金口若望生平對話錄 第 1 章 第 5/9 段

"Your tavern-keepers mix the wine with water." For by as much as wine differs from water for those who are ailing, by so much does teaching surpass hospitality.

For the one benefits those of his own time, but the other benefits also those who come after him;

and the one gains only those who are present, but the other gains also those who are absent;

those present through the tongue, and those absent through what is written.

Such was the Savior in the flesh, who fed five thousand with loaves — not in a city, but in the desert — and taught those present through his tongue, and saved the inhabited world through the written Gospels (for such is the nature especially of the words of the Spirit-bearing men).

And do not marvel, Theodore, if someone fills a hungry man with food, but rather if someone delivers a soul from ignorance.

For the one who satisfies the belly, whether by gift or by money, whether with bread or with vegetables, is easily found to supply the need;

but the nurturer of the word is rarely found, and even when found, is either not believed, or scarcely believed, since the evil spirits are always working against the salvation of souls.

"I will bring upon them a famine — not a famine of bread and water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord." Now concerning the perceptible famine, it is possible, having abandoned the city or region in need, to be saved in another, as the holy patriarchs did, going down from Palestine into Egypt;

but concerning the famine that pertains to the mind, which befalls the churches from no other cause than the scarcity of teachers, another prophet again said:

"They shall run about from east to west, seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." For what good does not spring from teaching? And what untoward thing is not found to arise from untimely food or feasting? Diseases, quarrels, the insults that come from the belly, and all that follows upon these.

... did he fall from the blessing? Was it not when he became enslaved to his belly, deceived by a mess of food? When did Saul fall from his kingship? Was it not when, contrary to the law, he ate the best of the sheep? And when did the people of Israel provoke God to anger? Was it not when they lusted after the Egyptian table, seeking meat and cauldrons from their teacher? Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, why were they put to death in a single hour in battle? Was it not because they seized with the flesh-hooks, out of the cauldrons, the meats that belonged to the sacrifice? And the reproved Jacob — why did he kick back? Was it not because he was filled, and grew fat, and became thick, and grew broad? And when did the Sodomites rage contrary to nature? Was it not when, through continual feasts, they corrupted their judgment — being remembered with reproach by Ezekiel, who says:

"In the abundance of wine and in the fullness of bread they lived luxuriously" — she (that is, the city) and her daughters (that is, the villages, which always follow the law of the city). And when was the reasoning of self-control relaxed among the ancient people? Was it not when they likewise grew old reclining on couches, the prophet complaining, saying:

"Those who eat kids from the flocks, and sucking calves from the herds, drinking wine that has been strained, and anointing themselves with the finest ointments, living luxuriously upon their couches — and they suffered nothing at the ruin of Joseph." Upon whom did Isaiah pronounce woe? Was it not upon those who rise early for feasts?

"Woe to those who rise up early in the morning and pursue strong drink, who tarry until late,"

for the wine will inflame them.

Let us also look upon the company of the saints of old, and let us learn altogether what manner of teaching they employed — that which comes through a dignified life and upright speech, or that which comes through feasts and revelry.

First, was Enoch translated by faith, or by feasting? Then did Noah save the race of the inhabited world by faith in the wood, when the earthly world was being cleansed of the continual round of feasting and unclean deeds, or by fasting and prayers? Is it not for a moment's relief, after so great a flood, by means of drink, that the Scriptures proclaim his shame, and not his glory? Did the blessed Abraham prevail over the five kings of Sodom by faith and righteousness, or by foods and drinks, when he recalled Lot? And Theodore said:

"For any ordinary person will tell you that he prevailed over the war by faith, but caught God by means of his table — as you yourself have already suggested."

"Since, then, Abraham caught God by means of a table, shall we all, therefore, abandon faith and the remaining virtues, and cherish feasts instead — differing in nothing from tavern-keepers or innkeepers who, for that very purpose, have fortified themselves along the highways for the sake of gain?"

"And so, likewise, let the virgins too, who strive to be holy in body and spirit to the glory of God, since Mary bore Christ, let them also bear children;"

"for if they will act in this manner, they differ in nothing from courtesans."

"For if the teachers, because of Abraham, prepare tables, then let the virgins also, because of Mary, bear children."

"Far be it, most honored one! Let us not insult the things that were, or are, well done in their own proper time;"

"for each man's conscience, if it be willing, dictates what is advantageous."

"Then again, did the wrestler Jacob take away Laban's possessions by discipline, or by presiding at feasts?" — he who says:

"I was consumed by the heat by day, and by the frost of the night, and sleep departed from me;"

and asking for nothing more in his prayer than bread and clothing, saying:

"Considering the outcome of their conduct, imitate their faith" — what honey-cakes did the preacher of repentance possess in the desert, John the Baptist, who not only prepared no fine dining for those who came to him, but even made the very meeting bitter with rebuke? For not only did he shake their defiled conscience with his piercing gaze, but also by his very appearance, and much more by cutting, as with a sword, the abscesses of their souls with his word:

"Offspring of vipers, who showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, then, fruits worthy of repentance, and do not rely merely on baptism, or on being children of Abraham." What then of the teacher of the nations, the abolisher of circumcision — that he might establish the circumcision of faith — the chosen vessel, Paul? Is he found at all devoting leisure to the table — he who, more than all, was indebted to do so, and who, as to unbelieving nations, was obliged to establish his relation with them first through the table? What indeed does he write to Timothy, bishop of Ephesus?

"Attend to the lavish provision of the table" — or rather, to reading, to exhortation, to teaching (in which the blessed John was especially unwearied and vigorous)? Rather he says: "Be ready in season and out of season" — reprove, rebuke, exhort (though no one enjoined this upon him — for two of these are harsh, and one is gentle, and perhaps he added even that one sparingly);

but "reprove, rebuke," being exceedingly harsh, he tempered in the word "exhort," and not "flatter";

and this, when done with skill, is more bitter to the pleasure-loving and the fallen, since the reproofs are found to be all the more burdensome.

For there, perhaps, the soul, resisting under the influence of some anger, remains insensible to the words of reproof;

but here, quietly and little by little, being burned by gentle words joined with truth, as though by a soft fire, it is sensibly pierced through and through)

And what does he also remind him of?

Feasts and banquets, or the solemn accounts of afflictions? He says:

"to give glory to God in the persecutions." In the reproofs of error, is there anywhere any mention of the table? Let us see, again, what he writes in his letter to Titus, bishop of Crete:

Concerning food and drink, or concerning reproofs and teaching? He says:

"For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set right what remains, and might persuade them not to teach other doctrines, nor to give heed to myths and endless genealogies" — adding also the manner of his reproofs:

"The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." And their sport was the offspring of drunkenness.

Shall the lips of the priest meditate upon feasts, so that men will seek from him dinners and fine dining? Or rather, "the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and men shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is a messenger of the Lord" — and not a cook? And when was the tower in Chalanne built? Before wine, or after wine? Was it not after wine, when Noah, having planted the vine, was the first to reap its reproach? If indeed this is so, it was not on account of the drinking or the planting, but on account of the excess.

When was Joseph sold by his brothers? Was it when, occupied with them, they were tending the sheep, or when, slaughtering and eating the choicest animals at their leisure, they contrived their envy against him in a feast? Where did they present the head of John the Baptist on a platter to the little harlot — in an assembly of wisdom, or in a banquet of lawlessness? Did the blessed Paul, drinking and eating, prolong his discourse until midnight, or did he, fasting, both teach and lead to faith those who were ignorant of God? The chief shepherd himself, the chief teacher and chief sage, Jesus Christ, the corrector of human error — where is he found to have eaten in a city, except at the Passover? — which was the fulfillment of the mysteries.

And what indeed is he found saying to his anxious disciples — concerning foods, or concerning the scriptures? "Labor," he says, "not for the food that perishes, but for that which endures." Let the good John, then, say together with the Lord:

"My banquet is the teaching and distribution of the word, unto which I was also chosen for the salvation of the people. For food does not commend us to God, whether we eat or whether we do not eat." For this is the custom of the pagans — to deceive by means of tables those whom they entice, since those who speak are unable to persuade by argument, saying:

"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Against these the apostle brings a sharper correction, saying:

"Evil companionships corrupt good morals;"

meaning by "evil companionships" those discourses that revolve around such matters.

For woe to him who calls the sweet bitter, and the bitter sweet.

Woe to him who makes darkness light, and light darkness. But someone will say, "We too do not say that he was given over to such tables."

For immoderate lavishness is a pretext for love of pleasure, while excessive restriction is proof of sloth and pettiness.

For he could have invited only bishops, and especially the most pious of them;

it would have been absurd to spend the food of the sick or the poor on the intemperance of the healthy.

And what sort of law is this, for the taught to legislate for the teacher, or the sick for the physician, or the passengers for the pilot, when it is always the physician who heals the sick, the teacher who corrects the taught, and the pilot who secures the advantage of those sailing with him? Those under a physician and a pilot, obeying them out of love of life, bear every pain and burden, even though success with them is uncertain;

but against a teacher of better things, entrusted with driving away diseases and infirmities, and trained to rise above the surging waves of pleasures, they set themselves with unbridled mouths, fouling everything with unwashed feet.

But even if he had given himself over to such tables, dwelling in so great a city, for how many rightful claimants would it have sufficed, when each person sought food either out of piety, or out of poverty, or out of gluttony? And where would there have been leisure for the contemplation of God, the care of the people, the study of the Scriptures, the guardianship of widows, the consolation of virgins, the nursing of the sick, the aid of the afflicted, the conversion of those who err, the concern for the brokenhearted, the visitation of those in prison? How would he have escaped the reproachful woe of God, which He pronounces in Ezekiel: "O shepherds who feed themselves, and not the flock;"

"You did not bring back that which had gone astray, you did not seek that which was lost, you did not visit that which was sick, you did not bind up that which was broken, you slaughtered and ate the fat ones" — concerning whom Paul writes:

"For you bear it, if anyone enslaves you, if anyone devours you, if anyone takes from you" — and you clothe yourselves with the wool, but do not shepherd the sheep. And in Jeremiah he speaks concerning shepherds who feed themselves in idleness:

"Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard." The deacon says:

{THE BISHOP.} "For this is what is sought: that he not be spoken evil of, that he provide abundantly the word, diligence, zeal, and the rest of priestly goodwill,"

or do you not know, most honored Theodore, that a beatitude for unreasonable slander has also been ordained by the Lord, who, together with the other beatitudes, said:

"Blessed are you, when they reproach you, and speak every evil word against you;"

"but woe to you, when all men speak well of you;"

"No one can serve two masters;"

then, "you cannot serve God and mammon"? Let us then inquire who mammon is, lest we be found not serving the two masters, but mammon alone.

For by "mammon" here he does not mean the devil, but the vain toil of this world, from which the Word withdrew his own disciples.

And do not be harsh with me for the objections I have raised;

for wishing to learn something more, I questioned your great learning with rather more elaborate care.

{THE BISHOP.} Let this be said to you by me more plainly, most learning-loving Theodore (for I too was once one of those eager to please the crowds by means of the table), that a bishop, especially of a great city, who has abandoned the ministry of the word, who does <not> hold the tablets of the law in his hands night and day, and who attends to the care of the poor not through himself but through others, will be far from those who said:

"Behold, we have left everything, and followed you;"

"what then shall we have?" — being numbered among those who said:

"Lord, did we not do such and such in your name?" — only to hear along with them:

"Depart from me, you accursed;"

"I do not know you, whence you are." For the Word does not recognize unreasoning workers;

so as not to see evil deeds. For many of those called bishops, wishing to cut off the well-founded hatred they have incurred because of their own personal ways and their indifference to spiritual matters, exchange one passion for another, greed for vainglory:

with one hand unsparingly committing injustice for shameful gain, and with the other devising elaborate tables and raising up monuments of lofty buildings, so that from these, seeming to appear good and industrious, they might reap honor instead of dishonor — not remembering the Ecclesiast, who both built and hated what he had built, and who clearly forbade such things when he wrote:

"I made for myself houses and gardens," and so forth, "and behold, all is vanity;"

"and I hated all my labor which I labor at under the sun." He did not say "above the sun," lest he should insult the spiritual labors.

I say these things, not including those who justifiably and out of necessity build or repair the property of the church, but speaking of those who squander what belongs to the poor on hanging enclosures and cisterns of piped water in three-storied buildings, and on unseemly baths for men and women together in secret places, either to accumulate more silver, or conversely, to be loved by their favorites — thereby repaying, by this very "zeal," the favor they owe, by yielding everything to pleasure for those who sin.

But may it never be for me, illustrious Theodore, ever to please the base;

for I could please them by no other means than by the things that do not please Christ.

The deacon, marveling at these things, asked, saying:

since indeed Theophilus, in his own treatise, eager to dignify or conceal his own rashness, has stated that the blessed John, moved by the passion of love of power, deposed sixteen bishops in a single day and ordained his own men in their place —

{THE BISHOP.} The admirable man has done nothing out of keeping with his own character, both in writing against John and in writing falsehoods.

For by the very means by which he thinks to cover his own disgrace, by these he rather exposes it publicly, and unwittingly, like that Balaam of old, he glorifies the innocence of John.

For if he had rightly deposed him, there would have been no need of a treatise or of exile, the deposition itself being sufficient to shame those deposed;

but since the virtuous man stands undeposed, holding victory even in seeming defeat, envy remains, carrying off the defeat of an unreasoned victory, swelling up like a bubble, and shattering upon itself, writing and inscribing — fulfilling the word of the prophet Isaiah:

woe to him who draws upon himself the doing, saying, and writing of all things falsely;

for he says, "Woe to those who write;"

for they write wickedness. But concerning those deposed in Asia, it was not sixteen, but six bishops, as I shall declare, as before the divine judgment — I will neither diminish the quantity of the number nor add to the quality of the facts, but shall report to you just as it stands in truth.

In the thirteenth indiction, those from Asia, having come to Constantinople for certain necessary matters, were staying with us; other bishops were also present — those from Scythia, I mean Theotimus, and from Thrace Ammon the Egyptian, and from Galatia Arabianus, all of them elderly metropolitans — amounting in all to twenty-two bishops.

While all were gathered together and in communion, a certain Eusebius, bishop of Valentinopolis from the district called Celbianum, watching for his moment, came before the assembled synod on the first day of the week and presented petitions to the synod, placing the name of John foremost accordingly, against Antoninus, bishop of the Ephesians, setting out seven charges:

one, that having melted down sacred treasures, he made a silver object in the name of his son;

second, that having taken the marbles from the entrance of the baptistery, he added them to his own private bath;

then, that he set up in his own dining hall church columns that had been lying inside for many years;

fourth, that his servant had committed murder, and he keeps him in his service without indictment;

fifth, that estates left to the church by Basilina, the mother of the emperor Julian, he sold and appropriated for himself;

sixth, that having separated from his own wife, he came together with her again and begot children by her;

seventh, that he holds it as law and settled practice to sell the ordinations of bishops in proportion to their revenues.

And present are those who gave and were ordained, and the one who received it;

for those present are harmed when bishops merely relate such things, let alone when they do them.

{THE BISHOP.} Woe is wretched me, kept alive for these days, in which the priesthood is sold for silver — if indeed it is still the priesthood.

And I have become foolish in relating these things, since it is those who slandered John who have brought us round to this subject.

But bear with me patiently, so that from these very things you may also marvel at the fairness of John, who for the time lulled his own zeal to rest and said to Eusebius:

"Brother Eusebius, since accusations made out of grief often do not have easy proofs, I beg you to cease from denouncing brother Antoninus in writing, while we set right the causes of your grief." At this Eusebius, growing heated, used harsh words, writhing wholly against Antoninus, and persisting in the accusation.

John urges Paul of Heraclea (for he seemed to be well disposed toward Antoninus) to bring them together into friendship.

And rising, he entered into the church together with the bishops (for it was the hour of the liturgy), and having given the people the customary greeting of peace, he sat down with the rest of the bishops.

But the accuser Eusebius, coming in secretly, in the presence of all the people and the bishops presented another petition containing the same charges, adjuring John with terrible oaths, having bound up with them also an oath by the safety of the emperors, amid much commotion;

so that the people, thrown into consternation at his boldness, supposed that he was imploring John to ask the emperor for a reprieve from death.

But John, seeing the man's obstinacy, and mindful of preserving calm before the people, received the document; and after the readings of the divine oracles, having asked Pansophius of Pisidia to bring forward the gifts, he himself went out together with the rest of the bishops;

for he refused to perform the sacred rites while thus troubled in mind, in accordance with the Gospel: "When you bring your gift," and so forth.

And having deliberated after the dismissal of the people, and having sat down in the baptistery with the rest of the bishops, he summoned the accuser, saying to him before all:

"And again I say the same thing to you, that many, out of grief or anger, say and write much, being weak in matters of proof.

If, then, you know with certainty the matters about which you wish to accuse — for we neither reject one who is able to prove, nor compel one who is not able — choose what is expedient for you before the petition is read;

for after it has been read and has come to the hearing of all, and once the official records are made, it will no longer be permitted to you, being a bishop, to seek a withdrawal." At this he again persisted in his insistence.

In response to which they ordered the document to be read;

the aforementioned charges were read out.

The elder bishops, having heard the force of the document, say to John:

Even though each single one of the charges is most impious and forbidden on every side by the sacred laws, nevertheless, in order that we may not seem to spend all our time on the lesser charges that have been laid, let the examination begin from the more dreadful one.

For if that charge should be found true, there is no dispute concerning the remaining charges, since the root of that one charge bears fruit of every kind of wickedness, according to him who said:

"The love of money is [the root] of evils." For he who has taken bribes to declare the guilty innocent, and has imagined that he could barter away the impartation of the Holy Spirit for silver, how will he still spare the treasures, precious stones, or estates of the church? Then John begins the examination, saying to Antoninus:

"What do you say to this, brother Antoninus?" He denied it out of necessity (for how could he, at the very outset, confess his own shame?)

Those who had given the bribes were questioned; they too denied it.

As the examination proceeded carefully on these matters until the eighth hour, the case began to take shape from certain pieces of evidence.

In the end, as was to be expected, it came down to witnesses, in whose presence the bribes had both been given and received.

There arose a need for their appearance in court.

John, considering the difficulty of securing their appearance, and being eager both for the purification of the church and out of consideration for the witnesses, resolved to go to Asia in person and bring the examination to completion.

Antoninus, seeing John's untiring zeal and incorruptibility, being conscious of his own guilt, secretly approached one of those in power, whose estates in Asia he had been managing, and besought him to have John restrained, so that he should not go to Asia, promising instead the appearance of the witnesses.

He immediately arranged for the following message to be conveyed from the palace to bishop John:

"It is an unseemly thing that you, being bishop and protector of our souls, should leave the city amid such expectation of disturbance and set out on the journey to Asia, when the witnesses can easily be brought here." — Now the disturbance expected was Gainas, the barbarian.

And indeed — not to speak at length — he was persuaded to remain, being concerned both for the trial and for sparing the witnesses further hardship.

The postponement concerning the witnesses proved a windfall for the accused, since he was able to make them flee, either by money or by influence.

Having foreseen this, John, together with the synod then present, resolved that some of the bishops present should be sent to Asia to question the witnesses.

Immediately, therefore, three bishops were appointed to go down: Syncletius, metropolitan of Traianopolis, and Hesychius of Parium, and Palladius of Helenopolis — the synod having declared in its records that whoever should fail, within two months, to appear and defend his own case at Hypaepa, a city of Asia (this place being chosen because both the accused and the remaining bishops who were obliged to sit in judgment together with Syncletius and his colleagues were from neighboring regions), should be excommunicated.

Accordingly, Syncletius and Palladius, those appointed, went down and met at Smyrna;

for Hesychius, being a friend of Antoninus, pretended to be ill.

They at once wrote and announced their arrival to both parties, so that, coming together to the appointed city, they might fulfill their undertakings.

But the two parties persuaded one another — the one with gold, the other with an oath — and had become friends before the arrival of the judges.

Having come together at Hypaepa only for appearance's sake, they thought to trick the judges again by delaying the witnesses, claiming they were away on various errands.

At this the judges questioned the accuser:

"Within how many days, then, will you produce them? We are waiting." Supposing that they were withdrawing because they could not bear the oppressiveness of the weather (for it was the very height of the summer season), he promised in writing that within forty days he would either bring the witnesses or submit to the penalties of the canons.

Having thus been released to seek out the witnesses, he abandoned the matter and made his way to Constantinople, hiding there.

The judges, as was proper, waited out the forty days.

And since he appeared nowhere, they wrote to the bishops throughout Asia, excommunicating him as either a deserter or a false accuser.

After this they waited patiently thirty more days, and since he appeared nowhere, they departed and came to Constantinople;

and there, having come upon him, they charged him with what he had dared to do.

But he again, alleging bodily illness as a pretext, kept promising to produce the witnesses.

Antoninus died — the man against whom Eusebius had brought the suit.

Again a resolution came from Asia — this from the clergy of the church of the Ephesians, that from the bishops — to John, containing a request confirmed with a fearsome oath:

"Since in former times both the church's institutions and we ourselves have been shepherded in confusion, we ask that your Honor come down and set a God-sent order upon the church of the Ephesians, which has for a long time been worn down — partly by those who hold the opinions of Arius, and partly by those of our own communion who boast with greed and self-love;"

"since especially many are lying in wait, like grievous wolves, eager to seize the see by means of money." And John, despite such bodily infirmity and despite the wintry season, setting no hardship before his eyes, chiefly for the sake of setting in order the diseased affairs of the whole Asian diocese — caused by the inexperience or want of shepherds — was strengthened by his zeal, boarded a ship, and set sail from the city.

A violent north wind having sprung up, the sailors, fearing they would be cast onto Proconnesus, trimmed the sail to the buffeting wind and ran under the lee of Mount Triton;

and there, having cast anchor, they waited for a south wind, so that they might put in at Apamea.

Having remained, then, two days, fasting and tossed about in the ship, on the third day they came ashore at Apamea, where the bishops Paul, Cyrinus, and Palladius were waiting (for these John had taken as his fellow-travelers).

Then, completing the journey on foot, they entered Ephesus;