John Chrysostom, Against Heretics

Contra haereticos

Against heretics.

60.745 Knowing you to be dancers and soldiers of piety, at one time I set before you the sweet sound of morals, as to dancers, and at another time we echo the austerity of dogma to your ears, like the sound of a trumpet to armed soldiers. For from both is the form of piety composed, with morals fulfilling the order of the body, and the yoking of doctrines being assigned to the dignity of the soul. For just as when the soul is separated from the body, the harmony of the limbs is useless even if it is praised; so too is the beauty of moral virtue dead, if not enlivened by the power of doctrines. For what is the benefit of morals taught to be temperate, when the temperate man is ignorant of the judge of temperance? what is the profit of almsgiving, when the judge of almsgiving, being rejected, is indignant? what advantage will there be for soldiers who show great diligence in good works, but are enemies to the king? Unless the orthodoxy of doctrines is firmly rooted, you have rendered every advantage of virtue a useless gain for those who do not possess it. For the fruits must come forth from the root, and the sinews of the virtues must proceed from the head. We, depending on this, and weaving the members of our actions together with it, form the complete body of piety, clinging tightly to Christ, the head of the body. For He, it says, is the head of the body, the Church; whom heretics have disdained to have as their head. Therefore, it would be worthy of prayer that those called Christians not rage in such a way against Christ. But now we must even be grateful to them for their madness, because by their raging they make us stay awake, because they provoke us to a desirable battle. For I love a battle better than peace, I love a war more blessed than love, I love a doctrine that parades itself, on the one hand boasting of Christ to the Greeks, and on the other hand rebelling against us, because we exalt Christ. For such was Arius; when he speaks to Greeks, he speaks solemnly of Christ; but when he disputes with us, he speaks against Christ. Such is Eunomius; when he censures Hellenism, he denounces deification; but when he speaks to us, he establishes deification; for it is a form of deification to say that God the Word is a created God and a creature made to be worshipped. What are you doing, you blind heretic? You introduce the things that Christ destroyed in His building, and He has uprooted what you devise—the deification of creatures, creature-worship—planting greater things. Do not harm the nobility of Christianity; do not make it a kinsman of Hellenism; for the worship of a creature, whether the creature worshipped be greater or lesser, is a brother to Hellenic worship. At any rate, Paul does not accuse the Greeks because they worshipped in a small way, but that they worshipped the creature at all rather than the creator. For to worship a creature, both in a small and in a great thing, is equivalent; rather, a heretic is more grievous to the divine nature even than the Greeks. For he who calls creation God is not so insulting to the Godhead as he who names God a creature. For the one who deifies creation seems to dress a slave in the royal purple; but the one who introduces God as a creature compels the Godhead to be a commoner. A Greek, who suspects the divine, yet serves it in all ways; but Arius does not revere, he does not bear the praise of God. He does not deny revering and worshipping Christ, but he is grieved when He is honored with the highest honors. If someone says uncreated, they were immediately angered; if without a master, they were displeased; if a sharer in the paternal dignity, they were provoked as at a greater blow; if an autonomous giver of gifts, at this too they gnash their teeth; having the name of Christians, but the mind of Christ-haters.

Contra haereticos

Κατὰ αἱρετικῶν.

60.745 Χορευτὰς τῆς εὐσεβείας ὑμᾶς καὶ στρατιώτας εἰδότες, νῦν μὲν τὴν τῶν ἠθικῶν ὡς χορευταῖς γλυκυφωνίαν προτίθεμαι, νῦν δὲ τὴν δογματικὴν ταῖς ἀκοαῖς αὐστηρότητα, καθάπερ σάλπιγγος φωνὴν, ὑπηχοῦμεν ὁπλίταις. Ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων γὰρ ἡ τῆς εὐσεβείας συντέθειται μόρφωσις, τῶν μὲν ἠθικῶν τὴν τοῦ σώματος τάξιν ἀναπληρούντων, τῆς δὲ τῶν δογμάτων παραζεύξεως ἐν τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς τεταγμένης ἀξίᾳ. Καθάπερ γὰρ σώματος ἀποζευχθέντος ψυχῆς, ἡ τῶν μελῶν ἄχρηστος ᾖ κἂν ἐπαινῆται συνθήκη· οὕτω καὶ τῆς τῶν ἠθικῶν ἀρετῆς τὸ κάλλος νεκρὸν, τῇ τῶν δογμάτων δυνάμει μὴ ψυχούμενον. Τί γὰρ ὄφελος ἠθῶν σωφρονεῖν παιδευθέντων, ὅταν τὸν τῆς σωφροσύνης κριτὴν ὁ σωφρονῶν ἀγνοῇ; τί τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης τὸ κέρδος, ὅταν ὁ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης ἀθετούμενος ἀγανακτῇ δικαστής; τίς ὄνησις στρατιώταις ὑπάρξει, πολλὴν μὲν ἐνδεικνυμένοις ἀγαθῶν ἐργασίαν, ἐχθρῶν δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ; Μὴ κεχρημένοις ἄπαν ἔθηκας ἀρετῆς ἀνωφελὲς πλεονέκτημα, τῆς τῶν δογμάτων μὴ προσεῤῥιζωμένης ὀρθότητος. ∆εῖ γὰρ ἐκ ῥίζης τοὺς καρποὺς προϊέναι, καὶ τὰ νεῦρα τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐκ κεφαλῆς ἀφορμᾶσθαι. Ταύτης ἡμεῖς ἐκκρεμάμενοι, καὶ τὰ τῶν πράξεων αὐτῇ συνυφαίνοντες μέλη, τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας ὁλόκληρον ἀπαρτίζομεν σῶμα, τὴν τοῦ σώματος κεφαλὴν Χριστὸν περισφίγγοντες. Αὐτὸς γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐστὶν ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ σώματος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· ὃν ἔχειν αἱρετικοὶ κεφαλὴν ἀπηξίωσαν. Εὐχῆς μὲν οὖν ἄξιον μὴ τοιαῦτα Χριστιανοὺς καλουμένους κατὰ Χριστοῦ μεμηνέναι. Νῦν δὲ καὶ χάριν αὐτοῖς τῆς μανίας ἰστέον, ὅτι ποιοῦσιν ἡμᾶς ἐγρηγορέναι λυσσῶντες, ὅτι πρὸς μάχην ποθεινὴν ἐρεθίζουσι. Φιλῶ γὰρ μάχην εἰρήνης βελτίονα, φιλῶ πόλεμον ἀγάπης μακαριώτερον, φιλῶ γνώμην πομπεύειν πρὸς μὲν Ἕλληνας σεμνυνομένην ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς στασιάζουσαν, ὅτι Χριστὸν ἀνυψοῦμεν. Τοιοῦτος γὰρ ἦν Ἄρειος· ὅταν μὲν Ἕλλησι λαλῇ, σεμνολογεῖ τὸν Χριστόν· ὅταν δὲ ἡμῖν διαλέγηται, καταλαλεῖ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τοιοῦτος Εὐνόμιος· ὅταν Ἑλληνισμὸν ψέγῃ, στηλιτεύει θεοποιίαν· ὅταν δὲ φθέγγηται πρὸς ἡμᾶς, θεοποιίαν ἱστᾷ· θεοποιίας γὰρ εἶδος, τὸ λέγειν τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον δεδημιουργημένον Θεὸν καὶ κεκτισμένον εἰς τὸ λατρεύεσθαι κτίσμα. Τί ποιεῖς, τυφλώττων αἱρετικέ; Ἃ κατέλυσεν εἰσάγεις οἰκοδομοῦντα τὸν Χριστὸν, καὶ ἃ νοεῖς ἀνέσπασε, τῶν κτισμάτων θεοποιίας, κτισματολατρείαν, φυτεύων τὰ μείζονα. Μὴ βλάπτε τοῦ Χριστιανισμοῦ τὴν εὐγένειαν· μὴ ποίει τοῦτον Ἑλληνισμοῦ συγγενῆ· λατρεία γὰρ κτίσματος, κἂν μεῖζον κἂν ἔλαττον τὸ λατρευόμενον ᾖ κτίσμα, λατρείας Ἑλληνικῆς ἀδελφόν. Οὐκ ἐγκαλεῖ γοῦν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὁ Παῦλος, ὅτι μικρῶς ἐλάτρευσαν, ἀλλ' ὅλως ἐλάτρευσαν τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα. Τὸ γὰρ κτίσματι λατρεύειν καὶ ἐν μικρῷ καὶ ἐν μεγάλῳ ἰσοδύναμόν ἐστι· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ Ἑλλήνων αἱρετικὸς τῇ θείᾳ χαλεπώτερος φύσει. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτως ὑβριστὴς εἰς τὸ Θεῖον ὁ τὴν κτίσιν προσαγορεύων Θεὸν, ὡς ὁ κτίσμα τὸν Θεὸν ὀνομάζων. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὴν κτίσιν θεοποιῶν, δοῦλον ἐνδύειν δοκεῖ βασιλικὴν πορφυρίδα· ὁ δὲ κτίσμα τὸν Θεὸν παρεισάγων, ἰδιωτεύειν ἀναγκάζει τὸ Θεῖον. Ἕλλην μὲν, ὃς ὑποπτεύει τὸ Θεῖον, θεραπεύει δὲ παντοίως· Ἄρειος δὲ οὐ σέβει, Θεοῦ τὴν εὐφημίαν οὐ φέρει. Σέβειν μὲν τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ προσκυνεῖν οὐκ ἀρνεῖται, τιμωμένου δὲ τιμαῖς ὑψηλοτάταις ἀλγεῖ. Ἂν εἴπῃ τις ἄκτιστον, εὐθέως ὠργίσθησαν· ἂν ἀδέσποτον, ἐδυσχέραναν· ἂν τῆς ἀξίας κοινωνὸν τῆς πατρῴας, ὡς ἐπὶ μείζονι πληγῇ παρωξύνθησαν· ἂν δοτῆρα δωρεῶν αὐτεξούσιον, καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο βρύχονται· κλήσεις μὲν Χριστιανῶν, μισοχρίστων δὲ γνώμην.