St John Chrysostom, sixth sermon on
St. John Chrysostom, sixth sermon on Lazarus and the rich man Have you seen God's power, have you seen God's love for mankind? His power, because He shook the world;
His love, because He made the tottering world firm again; or rather, you saw both His power and His love in both.
For the earthquake showed His power, and its cessation showed His love, because He shook the earth and made the world fast again, because He set it upright when it was rocking and about to fall. The earthquake has gone by, but let the fear remain; that tossing has run its course, do not let discretion depart with it. We spent three days in prayer; let us not relax our zeal. This is why the earthquake came: because of our laxity. We relaxed, and we summoned the earthquake; we renewed our zeal, and we drove away His anger. Let us not relax again, or we may again summon His anger and His retribution. For God does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should repent and live.. Have you seen the mortality of the human race? When the earthquake came, I reflected with myself and said, where is theft? Where is greed? Where is tyranny? Where is arrogance? Where is domination?
Where is oppression? Where is the plundering of the poor?
Where is the arrogance of the rich? Where is the domination of the powerful? Where is intimidation? Where is fear? One moment of time and everything was torn apart more easily than a spider's web, everything was shattered,
1Ez. 33:11.
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the city was full of shrieking, and everyone ran to the church.
Consider, if God had chosen to demolish everything, what we would have suffered. I say this, so that the fear of these events may remain sharp in you and may keep everyone's resolution firm. He shook us, but He did not destroy us. If He had wished to destroy us, He would not have shaken us. But since He did not wish to destroy us, the earthquake came in advance like a herald, forewarning everyone of the anger of God, in order that we might be improved by fear and prevent the actual retribution. He has done this even for foreign nations. "Yet three days, and Ninevah shall be overthrown."® Why do You not overthrow the city? You threaten to destroy it, and why do
You not destroy it? "Because I do not wish to destroy, for this very reason I threaten." So what do You say?
"Lest I do what I say, let My word go in advance and prevent My deed." "Yet three days, and Ninevah shall be overthrown;" then the prophet spoke, today the walls send out a voice. I say this, and I do not cease saying it, both to the poor and to the rich: consider how great God's anger is, how easy and simple everything is to Him; and let us abstain from evil! In a brief moment of time He shattered the mind and resolution of each one of us, and He shook the foundations of our hearts.
Let us consider, if on that terrible day, when instead of one momient of time there will be endless ages, rivers of fire, threatening anger, powers dragging us to judgment, a terrible judgment seat, an incorruptible court, and the deeds of each one set before our eyes, no one to help, neither neighbor, nor counsel, nor relative, not a brother, not a father, not a mother, not a friend, not anyone else— what will we do then? Tell me. I bring fear to you in order to prepare your salvation. I have wrought a lesson sharper
*Jonah 3:4.
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than steel, so that each of you who has a gangrenous sore may cut it away. Have I not been asking all along, as I ask now, and do not cease asking, how long will you be attached to the things of this world? I am speaking to all of you, but especially to those who are ill and do not heed what I say. Or rather, the sermon is useful for each of you: for the ill person, to make him well, and for the healthy person, to keep him from falling ill. How long does money last? How long does wealth? How long ostentatious houses? How long the frenzied quest for pleasure in material things? See, the earthquake came: how did wealth help anyone? The labor of both rich and poor was shattered. The possession perished along with the possessor, the house along with the builder. The city became the common tomb of all, a tomb not constructed by the hands of craftsmen but prepared by the disaster itself. Where was wealth? Where was greed? Do you see that everything was slighter than a spider's web?
But you will ask me, "How do you help by preaching?"
I help if anyone hears me. I do my duty: he who sows, sows. The sower went out to sow. Some seeds fell beside the road, some on the rock, some among thorns, but some on good soil.* Three parts perished and one was saved.
He did not stop farming, but since one part survived, he did not cease from working the soil. Here also, when I have scattered such a quantity of seed, it is impossible that it should not bring forth some havest for me. If not everyone listens, half will listen; if not half, a third; if not a third, a tenth; if not a tenth, if even one from the crowd listens, let him hear. It is not a small thing for even one sheep to be saved, since that shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep and ran after the one which had strayed.' I do not despise anyone; even if he is only one, he is a human being,
'Matthew 13:3.
'Matthew 18:12.
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the living creature for which God cares. Even if he is a slave, I may not despise him; I am not interested in his class, but his virtue; not his condition of master or slave, but his soul. Even if he is only one, he is a human being, for whom the heaven was stretched out, the sun appears, the moon changes, the air was poured out, the springs gush forth, the sea was spread out, the prophets were sent, the law was given—and why should I mention all these?—for whom the only-begotten Son of God became man. My
Master was slain and poured out His blood for man. Shall I despise him? What pardon would I have? Do you not hear that the Lord conversed with the Samaritan woman, and spent many words?® He did not despise her because she was a Samaritan, but because she had a soul, He cared for her. He did not neglect her because she was a harlot, but because she was going to be saved and had showed faith, she often benefited from His concern.
As for me, I will not stop speaking, even if there is no one at all who listens: I am a physician, I apply remedies; I am a teacher, I am bidden to give advice. It is written, "I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel."* Do I not succeed in setting anyone upright? What of it? I still have my reward. Besides, I spoke of an extreme case. It is impossible that in so great a crowd someone should not be set upright. These very pretexts and excuses are made by careless listeners. "I hear," someone says,
"every day, and I do not act." Hear, even if you do not act. From the hearing the action also may come about.
Even if you do not act, you are ashamed of your sin. Even if you do not act, you are changing your attitude. Even if you do not act, you are condemning yourself because you do not act. And where does this self-accusation come from? Is it the fruit of my words. When you say, "Alas,
5John 4:7-42.
®Fz, 3:27.
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I have heard, and I do not act," your "alas" is the prelude to a change for the better. You have sinned: have you mourned? You have dissolved the sin. "First confess your transgressions, that you may be justified.'" If you are gloomy or dejected, dejection may be a beginning of salvation, not by the nature of dejection, but by the kindness of the Master. For the sinner, grief is not a small defense. "I saw that he was grieved and dejected," it is written, "and I healed his anguish."* Oh ineffable kindness and inexplicable goodness! "He was grieved .
. and I healed him."
Is this a great thing, that he was grieved? It is not a great thing, but *I made it an occasion for healing his anguish.
Did you see how in a brief moment of time He brought everything together?
So think over continually in yourselves that evening of the earthquake. Everyone else was afraid because of the earthquake, but I was afraid because of the cause of the earthquake. Do you understand what I mean? They were afraid that the city would collapse, and they would die; but I am afraid that the Master is angry with us.
Death is not grievous, but it is grievous to provoke the Master. So I was not afraid because of the earthquake, but because of the cause of the earthquake; for the cause of the earthquake was the anger of God, and the cause of His anger was our sins. Never fear punishment, but fear sin the mother of punishment. Is the city being shaken?
What of it? But do not let your resolution be shaken. In the case of diseases and injuries we do not grieve for those who are being cured, but for those who have incurable diseases. Sin is the same as disease or injury; retribution is the same as surgery or medicine.
Do you understand what I am saying? Pay attention:
I want to teach you a word of wisdom. Why do we grieve Is, 43:26.
®Compare Is. 57:18.
K signe aera for those who are being punished, but not for those who are sinning? Punishment is not as grievous as sin, for sin is the reason for the punishment. If you see someone with a putrifying sore, and worms and discharges coming from his body, and you see him neglecting his infection, but you see another person with the same affliction benefiting from the hands of physicians, from cautery and surgery and bitter-tasting medicines, for whom will you grieve?
Tell me, for the one who is ill and is not being treated, or for the one who is ill and is being treated?/In the same way imagine two sinners, one being punished, the other not being punished. Do not say, this one is lucky because he is rich, he strips orphans of their property, and he oppresses widows. Apparently he is not ill, he has a good reputation in spite of his thefts, he enjoys honor and authority, he does not endure any of the troubles which afflict mankind—no fever, no paralysis, nor any other disease—a chorus of children surrounds him, his old age is comfortable; but you should grieve most for him, because he is indeed ill and receives no treatment. I shall tell you how. If you see someone afflicted with dropsy, his body swollen with a painful spleen, and not hurrying to the doctor, but drinking cold water, keeping a Sybaritic table, getting drunk every day, surounded with body-guards, and aggravating his disease, tell me, do you call him lucky or unlucky? If you see another person afflicted with dropsy, benefiting from the care of doctors, purging himself with hunger, with great difficulty braving his bitter medicines which are painful but bring forth health through pain, do you not call this person more fortunate than the other?
It is agreed: for one is ill and is not treated, but the other is ill and benefits from treatment. But, you may say, the treatment is painful. But its purpose is beneficial.
Our present life is like this also, but you must change the words from bodies to souls, from diseases to sins, from the bitter taste of medicines to the retribution and judgment
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from God. What the mdicines, surgery, and cautery are for the physician, chastisement is for God. Just as fire is often used to cauterize, to prevent the spread of infection, and as the steel removes decayed flesh, bringing pain but providing benefit, so hunger and disease, and other apparent evils, are used on the soul instead of steel and fire to prevent the spread of disease, by analogy with the body, and to make it better. Suppose that there are two fornicators—imagine the picture that my words describe— two fornicators, but one rich and the other poor. Which has more hope of salvation? Obviously, we agree, the poor man.
So you must not say, "The rich man commits fornication and is rich; therefore I call him lucky." You ought rather to call him lucky if he fornicated in poverty, if he fornicated in hunger; then he would have a forcible teacher of wisdom, his poverty. When you see a bad person faring well, then weep: for there are two evils, the disease and its incurability. When you see a bad person in misfortune, console him, not only for the reason that he is becoming better, but also because he is expiating many of his sins in this life. Pay careful attention to my words. Many people both expiate their sins here and endure judgment hereafter; but some here only, and some hereafter only. Hold on to my teaching. If you examine my words carefully, they will cast out many confusions from your thinking.
If you agree, let us bring into our midst first the person who is punished hereafter, but who enjoys luxury here.
Let both rich and poor attend to my words: the teaching will be beneficial to both. As evidence that many people are judged both here and hereafter, listen to Christ when
He says, "And whatever town or house you enter, as you enter the house, salute it, saying, 'Peace be to this house.' And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake
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off the dust from your feet as you leave that town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. Whatever town or house you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart."® From these words it is clear that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah both were judged in this world and are being punished in the other world.
When He says that it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for these people, He shows that the Sodomites are being punished but not as much as these people are.
There are, however, some who are punished in this life only, like the immoral man of whom the blessed Paul spoke when he wrote to the Corinthians, "It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father's wife. And you are arrogant, and you do not rather mourn, in order that he who has done this may be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgment on the man who has done such a thing, that when you are gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus, together with my spirit, you should deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Do you see how this man is punished here, and is not punished hereafter? Because his body was punished in this world, he is not punished hereafter.
Finally, I want to show you the man who lived in luxury here, but who is punished in the other world.
"There was a rich man."" If you recognize this story in advance, wait to hear the interpretation. This is to your credit and mine, that when you have heard the introduc- *Matthew 10:11-15 (out of order).
101 Cor. 5:1-5 ULuke 16:19.
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tion, you are already reaping the harvest. Your continual listening has made you teachers; but since there are some visitors who have come in with you, do not run out, but wait for the lame. For the Church is a body: it has an eye, and it has a head. Just as, if the heel is pricked by a thorn, the eye bends down, since it is also a part of the body, and does not say, "Because I am located above, I despise the lower member," but it bends down and leaves its height. What is humbler than the heel, or what is nobler than the eye? But sympathy corrects the difference, and love makes all even. You must do likewise. If you are swift, if you are well prepared for listening, but you have a brother who does not follow what is said, let your eye descend to the heel. Let it feel sympathy with the lame member, so that he may not await my words in destitution.
Do not use use your intelligence for his destruction, but be grateful to God for your swiftness. Are you rich? I rejoice and am glad; but he is still poor. Do not let him remain in poverty because of your wealth. He has a thorn, a confusion in his mind; descend to him and remove the thorn.
So what is written? "There was a rich man'—rich in name, but not in fact. "There was a rich man" wearing purple garments, setting an expensive table, wreathing his wine-bowls with garlands, giving drinking-parties every day; and there was another man, a poor man named Lazarus. And where is the name of the rich man? Nowhere; he is nameless. How much wealth? And his name is not found. What kind of wealth is this? A tree bearing leaves but deprived of fruit; an oak reaching aloft, providing acorns as food for beasts; a man without fruit for men.
Where there is wealth and robbery, there a wolf may be seen; where there is wealth and brutality, I see a lion and not a man: he has lost his nobility by the meanness of evil.
"There was a rich man" wearing purple garments every day, covering his soul with cobwebs, scented with perfumes,
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but stinking inside, setting an expensive table, feeding parasites and flatterers, fattening the slave, his flesh, but allowing the mistress, his soul, to perish from hunger. His house was decorated with garlands, but the foundation was dusty with sin. His soul was buried in wine. There that rich man was, you see, with his expensive table, his winebowls wreathed with garlands, and his company of parasites and flatterers, the evil theater of the devil, the wolves which seize many of the rich, which purchase the destruction of the wealthy by the fullness of their own bellies, which spoil wealth by excessive honor and flattery. One could not err in calling such people wolves, who surround the rich man like a sheep, lift him and puff him up with praise, and do not allow him to see his wound, but blind his understanding and increase his infection. Then when a change of circumstance overtakes him, his friends are put to flight, but we who censured him become sympathetic, while their faces are hidden. This often happens even nowadays.
There that rich man was, you see, feeding parasites and flatterers, making his house a theater, weakening everyone with wine, passing his time in great prosperity. There was another man, Lazarus, groaning with sores, sitting at the gate of the rich man, and desiring crumbs. He thirsted at the spring, he hungered in the midst of prosperity. And where was he lying? Not in the road, not in a street, not in an alley, not in the middle of the marketplace, but at the gate of the rich man, where he had to go in and out, so that he could not say, "I did not see him, I passed by and my eyes did not see him." He lies at your entrance, the pearl in the mud, and do you not see him? The physician is at your gate, and do you not accept the treatment? The pilot is in the harbor, and do you endure shipwreck? Do you feed parasites, and do you not feed the poor? This happened in the past, and it happens even now.
This is why this story is written, so that those who come
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later may learn from the events and may not suffer the same disaster as this man did. The poor man lay at the gate, you see: poor outwardly, but rich inwardly. He lay wounded in body, a treasure-chest with thorns above, but pearls underneath. What harm came to him from the weakness of his body, since his soul was healthy? Let the poor hear and not be suffocated by discouragement. Let the rich hear and change from their wickedness. This is why the two images are set before us, the images of wealth and poverty, of cruelty and endurance, of patience and greed, so that when you see a poor man injured and despised, you may not consider him unfortunate; and when you see a rich man adorning himself, you may not consider him fortunate. Run back to the parable. If the shipwreck of thoughts confuses you, rush to the harbor, take comfort from the explanation, think how Lazarus was despised, think how the rich man prospered and enjoyed luxury, and do not let any of the things which happen in life confuse you. If your understanding is accurate, the waves do not sink you, the ship is not submerged, if you distinguish the nature of things by the discernment of your thoughts.
Why do you say to me, "My body is in difficulty'?
Do not let your mind be harmed also. "So and so is rich and wicked." What of it? "But the evil is not visible." Do not evaluate the person for me by his outside but by his inside. If you see a tree, do not examine its leaves or its fruit? In the same way also with a human being, if you see someone, do not evaluate his outside but his inside.
Examine the fruit and not the leaves. Perhaps it is really a wild olive tree, but is thought to be a cultivated olive tree. Perhaps he is really a wolf but is thought to be a human being. You see, you should not examine his nature but his character, not his appearance but his disposition; and not his disposition only, but investigate his whole way of life. If he loves the poor, he is a human being; but
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if he is wholly involved in commerce, he is an oak tree.
If he has a savage temper, he is a lion; if he is rapacious, he is a wolf; if he is deceitful, he is a cobra. You should say, "I am looking for a human being; why have you shown me a beast instead of a man?" Learn what really is the virtue of a human being, and do not be confused.
Lazarus, you see, was lying at the gate, wounded, wasting away with hunger. The dogs came and licked his wounds: the dogs showed more love of mankind than the man did, when they licked his wounds and cleaned and removed the infection. He lay there, sitting like a gold coin beside the road, but even more valuable. He did not say what most poor people say, "Is this providence? Does God oversee human affairs? Do I live in righteousness and am
I poor, while he lives in iniquity and is rich?" He did not think any of these thoughts, but submitted to the incomprehensibility of God's love for mankind. He wiped his soul clean, he put on endurance, he demonstrated patience.
His body was lying down, but his mind was running forward, his will had grown wings. He was reaching for the prize, putting off evil things, becoming a witness of good things. He did not say, "Parasites are feasting in abundance, but I am not found worthy even of crumbs." What did he say instead? He gave thanks and glorified God. The time came for them to die. The rich man died and was buried. Lazarus departed, for I would not say that he died. The rich man's death was death and burial; but the poor man's death was a journey, a change for the better, a run from the mark to the prize, from the sea to the harbor, from the battle to the victory, from the sweat of the contest to the crown.
Both men departed to that place where everything is true. The stage sets were removed and the masks were taken off. In a theater of this world at mid-day the stage is set and many actors enter, playing parts, wearing masks on their faces, retelling some old story, narrating the
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events. One becomes a philosopher, though he is not a philosopher. Another becomes a king, though he is not a king, but has the appearance of a king for the story.
Another becomes a physician without knowing how to handle even a piece of wood, but wearing the garments of a physician. Another becomes a slave, though he is free; another a teacher, though he does not even know his letters. They appear something other than what they are, and they do not appear what they really are. One appears to be a physician, another appears to be a philosopher by wearing a hairy mask, and another appears to be a soldier by bearing the equipment of a soldier. The appearance of the mask deceives us, but it does not falsify the nature, for it truly changes the character which is represented. As long as the audience remain in their seats, the masks are valid; but when evening overtakes them, and the play is ended, and everyone goes out, the masks are cast aside. He who is king inside the theater is found to be a coppersmith outside. The masks are removed, the deceit departs, the truth is revealed. He who is a free man inside the theater is found to be a slave outside; for, as I said, the deceit is inside, but the truth is outside. Evening overtakes them, the play is ended, the truth appears. So it is also in life and its end. The present world is a theater, the conditions of men are roles: wealth and poverty, ruler and ruled, and so forth. When this day is cast aside, and that terrible night comes, or rather day, night indeed for sinners, but day for the righteous—when the play is ended, when the masks are removed, when each person is judged with his works—not each person with his wealth, not each person with his office, not each person with his authority, not each person with his power, but each person with his works, whether he is a ruler or a king, a woman or a man, when
He requires an account of our life and our good deeds, not the weight of our reputation, not the slightness of our poverty, not the tyranny of our disdain—give me your deeds
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if you are a slave but nobler than a free person, if you are a woman but braver than a man. When the masks are removed, then the truly rich and the truly poor are revealed. When the play ends, one of us looking out an upper window sees the man who is a philosopher inside the theater but a coppersmith outside, and says, "Hey!
Wasn't this man a philosopher inside? Outside I see that he is a coppersmith. Wasn't this other man a king inside?
Outside I see that he is some humble person. Wasn't that man rich inside? Outside I see that he is poor." The same thing happens when this life ends.
I will not speak in too much detail, in order not to confuse a listener by saying too many things; but I want to set before you the masks of two roles from the theater.
I have handled two masks, cutting a path for you with these two, and giving you a starting point. I have broadened your understanding by explaining the present life, so that each of you may learn to distinguish reality. There were two masks, you see: one person had the mask of a rich man, the other, of a poor man. Lazarus had the mask of a poor man, but the rich man had the mask of a rich man. Appearances are masks, not the truth of reality.
Both departed to the other world, the rich man and the poor man. The angels received Lazarus—angels after the dogs, after the rich man's gate the bosom of Abraham, after hunger limitless prosperity, after tribulation perpetual comfort.
But poverty received the rich man after his wealth, after his rich table punishment and retribution, after his comfort unbearable anguish. See what happens: they departed to the other world, and the play ended; the masks have been removed, and the faces appear from now on. Both have departed to the other world. The rich man from his grill sees Lazarus enjoying abundance and luxury in the bosom of Abraham, and says to him, "Father
Abraham, send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am being broiled."
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What does Abraham reply? "Son, you have received the good things due to you, and Lazarus the evil things due to him; now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
And besides, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able." Pay attention: the discussion of these words is beneficial, frightening indeed, but purifying, bringing anguish, but setting us upright. Listen to what I say. From his torments the rich man looked up and saw
Lazarus: he saw a new situation. "He was at your gate every day; a second or third time you went in and out without seeing him. Now, when you are on the grill, do you see from a distance? When you were living in your wealth, when you were free to see at your own will, you did not choose to see him. Why do you have such keen sight now? Was he not at your gate? How could you avoid seeing him? When he was near you did not see him; and now do you see him from a distance, even across such a chasm?"
And what does the rich man do? He calls Abraham father. "Why do you call father the man whose hospitality you did not imitate?" He calls Abraham father, and Abraham calls him son. Here are the names of relationship, but never any help. The parable brings forward the names, to teach you that family is of no benefit. True nobility is not the eminence of your ancestors, but the virtue of your character. Do not say to me, "My father is a consul." What is that to me? I do not say this only,
"Do not say to me, 'My father is a consul.'" If you have Paul the apostle for your father, if you have martyrs for your brothers, but you do not imitate their virtue, the relationship is of no benefit to you, but rather it harms and condemns you. "My mother," someone says, "is an almsgiver." What does that have to do with you in your in37 uke 16:24-26.
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humanity? Her love of humanity adds to the accusation of your wickedness. What does John the Baptist say to the Jewish people? "Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not presume to say, 'We have Abraham as our father.' ""*
Do you have a glorious ancestor? If you emulate him, you have profited; but if you do not emulate him, your noble ancestor becomes your accuser, because you are a bitter fruit from a righteous stock. Never call a person fortunate because he has a rigteous relative, if he does not imitate that relative's righteous character. Do you have a wicked woman as your mother? It has nothing to do with you. Just as a good mother's virtue does nothing to help you unless you emulate it, so also a bad mother's wickedness does not harm you if you adopt a different way of life. Just as hereafter you deserve greater blame because, having an example in your own home, you did not imitate her virtue, so also here a person deserves greater praise who has a bad mother yet does not imitate her wickedness, but has grown good fruit from a bitter stock. It is not the eminence of your ancestors but the virtue of your character which is required of you.
For my part, I may call even a slave noble, and a master shackled with chains, if I learn his character. For me the person of high rank belongs to the lowest class if he has a slavish soul. For who is truly a slave, if not the person who commits sin? Other slavery is a matter of our external circumstances, but this slavery is a difference of interior disposition. In fact slavery originally came from this source. Formerly there were no slaves. When God formed man, He did not make him a slave, but free. He made Adam and Eve, and both were free. So how did slavery begin? The race of men drifted off course, passed beyond the proper limits of desire, and were carried away with licentiousness. Hear how this came about.
27 uke 3:8.
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There was a flood, a common shipwreck of the whole inhabited world. The flood-gates were opened, the abysses gushed forth, and everything was water.* Visible things were dissolved and reduced to their elements; earth no longer appeared, but everything was sea, because of the anger of God. Everything was waves and sea. Mountains reach high, but the sea covered them. There was nothing but sea and heaven, and the race of men had perished.
Noah was the spark of our race, a spark floating in the midst of the sea without being quenched, bringing the first-fruits of our race, his wife and children, a dove and a raven, and all the rest. All of them were inside, and the ark was carried on top of the water in the midst of the flood. It did not suffer shipwreck, for it had as its pilot the Master of all. It was not the planking of the ark which saved them, but His mighty hand. And see a miracle: when the earth had been washed clean by the flood, when those who did evil had been destroyed, when the storm had abated, the peaks of the mountains appeared, the ark Janded, and Noah sent the dove.
These stories are mysteries, and the events are a type of what was to come: that is, the ark represents the Church, Noah represents Christ, the dove represents the Holy Spirit, the olive branch represents God's love for mankind." He sent forth the gentle animal, and it went out from the ark—but those things are types, and these are the truth. See the bounty of the truth. Just as the ark in the midst of the flood saved those who were inside, so the Church saves all those who go astray. But the ark merely saved them, while the Church does something more. I mean something like this: the ark received the irrational animals saved them as irrational animals. The Church has received irrational human beings, and does not merely save them,
"Gen, 7:11.
"Compare 1 Peter 3:20.
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but also changes them. The ark received a raven and sent forth a raven. The Church receives a raven and sends forth a dove; it receives a wolf and sends forth a sheep. When a person enters rapacious and avaricious and hears the teaching of the divine Scriptures, he changes his disposition and becomes a sheep instead of a wolf. The wolf steals what belongs to others, but the sheep gives up even its own wool, The ark landed and the doors were opened. Noah went forth, saved from shipwreck. He saw the earth made desolate. He saw a tomb improvised from mud, a common grave of animals and men, all the bodies of horses, human beings, and all kinds of irrational beasts buried together in heaps.
He saw that tragedy; he saw the earth groaning bitterly.
He was very discouraged. Everyone had perished. No human being, no animal, nothing else outside of the ark had been saved. He saw only the heavens. He was overcome by discouragement; he was held fast by anguish.
He drank wine and yielded himself to sleep to relieve the wound of his discouragement. He lay on his bed, yielding himself to sleep as if to a doctor, obtaining forgetfulness in his mind of what had taken place, as usually happens when an old man drinks wine and falls asleep. We must defend the righteous man, because he did not desire drunkenness and passion but used them to heal his wound.
Solomon also says this: "Give wine to those in grief, and strong drink to those in anguish."* For this reason many people, especially at funerals, when someone has lost a child or a wife, when emotion overcomes him, when discouragement surrounds him, when consciousness rules over him, take their friends into their own house and make a generous drinking party. They give undiluted wine to the one who is mourning to relieve his pain.
The same thing happened then to Noah. Overcome by 16Proy, 31:6.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
discouragement, he used wine like a medicine, and by means of the wine yielded himself to sleep. But in order that you may learn how slavery began, a little later that accursed son of his went in—his son by nature but not by character (again I say that nobility is not the eminence of ancestors but the virtue of one's character); his son went in and saw the nakedness of his father.' He should have clothed him, he should have covered him up because of his old age, because of his grief, because of his misfortune, because he was his father; but he went out and announced it and proclaimed it. His other brothers took a garment, carrying it backwards to keep from seeing what he had announced, and went in and covered their father. When their father arose, he knew everything that had happened; and he began to say, "Cursed be the child Canaan: he shall be a servant to his brothers.* He meant something like this: "You shall be a slave, because you proclaimed the disgrace of your father." Do you see that slavery came from sin, and wickedness introduced slavery?
Shall I show you freedom arising from slavery? There was a certain Onesimus, a slave, a good-for-nothing runaway. He escaped and went to Paul. He obtained baptism, washed away his sins, and remained at Paul's feet. Paul writes to the slave's master, '""Onesimus
. who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful indeed to you and to me... receive him as you would receive me." What had happened? "I have become his father in my imprisonment."
Do you see his nobility? Do you see a character that brings freedom? Slave and free are simply names. What is a slave? It is a mere name. How many masters lie drunken on their beds, while slaves stand by sober? Whom shall I Gen. 9:22.
%®Gen. 9:25.
19Philemon 10-17.
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call a slave? The one who is sober, or the one who is drunk? The one who is the slave of a man, or the one who is the captive of passion? The former has his slavery on the outside; the latter wears his captivity on the inside. I say this, and I will not stop saying it, in order that you may have a disposition which serves the true nature of things, and may not be led astray by the same deception as most people, but may know what a slave is, what a poor person is, what an ignoble person is, what a fortunate person is, and what passion is. If you learn to distinguish these, you will not be subject to any confusion.
But lest the digression, which has become rather long, lead my sermon astray, let us return to the subject. Here is this rich man, you see, but poor from now on; or rather, when he was rich he was poor. What benefit is it to a man who has other people's possessions but does not have his own? What benefit is it to a man who has gained money but has not gained virtue? Why do you take others' possessions and lose your own? "I have," he says, "fruitful land."
What of it? You do not have a fruitful soul. "I have slaves."
But you do not have virtue. "I have clothing." But you have not obtained piety. You have what belongs to another, but you do not have what is your own. If someone gives you a deposit of money in trust, I cannot call you rich, can I? No. Why not? Because you have another's money.
For this is a deposit; I wish it were only a deposit, and not a sum added to your punishment.
So when the rich man sees Lazarus, he says, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me."" These are the words of a pauper, a mendicant, a beggar. "Father Abraham, have mercy on me." What do you want? "Send Lazarus." The man whom you passed by a thousand times, whom you did not want to see—now do you seek to have him sent to you for your salavation? "Send Lazarus." And where are your
J uke 16:24.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
cup bearers? Where are your carpets? Where are your parasites? Where are your flatterers? Where is your vanity?
Where is your presumption? Where is your buried gold?
Where are your moth-eaten garments? Where is the silver which you valued so highly? Where are your ostentation and your luxury? They were leaves—winter seized them, and they are all withered up. They were a dream—and when day came, the dream departed. They were a shadow
—the truth came, and the shadow fled away.
"Send Lazarus." Why does he not see any other righteous person? Why not Noah, or Jacob, or Lot, or Isaac, but Abraham? Why? Because Abraham was hospitable and brought travellers into his tent. Abraham's hospitality, you see, becomes a more serious accusation against the rich man's inhumanity. "Send Lazarus." When we hear, let us be afraid, my beloved, lest we also see the poor and pass them by, lest instead of Lazarus there be many to accuse us hereafter. "Send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am being broiled."™ "For with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."" Did you fail to give a share of your crumbs? You do not receive a share of waterdrops. "Send Lazarus to cool my tongue with the end of his finger, because I am being broiled." And what does Abraham say to him? "Son, you have received in your life the good things due to you, and Lazarus likewise the evil due to him. And now he is comforted here, but you are in anguish."
Here in his reply Abraham did not say merely "you have received" (EAaBec), but "you have received as your due" (&néAaPec). The addition of the prefix makes a big difference. As I have often said to you, my beloved, we ought to be interpreters even of syllables. "Search the "Luke 16:24.
Matthew 7:2.
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Scriptures," it is written; for often one iota or one dot awakens an idea.™ To learn that the addition of one letter can have a meaning, remember that this same patriarch
Abraham (in Greek *"ABpacu) was formerly called Abram. God said to him, "Your name shall not be Abram but Abraham."* He added an "a," and made him the father of many nations. So you see the addition of one letter showed his great nobility. Therefore do not simply pass over things like these. For Abraham did not say,
"You have received your good things," but, "you have received as your due." He who receives as his due, receives what is owed to him as a debt. Pay attention to what I am saying: receiving is one thing, and receiving what is due is another. A person receives as due what he had before, but often receives what he had not obtained before.
"You have received the good things due to you, and Lazarus the evil things due to him." See how both the rich man received the good due to him, and Lazarus received the evil due to him. I have said all this because of those who are punished here but not hereafter, and because of those who live in luxury here but are punished hereafter.
So pay attention to what I say: "You have received the good things due to you, and Lazarus the evil things due to him'—the things owed, the debts. Pay attention to our inquiry—I am coming to the point—let me weave the web.
Do not become confused by the introduction. When I say something like this, wait for the conclusion. I want to make you keen-sighted, and not simply exercise you superficially, but bring you to the deep of the divine Scriptures, a deep without storms, a deep safer than any calm sea. The farther out you go, the greater safety you find. For here there is no disordered rush of waters, but an orderly arrangement
*John 5:39.
"Compare Matthew 5:18.
Gen. 17:5.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
of ideas. ""You have received the good things due to you, and Lazarus the evil things due to him; and now he is comforted, but you are in anguish." This is an important inquiry. I said that he who receives something as due receives a debt which is owed to him. So if Lazarus was righteous (as indeed he was), and he appeared in the bosom of Abraham with his crown, his prize, his comfort, his enjoyment, the rewards of his endurance and his patience, but the other was a sinner, thoroughly wicked and inhuman, spending his life in luxury and drunkenness, setting a Sybaritic table, involved in such licentiousness and wantonness, why does Abraham say to him, "You have received as your due"? Was some debt owed to him, a wealthy man, a profligate and inhuman person? What was owed to him? Why did Abraham not say, "you received," but '"'you received as your due'?
Pay attention to what I am saying. Retribution was owed to him, punishment was owed to him, anguish was owed to him. Why did Abraham not say, "you have received them," but "you have received those things as your due," meaning that life of his, and "Lazarus has received the evil things due to him"? Stretch your mind—
I am going down into the depth of ideas. Among all human beings that exist, some are sinners and the rest are righteous. So attend also to the difference among the righteous.
One person is righteous, but another is more righteous.
One is sublime, but another is more so. Just as there are many stars and the sun and moon, so there is a difference among the righteous. "There is one glory of the sun, and another of the moon, and another glory of the stars.""
For one is greater in glory, but another is less. And just as it is among heavenly bodies, so it is also among earthly bodies. And as among bodies one is a deer, another a dog, another a lion or some other beast, another a snake or *°1 Cor. 15:41.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
something of that kind, so also among sins there are differences. Of human beings, you see, some are righteous and the rest are sinners; but both among the righteous and among sinners there are great differences. Pay attention: if someone is righteous, even if he is ten thousand times righteous, and if he reaches the very height, so as to be freed from sin, he still cannot be clean of every spot; even if he is ten thousand times righteous, yet he is a human being. "For who will boast that he has a pure heart? Or who will say confidently that he is clean from sin?'"' For this reason we are commanded to say in prayer, "Forgive us our debts,'" so that by the habit of prayer we may remember that we are subject to punishment hereafter.
Even Paul the apostle, the chosen vessel, the temple of God, the mouth of Christ, the lyre of the Spirit, the teacher of the world, he who crossed land and sea, who drew out the thorns of sin, who sowed the seeds of piety, he who was richer than kings, mightier than the wealthy, stronger than a soldier, wiser than the philosophers, more eloquent than the orators, he who possessed nothing and yet had gained everything, who loosed death by his shadow, who put disease to flight by his garments, who won a victory on the sea, who was snatched up to the third heaven, who entered paradise, who proclaimed Christ as God—he says,
"I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby justified." He who has gained so many and such great virtues still says, "It is the Lord who judges me.""
So who will boast that he has a pure heart? Or who will say confidently that he is clean from sin? It is impossible, you see, for any human being to be without sin.
What do you say? A certain person is righteous? He gives alms? He loves the poor? But he has some fault. He has
*"Prov. 20:9.
*Matthew 6:12.
#1 Cor. 4:4.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
a violent temper, or an exaggerated opinion of himself, or something else of this kind—I do not need to make a complete catalogue. One person gives alms, but often fails to control himself; another is self-controlled, but does not give alms. One person is renowned for this virtue, another for that virtue. Suppose that a certain person is righteous: often a person is righteous, and has all the good qualities, but has become arrogant because of his righteousness; and his arrogance has spoiled his righteousness. Was not the Pharisee righteous, fasting twice in the week? And what did he say? "I am not like other people, thieves and extortioners."** Often from a clear conscience a person has come into arrogance; and the harm which sin did not do to him is done by his arrogance. Indeed it is not possible for a human being to be so thoroughly righteous as to be clean from sin. Conversely, it is not possible for any human being to be so evil as not to have even a small good quality. I mean something like this: so-and-so commits theft, fraud, and outrage; but sometimes he gives alms, sometimes he controls himself, sometimes he speaks a kind word, sometimes he has helped even one man, sometimes he has mourned, sometimes he has been sad. So neither is there any righteous person without sin, nor any sinner entirely destitute of goodness. What is more grievous than
Ahab? He had killed and taken possession;" nevertheless, when he became sorrowful, God said to Elijah, "Have you seen how Ahab has been pricked to the heart?"" Have you seen how in such a depth of evil some small good has been found? What is worse than Judas the traitor, who was taken captive by the love of money? Nevertheless even he did a good deed, small though it was, after his betrayal. For he said, "I have sinned in betraying innouke 18:11.
*]II Kings 20:19.
"111 Kings 20:29.
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cent blood.'** This is what I meant: a person is not evil by nature, so that virtue can have no place in him. The sheep can never become a wild animal, for it is gentle by nature. The wolf can never become tame, for it is wild by nature. The laws of the animal's nature are not dissolved nor shaken but remain immovable. In my case this does not apply, but I become wild when I wish and tame when I wish; for I am not bound by nature, but I have been honored with freedom of choice.
As I said, neither is anyone so good as not to have a small stain, nor is anyone so bad as not to have even a small good quality. Since, therefore, there is a requital for everything, there is also a reward for everything. Even if someone is a murderer, however wicked or greedy he is, if he does something good, the recompense remains for his good deed; his good deed does not go unrewarded because of the evil which he has done. Conversely, if someone has accomplished innumerable good deeds, but has also done something mean, the recompense remains for his mean action. Remember this; keep it firm and immovable. There is neither any good person without sin, nor any bad person without righteousness.
I am saying the same thing again, in order to root the idea, to plant it, to set it in the depth of your hearts. The devil puts some troubles in your soul, wishing to lead your minds astray and to spoil what I am saying. For this reason I send my words down to the depths. If you keep them there securely, even if you go outside, you cannot lose them. Just as if I put gold into a purse, tie it up and seal it, to keep a thief from taking it when I am away, so also I do with you, my beloved. With my continual teaching I tie up and seal, and make your disposition secure, so that it may not become stale from idleness, but preserving it better, I may drive away the confusion outside by the calm here within.
Matthew 27:4.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
So, you see, my words do not come from mere loquacity, but from the teacher's concern, affection, and love, lest the words fall away. Saying these things is not troublesome for me, and it is more secure for you. I want to teach, not simply to put on a display.
So there is no righteous person who does not have sin, and there is no sinner who does not have goodness,
But since there is a recompense for each, see what happens. The sinner receives as his due the fair recompense for his good deeds, if he has even a small good deed; and the righteous person receives as his due the fair judgment for his sin, if he has done even a small evil deed. So what happens, and what does God do? He has set a boundary for the sin between the present life and the age to come. If a person is righteous, but has performed some mean action, and is ill in this life and is handed over to punishment, do not be disturbed, but consider with yourself, and say that this righteous man has done some small evil deed at some time, and is receiving his due here, in order that he may not be punished hereafter. Conversely, if you see a sinner robbing, defrauding, and doing innumerable evil deeds, if he is prosperous, consider that he has done some good at some time and is receiving the good things due to him here, in order that he may not require his reward hereafter. So if someone is righteous and suffers some misfortune, he receives his due here for this purpose, in order that he may put away his sin here and depart clean to the other world. If someone is a sinner, laden with wickedness, ill with innumerable incurable evils, rapacious, avaricious, he enjoys prosperity here for this purpose, in order that he may not seek a reward hereafter. Since, therefore, Lazarus happened to have some sins, and the rich man had some good deed, for this reason Abraham says, "Do not seek anything here: you have received the good due to you in that life, and Lazarus the evil due to him." To prove that I am not simply saying this, but that
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
it really is like this, he says, "You have received the good things due to you." What? Have you done something good?
You have received your wealth, your health, your luxury, your power, your authority. Nothing is owed to you. You have received the good things due to you. What then?
Has Lazarus not sinned at all? Yes, Lazarus also has received the evil things due to him. When you were receiving your good things, then Lazarus also was receiving his evil things. For this reason he now is comforted, but you are in anguish.
So when you see a righteous person punished in this life, consider him fortunate, and say, "This righteous person either has some sin, and is receiving what is due for it and departing clean to the other life; or else he is being punished more than his sins, and a surplus of righteousness is being reckoned to him." For an accounting takes place hereafter, and God says to the righteous person, "You have this much from Me." Perhaps He entrusts to him ten obols and gives him a credit for the ten obols.
If the person spends sixty obols, God says to him, "I count the ten obols towards your sin, and the fifty towards righteousness." To learn that the remainder is counted towards righteousness for him, remember that Job was a righteous man, blameless, truthful, pious, abstaining from every evil deed. His body was punished here in order that he might seek a reward hereafter. What does God say to Lim? "Do you think that I have dealt with you in any other way than that you may be revealed as righteous?"™
Therefore, displaying the same patience as the righteous, and showing endurance equal to their good conduct, let us receive as our due the good things which are prepared for the saints who love God; which may we all attain, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be the glory and the power unto ages of ages. Amen.
*Job 40:8.