A consideration of the circumstances of his affairs. And so he said: *The fear which I feared has come upon me, and the danger which I dreaded has met me* (Job 3.25). For he always kept [his attention] fixed upon that fear in his thoughts, covering himself with it, hoping and awaiting; therefore, when it had arrived, it did not disturb him. *I did not have peace, nor did I have rest, but wrath came upon me* (Job 3.26). He did not say, "I do not have peace, nor do I have rest," in the present tense, but, "I did not have rest," in the past tense. For even if the prosperity of his affairs encouraged arrogance, the expectation of sad things did not allow me to rest. Although the abundance of his possessions strongly urged him to delight, the harshness of the things that were expected banished security; and although the present happiness compelled him to enjoy his circumstances, the concern for the future nevertheless interrupted the pleasure. Therefore, because he had foreseen these future events while meditating in his own mind upon his prosperous affairs, he bore these struggles bravely and spiritedly after they happened, being already long since exercised for them; and because he had already apprehended them in that expectation, he was not disturbed when he saw them at hand. B But that he did not become strongly attached to them even when the joyous things were present, hear what he says: *If I have rejoiced when many riches flowed to me, if I have set gold as my strength, if I have placed my trust in precious stones, if I have put my hand to countless things* (Job 31.24–25). What do you say, man? You did not rejoice when riches flowed to you? By no means, he says. Why so? Because I saw their unstable and fleeting nature; I saw that the possession was not durable. For I see, he says, the sun rising and failing, the moon waning; for they are not [independently] in control of themselves (Ib. v.26). What he says is of this kind. If the stars which are in the heavens and shine perpetually receive some mutation—namely, the sun failing and the moon waning—is it not of extreme madness to consider earthly things as stable and fixed? And so he was neither greatly delighted by the present, nor vehemently saddened by their departure, because he knew well the nature of those things. Hearing these things, beloved, let us not be cast down by poverty, nor puffed up by riches; but keeping our soul immutable amid the permutation of affairs, let us reap the fruit of philosophy, that we may both enjoy pleasure here and attain future blessings; which may it be granted to us all to obtain, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
MONITUM
We possess these minor works in Latin only; for the Greek texts are either entirely lost or lie hidden somewhere. That they are genuine, however, is suggested both by the sequence of the matters and affairs discussed, and by the style itself. All learned men likewise admit that they are genuine, except for one recent author who, as Tillemont observes (p. 586), denied they were genuine, and yet later, forgetful of his words, counted them among the authentic works; he indeed achieved the result that we care no more for his denial than for his assertion. C The first homily was given by Chrysostom on the day after he had returned to Constantinople from Asia. He had undertaken the journey into Asia in order to settle the disputes of the Ephesian Church and to depose simoniacal bishops, which he also accomplished; being absent for more than a hundred days, as he himself says at the beginning, he had left behind a great longing for himself among the people who loved him exceedingly. The Constantinopolitans had hoped, at the very least, that he would return to celebrate Pascha with them; this, however, they were unable to achieve. Having returned after Pascha, he consoles them and says that it can be celebrated daily: "For we celebrate Pascha," he says, "whenever, by partaking of the body and blood of Christ, we proclaim the death of the Lord." Throughout the whole homily, he congratulates the people for the good order, faith, and charity kept and exhibited both in his presence and during his absence. The following minor oration was given by Chrysostom on this occasion. Severianus, bishop of Gabala, who D
ON THE RETURN OF SAINT JOHN FROM ASIA TO CONSTANTINOPLE
A That great servant of God, the head of the prophets, the traveler of the sea, the shaker of the air, the provider of the table, who was cast away by his mother but saved by his oppressor (indeed, his mother gave him birth, but an Egyptian woman took him and nurtured him), and who was nurtured in Egypt but conversed in the heavens—he who established such a great and mighty trophy—this same man, so great and tall, having left his people for forty days, found them fashioning idols and stirring up seditions. I, however, have been away not for forty days only, but for fifty and a hundred and more, and I have found you rejoicing, philosophizing, and persevering in the fear of God. Am I, then, greater than Moses? God forbid; to say this would be the height of madness. But because this people is more sublime than that, for that reason, when he descended from the mountain, he rebuked Aaron for the sedition of the people, and in his anger, he was enraged against him, asking why he had yielded to their will. But I, arriving, shall weave your praises and crowns. For where there is transgression, there of necessity must follow accountability and sharp reproof; but where there is correction, there follow praises, commendations, and crowns. Therefore, even if I have lingered abroad for a longer time, I do not repent, because I trusted in the affection of your charity and the integrity of your faith. For I knew that a wife betrothed to me is fortified by chastity, just as is accustomed to happen in a secular marriage. For when a husband knows he has a shameless wife, he does not allow her to look out of the house; and even if he is compelled at some time to travel, he is forced to return quickly, as if pricked by a kind of sting of suspicion. But he who has a sober and chaste wife remains away without care, leaving behind as a sufficient defense for his charge the conduct of his spouse. This is what I and Moses have suffered. He, indeed, because he had as a wife a synagogue that could not be improved, left her, and she committed fornication, and God compelled him, saying: "Arise, go down, for your people have acted impiously" (Exod. 32:7). But I received no such command of this kind. And when a slight infirmity of the body happened to me, your absence did not trouble me, but, secure in you, I awaited the remedy of my illness. "For the healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are ill" (Matt. 9:12). For even if I delayed with you for a short while, I do not believe this happened to your detriment, but to your enrichment. For those things which were corrected through me—or rather, more through the grace of God—are your crown, they are your progress. And therefore I rejoice and leap for joy, and I believe that I am as if flying, and I cannot express the magnitude of this joy. What then shall I do? How shall I reveal the exultation of my mind? I call your conscience as a witness, since I see that it is filled with joy from my arrival: which joy is my crown and my boast. For if the presence of one man alone filled such a multitude with such pleasure, how much joy do you think has been accumulated in me from the sight of you? And Jacob, indeed, seeing his one son Joseph, rejoiced in his old age and was refreshed in spirit; but I see not one Joseph, but all of you like him, and I rejoice, because I have received my Paradise, better than that Paradise. For there, indeed, the serpent was lying in wait, but here Christ is celebrating the mysteries; there Eve was deceiving, but here the Church is crowning; there Adam was being seduced, but here the people adhere to God; there were diverse trees, but here are diverse gifts. In that Paradise were withering trees, in this church are life-giving trees; in that Paradise each type of seed persevered in its own state, but in this Paradise, if I find a wild vine, I shall make it a fruitful vine; if I find an oleaster, I shall make it a true olive tree; for such is the nature of this land. On account of these things I rejoice, and I pass over the need for an apology. But as to how the length of so much time led you away, accept my apology, most beloved. If you send a servant somewhere and he does not return, you demand the causes of where he lingered, where he spent so much time; and I am the servant of your charity, for you bought me, not by providing money, but by showing love. I rejoice, indeed, that I am shackled in such service, and I never wish to be loosed from this bondage; for this service is more elegant to me than liberty. This service has placed my seat upon that blessed tribunal; this service is not of necessity, but of will. For who would not most gladly serve your affection, such elegant lovers? Even if I had a heart of stone, you would have made it softer than wax. What shall I say of your longing and favor, which you showed yesterday (a), how your voices penetrated the heavens with joy? Sanctifying the very air, you made the city a Church. I was honored, and God was glorified; the heretics were confounded, but the Church was crowned; for there is great gladness to a mother when her children exult, and great joy to a shepherd when the lambs of his flock exult. I came to the joys of your virtues; I heard that you wrestled with the heretics and that you refuted them because they acted iniquitously regarding baptism. Did I speak in vain when I said that a chaste wife repels adulterers while her husband is away, drives away wolves while the shepherd is away, sailors saved the ship without a helmsman, soldiers won the victory without a leader, disciples progressed without a teacher, children were strengthened without a father? Or rather, not without a father; for your progress is my joy, your glorification is my crown. But we were longing, you say, to celebrate the Pascha with you. I offer satisfaction to your love, since you have already dissolved any anger with your looks. For if a father, receiving a prodigal son, immediately reconciled him and demanded no punishments from him, but immediately embraced him, much more so do children receiving a father. But yet,
(a) On the day after he returned, he delivered this oration.
DE RECIPIENDO SEVERIANO
A and to this I respond: You had wished to celebrate the Pascha with me; no one prevents you from celebrating the Pascha with me today. But perhaps you will say, "Are we to celebrate two Paschas?" No, but one, and that one in many ways. For just as the sun always rises, and we do not say there are many suns, but it is one sun rising daily, so too the Pascha is always being completed, and while it is always being celebrated, it is one solemnity of ours. We are not like the Jews; we are not enslaved to place, nor are we subject to the necessity of time, strengthened as we are by the Lord's voice. "As often," he says, "as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you shall announce the death of the Lord" (1 Cor. 11:26). For we are announcing today the death of Christ. But then there is a festival, and today there is a festival. For where charity rejoices, there is the festival; and where I have received rejoicing children, I celebrate the greatest festival. For that festival too is charity. For so, says the apostle, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son for it" (John 3:16). But many, they say, were baptized in your absence. And what of that? Grace lacks nothing, the gift of God does not limp; they were not baptized with me present, but with Christ present they were baptized. Is it then a man who baptizes? A man extends the right hand, but God governs the hand. Do not doubt the grace, most dear one, because it is the gift of God. Attend diligently to what is said: if perhaps for some reason a sacred [(a)] document needs to be explained, when you have offered prayers and have received the subscribed sacred document, you do not ask with what reed the king inscribed it, nor on what paper, nor with what quality or what ink, but you ask only one thing: whether the king has subscribed. So it is in baptism: the paper is conscience; the reed is the tongue of the priest; the hand is the grace of the Holy Spirit. Whether it is through me, then, or through him who performs the office of priest, that same hand writes; we are ministers, not authors. And Paul is a minister: "For so," he says, "let a man consider us as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor. 4:1). "For what have you," he says, "that you have not received?" (1 Cor. 4:7). If I have anything, I received it; but if I received it, it is not mine, but His who gave the gift. Do not therefore doubt, most dear one; for the grace of God is perfect. Place does not hinder, whether you are baptized here, or in a ship, or on a journey. Philip baptized on the road, Paul in chains, Christ on the cross [baptized] the thief from his wound, and he immediately merited to unlock the gate of paradise. Because of these things I rejoice and exult, and I demand your prayers, with which I traveled to Asia, with which B I have returned, with which I crossed the sea, and aided by your prayers I sailed happily. For I did not embark on the ship without you, nor did I depart without you, nor was I in the city without you, nor in the church without you; but I was removed indeed in body, but joined in charity. For I was seeing your Church, even on the sea, and I rejoiced in exultation. For charity signifies something of this kind, which knows not how to be narrowed. I was entering the church, I was standing at the altar, I was offering prayers, and I was saying: "Lord, preserve the Church which you have entrusted to me." I am indeed absent in body, but your mercy is present, which led me there, and granted more than I deserved. And that it has amplified [the Church], the multitude of those present bears witness. I see the vine flourishing, and nowhere are there thorns, nor any traces of briars; the sheep are exulting, and nowhere is there a wolf. But if he is found anywhere, he is changed and becomes a sheep. For so great is your faith and charity, that by your emulation you provoke others. The Lord himself has preserved you, and he himself has brought me back, and placed in infirmity I felt the aid of your prayers, and I ask for them daily as an intercession. My pilgrimage has crowned your city. And because you loved me from the beginning, now it is manifest to all. For so you held me absent as if I were present. For when I was in Asia to correct the churches, those coming from here were announcing to us, saying: "You have inflamed the city." And certainly charity is accustomed to wither with time, but your love was growing daily. And I believe that you love me, whom you so loved absent, even better now that I am present. This is my treasure, these are my riches. And therefore I ask for your prayers. Your prayers are a wall and a bulwark to me. Do not say, "I am weak, how can I pray for the priest?" Hear the Scripture saying: "But prayer was made without ceasing" (Acts 12:5). And the ecclesiastical prayer loosed the chains of Peter, and dilated the confidence of Paul's preaching. Prayer extinguished the furnace of fire, prayer closed the mouths of lions, prayer calmed the sedition, prayer opened paradise, prayer unlocked the hinges of heaven, prayer made the barren fruitful, prayer penetrated the heavens for Cornelius, prayer justified the publican. Such a bulwark I ask from you, such grace I request: and may the God of glory, receiving your prayers, grant unto me in the opening of my mouth a word, so that I may be able to instruct the people entrusted to me for C salvation through Christ our Lord, with whom there is honor, glory, and power to God the Father with the Holy Spirit throughout all ages. Amen.
DE RECIPIENDO SEVERIANO
Just as it is necessary for the body to cohere to the head, so it is necessary for the Church [to cohere] to the priest, and the people to the prince; and as branches to roots, and rivers to springs, so too sons to a father, and disciples to a master. Now we have not spoken these things to your charity superfluously; but because I must say certain things among you, so that no one may be disturbed, nor any interruption arise to our discourse, but that the obedience of the disciples may grow in you, and it may appear how great an affection you defer to a father. Adorn me, sons, and place upon me the crown of your obedience; cause me to be judged blessed before all, and magnify my teaching through your obedience according to the admonitions of the apostle, who says: "Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over you, as D