Leaves from St. John Chrysostom

by Saint John Chrysostom

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Let us not lose heart in temptation. For no man that feasts, and slumbers, and flags, is united to Christ, nor any of those who lead this soft and dissolute life; but the man in tribulation and temptation, he who walks on the narrow path, is near to Christ. For this was His path, and so He said: The Son of man hath not whereon to lay His Head. Therefore do not grieve that you are tried, seeing Whom you are like in this, how you are purified by temptations, and what great things you gain. Nothing is grievous except falling out with God. Short of this neither tribulation, nor snares, nor anything else, has power to afflict the wisely-tempered soul; but just as a small spark falling into a deep abyss goes out at once, so the force of despondency sinking into a good conscience is destroyed and quickly disappears. Thus it was that Paul always rejoiced, since he drew his courage from the things of God, and did not even perceive human evils: he was grieved as a man, but did not fall. Thus, too, that patriarch of old was in gladness whilst suffering many painful things. For consider: he was exiled from his country, he went through long and grievous journeys, and coming to a foreign land, he had not a place for the sole of his foot. After that he was a prey to hunger, and it made him a wanderer, and his hunger was followed by the taking of his wife, by the fear of death, by childlessness, and war, and dangers, and plottings, and at last by the crowning and most bitter grief of all, the slaughtering of his only son, the heir.

Do not think that, because he had so much endurance, he went through these things without suffering. For if he was just a thousand times over, as indeed he was, he was still a man, and he had the feelings of a man. Yet no one of these things overthrew him, but he stood like a valiant combatant with the laurel wreath, acclaimed with applause in each race. Thus, too, blessed Paul, exposed day by day to the snowstorms of temptation, as if feasting in the midst of paradise, rejoiced and exulted. Now, just as a man who is glad with this gladness does not fall a prey to despondency, so one who is not glad in this way is easily overcome by everything, and he suffers as a man would, who having insufficient armour should be wounded by a chance shot. Not so the man who is safely armed from head to foot: he wards off every assailing dart. For, indeed, joy, according to God, is stronger than any armour, and nothing can make such a man downcast or sad, but he bears all things with fortitude. What is more destructive than fire, or more painful than constant tortures? Even if a man lose a hundred possessions and children, and anything else, this is the sharpest suffering: Skin for skin, and all that a man hath he will give for his life. Nothing could be harder to bear than pain. Still, that which men deem unbearable becomes tolerable and desirable through the gladness coming from God. If you lead the martyr whilst still alive away from the cross or the cauldron you will find this same joy within his breast, which is not even to be described.

‘And why should I suffer,’ you ask, ‘since this is no age for martyrdom?’ What are you saying, ‘This is no age for martyrdom’? It has never ceased, but is always before our eyes if we will be on the look-out. It is not only hanging on the wood which makes a martyr, for if this were the case, Job would be deprived of this particular crown. He neither appeared at a judgment-seat, nor heard the voice of a judge, nor saw an executioner, nor raised in the air and disjointed on the cross, were his ribs worn away. Yet he bore stripes harder than many martyrs did, and the voices of ceaseless messengers urged and tormented him more sharply than any stripes, and those worms devoured his flesh more rapidly than countless executioners. Was he then not fully equal to a martyr? He was a thousand times a martyr. He wrestled in every single way, and was crowned; he was tried by money losses, and by children, and bodily sickness, and wife, and friends, and enemies, and servants, for they also insulted him to his face; by hunger, and curses, and pains, and stench. On this account I should say that he would equal not one, or two, or three, but many martyrs. Besides all this, the time added greatly to his crowns: for instance, it was before the law and the dispensation of grace, and he suffered during many months and with intensity, and all his misfortunes were laid upon him at once, although each was in itself overwhelming, and that which seemed the most grievous of all, the loss of his wealth. Many at least have borne stripes but have not borne the loss of property, and have chosen to be scourged for it, and would rather have endured a thousand other evils than any diminution of it, as the loss of money appeared to them the greater stripe. So this constitutes another kind of martyrdom for the man who bears its loss with endurance. And how shall we be sure of the endurance, you ask? By understanding that you gain more than you have lost by a single word, that of thanksgiving. If, when we hear of our loss, we are not agitated, but say, ‘Praised be God,’ we have found something of much greater worth. Indeed, you could not gain rewards so high by distributing your riches to the poor, nor by going about to seek out the needy, and by lavishing your good things upon them, as you gain by this one word. Hence, I admire Job not so much when he opens his house to the poor, as I proclaim and wonder at him for bearing the loss of his wealth with thanksgiving. The same is evident in the case of his children’s death. You will receive a reward not less than his was who led out his son to sacrifice him, if seeing yours dead, you give thanks to the God of mercy. How is such a man less than Abraham? He did not see his son lying dead, but only expected it; so that if he carries off the palm for his readiness to sacrifice, and for putting out his hand to seize the knife, he is surpassed by the fact of your son being actually a corpse before your eyes. And, besides, the inward consciousness of his good deed bore him up with consolation, that heroic action being produced by his own fortitude, and the listening to the voice from above increased his readiness; in this case there is nothing of this kind. Thus it requires a most steadfast soul in the man who looks upon his only son, brought up in wealth and giving much promise, lying stretched across the threshold, in order to bear it meekly. He who can do this has overcome the tempest of natural emotion, and is able to speak tearlessly those words of Job: The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away; he will take his place even with Abraham, and be proclaimed with Job for this one word alone. And if you put a stop to the wailing of women and break up the bands of weepers, and lead them to the voice of praise, numberless rewards will follow both from above and below; men will be in admiration, angels will applaud, God will be your crown.

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Sufferings of the Just.
(Homilies de Statuis, xxi., preached at Antioch, t. ii., p. 13, Benedictine Edition.)

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Blessed are ye when men reproach you, and pursue you, and say every evil thing against you, lying. Rejoice and be glad, because your reward is very great in heaven; for this is what their fathers did to the prophets. And again, Paul, wishing to encourage the Macedonians, said: You, brethren, are become the imitators of the churches of God in Judea, because you have suffered from your own countrymen the same things as they suffered from the Jews. And again, exhorting the Hebrews in the same way, he enumerates all the just; those who were in furnaces, in water, in deserts, in mountains, in caves, in hunger, those living in anguish; as a community of suffering is in itself some consolation to its victims. And listen again to Paul urging the same thing when speaking of the resurrection: If as a man I fought with the wild beasts at Ephesus, what do I gain by it if the dead are not to rise again? And again: If we hope in Christ in this life only, we are more miserable than all men. We suffer a thousand evils according to this world, he says; if then we may hope for no other life, what can be more wretched than we? Whence it is clear that our lives do not end here, and this is evident from temptations, for God would never allow those who have suffered so much and so greatly, and have passed their whole lives in temptations and numberless dangers, not to be rewarded with gifts much greater. And if this be the case, it is evident that He has prepared another life which is happier and more glorious, in which He means to crown and to proclaim the champions of piety in the face of the whole world. Therefore, when you see a just man spending this present life in great trouble, when you see him ill-treated, in sickness, poverty, and enduring all sorts of misfortunes, say to yourself, that if there were no resurrection and no judgment, God would not allow him to leave this world after suffering so many evils and enjoying no good. Hence it is evident that He holds in reserve for them another life far pleasanter and higher than this. If this were not the case He would not allow so many sinners to feast in this life, nor so many just to be in a sea of troubles. But since there is another life, in which He designs to give to every man according to his deserts, whether they be those of wickedness or those of goodness, He suffers the one to be persecuted and the other to enjoy himself. I will endeavour to prove another reason (why suffering is tolerated) from the Scriptures. And what is it? That we who are called to the same virtue may not say that they had a different nature to ours and were not men. So in speaking of the great Elias it is said that Elias was a man of like feelings to ourselves. Do you see that he is shown to be a man like to us from similarity of feelings? And again: For I am a man of like nature to yourselves. This is a pledge of similarity. Clearly He is teaching you here the lesson that He makes us happy in the right way. When you hear Paul saying, Up to the present time we are in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and we are chastised, and homeless, and weary; and again: that the Lord chastises the one He loves, and scourges every son He receives, it is evident that we should exalt not those who are enjoying rest, but those who are tried and afflicted for God, and that we should emulate those who live holily, and care for piety. So spoke the prophet: Their right hand is the right hand of iniquity. Their daughters decked out, adorned round about after the similitude of a temple. Their store-houses full, flowing out of this into that. Their sheep fruitful in young, abounding in their goings forth; their oxen fat. There is no breach of wall, nor passage, nor crying out in their streets. They have called the people happy that hath these things. What do you say, O prophet? Happy, he says, is that people whose God is the Lord. I call blessed, not the man who abounds in money, but him who lives for piety, even if he suffer a thousand evils. And if we ought to speak of another[9] reason, I should say that tribulation increases the worth of the tried. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience probation, probation hope, and hope is not shamed: see you how the probation produced by tribulation makes us hopeful concerning the future, and how remaining in temptations puts us in good hope of what is to come? Therefore, I said, not unadvisedly, that tribulations themselves strengthen the resurrection in our hearts, and make those who are tried better. For as, he says, gold is tried in the fire, so is an acceptable man in the fire of humiliation. There is yet another[10] reason. What is this? One which I have often spoken of already: that, if we have any stains, we may put them off in this world. The Patriarch clearly said to the rich man that Lazarus had received his bad things, and was therefore consoled. And, added to this, we may find another reason. What is it? The strengthening of our crowns and rewards, for the more searching the tribulation, the greater will be the rewards, or, rather, they will far surpass the comparison. The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared to the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us. Having, then, all these reasons to give for the affliction of the saints, let us not be cast down in temptations, nor distressed, nor harassed, but let us instruct our own souls, and teach these things to others. Even if you see a man leading a good life, practising asceticism, pleasing God, and he be suffering a thousand evils, be not scandalised, O beloved. Again, if you see some one overthrown who is engaged in spiritual works and about to complete something useful, be not troubled. For I have often heard many men remark upon it in this way: ‘So and so,’ they say, ‘went to a shrine, taking all his money to the poor, and he was shipwrecked, and lost everything; another, again, did the same and fell among thieves, and barely escaping with his life, he got away in nakedness’. What should we say? That none of these things need trouble us. For if he did perish by shipwreck, the fruit of justice is perfect above: he had done his part, he had put together his possessions, given them up, and taking them, had set out. He had begun his journey, but the shipwreck was not of his own making. Why, then, did God allow it? That it might prove him. Still the poor were deprived of their money, you say: you do not care for the poor as God their maker does. If they were indeed deprived of this money, He is able to offer them an opportunity of a much greater treasure.

Therefore, do not let us call Him to account for what has happened, but glorify Him in all things. For not by chance, or in vain, does He allow such things often to come about, nor does He despise those who are to enjoy solace from money, but instead of this He puts another means of support in their way, and, besides the trial, gives the shipwrecked man a greater reward. Indeed, giving thanks to God in trials of this kind is much higher than alms, for we do not give by alms alone, but if we bear bravely the losses inflicted by others, we shall gain immense fruit from it. In order to prove this to you I will make it clear to you from what happened to Job that patience is better than alms-giving. When Job was rich, he opened his house to the poor and gave away all that he possessed, but he was not so magnificent at the time he was opening his house to the needy, as when he heard unmoved that it had fallen to the ground: he was not so renowned when he covered the naked with the fleece of his sheep as when, hearing that fire had broken out and consumed all his cattle, he gave thanks. Then he was kind, now he became mortified: then he had compassion on the poor, now he gave thanks to his Lord. Nor did he say to himself: ‘What is the meaning of this? The sheep, from which thousands of poor were fed, are destroyed: for if I was unworthy to enjoy this abundance, I should have been spared, at least, for the sake of those who shared it.’ He neither said nor thought anything of the sort, but he knew that God was ordering it all for the best. And to show you that he beat the devil more effectually by giving thanks when despoiled than by showing mercy when rich, consider that, at the time of his wealth, the devil had some reason, even if falsely, for saying, Does Job worship Thee for nothing? Now when God took away everything, and stripped him completely, and Job kept his good-will towards God, then was that shameless mouth stopped, and he had nothing more to say: that just man was more glorious than before. To bear with fortitude and thanksgiving the being despoiled is a much greater thing than for a rich man to give alms, as has been shown in the case of this just man. Then his kindness to his fellow-man was overflowing, now he proved his exceeding love for God. I insist on this, not without reason, but because many men by frequent alms have supported widows, and then been deprived of their substance. Others have lost everything through a fire breaking out; others have encountered shipwreck; others through slanderings and abuse have, after generous alms-giving, fallen into the extreme of poverty, and into weakness and disease, and have been helped by no one in any way. In order, therefore, that we should not say, as many often do, ‘No man knows anything,’ what I have said will suffice to put an end to this difficulty. ‘So and so, who gave so much in alms,’ you say, ‘lost everything.’ And what if he did? For, if he give thanks for this great loss of his, he will propitiate God’s good-will the more, and reap not double riches, as Job did, but the hundred-fold in eternal life. If he does suffer here, the very fact of his bearing it all bravely will increase his reward. God, in calling him to greater trials and struggles, allowed him to fall from abundance into poverty. Has fire perchance often broken out in your house and destroyed your substance? Remember what happened to Job, give thanks to the Lord, Who was able to stop it and did not stop it, and you will receive a reward as great as if you had poured forth all those things into the hands of the poor. Or, are you living in poverty and hunger, and a thousand dangers? Call to mind Lazarus, who was hard pressed by sickness, and poverty, and solitude, and numberless things of the kind, and all this after so much goodness; call to mind the Apostles, who passed their lives in hunger and thirst and nakedness; and the prophets, and patriarchs, and just, and you will find them one and all, not amongst the rich, not amongst those who feast, but amongst those suffering hunger and affliction and anguish.

Pondering on these things, give thanks to God for the share He has allotted to you, not in hatred, but in tender love, since He would not have allowed those men to suffer evils so great, if He had not loved them dearly, because He made them more illustrious through these evils. No good is so great as thanksgiving, as nothing is worse than blasphemy. Let us not be astonished that, when we are paying much attention to spiritual things, we suffer a great deal. It is as with thieves, who do not break into places where mud and chaff and reeds are, but where gold and silver are, and are ever on the watch. Thus the devil gives his special attention to those who are taken up with spiritual things. Snares are numerous where goodness exists, and envy is to be found where there is alms-giving. But we have one great weapon by which we may resist all these machinations, the giving thanks to God in all things. Tell me, did not Abel, who reserved the first-fruits for God, fall by his brother’s hand? Yet God allowed it, not hating the man who had honoured him, but loving him much, and adding to the crown of Abel’s beautiful sacrifice the further crown of martyrdom. Moses wished to succour some one who had been wronged, and he confronted the greatest dangers on this account, and fled from his country, and God allowed it, to teach you what the patience of the saints is. If, knowing beforehand that we should suffer no evil, we were thus to give ourselves up to spiritual things, we should not appear to be doing a great thing, possessing this pledge of security. Now, it so happens that those who do this are chiefly admirable because, foreseeing dangers, and penalties, and deaths, and a thousand evils, they have still neither desisted from their good deeds nor grown faint-hearted through fear of the terrors to come. As the three children said, There is a God in heaven Who can deliver us, and even if He do not, know, O king, that we do not worship thy gods, and do not adore the golden statue which thou hast set up, so when you are about to do something for God, expect many dangers, many penalties, many deaths, and wonder not nor fear at them. Son, he says, when thou comest to serve God, prepare thy soul for temptation. For no one who has chosen a hand-to-hand fight may expect to bear off the crown without wounds. And you who are to wrestle with the devil in every possible way, live not a life of ease and luxury. Your rewards and promises are not here, but God promises you all glory in the world to come. When, therefore, either you yourself do a good action and reap contrary effects, or you see another enduring them, rejoice and be glad, for the deed becomes a source of greater reward to you; only be not cast down, do not lose your fervour, grow not faint-hearted, but rather go on your way with greater readiness. Since the Apostles, also, were scourged and stoned and perpetually in prison for what they preached, not only after their liberation from dangers, but in the very midst of them, they announced the tidings with all the more willingness. We may see Paul catechising and instructing even in prison, even in his chains, and again before the tribunal, and in the shipwreck, and the storm, and in a thousand dangers. Do you also emulate these saints, and, as long as you can, hold to good works. Even if you see the devil assailing you on a thousand sides, never turn away. In distributing your money, you may perhaps have suffered shipwreck, yet Paul, who was more precious than any money, in preaching the word, went to Rome, suffered shipwreck, and endured numberless evils. And this he clearly says in the words: We have often wished to come to you, but Satan has prevented us. And God allowed it by an abundant manifestation of His power, showing that, in spite of the devil’s making and unmaking in a thousand ways, the Gospel was by no means lessened or impeded thereby. So Paul gave thanks to God in everything, knowing that God was proving him by these things; and he showed his burning zeal everywhere by allowing no obstacle to stand in his way. Now, the more we meet with failure, the greater will be our hold of spiritual works; and do not let us say, ‘Why did God allow there to be impediments?’ He allowed them that He may prove your zeal the more to the multitude, and your true love. For lovers are remarkable for never departing from the good pleasure of the beloved one. He who is remiss and luxurious is prostrated by the first touch of tribulation; but the fervent and watchful man, even if he be impeded in a thousand ways, sets himself the more to work at God’s business, doing his part perfectly, and giving thanks in every thing. This let us also do. Thanksgiving is an immense treasure, great riches, an inexhaustible good, a strong weapon. Blasphemy has a present penalty, and causes our destruction over and above what we have suffered. Have you lost money? If you have given thanks, you have gained your soul and won greater riches for yourself, and propitiated God the more; but, if you have blasphemed, you have destroyed your own salvation without gaining any of those things, and have slain your own soul.