John Chrysostom, On Lazarus

becoming more hesitant at the beginning of the journey, for this reason he is now comforted here, but you are in anguish, and the end has resulted in the opposite for each of you. You have seen through the events themselves the end of the broad and wide way, you have learned how a good end received the one who chose the narrow gate and the afflicted way; hear now also the more fearful thing; And besides all this, he says, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to there cannot, nor can those from there cross over to us. Let us not simply pass by what has been said, beloved, but let us consider the precision of what was said, and how much honor and precedence he enjoys, who was cast at the gate, the one easily despised, the poor one, the one continually wrestling with hunger, the one besieged by sores, the one lying exposed to the dogs. For I gladly repeat these things continually, so that no one 48.1053 of those who are in poverty or in sickness and hunger may despise himself, calling himself wretched, but bearing all things with patience and thanksgiving, may now be nourished by good hopes, awaiting those ineffable rewards, and the recompense for his labors. And besides all this. What is, Besides all this? Having said, that you received all things in the present life, which you considered to be good, and that this man received what you considered to be evil, he added this, teaching him that each received a fitting end in addition to all that was said; for you, after enjoying the good things you considered so, affliction and distress and the unquenchable fire, but for him, after wrestling in his entire life with what you yourself considered to be evils, rest and the enjoyment of good things and the lot with the saints received him. Since, therefore, each found a fitting end, and the wide gate and the broad way have caused you to arrive at this distress, while the narrow and afflicted way has led him to this rest, And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed. Behold the poor man, the one full of sores (for again I say these things), numbered with the patriarch, and enrolled in the choir of the righteous. For between us and you, he says. Did you see what sort of lot succeeded the one who bore with patience and thanksgiving that grievous sickness and the famine? For between us and you, he says, a great chasm has been fixed. Great, he says, is that which separates, and not simply a chasm, but a great one. And truly great is the distance between virtue and vice, and great is the difference; for the one is wide and broad, and the other narrow and afflicted; luxury is wide and broad, but poverty and want are narrow and afflicted. Just as, therefore, here the ways are opposite, and the one who chooses virginity travels the narrow and afflicted way, and the one who pursues self-control, and the one who embraces poverty, and the one who disdains vainglory, while the one who hastens to travel the wide and broad way gives himself over to drunkenness and luxury and a mania for money and licentiousness and harmful spectacles, and the difference between them is great; so indeed also in the 48.1054 time of punishment and of recompense, it is possible to find a great distance between the rewards. For a great chasm, he says, has been fixed between us, that is, the righteous, the virtuous, those who have obtained that lot; and you, that is, those who have been consumed in wickedness and vice. And so great is the chasm, that no one standing on this side can cross over to you, nor can anyone from that side pass over to us. Did you see the magnitude of the chasm? Did you see a reply heavier than Gehenna? When at the beginning you heard of the prosperity of the rich man and the great attendance he had, being escorted by all, and every day being devoted to luxury, did you not consider him blessed? and again, seeing the poor man cast down at the gate and given over to those grievous sores, did you not count his life wretched? But behold, now from the end of things we see the opposite happening, and the one, after luxury, in the frying pans

προοιμίου τῆς ὁδοῦ γινόμενος ὀκνηρότερος, διὰ τοῦτο νῦν ἐνταῦθα παρακαλεῖται, σὺ δὲ ὀδυνᾶσαι, καὶ ἀπεναντίας ἀλλήλοις τὸ τέλος κατήντησεν. Εἴδετε δι' αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων τῆς εὐρυχώρου καὶ πλατείας ὁδοῦ τὸ τέλος, ἐμάθετε τῆς στενῆς πύλης καὶ τῆς τεθλιμμένης ὁδοῦ ὅπως χρηστὸν τὸ πέρας ἐδέξατο τὸν ταύτην ἑλόμενον· ἀκούσατε δὴ καὶ τὸ φοβερώτερον· Καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι, φησὶ, τούτοις μεταξὺ ἡμῶν καὶ ὑμῶν χάσμα μέγα ἐστήρικται, ὅπως οἱ θέλοντες διαβῆναι ἔνθεν ἐκεῖ μὴ δύνωνται, μηδὲ οἱ ἐκεῖθεν πρὸς ἡμᾶς διαπερῶσι. Μὴ ἁπλῶς παραδράμωμεν, ἀγαπητοὶ, τὸ λεχθὲν, ἀλλ' ἐννοήσωμεν τῶν λεχθέντων τὴν ἀκρίβειαν, καὶ ὅσης ἀπολαύει τῆς τιμῆς καὶ τῆς προεδρίας ὁ παρὰ τὸν πυλῶνα ἐῤῥιμμένος, ὁ εὐκαταφρόνητος, ὁ πένης, ὁ τῷ λιμῷ διηνεκῶς παλαίων, ὁ τοῖς ἕλκεσι πολιορκούμενος, ὁ τοῖς κυσὶ προκείμενος. Ἡδέως γὰρ ταῦτα στρέφω συνεχῶς, ἵνα μηδεὶς 48.1053 τῶν ἐν πενίᾳ ἢ τῶν ἐν νόσοις ὄντων καὶ λιμῷ καταφρονήσῃ, ἑαυτὸν ταλανίζων, ἀλλὰ μεθ' ὑπομονῆς καὶ εὐχαριστίας ἅπαντα φέρων, ἤδη ταῖς χρησταῖς ἐλπίσι τρέφηται, τὰς ἀποῤῥήτους ἐκείνας ἀναμένων ἀμοιβὰς, καὶ τῶν πόνων τὰς ἀντιδόσεις. Καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις. Τί ἐστιν, Ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις; Εἰπὼν, ὅτι σὺ μὲν ἅπαντα ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ ἀπέλαβες, ἅπερ ἡγοῦ εἶναι ἀγαθὰ, καὶ ὅτι οὗτος ἀπέλαβεν ἅπερ σὺ ἐνόμιζες εἶναι κακὰ, τοῦτο προσέθηκε, διδάσκων αὐτὸν, ὅτι καὶ ἀκόλουθον ἕκαστον τέλος ἐδέξατο ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι· σὲ μὲν μετὰ τὸ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὧν ἐνόμιζες ἀπολαύειν, ἡ θλῖψις καὶ ἡ στενοχωρία καὶ τὸ πῦρ τὸ ἄσβεστον, τοῦτον δὲ μετὰ τὸ προσπαλαῖσαι ἐν διηνεκεῖ τῇ ζωῇ οἷς ἐνόμιζες αὐτὸς εἶναι κακοῖς, ἡ ἄνεσις καὶ ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπόλαυσις καὶ ἡ μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων λῆξις ἐδέξατο. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν τὸ τέλος ἀκόλουθον ἕκαστος εὗρε, καὶ σὲ μὲν ἡ πλατεῖα πύλη καὶ ἡ εὐρύχωρος ὁδὸς εἰς ταύτην τὴν στενοχωρίαν καταντῆσαι πεποίηκε, τοῦτον δὲ ἡ στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμμένη εἰς ταύτην ἤγαγε τὴν ἄνεσιν, Καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις μεταξὺ ἡμῶν καὶ ὑμῶν χάσμα μέγα ἐστήρικται. Ὅρα τὸν πένητα, τὸν ἡλκωμένον (πάλιν γὰρ ταῦτα λέγω), τῷ πατριάρχῃ συναριθμούμενον, καὶ τῷ χορῷ τῶν δικαίων κατειλεγμένον. Μεταξὺ γὰρ ἡμῶν καὶ ὑμῶν, φησίν. Εἶδες οἵα λῆξις διεδέξατο τὸν μεθ' ὑπομονῆς καὶ εὐχαριστίας τὴν χαλεπὴν ἐκείνην ἀῤῥωστίαν καὶ τὸν λιμὸν ἐνέγκαντα; Μεταξὺ γὰρ ἡμῶν καὶ ὑμῶν, φησὶ, χάσμα μέγα ἐστήρικται. Πολὺ, φησὶν, ἐστὶ τὸ διεῖργον, καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς χάσμα, ἀλλὰ μέγα. Καὶ γὰρ ἀληθῶς πολὺ τὸ μέσον τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς κακίας, καὶ πολλὴ ἡ διαφορά· ἡ μὲν γάρ ἐστι πλατεῖα καὶ εὐρύχωρος, ἡ δὲ στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμμένη· ἡ μὲν τρυφὴ πλατεῖα καὶ εὐρύχωρος, ἡ δὲ πενία καὶ ἡ ἔνδεια στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμμένη. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐνταῦθα ἐναντίαι εἰσὶν αἱ ὁδοὶ, καὶ ὁ μὲν τὴν παρθενίαν ἑλόμενος τὴν στενὴν ὁδεύει καὶ τεθλιμμένην, καὶ ὁ τὴν σωφροσύνην μεταδιώκων, καὶ ὁ τὴν ἀκτημοσύνην ἀσπαζόμενος, καὶ ὁ τῆς κενοδοξίας ὑπερορῶν, ὁ δὲ τὴν πλατεῖαν ὁδεύειν σπεύδων καὶ τὴν εὐρύχωρον, μέθῃ καὶ τρυφῇ καὶ χρημάτων μανίᾳ καὶ ἀκολασίᾳ καὶ ταῖς ἐπιβλαβέσι θεωρίαις ἑαυτὸν ἐκδίδωσι, καὶ πολλὴ ἑκατέρων ἐστὶν ἡ διαφορά· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐν τῷ 48.1054 τῆς κολάσεως καιρῷ καὶ τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως, τῶν ἀμοιβῶν πολὺ τὸ μέσον ἔστιν εὑρεῖν. Χάσμα γὰρ, φησὶ, μέγα ἐστήρικται μεταξὺ ἡμῶν, τουτέστι, τῶν δικαίων, τῶν ἐναρέτων, τῶν τὴν λῆξιν ἐκείνην λαχόντων· καὶ ὑμῶν, τουτέστι, τῶν ἐν πονηρίᾳ καὶ κακίᾳ καταδαπανηθέντων. Καὶ τοσοῦτόν ἐστι μέγα τὸ χάσμα, ὥστε μήτε ἐντεῦθεν ἑστῶτά τινα πρὸς ὑμᾶς διαβῆναι δύνασθαι, μήτε ἐκεῖθεν πρὸς ἡμᾶς διαπερᾶσαι. Εἶδες χάσματος μέγεθος; εἶδες ἀπόκρισιν γεέννης βαρυτέραν; Ἆρα ἐν προοιμίοις ἀκούσαντες τὴν εὐημερίαν τοῦ πλουσίου καὶ τὴν πολλὴν θεραπείαν ἣν εἶχε παρὰ πάντων δορυφορούμενος, καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τῇ τρυφῇ προσηλωμένος, οὐκ ἐνομίζετε μακαριστὸν εἶναι; καὶ πάλιν ὁρῶντες τὸν πένητα ἐπὶ τοῦ πυλῶνος ἐῤῥιμμένον καὶ τοῖς χαλεποῖς ἕλκεσιν ἐκείνοις ἐκδεδομένον, οὐκ ἐταλανίζετε αὐτοῦ τὴν ζωήν; Ἀλλ' ἰδοὺ νῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ τέλους τῶν πραγμάτων τὰ ἐναντία ὁρῶμεν γινόμενα, καὶ τὸν μὲν ἐν τηγάνοις μετὰ τὴν τρυφὴν