ADMONITION CONCERNING THE TWO FOLLOWING HOMILIES ON EUTROPIUS
Eutropius the eunuch possessed great influence with the Emperor Arcadius, and by his counsel and authority the most important affairs of the Empire were conducted. Having been the author of the promotion of John Chrysostom to the see of Constantinople, he at first obeyed his admonitions and pronouncements not unwillingly. But when the holy doctor persistently rebuked him for his avarice and ambition, albeit with a friendly spirit, he finally incurred his hostility. Among other things which Eutropius performed contrary to the counsel and wish of Chrysostom, he caused a law to be passed that the right of asylum and immunity should be taken away from the churches. But he plotted this for his own destruction: for when, by the will of Arcadius, he had attained the consulship of the year 399, he stirred up against himself the hatred of all. Then the tribune Tribigild, secretly favored by Gainas, assembled a band of soldiers and obtained from the fearful prince the decree that Eutropius be removed from his rank. Consequently, Eutropius retreated into the church, the only place of refuge remaining to him, and was forced to become a suppliant seeking the very asylum he had endeavored to abolish. At that time, Chrysostom alone stood forth as the defender of both the asylum and Eutropius, bravely resisting the onslaught of the soldiers and the decree of the Emperor, and ensuring that the rights of the Church were not violated. But more of this is in the *Life of Chrysostom*.
On the day following Eutropius’s reception into the church, Chrysostom delivered this most elegant homily, in which he discourses wonderfully upon the fleeting condition of human affairs, addresses Eutropius, and exposes how imprudently he had attempted to violate the immunity of the Church, which he himself had subsequently been compelled to approach and entreat. Yet, he so moved the assembly of the people to mercy toward him that he drew tears from everyone. A few days after that homily was delivered, Eutropius, in order to elude the watch set by his enemies and to escape, fled from the church. However, he was captured, soon relegated to Cyprus, and then, after not much time had passed, was brought to Chalcedon, condemned, and beheaded. You have this tragedy recounted at more length in the *Life of Chrysostom* under the year 399; and we trust that we have restored to their true and genuine order many things pertaining to this history, whether hitherto untouched or quite intricate.
Scarcely two days after the flight of Eutropius, Chrysostom delivered the following homily: there, after some introductory remarks on the utility of reading the divine Scriptures, he recounts that the church had been besieged a few days earlier, yet Eutropius had not been handed over to his enemies, and that, had he not deserted the church, he never would have been captured. He again sets before their eyes the fleeting condition of human faculties and riches, and states that Eutropius had been deserted by his friends, his household, and all his fortunes. Adding many things concerning the true and legitimate use of riches, and concerning the present life, which he demonstrates to be a pilgrimage, he moves to the praises of the Church and treats at length of her marriage with Christ, frequently using this verse of the forty-fourth Psalm: *The queen stood at thy right hand in gilded clothing,* etc.
On the occasion of this verse, Savile and Fronto Ducaeus placed this homily among the *Various Homilies on the Psalms*, even though the title and the first part of the homily—where the capture of Eutropius by the soldiers is discussed at length—protest against it. For where could this homily more appropriately be placed than after that one delivered while Eutropius was himself present? In that former one, the discussion concerns Eutropius imploring the asylum and protection of the church; in this one, however, the discourse is held concerning the same eunuch, who was captured after he had left the asylum of the church. Both reason itself and the judgment of the learned men whom we have consulted suggested that homilies of this kind should not be separated.
HOMILY ON EUTROPIUS THE EUNUCH, PATRICIAN AND CONSUL
A It is now truly opportune to say: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" (Eccles. 1:2). Where now is the illustrious splendor of the consulship? Where are those bright torches? Where the applause, the choirs, the banquets, the festival gatherings? Where the crowns and the tapestries? Where the hubbub of the city, and those lucky acclamations in the hippodromes, and the flatteries of the spectators? All those things are gone. A violent wind struck them, stripping the tree, which is already shaking from the root, and the force of the blast was such that, having shaken all its sinews, it now threatens to uproot it entirely. Where now are those painted-on friends? Where are the drinking parties and the dinners? Where the swarm of parasites, and the pure wine consumed throughout the day, and the various arts of the cooks, and those worshippers of power who were accustomed to do and say everything for favor? All that was but night and a dream, and with the coming of the day it vanished. They were spring flowers, and when spring passed they all withered. They were a shadow, and they passed by. They were smoke, and were dissolved. They were bubbles, and burst. They were cobwebs, and were torn B to pieces. For this reason we sing this spiritual saying, repeatedly saying: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." This saying ought to be inscribed continuously in walls, and on garments, and in the marketplace, and in houses, and in roads, and on doors, and in entrances, but most of all in the very conscience of every person, and reviewed at every time. For since fraudulent affairs and masked, mimetic deeds have procured for themselves the reputation of truth among the majority, one ought to call out to one's neighbor day by day, while at lunch, at dinner, or in an assembly, and in turn to hear the same from him: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."
Was I not repeatedly telling you that wealth is a fugitive? But you would not endure us. Was I not saying that it is an ungrateful servant? But you did not wish to believe. Behold, experience has shown that it is not only fugitive and ungrateful, but also a murderer, for it has now plunged you into trembling and fear. Did I not say to you, when you were incessantly rebuking me for advising you truly, that I was a better friend to you than those who flattered you? That I who was reproving you had greater concern for you than those who complied with everything for you? Did I not also add, that wounds from friends are more trustworthy than the voluntary kisses of enemies (Prov. 27:6)? If you had endured my wounds, those kisses of theirs would never have brought this destruction upon you; for my wounds bring health, while their kisses have incurred for you an incurable malady. Where now are your cupbearers? Where are those who in the market forced the people to clear the way, and everywhere proclaimed your praises to all? They have deserted, they have renounced your friendship, C they seek their own security through your perils. But we are not like that; rather, we did not abandon you then, even though you were resentful, and now that you have fallen, we protect and care for you. The Church, which was treated by you in a hostile manner, has opened its bosom and received you; but the theaters, which were cultivated by you with great obsequiousness and for whose sake you were often hostile to us, both betrayed you and destroyed you. And yet, we never stopped addressing you with these words: "Why do you do these things? You rave against the Church, and cast yourself headlong to destruction"—and you were neglecting and running past all these warnings. The crowd at the circus, indeed, having exhausted your resources upon themselves, sharpened the sword against you; but the Church, agitated by your untimely fury, runs here and there, if by any means she might be able to disentangle you from the snares in which you are caught.
(This is the first page of the chain)
Homily on Eutropius the Eunuch, Patrician
B And these things I say now, not to trample upon the one who is lying low, but wishing to make those who are standing more secure; not to irritate the wounds of the one who has been stricken, but to preserve those not yet stricken in healthy safety; not to sink the one being tossed by the waves, but to train those sailing with a fair wind, so that they may not be submerged. But how could this happen? If we contemplate the changes in human affairs. For if that man had feared change, he would not have suffered change; but since he did not become better either from his own initiative or from others, do you at least, you who are gorged with wealth, profit from his misfortune: for there is nothing more feeble than human affairs. Therefore, whatever name anyone might call their worthlessness, he would say less than the truth; even if one calls them smoke, or hay, or a dream, or spring flowers, or whatever—they are so perishable and more insubstantial than things that do not exist; and that along with this worthlessness it also possesses much that is precipitous is clear from what follows. For who became higher than this man? Did he not pass through the entire inhabited world in wealth? Did he not ascend to the very peaks of honors? Did not everyone tremble before him, and fear him? But behold, he has become more wretched than prisoners, more pitiable than slaves, and more destitute than the poor who are wasting away from hunger, seeing sharpened swords every day, and the abyss, and executioners, and the abduction to death; and he does not even know if he has ever experienced that pleasure, nor does he perceive that illumination; but at high noon, just as in the thickest night, surrounded by this gloom, he is blinded. Or rather, however much we might strive, we shall not be able to represent in words the suffering which it is probable that he is enduring, expecting to be killed at every hour. But why is there need of words from us, when he has clearly depicted these things for us as in an image? For the day before, when they came to him from the royal courts, wishing to drag him away by force, and he ran to the holy vessels, C his face was just as it is now—no better disposed than one who has already died; the chattering of the teeth, and the clatter and trembling of his whole body, and his voice broken, and his tongue faltering, and his posture such as a stony soul would likely have.
3. And these things I say, not to reproach, nor to trample upon his misfortune, but wishing to soften your mind, and to draw you to mercy, and to persuade you to be satisfied with the punishment that has already occurred. Since there are many among us who are inhuman, so as to accuse even us, that we received him at the bema; wishing to soften their heartlessness with my account, I display his sufferings. For on what account are you indignant, tell me, my beloved? Because, he says, he who has constantly warred against the Church has fled to it. For this very reason, one ought to praise God, that He allowed him to fall into such necessity, so that he might learn both the power of the Church and its philanthropy; the power, from the fact that he suffered such a change from his wars against her; and the philanthropy, from the fact that now, though she was warred against, she puts forward the shield, and has received him under her own wings, and has set him in complete safety, not remembering any of the things from before, but opening her bosom to him with great affection. For this is more brilliant than any trophy, this is a manifest victory, this puts the Greeks to shame, this also confounds the Jews, this shows her face to be radiant: that having taken the enemy captive, she spares him, and while all have passed him by in his isolation, she alone, like a loving mother, has hidden him under her curtains, and has stood against royal wrath, against the fury of the populace, and against unbearable hatred; this is the ornament of the altar. What sort of ornament, one says, is it for the polluted, the greedy, and the rapacious man to touch the altar? Do not say these things; since the harlot also touched the feet of Christ, she who was exceedingly polluted and unclean; and what happened was not an accusation against Jesus, but a miracle and a great hymn; for the unclean woman did not harm the Clean One, but the Clean and Blameless One, through the touch, made the polluted harlot clean. Do not, I beseech you, be resentful, O man. We are servants of that One who was crucified and who said: "Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." But, one says, he walled off the refuge here with letters and various laws. But behold, through his deeds he has learned what he did, and he was the first to dissolve his own law through what he did, and he has become a spectacle to the world, and even while silent he emits a voice, exhorting everyone: "Do not do such things, so that you may not suffer such things." He has appeared as a teacher through his misfortune, and the altar emits a great brightness, now most formidable and appearing as such from this, that it holds the lion bound; for just as for a royal image a great ornament would be not only when the king sits upon the throne clothed in purple and wearing the diadem, but also when under the royal foot, barbarians, with their hands bound behind them, lie with their heads bowed down. And that I have not used persuasiveness of words, you are witnesses of the eagerness and the gathering. For our spectacle is brilliant today, and the assembly is radiant, and as many as I saw gathered in the holy Pascha, so many do I see here now; and thus, while silent, he has called all, emitting a voice more resonant than a trumpet through the events. And virgins having left their chambers, and women their women’s quarters, and men the marketplace, you have all gathered here, so that you might see human nature being put to the proof, and the perishability of life's affairs stripped bare, and the harlot-like aspect—which yesterday and the day before was shining radiantly (for such is the prosperity that comes from greed, appearing uglier than any little old woman with wrinkles)—now, as if with a sponge through this change, wiping away the pigments and the inscriptions.
4. For such is the strength of this calamity; it has made him who was radiant and famous appear more worthless than all. And if a rich man enters, he gains much; for seeing him who used to shake the entire inhabited world brought down from such a height, and compressed...
A and contracted by dread, and more timid than any hare or rabbit, and hanging onto this pillar without chains, and trembling, held fast by fear instead of a chain, will repress his arrogance, shed his pride, and, having pondered what must be pondered regarding human affairs, will depart having learned in very deed what the Scriptures teach us: such as that, "All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withered, and the flower fell" (Isa. 40:6, 7); and likewise that, "As grass they shall quickly wither, and as the green herb of the field they shall quickly fall" (Ps. 37:2); and, "For my days have vanished like smoke" (Ps. 102:4), and other similar things.
Conversely, the poor man who enters and takes note of this spectacle is not displeased with himself, nor does he lament his lot; but he gives thanks, moreover, to his poverty, which serves him as a very safe asylum, a most tranquil harbor, and a most fortified citadel; and having seen these things, if the option were given, he would prefer to be content with his present state rather than to occupy the wealth of all for a short time and soon come into danger of losing his own blood. Do you see not a small benefit arising from this refuge here for the rich and the poor, for the high and the humble, for slaves and the free? Do you see how each one departs from here with a remedy, treating his own affairs through the spectacle of this matter?
Have I, therefore, softened your spirits, or expelled your indignation? Have I extinguished your inhumanity? Have I led you to commiseration? I believe indeed that I have led you so; and this I gather from your countenances and tears. Since, therefore, the rock of your heart has been turned into a fat and fertile field, come now, producing also the fruit of mercy, and bringing before us the rich ears of compassion, let us fall at the knees of the Emperor, or rather let us beseech the most kind God to mollify the anger of the Emperor, and to deign to give him a tender heart, by which we may be able to take away this grace whole and entire from him.
For already from that day in which he fled hither, a not small change has occurred: for after the Emperor learned that he had taken refuge in this asylum, while the army was swarming and agitated on account of his crimes, and demanding the man for punishment, he held a long discourse by which he calmed the military indignation, requesting that they should take into account not only their faults, but also their good deeds: that he who had reason to be grateful for them should, if anything else had happened, consider that it ought to be forgiven as to a man. But when they insisted entirely on revenge for the insulted Emperor, shouting, leaping up, demanding death, brandishing spears: then indeed, shedding fonts of tears from his most merciful eyes, and striking them with the awe of the sacrosanct table to which he had fled, he at last with difficulty appeased their anger.
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A it is right to be restrained. For what forgiveness would you yourselves be worthy of, if, while the Emperor forgives and forgets his own proper injury, you who have suffered nothing of the kind were to proceed obstinately in anger? Or how, once this spectacle is finished, will you partake of the sacraments and say that prayer by which we are commanded to ask, "Forgive us as we also forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6:12), if you exact punishment from your debtor? He perhaps afflicted you with great injuries and insults? Not even we will deny that. But the present time is not for a tribunal, but rather for mercy: not for the recovery of damages, but for clemency: not for examination, but for pardon; not for votes and calculations, but for mercy and grace.
Therefore, let no one among you be inflamed, nor let him take it ill, but rather let us beseech the most mild God that He may prolong the life of the accused, and rescue him from the impending slaughter, so that he may correct his own errors: and with common effort let us intercede with the most clement Emperor for the Church and the altar, beseeching that one man be granted to the sacrosanct table. For if we do this, we shall both do something pleasing to the Emperor, and God shall approve of our action before the Emperor does, and shall return to us a great reward for this humanity. For just as He turns away from and hates the cruel and inhuman, so He embraces and loves the merciful and humane: and to him, whether he be just, He weaves more splendid crowns; or if he be a sinner, He overlooks his sins, returning to him a requital of compassion toward his fellow-servant: "I desire mercy," He says, "and not sacrifice" (Hos. 6:6); and through all the Scripture you see Him always requiring this, and saying that this is the healing of sinners.
Accordingly, let us also return Him to kindness in this manner, thus let us redeem our sins, thus let us adorn the Church, thus also the most clement Emperor, as I have said, will praise us: it will come to pass that all the people will applaud us, and our fame for humanity and clemency will be celebrated to the ends of the earth, and upon discovering this we shall be praised everywhere on earth. In order, therefore, that it may happen to us to enjoy such good things, let us fall to our knees, let us entreat, let us beseech: let us snatch the prisoner, the fugitive, the suppliant from dangers, so that we ourselves may obtain future good things, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and empire, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY WHEN EUTROPIUS WAS SEIZED AFTER BEING CAUGHT OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. CONCERNING PARADISE OR THE GARDEN, AND CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES; AND ON THAT WORD, "THE QUEEN STOOD AT THY RIGHT HAND" (Ps. 44:10).
a). Sweet is the meadow, sweet is the garden, but far sweeter is the reading of the divine Scriptures. For there the flowers are fading, here the thoughts are in full bloom; there the zephyr blows, here the breath of the Spirit; there thorns hedge in, here the providence of God protects; there the cicadas chirp, here the prophets modulate [their song].