John Chrysostom, On Susanna

De Susanna

On Susanna.

56.589 We have come to you as grateful debtors of the word, fulfilling not as much as we owe, but giving back as much as we have. For our eagerness is abundant and stretches to give more than what is owed; but the poverty of our speech is constricted; for which reason, we beseech you and give a little instead of much. But if any of you should wish to extend the fewness of our words with the eagerness of his heart, we will lack nothing in respect to what is owed, as our eagerness fills up the lacking part of our words. For God, when He sees the small offerings of the poor and the lavish ones of the rich, knows how to receive their honors equally; and often He receives those of the poor more greatly; for He does not look at the amount of the money, but at the eagerness of the heart. And the proof of what is said is the story of the poor widow who put the two mites into the treasury; for her small offering outweighed before the Lord that of the rich who had cast in gold; since God does not need money, but a sincere and willing heart.

Come then, let us also, stretching forth our hearts in sincerity, pay back to you the debt of the word, depositing the word which we have from God, as it were, into living 56.590 treasuries of God. For I remember promising you the day before to proclaim the contest of the blessed Susanna’s chastity for the benefit of many; at the same time Joseph also was struggling against the Egyptian woman, and was showing to all of us the wrestlings of chastity. Therefore, let Susanna also contend in this public theater, where both God, and angels, and men, and women are watching; let her contend, and let her teach how younger women ought to struggle for chastity even unto death. This blessed Susanna, then, being noble in lineage, secluded in a small chamber from her tender years, being comely in beauty, and trained in the way of a respectable life, when the beauty of her youth was in bloom, was joined in the union of lawful marriage. And so, keeping the mystery of marriage inviolate for her own husband, she did not let her eye wander unrestrainedly to the sight of a youth's and a stranger's beauty; she did not open her ear to receive the sweet sound of seductive songs; she did not permit her sense of smell to creep up to the scented perfumes of youths’ garments; nor did she simply allow any other sense to be carried away, so that the chastity guarded in her heart 56.591 might not be secretly corrupted by tender enticements and be tripped up into pleasures. For most of our sins come about from the senses of our soul. For the soul is like a virgin in a chamber, resting in the middle of the heart, and attended by the five senses as by handmaidens.

What senses? Sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch. If, then, no sense is secretly corrupted and goes astray, the soul is kept whole and unharmed; but if it happens that sight, left ungoverned, is whirled toward the view of a youth's beauty, and receives the furious wave of desire through the eyes into the depth of the heart, immediately, fanned by a storm of pleasures, it is carried underwater toward sin, having been shipwrecked in respect to chastity; and it then suffers that which David also suffered and said: I came into the depths of the sea, and a tempest overwhelmed me. Likewise, also hearing, if it is opened and receives the charms of sweet song, directing the mind toward them, all of itself to the

De Susanna

Εἰς τὴν Σουσάνναν.

56.589 Ἥκομεν ὑμῖν εὐγνώμονες ὀφειλέται τοῦ λόγου, οὐχ ὅσον ὀφείλομεν πληροῦντες, ἀλλ' ὅσον ἔχομεν ἀποδιδόντες. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ προθυμία δαψιλὴς καὶ πλείω τοῦ ὀφειλομένου ἥπλωται διδόναι· ἡ δὲ τοῦ λόγου πενία ἐστένωται· δι' ὃ ὀλίγα ὑμῖν ἀντὶ πολλῶν παρακαλοῦντες διδόαμεν. Εἰ δέ τις ὑμῶν βουληθείη τὰ ὀλιγοστὰ τῶν λόγων ἡμῶν τῇ προθυμίᾳ τῆς καρδίας συμπαρεκτεῖναι, οὐδὲν ἐλλείψομεν πρὸς τὸ ὀφειλόμενον, τῆς προθυμίας ἡμῶν τὸ ἐλλεῖπον μέρος τῶν λόγων ἀναπληρούσης. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ὅταν πένητος ἴδῃ βραχείας προσφορὰς καὶ πλουσίου δαψιλεῖς, οἶδεν ἐξ ἴσου δέχεσθαι τὰς τιμάς· πολλάκις δὲ μειζόνως τὰς τοῦ πένητος ὑποδέχεται· οὐ γὰρ τῷ ὄγκῳ τῶν χρημάτων, ἀλλὰ τῇ προθυμίᾳ τῆς καρδίας ἐμβλέπει. Ἀπόδειξις δὲ τῶν λεγομένων ἡ περὶ τὴν πενιχρὰν χήραν τὴν τὰ δύο λεπτὰ εἰς τὸ γαζοφυλάκιον βαλοῦσαν· ὑπερεταλάντευσε γὰρ παρὰ Κυρίῳ ἡ ταύτης βραχεῖα προσφορὰ τῶν τὸν χρυσὸν βεβληκότων πλουσίων· ἐπειδὴ οὐ χρημάτων χρῄζει ὁ Θεὸς, ἀλλ' εἰλικρινοῦς καὶ εὐπροαιρέτου καρδίας.

Φέρε τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἁπλώσαντες ἡμῶν ἐν εἰλικρινείᾳ τὰς καρδίας, οἷον παρὰ Θεοῦ κεκτήμεθα λόγον, ὥσπερ ἔν τισι γαζοφυλακίοις Θεοῦ ἐμψύ 56.590 χοις καταβαλλόμενοι, τὸ χρέος τοῦ λόγου ὑμῖν ἀποτίσωμεν. Μέμνημαι γὰρ τῇ προτεραίᾳ ἐπαγγειλάμενος ὑμῖν τὴν τῆς μακαρίας Σουσάννης σωφροσύνης ἄθλησιν, εἰς πολλῶν ὠφέλειαν κηρύττειν· ὅτε καὶ ὁ Ἰωσὴφ κατὰ τῆς Αἰγυπτίας ἠγωνίζετο, καὶ πᾶσιν ἡμῖν παλαίσματα σωφροσύνης ὑπεδείκνυεν. Ἀγωνιζέσθω οὖν καὶ Σουσάννα ἐν τῷδε τῷ πανδήμῳ θεάτρῳ, ὅπου καὶ Θεὸς, καὶ ἄγγελοι, καὶ ἄνδρες, καὶ γυναῖκες ὁρῶσιν· ἀγωνιζέσθω, καὶ διδασκέτω, πῶς δεῖ νεωτέρας ἕως θανάτου ὑπὲρ σωφροσύνης ἀγωνίζεσθαι. Αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ μακαρία Σουσάννα εὐγενὴς τῷ γένει τυγχάνουσα, ἐξ ἁπαλῶν ὀνύχων ἐν οἰκίσκῳ θαλαμευομένη, εὐπρεπὴς τῷ κάλλει ὑπάρχουσα, καὶ σεμνοῦ βίου τρόπον ἀσκηθεῖσα, ὅτε τὸ τῆς νεότητος αὐτῆς κάλλος ἐπήνθει, πρὸς νομίμου γάμου συζυγίαν ἡρμόσθη. Καὶ δὴ τὸ τοῦ γάμου μυστήριον ἀβλαβὲς τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀνδρὶ φυλάττουσα, οὐκ ὄμμα ἄτακτον πρὸς νεωτερικοῦ καὶ ξένου κάλλους θέαν περιέφερεν· οὐκ ἀκοὴν ἀνοίγουσα, τὴν τῶν προνικῶν ᾀσμάτων καλλιφωνίαν ὑπεδέχετο· οὐ τὴν ὄσφρησιν ἐπηφίει ἀνέρπειν τὰ τῶν νεωτερικῶν ἱματίων καπνίσματα· οὐδ' ἄλλην τινὰ αἴσθησιν ἁπλῶς φέρεσθαι συνεχώρει, ἵνα μὴ ἡ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς 56.591 φυλαττομένη σωφροσύνη ὑποφθαρεῖσα τοῖς ἁπαλοῖς δελεάσμασι πρὸς ἡδονὰς σκελισθείη. Τὰ γὰρ πλεῖστα τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκ τῶν αἰσθήσεων τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν περιγίνεται. Ἔστι γὰρ ἡ ψυχὴ, καθάπερ παρθένος ἐν θαλάμῳ τινὶ, ἐν μέσῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ ἡσυχάζουσα, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν πέντε αἰσθήσεων, ὥσπερ ὑπό τινων θεραπαινίδων, δορυφορουμένη.

Ποίων αἰσθήσεων; Ὁράσεως, γεύσεως, ὀσφρήσεως, ἀκοῆς, καὶ ἁφῆς. Ἐὰν οὖν μηδεμία αἴσθησις ὑποφθαρεῖσα πλανηθείη, φυλάττεται ἀκεραία καὶ ἀβλαβὴς ἡ ψυχή· ἐὰν δὲ συμβῇ τὴν ὅρασιν ἀκυβέρνητον μείνασαν πρὸς νεωτερικοῦ κάλλους θέαν ῥεμφθῆναι, καὶ λάβρον τὸ κῦμα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν εἰς τὸ βάθος τῆς καρδίας εἰσδέξασθαι, εὐθὺς, λαίλαπι ἡδονῶν ῥιπισθεῖσα, πρὸς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ὑποβρύχιος φέρεται περὶ τὴν σωφροσύνην ναυαγήσασα· καὶ πάσχει λοιπὸν ἐκεῖνο, ὅπερ καὶ ὁ ∆αυῒδ παθὼν ἔλεγεν· Ἦλθον εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ καταιγὶς κατεπόντισέ με. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀκοὴ ἐὰν ἀναπετασθεῖσα δέξηται τὰ τῆς καλλιφωνίας θέλγητρα, πρὸς ἐκεῖνα τὴν διάνοιαν τείνασα, ὅλην ἑαυτὴν τοῖς