John Chrysostom, On Strength of Soul

De virtute animi

SERMON 8. That virtue of the soul is more to be honored than all things.

64.473 Often considering to myself the good things of life, and finding creation full of many things from all sides, and providing myriad goods to our race, I see nothing better than to cultivate the beauty of the soul, nor anything more befitting to human nature. For what wealth is so befitting to humanity as an abundance of pious hopes? Who is so glorious from power as one who is honored by the King of all for his will? What pleasure from luxury is so great as that of a conscience feasting on life-giving teachings? Whatever good you might bring forward, you would find nothing by which a person is ennobled as by a divinely inspired will. For of the other good things there is a certain communion that even the irrational creatures have with us; for instance, the good enjoyment of the sunbeam, but this is set before the beasts as well; the good provision of food, but of these they too have a share; the lovely graces of beauty, but you might find beauty flashing even from birds; the much-celebrated gift of strength, but this is an advantage that even oxen have; the much-desired accumulation of wealth, but you might see even oysters rich with treasures of pearls. Of none of our carnal boasts is the nature of irrational creatures without a share, inferior in no bodily advantage that we have.

But in one thing alone is there a concession from them to us, by one advantage alone are they conquered by us. By what is this? By the worth of the will, through which man is like God, using his mind as a pilot of existing things, administering the things of creation with his intellect, traversing the heavens with reason, leading the subject creation with thought, reining in with wisdom the unruliness of the disordered sea, preserving with providence the things that grow, demonstrating with knowledge the things that appear, mastering the artistry of existing things, as did the Creator. And God, declaring these things from the beginning concerning us, proclaimed: Let us make man in our image. And the honor of the image is both fearsome and benevolent; fearsome, as an image of a dreadful archetype. For the danger is not small, lest someone should cause offense by staining the image with the stain of sin; but benevolent, as a great gift before any toils, which the Creator prepared for us before our birth. For, he says, Let us make man in our image. Before our formation we are honored with care. For while granting existence to each of the other beings, he maintained the authority of one commanding, and created the whole nature of visible things by command, speaking imperatively to the things that were not: Let there be light; let there be a firmament; let there be lights for illumination; let the waters bring forth creeping things with living souls; let the earth bring forth four-footed beasts according to their kind! 64.476

But when man was to be created, leaving aside the one who commands, he took up the role of the craftsman himself; leaving aside the one who designs the composition of beings, he deliberated on the generation of man; refraining from saying to the earth, bring forth man! As if unable to create man alone, he even calls partners to the formation, and as if needing fellow workers, he cries out: Let us make; not needing deliberation for his art, nor requiring fellow workers for the fashioning, but showing by the figure of deliberation and cooperation that he was fashioning with care and as an exceedingly great race. But in this honor there is also hidden a certain instruction for our race toward piety. For He excluded all creation from deification, having handed it over to the image of His own monarchy; for everything is considered great in relation to the king's image. Secondly: Let us make man in our image; and

De virtute animi

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Ηʹ. Ὅτι πάντων ἡ κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀρετὴ προτιμοτέρα.

64.473 Ἀριθμῶν τὰ τοῦ βίου πολλάκις κατ' ἐμαυτὸν ἀγαθὰ, καὶ μεστὴν εὑρίσκων

πολλῶν πανταχόθεν τὴν κτίσιν, καὶ μυρίων τῷ γένει παρεκτικὴν ἀγαθῶν, οὐδὲν ὁρῶ τοῦ ψυχῆς ὡραιότητα φιλοκαλεῖν ἀγαθώτερον, οὐδὲ μᾶλλον ἀνθρώπου πρεπωδέστερον φύσει. Τίς γὰρ οὕτω πρέπων ἀνθρωπότητι πλοῦτος, ὡς ἐλπίδων εὐσεβῶν εὐπορία; Τίς οὕτως ἐκ δυναστείας λαμπρὸς, ὡς ἐκ γνώμης τῷ τῶν ὅλων βασιλεῖ τιμωμένης; Τίς ἐκ τρυφῆς ἡδονὴ τηλικαύτη, ὁπόση τις συνειδότος ζωοποιοῖς ἑστιωμένου μαθήμασιν; Πᾶν ὅπερ ἂν εἰς μέσον ἀγαθὸν παραγάγῃς, ἐξ οὐδενὸς ἂν εὕροις ὡς ἐκ γνώμης ἐνθέου σεμνυνόμενον ἄνθρωπον. Τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἄλλων καλῶν ἐστίν τις καὶ τοῖς ἀλόγοις πρὸς ἡμᾶς κοινωνία· οἷον ἡ τῆς ἀκτῖνος καλή τις ἀπόλαυσις, ἀλλὰ πρόκειται καὶ τοῖς κτήνεσιν αὐτή· ἡ τῶν βρωμάτων ἀγαθὴ χορηγία, ἀλλὰ τούτων κἀκείνοις μετάσχεσις· αἱ τοῦ κάλλους ἐράσμιοι χάριτες, ἀλλ' εὕροις ἂν καὶ κάλλος ἐξ ὀρνίθων ἀστράπτον· τὸ δὲ ἰσχύος πολυθρύλλητον δῶρον, ἀλλ' ἔστιν τὸ ταύτης καὶ βουσὶν πλεονέκτημα· ἡ τοῦ πλούτου πολύευκτος ἄθροισις, ἀλλ' ἴδοις ἂν καὶ ὄστρεα πλούσια μαργαριτῶν θησαυροῖς. Οὐδενὸς τῶν σαρκίνων παρ' ἡμῖν καυχημάτων ἡ τῶν ἀλόγων ἀκοινώνητος φύσις, οὐδενὸς σωματικοῦ παρ' ἡμῖν πλεονεκτήματος χείρων.

Ἐξ ἑνὸς δὲ αὐτοῖς μόνου πρὸς ἡμᾶς παραχώρησις, ἑνὶ μόνῳ παρ' ἡμῶν νικῶνται πλεονεκτήματι. Ποίῳ δὴ τούτῳ; Τῇ τῆς γνώμης ἀξίᾳ, δι' ἢν ἄνθρωπος Θεῷ παραπλήσιος, νῷ κεχρημένος κυβερνήτῃ τῶν ὄντων, διανοίᾳ διοικῶν τὰ τῆς κτίσεως, λογισμῷ τὸν οὐρανὸν διεξιὼν, ἐννοίᾳ τὸ ὑπήκοον ἄγων, ἡνιοχῶν σοφίᾳ τῆς ἀτάκτου θαλάσσης τὸ δύσχρηστον, προνοίᾳ τὰ φυόμενα σώζων, ἐπιστήμῃ δεικνὺς τὰ φαινόμενα, δεσπόζων τῆς τῶν ὄντων, ὡς ὁ κτίστης, καλλιτεχνίας. Καὶ ταῦτα δηλῶν ἐκ προοιμίων ἐφ' ἡμῖν ὁ Θεὸς ἀνεβόα· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν. Καὶ φοβερὰ τῆς εἰκόνος ἡ τιμὴ, καὶ φιλάνθρωπος· φοβερὰ μὲν ὡς εἰκὼν ἀρχετύπου φρικώδους. Κίνδυνος γὰρ οὐ μικρὸς, μὴ σχοίη τις πρόσκρουσιν τῷ τῆς ἁμαρτίας σπίλῳ τὴν εἰκόνα σπιλώσας· φιλάνθρωπος δὲ, ὡς μεγάλη δωρεὰ πρὸ ἱδρώτων, ἣν ἡμῖν ὁ κτίστης πρὸ γενετῆς παρεσκεύαζεν. Ποιήσωμεν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν. Πρὸ τῆς πλάσεως μερίμνῃ τιμώμεθα. Ἑκάστῳ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ὄντων παρεχόμενος ὕπαρξιν, αὐθεντίαν ἐτήρει προστάττοντος, καὶ πᾶσαν τῶν ὁρωμένων τὴν φύσιν ἐκ προστάγματος ἔκτιζεν, προστακτικῶς τοῖς οὐκ οὖσιν ἐπιφθεγγόμενος· Γενηθήτω φῶς· γενηθήτω στερέωμα· γενηθήτωσαν φωστῆρες εἰς φαῦσιν· ἐξαγαγέτω τὰ ὕδατα ἑρπετὰ ψυχῶν ζωσῶν· ἐξαγαγέτω ἡ γῆ τετράποδα κατὰ γέ 64.476 νος!

Ὡς δὲ ἔδει κτισθῆναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀφεὶς τὸν προστάττοντα, τὸν αὐτουργὸν ἀνελάμβανεν, ἀφεὶς τὸν σχεδιάζοντα τῶν ὄντων τὴν σύνθεσιν, τὴν ἀνθρωπογένειαν ἐσκέπτετο, ἀφεὶς εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὴν γῆν, ἐξάγαγε ἄνθρωπον! Ὡς κτίσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον μὴ δυνάμενος μόνος, καὶ κοινωνοὺς συγκαλεῖ πρὸς τὴν πλάσιν, καὶ ὡς συνεργῶν δεόμενος κέκραγεν· Ποιήσωμεν· οὐ μελέτης εἰς τέχνην δεόμενος, οὐ συνεργῶν εἰς διάπλασιν χρῄζων, ἀλλὰ τῷ τῆς μελέτης καὶ συνεργίας σχηματισμῷ μεμεριμνημένον αὐτῷ καὶ πάμμεγα διαπλάττειν ἐνδεικνύμενος γένος. Ἐν δὲ τῇ τιμῇ καὶ παιδαγωγία τις τῷ γένει πρὸς εὐσέβειαν κέκρυπται. Πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν κτίσιν θεοποιίας ἐξέβαλεν, εἰκόνι τῆς ἰδίας αὐτὴν παραδοὺς μοναρχίας· εἰκόνος γὰρ βασιλέως ἅπαν μέγα νομιζόμενον. ∆εύτερον· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν· καὶ