John Chrysostom, On Lazarus

of the story, wait for the resolution of the discourse; for this is my encomium, and your praise, that with the introductions laid down, you are already reaping the ear of grain. The continuous enjoyment of the discourses has made you teachers; but since there are also some strangers entering with you, do not run, but wait for those who are lame. For the Church is a body; it has an eye, and it has a head. Therefore, just as if the heel should receive a thorn, the eye bends down, being a member of the body, and does not say, Since I am seated on high, I despise the lower member, but it bends down and forsakes its own height; and yet what is lowlier than a heel, or what is nobler than an eye? but sympathy has corrected the inequality, and love has blended the whole; so also you must do; even if you are quick, even if you are prepared for listening, but you do not have your brother following what is being laid down, let your eye descend to the heel; let it suffer with the lame member, so that he may not remain bereft of the discourse on account of your quickness and his slowness. Do not use your understanding for his destruction, but give thanks to God for your quickness. Are you rich? I rejoice and am glad; but that man is still poor; let him not remain in poverty on account of your wealth. That man has a thorn, a troubled mind; but go down to him, and take out the thorn. What then does it say? There was a certain rich man, in name, not in reality. There was a certain rich man, clothed in purple, setting forth a luxurious table, having bowls crowned with wine, holding banquets every day; and there was a certain other, a poor man, named Lazarus. And where is the name of the rich man? Nowhere; for he is nameless. How great a wealth? and a name is not found for him. What kind of wealth is this? A tree luxuriant with leaves, but deprived of fruit, an oak stretched up to a height, providing its acorn as food for irrational animals, a man not having the fruit of a man. For where there is wealth and plunder, a wolf is the one seen; where there is wealth and beastliness, I see a lion, and not 48.1033 a man; he has lost his nobility by the ignobility of his wickedness. There was a certain rich man, clothed in purple every day, but his soul full of spider webs, breathing of myrrh, but filled with a foul smell, setting forth a luxurious table, feeding parasites and flatterers, fattening the servant, the flesh, but overlooking the mistress, the soul, as it was perishing with hunger; his house was garlanded, and the foundation of sin plastered over; having his soul buried in wine. That rich man, therefore, had a luxurious table, bowls crowned with wine, feeding parasites and flatterers, the evil theater of the devil, the wolves who take many of the rich captive, who purchase with the gluttony of their own belly the ruin of those men, who spoil their wealth with much honor and flattery. One would not err in calling such men wolves, who, having taken the rich man in their midst like a sheep, puff him up with praises, and inflate him with encomiums, and do not allow him even to see his wound, but blind his mind, and increase his corruption. Then, when a time of change overtakes them, the friends are in flight, we who rebuke are in sympathy; their masks are hidden; which indeed has now happened many times. 5. That rich man, therefore, was feeding parasites and flatterers, making his house a theater, debilitating each one with wine, living in great prosperity; but there was another, a certain Lazarus full of sores, sitting at the gate of the rich man, and desiring crumbs. By the spring he was thirsty, in the midst of prosperity he was starving. And where was he cast? Not in the street, not in an alley, not in a narrow passage, not in the middle of the marketplace, but at the gate of the rich man, where the rich man had the necessity of entering and exiting, so that he might not say: I did not see, I passed by, my eyes did not see him. At your entrance he lies, the pearl in the mud, and you do not see? The physician is beside the gate, and you do not

διηγήματος, ἀναμείνατε τὴν λύσιν τοῦ λόγου· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐμὸν ἐγκώμιον, καὶ ὑμέτερος ἔπαινος, προοιμίων καταβαλλομένων, ἤδη ὑμᾶς τὸν στάχυν δρέπεσθαι. ∆ιδασκάλους ὑμᾶς εἰργάσατο ἡ συνεχὴς τῶν λόγων ἀπόλαυσις· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰσι καὶ ξένοι τινὲς εἰσιόντες, μὴ τρέχετε, ἀλλ' ἀναμείνατε τοὺς χωλεύοντας. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ Ἐκκλησία σῶμά ἐστιν· ὀφθαλμὸν ἔχει, καὶ κεφαλὴν ἔχει. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐὰν ἡ πτέρνα δέξηται ἄκανθαν, ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς κάτω κύπτει, μέλος ὢν τοῦ σώματος, καὶ οὐ λέγει, Ἐπειδὴ ἐν ὕψει κάθημαι, καταφρονῶ τοῦ κάτω μέλους, ἀλλὰ κύπτει καὶ καταλιμπάνει τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ὕψος· καίτοι τί πτέρνης εὐτελέστερον, ἢ τί ὀφθαλμοῦ εὐγενέστερον; ἀλλ' ἡ συμπάθεια τὸ ἀνώμαλον διώρθωσε, καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη τὸ πᾶν ἐκέρασεν· οὕτω καὶ σὺ ποίει· κἂν ταχὺς ᾖς, κἂν παρεσκευασμένος πρὸς ἀκρόασιν, μὴ ἔχῃς δὲ παρακολουθοῦντα τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῖς καταβαλλομένοις, καταβήτω ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου πρὸς τὴν πτέρναν· συμπασχέτω τῷ χωλεύοντι μέλει, ὥστε μὴ διὰ τὴν σὴν ταχυτῆτα, καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου βραδυτῆτα, ἔρημον αὐτὸν ἀπομεῖναι τοῦ λόγου. Μὴ τῇ συνέσει τῇ σῇ εἰς ἐκείνου ἀπώλειαν ἀποχρήσῃ, ἀλλὰ χάριν ἔχε τῷ Θεῷ διὰ τὴν σὴν ταχυτῆτα. Πλούσιος εἶ; χαίρω καὶ εὐφραίνομαι· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος ἔτι πένεται· μὴ διὰ τὸν σὸν πλοῦτον μενέτω ἐν τῇ πτωχείᾳ. Ἄκανθαν ἔχει ἐκεῖνος, τεθορυβημένον λογισμόν· ἀλλὰ κατάβηθι πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ ἔξελε τὴν ἄκανθαν. Τί οὖν φησιν; Ἦν τις πλούσιος, ὀνόματι, οὐχὶ πράγματι. Ἦν τις πλούσιος, πορφύραν ἐνδιδυσκόμενος, τράπεζαν παρατιθέμενος πολυτελῆ, κρατῆρας ἔχων ἐστεμμένους οἴνου, συμπόσια καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ποιῶν· ἕτερος δέ τις ἦν πένης, Λάζαρος ὀνόματι. Καὶ ποῦ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πλουσίου; Οὐδαμοῦ· ἀνώνυμος γάρ ἐστι. Πόσος πλοῦτος; καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῷ οὐχ εὑρίσκεται. Ποῖος πλοῦτος οὗτος; ∆ένδρον φύλλοις μὲν κομῶν, καρποῦ δὲ ἀπεστερημένον, δρῦς πρὸς ὕψος ἀνατεταμένη, ἀλόγοις τροφὴν παρέχουσα τὴν βάλανον, ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἔχων ἀνθρώπου καρπόν. Ὅπου γὰρ πλοῦτος καὶ ἁρπαγαὶ, λύκος ὁ βλεπόμενος· ὅπου πλοῦτος καὶ θηριωδία, λέοντα ὁρῶ, καὶ οὐκ 48.1033 ἄνθρωπον· ἀπώλεσε τὴν εὐγένειαν τῇ δυσγενείᾳ τῆς πονηρίας. Ἦν τις πλούσιος, πορφύραν καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐνδιδυσκόμενος, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν ἀράχνης γέμων, μύρου πνέων, δυσωδίας δὲ ἐμπεπλησμένος, τράπεζαν παρατιθέμενος πολυτελῆ, παρασίτους τρέφων καὶ κόλακας, τὴν δούλην πιαίνων τὴν σάρκα, τὴν δέσποιναν δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν λιμῷ φθειρομένην περιορῶν· κατεστεμμένη αὐτῷ ἡ οἰκία, καὶ ὁ τῆς ἁμαρτίας θεμέλιος κεκονιαμένος· ἐν οἴνῳ τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχων κατορωρυγμένην. Ἦν τοίνυν ὁ πλούσιος ἐκεῖνος τράπεζαν ἔχων πολυτελῆ, κρατῆρας ἐστεμμένους οἴνου, παρασίτους τρέφων καὶ κόλακας, τὸ πονηρὸν τοῦ διαβόλου θέατρον, τοὺς λύκους τοὺς αἰχμαλωτίζοντας πολλοὺς τῶν πλουτούντων, τοὺς ὠνουμένους τῆς οἰκείας γαστρὸς τῇ πλησμονῇ τὴν ἐκείνων ἀπώλειαν, τοὺς πολλῇ τιμῇ καὶ κολακείᾳ τὸν πλοῦτον λυμαινομένους. Οὐκ ἄν τις ἁμάρτοι τοὺς τοιούτους λύκους προσειπὼν, οἳ καθάπερ πρόβατον τὸν πλούσιον ἐν μέσῳ λαβόντες, ἐπαίρουσι τοῖς ἐπαίνοις, καὶ φυσῶσι τοῖς ἐγκωμίοις, καὶ οὐκ ἀφιᾶσιν αὐτὸν οὐδὲ τὸ ἕλκος ἰδεῖν, ἀλλὰ τυφλοῦσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ αὔξουσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν σηπεδόνα. Εἶτα καταλαμβάνοντος καιροῦ μεταβολῆς, ἐν φυγῇ οἱ φίλοι, ἐν συμπαθείᾳ ἡμεῖς οἱ ἐπιτιμῶντες· τὰ προσωπεῖα ἐκείνων κρύπτεται· ὅπερ δὴ καὶ πολλάκις νῦν γέγονεν. εʹ. Ἦν τοίνυν ὁ πλούσιος ἐκεῖνος παρασίτους τρέφων καὶ κόλακας, θέατρον τὴν οἰκίαν ἐργαζόμενος, οἴνῳ ἕκαστον ἐκλύων, ἐν εὐημερίᾳ πολλῇ διατρίβων· ἕτερος δέ τις ἦν Λάζαρος ἑλκῶν γέμων, πρὸς τὸν πυλῶνα τοῦ πλουσίου καθεζόμενος, καὶ ἐπιθυμῶν ψιχίων. Παρὰ τὴν πηγὴν ἐδίψα, ἐν εὐημερίᾳ ἐλίμωττεν. Καὶ ποῦ ἔῤῥιπτο; Οὐκ εἰς τὸ ἄμφοδον, οὐκ εἰς ῥύμην, οὐκ εἰς στενωπὸν, οὐκ εἰς μέσην ἀγορὰν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν πυλῶνα τοῦ πλουσίου, ὅπου ἀνάγκην εἶχεν εἰσόδων καὶ ἐξόδων ὁ πλούσιος, ἵνα μὴ λέγῃ· Οὐκ εἶδον, παρέδραμον, οὐκ εἶδόν μου οἱ ὀφθαλμοί. Εἰς τὴν εἴσοδόν σου κεῖται, ὁ μαργαρίτης ἐν βορβόρῳ, καὶ οὐ βλέπεις; ὁ ἰατρὸς παρὰ τὸν πυλῶνα, καὶ οὐ