John Chrysostom, On Matthew

for the care of the many are necessary and useful. For the gentle, the meek, the merciful, and the just, does not confine his good deeds to himself alone, but also causes these good fountains to overflow for the benefit of others. And again, the pure in heart and the peacemaker, and he who is persecuted for the sake of truth, in turn sets his life for the common good. Do not therefore think, He says, that you are being drawn into common contests, nor that your discourse is about small matters; You are the salt of the earth. What then? Did they correct the things that were decayed? Not at all. For it is not possible to benefit things that are already corrupted by sprinkling salt on them. They did not do this; but things that were first renewed and handed over to them, and freed from that stench, they then salted, holding and preserving them in that newness which they received from the Master. For to be freed from the decay of sins was Christ's achievement; but not to return to it again was the work of their earnestness and labor. Do you see how He shows them little by little to be better even than the prophets? For He says they are to be teachers not of Palestine, but of the whole earth; and not simply teachers, but also fearsome ones. For this is the wonderful thing, that not by flattering, nor by courting favor, but by being astringent like salt, they thus became beloved by all. Do not be surprised then, He says, if leaving others aside I speak to you, and draw you to so many dangers. For consider to how many cities and peoples and nations I am about to send you as overseers. For this reason I want you not only to be wise yourselves, but also to make others so. And such men must be very intelligent, in whom the salvation of others is at stake, and they must have such an abundance of virtue as to be able to impart its benefit to others as well. For if you do not become such men, you will not be sufficient even for yourselves. ζʹ. Therefore, do not be displeased, as though what is said is burdensome. For it is possible for others who have become foolish to be restored through you; but you, if you should suffer this, will destroy others along with yourselves. Therefore, the greater the matters with which you are entrusted, the greater the earnestness you need. Wherefore He says: But if the salt has lost its taste, with what will it be salted? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot 57.232 by men. For others, though they fall ten thousand times, can obtain forgiveness; but the teacher, if he should suffer this, is deprived of all defense, and will suffer the ultimate punishment. For lest, when they hear, When they revile you and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you, they should shrink from coming forward, He says that unless you were prepared for these things, you have been chosen in vain. For you should not fear being spoken ill of, but appearing to be hypocrites; for then you will lose your taste and be trampled underfoot. But if you continue to be astringent toward them, and then are spoken ill of, rejoice. For this is the work of salt, to sting and to trouble the dissolute. Therefore, slander necessarily follows, not harming you at all, but even testifying to your steadfastness. But if, fearing it, you betray the intensity that befits you, you will suffer much worse things, being both spoken ill of and despised by all. For this is to be trampled underfoot. Then He brings forward another, higher example: You are the light of the world. Again of the world, not of one nation, nor of twenty cities, but of the whole inhabited earth; and a light, spiritual, and much better than this sunbeam, just as there is also a spiritual salt. And first salt, and then light; that you may learn how great is the gain of astringent words, and the benefit of grave teaching. For it both restrains, and does not allow to be dissipated, and makes one see clearly, guiding toward virtue. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden; nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel. Again through these things He leads them to an exactness of life, teaching them to be in constant contest, as men placed under the eyes of all,

πρὸς τὴν τῶν πολλῶν ἐπιμέλειάν εἰσιν ἀναγκαῖαι καὶ χρήσιμοι. Ὅ τε γὰρ πρᾶος καὶ ἐπιεικὴς καὶ ἐλεήμων καὶ δίκαιος, οὐκ εἰς αὐτὸν συγκλείει τὰ κατορθώματα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὴν ἑτέρων ὠφέλειαν τὰς καλὰς ταύτας ὑπερχεῖσθαι παρασκευάζει πηγάς. Ὁ δ' αὖ καθαρὸς τὴν καρδίαν καὶ εἰρηνοποιὸς, καὶ ἐλαυνόμενος ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας, πάλιν πρὸς τὸ κοινῇ συμφέρον τὸν βίον καθίσταται. Μὴ τοίνυν νομίσητε, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τοὺς τυχόντας ἀγῶνας ἕλκεσθαι, μηδὲ ὑπὲρ μικρῶν τινων εἶναι τὸν λόγον ὑμῖν· Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς. Τί οὖν; τὰ σεσηπότα αὐτοὶ διώρθωσαν; Οὐδαμῶς. Οὔτε γὰρ δυνατὸν τὰ διεφθορότα ἤδη ἐπιπάσσοντας ἅλας ὠφελεῖν. Οὐ δὴ τοῦτο ἐποίουν· ἀλλὰ ἀνανεωθέντα πρότερον καὶ παραδοθέντα αὐτοῖς, καὶ τῆς δυσωδίας ἀπαλλαγέντα ἐκείνης, τότε ἥλιζον, κατέχοντες καὶ διατηροῦντες ἐν τῇ νεαρότητι ταύτῃ, ἣν παρὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου παρέλαβον. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς σηπεδόνος τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατόρθωμα γέγονε· τὸ δ' αὖ πάλιν μηκέτι ἐπ' ἐκείνην ἐπανελθεῖν, τῆς τούτων σπουδῆς καὶ ταλαιπωρίας ἔργον ἦν. Ὁρᾷς πῶς κατὰ μικρὸν δείκνυσι καὶ τῶν προφητῶν ὄντας βελτίους; Οὐ γὰρ τῆς Παλαιστίνης διδασκάλους εἶναί φησιν, ἀλλὰ τῆς γῆς ἁπάσης· καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς διδασκάλους, ἀλλὰ καὶ φοβερούς. Τὸ γὰρ δὴ θαυμαστὸν τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅτι οὐ κολακεύοντες, οὐδὲ θεραπεύοντες, ἀλλ' ἐπιστύφοντες ὥσπερ τὸ ἅλας, οὕτω ποθεινοὶ πᾶσι γεγόνασι. Μὴ τοίνυν θαυμάσητε, φησὶν, εἰ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀφεὶς ὑμῖν διαλέγομαι, καὶ πρὸς τοσούτους ἕλκω κινδύνους. Ἐννοήσατε γὰρ ὅσαις πόλεσι καὶ δήμοις καὶ ἔθνεσι μέλλω πέμπειν ὑμᾶς ἐπιστάτας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐχ ὑμᾶς εἶναι βούλομαι φρονίμους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέρους τοιούτους ποιεῖν. Τοὺς δὲ τοιούτους πολὺ δεῖ συνετοὺς εἶναι, ἐν οἷς ἡ τῶν ἄλλων κινδυνεύεται σωτηρία, καὶ τοσαύτην αὐτοῖς τὴν περιουσίαν εἶναι τῆς ἀρετῆς, ὡς καὶ ἄλλοις μεταδιδόναι τῆς ὠφελείας. Εἰ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι μὴ γένοισθε, οὐδὲ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς ἀρκέσετε. ζʹ. Μὴ τοίνυν δυσχεράνητε, ὡς ἐπαχθῶν ὄντων τῶν λεγομένων. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοις μωρανθεῖσι δυνατὸν ἐπανελθεῖν δι' ὑμῶν· ὑμεῖς δὲ, εἰ τοῦτο πάθοιτε, μεθ' ἑαυτῶν καὶ ἑτέρους προσαπολεῖτε. Ὥστε ὅσῳ μεγάλα ἐγχειρίζεσθε πράγματα, τοσούτῳ καὶ μείζονος δεῖσθε σπουδῆς. ∆ιό φησιν· Ἂν δὲ τὸ ἅλας μωρανθῇ, ἐν τίνι ἁλισθήσεται; Εἰς οὐδὲν ἰσχύει ἔτι, εἰ μὴ βληθῆναι ἔξω, καὶ καταπατεῖσθαι 57.232 ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοι μυριάκις πίπτοντες, δύνανται τυχεῖν συγγνώμης· ὁ δὲ διδάσκαλος, ἐὰν τοῦτο πάθῃ, πάσης ἀπεστέρηται ἀπολογίας, καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην δώσει τιμωρίαν. Ἵνα γὰρ μὴ ἀκούοντες, Ὅταν ὀνειδίσωσιν ὑμᾶς καὶ διώξωσι, καὶ εἴπωσι πᾶν πονηρὸν ῥῆμα καθ' ὑμῶν, δειλιάσωσιν εἰς μέσον προελθεῖν, λέγει, ὅτι Ἂν μὴ πρὸς ταῦτα ἦτε παρατεταγμένοι, εἰκῆ ἐξελέγητε. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ κακῶς ἀκούειν χρὴ δεδοικέναι, ἀλλὰ τὸ συνυποκρινομένους φαίνεσθαι· τότε γὰρ μωρανθήσεσθε καὶ καταπατηθήσεσθε. Ἐὰν δὲ μένητε αὐτοὺς ἐπιστύφοντες, εἶτα κακῶς ἀκούητε, χαίρετε. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἁλὸς ἔργον ἐστὶ, τὸ δάκνειν καὶ λυπεῖν τοὺς χαύνους. Ὥστε ἀναγκαίως ἡ κακηγορία ἕπεται, οὐδὲν ὑμᾶς βλάπτουσα, ἀλλὰ καὶ μαρτυροῦσα ὑμῶν τῇ στεῤῥότητι. Ἂν δὲ φοβηθέντες αὐτὴν, προδῶτε τὴν προσήκουσαν ὑμῖν σφοδρότητα, πολλῷ χαλεπώτερα πείσεσθε, καὶ κακῶς ἀκούοντες καὶ καταφρονούμενοι παρὰ πάντων. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι, καταπατεῖσθαι. Εἶτα ἐφ' ἕτερον ὑψηλότερον ἄγει παράδειγμα· Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου. Πάλιν τοῦ κόσμου, οὐκ ἔθνους ἑνὸς, οὐδὲ εἴκοσι πόλεων, ἀλλὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης· καὶ φῶς, νοητὸν, καὶ τῆς ἀκτῖνος ταύτης πολὺ βέλτιον, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἅλας πνευματικόν. Καὶ πρότερον ἅλας, καὶ τότε φῶς· ἵνα μάθῃς ἡλίκον τῶν κατεστυμμένων ῥημάτων τὸ κέρδος, καὶ τῆς σεμνῆς διδασκαλίας τὸ ὄφελος. Καὶ γὰρ σφίγγει, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίησι διαῤῥεῦσαι, καὶ διαβλέψαι ποιεῖ πρὸς ἀρετὴν χειραγωγοῦσα. Οὐ δύναται πόλις κρυβῆναι ἐπάνω ὄρους κειμένη· οὐδὲ καίουσι λύχνον καὶ τιθέασιν ὑπὸ τὸν μόδιον. Πάλιν αὐτοὺς διὰ τούτων εἰς ἀκρίβειαν ἄγει βίου, παιδεύων ἐναγωνίους εἶναι, ὡς ὑπὸ τοῖς ἁπάντων ὀφθαλμοῖς κειμένους,