[If you happen to have anything against anyone, forgive him. Do you wish your sins to be forgiven you? Forgive your neighbor. If you do not forgive your brother his sins, neither will the Lord forgive yours; for He says, "If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive yours" (Matt. 6:15). And we all know that He does not lie, for He is true and faithful in all His words. Be prepared, therefore, waiting daily for Him who shall require your soul. Do not repent today and forget to do so tomorrow; do not weep today and lead a dance tomorrow; do not fast today and be carried off drunk by many tomorrow; do not watch today and fail tomorrow; but tend to your salvation, that you may be crowned. Do not adulterate virtue, do not shun labor, lest you be deprived of the crowns. Hate all the joy of this world, and likewise its glory; and say with David: "Iniquity I have hated and abhorred, but Your law have I loved. From every evil way I have restrained my feet. I have sworn and determined to keep Your righteous judgments" (Ps. 118:163, 101, 106). Always take care to be prepared, so that when He who shall require your soul comes, He may find you prepared in repentance; and I promise you that He will not separate you from those who are to attain salvation. Keep always that command of the Lord: "Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation" (Matt. 26:41). And again He says: "Be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not think" (Id. 24:44). Hear also the Apostle saying: "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). Consider what that is, "without ceasing"; that is, always, at every time, night and day, evening, morning, and midday, and at every hour; whether you are working, or traveling, or tending to a flock, or plowing the land, or lying down, or rising from your bed. Do not wait for the Lord's day, or a feast, or a difference of place. For God is not circumscribed by place; for "in His hand are the ends of the earth" (Ps. 94:4). Therefore the prophet David, praying through every day and night, did not wait for the day, nor for a distinction of place, but weeping he said, exhorting his own soul: "In every place of His dominion, bless, O my soul, the Lord" (Ps. 102:22). And you, beloved, do not wait for an hour, or a day, or a distinction of place; but, as has been said above, pray in every place, and in your house; pray also in the church, and in whatever place you are, pray, in every place of God's dominion. Hear with your ears, all you who inhabit the world, simultaneously, rich and poor (Ps. 48:2-3), whether male or female, or the gathering, young men and virgins, old with the young, kings of the earth and all judges of the earth, hear that which is written: "The time is short; that those who have wives should be as though they had none" (1 Cor. 7:29). Let us renounce impiety and worldly desires; let us live soberly, justly, and piously in this present age, awaiting in the future "the blessed hope and appearance of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Tit. 2:12-13). Keep the traditions which you received from the blessed men, from the prophets, from the apostles, and from the Lord of all. Let the prophets be your example of affliction and perseverance; Job, of patience; Joseph, of chastity; Daniel, of discretion; our Lord Jesus Christ, of charity, who gave Himself for us; David, the father of God, of repentance. For he was to us an exemplar of repentance, admonishing and exhorting us with these words: "Come, children, hearken to me" (Ps. 33:12), and I will show you the manner of repentance; for I once fell, but through repentance I rose again; and I acknowledge the Lord’s kindness; I know that He receives with outstretched hands those who sincerely repent; for the Lord cannot lie. For I heard Him saying: "The things that proceed from My lips I will not make void" (Ibid. 88:35). "For heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Matt. 24:35). "Once have I sworn by My holy one" (Ps. 88:36). He is the lover of man. Therefore I exhort everyone: Come, children, hearken to me; and while there is time for us, let us hasten before the great day of the Lord comes: "Let us prevent His face in confession." Come, "let us worship and fall down before the Lord, who made us" (Ps. 94:6). "For He is the Lord our God, and we the people of His pasture" (Ps. 94:7 cf. 99:3). May He have mercy upon us and bless us; may He make His face to shine upon us and have mercy upon us (Ps. 66:1). For He is the God of the penitent, He receives us as we repent, He pastures us; to Him be glory and power and all thanksgiving, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.]
MONITUM
[We here finally present the foolish work of a most trifling Greek-ling, not without nausea, corrected according to the reliability of two manuscripts; it is unworthy, by Tillemont’s judgment (p. 393), of being read or understood. It was certainly a tasteless fellow, ineloquent and most ignorant of the Greek tongue, who produced such a trifle and dared to ascribe it to Chrysostom. And yet men among the leaders of the learned, Julius Caesar Bulengerus and Claudius Salmasius, attempted to illustrate it with commentaries and notes; because in that inept comparison between the visible circus, which he himself calls "fleshly," and the intelligible or "spiritual" circus, he employs many words pertaining to the games of the circus and those things pertinent to the circus; he mentions the euripus, the white line, and the starting-point (sphendonē), where the race began. Then he brings in the words *kombineuein* and *kombineumata*, which signify the joining of the horses in the circus. These words occur in almost all Byzantine historiographers. This was the cause why such an insipid little work was illustrated with notes. Bulengerus published this commentary on the Oration in his book on the Circus, since it would be too long for him to summarize here. He also published the Oration itself in Greek with a Latin translation.]ORATION ON THE CIRCUS
[A spiritual stadium and a heavenly race is opened to us today for those who are prepared for the spectacle of the Spirit; not according to the human being of earth, the earthly one, but according to the spiritual and heavenly human being: where one must indeed run on earth, but one must gaze toward heaven. I have undertaken to treat of this, to refute the lovers of spectacles, who despise the spiritual spectacle of salvation, and prefer before it this bodily horse-race of iniquity, or rather "satan-race." But you, beloved, look more diligently toward that tranquil circus of the Church, where Paul struggles, not running the circuits of a euripus or fields, but preaching the gospel at full speed roundabout from Jerusalem even to Illyricum (Rom. 15:19): where Elias leads that chariot of which it was said: "Chariot, chariot, and charioteer of Israel," and his horsemen, not from the white line to the starting-point (sphendonē), but from]the temple toward the merchants of the devil. A Stand firmly upon this equipment of election; ascend the chariot of the eunuch, O Philip, you who have been stripped of all defilement; ascend the chariot; look steadily and without distraction at the deacon who ministers to the reading of the Gospel. And let no one think that I am speaking in jest; I do not lie. For just as in the hippodrome the eyes of all, once the bolt is sprung, are fixed upon the charioteer, waiting in the council for his opening, so too are those who look to the ecclesiastical spectacle, B daring to gaze upon the fiery chariot of heaven, where a people of heavenly citizens is present for the spectacle; and the spiritual judge sits, and the King watches, and the heavenly trophy is set for a prize, and the scourges of a fearful judgment are placed before us. God wills you to fight through Himself. Therefore, He has given you the four-horse chariot of the Gospels, in which chariot are white horses according to Zechariah; those coupled are light and immortality, the ones on the ends are justice and truth, C which travel behind the chariot that journeys toward the land of the north; concerning which Wisdom says: "A harsh wind is the north wind"; for the spirit of the devil is truly harsh and wicked. In his chariot are black horses; those yoked beneath are Hades and death, the ones on the ends are darkness and destruction, which you must rein in for the chariot of Christ, because it is said, "The chariot of God is ten thousandfold, thousands of those who lead them aright," whom you must rein in amid the swells of life, as if upon the sea. D For He cast into the sea his horses that were troubling many waters, and destroying the chariots of the intellectual Pharaoh, and his power into the Red Sea. He also has as a fellow-rider an angel who pursues and blinds the horses of your enemy. For it is said: "Let their way be darkness and slipperiness, and let the angel of the Lord pursue them." You have positioned against you the Cananaeans, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees who proclaim his gifts; you also have Moses, Samuel, and David, who foretold the coming of the Just One. He has there the devil's transport-horses, Bel, Dagon, Baal, and Chemosh, who tripped up Israel, and their limbs were left in the desert; you also have the openers of heaven, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, as they themselves say, that a door was opened to us, great and manifest, and there are many adversaries, who also sought that a word might be given to them in the opening of their mouth. He has Philetus, Judas, Demas and Hermogenes, Hymenaeus and Alexander the coppersmith, filled with hypocrisy; you have as spectators the host of angels, the ranks of the righteous looking down from above, how they all run, but one takes the prize. One is the true people of Christ, one who has been baptized in Christ and has put on Christ; and no longer Jew nor Greek, male and female, slave or free, Scythian, A Arian, Eunomian, Marathonian, but one in Christ. Run worthy of God, and live, O people of God, in the spectacle of the All-Holy Spirit. Let not the pre-race intrigues delight you, lest the hazards before the judgment overtake you. If you wish to make an intrigue and arrange yourself, you can do this better in the spiritual contemplation. Yoke your pious thoughts against the devil’s lust-maddened horses; set yourself in array against the strong with longsuffering. For it says: A man of longsuffering is better than a strong man; [yoke] Christianity against Judaism, godliness against paganism, chastity against fornication, almsgiving against avarice, truth against falsehood, meekness and gentleness against anger. Again, against the sharp ones, yoke the submissive—that is, against anger and grief, place gentleness (for it is said: "A man of gentle heart is a physician of the heart"); against sharp ones [yoke] gentleness, against enmity friendship, against hate love, against affliction thanksgiving, against pride humility, against wickedness goodness, and against every contrary thing, hold to the orthodox and saving faith. You must, while charioteering, also have the temperance of the Spirit, lest you fall from seasickness and lose heart. "For," it says, "everyone who competes is temperate in all things." Those, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one. Take also the helmet of salvation, and the scourge in your hand, which our Lord Jesus, having made from a rope, drove out B those who were gathering there, when the deacon was about to open the four-horsed chariot of the Gospel; we all gaze upon him, providing silence, and as soon as he begins the course of the reading, immediately we rise, crying out: "Glory to You, O Lord." Ascend the chariot, hunt, outrun, restrain, cast out, turn away, catch, and make the good confession out of your mouth; outrun the adversary: "For he who walks simply, walks confidently." Restrain him as David did Goliath, cast him out as Elisha did Gehazi, catch him as Elijah did Ahab in the vineyard of Naboth, turn him away into the outer darkness, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth; pay attention to yourself. "For take heed to yourselves," it says, "lest your hearts be weighed down with debauchery and drunkenness." Bear all things; "For bear one another's burdens," it says. As you have the path, guard yourself, "Lest you dash your foot against a stone"; do not look back, remembering the wife of Lot. Keep the middle road of justice, do not incline to the right, nor to the left. Seek it from within paradise, seek it from within. "For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, thefts, false witness, slanders, blasphemies, which defile a man." C Do not ascend with him, just as neither did God with Israel, because it is stiff-necked; do not ascend with him; he calls you to sin. He himself will bend you. But be before him, saying to him: "Go behind me, Satan, for you do not set your mind on the things of God, but the things of men." Remain outside, as Elijah fleeing Jezebel; hasten to the prize of the upward call. Let him not catch you, as neither did the boys of Absalom the ones around Jonathan, and Ahimaaz the priests of the Lord who were fleeing; let him not catch you, as neither did the boys of the king of Jericho the spies; but if possible, deceive him as Rahab the harlot did those who were searching. Let him not subdue you, as neither did Pharaoh the ones around Moses and Aaron; but bypass him, as the Magi did Herod. Do not be anxious; for you have God as the director, and Christ as the physician. D Fear nothing; for you have the Holy Spirit as your trainer, the one anointing you with the mystical horn of Samuel with the myrrh. Nor fear thirst; for you have the water of the rest of baptism upon you through the gourd, that it may refresh you—that is, through the preaching of Jonah. Turn the chariot of his tyranny; cast him into the deep, into that which he wrought; cast him into the deep there. Cry out in the manner of the Psalms: "Out of the depths have I cried to You, O Lord, O Lord, hear my voice." Cast him into the deep, having bent [him] utterly from his destruction. Lift up to the height holy hands to the King, having seized the prize of the palms like the boys, and having waved them, worship Him, because "Bel has fallen, Dagon has been crushed." Grace be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. By this victory you shall also be able to open paradise like a public bath, where there are four rivers, much water, as in a bath, in a place of pasture, so that you too may timely say: "He made me lie down in a place of pasture; He fed me by the waters of rest"; and above all these things, boasting, say: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness," in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
WARNING
All judge this sermon not to be by Chrysostom, although it is not unworthy of a sharp mind. Furthermore, whatever someone or other said—based only on conjecture—to the effect that it is by Severian, that certainly seems to conflict with right reason; for the discourse differs no less from Severian’s style than it does from Chrysostom’s manner of speaking. A For Severian is entirely thin, perplexed, and redundant with figures; he uses an iron pen, as Savilius says; whereas this writer is simple and flows without pitfalls. Latin Translation by Fronton du Duc.ON THE PASSAGE, "TAKE HEED THAT YE DO NOT YOUR ALMS BEFORE MEN"
a. B Just as those who are wise and skilled in the art of agriculture, when they have with all care and diligence planted seeds in the earth, first raise the plants themselves to a height, and then artfully prune away the troublesome shoots, so too did the lawgiver Moses. For he first planted the doctrine of the Monarchy in the minds of men, and then pruned away the doctrine of the many from the minds of men. And by what method did he plant the Monarchy? Hear him saying: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve," and again: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. vi, 13; x, 20; vi, 4). And learn how he pruned away the troublesome shoots of the doctrine of the many: "Thou shalt not make to thyself molten gods," he says, "neither shalt thou worship strange gods; for I, I am the Lord thy God" (Exod. xxxiv, 17; Lev. xix, 4). This same work today our God and Savior also performs. For after having recently planted in our souls the beautiful olive tree of almsgiving, and having crowned its fruit—that is, the merciful—and declared them blessed, saying, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," He is today, as is fitting, pruning and clearing away the troublesome excrescences of almsgiving C that are sprouting forth. For recently, when He was stirring up everyone together toward almsgiving, He instructed the poor by the example of the widow who lived in Sarepta of Sidonia, so that she might not plead a lack of means as an excuse for inhumanity; the beggar, moreover, He incited by the example of that other destitute widow, who is recorded in the Gospel as having cast two mites into the treasury, so that he might readily contribute the alms of his wealth; the merchant, furthermore, He restrained by considering the storms of the sea, that he might share his own with the poor rather than with the sea; and he who carries on trade by land travel He coerced, so that he might anticipate necessity with his mind, and prefer God to a robber before the necessity arises. Since, therefore, all had been instructed in almsgiving, and He saw each one prepared—like a green plant inclined toward almsgiving—to be "as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God" (Ps. li, 10), for this reason He simultaneously excises the sprouting simulations of almsgiving. Saying what? "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them." Do not suppose that we are conveniently proposing this reading now on our own initiative, but rather that these things are being passed on from the very series of those things which have already been read. "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them; otherwise, ye shall surely have no reward." For this ostentation takes away their reward; such a distribution deprives them of future happiness. For there is no passion so harmful to the soul as this desire for empty glory. For when, of the things that have been commanded, we have performed many D outstandingly, then the sickness of the desire for empty glory is born. But the Savior plucked that out by the roots from us when He taught us to confer alms secretly. But you will perhaps say: "What then? Are we unable to do this? For it is not possible that he who gives something to the poor, or offers it to the priests, or casts it into the treasury, should not be seen." Then you have made us more negligent for the future in imparting alms. But now, with our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ granting it, I wish to earn favor for the souls of my friends and brothers, and to free them from every sickness, and to correct the mode of this action. For He examines the will and the intention of him who imparts alms. Therefore, He rightly added, saying: "When, therefore, thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do" (Matt. vi, 2). For there was the alms and the appearance of almsgiving, but their spirit was campaigning for men, and they hung upon their gaze. For they were not conferring alms for the sake of God, hoping that they would obtain mercy from Him and receive the promised hundredfold reward; but they were distributing them in order to receive momentary glory from men. Therefore, they did not differ from those who popularly squander their resources in theaters and, in order to hunt after empty glory, dissipate their wealth, not toward any useful fruit for the soul, but toward the futile praise of men. For that praise is often turned into insult, and though they have made many expenditures, they are laden with many reproaches. See how much money they spend on horse races; and after they have spent a great deal, then they are torn by the most vile and abject men with many insults. For they blame the weakness of the horses upon 92 human beings, and the horse indeed falls, but the ambitious sponsor is humiliated; and he, the horse, lacking reason, fell; the man, however, endowed with reason, fell and was exploded, and often he said with a sigh: "Why do I foolishly lose my wealth? Why did I sustain such labors and so many losses, and ruin myself of all good things, only to be finally laden with insults by the most despised of men?" O how many poor these uselessly spent monies could have enriched! How many who had fallen could they have raised! And these popular distributions are indeed poured out as if from a fountain to capture vain praise; but the insults of stupid men are stirred up as if from a river. But others make their own souls of no account; and others, in turn, because of the rivalry of horses, overturn their own houses.
b. But let us cease to be spent and insulted, and let us allow others to squander their wealth in vain distributions; let us rather learn by what method monies are to be spent piously, and how life is to be lived religiously, and how heavenly things are to be expected in place of earthly ones. For Christ does not forbid you from giving alms, but He teaches by what method it behooves you to do alms: "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." By this place, again, He does not signify hands, but that statement is said hyperbolically, as if He were saying: "Let not your perverse cogitation know what your upright mind does, lest it avert you from the good." For the mind of man, as God says, leans diligently toward evil. Therefore, He says, you must think it necessary to strive so that you yourself might also be unaware. Why so? That your Father, who sees in secret your cheerful and ready bounty, may love you and reward you in the manifest. Great and illustrious it is for those who do alms
the theater grows; and what the compassionate seek for, He grants them in abundance. And so, although many people view the giving of alms, do you yourselves not strive to be noticed, nor do you crave from them the glory of a fleeting moment; but, as He says, take as your witnesses the angels, the archangels, and the Creator, the Lord of all. But if you have men, whose affairs you manage, as witnesses—so that you may sell your alms to them—you will have a thousand witnesses to praise you. But if it is His lot, whom in this life you study to escape being seen by, and yet you do so in order that you may not be pursued by the praises of some men, and readily reject them, and are not puffed up by them; but rather keep turning away and frustrating such people; then, on that awesome day, when the whole world is looking on, you shall receive the crowns of glory. If for the sake of God, and for the wealth that is there for you, which you are storing up with Him, you perform your alms, and not for the sake of temporary glory; then, as if into His own bosom, God will receive the achievements of your alms, with all men who have existed from Adam until the consummation of the age present; and then, with all the angels and archangels present—since thousands and tens of thousands of angels stand by—then, with His own immaculate hands, He will call you, saying: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25. 34). Come, for I received your toils; I became the banker of your wealth. When you held out your hands to the beggar, I was opening my own bosom; whenever you gave your bread to the needy, I was being satisfied through his belly. For "I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink" (Matt. 25. 35). Such is the joy, therefore, of which you who are merciful are deemed worthy. But if you perform alms for the sake of display, you will receive your reward from them. For if one must display them, it is first and foremost before God, who best possesses the power to crown and to lead into the theater of the angels. Who then is so wretched as to leave the King, who is eager to come to observe his own achievements, and instead seat his own theater before the lowliest of creatures and expect a reward from them? But no Christian is like this; God forbid. For whatever we Christians do, we do with Christ before our eyes, and calling upon His name; for He Himself, through His own Gospels, has given us the way of salvation, so that in performing every alms and pursuing every virtue, we might do so while focused on Him and receiving the gifts from Him. For whether martyrs have delivered their bodies to the lawless, they delivered them for the sake of Him who said: "Do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but fear rather Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10. 28); or whether some have opened churches or hostels throughout the world, they did it for the sake of Him who said: "I was a stranger, and you gathered me in" (Matt. 25. 35); or whether we pursue humility, we pursue it for the sake of Him who said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5. 3); or whether we provide bread to the needy, we give it for the sake of Him who said: "Whoever gives a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple shall by no means lose his reward" (Matt. 10. 42); or whether we visit prisons, we visit for the sake of Him who said: "I was in prison, and you came to me" (Matt. 25. 36); or whether we clothe the widows and orphans, we clothe them for the sake of Him who said: "I was naked, and you clothed me" (Matt. 25. 36); or whether we perform alms in general for the poor, we do so for the sake of Him who said: "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me" (Matt. 25. 40); or whether we endure insults from the impious Gentiles, because we worship the One crucified by the Jews, who made the world alive, we do it for the sake of Him who said: "Blessed are you, when they shall insult you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely; rejoice and be exceeding glad, for your reward is great in heaven" (Matt. 5. 11, 12). Let no one, therefore, suppose that a Christian ever performs alms for the display of men, for the sake of receiving pay from them; God forbid. For once we have been instructed in the evangelical treasures, we have become believers, and having believed, we have been saved. For this reason we preach based on the evangelical readings. But even when the holy Gospels are read, we do not listen simply or as it happens, but standing and soberly, and receiving the commandments with all fear, not relaxing in our spirit, not sitting with our bodies, not distracted by the stories of our neighbor, we dare to send them forward; not the rich, not the poor, not the slave, not the free, not men, not women, not rulers, not the ruled, but even he himself who wears the royal diadem, immediately when the Gospels are being read, stands with all fear and with all diligence, and does not even allow the diadem to be worn upon his head, but bows down because of God who speaks in the holy Gospels. What is he saying? "I know the dignity of Him who gave me my dignity; I worship the kingdom of Him who gave me the kingdom, and I stand with fear when His holy oracles are read," because, he says, He Himself gave the command that rulers should stand when the royal victory is read. And so that the heretic might not revile us, saying that kings only feign honor for Christ for a short time, hear the prophet saying (for he speaks of the image that exists now, many generations earlier): "Kings shall see thee, and princes shall arise, and shall stand up, and all the kings of the earth shall worship Him" (Isa. 49. 7). Learn, therefore, and believe, O heretic, that the kingdom of Christ our God remains for the endless ages, and His grace crowns all Christians and leads them into the kingdom of heaven. This is how all Christians do everything, looking toward Him, and we are persuaded by Him saying: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5. 16). To Him be glory and power and authority and worship together with His only-begotten Son and the all-holy and good and life-giving and almighty Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.