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| Book V
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Book V.
1. How great is the
skill required for the teacher in contending earnestly for the
truth, has been sufficiently set forth by us. But I have to mention
one more matter beside this, which is a cause of numberless
dangers, though for my own part I should rather say that the thing
itself is not the cause, but they who know not how to use it
rightly, since it is of itself a help to salvation and to much good
besides, whenever thou findest that earnest and good men have the
management of it. What then, do I mean by this? The expenditure of
great labor upon the preparation of discourses to be delivered in
public. For to begin with, the majority of those who are under the
preachers’ charge are not minded to behave towards them as
towards teachers, but disdaining the part of learners, they assume
instead the attitude of those who sit and look on at the public
games; and just as the multitude there is separated into parties,
and some attach themselves to one, and some to another, so here
also men are divided, and become the partisans now of this teacher,
now of that, listening to them with a view to favor or spite. And
not only is there this hardship, but another quite as great. For if
it has occurred to any preacher to weave into his sermons any part
of other men’s works, he is exposed to greater disgrace than
those who steal money. Nay, often where he has not even borrowed
anything from any one, but is only suspected, he has suffered the
fate of a thief. And why do I speak of the works of others when it
is not permitted to him to use his own resources without variety?
For the public are accustomed to listen not for profit, but for
pleasure, sitting like critics of tragedies, and of musical
entertainments, and that facility of speech against which we
declaimed just now, in this case becomes desirable, even more than
in the case of barristers, where they are obliged to contend one
against the other. A preacher then should have loftiness of mind,
far exceeding my own littleness of spirit, that he may correct this
disorderly and unprofitable pleasure on the part of the multitude,
and be able to lead them over to a more useful way of hearing, that
his people may follow and yield to him, and that he may not be led
away by their own humors, and this it is not possible to arrive at,
except by two means: indifference to their praise, and the power of
preaching well.191
| 191 Chrysostom’s own sermons were often interrupted
by applause, which he always severely reprimanded. |
2. For if either of these be lacking, the remaining
one becomes useless, owing to its divorce from the other, for if a
preacher be indifferent to praise, and yet cannot produce the
doctrine “which is with
grace seasoned with salt,”192
he becomes despised by the
multitude, while he gains nothing from his own nobleness of mind;
and if on the other hand he is successful as a preacher, and is
overcome by the thought of applause, harm is equally done in turn,
both to himself and the multitude, because in his desire for praise
he is careful to speak rather with a view to please than to profit.
And as he who neither lets good opinion influence him, nor is
skillful in speaking, does not yield to the pleasure of the
multitude, and is unable to do them any good worth mentioning,
because he has nothing to say, so he who is carried away with
desire for praise, though he is able to render the multitude better
service, rather provides in place of this such food as will suit
their taste, because he purchases thereby the tumult of
acclamation.
3. The best kind of Bishop must, therefore, be
strong in both these points, so that neither may supplant the
other. For if when he stands up in the congregation and speaks
words calculated to make the careless wince,193
| 193 ἐπιστύψαι, literally, to purse up the
mouth, as at the taste of what is tart or sour. | he then stumbles, and stops short,
and is forced to blush at his failure, the good of what he has
spoken is immediately wasted. For they who are rebuked, being
galled by what has been told them, and unable to avenge themselves
on him otherwise, taunt him, with jeers at this ignorance of his,
thinking to screen their own reproach thereby. Wherefore he ought,
like some very good charioteer, to come to an accurate judgment
about both these good things, in order that he may be able to deal
with both as he may have need; for when he is irreproachable in the
eyes of all, then he will be able, with just so much authority as
he wishes, both to correct and to remit from correction all those
who are under his rule. But without this it will not be easy for
him to do so. But this nobleness of soul should be shown not only
up to the limit of indifference to praise, but should go further in
order that the gain thus gotten may not in its turn be
fruitless.
4. To what else ought he then to be
indifferent? Slander and envy. Unseasonable evil speaking,194
| 194 κακηγορία—if
κατηγορία be read,
“accusation” will be the meaning. | however (for
of course the Bishop undergoes some groundless censure), it is well
that he should neither fear nor tremble at excessively, nor
entirely pass over; but we ought, though it happen to be false, or
to be brought against us by the common herd, to try and extinguish
it immediately. For nothing so magnifies both an evil and a good
report as the undisciplined mob. For accustomed to hear and to
speak without stopping to make inquiry, they repeat at random
everything which comes in their way, without any regard to the
truth of it. Therefore the Bishop ought not to be unconcerned about
the multitude, but straightway to nip their evil surmisings in the
bud; persuading his accusers, even if they be the most unreasonable
of all men, and to omit nothing which is able to dispel an
ill-favored report. But if, when we do all this, they who blame us
will not be persuaded, thenceforward we should give them no
concern. Since if any one be too quick to be dejected by these
accidents, he will not be able at any time to produce anything
noble and admirable. For despondency and constant cares are mighty
for destroying the powers of the mind, and for reducing it to
extreme weakness. Thus then must the Priest behave towards those in
his charge, as a father would behave to his very young children;
and as such are not disturbed either by their insults or their
blows, or their lamentations, nor even if they laugh and rejoice
with us, do we take much account of it; so should we neither be
puffed up by the promises of these persons nor cast down at their
censure, when it comes from them unseasonably. But this is hard, my
good friend; and perhaps, methinks, even impossible. For I know not
whether any man ever succeeded in the effort not to be pleased when
he is praised, and the man who is pleased at this is likely also to
desire to enjoy it, and the man who desires to enjoy it will, of
necessity, be altogether vexed and beside himself whenever he
misses it. For as they who revel in being rich, when they fall into
poverty are grieved, and they who have been used to live
luxuriously cannot bear to live shabbily; so, too, they who long
for applause, not only when they are blamed without a cause, but
when they are not constantly being praised, become, as by some
famine, wasted in soul, particularly when they happen themselves to
have been used to praise, or if they hear others being praised. He
who enters upon the trial of preaching with desires of this kind,
how many annoyances and how many pangs dost thou think that he has?
It is no more possible for the sea to be without waves than that
man to be without cares and grief.
5. For though the preacher may have great ability
(and this one would only find in a few), not even in this case is
he released from perpetual toil. For since preaching does not come
by nature, but by study, suppose a man to reach a high standard of
it, this will then forsake him if he does not cultivate his power
by constant application and exercise. So that there is greater
labor for the wiser than for the
unlearned. For there is not the same degree
of loss attending negligence on the part of the one and the other,
but the loss is in exact proportion to the difference between the
two possessions. For the latter195
no one would blame, as they furnish
nothing worth regarding. But the former, unless they are constantly
producing matter beyond the reputation in which all hold them,
great censure attends on all hands; and besides these things, the
latter would meet with considerable praise, even for small
performances, while the efforts of the former, unless they be
specially wonderful and startling, not only fail to win applause,
but meet with many fault-finders. For the audience set themselves
to be critics, not so much in judgment of what is said as of the
reputation of the speaker, so that whenever any one excels all
others in oratorical powers, then especially of all others does he
need laborious study. For this man is not allowed to avail himself
of the usual plea which human nature urges, that one cannot succeed
in everything; but if his sermons do not throughout correspond to
the greatness of the expectations formed, he will go away without
having gained anything but countless jeers and censures; and no one
takes this into consideration about him, that dejection and pain,
and anxiety, and often anger, may step in, and dim the clearness of
his thoughts and prevent his productions from coming from him
unalloyed,196
| 196
εἰλικρινῆ—literally, so that the sunlight fails to
discern a flaw in them. | and that on
the whole, being but a man, he cannot be constantly the same, nor
at all times acquit himself successfully, but naturally must
sometimes fall short of the mark, and appear on a lower level of
ability than usual. None of these things, as I said, are they
willing to take into consideration, but charge him with faults as
if they were sitting in judgment on an angel; though in other
cases, too, a man is apt to overlook the good performances of his
neighbor, though they be many and great, and if anywhere a defect
appears, even if it be accidental, even if it only occur at long
intervals, it is quickly perceived, and always remembered, and thus
small and trifling matters have often lessened the glory of many
and great doings.
6. Thou seest, my excellent friend, that the
man who is powerful in preaching has peculiar need of greater study
than others; and besides study, of forbearance also greater than
what is needed by all those whom I have already mentioned. For thus
are many constantly springing up against him, in a vain and
senseless spirit, and having no fault to find with him, but that he
is generally approved of, hate him; and he must bear their bitter
malice nobly, for as they are not able to hide this cursed hatred,
which they so unreasonably entertain, they both revile, and
censure, and slander in private, and defame in public, and the mind
which has begun to be pained and exasperated, on every one of these
occasions, will not escape being corrupted by grief. For they will
not only revenge themselves upon him by their own acts, but will
try to do so by means of others, and often having chosen some one
of those who are unable to speak a word, will extol him with their
praises and admire him beyond his worth. Some do this through
ignorance alone,197
| 197 Another reading is
μανί‹, infatuation. | some through
ignorance and envy, in order that they may ruin the reputation of
the other, not that they may prove the man to be wonderful who is
not so, and the noble-minded man has not only to struggle against
these, but often against the ignorance of the whole multitude; for
since it is not possible that all those who come together should
consist of learned men, but the chances are that the larger part of
the congregation is composed of unlearned people, and that even the
rest, who are clearer headed than they, fall as far short of being
able to criticize sermons as the remainder again fall short of
them; so that only one or two are seated there who possess this
power; it follows, of necessity, that he who preaches better than
others carries away less applause, and possibly goes home without
being praised at all, and he must be prepared to meet such
anomalies nobly, and to pardon those who commit them in ignorance,
and to weep for those who acquiesce in them on account of envy as
wretched and pitiable creatures, and not to consider that his
powers have become less on either of these accounts. For if a man,
being a pre-eminently good painter, and superior to all in his art,
sees the portrait which he has drawn with great accuracy held up to
ridicule, he ought not to be dejected, and to consider the picture
poor, because of the judgment of the ignorant; as he would not
consider the drawing that is really poor to be something wonderful
and lovely, because of the astonishment of the
inartistic.
7. For let the best artificer be himself the critic
of his own designs, and let his performances be determined to be
good or poor, according as the mind which designed them gives
sentence upon them. But let him not even consider the opinion, so
erroneous and inartistic, of the outside world. Let, therefore, the
man who undertakes the strain of
teaching never give heed to the good opinion of
the outside world, nor be dejected in soul on account of such
persons; but laboring at his sermons so that he may please God,
(For let this alone be his rule and determination, in discharging
this best kind of workmanship, not acclamation, nor good opinions,)
if, indeed, he be praised by men, let him not repudiate their
applause, and when his hearers do not offer this, let him not seek
it, let him not be grieved. For a sufficient consolation in his
labors, and one greater than all, is when he is able to be
conscious of arranging and ordering his teaching with a view to
pleasing God.
8. For if he be first carried away with the
desire for indiscriminate praise, he will reap no advantage from
his labors, or from his power in preaching, for the mind being
unable to bear the senseless censures of the multitude is
dispirited, and casts aside all earnestness about preaching.
Therefore it is especially necessary to be trained to be
indifferent to all kinds of praise. For to know how to preach is
not enough for the preservation of that power, if this be not
added: and if any one would examine accurately the man who is
destitute of this art, he will find that he needs to be indifferent
to praise no less than the other,198
for he will be forced to do many
wrong things in placing himself under the control of popular
opinion. For not having the energy to equal those who are in repute
for the quality of their preaching, he will not refrain from
forming ill designs against them, from envying them, and from
blaming them without reason, and from many such discreditable
practices, but will venture everything, even if it be needful to
ruin his own soul, for the sake of bringing down their fame to the
level of his own insignificance. And in addition to this, he will
leave off his exertions about his work; a kind of numbness, as it
were, spreading itself over his mind. For much toil, rewarded by
scanty praise, is sufficient to cast down a man who cannot despise
praise, and put him into a deep lethargy, since the husbandman even
when he spends time over some sorry piece of land, and is forced to
till a rock, quickly desists from his work, unless he is possessed
of much earnestness about the matter, or has a fear of famine
impending over him. For if they who are able to speak with
considerable power, need such constant exercise for the
preservation of their talent, he who collects no materials at all,
but is forced in the midst of his efforts to meditate; what
difficulty, what confusion, what trouble will he experience, in
order that he may be able at great labor to collect a few ideas!
and if any of those clergy who are under his authority, and who are
placed in the inferior order, be able in that position to appear to
better advantage than he; what a divine mind must he have, so as
not to be seized with envy or cast down by despondency. For, for
one to be placed in a station of higher dignity, and to be
surpassed by his inferior in rank, and to bear this nobly, would
not be the part of any ordinary mind, nor of such as my own, but of
one as hard as adamant; and if, indeed, the man who is in greater
repute be very forbearing and modest, the suffering becomes so much
the more easily borne. But if he is bold and boastful and
vainglorious, a daily death would be desirable for the other; he
will so embitter his life, insulting him to his face, and laughing
at him behind his back, wresting much of his authority from him,
and wishing to be everything himself. But he is possessed of the
greatest security, in all these circumstances, who has fluency in
preaching, and the earnest attention of the multitude about him,
and the affection of all those who are under his charge. Dost not
thou know what a passion for sermons has burst in upon the minds of
Christians now-a-days? and that they who practice themselves in
preaching are in especial honor, not only among the heathen, but
among them of the household of the faith? How then could any one
bear such disgrace as to find that all are mute when he is
preaching, and think that they are oppressed, and wait for the end
of the sermon, as for some release from work; while they listen to
another with eagerness though he preach long, and are sorry when he
is about to conclude; and almost angry when it is his purpose to be
silent. If these matters seem to thee to be small, and easily to be
despised, it is because of thine inexperience. They are truly
enough to quench zeal, and to paralyze the powers of the mind,
unless a man withdraw himself from all human passions, and study to
frame his conduct after the pattern of those incorporeal powers,
who are neither pursued by envy, nor by longing for fame, nor by
any other morbid feeling. If then there be any man so constituted
as to be able to subdue this wild beast, so difficult to capture,
so unconquerable, so fierce; that is to say, public fame, and to
cut off its many heads, or rather to forbid their growth
altogether; he will easily be able to repel these many violent
assaults, and to enjoy a kind of quiet haven of rest. But he who
has not freed himself from this monster, involves his soul in
struggles of various kinds, and perpetual agitation, and the burden
both of despondency and of other passions. But why need I detail
the rest of these difficulties, which no one will be able to
describe, or to learn unless he has had actual experience of
them.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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