John Chrysostom, Sermon When He Went into Exile

Sermo cum iret in exsilium

WHEN HE WENT INTO EXILE.

52.435 1. Our word to you is joyful, my brothers, and a brilliant festival, and a wide sea filled full, but not disturbed by the tempest of the winds. For the mother of peace has come, she who extinguishes the tempest of the winds; Mother Sion shall say, a man and a man was born in her, and he himself has founded her. My little children, are they about to depose me? and why do I fear death? For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But will they send me into exile? The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. But will my property be confiscated? We brought nothing into the world, it is clear that we can carry nothing out. But you know, brothers, for what reason they are about to depose me. Because I did not spread tapestries, and I did not put on silken garments, because I did not indulge their gluttony, I did not bring gold and silver. And they say to me, that "You ate and drank, and baptized." If I did this, let me be anathema; may I not be numbered among the bishops, may I not be with the angels, may I not be pleasing to God.

But if I both ate and baptized, I did nothing inappropriate of what is said. Let them depose Paul the apostle also, because after dinner 52.436 he bestowed baptism on the jailer; and let them depose the Lord himself, because after dinner he bestowed communion on his disciples. I see many waves and a harsh surge, and spears prepared; and I, as a helmsman in a great surge, sit upon the two sterns of the ship, that is, on the Old and New Testament, and with oars I push away the storm; not with wooden oars, but with the precious cross of the Lord I turn the storm into peace. The master commands, and the slave is crowned; for this reason he himself does not hand him over to the devil. But do not the people know one thing, that through the impure the purest vessel is revealed? Brothers, I set before you three examples: faith, temptation, self-control. If you say to endure in faith, imitate the blessed Abraham, who was advanced in age and received ripe fruit. And if you say to endure temptation, imitate the blessed Job. You know his way, and you have heard of his patience, and his end has not escaped you. And if you wish to endure in self-control, imitate the blessed Joseph, who was 52.437 sold into Egypt, and freed an Egypt wasting away with famine.

For a temptation was added to him from an Egyptian prostitute enslaved by lust, who sat beside him, saying, "Sleep with me." For the Egyptian woman wanted to strip him of his self-control in Egypt; but here, the Egyptian man. But neither did she trip up the holy man, nor this one this man; but at the same time the self-control of freedom appeared, and the nobility of the children, and the licentiousness of the barbarian woman. 2. Brothers, the thief does not come where there is straw, and grass, and wood; but where gold lies, or silver, or a pearl; thus the devil does not enter where there is a fornicator, or a profane person, or a robber, or a greedy person; but where there are those who lead the desert life. Brothers, do we want to unleash our tongue against the queen? But what shall I say? Jezebel is in an uproar, and Elijah flees; Herodias rejoices, and John is bound; the Egyptian woman lies, and Joseph is imprisoned. If therefore they exile me, I imitate Elijah; if they cast me into the mire, Jeremiah; if into the sea, the prophet Jonah; if also into a pit, Daniel; if they stone me, Stephen; if

Sermo cum iret in exsilium

ΟΤΕ ΑΠΗΕΙ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΕΞΟΡΙΑ.

52.435 αʹ. Φαιδρὸς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος, ἀδελφοί μου, καὶ λαμπρὰ πανήγυρις, καὶ θάλαττα εὐρύχωρος ἐμπεπλησμένη, ἀλλ' οὐ ταραττομένη τῇ ζάλῃ τῶν ἀνέμων. Ἦλθε γὰρ ἡ μήτηρ τῆς εἰρήνης, ἡ κατασβεννύουσα τὴν ζάλην τῶν ἀνέμων· Μήτηρ Σιὼν ἐρεῖ, ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐγεννήθη ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐθεμελίωσεν αὐτήν. Τεκνία μου, μελλουσί με καθελεῖν; καὶ τί δέδοικα τὸν θάνατον; Ἐμοὶ τὸ ζῇν ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν κέρδος. Ἀλλ' ἐξορίᾳ παραπέμψουσι; Τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ, καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς. Ἀλλὰ χρημάτων δήμευσις ἔσται μοι; Οὐδὲν εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσηνέγκαμεν, δῆλον ὅτι οὐδὲ ἐξενεγκεῖν τι δυνάμεθα. Ἀλλ' οἴδατε, ἀδελφοὶ, δι' ἣν αἰτίαν μέλλουσί με καθελεῖν. Ἐπειδὴ τάπητας οὐχ ἥπλωσα, καὶ σηρικὰ ἱμάτια οὐκ ἐνεδυσάμην, ὅτι τὴν γαστριμαργίαν αὐτῶν οὐ παρεμυθησάμην, χρυσὸν καὶ ἄργυρον οὐ προσήνεγκα. Λέγουσι δέ μοι, ὅτι Ἔφαγες καὶ ἔπιες, καὶ ἐβάπτισας. Εἰ ἐποίησα τοῦτο, ἀνάθεμά μοι ἔστω· μὴ ἀριθμηθείην μετὰ τῶν ἐπισκόπων, μὴ γίνωμαι μετὰ ἀγγέλων, μὴ ἀρέσω τῷ Θεῷ.

Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔφαγον καὶ ἐβάπτισα, οὐδὲν τῶν λεγομένων ἄκαιρον ἐποίησα. Καθελέτωσαν καὶ Παῦλον τὸν ἀπόστολον, ὅτι μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον τῷ δεσμοφύλακι 52.436 τὰ βάπτισμα ἐχαρίσατο· καὶ καθελέτωσαν αὐτὸν τὸν Κύριον, ὅτι μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον τὴν κοινωνίαν τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἐχαρίσατο. Πολλὰ ὁρῶ κύματα καὶ χαλεπὸν τὸ κλυδώνιον, καὶ δόρατα παρεσκευασμένα· κἀγὼ ὡς κυβερνήτης ἐν μεγάλῳ κλύδωνι, καθέζομαι ἐπὶ τὰς δύο πρύμνας τοῦ πλοίου, ἤγουν ἐπὶ τὴν Παλαιὰν καὶ Νέαν ∆ιαθήκην, καὶ ταῖς κώπαις ἀπωθοῦμαι τὴν ζάλην· οὐ ταῖς κώπαις ταῖς ξυλίναις, ἀλλὰ τῷ σταυρῷ τῷ τιμίῳ τοῦ ∆εσπότου τὴν ζάλην εἰς εἰρήνην μεταστρέφω. ∆εσπότης κελεύει, καὶ δοῦλος στεφανοῦται· διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν (οὐ) παραδίδωσιν αὐτὸς διαβόλῳ. Ἒν (λ. ἂν) δὲ οὐκ οἴδασιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι ὅτι διὰ τοῦ ἀκαθάρτου τὸ καθαρώτατον σκεῦος φανεροῦται; Ἀδελφοὶ, τρεῖς ὑμῖν ὑποθέσεις τίθημι, πίστιν, πειρασμὸν, σωφροσύνην. Εἰ λέγετε πίστιν ὑπομένειν, μιμήσασθε τὸν μακάριον Ἀβραὰμ, τὸν παρηκμακότα τῇ ἡλικίᾳ καὶ καρποὺς ὡρίμους δεξάμενον. Εἰ δὲ λέγετε πειρασμὸν ὑπομένειν, μιμεῖσθε τὸν μακάριον Ἰώβ. Τὸν αὐτοῦ τρόπον οἴδατε, καὶ τὴν ὑπομονὴν ἠκούσατε, καὶ τὸ τέλος αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔλαθεν ὑμῖν. Εἰ δὲ θέλετε σωφροσύνην ὑπομένειν, μιμήσασθε τὸν μακάριον Ἰωσὴφ, τὸν 52.437 πραθέντα εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ λιμῷ τηκομένην Αἴγυπτον ἐλευθερώσαντα.

Προσετίθη γὰρ αὐτῷ πειρασμὸς ἐκ πόρνης Αἰγυπτίας τῷ ἔρωτι δεδουλωμένης, ἥτις αὐτῷ παρεκάθητο, Κοιμήθητι, λέγουσα, μετ' ἐμοῦ. Ἐβούλετο γὰρ τῆς σωφροσύνης αὐτὸν ἀπογυμνῶσαι ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ ἡ Αἰγυπτία· ἐνταῦθα δὲ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος. Ἀλλ' οὔτε ἐκείνη τὸν ἅγιον ἐσκέλισεν, οὔτε οὗτος τοῦτον· ἀλλ' ἐφάνη ὁμοῦ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἡ σωφροσύνη, καὶ τῶν τέκνων ἡ εὐγένεια, καὶ τῆς βαρβάρου ἡ ἀκολασία. βʹ. Ἀδελφοὶ, ὁ κλέπτης οὐκ ἔρχεται ὅπου καλάμη, καὶ χόρτος, καὶ ξύλον· ἀλλ' ὅπου κεῖται χρυσὸς, ἢ ἄργυρος, ἢ μαργαρίτης· οὕτως ὁ διάβολος οὐκ εἰσέρχεται ὅπου πόρνος, ἢ βέβηλος, ἢ ἅρπαξ, ἢ πλεονέκτης· ἀλλ' ὅπου οἱ τὸν ἔρημον βίον διάγοντες. Ἀδελφοὶ, βουλόμεθα ἐφαπλῶσαι τὴν γλῶτταν πρὸς τὴν βασιλίδα; Ἀλλὰ τί εἴπω; Ἰεζάβελ θορυβεῖται, καὶ Ἠλίας φεύγει· Ἡρωδιὰς εὐφραίνεται, καὶ Ἰωάννης δεσμεύεται· ἡ Αἰγυπτία ψεύδεται, καὶ Ἰωσὴφ φυλακίζεται. Ἐὰν οὖν ἐξορίσωσί με, τὸν Ἠλίαν μιμοῦμαι· ἐὰν εἰς βόρβορον βάλωσι, τὸν Ἱερεμίαν· ἐὰν εἰς θάλατταν, τὸν προφήτην Ἰωνᾶν· ἐὰν καὶ εἰς λάκκον, τὸν ∆ανιήλ· ἐὰν λιθάσωσί με, Στέφανον· ἐὰν