Ad Eudoxiam i

As I see, the very things I hasten to build up for the salvation of your God-loving soul, you do not shrink from rather tearing down. For I pray not only that you enjoy this temporal kingdom in a ripe old age, but also that you be declared an heir of the heavenly and endless kingdom of the heavens through your beneficence. For what greater boast do we have than this, that your goodness becomes known to all as you live in all piety and prosperity? I am truly astounded and amazed, having heard today what was said by you to Theodorichos the patrician, a man living according to God, since God established you as masters of all land and sea, and the empire has no need of his possessions, especially since he has done nothing wrong to it. I therefore entreat your God-lovingness to seek nothing from him of what you said to him, but to grant him everything, and to command that he conduct himself without perversity; and may our master and God Jesus Christ fulfill all your requests for good according to his own will, O lover of Christ. Be strong for many years, remaining in the Roman state. As I think, it does not escape your God-lovingness the nobility and wealth of my parents and the renown of their rank; yet again, as I have never loved wealth, nor have I been enamored of money or human glory, but I often advised them also to cast off such vain concern and to attend to their own salvation through distribution to the poor, so that they might acquire the heavenly kingdom.

How could I desire wealth, when I constantly admonish and rebuke in my homilies those who possess it and do not sprinkle it into the hands of the poor? For a little bread with salt and poor vegetables suffices for my sustenance, on account of my bodily weakness. As for Theodoricus, you indicated that I appropriated his property for my own profit. Let this be known to you, then: he never gave me anything. But even if he had given, I would not have taken from him whatever it was. Rather, he lent those things to Christ, depositing them here into the hands of the poor and needy, so that he might receive them back from Him in the future age many times over. Would that you too had emulated him, emptying your wealth into the eternal treasuries, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves and plotters dare to dig through. For he gave it to the hospice of the church, so that through it care might be provided for the needy. If, then, you wish to take these things and grieve Christ, you will see to it. For believe me, if you do this, he will be distressed against you. The Christ-loving faith and conduct of your parents is manifest to all. Therefore, God, moved by their prayers and good deeds, has granted you the scepters of this earthly kingdom, expecting through your works to proclaim you also an heir of the heavenly kingdom. For wealth and glory and worldly renown will not avail us on the fearful day of judgment, but only the conduct that comes through our works.

Do not, therefore, become forgetful of this, nor of the fear of God, knowing clearly that the breath of all of us is in His hands, and He adds to some, and from others He wishes and takes away. We are dust and ashes, after a little while carried down into the earth, into dark and lightless places, just as all before us, kings and rulers and ruled. Look back at the kings before you. Understand what they were then, and what they have now become; how on each occasion some are remembered for good things, while those who have passed through evil deeds are always remembered for evils and curses, not ordinary ones, by all, often; not even their names are spoken by the many. Therefore let your Christ-loving piety also imitate those who preserved the faith unblemished and ran the good course in this life through good deeds, and order that the vineyard, which they had for consolation, be given back to the humble wife of Theognostus and her children. For the affliction and calamity that have overtaken them suffice, with him having died in exile and all their substance having been taken away. Yes, I beseech you to release your resentment toward her, remembering the Savior in the Gospels commanding us not to let the sun set on our anger. And again, He speaks plainly to that rich man, saying: Fool, this night they demand your soul from you, and what you have prepared, to whom will it belong?

Will not the sweetness of the fruit of the vine, the pleasantness of figs, the richness of oil, the abundance of money and possessions, and the glory of office go down with us into Hades? Do we not depart from here leaving all these things behind, naked and without protection? Therefore, remembering all these things, permit the vineyard to be restored, so that it may be well for you on the day of judgment. "I do not think that you, my spiritual child, are ignorant that the authorities appointed by God, according to the Apostle, were not established so that they might do injustice, but so that they might correct those who do injustice and lead the subject to a lawful and just life through everything and regulate it; which is especially accustomed to be accomplished at that time when those who have been entrusted with offices themselves appear to be the first of others in pursuing justice and the rest of virtue; for for the most part the subject is somehow disposed in accordance with the ruler. Since, therefore, the patrician Theodoric, having never offended your power in any way like those who have given offense, has himself now fled to the Church of God, asking to suffer nothing unjustly, I ask that this request be fulfilled for him by you, and that you not wish to bring the self-sufficiency of the empire into the deficiency of one of those under your hand, you who hold sway over all land and sea. For thus having appeared as practical teachers of virtue, through the good success here concerning the imperial office, you will be deemed worthy of the kingdom there as well. Farewell to me, most glorious queen, adorning the purple with a royal mind.

I think you are not unaware, O child, that I was born the son of illustrious and wealthy parents, and having sold everything into the hands of the poor, I pray to live and be rich in Christ alone, which I continually exhort you and all the pious to do. This also Theodoric accomplished, giving nothing to me (for neither, even if he gave, would I have taken it), but through the poor providing to Christ, the King of kings. Therefore, not only have we done and advised this, but having accomplished something more with God, we have taught that which is far inferior and holds the lowest rank of virtue. For we have refrained from the property of others and have offered our own to the needy; but we have admonished you, as good counselors, to hold fast to your own and abstain from the property of others. However, as to the notion that we are all wise in admonishing, I would say the opposite, that no one is truly wise except the one who has received the grace of wisdom from God. And how do we not know when we sin, since the criterion of conscience is unerring for all? Yet, according to the divine apostle, "Blessed is he who does not judge himself in what he examines"... From Chrysostom among the saints to the empress Eudoxia concerning the widow's vineyard: God, being the creator of all nature, stands above all authority and dominion in essence; but all humans are equal, even if one seems to surpass another, and another another. And He has allotted to you the scepter of the kingdom, not so that you may consider yourself superior to others, but so that you may dispense equality and justice to the community.

For glory and wealth and worldly renown will not benefit us at all on the fearful day of judgment, but only the keeping of the commandments, which brings with it the preservation of right doctrines. May you not appear forgetful of these, nor cast out the fear of God from your soul, knowing clearly that the breath of all of us is in his hands, and to some he adds years of life, from others he takes away as he wishes. For he says, "I will kill and I will make alive, and who is there to deliver from my hands?" It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We are all men, dust and ashes, the flower of grass and powder, a shadow, smoke, and a dream, and we live without living; for from the moment the saying "You are earth and to earth you will go" was pronounced against our whole nature. We have all put on mortality and corruption entirely, and we have all already died in common, and one dies today, another tomorrow. For coming from earth, we are soon carried back to earth, kings and commoners, rulers and ruled. Look therefore at those who reigned before you, and consider what they were then and what they have now become. Understand how those who did good are blessed both while living and after death, and on the day of recompense will go forth to a resurrection of life, while those who did evil are here always assailed by the curses and reproaches of all, and rise not to a resurrection of life but of condemnation. Let your God-loving Majesty therefore imitate those who kept the faith unblemished and completed the noble course of the commandments.

Restore the vineyard to Theognostus's humble wife and her children. The sorrows they have already endured are enough; let their misfortunes not be intensified nor their afflictions proceed further. Yes, I beseech you, quickly release them from the grief and calamity that oppress them, remembering the Savior's command in the Gospels that the sun should not set upon our anger. And again, addressing that rich man and saying: Fool, this very night they demand your soul from you, and what you have prepared, for whom will it be? What benefit does a man gain if he wins the whole world but loses his own soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his own soul? Will the sweetness of the vine's fruit, or the pleasantness of figs, or the richness of oil, or the abundance of wealth and the glory of office accompany us into Hades? Does not all human endeavor end in decay? Do we not depart, leaving everything behind, naked of earthly things and without protection? Therefore, remembering all these things, allow the vineyard to be restored, so that it may go well for you on the day of judgment. From Chrysostom to Eudoxia: I think, pious child, that it is not unknown to you that if I had wished to possess wealth myself, I was hindered by no one among the fathers. And I associated with those who were powerful and possessed much. But I willingly renounced wealth, considering the matter to be least worthy of my concern for those in need. How then, when I myself with great zeal laid aside these things and advise all to despise common possessions, would I not be ashamed now to appear as a desirer of them?