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De fato et providentia

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS JOHN ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, CHRYSOSTOM, SIX DISCOURSES CONCERNING FATE AND PROVIDENCE.

CONCERNING FATE AND PROVIDENCE.

Discourse 1. Our life is full of much turmoil, and our present existence is full of disturbances; but this is not what is difficult, beloved, but that being able either to transform these disturbances and turmoils to something gentler, or remaining to bear them without grief, we have practiced neither of these things, but we continue all our time in despair; and one man laments poverty, another sickness, another a burden of cares, and the headship of a house, another the rearing of children, another childlessness. And behold the excess of folly; for not over the same things, but over opposites perhaps we all lament. And yet if the nature of things were the cause of our laments, it would not be right to lament over opposite things perhaps; but if poverty is an evil and unbearable, he who lives in wealth ought never to grieve; and if childlessness is an evil, he who enjoys many children ought to be cheerful. Again if to manage the common affairs of the city, and to enjoy honors, and to have many subordinates is enviable, the quiet and tranquil life ought to be something to be fled from, and to be hated by all men. But now when you see that the rich and poor lament equally, and often the rich man does this again more than the poor man, and he who enjoys office, and he who is ruled, and the father of many children, and he who has none at all, let us not blame things 50.750 for the disorder, but those who are not able to use them as is needful, and to free themselves from all despondency. For the turmoil and the disturbance are not a vicissitude of these things, but of us and our own mind; so that if it is well-prepared for us, even if ten thousand storms are raised from every side, we will sleep always in calm and in harbor; just as, therefore, when it is not in a good state, even if all things are borne to us with favorable winds, we will be in no better state than those who are in shipwrecks. This, at any rate, can be seen also in the case of bodies. For he who has made his own body strong, even if he battles with ten thousand irregularities of the air, not only will he suffer nothing terrible, but he will also gain an addition of strength by the exercise and the association with the bad climate; but if he has a weak and porous one, even if he enjoys the best mixture of the seasons, there will be no advantage for him from this good fortune, with his native weakness ruining the good fortune from the seasons. Thus also we see in the case of foods; for when the body of our stomach is strong and robust, whatever it may take in, even if it is hard, even if it is indigestible, it transforms it to pure humor, the natural constitution overcoming the bad quality in the food; but when its tone is dissolved and loose, even if you bring to it the most wholesome food of all, it has re-fashioned 50.751 and corrupted it to the worst, with the weakness ruining its virtue. So indeed also we, when we see a disorder of affairs, let us not blame God, beloved; for this is not to find a remedy for the wound, but to inflict a wound upon a wound. Let us not attribute the governance of the world to demons, let us not think that present things are without providence, let us not [believe in] the tyranny of some genesis and fate

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De fato et providentia

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΕΩΣ, ΤΟΥ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΕΙΜΑΡΜΕΝΗΣ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ

ΠΡΟΝΟΙΑΣ ΛΟΓΟΙ ΕΞ. ΠΕΡΙ ΕΙΜΑΡΜΕΝΗΣ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΝΟΙΑΣ.

Λόγος αʹ. Πολλῆς γέμει ταραχῆς ἡμῶν ἡ ζωὴ, καὶ θορύβων μεστὸς ὁ παρὼν βίος ἐστίν· ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ χαλεπὸν, ἀγαπητοὶ, ἀλλ' ὅτι τοὺς θορύβους τούτους καὶ τὰς ταραχὰς, ἢ πρὸς τὸ πραότερον μεταθεῖναι δυνάμενοι, ἢ μένοντες φέρειν ἀλύπως, οὐδέτερον τούτων μεμελετήκαμεν, ἀλλ' ἀποδυσπετοῦντες τὸν ἅπαντα διατελοῦμεν χρόνον· καὶ ὁ μὲν πενίαν, ὁ δὲ νόσον ὀδύρεται, ἄλλος φροντίδων ὄγκον, καὶ προστασίαν οἰκίας, ἕτερος παιδοτροφίαν, ἄλλος ἀπαιδίαν. Καὶ θέα τῆς ἀνοίας τὴν ὑπερβολήν· οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς πράγμασιν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἴσως πάντες θρηνοῦμεν. Καίτοι γε εἰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ φύσις ἡμῖν αἰτία τῶν ὀδυρμῶν ἦν, οὐκ ἐχρῆν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἴσως ὀδύρεσθαι· ἀλλ' εἰ πενία κακὸν καὶ ἀφόρητον, τὸν ἐν πλούτῳ ζῶντα οὐδέποτε ἐχρῆν ἀλύειν· καὶ εἰ ἀπαιδία κακὸν, τὸν πολυπαιδίας ἀπολαύοντα εὐθυμεῖν ἐχρῆν. Πάλιν εἰ τὸ τὰ κοινὰ τῆς πόλεως πράγματα διοικεῖν, καὶ τιμῶν ἀπολαύειν, καὶ πολλοὺς ἔχειν τοὺς ὑποκειμένους ζηλωτὸν, ἐχρῆν τὸν ἀπράγμονα βίον καὶ γαληνὸν φευκτὸν εἶναι, καὶ παρὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων μισεῖσθαι. Νῦν δὲ ὅταν ἴδῃς, ὅτι πλούσιοι καὶ πένητες ἴσως ὀδύρονται, πολλάκις δὲ ὁ πλουτῶν ὑπὲρ πένητα τοῦτο πάλιν ποιεῖ, καὶ ὁ ἀρχῆς ἀπολαύων, καὶ ὁ ἀρχόμενος, καὶ ὁ πολλῶν παίδων πατὴρ, καὶ ὁ μηδένα ὅλως ἐσχηκὼς, μὴ τὰ πράγματα 50.750 τῆς ἀταξίας αἰτιώμεθα, ἀλλὰ τοὺς οὐ δυναμένους αὐτοῖς εἰς δέον χρήσασθαι, καὶ πάσης ἀθυμίας ἀπαλλάττειν ἑαυτούς. Ἡ γὰρ ταραχὴ καὶ ὁ θόρυβος οὐχὶ τούτων ἐστὶ περιπέτεια, ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς καὶ ἡ ἡμετέρα διάνοια· ὡς ἐὰν αὐτὴ καλῶς ἡμῖν ᾖ κατεσκευασμένη, κἂν μυρίοι πανταχόθεν ἐγείρωνται χειμῶνες, ἐν γαλήνῃ καὶ λιμένι καθευδούμεθα διαπαντός· ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ εὖ ἐχούσης αὐτῆς, κἂν ἐξ οὐρίων ἡμῖν ἅπαντα φέρηται, τῶν ἐν ναυαγίοις ὄντων οὐδὲν ἄμεινον διακεισόμεθα. Τοῦτο γοῦν ἐστι καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν σωμάτων ἰδεῖν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἰσχυρὸν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ κατεσκευακὼς σῶμα, κἂν μυρίαις ἀέρων ἀνωμαλίαις μάχηται, οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν πείσεται δεινὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσθήκην ἰσχύος τῇ γυμνασίᾳ καὶ τῇ τῆς δυσκρασίας ὁμιλίᾳ προσέλαβεν· ἂν δὲ ἀσθενὲς ἔχῃ καὶ διάραιον, κἂν ἀρίστης ἀπολαύῃ τῆς τῶν ὡρῶν κράσεως, οὐδὲν αὐτῷ πλέον ἀπὸ ταύτης ἔσται τῆς εὐμοιρίας, τῆς οἴκοθεν ἀσθενείας τῇ παρὰ τῶν ὡρῶν εὐκληρίᾳ λυμαινομένης. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν σιτίων ὁρῶμεν· ὅταν μὲν γὰρ ἰσχυρὸν καὶ ἐῤῥωμένον ἡμῖν τὸ σῶμα τῆς γαστρὸς ᾖ, πᾶν ὅπερ ἂν ἐνδέχηται, κἂν σκληρὸν ᾖ, κἂν αὐτῷ ἀκατέργαστον, πρὸς καθαρὸν αὐτὸ μετασχηματίζει χυμὸν, τῆς φυσικῆς κράσεως περιγιγνομένης τῆς ἐν τῷ σιτίῳ κακίας· ὅταν δὲ ὁ τόνος αὐτοῦ καταλελυμένος ᾖ καὶ χαῦνος, κἂν τὸ πάντων εὐχυμότερον αὐτῇ προσενέγκῃς ἔδεσμα εἰς τὸ χείριστον αὐτὸ μετεῤ 50.751 ῥύθμισε καὶ διέφθειρε, τῆς ἀσθενείας τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ λυμαινομένης. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὅταν ἴδωμεν πραγμάτων ἀταξίαν, μὴ τὸν Θεὸν αἰτιώμεθα, ἀγαπητοί· τοῦτο γὰρ οὐχὶ φάρμακόν ἐστιν εὑρεῖν τῷ τραύματι, ἀλλὰ τραῦμα ἐπαγαγεῖν τραύματι. Μὴ δαίμοσι λογιζώμεθα τοῦ κόσμου τὴν οἰκονομίαν, μὴ ἀπρονόητα εἶναι νομίζωμεν τὰ παρόντα, μὴ γενέσεώς τινος καὶ εἱμαρμένης τυραννίδα