m^^r:

W-^ aW

■Jm\^..-

vT'M

■»:'ii :*.:*•..»•

'^ ^-?'

<'N<-,\lv,^\\\\\\Vv

MMammie

ni|i9HMeiM«iiHi^

iiliiiMiMliiiiiiiiiiimww«ii«tMmt«!tMmsam'^^

iKKiiSS-.".*'-.;

Presented to the LIBRARY of the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

hy The Estate of the late

PROFESSOR A. S. P. WOODHOUSE

Head of the

Department of English

University College

1944-1964

A SELECT LIBRARY

OF THE

NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS

OF

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

EDITED BY

PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LLD.,

PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK.

IN CONNECTION WITH A NUMBER OF PATRISTIC SCHOLARS OF EUROPE

AND AMERICA.

VOLUME IX.

SAINT CHRYSOSTOM:

ON THE PRIESTHOOD; ASCETIC TREATISES; SELECT HOMILIES AND LETTERS; HOMILIES ON THE STATUES.

NEW YORK THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE COMPANY

1889

974663

CoPYRIOiri', 18S9, BY

THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE COMPANY.

electrotyped and printed by

The Publishers' Printing Company,

157 & 159 William St.,

New York.

PREFACE.

With this volume, we begin the Works of St. Chrysostom. It contains a sketch of his life and labors, the book on the priesthood, the letters to Theodore, the catechetical instruc- tions, and a selection of ascetic treatises, special homilies, letters to Olympias and Innocent, and the twenty-one Homilies on the Statues.

The translations are entirely new, or thoroughly revised, by the Rev. W. R. W. Stephens, whose services I was so fortunate as to secure. He has written the best biography of St. Chrysostom and is thoroughly at home in his writings. He has taken great pains, with the aid of two friends, the Rev. T. P. Brandram and Rev. R. Blackburn, and is responsible for the whole volume, with the exception of the Prolegomena, which I wrote myself, to corre- spond with the Prolegomena to the works of St. Augustin.

The other volumes of St. Chrysostom in this series will be devoted to his exegetical Hom- ilies on the greater part of the New Testament.

PHILIP SCHAFF.

New York, March, 1889.

CONTENTS.

Prolegomena by the General Editor 3-2

PAGE 3

Introduction to the Treatise on the Priesthood 2-7-29

By the Rev. W. R. W. Stephens, M.A., Prebendary of Chichester and Rector of Woolbeding, Sussex.

Six Books on the Priesthood 33-83

Translated with notes by the Rev, W. R. \V. Stephens, assisted by the Rev. T. P. Brandram, M.A., Rector of Rumboldswhyke, Chichester.

Two Letters to Theodore after his Fall 87-116

Translated with introduction and notes by Rev. \V. R. W. Stephens.

Letter to a Young Widow. ......... 119-128

Translated with introduction and notes by the Rev. W. R. W. Stephens.

Two Homilies. (L) On St. Babylas : (IL) On St. Ignatius. . . 131-143

Introduction by the Rev. W. R. W. Stephens ; translation and notes by Rev. T. P. Brandram.

Homily Concerning " Lowliness of Mind " 147-155

Translated with notes by the Rev. R. Blackburn, M.A., Rector of Selham, Sus- sex, late Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.

Two Instructions to Candidates for Baptism 159-17 i

Translation and notes by Rev. T. P. Brandram.

Three Homilies. (I.) That Demons do not Govern the World :

(II. and III.) Concerning the Power of the Tempter . . . 177-197

Introduction by Rev. W. R. W. Stephens ; translation and notes by Rev. T. P. Brandram.

Three. Homilies. (I.) Against Marcionists and Manich/eans, on the Passage " Father, If it be Possible," etc.: (II.) On the Paralytic let down through the Roof : (III.) To Those who had not At- tended the Assembly; on the Passage, "If thine Enemy Hunger Feed Him " 201-232

Translated with notes by Ri:\'. W. R. W. Stephkns.

VI CONTENTS.

PAGE

Homily against Publishing the Errors of the Brethren . . . 235-242 Translated with notes by Rev. R. Blackburn, M.A.

Two Homilies on Eutropius ......... 245-265

Translated with introduction and notes by Rev. W. R. W. Stephens.

Treatise to Prove that no one can Harm the Man who does not

Injure himself ........... 269-2S4

Translated with introduction and notes by Rev. W. R. W. Stephens.

Four Letters to Olympias and one to Presbyters at Antioch . . 287-304 Translated with introduction and notes by Rev. W. R. W. Stephens.

Correspondence of Innocent, Bishop of Rome, with St. Chrysostom

and the Church of Constantinople ....... 307-314

Translated with introduction and notes by Rev. W. R. W. Stephens.

Twenty-one Homilies on the Statues. ....... 317-489

Translation adopted from " Oxford Library of the Fathers," carefully revised with introduction and notes by Rev. W. R. W. Stephens.

CONTENTS OF PROLEGOMENA.

Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter

Chapter Chapter

Chapter Chapter

Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter

I. — Literature . . .

11. — Chrysostom's Youth and Training, a.d. 347-370 . . . .

III. — His Conversion and Ascetic Life, a.d. 370-374 . . . .

IV. — He Evades Election to a Bishopric, and Writes His Work on THE Priesthood .........

V. — Chrysostom as a Monk, a.d. 374-381 .....

VI. — Chrysostom as Deacon, Priest and Preacher at Antioch, a.d 381-398 ...

VII. — Chrysostom as Patriarch of Constantinople, a.d. 398-403

VIII. — Chrysostom and Theophilus. His First Deposition and Ban ishment

IX. — Chrysostom and Eudoxia. His Second Banishment, a.d X. — Chrysostom in Exile. His Death, a.d. 404-407

XI. — His Character

XII. — His Writings

XIII. — His Theology and Exegesis ....

XIV. — Chrysostom as a Preacher .....

403

PAGE 3

5 6

7 9

10 12

'3

T4

15 16

17 18

PROLEGOMENA.

THE LIFE AND WORK OF

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM.

BY PHILIP SCHAFF. CHAPTER \.— Literature.

I. EDITIONS OF CHRYSOSTOM'S WORKS.

S. JoANNIs Chrysostomi, archiepiscopi Constantinopolitani, Opera omnia qua: exstant vet qua ejus nomine ciicuviferimhir^ ad MSS. codices Gallicos, Vaticanos, Anglicos, Germanicosque castigata, etc. Opera et studio D. Bernardi DE Montfaucon, monachi ordinis S. Benedicti e congregatione S. Mauri, ope/n fereniibits aliis ex eodem sodalitio, vtonachis. Greek and Latin, Paris, lyiS-'sS, in 13 vols., fol. This is the best edition, and the result of about twenty years of the patient labor of Montfaucon (d. Dec. 21, 1741, 86 years old), and several assistants of the brotherhood of St. Maur. More than three hundred MSS. were made use of, but the eight principal MSS., as P'ield has shown, were not very carefully collated. Montfaucon, who at the date of the com- pletion of his edition was 83 years old, prepared valuable prefaces to every treatise and set of homilies, arranged the works in chronological order, and added in vol. XIII. learned dissertations on the life, doctrine, discipline and heresies of the age of Chrysostom.

The Benedictine edition was reprinted at Venice, i734-'4i, in 13 vols, fol.; at Paris, ed. by F. de Sinner (Gaume), i834-'3g, in 13 vols, (an elegant edition, with some additions); and, with various improvements and corrections, by J. P. Migne, Petit-Montrouge, i859-'63, in 13 vols. The last is the most complete edition, but inferior in paper and type to that of Gaume. Migne uses the critical text of Field in Matthew and the Pauline Epp. He had previously edited a Latin Version, 1842, in 9 vols.

The edition of Sir Henry Savile (Provost of Eton), Etonse, 1612, in 8 vols, fol., is less complete than the Benedictine edition, but gives a more correct Greek text (as was shown by F. Diibner from a collation of manuscripts) and valuable notes. Savile personally examined the libraries of Europe and spent ;[^8,ooo on his edition. His wife was so jealous of his devotion to Chrysostom that she threatened to burn his manuscripts.

The edition of Fronton le Due, a French Jesuit, and the two brothers, Frederick and Claude Morel, was published at Paris, 1636, in 12 vols, fol., Greek and Latin.

A selection of Chrj'sostom's works (Opera prcestantissima) in Greek and Latin, was edited by T. G. LoM- ler, Rudolphopoli (Rudolstadt), 1840 (unfinished).

The best edition of the Greek text of the Homilies on Matt/iezu, and all the Pauline Epistles is by Dr. Frederick Field, of the Church of England (d. 1883), in the " Bibliotheca Patrum Ecclesi<T Oiieutalis qui ante Orientis et Occidentis schisma floruerunt.^'' The Homilies on Matthew appeared at Cambridge, 1839, 3 vols.; the Homilies on the Epistles of Paul and the Hebrews, Oxford, i839-'62, in 7 vols.

The treatise De Sacerdotio (nepi kpuavvr/c) was separately edited by Erasmus in Greek (Basel, 1525, from the press of Frobenius), by J. Hughes, in Greek and Latin (Cambridge, 17 10), and by J. A. Bengel, the com-

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

mentator, in Greek (Stuttgart, 1725, and repeatedly reprinted since at Leipzig, 1825, 1834, 1872, by C. Tauch- nitz). LoMLER {C/irys. Opej-a, pp. viii. and ix.) enumerates twenty-three separate editions and translations of the treatise on the Priesthood.

II. TRANSLATIONS. {o) GERMAN TRANSLATIONS.

The treatise on the Priesthood has been translated by Hasselbach, 1820 ; Ritter, 1821, and others. The Bibliothek der Kiyxlienviitt-r (y^oxa.. Cath.), published at Kempten in Bavaria, devotes ten small volumes to St. Chrysostom, including the Priesthood, ascetic Treatises, and Homilies^ translated by JoH. Chrysostomus Mit- TERRUTZNER, i86g-'84. German translations of selected Homilies by J. A. Cramer (Leipzig, i748-'5i, 10 vols.); Feder (Augsburg, 1786); Ph. Mayer (Nurnberg, 1830); W. Arnoldi (Trier, 1835); Augusti (/"rc- digten der Kirchenvatcr, vols. I. and IL, Leipzig, 1839); Jos. LuTZ (Tubingen, 2d ed. 1859); GusT. Leon- HARDI (Leipzig, 1888, selected sermons and orations, in vol L oi Klassikerbibliothek der Christl. Fredigtliteraiur).

[b) ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS.

The work on the Priesthood wsls translated by Hollier (London, 1728); Bunce (London, 1759); Hohler (Cambridge, 1837); Marsh (London, 1844); Harris Cowper (London, 1866); and Stephens (N. York, 1888, prepared for this " Library").

The Homilies on the Statues and on the N'ew Testavient were translated by several scholars for the " Oxford Library of the Fathers," i839-'77, 16 vols. The earlier parts (on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and on the Statues) are based on the text of Montfaucon and Savile, the later parts on the improved text of Field. The Oxford translation has been revised and annotated by American scholars for this " Library,'' and new transla- tions of other works of St. Chrysostom have been added, namely, the treatise on the Priesthood, the Exhortation to the fallen Theodore, Letters, Tracts, and Special Homilies (in this first volume).

III. BIOGRAPHIES AND ESSAYS.

Palladius (a friend of Chrysostom and bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia, author of the Historia Lausiaca; according to others a different person): Dialogtis histoiicus de vita et conversatione beati Joannis Chrysostomi ctini Tlu'odoro ecclesia Romanic diacono (in the Bened. edition of the Opeiv, torn. xiii. pp. 1-89; in Migne's ed., torn, i.. Pars prior, 5-84, in Greek and Latin). HiERONYMUS : De viris illustribiis, c. 129 (a very brief notice, men- tioning only the work De Sacerdotio). Socrates: Hist. Eccl. VL, 3-21. Sozomen : Hist. Eccl. VHL 2-23. Theodoret : Hist. Eccl. V. 27-36. B. de Montfaucon : Vita Joannis Chrysost. (in his edition of the Opera, tom. xiii. 91-178 ; in Migne, I.I. 84-264): Testimonia Veterwn de S. Joann. Chrys. scriptis, ibid. torn. xiii. 256-292. Tillemont : A//moires, \o\. XI. pp. 1-405, 547-626 (exceedingly minute and accurate from the works of Chrys.). F. Stilting : Acta Sancto)um, Sept. 14 (the day of Chrysostom's death), tom. iv. pp. 401- 709; comp. Stilting's Compendittin chronologiciim gestorum et scriptoriim S. Joh. Chrys., in MiGNE, tom. i. 264-272. Alban Butler : Lives of Saints, sub. Jan. 27 (the day of the translation of the remains of Chrys.). W. Cave : Lives of the Fathers., vol. III. p. 237 sqq. J. A. Fabricius : Biblioth Gr., tom. viii, 454 sqq. SchroCKH : Kirchengeschichte, vol. X. p. 309 sqq. Gibbon : Dfcline and Fall, ch. xxxii. (a brilliant and appreci- ative sketch). Neander : Der heilige Chrysostonnis, i82i-'22, in 3 vols., seconded. 1832, third ed. Berlin, 1848, in 2 vols. (Enghsh translation of the same by J. C. Stapleton, vol. I., London, 1838, unfinished). The best monograph in the German language. Neander represents Chrysostom as a type of the Johannean tendency among the Fathers, as distinct from Augustin, the strongest type of the Pauline tendency. He gives a full account of the opinions and religious life of Chrysostom, but without a clear picture of his personality. (Hase says : ^'■Neander hat uns das Lebensbild des Cluys. aufgestellt als ein Herzensverwandter, doch nicht ohne einige Abschwdchung seiner Kraft tmd seines Gegensatzes zur Regierung.'''' K. Gesch. I. 511.) J. Pettersson : Chrys. homileta, Lund, 1833. C. Datt : .S. Jean Chrys. comme prddicateur, Strassb., 1837. A. F. Villkmain : Tab- leau de r dloquence chretienne au quatrieme siecle, Paris, 1849, new ed. 1S57. IV.kthes : Life of Chrysostom, Boston, 1854. P. Albert: St. Jean CJirysostome co7isidM comme orateur populaire, Paris, 1858. Abbe E. Mar- tin: Saint Jeati Chrysostome, ses auvres et son siecle, Montpellier and Paris, 1861, 3 vols. Abbe Rochet: Hisioire de S. Jean Chrysostome, Paris, 1866, 2 vols. Amedee Thierry: St. Chrysostomc et t imperatrice Eudoxie, 2d ed., Paris, 1874 (originally in the "■Revue des deux Mondes"). Bohringer: Johatin Chrysostonrus tmd Olym- pias, in '■' Kirchengesch. in Biogr.,"' vol. IX. new ed. 1876. Th. Forster: Chrysostomus in scincm J'erhdltniss zur Antiochenischen Schule, Gotha, 1869. W. Maggh.ORY: /ohtt of the Golden Mouth, Lond. 1871. W. R. W. S tephens ; St. John Chrysostom, his Life and Times, London, 1872, 2d ed. 1880, 3rd ed. 1883 (the best biogra- phy of Chr.). R. W. Bush, Life and Times of Chrysostom, London, Rel. Tract Soc, 18S5.

Canon E. Venables: in " Smith and Wace^'' I. 518-535 (a very good sketch). C. Burk: in Herzog, 2d ed.,

PROLEGOMENA.

III. 225-231. E. Dandiran: in Lightenberger's "Encyclop^die," etc., III. 165-176. Schaff: Church Hist. III. 702 sqq., 933 sqq.. 1036 sq. Hase: Kirchens^esch. {Vorlestmgen, 1885), I. 510 sqq. F. W. Farrar: Lives of the Fathers, London, iSSg. Vol. II. 460-527.

CHAPTER II. — Chrysostom s Youth and Training, a.d. 347-370.

" Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto Thee; and doest promise, that when two or three are gathered together in Thy name Thou wilt grant their requests : fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of Thy servants, as may be most expedient for them ; granting us in this world knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen." '

This beautiful and comprehensive prayer, which is translated from the Liturgy of St. Chry- sostom, has made his name a household word wherever the Anglican Liturgy is known and used.

John, surnamed Chrysostom ('/wawiy? Xpo(j6<nop.u<i) is the greatest pulpit orator and commentator of the Greek Church, and still deservedly enjoys the highest honor in the whole Christian world. No one of the Oriental Fathers has left a more spotless reputation ; no one is so much read and so often quoted by modern preachers and commentators. An admiring posterity, since the close of the fifth century, has given him the surname Chrysostom (The Golden Mouth), which has entirely superseded his personal name John, and which best expresses the general estimate of his merits.

His life may be divided into five periods: (i) His youth and training till his conversion and baptism, a.d. 347-370. (2) His ascetic and monastic life, 370-381. (3) His public life as priest and preacher at Antioch, 381-398. (4) His episcopate at Constantinople, 398-404. (5) His exile to his death, 404-407.

John (the name by which alone he is known among contemporary writers and his first biographers) was born in 347," at Antioch, the capital of Syria, and the home of the mother church of Gentile Christianity, where the disciples of Jesus were first called " Christians."

His father, Secundus, was a distinguished mihtary ofiicer {magister milituni) in the imperial army of Syria, and died during the infancy of John, without professing Christianity, as far as we know. His mother, Anthusa, was a rare woman. Left a widow at the age of twenty, she refused all offers of marriage, and devoted herself exclusively to the education of her only son and his older sister. She was probably from principle averse to a second marriage, according to a prevaiUng view of the Fathers. She shines, with Nonna and Monica, among the most pious mothers of the fourth century, who prove the ennobling influence of Christianity on the character of woman, and through her on all the family relations. Anthusa gained general esteem by her exemplary life. The famous advocate of heathenism, Libanius, on hearing of her consistency and devotion, felt constrained to exclaim: "Bless me! what wonderful women there are among the Christians." ^

She gave her son an admirable education, and early planted in his soul the germs of piety, which afterwards bore the richest fruits for himself and the church. By her admoni- tions and the teachings of the Bible, he was secured against the seductions of heathenism.

e

I See the Greek original of this collect in Chrysostom's I,iturgy, in Migne's edition, Tom. -xii. qo8; Daniel's Codex Liturgi- cus, torn, iv.; Fasc. II. p. 343 (comp. the foot-note in torn. iii. 358); and Fr. Procter's History 0/ the Book 0/ Comvion Prayeriiiih ed. 1874), p. 245 sq. The precise origin of this prayer is uncertain. It does not occur in the oldest MSS. of Chrysostom's Liturgy, but in those of the Liturgy of St. Basil. It precedes the third anthem in the communion service, and was used since the ninth century or earlier in the exarchate of Ca;sarea and the patriarchate of Constantinople. In the Oriental churches the prayer is said silently by the priest. See Bjerring, The Offices 0/ the Oriental Church, p. 43. In the Anglican Church, it was placed at the end of the Litany (by Cranmer), in 1544, and at the close of the daily Morning and Evening Prayer in 1661. In the English Homilies (iVow:. I.), Chrysostom is called " that godly clerk and great preacher."

= So MoNTFAUCON, TiLLEMONT, Neander, STEPHENS, Venables, and Others. Baur {Vorlcsiingen iiber die Dogmenseschichte, Bd. I. Abthlg. II., p. 50) and others erroneously state the year 354 or 355. Villemain assigns the year 344 as that of his birth.

3 BaPal, olai Trapa xpio-riai/oi? yvva.lKi<; eiai. Chrysostom himself relates this of his heathen teacher (by whom, undoubtedly, we are to understand Libanius), though, it is true, with immediate reference only to the twenty years' widowhood of his mother, and adds : " Such is the praise and admiration of widowhood not only with us, but even with the heathen." Ad viduamjuniorem (0/>era^ Bened. ed. Tom. i, 340; in Migne's ed. Tom. i., P. II., 601).

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

Yet he was not baptized till he had reached the age of maturity. In that age of transition from heathenism to Christianity, the number of adult baptisms far exceeded that of infant baptisms. Hence the large baptisteries for the baptism of crowds of converts; hence the many sermons and lectures of Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem and other preachers to catechumens, and their careful instruction before baptism and admission to the Missa Fidelium or the holy communion. Even Christian parents, as the father and mother of Gregory Nazianzen, the mother of Chrysostom, and the mother of Augustin, put off the baptism of their offspring, partly no doubt from a very high conception of baptism as the sacrament of regeneration, and the superstitious fear that early baptism involved the risk of a forfeiture of baptismal grace. This was the argument which Tertullian in the second century urged against infant baptism, and this was the reason why many professing Christians put off their baptism till the latest hour; just as now so many from the same motive delay repentance and conver- sion to their death-bed. Chrysostom often rebukes that custom. The Emperor Constantine who favored Christianity as early as 312, and convened the Council of Nicaea in 325, post- poned baptism till 337, shortly before his death. The orthodox Emperor Theodosius the Great was not baptized till the first year of his reign (380), when attacked by a serious illness.

Chrysostom received his hterary training chiefly from Libanius, the admirer and friend of Julian the Apostate, and the first classical scholar and rhetorician of his age, who after a long career as public teacher at Athens and Constantinople, returned to his native Antioch and had the misfortune to outlive the revival of heathenism under Julian and to lament the triumph of Christianity under his successors. He was introduced by him into a knowledge of the Greek classics and the arts of rhetoric, which served him a good purpose for his future labors in the church. He was his best scholar, and when Libanius, shortly before his death (about 393), was asked whom he wished for his successor, he replied: "John, if only the Christians had not stolen him from us." '

After the completion of his studies Chrysostom became a rhetorician, and began the profitable practice of law, which opened to him a brilliant political career. The amount of litigation was enormous. The display of talent in the law-courts was the high-road to the dignities of vice-prefect, prefect, and consul. Some of his speeches at the bar excited admi- ration and were highly commended by Libanius. For some time, as he says, he w^as " a never- faiUng attendant at the courts of law, and passionately fond of the theatre." But he was not satisfied. The temptations of a secular profession in a corrupt state of society discouraged him. To accept a fee for making the worse cause appear the better cause, seemed to him to be taking Satan's wages.

CHAPTER HL — His Conversion a7id Ascetic Life.

The quiet study of the Scriptures, the example of his pious mother, the acquaintance with Bishop Meletius, and the influence of his intimate friend Basil, who was of the same age and devoted to ascetic life, combined to produce a gradual change in his character.^

He entered the class of catechumens, and after the usual period of three years of in- struction and probation, he was baptized by Meletius in his twenty-third year (369 or 370). From this time on, says Palladius, " he neither swore, nor defamed any one, nor spoke falsely, nor cursed, nor even tolerated facetious jokes." His baptism was, as in the case of St. Augus- tin, the turning point in his life, an entire renunciation of this world and dedication to the service of Christ. The change was radical and permanent.

Meletius, who foresaw the future greatness of the young lawyer, wished to secure him for

1 SOZOMEN, Ch. Hist., VIII. 2.

2 Socrates and Kurtz (in the loth edition of his Kirchen^eschichte, I. 223), confound this Basil with Basil the Great of Cappa- docia,who was eighteen years older than Chrysostom and died in 379. Chrysostom's friend was probably (as Baroniusand Montfaucon conjecture) identical with Basil, bishop of Raphanea in Syria, near Antioch, who attended the Council of Constantinople in 381. Comp. Stephens, /. c. p. 14; and Venaules in Svtiih. &" IVace, I. 297.

PROLEGOMENA.

the active service of the church, and ordained him to the subordinate office of lector (anagnostes, reader), about a.d. 370. The lectors had to read the Scripture lessons in the first part of divine service (the " Missa Catechumenorum "), and to call upon the people to pray, but could not preach nor distribute the sacraments.

The first inclination of Chrysostom after baptism was to adopt the monastic life as the safest mode, according to the prevailing notions of the church in that age. to escape the temptations and corruptions of the world, to cultivate holiness and to secure the salvation of the soul. But the earnest entreaties of his mother prevailed on him to delay the gratifica- tion of his desire. He relates the scene with dramatic power. She took him to her chamber and by the bed where she had given him birth, she adjured him with tears not to forsake her. " My son," she said in substance, " my only comfort in the midst of the miseries of this earthly life is to see thee constantly, and to behold in thy features the faithful image of my beloved husband who is no more. This comfort commenced with your infancy before you could speak. I ask only one favor from you : do not make me a widow a second time ; wait at least till I die; perhaps I shall soon leave this world. When you have buried me and joined my ashes with those of your father, nothing will then prevent you from retiring into monastic life. But as long as I breathe, support me by your presence, and do not draw down upon you the wrath of God by bringing such evils upon me who have given you no offence." '

These tender, simple and impressive words suggest many heart-rending scenes caused by the ascetic enthusiasm for separation from the sacred ties of the family. It is honorable to Chrysostom that he yielded to the reasonable wishes of his devoted mother. He remained at home, but turned his home into a monastery. He secluded himself from the world and practised a rigid asceticism. He ate little and seldom, and only the plainest food, slept on the bare floor and frequently rose to prayer. He kept almost unbroken silence to prevent a relapse into the habit of slander.

His former associates at the bar called him unsociable and morose. But two of his fel- low-pupils under Libanius joined him in his ascetic life, Maximus (afterwards bishop of Seleucia), and Theodore of Mopsuestia. They studied the Scriptures under the direction of Diodorus (afterwards bishop of Tarsus), the founder of the Antiochian school of theology, of which Chrysostom and Theodore became the chief ornaments.-

Theodore was warmly attached to a young lady named Hermione, and resolved to marry and to leave the ascetic brotherhood. This gave rise to the earhest treatise of Chrysostom — namely, an exhortation to Theodore, in two letters.^ He plied all his oratorical arts of sad sympathy, tender entreaty, bitter reproach, and terrible warning, to reclaim his friend to what he thought the surest and safest way to heaven. To sin, he says, is human, but to persist in sin is devihsh ; to fall is not ruinous to the soul, but to remain on the ground is. The appeal had its desired effect ; Theodore resumed his monastic Hfe and became afterwards bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia and one of the first bibhcal scholars. The arguments which Chrysostom used, would condemn all who broke their monastic vows. They retain moral force only if we substitute apostasy from faith for apostasy from monasticism, which must be regarded as a temporary and abnormal or exceptional form of Christian life.

CHAPTER IV. — CJwysostom evades Election to a Bishopi-'u^ and ivrites his Work on the

Priesthood.

About this time several bishoprics were vacant in Syria, and frequent depositions took

1 De Sacerd. I. 5.

2 Socrates and Sozomenus represent Diodor and Karterius as abbots under whom Chrysostom lived as monk, but Neander (in the 3d ed. I. 29) thinks it more likely that Chrysostom was previously instructed by Diodor at Antioch.

3 Pamnesis ad Theodoruui Lapsuni, in Migne's ed. I., Pars I. 277-319. The second letter is milder than the lirst, and was written earlier. It is somewhat doubtful whether the first refers to the same case. Neander (I. 38 sq.) conjectures that the second only is addressed to Theodore.

8 THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

place with the changing fortunes of orthodoxy and Arianism, and the interference of the court. The attention of the clergy and the people turned to Chrysostom and his friend Basil as suita- ble candidates for the episcopal office, although they had not the canonical age of thirty. Chrysostom shrunk from the responsibihties and avoided an election by a pious fraud. He apparently assented to an agreement with Basil that both should either accept, or resist the burden of the episcopate, but instead of that he concealed himself and put forward his friend whom he accounted much more worthy of the honor. Basil, under the impression that Chry- sostom had already been consecrated, reluctantly submitted to the election. When he discov- ered the cheat, he upbraided his friend with the breach of compact, but Chrysostom laughed and rejoiced at the success of his plot. This conduct, which every sound Christian conscience must condemn, caused no offense among the Christians of that age, still less among the hea- then, and was regarded as good management or " economy." The moral character of the deception was supposed to depend altogether on the motive, which made it good or bad. Chrysostom appealed in justification of laudable deception to the stratagems of war, the con- duct of physicians in dealing with refractory patients, to several examples of the Old Testament (Abraham, Jacob, David), and to the conduct of the Apostle Paul in circumcising Timothy for the sake of the Jews (Acts xvi. 3 V and in observing the ceremonial law in Jerusalem at the advice of James (Acts xxi. 26).

The Jesuitical maxim, "the end justifies the means," is much older than Jesuitism, and runs through the whole apocryphal, pseudo-prophetic, pseudo-apostolic, pseudo-Clemen- tine and pseudo-Isidorian literature of the early centuries. Several of the best Fathers show a surprising want of a strict sense of veracity. They introduce a sort of cheat even into their strange theory of redemption, by supposing that the Devil caused the crucifixion under the delusion that Christ was a mere man, and thus lost his claim upon the fallen race. Origen, Chrysos- tom, and Jerome explain the offense of the collision between Paul and Peter at Antioch (Gal. ii. II sqq.) away by turning it into a theatrical and hypocritical farce, which was shrewdly arranged by the two apostles for the purpose of convincing the Jewish Christians that circum- cision was not necessary. Against such wretched exegesis the superior moral sense of Augus- tin rightly protested, and Jerome changed his view on this particular passage. Here is a point where the modern standard of ethics is far superior to that of the Fathers, and more fully accords with the spirit of the New Testament, which inculcates the strictest veracity as a fundamental virtue.'

The escape from the episcopate was the occasion for one of the best and most popular works of Chrysostom, the Six Books On the Priesthood, which he wrote probably before his ordination (between 375 and 381), or during his diaconate (between 381 and 386). It is composed in the form of a Platonic dialogue between Chrysostom and Basil. He first vin- dicates by argument and examples his well-meant but untruthful conduct towards his friend, and the advantages of timely fraud ; and then describes with youthful fervor and eloquence the importance, duties and trials of the Christian ministry, without distinguishing between the priestly and the episcopal office. He elevates it above all other offices. He requires whole- souled consecration to Christ and love to his flock. He points to the Scriptures (quoting also from the Apocrypha) as the great weapon of the minister. He assumes, as may be ex- pected, the then prevailing conception of a real priesthood and sacrifice, baptismal regenera- tion, the corporal presence, the virtue of absolution, prayers for the dead, but is silent about pope and councils, the orders of the clergy, prayers to saints, forms of prayer, priestly vest- ments, incense, crosses and other doctrines and ceremonies of the Greek and Roman churches.

I Comp. on the patristic views of accommodation, Neander, Geschichte der Christl. Ethik., p. 156 sqq. ; and Wuttke, Christl. Sittenle/ire, 3d ed. vol. II., 325 sq. Canon Venables of Lincoln (in Smith &= IVace, I. 519 sq.) justly condemns Chrysostom's con- duct on this occasion " as utterly at variance with ihe principles of truth and honor."

PROLEGOMENA.

He holds up St. Paul as a model for imitation. The sole object of the preacher must be to please God rather than men (Gal. i. lo). " He must not indeed despise approving demon- strations, but as little must he court them, nor trouble himself when they are withheld." He should combine the qualities of dignity and humihty, authority and sociability, impartiality and courtesy, independence and lowliness, strength and gentleness, and keep a single eye to the glory of Christ and the welfare of the church.

This book is the most useful or at least the best known among the works of Chrysos- tom, and is well calculated to inspire a profound sense of the tremendous responsibiUties of the ministry. But it has serious defects, besides the objectionable justification of pious fraud, and cannot satisfy the demands of an evangelical minister. In all that pertains to the proper care of souls it is inferior to the " Reformed Pastor" of Richard Baxter.

CHAPTER N.— Chrysoshwi as a Monk. a.d. 374-381-

After the death of his mother, Chrysostom fled from the seductions and tumults of city life to the monastic solitude of the mountains south of Antioch, and there spent six happy years in theological study and sacred meditation and prayer. Monasticism was to him (as to many other great teachers of the church, and even to Luther) a profitable school of spiritual experience and self-government. He embraced this mode of hfe as " the true philosophy " from the purest motives, and brought into it intellect and cultivation enough to make the seclusion available for moral and spiritual growth.'

He gives us a lively description of the bright side of this monastic life. The monks lived in separate cells or huts (zdAo/Sa;), but according to a common rule and under the authority of an abbot. They wore coarse garments of camel's hair or goat's hair over their linen tunics. They rose before sunrise, and began the day by singing a hymn of praise and common prayer under the leadership of the abbot. Then they went to their allotted task, some to read, others to write, others to manual labor for the support of the poor. Four hours in each day were devoted to prayer and singing. Their only food was bread and water, except in case of sickness. They slept on straw couches, free from care and anxiety. There was no need of bolts and bars. They held all things in common, and the words of " mine and thine," which cause innumerable strifes in the world, were unknown among the brethren. If one died, he caused no lamentation, but thanksgiving, and was carried to the grave amidst hymns of praise ; for he was not dead, but " perfected," and permitted to behold the face of Christ. For them to live was Christ, and to die was gain.

Chrysostom was an admirer of active and useful monasticism, and warns against the dan- gers of idle contemplation. He shows that the words of our Lord, "One thing is needful; " "Take no anxious thought for the morrow;" "Labor not for the meat that perisheth," do not inculcate total abstinence from work, but only undue anxiety about worldly things, and must be harmonized with the apostolic exhortation to labor and to do good. He defends monastic seclusion on account of the prevaiUng immorality in the cities, which made it almost impossible to cultivate there a higher Christian life.

In this period, from 374 to 381, Chrysostom composed his earliest writings in praise of monasticism and celibacy.^ The letters "to the fallen Theodore," have already been men- tioned. The three books against the Opponents of Monasticism were occasioned by a de- cree of the Arian Emperor Valens in 373, which aimed at the destruction of that system and compelled the monks to discharge their duties to the state by military or civil service. Chry- sostom regarded this decree as a sacrilege, and the worst kind of persecution.

I On the origin and character of early monasticism, see Schaff, Ch. Hist. vol. III., 147 ^qn- = In the first volume, first part, of Migne's edition, col. 277-532.

lO THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

CHAPTER VI. — Chrysostom as Deacon^ Priest and Preacher at Aiitioch. a.d. 381-398.

By excessive self-mortifications John undermined his health, and returned to Antioch. There he was immediately ordained deacon by Meletius in 380 or 381, and a few years after- wards presbyter by Flavian (386).

As deacon he had the best opportunity to become acquainted with the practical needs of the population, the care of the poor and the sick. After his ordination to the priesthood he preached in the presence of the bishop his first sermon to a vast crowd. It abounds in flowery Asiatic eloquence, in humble confession of his own unworthiness, and exaggerated praise of Meletius and Flavian.'

He now entered upon a large field of usefulness, the real work of his life. The pulpit was his throne, and he adorned it as much as any preacher of ancient or modern times.

Antioch was one of the great capitals of the Roman empire along with Alexandria, Con- stantinople, and Rome. Nature and art combined to make it a delightful residence, though it was often visited by inundations and earthquakes. An abundance of pure water from the river Orontes, a large lake and the surrounding hills, fertile plains, the commerce of the sea, imposing buildings of Asiatic, Greek, and Roman architecture, rich gardens, baths, and col- onnaded streets, were among its chief attractions. A broad street of four miles, built by An- tiochus Epiphanes, traversed the city from east to west ; the spacious colonnades on either side were paved with red granite. Innumerable lanterns illuminated the main thoroughfares at night. The city was suppHed with good schools and several churches ; the greatest of them, in which Chrysostom preached, was begun by the Emperor Constantine and finished by Constantius. The inhabitants were Syrians, Greeks, Jews, and Romans. The Asiatic element prevailed. The whole population amounted, as Chrysostom states, to 200,000, of whom one half were nominally Christians. Heathenism was therefore still powerful as to numbers, but as a religion it had lost all vitality. This was shown by the failure of the at- tempt of the Emperor Julian the Apostate to revive the sacrifices to the gods. When he en- deavored in 362 to restore the oracle of Apollo Daphneus in the famous cypress grove at Antioch and arranged for a magnificent procession, with libation, dances, and incense, he found in the temple one solitary old priest, and this priest ominously offered in sacrifice — a goose ! Julian himself relates this ludicrous farce, and vents his anger at the Antiochians for squandering the rich incomes of the temple upon Christianity and worldly amusements.

Chrysostom gives us in his sermons lively pictures of the character of the people and the condition of the church. The prevailing vices even among Christians were avarice, luxury, sensuahty, and excessive love of the circus and the theatre. "So great," he says, "is the depravity of the times, that if a stranger were to compare the precepts of the gospel with the actual practice of society, he would infer that men were not the disciples, but the enemies of Christ." Gibbon thus describes the morals of Antioch r " The warmth of the climate dis- posed the natives to the most intemperate enjoyment of tranquility and opulence, and the hvely licentiousness of the Greeks was blended with the hereditary softness of the Syrians. Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendor of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of Antioch. The arts of luxury were honored, the serious and manly virtues were the subject of ridicule, and the contempt for female modesty and reverent age announced the universal corruption of the capital of the East. The love of spectacles was the taste, or rather passion of the Syrians ; the most skilful artists were pro- cured from the adjacent cities. A considerable share of the revenue was devoted to the pub- lic amusements, and the magnificence of the games of the theatre and circus was considered as the happiness and as the glory of Antioch."

' MiGNE, III. 693 sqq. 2 Decline and Fall, ch. x.xiv.

PROLEGOMENA. 1 1

The church of Antioch was rent for eighty-five years (330-415) by heresy and schism. There were three parties and as many rival bishops. The Meletians, under the lead of Mele- tius, were the party of moderate orthodoxy holding the Nicene Creed ; the Arians, headed by Eudoxius, and supported by the Emperor Valens, denied the eternal divinity of Christ ; the Eustathians, under the venerated priest Paulinus, were in communion with Athanasius, but were accused of Sabellianism, which maintained the Divine unity and strict deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but denied the tri-personality except in the form of three modes of self-revela- tion. Pope Damasus declared for Paulinus and condemned Meletius as a heretic. Alexan- dria likewise sided against him. Meletius was more than once banished from his see, and recalled. He died during the sessions of the Council of Constantinople, 381, over which he presided for a while. His remains were carried with great solemnities to Antioch and buried by the side of Babylas the Martyr. Chrysostom reconciled Flavian, the successor of Mele- tius, with Alexandria and Rome in 398. Alexander, the successor of Flavian, led the Eusta- thians back into the orthodox church in 415, and thus unity was restored.

Chrysostom preached Sunday after Sunday and during Lent, sometimes twice or oftener during the week, even five days in succession, on the duties and responsibilities of Christians, and fearlessly attacked the immorality of the city. He declaimed with special severity against the theatre and the chariot-races ; and yet many of his hearers would run from his sermons to the circus to witness those exciting spectacles with the same eagerness as Jews and Gentiles. He exemplified his preaching by a blameless hfe, and soon acquired great reputation and won the love of the whole congregation. Whenever he preached the church was crowded. He had to warn his hearers against pickpockets, who found an inviting harvest in these dense audiences.

A serious disturbance which took place during his career at Antioch, called forth a remarkable effort of his oratorical powers. The populace of the city, provoked by excessive taxes, rose in revolt against the Emperor Theodosius the Great, broke down his statues and those of his deceased excellent wife Flacilla (d. 385) and his son Arcadius, dragged the frag- ments through the streets, and committed other acts of violence. The Emperor threatened to destroy the whole city. This caused general consternation and agony, but the city was saved by the intercession of Bishop Flavian, who in his old age proceeded to Constantinople and secured free pardon from the Emperor. Although a man of violent temper, Theodosius had profound reverence for bishops, and on another occasion he submitted to the rebuke of St. Ambrose for the wholesale massacre of the Thessalonians (390).

In this period of public anxiety, which lasted several months, Chrysostom delivered a series of extempore orations, in which he comforted the people and exhorted them to correct their vices. These are his twenty-one Homilies on the Statues, so-called from the overthrow of the imperial statues which gave rise to them. They were preached during Lent 387.' In the same year St. Augustin submitted to baptism at the hands of St. Ambrose in Milan. One of the results of those sermons was the conversion of a large number of heathens. Thus the calamity was turned into a blessing to the church.

During the sixteen or seventeen years of his labors in Antioch Chrysostom wrote the greater part of his Homilies and Commentaries ; a consolatory Epistle to the despondent Sta- girius ; the excellent book on the martyr Babylas, which illustrates by a striking example the divine power of Christianity ; a treatise on Virginity, which he puts above marriage ; and an admonition to a young widow on the glory of widowhood, and the duty of continuing in it.

I Montfaucon goes with tedious minuteness into the chronology of these sermons. The twentieth was delivered ten days before Easter, the twenty-first on Easter, after the return of Flavian from Rome with the Emperor's pardon. The first sermon was preached shortly before the sedition and has nothing to do with it, but is alluded to in the second. It * a temperance sermon, based on Paul's advice to Timothy, i Tim. v. 23, where he emphasizes the word "little" and the "often infirmities."

12 THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

He disapproved of second marriage, not as sinful or illegal, but as inconsistent with an ideal conception of marriage and a high order of piety.'

CHAPTER VII. — Chrysostoin as Patriarch of Constantinople, a.d. 398-404.

After the death of Nectarius (successor to Gregory Nazianzen), towards the end of the year 397, Chrysostom was chosen, entirely without his own agency and even against his remon- strance, archbishop of Constantinople. He was hurried away from Antioch by a military escort, to avoid a commotion in the congregation and to make resistance useless. He was consecrated Feb. 26, 398, by his enemy Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, who reluctantly yielded to the command of the Emperor Arcadius or rather his prime minister, the eunuch Eutropius, and nursed his revenge for a more convenient season.

Constantinople, built by Constantine the Great in 330, on the site of Byzantium, assumed as the Eastern capital of the Roman empire the first position among the episcopal sees of the East, and became the centre of court theology, court intrigues, and theological controversies. The second oecumenical council, which was held there in 381, under Theodosius the Great, the last Roman emperor worthy of the name (d. 395), decided the victory of Nicene orthodoxy over the Arian heresy, and gave the bishop of Constantinople a primacy of honor, next in rank to the bishop of old Rome — a position which was afterwards confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451, but disputed by Pope Leo and his successors.

Chrysostom soon gained by his eloquent sermons the admiration of the people, of the weak Emperor Arcadius, and, at first, even of his wife Eudoxia, with whom he afterwards waged a deadly war. He extended his pastoral care to the Goths who were becoming numer- ous in Constantinople, had a part of the Bible translated for them, often preached to them himself through an interpreter, and sent missionaries to the Gothic and Scythian tribes on the Danube. He continued to direct by correspondence those missionary operations even during his exile. For a short time he enjoyed the height of power and popularity.

But he also made enemies by his denunciations of the vices and follies of the clergy and aristocracy. He emptied the episcopal palace of its costly plate and furniture and sold it for the benefit of the poor and the hospitals. He introduced his strict ascetic habits and reduced the luxurious household of his predecessors to the strictest simplicity. He devoted his large income to benevolence. He refused invitations to banquets, gave no dinner parties, and ate the simplest fare in his solitary chamber.- He denounced unsparingly luxurious habits in eating and dressing, and enjoined upon the rich the duty of almsgiving to an extent that tended to increase rather than diminish the number of beggars who swarmed in the streets and around the churches and public baths. He disciplined the vicious clergy and opposed the perilous and immoral habit of unmarried priests of living under the same roof with "spiritual sisters " ((TovctV^xrw;). This habit dated from an earlier age, and was a reaction against celibacy. Cyprian had raised his protest against it, and the Council of Nicasa forbade unmarried priests to live with any females except close relations. Chrysostom's unpopularity was increased by his irritability and obstinacy, and his subservience to a proud and violent archdeacon, Sera- pion. The Empress Eudoxia was jealous of his influence over Arcadius and angry at his un- compromising severity against sin and vice. She became the chief instrument of his downfall.

The occasion was furnished by an unauthorized use of his episcopal power beyond the lines of his diocese, which was confined to the city. At the request of the clergy of Ephesus and the neighboring bishops, he visited that city in January, 401, held a synod and deposed six bishops convicted of shameful simony. During his absence of several months he left the

1 Neander (vol. I.) gives large extracts from these ascetic treatises with many judicious and discriminating observations.

2 Socrates (VI. 5) says that some justified this habit by his delicate stomach and weak digestion, others attributed it to his rigid abstinence. His enemies construed it as pride, and based upon it a serious accusation.

PROLEGOMENA. 1 3

episcopate of Constantinople in the hands of Severian, bishop of Gabala, an unworthy and adroit flatterer, who basely betrayed his trust and formed a cabal headed by the empress and her licentious court ladies, for the ruin of Chrysostom. On his return he used unguarded language in the pulpit, and spoke on Elijah's relation to Jezebel in such a manner that Eudoxia understood it as a personal insult. The clergy were anxious to get rid of a bishop who was too severe for their lax morals.

CHAPTER VIII. — Chrysosto7n and Theophihis. His first Deposition and Banishment.

At this time Chrysostom became involved in the Origenistic controversies which are among the most violent and most useless in ancient church history, and full of personal in- vective and calumny.' The object in dispute was the orthodoxy of the great Origen, which long after his death was violently defended and as violently assailed.

Theophilus of Alexandria, an able and vigorous but domineering, contentious and un- scrupulous prelate, was at first an admirer of Origen, but afterwards in consequence of a personal quarrel joined the opponents, condemned his memory and banished the Origenistic monks from Egypt. Some fifty of them, including the four " Tall Brethren," so-called on account of their extraordinary stature, fled to Constantinople and were hospitably received by Chrysostom (401). He had no sympathy with the philosophical speculations of Origen, but appreciated his great merits, and felt that injustice was done to the persecuted monks. He interceded in their behalf with Theophilus, who replied with indignant remonstrance against protecting heretics and interfering in another diocese.

Theophilus, long desirous of overthrowing Chrysostom, whom he had reluctantly conse- crated, set every instrument in motion to take revenge. He sent the octogenarian bishop Epiphanius of Salamis, a well-meaning and learned but bigoted zealot for orthodoxy, to Con- stantinople, as a tool of his hierarchical plans (402) ; but Epiphanius soon returned and died on the ship (403). Theophilus now traveled himself to Constantinople, accompanied by a body-guard of rough sailors and provided with splendid presents. He appeared at once as accuser and judge, aided by Eudoxia and the disaffected clergy. He held a secret council of thirty-six bishops, all of them Egyptians except seven, in a suburb of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, and procured in this so-called synod at the Oak, the deposition and banishment of Chrysostom, on false charges of immorality and high treason (403). Among the twenty-nine charges were these : that Chrysostom had called the saintly Epiphanius a fool and a demon, that he abused the clergy, that he receiveci females without witnesses, that he ate sumptuously alone and bathed alone, that he had compared the empress to Jezebel.

The innocent bishop refused to appear before a packed synod of his enemies, and appealed to a general council. As the sentence of banishment for life became known, the indignation of the people was immense. A single word from him would have raised an insurrection : but he surrendered himself freely to the imperial officers, who conveyed him in the dark to the har- bor and put him on board a ship destined for Hieron at the mouth of the Pontus. Theophilus entered the city in triumph and took vengeance on Chrysostom's friends.

The people besieged the palace and demanded the restoration of their bishop. Constan- tinople was almost in a state of insurrection. The following night the city was convulsed by an earthquake, which was felt with peculiar violence in the bedroom of Eudoxia and fright- ened her into submission. She implored the emperor to avert the wrath of God by recalling Chrysostom. Messengers were despatched with abject apologies to bring him back. A whole fleet of barks put forth to greet him, the Bosphorus blazed with torches and resounded with songs of rejoicing. On passing the gates he was borne aloft by the people to the church, seated in the episcopal chair and forced to make an address. His triumph was complete,

I ScHAFF, Church History^ III. 6q8 sqq.

H THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

but of short duration. Theophilus felt unsafe in Constantinople and abruptly sailed in the night for Alexandria.

The feelings with which Chrysostom went into his first and second exile, he well describes in a letter to Bishop Cyriacus : " When I was driven from the city, I felt no anxiety, but said to myself: If the empress wishes to banish me, let her do so; 'the earth is the Lord's.' If she wants to have me sawn asunder, I have Isaiah for an example. If she wants me to be drowned in tne ocean, I think of Jonah. If I am to be thrown into the fire, the three men in the furnace suffered the same. If cast before wild beasts, I remember Daniel in the lion's den. If she wants me to be stoned, I have before me Stephen, the first martyr. If she demands my head, let her do so ; John the Baptist shines before me. Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked shall I leave this world. Paul reminds me, ' If I still pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ.' "

CHAPTER IX. — Chrysosto7n and Eudoxia. His second BanisJvnent, a.d. 403.

The restored patriarch and the repentant empress seemed reconciled, and vied with one another in extravagant laudations for two months, when the feud broke out afresh and ended in perpetual exile and death.

Eudoxia was a beautiful, imperious, intriguing and revengeful woman, who despised her husband and indulged her passions. Not content with the virtual rule of the Roman empire, she aspired to semi-divine honors, which used to be paid to the heathen Cfesars. A column of porphyry with her silver statue for public adoration was erected in September, 403, on the forum before the church of St. Sophia, and dedicated amid boisterous and hcentious revelry, which disturbed the sacred services.

Chrysostom ascended the pulpit on the commemoration day of the martyrdom of John the Baptist, and thundered his righteous indignation against all who shared in these profane amusements, the people, the prefect, and the haughty woman on the throne. In the heat of his zeal the imprudent words are said to have escaped his lips : "Again Herodias is raging, again she is dancing, again she demands the head of John on a platter." ' The comparison of Eudoxia with Herodias, and himself (John) with John the Baptist was even more directly personal than his former allusion to the relation of Jezebel and Elijah. Whether he really spoke these or similar words is at least doubtful, but they were reported to Eudoxia, who as a woman and an empress could never forgive such an insult. She demanded from the emperor signal redress. In the conflict of imperial and episcopal authority the former achieved a phy- sical and temporary, the latter a moral and enduring victory.

The enemies of Chrysostom flocked like vultures down to their prey. Theophilus directed the plot from a safe distance. Arcadius was persuaded to issue an order for the removal of Chrysostom. He continued to preach and refused to leave the church over which God had placed him, but had to yield to armed force. He was dragged by imperial guards from the cathedral on the vigil of the resurrection in 404. while the sacrament of baptism was being administered to hundreds of catechumens. " The waters of regeneration," says Palladius, " were stained with blood." The female candidates, half dressed, were driven by licentious soldiers into the dark streets. The eucharistic elements were profaned by pagan hands. The clergy in their priestly robes were ejected and chased through the city. The horrors of that night were long afterwards remembered with a shudder. During the greater part of the Eas- ter week the city was kept in a state of consternation. Private dwellings were invaded, and

I According to the report of Socrates, VI. i8, and Sozomenus, VIII. 20. A homily which begins with this exordium: ■naXi.v HpuSias fiatVeroi, TraAir Tapaao erat, itaXiv opxelrai, ■na.Kiv etti ■niva.Ki tt)v Ki^aXT\v toO 'luxii'i'ou ftjTet AajSeiv (comp. Mark vi. 25I, is unworthy of his pen and rejected as spurious by Tillemont, Savile and Montfaucon. But it is quite probable that Chrysostom made some allusion to Eudo.xia which might be construed by his enemies in that way. See Neander, II. 177 sq.

PROLEGOMENA. 15

suspected Joannites — the partisans of Chrysostom — thrown into prison, scourged and tortured. Chrysostom, who was shut up in his episcopal palace, twice narrowly escaped assassination.

At last on June 5, 404, the timid and long hesitating Arcadius signed the edict of ban- ishment. Chrysostom received it with calm submission, and after a final prayer in the cathe- dral with some of his faithful bishops, and a tender farewell to his beloved Olympias and her attendant deaconesses, he surrendered himself to the guards and was conveyed at night to the Asiatic shore. He had scarcely left the city, when the cathedral was consumed by fire. The charge of incendiarism was raised against his friends, but neither threats, nor torture and mutila- tion could elicit a confession of guilt. He refused to acknowledge Arsacius and Atticus as his successors ; and this was made a crime punishable with degradation, fine and imprisonment. The clergy who continued faithful to him were deposed and banished. Pope Innocent of Rome was appealed to, pronounced the synod which had condemned Chrysostom irregular, annulled the deposition, and wrote him a letter of sympathy, and urged upon Arcadius the convocation of a general council, but without effect.

CHAPTER X. — Chrysostom in Exile. His Death, a.d. 404-407.

Chrysostom was conveyed under the scorching heat of July and August over Galatia and Cappadocia, to the lonely mountain village Cucusus, on the borders of Cilicia and Armenia, which the wrath of Eudoxia had selected for his exile. The climate was inclement and variable, the winter severe, the place was exposed to Isaurian brigands. He suffered much from fever and headache, and was more than once brought to the brink of the grave. Nevertheless the bracing mountain air invigorated his feeble constitution, and he was hopeful of returning to his diocese. He was kindly treated by the bishop of Cucusus. He received visits, letters and presents from faithful friends, and by his correspondence exerted a wider influence from that solitude than from the episcopal throne.

His 242 extant letters are nearly all from the three years of his exile, and breathe a noble Christian spirit, in a clear, brilliant and persuasive style. They exhibit his faithful care for all the interests of the church and look calmly and hopefully to the glories of heaven. They are addressed to Eastern and Western bishops, presbyters, deacons, deaconesses, monks and missionaries; they describe the fatigues of his journey, give advice on a variety of subjects, strengthen and comfort his distant flock, urge the destruction of heathen temples in Phoenicia, the extirpation of heresy in Cyprus, and encourage the missions in Persia and Scythia.' Two letters are addressed to the Roman bishop Innocent I., whose sympathy and assistance he courted. Seventeen letters— the most important of all— are addressed to Olympias, the dea- coness, a widow of noble birth, personal beauty and high accomplishments, who devoted her fortune and time to the poor and the sick. She died between 408 and 420. To her he revealed his inner life, upon her virtues he lavished extravagant praise, which offends modern taste as fulsome flattery. For her consolation he wrote a special treatise on the theme that " No one is really injured except by himself." ^

The cruel empress, stung by disappointment at the continued power of the banished bishop, forbade all correspondence and ordered his transfer by two brutal guards, first to Arabissus, then to Pityus on the Caucasus, the most inhospitable spots in the empire.

The journey of three months on foot was a slow martyrdom to the feeble and sickly old man. He did not reach his destination, but ended his pilgrimage five or six miles from Comana in Pontus in the chapel of the martyr Basiliscus on the 14th of September, 407, in his sixtieth year, the tenth of his episcopate. Clothed in his white baptismal robes, he partook of the

1 See Tom. iii. of the Bened. ed. (in Migne, III. 529 sqq.) . , , ,,t

2 Comp. on Olympias the Memoirs of T.i.lemont, XI. 416-440; Stephens, /. c, 280. 367-373 ; and Venadlks 1.1 ^vtith b' Wacc, IV. 73.75. The letters to Olympias and Innocent are ala> published in Lomler's selection (pp. 165-252).

1 6 THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

eucharist and commended his soul to God. His last words were his accustomed doxology, the motto of his life: " Glory be to God for all things. Amen." '

He was buried by the side of Basihscus in the presence of monks and nuns.

He was revered as a saint by the people. Thirty-one years afterwards, January 27, 438, his body was translated with great pomp to Constantinople and deposited with the emperors and patriarchs beneath the altar of the church of the Holy Apostles. The young Emperor Theodosius II. and his sister Pulcheria met the procession at Chalcedon, kneeled down before the coffin, and in the name of their guilty parents implored the forgiveness of heaven for the grievous injustice done to the greatest and saintliest man that ever graced the pulpit and epis- copal chair of Constantinople. The Eastern church of that age shrunk from the bold specu- lations of Origen, but revered the narrow orthodoxy of Epiphanius and the ascetic piety of Chrysostom.

The personal appearance of the golden-mouthed orator was not imposing, but dignified and winning. He was of small stature (likfe David, Paul, Athanasius, Melanchthon, John Wesley, Schleiermacher). He had an emaciated frame, a large, bald head, a lofty, wrinkled forehead, deep-set, bright, piercing eyes, pallid, hollow cheeks, and a short, gray beard.^

CHAPTER Xl.—JIis Character.

Chrysostom was one of those rare men who combine greatness and goodness, genius and piety, and continue to exercise by their writings and example a happy influence upon the Christian church. He was a man for his time and for all times. But we must look at the spirit rather than the form of his piety, which bore the stamp of his age.

He took Paul for his model, but had a good deal of the practical spirit of James, and of the fervor and loveliness of John. The Scriptures were his daily food, and he again and again recommended their study to laymen as well as ministers. He was not an ecclesiastical states- man, like St. Ambrose, not a profound divine like St. Augustin, but a pure man, a practical Christian, and a king of preachers. " He carried out in his own life," says Hase, " as far as mortal man can do it, the ideal of the priesthood which he once described in youthful enthu- siasm." He considered it the duty of every Christian to promote the spiritual welfare of his fellowmen. " Nothing can be more chilling," he says in the 20th Homily on Acts, "than the sight of a Christian who makes no effort to save others. Neither poverty, nor humble station, nor bodily infirmity can exempt men and women from the obligation of this great duty. To hide our light under pretense of weakness is as great an insult to God as if we were to say that He could not make His sun to shine."

It is very much to his praise that in an age of narrow orthodoxy and doctrinal intoler- ance he cherished a catholic and irenical spirit. He by no means disregarded the value of theological soundness, and was in hearty agreement with the Nicene creed, which triumphed over the Arians during his ministry in Antioch; he even refused a church in Constantinople which the Arian Goths claimed. But he took no share in the persecution of heretics, and even sheltered the Origenistic monks against the violence of Theophilus of Alexandria. He hated sin more than error, and placed charity above orthodoxy.

Like all the Nicene Fathers, he was an enthusiast for ascetic and monastic virtue, which shows itself in seclusion rather than in transformation of the world and the natural ordinances of God. He retained as priest and bishop his cloister habits of simplicity, abstemiousness and unworldliness. He presents the most favorable aspect of that mode of life, which must be regarded as a wholesome reaction against the hopeless corruption of pagan society. He

2 See the frontispiece in the edition of Fronto Ductus, and in the monograph of Stephens.

PROLEGOMENA. 1 7

thought with St. Paul that he could best serve the Lord in single life, and no one can deny that he was unreservedly devoted to the cause of religion.'

He was not a man of affairs, and knew little of the world. He had the harmlessness of the dove without the wisdom of the serpent. He knew human nature better than individual men. In this respect he resembles Neander, his best biographer. Besides, he was irritable of temper, suspicious of his enemies, and easily deceived and misled by such men as Sera- pion. He sho\ved these defects in his quarrel with the court and the aristocracy of Constan- tinople. W.ith a Uttle more worldly wisdom and less ascetic severity he might perhaps have concihated and converted those whom he repelled by his pulpit fulminations. Fearless denunciation of immorality and vice in high places always commands admiration and respect, especially in a bishop and court preacher who is exposed to the temptations of flattery. But it is unwise to introduce personalities into the pulpit and does more harm than good. His relation to Eudoxia reminds one of the attitude of John Knox to Mary Stuart. The contrast between the pure and holy zeal of the preacher and the reformer and the ambition and vanity of a woman on the throne is very striking and must be judged by higher rules than those of gallantry and courtesy. But after all, the conduct of Christ, the purest of the pure, towards Mary Magdalene and the woman taken in adultery is far more sublime.

The conflict of Chrysostom with Eudoxia imparts to his latter life the interest of a romance, and was over-ruled for his benefit. In his exile his character shines brighter than even in the pulpit of Antioch and Constantinople. His character was perfected by suffering. The gentleness, meekness, patience, endurance and devotion to his friends and his work which he showed during the last three years of his hfe are the crowning glory of his career. Though he did not die a violent death, he deserves to be numbered among the true martyrs, who are ready for any sacrifice to the cause of virtue and piety.

CHAPTER XII.— 77/^ Writings of Chrysostom.

Chrysostom was the most fruitful author among the Greek Fathers. Suidas makes the extravagant remark that only the omniscient God could recount all his writings. The best have been preserved and have already been noticed in chronological order. They may be divided into five classes: (i) Moral and ascetic treatises, including the work on the Priest- hood; (2) About six hundred Homilies and Commentaries; (3) Occasional, festal and pane- gyrical orations ; (4) Letters ; (5) Liturgy.

His most important and permanently useful works are his HomiHes and Commentaries, which fill eleven of the thirteen f oho volumes of the Benedictine edition. They go together ; his homihes are expository, and his commentaries are homiletical and practical. Continuous expositions, according to chapter and verse, he wrote only on the first eight chapters of Isaiah, and on the Epistle to the Galatians. All others are arranged in sermons with a moral appli- cation at the close. Suidas and Cassiodorus state that he wrote commentaries on the whole Bible. We have from him Homilies on Genesis, the Psalms, the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of John, the Acts, the Pauhne Epistles including the Hebrews, which he considered Pauline. Besides, he delivered discourses on separate texts of Scripture, on church festivals, eulogies on apostles and martyrs, sermons against the Pagans, against the Jews and Judaizing Christians, against the Arians, and the famous twenty-one orations on the Statues.

He pubhshed some of his sermons himself, but most of them were taken down by short-

• Luther's intense aversion to monl^ery, although he himself passed through its discipline, must be taken into account in his unfav- orable : must eve SCHAFF, Church Hist. vol. VI. 536,

1 8 THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTO.M.

hand writers.' Written sermons were the exceptions in those days. The preacher usually was seated, the people were standing.

Of the letters of Chrysostom we have already spoken.

The Liturgy of Chrysostom so-called is an abridgment and improvement of the Liturgy of St. Basil (d. 379), and both are descended from the Liturgy of James, which they super- seded. They have undergone gradual changes. It is impossible to determine the original text; as no two copies precisely agree. Chrysostom frequently refers to different parts of the divine service customary in his day, but there is no evidence that he composed a liturgy, nor is it probable."" The Liturgy which bears his name is still used in the orthodox Greek and Russian chuich on all Sundays, except those during Lent, and on the eve of Epiphany, Eas- ter and Christmas, when the Liturgy of Basil takes its place.

CHAPTER Xin.—Ifis Theology and Exegesis.

Chrysostom belonged to the Antiochian school of theology and exegesis, and is its sound- est and most popular representative. It was founded by his teacher Diodor of Tarsus (d. 393), developed by himself and his fellow-student Theodore of Mopsuestia (d. 429), and fol- lowed by Theodoret and the Syrian and Nestorian divines. Theodore was the exegete, Chry- sostom the homilist, Theodoret the annotator. The school was afterwards condemned for its alleged connection with the Nestorian heresy; but that connection was accidental, not neces- sary. Chrysostom's mind was not given to dogmatizing, and too well balanced to run into heresy.

The Antiochian school agreed with the Alexandrian school founded by Origen, in main- taining the divine inspii'ation and authority of the Scriptures, but differed from it in the method of interpretation, and in a sharper distinction between the Old and the New Testaments, and the divine and human elements in the same.

To Origen belongs the great merit of having opened the path of biblical science and criticism, but he gave the widest scope to the allegorizing and mystical method by which the Bible may be made to say anything that is pious and edifying.^ Philo of Alexandria had used that method for introducing the Platonic philosophy into the Mosaic writings. Origen was likewise a Platonist, but his chief object was to remove all that was offensive in the literal sense. The allegorical method is imposition rather than exposition. Christ sanctions para- bolic teaching and typical, but not allegorical, interpretation. Paul uses it once or twice, but only incidentally, when arguing from the rabbinical standpoint.

The Antiochian school seeks to explain the obvious grammatical and historical sense, which is rich enough for all purposes of instruction and edification. It takes out of the Word what is actually in it, instead of putting into it all sorts of foreign notions and fancies.

Chrysostom recognizes allegorizing in theory, but seldom uses it in practice, and then more by way of rhetorical ornament and in deference to custom. He was generally guided by sound common sense and practical wisdom. He was more free from arbitrary and absurd interpretations than almost any other patristic commentator. He pays proper attention to the connection, and puts himself into the psychological state and historical situation of the writer. In one word, he comes very near to what we now call the grammatico-historical exe- gesis. This is the only soHd and sound foundation for any legitimate use of the Scriptures. The sacred writers had one definite object in view; they wished to convey one particular sense by the ordinary use of language, and to be clearly understood by their readers. At the

1 6fuvpa(Jot, Socrates, VI. 5. The term occurs also in the Septuagint (Ps. xlv. 2) and in Philo. The Byzantine wnters use the verb 6Jiiyp(x(J)eio, to write fast ^ and the noun ofuypac^ia, the art bf writing fast.

2 The liturgical references in Chrysostom's works are carefully collected by Bingham, in Bk. XV. of Vi^ Antiquities. Comp. Stephens, p. 419 sqq.

3 Allegorical interpretation makes the writer say something else than what he meant, dAAo fxxv ayopeu'et, oAAo 6c vol\..

PROLEGOMENA. 19

same time the truths of revelation are so deep and so rich that they can be indefinitely ex- panded and applied to all circumstances and conditions. Interpretation is one thing, appli- cation is another thing. Chrysostom knew as well as any allegorist how to derive spiritual nourishment from the Scriptures and to make them " profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work." ' As to the text of the Greek Testament, he is the chief witness of the Syro-Constantinopolitan recension, which was followed by the later Greek Fathers.- He accepts the Syrian canon of the Peshito, which includes the Old Testament with the Apocrypha, but omits from the New Testament the Apocalypse and four Catholic Epistles (2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude) ; at least in the Synopsis Veteris et novi Tesfamenti which is found in his works, those five books are wanting, but this does not prove that he did not know them.^

The commentaries of Chrysostom are of unequal merit. We must always remember that he is a hoiniletical commentator who aimed at the conversion and edification of his hearers. He makes frequent digressions and neglects to explain the difficulties of important texts. Gram- matical remarks are rare, but noteworthy on account of his familiarity with the Greek as his mother tongue, though by no means coming up to the accuracy of a modern expert in philology. In the Old Testament he depended altogether on the Septuagint, being ignorant of Hebrew, and often missed the mark. The Homihes on the Pauline Epistles are considered his best, especially those to the Corinthians, where he had to deal with moral and pastoral questions. The doctrinal topics of Romans and Galatians were less to his taste, and it cannot be said that he entered into the depths of Paul's doctrines of sin and grace, or ascended the height of his conception of freedom in Christ. His Homihes on Romans are argumentative ; his continuous notes on Galatians somewhat hasty and superficial. The eighty Homihes on Matthew from his Antiochian period are very valuable. Thomas Aquinas declared he would rather possess them than be the master of all Paris. The eighty-eight Homihes on John, also preached at Antioch, but to a select audience early in the morning, are more doctrinal and controversial, being directed against the Anomoeans (Arians).* We have no commentaries from him on Mark and Luke, nor on the Cathohc Epistles and the Apocalypse. The fifty- five homilies on the Acts, delivered at Constantinople between Easter and Whitsuntide, when that book was read in the public lessons, contain much interesting information about the manners and customs of the age, but are the least pohshed of his productions. Erasmus, who translated them into Latin, doubted their genuineness. His life in Constantinople was too much disturbed to leave him quiet leisure for preparation. The Homilies on the Hebrews, hkewise preached in Constantinople, were published after his death from notes of his friend, the presbyter Constantine, and the text is in a confused state.

The Homihes of Chrysostom were a rich storehouse for the Greek commentators, com- pilers and epitomizers, such as Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact, and Euthymius Ziga- benus, and they are worth consulting to this day for their exegetical as well as their practical

value.

The theology of Chrysostom must be gathered chiefly from his commentaries. He differs from the metaphysical divines of the Nicene age by his predominantly practical ten-

' On the school of Antioch, see Schaff, Church Hist. II. 816-818 ; III. 612, 707, 937; Nea.nder, Chrysost. I. 35 sqq.; Forster, Chrysostomusinseinem Verhdltnisszur Antioch. Schule {^^(><S); Reuss, Geschichic dcs N. 7-.,6th ed. (1887), sees. 320, 5.8, 521; Far- RAR, History of InterJ,retation (1886), pp. 210 sqq., 220 sqq. Reuss pays this tribute to Chrysostom (p. 593): " The Christian people of ancient times never enjoyed richer instruction out of the Bible than from the golden mouth of a genuine and thoroughly equipped biblical preacher." Farrar calls Chrysostom "the ablest of Christian homilists and one of the best Christian men," and "the bright consummate flower of the school of Antioch."

2 Westcott & HoRT, Gr. Test., II. 141 sqq.; Schaff, Covifanioti to the Greek Test. (3rd ed.), p. 206.

3 Reuss, /. c. sec. 320 (p. 359); Hoi.tzmann, £i7t!eittcng ins N. T., ed. II. (1886), p. 171.

4 So called because they taught that the Son is 7inlike or dissimilar (avo^oto?) to the Father and of a different substance, in opposition to the Nicene doctrine of equal substance (oMOovaca), and the semi-Arian doctrine of Uke, or similar substance (oMOcovaca).

20 THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

dency, and in this respect he approaches the genius of the Western church. He lived between the great trinitarian and christological controversies and was only involved incidentally in the subordinate Origenistic controversy, in which he showed a charitable and liberal spirit. He accepted the Nicene Creed, but he died before the rise of the Nestorian and Eutychian heresies. Speculation was not his forte, and as a thinker he is behind Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, and John of Damascus. He was a rhetorician rather than a logician.

Like all the Greek fathers, he laid great stress on free-will and the co-operation of the human will with divine grace in the work of conversion. Cassian, the founder of Semi- Pelagianism, was his pupil and appealed to his authority. Julian of Eclanum, the ablest opponent of Augustin, quoted Chrysostom against original sin; Augustin tried from several passages to prove the reverse, but could only show that Chrysostom was no Pelagian. We may say that in tendency and spirit he was a catholic Semi-Pelagian or Synergist before Semi-Pelagianism was brought into a system.

His anthropology forms a wholesome contrast and supplement to the anthropology of his younger contemporary, the great bishop of Hippo, the champion of the slavery of the human will and the sovereignty of divine grace.

We look in vam in Chrysostom's writings for the Augustinian and Calvinistic doctrines of absolute predestination, total depravity, hereditary guilt, irresistible grace, perseverance of saints, or for the Lutheran theory of forensic and solifidian justification. He teaches that God foreordained all men to hohness and salvation, and that Christ died for all and is both willing and able to save all, but not against their will and without their free consent. The vessels of mercy were prepared by God unto glory, the vessels of wrath were not intended by God, but fitted by their own sin, for destruction. The will of man, though injured by the Fall, has still the power to accept or to reject the offer of salvation. It must first obey the divine call. " When we have begun," he says, in commenting on John i. 38, "when we have sent our will before, then God gives us abundant opportunities of salvation." God helps those who help themselves. " When God," he says, " sees us eagerly prepare for the contest of virtue, he instantly supplies us with his assistance, lightens our labors and strengthens the weakness of our nature.'' Faith and good works are necessary conditions of justification and salvation, though Christ's merits alone are the efticient cause. He remarks on John vi. 44, that while no man can come to Christ unless drawn and taught by the Father, there is no ex- cuse for those who are unwilling to be thus drawn and taught. Yet on the other hand he fully admits the necessity of divine grace at the very beginning of every good action. " We can do no good thing at all,'' he says, " except we are aided from above." And in his dying hour he gave glory to God " for all things."

Thus Augustinians and Semi-Pelagians, Calvinists and Arminians, widely as they differ in theory about human freedom and divine sovereignty, meet in the common feeling of personal responsibility and absolute dependence on God. With one voice they disclaim all merit of their own and give all glory to Him who is the giver of every good and perfect gift and works in us "'both to will and to work, for his good pleasure " (Phil. ii. 12).'

I I add the remarks of Stephens on the difference between Chrysostom and Augustin (p. 430): " Unquestionable as the intellec- tual genius of Chrysostom was, yet it is rather ni the purity of his moral character, his single-minded boldness of purpose, and the glowing piety which burns through all his writings, that we find the secret of his influence. If it was rather the mission of Augustin to mould the minds of men so as to take a firm grasp of certain great doctrines, it was the mission of Chrysostom to inflame the whole heart with a fervent love of God. Rightly has he been called the great teacher of consummate holiness, as Augustin was the great teacher of efficient grace ; rightly has it been remarked that, like Fenelon, he is to be ranked among those who may be termed disci- ples of St. John, men who seem to have been pious without intermission from their childhood upwards, and of whose piety the leading characteristics are ease, cheerfulness and elevation ; while Augustin belongs to the disciples of St. Paul, those who have been con- verted from error to truth, or from sin to holiness, and whose characteristics are gravity, earnestness, depth. If Augustin has done more valuable service in building up the church at large, Chrysostom is the more lovable to the individual, and speaks out of a heart overflowing to God and man, unconstrained by the fetters of a severe and rigid system. Yet it is precisely on this account that he has not been so generally appreciated as he deserves. His tone is too catholic for the Romanist, or for the sectarian partisan of any denomination. ' It would be easy to produce abundant instances of his oratorial abilities; I wish it were in my power to record as

PROLEGOMENA. 21

As to the doctrines which separate the Greek, Roman and Protestant churches, Chrysos- tom faithfully represents the Greek Cathohc church prior to the separation from Rome. In addition to the oecumenical doctrines of the Nicene Creed, he expresses strong views on baptismal regeneration, the real presence, and the eucharistic sacrifice, yet without a clearly defined theory, which was the result of later controversies; hence it would be unjust to press his devotional and rhetorical language into the service of transubstantiation, or consubstantia- tion, or the Roman view of the mass.'

His extravagant laudations of saints and martyrs promoted that refined form of idolatry which in the Nicene age began to take the place of the heathen hero-worship. But it is all the more remarkable that he furnishes no support to Mariolatry, which soon after his death triumphed in the Greek as well as the Latin church. He was far from the idea of the sinless perfection and immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. He attributes her conduct at the wedding of Cana (John ii. 3, 4) to undue haste, a sort of unholy ambition for the premature display of the miraculous power of her Son ; and in commenting on Matthew xii. 46-49, he charges her and his brethren with vanity and a carnal mind.= He does not use the term thco- tokos, which twenty years after his death gave rise to the Nestorian controversy, and which was endorsed by the third and fourth oecumenical councils.

As to the question of the papacy he considered the bishop of Rome as the successor of Peter, the prince of the Apostles, and appealed to him in his exile against the unjust con- demnation of the Council at the Oak. Such appeals furnished the popes with a welcome op- portunity to act as judges in the controversies of the Eastern church, and greatly strengthened their claims. But his Epistle to Innocent was addressed also to the bishops of Milan and Aquileia, and falls far short of the language of submission to an infallible authority. He conceded to the pope merely a primacy of honor {izpoa-aaia^ "r/Ji), not a supremacy of jurisdiction. He calls the bishop of Antioch (Ignatius and Flavian) likewise a successor of Peter, who labored there according to the express testimony of Paul. In commenting on Gal. i. 18, he represents Paul as equal in dignity {inurtijM'i) to Peter.^ He was free from jealousy of Rome, but had he lived during the violent controversies between the patriarch of new Rome and the pope of old Rome, it is not doubtful on which side he would have stood.

In one important point Chrysostom approaches the evangelical theology of the Refor- mation, his devotion to the Holy Scriptures as the only rule of faith. " There is no topic on which he dwells more frequently and earnestly than on the duty of every Christian man and woman to study the Bible ; and what he bade others do, that he did pre-eminently him-

many of his evangelical excellencies.' Such is the verdict of a narrow-minded historian [Milner], and the comparative estimation in which he held St. Augustin and St. Chrysostom may be niferred from the number of pages in his History given to each: St. Augus- tin is favored with 187, Chrysostom with 20. But he whose judgment is not cramped by the shackles of some harsh and stiff theorj' of gospel truth will surely allow that Chrysostom not only preached the gospel, but lived it. To the last moment of his life he exhibited that calm, cheerful faith, that patient resignation under affliction, and untiring perseverance for the good of others, which are pre- eminently the marks of a Christian saint. The cause for which he fought and died in a corrupt age was the cause of Christian holiness."

1 In his comments on Heb. ix. 26 (Horn. XVII. on Hebrews, in the Bened. ed. XII. =41 sq.; in the Oxford translation, p. 213), he expresses himself on the sacrificial aspect of the eucharist in these words : " Christ is our High Priest, who offered the sacrifice that cleanses us. That sacrifice we offer now also, which was then offered, which cannot be exhausted. This is done in remembrance of what was then done. For, saith He, ' Do this in remembrance of Me.' It is not another sacrifice that we make (ttoioO^ci'), as the High Priest of old, but always the same, or rather we perform a remembrance of a sacrifice {tx.akKov Sk a.va.tivr\cnv ipyaC,6tt.t&a. i>ii<n'as)." The word remeinhrance would favor the Protestant rather than the Roman view, which demands an actual, though unbloody, repe- tition of the sacrifice of the cross in the mass. Other passages, however, are much stronger, though highly rhetorical, 6-. ,^., Z7<f Sacerd. III. 4: "When you behold the Lord slain, and lying there, and the priest standing over the sacrifice and praying, and all stained with that precious blood, do youthen suppose you are among men, and standing upon earth? Are you not immediately transported to Heaven?" In another place he says, "Christ lies slain (retJuiaeVos) upon the altar." And yet the people were so indif- ferent that Chrysostom laments : " In vain is the daily sacrifice, in vain stand we at the altar ; there is no one to take part" (Third Horn, on Ephesians).

2 See his 21st Homily on John, and his 44th Homily on Matthew. Comp. Stephens, p. 417 sqq.

3 See his letter to Innocent I. and his comments on Gal. i. and ii. The passages of Chrysostom on Peter and his successors are collected in Berington & Kirk, Tke Faith 0/ Catholics, ed. 3, vol. II. 32-35, 80, but the important passage from his Commentary on Galatians is omitted. See Tkeat, The Catholic Faith (18S8), p. 396.

22 THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

self."' He deemed the reading of the Bible the best means for the promotion of Christian life. A Christian without the knowledge of the Scriptures is to him a workman without tools. Even the sight of the Bible deters from sin, how much more the reading. It purifies and consecrates the soul, it introduces it into the holy of holies and brings it into direct com- munion with God.-

CH AFTER XIV. — Chrysostom as a Preacher.

The crowning merit of Chrysostom is his excellency as a preacher. He is generally and justly regarded as the greatest pulpit orator of the Greek church. Nor has he any superior or equal among the Latin Fathers. He remains to this day a model for preachers in large cities.

He was trained in the school of Demosthenes and Libanius, and owed much of his literary culture to the classics. He praises " the pohsh of Isocrates, the gravity of Demos- thenes, the dignity of Thucydides, and the subHmity of Plato." He assigns to Plato the first rank among the philosophers, but he places St. Paul far above him, and glories in the victory of the tent-maker and fishermen over the wisdom of the Greeks. ^

He was not free from the defects of the degenerate rhetoric of his age, especially a flowery exuberance of style and fulsome extravagance in eulogy of dead martyrs and living men. But the defects are overborne by the virtues : the fulness of Scripture knowledge, the intense earnestness, the fruitfuln^ss of illustration and application, the variation of topics, the command of language, the elegance and rhythmic flow of his Greek style, the dramatic vivacity, the quickness and ingenuity of his turns, and the magnetism of sympathy with his hearers. He knew how to draw in the easiest manner spiritual nourishment and lessons of practical wisdom from the Word of God, and to make it a divine voice of warning and com- fort to every hearer. He was a faithful preacher of truth and righteousness and fearlessly told the whole duty of man. If he was too severe at times, he erred on virtue's side. He preached morals rather than dogmas, Christianity rather than theology, active, practical Chris- tianity that proves itself in holy living and dying. He was a martyr of the pulpit, for it was chiefly his faithful preaching that' caused his exile. The effect of his oratory was enhanced by the magnetism of his personality, and is weakened to the reader of a translation or even the Greek original. The living voice and glowing manner are far more powerful than the written and printed letter.

Chrysostom attracted large audiences, and among them many who would rather have gone to the theatre than hear any ordinary preacher. He held them spell-bound to the close. Sometimes they manifested their admiration by noisy applause, and when he rebuked them for it, they would applaud his rebuke. " You praise," he would tell them, " what I have said, and receive my exhortation with tumults of applause ; but show your approbation by obedi- ence ; that is the only praise I seek."

The great medieval poet assigns to Chrysostom a place in Paradise between Nathan the prophet and Anselm the theologian, probably because, like Nathan, he rebuked the sins of the court, and, like Anselm, he suffered exile for his conviction.'' The best French pulpit orators — Bossuet, Massilon, Bourdaloue — have taken him for their model, even in his faults, the flattery of living persons. Villemain praises him as the greatest orator who com- bined all the attributes of eloquence.^ Hase calls his eloquence "Asiatic, flowery, full of spirit

I Stephens, p. 422. z Comp. the rich extracts from his writings bearing on the Bible, in Neander, I. 211-226.

3 De Sacerd., IV. 6. 4 Paradise, XII. 136-139:

" Natan pro/eta e il metropolitano Chrisostoiiio, ed AnsehnOy e quel DonatOy Che alia prim'' arte degnb poner inano.^' 5 Tableau, etc., p. 154 : " C? soni ces qualit^s plus hautes, ou plutot c' est la reunion de tous les attributs oratoires, le naturel, lepathetigue et la grandeur, qui' out /ait de saint Jean Chrysostome le plus grande orateur de Veglise primitive, le plus e'clatanf interprete de cette memorable epoque."

PROLEGOMENA. 23

and of the Huly Spirit, based on sound exegesis, and with steady apphcation to hfe." ' Eng- hsh writers compare him to Jeremy Taylor. Gibbon (who confesses, however, to have read very few of his Homihes) attributes to him " the happy art of engaging the passions in the service of virtue, and of exposing the folly as well as the turpitude of vice, almost with the truth and spirit of a dramatic representation." Dean Milman describes him as an " unrivalled master in that rapid and forcible application of incidental occurrences which gives such life and reality to eloquence. He is at times, in the highest sense, dramatic in manner." Stephens thus characterizes his sermons : -'

"A power of exposition which unfolded in lucid order, passage by passage, the meaning of the book in hand ; a rapid transition from clear exposition, or keen logical argument, to fervid exhortation, or pathetic appeal, or indignant denunciation ; the versatile ease with which he could lay hold of any little incident of the moment, such as the lighting of the lamps in the church, and use it to illustrate his discourse ; the mixture of plain common sense, sim- ple boldness, and tender affection, with which he would strike home to the hearts and con- sciences of his hearers — all these are not only general characteristics of the man, but are usually to be found manifested more or less in the compass of each discourse. It is this rare union of powers which constitutes his superiority to almost all other Christian preachers with whom he might be, or has been, compared. Savonarola had all, and more than all^ his fire and vehemence, but untempered by his sober, calm good sense, and wanting his rational method of interpretation. Chrysostom was eager and impetuous at times in speech as well as in action, but never fanatical. Jeremy Taylor combines, hke Chrysostom, real earnestness of purpose with rhetorical forms of expression and fiorid imagery ; but, on the whole, his style is far more artificial, and is overlaid with a multifarious learning, from which Chrysostom's was entirely free. Wesley is almost his match in simple, straightforward, practical exhorta- rion, but does not rise into flights of eloquence like his. The great French preachers, again, resemble him in his more ornate and declamatory vein, but they lack that simpler common- sense style of address which equally distinguished him."

I " Seine Beredtsamkeit ist asiatisch, bilderrekh. gehtvoU utid H. Geistes voU, an/ gesundcr Schriftauslegii7ig, mii steter An-wendung aii/'s Leben,in seinen Forderuugen an Andcre sittlich ernsi ohiie asketische L'eOersJ>anH!ing."—Kirc/ienge- schichte^ I. 511.

'^ St, Chrysosto7>i, p. 426 sq.

ST. CHRYSOSTOM:

TREATISE CONCERNING THE CHRIS- TIAN PRIESTHOOD.

TRANSLATED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY

REV. W. R. W. STEPHENS, M.A.,

PREBENDARY OF CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL, AND RECTOR OF WOOLBEDING, SUSSEX.

INTRODUCTION TO THE TREATISE ON THE PRIESTHOOD.

The events recorded in this celebrated treatise on the Priesthood must have occurred when St. John Chrysostom was about twenty-eight years of age. His father had died when he was a young child ; his mother was a devout Christian, but had not destined him for the clerical vocation. The great ability which he showed in early youth seemed to mark him out for distinction in one of the learned professions, and at the age of eighteen he began to attend the school of Libanius, the most celebrated sophist of the day, who had won a great reputation as a professor of philosophy and rhetoric, and as an eloquent opponent of Christianity, not only in his native city, Antioch, but also in Athens, Nicomedia, and Constantinople. The artificial character however of his writings indicates the decadence of literary power; he could skillfully imitate the style of ancient writers but he could not inform himself with their spirit ; "his productions" says Gibbon [ch. xxiv], "are for the most part the vain and idle composi- tion of an orator who cultivated the science of words."

In the school of Libanius Chrysostom no doubt studied the best classical Greek authors, and although he retained Httle admiration for them in later life and probably read them but rarely, his tenacious memory enabled him to the last to adorn his homilies with quotations from Homer, Plato and the Tragedians. In the school of Libanius also he began to practise his nascent power of eloquence, and a speech which he made in honor of the Emperors is highly commended in an extant letter of his master. Thus the Pagan sophist helped to forge the weapons which were destined to be turned against his own cause. When he was on his death- bed being asked by his friends who was most worthy to succeed him, " it would have been John " he replied, "if the Christians had not stolen him from us."

In due time Chrysostom began to practise as a lawyer ; and as the profession of the law was reckoned one of the surest avenues to political distinction for a man of talent, and the speeches of Chrysostom excited great admiration, a brilliant and prosperous career seemed to lie before him. But the soul of the young advocate had drunk draughts from a purer well- spring than the school of Libanius could supply, and like many other Christians in that age when society, even Christian society, was deeply tainted by Pagan sentiments and habits of life, especially in a profligate city hke Antioch, he recoiled from the contrast between the morality of the world in which he lived, and the standard of holiness which was presented in the Gospel. The chicanery and rapacity also prevalent in the profession which ha had adopted became especially repugnant to his conscience. And these feehngs were strength- ened by the influence of his intimate friend Basil who had been a fellow pupil with him at the school of Libanius.

The first book of the treatise on the Priesthood opens with a description of his friendship with Basil; how they studied the same subjects together under the same teachers, and how entirely harmonious they were in all their tastes, and inchnations [ci and ii.] Nevertheless when Basil decided to follow what Chrysostom calls the "true philosophy," by which he means a life of religious seclusion and study, Chrysostom could not immediately make up his mind to follow his example. The balance he says was no longer even between them ; the

28 THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

scale of Basil mounted heavenward, while his own was depressed by the weight of earthly in- terests, and youthful ambitions. For a time he continued to practise in the law courts and to frequent the theatre, and other places of amusement. But gradually the study of Scripture, the longing for renewed intercourse with his friend, and the influence of Meletius the amiable and saintly Bishop of Antioch so wrought upon his mind that he resolved to abandon his secular caUing. And in the first place after the usual course of probation he was baptized. It may seem surprising that he had not been baptized in childhood; but a corrupt practice of delaying baptism (which Chrysostom himself often reprobates in his Homilies) was prevalent at that time. It was due in some persons to a notion that sin before Baptism was compara- tively venial, in others to a dread of binding themselves or their children to the purity of hfe which was demanded by the Baptismal vows. In the case of Chrysostom it is possible, I think, that the distracted condition of the church in Antioch may have operated as a reason, perhaps the chief reason for the delay. At the date of his birth (about a.d. 345) and for six- teen years afterwards the See was occupied by Anan Bishops of the most worldly time-serving type. The good Catholic Bishop Meletius was appointed in 361 and it was probably some seven or eight years later that Chrysostom was baptized by him, and ordained to the office of Reader in the Church.

There can be no doubt that Baptism, from whatever cause delayed, must have come home to the recipient at last with all the more solemnity of meaning. It was often a decisive turning point in the life, the beginning of a definite renunciation of the world, and dedication of the whole man to God. To Chrysostom it evidently was this. For a time he became an enthusiastic ascetic ; and then settled down into that more tranquil, but intense glow of piety which burned with unabated force to the close of his life. His baptism and the rehnquish- ment of his secular calling are probably alluded to in the following treatise c. 3. where he speaks of " emerging a little from the flood of worldliness " in which he had been involved. His friend Basil who received him with open arms does not seem to have joined any monastic community, but merely to have been living in retirement and practising some of the usual monastic austerities. The two friends now formed a plan for withdrawing together to some quiet retreat, there to support one another in habits of study, meditation, and prayer, c. 4. The execution of the project was delayed for a time by the passionate entreaties of Chrysos- tom's mother that he would not deprive her of his companionship and protection, c. 5. He must have been a poor companion however, for we learn (vi. c. 12) that he rarely went outside the house, maintained an almost perpetual silence, and was constantly absorbed in study and prayer. He and Basil in fact formed with a few other friends a voluntary association of youthful ascetics who lived under a strict rule. We might compare it with the association or club formed by John Wesley and his brother at Oxford which first earned for them the nick- name of " Methodists." Chrysostom and his friends placed the general regulation of their studies and religious life under Diodorus and Carterius the presidents of the two principal monastic communities in the neighborhood of Antioch. Diodorus was a man of learning and abihty, opposed to those mystical and allegorical interpretations of Holy Scripture which often disguised rather than elucidated the real meaning of the sacred text, so that to his training probably we are largely indebted for that clear, sensible practical method of exposition in which Chrysostom so remarkably excels nearly all the ancient fathers of the Church.

Not long after the two friends had adopted this course of life, probably about the year 374, they were agitated by a report that they were likely to be advanced to the Episcopate (c. 6.) By a custom which was then common in the Church they were liable if elected by the clergy and people to be forcibly seized and ordained however unwilling they might be to accept the dignity [see notes to chapters 6 and 7]. Basil entreated his friend that in this crisis of their lives they might act as in former times in concert, and together accept, or

INTRODUCTION TO THE TREATISE ON THE PRIESTHOOD. 29

evade if possible the expected but unwelcome honor. Chrysostom affected assent to this proposal, but secretly resolved to entrap Basil into the sacred office for which he considered him to be as eminently fitted, as he deemed himself to be unworthy. The Church should not on account of his own feebleness be deprived if he could help it, of the able ministrations of such a man as Basil. ..ccordingly when some agents of the electing body [as to the com- position of this body, see note 3, p. 21] were sent to seize the two young men, Chrysostom con- trived to hide himself. His language c. 6. seems to imply that he had some intimation of their coming which he purposely withheld from Basil who consequently was caught. He made at first a violent resistance, but the officials led him to suppose that Chrysostom had already submitted, and under this delusion he acquiesced. When he discovered the trick which had been played upon him he naturally reproached Chrysostom bitterly for his unkind treachery. But the conscience of Chrysostom seems to have been quite at ease throughout the transaction. He regarded it as a pious fraud and when he saw the mingled distress and anger of his friend he could not refrain, he says, from laughing aloud for joy, and thanking God for the success of his stratagem. The remainder of the ist Book [chs. 8, 9] is occupied by Chrysostom's vindication of his conduct, the principle that deceit for a righteous end is often salutary and justifiable being maintamed with an ingenuity and skill which bespeaks a man who had recently practised in the law-courts. His arguments indeed savor somewhat unpleasantly of casuistry, and it must be confessed that in his conduct on this occasion there is a tinge of something like oriental duplicity which is repugnant to our moral sense. On the other hand it must be borne in mind that neither in the East nor in the West, for many ages were " pious frauds " absolutely condemned by the conscience of Christendom ; there was always an inclination to judge each case on its own merits, and to condone if not to approve those in which the balance of evidence was in favor of a righteous or holy purpose, and a beneficial result. And it must also be owned, in justice to Chrysostom, that one of the qualities most conspicuous in him throughout the whole of his subsequent career is fearless, straightforward honesty alike in act and in speech; and this under the pressure very often of strong tempta- tion to dissemble and temporize.

The remaining books on the Priesthood treat of the pre-eminent dignity, and sanctity of the priestly office and the peculiar difficulties and perils v/hich beset it. They abound with wise and weighty observations instructive for all times, but they are also interesting from the light which they throw upon the condition of the Church and of society in the age when Chrysostom lived. It is to be noted that he is speaking of the priesthood generally and that it is not always easy to say in any given passage which of the first two orders in the ministry he has in his mind. In many instances perhaps he was not thinking of one more than the other. Where, as was very commonly the case, the jurisdiction of a bishop did not extend very far beyond the limits of the city in which his See was placed, his functions would more nearly resemble those which in our day are discharged by the incumbent of a large town parish than those which are performed by the modern Bishop of a large diocese. He was the chief pastor of the people, as well as the overseer of the clergy. Chrysostom's friend Basil has been confused by some with the great Basil, Bishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia, who was fifteen years older than Chrysostom, by others with Basil Bishop of Seleucia, who was many years younger. Nothing in fact is known about him beyond what is recorded in this treatise, but he has been conjecturally identified with Basil Bishop of Raphnea in Syria, not far from Antioch, who attended the Council of Constantinople in 381.

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.

PAGE

1. How Basil excelled all the friends of Chrysostom 33

2. The unanimity of Basil and Chrysostom, and their joint study of all subjects 33

3. The balance upset in the pursuit of the monastic life 33

4. The proposal to occupy a common home 33

5. The fond entreaties of Chrysostom's mother 34

6. The deceit employed by Chrysostom in the matter of ordination 34

7. Chrysostom's defence in reply to objections 35

8. The great advantage of deceit when well timed ; conclusion and general remarks 37

book: II.

1. The priesthood the greatest evidence of love to Christ 39

2. The service of the priesthood greater than all other services .- . . , 40

3. The priesthood has need of a large and excellent spirit 41

4. It is full of great difficulty and danger 41

5. The office avoided by Chrysostom out of his love to Christ 43

6. A demonstration of the virtue of Basil, and of his ardent love 43

7. In avoiding ordination Chrysostom had no intention of insulting the electors 43

8. By his flight he saved them from blame 44

BOOK III.

1. Those who suspected me of declining this office through arrogance injured their own reputation ... 45

2. I did not avoid it through vainglory 46

3. If 1 had desired glory I should rather have chosen the work 46

4. The priesthood is an awful thing, and the service thereof under the new dispensation far more awful

than under the old 46

5. The great authority and dignity of the priesthood 47

6. Sacred ministries are amongst the greatest of God's gifts 47

7. Even Paul was filled with fear when he considered the magnitude of the office. 48

8. He who enters upon it is often snared into sin, unless he is very noble-minded 4g

g. He is caught by vainglory and its attendant evils 4g

ID. The priesthood is not the cause of these things, but our own indolence 49

II. The lust of domination should be cast out of the soul of a priest 50

(See note i, p. 45 )

BOOK IV.

I. Those who allow themselves to be forced into the clerical office, no less than they who enter upon it

from ambitious motives, are sorely punished hereafter for their sin 60

32 CONTENTS.

PACK

2. They who ordain unworthy men, even where they do not know their character, will share their punishment. 63

3. The priest ought to have great powers of speaking 64

4. He should be fully prepared for controversy with all adversaries — Greeks, Jews, and heretics ... 65

5. He should be very skillful in argument 66

6. In which Saint Paul especially excelled 66

7. So that he became illustrious not so much for his miracles as for his words . , 67

8. Herein he would have us excel also 68

g. For the lack of this in the priest must injuriously affect those over whom he is set 69

BOOK V.

1. Public preaching needs much labor and study 70

2. He who is appointed to this work must be indifferent to praise, and able in speaking 70

3. Unless he have both these qualifications he will be unserviceable to the multitude 71

4. He should above all take no notice of slander 71

5. The skillful in preaching need more study than the unlearned 71

6. He must not think too little or too much of the unreasoned verdict of the multitude 72

7. He must order his words with a view to pleasing God alone .72

8. He who is not indifferent to praise will undergo many sufferings 73

BOOK VI.

1. Priests are liable to render account for the sins committed by others 74

2. They need more circumspection than the recluses 75

3. The recluse enjoys more ease of mind than he who is set over the church 75

4. The priest has been entrusted with the government of the world and with other formidable duties . . 76

5. The priest must be adapted to all circumstances 77

6. To live the life of a recluse is not such a mark of endurance as to govern the multitude well . . .( • 77

7. The habits of him who lives alone, and of him who has his conversation in the world are not for the

same ends 77

8. They who live alone become proficient in virtue more easily than they who have the care of many . . 78

9. One ought not to think lightly of popular suspicion, even though it happen to be false 79

10. It is no very great matter to save oneself 79

11. Much sorer punishment awaits the sins of the priests than those of the laity 80

12. A representation by way of example both of the pain and of the fear which arises from the expectation

of the priesthood 80

13. The warfare of the devil against us is more severe than any other 82

TREATISE ON THE PRIESTHOOD.

BOOK I.

Contents.

i. how basil excelled all the friends of chrysostom.

ii. the unanimity of basil and chrysostom, and their joint study of all subjects, iii. the balance upset in the pursuit of the monastic life. iv. the proposal to occupy a common home. *

V. THE FOND ENTREATIES OF CHRYSOSTOM's MOTHER.

VI. THE DECEIT EMPLOYED BY CHRYSOSTOM IN THE MATTER OF ORDINATION.

VII. CHRYSOSTOM's DEFENCE IN REPLY TO OBJECTIONS.

VIII. THE GREAT ADVANTAGE OF DECEIT WHEN WELL TIMED ; CONCLUSION AND GENERAL REMARKS.

1. I HAD many genuine and true friends, men who understood the laws of friendship, and faithfully observed them ; but out of this large number there was one who excelled all the rest in his attachment to me, striving to outstrip them as much as they themselves out- stripped ordinary acquaintance. He was one of those who were constantly at my side ; for we were engaged in the same studies, and employed the same teachers.' We had the same eagerness and zeal about the studies at which we worked, and a passionate desire pro- duced by the same circumstances was equally strong in both of us. For not only when we were attending school, but after we had left it, when it became necessary to consider what course of hfe it would be best for us to adopt, we found ourselves to be of the same mind.

2. And in addition to these, there were other things also which preserved and maintained this concord unbroken and secure. For as regarded the greatness of our fatherland neither had one cause to vaunt himself over the other, nor was I burdened with riches, and he pinched by poverty, but our means corre- sponded as closely as our tastes. Our families also were of equal rank, and thus everything concurred with our disposition.

I Androgathius in philostiphy, Libaiiius in rhetoric.

3. But when it became our duty to pursue the blessed life of monks, and the true philo- sophy,'' our balance was no longer even, but his scale mounted high, while I, still entangled in the lusts of this world, dragged mine down and kept it low, weighting it with those fancies in which youths are apt to indulge. For the future our friendship indeed remained as firm as it was before, but our intercourse was in- terrupted; for it was impossible for persons who were not interested about the same things to spend much time together. But as soon as I also began to emerge a little from the flood of worldliness, he received me with open arms; yet not even thus could we maintain our former equality: for having got the start of me in time, and having displayed great ear- nestness, he rose again above my level, and soared to a great height.

4. Being a good man, however, and placing a high value on my friendship, he separated him- self from all the rest (of the brethren), and spent the whole of his time with me, which he had desired to do before, but had been pre- vented as I was saying by my frivolity. For it was impossible for a man who attended the law-courts, and was in a flutter of excitement

sense

2 An expression frequently employed by St. Chrysostom in the ise of a life of religious contemplation and study.

34

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[Book I.

about the pleasures of the stage, to be often in the company of one who was nailed to his books, and never set foot in the market place. Consequently when the hindrances were re- moved, and he had brought me into the same condition of life as himself, he gave free vent | to the desire with which he had long been laboring. He could not bear leaving me even for a moment, and he persistently urged that we should each of us abandon our own home and share a common dwelUng: — in fact he persuaded me, and the affair was taken in hand.

5. But the continual lamentations of my mother hindered me from granting him the favor, or rather from receiving this boon at his hands. For when she perceived that I was meditating this step, she took me into her own private chamber, and, sitting near me on the bed where she had given birth to me, she shed torrents of tears, to which she added words yet more pitiable than her weeping, in the following lamentable strain : My child, it was not the will of Heaven that I should long enjoy the benefit of thy father's virtue. For his death soon followed the pangs which I en- dured at thy birth, leaving thee an orphan and me a widow before my time to face all the horrors of widowhood, which only those who have experienced them can fairly understand. For no words are adequate to describe the tempest-tossed condition of a young woman who, having but lately left her paternal home, and being inexperienced in business, is sud- denly racked by an overwhelming sorrow, and compelled to support a load of care too great for her age and sex. For she has to correct the laziness of servants, and to be on the watch for their rogueries, to repel the designs of re- lations, to bear bravely the threats of those who collect the public taxes,' and harshness in the imposition of rates. And if the departed one should have left a child, even if it be a girl, great anxiety will be caused to the mother, although free from much expense and fear: but a boy fills her with ten thousand alarms and many anxieties every day, to say nothing of the great expense which one is compelled to incur if she wishes to bring him up in d liberal way. None of these things, however, induced me to enter into a second marriage, or introduce a second husband into thy father's house: but I held on as I was, in the midst of the storm and uproar, and did not shun the iron furnace •-' of widowhood. My foremost help indeed was the grace from above ; but it

^ For an account of the oppressive way in which the pubhc taxes were collected, see Gibbon's History (Milman's edition), vol. iii. 78.

2 The iron furnace was a Hebrew proverbial expression signify- ing " a furnace hot enough to melt iron," and so a condition of peculiar trial. See Deut. iv. 20, and Jer. xi. 4.

was no small consolation to me under those terrible trials to look continually on thy face and to preserve in thee a living image of him who had gone, an image indeed which was a fairly exact likeness.

On this account, even when thou wast an infant, and hadst not yet learned to speak, a time when children are the greatest delight to their parents, thou didst afford me much com- fort. Nor indeed can you complain that, al- though I bore my widowhood bravely, I dimin- ished thy patrimony, which I know has been the fate of many who have had the misfortune to be orphans. For, besides keeping the whole of it intact, I spared no expense which was needful to give you an honorable position, spending for this purpose some of my own fortune, and of my marriage dowry. Yet do not think that I say these things by way of reproaching you; only in return for all these benefits I beg one favor : do not plunge me into a second widowhood ; nor revive the grief which is now laid to rest : wait for my death: it may be in a little while I shall de- part. The young indeed look forward to a distant old age ; but we who have grown old ^ have nothing but death to wait for. When, then, you shall have committed my body to the ground, and mingled my bones with thy father's, embark for a long voyage, and set sail on any sea thou wilt : then there will be no one to hinder thee : but as long as my life lasts, be content to live with me. Do not, I pray you, oppose God in vain, involving me without cause, who have done you no wrong, in these great calamities. For if you have any reason to complain that I drag you into worldly cares, and force you to attend to business, do not be restrained by any reverence for the laws of nature, for training or custom, but fly from me as an enemy; but if, on the contrary, I do everything to provide leisure for thy journey through this life, let this bond at least if nothing else keep thee by me. For couldst thou say that ten thousand loved thee, yet no one will afford thee the enjoyment of so much liberty, seeing there is no one who is equally anxious for thy welfare.

6. These words, and more, my mother spake to me, and I related them to that noble youth. But he, so far from being disheartened by these speeches, was the more urgent in making the same request as before. Now while we were thus situated, he continually entreating, and I refusing my assent, we were both of us dis- turbed by a report suddenly reaching us that we were about to be advanced to the dignity of

3 This must be regarded as a kind of rhetorical expression, as we learn from Chrysostoni's " Letter to a young widow " (see page ), that his mother was not much past 40 at this time.

Book I.]

ON THE PRIESTHOOD.

35

the episcopate.' As soon as I heard this rumor I was seized with alarm and perplexity: with alarm lest I should be made captive against my will, and perplexity, inquiring as I often did whence any such idea concerning us could have entered the minds of these men ; for looking to myself I found nothing worthy of such an honor. But that noble youth having come to me privately, and having conferred with me about these things as if with one who was ignorant of the rumor, begged that we might in this instance also as formerly shape our action and our counsels the same way: for he would readily follow me whichever course I might pursue, whether I attempted flight or submitted to be captured. Perceiving then his eagerness, and considering that I should inflict a loss upon the whole body of the Church if, owing to my own weakness, I were to deprive the flock of Christ of a young man who was so good and so well qualified for the supervision of large numbers, I abstained from disclosing to him the purpose which I had formed, although I had never before allowed any of my plans to be concealed from him. I now told him that it would be best to post- pone our decision concerning this matter to another season, as it was not immediately pressing, and by so doing persuaded him to dismiss it from his thoughts, and at the same time encouraged him to hope that, if such a thing should ever happen to us, I should be of the same mind with him. But after a short time, when one who was to ordain us arrived, I kept myself concealed, but Basil, ignorant of this, was taken away on another pretext, and made to take the yoke, hoping from the prom- ises which I had made to him that I should certainly follow, or rather supposing that he was following me. For some of those who were present, seeing that he resented being seized, deceived him by exclaiming how strange it was that one who was generally reputed to be the more hot tempered (meaning me), had yielded very mildly to the judgment of the Fathers, whereas he, who was reckoned a much wiser and milder kind of man,had shown himself hotheaded and conceited, being unruly, restive, and contradictory.- Having yielded to these remonstrances, and afterwards having learned that I had escaped capture, he came to me in

1 (TTLCTKoirrii is the reading of most jiss., but four have t'ep- iiavvr]^ " the priesthood," which Kengel adopts, thinking that neither Basil nor Chrysostom could have been elected for the higher order at so early an age, but see below, p. 4, note i.

2 Forcible ordinations were not uncommon in the Church at this time. St. Augustin was dragged weeping by the people be- fore the Bishop, and his ordination demanded. St. Martin of Tours was torn from his cell, and conveyed to ordination under a guard. Possid. Vita Aug. 4 ; Sulp. Severus, Vit. St. Martin, i. 224. The affectation of reluctance to be consecrated became a fashion in the Coptic Church. The patriarch elect of Alexandria is still brought to Cairo loaded with chains, as if to prevent his escape. Stanley, Eastern Church, vii. p. 226.

deep dejection, sat down near me and tried to speak, but was hindered by distress of mind and inability to express in words the violence to which he had been subjected. No sooner had he opened his mouth than he was pre- vented from utterance by grief cutting short his words before they could pass his hps. See- ing, then, his tearful and agitated condition, and knowing as I did the cause, I laughed for joy, and, seizing his right hand, I forced a kiss on him, and praised God that my plan had ended so successfully, as I had always prayed it might. But when he saw that I was de- lighted and beaming with joy, and understood that he had been deceived by me, he was yet more vexed and distressed.

7. And when he had a little recovered from this agitation of mind, he began : If you have rejected the part allotted to you, and have no further regard for me (I know not indeed for what cause), you ought at least to consider your own reputation; but as it is you have opened the mouths of all, and the world is saying that you have declined this ministry through love of vainglory, and there is no one who will deliver you from this accusation. As for me, I cannot bear to go into the market place ; there are so many who come up to me and reproach me every day. For, when they see me anywhere in the city, all my intimate friends take me aside, and cast the greater part of the blame upon me. Knowing his in- tention, they say, for none of his affairs could be kept secret from you, you should not have concealed it, but ought to have communicated it to us, and we should have been at no loss to devise some plan for capturing him. But I am too much ashamed and abashed to tell them that I did not know you had long been plotting this trick, lest they should say that our friendship was a mere pretence. For even if it is so, as indeed it is — nor would you yourself deny it after what you have done to me — yet it is well to hide our misfortune from the out- side world, and persons who entertain but a moderate opinion of us. I shrink from telling them the truth, and how things really stand with us, and I am compelled in future to keep silence, and look down on the ground, and turn away to avoid those whom I meet. For if I escape the condemnation on the former charge, I am forced to undergo judgment for speaking falsehood. For they will never be- lieve me when I say that you ranged Basil amongst those who are not permitted to know your secret affairs. Of this, however, I will not take much account, since it has seemed agreeable to you, but how shall we endure the future disgrace ? for some accuse you of arrogance, others of vainglory: while those

36

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[Book I.

who are our more merciful accusers, lay both these offences to our charge, and add that we have insulted those who did us honor, although had they experienced even greater indignity it would only have served them right for pass- ing over so many and such distinguished men and advancing mere youths,' who were but yesterday immersed in the interests of this world, to such a dignity as they never have dreamied of obtaining, in order that they may for a brief season knit the eyebrows, wear dusky garments, and put on a grave face. Those who from the dawn of manhood to ex- treme old age have diligently practised self- discipline, are now to be placed under the government of youths who have not even heard the laws which should regulate their ad- ministration of this office. I am perpetually assailed by persons who say such things and worse, and am at a loss how to reply to them ; but I pray you tell me : for I do not suppose that you took to flight and incurred such hatred from such distinguished men without cause or consideration, but that your decision was made with reasoning and circumspection: whence also I conjecture that you have some argu- ment ready for your defence. Tell me, then, whether there is any fair excuse which I can make to those who accuse us.

For I do not demand any account for the wrongs which I have sustained at your hands, nor for the deceit or treachery you have prac- tised, nor for the advantage which you have derived from me in the past. For I placed my very life, so to say, in your hands, yet you have treated me with as much guile as if it had been your business to guard yourself against an enemy. Yet if you knew this de- cision of ours to be profitable, you ought not to have avoided the gain: if on the contrary in- jurious, you should have saved me also from the loss, as you always said that you esteemed me before every one else. But you have done everything to make me fall into the snare : and you had no need of guile and hypocrisy in dealing with one who was wont to display the utmost sincerity and candor in speech and action towards thee. Nevertheless, as I said, I do not now accuse you of any of these things, or reproach you for the lonely position in which you have placed me by breaking off those conferences from which we often de- rived no small pleasure and profit ; but all these things I pass by, and bear in silence and meekness, not that thou hast acted meekly in

I Chrysostom was about 28 at this time. The Council of Neo Csesarea (about 320) fixed 30 as the age at which men were eligible for the priesthood, and the same age at least must have been re- quired for a bishop, yet Reraigius was consecrated to the See of Reims at the age of 22, a.d. 457 ; and there are many other in- stances of bishops, under the prescribed age.

transgressing against me. but because from the day that I cherished thy friendship I laid it down as a rule for myself, that whatever sorrow you might cause me I would never force you to the necessity of an apology. For you know yourself that you have inflicted no small loss on me if at least you remember what we were always saying ourselves, and the out- side world also said concerning us, that it was a great gain for us to be of one mind and be guarded by each other's friendship. Every one said, indeed, that our concord would bring no small advantage to many besides ourselves ; I never perceived, however, so far as I am con- cerned, how it could be of advantage to others : but I did say that we should at least derive this benefit from it : that those who wished to contend with us would find us difficult to master. And I never ceased reminding you of these things: saying the age is a cruel one, and designing men are many, genuine love is no more, and the deadly pest of envy has crept into its place : we walk in the midst of snares, and on the edge of battlements ; ' those who are ready to rejoice in our misfortunes, if any should befall us, are many and beset us from many quarters: whereas there is no one to condole with us, or at least the number of such may be easily counted. Beware that we do not by separation incur much ridicule, and damage worse than ridicule. Brother aided by brother is like a strong city, and well forti- fied kingdom. 3 Do not dissolve this genuine intimacy, nor break down the fortress. Such things and more I was continually saying, not indeed that I ever suspected anything of this kind, but supposing you to be entirely sound in your relation towards me, I did it as a super- fluous precaution, wishing to preserve in health one who was already sound ; but unwittingly, as it seems, I was administering medicines to a sick man: and even so I have not been for- tunate enough to do any good, and have gained nothing by my excess of forethought. For having totally cast away all these consid- erations, without giving them a thought, you have turned me adrift like an unballasted vessel on an untried ocean, taking no heed of those fierce billows which I must encounter. For if it should ever be my lot to undergo calumny, or mockery, or any other kind of in- sult or menace (and such things must fre- quently occur), to whom shall I fly for refuge : to whom shall I impart my distress, who will be willing to succour me and drive back my as- sailants and put a stop to their assaults ? who

2 A metaphorical expression to denote a perilous position, as those who walked on' the edge of the walls would be exposed to the missiles of the enemy.

3 Proverbs xviii. 19. LXX. version.

Book I.J

ON THE PRIESTHOOD.

37

will solace me and prepare me to bear the coarse ribaldry which may yet be in store for me. There is no one since you stand aloof from this terrible strife, and cannot even hear my cry. Seest thou then what mischief thou hast wrought? now that thou hast dealt the blow, dost thou perceive what a deadly wound thou hast inflicted ? But let all this pass : for it is impossible to undo the past, or to find a path through pathless difficulties. What shall I say to the outside world ? what defence shall I make to their accusations.

8. Chrysostom: Be of good cheer, I re- plied, for I am not only ready to answer for myself in these matters, but I will also en- deavor as well as I am able to render an ac- count of those for which you have not h-eld me answerable. Indeed, if you wish it, I will make them the starting-point of my defence. For it would be a strange piece of stupidity on my part if, thinking only of praise from the outside pubhc, and doing my best to silence their accusations, I were unable to convince my dearest of all friends that I am not wronging him, and were to treat him with indifference greater than the zeal which he has displayed on my behalf, treating me with such forbear- ance as even to refrain from accusing me of the wrongs which he says he has suffered from me, and putting his own interests out of the question in consideration for mine.

What is the wrong that I have done thee, since I have determined to embark from this point upon the sea of apology? Is it that I mis- led you and concealed my purpose? Yet I did it for the benefit of thyself who wast de- ceived, and of those to whom I surrendered you by means of this deceit. For if the evil of deception is absolute, and it is never right to make use of it, I am prepared to pay any pen- alty you please : or rather, as you will never endure to inflict punishment upon me, I shall subject myself to the same condemnation which is pronounced by judges on evil-doers when their accusers have convicted them. But if the thing is not always harmful, but becomes good or bad according to the intention of those who practise it, you m^ust desist from complaining of deceit, and prove that it has been devised against you for a bad purpose ; and as long as this proof is wanting it would only be fair for those who wish to conduct themselves prudent- ly, not only to abstain from reproaches and accu- sation, but even to give a friendly reception to the deceiver. For a well-timed deception, un- dertaken with an upright intention, has such advantages, that many persons have often had to undergo punishment for abstaining from fraud. And if you investigate the history of generals who have enjoyed the highest reputa-

tion from the earliest ages, you will find that most of their triumphs were achieved by strat- agem, and that such are more highly com- mended than those who conquer in open fight. For the latter conduct their campaigns with greater expenditure of money and men, so that they gain nothing by the victory, but suffer just as much distress as those who have been defeated, both in the sacrifice of troops and the exhaustion of funds. But, besides this, they are not even permitted to enjoy all the glory which pertains to the victory; for no small part of it is reaped by those who have fallen, because in spirit they were victorious, their defeat was only a bodily one : so that had it been possible for them not to fall when they were wounded, and death had not come and put the finishing stroke to their labors, there would have been no end of their prowess. But one who has been able to gain the victory by stratagem involves the enemy in ridicule as well as disaster. Again, in the other case both sides equally carry off the honors be- stowed upon valor, whereas in this case they do not equally obtain those which are be- stowed on wisdom, but the prize falls entirely I to the victors, and, another point no less im- , portant is that they preserve the joy of the I victory for the state unalloyed : for abundance o-f resources and multitudes of men are not like mental powers : the former indeed if con- tinually used in war necessarily become ex- hausted, and fail those who possess them, whereas it is the nature of wisdom to increase the more it is exercised. And not in war only, ■ but also in peace the need of deceit may be found, not merely in reference to the affairs of the state, but also in private life, in the i dealings of husband with wife and wife with i husband, son with father, friend with friend, I and also children with a parent. For the daugh- ' ter of Saul would not have been able to rescue her husband out of Saul's hands ' except by deceiving her father. And her brother, wish- rng to save him whom she had rescued when he was again in danger, made use of the same weapon as the wife.-

Basil: But none of these cases apply to me : for I am not an enemy, nor one of those who are striving to injure thee, but quite the contrary. For I entrusted all my interests to your judgment, and always followed it when- ever you bid me.

Chrysostom: But, my admirable and ex- cellent Sir, this is the very reason why I took the precaution of saying that it was a good thing to employ this kind of deceit, not only in war, and in dealing with enemies, but also

I I Sam. xix. 12-18

3 I Sara. x.x. II.

38

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[Book I.

in peace, and in dealing with our dearest friends. For as a proof that it is beneficial not anly to the deceivers, but also to those who are deceived; if you go to any of the physicians and ask them how they relieve their patients from disease, they will tell you that they do not depend upon their professional skill alone, but sometimes conduct the sick to health by availing themselves of deceit, and blending the assistance which they derive from it with their art. For when the waywardness of the patient and the obstinacy of the com- plaint baffle the counsels of the physicians, it is then necessary to put on the mask of deceit in order that, as on the stage, they may be able to hide what really takes place. But, if you please, I will relate to you one instance of stratagem out of many which I have heard of being contrived by the sons of the healing art.' A man was once suddenly attacked by a fever of great severity ; the burning heat in- creased, and the patient rejected the remedies which could have reduced it and craved for a draught of pure wine, passionately entreating all who approached to give it him and enable him to satiate this deadly craving — I say deadly, for if any one had gratified this re- quest he would not only have exasperated the fever, but also have driven the unhappy man frantic. Thereupon, professional skill being baffled, and at the end of its resources and utterly thrown away, stratagem stepped in and displayed its power in the way which I will now relate. For the physician took an earthen cup brought straight out of the furnace, and having steeped it in wine, then drew it out empty, filled it with water, and, having ordered the chamber where the sick man lay to be darkened with curtains that the light might not reveal the trick, he gave it him to drink, pretending that it was filled with undiluted wine. And the man, before he had taken it in his hands, being deceived by the smell, did not wait to examine what was given him, but convinced by the odor, and deceived by the darkness, eagerly gulped down the draught, and being satiated with it immediately shook off the feehng of suffocation and escaped the imminent peril.^ Do you see the advantage

' Literally,'' sons of physicians." Compare the expression " sons of the prophets" in the Old Testament.

= Clement of Alexandria (Stromata vii.) illustrates the same doctrine of allowable deceit for a useful purpose by a similar ref- erence to the practice of physicians.

of deceit? And if any one were to reckon up all the tricks of physicians the list would run on to an indefinite length. And not only those who heal the body but those also who attend to the diseases of the soul may be found con- tinually making use of this remedy. Thus the blessed Paul attracted those multitudes of Jews : 3 with this purpose he circumcised Tim- othy, ■* although he warned the Galatians in his letter ^ that Christ would not profit those who were circumcised. For this cause he submitted to the law, although he reckoned the righteous- ness which came from the law but loss after receiving the faith in Christ.* For great is the value of deceit, provided it be not intro- duced with a mischievous intention. In fact action of this kind ought not to be called de- ceit, but rather a kind of good management, cleverness and skill, capable of finding out I ways where resources fail, and making up for i the defects of the mind. For I would not call Phinees a murderer, although he slew two human beings with one stroke : ' nor yet Elias after the slaughter of the loo soldiers, and the captain, '^ and the torrents of blood which he caused to be shed by the destruction of those who sacrificed to devils.' For if we were to concede this, and to examine the bare deeds in themselves apart from the intention of the doers, one might if he pleased judge Abraham guilty of child-murder '" and accuse his grandson " and descendant '- of wickedness and guile. For the one got possession of the birthright, and the other transferred the wealth of the Egyptians to the host of the Israelites. But this is not the case : away with the auda- cious thought ! For we not only acquit them of blame, but also admire them because of these things, since even God commended them for the same. For that man would fairly de- serve to be called a deceiver who made an unrighteous use of the practice, not one who did so with a salutary purpose. And often it is necessary to deceive, and to do the greatest benefits by means of this device, whereas he who has gone by a straight course has done great mischief to the person whom he has not deceived.

3 Acts xxi. 26. 6 Philipp. iii. j. 9 I Kings xviii. 34. 12 Exod. xi. 2.

4 lb. xvi. 3. 7 Numb. XXV. 7. 'o Gen. xxii. 3.

5 Gal. V. 2. 8 2 Kings i. g-i2. II lb. xxvii. 19.

BOOK II.

Contents.

i. the priesthood the greatest evidence of love to christ.

ii. the service of the priesthood greater than all other services.

iii. the priesthood has need of a large and excellent spirit.

iv. it is full of great difficulty and danger.

v. the office avoided by chrysostom out of his love to christ.

vi. a demonstration of the virtue of basil, and of his ardent love.

vii. in avoiding ordination chrysostom had no intention of insulting the electors.

viii. by his flight he saved them from blame.

I. That it is possible then to make use of deceit for a good purpose, or rather that in such a case it ought not to be called deceit, but a kind of good management worthy of all ad- miration, might be proved at greater length; but since what has already been said suffices for demonstration, it would be irksome and tedious to lengthen out my discourse upon the subject. And now it will remain for you to prove whether I have not employed this art to your advantage.

Basil: And what kind of advantage have I derived from this piece of good management, or wise policy, or whatever you may please to call it, so as to persuade me that I have not been deceived by you?

Chrysostom : What advantage, pray, could be greater than to be seen doing those things which Christ with his own lips declared to be proofs of love to Himself?' For addressing the leader of the apostles He said, " Peter, lovest thou me? " and when he confessed that he did, the Lord added, " if thou lovest me tend my sheep." The Master asked the disciple if He was loved by him, not in order to get informa- tion (how should He who penetrates the hearts of all men?), but in order to teach us how great an interest He takes in the superintendence of these sheep. This being plain, it will like- wise be manifest that a great and unspeakable reward will be reserved for him whose labors are concerned with these sheep, upon which

' John xxi. 15-17. ,

Christ places such a high value. For when we see any one bestowing care upon members of our household, or upon our flocks, we count his zeal for them as a sign of love towards ourselves: yet all these things are to be bought for money: — with how great a gift then will He requite those who tend the flock which He purchased, not with money, nor anything of that kind, but by His own death, giving his own blood as the price of the herd. Where- fore when the disciple said, " Thou knowest Lord that I love Thee," and invoked the be- loved one Himself as a witness of his love, the Saviour did not stop there, but added that which was the token of love. For He did not at that time wish to show how much Peter loved Him, but how much He Himself loved His own Church, and he desired to teach Peter and all of us that we also should bestow much zeal upon the same. For why did God not spare His only-begotten Son, but delivered Him up, although the only one He had ? - • It was that He might reconcile to Himself those who were disposed towards Him as enemies, and make them His peculiar people. For what purpose did He shed His blood ? It was that He might win these sheep which He entrusted to Peter and his successors. Natur- ally then did Christ say, " Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord shall make ruler over His household." ^ Again, the

" Rom. viii. 32 ; John iii. 16.

3 Matt, x.xiv. 45. Some Mss. of Chrysostom have the future KttTao-T^o-ei, shall make ruler, but all MSS. of the New Testament have the aorist /caTtcmjcre, made ruler.

40

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[Book II.

words are those of one who is in doubt, yet the speaker did not utter them in doubt, but just as He asked Peter whether he loved Him, not from any need to learn the affection of the disciple, but from a desire to show the ex- ceeding depth of his own love : so now also when He says, " Who then is the faithful and wise servant ? " he speaks not as being ig- norant who is faithful and wise, but as desir- ing to set forth the rarity of such a character, and the greatness of this office. Observe at any rate how great the reward is — " He will ap- point him," he says, " ruler over all his goods." ' 2. Will you, then, still contend that you were not rightly deceived, when you are about to superintend the things which belong to God, and are doing that which when Peter did the Lord said he should be able to surpass the rest of the apostles, for His words were,"Peter, lovest thou me more than these? " ~ Yet He might have said to him, " If thou lovest me practise fasting, sleeping on the ground, and prolonged vigils, defend the wronged, be as a father to orphans, and supply the place of a husband to their mother." But as a matter of fact, setting aside all these things, what does He say? "Tend my sheep." For those things which I have already mentioned might easily be performed by many even of those who are under authority, women as well as men ; but when one is required to preside over the Church, and to be entrusted with the care of so many souls, the whole female sex must retire before the magnitude of the task, and the ma- jority of men also ; and we must bring forward those who to a large extent surpass all others, and soar as much above them in excellence of spirit as Saul overtopped the whole Hebrew nation in bodily stature : or rather far more.^ For in this case let me not take the height of shoulders as the standard of inquiry; but let the distinction between the pastor and his charge be as great as that between rational man and irrational creatures, not to say even greater, inasmuch as the risk is concerned with things of far greater importance. He indeed who has lost sheep, either through the ravages of wolves, or the attacks of robbers, or through murrain, or any other disaster befall- ing them, might perhaps obtain some indul- gence from the owner of the flock ; and even if the latter should demand satisfaction the pen- alty would be only a matter of money: but he who has human beings entrusted to him, the ra- tional flock of Christ, incurs a penalty in the first place for the loss of the sheep, which goes

1 Matt. xxiv. 47.

2 In some editions the words "tend my slieep" are added here.

3 I Sam. X. 23.

beyond material thifigs and touches his own life : and in the second place he has to carry on a far greater and more difficult contest. For he has not to contend with wolves, nor to dread robbers, nor to consider how he may avert pestilence from the flock. With whom then has he to fight ? with whom has he to wrestle? Listen to the words of St. Paul. " We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." - Do you see the terrible multitude of enemies, and their fierce squadrons, not steel clad, but en- dued with a nature which is of itself an equiv- alent for a complete suit of armor. Would you see yet another host, stern and cruel, be- leaguering this flock? This also you shall be- hold from the same post of observation. For he who has discoursed to us concerning the others, points out these enemies also to us, speaking in a certain place on this wise : " The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, adultery, uncleanness, lascivious- ness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife,^ backbitings, whisper- ings, swellings, tumults," ^ and many more be- sides ; for he did not make a complete list, but left us to understand the rest from these. Moreover, in the case of the shepherd of irra- tional creatures, those who wish to destroy the flock, when they see the guardian take to flight, cease making war upon him, and are contented with the seizure of the cattle : but in this case, even should they capture the whole flock, they do not leave the shepherd unmolested, but at- tack him all the more, and wax bolder, ceasing not until they have either overthrown him, or have themselves been vanquished. Again, the afflictions of sheep are manifest, whether it be famine, or pestilence, or wounds, or what- soever else it may be which distresses them, and this might help not a little towards the relief of those who are oppressed in these ways. And there is yet another fact greater than this which facilitates release from this kind of infirmity. And what is that ? The shepherds with great authority compel the sheep to receive the remedy when they do not willingly submit to it. For it is easy to bind them when cautery or cutting is required, and to keep them inside the fold for a long time, whenever it is expedient, and to bring them one kind of food instead of another, and to cut them off from their supplies of water, and all other things which the shepherds may decide to be conducive to their health they perform with great ease.

4 Ephes. vi. 12.

S Gal. V. 19, 20, 21. ^ 2 Cor. xil. 20.

Book II.]

ON THE PRIESTHOOD.

41

3. But in the case of human infirmities, it is not easy in the first place for a man to dis- cern them, for no man " knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him." ' How then can any one apply the remedy for the disease of which he does not know the character, often indeed being un- able to understand it even should he happen to sicken with it himself? And even when it becomes manifest, it causes him yet more trouble: for it is not possible to doctor all men with the same authority with which the shepherd treats his sheep. For in this case also it is necessary to bind and to restrain from food, and to use cautery or the knife: but the reception of the treatment depends on the will of the patient, not of him who apphes the remedy. For this also was perceived by that wonderful man (St. Paul) when he said to the Corinthians— " Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy." - For Christians above all men are not permitted forcibly to correct the failings of those who sin. Secular judges indeed, when they have cap- tured malefactors under the law, show their authority to be great, and prevent them even against their will from following their own de- vices: but in our case the wrong-doer must be made better, not by force, but by persuasion. For neither has authority of this kind for the restraint of sinners been given us by law, nor, if it had been given, should we have any field for the exercise of our power, inasmuch as God rewards those who abstain from evil by their own choice, not of necessity. Conse- quently much skill is required that our patients may be induced to submit willingly to the treatment prescribed by the physicians, and not only this, but that they may be grateful also for the cure. For if any one when he is bound becomes restive (which it is in his power to be), he makes the mischief worse ; and if he should pay no heed to the words which cut like steel, he inflicts another wound by means of this contempt, and the intention to heal only becomes the occasion of a worse disorder. For it is not possible for any one to cure a man by compulsion against his will.

4. What then is one to do ? For if you deal too gently with him who needs a severe application of the knife, and do not strike deep into one who requires such treatment, you remove one part of the sore but leave the other: and if on the other hand you make the requisite incision unsparingly,the patient,driven to desperation by his sufferings, will often fling everything away at once, both the remedy and the bandage, and throw himself down

headlong, " breaking the yoke and bursting the band." ^ I could tell of many who have run into extreme evils because the due penalty of their sins was exacted. For we ought not, in applying punishment, merely to proportion it to the scale of the offence, but rather to keep in view the disposition of the sinner, lest whilst wishing to mend what is torn, you make the rent worse, and in your zealous endeavors to restore what is fallen, you make the ruin greater. For weak and careless characters, addicted for the most part to the pleasures of the world, and having occasion to be proud on account of birth and position, may yet, if gently and gradually brought to repent of their errors, be delivered, partially at least, if not perfectly, from the evils by which they are pos- sessed: but if any one were to inflict the dis- cipline all at once, he would deprive them of this slight chance of amendment. For when once the soul has been forced to put off shame it lapses into a callous condition, and neither yields to kindly words nor bends to threats, nor is susceptible of gratitude, but becomes far worse than that city which the prophet re- proached, saying, " thou hadst the face of a harlot, refusing to be ashamed before all men." ■» Therefore the pastor has need of much discre- tion, and of a myriad eyes to observe on every side the habit of the soul. For as many are uplifted to pride, and then sink into despair of their salvation, from inabiUty to endure severe remedies, so are there some, who from paying no penalty equivalent to their sins, fall into negligence, and become far worse, and are impelled to greater sins. It behoves the priest > therefore to leave none of these things unex- I amined, but, after a thorough inquiry into all of them, to apply such remedies as he has ap- i positely to each case, lest his zeal prove to be in vain. And not in this matter only, but also in the work of knitting together the severed members of the Church, one can see that he has much to do. For the pastor of sheep has his flock following him, wherever he may lead them : and if any should stray out of the straight path, and, deserting the good pasture, feed in unproductive or rugged places, a loud shout suffices to collect them and bring back to the fold those who have been parted from it : but if a human being wanders away from the right faith, great exertion, perseverance and patience are required; for he cannot be dragged back by force, nor constrained by fear, but must be led back by persuasion to the truth from which be originally swerved. The pastor therefore ought to be of a noble spirit, so as not to de- spond, or to despair of the salvation of wan-

I I Cor. ii. II.

2 2 Cor. i. 24.

3 Conf. Jcr. V. 5.

4 Jcr. iii. 3.

42

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[Book II.

derers from the fold, but continually to reason with himself and say, " Peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover them- selves out of the snare of the devil." ' There- fore the Lord, when addressing His disciples, said, " Who then is the faithful and wise serv- ant?"- For he indeed who disciplines him- self compasses only his own advantage, but the benefit of the pastoral function extends to the whole people. And one who dispenses money to the needy, or otherwise succors the op- pressed, benefits his neighbors to some ex- tent, but so. much less than the priest in proportion as the body is inferior to the soul. Rightly therefore did the Lord say that zeal for the flock was a token of love for Himself.

Basil: But thou thyself — dost thou not love Christ?

Chrysostom: Yea, I love Him, and shall never cease loving Him ; but I fear lest I should provoke Him whom I love.

Basil: But what riddle can there be more obscure than this — Christ has commanded him who loves Him to tend His sheep, and yet you say that you decline to tend them because you love Him who gave this command?

Chrysostom : My saying is no riddle, but very intelligible and simple, for if I were well qualified to administer this office, as Christ desired it, and then shunned it, my remark might be open to doubt, but since the infirmity of my spirit renders me useless for this minis- try, why does my saying deserve to be called in question? For I fear lest if I took the flock in hand when it was in good condition and well nourished, and then wasted it through my unskilfulness, I should provoke against myself the God who so loved the flock as to give Himself up for their salvation and ransom.

Basil: You speak in jest: for if you were in earnest I know not how you would have proved me to be justly grieved otherwise than by means of these very words whereby you have endeavored to dispel my dejection. I knew indeed before that you had deceived and betrayed me, but much more now, when you have undertaken to clear yourself of my accusations, do I plainly perceive and under- stand the extent of the evils into which you have led me. For if you withdrew yourself from this ministry because you were conscious that your spirit was not equal to the burden of the task, I ought to have been rescued from it before you, even if I had chanced to have a great desire for it, to say nothing of having confided to you the entire decision of these matters: but as it is, you have looked

Ti

m. 11. 25.

2 Matt. xxiv. 45.

solely to your own interest and neglected mine. Would indeed you had entirely ne- glected them ; then I should have been well content : but you plotted to facilitate my cap- ture by those who wished to seize me. For you cannot take shelter in the argument that public opinion deceived you and induced you to imagine great and wonderful things con- cerning me. For I was none of your wonder- ful and distinguished men, nor, had this been the case, ought you to have preferred public opinion ta truth. For if I had never permitted you to enjoy my society, you might have seemed to have a reasonable pretext for being guided in your vote by public report ; but if there is no one who has such thorough knowl- edge of my affairs, if you are acquainted with my character better than my parents and those who brought me up, what argument can you employ which will be convincing enough to persuade your hearers that you did not pur- posely thrust me into this danger: say, what answer shall I make to your accusers?

Chrysostom: Nay! I will not proceed to those questions until I have resolved such as concern yourself alone, if you were to ask me ten thousand times to dispose of these charges. You said indeed that ignorance would bring me forgiveness, and that I should have been free from all accusation if I had brought you into your present position not knowing any- thing about you, but that as I did not betray you in ignorance, but was intimately acquainted with your affairs, I was deprived of all reason- able pretext and excuse. But I say precisely the reverse : for in such matters there is need of careful scrutiny, and he who is going to present any one as qualified for the priesthood ought not to be content with pubhc report only, but should also himself, above all and before all, investigate the man's character. For when the blessed Paul says, " He must also have a good report of them which are without," 3 he does not dispense with an exact and rigorous inquiry, nor does he assign to such testimony precedence over the scrutiny required in such cases. For after much pre- vious discourse, he mentioned this additional testimony, proving that one must not be con- tented with it alone for elections of this kind, but take it into consideration along with the rest. For public report often speaks false ; but when careful investigation precedes, no further danger need be apprehended from it. On this account, after the other kinds of evi- dence he places that which comes from those who are without. For he did not simply say, "he must have a good report," but added the

3 I T

iin. 111. 7.

Book II.]

ON THE PRIESTHOOD.

[3

words, "from them which are without," wishing to show that before the report of those with- out he must be carefully examined. Inasmuch, then, as I myself knew your affairs better than your parents, as you also yourself acknowl- edged, I might deserve to be released from all blame.

Basil: Nay this is the very reason why you could not escape, if any one chose to in- dite you. Do you not remember hearing from me, and often learning from my actual con- duct, the feebleness of my character? Were you not perpetually taunting me for my pusil- lanimity, because I was so easily dejected by ordinary cares?

5. Chrysostom: I do indeed remember often hearing such things said by you ; I would not deny it. But if I ever taunted you, I did it in sport and not in serious truth. However, I do not now dispute about these matters, and I claim the same degree of forbearance from you while I wish to make mention of some of the good qualities which you possess. For if you attempt to convict me of saying what is untrue, I shall not spare you, but shall prove that you say these things rather ' by way of self-depreciation than with a view to truth, and I will employ no evidence but your own words and deeds to demonstrate the truth of my assertion. And now the first question I wish to ask of you is this : do you know how great the power of love is? For omitting all the miracles which were to be wrought by the apostles, Christ said, " Hereby shall men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one an- other," ' and Paul said that it was the fulfill- ing of the law,- and that in default of it no spiritual gift had any profit. Well, this choice good, the distinguishing mark of Christ's dis- ciples, the gift which is higher than all other gifts, I perceived to be deeply implanted in your soul, and teeming with much fruit.

Basil: I acknowledge indeed that the matter is one of deep concern to me, and that I endeavor most earnestly to keep this commandment, but that I have not even half succeeded in so doing, even you yourself would bear me witness if you would leave off talking out of partiality, and simply respect the truth.

6. Chrysostom: Well, then, I shall betake myself to my evidences, and shall now do what I threatened, proving that you wish to disparage yourself rather than to speak the truth. But I will mention a fact which has only just occurred, that no one may suspect me of atteiripting to obscure the truth by the great lapse of time in relating events long

I John xiii. 35.

2 Rom. xiii. 10.

past, as oblivion would then prevent any ob- jection being made to the things which I might say with a view to gratification. ^ For when one of our intimate friends, having been falsely accused of insult and folly, was in ex- treme peril, you then flung yourself into the midst of the danger, although you were not sum- moned by any one, or appealed to by the per- son who was about to be involved in danger. Such was the fact : but that I may convict you out of your own mouth, I will remind you of the words you uttered : for when some did not approve of this zeal, while others commended and admired it, " How can I help myself ? " you said to those who accused you, " for I do not know how otherwise to love than by giv- ing up my life when it is necessary to save any of my friends who is in danger: " thus re- peating, in different words, indeed, but with the same meaning, what Christ said to his disciples when he laid down the definition of perfect love. " Greater love," He said, " hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends." If then it is im.possible to find greater love than this, you have attained its limit, and both by your deeds and words have crowned the summit. This is why I betrayed you, this is why I contrived that plot. Do I now convince you that it was not from any malicious intent, nor from any desire to thrust you into danger, but from a persuasion of your future usefulness that I dragged you into this course?

Basil: Do you then suppose that love is sufficient for the correction of one's fellow- men?

Chrysostom: Certainly it would contrib- ute in a great measure to this end. But if you wish me to produce evidence of your practical wisdom also, I will proceed to do so, and will prove that your understanding exceeds your lovingkindness.

At these remarks he blushed scarlet and said, "Let my character be now dismissed: for it was not about this that I originally de- manded an explanation ; but if you have any just answer to make to those who are without, I would gladly hear what you have to say. Wherefore, abandoning this vain contest, tell me what defence I shall make, both to those who have honored you and to those who are dis- tressed on their account, considering them to be insulted.

7. Chrysostom: This is just the point to which I am finally hastening, for as my ex-

3 The passage is awkwardly expressed in the oriirinal. What Chrysostom says is that he will mention an event which has re- cently occurred as an evidence of Ilasil's character, because if he referred to events which were no longer fresh in people's recollec- tion, the accuracy of his statements could not be tested, and he might be suspected of partiality.

44

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[Book II.

planation to you has been completed I shall easily turn to this part of my defence. What then is the accusation made by these persons, and what are their charges? They say that they have been insulted and grievously wronged by me because I have not accepted the honor which they wished to confer upon me. Now in the first place I say that no ac- count should be taken of the insult shown to men, seeing that by paying honor to them I should be compelled to offend God. And I should say to those who are displeased that it is not safe to take offence at these things, but does them much harm. For I think that those who stay themselves on God and look to Him alone, ought to be so religiously disposed as not to account such a thing an insult, even if they happened to be a thousand times dishon- ored. But that I have not gone so far as even to think of daring anything of this kind is manifest from what I am about to say. For if indeed I had been induced by arrogance and vainglory, as you have often said some slanderously affirm, to assent to my accusers, I should have been one of the most iniquitous of mankind, having treated great and excellent men, my benefactors moreover, with contempt. For if men ought to be punished for wronging those who have never wronged them, how ought we to honor those who have spontane- ously preferred to honor us? For no one could possibly say that they were requiting me for any benefits small or great which they had received at my hands. How great a pun- ishment then would one deserve if one re- quited them in the contrary manner. But if such a thing never entered my mind, and I declined the heavy burden with quite a differ- ent intention, why do they refuse to pardon me (even if they do not consent to approve), "but accuse me of having selfishly spared my own soul? For so far from having insulted the men in question I should say that I had even honored them by my refusal.

And do not be surprised at the paradoxical nature of my remark, for I shall supply a speedy solution of it.

8. For had I accepted the office, I do not say all men, but those who take pleasure in speak- ing evil, might have suspected and said many things concerning myself who had been elected and concerning them, the electors: for in- stance, that they regarded wealth, and admired splendor of rank, or had been induced by flat- tery to promote me to this honor: indeed I cannot say whether some one might not have suspected that they were bribed by money. Moreover, they would have said, " Christ called fishermen, tentmakers, and publicans to this dignity, whereas these men reject those who sup-

port themselves by daily labor: but if there be any one who devotes himself to secular learning, and is brought up in idleness, him they receive and admire. For why, pray, have they passed by men who have undergone innumerable toils in the service of the Church, and sud- denly dragged into this dignity one who has never experienced any labors of this kind, but has spent all his youth in the vain study of secular learning." These things and more they might have said had I accepted the office: but not so now. For every pretext for malign- ing is now cut away from them, and they can neither accuse me of flattery, nor the others of receiving bribes, unless some choose to act like mere madmen. For how could one who used flattery and expended money in order to obtain the dignity, have abandoned it to others when he might have obtained it? For this would be just as if a man who had bestowed much labor upon the ground in order that the corn field might be laden with abun- dant produce, and the presses overflow with wine, after innumerable toils and great ex- penditure of money were to surrender the fruits to others just when it was time to reap his corn and gather in his vintage. Do you see that although what was said might be far from the truth, nevertheless those who wished to calumniate the electors would then have had a pretext for alleging that the choice was made without fair judgment and considera- tion. But as it is I have prevented them from being open mouthed, or even uttering a single word on the subject. Such then and more would have been their remarks at the outset. But after undertaking the ministry I should not have been able day by day to defend my- self against accusers, even if I had done every- thing faultlessly, to say nothing of the many mistakes which I must have made owing to my youth and inexperience. But now I have saved the electors from this kind of accusa- tion also, whereas in the other case I should have involved them in innumerable reproaches. For what would not the world have said ? " They have committed affairs of such vast in- terest and importance to thoughtless youths, they have defiled the flock of God, and Chris- tian affairs have become a jest and a laughing- stock." But now " all iniquity shall stop her mouth." ' For although they may say these things on your account, you will speedily teach them by your acts that understanding is not to be estimated by age, and the grey head is not to be the test of an elder — that the young man ought not to be absolutely excluded from the ministry, but only the novice: and the difference between the two is great.

• Ps. cvii. 42.

BOOK III.

Contents.

I. THOSE WHO SUSPECTED ME OF DECLINING THIS OFFICE THROUGH ARROGANCE INJURED THEIR OWN REPUTATION. II. I DID NOT AVOID IT THROUGH VAINGLORY.

III. IF I HAD DESIRED GLORY I SHOULD RATHER HAVE CHOSEN THE WORK.

IV. THE PRIESTHOOD IS AN AWFUL THING, AND THE SERVICE THEREOF UNDER THE NEW DISPEN-

SATION FAR MORE AWFUL THAN UNDER THE OLD. V. THE GREAT AUTHORITY AND DIGNITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD. VI. SACRED MINISTRIES ARE AMONGST THE GREATEST OF GOD's GIFTS.

VII. EVEN PAUL WAS FILLED WITH FEAR WHEN HE CONSIDERED THE MAGNITUDE OF THE OFFICE. VIII. HE WHO ENTERS UPON IT IS OFTEN SNARED INTO SIN, UNLESS HE IS VERY NOBLE-MINDED. IX. HE IS CAUGHT BY VAINGLORY AND ITS ATTENDANT EVILS.

X. THE PRIESTHOOD IS NOT THE CAUSE OF THESE THINGS, BUT OUR OWN INDOLENCE. XL THE LUST OF DOMINATION SHOULD BE CAST OUT OF THE SOUL OF A PRIEST.'

I. Chrysostom: As regards the insult to those who have done me honor, what I have ah'eady said might be sufficient to prove that in avoiding this office I had no desire to put them to shame ; but I will now endeavor to make it evident, to the best of my ability, that I was not pufifed up by arrogance of any kind. For if the choice of a generalship or a king- dom had been submitted to me, and I had then formed this resolution, any one might naturally have suspected me of this fault, or rather I should have been found guilty by all men, not of arrogance, but of senseless folly. But when the priesthood is offered to me, which exceeds a kingdom as much as the spirit differs from the flesh, will any one dare to ac cuse me of disdain ? And is it not preposte- rous to charge with folly those who reject small things, but .when any do this in matters of pre-eminent importance, to exempt such per- sons from accusations of mental derangement, and yet subject them to the charge of pride? It is just as if one were to accuse, not of pride, but of insanity, a man who looked with con-

I There are six chapters more, but the headings are wanting in the Greek copies. They have been added by one of the Latin translators, and are as follows : XII. That the priest ought to be very wise.

XIII. Besides the gieatest forbearance other things also are

needed in the soul of a priest.

XIV. Nothing blunts the purity and keenness of the mind so

mucii as unregulated anger. XV. Chry.sostom points out another form of strife full of perils. XVI. How great he ought to be, who has to confront such

storms. XVII. How much there is to dread in the management of virgins.

tempt on a herd of oxen and refused to be a herdsman, and yet were to say that a man who dechned the empire of the world, and the command of all the armies of the earth, was not mad, but inflated with pride. But this assuredly is not the case ; and they who say such things do not injure me more than they injure themselves. For merely to imagine it' possible for human nature to despise this dig- nity is an evidence against those who bring this charge of the estimate which they have formed of the office. For if they did not con- sider it to be an ordinary thing of no great ac- count, such a suspicion as this would never have entered their heads. For why is it that no one has ever dared to entertain such a sus- picion with reference to the dignity of the angels, and to say that arrogance is the reason why human nature would not aspire to the rank of the angelic nature? It is because we imagine great things concerning those powers, and this does not suffer us to believe that a man can conceive anything greater than that honor. Wherefore one might with more jus- tice indite those persons of arrogance who ac- cuse me of it. For they would never have suspected this of others if they had not previ- ously depreciated the matter as being of no account. But if they say that I have done this with a view to glory, they will be convicted of fighting openly against themselves and fall- ing into their own snare ; for I do not know

46

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[Book III.

what kind of arguments they could have sought in preference to these if they had wished to release me from the charge of vainglory.

2. For if this desire had ever entered my mind, I ought to have accepted the office rather than avoided it. Why? because it would have brought me much glory. For the fact that one of my age, who had so recently abandoned secular pursuits, should suddenly be deemed by all worthy of such admiration as to be ad- vanced to honor before those who have spent all their life in labors of this kind, and to ob- tain more votes than all of them, might have persuaded all men to anticipate great and marvellous things of me. But, as it is, the greater part of the Church does not know me even by name : so that even my refusal of the office will not be manifest to all, but only to a few, and I am not sure that all even of these know it for certain; but probably many of them either imagine that I was not elected at all, or that I was rejected after the election, being considered unsuitable, not that I avoided the office of my own accord.

3. Basil: But those who do know the truth will be surprised.

Chrysostom: And lo! these are they who, according to you, falsely accuse me of vainglory and pride. Whence then am I to hope for praise? From the many? They do not know the actual fact. From the few? Here again the mat- ter is perverted to my disadvantage. For the only reason why you have come here now is to learn what answer ought to be given to them. And what shall I now certainly say on account 'of these things ? For wait a little, and you will clearly perceive that even if all know the truth they ought not to condemn me for pride and love of glory. And in addition to this there is another consideration : that not only those who make this venture, if there be any such (which for my part I do not believe), but also those who suspect it of others, will be involved in no small danger.

4. For the priestly office is indeed discharged on earth, but it ranks amongst heavenly ordi- nances; and very naturally so: for neither man, nor angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power, but the Paraclete Himself, in- stituted this vocation, and persuaded men while still abiding in the flesh to represent the minis- try of angels. Wherefore the consecrated priest ought to be as pure as if he were standing in the heavens themselves in the midst of those powers. Fearful, indeed, and of most awful import, were the things which were used be- fore the dispensation of grace, as the bells, the pomegranates, the stones on the breastplate and on the ephod, the girdle, the mitre, the long robe, the plate of gold, the holy of hohes,

the deep silence within.' But if any one should examine the things which belong to the dis- pensation of grace, he will find that, small as they are, yet are they fearful and full of awe, and that what was spoken concerning the law is true in this case also, that " what has been made glorious hath no glory in this respect by reason of the glory which excelleth." ' For when thou seest the Lord sacrificed, and laid upon the altar,^ and the priest standing and praying over the victim, and all the worship- pers empurpled with that precious blood,-* canst thou then think that thou art still amongst men, and standing upon the earth? Art thou not, on the contrary, straightway translated to Heaven, and casting out every carnal thought from the soul, dost thou not with disembodied spirit and pure reason con- template the things which are in Heaven? Oh ! what a marvel ! what love of God to man! He who sitteth on high with the Father is at that hour held in the hands of all,' and gives Himself to those who are willing to em- brace and grasp Him. And this all do through

I Exod. xxviii. 4 sq. 2 2 Cor. iii. 10.

3 The Holy Eucharist is frequently called by St. chrysostom and other Greek Fathers the Sacrifice, sometimes the "unbloody Sacrifice," partly as beinfj an offering of praise and thanks.afivinsf, partly as being a commemoration or representation of the sacrifice of Christ. We must bear in mind that no controversy had then arisen about this Sacrament, and that writers could freely use ex- pressions which in later times would have been liable to objection or misconstruction.

The passage before us must be read in the light of other pas- sages in Chrysostom's works ; but one of these is sufficient to indicate the sense in which it is to be understood. In Homily xvii. c. 3, on the Epistle to the Hebrews, after contrasting the many and ineffectual sacrifices of the Jews with the one perfect and efficient sacrifice of Christ, he proceeds, " What then ? do we not make an offering every day ? We do, certainly, but by making a memorial of His death ; and this memorial is one, not many. How one, not many? Because the sacrifice was offered once for all, as that great sacrifice was in the Holy of Holies. This is a figure of that great sacrifice, as that was of this: for we do not offer one victim to-day and another to-morrow, but always the same: wherefore the sacrifice is one. Well, then, as He is offered in many places, are there many Christs ? No, by no means, but ev- erywhere one Christ, complete both in this world and in the other, one body. As then, though offered in many places. He is but one body, so is there but one sacrifice. Our High Prigst is He who offers the sacrifice which cleanses us. We offer that now which was offered then : which is indeed inconsumable. This takes place now, for a memorial of what took place then. 'Do this,' said He, 'for my memorial.' We do not then offer a different sacrifice, as the high priest formerly did, but always the same ; or rather we celebrate a memorial of a sacrifice."

4 This may be only a rhetorical expression, but perhaps there is an allusion to a custom which prevailed in soitfe churches, that the worshippers, after receiving the cup, applied the finger to the moistened lip, and then touched their breast, eyes and ears.

5 The caution mentioned just now in note 3 must be repeated here. A comparison of passages in the writings of Chrysostom and his contemporaries proves clearly enough that they did not hold that the elements of bread and wine were transmuted into the body and blood of Christ in such a sense as to cease to be bread and wine. The authenticity of the letter of Chrysostom to Caesarius is doubtful, but whoever the writer may have been, he is clearly representing the current orthodox belief of the Church in his day. He maintains, in opposition to the ApoUinarian, or perhaps the Eutychian heresy, that there are two complete natures in the one person of God the Son Incarnate, and he illustrates it by the following reference to the holy elements in the Eucharist: "Just as the bread before consecration is called bread, but when the Divine Cirace sanctifies it through the agency of the priest it is released from the appellation of bread, and is deemed worthy of the appellation of the ' Lord's Body,' althoi<i>h the nature of bread remains in it, and we speak not of two bodies, but one body of the Son : so here the Divine nature, being seated in the hu- man body, the two together make up but one Son — one Person."

Took III.]

ON THE PRIESTHOOD.

47

the eyes of faith ! ' Do these things seem to you fit to be despised, or such as to make it possible for any one to be upUfted against them?

Would you also learn from another miracle the exceeding sanctity of this office? Picture Elijah and the vast multitude standing around him, and the sacrifice laid upon the altar of stones, and all the rest of the people hushed into a deep silence while the prophet alone offers up prayer: then the sudden rush of fire from Heaven upon the sacrifice: — these are marvellous things, charged with terror. Nov,^ \ then pass from this scene to the rites which are celebrated in the present day; they are not only marvellous to behold, but transcend- ent in terror. There stands the priest, not, bringing down fire from Heaven, but the Holy Spirit: and he makes prolonged supplication,- not that some flame sent down from on high may consume the offerings, but that grace de- scending on the sacrifice may thereby en- lighten the souls of all, and render them more refulgent than silver purified by fire. Who can despise this most awful mystery, unless he is stark mad and senseless? Or do you not know that no human soul could have en- ■ dured that fire in the sacrifice, but all would have been utterly consumed, had not the as- sistance of God's grace been great.

5. For if any one will consider how great a thing it is for one, being a man, and compassed with flesh and blood, to be enabled to draw nigh to that blessed and pure nature, he will then clearly see what great honor the grace of the Spirit has vouchsafed to priests ; since by their agency these rites are celebrated, and others nowise inferior to these both in respect of our dignity and our salvation. For they \ who inhabit the earth and make their abode there are entrusted with the administration of things which are in Heaven, and have received an authority which God has not given to angels or archangels. For it has not been said to them, " Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heav- en." 5 They who rule on earth have indeed authority to bind, but only the body: whereas this binding lays hold of the soul and pene-

1 Some MSS. omit the word Tri'o-Tew? " of faith," having in its place TOTC "at that time."

2 In the Liturgy which bears the name of St. Chrysostom, the following invocation of the Holy Spirit occurs : " Grant that we may find grace in thy sight, that our sacrifice may become accept- able to Thee, and that the Good Spirit of thy grace may rest upon us, and upon these gifts spread before 'I'hee, and upon all Thy people," and presently the deacon bids the people, " Let us pray on behalf of the precious gifts (/. <■., the bread and wine) which have been provided, that the merciful God who has received ihcm upon His holy spiritual altar beyond the heavens may in return send down upon us the divine grace and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost."

3 Matt, xviii. 18.

trates the heavens ; and what priests do here belov/ God ratifies above, and the Master con- firms the sentence of his servants. For indeed what is it but all manner of heavenly authority which He has given them when He says, " Whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whose sins ye retain they are retained? "■* What authority could be greater than this? "The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son? "5 gut I see it all put into the hands of these men by the Son. For they have been conducted to this dignity as if they were already translated to Heaven, and had tran- scended human nature, and were released from the passions to which we are liable. Moreover, if a king should bestow this honor upon any of his subjects, authorizing him to cast into prison whom he pleased and to re- lease them again, he becomes an object of envy and respect to all men ; but he who has received from God an authority as much greater as heaven is more precious than earth, and souls more precious than bodies, seems to some to have received so small an honor that they are actually able to imagine that one of those who have been entrusted with these things will despise the gift. Away with such madness! For transparent madness it is to despise so great a dignity, without which it is not possible to obtain either our own salvation, or the good things which have been promised to us. For if no one can enter into the king- dom of Heaven except he be regenerate through v.'ater and the Spirit, and he who does not eat the flesh of the Lord and drink His blood is excluded from eternal life, and if all these things are accomplished only by means of those holy hands, I mean the hands of the priest, how will any one, without these, be able to escape the fire of hell, or to win those crowns which are reserved for the victorious? 6. These verily are they who are entrusted with the pangs of spiritual travail and the birth which comes through baptism : by their means we put on Christ, and are buried with the Son of God, and become members of that blessed Head. Wherefore they might not only be more justly feared by us than rulers and kings, but also be more honored than parents; since these begat us of blood and the will of the flesh, but the others are the authors of our birth from God, even that blessed regeneration which is the true freedom and the sonship according to grace. The Jewish priests had authority to release the body from leprosy, or, rather, not to release it but only to examine those who were already released, and you know how much the office of priest

4 John XX. 23.

S John V. 22.

48

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[Book III.

was contended for at that time. But our priests have received authority to deal, not with bodily leprosy, but spiritual uncleanness — not to pronounce it removed after examina- tion, but actually and absolutely to take it away. Wherefore they who despise these priests would be far more accursed than Dathan and his company, and deserve more severe punishment. For the latter, although they laid claim to the dignity which did not belong to them, nevertheless had an excellent opinion concerning it, and this they evinced by the great eagerness with which they pursued it; but these men, when the office has been better regulated, and has received so great a development, have displayed an audacity which exceeds that of the others, although manifested in a contrary way. For there is not an equal amount of contempt involved in aiming at an honor which does not pertain to one, and in despising such great advantages, but the latter | exceeds the former as much as scorn differs from admiration. What soul then is so sordid as to despise such great advantages? None whatever, I should say, unless it were one sub- ject to some demoniacal impulse. For I return once more to the point from which I started: not in the way of chastising only, but also in the way of benefiting, God has bestowed a power on priests greater than that of our natural parents. The two indeed differ as much as the present and the future life. For our natural parents generate us unto this life only, but the others unto that which is to come. And the former would not be able to avert death from their offspring, or to repel the as- saults of disease ; but these others have often saved a sick soul, or one which was on the point of perishing, procuring for some a milder chas- tisement, and preventing others from falling altogether, not only by instruction and ad- monition, but also by the assistance wrought through prayers. For not only at the time of regeneration, but afterwards also, they have authority to forgive sins. " Is any sick among you?" it is said, "let him call for the elders of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up : and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him."' Again: our natural parents, should their children come into conflict with any men of high rank and great power in the world, are unable to profit them : but priests have recon- ciled, not rulers and kings, but God Himself when His wrath has often been provoked

against them.

~ , —

' James v. 14, 15.

Well! after this will any one venture to condemn me for arrogance? For my part, after what has been said, I imagine such re- ligous fear will possess the souls of the hearers that they will no longer condemn those who avoid the office for arrogance and temerity, but rather those who voluntarily come forward and are eager to obtain this dignity for them- selves. For if they who have been entrusted with the command of cities, should they chance to be wanting in discretion and vigilance, have sometimes destroyed the cities and ruined themselves in addition, how much power think you both in himself and from above must he need, to avoid sinning, whose business it is to beautify the Bride of Christ?

7. No man loved Christ more than Paul: no man exhibited greater zeal, no man was counted worthy of m.ore grace: nevertheless, after all these great advantages, he still has fears and tremblings concerning this govern- ment and those who were governed by him. " I fear," he says, " lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the sim- plicity which is in Christ." - And again, " I was with you in fear and in much trembling ; " ^ and this was a man who had been caught up to the third Heaven, and made partaker of the unspeakable mysteries of God,'* and had endured as many deaths as he had lived days after he became a believer — a man, moreover^ who would not use the authority given him from Christ lest any of his converts should be offended.^ If, then, he who went beyond the ordinances of God, and nowhere sought his own advantage, but that of those whom he gov- erned, was always so full of fear when he con- sidered the greatness of his government, what shall our condition be who in many ways seek our own, who not only fail to go beyond the commandments of Christ, but for the most part transgress them? " W^ho is weak," he says, "and I am not weak? who is offended and I burn not?"' Such an one ought the priest to be, or, rather, not such only: for these are small things, and as nothing com- pared with what I am about to say. And what is this? "I could wish," he says, "that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." ' If any one can utter such a speech, if any one has the soul which attains to such a prayer, he might justly be blamed if he took to flight: but if any one should lack such excellence as much as I do, he would deserve to be hated, not if he avoided the office, but if he accepted

2 2 Cor. xi. 3. 3 I Cor. ii. 3. * 2 Cor. xii. 4.

5 2 Cor. xi. 9 ; i Thess. ii. 9. * 2 Cor. xi. 29.

7 Rom. IX. 3.

Book III.]

ON THE PRIESTHOOD.

49

it. For if an election to a military dignity was the business in hand, and they who had the right of conferring the honor were to drag forward a brazier, or a shoemaker, or some such artisan, and entrust the army to his hands, I should not praise the wretched man if he did not take to flight, and do all in his power to avoid plunging into such manifest trouble. If, indeed, it be sufficient to bear the name of pastor, and to take the work in hand hap-hazard, and there be no danger in this, then let whoso pleases accuse me of vainglory ; but if it behoves one who undertakes this care to have much understanding, and, before un- derstanding, great grace from God, and up- rightness of conduct, and purity of hfe and superhuman virtue, do not deprive me of for- giveness if I am unwilling to perish in vain without a cause.

Moreover, if any one in charge of a full- sized merchant ship, full of rowers, and laden with a costly freight, were to station me at the helm and bid me cross the ^-Egean or the Tyr- rhene sea, I should recoil from the proposal at once: and if any one asked me why? I should say, " Lest I should sink the ship." Well, where the loss concerns material wealth, and the danger extends only to bodily death, no one will blame those who exercise great pru- dence ; but where the shipwrecked are destined to fall, not into the ocean, but into the abyss of fire, and the death which awaits them is not that which severs the soul from the body, but one which together with this dismisses it to eternal punishment, shall I incur your wrath and hate because I did not plunge headlong into so great an evil?

8. Do not thus, I pray and beseech you. I know my own soul, how feeble and puny it is : I know the magnitude of this ministry, and the great difficulty of the work; for more stormy billows vex the soul of the priest than the gales which disturb the sea.

9. And first of all is that most terrible rock of vainglory, more dangerous than that of the Sirens, of which the fable-mongers tell such marvellous tales : for many were able to sail past that and escape unscathed ; but this is to me so dangerous that even now, when no ne- cessity of any kind impels me into that abyss, I am unable to keep clear of the snare : but if any one were to commit this charge to me, it would be all the same as if he tied my hands behind my back, and delivered me to the wild beasts dwelling on that rock to rend me in pieces day by day. Do you ask what those wild beasts are? They are wrath, despondency, envy, strife, slanders, accusations, falsehood, hypocrisy, intrigues, anger against those who have done no harm, pleasure at the indecorous

acts of fellow ministers, sorrow at their pros- perity, love of praise, desire of honor (which indeed most of all drives the human soul headlong to perdition), doctrines devised to please, servile flatteries, ignoble fawning, con- tempt of the poor, paying court to the rich, senseless and mischievous honors, favors at- tended with danger both to those who offer and those who accept them, sordid fear suited only to the basest of slaves, the aboUtion of plain speaking, a great affectation of humility, but banishment of truth, the suppression of convictions and reproofs, or rather the excessive use of them against the poor, while against those who are invested with power no one dare open his Hps.

For all these wild beasts, and more than these, are bred upon that rock of which I have spoken, and those whom they have once cap- tured are inevitably dragged down into such a depth of servitude that even to please women they often do many things which it is well not to mention. The divine law indeed has ex- cluded women from the ministry, but they en- deavor to thrust themselves into it ; and since they can effect nothing of themselves, they do all through the agency of others; and they have become invested with so much power that they can appoint or eject priests at their will : ' things in fact are turned upside down, and the proverbial saying may be seen realized — "The ruled lead the rulers:" and would that it were men who do this instead of women, who have not received a commission to teach. ' Why do I say teach? for the blessed Paul did \ not suffer them even to speak in the Church.'' But I have heard some one say that they have obtained such a large privilege of free speech, as even to rebuke the prelates of the Churches, and censure them more severely than masters do their own domestics.

10. And let not anyone suppose that I sub- ject all to the aforesaid charges: for there are some, yea many, who are superior to these en- tanglements, and exceed in number those who have been caught by them. Nor would I indeed make the priesthood responsible for these evils: far be such madness from me. For men of understanding do not say that the sword is to blame for murder, nor wine for drunkenness, nor strength for outrage, nor cour- age for foolhardiness, but they lay the blame on those who make an improper use of the gifts which have been bestowed upon them by God, and punish them accordingly. Certainly, at least, the priesthood may justly accuse us

1 Chrysostom himself experienced the truth of this, for it was through the influence of Kuclo.\ia, the wife of the Kmperor Arca- dius. that he was deposed from the See of Constantinople and banished.

- I Cor. xiv. 34 ; i Tim. ii. 12,

50

THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM.

[Book III.

if we do not rightly handle it. For it is not itself a cause of the evils already mentioned, but we, who as far as lies in our power have defiled it with so many pollutions, by entrust- ing it to commonplace men who readily accept what is offered them, without having first ac- quired a knowledge of their own souls, or con- sidered the gravity of the ofiice, and when they have entered on the work, being blinded by inexperience, overwhelm with innumerable evils the people who have been committed to their care. This is the very thing which was very nearly happening in my case, had not God speedily delivered me from those dangers, mercifully sparing his Church and my own soul. For, tell me, whence do you think such great troubles are generated in the Churches.? I, for my part, believe the only source of them to be the inconsiderate and random way in which prelates are chosen and appointed. For the head ought to be the strongest part, that it may be able to regulate and control the evil exhalations which arise from the rest of the body below ; but when it happens to be weak in itself, and unable to repel those pestiferous attacks, it becomes feebler itself than it really is, and ruins the rest of the body as well. And to prevent this now coming to pass, God kept me in the position of the feet, which was the rank originally assigned to me. For there are very many other qualities, Basil, besides those already mentioned, which the priest ought to have, but which I do not pos- sess; and, above all, this one: — his soul ought to be thoroughly purged from any lust after the office : for if he happens to have a natural inchnation for this dignity, as soon as he at- tains it a stronger flame is kindled, and the man being taken completely captive will en- dure innumerable evils in order to keep a secure hold upon it, even to the extent of using flatter)^, or submitting to something base and ignoble, or expending large sums of money. For I will not now speak of the murders with which some have filled the Churches,' or the desolation which they have brought upon cities in contending for the dignity, lest some per- sons should think what I say incredible. But I am of opinion one ought to exercise so much caution in the matter, as to shun the burden of the office,'^ and when one has entered upon it, not to wait for the judgment of others should any fault be committed which warrants deposition, but to anticipate it by ejecting

I Possibly the building, not'the body of Christians is here signi- fied ; for in the contest between Damasus and Ursicinus for the See of Rome, a.d. 367, which Chrysostom probably had in his mind, 137 persons are said to have been slain in one of the Churches in a single day.

= According to another reading the passage must be rendered, " shun the burden at the outset."

oneself from the dignity; for thus one might probably win mercy for himself from God: but to cling to it in defiance of propriety is to deprive oneself of all forgiveness, or rather to kindle the wrath of God, by adding a second error more offensive than the first.

II. But no one will always endure the strain ; for fearful, truly fearful is the eager desire after this honor. And in saying this I am not in opposition to the blessed Paul, but in com- plete harmony with his words. For what says he? " If any man desireth the ofiice of a bish- op, he desireth a good work." ^ Now I have not said that it is a terrible thing to desire the work, but only the authority and power. And this desire I think one ought to expel from the soul with all possible earnestness, not permitting it at the outset to be possessed by such a feeling, so that one may be able to do everything with freedom. For he who does not desire to be exhibited in possession of this authority, does not fear to be deposed from it, and not fearing this will be able to do everything with the freedom which becomes Christian men: whereas they who fear and tremble lest they should be deposed undergo a bitter servitude, filled with all kinds of evils, and are often compelled to offend against both God and man. Now the soul ought not to be affected in this way; but as in warfare we see those soldiers who are noble-spirited fight will- ingly and fall bravely, so they who have at- tained to this stewardship should be contented to be consecrated to the dignity or removed from it, as becomes Christian men, knowing that deposition of this kind brings its reward no less than the discharge of the office. For when any one suffers anything of this kind, in order to avoid submitting to something which is unbecoming or unworthy of this dignity, he procures punishment for those who wrongfully depose him, and a greater reward for himself. " Blessed," says our Lord, "are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake ; rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in Heaven." * And this, indeed, is the case when any one is expelled by those of his own rank either on account of envy, with a view to the favor of others, or through hatred, or from any other wrong mo- tive : but when it is the lot of any one to ex- perience this treatment at the hand of oppo- nents, I do not think a word is needed to prove what great gain they confer upon him by their wickedness.

It behoves us, then, to be on the watch on all sides, and to make a careful search lest any

3 I Tim. iii. i.

4 Matt. V.

Book III.]

ON THE PRIESTHOOD.

51

spark of this desire should be secretly smoul- dering somewhere. For it is much to be wished that those who are originally free from this passion, should also be able to avoid it when they have hghted upon this ofifice. But if any one, before he obtains the honor, cher- ishes in himself this terrible and savage mon- ster, it is impossible to say into what a furnace he will fling himself after he has attained it. Now I possessed this desire in a high degree (and do not suppose that I would ever tell you what was untrue in self-disparagement): and this, combined with other reasons, alarmed me not a little, and induced me to take flight. For just as lovers of the human person, as long as they are permitted to be near the objects of their affection, suffer more severe torment