Dialogue on the Life of Chrysostom 1 part 4/9

But Antiochus and his party, going in again privately, informed the emperor that John had been defeated in the case, in order that he might order him to be expelled, since Easter was approaching:

and the emperor, being harassed by necessity on their part, believed them as bishops (for the truly presbyter or bishop knows no falsehood—for these titles belong to the realm above, since nothing is more 'elder' than God, nor more 'overseeing';

for it is God who oversees, or beholds, all things;

the bishop or presbyter, therefore, as a sharer in these titles, ought likewise to be a sharer in the realities they signify)—and he informed John:

"Go out from the church." But he objects:

"I have received this church from the Savior God for the care of the salvation of the people, and I cannot abandon it;

but if this is your wish (for the city is yours to dispose of), expel me by force, so that I may have your authority as my defense for deserting my post." Thus, having sent men from the palace with a certain shame, they expelled him, ordering him meanwhile to reside in the episcopal residence, expecting the wrath of God that might follow, so that, if something grievous should befall them, they might quickly bring him back into the church and propitiate the Divine;

but if not, so that they might again assail him, as Pharaoh did Moses.

Meanwhile the day of the Great Sabbath arrived, on which the Savior, having been crucified, despoiled Hades.

"Go out from the church." He objects with what is fitting.

The emperor, therefore, out of reverence for the sanctity of the day and fear of the tumult of the city, summoned those around Acacius and Antiochus, saying to them:

"What ought to be done? See that you are not counseling wrongly." Then those men — noble, as it were, and overbold in spirit — said to the emperor:

"O Emperor, let the deposition of John be upon our head." As a last resort, the bishops who were with John, equal in number to the days of the holy fast, went with tears to the emperor and empress at the martyria, entreating that the church of Christ might obtain mercy — especially for the sake of Pascha and those who were about to be reborn in baptism, having already been instructed in the mysteries — that it might recover its priest.

But in this they were not heeded.

so that the holy Paul, from Crateia, said with fearless boldness:

"Eudoxia, fear God, and have mercy for the sake of your children;

do not outrage the feast of Christ with the shedding of blood." And the forty bishops, having returned, kept vigil in their lodgings — some with tears, others with grief, and others overcome by an irresistible torpor of mind — each governed by his own particular emotion,

some reading the sacred oracles, others baptizing those who had been catechized, as was fitting because of Pascha.

These very things the corrupters of judgment and deceivers of the mind — those around Antiochus, Severian, and Acacius — reported to their own patrons, demanding that the people be hindered from that assembly.

The Master of Offices at that time objected, saying:

"It is night, and the crowds are great;

lest some untoward incident occur." Those around Acacius replied:

"No one remains in the churches,"

"and we fear lest, if the emperor enters the church and finds no one there, he perceive the people's goodwill toward John, and condemn us as malicious slanderers, especially since we told him that there is absolutely no one who gladly attends to him, as to a man wholly implacable." Thus the Master of Offices, having solemnly protested to them concerning the consequences, gave over a certain Lucius, said to be a Hellene, commander of the corps of armed guards, charging him to go gently and summon the people to the church.

But when he went and was not heeded, he returned to those around Acacius, recounting the intensity and the density of the crowd.

After this they earnestly entreated him, cajoling him with golden words and with the promise of greater advancement, that he might hinder the glory of the Lord, charging him either to persuade the people by argument and lead them into the church, or, by stirring them to anger, to put a stop to the festival gathering.

He at once took along clerics of Acacius's party and went out in the second watch of the night for the purpose for which he had been sent (for in our regions the people are kept in vigil until the first cockcrow), having four hundred sword-bearing Thracians, newly enlisted soldiers, rude as Esau, and exceedingly shameless; and he suddenly leapt in during the night together with the clerics who pointed the way and the soldiers, insolently, like a wolf, cleaving through the crowds with gleaming steel.

And having advanced within to the blessed waters, to hinder those being initiated into the resurrection of the Savior, and having brazenly assailed the deacon, he poured out the sacred elements;

and having struck the presbyters — some of whom were by then already elderly — on the skull with clubs, he mingled the baptismal font with blood.

Then one could see that angelic night, in which even the demons fall down crouching in terror, transformed into a labyrinth.

For naked women, together with the men, resorted to flight, for fear of being slaughtered or shamefully treated, embracing that unseemly running;

another, struck in the hand, went away lamenting;

another dragged off a virgin, having torn her garments;

and all, carrying off spoil, appropriated the sacred treasures to themselves.

Thus those of the presbyters and deacons who were seized were thrown into prison;

and the notable men among the people of the great city were banished.

Successive edicts were posted throughout the region, containing various threats against those who refused to renounce communion with John.

Nevertheless, even so, these things continued to happen, and the so-called bishops eagerly added yet more besides.

Yet the assembly of those who loved the Teacher — or rather, those who loved God — was not brought to an end, but, according to what is said in Exodus, "The more they killed them, the more they multiplied." On the following day, then, the emperor, going out to exercise in the adjoining plain, saw the untilled ground around Pemptos clothed in white, and, astonished at the sight of that flower of the newly-illumined (for they numbered about three thousand), he asked the guardsmen:

"Who is this company gathered there?" Lying, they said:

"Of the heterodox," in order to mislead the emperor's anger.

But the mediators of this affair and the patrons of envy, learning of it at once, sent back the most ruthless of their followers, to scatter the hearers and seize the teachers.

And they, having come, again seized a few of the clergy, but more of the laity.

This was a demonstration of the teachers' diligence, who unceasingly strengthened the unshakeable firmness of their disciples' resolve.

for it was not fitting that those who were thoroughly learning prudence and gentleness from the holy John should contend for him foolishly and in a disorderly manner.

<CHAPTER 10> {THE BISHOP} Being delighted, then, at this, I beg you: do not cut short the account born of these evil deeds (for it seems that, for the most part, deeds give birth to accounts).

Along with the clergy and laity who were seized, there were also arrested the wives of notable men.

And there were some whose veils they tore off, and from others they tore away the earrings together with the earlobe;

so that, when the wife of a certain Eleutherius, an exceedingly prosperous woman, saw this, she abandoned her own veil, disguised herself in the garb of a slave-girl, and rushed headlong into the city to preserve her chastity (for she was, as one might expect, clothed with a blooming form and a well-formed figure).

In this manner, then, the prisons, having been filled by the various officials, were transformed into churches;

and hymns and the oblations of the mysteries were performed in the prisons, while scourgings, rackings, and dreadful oaths vied with one another in the churches, for the anathematizing of John, who had been an enemy unto death against the wickedness of the devil.

When Pentecost was completed, after five days, those around Acacius, Severian, Antiochus, and Cyrinus went in to the emperor and said to him:

"O Emperor, you, ruled by none but God, but ruling over all things, are permitted to do whatever you wish.

Do not be gentler than the presbyters, or more devout than the bishops;

let the deposition of John be upon our head. Do not, then, spare this one man, while showing no regard for all of us." With words fit for Jews — and perhaps even with deeds — they misled the emperor;

Thus the emperor, having sent Patricius the notary, declared the following to John:

"Those around Acacius, Antiochus, Severian, and Cyrinus have placed the judgment concerning you upon their own head.

Committing, then, what concerns yourself to God, go out of the church." Thus Bishop John, after this clear and unambiguous declaration, came down from the episcopal residence together with the bishops and said to all:

rejoicing indeed over the matter, but grieving over the maltreatment of the people.

And immediately one of the God-loving officials sent word to John:

"Since Lucius, an insolent man and shameless of face, is ready at the public bath together with the soldiers under him, so that, should you refuse or delay, they may drag you out even against your will and expel you;

and the populace of the city are being thrown into turmoil —

make haste to go out secretly, lest the people, contending on your behalf, join battle with the soldiers." Then John, having tearfully kissed some of the bishops (for his emotion did not allow him even to kiss the rest), took his leave, saying to the others remaining within the clergy-house:

"Remain here for now, that I may go apart a little and find some rest." And having entered the baptistery, he called Olympias, who had never once left the church, together with the deaconesses Pentadia and Procla, and Silvina, the wife of the blessed Nebridius, who adorned her widowhood with becoming dignity, and he said to them:

"The things concerning me have come to an end, as I see;

I have finished my course, and perhaps you will no longer see my face. But this is what I entreat:

let none of you be turned back from your accustomed devotion toward the church,

and whoever should be led, unwillingly, to ordination, without having canvassed for the office, by the agreement of all — bow your head to him as to John (for the church cannot exist without a bishop);

remember me in your prayers." And they, overcome with tears, rolled about at his feet.

Then, nodding to one of the venerable presbyters, he said:

"Take these women away from here, lest they disturb the crowds." Thus, then, having been hindered for a little while, they seemed to yield to him.

...(which he called the "western" gate); and at the western side, where the gate of the church was, he ordered the mule-carriage in which he was accustomed to sit to be stationed before the gate, as a distraction for the people who were waiting for him from that direction; and his guardian angel went out together with him, unable to bear the desolation of the church, which wicked rulers and authorities had brought about, displaying it as though it were a theatrical mockery.

For, just as in a theater there was a clamorous din, with the impious hissing and mocking, and Jews and Hellenes scoffing without measure;

so also, as in a prison, there were blows, and torments inflicted upon the very bowels by the soldiers.

And torments of the whole faculty of the soul ensued, both on account of the removal of the teacher and on account of the blasphemy against the Divine;

for where there had been remission of sins, there a shedding of blood now took place.

After that unspeakable and indescribable darkness, a flame appeared from the midst of the throne on which John was accustomed to sit — like a heart lying in the middle of the body, which expounds the Lord's sayings to the rest of the members — and, having appeared, it sought the interpreter of the word;

and not finding him, it fed upon the structure.

Branching upward like a tree, it crept through the chains to the roof;

and, viper-like, having eaten through the vault, it was borne along upon the ridges of the church's roofs, God as it were rendering the fixed penalty for this wrong as wages of injustice, for the correction and admonition of those who knew not how to be admonished except through the sight of such God-inflicted evils;

and not only so, but also leaving behind a monument of that savage synod;

and it is no wonder concerning the church, seeing that the fire also wisely damaged what those outside call the Senate House, situated many steps opposite the church to the south — as though crossing over, like a bridge, the marketplace crowd in between — destroying not first the part nearest the church, lest we should attribute the disaster to proximity, but the part toward the emperors' court, so that the marvel of the event might exhibit the device as divinely wrought (for one could see the crowds passing unharmed between two mountains of fire, going about their own affairs).

Thus the fire, flying about and surging like a sea whipped up by a violent south wind, moving as if by a signal and mercilessly seizing the surrounding roofs, took thought for only one small chamber, in which the multitude of the sacred vessels was stored — not out of reverence for the gold or the rest of the silver material, but so that it might not furnish slanderers with occasion for a lie against the righteous man, as though he had appropriated for himself some of the finest things.

And stirring in this way, the fire drew back again, as though tracking down the envy of those who had done these things, in refutation of the madness of Theophilus, whereby he fabricates the claim that he had had him cast out on account of the treasures.

And amid such throngs, not a single loss of life by the fire occurred — neither of a rational being nor of an irrational one;

but the filth of those who had conducted themselves impiously there was washed away by the power of the fire, the labor of many years being obliterated in three daylight hours, from the sixth hour until the ninth.

John, together with Cyriacus and Eulysius, was held bound by the soldiers of the prefect in Bithynia, being threatened with punishment for the burning of the church.

Afterward, Cyriacus and Eulysius, having been led away in bonds together with the rest of the clergy, were declared innocent and released;

and the holy John, in addition to his other outspoken words, sent them also this final message, saying:

"Although in the other matters you have given me no opportunity for defense, let me at least be heard concerning the affair of the church, as to whether I have indeed been, as you say, the cause of the burning." Thus, not even being heard in this, he is sent by soldiers to a most desolate little town of Armenia, besieged night and day by the Isaurians, that he might be slain;

against a man who was a hierophant — a person more voiceless than a fish and more inert than a frog! (For there are times when even deeds speak, especially when the good is accomplished through them.)

And having maintained his own life for fourteen months, he dies, having perjured himself upon the Gospels;

in that he had sworn to his brother Nectarius never to accept ordination to the episcopate, at the time when he reproached him for being unwilling to go to Tarsus, as though watching for the opportune moment of his death.

The cause of his perjury was, at first, vainglory, on account of which he was, so to speak, wooing the bride, and afterward, shame;

since the reproaches brought upon him by his brother had proved, as it were, prophetic.

In place of this Arsacius, Atticus is brought in, from among the presbyters — a craftsman skilled in every device against John;

who, seeing that none of the eastern bishops was in communion with him, nor indeed the people of the city, on account of the things that had followed in so lawless and illicit a manner, though himself unversed in the divine Scriptures, contrived by written edicts to compel those who were not in communion with him;

Now the edict against the bishops contained this threat:

"If anyone does not commune with the bishops Theophilus, Porphyrius, and Atticus, let him be cast out of the church, and let his own property and possessions be confiscated." From this point on, some, weighed down by the burden of their possessions, communed even unwillingly; others, poorer and weaker in sound faith, were dragged into communion by the promise of certain gifts; while others, disregarding family, possessions, homeland, perishable glory, and bodily affliction, preserved by flight the nobility of the soul, keeping in mind the evangelical saying, "If they persecute you in this city, flee to another," and applying to themselves the proverb, "Possessions will not profit in the day of wrath." Some of them reached as far as Rome, others were preserved in the mountains, and yet others in the retreats of the ascetics, saved from the Jewish wickedness.

And the edict against the laity contained:

That those holding official rank should forfeit the dignity attached to their offices; that soldiers should lose their belts; and that the rest of the common people and craftsmen, having been fined a heavy weight of gold, should be subjected to exile. Nevertheless, these things were carried out all the same, and the prayers of the zealous were performed in the open air with much hardship, out of love for the Savior who had said:

"I am the way and the truth," and again, "Take courage, I have overcome the world." And the blessed John, having dwelt at Cucusus for one year, nourished very many of the poor of Armenia, not so much with grain as with the word (for at that time a great famine had overtaken that region);

but the fratricides, envying him even for this, transferred him to Arabissus, subjecting him to various hardships, so that he might depart from life;

and there again he shone forth not a little in virtues (for a city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden, nor can a lamp burning brightly be covered by a wooden bushel-basket); for he roused, as it were from the sleep of ignorance, toward the ray of the word, those from every surrounding region who were deeply stupefied by unbelief;

but those around Severian and Porphyrius, and certain other bishops of Syria, burning more fiercely with the flame of envy, arranged for him to be transferred from there as well;

for he was burdensome to them not only in what are reckoned prosperous circumstances, but far more in adverse ones, since they were ill-disposed by nature toward the character of trials, not remembering the divine oracle given to the apostle in the midst of afflictions, namely:

"For my power is made perfect in weakness." For when they saw that John's gracious philosophy, celebrated in song, had migrated from Antioch to Armenia and from there again back to Antioch, they prayed even to have their life cut short, as though tormented by the scourges of these reports (for such is envy that hates the good), so that those of the clergy who followed them, seeing this, marveled and said:

"...terrifying them, just as bogeymen terrify children? Amazing!"

Those who were clothed with worldly powers and ecclesiastical wealth, together with authority and even control of affairs, fearing the priest — the solitary man, the man without a city, weak in the flesh, the exile — turned pale and writhed in agitation. No longer able, then, to endure hiding the serpent beneath the tent, they sent to the camp and once more procured a harsher edict, with a penalty attached:

that within a strict time limit he be transferred to Pityus, an utterly desolate place among the Tzani, situated upon the shore of the Pontic Sea.

And the soldiers of the prefect of the praetorium who conducted him urged him on along the way to such a degree, saying that they had orders of this kind: that if he should die on the road, they would be deemed worthy of higher rank.

And one of them, caring less for his present military duty, would show some measure of kindness, stealing it in as it were;

but the other was so harsh and difficult that he regarded the flatteries offered to him by those he encountered, spoken for the sake of sparing the saint, as insults, caring for nothing except that John should die a hard death;

for when there was a violent rain, he would set out heedlessly, so that streams of water ran down his back and chest;

and again, a scorching heat of the sun he regarded as a delight instead, knowing that in this the blessed man's Elisha-like skull would suffer discomfort;

and into a city or village where there was the comfort of a bath, the wretched man would not allow him to pause even for a moment.

And amid all these things, walking that most grievous road for three months, the saint remained shining like a star, his little body like an apple reddened by the sun at the tips of the branches.

And when they drew near to Comana, they passed through it as though merely crossing a bridge, remaining outside the wall at the martyr-shrine, some five or six miles away.

On that very night, the martyr of that place appeared to him — Basiliscus by name, who had been bishop of Comana and suffered martyrdom in Nicomedia under Maximian, together with Lucian, a presbyter of Antioch then in Bithynia — saying:

"For tomorrow we shall be together." And they say that he had also previously said to the presbyter who kept watch there:

"Prepare a place for our brother John,

for he is coming." And John, faithfully holding to the oracle, begged them the next day to remain there until the fifth hour;

but they, unpersuaded, drove on;

yet having gone about thirty stades, they turned back again to the place of the martyr-shrine from which they had set out, since he had grown acutely ill.

So then, having arrived, he asked for bright garments worthy of his life, and having taken off his former clothes, he put these on with a sober mind, changing down even to his sandals;

and he distributed the rest to those present.

"You shall come to your grave like ripe grain reaped in its season;

but the souls of the lawless will die before their time." And so great a swarm of virgins and ascetics, and of those attested for their holiness, was present, from Syria and Cilicia and Pontus and Armenia, that many supposed they had come together by prior arrangement.

And having been prepared for burial and honored with a festal celebration, his little body — like that of a victorious athlete — was buried together with Basiliscus in the same martyr-shrine.

<CHAPTER 12> At this Theodore, marveling greatly, asked, quoting the scriptural saying:

"I would not wish you, most refined Theodore, to inquire about the concerns of gluttonous infants;

for being a man yourself, you ought to seek out the virtues of men — how he stood with regard to fearlessness, to money, to self-control, to gentleness and justice, to mercy, to prudence and courage, and to forgetting or remembering wrongs."

"For food does not commend us to God; neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse," but rather knowledge working together with practice.

He himself ate alone, as I know in part, for these reasons:

first, he did not drink wine, on account of the heat in his head, unless perhaps in the hot season he used a preparation of roses;

and second, that his stomach, owing to some infirmity, had no regularity, so that often the food that had been prepared appeared unpleasant to him, and he would ask for what was not present;

then again, there were times when he even forgot about food, prolonging his fast until evening, being on the one hand drawn apart by ecclesiastical cares, and on the other distracted by spiritual contemplations;

for he strove to be at no loss concerning the divine Scriptures — and such pursuits somehow have a certain fondness for either fasting or eating lightly.

And it is the custom among banqueters, if someone does not eat with them, or gulp with them, or join in their meaningless laughter, but instead holds the lukewarm cup with the tips of his fingers, to turn the good will of the table into slander;

but the whole matter, as I think, and more truly stated, was this:

he was exceedingly frugal toward those given to luxury, regarding expenditure on such people as a kind of sacrilege;

and at the same time he cut off the stewards' opportunities for theft, lest they multiply tenfold the prices of provisions in the accounts, thereby appropriating for themselves what was needed by the poor;

moreover, considering the multitude of the city, he reasoned that, as a steward of Christ, he ought either to deem every rank of people worthy of this honor, or to grant the matter to no one at all;

and looking to the disturbances of the table, and to the great sum needed for the expenses of the poor, he shuddered at the matter, bidding such slanders a long farewell, chanting to himself the word from Acts: "Men and brethren, it is not fitting for us to serve tables; rather, let us appoint men of good repute over this need."

But let us devote ourselves to the word and to prayer. For just as a racehorse, no longer able to run the course, is put to work at the mill, going round in an endless circle;

so too a teacher who has grown reluctant toward discourses on virtue puts forward the hunt that comes from the table;

either for the sake of being well spoken of by the rich alone, or because his reputation is fading, or in order to be invited back in like manner, or, if none of these, in order that he may not be spoken ill of — not remembering the Lord's pronouncement of woe, saying:

"Woe unto you, when all men speak well of you" — He did not say "the poor," but "all men";

for their fathers did the very same to the false prophets. Let us not, then, O Theodore, seek, as the vainglorious do, the glory of a false prophet,

for John came neither eating nor drinking, in the way of righteousness;

for I knew the man's mind both from report itself and from those of his writings — whether homilies or letters — that have reached us;

but in order that, having learned his purpose, I might zealously emulate the matter.

For who is so utterly foolish as not to know that the loss outweighs the gain that comes from the table, unless perhaps there arise a need to entertain the saints out of necessity? — {THE BISHOP.} These things I too have said, most truth-loving Theodore, not disparaging the ancestral virtue, especially that of hospitality,

for it is one of the remaining virtues that contribute toward piety, through which the great patriarchs — the one caught God the Savior at his table, the other entertained the angels, the one obtaining a son in his old age as reward, the other obtaining, along with his daughters, deliverance from Sodom;

says he, urging us on to imitation:

"Do not forget hospitality," he says;

"for through this some, without knowing it, entertained angels." The host of strangers must have the prudence of the serpent and the simplicity of the dove, obeying both sayings — "Give to everyone who asks of you," and "Do not bring every man into your house" — lest, receiving a wolf instead of a sheep, or a bear instead of an ox, he barter away his gain for loss.

One ought first to examine the place in which one has been stationed, whether it is deserted or thronged with people, and then one's own fitness, whether one is able to bear with strange manners;

then to discern the one who ought properly to receive treatment — whether he is rich or poor, whether healthy or sick, whether he is in need of food or of clothing;

for it is in these things that practical mercy is accomplished.

For the blessed Abraham entertained neither consuls, nor generals, nor the eminent men of the earthly world, among whom horses gleaming with muzzle or bridle, or bronze cymbals of pomp, belch forth from afar the din of arrogance;

but, dwelling in a desert place, he welcomed those who arrived there.

Those who crossed the desert went to the patriarch either on account of virtue, or on account of dire poverty and want.

[for poverty is the mean between excess and deficiency:

excess of wealth, and deficiency of destitution.] Likewise Lot too, dwelling in a city worse than the desert, understandably welcomed the strangers sojourning there, because of the manner of its inhabitants.

But if someone, dwelling in a most well-ordered city, such as that of Constantine, in which all are hosts to strangers, some presbyter — perhaps to excess — having abandoned the ministry of the word, should occupy himself with the account-books of provisions, this man deceives himself, thinking himself a tavern-keeper instead of a teacher, effacing unmixed knowledge with the wateriness of his reasonings, and reaping the prophet's reproach: