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| Serapion, the Archdeacon, and St. Olympias. Some of the Celebrated Men insolently bear down upon John, traducing him as Impracticable and Passionate.
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Chapter IX.—Serapion,
the Archdeacon, and St. Olympias. Some of the Celebrated Men insolently
bear down upon John, traducing him as Impracticable and
Passionate.
The enmity of the clergy
against John was greatly increased by Serapion, his archdeacon. He was
an Egyptian, naturally prone to anger, and always ready to insult his
opponents.1595
| 1595Soc. vi. 4, 11; Pallad. Dialog. Pallad. H.
L. cxliv.; Epp. xvii. ad Olympiadem. Soz. has
independent material concerning Olympias and Isaac.
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The feelings of hostility were further fostered by the counsel which
Olympias received from John. Olympias was of most illustrious birth,
and although she had become a widow while young, and was zealously
attached to the exercises of monastic philosophy according to the laws
of the church, yet Nectarius had ordained her as deaconess. John, perceiving that she
bestowed her goods liberally on any one who asked her for them, and
that she despised everything but the service of God, said to her:
“I applaud your intentions; but would have you know that those
who aspire to the perfection of virtue according to God, ought to
distribute their wealth with economy. You, however, have been bestowing
wealth on the wealthy, which is as useless as if you had cast it into
the sea. Know you not that you have voluntarily, for the sake of God,
devoted all your possessions to the relief of the poor. You ought,
therefore, to regard your wealth as belonging to your Master, and to
remember that you have to account for its distribution. If you will be
persuaded by me, you will in future regulate your donations according
to the wants of those who solicit relief. You will thus be enabled to
extend the sphere of your benevolence, and your mercy and most zealous
care will receive reward from God.”
John had several disputes with many of the monks,
particularly with Isaac. He highly commended those who remained in
quietude in the monasteries and practiced philosophy there; he
protected them from all injustice and solicitiously supplied whatever
necessities they might have. But the monks who went out of doors and
made their appearance in cities, he reproached and regarded as
insulting philosophy. For these causes, he incurred the hatred of the
clergy, and of many of the monks, who called him a hard, passionate,
morose, and arrogant man. They therefore attempted to bring his life
into public disrepute, by stating confidently, as if it were the truth,
that he would eat with no one, and that he refused every invitation to
a meal that was offered him. I know of no pretext that could have given
rise to this assertion, except that, as I have been assured by a man of
undoubted veracity, John had, by rigorous asceticism, rendered himself
liable to pain in the head and stomach, and was thus prevented from
being present at some of the choicest symposia. Hence, however,
originated the greatest accusation that was ever devised against
him. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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