John Chrysostom, On Lazarus

does he minister? The pilot is in the harbor, and you suffer shipwreck? You feed parasites, and you do not feed the poor? These things happened then, and they also happen today. For this reason those things were written, so that those who came after might be taught by these events, and not suffer those things which this man suffered. The poor man, therefore, lay at the gate; poor on the outside, but rich on the inside; he lay with a body full of sores; a treasure having thorns above, but pearls beneath. For what harm to him was the sickness of the body, when the soul was healthy? Let the poor hear, and not be choked by despondency; let the rich hear, and turn from their wickedness. For this reason these two images are set before us, of wealth and poverty, of cruelty and endurance, of patience and greed, so that when you see a poor man full of sores, and despised, you may not count him miserable; when you see a rich man adorning himself, you may not call him blessed. Run back to the parable; if the shipwreck of your thoughts troubles you, run to the harbor, take comfort from the narrative, consider Lazar48.1034us despised, consider the rich man prospering and enjoying luxury, and let nothing that happens in life trouble you. For if you have accurate reasoning, the waves do not overwhelm you, the ship is not submerged, if with discernment of thought you distinguish the nature of things. Why do you say to me, My body is afflicted? May your mind not be harmed. So-and-so is rich and wicked; and what of it? but wickedness is not perceptible to the senses. Do not judge a man for me by what is outside, but by what is inside. If you see a tree, do you examine the leaves, or the fruit? So also in the case of a human being, if you see a human being, do not judge what is outside, but what is inside; examine the fruit, and not the leaves. Perhaps it is a wild olive tree, but is thought to be an olive tree; perhaps he is a wolf, but is thought to be a human being. Therefore, do not learn from nature, but from moral choice, not from appearance, but from judgment; and not from judgment alone, but also examine his life. If he has love for the poor, he is a human being; but if he is engaged in commerce, he is an oak; but if he is bestial in anger, he is a lion; but if he is rapacious, he is a wolf; but if he is treacherous, he is an asp. And say: I am seeking a human being, why have you shown me a beast instead of a human being? Learn what the virtue of a human being is, and do not be troubled. Therefore, Lazarus was lying at the gate, full of sores, wasting away with hunger; and the dogs, coming, were licking his wounds; the dogs, more humane than the man, were licking his wounds, and were removing and cleansing the putrefaction. But he lay there like gold sitting beside a furnace, and becoming more proven; he did not say what many of the poor say: Is this providence? Does God watch over human affairs? I am in righteousness, and I am poor, and this man is in unrighteousness, and he is rich? He reasoned none of these things, but yielded to the incomprehensible love of God for mankind; cleansing his own soul, bearing endurance, showing patience, lying down in body, and running in mind, winged in purpose, snatching the prize, having emerged from evils, and a witness of good things. He did not say: Parasites enjoy themselves with abundance, but I am not deemed worthy of crumbs; but what? He gave thanks, and glorified God. It came to pass that they died; the rich man died, and was buried; Lazarus also departed; for I would not say, he died. For the death of the rich man is death and a tomb, but the death of the poor man is a journey abroad, and a removal to better things, and a race from the wrestling-ground to the prizes, from the sea to the harbor, from the battle-line to the trophy, from the sweat to the crown. Both departed to that place where things are true; the theater was dismissed, and the masks were revealed. For just as in this theater at high noon there are curtains, and many of the actors enter, playing a part, having masks on their faces, and reciting an ancient story,

θεραπεύῃ; ὁ κυβερνήτης ἐν τῷ λιμένι, καὶ ναυάγιον ὑπομένεις; παρασίτους τρέφεις, καὶ πένητας οὐ τρέφεις; Ἐγίνετο τότε ταῦτα, γίνεται δὲ καὶ σήμερον. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐκεῖνα γέγραπται, ἵνα οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων παιδευθῶσι, καὶ μὴ πάθωσιν ἐκεῖνα, ἅπερ ἔπαθεν οὗτος. Ἔκειτο τοίνυν ἐν τῷ πυλῶνι ὁ πένης· πένης μὲν ἔξωθεν, πλούσιος δὲ ἔσωθεν· ἔκειτο ἡλκωμένος τὸ σῶμα· θησαυρὸς ἄνωθεν ἀκάνθας ἔχων, κάτωθεν δὲ μαργαρίτας. Τί γὰρ αὐτῷ βλάβος ἀπὸ τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας τοῦ σώματος, τῆς ψυχῆς ὑγιαινούσης; Ἀκουέτωσαν οἱ πένητες, καὶ μὴ ἀποπνιγήτωσαν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀθυμίας· ἀκουέτωσαν οἱ πλούσιοι, καὶ μεταβαλέσθωσαν ἀπὸ τῆς πονηρίας. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο αὗται αἱ δύο ἡμῖν εἰκόνες πρόκεινται, πλούτου καὶ πενίας, ὠμότητος καὶ καρτερίας, ὑπομονῆς καὶ πλεονεξίας, ἵν' ὅταν ἴδῃς πένητα ἡλκωμένον, καὶ καταφρονούμενον, μὴ αὐτὸν ταλανίσῃς· ὅταν ἴδῃς πλούσιον καλλωπιζόμενον, μὴ αὐτὸν μακαρίσῃς. Ἀνάδραμε ἐπὶ τὴν παραβολήν· ἐὰν θορυβῇ σε τὸ ναυάγιον τῶν λογισμῶν, δράμε ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα, λαβὲ ἀπὸ τῆς διηγήσεως παραμυθίαν, ἐννόησον τὸν Λάζα48.1034 ρον καταφρονούμενον, ἐννόησον τὸν πλούσιον εὐημεροῦντα καὶ ἀπολαύοντα τρυφῆς, καὶ μηδέν σε θορυβείτω τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ γινομένων. Ἐὰν γὰρ λογισμὸν ἔχῃς ἠκριβωμένον, οὐ βαπτίζει σε τὰ κύματα, οὐ γίνεται ὑποβρύχιον τὸ πλοῖον, ἐὰν τῇ διακρίσει τῶν λογισμῶν διαιρῇς τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν φύσιν. Τί μοι λέγεις, Τὸ σῶμά μου στενοχωρεῖται; Ἡ διάνοιά σου μὴ παραβλαβείη. Ὁ δεῖνα πλούσιος καὶ πονηρός· καὶ τί τοῦτο; ἀλλ' ἡ κακία οὐκ αἰσθητή. Μή μοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἔνδοθεν δοκίμαζε. Ἐὰν ἴδῃς δένδρον, τὰ φύλλα καταμανθάνεις, ἢ τὸν καρπόν; Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐὰν ἴδῃς ἄνθρωπον, μὴ τὰ ἔξωθεν δοκίμαζε, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἔνδοθεν· τὸν καρπὸν καταμάνθανε, καὶ μὴ τὰ φύλλα. Μήποτε ἀγριελαία μὲν ἔστι, νομίζεται δὲ ἐλαία· μήποτε λύκος μὲν ἔστι, νομίζεται δὲ εἶναι ἄνθρωπος. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως καταμάνθανε, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς προαιρέσεως, μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς γνώμης· καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς γνώμης μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ περιεργάζου αὐτοῦ τὸν βίον. Εἰ φιλοπτωχίαν ἔχει, ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν· εἰ δὲ ἐν ἐμπορίαις ἀναστρέφεται, δρῦς ἐστιν· εἰ δὲ θυμῷ θηριώδης ἐστὶ, λέων ἐστίν· εἰ δὲ ἅρπαξ ἐστὶ, λύκος ἐστίν· εἰ δὲ ὕπουλός ἐστι, ἀσπίς ἐστι. Καὶ εἰπέ· Ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπον ζητῶ, τί μοι ἔδειξας θηρίον ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπου; Μάθε τί ποτε ἀρετὴ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ μὴ θορυβοῦ. Ἦν τοίνυν ὁ Λάζαρος ἐν τῷ πυλῶνι κείμενος, ἡλκωμένος, λιμῷ τηκόμενος· οἱ δὲ κύνες ἐρχόμενοι ἔλειχον αὐτοῦ τὰ τραύματα· τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἱ κύνες φιλανθρωπότεροι ἔλειχον αὐτοῦ τὰ τραύματα, καὶ τὴν σηπεδόνα περιῄρουν καὶ ἐξεκάθαιρον. Ἔκειτο δὲ ἐκεῖνος καθάπερ χρυσίον ἐν καμίνῳ παρακαθεζόμενος, καὶ δοκιμώτερος γινόμενος· οὐκ εἶπεν ὃ πολλοὶ τῶν πενήτων· Ταῦτα προνοίας; ἆρα Θεὸς ἐφορᾷ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα; ἐγὼ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ πένομαι, καὶ οὗτος ἐν ἀδικίᾳ, καὶ πλουτεῖ; Οὐδὲν τούτων ἐλογίσατο, ἀλλὰ παρεχώρει τῷ ἀκαταλήπτῳ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας· τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀποσμήχων, τὴν καρτερίαν φέρων, τὴν ὑπομονὴν ἐνδεικνύμενος, κείμενος τῷ σώματι, καὶ τρέχων τῇ διανοίᾳ, ἐπτερωμένος τῇ γνώμῃ, τὸ βραβεῖον ἁρπάζων, ἀναδὺς τῶν κακῶν, καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν μάρτυς. Οὐκ εἶπεν· Παράσιτοι μετὰ δαψιλείας ἀπολαύουσι, ἐγὼ δὲ ψιχίων οὐ καταξιοῦμαι· ἀλλὰ τί; Ηὐχαρίστει, καὶ ἐδόξαζε τὸν Θεόν. Ἐγένετο ἀποθανεῖν αὐτούς· ἀπέθανεν ὁ πλούσιος, καὶ ἐτάφη· ἀπῆλθε καὶ ὁ Λάζαρος· οὐ γὰρ ἂν εἴποιμι, ἀπέθανε. Τοῦ μὲν γὰρ πλουσίου ὁ θάνατος θάνατος καὶ τάφος, τοῦ δὲ πένητος ὁ θάνατος ἀποδημία, καὶ πρὸς τὰ βελτίω μετάστασις, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ σκάμματος ἐπὶ τὰ βραβεῖα ὁ δρόμος, ἀπὸ τοῦ πελάγους ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα, ἀπὸ τῆς παρατάξεως ἐπὶ τὸ τρόπαιον, ἀπὸ τῶν ἱδρώτων ἐπὶ τὸν στέφανον. Ἀπῆλθον ἀμφότεροι ἐκεῖ, ὁποῦ τὰ ἀληθινὰ πράγματα· ἐλύθη τὸ θέατρον, καὶ ἀπεκαλύφθη τὰ προσωπεῖα. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ τούτῳ ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ μέσῃ παραπετάσματα γίνεται, καὶ εἰσέρχονται πολλοὶ τῶν σκηνικῶν, ὑποκρινόμενοι, προσωπεῖα ἐν τῇ ὄψει ἔχοντες, καὶ μῦθον παλαιὸν ἀπαγγέλλοντες,