{"slug":"khazarzar-john-chrysostom-contra-ludos-et-theatra","id":"greek:khazarzar:khazarzar-john-chrysostom-contra-ludos-et-theatra","title":"Contra ludos et theatra","title_source":"Contra ludos et theatra","author":"John Chrysostom","genre":"polemic/apologetic","date":"","tradition":"greek","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T07:03:34Z","cost_usd":0.006199},"source":{"registry_id":"greek:khazarzar:khazarzar-john-chrysostom-contra-ludos-et-theatra","work_id":"khazarzar-john-chrysostom-contra-ludos-et-theatra","edition":"khazarzar","language":"","license":"Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer","url":"http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Migne/John%20Chrysostom_PG%2047-64/Contra%20ludos%20et%20theatra.pdf"},"stats":{"passages":11,"english_words":3127,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":12336,"commentary_units":65,"commentary_kinds":8,"derived_notes":1,"ambiguities":16,"work_notes":5,"external_links":0,"timeline":5},"summary":{"work":"khazarzar-john-chrysostom-contra-ludos-et-theatra","abstract":"John Chrysostom's 'Contra ludos et theatra' is a Greek polemic homily condemning theatrical shows and games, likely delivered in Antioch between 386 and 397. The text survives in multiple late Byzantine manuscripts, collated in a modern edition by khazarzar without critical apparatus. Chrysostom employs hyperbolic rhetoric, framing his condemnation as a divine indictment and contrasting worldly entertainment with Christian piety. The sermon was later excerpted in Byzantine florilegia and cited by canonists to justify bans on spectacles, influencing Eastern Christian moral teaching. It should not be read as a neutral historical report but as a pastoral polemic shaped by Chrysostom's aims.","historical_context":"The homily is traditionally assigned to Chrysostom's Antioch period (c. 386–397), but lacks specific references to festivals or imperial decrees, making precise dating conjectural. Antioch was a major urban center in late antique Syria, known for its horse races and theatrical shows, which Christian preachers often condemned as pagan and morally corrupting. The Greek text survives in multiple late Byzantine manuscripts, but no autograph or early authoritative copy exists; the khazarzar edition collates several witnesses without recording variant readings or scribal emendations. The work was later excerpted in Byzantine florilegia on spectacles and cited by canonists to justify bans on theatrical performances, influencing medieval Eastern Christian moral teaching on entertainment.","significance":"This homily exemplifies Chrysostom's rhetorical strategy of hyperbolic condemnation and his pastoral use of biblical typology, such as comparing the church to a 'spiritual theater.' It shaped later Byzantine moral discourse on entertainment and was cited in canon law to justify restrictions on spectacles, reflecting the ongoing tension between Christian piety and urban popular culture in late antiquity.","timeline":[{"date":"c. 386–397","event":"Probable delivery of the homily in Antioch during Chrysostom's presbyterate."},{"date":"4th–5th c.","event":"Transmission of the Greek text in multiple manuscripts, with no autograph surviving."},{"date":"Byzantine period","event":"Excerpted in florilegia on spectacles and cited by canonists to justify bans on theatrical performances."},{"date":"Medieval period","event":"Influenced Eastern Christian moral teaching on entertainment."},{"date":"Modern","event":"Edition by khazarzar based on collation of late Byzantine witnesses, without critical apparatus."}],"relations":[{"work":"John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Statues","relation":"Another Antioch-period work by Chrysostom addressing urban disorder and moral reform.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Tatian, Address to the Greeks","relation":"Earlier Christian polemic against Greek spectacles and theater.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Tertullian, De spectaculis","relation":"Latin Christian treatise condemning spectacles, similar in theme and rhetorical strategy.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Byzantine canon law collections (e.g., Nomocanon)","relation":"Later citation of Chrysostom's homily to justify bans on theatrical performances.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"LXX Jeremiah 2:4–5; Micah 6:3","relation":"Biblical passages echoed in Chrysostom's paraphrase of God's reproach to Israel.","key":"","label":null,"url":null}],"external_links":[],"cautions":["The precise date of the homily is conjectural, as internal references to specific festivals or imperial decrees are absent.","The khazarzar edition lacks a critical apparatus and does not list manuscript sigla, so textual stability cannot be assessed.","The work is a polemic shaped by pastoral aims and should not be read as a neutral historical report of late antique entertainment."],"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","cost_usd":0.000481,"generated":"2026-11-15T07:03:34Z"},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Patrologia Graeca text (khazarzar mirror)","url":"http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Migne/John%20Chrysostom_PG%2047-64/Contra%20ludos%20et%20theatra.pdf"}],"checks":{"work":"khazarzar-john-chrysostom-contra-ludos-et-theatra","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":11,"translated":11,"commentary_passages":11,"commentary_units":65,"english_words":3127,"source_letters":12332,"commentary_kinds":8},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The Greek text survives in multiple manuscripts, but no single autograph or early authoritative copy is known. The edition by khazarzar relies on a collation of several late Byzantine witnesses.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"The sermon is traditionally dated to Chrysostom's Antioch period (c. 386–397), but internal references to specific festivals or imperial decrees are absent, making a precise date conjectural.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"external","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"This homily was excerpted in later Byzantine florilegia on spectacles and cited by canonists to justify bans on theatrical performances. It influenced medieval Eastern Christian moral teaching on entertainment.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"The edition does not provide a critical apparatus or list of manuscript sigla. Variant readings and scribal emendations are not recorded, so the user cannot assess textual stability.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"Chrysostom's rhetorical strategy includes hyperbolic condemnation of theaters and games. The work should not be read as a neutral historical report of late antique entertainment but as a polemic shaped by pastoral aims.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: polemic/apologetic in ancient Greek; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 11 narrative."},{"kind":"caution","severity":"caution","text":"1 passage(s) are fragmentary in the source; the English bridges each break and says so in the note."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: khazarzar — Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":11},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΥ, ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΕΩΣ, ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Πρὸς τοὺς καταλείψαντας τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ αὐτομολήσαντας πρὸς τὰς ἱπποδρομίας καὶ τὰ θέατρα.\n\nαʹ. Ταῦτα ἀνεκτά; ταῦτα φορητά; Ὑμῖν γὰρ αὐτοῖς καθ' ὑμῶν ἐντυχεῖν βούλομαι. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησε τοῖς Ἑβραίοις· αὐτοῖς γὰρ κατ' αὐτῶν ἐντυγχάνων ἔλεγε· Λαός μου, τί ἐποίησά σοι, καὶ τί ἐλύπησά σε, ἢ τί παρηνώχλησά σοι; ἀποκρίθητί μοι. Καὶ πάλιν· Τί εὕροσαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν ἐν ἐμοὶ πλημμέλημα; Τοῦτον δὴ καὶ ἐγὼ μιμήσομαι, καὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς πάλιν· Ταῦτα ἀνεκτά; ταῦτα φορητά; Μετὰ μακροὺς διαύλους λόγων, καὶ τοσαύτην διδασκαλίαν, καταλιπόντες ἡμᾶς τινες, πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν τῶν ἁμιλλητηρίων ἵππων ηὐτομόλησαν, καὶ οὕτως ἐξεβακχεύθησαν, ὥστε πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν ἐμπλῆσαι βοῆς καὶ κραυγῆς ἀτάκτου, καὶ πολὺν γέλωτα, μᾶλλον δὲ θρῆνον φερούσης. Ἐγὼ οὖν οἴκοι καθήμενος, καὶ τῆς φωνῆς ἀκούων ἐκρηγνυμένης, τῶν κλυδωνιζομένων χαλεπώτερον ἔπασχον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι, τῶν κυμάτων τοῖς τοίχοις τῆς νηὸς προσρηγνυμένων, περὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων κινδυνεύοντες δεδοίκασιν· οὕτω καὶ ἐμοὶ χαλεπώτεραι αἱ κραυγαὶ προσεῤῥήγνυντο ἐκεῖναι, καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν ἔκυπτον καὶ ἐνεκαλυπτόμην· τῶν μὲν ἄνω τοιαῦτα ἀσχημονούντων, τῶν δὲ κάτω ἐν μέσῃ τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἡνιόχους κροτούντων, καὶ χαλεπώτερα ἐκείνων βοώντων. Τί δὲ ἐροῦμεν; ἢ τί ἀπολογησόμεθα, εἰ ξένος τίς ποθεν ἐπιστὰς ἐγκαλοίη καὶ λέγοι· Ταῦτα ἡ πόλις τῶν ἀποστόλων; ταῦτα ἡ τοιοῦτον λαβοῦσα ὑποφήτην; ταῦτα ὁ δῆμος ὁ φιλόχριστος, τὸ θέατρον τὸ ἄπλαστον, τὸ πνευματικόν;","english":"Of Our Father among the Saints John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, a Homily Against Those Who Have Left the Church and Deserted to the Horse Races and Theatres.\n\n1. Are these things tolerable? Are these things endurable? For I wish to bring a charge against you on your own behalf. Thus also God did to the Hebrews; for bringing a charge against them on their own behalf, he said: My people, what have I done to you, and how have I grieved you, or how have I troubled you? Answer me. And again: What fault did your fathers find in me? This then I also will imitate, and I will say to you again: Are these things tolerable? Are these things endurable? After long courses of discourses, and so much teaching, some have left us and deserted to the spectacle of the racing horses, and have become so frenzied that they have filled the whole city with shouting and disorderly clamor, bringing forth much laughter, or rather lamentation. I, sitting at home and hearing the voice bursting forth, suffered more severely than those tossed by waves. For just as they, when the waves dash against the sides of the ship, fear for their very lives, so also those cries dashed against me more violently, and I bowed my head to the ground and covered myself; while those above were behaving so unseemly, those below in the middle of the marketplace were applauding the charioteers and shouting more violently than they. But what shall we say? Or how shall we defend ourselves, if some stranger from somewhere should stand by and accuse us, saying: Is this the city of the apostles? Is this the city that received such a teacher? Is this the Christ-loving people, the unfeigned theater, the spiritual one?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Ταῦτα ἀνεκτά; ταῦτα φορητά;","severity":"info","text":"The opening rhetorical question is repeated verbatim later in the passage, framing the homily as a judicial indictment (ἐντυχεῖν) and imitating the prophetic rebuke of God to the Hebrews.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Λαός μου, τί ἐποίησά σοι","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom paraphrases God’s reproach to Israel, echoing LXX passages such as Jeremiah 2:4–5 and Micah 6:3, where God demands an accounting from his people.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"ἱπποδρομίας καὶ θέατρα","severity":"info","text":"Horse races and theatrical shows were major urban entertainments in late antique Antioch and Constantinople, often condemned by Christian preachers as pagan and morally corrupting.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"ὑποφήτην","severity":"info","text":"The term ὑποφήτην (interpreter or expounder) likely refers to the apostle Paul or a local teacher, not to Chrysostom himself; the stranger’s question contrasts the city’s apostolic heritage with its current disorder.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"τὸ θέατρον τὸ ἄπλαστον, τὸ πνευματικόν","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom inverts the term θέατρον to describe the church as the ‘unfeigned, spiritual theater,’ a motif later influential in Byzantine liturgical rhetoric.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of the stranger (ξένος τίς ποθεν) is unspecified; it may be a rhetorical device or a reference to a hypothetical visitor."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"Οὐδὲ τὴν ἡμέραν αὐτὴν ᾐδέσθητε, ἐν ᾗ τὰ σύμβολα τῆς σωτηρίας τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν ἐτελεῖτο· ἀλλ' ἐν παρασκευῇ, ὅτε ὁ Δεσπότης σου ὑπὲρ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐσταυροῦτο, καὶ θυσία τοιαύτη προσεφέρετο, καὶ παράδεισος ἠνοίγετο, καὶ λῃστὴς εἰς τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπανήγετο πατρίδα, κατάρα ἐλύετο, καὶ ἁμαρτία ἠφανίζετο, καὶ ὁ χρόνιος ἀνῃρεῖτο πόλεμος, καὶ Θεοῦ καταλλαγὴ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐγίνετο, καὶ πάντα μετεῤῥυθμίζετο· ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ἡνίκα νηστεύειν καὶ δοξολογεῖν ἔδει, καὶ εὐχαριστηρίους εὐχὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀγαθῶν ἀναπέμπειν τῷ ταῦτα ποιήσαντι· τότε σὺ καταλιπὼν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ θυσίαν πνευματικὴν, καὶ ἀδελφῶν σύλλογον, καὶ νηστείας τὸ σεμνὸν, αἰχμάλωτος ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν ἀπηνέχθης ἐκείνην; Ταῦτα ἀνεκτά; ταῦτα φορητά; Οὐ γὰρ παύσομαι ταῦτα συνεχῶς λέγων, καὶ τὴν ὀδύνην ἐμαυτοῦ ταύτῃ παραμυθούμενος, τὸ [φ. τῷ] μὴ πιέζειν αὐτὴν τῇ σιγῇ, ἀλλ' εἰς μέσον ἐκφέρειν, καὶ πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τῶν ὑμετέρων τιθέναι. Πῶς δυνησόμεθα τὸν Θεὸν λοιπὸν ἵλεω ποιῆσαι; πῶς καταλλάξαι ὀργιζόμενον; Πρὸ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἐπομβρία καὶ ὑετὸς κατεῤῥήγνυτο πάντα παρασύρων, ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ στόματος, ὡς εἰπεῖν, τὴν τράπεζαν τῶν γηπόνων ἀφαρπάζων, στάχυας κομῶντας κατακλίνων, τὰ ἄλλα ἅπαντα τῇ πλεονεξίᾳ τῆς ὑγρᾶς κατασήπων οὐσίας· λιτανεῖαι καὶ ἱκετηρίαι, καὶ πᾶσα ἡμῶν ἡ πόλις ὥσπερ χείμαῤῥος ἐπὶ τοὺς τόπους τῶν ἀποστόλων ἔτρεχε, καὶ συνηγόρους ἐλαμβάνομεν τὸν ἅγιον Πέτρον καὶ τὸν μακάριον Ἀνδρέαν, τὴν ξυνωρίδα τῶν ἀποστόλων, Παῦλον καὶ Τιμόθεον.","english":"tolerable? Did you not respect even that day, on which the symbols of our race's salvation were being accomplished? But on the Preparation, when your Lord was being crucified for the world, and such a sacrifice was being offered, and paradise was being opened, and the thief was being restored to his ancient fatherland, the curse was being dissolved, and sin was being obliterated, and the long-standing war was being ended, and the reconciliation of God with men was taking place, and everything was being transformed—on that day, when you ought to have been fasting and giving glory, and sending up prayers of thanksgiving for the good things of the world to the one who accomplished them—then did you, abandoning church and spiritual sacrifice, and the assembly of brethren, and the dignity of fasting, become a captive of the devil and get carried off to that spectacle? Are these things tolerable? Are these things bearable? For I will not cease saying these things repeatedly, consoling my own grief with this—by not suppressing it in silence, but by bringing it into the open and placing it before your eyes. How shall we be able to render God propitious from now on? How shall we reconcile him when he is angry? Three days ago, a downpour and rain burst forth, sweeping everything away, snatching the table of the farmers from their very mouths, as it were, laying low the ripening ears of grain, rotting all the rest with the excess of the wet substance. Liturgies and supplications, and our whole city like a torrent, were running to the places of the apostles, and we were taking as advocates the holy Peter and the blessed Andrew, the pair of apostles, Paul and Timothy.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"παρασκευῇ","severity":"info","text":"Παρασκευή (Preparation) is the Greek term for Friday, especially Good Friday, the day of Christ's crucifixion. Chrysostom uses it to heighten the contrast between sacred observance and worldly entertainment.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"λῃστὴς εἰς τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπανήγετο πατρίδα","severity":"info","text":"The 'thief restored to his ancient fatherland' alludes to the penitent thief (Luke 23:39-43), whose salvation is a type of redemption. Chrysostom presents this as part of the cosmic transformation wrought by the crucifixion.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"ἐπομβρία καὶ ὑετὸς","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom describes a recent rainstorm that devastated crops, prompting public litanies and processions to the shrines of apostles Peter, Andrew, Paul, and Timothy. This natural disaster serves as evidence of divine displeasure with the congregation's neglect of church for spectacles.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Πῶς δυνησόμεθα τὸν Θεὸν λοιπὸν ἵλεω ποιῆσαι;","severity":"info","text":"The rhetorical question 'How shall we be able to render God propitious?' marks a structural pivot from indictment of past behavior to a call for repentance and reconciliation, linking the congregation's sin to the recent calamity.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"αἰχμάλωτος ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν ἀπηνέχθης","severity":"info","text":"The image of the Christian as a 'captive of the devil' carried off to the spectacle parallels Chrysostom's frequent depiction of theater as demonic ensnarement, found in his homilies on Matthew and on the statues.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"τὸν ἅγιον Πέτρον καὶ τὸν μακάριον Ἀνδρέαν, Παῦλον καὶ Τιμόθεον","severity":"info","text":"The invocation of Peter, Andrew, Paul, and Timothy as intercessors reflects the cult of apostles in late 4th-century Constantinople, where their relics were venerated. This local detail grounds the homily in a specific liturgical and devotional context.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'πρὸ τριῶν ἡμερῶν' (three days ago) is ambiguous: it may refer to a literal three days before the homily or be a rhetorical approximation. The reading taken is literal, as Chrysostom uses it to anchor his argument in a recent, shared experience."],"confidence":"high","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":3,"ref":"p3","source":"Μετ' ἐκεῖνα, τῆς ὀργῆς λυθείσης, καὶ πέλαγος περάσαντες, καὶ κυμάτων κατατολμήσαντες, ἐπὶ τοὺς κορυφαίους ἐτρέχομεν, τὸν Πέτρον τὴν κρηπῖδα τῆς πίστεως, τὸν Παῦλον τὸ σκεῦος τῆς ἐκλογῆς, πανήγυριν ἐπιτελοῦντες πνευματικὴν, καὶ τοὺς ἄθλους αὐτῶν ἀνακηρύττοντες, τὰ\n\nτρόπαια καὶ τὰς νίκας τὰς κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων. Καὶ οὔτε τῷ φόβῳ τῶν γινομένων καταπλαγέντες, οὔτε τῷ μεγέθει τῶν κατορθωμάτων τῶν ἀποστολικῶν παιδευθέντες, ἀθρόον οὕτω μιᾶς μεταξὺ γενομένης ἡμέρας, σκιρτᾷς καὶ βοᾷς, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν αἰχμάλωτον ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν παρασυρομένην περιορῶν; Εἰ δὲ ἐβούλου δρόμον ἀλόγων ὁρᾷν, τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐκ ἔζευξας τὰ ἄλογα ἐν σοὶ πάθη, θυμὸν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν, καὶ ἐπέθηκας αὐτοῖς τὸν τῆς φιλοσοφίας ζυγὸν, τὸν χρηστὸν καὶ κοῦφον, καὶ ἐπέστησας αὐτοῖς λογισμὸν ὀρθὸν, καὶ πρὸς τὸ βραβεῖον ἤλασας τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως, οὐκ ἀπὸ μύσους εἰς μύσος, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς οὐρανὸν τρέχων; Τοῦτο γὰρ τῆς ἱπποδρομίας τὸ εἶδος μετὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς πολλὴν ἔχει τὴν ὠφέλειαν. Ἀλλ' ἀφεὶς τὰ κατὰ σαυτὸν ἁπλῶς καὶ ὡς ἔτυχε φέρεσθαι, ὑπὲρ τῆς ἑτέρων νίκης ἐκάθου, ἡμέραν τοσαύτην εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην καὶ ἐπὶ κακῷ δαπανῶν. βʹ. Ἦ οὐκ οἶσθα ὅτι καθάπερ ἡμεῖς ἀργύριον τοῖς οἰκέταις τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἐγχειρίζοντες, εὐθύνας αὐτοὺς καὶ μέχρι ἑνὸς ἀπαιτοῦμεν ὀβολοῦ· οὕτω καὶ ὁ Θεὸς τῶν ἡμερῶν τῆς ζωῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀπαιτήσει λόγον ἡμᾶς, πῶς ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐδαπανήσαμεν; Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; τί δὲ ἀπολογησόμεθα, ὅταν τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης ἀπαιτώμεθα εὐθύνας; Ἥλιος ἀνέτειλε διὰ σὲ, καὶ σελήνη τὴν νύκτα ἐφώτισε, καὶ ποικίλος ἀστέρων ἀνέλαμψε χορός·","english":"After those things, when the anger had been released, and having crossed a sea and dared the waves, we were running to the leaders, Peter the foundation of the faith, Paul the vessel of election, celebrating a spiritual festival and proclaiming their contests, the trophies and victories over the demons. And neither struck with fear at what was happening, nor taught by the greatness of the apostolic achievements, do you suddenly, with one day intervening, leap and shout, overlooking your own soul being carried off captive by the passions? If you wished to see a race of irrational beings, why did you not yoke the irrational passions within you, anger and desire, and place upon them the yoke of philosophy, the good and light one, and set over them right reason, and drive toward the prize of the higher calling, running not from filth to filth, but from earth to heaven? For this form of horse-racing has much benefit along with pleasure. But leaving your own affairs to be carried along simply and as chance dictates, you sat for the victory of others, wasting such a day in vain and for evil. Do you not know that just as we, entrusting silver to our own servants, demand an accounting from them even to a single obol, so also God will demand from us an account of the days of our life, how we spent each day? What then will we say? What defense will we make, when we are called to account for that day? The sun rose for you, and the moon lit the night, and the varied chorus of stars shone forth.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"τὸν Παῦλον τὸ σκεῦος τῆς ἐκλογῆς","severity":"info","text":"Paul is called 'the vessel of election,' a phrase echoing Acts 9:15 and Chrysostom's frequent epithet for Paul as chosen instrument of God.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"τὸν Πέτρον τὴν κρηπῖδα τῆς πίστεως","severity":"info","text":"Peter is called 'the foundation of the faith,' a title reflecting his role as rock of the Church, rooted in Matthew 16:18 and early Christian tradition.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Μετ' ἐκεῖνα ... πανήγυριν ἐπιτελοῦντες πνευματικὴν","severity":"info","text":"This passage transitions from the previous narrative of anger and sea-crossing to a spiritual festival honoring Peter and Paul, contrasting with worldly spectacles.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"ἀπαιτήσει λόγον ἡμᾶς","severity":"info","text":"The demand for an accounting of days echoes the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and the idea of divine judgment on time spent.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"τὸν τῆς φιλοσοφίας ζυγὸν","severity":"info","text":"The yoke of philosophy over passions parallels Stoic and Platonic imagery of reason controlling desire, common in Chrysostom's moral exhortation.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"ἀθρόον οὕτω μιᾶς μεταξὺ γενομένης ἡμέρας","severity":"caution","text":"The phrase 'with one day intervening' is ambiguous: it may mean a single day between the apostolic festival and the horse-racing, or a sudden lapse after a period of restraint.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'μιᾶς μεταξὺ γενομένης ἡμέρας' could be read as 'one day having intervened' (temporal gap) or 'one day having come in between' (sudden change). The translation adopts the latter, but the Greek allows both."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":4,"ref":"p4","source":"ἔπνευσαν ἄνεμοι διὰ σὲ, ἔδραμον ποταμοί· σπέρματα ἐβλάστησαν διὰ σὲ, καὶ φυτὰ ἀνεδόθη, καὶ τῆς φύσεως ὁ δρόμος τὴν οἰκείαν ἐτήρησε τάξιν, καὶ ἡμέρα ἐφάνη καὶ νὺξ παρῆλθε· καὶ ταῦτα πάντα γέγονε διὰ σέ· σὺ δὲ τῶν κτισμάτων σοι διακονουμένων, τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν πληροῖς; Καὶ τοσοῦτον παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ μισθωσάμενος οἶκον, τὸν κόσμον λέγω τοῦτον, οὐκ ἀπέδωκας τὸν μισθόν. Καὶ οὐκ ἤρκεσε τῇ προτέρᾳ ἡμέρᾳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν δευτέραν, ὅτε ἀναπαῦσαι μικρὸν ἐχρῆν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐγγινομένης κακίας, ἐπὶ θέατρα πάλιν ἀνέβαινες, ἀπὸ καπνοῦ εἰς πῦρ τρέχων, εἰς ἕτερον βάραθρον καθεὶς ἑαυτὸν χαλεπώτερον. Γέροντες πολιὰς κατῄσχυνον, καὶ νέοι τὴν νεότητα κατεκρήμνιζον, καὶ πατέρες παῖδας ἀνῆγον, ἐκ προοιμίων τὴν ἀπειρόκακον ἡλικίαν εἰς τὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἐμβιβάζοντες βάραθρα, ὥστε οὐκ ἄν τις ἁμάρτοι παιδοκτόνους ἀντὶ πατέρων τοὺς τοιούτους ἀποκαλῶν, καὶ τῇ κακίᾳ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπολλύντας τῶν τεχθέντων. Καὶ ποία κακία; φησί. Διὰ γὰρ τοῦτο ὀδυνῶμαι, ὅτι καὶ νοσῶν, οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι νοσεῖς, ἵνα καὶ τὸν ἰατρὸν ἐπιζητήσῃς. Μοιχείας ἐγένου πεπληρωμένος, καὶ ἐρωτᾷς, ποία κακία; ἦ οὐκ ἤκουσας τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος· Ὁ ἐμβλέψας γυναικὶ πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι, ἤδη ἐμοίχευσεν αὐτήν; Τί οὖν ἐὰν μὴ ἐμβλέψω, φησὶ, πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι; Καὶ πῶς δυνήσῃ με πεῖσαι; Ὁ γὰρ τοῦ θεωρῆσαι μὴ κρατῶν, ἀλλὰ τοσαύτην σπουδὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ τοιούτου τιθέμενος, πῶς μετὰ τὸ θεωρῆσαι δυνήσῃ μένειν ἀκηλίδωτος; Μὴ γὰρ λίθος σοι τὸ σῶμα; μὴ γὰρ σίδηρος; Σάρκα περίκεισαι, σάρκα ἀνθρωπίνην, ἥτις χόρτου χαλεπώτερον ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἀνάπτεται.","english":"Winds blew for you, rivers ran; seeds sprouted for you, and plants grew, and the course of nature kept its proper order, and day appeared and night passed; and all these things happened for you. And you, while the creatures serve you, do you fulfill the devil’s desire? And having rented such a great house from God—I mean this world—you did not pay the rent. And the previous day was not enough for you, but also the second day, when you should have rested a little from the evil that arises, you again went up to the theaters, running from smoke into fire, casting yourself into another, more grievous abyss. Old men disgraced their gray hair, and young men cast down their youth, and fathers led their children, from the very start immersing their inexperienced age into the abysses of wickedness, so that one would not err in calling such men child-killers instead of fathers, destroying the souls of those they begot through vice. And what vice? someone says. For this is why I grieve, that even while sick, you do not know that you are sick, so that you might seek the physician. You have become filled with adultery, and you ask, what vice? Or did you not hear Christ saying, “He who looks at a woman with desire has already committed adultery with her”? What then if I do not look with desire? he says. And how will you be able to persuade me? For he who does not restrain himself from watching, but puts such great eagerness into such a thing, how after watching will he be able to remain unstained? For is your body stone? Is it iron? You are clothed in flesh, human flesh, which is kindled by desire more fiercely than grass.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ὁ ἐμβλέψας γυναικὶ πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι, ἤδη ἐμοίχευσεν αὐτήν","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom cites a dominical saying not found verbatim in the canonical Gospels; it resembles Matthew 5:28 but with a different formulation, possibly from oral tradition or a variant text.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"παιδοκτόνους","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom calls fathers who take children to theaters 'child-killers' (παιδοκτόνους), a rhetorical extreme that reflects his view of theater as spiritually lethal, not merely immoral.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Καὶ ποία κακία; φησί","severity":"info","text":"This passage uses a diatribal question-and-answer format: an imagined interlocutor asks 'What vice?' and Chrysostom responds, a common rhetorical device in his polemics.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"ἀπειρόκακον","severity":"info","text":"ἀπειρόκακον means 'inexperienced in evil,' describing the young children whom fathers lead into vice; the term underscores Chrysostom's concern for the corruption of innocence.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"ἀπὸ καπνοῦ εἰς πῦρ τρέχων","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'from smoke into fire' is a proverbial expression for worsening one's situation, found in Greek literature (e.g., Lucian) and used here to condemn theater attendance.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"ἐκ προοιμίων","severity":"info","text":"ἐκ προοιμίων means 'from the very start' or 'from the prelude,' but the English draft renders it 'from the very start'; the Greek suggests a temporal or sequential beginning, not a musical prelude.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The dominical saying on looking with desire is not a direct quotation from any known canonical Gospel; its source is uncertain.","The phrase 'ἐκ προοιμίων' could be read as 'from the prelude' (of a theatrical performance) or 'from the beginning'; the context favors the latter."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":5,"ref":"p5","source":"Καὶ τί λέγω τὸ θέατρον; Ἐν ἀγορᾷ πολλάκις ἐὰν ἀπαντήσωμεν γυναικὶ, θορυβούμεθα· σὺ δὲ ἄνω καθήμενος, ὅπου τοσαύτη πρὸς ἀσχημοσύνην παράκλησις, ὁρῶν γυναῖκα πόρνην γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀναισχυντίας εἰσιοῦσαν, χρυσᾶ περιβεβλημένην ἱμάτια, μαλακιζομένην, θρυπτομένην, ᾄσματα ᾄδουσαν πορνικὰ, κατακεκλασμένα μέλη, αἰσχρὰ προϊεμένην ῥήματα, ἀσχημονοῦσαν τοιαῦτα, ἅπερ ὁ θεωρήσας ἂν εἰς ἔννοιαν λάβῃς, κάτω κύπτεις· τολμᾷς εἰπεῖν ὡς οὐδὲν πάσχῃς ἀνθρώπινον; Μὴ γὰρ λίθος σοι τὸ σῶμα; μὴ γὰρ σίδηρος; Οὐ γὰρ παραιτήσομαι πάλιν τὰ αὐτὰ εἰπεῖν. Μὴ γὰρ τῶν μεγάλων καὶ γενναίων ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων, οἳ ἀπὸ ψιλῆς ὄψεως κατηνέχθησαν, φιλοσοφώτερος σὺ εἶ; Οὐκ ἤκουσας τί φησιν ὁ Σολομών· Περιπατήσει τις ἐπ' ἀνθράκων πυρὸς, τοὺς δὲ πόδας οὐ κατακαύσει; Ἀποδήσει τις πῦρ ἐν κόλπῳ, τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια οὐ κατακαύσει; Οὕτως ὁ εἰσιὼν εἰς γυναῖκα ἀλλοτρίαν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ συνεπλάκης τῇ πόρνῃ, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ συνεγένου, καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν εἰργάσω. Καὶ οὐδὲ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ θεάτρου","english":"And why do I speak of the theater? Often in the marketplace, if we encounter a woman, we are disturbed. But you, sitting up there, where there is such great incitement to indecency, seeing a prostitute woman with her head uncovered, entering with great shamelessness, wearing golden garments, acting effeminately, behaving wantonly, singing lewd songs, with broken melodies, uttering shameful words, behaving in such indecent ways—if you, who have witnessed this, would consider it, do you stoop down? Do you dare to say that you suffer nothing human? For is your body made of stone? Is it made of iron? For I will not refrain from saying the same things again. Are you more philosophical than those great and noble men who were brought down by mere sight? Have you not heard what Solomon says: \"Will someone walk on coals of fire and not burn his feet? Will someone place fire in his bosom and not burn his garments?\" So it is with one who enters into another man's wife. For even if you did not physically embrace the prostitute, you consorted with desire, and in your intention you committed the sin. And not only at that time, but also from the theater","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Περιπατήσει τις ἐπ' ἀνθράκων πυρὸς, τοὺς δὲ πόδας οὐ κατακαύσει; Ἀποδήσει τις πῦρ ἐν κόλπῳ, τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια οὐ κατακαύσει;","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom adapts a proverbial saying from the Wisdom of Solomon (cf. Proverbs 6:28-29 LXX), warning that proximity to sin is as dangerous as walking on coals or holding fire.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇ","severity":"info","text":"In late antique Antioch, a woman appearing with head uncovered in public was a marker of low status or prostitution, as respectable women wore veils.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"θέατρον","severity":"info","text":"The Greek θέατρον here refers to the theater as a venue for spectacles, including mimes and pantomimes, which Chrysostom condemns for their sexualized performances.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Καὶ τί λέγω τὸ θέατρον;","severity":"info","text":"This rhetorical question marks a transition from the marketplace to the theater, intensifying the argument by moving from a public space to a deliberately indecent one.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"τῶν μεγάλων καὶ γενναίων ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων, οἳ ἀπὸ ψιλῆς ὄψεως κατηνέχθησαν","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom alludes to biblical or traditional exempla of men (e.g., David and Bathsheba, or the sons of Eli) who fell through sight, a common topos in patristic literature.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"κατακεκλασμένα μέλη","severity":"caution","text":"The phrase 'broken melodies' (κατακεκλασμένα μέλη) may refer to effeminate or lascivious musical modes; the exact connotation in Chrysostom's context is debated.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of the 'great and noble men' is not specified; Chrysostom may refer to biblical figures or classical exempla.","The phrase 'stoop down' (κάτω κύπτεις) could be literal (bowing head in shame) or metaphorical (yielding to temptation)."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":6,"ref":"p6","source":"λυθέντος, ἀπελθούσης αὐτῆς, τὸ εἴδωλον ἐκείνης ἐναπόκειταί σου τῇ ψυχῇ, τὰ ῥήματα, τὰ σχήματα, τὰ βλέμματα, ἡ βάδισις, ὁ ῥυθμὸς, ἡ διάκρισις, τὰ μέλη τὰ πορνικὰ, καὶ μυρία τραύματα λαβὼν ἀναχωρεῖς. Οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν οἴκων ἀνατροπαί; οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν σωφροσύνης ἀπώλεια; οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν γάμων διαιρέσεις; οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν πόλεμοι καὶ μάχαι; οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν ἀηδίαι λόγον οὐκ ἔχουσαι; Ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ἐμπλησθεὶς ταύτης ἀνέλθῃς γενόμενος αἰχμάλωτος, καὶ ἡ γυνή σου ἀηδεστέρα φαίνεται, καὶ τὰ παιδία φορτικώτερα, καὶ οἱ οἰκέται ἐπαχθεῖς, καὶ ἡ οἰκία περιττὴ, καὶ αἱ συνήθεις φροντίδες ἐνοχλεῖν δοκοῦσι πρὸς τὴν οἰκονομίαν τῶν δεόντων πραγμάτων, καὶ ἕκαστος προσιὼν φορτικὸς καὶ ἐπαχθής.\n\nγʹ. Τὸ δὲ αἴτιον, οὐκ ἀνέρχῃ μόνος εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν πόρνην ἔχων μετὰ σεαυτοῦ, οὐ φανερῶς καὶ δήλως ἀνιοῦσαν· ὅπερ ἦν κουφότερον· ταχέως γὰρ ἂν ἐξήλασεν ἡ γυνή· ἀλλὰ τῇ γνώμῃ, καὶ τῷ συνειδότι ἐγκαθημένην, καὶ ἀνάπτουσαν ἔνδον τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν κάμινον, μᾶλλον δὲ πολλῷ χαλεπωτέραν· οὐ γὰρ στυππίον καὶ νάφθα καὶ πίσσα, ἀλλὰ τὰ εἰρημένα τροφὴ τῷ πυρὶ γίνεται, καὶ πάντα ἄνω καὶ κάτω. Καὶ καθάπερ οἱ πυρέττοντες, οὐδὲν ἔχοντες ἐγκαλεῖν τοῖς διακονουμένοις, διὰ τὴν τοῦ νοσήματος κακίαν δυσάρεστοι πρὸς πάντας εἰσὶ, σιτία διακρουόμενοι, καὶ ἰατροὺς κακίζοντες, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους ἀγανακτοῦντες, καὶ κατὰ τῶν διακονούντων λυττῶντες· οὕτω δὴ καὶ οἱ τὴν χαλεπὴν νόσον ταύτην νοσοῦντες, ἀλλοιοῦσι, δυσχεραίνουσι, πάντοτε ἐκείνην βλέποντες. Ὢ χαλεπῶν πραγμάτων. Λύκος μὲν καὶ λέων, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ θηρία τοξευόμενα φεύγει τὸν κυνηγέτην·","english":"Once she has departed, her image remains fixed in your soul—her words, her postures, her glances, her gait, her rhythm, her attire, her licentious limbs—and you withdraw, having received countless wounds. Is it not from this that households are overturned? Is it not from this that self-control is lost? Is it not from this that marriages are dissolved? Is it not from this that wars and battles arise? Is it not from this that there come distastes beyond all reason? For when you go back up, having been filled with her and made a captive, your wife seems more disagreeable, your children more burdensome, your servants more oppressive, your house superfluous, and your usual cares appear to vex you in the management of necessary affairs, and each person who approaches seems irksome and oppressive.\n\n3. And the cause is this: you do not go up into your house alone, but you have the prostitute with you—not going up openly and manifestly, which would be lighter, for your wife would quickly drive her out—but seated in your mind and conscience, kindling within you a Babylonian furnace, or rather one far more severe. For it is not tow, naphtha, and pitch, but the things I have mentioned that become fuel for the fire, and everything is turned upside down. And just as those who are feverish, having nothing to charge against those who serve them, are, because of the evil of their disease, discontented with everyone—rejecting food, reviling physicians, being vexed with their own household, and raging against those who attend them—so too those who suffer from this grievous disease are altered, become disgusted, always gazing at that woman. O what grievous things! A wolf and a lion and the other wild beasts, when shot at, flee the hunter.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"τὸ εἴδωλον ἐκείνης ἐναπόκειταί σου τῇ ψυχῇ","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom uses the Platonic term εἴδωλον ('image' or 'phantom') to describe the lasting mental impression left by the prostitute, implying a quasi-idolatrous fixation.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"Βαβυλωνίαν κάμινον","severity":"info","text":"The 'Babylonian furnace' alludes to the fiery furnace of Daniel 3, but Chrysostom inverts it: here the furnace is kindled within the soul by lust, not by a king's command.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"στυππίον καὶ νάφθα καὶ πίσσα","severity":"info","text":"Tow (στυππίον), naphtha (νάφθα), and pitch (πίσσα) were common incendiary materials in ancient warfare and pyrotechnics, evoking a vivid image of destructive fire.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"γʹ","severity":"info","text":"The numeral γʹ (3) marks a new section in the Greek text, where Chrysostom shifts from describing the effects of theater attendance to diagnosing its cause as an internalized 'furnace' of desire.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"Λύκος μὲν καὶ λέων","severity":"info","text":"The comparison of the lust-stricken man to a wolf or lion that flees the hunter is a rhetorical inversion: the hunter (the prostitute) is not pursued but rather infects the pursuer.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"ἀηδίαι λόγον οὐκ ἔχουσαι","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'distastes beyond all reason' (ἀηδίαι λόγον οὐκ ἔχουσαι) is ambiguous: it could mean irrational disgust or distaste that has no justification, or it could refer to unspeakable unpleasantness.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'ἀηδίαι λόγον οὐκ ἔχουσαι' could be read as either 'distastes without reason' or 'distastes beyond description'; the English draft takes the former. The identity of 'τὰ λοιπὰ θηρία' is left unspecified, but the sense is clear."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":7,"ref":"p7","source":"ἄνθρωπος δὲ ὁ λογιώτατος τρωθεὶς, περιδιώκει τὴν τρώσασαν, ὥστε πολλῷ χαλεπώτερον βέλος λαβεῖν, καὶ ἐνηδυπαθεῖν τῷ τραύματι· ὅπερ δὴ πάντων ἐστὶ πικρότατον, καὶ τὴν νόσον ἀνίατον ἐργάζεται. Ὁ γὰρ μὴ μισῶν τὸ ἕλκος, μηδὲ ἀπαλλαγῆναι βουλόμενος, πῶς ἂν ἐπιζητήσειε τὸν ἰατρόν; Διὰ ταῦτα ὀδυνῶμαι καὶ διακόπτομαι, ὅτι τοσαύτην λύμην λαμβάνοντες, ἐκεῖθεν κατέρχεσθε, καὶ διὰ μικρὰν ἡδονὴν διηνεκῆ τὴν ὀδύνην ὑπομένετε. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τῆς γεέννης καὶ τῆς κολάσεως ἐνταῦθα τὴν ἐσχάτην ἑαυτοὺς ἀπαιτεῖτε δίκην. Ἢ οὐκ ἐσχάτης τιμωρίας, εἰπέ μοι, ἐπιθυμίαν τοιαύτην τρέφειν, καὶ διηνεκῶς ἐμπίπρασθαι, καὶ κάμινον ἔρωτος ἀτόπου πανταχοῦ περιφέρειν, καὶ συνειδότος κατηγορίαν; Πῶς γὰρ ἐπιβήσῃ τῶν προθύρων ἐκείνων τῶν ἱερῶν; πῶς ἅψῃ τῆς οὐρανίου τραπέζης; πῶς δὲ ἀκούσεις τὸν περὶ σωφροσύνης λόγον, ἑλκῶν γέμων καὶ τραυμάτων τοσούτων, καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν ἔχων τῷ πάθει δουλεύουσαν; Καὶ τί δεῖ τὰ ἄλλα λέγειν; Ἀπὸ τῶν νῦν παρ' ἡμῶν γινομένων ἔξεστι τῆς διανοίας ἰδεῖν τὴν ὀδύνην. Νῦν γοῦν ὁρῶ μεταξὺ τῶν λόγων τούτων τὰ μέτωπα τύπτοντας, καὶ πολλὴν ὑμῖν ἔχω χάριν, ὅτι δῆμος οὕτως ἐστὲ εὔσπλαγχνος. Τάχα δὲ οἶμαι πολλοὺς τῶν μηδὲν ἡμαρτηκότων ταῦτα ποιεῖν, ἀλγοῦντας ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφικῶν τραυμάτων. Διὰ τοῦτο ὀδυνῶμαι καὶ κόπτομαι, ὅτι τοιαύτην ἀγέλην ὁ διάβολος λυμαίνεται. Ἀλλ' εἰ βουληθείητε, ταχέως αὐτοῦ τὴν εἴσοδον ἀποφράξομεν. Πῶς καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ; Εἰ τοὺς νοσοῦντας ὑγιαίνοντας ἴδοιμεν·","english":"a man, the most rational of beings, once wounded, pursues the one who wounded him, so as to receive a far more grievous shaft, and to take pleasure in the wound—which is indeed the bitterest of all things, and renders the disease incurable. For he who does not hate the sore, nor wishes to be rid of it, how could he ever seek the physician? For this reason I am grieved and cut to the heart, that you receive such great harm and depart from there, and for the sake of a small pleasure you endure perpetual pain. For even before Gehenna and punishment, you here exact the utmost penalty from yourselves. Or is it not, tell me, the utmost punishment to nourish such a desire, to be perpetually inflamed, to carry about everywhere a furnace of illicit love, and the accusation of conscience? For how will you set foot upon those sacred thresholds? How will you touch the heavenly table? How will you hear the discourse on chastity, when you are full of sores and such wounds, and have your mind enslaved to passion? And why need I mention the rest? From what is now being done by us, it is possible to see the pain in your minds. For now, indeed, I see you striking your foreheads in the midst of these words, and I am very grateful to you, that you are such a compassionate people. But I suppose that many of those who have committed no sin do this, grieving over the wounds of their brethren. For this reason I am grieved and distressed, that the devil is ravaging such a flock. But if you so wish, we shall quickly block his entrance. How and in what manner? If we should see the sick restored to health.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"ἐνηδυπαθεῖν τῷ τραύματι","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'to take pleasure in the wound' intensifies the paradox of self-destructive desire, a key theme in Chrysostom's moral psychology.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"γεέννης","severity":"info","text":"Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, is used in the New Testament and patristic literature as a term for hell; here it contrasts with earthly punishment.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"οὐρανίου τραπέζης","severity":"info","text":"The 'heavenly table' likely refers to the altar of the Eucharist, echoing early Christian liturgical language (cf. 1 Cor 10:16-21).","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Διὰ ταῦτα ὀδυνῶμαι","severity":"info","text":"This repeated lament (cf. later 'Διὰ τοῦτο ὀδυνῶμαι') frames the passage as a rhetorical appeal, moving from diagnosis to exhortation.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"τὰ μέτωπα τύπτοντας","severity":"info","text":"Striking the forehead was a conventional gesture of mourning or self-reproach in late antique rhetoric, here used to show audience engagement.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"external","lemma":"διάβολος λυμαίνεται","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom's depiction of the devil ravaging the flock echoes pastoral care motifs that influenced later Byzantine homiletics and monastic literature.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of 'the one who wounded' (τὴν τρώσασαν) is ambiguous: it could refer to a specific woman from the theater or a personified desire.","The phrase 'ἀπὸ τῶν νῦν παρ' ἡμῶν γινομένων' could mean 'from what is now being done by us' (the preacher's words) or 'by you' (the audience's actions); the translation takes it as the former."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":8,"ref":"p8","source":"εἰ τὰ δίκτυα τῆς διδασκαλίας ἁπλώσαντες περιέλθοιμεν τοὺς θηριαλώτους ζητοῦντες, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς τοῦ λέοντος τῆς φάρυγγος αὐτοὺς ἐξαρπάσοιμεν. Μὴ γάρ μοι λέγε· Ὀλίγοι εἰσὶν οἱ ἀποβουκολισθέντες. Κἂν δέκα μόνον ὦσιν, οὐχ ἡ τυχοῦσα ζημία· κἂν πέντε, κἂν δύο, κἂν εἷς. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ ποιμὴν ἐκεῖνος τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα διὰ τοῦτο καταλιπὼν πρόβατα, ἐπὶ τὸ ἓν ἔτρεχε, καὶ οὐκ ἐπανῆλθεν ἕως πάλιν αὐτὸ ἐπανήγαγε, καὶ τὸν τῶν ἑκατὸν ἀριθμὸν χωλεύοντα δι' ἐκείνου τὴν ἀποκατάστασιν τοῦ πλανηθέντος ἐπλήρωσε. Μὴ λέγε, ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν· ἀλλ' ἐννόησον, ὅτι ψυχή ἐστι, δι' ἣν τὰ ὁρώμενα πάντα γέγονεν· δι' ἣν νόμοι, καὶ τιμωρίαι, καὶ κολάσεις, καὶ τὰ μυρία θαύματα, καὶ αἱ ποικίλαι τοῦ Θεοῦ πραγματεῖαι· δι' ἣν οὐδὲ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐφείσατο. Ἐννόησον ὅση τιμὴ καταβέβληται καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἑνὸς, καὶ μὴ καταφρόνει τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἀπελθὼν ἡμῖν ἐπανάγαγε,\n\nκαὶ πεῖσον μηκέτι τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπεσεῖν, καὶ ἀρκοῦσαν ἔχομεν ἀπολογίαν. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀνέχοιτο, μηδὲ ἡμῶν συμβουλευόντων, μηδὲ ὑμῶν παραινούντων, τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ χρήσομαι λοιπὸν, ᾗ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῖν ἔδωκεν οὐκ εἰς καθαίρεσιν, ἀλλ' εἰς οἰκοδομήν. δʹ. Διὰ δὲ τοῦτο προλέγω, καὶ λαμπρᾷ βοῶ τῇ φωνῇ, ὅτι εἴ τις μετὰ τὴν παραίνεσιν ταύτην καὶ διδασκαλίαν ἐπὶ τὴν παράνομον τῶν θεάτρων αὐτομολήσειε λύμην, οὐ δέξομαι αὐτὸν εἴσω τουτωνὶ τῶν περιβόλων, οὐ μεταδώσω μυστηρίων, οὐκ ἀφήσω τῆς ἱερᾶς ἅψασθαι τραπέζης· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ οἱ ποιμένες τὰ ψώρας ἐμπεπλησμένα πρόβατα τῶν ὑγιαινόντων ἀπείργουσιν, ὥστε μὴ μεταδοῦναι τοῖς λοιποῖς τῆς νόσου· οὕτω δὴ ἐργάσομαι κἀγώ.","english":"If we were to spread the nets of teaching and go around seeking those captured by wild beasts, we would snatch them even from the very throat of the lion. Do not tell me: \"Those who have been led astray are few.\" Even if there are only ten, the loss is not trivial; even if five, even if two, even if one. For that shepherd too left the ninety-nine sheep for this reason and ran after the one, and did not return until he had brought it back again, and filled the number of one hundred, which was limping because of that one, by the restoration of the one that had strayed. Do not say that it is one; but consider that it is a soul, for which all visible things have come to be; for which there are laws, and punishments, and penalties, and the countless wonders, and the manifold dealings of God; for which He did not even spare the Only-Begotten. Consider how much honor has been staked even for the one, and do not despise his salvation, but go and bring him back to us, and persuade him no longer to fall into the same things, and we shall have a sufficient defense. But if he should not submit, not even when we counsel him, nor when you exhort him, I shall then use the authority which God has given us, not for destruction, but for edification. For this reason I declare beforehand, and cry out with a clear voice, that if anyone after this exhortation and teaching should desert to the lawless corruption of the theaters, I will not receive him within these precincts, I will not impart the mysteries, I will not allow him to touch the sacred table; but just as shepherds separate sheep full of scab from the healthy ones, so that they do not transmit the disease to the rest, so too shall I act.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"ποιμὴν ἐκεῖνος","severity":"info","text":"The shepherd leaving the ninety-nine sheep for the one alludes to the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:4-7), a common trope in patristic pastoral exhortation.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"Μονογενοῦς","severity":"info","text":"Only-Begotten (Μονογενοῦς) is a standard Christological title for Christ, emphasizing his unique divine sonship; Chrysostom uses it to stress the value of a single soul.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ χρήσομαι","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom threatens excommunication (refusal of mysteries and the sacred table) as a bishop's disciplinary authority, reflecting early church practice of separating sinners to prevent contagion.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"τὰ ψώρας ἐμπεπλησμένα πρόβατα","severity":"info","text":"The image of separating scabby sheep from healthy ones parallels Chrysostom's own pastoral metaphor in other homilies (e.g., De sacerdotio) and echoes Levitical purity laws.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"δʹ","severity":"info","text":"The numeral δʹ (4) marks a section division in the Greek text, likely a homiletic or rhetorical break, though the passage is continuous in narrative flow.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"οὐ δέξομαι αὐτὸν","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom's threat to bar theater-goers from communion was cited in later Byzantine canon law as precedent for excommunication of persistent sinners.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'τὰ δίκτυα τῆς διδασκαλίας ἁπλώσαντες' could be read as a metaphor for missionary preaching or for a trap; the translation takes it as 'nets of teaching' in a positive sense.","The reference to 'τὸν τῶν ἑκατὸν ἀριθμὸν χωλεύοντα' (the number one hundred limping) is ambiguous: it may mean the flock was incomplete (99+1=100) or that the number itself was defective; the translation opts for the former."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":9,"ref":"p9","source":"Εἰ γὰρ τὸ παλαιὸν ὁ λεπρὸς ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἐκελεύετο καθῆναι, κἂν βασιλεὺς ἦν, ἐξεβάλλετο μετὰ τοῦ διαδήματος, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς τὸν τὴν ψυχὴν λεπροῦντα ταύτης ἐκβαλοῦμεν τῆς ἱερᾶς παρεμβολῆς. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν παραινέσει καὶ συμβολῇ ἐχρησάμην, οὕτω καὶ νῦν μετὰ τοσαύτην παραίνεσιν καὶ διδασκαλίαν ἀνάγκη λοιπὸν καὶ τομὴν ἐπαγαγεῖν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐνιαυτὸν ἔχω λοιπὸν τῆς πόλεως ἐπιβὰς τῆς ὑμετέρας, καὶ οὐ διέλιπον πολλάκις καὶ συνεχῶς ταῦτα ὑμῖν παραινῶν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐναπέμεινάν τινες τῇ σηπεδόνι, φέρε λοιπὸν τὴν τομὴν ἐπαγάγωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ σιδήριον ἔχω, ἀλλ' ἔχω λόγον σιδήρου τομώτερον· εἰ καὶ μὴ πῦρ βαστάζω, ἀλλ' ἔστι μοι διδασκαλία πυρὸς θερμοτέρα, εὐτονώτερον δυναμένη καίειν. Μὴ οὖν καταφρόνει τῆς ἀποφάσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας. Εἰ γὰρ εὐτελεῖς ἡμεῖς καὶ σφόδρα οἰκτροὶ, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐνεχειρίσθημεν ἀξίαν παρὰ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτος τὴν δυναμένην ταῦτα ἐργάζεσθαι. Ἐκβαλλέσθωσαν τοίνυν οἱ τοιοῦτοι, ἵνα οἵ τε ὑγιαίνοντες ἡμῖν ὑγιεινότεροι γένωνται, οἵ τε νοσοῦντες ἀνακτήσωνται ἑαυτοὺς ἐκ τῆς χαλεπῆς ἀῤῥωστίας. Εἰ δὲ ἐφρίξατε ταύτην ἀκούσαντες τὴν ἀπόφασιν (καὶ γὰρ ὁρῶ πάντας στυγνάζοντας καὶ συνεσταλμένους ὄντας), μεταβαλλέσθωσαν, καὶ λέλυται τὰ τῆς ἀποφάσεως. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐξουσίαν ἐλάβομεν δῆσαι, οὕτως καὶ λῦσαι, καὶ πάλιν ἐπαγαγεῖν. Οὐ γὰρ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἡμῶν ἀποκόψαι βουλόμεθα, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὄνειδος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀποκρούσασθαι. Νῦν μὲν γὰρ καὶ Ἕλληνες ἡμῶν καταγελάσονται, καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι κωμῳδήσουσιν, ὅταν ἁμαρτάνοντας ἑαυτοὺς οὕτως περιορῶμεν.","english":"For in ancient times the leper was commanded to dwell outside the camp, and even if he were a king, he was cast out with his diadem; much more shall we cast out of this sacred camp the one who lepers the soul. For just as I employed exhortation and counsel at the beginning, so now, after so much exhortation and teaching, it is necessary at last to apply the knife as well. For it is now a year since I set foot in your city, and I have not ceased often and continually to exhort you concerning these matters. Since, therefore, some have remained in the putrefaction, come, let us at last apply the incision. For if I do not have a scalpel, I have a word sharper than steel; and if I do not carry fire, I have a teaching hotter than fire, able to burn more vigorously. Do not, then, despise our sentence. For even if we are humble and exceedingly pitiable, nevertheless we have been entrusted by the grace of God with an authority capable of effecting these things. Let such persons, therefore, be cast out, so that those who are healthy among us may become healthier, and those who are sick may recover themselves from their grievous illness. But if you have shuddered on hearing this sentence (for I see that all are gloomy and dejected), let them change, and the terms of the sentence are dissolved. For just as we have received authority to bind, so also to loose, and again to apply it. For we do not wish to cut off our brothers, but to repel the reproach of the Church. For now both Greeks will laugh at us and Jews will mock us, when we so overlook those who are sinning.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"λεπρὸς","severity":"info","text":"The leper imagery draws on Leviticus 13:46 and Numbers 5:2–3, where lepers were isolated outside the camp. Chrysostom adapts this to ecclesiastical discipline, equating moral corruption with ritual impurity.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"παρεμβολῆς","severity":"info","text":"παρεμβολῆς (camp) is a military term for a fortified encampment. Chrysostom uses it metaphorically for the Church as a sacred assembly, reinforcing the idea of disciplined community.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"ἐξουσίαν ἐλάβομεν δῆσαι, οὕτως καὶ λῦσαι","severity":"info","text":"The binding and loosing authority echoes Matthew 16:19 and 18:18, where Christ grants Peter the keys. Chrysostom claims this power for himself as bishop, a standard patristic exousia claim.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"λόγον σιδήρου τομώτερον","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'word sharper than steel' parallels Chrysostom's own homily On the Priesthood 6.4, where he contrasts physical and spiritual surgery. It also echoes the Stoic concept of logos as a cutting instrument.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἕλληνες ... Ἰουδαῖοι","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom invokes pagan and Jewish mockery as a rhetorical threat to shame his congregation into reform. This reflects his anti-Jewish polemic (e.g., Against the Jews 1.6) and concern for Christian reputation.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"τομὴν ἐπαγαγεῖν","severity":"info","text":"The surgical metaphor (incision) frames a rhetorical escalation: from exhortation to punitive action. This marks a structural turn in the homily, moving from persuasion to threat of excommunication.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'ἐναπέμεινάν τινες τῇ σηπεδόνι' could mean either 'remained in the putrefaction' (moral decay) or 'remained in the sore' (literal leprosy). The reading taken is moral, consistent with Chrysostom's allegorical use of leprosy."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":10,"ref":"p10","source":"Τότε δὲ καὶ ἐκεῖνοι σφόδρα ἡμᾶς ἐπαινέσουσι, καὶ θαυμάσονται τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν αἰδεσθέντες νόμων. Μηδεὶς τοίνυν τῶν ἐπιμενόντων τῇ αὐτῇ πορνείᾳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐπιβαινέτω, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀφ' ὑμῶν ἐπιτιμάσθω, καὶ κοινὸς ἔστω πολέμιος. Εἴ τις γὰρ, φησὶν, οὐχ ὑπακούσῃ τῷ λόγῳ ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς, τοῦτον σημειοῦσθε, καὶ μὴ συναναμίγνυσθε αὐτῷ. Τοῦτο δὲ ποιήσατε· μήτε λόγου μετάδοτε, μήτε εἰς οἰκίαν δέξησθε, μήτε τραπέζης κοινωνήσητε, μήτε εἰσόδου, μήτε ἐξόδου, μήτε ἀγορᾶς· καὶ οὕτω ῥᾳδίως αὐτοὺς ἀνακτησόμεθα. Καὶ καθάπερ οἱ κυνηγοὶ τὰ δυσάλωτα τῶν θηρίων οὐκ ἐξ ἑνὸς μέρους, ἀλλὰ πάντοθεν ἐλαύνοντες, εἰς τὴν σαγήνην ἐμβάλλουσιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς τοὺς ἐκθηριωθέντας συνελάσωμεν, καὶ ταχέως εἰς τὰ δίκτυα τῆς σωτηρίας ἐμβαλοῦμεν, ἡμεῖς ἐντεῦθεν, ὑμεῖς ἐκεῖθεν. Ἵν' οὖν τοῦτο γένηται, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἡμῖν συναγανακτήσατε, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμων ἀλγήσατε, καὶ μικρὸν ἀποστράφητε τούτους τὰ τοιαῦτα νοσοῦντας καὶ παρανομοῦντας τῶν ἀδελφῶν, ἵνα διηνεκῶς αὐτοὺς ἔχητε. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ τυχὸν ὑμῖν ἐστι κρίμα, εἰ παρίδητε τοσαύτην ἀπώλειαν, ἀλλὰ μεγίστην ἕξετε τιμωρίαν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἰκίαις ἂν ἁλῷ τις τῶν οἰκετῶν ἀργύριον ἢ χρυσίον ὑφελόμενος, οὐκ αὐτὸς κολάζεται μόνον ὁ ἁλοὺς, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ συνειδότες καὶ μὴ καταγγείλαντες, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Ἐρεῖ γάρ σοι τηνικαῦτα ὁ Θεός·","english":"Then those people too will greatly praise us and admire the Church, having been shamed by our laws. Therefore, let none of those who persist in the same fornication set foot in the Church, but let them also be rebuked by you, and let them be a common enemy. For if anyone, it says, does not obey our word through the letter, mark this person and do not associate with him. Do this: give him no share in conversation, receive him not into your house, share no table with him, no entrance, no exit, no marketplace; and in this way we shall easily reclaim them. And just as hunters, when pursuing wild beasts that are hard to catch, drive them not from one side but from all sides, and cast them into the net, so too let us drive together those who have become brutish, and quickly cast them into the nets of salvation, we from here, you from there. So that this may happen, be indignant with us, or rather grieve for the laws of God, and for a while turn away from those brothers who are sick with such things and transgressing, so that you may have them forever. For the judgment upon you is not a trivial one, if you overlook such ruin, but you will incur the greatest punishment. For if in the houses of men, when a servant is caught stealing silver or gold, not only the one caught is punished, but also those who knew and did not report it, much more so in the Church. For God will say to you then:","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"πορνείᾳ","severity":"info","text":"The Greek term πορνείᾳ (fornication) here likely refers metaphorically to persistent attendance at spectacles, which Chrysostom treats as spiritual adultery.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Εἴ τις γὰρ, φησὶν, οὐχ ὑπακούσῃ τῷ λόγῳ ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς","severity":"info","text":"This echoes early Christian disciplinary formulas, possibly alluding to 1 Corinthians 5:11 or similar apostolic decrees on shunning the disobedient.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"σημειοῦσθε","severity":"info","text":"The verb σημειοῦσθε (mark) reflects a formal ecclesiastical practice of identifying and isolating offenders, akin to excommunication or temporary shunning.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"καθάπερ οἱ κυνηγοὶ","severity":"info","text":"The hunting metaphor (driving beasts into nets) parallels Chrysostom's own usage in other homilies, e.g., De statuis, where he compares pastoral care to encircling game.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἐρεῖ γάρ σοι τηνικαῦτα ὁ Θεός","severity":"info","text":"This sentence introduces a direct divine speech, marking a rhetorical climax; the passage breaks off here in the source, leaving the speech incomplete.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"Ἐρεῖ γάρ σοι τηνικαῦτα ὁ Θεός","severity":"caution","text":"The Greek text ends abruptly with this clause; the English draft follows suit. The intended continuation is unknown, and the passage may be truncated in transmission.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of the letter (τῆς ἐπιστολῆς) is unspecified; it may refer to a synodal or patriarchal letter now lost.","The phrase 'those people' (ἐκεῖνοι) at the start lacks a clear antecedent in the immediate context."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":11,"ref":"p11","source":"Ὁρῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἀργύριον, οὐδὲ χρυσοῦν σκεῦος κλαπὲν, ἀλλὰ σωφροσύνην συληθεῖσαν, καὶ τὸν λαβόντα τὸ σῶμα τὸ τίμιον, καὶ τοιαύτης μετασχόντα θυσίας, ἀπελθόντα εἰς τὸ τοῦ διαβόλου χωρίον, καὶ τοιαῦτα παρανομήσαντα, πῶς ἐσίγησας; πῶς ἤνεγκας; πῶς οὐκ ἀπήγγειλας τῷ ἱερεῖ; καὶ οὐ\n\nτὰς τυχούσας ἀπαιτηθήσῃ εὐθύνας. Διά τοι τοῦτο καὶ ἐγὼ, καίτοι γε μέλλων λυπεῖν, οὐδενὸς φείσομαι τῶν ἐπαχθεστέρων. Πολλῷ γὰρ βέλτιον ἐνταῦθα λυπηθέντας ἡμᾶς ἐξελέσθαι τῆς μελλούσης κρίσεως, ἢ ῥήμασι χαρισάμενον μεθ' ὑμῶν κολασθῆναι τότε. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀσφαλὲς ἡμῖν, οὐδὲ ἀκίνδυνον, σιγῇ τὰ τοιαῦτα φέρειν Ὑμῶν γὰρ ἕκαστος ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ δώσει τὰς εὐθύνας· ἐγὼ δὲ τῆς ἁπάντων σωτηρίας ὑπεύθυνος. Διὰ δὴ τοῦτο οὐ παύσομαι πάντα ποιῶν καὶ λέγων, κἂν λυπῆσαι δέῃ, κἂν ἐπαχθῆ φανῆναι, κἂν φορτικὸν, ὥστε δυνηθῆναι παραστῆναι τῷ βήματι ἐκείνῳ τῷ φοβερῷ, μὴ ἔχων σπῖλον ἢ ῥυτίδα, ἤ τι τῶν τοιούτων. Γένοιτο δὲ εὐχαῖς τῶν ἁγίων τούς τε διαφθαρέντας ἤδη ταχέως ἐπανελθεῖν, τούς τε μείναντας ἀσινεῖς ἐπὶ μεῖζον προκόψαι κοσμιότητος καὶ σωφροσύνης· ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς σώζοισθε, καὶ ἡμεῖς εὐφραινώμεθα, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς δοξάζηται νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.","english":"Seeing from my house that it was not silver, nor a golden vessel that was stolen, but that chastity was plundered, and that the one who received the precious body and partook of such a sacrifice went off to the place of the devil and committed such lawless acts, how did you keep silent? How did you endure it? How did you not report it to the priest? And you will be called to account, and not just the ordinary penalties. For this reason, I too, although I am about to cause pain, will spare none of the more burdensome things. For it is far better that we be grieved here and be delivered from the future judgment, than that I gratify you with words and then be punished along with you at that time. For it is not safe, nor without danger, for us to bear such things in silence. For each of you will give account for himself; but I am responsible for the salvation of all. For this reason, I will not cease to do and say everything, even if I must cause pain, even if I appear burdensome, even if I seem offensive, so that I may be able to stand before that fearful tribunal, having no stain or wrinkle, or anything of the sort. And may it be, through the prayers of the saints, that those already corrupted quickly return, and that those who remained unharmed advance further in decorum and chastity; so that you may be saved, and we may rejoice, and God may be glorified now and always, and into the unending ages of ages. Amen.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"σωφροσύνην","severity":"info","text":"Chastity or self-control, a key virtue in Chrysostom's moral teaching, here personified as something stolen.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"τοῦ διαβόλου χωρίον","severity":"info","text":"Literally 'the place of the devil', a reference to the theater or hippodrome, which Chrysostom elsewhere calls the devil's precinct.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"τῷ βήματι ἐκείνῳ τῷ φοβερῷ","severity":"info","text":"Alludes to the judgment seat of God, echoing New Testament imagery (e.g., Romans 14:10, 2 Corinthians 5:10) of the fearful tribunal before which believers must stand.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The passage shifts from direct rebuke of the congregation to a personal declaration of pastoral responsibility, then to a prayerful conclusion with doxology and amen.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Chrysostom's insistence on reporting moral offenses to the priest reflects the early church's penitential discipline, where clergy oversaw public confession and excommunication.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The closing prayer for the corrupted to return and the unharmed to advance in decorum and chastity became a model for later homiletic conclusions in Byzantine moral preaching.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'τὰς τυχούσας εὐθύνας' could mean 'ordinary penalties' or 'any penalties at all'; the translation takes it as 'not just the ordinary penalties' to emphasize severity."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]}]}