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Homily II.
Spoken in Antioch in the Old Church, as it was
called, while he was a presbyter, on the subject of the calamity
that had befallen the city in consequence of the tumult connected
with the overthrow of the Statues of the Emperor Theodosius, the
Great and Pious. And on the saying of the Apostle, “Charge them
that are rich that they be not high-minded,” 1 Timothy vi. 17. And against
covetousness.
1. What shall I say,
or what shall I speak of? The present season is one for tears, and
not for words; for lamentation, not for discourse; for prayer, not
for preaching. Such is the magnitude of the deeds daringly done; so
incurable is the wound, so deep the blow, even beyond the power of
all treatment, and craving assistance from above. Thus it was that
Job, when he had lost all, sat himself down upon a dunghill; and
his friends heard of it, and came, and seeing him, while yet afar
off, they rent their garments, and sprinkled themselves with ashes,
and made great lamentation.1078
The same thing now ought all the
cities around to do, to come to our city and to lament with all
sympathy what has befallen us. He then sat down on his dunghill;
she is now seated in the midst of a great snare. For even as the
devil then leaped violently the flocks, and herds, and all the
substance of the just man, so now hath he raged against this whole
city. But then, as well as now, God permitted it; then, indeed,
that he might make the just man more illustrious by the greatness
of his trials; and now, that he may make us more sober-minded by
the extremity of this tribulation. Suffer me to mourn over our
present state. We have been silent seven days, even as the friends
of Job were.1079
Suffer me
to open my mouth to-day, and to bewail this common
calamity.
2. Who, beloved, hath bewitched us? Who hath envied
us? Whence hath all this change come over us? Nothing was more
dignified than our city! Now, never was anything more pitiable! The
populace so well ordered and quiet, yea, even like a tractable and
well tamed steed, always submissive to the hands of its rulers,
hath now so suddenly started off with us, as to have wrought such
evils, as one can hardly dare to mention.
I mourn now and lament, not for the greatness of
that wrath which is to be expected, but for the extravagance of the
frenzy which has been manifested! For although the Emperor should
not be provoked, or in anger, although he were neither to punish,
nor take vengeance; how, I
pray, are we to bear the shame of all that has been done? I find
the word of instruction broken off by lamentation; scarcely am I
able to open my mouth, to part my lips, to move my tongue, or to
utter a syllable! So, even like a curb, the weight of grief checks
my tongue, and keeps back what I would say.
3. Aforetime there was nothing happier than
our city; nothing more melancholy than it is now become. As bees
buzzing around their hive, so before this the inhabitants every day
flitted about the forum, and all pronounced us happy in being so
numerous. But behold now, this hive hath become solitary! For even
as smoke does those bees, so fear hath driven away our swarms; and
what the prophet says, bewailing Jerusalem, we may fitly say now,
“Our city is become ‘like a terebinth that hath lost its
leaves,1080
| 1080 E.V., as an oak whose leaf fadeth,
Heb. הלָא” which may be either
tree. | and as a
garden that hath no water.’”1081
For in like manner as a garden
when its irrigation fails, exhibits the trees stripped of their
leaves, and bare of their fruits, so has it now fared with our
city. For the help from above having forsaken her, she stands
desolate stripped of almost all her inhabitants.
4. Nothing is sweeter than one’s own
country; but now, it has come to pass that nothing is more bitter!
All flee from the place which brought them forth, as from a snare.
They desert it as they would a dungeon; they leap out of it, as
from a fire. And just as when a house is seized upon by the flames,
not only those who dwell therein, but all who are near, take their
flight from it with the utmost haste, eager to save but their bare
bodies; even so now too, when the wrath of the Emperor is expected
to come as a fire1082
| 1082 Ben. πυρ‚ς, “burning
pile” (as of beams, &c.). | from above, every one presses to
go forth in time, and to save the bare body, before the fire in its
progress reaches them. And now our calamity has become an enigma; a
flight without enemies; an expulsion of inhabitants without a
battle; a captivity without capture! We have not seen the fire of
barbarians, nor beheld the face of enemies: and yet we experience
the sufferings of captives. All men now hear of our calamities; for
receiving our exiles, they learn from them the stroke which has
fallen upon our city.
5. Yet I am not ashamed, nor blush at this.
Let all men learn the sufferings of the city, that, sympathizing
with their mother, they may lift up their united voice to God from
the whole earth; and with one consent entreat the King of heaven
for their universal nurse and parent.1083
| 1083 St. Chrysostom alludes more than once in these
Homilies to the distinction referred to in Acts xi. 26, as one that
all must still recognize. | Lately our city was shaken;1084
| 1084 Antioch suffered much from earthquakes before and
after this period. It was almost demolished by this visitation,
A.D. 340, and so again at several periods afterwards. More than
60,000 of its inhabitants perished from the same cause, A.D.
588. | but now
the very souls of the inhabitants totter! Then the foundations of
the houses shook, but now the very foundations of every heart
quiver; and we all see death daily before our eyes! We live in
constant terror, and endure the penalty of Cain; a more pitiable
one than that of those who were the former inmates of the prison;
undergoing as we now do a new and strange kind of siege, far more
terrible than the ordinary kind. For they who suffer this from
enemies, are only shut up within the walls; but even the forum has
become impassable to us, and every one is pent up within the walls
of his own house! And as it is not safe for those who are beseiged
to go beyond the walls, while the enemy without is encamped around;
so neither, to many of those who inhabit this city, is it safe to
go out of doors, or to appear openly; on account of those who are
everywhere hunting for the innocent as well as the guilty; and
seizing them even in the midst of the forum, and dragging them to
the court of justice, without ceremony, and just as chance
directs.1085
| 1085 ƒπλῶς
καὶ ὠς žτυχεν, i.e., without regard to the
ordinary forms of justice used in apprehending the guilty or
suspected. | For this
reason, free-men sit in doors shackled up with their domestics;
anxiously and minutely enquiring of those to whom they may safely
put the question, “Who has been seized to-day; who carried off;1086
| 1086 Or executed, ‡πήχθη, see Hom. III. (6). | or
punished? How was it? and in what manner?” They live a life more
wretched than any kind of death; being compelled daily to mourn the
calamities of others; while they tremble for their own safety, and
are in no better case than the dead; inasmuch as they are already
dead with fear.
6. But if any one who is devoid of this fear
and anguish, chooses to enter the forum, he is presently driven
back to his own dwelling, by the cheerless spectacle; finding
hardly perchance one or two people, and those hanging their heads
and creeping about with downcast looks, where but a few days before
the multitude swept along more incessantly than1087
| 1087 Or “more than rivalled,”
‡π™κρυπτεν. | the streams of rivers. Yet all
these have now been driven away from us! And, as when many trees in
a thick wood of oak are cut down in all directions, the spectacle
becomes a melancholy one, even like that of a head with many
patches of baldness; even so the city itself, its inhabitants being
diminished and but
few appearing here and there, is now become dreary, and sheds a
heavy mist of sorrow over those who witness it. And not the ground
only, but the very nature of the air, and even the circle of the
sun’s beams, seem now to me to look mournful, and to shine more
dimly; not that the elements change their nature, but that our eyes
being confused by the cloud of sadness, are unable to receive the
light of the rays clearly, or with the same relish. This is what
the prophet of old bewailed, when he said, “The sun shall go down
at noon, and the day shall be darkened.”1088
And this he said, not as though
the Day Star1089
should be
eclipsed, or the day should disappear, but because those who are in
sorrow, are not able to perceive the light even of noon day on
account of the darkness of their anguish; which indeed has been the
case now. And wherever any one looks abroad, whether upon the
ground or upon the walls; whether upon the columns of the city, or
upon his neighbours, he seems to see night and deep gloom; so full
is all of melancholy! There is a silence big with horror, and
loneliness everywhere; and that dear hum of the multitude is
stifled; and even as though all were gone beneath the earth, so
speechlessness hath now taken possession of the city; and all men
seem like stones, and being oppressed by the calamity like a gag on
their tongues; they maintain the profoundest silence, yea, such a
silence as if enemies had come on them, and had consumed them all
at once by fire and sword!
7. Now is it a fit season to say, “Call for
the mourning women, that they may come, and for the cunning women,
and let them take up a wailing. Let your1090
| 1090 E.V., that our eyes may. | eyes run down with water, and your
eyelids gush out with tears.”1091
Ye hills take up wailing, and ye
mountains lamentation! Let us call the whole creation into sympathy
with our evils. So great a city, and the head of those which lie
under the eastern sky, is in danger of being torn away from the
midst of the civilized world! She that had so many children, has
now suddenly become childless, and there is no one who shall come
to her aid! For he who has been insulted has not an equal in
dignity upon earth; for he is a monarch; the summit and head of all
here below! On this account then let us take refuge in the King
that is above. Him let us call in to our aid. If we may not obtain
the favour of heaven, there is no consolation left for what has
befallen us!
8. Here I could wish to end this discourse; for the
minds of those who are in anguish are indisposed to extend their
discourses to a great length. And as when some dense cloud has
formed, and flying under the solar rays, returns back to him all
his splendour again, so indeed does the cloud of sadness, when it
stands before our souls, refuse to admit an easy passage for the
word, but chokes it and restrains it forcibly within. And this is
the case not only with those who speak, but with those who hear;
for as it does not suffer the word to burst forth freely from the
soul of the speaker, so neither does it suffer it to sink into the
mind of those who listen, with its natural power. Therefore also
the Jews of old time, while slaving at the mud and bricks, had not
the heart to listen to Moses, while he repeatedly told them great
things respecting their future deliverance; despondency making
their minds inaccessible to the address, and shutting up their
sense of hearing. I could have wished then, as to myself, to have
put an end here to my discourse; but thinking that it is not only
the nature of a cloud to intercept the forward passage of the
sun’s rays, but that often just the opposite happens to the
cloud; since the sun continually falling upon it with much warmth,
wears it away, and frequently breaks through the midst of it; and
shining forth all at once, meets cheerfully the gaze of the
beholders. This also I myself expect to do this day; and the word
being continually associated with your minds, and dwelling in them,
I hope to burst the cloud of sadness, and to shine through your
understandings again, with the customary instruction!
9. But afford me your attention! Lend me your
ears awhile! Shake off this despondency! Let us return to our
former custom;1092
and as we
have been used always to meet here with gladness, so let us also do
now, casting all upon God. And this will contribute towards our
actual deliverance from calamity. For should the Lord see that His
words are listened to carefully; and that our love of divine wisdom
stands the trial of the difficulty of these times, He will quickly
take us up again, and will make out of the present tempest a calm
and happy change. For this too is a thing in which it behoves the
Christian to differ from the unbelievers, the bearing all things
nobly; and through hope of the future, soaring above the attack of
human evils. The believer hath his stand on the Rock; for this
reason he cannot be overthrown by the dashing of the billows. For
should the waves of temptation rise, they
cannot reach to his feet. He stands too lofty for
any such assault. Let us not then sink down, beloved! We do not
care so much for our own safety, as God who made us. There is not
so much solicitude on our part, lest we suffer any dreadful
misfortune, as with Him who bestowed upon us a soul, and then gave
us so many good things beside. Let us mount on the wings of these
hopes, and hear the things about to be spoken with our accustomed
readiness.
10. I made a prolonged discourse lately unto
you beloved, and yet I saw all following it up, and no one turning
back in the middle of the course.1093
| 1093 οὐδ™να ἐκ μ™σης
ὑποστρ™ψαντα τῆς ὁδοῦ. He evidently alludes to
the first Homily—a long one—and which it appears from what he
has just said, was preached seven days before this, Tr. Montfaucon counts the seven days from the
sedition. The order of reading the Epistles as lessons
perhaps cannot be ascertained. The Codex Ebneri (Bodl. Auct.
B. 123), has marks, but of later date than the text, for reading on
the several days of thirty-four weeks: the passage presently
mentioned and that in Hom. I. fall on Thursday and Friday in the
27th, but this does not seem to the purpose. | I return thanks to you for that
readiness, and have received the reward of my labours. But there
was another reward, besides that attention, which I asked of you at
that time; perchance you know and recollect it. And what was the
reward? That you should punish and chastise the blasphemers that
were in the city; that ye should restrain those who are violent and
insolent against God! I do not think that I then spoke these things
of myself; but that God, foreseeing what was coming, injected these
words into my mind; for if we had punished those who dared to do
such things, that which has now happened would never have happened.
How much better would it have been, if necessity so required, to
run into danger; yea, to suffer in castigating and correcting such
persons (which would have brought us a martyr’s crown), than now
to fear, to tremble, and to expect death, from the insubordination
of such persons! Behold, the crime was that of a few, but the blame
comes on all! Behold, through these, we are all now placed in fear,
and are ourselves suffering the punishment of what these men dared
to do! But if we had taken them in time, and cast them out of the
city, and chastised them, and corrected the sick member, we should
not have been subjected to our present terror. I know that the
manners of this city have been of a noble character from old
times;1094
| 1094 See Hom. III. (i.) fin. | but that
certain strangers, and men of mixed race,—accursed and pernicious
characters,—hopeless of their own safety, have perpetrated what
has been perpetrated. For this very reason I was always lifting up
my voice, and unceasingly bearing my testimony, saying, Let us
punish the madness of those blasphemers,—let us control their
spirit, and provide for their salvation;—yea, though it be
necessary to die in doing it, the deed would yet bring us great
gain: let us not overlook the insult done to our common Lord;
overlooking such things will bring forth some great evil to our
city!
11. These things I foretold, and they have now
actually taken place;—and we are paying the penalty of that
listlessness! You overlooked the insult that was done unto
God!—Behold, he hath permitted the Emperor to be insulted, and
peril to the utmost to hang over all, in order that we might pay by
this fear the penalty of that listlessness; was it then vainly, and
to no purpose I foretold these things, and assiduously urged your
Charity? But nevertheless, nothing was done. Let it, however, be
done now; and being chastened by our present calamity, let us now
restrain the disorderly madness of these men. Let us shut up their
mouths, even as we close up pestiferous fountains; and let us turn
them to a contrary course, and the evils which have taken hold of
the city shall undoubtedly be stayed. The Church is not a theatre,
that we should listen for amusement. With profit ought we to depart
hence, and some fresh and great gain should we acquire ere we leave
this place. For it is but vainly and irrationally we meet together,
if we have been but captivated for a time, and return home empty,
and void of all improvement from the things spoken.
12. What need have I of these plaudits, these
cheers and tumultuous signs of approval?1095
The praise I seek, is that ye show
forth all I have said in your works. Then am I an enviable and
happy man, not when ye approve, but when ye perform with all
readiness, whatsoever ye hear from me? Let every one then correct
his neighbour, for “edify ye one another,”1096
it is said, and if we do not this,
the crimes of each one will bring some general and intolerable
damage to the city. Behold, while we are unconscious of any part in
this transaction, we are no less affrighted than those who were
daringly engaged in it! We are dreading lest the wrath of the
Emperor should descend upon all; and it is not sufficient for us to
say in defence, “I was not present; I was not an accomplice, nor
a participator in these acts.” “For this reason,” he may
reply, “thou shalt be punished, and pay the extreme penalty,
because thou wert not present; and didst not check, nor restrain the rioters, and
didst not run any risk for the honour of the Emperor! Hadst thou no
part in these audacious deeds? I commend this, and take it well.
But thou didst not check these things when being done. This is a
cause of accusation!” Such words as these, we shall also hear
from God, if we silently suffer the continuance of the injuries and
insults committed against Him. For he also who had buried his
talent in the earth, was called to account, not for crimes done by
himself, for he had given back the whole of that which was
entrusted to him, but because he had not increased it; because he
had not instructed others; because he had not deposited it in the
hands of the bankers; that is, he had not admonished, or
counselled, or rebuked, or amended those unruly sinners who were
his neighbours. On this account he was sent away without reprieve
to those intolerable punishments! But I fully trust that though ye
did not before, ye will now at least perform this work of
correction, and not overlook insult committed against God. For the
events which have taken place are sufficient, even if no one had
given any warning, to convince men ever so disposed to be
insensible, that they must exert themselves for their own
safety.
13. But it is now time that we should proceed
to lay out before you the customary table from St. Paul, by
handling the subject of this day’s reading, and placing it in
view for you all. What then was the text read today?1097
| 1097 On the ancient usages of the Church as to
the reading of select portions of the Old and New Testament at
stated seasons, see Bingham’s Christian Antiquities, b.
14, c. 3. | “Charge
them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded.”1098
When he
says, “the rich in this world,” he makes it manifest, that
there are others who are rich, that is, in the world to come: such
as was that Lazarus, poor as to the present life, but rich as to
the future; not in gold and silver, and such like perishable and
transitory store of wealth; but in those unutterable good things
“which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into
the heart of man.”1099
For this is true wealth and
opulence, when there is good unmixed, and not subject to any
change. Not such was the case of that rich man who despised him,
but he became the poorest of mankind. Afterwards at least when he
sought to obtain but a drop of water, he did not get possession
even of that, to such extreme poverty was he come. For this reason
he calls them rich “in the present world,” to teach thee that
along with the present life, worldly wealth is annihilated. It goes
no further, neither does it change its place with its migrating
possessors, but it often leaves them before their end; which
therefore he shows by saying, “Neither trust in uncertain
riches;” for nothing is so faithless as wealth; of which I have
often said, and will not cease to say, that it is a runaway,
thankless servant, having no fidelity; and should you throw over
him ten thousand chains, he will make off dragging his chains after
him. Frequently, indeed, have those who possessed him shut him up
with bars and doors, placing their slaves round about for guards.
But he has over-persuaded these very servants, and has fled away
together with his guards; dragging his keepers after him like a
chain, so little security was there in this custody. What then can
be more faithless than this? what more wretched than men devoted to
it? When men endeavour with all eagerness to collect so frail and
fleeting a thing, they do not hear what the prophet saith: “Woe
unto them who trust in their power, and boast themselves in the
multitude of their riches.”1100
Tell me why is this woe
pronounced?—“He heapeth up treasure,” saith he, “and
knoweth not for whom he will gather it,”1101
—forasmuch as the labor is
certain, but the enjoyment uncertain. Very often you toil and
endure trouble for enemies. The inheritance of your wealth after
your decease, coming as it does, in many instances, to those who
have injured you, and plotted against you in a thousand ways, has
assigned you the sins for your part, but the enjoyment to
others!
14. But here, it is worthy of enquiry, for
what reason he does not say, “Charge those who are rich in the
present world, not to be rich; charge them to become poor; charge
them to get rid of what they have;” but, “charge them, not to
be high-minded.” For he knew that the root and foundation of
riches is pride; and that if any man understood how to be
unassuming, he would not make much ado about the matter. Tell me,
indeed, for what reason thou leadest about so many servants,
parasites, and flatterers, and all the other forms of pomp? Not for
necessity, but only for pride; to the end that by these thou mayest
seem more dignified than other men! Besides, he knew that wealth is
not forbidden if it be used for that which is necessary. For as I
observed,1102
wine is
not a bad thing, but drunkenness is so. A covetous man is one
thing, and a rich man is another thing. The covetous man is not
rich; he is in want of many things, and while he needs many things,
he can never be rich.
The covetous man is a keeper, not a master,
of wealth; a slave, not a lord. For he would sooner give any one a
portion of his flesh, than his buried gold. And as though he were
ordered and compelled of some one to touch nothing of these hidden
treasures, so with all earnestness he watches and keeps them,
abstaining from his own, as if it were another’s. And certainly,
they are not his own. For what he can neither determine to bestow
upon others, nor to distribute to the necessitous, although he may
sustain infinite punishments, how can he possibly account his own?
How does he hold possession of those things, of which he has
neither the free use, nor enjoyment? But besides this,—Paul is
not accustomed to enjoin everything on every man, but accommodates
himself to the weakness of his hearers, even, indeed, as Christ
also did. For when that rich man came to him, and asked him
concerning Life, he did not say at once, “Go, sell that thou
hast,”1103
but
omitting this, he spoke to him of other commandments. Nor
afterwards, when he challenged1104
| 1104 Or “invited,” as some read,
προσεκαλ™σατο. Ben.
προεκαλ™σατο. | Him and said, “What lack I
yet?” did He simply say, “Sell what thou hast;” but, “If
thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast.”1105
“I lay
it down for your determination. I give you full power to choose. I
do not lay upon you any necessity.” For this reason also, Paul
spoke nothing to the rich concerning poverty, but concerning
humility; as well because of the weakness of his hearers, as
because he perfectly knew, that could he bring them to exercise
moderation, and to be free from pride, he should also quickly free
them from eagerness about being rich.
15. And further, after giving this admonition,
“not to be high-minded,” he also taught the manner in which
they would be able to avoid being so. And how was it? That they
should consider the nature of wealth, how uncertain and faithless
it is! therefore he goes on to say, “Neither trust in uncertain
riches.” The rich man is not one who is in possession of much,
but one who gives much. Abraham was rich, but he was not covetous;
for he turned not his thoughts to the house of this man, nor prayed
into the wealth of that man; but going forth he looked around
wherever there chanced to be a stranger, or a poor man, in order
that he might succour poverty, and hospitably entertain the
traveller. He covered not his roof with gold, but fixing his tent
near the oak, he was contented with the shadow of its leaves. Yet
so illustrious was his lodging, that angels were not ashamed to
tarry with him; for they sought not splendour of abode, but virtue
of soul. This man then let us imitate, beloved, and bestow what we
have upon the needy. That lodging was rudely prepared, but it was
more illustrious than the halls of kings. No king has ever
entertained angels; but he, dwelling under that oak, and having but
pitched a tent, was thought worthy of that honour: not receiving
the honour on account of the meanness of his dwelling, but enjoying
that benefit on account of the magnificence of his soul, and the
wealth therein deposited.
16. Let us too, then, adorn not our houses,
but our souls in preference to the house. For is it not disgraceful
to clothe our walls with marble, vainly and to no end, and to
neglect Christ going about naked? What does thy house profit thee,
O man! For wilt thou take it with thee when thou departest? This
thou canst not take with thee, when thou departest. But thy soul,
when thou departest, thou shalt assuredly take with thee! Behold
now this great danger has overtaken us! Let your houses stand by
you! Let them deliver you from the threatened peril! but they
cannot! And ye yourselves are witnesses, who are leaving them
solitary, and hurrying forth to the wilderness; fearing them as ye
would do snares and nets! Let riches now lend assistance! But it is
no time for them to do so! If then the power of riches is found
wanting before the wrath of man, much rather will this be the case,
before the divine and inexorable tribunal! If it is but a man that
is provoked and offended, and even now gold is of no avail, much
more will the power of money be utterly impotent then, when God is
angry, who has no need of wealth! We build houses that we may have
a habitation; not that we may make an ambitious display. What is
beyond our wants, is superfluous and useless. Put on a sandal which
is larger than your foot! you will not endure it; for it is a
hindrance to the step. Thus also a house larger than necessity
requires, is an impediment to your progress towards heaven. Do you
wish to build large and splendid houses? I forbid it not; but let
it be not upon the earth! Build thyself tabernacles in heaven, and
such that thou mayest be able to receive others;1106
| 1106 He may allude to
Luke xvi. 9, but in Hom. de
Laz. 3, he cautions men against thinking that friends could
save them if they did not themselves do good works. | —tabernacles which never fall to
pieces. Why art thou mad about fleeting things; and things that
must be left here? Nothing is more slippery than wealth. To-day it is for thee;
tomorrow it is against thee. It arms the eyes of the envious
everywhere. It is a hostile comrade, a domestic enemy; and ye are
witnesses of this, who possess it, and are in every way burying and
concealing it from view; as even now too our very wealth makes the
danger more insupportable to us! Thou seest indeed the poor ready
for action, disengaged, and prepared for all things; but the
wealthy in great perplexity, and wandering about, seeking where
they may bury their gold, or seeking with whom they may deposit it!
Why, O man, dost thou seek thy fellow slaves? Christ stands ready
to receive, and to keep thy deposits for thee; and not to keep
only, but also to augment them, and to pay them back with much
interest. Out of His hand no man can forcibly take them away. And
He not only keeps the deposit, but for this very thing He also
frees thee from thy perils. For among men, they who receive
treasures in trust think that they have done us a favour, in
keeping that of which they took charge; but with Christ it is the
contrary; for He does not say that He has conferred, but that He
has received a favour, when He receives thy deposited treasures;
and for the guardianship which He exercises over thy wealth, He
does not demand a recompense of thee, but gives thee a
recompense!
17. What defence then can we claim, or what excuse,
when we pass by Him who is able to keep, and who is thankful for
the trust giving in return great and unspeakable rewards, and in
place of this guardianship commit our treasures to men who have not
the power to keep them, and who think they grant us a favour, and
pay us back at last only that which was given them. Thou art a
stranger and a pilgrim with respect to the things here! Thou hast a
country which is thine own in the heavens! There transfer
all;—that before the actual enjoyment, thou mayest enjoy the
recompense here. He who is nourished with good hopes, and is
confident respecting things to come, hath here already tasted of
the kingdom! For nothing ordinarily so repairs the soul, and makes
a man better, as a good hope of things to come; so that if thou
transfer thy wealth there, thou mayest then provide for thy soul
with suitable leisure. For they who spend all their endeavours upon
the decoration of their dwelling, rich as they are in outward
things, are careless of that which is within, letting their soul
abide desolate and squalid, and full of cobwebs. But if they would
be indifferent to exterior things, and earnestly expend all their
attention upon the mind, adorning this at all points; then the soul
of such men would be a resting place for Christ. And having Christ
for its inhabitant, what could ever be more blessed? Wouldest thou
be rich? Have God for thy friend, and thou shalt be richer than all
men!—Wouldest thou be rich? Be not high-minded!—This rule is
suitable not only to things future, but to things present. For
there is no such object of envy, as a man of wealth; but when pride
is super-added, a two-fold precipice is formed; the war becomes
fiercer on all sides. But if you know how to exercise moderation,
you undermine the tyranny of envy by your humility; and you possess
whatever you do possess with safety. For such is the nature of
virtue, that it not only profits us, as it respects futurity, but
it also here bestows a present reward.
18. Let us not then be high-minded in
reference to riches, or indeed to any other thing; for if even in
spiritual things the man who is high-minded is fallen, and undone,
much more so as to carnal things. Let us be mindful of our nature.
Let us recollect our sins. Let us understand what we are; and this
will provide a sufficient groundwork for complete humility. Tell me
not, “I have laid up the revenues of this or that number of
years; myriads of talents of gold; gains that are increasing every
day.” Say as much as you will, you say all in vain, and to no
purpose. Very often in one hour, yea, in one short moment, just as
the light dust, when the wind rushes down upon it from above, are
all these things swept out of the house by a blast. Our life is
full of such examples, and the Scriptures abound with lessons of
this sort. He who is rich to-day, is poor tomorrow. Wherefore, I
have often smiled, when reading wills that said, let such a man
have the ownership of these fields, or of this house, and another
the use thereof. For we all have the use, but no man has the
ownership.1107
| 1107 δεσποτεία, literally,
the lordship. | For
although riches may remain with us all our lifetime, undergoing no
change, we must transfer them in the end, whether we will or no,
into the hands of others; having enjoyed only the use of them, and
departing to another life naked and destitute of this ownership!
Whence it is plain, that they only have the ownership of property,
who have despised its use, and derided its enjoyment. For the man
that has cast his substance away from him, and bestowed it on the
poor, he uses it as he ought; and takes with him the ownership of
these things when he departs, not being stripped of the possession
even in death, but
at that time receiving all back again; yea, and much more than
these things, at that day of judgment, when he most needs their
protection,1108
| 1108 προστασίας. Comp.
Hom. adv. Jud. vii. v. fin., where he speaks of the
intercession of those whose souls we may have benefitted as
even of more avail; also in the Homilies on 2 Cor. iv. 13, no. 3,
v. fin., he refers to
Luke xvi. 9, and soon after calls the poor
προσ€ται, in this sense. See
Cat. Aur. on that passage. | and when
we shall all have to render up an account of the deeds we have
done. So that if any one wishes to have the possession of his
riches, and the use and the ownership entire, let him disencumber
himself from them all; since, truly, he who doth not this must at
all events be separated from them at death; and frequently before
his death will lose them, in the midst of dangers and innumerable
ills.
19. And this is not the only disaster, that
the change comes suddenly; but that the rich man comes unpractised
to the endurance of poverty. But not so the poor man; for he
confides not in gold and silver, which are lifeless matter, but in
“God, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy.” So that the
rich man stands in more uncertainty than the poor man,
experiencing, as he does, frequent and diversified changes. What is
the sense of this? “Who giveth to us all things richly to
enjoy.”1109
God giveth
all those things with liberality, which are more necessary than
riches; such, for example, as the air, the water, the fire, the
sun; all things of this kind. The rich man is not able to say that
he enjoys more of the sunbeams than the poor man; he is not able to
say that he breathes more plenteous air: but all these are offered
alike to all. And wherefore, one may say, is it the greater and
more necessary blessings, and those which maintain our life, that
God hath made common; but the smaller and less valuable (I speak of
money) are not thus common. Why is this? In order that our life
might be disciplined, and that we might have training ground for
virtue. For if these necessaries were not common, perhaps they who
are rich, practising their usual covetousness, would strangle those
who were poor. For if they do this for the sake of money, much
rather would they do so for the things referred to. Again, if money
was also an universal possession, and were offered in the same
manner to all, the occasion for almsgiving, and the opportunity for
benevolence, would be taken away.
20. That we may live then securely, the
sources of our existence have been made common. On the other hand,
to the end that we may have an opportunity of gaining crowns and
good report, property has not been made common; in order that
hating covetousness, and following after righteousness, and freely
bestowing our goods upon the poor, we may by this method obtain a
certain kind of relief for our sins.1110
| 1110 Plato de Legg. x. (not xi.) uses παραμυθίον not, as Stephanus takes it, for
“an expiation,” but “a means of persuasion;” the word used
here probably means relief. | God hath made thee rich, why
makest thou thyself poor? He hath made thee rich that thou mayest
assist the needy; that thou mayest have release of thine own sins,
by liberality to others. He hath given thee money, not that thou
mayest shut it up for thy destruction, but that thou mayest pour it
forth for thy salvation. For this reason also He hath made the
possession of riches uncertain and unstable, that by this means he
might slack the intensity of thy madness concerning it. For if its
possessors, even now whilst they can have no confidence in regard
to it, but behold a multitude of snares produced from this quarter,
are so inflamed with the desire of these things; if the elements of
security and stability were added to wealth, whom would they have
spared? From whom would they have refrained? From what widows? From
what orphans? From what poor?
21. Wherefore let us not consider riches to be
a great good; for the great good is, not to possess money, but to
possess the fear of God and all manner of piety. Behold, now if
there were any righteous man here, having great boldness toward
God,1111
| 1111 παῤῥησἴαν, as is said
of Timothy, Hom. I. 5. Comp.
James v. 16. |
notwithstanding he might be the poorest of mortals, he would be
sufficient to liberate us from present evils! For he only needed to
spread forth his hands towards heaven, and to call upon God, and
this cloud would pass away! But now gold is treasured up in
abundance; and yet it is more useless than mere clay for the
purpose of deliverance from the impending calamities! Nor is it
only in a peril of this kind; but should disease or death, or any
such evil befall us, the impotency of wealth is fully proved, since
it is at a loss, and has no consolation of its own to offer us
amidst these events.
22. There is one thing in which wealth seems to have
an advantage over poverty, viz. that it lives in a state of daily
luxury, and is supplied with an abundance of pleasure in its
banquets. This however may also be seen exemplified at the table of
the poor; and these enjoy there a pleasure superior to that of the
rich. And marvel not at this, nor think what I say a paradox; for I
will make the matter clear to you from the evidence of facts. Ye
know of course, and ye all confess
that in feasts it is not the nature of the
viands, but the disposition of those who feast upon them, which
usually causes the pleasure; for instance, when any one comes to
the table hungry, the food will taste sweeter than any delicacy, or
condiment, or a thousand exquisite preparations for the palate,
although it may be the most common article of diet. But he who
without tarrying for necessity, or first waiting till he is hungry,
(as the custom is with the wealthy), when he comes to the table,
notwithstanding he finds the most refined dainties spread before
him, has no sensation of pleasure, his appetite not being
previously excited. And that you may learn that this is the actual
state of the case, besides that you are all witnesses to it, let us
hear the Scripture telling us the same truth; “The full soul,”
it is said, “loaths the honey comb, but to the hungry soul every
bitter thing is sweet.”1112
Yet what can be sweeter than
honey, and the honey comb? Still he saith it is not sweet to the
man that is not hungry. And what can be more disagreeable than
bitter things? And yet to those who are poverty stricken they are
sweet. But that the poor come to the meal with need and hunger, and
that the rich do not wait for this is manifest, I suppose, to every
one. Hence they do not reap the fruit of a genuine and unmixed
pleasure. Nor is it only in the article of food, but any one may
perceive that the same thing occurs with respect to drinks; and as
in the one case hunger is the cause of pleasure, far more than the
quality of the viands, so also in the other, thirst usually makes
the draught sweetest, although what is drunk is only water. And
this is that which the prophet intimated, when he said, “He
satisfied them with honey out of the rock.”1113
But we do not read in any part of
Scripture that Moses brought honey out of the rock, but throughout
the history we read of rivers, and waters, and cool streams. What
then is it that was meant? For the Scripture by no means speaks
falsely. Inasmuch, then, as they were thirsty and wearied with
drought, and found these streams of water so cooling, in order to
show the pleasure of such a draught, he calls the water honey, not
as though its nature were changed into honey, but because the
condition of the drinkers made these streams sweeter than honey.
You see how the condition of the thirsty is wont to make the
draught sweet? Yea oftentimes have many of the poor, when wearied,
and distressed, and parched with thirst, partaken of such streams
even with such pleasure as I have said. But the rich, whilst
drinking wine that is sweet, and has the fragrance of flowers,1114
| 1114 ‡νθοσμίαν, Plutus, 807. | and every
perfection that wine can have, experience no such
enjoyment.
23. The same thing happens as every one may
perceive with regard to sleep. For not a soft couch, nor a bedstead
overlaid with silver, nor the quietness that exists throughout the
house, nor anything else of this kind, are so generally wont to
make sleep sweet and pleasant, as labour and fatigue, and the need
of sleep, and drowsiness when one lies down. And to this particular
the experience of facts, nay, before actual experience, the
assertion of the Scriptures bears witness. For Solomon, who had
passed his life in luxury, when he wished to make this matter
evident, said, “The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he
eat little or much?”1115
Why does he add, “whether he eat
little or much?” Both these things usually bring sleeplessness,
viz. indigence, and excess of food; the one drying up the body,
stiffening the eyelids and not suffering them to be closed; the
other straitening and oppressing the breath, and inducing many
pains. But at the same time so powerful a persuasive is labour,
that though both these things should befall him, the servant is
able to sleep. For since throughout the whole day, they are running
about everywhere, ministering to their masters, being knocked
about1116
| 1116 κοπτόμενοι. Used
thus Dem. Ol. 2, as we say “knocked about,” not as Ben.,
vapulantes. | and hard
pressed, and having but little time to take breath, they receive a
sufficient recompense for their toils and labours in the pleasure
of sleeping. And thus it hath happened through the goodness of God
toward man, that these pleasures are not to be purchased with gold
and silver, but with labour, with hard toil, with necessity, and
every kind of discipline. Not so the rich. On the contrary, whilst
lying on their beds, they are frequently without sleep through the
whole night; and though they devise many schemes, they do not
obtain such pleasure. But the poor man when released from his daily
labours, having his limbs completely tired, falls almost before he
can lie down into a slumber that is sound, and sweet, and genuine,
enjoying this reward, which is not a small one, of his fair day’s
toils. Since therefore the poor man sleeps, and drinks, and eats
with more pleasure than the rich man, what further value is left to
riches, now deprived of the one advantage they seemed to have over
poverty? For this reason also, from the beginning, God tied the man
to labour, not for the purpose of punishing or chastising, but for
amendment and education. When Adam lived an unlabourious life, he
fell from Paradise, but when the Apostle laboured abundantly, and
toiled hard, and said, “In labour and travail, working night and
day,”1117
then he
was taken up into Paradise, and ascended to the third
heaven!
24. Let us not then despise labour; let us not
despise work; for before the kingdom of Heaven, we receive the
greatest recompense from thence, deriving pleasure from that
circumstance; and not pleasure only, but what is greater than
pleasure, the purest health. For in addition to their want of
relish, many diseases also attack the rich; but the poor are freed
from the hands of physicians; and if at times they do fall into a
sickness, they recover themselves quickly, being far removed from
all effeminacy, and having robust constitutions. Poverty, to those
who bear it wisely, is a great possession, a treasure that cannot
be taken away; the stoutest of staves; a way of gain1118
that
cannot be thwarted; a lodging that is safe from snares. The poor
man, it may be objected, is oppressed. But then the rich man is
still more subject to adverse designs. The poor man is looked down
upon and insulted. But the rich man is the subject of envy. The
poor man is not so easily assailed as the rich man, offering, as
the latter does on every side, countless handles to the devil, and
to his secret foes; and being the servant of all, on account of the
great extent of his business. Standing in need of many things, he
is compelled to flatter many persons, and to minister to them with
much servility. But the poor man, if he knows how to be spiritually
wise, is not assailable even by the devil himself. Job therefore,
strong as he was before this, when he lost all, became still more
powerful, and bore away an1119
illustrious victory from the
devil!
25. But besides this, the poor man cannot possibly
be injured, if he knows how to be spiritually wise. Now what I said
of pleasure, that it consisted not in a costly provision of meats,
but in the disposition of those who eat, this also I say respecting
an insult; that the insult is either created or destroyed, not by
the intention of those who insult, but by the disposition of those
who bear it. For example. Some one hath insulted thee with much
language, fit or unfit to repeat. If thou shalt laugh at the
insults, if thou take not the words to heart, if thou showest
thyself superior to the blow, thou art not insulted. And just as if
we possessed an adamantine body, we should not be hurt, were we
even attacked on all sides by a thousand darts, for darts beget
wounds not from the hand of him who hurls them, but from the bodies
of those who receive them, so too in this case, insults are
constituted real and dishonourable ones, not from the folly of
those who offer them, but from the weakness of the insulted. For if
we know how to be truly wise, we are incapable of being insulted,
or of suffering any serious evils. Some one it may be hath offered
thee an insult, but thou hast not felt it? thou hast not been
pained. Then thou art not insulted, but hast given rather than
received a blow! For when the insulting person perceives that his
blow did not reach the soul of those who were reviled, he is
himself the more severely fretted; and whilst those who are
reproached remain silent, the insulting blow is turned backwards,
and recoils of its own accord upon him who aimed it.
26. In all things then, beloved, let us be
spiritually wise, and poverty will be able to do us no harm, but
will benefit us exceedingly, and render us more illustrious and
wealthy than the richest. For tell me who was poorer than Elias?
Yet for this reason he surpassed all the wealthy, in that he was so
poor, and this very poverty of his was his own choice from an
opulence of mind. For since he accounted the wealth of all riches
to be beneath his magnanimity, and not worthy of his spiritual
wisdom, therefore he welcomed this kind of poverty; so that if he
had considered present things as of much worth, he would not have
possessed only a mantle. But so did he contemn the vanity of the
life that now is, and regard all gold as clay cast into the
street,1120
that he
possessed himself of nothing more than that covering. Therefore the
king had need of the poor man, and he who had so much gold hung
upon the words of him who had nothing more than a sheepskin. Thus
was the sheepskin1121
more splendid than the purple, and
the cave of the just man than the halls of kings. Therefore also
when he went up to heaven, he left nothing to his disciple save the
sheepskin. “By the help of this,” said he, “I have wrestled
with the devil, and taking this, be thou armed against him!” For
indigence is a powerful weapon, an unassailable retreat, an
unshaken fortress! Elisha received the sheepskin as the greatest
inheritance; for it was truly such; a more precious one than all
gold. And thenceforth1122
that Elias was a twofold person;
an Elias above and an Elias below!
I know ye account that just person blessed,
and ye would each desire to be that person. What then if I show you
that all among us, who are initiated,1123
| 1123 Or μεμυσταγωγημ™νοι.
The baptized: those who were admitted to the mystic privileges of
the faithful; a term adopted from St. Paul’s
μυστήριον, 1 Cor.
iv. 1. It was also used
in the ancient mysteries. See Bingham, b. i., c. iv., sec. 1,
2. | have received something far
greater than he did? For Elias left a sheepskin to his disciple,
but the Son of God ascending left to us His own flesh! Elias
indeed, cast off his mantle, before he went up; but Christ left it
behind for our sakes; and yet retained it when He ascended. Let us
not then be cast down. Let us not lament, nor fear the difficulty
of the times, for He who did not refuse to pour out His blood for
all, and has suffered us to partake of His flesh and of His blood
again,1124
| 1124 This passage was quoted in favor of
Transubstantiation against Bp. Ridley in the disputation at Oxford,
A.D. 1554. See Foxe, Acts and Mon., vol. vi. p. 468, New Ed.
It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the words of St.
Chrysostom here, and in many other passages, if examined in their
whole bearing, do not of necessity imply any change of the material
substance of the holy elements. | what will
He refuse to do for our safety? Confident then in these hopes, let
us beseech Him continually; let us be earnest in prayers and
supplications; and let us with all strictness give our attention to
every other virtue; that so we may escape the danger that now
threatens, and obtain the good things to come; which God grant we
may all be worthy of, through the grace and lovingkindness of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom, and with Whom be glory to the Father
together with the Holy Ghost, forever and ever. Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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