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
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 use the opportunity; for one must not meddle with those who are overcome. {THE BISHOP} You seem to me, good Theodore, to be a rogue. For while putting forward sympathy to us from the beginning with a certain compunction, as was fitting for you, you are gradually found 117 to be a scoffer. For not even his supposed enemies so terribly criticized the things concerning him. {THE DEACON} Why were you vexed, father, hearing the truth, that I said, "The blessed John did not pay attention to the right time"? - since Scripture says; "Do not stand up in the places of rulers"; and again; "redeeming the time," especially in the case of those who do not accept exhortation or benefit. {THE BISHOP} Blessed are you, interpreting the Scriptures in this way. For the saying, "Do not stand up in the places of rulers," in Ecclesiastes, was said to those unworthy and incapable of the priesthood, so that they might not seize it. For by "rulers" he means teachers according to virtue; first the apostles, who were "rulers," clothed with the "spirit" of "power," then their imitators. And the saying, "redeeming the time," is of this sort, not that we should be hypocrites, running with thieves, and casting our lot with adulterers, but that in the time of sin we might "buy the time" through virtue, not having sold it to sin. And he who little by little "redeems the time" in this way, has redeemed his whole life, having given up the pleasures of life, so that he might find the things beyond life. just as the martyrs have also done; giving their bloody life, they inherited incorruption, they themselves properly "redeeming the time." But if these things are not understood in this way, then also Moses and Elijah and Micah and Daniel and John the Baptist and Isaiah and Peter and Paul—not to mention more—will have been ignorant of their own time; since the one provides for his own salvation by flight, on account of his reproof to someone, pasturing the flocks of a gentile in the mountains; and the other, oppressed by grief, fell into a deep sleep, finding the shade of neither a wall nor a rock, but under a juniper plant, which itself also provides faint cover; and another was sawn in two; and another was let down into a den of lions for his piety; and another was kept as a prisoner in prison (that is, in some inner cell), condemned 118 to receive the "bread of affliction" and scant water, so that, wasting away for a long time, he might violently give up his life on account of his boldness toward a certain king. And what will you say to me about John, the peerless "among those born of women"? Did he not know how to use the time, since he was beheaded on account of his unsparing reproof of Herod's adultery, caring for Herod as a physician for one suffering from an incurable disease, either by cauterizing or by cutting? For which reason John also, out of pity or love, reproved those who were sick. But if the Baptist did not know the time, how did he recognize the craftsman and maker of the ages, saying: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"? And how did Paul and Peter not know the time, the pillars of the church, who even after death close and open the seasons of repentance to those who wish and who knock? -especially since the one is crucified upside down, signifying his journey to heaven, and the other is beheaded on account of his boldness in Christ, so that he might not fall away from the true head. Do not, therefore, accept those who with pretext slander the boldness of the saints. For this is the custom of gentiles and of the conceitedly wise, who love life and mock the fearlessness of the martyrs. For neither should a sword be blunt nor boldness be ineffective. And just as fragrance is inseparable from myrrh, so is goodwill from boldness. And if indeed the reproofs were made privately toward servants or friends or one's own people, in whose case even to blush is burdensome, perhaps the one speaking boldly is blameworthy, for recognizing neither the time nor the place; but if, as in a marketplace, in the church both the praises of those who do right and the censures of the neglectful occur, why are we harsh toward the reproofs
πολλαχῶς· "Τίς καυχήσεται ἁγνὴν ἔχειν τὴν καρδίαν; ἢ τίς παῤῥησιά σεται καθαρὸς εἶναι ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας;" πλὴν ὅμως οὐκ ἔγνω χρήσασθαι
τῷ καιρῷ ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης· τοῖς γὰρ κεκρατη μένοις οὐ δεῖ παρεγχειρεῖν. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ἔοικάς μοι, καλὲ Θεόδωρε, πανοῦργος ὑπάρχειν.
συμπάθειαν γάρ, ὡς ἔπρεπέν σοι, ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἡμῖν προβαλλό μενος μετά τινος κατανύξεως, ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ μικρὸν εὑρίσκῃ 117 φιλοσκώπτης
ὑπάρχων. οὔτε γὰρ οἱ νομιζόμενοι ἐχθροὶ οὕτω δεινῶς τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν διεμέμψαντο. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Πρὸς τί ἠχθέσθης, φιλαλήθως ἀκούσας,
πάτερ, ὅτι εἶπον "Οὐ προσέσχε τῷ καιρῷ ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης"; - τῆς Γραφῆς λεγούσης· "Ἐν τόποις δυναστῶν μὴ ὑφίστασο"· καὶ πάλιν·
"Τὸν καιρὸν ἐξαγοραζόμενοι," μάλιστα ἐπὶ τῶν παραίνεσιν ἢ ὠφέλειαν μὴ δεχομένων. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Μακάριοί ἐστε, οὕτω τὰς Γραφὰς
ἑρμηνεύοντες. τὸ γάρ, "Ἐν τόποις δυναστῶν μὴ ὑφίστασο," παρὰ τῷ ἐκκλη σιαστῇ, πρὸς τοὺς ἀναξίους καὶ ἀδυνάτους ἱερωσύνης εἴρηται,
ἵνα μὴ ταύτην ἁρπάζωσι. "δυνάστας" γὰρ τοὺς κατ' ἀρετὴν διδασκάλους λέγει· πρῶτον τοὺς ἀποστόλους, οἵτινες ἦσαν "δυνάσται,"
τὸ τῆς "δυνάμεως" ἠμφιεσμένοι "πνεῦμα," ἔπειτα τοὺς μιμητὰς τούτων. καὶ τό, "ἐξαγοράζειν δὲ τὸ καιρόν," τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, οὐχ
ἵνα ὑποκριθῶμεν, κλέπταις συντρέχοντες, καὶ μετὰ μοιχῶν τὴν μερίδα τιθέντες, ἀλλ' ἵνα κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας διὰ τῆς
ἀρετῆς "ἀγοράσωμεν τὸν καιρόν," μὴ πωλήσαντες αὐτὸν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. ὁ δὲ κατὰ μικρὸν τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ "τὸν καιρὸν ἐξαγοράζων," ὅλον
ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ζῆν ἐξηγόρασεν, παραχωρήσας τὰ τοῦ βίου ἡδέα, ἵνα τὰ ὑπὲρ βίον εὑρήσῃ. ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ μάρτυρες πεποιήκασι, δόντες
τὸ ζῆν τὸ αἱμάτινον, τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ἐκληρονόμησαν, κυρίως αὐτοὶ "τὸν καιρὸν ἐξα γοράσαντες." εἰ δὲ μὴ οὕτως ταῦτα νοεῖται,
ἔσονται καὶ οἱ περὶ Μωϋσέα καὶ Ἠλίαν καὶ Μιχαίαν καὶ ∆ανιὴλ καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν βαπτιστὴν καὶ Ἠσαίαν καὶ Πέτρον καὶ Παῦλον-ἵνα
μὴ πλείονας εἴπω-τὸν ἑαυτῶν καιρὸν ἀγνοήσαντες· ἐπειδὴ ὁ μὲν φυγῇ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἑαυτῷ πορίζεται, διὰ τὸν ἔλεγχον τὸν πρός τινα,
ἐν ὄρεσιν ἐθνικοῦ πρόβατα νέμων· ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ κάρου τῇ λύπῃ πιεσθεὶς εἰς ὕπνον κατέπεσεν, οὔτε τοίχου ἢ πέτρας σκιὰν εὑρίσκων,
ἀλλ' ὑπὸ φυτὸν ἀρκεύθινον, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ ἀμυδρῶς κατα σκεπάζει· ὁ δὲ ἐπρίζετο· ὁ δὲ εἰς λάκκον λεόντων ἐχαλᾶτο ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας·
ὁ δὲ ἐν φυλακῇ (ἤγουν μυχῷ τινι) δέσμιος ἐφυλάσσετο, "ἄρτον θλίψεως" καὶ ὕδωρ στενὸν καταδικασθεὶς 118 λαμβάνειν, ἵν' ἐπὶ
μακρὸν κατατηκόμενος χρόνον, βίᾳ τὸ ζῆν ἀποῤῥήξῃ διὰ τὴν πρὸς βασιλέα τινὰ παῤῥησίαν. τί δέ μοι λέξεις περὶ τοῦ ἀζύγου "ἐν
γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν" Ἰωάννου; ἆρα οὐκ ἔγνω τῷ καιρῷ χρήσασθαι, ἐπειδὴ διὰ τὸν ἀνεπισκίαστον ἔλεγχον τῆς Ἡρῴδου μοιχείας τὴν
κεφαλὴν ἀπετμήθη, κηδό μενος τοῦ Ἡρῴδου ὡς ἰατρὸς νοσοῦντος τὸ ἀνίατον πάθος ἢ καίων ἢ τέμνων; ᾧ λόγῳ καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐλεῶν ἢ
φιλῶν, ἤλεγχε τοὺς νοσοῦντας. εἰ δὲ ὁ βαπτιστὴς τὸν καιρὸν οὐκ ἔγνω, πῶς τὸν τεχνίτην τῶν αἰώνων καὶ ποιητὴν ἐπέγνω, φήσας·
"Ἴδε ὁ Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ αἵρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου"; πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἔγνω Παῦλος καὶ Πέτρος τὸν καιρόν, οἱ στῦλοι τῆς ἐκκλησίας,
οἱ καὶ μετὰ θάνατον κλείοντες καὶ ἀνοίγοντες τοὺς τῆς μετανοίας καιροὺς τοῖς βουλομένοις καὶ κρούουσιν; -ἐπειδὴ μάλιστα ὁ
μὲν ἐπὶ πόδας σταυροῦται, εἰς οὐρανὸν τὴν πορείαν σημαίνων, ὁ δὲ καρατομεῖται διὰ τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ παῤῥησίαν, ἵνα τῆς ὄντως κεφαλῆς
μὴ ἐκπέσῃ. μὴ τοίνυν ἀποδέχου τοὺς μετ' ἐπισκήψεως τὴν τῶν ἁγίων διαβάλλοντας παῤῥησίαν. ἐθνικῶν γὰρ καὶ οἰησισόφων ἡ συνήθεια
αὕτη, φιλοζωούντων καὶ φιλοσκωπτούντων τὴν τῶν μαρτύρων ἀδειλίαν. οὔτε γὰρ μάχαιραν ἀμβλεῖαν οὔτε παῤῥησίαν ἄπρακτον εἶναι
δεῖ. καὶ ὥσπερ τοῦ μύρου ἀχώριστος ἡ εὐωδία, οὕτω τῆς παῤῥησίας ἡ εὔνοια. καὶ εἰ μὲν ἰδιωτικῶς ἐπὶ οἰκετῶν ἢ φίλων ἢ ἰδίων
οἱ ἔλεγχοι ἐγίνοντο, ἐφ' ὧν καὶ τὸ ἐρυθριᾶσαι φορτικόν, ἔγκλητος ἴσως ὁ παῤῥησιαζόμενος, οὔτε καιρὸν οὔτε τόπον γνωρίσας·
εἰ δὲ καθάπερ ἐν μακέλλῳ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ οἱ ἔπαινοι γίνονται τῶν κατορθούντων καὶ οἱ ψόγοι τῶν ἀμελούντων, τί τραχυνό μεθα
πρὸς τοὺς ἐλέγχους
