NOTICE ON THE SECOND ORATION BEFORE HE WENT INTO EXILE
We publish another short oration, ascribed to Chrysostom, which we have unearthed from a certain Vatican codex. In it, apart from the beginning, where certain things appear that are the same as in the former oration, the rest seems to be muddled and of the lowest quality, with certain parts also excerpted from the later portion of the first oration. There is, however, one thing that seems to support the authenticity of this little work. Namely, Chrysostom, in the first oration after his return from exile, which we, along with almost all scholars, consider genuine, says this: "You remember that I brought Job into your midst and said: 'Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.' These pledges I left with you, and I repeat these thanksgivings: 'Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.'" He remembers this Jobian benediction, which he testifies he commemorated before his departure, toward the end of this short oration before exile, and he highly commends it. But it is possible that someone who edited Chrysostom excerpted these things from the true oration that survived at that time. If, however, anyone, relying on this testimony, contends that this is a genuine work of Chrysostom, he must admit that this short oration was most rashly handled and adulterated by copyists.
ON HIS DEPARTURE INTO EXILE
Bright is the discourse to us, my brothers, and brilliant, and the sea is spacious and filled, but not agitated by the fury of the winds. For the mother of peace has come, which extinguishes the fury of the winds. Mother Sion will say, "A man and a man was born in her, and he himself has founded her" (Ps. LXXXVI, 5). A Since I am a man, and a man was born in her, and he established me, why should I fear? They are about to depose me; and why should I fear death? "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil. I, 21). But they are sending me into exile? "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof" (Ps. XXIII, 1). But my possessions will be confiscated? "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out" (1 Tim. VI, 7). But you know the reason why they are about to depose me. Because I did not spread out carpets, and did not wear silk garments, because I did not cater to their gluttony, and did not offer them gold or silver. They further say to me: "You ate and drank, and baptized." If I have done this, let it be anathema to me, B may I not be numbered with the bishops, may I not be with the angels, may I not be pleasing to God. Even if I have eaten and baptized, I did nothing of these things unseasonably. Let them depose Paul the Apostle, because after supper he conferred baptism upon the jailer (Acts XVI, 33): let them depose the Lord himself, because after supper he gave communion to his disciples. I see many waves, a heavy storm, and prepared spears: but I, as a pilot in a great onrushing tempest, sit upon the two sterns of the ship, that is, upon the Old and New Testament, and with oars I drive away the storm—not with wooden oars, but with the venerable cross of the Lord I convert the C storm into peace. The Lord commands, and the servant is crowned, and therefore he does not deliver him into the hands of the devil. Do men not know that the purest vessel becomes conspicuous when compared to the unclean? Brothers, I set before you three hypotheses: faith, temptation, continence. If you say that you endure by faith, imitate blessed Abraham, who reached old age and received mature fruits. If you say that you endure by temptation, imitate blessed Job. You know his ways, and have heard of his patience, and you are not ignorant of what kind of end he obtained. If, however, you wish to endure by continence, imitate blessed Joseph, who was sold to be led into Egypt, and famine... D
delivered up to Egypt, and delivered Egypt from consumption by famine. For a temptation was offered to him by an Egyptian harlot, who was enslaved by love for him, and who sat by him, saying, "Sleep with me" (Gen. 39:7). For the Egyptian woman wished to strip him of his chastity in Egypt; but here, it is the Egyptian man A. But neither did she trip up the saint, nor did this man trip him up; but the temperance of liberty, the nobility of the children, and the incontinence of the barbarian woman were made manifest together.
2. Brethren, a thief does not enter where there is straw, and grass, and wood; but where gold, or silver, or a pearl lies; thus the devil does not enter where there is a fornicator, or a profane person, or a plunderer, or a covetous man; but where those who lead the solitary life are. Brethren, do we wish to unbridle our tongue against the Empress? But what shall I say? Jezebel is in an uproar, and Elijah flees; Herodias is glad, and John is bound; the Egyptian woman lies, and Joseph is cast into prison. If, therefore, they exile me, I imitate Elijah; if they cast me into the mire, Jeremiah; if into the sea, the prophet Jonah; if into a pit, Daniel; if they stone me, Stephen; if they behead me, John the Forerunner; if they scourge me, Paul; if they sawed B me, Isaiah. Would that it were with a wooden saw, so that I might enjoy the long-desired cross. An embodied woman wars against the disembodied; she who delights in baths and ointments and is entangled with a man, wars against the pure and spotless Church. But she too shall sit as a widow, even while her husband is still alive; for you are a woman, and you wish to make the Church a widow. Yesterday evening she called me the thirteenth apostle, and today she calls me Judas. Yesterday she sat with me in liberty, and today she has pounced upon me like a wild beast C. It ought to have been that the sun should be extinguished among us, and the moon not appear, rather than that we should forget the words of Job. For indeed Job, having endured such a blow, cried out nothing else but that, "Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever" (Job 1:21). For when his wife cried out saying, "Speak a word against the Lord, and die" (Id. 2:9), he rebuked her saying: "Why have you spoken as one of the foolish women?" (Ibid. v. 10). O ungrateful woman! O salve of pains! Tell me, woman, when you were once ill, did Job speak such things to you? And did he not cut away your disease by prayers and acts of kindness? When he lived in royal courts, when he had wealth, when he had royal treatment, you did not say such things, and now, seeing him sitting upon a dunghill, and covered with worms, you say this: "Speak a word against the Lord, and die." Was not temporary discipline sufficient for him, but do you also bring upon him eternal punishment through this word? But what does the blessed Job say? "Why have you spoken as one of the foolish women? If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the evil?" But what does this lawless and hateful one—this new Jezebel, I say—not cry out and say... but she sends consuls and tribunes to me, and merely threatens. And what has she brought upon me? Spiders sent out by a spider. Brethren D, all of you, because victory is laid up in labors, and a crown is laid up in contests, as the divine Paul was just saying: "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, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall render to me in that day" (2 Tim. 4:7-8). Because to Him belong glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
NOTICE ON THE TWO FOLLOWING ORATIONS AFTER THE RETURN FROM EXILE
The first is, therefore, very short; but the second, being longer, was spoken on the following day: hence Sozomen fell into error, for having mentioned that oration, he says that Chrysostom held it with the people when he returned, and applies to it the similarity to Abraham and Sarah. To this Greek oration, which we translate into Latin, we append the old interpretation, which is carried in previous editions; since from here and there some things are found that are fuller in the Greek, and some that are placed differently. The second also, which all admit to be a fetus of Chrysostom: since its authenticity Sozomen (424) asserts in the place cited above. One thing is that which causes not a little trouble. The exile of Chrysostom and his return from that exile fall into the year 403; the second, from which Chrysostom never returned, happened in the year 404. Since he was driven out a second time, an incursion was made into the church, and the baptistery was filled with blood; the latter events, which are of the year 404, are mentioned in this homily, which was spoken in the year 403, and [the text mentions] "the baptistery filled with blood." How could Chrysostom in the year 403 refer to events which happened in the following year? Savilius objects to this, and Tillemontius responds: that it is possible that this and the following year could happen. Perhaps someone else will say that these are additions, and perhaps translated from another work of Chrysostom that has perished. Certainly, this matter does not lack difficulty, and is weighed more fully in the Life of Chrysostom. Godefridus Tilmannus, who acted as a paraphrast rather than a translator, we reject his version, and we have prepared a new one.