John Chrysostom, On Eutropius

In Eutropium

HOMILY ON EUTROPIUS THE EUNUCH, PATRICIAN AND CONSUL.

52.391 1. Always, but especially now is it opportune to say: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. Where now is the splendid vestment of the consulate? where the bright torches? where the applause, and the dances, and the banquets, and the festivals? where the crowns and the curtains? where the city's tumult, and the acclamations in the hippodromes, and the flatteries of the spectators?

All those things are gone; and a wind, blowing suddenly, has cast down the leaves, and shown us the tree bare, and shaken from its very root; for such has been the assault of the wind, as to threaten to tear it up root and all, and to shake the very sinews of the tree. Where now are the feigned friends? where the drinking parties and the dinners? where the swarm of parasites, and the unmixed wine poured out all day long, and the various arts of the cooks, and the servants of power, who did and said everything to please? All those things were a night and a dream, and when day came they vanished; they were spring flowers, and when spring passed, they all withered; it was a shadow, and it passed away; it was a fruit, and it was dissolved; they were bubbles, and they burst; it was a spider's web, and it was torn apart. Therefore we chant this spiritual saying, continuously repeating: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. For this saying ought to be inscribed continuously on walls, and on garments, and in the marketplace, and in the house, and on the roads, and on doors, and on entryways, and above all in the conscience of each person, and to be meditated on constantly. Since the deceit of things, and the masks, and the pretense, seem to be truth to the many; this saying each person ought to repeat to his neighbor every day, both at dinner, and at breakfast, and in gatherings, and to hear from his neighbor, that Vanity of vanities, all things are 52.392 vanity.

Did I not continually tell you that wealth is a runaway slave? But you did not endure us. Did I not say that it is an ungrateful servant? But you were unwilling to be persuaded. Behold, experience has shown from the facts that it is not only a runaway, nor ungrateful, but also a murderer; for this has caused you now to tremble and be afraid. Did I not say to you, when you continually rebuked me for speaking the truth, that I love you more than those who flatter? I who reprove care more than those who gratify? Did I not add to these words that more trustworthy are the wounds of friends than the willing kisses of enemies? If you had endured my wounds, their kisses would not have brought forth this death for you; for my wounds work health, but their kisses have produced an incurable disease. Where now are the cup-bearers? where are those who strutted in the marketplace, and uttered countless praises before all? They have run away, they have denied the friendship, they are securing safety for themselves through your agony. But we are not so, but even when you were vexed we do not leap away, and now that you have fallen we shelter and care for you.

And the Church, which was warred against by you, has opened her bosom and received you; but the theaters that were served by you, on whose account you were often indignant with us, have betrayed and destroyed you. But nevertheless we did not cease always saying: Why do you do these things? you rage against the Church, and cast yourself down cliffs; and you ran past everything. And the hippodromes, having consumed your wealth, have sharpened the sword; but the Church, which enjoyed your untimely wrath, everywhere

In Eutropium

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΕΥΤΡΟΠΙΟΝ ΕΥΝΟΥΧΟΝ ΠΑΤΡΙΚΙΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΥΠΑΤΟΝ.

52.391 αʹ. Ἀεὶ μὲν, μάλιστα δὲ νῦν εὔκαιρον εἰπεῖν· Ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων, καὶ πάντα ματαιότης. Ποῦ νῦν ἡ λαμπρὰ τῆς ὑπατείας περιβολή; ποῦ δὲ αἱ φαιδραὶ λαμπάδες; ποῦ δὲ οἱ κρότοι, καὶ οἱ χοροὶ, καὶ αἱ θαλίαι, καὶ αἱ πανηγύρεις; ποῦ οἱ στέφανοι καὶ τὰ παραπετάσματα; ποῦ ὁ τῆς πόλεως θόρυβος, καὶ αἱ ἐν ἱπποδρομίαις εὐφημίαι, καὶ τῶν θεατῶν αἱ κολακεῖαι;

Πάντα ἐκεῖνα οἴχεται· καὶ ἄνεμος πνεύσας ἀθρόον τὰ μὲν φύλλα κατέβαλε, γυμνὸν δὲ ἡμῖν τὸ δένδρον ἔδειξε, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ῥίζης αὐτῆς σαλευόμενον λοιπόν· τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος γέγονε προσβολὴ, ὡς καὶ πρόῤῥιζον ἀπειλεῖν ἀνασπᾷν, καὶ ταῦτα διασαλεῦσαι τοῦ δένδρου τὰ νεῦρα. Ποῦ νῦν οἱ πεπλασμένοι φίλοι; ποῦ τὰ συμπόσια καὶ τὰ δεῖπνα; ποῦ ὁ τῶν παρασίτων ἐσμὸς, καὶ ὁ δι' ὅλης ἡμέρας ἐγχεόμενος ἄκρατος, καὶ αἱ ποικίλαι τῶν μαγείρων τέχναι, καὶ οἱ τῆς δυναστείας θεραπευταὶ, οἱ πάντα πρὸς χάριν ποιοῦντες καὶ λέγοντες; Νὺξ ἦν πάντα ἐκεῖνα καὶ ὄναρ, καὶ ἡμέρας γενομένης ἠφανίσθη· ἄνθη ἦν ἐαρινὰ, καὶ παρελθόντος τοῦ ἔαρος ἅπαντα κατεμαράνθη· σκιὰ ἦν, καὶ παρέδραμε· καρπὸς ἦν, καὶ διελύθη· πομφόλυγες ἦσαν, καὶ διεῤῥάγησαν· ἀράχνη ἦν, καὶ διεσπάσθη. ∆ιὸ ταύτην τὴν πνευματικὴν ῥῆσιν ἐπᾴδομεν συνεχῶς ἐπιλέγοντες· Ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων, καὶ πάντα ματαιότης. Ταύτην γὰρ τὴν ῥῆσιν καὶ ἐν τοίχοις, καὶ ἐν ἱματίοις, καὶ ἐν ἀγορᾷ, καὶ ἐν οἰκίᾳ, καὶ ἐν ὁδοῖς, καὶ ἐν θύραις, καὶ ἐν εἰσόδοις, καὶ πρὸ πάντων ἐν τῷ ἑκάστου συνειδότι συνεχῶς ἐγγεγράφθαι δεῖ, καὶ διαπαντὸς αὐτὴν μελετᾷν. Ἐπειδὴ ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀπάτη, καὶ τὰ προσωπεῖα, καὶ ἡ ὑπόκρισις, ἀλήθεια παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς εἶναι δοκεῖ· ταύτην καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, καὶ ἐν δείπνῳ, καὶ ἐν ἀρίστῳ, καὶ ἐν συλλόγοις ἐπιλέγειν ἕκαστον τῷ πλησίον ἐχρῆν, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ πλησίον ἀκούειν, ὅτι Ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων, τὰ πάντα 52.392 ματαιότης.

Οὐκ ἔλεγόν σοι συνεχῶς, ὅτι δραπέτης ὁ πλοῦτός ἐστι; Σὺ δὲ ἡμῶν οὐκ ἠνείχου. Οὐκ ἔλεγον ὅτι ἀγνώμων ἐστὶν οἰκέτης; Σὺ δὲ οὐκ ἐβούλου πείθεσθαι. Ἰδοὺ ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων ἔδειξεν ἡ πεῖρα, ὅτι οὐ δραπέτης μόνον, οὐδὲ ἀγνώμων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνδροφόνος· οὗτος γάρ σε τρέμειν νῦν καὶ δεδοικέναι παρεσκεύασεν. Οὐκ ἔλεγόν σοι, ἡνίκα συνεχῶς ἐπετίμας μοι λέγοντι τἀληθῆ, ὅτι Ἐγώ σε φιλῶ μᾶλλον τῶν κολακευόντων; ἐγὼ ὁ ἐλέγχων πλέον κήδομαι τῶν χαριζομένων; Οὐ προσετίθην τοῖς ῥήμασι τούτοις, ὅτι ἀξιοπιστότερα τραύματα φίλων ὑπὲρ ἑκούσια φιλήματα ἐχθρῶν; Εἰ τῶν ἐμῶν ἠνέσχου τραυμάτων, οὐκ ἄν σοι τὰ φιλήματα ἐκείνων τὸν θάνατον τοῦτον ἔτεκον· τὰ γὰρ ἐμὰ τραύματα ὑγείαν ἐργάζεται, τὰ δὲ ἐκείνων φιλήματα νόσον ἀνίατον κατεσκεύασε. Ποῦ νῦν οἱ οἰνοχόοι; ποῦ δὲ οἱ σοβοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ μυρία παρὰ πᾶσιν ἐγκώμια λέγοντες; Ἐδραπέτευσαν, ἠρνήσαντο τὴν φιλίαν, ἀσφάλειαν ἑαυτοῖς διὰ τῆς σῆς ἀγωνίας πορίζουσιν. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ἡμεῖς οὕτως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ δυσχεραίνοντός σου οὐκ ἀποπηδῶμεν, καὶ νῦν πεσόντα περιστέλλομεν καὶ θεραπεύομεν.

Καὶ ἡ μὲν πολεμηθεῖσα Ἐκκλησία παρὰ σοῦ τοὺς κόλπους ἥπλωσε καὶ ἐπεδέξατο· τὰ δὲ θεραπευθέντα θέατρα, ὑπὲρ ὧν πολλάκις πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἠγανάκτεις, προὔδωκε καὶ ἀπώλεσεν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐκ ἐπαυσάμεθα ἀεὶ λέγοντες· Τί ταῦτα ποιεῖς; ἐκβακχεύεις τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ κατὰ κρημνῶν σαυτὸν φέρεις· καὶ παρέτρεχες ἅπαντα. Καὶ αἱ μὲν ἱπποδρομίαι, τὸν πλοῦτον τὸν σὸν ἀναλώσασαι, τὸ ξίφος ἠκόνησαν· ἡ δὲ Ἐκκλησία ἡ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς σῆς ἀπολαύσασα τῆς ἀκαίρου, πανταχοῦ