366

SERMON 50.

Concerning physicians. Matthew 9. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

Hebrews 12. Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Sirach 38. The skill of a physician will lift up his head, and he will be admired in the presence of the great.

Proverbs 14. A gentle-minded man is a physician of the heart.

Of Basil. We should neither shun the art entirely, nor is it proper to place all our hopes in it; but just as we use the art of agriculture, yet we ask for the fruits from God; and we entrust the rudder to the helmsman, but we pray to God to be saved from the sea, so also when we bring in the physician, we do not abandon our hope in God.

An unskilled physician, visiting the sick, instead of restoring them to health, takes away even the small remnant of their strength.

Of the Theologian. I consider our own art of healing to be far more laborious than that which deals with bodies, and for this reason more honorable; and because they perceive little of what is deep within, their practice is more concerned with what is apparent; but for us, all our therapy and effort is for the hidden person of the heart.

He who suffers from insatiable passions, if he hides his evils, Will never escape the grievous corruption. Chrysostom. I think that the ancient physicians did not simply or irrationally decree

the public display of their various instruments; but so that they might make the healthy more cautious, by showing them beforehand what they will need if they are disorderly.

Gregory of Nyssa. By as much as the soul is better than the body, by so much more honorable is he who heals souls than those who treat bodies.

Of Didymus. We call a physician perfect, not the one who heals everyone, but the one who omits nothing that contributes to benefit and healing.

Trophilus. Trophilus the physician, having been asked by someone, "Who would be a perfect physician?" "The one," he said, "who is able to distinguish the possible from the impossible."

Of Nicocles. When a certain bad physician said that he had great power, Nicocles said, "How could you not say so, you who, having killed so many, have been held unaccountable?"

The same said that physicians were fortunate, because their successes (949) the sun sees; but their failures the earth covers.

Stratonicus. Stratonicus, flattering a physician, said, "I praise your skill, because you do not let the sick decay; releasing them from life more quickly."

366

ΛΟΓΟΣ Ν´.

Περί ἰατρῶν. Ματθ. θ´. Οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν οἱ ὑγιαίνοντες ἰατροῦ, ἀλλ᾿ οἱ κακῶς ἔχοντες.

Ἐβραί. ιβ´. Τροχίας ὀρθάς ποιήσατε τοῖς ποσίν ὑμῶν, ἵνα μή τό χωλόν ἐκτραπῇ, ἰαθῇ δέ μᾶλλον.

Σιράχ λη´. Ἐπιστήμη ἰατροῦ ἀνυψώσει καφαλήν αὐτοῦ· καί ἔναντι μεγιστάνων θαυμαστωθήσεται.

Παροιμ. ιδ΄ . Πραΰθυμος ἀνήρ, καρδίας ἰατρός.

Βασιλείου. Οὔτε φευκτέον πάντη τήν τέχνην, οὔτε ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ πάσας τάς ἐλπίδας ἔχειν ἀκόλουθον· ἀλλ᾿ ὡς κεχρήμεθα μέν τῇ γεωργικῇ· αἰτούμεθα δέ παρά τῷ Θεῷ τούς καρπούς· καί τῷ κυβερνήτῃ μέν τό πηδάλιον ἐπιτρέπομεν, τῷ Θεῷ δέ προσευχόμεθα ἐκ τοῦ πελάγους ἀποσωθῆναι, οὕτω καί τόν ἰατρόν εἰσάγοντες, τῆς πρός Θεόν ἐλπίδος οὐκ ἀφιστάμεθα.

Ἀνεπιστήμων ἰατρός πρός κάμνοντας εἰσιών, ἀντί τοῦ εἰς ὑγείαν αὐτούς ἐπαναγαγεῖν, καί τό μικρόν λείψανον τῆς δυνάμεως ἀφαιρεῖται.

Θεολόγ. Τήν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἰατρικήν τῆς περί τά σώματα ἐργωδεστέραν τίθεμαι μακρῷ, καί διά τοῦτο τιμιωτέραν· καί ὅτι ἐκείνους ὀλίγα τῶν ἐν τῷ βάθει κατοπτεύουσι, περί τό φαινόμενον ᾗ πλεῖον τῆς πραγματείας· ἡμῖν δέ περί τόν κρυπτόν τῆς καρδίας ἄνθρωπον ἡ πᾶσα θεραπεία τε καί σπουδή.

Χρηΐζων παθέεσσ' ἀκορέστως, ἤν κακά κεύθῃ, Οὔποτε σηπεδόνα φεύξεται ἀργαλέην. Χρυσοστ. Οἶμαι τούς ἀρχαίους τῶν ἰατρῶν οὐχ ἀπλῶς οὐδέ ἀλόγως νομοθετῆσαι

δημοσιεύεσθαι τήν τῶν ποικίλων ἐργαλείων ἐπίδειξιν· ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα τούς ὑγιαίνοντας ἀσφαλίζωνται, προδεικνύντες αὐτοῖς ὁπόσων ἀτακτοῦντες δεήσονται.

Γρηγ. Νύσσης. Ὅσον κρεῖσσον ψυχή τοῦ σώματος, τοσούτῳ τιμιώτερον τῶν τά σώματα θεραπευόντων, ὁ τάς ψυχάς ἐξιώμενος.

∆ιδύμου. Τέλειον ἰατρόν λέγομεν, οὐ τόν θεραπεύοντα πάντας, ἀλλά τόν μηδέν τῶν εἰς ὠφέλειαν ἡκόντων καί θεραπείαν παραλείποντα.

Τρόφιλος. Τρόφιλος ἰατρός ἐρωτηθείς ὑπό τινος, Τίς ἄν γένοιτο τέλειος ἰατρός, Ὁ τά δυνατά, ἔφη, καί τά μή δυνατά δυνάμενος διαγινώσκειν.

Νικοκλέους. Νικοκλῆς κακοῦ τινος ἰατροῦ λέγοντος, ὅτι μεγάλην ἔχει δύναμιν, ἔφη, Πῶς γάρ οὐ μέλλεις λέγειν, ὅς τοσούτου ἀνῃρηκώς ἀνεύθυνος γέγονας;

Ὁ αὐτός τούς ἰατρούς εὐτυχεῖς ἔλεγεν, ὅτι τάς (949) μέν ἐπιτυχίας αὐτῶν ὁ ἥλιος ὁρᾷ· τάς δέ ἀποτυχίας ἡ γῆ καλύπτει.

Στρατονικ. Στρατόνικος ἰατρόν κολακεύων, ἔλεγεν, Ἐπαινῶ σου τήν ἐμπειρίαν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐᾷς τούς ἀῤῥώστους κατασαπῆναι· τάχιον αὐτούς τοῦ ζῇν ἀπαλλάσων.