John Chrysostom, On Rachel and the Children

In Rachelem et infantes

On Rachel and on the infants.

61.697 Just as those who take the sweetest fruits of the treetops give praises together with the branches and the trees; in the same way we also, beloved, having received the fruits of the words from the preceding teacher, give the prize of honor both to him and to the fathers. For just as from the richness of the trees the sweet richness is passed on to the fruits; so also to the aforementioned man from the grace of the Spirit the sweetness of his discourse is sent up. Let us reap, therefore, the sweetest fruits of the words, like sweet dates that have acquired their sweetness from the just root of the fathers; and let us pass on the sweetness of the word to our mind, but let us render the pleasantness of thanksgiving to our fathers.

For the honor of the fathers consists in the good conduct of the sons; or rather, the crowns of the sons are beautified by the glory of the fathers. But since from the reading of the sighing of Rachel, as if pricked by a goad, I turn back to her: Tell me, O Rachel, tell me the pain hidden in your sigh; for thus the vessel of your mind, weighed down by grief, will be lightened; and as the words indicating the pain are brought forth from your heart, the weight of the grief goes out with the utterances. Tell me then, Rachel, why do you weep? For I see your tears flowing down your cheeks like a river, and your breath coiling bitterly around your heart, and coming forth irregularly through your nostrils. Why do you loosen your hair, and bring this forward, which you ought to hide? why do you parade the revered mystery of respectable women, 61.698 overcome by excessive madness? Alas, alas Rachel! I will speak, then, being seized with bitterness of soul; and what shall I say? I wish to bring forth the word from my heart, and again I draw back, not finding the cause of the evils and of the greatest misfortune. O King Herod who teaches me not to murder, and by his deed annuls his own law! The one I thought to be a king of good order, this one I now see as a leader of disorder, working disorderly and lawlessly. O greatest folly! He who commits one murder becomes liable to death, and Herod, having committed so many murders, is called king. And farmers, bringing forth seed from their own treasures, sprinkle the pure grain in the cleaved sides of the earth; but when the ears of corn, having sprouted, signal the bright season of the seed, then indeed they stretch out their hands and cut the crops with a sharp sickle. But Herod, the offspring of my womb, before they bloomed with the flower of age, before the down of spring graces rose about their cheeks, with a sharp sword he withered away the green shoot of my loins. Alas, alas! I am in pain in my womb, and the senses of my heart are in a rage; my soul is torn by my heart; I will not be silent. For because of the unwedded bride Mariam I endure these things, because of the Word hidden in a manger.

I see my grape-clusters, the berries of their senses just turning dark, already vanished. Alas, alas! those whom nature, having borne for a period of nine months with pains, making them ripe, brought forth, these I see untimely slaughtered with a single stroke of a sword. Alas! O virgin Mariam, at once both a mother, who 61.699 knows not a man, and has borne a son, you do not know the pain of mothers; for if you knew, you would have wept. Without pain you carried, without pain you gave birth, without pain the heavenly

In Rachelem et infantes

Εἰς τὴν Ῥαχὴλ καὶ εἰς τὰ νήπια.

61.697 Ὥσπερ οἱ τοὺς ἡδίστους καρποὺς τῶν ἀκροδρύων λαμβάνοντες, ὁμοῦ τοῖς κλάδοις καὶ τοῖς δένδρεσι τοὺς ἐπαίνους διδόασι· τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἀγα πητοὶ, τοὺς καρποὺς τῶν λόγων παρὰ τοῦ προλαβόντος διδασκάλου λαβόντες, ὁμοῦ τε αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς πατράσι τὸ γέρας διδόαμεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς τῶν δένδρων πιότητος ἡ γλυκεῖα πιότης τοῖς καρποῖς παραπέμπεται· οὕτω καὶ τῷ προειρημένῳ ἀνδρὶ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος τὸ γλυκὺ τοῦ λόγου ἀναπέμπεται. Καρπωσώ μεθα τοίνυν τῶν λόγων τοὺς ἡδίστους καρποὺς, καθά περ φοίνικας γλυκεροὺς ἐκ τῆς δικαίας ῥίζης τῶν πατέρων τὸ γλύκασμα κεκτημένους· καὶ τὸ μὲν γλυ κὺ τοῦ λόγου τῇ διανοίᾳ ἡμῶν παραπέμψωμεν, τὸ δὲ ἡδὺ τῆς εὐχαριστίας τοῖς πατράσιν ἡμῶν ἀπονείμωμεν.

Τὸ γὰρ τῶν πατέρων γέρας ἐκ τῆς τῶν υἱῶν εὐκοσμίας συνέστηκε· μᾶλλον δὲ οἱ τῶν υἱῶν στέφανοι ἐκ τῆς τῶν πατέρων εὐδοξίας καλλωπίζονται. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναγνώσματος τοῦ στεναγμοῦ τῆς Ῥαχὴλ, καθάπερ ὑπὸ κέντρου, νυττόμενος πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀποστρέφομαι· Λέγε μοι, ὦ Ῥαχὴλ, λέγε τὸν ἐν τῷ στεναγμῷ σου κρυπτό μενον πόνον· οὕτω γὰρ τὸ σκάφος τῆς διανοίας σου, τὸ ὑπὸ τῆς λύπης βαρυνόμενον, κουφισθήσεται· προ φερομένων δὲ τῶν λόγων ἐκ τῆς καρδίας σου σημαινόν των τὸν πόνον, συνεξέρχεται τοῖς ῥήμασι καὶ τὸ βαρὺ τῆς λύπης. Λέγε μοι τοίνυν, Ῥαχὴλ, τί κλαίεις; ὁρῶ γάρ σου τὰ δάκρυα περὶ τὰς παρειὰς ποταμηδὸν ἐπιῤ ῥέοντα, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα πικρῶς περὶ τὴν καρδίαν εἱλού μενον, καὶ διὰ τῶν μυκτήρων ἀτάκτως φερόμενον. Τί λύεις σου τὰς κόμας, καὶ ταύτας προφέρεις, ἃς δεῖ σε κρύπτειν; τί τῶν αἰδεσίμων γυναικῶν τὸ σεμνὸν μυστή 61.698 ριον ἐκπομπεύεις νικωμένη ὑπὸ τῆς ἄγαν μανίας; Οἴμοι, οἴμοι Ῥαχήλ! λαλήσω λοιπὸν ἐν πικρίᾳ ψυχῆς συνεχομένη· καὶ τί εἴπω; Βούλομαι ἐκ καρδίας προ φέρειν τὸν λόγον, καὶ πάλιν ἀναποδίζω, τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν κακῶν καὶ τῆς μεγίστης συμφορᾶς οὐχ εὑρίσκουσα. Ὢ βασιλέως Ἡρώδου τοῦ διδάσκοντός με μὴ φονεύειν, καὶ ἔργῳ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ νόμον ἀκυροῦντος! ὃν ἐνόμιζον βασι λέα εἶναι τῆς εὐταξίας, τοῦτον ἡγεμόνα τῆς ἀταξίας ὁρῶ νῦν, ἀτάκτως καὶ ἀνόμως ἐργαζόμενον. Ὢ μεγί στης ἀνοίας! ὁ ἕνα φόνον ποιήσας ὑπεύθυνος θανάτου γίνεται, καὶ Ἡρώδης τοσούτους φόνους ποιήσας, βασι λεὺς ὀνομάζεται. Καὶ οἱ μὲν γεωργοὶ ἐξ οἰκείων θησαυ ρῶν τὸν σπόρον προφέροντες ἐν σχισταῖς λαγόσι τῆς γῆς καθαρὸν τὸν σῖτον ῥαίνουσιν· ὁπόταν δὲ βλαστήσαν τες οἱ ἀστάχυες λαμπρὰν τὴν ὥραν τοῦ σπόρου σημαί νωσιν, τότε δὴ τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτείναντες ὀξείᾳ δρεπάνῃ τὰ λήϊα τέμνουσιν. Ἡρώδης δὲ τὰ τῆς ἐμῆς κοιλίας γεννή ματα μήπω τὰ ἄνθη τῆς ἡλικίας κυπριάσαντα, μήπω τῶν ἐαρινῶν τῶν χαρίτων ἰούλων περὶ τὰς παρειὰς ἀνατεί λαντα, ὀξείᾳ μαχαίρᾳ τῶν ἐμῶν λαγόνων τὴν χλόην ἀπ εμάρανεν. Οἴμοι, οἴμοι! τὴν κοιλίαν μου ἐγὼ ἀλγῶ, καὶ τὰ αἰσθητήρια τῆς καρδίας μου μαιμάσσει· ἡ ψυχή μου σπαράττεται τῇ καρδίᾳ· οὐ σιωπήσω. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τὴν ἄγαμον νύμφην Μαριὰμ ταῦτα ὑπομένω, διὰ τὸν ἐν φάτνῃ κρυπτόμενον Λόγον.

Μήπω τοὺς ἐμοὺς βότρυας, τῶν αἰσθήσεων τοὺς ῥῶγας περκάζοντας ἤδη ἀφανισμένους ὁρῶ. Οἴμοι, οἴμοι! οὕσπερ ἐνναμηνιαίῳ χρόνῳ μετὰ πό νων βαστάσασα ἡ φύσις ὡρίμους ποιήσασα ἔτεκε, τού τους ἀώρους μιᾷ πληγῇ μαχαίρας σφαγέντας ὁρῶ. Οἴμοι! ὦ παρθένε Μαριὰμ, ὁμοῦ τε καὶ μήτηρ, ἡ ἄν 61.699 δρα οὐ γινώσκουσα, καὶ υἱὸν γεννήσασα, σὺ τὸν πόνον τῶν μητέρων οὐκ οἶδας· εἰ γὰρ ᾔδεις, ἔκλαυσας ἄν. Ἀπόνως ἐβάστασας, ἀπόνως ἐκύησας, ἀπόνως τὸν οὐράνιον