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

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 go." Did not the Savior, not fleeing the crowd, say, 121 "The foxes," and what follows? But you cannot persuade me that John, after he was baptized, ever swore an oath, or administered one, or spoke evil, or lied, or cursed, or tolerated jesting. {THE DEACON} For I am not saying any of those things, but that he was insolent. {THE BISHOP} O my good sir, how could one who did none of these things be insolent, being unrestrained in his own tongue? For in a small and great matter the defilement is equal. {THE DEACON} What then, I ask, is it that people are saying; and when will they stop speaking? {THE BISHOP} Hear then about all things, and no longer follow idle talk; for you will never have an excuse. People who do not live rightly do not have right opinions, always conjecturing and devoting their leisure to this, especially now when no one dares to say anything else. For even in the case of God the Savior, though he was living and speaking and acting beyond man and beyond a prophet, they spoke strange things, gathering things about him like pigs or flies (for this is what the times then wanted). For some said, "He deceives the world"; and others, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons"; others, "Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber"; others, "He is a Samaritan, and has a demon." And why must I speak, collecting the slanders? - so that the Savior himself, knowing this, said to the apostles: "Who do people say that I, the Son of Man, am?" To which the disciples respond, recounting the more favorable opinions about him: "Some say Elijah, others Jeremiah, and others John the Baptist"; keeping silent about the mostly evil words. To whom he asks in return, separating them from "the people" (for they were no longer "people" in opinion, but sons of God, for the Word "gave" us "authority to become children of God"): "But you, who do you say that I am?" Not all answer, but only Peter, interpreting the opinion of all: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 122 The Savior, accepting the correctness of this answer, declared, saying: "You are Peter, and on this rock" (that is, the confession) "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." By this characteristic, therefore, you will find even now, not only in the case of John, but in the case of all, the blames and the praises. And just as at that time evil things were said about Christ and the apostles, with the Ephesians shouting, "These are the men who have turned the world upside down," but it has now ceased, as they are being glorified; so you will find after this generation that John is honored as a martyr, when the things opposing the praises about him are destroyed. And those who are swinish or dog-like will say, "He deceives the world," and what follows, but those who are disciples, genuinely and with knowledge seeking him out, will say, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." But if in the case of Christ the Savior, among so many thousands of men, twelve were found in the beginning who knew Jesus with knowledge, while the many are still even now talking nonsense, why are we so meticulous about John, a man who is not even as the spittle of Christ? But why do I say, as the spittle? —as the fringe of his garment; for "all the nations," according to Isaiah, "are as a drop from a bucket, and will be counted as spittle." But the way you said he was insolent, is as follows. For in the first place, it was an impossible thing for him to jest with a random person, let alone to be insolent; but if he somewhere saw any of his genuine disciples or clerics or bishops being proud of some abstinence or achievement of bodily virtue, he would mockingly call them the opposite, calling the water-drinker a drunkard, and the one who possessed nothing a covetous man, and the merciful one a thief (for this too is a graceful kind of teaching for the genuine, confirming what is present by means of what is not). But in truth, he honored a temperate young man above

δύο; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Μάλιστα μὲν καὶ εἰ ἀνωφελὴς καὶ ἀγύρτης ὄχλος ἐστίν· οἷος ἦν ὁ εἰπὼν τῷ Ἰησοῦ· "∆ιδάσκαλε, ἀκολουθήσω σοι, ὅπου ἐὰν ἀπέρχῃ." οὐ φυγὼν τὸν ὄχλον ὁ Σωτὴρ εἶπεν τό, 121 "Αἱ ἀλώπεκες," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; οὐκ ἔχεις δέ με πεῖσαι, ὅτι ποτὲ Ἰωάννης ἀφ' οὗ ἐβαπτίσθη, ἢ ὤμοσεν ἢ ὥρκισεν ἢ κατελάλησεν ἢ ἐψεύσατο ἢ κατηράσατο ἢ εὐτραπέλων ἠνέσχετο. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Οὔτε γὰρ ἐγὼ λέγω τούτων τι, ἀλλ' ὅτι ὕβριζεν. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ὦ βέλτιστε, καὶ ὁ τούτων μηδὲν ποιήσας, πῶς ὕβριζεν, ἀφειδῶν τῆς γλώσσης τῆς ἑαυτοῦ; ἐν μικρῷ γὰρ καὶ μεγάλῳ ὁ μολυσμὸς ἴσος ἐστιν. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Τί οὖν ἐστιν, παρακαλῶ, ἃ λαλοῦσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι· καὶ πότε παύσονται τοῦ λαλεῖν; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ἄκουσον τοίνυν περὶ πάντων, καὶ μηκέτι ἕπου ταῖς φλυαρίαις· οὐ γὰρ ἕξεις ἀπολογίαν οὐδέποτε. οἱ ἄνθρωποι ὀρθῶς μὴ βιοῦντες, ὀρθὰς οὐκ ἔχουσι τὰς ὑπολήψεις, ἀεὶ εἰκο τολογοῦντες καὶ εἰς τοῦτο σχολάζοντες, μάλιστα νῦν οὐδενὸς τολμῶντος ἄλλο τι λέγειν. καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος γὰρ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον καὶ ὑπὲρ προφήτην αὐτοῦ καὶ βιοῦντος καὶ λαλοῦντος καὶ δρῶντος, ἀλλόκοτα ἐλάλουν, χοίρων δίκην ἢ μυιῶν τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ συναθροίζοντες (τοῦτο γὰρ ἤθελον οἱ τότε καιροί). οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔλεγον· "Πλανᾷ τὸν κόσμον"· οἱ δέ, "Ἐν Βεελζεβοὺλ ἄρχοντι τῶν δαιμονίων ἐκβάλλει τὰ δαιμόνια"· ἕτεροι, "Ἰδού, ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης"· ἄλλοι, "Σαμαρείτης ἐστι, καὶ δαιμόνιον ἔχει." καὶ τί με δεῖ λέγειν συναγαγόντα τοὺς ὕθλους; - ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Σωτῆρα εἰδότα τοῦτο λέγειν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις· "Τίνα με λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου;" ᾧ προσαποκρίνονται οἱ μαθηταὶ τὰς εὐφημοτέρας περὶ αὐτοῦ ὑπο λήψεις διηγούμενοι· "Οἱ μὲν Ἠλίαν, οἱ δὲ Ἰερεμίαν, ἄλλοι δὲ Ἰωάννην τὸν βαπτιστὴν φήσαντες"· ἡσυχάσαντες τῶν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον φαύλων τοὺς λόγους. οἷς ἀντεπερωτᾷ διαχωρίζων αὐτοὺς "τῶν ἀνθρώπων" (οὐκέτι γὰρ ἦσαν τὴν γνώμην "ἄν θρωποι," ἀλλ' υἱοὶ Θεοῦ, "ἔδωκεν" γὰρ ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος "ἐξουσίαν τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι")· "Ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνα με λέγετε εἶναι;" ἀπο κρίνονται οὐ πάντες, ἀλλὰ μόνος ὁ Πέτρος, ἑρμηνεύων τὴν πάν των γνώμην· "Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστός, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος." ἧς 122 ἀποκρίσεως ἀποδεχόμενος τὸ ὀρθὸν ὁ Σωτὴρ ἀπεφήνατο, εἰπών· "Σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ" (τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ) "οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι Ἅδου οὐ κατ ισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς." τούτῳ τοίνυν τῷ χαρακτῆρι εὑρήσεις καὶ νῦν, οὐ μόνον ἐπὶ Ἰωάννου, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων τοὺς ψόγους καὶ τοὺς ἐπαίνους. καὶ ὥσπερ κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ κακῶς ἐλαλεῖτο τὰ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων, βοώντων Ἐφεσίων· "Οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἀναστατώσαντες τὴν οἰκουμένην," πέπαυται δὲ νῦν, δοξαζομένων αὐτῶν· οὕτως εὑρήσεις μετὰ τὴν γενεὰν ταύ την ὡς μάρτυρα τιμώμενον τὸν Ἰωάννην, καταλυθέντων τῶν ἀντικειμένων ταῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ εὐφημίαις· καὶ ὅσοι μὲν χοιρώ δεις ἢ κυνώδεις φήσουσι τό, "Πλανᾷ τὸν κόσμον," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, ὅσοι δὲ μαθηταί, γνησίως καὶ ἐπιστημόνως αὐτὸν ἐκζητοῦντες, τό, "Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστός, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος." εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ ἐν τοσαύταις μυριάσιν ἀνδρῶν δώδεκα εὕρηνται ἐν ἀρχῇ οἱ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐπιστημόνως γνωρίσαντες, τῶν πολλῶν εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν φλυαρούντων, τί ἀκριβολογούμεθα περὶ Ἰωάννου, ἀνθρώπου πρὸς τὸν σίελον τοῦ Χριστοῦ μὴ ὄντος; τί δὲ λέγω, πρὸς τὸν σίελον; -πρὸς τὸ κράσπεδον· "πάντα" γὰρ "τὰ ἔθνη," κατὰ τὸν Ἠσαίαν, "ὡς σταγὼν ἀπὸ κάδου, καὶ ὡς σίελος λογισθήσονται." ὃν δὲ τρόπον εἶπας αὐτὸν ὑβρίζειν, τοιοῦτός ἐστιν. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἀμήχανον ἦν πρᾶγμα πρὸς τὸν τυχόντα χαριεντίζεσθαι αὐτόν, μήτι γε δὴ καὶ ὑβρίσαι· εἰ δέ πού τινας τῶν γνησίων αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν ἢ κληρικῶν ἢ ἐπισκό πων εἶδεν ἐπὶ ἀποχῇ τινος ἢ κατορθώματι σωματικῆς ἀρετῆς μεγαλοφρονοῦντας, τὸ ἐναντίον πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐπισκώπτων ἀπε κάλει, ὡς τὸν ὑδροπότην μέθυσον, καὶ τὸν ἀκτήμονα πλεονέκτην, καὶ τὸν ἐλεήμονα κλέπτην λέγων (εἶδος γὰρ χαρίεν καὶ τοῦτο διδασκαλίας πρὸς τοὺς γνησίους, διὰ τῶν μὴ προσόντων κυ ροῦντος τὸ προσόν). τὸ δὲ ἀληθές, ἐτίμα σώφρονα νέον ὑπὲρ