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
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 declared your judgments to Jacob, and your law to Israel; he will place incense continually in your feast upon your altar. Bless, Lord, his strength, and accept the works of his hands; strike the brow of enemies risen up against him, and let those who hate him not rise up."" But I would add and say: "Let those who love him, Jesus Christ, not be put to shame; for yours is the power forever. Amen." {THE BISHOP} And this is the exercise of your understanding, Theodore, hunter of thoughts, to bring forth "from the treasure" of your mind (according to the Savior who said it) "things new and old"; "old," the lessons of human wisdom; "new," the oracles of the Holy Spirit. From which treasures you have given what is suitable to each part, from your own prudence telling those who have sinned what was fitting, and from the Mosaic blessing weaving for John the crown that was due. Who, having ministered as a priest without passion, truly did not know father or mother or kindred by blood through an excess of righteousness, but only the lovers and workers of the word. But the so-called bishops among us have anchored their earthly kin in revenues and military commands and dignities, transgressing the law that says: "The priests shall not give their sons to be rulers and to run beside the king"; but the things of the Spirit they waste on plots and evil days and guards and confinements, having drunk ignorance unmixed, thinking by these means to dishonor the friends of virtue, concerning whom the Savior foretold: "The days will come, in which those who kill you will think they are offering service to God." And surely he did not speak about the Greeks, since 145 he would have said, "to the gods," which signifies more than one. But from the fact that he named the one and only, he indicated those who now plunder us under the pretext of the church. For having concealed their own evil ways and jealousies, they feign in word to care for her, whom they have ruined by their deeds. But even if they use such sophistries, the outcome of what has happened will convict them of having served the one who boasted: "I shall not be moved from generation to generation without evil." For no longer finding a form of newer heresy, the serpent, the inventor of lawlessness and cultivator of the most evil desire, drove the leaders of the church mad to mutual slaughter, by the passion for chief seats and first seats, through which they wrought the schism. For if there had been harmony of the Spirit of God among the bishops and if John ought to have been imprisoned as guilty of sin, or unworthy of the priesthood, or (as Theophilus says) of arrogance, the all-powerful wisdom of God was able to lawfully prevent him from the priesthood or to devise a way by which he would be cast out without disturbance and without tears, either by death or by paralysis or by loss of speech, - as we know some of those who opposed him have suffered and some are about to suffer. But from the fact that so many deeds unworthy of the Savior followed—and he himself was not deposed, but exiled—it is evident that the drama is the devil's, whose kingdom was being destroyed by his teaching. I know that John justly deposed six, as purchasers of the priestly dignity, about whom I spoke above. Who wept? Whose nostrils dripped blood? What web was torn? Who went out of his house? Who was fined an obol? What collector or artisan or farmer or leatherworker or commoner of Asia did not welcome what had happened in vindication of the sacred 146 laws? —acclaiming: "How magnified are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made all things" (for where God works, all things are done in wisdom; but where the beauty-hating demon works, likewise all things are done in folly. And strange things follow folly: envies, murders, strife, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, clamors, chattering of the uninstructed, boiling of authorities, scaffolds, floggings, torches, streams of blood, unbearable losses, confiscations, annulments of divine ordinances, contempt for laws, rejections of moderation, schism of the world, guarding of land and sea, naval, equestrian,
τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῇ μητρί, "Οὐχ ἑόρακά σε," καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐπέγνω· ἐφύλαξεν τὰ λόγιά σου, καὶ τὴν διαθήκην σου διετήρησεν.
ἐδήλωσεν τὰ δικαιώματά σου τῷ Ἰακώβ, καὶ τὸν νόμον σου τῷ Ἰσραήλ· ἐπιθήσει θυμίαμα διὰ παντὸς ἐν ἑορτῇ σου ἐπὶ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ
σου. εὐλόγησον, Κύριε, τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ δέξαι· πάταξον ὀφρὺν ἐχθρῶν ἐπανεστηκότων αὐτῷ, καὶ οἱ
μισοῦντες αὐτὸν μὴ ἀναστήτωσαν."" ἐγὼ δὲ προσπλέξας εἴποιμι· "Οἱ φιλοῦντες αὐτόν, Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, μὴ καταισχυνθήτωσαν· σὸν γὰρ
τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν." {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Καὶ αὕτη τῆς σῆς συνέσεως ἡ ἄσκησις, θηρευτὰ νοημάτων Θεόδωρε, ἐκφέρειν "ἐκ τοῦ"
τῆς διανοίας σου "θησαυ ροῦ" (κατὰ τὸν εἰπόντα Σωτῆρα) "καινὰ καὶ παλαιά"· "παλαιὰ" μέν, τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σοφίας παιδεύματα·
"καινὰ" δέ, τὰ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος λόγια. ἐξ ὧν θησαυρῶν ὁποτέρῳ μέρει τὸ πρόσφορον δέδωκας, τῆς μὲν σῆς φρονήσεως φράσας
τοῖς πλημ μελήσασιν ἃ ἥρμοζεν, τῆς δὲ Μωσαϊκῆς εὐλογίας πλέξας Ἰωάννῃ τὸν ὀφειλόμενον στέφανον. ὃς ἀπαθῶς ἱερατεύσας, ἀληθῶς
οὐκ ἔγνω πατέρα ἢ μητέρα ἢ γένος αἱμάτινον δικαιοσύνης ὑπερβολῇ, ἀλλ' ἢ τοὺς ἐραστὰς καὶ ἐργάτας τοῦ λόγου. οἱ δὲ καθ' ἡμᾶς
δοκοῦντες ἐπίσκοποι τὸ μὲν πήλινον γένος πορισμοῖς καὶ στρα τείαις καὶ ἀξιώμασιν ἐγκαθώρμησαν, παραβάντες τὸν εἰπόντα νόμον·
"Οὐ δώσουσιν οἱ ἱερεῖς τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν εἰς ἄρχοντας καὶ παρατρέχοντας τῷ βασιλεῖ"· τὰ δὲ τοῦ Πνεύματος συσκευαῖς καὶ δυσημερίαις
καὶ φρουραῖς καὶ περιορισμοῖς ἐνδαπανῶντες, ἄκρατον πιόντες τὴν ἄγνοιαν, ἐκ τούτων νομίζοντες ἀτιμάζειν τοὺς φίλους τῆς ἀρετῆς,
περὶ ὧν προεῖπεν ὁ Σωτήρ· "Ἐλεύσον ται ἡμέραι, ἐν αἷς δόξουσιν οἱ ἀποκτέννοντες ὑμᾶς λατρείαν προσφέρειν τῷ Θεῷ." καὶ οὐ δήπου
περὶ Ἑλλήνων εἶπεν, ἐπεὶ 145 ἂν εἰρήκει, "τοῖς θεοῖς," οἳ πλείονας παρὰ τὸν ἕνα σημαίνουσιν. ἐξ ὧν δὲ τὸν ἕνα καὶ μόνον ὠνόμασεν,
ἐδήλωσεν τοὺς νῦν ἡμᾶς προσχήματι τῆς ἐκκλησίας λεηλατοῦντας. τὰς γὰρ ἰδίας κακο τροπίας καὶ φθόνους ἐπικρυψάμενοι, ὑπὲρ ταύτης
φροντίζειν κατασχηματίζονται λόγῳ, ἣν ἐλυμήναντο ἔργοις. ἀλλὰ κἂν οὕτω σοφίσωνται, ἡ ἔκβασις τῶν γεγενημένων αὐτοὺς διελέγξει
ὑπουργήσαντας τῷ καυχησαμένῳ· "Οὐ μὴ σαλευθῶ ἀπὸ γενεᾶς εἰς γενεὰν ἄνευ κακοῦ." οὐκέτι γὰρ ἐφευρίσκων εἶδος αἱρέσεως καινοτέρας
ὁ ἐφευρετὴς τῆς ἀνομίας καὶ γεωργὸς τῆς κακίστης ἐπιθυμίας ὄφις ἐξοίστρησεν τοὺς προεστῶτας τῆς ἐκκλησίας εἰς ἀλληλοκτονίαν,
φιλοκαθεδρίας καὶ πρωτοκαθεδρίας πάθει, δι' ὧν εἰργάσαντο τὸ σχίσμα. εἰ γὰρ ἦν Πνεύματος Θεοῦ συμφωνία ἐν τοῖς ἐπισκόποις
καὶ ὡς αἴτιος πλημμελείας, ἢ ἀνάξιος ἱερω σύνης ἢ (ὡς ὁ Θεόφιλος λέγει) ὑπερηφανίας, ὤφειλεν εἱρχθῆναι ὁ Ἰωάννης, ἐδύνατο
ἡ παντοδύναμος Θεοῦ σοφία ἐνθέσμως αὐτὸν κωλῦσαι τῆς ἱερατείας ἢ ἐφευρεῖν τρόπον, δι' οὗ ἀταράχως καὶ ἀκλαυστὶ ἐξεβάλλετο
οὗτος ἢ θανάτῳ ἢ παραλύσει ἢ ἀφωνίᾳ, - ὡς οἴδαμέν τινας τῶν ἀντιπεσόντων αὐτῷ πεπονθότας καί τινας μέλλοντας πάσχειν. ἐξ ὧν
δὲ τοσαῦτα παρηκολούθησεν ἀνάξια τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἔργα-καὶ αὐτὸς οὐ καθῃρέθη, ἀλλ' ἐξωρίσθη- εὔδηλον τοῦ διαβόλου εἶναι τὸ δρᾶμα,
οὗ κατελύετο τῇ διδα σκαλίᾳ ἡ βασιλεία. οἶδα ἐγὼ τὸν Ἰωάννην ἓξ καθελόντα ἀξίως, ὡς ὠνητὰς τῆς ἱερατικῆς ἀξίας, περὶ ὧν ἀνωτέρω
εἶπον. τίς ἐδά κρυσεν; τίνος δὲ ῥῖνες ἔσταξαν αἷμα; ποία ἀράχνη ἐσχίσθη; τίς δὲ τῆς οἰκίας αὐτοῦ ἐξῆλθεν; τίς δὲ ὀβολὸν ἐζημιώθη;
ποῖος δὲ τῆς Ἀσίας ἀγύρτης ἢ δημιουργὸς ἢ γηπόνος ἢ σκυτοτόμος ἢ δημότης οὐκ ἠσμένισεν τὸ γεγενημένον ἐπὶ ἐκδικίᾳ τῶν ἱερῶν
146 νόμων; -ἐπευφημῶν· "Ὡς ἐμεγαλύνθη τὰ ἔργα σου, Κύριε; πάντα ἐν σοφίᾳ ἐποίησας" (ὅπου γὰρ Θεὸς ἐργάζεται, πάντα γίνεται
ἐν σοφίᾳ· ὅπου δὲ ὁ μισόκαλος δαίμων, ὁμοίως ἅπαντα ἐν ἀσοφίᾳ. παρακολουθεῖ δὲ τῇ ἀσοφίᾳ ἀλλόκοτα πράγματα· φθόνοι, φόνοι,
ἔρις, ζῆλος, θυμοί, ἐριθεῖαι, διχοστασίαι, κτύποι, κλωσμὸς ἀπαιδεύτων, ἐξουσιῶν ζέσις, ἴκρια, ξεσμοί, λαμπάδες, κρουνοὶ αἱμάτων,
ἀφόρητοι ζημίαι, δημεύσεις, λύσεις θεσμῶν θείων, καταφρονήσεις νόμων, ἀθετήσεις σωφροσύνης, οἰκουμένης σχίσμα, παραφυλακαὶ
γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης, ναυτικαί, ἱππικαί,
