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Against the games and theaters

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, HOMILY To those who have left the church and deserted to the horse races and the theaters.

56.263 1. Are these things tolerable? Are these things bearable? For I wish to plead with you against yourselves. Thus also God did with the Hebrews; for pleading with them against themselves he said: My people, what have I done to you, and how have I grieved you, or how have I troubled you? Answer me. And again: What fault did your fathers find in me? This is what I also will imitate, and I will say to you again: Are these things tolerable? Are these things bearable? After long courses of sermons, and so much teaching, some, having left us, deserted to the spectacle of the racing horses, and were so carried away with Bacchic frenzy, that they filled the whole city with disorderly shouting and clamor, bringing forth much laughter, or rather, lamentation. I therefore, sitting at home and hearing the voice breaking out, suffered more grievously than those who are tossed by the waves. For just as they, when the waves break against the sides of the ship, are in fear, being in danger of the worst; so also those cries broke more grievously upon me, and I stooped to the ground and covered myself; some above behaving unseemly in such ways, others below in the middle of the marketplace applauding charioteers, and shouting more grievously than they. What 56.264 shall we say? Or what defense shall we make, if some stranger arriving from somewhere should accuse us and say: Is this the city of the apostles? Is this the city that received such a teacher? Is this the Christ-loving people, the unfeigned, the spiritual theater? You were not even ashamed of the very day on which the symbols of the salvation of our race were being accomplished; but on the day of preparation, when your Lord was being crucified for the whole world, and such a sacrifice was being offered, and paradise was being opened, and the thief was being brought back to his ancient fatherland, the curse was being loosed, and sin was being made to disappear, and the long-standing war was being ended, and the reconciliation of God to men was taking place, and all things were being transformed; on that day, when you ought to have been fasting and giving glory, and sending up eucharistic prayers for the good things of the world to the one who did these things; then you, having left the church and the spiritual sacrifice, and the assembly of the brethren, and the solemnity of the fast, were carried away as a captive by the devil to that spectacle? Are these things tolerable? Are these things bearable? For I will not cease from saying these things continually, and by this comforting my own pain, by not suppressing it in silence, but by bringing it out into the open, 56.265 and placing it before your eyes. How shall we be able to make God merciful henceforth? How to reconcile him when he is angry? Three days ago a downpour and rain was breaking forth, sweeping everything away, snatching the table of the farmers from their very mouth, so to speak, bending down the full-eared stalks of grain, making all other things rot by the excess of the wet substance; litanies and supplications, and our whole city like a torrent was running to the places of the apostles, and we were taking as advocates the holy Peter and the blessed Andrew, the pair of apostles, Paul and Timothy. After these things, when the wrath was loosed, and having crossed the sea, and having dared the waves, we were running to the chief apostles, to Peter the foundation of the faith, to Paul the chosen vessel, celebrating a spiritual festival, and proclaiming their contests, the

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Contra ludos et theatra

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΥ, ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΕΩΣ, ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Πρὸς τοὺς καταλείψαντας τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ αὐτομολήσαντας πρὸς τὰς

ἱπποδρομίας καὶ τὰ θέατρα.

56.263 αʹ. Ταῦτα ἀνεκτά; ταῦτα φορητά; Ὑμῖν γὰρ αὐτοῖς καθ' ὑμῶν ἐντυχεῖν

βούλομαι. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησε τοῖς Ἑβραίοις· αὐτοῖς γὰρ κατ' αὐτῶν ἐντυγχάνων ἔλεγε· Λαός μου, τί ἐποίησά σοι, καὶ τί ἐλύπησά σε, ἢ τί παρηνώχλησά σοι; ἀποκρίθητί μοι. Καὶ πάλιν· Τί εὕροσαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν ἐν ἐμοὶ πλημμέλημα; Τοῦτον δὴ καὶ ἐγὼ μιμήσομαι, καὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς πάλιν· Ταῦτα ἀνεκτά; ταῦτα φορητά; Μετὰ μακροὺς διαύλους λόγων, καὶ τοσαύτην διδασκαλίαν, καταλιπόντες ἡμᾶς τινες, πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν τῶν ἁμιλλητηρίων ἵππων ηὐτομόλησαν, καὶ οὕτως ἐξεβακχεύθησαν, ὥστε πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν ἐμπλῆσαι βοῆς καὶ κραυγῆς ἀτάκτου, καὶ πολὺν γέλωτα, μᾶλλον δὲ θρῆνον φερούσης. Ἐγὼ οὖν οἴκοι καθήμενος, καὶ τῆς φωνῆς ἀκούων ἐκρηγνυμένης, τῶν κλυδωνιζομένων χαλεπώτερον ἔπασχον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι, τῶν κυμάτων τοῖς τοίχοις τῆς νηὸς προσρηγνυμένων, περὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων κινδυνεύοντες δεδοίκασιν· οὕτω καὶ ἐμοὶ χαλεπώτεραι αἱ κραυγαὶ προσεῤῥήγνυντο ἐκεῖναι, καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν ἔκυπτον καὶ ἐνεκαλυπτόμην· τῶν μὲν ἄνω τοιαῦτα ἀσχημονούντων, τῶν δὲ κάτω ἐν μέσῃ τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἡνιόχους κροτούντων, καὶ χαλεπώτερα ἐκείνων βοώντων. Τί 56.264 δὲ ἐροῦμεν; ἢ τί ἀπολογησόμεθα, εἰ ξένος τίς ποθεν ἐπιστὰς ἐγκαλοίη καὶ λέγοι· Ταῦτα ἡ πόλις τῶν ἀποστόλων; ταῦτα ἡ τοιοῦτον λαβοῦσα ὑποφήτην; ταῦτα ὁ δῆμος ὁ φιλόχριστος, τὸ θέατρον τὸ ἄπλαστον, τὸ πνευματικόν; Οὐδὲ τὴν ἡμέραν αὐτὴν ᾐδέσθητε, ἐν ᾗ τὰ σύμβολα τῆς σωτηρίας τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν ἐτελεῖτο· ἀλλ' ἐν παρασκευῇ, ὅτε ὁ ∆εσπότης σου ὑπὲρ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐσταυροῦτο, καὶ θυσία τοιαύτη προσεφέρετο, καὶ παράδεισος ἠνοίγετο, καὶ λῃστὴς εἰς τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπανήγετο πατρίδα, κατάρα ἐλύετο, καὶ ἁμαρτία ἠφανίζετο, καὶ ὁ χρόνιος ἀνῃρεῖτο πόλεμος, καὶ Θεοῦ καταλλαγὴ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐγίνετο, καὶ πάντα μετεῤῥυθμίζετο· ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ἡνίκα νηστεύειν καὶ δοξολογεῖν ἔδει, καὶ εὐχαριστηρίους εὐχὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀγαθῶν ἀναπέμπειν τῷ ταῦτα ποιήσαντι· τότε σὺ καταλιπὼν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ θυσίαν πνευματικὴν, καὶ ἀδελφῶν σύλλογον, καὶ νηστείας τὸ σεμνὸν, αἰχμάλωτος ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν ἀπηνέχθης ἐκείνην; Ταῦτα ἀνεκτά; ταῦτα φορητά; Οὐ γὰρ παύσομαι ταῦτα συνεχῶς λέγων, καὶ τὴν ὀδύνην ἐμαυτοῦ ταύτῃ παραμυθούμενος, τὸ [φ. τῷ] μὴ πιέζειν αὐτὴν τῇ σιγῇ, ἀλλ' εἰς μέσον ἐκφέρειν, 56.265 καὶ πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τῶν ὑμετέρων τιθέναι. Πῶς δυνησόμεθα τὸν Θεὸν λοιπὸν ἵλεω ποιῆσαι; πῶς καταλλάξαι ὀργιζόμενον; Πρὸ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἐπομβρία καὶ ὑετὸς κατεῤῥήγνυτο πάντα παρασύρων, ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ στόματος, ὡς εἰπεῖν, τὴν τράπεζαν τῶν γηπόνων ἀφαρπάζων, στάχυας κομῶντας κατακλίνων, τὰ ἄλλα ἅπαντα τῇ πλεονεξίᾳ τῆς ὑγρᾶς κατασήπων οὐσίας· λιτανεῖαι καὶ ἱκετηρίαι, καὶ πᾶσα ἡμῶν ἡ πόλις ὥσπερ χείμαῤῥος ἐπὶ τοὺς τόπους τῶν ἀποστόλων ἔτρεχε, καὶ συνηγόρους ἐλαμβάνομεν τὸν ἅγιον Πέτρον καὶ τὸν μακάριον Ἀνδρέαν, τὴν ξυνωρίδα τῶν ἀποστόλων, Παῦλον καὶ Τιμόθεον. Μετ' ἐκεῖνα, τῆς ὀργῆς λυθείσης, καὶ πέλαγος περάσαντες, καὶ κυμάτων κατατολμήσαντες, ἐπὶ τοὺς κορυφαίους ἐτρέχομεν, τὸν Πέτρον τὴν κρηπῖδα τῆς πίστεως, τὸν Παῦλον τὸ σκεῦος τῆς ἐκλογῆς, πανήγυριν ἐπιτελοῦντες πνευματικὴν, καὶ τοὺς ἄθλους αὐτῶν ἀνακηρύττοντες, τὰ