On the Three Youths (formerly under the authorship of John Chrysostom)

On the Three Youths, and on the Babylonian Furnace, Discourse 1. A new, truly, and very great theater of piety the company of the three youths established, having fought the good fight in Babylon, but assembling the wonder of their martyrdom throughout the whole world. For the glory of the saints is not circumscribed by place, nor is the memory of the just confined by time; For the righteous one shall be in everlasting remembrance. Wherefore, even if their martyrdom was completed in the most ancient of times, yet the achievement of their endurance is sung for all eternity. We know the events through the readings, we know the history through memory, we know as in an image through the word both the lawlessness of the tyrant and the confession of the saints 56.594, and the furnace burning with fire, but shining in contrast to the rage of the tyrant, and showing the martyrs' confession to be unquenchable by the threat of the fire; rather, what prevents us from taking up from the beginning and speaking of the contests of those truly God-loving and thrice-blessed ones? Nebuchadnezzar the king, or rather the tyrant (for this is a fitting name for the lawless one), ruled over Babylonia; and he was a barbarian in soul, and savage in character. This man, drunk with much injustice and wealth and impiety, was ignorant of his own nature, and not even suspecting himself to be a man, he expected to be worshipped as a god. And both his congenital madness 56.595 and the long-suffering of God nurtured his excessive arrogance, bearing with the impious patiently, and permitting all things to happen for the training of the pious. And the lawless one made a golden image, that is, a golden statue, and he compelled those made in the image of God to worship the image that he made. And employing great ambition, he gives it a height of sixty cubits, and a breadth of six cubits; and he constructs the statue well-proportioned and well-formed, so that either by its size or by the beauty of its composition the falsehood might conquer, doing violence to the truth. So the craftsmanship glittered, the gold shone, the herald cried out, the tyrant threatened, the furnace was ablaze, and in addition to all these things, the so-called musical instruments drove the foolish terribly into godlessness, and in short, the spectacle of the things seen stole the reason of all the onlookers. But the command of impiety was not to be stronger than the saints; and while all, so to speak, were being dragged down into the precipice of idolatry as by some torrent of the violent stream of deceit, these three good youths, as if leaning faithfully upon piety as some rock, were not dragged under by the stream of iniquity. For it was fitting for them to say: If the Lord had not been on our side, then they would have swallowed us alive. When their anger was kindled against us, then the water would have overwhelmed us. Our soul passed through a torrent; then our soul passed through the irresistible water. But they were neither overwhelmed by the stream, nor were they caught in the snares, but running well toward piety, and using the high wing of faith, they were saved, according to the Proverbist, "Like a gazelle from the snares, and like a bird from the trap." And seeing, as it were, the nets of the devil spread over all humanity, they would repeat the pious voice according to the psalmist, saying: The sinners shall fall into their own net. And the three captives did not look at their own littleness, though they were being pursued by so many, but they knew precisely that even the smallest spark of piety is sufficient to burn down and destroy all impiety. For this reason, although they were three, to one another

De tribus pueris (olim sub auctore Joanne Chrysostomo)

Εἰς τοὺς τρεῖς παῖδας, καὶ εἰς τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν κάμινον, Λόγος. αʹ. Καινὸν, ὡς ἀληθῶς, καὶ μέγιστον εὐσεβείας θέατρον ἡ τῶν τριῶν παίδων συνεστήσατο χορεία, ἐν Βαβυλῶνι μὲν τὸν ἀγῶνα τὸν καλὸν ἠγωνισμένη, κατὰ πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν οἰκουμένην συγκροτοῦσα τὸ θαῦμα τοῦ μαρτυρίου. Οὐ γὰρ περιγράφεται τόπῳ ἡ τῶν ἁγίων δόξα, οὐδὲ περιορίζεται χρόνοις ἡ τῶν δικαίων μνήμη· Εἰς μνημόσυνον γὰρ αἰώνιον ἔσται δίκαιος. Ὅθεν εἰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς παλαιοτάτοις χρόνοις ἐτελειώθη τὸ μαρτύριον, ἀλλ' εἰς πάντα τὸν αἰῶνα τῆς ὑπομονῆς ᾄδεται τὸ στρατήγημα. Οἴδαμεν διὰ τῶν ἀναγνωσμάτων τὰ πράγματα, οἴδαμεν διὰ τῆς μνήμης τὴν ἱστορίαν, οἴδαμεν ὡς ἐν εἰκόνι τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τοῦ τυράννου τὴν παρανομίαν, καὶ τῶν ἁγίων 56.594 τὴν ὁμολογίαν, καὶ φλεγομένην μὲν τῷ πυρὶ τὴν κάμινον, ἀντιλάμπουσαν δὲ τῷ θυμῷ τοῦ τυράννου, καὶ τῇ ἀπειλῇ τοῦ πυρὸς ἄσβεστον τὴν τῶν μαρτύρων ὁμολογίαν ἐπιδεικνυμένην· μᾶλλον δὲ τί τὸ κωλύον ἄνωθεν ἀναλαβόντας τῶν θεοφιλῶν ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ τρισμακαρίων τοὺς ἀγῶνας εἰπεῖν; Ναβουχοδονόσορ ὁ βασιλεὺς, μᾶλλον δὲ ὁ τύραννος (τοῦτο γὰρ οἰκεῖον ὄνομα τῷ παρανόμῳ), ἐκράτει μὲν τῆς Βαβυλωνίας· ἦν δὲ καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ βάρβαρος, καὶ τὸν τρόπον ἀνήμερος. Οὗτος ἀδικίᾳ πολλῇ καὶ πλούτῳ καὶ ἀσεβείᾳ μεθύων ἠγνόησε μὲν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν, καὶ οὐδὲ ἄνθρωπον ἑαυτὸν ὑπονοήσας, ὡς Θεὸς προσκυνεῖσθαι προσεδόκησεν. Ἔθρεψαν δὲ αὐτῷ τὴν ὑπέρογκον ἀλαζονείαν ἥ τε σύντροφος αὐτοῦ μανία, 56.595 καὶ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ μακροθυμία, φέρουσα μὲν ἀνεξικάκως τοὺς ἀσεβοῦντας, συγχωροῦσα δὲ πάντα γενέσθαι πρὸς γυμνασίαν τῶν εὐσεβούντων. Ἐποίησε δὲ ὁ παράνομος εἰκόνα χρυσῆν, τουτέστιν ἀνδριάντα χρυσοῦν, καὶ τοὺς κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γενομένους προσκυνεῖν ἠνάγκαζεν ἣν ἐποίησεν εἰκόνα. Πολλῇ δὲ τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ χρησάμενος, ὕψος μὲν αὐτῇ δίδωσι πηχῶν ἑξήκοντα, εὖρος δὲ πηχῶν ἕξ· εὐάρμοστον δὲ καὶ εὔρυθμον τὸ ἄγαλμα κατασκευάζει, ἵνα ἢ τῷ μεγέθει, ἢ τῷ κάλλει τῆς συνθέσεως ἐκνικήσῃ τὸ ψεῦδος, βιασάμενον τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Ἔστιλβε μὲν οὖν ἡ τέχνη, ἔλαμπεν ὁ χρυσὸς, ὁ κήρυξ ἐβόα, ὁ τύραννος ἠπείλει, ἡ κάμινος ἐφλέγετο, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις πᾶσι τὰ λεγόμενα τῆς μουσικῆς ὄργανα τοὺς ἄφρονας δεινῶς εἰς ἀθεΐαν ἐξεβάκχευε, καὶ ὅλως πάντων ἔκλεπτε τῶν ὁρώντων τὴν ἔννοιαν ἡ φαντασία τῶν ὁρωμένων. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔμελλε καὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἐπικρατέστερον εἶναι τὸ τῆς ἀσεβείας πρόσταγμα· πάντων δὲ, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ὥσπερ ὑπό τινος χειμάῤῥου τοῦ σφοδροῦ τῆς ἀπάτης ῥεύματος εἰς τὸν τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας κρημνὸν κατασυρομένων, οἱ τρεῖς οὗτοι καὶ καλοὶ νεανίαι ὥσπερ ἐπί τινα πέτραν τὴν εὐσέβειαν πιστῶς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπερείσαντες, οὐχ ὑπεσύρησαν ἴσ. ὑπεσυρήσαντο τῷ ῥεύματι τῆς ἀδικίας. Ἔπρεπε γὰρ λέγειν αὐτοῖς· Εἰ μὴ ὅτι Κύριος ἦν ἐν ἡμῖν, ἄρα ζῶντας ἂν κατέπιον ἡμᾶς. Ἐν τῷ ὀργισθῆναι τὸν θυμὸν αὐτῶν ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, ἄρα τὸ ὕδωρ ἂν κατεπόντισεν ἡμᾶς. Χείμαῤῥον διῆλθεν ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν· ἄρα διῆλθεν ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ἀνυπόστατον. Ἀλλ' οὔτε τῷ ῥεύματι κατεποντίσθησαν, οὔτε τοῖς βρόχοις ἑάλωσαν, ἀλλὰ καλῶς δραμόντες εἰς εὐσέβειαν, καὶ ὑψηλῷ τῷ πτερῷ τῆς πίστεως κεχρημένοι διεσώζοντο, κατὰ τὸν παροιμιαστὴν, Ὥσπερ δορκὰς ἐκ βρόχων, καὶ ὥσπερ ὄρνεον ἐκ παγίδος. Καὶ μονονουχὶ τὰ τοῦ διαβόλου δίκτυα κατὰ πάσης ἡπλωμένα τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ὁρῶντες, τὴν εὐσεβῆ φωνὴν ἐδευτέρουν κατὰ τοῦ ὑμνογράφου λέγοντες· Πεσοῦνται ἐν ἀμφιβλήστρῳ αὐτῶν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί. Καὶ οὐκ ἀπέβλεψαν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν βραχύτητα οἱ τρεῖς αἰχμάλωτοι, καὶ ὑπὸ τοσούτων ἐλαυνόμενοι, ἀλλ' ᾔδεισαν ἀκριβῶς, ὅτι καὶ ὁ βραχύτατος τῆς εὐσεβείας σπινθὴρ ἱκανός ἐστιν ἅπασαν τὴν ἀσέβειαν καταφλέξαι καὶ ἀφανίσαι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καίτοι τρεῖς ὄντες, ἀλλήλοις