John Chrysostom, On Holy Rome

In sanctum Romanum

ENCOMIUM On the holy martyr Romanus 1.

50.605 1. Again a commemoration of martyrs, and again a feast, and, a spiritual festival. They labored, and we rejoice; they wrestled, and we exult; theirs is the crown, and the glory is common, or rather, the glory belongs to the whole Church. And how could this be? he says. Because the martyrs are parts and members of us. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; 50.606 or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. The head is crowned, and the rest of the body exults; one becomes an Olympic victor, and a whole city rejoices, and receives him with much acclaim. But if in the Olympic games those who contributed nothing to those toils reap so much pleasure, much more would this be the case for the athletes of piety. We are the feet, the martyrs the head; but the head cannot say to the feet, "I have no need of you." 50.607 The members are glorious, but the pre-eminence of their glory does not cause an alienation from their connection to the other members; for in this way especially they become glorious, when they do not reject their connection to us; since the eye also, being more brilliant than all the rest of the body, then preserves its own glory, when it is not separated from the rest of the body. And what do I say about martyrs? For if their Master was not ashamed to become our head, much more are they not ashamed to be our members; for they have a rooted love, and love is accustomed to join and bind what is separated, and is not precise about rank. Therefore, just as they suffer with us in our sins, so we rejoice with them in their achievements. Thus also Paul commanded us to do, saying, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." But to weep with those who weep is easy, but to rejoice with those who rejoice is not very easy; for we more easily suffer with those in misfortune than we rejoice with those who are well-reputed. For in the former case, the very nature of misfortune is sufficient to bend even a stone to sympathy; but in the latter, in the case of success, envy and the evil eye do not permit one who is not a great philosopher to become a sharer in the pleasure. For just as love gathers and binds together what is divided, so envy divides what is united. Therefore I exhort you, let us make it our practice to rejoice with those who are well-reputed, so that we may cleanse our soul of both envy and the evil eye; for nothing so drives away this difficult and incurable disease as to delight with those who live in virtue. Hear, then, how Paul is supreme in both of these things; "Who," he says, "is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?" He did not say, "and I am not grieved," but, "I do not burn," wishing by the term "burning" to show us the intensity of his pain.

And again, writing to others, "You have become kings without us," he says; "and I would that you did reign, so that we also might reign with you;" and again: "Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord." See how highly he prized the good reputation of the brethren, he who did not consider himself to be living, if they were not being saved. A man caught up to the third heaven, and carried away to paradise, and having shared in ineffable mysteries, and having enjoyed such great boldness before God, did not have much of a perception of those good things, unless he saw his brethren also being saved with him. For he knows, he knows clearly, that nothing is greater than or equal to love, not even martyrdom itself, which is the chief of all good things; and how, listen. For love

In sanctum Romanum

ΕΓΚΩΜΙΟΝ Εἰς τὸν ἅγιον μάρτυρα Ῥωμανὸν αʹ.

50.605 αʹ. Πάλιν μαρτύρων μνήμη, καὶ πάλιν ἑορτὴ, καὶ, πανήγυρις πνευματική. Ἔκαμον ἐκεῖνοι, καὶ χαίρομεν ἡμεῖς· ἐπάλαισαν ἐκεῖνοι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀγαλλόμεθα· ἐκείνων ὁ στέφανος, καὶ κοινὸν τὸ κλέος, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἁπάσης ἡ δόξα. Καὶ πῶς ἂν τοῦτο γένοιτο; φησίν. Ὅτι μέρη καὶ μέλη ἡμῶν εἰσιν οἱ μάρτυρες. Εἴτε δὲ πάσχει ἓν μέλος, συμπάσχει πάντα 50.606 τὰ μέλη· εἴτε δοξάζεται ἓν μέλος, συγχαίρει πάντα τὰ μέλη. Ἡ κεφαλὴ στεφανοῦται, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν σῶμα ἀγάλλεται· εἷς Ὀλυμπιονίκης γίνεται, καὶ ὁλόκληρος δῆμος εὐφραίνεται, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς αὐτὸν δέχεται τῆς εὐφημίας. Εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν Ὀλυμπιακῶν ἀγώνων οἱ μηδὲν εἰς τοὺς ἱδρῶτας ἐκείνους εἰσενεγκόντες τοσαύτην καρποῦνται τὴν ἡδονὴν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῶν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀθλητῶν τοῦτο γένοιτ' ἄν. Πόδες ἐσμὲν ἡμεῖς, οἱ μάρτυρες κεφαλή· ἀλλ' οὐ δύναται εἰπεῖν ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῖς ποσὶ, Χρείαν ὑμῶν οὐκ ἔχω. 50.607 Ἔνδοξα τὰ μέλη, ἀλλ' ἡ ὑπεροχὴ τῆς δόξης οὐ ποιεῖ τῆς πρὸ τὰ λοιπὰ μέρη συναφείας ἀλλοτρίωσιν· ταύτῃ γὰρ μάλιστα ἔνδοξα γίνεται, ὅταν τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς συνάφειαν μὴ διακρούσηται· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς, τοῦ λοιποῦ παντὸς σώματος λαμπρότερος ὢν, τότε τὴν οἰκείαν διατηρεῖ δόξαν, ὅταν μὴ τοῦ λοιποῦ σώματος ἀποσχίζηται. Καὶ τί λέγω περὶ μαρτύρων; Εἰ γὰρ ὁ ∆εσπότης αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπῃσχύνθη γενέσθαι ἡμῶν κεφαλὴ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον αὐτοὶ μέλη ἡμῶν εἶναι οὐκ ἐπαισχύνονται· ἀγάπην γὰρ ἔχουσιν ἐῤῥιζωμένην, ἡ δὲ ἀγάπη τὰ διεστηκότα συνάπτειν καὶ συνδεῖν εἴωθε, καὶ περὶ τῆς ἀξίας οὐκ ἀκριβολογεῖται. Ὥσπερ οὖν αὐτοὶ συναλγοῦσιν ἡμῶν τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν, οὕτως ἡμεῖς συγχαίρομεν αὐτῶν τοῖς κατορθώμασιν. Οὕτω καὶ Παῦλος ἐκέλευσε ποιεῖν λέγων, Χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων, καὶ κλαίειν μετὰ κλαιόντων. Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν κλαίειν μετὰ κλαιόντων εὔκολον, τὸ δὲ χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων οὐ σφόδρα ῥᾴδιον· ῥᾷον γὰρ τοῖς ἐν συμφοραῖς οὖσι συναλγοῦμεν, ἢ τοῖς εὐδοκιμοῦσι συνηδόμεθα. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὴ τῆς συμφορᾶς ἡ φύσις καὶ τὸν λίθον ἱκανὴ πρὸς συμπάθειαν ἐπικάμψαι· ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς εὐπραγίας ὁ φθόνος καὶ ἡ βασκανία τὸν μὴ σφόδρα φιλοσοφοῦντα οὐκ ἀφίησι γενέσθαι κοινωνὸν τῆς ἡδονῆς. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ ἀγάπη τὰ διῃρημένα συνάγει καὶ συνδεῖ, οὕτως ἡ βασκανία τὰ ἡνωμένα διαιρεῖ. ∆ιὸ παρακαλῶ, μελετήσωμεν συγχαίρειν τοῖς εὐδοκιμοῦσιν, ἵνα καὶ φθόνου καὶ βασκανίας τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκκαθάρωμεν· οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἀπελαύνει τὸ νόσημα τοῦτο τὸ χαλεπὸν καὶ δυσίατον, ὡς τὸ συνήδεσθαι τοῖς ἐν ἀρετῇ βιοῦσιν. Ἄκουσον γοῦν πῶς ὁ Παῦλος ἐν ἑκατέροις τούτοις ἐστὶν ἄκρος· Τίς, φησὶν, ἀσθενεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενῶ; τίς σκανδαλίζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι; Οὐκ εἶπε, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ λυποῦμαι, ἀλλ', οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι, τῇ προσηγορίᾳ, τῆς πυρώσεως τὴν ἐπίτασιν τῆς ὀδύνης ἡμῖν παραστῆσαι βουλόμενος.

Καὶ πάλιν ἑτέροις γράφων, Χωρὶς ἡμῶν ἐβασιλεύσατε, φησίν· καὶ ὄφελόν γε ἐβασιλεύσατε, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑμῖν συμβασιλεύσωμεν· καὶ πάλιν· Νῦν ζῶμεν, ἐὰν ὑμεῖς στήκητε ἐν Κυρίῳ. Ὅρα πῶς περισπούδαστος ἦν αὐτῷ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡ εὐδοκίμησις, ὃς οὔτε ζῇν ἐνόμιζεν, ἐκείνων μὴ σωζομένων. Ἄνθρωπος εἰς τρίτον ἁρπαγεὶς οὐρανὸν, καὶ εἰς παράδεισον ἀπενεχθεὶς, καὶ μυστηρίων κοινωνήσας ἀποῤῥήτων, καὶ τοσαύτης πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀπολαύσας παῤῥησίας, οὐ σφόδρα αἴσθησιν ἐκείνων ἐλάμβανε τῶν ἀγαθῶν, εἰ μὴ καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς εἶδε σὺν αὐτῷ διασωζομένους. Οἶδε γὰρ, οἶδε σαφῶς, ὅτι ἀγάπης οὐδὲν οὔτε μεῖζον οὔτε ἴσον ἐστὶν, οὐδὲ αὐτὸ τὸ μαρτύριον, ὃ πάντων ἐστὶ κεφάλαιον τῶν ἀγαθῶν· καὶ πῶς, ἄκουσον. Ἀγάπη μὲν