Ἀντίοχον καὶ Ἀκάκιον καὶ Σευηριανόν, καὶ ἁπλῶς ἐκ μέρους πάντας τοὺς ἐπιδημοῦντας
ἱερατικούς, ἀσκητῶν δὲ ἢ παρθένων ἀναριθμήτους. Ἰωάννης μέντοι, ἐπειδὴ κρίνας ἦν-ὡς εἰπεῖν- 111 τύπος ἀποσταλεὶς τοῖς μετέπειτα
ἐπισκόποις τὸ ὅπως ὀφείλουσι ζῆν, κατὰ τὸν Παῦλον, "ἐν ἰδίῳ μισθώματι κηρῦξαι τὴν μετά νοιαν," μηδενὸς ἁπτόμενος τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας,
τὰ τῆς ἡμέρας μόνης ἐλάμβανε βρώματα, δραπετεύων ἀεὶ τὴν τοιαύτην φρον τίδα. λέγεται δὲ ὅτι καὶ αἰδουμένῳ ἐῴκει, τῆς αἰσθητῆς
μεταλαμβάνων τροφῆς. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν μήλων, ἐπὰν πεπανθῶσιν εἰς ἄκρον, οὐκ ἀνέχονται παραμένειν τῷ κλάδῳ, τὴν τοῦ δεσπότου
χεῖρα ἐπιζητοῦντα· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἁγίων, ὅταν ὑπερφυῶς ἐρασθῶσι τοῦ κάλλους τῶν οὐρανίων πραγμά των, πρὸ τῆς ὡρισμένης ἐξόδου
ἐπείγονται τυχεῖν τῆς ἐπαγ γελίας· καθάπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν δεσποτικῶν παιδίων, ἐκεῖνα γὰρ πολλάκις τῇ προσδοκίᾳ τῇ τῶν μελιπήκτων
ἀθίγουσι τῶν προ κειμένων βρωμάτων ἐπὶ φυλακῇ τῆς ὀρέξεως, ἵν' ἐμπλησθῶσι τῆς προσδοκωμένης γλυκύτητος. γνωρίσωσι δὲ τοὺς
λόγους οἱ εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ ἴχνος τῆς πνευματικῆς πορείας ἐμβεβηκότες· "λόγον," γάρ, "συνετὸν ἐὰν ἀκούσῃ σοφός, αἰνέσει αὐτὸν καὶ
ἐπ' αὐτὸν προσθήσει." <ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΙΗʹ> {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Παρεκάλεσάς με, τίμιε πάτερ, πεπονημένως μοι περὶ πάντων διηγησάμενος τὰ αὐτὰ
τῆς προλαβούσης φήμης, μετά τινος χάριτος ἀρτύσας τὰ εἰρημένα. τοῦτο δὲ λέγω, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἐβάρει τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἡ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου
τροφή, εἰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας μετελάμβανεν ὁ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης, κατὰ τὸν εἰπόντα· "Αξιος" γὰρ "ὁ ἐργάτης τῆς τροφῆς αὐτοῦ," καὶ πάλιν,
"Τίς ποιμαίνει ποίμνην, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ γάλακτος τῆς ποίμνης οὐκ ἐσθίει; τίς δὲ φυτεύει ἀμπελῶνα, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ καρποῦ αὐτοῦ οὐ μεταλαμ
βάνει;" οὐ τῆς Γραφῆς ἐστι ταῦτα καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Πρεπόντως μὲν καὶ συνετῶς εἴρηκας, ὦ Θεόδωρε· πρόσθες δὲ τοῖς
εἰρημένοις λόγοις καὶ τὰ ἑπόμενα ῥήματα. ἐξουσίας γὰρ διδομένης παρὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ νόμου "τοὺς τὰ ἱερὰ ἐργαζομένους ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ
ἐσθίειν," ὁ πλεονέκτης τῶν ἀγαθῶν Παῦλος τί ἐπιφέρει; -"Οὐκ ἐχρησάμην τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ" ἐπὶ τοῖς 112 σωματικοῖς, "ἵνα συγκοινωνὸς
γένωμαι τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου" ἐν τοῖς πνευματικοῖς, μὴ γενόμενος "πρόσκομμα τοῖς ἀσθενέσι," κατὰ τὸν εἰπόντα, "Ἐὰν γάρ τις ἴδῃ σε
τὸν ἔχοντα γνῶσιν" ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ "κατακείμενον, οὐχὶ ἡ συνείδησις αὐτοῦ ἀσθενοῦς ὄντος οἰκοδομηθήσεται" εἰς τὸ τὰ ἀσθενῆ μιμεῖσθαι;
εἰ μὲν γὰρ μέχρις ἡμῶν εἱστήκει τὰ πράγματα, οὐδενὸς μεθ' ἡμᾶς διαδεξο μένου τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ θεραπείαν, ἦν εἰπεῖν πλημμελοῦντα·
"Βιώ σωμεν ὡς βουλόμεθα, ἀπολαύσαντες τῶν βιωτικῶν πραγμάτων." ἐπειδὴ δὲ οἱ μεθ' ἡμᾶς ὡς διδασκάλοις ἡμῖν χρῶνται, τὸν ἡμέ
τερον προβαλλόμενοι νόμον καὶ ἔθος, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι "μὴ μόνον ἑαυτοῖς ζῶντας, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀποθανόντι καὶ ἐγερθέντι,"
καὶ [τὸ] τοῦ λαοῦ παραβιαζομένους τὴν ἀσθένειαν, ἐπὶ τὸ σωφρονέστερον καὶ ἀπεριττότερον μέρος ἄγειν τὴν τάξιν, ἑαυ τοὺς νουθετοῦντας,
κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα· "Τίς ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὁ φοβούμενος τὸν Κύριον; νομοθετήσει αὐτῷ ἐν ὁδῷ ᾗ ᾑρετί σατο." τοῖς μὲν γὰρ προπετέσι
καὶ ἐλεεινοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἀπερισκέπτως νομοθετεῖ ὁ ∆εσπότης, ὡς ἅτε τὸ τῆς "δουλείας" ἀσπαζομένοις "πνεῦμα," κατὰ τὸν ᾠδικὸν
∆αυείδ· "Νομοθε τήσει Κύριος ἁμαρτάνοντας ἐν ὁδῷ," κολάσει δὲ παραβαίνοντας· ὁ δέ γε δίκαιος ὑπερβὰς τὰ μέτρα τοῦ τῆς δουλείας
νόμου διὰ τὸ ἀγαπᾶν τὸν ∆εσπότην, ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἐπειγόμενος μέρος, ἑαυτοῦ νομοθέτης γίνεται. οἷος ἦν ὁ Ἰώβ, καὶ ποιῶν
καὶ λέγων· "∆ιαθήκην ἐθέμην τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, καὶ οὐ μὴ συνήσω ἐπὶ παρθένον." τίς δ' ἦν ἡ διαθήκη; -τὸ αὐτοὺς ἀτακτήσαντας
εἰς τὴν σωφροσύνην ἐκκοπῆναι· ὁμοίως λέγων καὶ ὁ ∆αυείδ· "Ωμοσα καὶ ἔστησα τοῦ φυλάξασθαι τὰ κρίματα τῆς δικαιο σύνης σου"·
τὸ ἐπαμφοτερίζον καὶ ἐνδυάζον τῆς γνώμης ὅρκῳ πεδήσας. ὧν μιμητὴς πατέρων ὡς γνήσιος υἱός, καὶ οὐ νόθος ὑπάρχων ὁ Ἰωάννης,
πλαδῶσαν τὴν
