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

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. Why do the wicked live, and grow old in wealth? Their seed is according to their soul, and their children are before their eyes. Their houses are prosperous, and fear is nowhere, nor is the scourge of the Lord upon them. Their cow has not miscarried, but has been saved from the heat, being with young she has not failed. And they abide like sheep for ever, and their children play near them; taking up the psaltery and harp, and they rejoice at the voice of a song. They have completed their life in good things, and have slept in the rest of Hades. And he says to the Lord: "Depart from me, I do not wish to know your ways." In accord with this the patient one, and singer of the divine judgments, according to, "Mercy and judgment will I sing to you, O Lord," says David: "How good God is to Israel, to the upright in heart. But my feet were almost shaken, my steps were nearly poured out." Why? "Because I was jealous of the lawless, seeing the peace of sinners." And in another place again, decrying their wealth, he says: "Their oxen are fat; their sheep bring forth abundantly, 135 multiplying in their goings forth; their storehouses are full, bursting forth from this to that; their daughters are beautified, adorned round about as the likeness of a temple." But also marveling at their evil concord and peace, he adds: "There is no outcry in their streets, nor falling of a fence in their houses." Then, decrying the corrupt opinion of the many, he says: "They have blessed the people, to whom these things belong." And he adds: "Blessed is the people whose helper is the Lord, the God of Jacob." And lest, by stopping the testimonies here, I should show the argument to be dangerous in its incompleteness. Hear again Habakkuk, with a certain beating of the breast, becoming indignant at such things and saying: "How long, O Lord, shall I cry out being wronged, and you will not hear?" For he called the injustices of his neighbor his own. And being a lover of his brethren he adds: "I will cry to you, and you will not save? Why have you shown me toils and troubles to look upon, upon misery and wickedness? Judgment has been made against me, and the judge takes; therefore the law is scattered, and judgment is not brought to completion, because the ungodly man oppresses the righteous." In the same spirit, the most compassionate of the saints, Jeremiah, being perplexed on behalf of others, cries out: "You are righteous, O Lord, that I should plead with you; yet I will speak judgments to you, O Lord. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? All those who commit acts of treachery are prosperous? You planted them and they have taken root" (instead of, "they live unhindered"), "and they have borne fruit" (not at all of the spirit); "you are near their mouth, and far from their reins." And the wise prophet Zephaniah, decrying men as evil speakers, 136 as those who blame providence and bless the saints, says from the person of the Lord, things plainly equivalent to these: ""You have made your words heavy against me," says the Lord, and you have said: "In what have we spoken against you?"" You have said, "He who serves God is vain, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked as supplicants before the face of the Lord Almighty? And now we bless strangers, and all who do lawless deeds are built up, and they have resisted God, and have been saved." These things they that feared the Lord spoke, each one to his neighbor." To which the preacher of piety, Paul, adds the same things: "But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." Then he signifies the lowliness of the saints, saying: "For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men. For even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place, and labor, working with our own hands" (listing the bodily afflictions);

διὰ τί οὐ θυμωθή σομαι; εἰσβλέψαντες εἰς ἐμὲ θαυμάσατε, χεῖρα θέντες ἐπὶ σιαγόνι. ἐάν τε γὰρ μνησθῶ, ἐσπούδακα, ἔχουσι δέ μου τὰς σάρ κας ὀδύναι. διὰ τί ἀσεβεῖς ζῶσι, πεπαλαίωνται δὲ ἐν πλούτῳ; ὁ σπόρος αὐτῶν κατὰ ψυχήν, τὰ δὲ τέκνα αὐτῶν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς. οἱ οἶκοι αὐτῶν εὐθηνοῦσιν, φόβος δὲ οὐδαμοῦ, μάστιξ Κυρίου οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπ' αὐτούς. ἡ βοῦς αὐτῶν οὐκ ὠμοτόκησεν, διεσώθη δὲ ἀπὸ καύματος, ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα οὐκ ἔσφαλεν. μένουσι δὲ ὥσπερ πρόβατα αἰώνια, τὰ δὲ παιδία αὐτῶν προσπαίζουσιν· ἀναλαβόντα ψαλτήριον καὶ κιθάραν καὶ εὐφραίνονται φωνῇ ψαλμοῦ. συνετέλεσαν ἐν ἀγαθοῖς τὴν ζωὴν αὐτῶν, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀνα παύσει τοῦ Ἅδου ἐκοιμήθησαν. λέγει δὲ τῷ Κυρίῳ· "Ἀπόστα ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, τὰς ὁδούς σου εἰδέναι οὐ βούλομαι."" τούτῳ συνῳδὰ ὁ ἀνεξίκακος, καὶ τῶν θείων ᾄστης κριμάτων, κατὰ τό, "Ἔλεον καὶ κρίσιν ᾄσομαί σοι, Κύριε," ∆αυείδ φησιν· "Ὡς ἀγαθὸς ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἰσραήλ, τοῖς εὐθέσι τῇ καρδίᾳ. ἐμοῦ δὲ παρὰ μικρὸν ἐσαλεύθησαν οἱ πόδες, παρ' ὀλίγον ἐξεχύθη τὰ διαβήματά μου." διὰ τί; "ὅτι ἐζήλωσα ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνόμοις, εἰρήνην ἁμαρτωλῶν θεωρῶν." καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ πάλιν τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτῶν διαβάλλων, λέγει· "Οἱ βόες αὐτῶν παχεῖς· τὰ πρόβατα αὐτῶν πολυτόκα, 135 πληθύνοντα ἐν ταῖς ἐξόδοις αὐτῶν· τὰ ταμεῖα αὐτῶν πλήρη, ἐξερευγόμενα ἐκ τούτου εἰς τοῦτο· αἱ θυγατέρες αὐτῶν κεκαλ λωπισμέναι, περικεκοσμημέναι ὡς ὁμοίωμα ναοῦ." ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν κακὴν αὐτῶν ὁμόνοιαν καὶ εἰρήνην θαυμάζων, ἐπιφέρει· "Οὐκ ἔστι κραυγὴ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις αὐτῶν, οὐδὲ κατάπτωμα φραγ μοῦ ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις αὐτῶν." εἶτα τὴν τῶν πολλῶν διαβάλλων διεφθαρμένην δόξαν, φησίν· "Ἐμακάρισαν τὸν λαόν, ᾧ ταῦτά ἐστιν." καὶ ἐπιφέρει· "Μακάριος ὁ λαὸς οὗ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακὼβ βοηθὸς αὐτοῦ." καὶ ἵνα μὴ μέχρι τούτου στήσας τὰς μαρτυρίας, ἐπικίνδυνον ἀποδείξω τῇ ἀτελείᾳ τὸν λόγον. ἄκουε πάλιν μετὰ στερνοκτυπίας τινὸς ἐπὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις τὸν Ἁμ βακοὺμ ἀποδυσφοροῦντα καὶ λέγοντα· "Ἕως πότε, Κύριε, κεκράξομαι ἀδικούμενος, καὶ οὐ μὴ εἰσακούσῃς;" ἰδίας γὰρ ἀδικίας τὰς τοῦ πλησίον ὠνόμαζεν. καὶ φιλάδελφος ὢν ἐπιφέρει· "Βοήσομαι πρὸς σέ, καὶ οὐ μὴ σώσῃς; ἵνα τί μοι ἔδειξας κόπους καὶ πόνους ἐπιβλέπειν, ἐπὶ ταλαιπωρίαν καὶ ἀσέβειαν; ἐξ ἐναντίας μου γέγονεν κρίσις, καὶ ὁ κριτὴς λαμβάνει· διὰ τοῦτο διεσκέδασται νόμος, καὶ οὐ διεξάγεται εἰς τέλος κρῖμα, ὅτι ὁ ἀσεβὴς καταδυναστεύει τὸν δίκαιον." τῷ αὐτῷ πνεύματι ὁ συμ παθέστατος τῶν ἁγίων Ἰερεμίας, ἐπαπορῶν ὑπὲρ ἄλλων, βοᾷ· "∆ίκαιος εἶ, Κύριε, ὅτι ἀπολογήσομαι πρὸς σέ· πλὴν κρίματα λαλήσω πρὸς σέ, Κύριε. τί ὁδὸς ἀσεβῶν εὐοδοῦται; εὐθήνησαν πάντες οἱ ἀθετοῦντες ἀθετήματα; ἐφύτευσας αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐῤῥιζώ θησαν" (ἀντὶ τοῦ, "ἀκωλύτως διάγουσι"), "καὶ ἐποίησαν καρπόν" (οὐ πάντως πνεύματος)· "ἐγγὺς εἶ τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν, καὶ πόῤῥω ἀπὸ τῶν νεφρῶν αὐτῶν." ἄντικρυς δὲ ἰσοδυναμοῦντα τούτοις ὁ σοφὸς Σοφονίας ὁ προφήτης, ὡς κακηγόρους τοὺς ἀνθρώπους 136 διαβάλλων, ὡς τὴν πρόνοιαν μεμφομένους καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους τα λανίζοντας, ἐκ προσώπου Κυρίου φησίν· ""Ἐβαρύνατε ἐπ' ἐμὲ τοὺς λόγους ὑμῶν," λέγει Κύριος, καὶ εἴπατε· "Ἐν τίνι κατελαλή σαμεν κατὰ σοῦ;" εἴπατε, "Μάταιος ὁ δουλεύων Θεῷ, καὶ τί πλέον ὅτι ἐφυλάξαμεν τὰ προστάγματα αὐτοῦ, καὶ διότι ἐπορεύ θημεν ἱκέται πρὸ προσώπου Κυρίου Παντοκράτορος; καὶ νῦν ἡμεῖς μακαρίζομεν ἀλλοτρίους, καὶ ἀνοικοδομοῦνται πάντες ποι οῦντες ἀνομήματα, καὶ ἀντέστησαν Θεῷ, καὶ ἐσώθησαν." ταῦτα κατελάλησαν οἱ φοβούμενοι τὸν Κύριον, ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ." οἷς τὰ αὐτὰ ἐπιφέρει ὁ κήρυξ τῆς εὐσεβείας, Παῦλος· "Πονηροὶ δὲ ἄνθρωποι καὶ γόητες προκόψουσιν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον, πλανῶντες καὶ πλανώμενοι." εἶτα τὴν εὐτέλειαν τῶν ἁγίων σημαίνει, λέγων· "∆οκῶ γάρ, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἐσχάτους ἀπέδειξεν ὡς ἐπιθανατίους· ὅτι θέατρον ἐγενήθημεν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις. μέχρι γὰρ τῆς ἄρτι ὥρας καὶ πεινῶμεν καὶ διψῶμεν καὶ γυμνητεύομεν καὶ κολαφιζόμεθα καὶ ἀστατοῦμεν καὶ κοπιῶμεν, ἐργαζόμενοι ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσίν" (τὰς σωματικὰς καταλέγων ταλαιπωρίας)·