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Ad eos qui scandalizati sunt

Of our father among the saints, John, archbishop of Constantinople, to those who are scandalized by the lawless acts that are happening and by the persecution and corruption of the people and of many priests, and concerning the providence of God and concerning the incomprehensible.

p.1 The sons of physicians, when they are about to treat some who are suffering from fever or some other disease, first seek to see the sick themselves, because, being far from them, they would not be able to apply their own remedies; for such is both their art and the very nature of those diseases. p.2 But we, who are eager to heal not one or two but all who are scandalized throughout the world, have need of nothing of the sort. For we do not ask to enter the house of any of the sick, nor to learn where they lie, nor do we even seek to see the sick themselves. We do not handle instruments, we do not make an expenditure of money, ordering the infirm to buy things for their treatment; p.3 but even if they are unknown to us, even if they are settled at the very ends of the earth, even if among barbarians, even if they lie in the very depths of poverty, even if they are so poor as to lack necessary food, none of these things becomes an obstacle for us in our treatment; but established in one place, without instruments and medicines and food and drink and money and long travel, we drive away this disease. p.4 How and in what way? By preparing the medicine of the word, which becomes all these things to the sick and better than all the things mentioned. For it both nourishes more than bread and corrects more than medicine and burns more powerfully than fire, while causing no pain, but checking the foul streams of wicked thoughts; and it cuts away the rotten parts more sharply than iron, doing this painlessly and in doing so it incurs no expense of money, nor does it worsen poverty. Therefore, having prepared this medicine, we send it forth to all and all, I know, will enjoy its healing, if only they would attend to what is said with exactness and goodwill.

1.t Chap. 1. That it is necessary to state the cause from which the scandal was born

1.1 Since, in the case of bodies too, for the sick person to learn the cause of the sickness is wont to contribute not a little, but a very great deal, to release from the illness—for indeed, having learned this, he will not only be freed from the disease that holds him, but he will not fall into it again hereafter, having known the cause from which he once fell into it and being on his guard—come, let us first teach those who suffer such things this: from where this disease of scandal has come to them. 1.2 For if they would learn this, and would wish to guard themselves against it with exactness, they will be freed not only from this illness, nor only now, but also perpetually from this and from many others. For such is the nature of this medicine as to both cure the present and become a prophylactic against other afflictions. 1.3 For there are not one or two or three, but many things in the present life that scandalize the weaker; and our discourse promises to free from all of these those who have been caught, if only they would wish—as was said before

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Ad eos qui scandalizati sunt

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως πρὸς τοὺς σκανδαλιζομένους ἐπὶ ταῖς

παρανομίαις ταῖς γινομέναις καὶ τῇ τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ πολλῶν ἱερέων διώξει καὶ διαστροφῇ καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας καὶ περὶ ἀκαταλήπτου.

p.1 Ἰατρῶν μὲν παῖδες, ὅταν πυρέττοντάς τινας ἢ ἕτερον τι νόσημα

νοσοῦντας μέλλωσι θεραπεύειν, αὐτοὺς πρῶτον ζητοῦσι τοὺς κάμνοντας ἰδεῖν, ὅτι πόρρωθεν αὐτῶν ὄντες οὐκ ἂν δύναιντο τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσενεγκεῖν· τοιοῦτον γὰρ καὶ ἡ τέχνη καὶ αὐτὴ τῶν νοσημάτων ἡ φύσις ἐκείνων. p.2 Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐχ ἕνα που καὶ δύο ἀλλὰ πάντας τοὺς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην σκανδαλιζομένους θεραπεύειν ἐσπουδακότες οὐ δεόμεθά τινος τοιούτου. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰς οἶκόν τινος τῶν νοσούντων εἰσελθεῖν αἰτοῦμεν, οὐδ' ἔνθα κατάκεινται μαθεῖν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἀρρώστους ἰδεῖν ἐπιζητοῦμεν. Οὐκ ὄργανα μεταχειρίζομεν, οὐ χρημάτων ποιούμεθα δαπάνην, τὰ πρὸς ἰατρείαν ὠνεῖσθαι κελεύοντες τοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας· p.3 ἀλλὰ κἂν ἄγνωστοι ἡμῖν ὦσι, κἂν πρὸς αὐτὰς ἀπῳκισμένοι τὰς τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐσχατιάς, κἂν ἐν μέσοις βαρβάροις, κἂν ἐν αὐτῷ κείμενοι τῷ τῆς πτωχείας πυθμένι, κἂν πένητες τοσαύτην πενίαν ὥστε καὶ τῆς ἀναγκαίας ἀπορεῖν τροφῆς, οὐδὲν ἡμῖν τούτων πρὸς τὴν ἰατρείαν γίνεται κώλυμα· ἀλλ' ἑνὶ ἱδρυμένοι χωρίῳ, χωρὶς ὀργάνων καὶ φαρμάκων καὶ σιτίων καὶ ποτῶν καὶ χρημάτων καὶ μακρᾶς ἀποδημίας, τὴν νόσον ἀπελαύνομεν ταύτην. p.4 Πῶς καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ; τὸ τοῦ λόγου κατασκευάζοντες φάρμακον, τὸ ταῦτα πάντα γινόμενον τοῖς νοσοῦσι καὶ ἄμεινον ἢ τὰ εἰρημένα ἅπαντα. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἄρτου τρέφει μᾶλλον καὶ φαρμάκου διορθοῦται πλέον καὶ πυρὸς εὐτονώτερον καίει, ἀλγηδόνα μὲν οὐδεμίαν παρέχων, τῶν δὲ πονηρῶν λογισμῶν τὰ δυσώδη ῥεύματα ἀναστέλλων· καὶ σιδήρου τομώτερον τέμνει τὰ σεσηπότα ἀνωδύνως καὶ τοῦτο ποιοῦν δαπάνην οὐδεμίαν ἐργάζεται χρημάτων, οὐδὲ ἐπιτρίβει πενίαν. Τοῦτο οὖν κατασκευάσαντες τὸ φάρμακον, πᾶσι παραπεμπόμεθα καὶ πάντες, οἶδ' ὅτι, ἀπολαύσονται θεραπείας, μόνον εἰ τοῖς λεγομένοις μετὰ ἀκριβείας καὶ εὐγνωμοσύνης προσέχοιεν.

1.t Κεφ. αʹ. Ὅτι ἀναγκαῖον εἰπεῖν τὴν αἰτίαν ἀφ' ἧς τὸ σκάνδαλον

ἐτέχθη

1.1 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν σωμάτων οὐ μικρόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μέγιστον πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀρρωστίας ἀπαλλαγὴν συντελεῖν εἴωθε τὸ μαθεῖν τὸν κάμνοντα τῆς ἀρρωστίας τὴν ὑπόθεσιν οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον τῆς κατεχούσης αὐτὸν ἀπαλλαγήσεται νόσου τοῦτο μαθών, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ μετὰ ταῦτα αὐτῇ περιπεσεῖται, τὴν αἰτίαν γνοὺς ἀφ' ἧς αὐτῇ περιέπεσεν ἅπαξ καὶ φυλαττόμενος, φέρε καὶ ἡμεῖς τοῦτο πρῶτον τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα νοσοῦντας διδάξωμεν, πόθεν αὐτοῖς τὸ νόσημα τοῦτο γέγονε τοῦ σκανδάλου. 1.2 Εἰ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο μάθοιεν, καὶ βουληθεῖεν φυλάξασθαι μετὰ ἀκριβείας αὐτό, οὐ ταύτης μόνον ἀπαλλαγήσονται τῆς ἀρρωστίας, οὐδὲ νῦν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ διηνεκῶς καὶ ταύτης καὶ ἑτέρων πλειόνων. Τοιαύτη γὰρ καὶ ἡ τοῦ φαρμάκου τούτου φύσις ἐστὶν ὡς καὶ τὸ παρὸν θεραπεῦσαι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων γενέσθαι προφυλακτικὸν παθῶν. 1.3 Οὐ γὰρ ἓν καὶ δύο καὶ τρία, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὰ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον ἐστὶ τὰ σκανδαλίζοντα τοὺς ἀσθενεστέρους· καὶ τούτων ἁπάντων ὁ λόγος ἡμῶν ἐπαγγέλλεται τοὺς ἁλόντας ἐλευθεροῦν, μόνον εἰ βουληθεῖεν-ὅπερ καὶ ἔμπροσθεν