John Chrysostom, On the widow's son

In filium viduae

On the Son of the Widow.

61.789 "And it happened that soon after, Jesus was going to a city called Nain, and a good number of his disciples were going with him, and a great crowd. And as he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only-begotten son of his mother, and she was a widow." All the sufferings, pitiable, and full of much sympathy. 61.790 When her only-begotten son was released from this present life, the sweetest mother cried out, that I have become a mother in name only, for whom death has harvested the pains of childbirth. The vine had one cluster of grapes, and this the storm of death has crushed; she possessed one staff, and this common death has taken away. 61.791 The poor woman was unsupported, and she was deprived of her staff; she considered life unlivable. Therefore, having lost her only-begotten son, she had not even a chance consolation. She was seized by a double sorrow; her pain was inconsolable; no one was able to lighten her anguish; the tears flowed like a river down her cheeks, and the woman possessed an unbearable grief. She perceived the beauty of the child; her very heart was rent with affection. And she, a widow, has become completely so, the most grievous of all things, the most pitiful of all things; she was deprived of both her husband and her only-begotten. Truly pitiable is the name of widow, filled with pity, full of tears, clinging to sympathy.

None of the onlookers remained without mourning; the hearts of all groaned; they could not decide whom to mourn first, the dead child, or the living widow. But I was wrong to call the widow living; for what widow lives a life? for even if she seems to live (I speak of the present, and not of the future), she is dead. For a widow in present circumstances, if she were wealthy, in a small way has her anguish beguiled, anoints her expectation, her wound is healed, and her pain is lightened, she is strengthened by her possessions and often sleeps a little. For even if the things that grieve her are many, and those who would plunder her are ready, yet with poverty being absent, the heavy is lighter. But a poor widow is a harbor of tears, and a well of temptations, an unwalled city, a waterless spring, a mother of groaning, an uninvited guest to gladness, a mistress of poverty, a decreer of barrenness, a sojourner of famine, a weaver of anguish, a shattered staff, a difficult encounter, a bitter cohabitation, an unadorned statue, a desolate pillar, a rootless tree, an unenlightened mist, the porch of the church, an inventor of various prayers, one who speaks boldly against her enemies, an accuser against them; and as to a husband, crying out to God, and having God's wrath as a most ready vengeance, rending the heavens with her successful petitions to God, with an embittered heart; beating her breast, like an executioner, if she does not quickly find God's help, for vengeance on those who unjustly attack her. And the childless woman, poor upon the earth, unprotected, moves God with all his heavenly Powers, to wrath and indignation against those who are unwilling to be persuaded that God is the judge of widows and orphans. But if it happens that she has a child, she is in a small way delighted by his age, and has her sorrow beguuiled by expectation, she is strengthened by his fruitfulness. She sees the branch, and embraces the root; she holds the grape cluster, and loves the one who planted it; she has the part, and considers the whole; she is entwined with the living one, and does not abhor the dead one; she perceives the character of the child, and beholds as in a mirror the image of the father. And as long as the little child survives, the widow is tossed more calmly in the stormy sea of life;

In filium viduae

Εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν τῆς Χήρας.

61.789 "Καὶ ἐγένετο καθεξῆς, ἐπορεύετο ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς πόλιν καλουμένην Ναῒν, καὶ συνεπορεύοντο αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἱκανοὶ, καὶ ὄχλος πολύς. Ὡς δὲ ἤγγισε τῇ πύλῃ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐξεκομίζετο τεθνηκὼς υἱὸς μονογενὴς τῇ μητρὶ αὑτοῦ, καὶ αὕτη ἦν χήρα." Ὅλα τὰ πάθη, ἐλεεινὰ, καὶ πολλῆς συμπαθείας 61.790 μεστά. Μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ ἀπολυθέντος τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς, ἡ γλυκυτάτη μήτηρ ἐβόα, ὅτι Προσηγορίας μόνης γεγένημαι μήτηρ, ἧστινος τὰς ἐπὶ τῷ τοκετῷ ὠδῖνας ἐτρύγησεν ὁ θάνατος. Ἕνα βότρυν εἶχεν ἡ ἄμπελος, καὶ τοῦτον ἡ ζάλη τοῦ θανάτου συνέτριψε· μίαν βακτηρίαν ἐκέκτητο, καὶ ταύτην ὁ κοινὸς ἀνείλετο θά 61.791 νατος. Ἀχαράκωτον ὑπῆρχε τὸ γύναιον, καὶ τῆς βακτηρίας ἐστέρητο· ἀβίωτον ἐθεώρει τὸν βίον. Λοιπὸν οὐδὲ τὴν τυχοῦσαν εἶχε παραμυθίαν, υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἀπολέσασα. ∆ιπλῷ τῷ πόνῳ συνείχετο· ἀπαραμύθητον εἶχε τὸ ἄλγημα· οὐδεὶς ἐπικουφίσαι τὴν ὀδύνην ἠδύνατο· ποταμηδὸν κατὰ τῶν παρειῶν ἔῤῥει τὰ δάκρυα, καὶ ἀφόρητον ἡ γυνὴ τὸ πένθος ἐκέκτητο. Κατενόει τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς ὡραιότητα· τῇ στοργῇ τὰ σπλάγχνα τῆς διανοίας ἐτέμνετο. Καὶ αὕτη χήρα τὸ πᾶν γέγονε, τὸ πάντων βαρύτατον, τὸ πάντων ἐλεεινότερον· καὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἐστέρητο. Ὄντως ἐλεεινὸν τὸ τῆς χήρας ὄνομα, οἴκτου πεπληρωμένον, δακρύων μεμεστωμένον, συμπαθείας ἐχόμενον.

Οὐδεὶς τῶν βλεπόντων ἀπένθητος ἔμεινεν· ἔστενον πάντων τὰ σπλάγχνα· οὐχ εὕρισκον πρῶτον τίνα πενθῆσαι, τὸν τεθνηκότα παῖδα, ἢ τὴν ζῶσαν χήραν. Ἀλλ' ἐσφάλην τὴν χήραν ζῶσαν προσειπών· ποία γὰρ χήρα ζωὴν ζῇ; κἂν γὰρ δοκῇ ζῇν (πρὸς τὰ παρόντα λέγω, οὐχὶ δὲ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα), τέθνηκε. Χήρα γὰρ ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν εἰ μὲν εὔπορος ἦν, μικρόν πως κλέπτεται τὴν ὀδύνην, ἀλείφει τὴν προσδοκίαν, θεραπεύεται τὸ τραῦμα, καὶ κουφίζεται τὸ ἄλγος, νευροῦται τῇ καρποφορίᾳ καὶ βραχύ τι πολλάκις καθεύδει. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλὰ τὰ λυποῦντα, καὶ οἱ διαρπάζοντες αὐτῆν ἕτοιμοι, ἀλλ' ὅμως τῆς πενίας ἀπούσης, ἐλαφρότερον τὸ βαρύ. Χήρα δὲ πενιχρὰ λιμὴν δακρύων, καὶ φρέαρ πειρασμῶν, ἀτείχιστος πόλις, ἄνυδρος πηγὴ, μήτηρ στεναγμοῦ, εὐφροσύνης παράσιτος, οἰκοδέσποινα πενίας, ἀφορίας ψηφίστρια, λιμοῦ πάροικος, ὀδύνης ὑφάντρια, βακτηρία συντετριμμένη, χαλεπὸν ἀπάντημα, πικρὸν συνοικέσιον, ἀκαλλώπιστον ἄγαλμα, ἠρημωμένη στήλη, ἄῤῥιζον δένδρον, ἀφώτιστος ὁμίχλη, ἐκκλησίας πρόθυρον, ποικίλων εὐχῶν ἐπινοήτρια, κατ' ἐχθρῶν πεπαῤῥησιασμένη, κατήγορος κατ' αὐτῶν· καὶ ὡς ἀνδρὶ, τῷ Θεῷ καταβοῶσα, καὶ ἔκδικον ἑτοιμοτάτην ἔχουσα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ὀργὴν ἐκδίκησιν, σχίζουσα τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ταῖς πρὸς Θεὸν ἐπιτυχίαις, πεπικραμμένη καρδίᾳ· τύπτουσα τὸ στῆθος, ὥσπερ δήμιος, εἰ μὴ ταχὺ εὕροι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν βοήθειαν, εἰς ἐκδίκησιν τῶν ἐπιβαινόντων αὐτῇ εἰς ἀδικίαν. Καὶ ἡ ἄτεκνος, ἐπὶ γῆς πενιχρὰ, ἀπροστάτευτος, κινεῖ τὸν Θεὸν σὺν πάσαις αὐτοῦ ταῖς ἐπουρανίαις ∆υνάμεσιν, εἰς ὀργὴν καὶ ἀγανάκτησιν τῶν οὐ θελόντων πείθεσθαι, κριτὴν εἶναι τὸν Θεὸν χηρῶν καὶ ὀρφανῶν. Εἰ δὲ συμβῇ αὐτῇ παῖδα προσεῖναι, μικρόν πως τέρπεται τῇ ἡλικίᾳ, καὶ κλέπτεται τῇ προσδοκίᾳ, νευροῦται τῇ καρποφορίᾳ. Βλέπει τὸν κλάδον, καὶ τὴν ῥίζαν ἀσπάζεται· τὸν βότρυν κρατεῖ, καὶ τὸν φυτεύσαντα φιλεῖ· ἔχει τὸ μέρος, καὶ τὸ ὅλον λογίζεται· τῷ ζῶντι συμπλέκεται, καὶ τὸν νεκρὸν οὐ βδελύσσεται· τὸν χαρακτῆρα τοῦ παιδὸς κατανοεῖ, καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ πατρὸς ἐσοπτρίζεται. Καὶ ἕως μὲν περίεστι τὸ παιδάριον γαληνότερον ἡ χήρα κυματίζεται ἐν τῇ τοῦ βίου τρικυμίᾳ·