Quod frequenter conveniendum sit

Of our father among the saints John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, a homily delivered in the martyrium at the old rock, when few had gathered because of the storm: on the necessity of assembling frequently, and of not despairing of salvation when in sins, but of showing repentance. What is this? The whole city ought to have been present today, and not even a tiny fraction of the congregation has met with us? Perhaps the mud and the rain are to blame? Away with that; it is not the mud, but the indolent and slack disposition. For what excuse could those who stayed away have, when the martyrs despised even life itself, while they did not dare to brave even mud in order to attend? How shall I bless you who are present? How shall I lament those absent ones, both for their absence and for the cause of their absence? For it is clear that they, nailed to worldly cares and kindling in themselves more fiercely the love of money that ruins everything, have stayed away from this beautiful feast. But even if they are not present, it is necessary to speak also to the absent; for it is clear that through you who are present they will hear these things. How long this madness for money? How long this never-extinguished furnace that attacks and consumes everything? Do you not know that this flame gives birth to that unquenchable fire? That this wasting disease generates that venomous worm? But if you despise Gehenna, and these words do not shake your mind because the punishment is still future, let at least present things persuade you. Have you not learned what fruit love of money recently displayed?

Are not the reminders before your eyes? Is not the proof of such a catastrophe still ringing in your ears? Our entire city is filled with the remnants of that shipwreck; and wherever you go, just as when a great ship has been sunk, one has saved and carries about the plank, another the oar, another the sail, another some part of the cargo, so too from the earthquake that recently befell us here, one has taken the house, another the fields, another the slaves, another the silver, another the gold, and they have made the sight of the disaster widespread, and have caused the reminders of the upheaval to be scattered everywhere. And one, having spent sleepless nights, endured countless labors and dangers, and amassed so many sins from such greed, has become homeless, cityless, a fugitive to a foreign land, and lacks even necessary food; and each day he sees the ultimate danger hanging over him, imagining swords and executioners and pits, living a life more grievous than countless deaths; while others revel in his possessions, and those who formerly flattered him now plot against him. Are these things not sufficient to chasten even the most insensible person? But after such a blow, after such a storm, after such a catastrophe, after such a change and so great a one, visible before your eyes, which occurred not even thirty days ago, are you again raving mad? And what excuse would you have, or what defense? And not only are you mad, but you do not even come here, so that you might learn this very thing.

For just as I speak to the absent as if they were present, I am stupefied with great despondency, because they become better neither through fear of what is to come nor through experience of what is at hand; but snatching, coveting, like worms in some dung-heap, hemmed in and buried in the rubbish of these cares, they do not even once in the week take care to come, so that they might at least learn this very thing: where they are. For just as those possessed by frenzy cannot themselves perceive their own condition, but need physicians to free them from their madness, so too those possessed by the harsh rabies of money need other teachers, so that they might at least learn that they are raving. For this reason especially I beg, entreat, and implore them to come to us and to receive the remedies from the word. I have no sharpened iron, but I have a word sharper than iron; there is no fire, nor any biting drug, but there are words hotter than fire, bringing painless healing. 2. Why then, tell me, do you shrink away, and not show the same forethought for the soul as you show sparingness for the flesh? For when that is in a bad state, you spend money, and if it is necessary to borrow, you expend everything, having pledged all; and to physicians, even if they wish to cut or to burn, you offer your body with great eagerness to do whatever they wish; but when the soul has festering sources of worms, do you not come, tell me, to hear a word that cleanses the putrefaction—and this when you have neither money to pay nor so much pain to endure? But have you given yourself over to utter destruction?

And where is this worthy of forgiveness? If I were saying, "The one who is greedy, the one who seizes, the one who fornicates, the one who commits adultery, let him not come to church," and I were driving away and persecuting all those in sins—most certainly not even then would there be any defense; for one ought to come cleansed—but now I do not even say this, but even if you fornicate, even if you commit adultery, even if you seize, even if you are greedy, come to church, so that you may learn no longer to do such things. I draw all and attract them, and having spread the nets of discourse from every side, I desire to capture here not only the healthy but also the sick. I say these things every day: come and be healed with me; for I too, while healing, have need of remedies. For I am a human being, subject to the same nature as you, liable to passions, and I have need of words that bridle the unruly bond. Nor do I live a life free of business, quiet, and untroubled, but I myself have disturbances of desire and tumults of waves. And what need is there to speak of me and so-and-so, when even Paul, who touched the heavens, himself had great need of treatment? And he made this very thing clear to us, that he had need, and that he too did not live a life free of business, but had many struggles; hence he also said, "I bruise my body and enslave it, lest after preaching to others I myself become rejected." He bruised what rose up, and enslaved what wished to be unruly; hence he also exhorted others, saying, "He who thinks he stands, let him see that he does not fall.

If Paul himself did not enjoy calm, but like those carried on the open sea saw many waves rising from all sides, who will dare to say that he does not need correction, treatment, and constant vigilance? Come, then, and be healed together with me, your teacher. And if you are healthy, come for this reason as well, that you may become healthier; for the word both frees those who have diseases from their illness and makes those who do not have them more secure, being corrective of what has happened and preventive of what has not yet occurred. And if you do not have this sin, you have another; for who will boast of having a pure heart? Or who will claim with confidence to be free from sin? Do not, then, because you have sinned, be ashamed to come; on the contrary, for this very reason come. For no one says, "Because I have a wound, I do not seek the physician, nor do I accept medicine"; but on the contrary, for this very reason it is necessary to seek both the healers and the power of the medicines. For we too know how to pardon, since we ourselves are also liable for other sins. For this reason God did not give us angels as teachers, nor Gabriel

Having brought him down from above, he set him over his flocks, but he makes shepherds by taking them from the flock itself, the leader of the flock from the sheep themselves, so that he may be sympathetic to those under his authority, and, mindful of his own weakness, not be puffed up against those he shepherds, but have a bridle and a basis for humility in the necessity of his own conscience. And that these words are not mere conjecture, listen to Paul writing and philosophizing thus: for in his letter to the Hebrews he spoke as follows: "For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men, so as to offer gifts and sacrifices, being able to be moderate with those who are ignorant and in error, since he himself is also subject to weakness; and because of this weakness, he ought, just as for the people, so also for himself, to offer concerning sins." Do you see how excellently he has stated the reason why not angels nor archangels, but men are set over the Churches, so that they may be able to sympathize with those of the same race, having the consciousness of their own sins as the greatest lesson in humility? For he says, "he himself is also subject to weakness, and because of this weakness, he ought, just as for the people, so also for himself, to offer concerning sins." This indeed is what happens even now: for standing at this holy table and offering the awesome sacrifice, just as we ask for forgiveness for the transgressions of the people, so also for our own we entreat, beseech, and implore, and we offer the sacrifice on behalf of all.

3. Do not bring before me the covetous man, the slave of his belly, the one who has betrayed the nobility of his nature to wickedness, but bring this man and those like him, those who preserve the archetype and do not deface the royal character, and then you will know what a human being is. For this man too was a human being, born of a woman, nursed on milk, dwelt on earth, breathed the air, and had everything in common with us—the things of nature were common. But because the things of his choice became exceptional, because of these he shone with this grace. And yet he had no wealth, no distinction of birth, no greatness of homeland, no skill in words, no sharp tongue, no herds of slaves, no swarm of eunuchs, no gold-roofed house, no silk garments, no table of luxury, nor any other of the things that seem to many to be enviable, but the utmost poverty. He did not even have sufficient necessary food, but he became a beggar of a widow woman, and that a Sidonian, stretching out his hand and asking for bread. His dwelling was a cave, his garment a skin, his table the earth, his ancestors obscure and nameless, his homeland humble, his life rustic. Yet none of these things became an obstacle for the man to win renown; rather, he was wealthier than all kings, wiser than all philosophers and rhetoricians, more illustrious than those who wear diadems, and more noble than those who possess royal cities. For he had the whole world as his homeland—or rather, even that was a small city for him—and Paul cries out, saying:

They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins—men of whom the world was not worthy. For they belonged to the heavenly city, whose craftsman and creator is God. For this reason I have brought before you a poor and rustic man who was held in high esteem, so that you might have no excuse. For if I had brought a rich and wise man, you could say, "Poverty and ignorance prevent me from becoming such a one." But now you have no such excuse to fall back upon, for that man was poor—the poorest of all men—and he dwelt in the desert, obscure in ancestry, in homeland, and in all other respects. Yet he shone brighter than the sun, both then and now, and his glory extends over as much land as the sun beholds, even though he lived so long ago. The passage of time has not extinguished his memory, and rightly so. For such is virtue—an immortal thing, shining brighter than the sun. But, as I said earlier (for we must not lose sight of our subject, even when carried out into the sea of encomia for the prophet), this man also demonstrates what was said concerning Moses. For since it was likely that he would be puffed up by his achievements and not be very lenient toward the many, see what God does: He allows him to be stripped of His grace, so that his weakness might be revealed. But first it is necessary to show how he was not very lenient.

For when he had shut up the heaven and made the land barren, and there was a famine, the most bitter famine of all, and the waters were undrinkable, and every plant had withered, and the rivers had failed, and the face of the earth was terrible, threatening death, and the famine, coming upon everything, devoured it, bringing the most pitiful death—not even then did he give way, but went and sat on the top of a mountain, having handed over the people of the Jews to this grievous wasting. But the loving God, and his ineffable goodness, could not endure this severity; but since he himself was unwilling to be persuaded from within to release the calamity, and again he himself did not wish to do this without him, see what happens: first he communicates with him, and then he lets fall the rain. Did you see the goodness and loving-kindness of God even in this, and the honor shown to the holy man? For he did not let go the reins of the rains until he had conversed with him and told him what was to come, and sent him as a herald of the coming abundance. For since through him the gloomy things had happened, he wished him also to become the messenger of the good things, and bringing him down from the mountain, he sent him to announce everywhere throughout that land the arrival of the rains and the deliverance from the famine. But nevertheless, when the rain had been brought down, and in a brief moment of time the plenty had returned, he brought the four hundred priests of Baal, and the four hundred and eighty, and slaughtered them, and let loose torrents of blood.

4. What then is this to the subject at hand? Do not be disturbed, beloved; for I shall now proceed directly to the conclusion of what has been said. For when he had brought down that torch, and seized the victory, and set up a glorious trophy, and accomplished the slaughter of the priests, he departed rejoicing, and thinking highly of what had happened. The wife of Ahab sent to him a cheap and contemptible little whore, saying: "May the gods do such and such to me, and may they add such and such, if I do not place your soul tomorrow like one of these priests." And he was afraid, and fled a journey of forty days. What then? That heaven-high soul, that despiser of the whole world, that one who scorned such a famine and rose up against such a tyrannical king, who shut up the heaven and opened it, who now brought down rain, now a torch, who trampled upon the constraints of nature, the undaunted, the one who was bold everywhere—this man suddenly, after such great achievements, after such great boldness, could not bear the threat of a single fornicating girl expressed in words, but becomes a fugitive and an exile, and flees to the desert, and withdraws a journey of forty days. What then is the cause? God stripped him of grace, and the weakness of nature was shown; he showed the prophet, and he showed the man, so that they might learn that what happened then was also the work of grace. And he did this both to make him sympathetic to the many, and to cut off and prevent the arrogance arising from his achievements.

That he thought and imagined great things about himself, and rose up against all others, I will present this very man himself as a witness to you. For when God came to him and asked the reason for his stay there, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" and, "What are you doing here?" he asked, not wishing to learn, but wishing to reveal to us the hidden things of his mind. For even when Christ asked the Canaanite woman, it was not that he might learn, but that he might teach us the treasure of faith stored up in her. So he asks him, then, why he had come such a long journey, and leaving cities and peoples, he embraces the desert, not that he himself might learn (for how could he who knows all?), but that he might teach us through that man's answer the hidden things of his mind, and that he had justly allowed him to be shaken by fear and to fall into cowardice. He allowed him, he did not push him; he permitted, he did not cause it, but he only stripped him bare, and he was refuted. Since, then, he said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" let us hear what he says: "They have torn down your altars and killed your prophets, and I alone have been left, and they seek my life." Do you see that he thought all had perished, and that he alone was left, and that after him there was no other? This was able, little by little, to lead him into madness. For this reason, God, removing this erroneous thought of his, says: "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who did not bend the knee to Baal.

Since, then, even when he brought the drought, he remained, intensifying the punishment, and after this thought great things about himself, since he was alone on the earth in such a state, he allows him to perceive his own weakness, teaching the multitude of those who were saved, through both of these things humbling his mind, and persuading him to be moderate everywhere, and to be forgiving, and to mingle philanthropy with zeal. 5. But if you wish to see these same things also in the New Testament, we will again attempt to bring before you the leaders and towers and bulwarks and the chief figures of the New Testament. Just as Moses and Elijah, so Paul and Peter are shown in the New Testament. For just as each of those, one fearing the threat of a single Egyptian, the other of a single harlot, were banished, so also Peter, the foundation, the base, the pillar, after countless commandments, after so many miracles, after such great philosophy, feared not the threat of a queen, nor of a man, but of a doorkeeper's girl, and this was much more severe than the former. For those, fearing, only fled; this one also fell a most grievous fall, which all know; for when he was stripped of grace, his weakness was also shown, being bereft of God's care. And God allowed him to fall, since he was about to make him ruler of the whole world, so that, remembering his own falls, he might be forgiving to those who are tripped up afterwards. And that what has been said is not conjecture, hear Christ himself saying: "Simon, Simon, how many times has Satan sought to sift you like wheat?

I also prayed for you, that your faith might not fail. And you, when you return, strengthen your brothers. Give me this recompense, he says, for the help I gave you; for if you had not enjoyed my forethought, you would not have been able on your own to withstand his attack. Therefore, considering your own situation, become sympathetic also toward others; for the word "strengthen" hints at this: strengthen those who are wavering by condescending, reaching out a hand, showing great benevolence. And Paul, who was bolder than any lion, that undaunted soul, experienced the same thing. And see how he continually shows himself in need of the remedies of humility; for writing to the Corinthians he says: I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the distress that befell us in Asia, that we were excessively burdened beyond our strength; but we ourselves received the sentence of death within ourselves, so that we might not be confident in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who rescued us from such great deaths. And we hope that he will also rescue us.

We were given up for dead, he says; we did not expect to live, but we reckoned within ourselves that we would certainly die. For this is what it means: we had within ourselves the sentence of death; circumstances pronounced to us that we would surely perish. Why did God allow us to come into such great dangers? So that we might not be confident in ourselves, he says, but in God who raises the dead. What he means is this: so that we might not think highly of ourselves, so that we might not be puffed up by our successes. And he says this more clearly as he goes on, writing again in this way: for after he spoke of the rapture into heaven, the entry into paradise, the communion of those secret words, he added: And because of the excess of revelations, so that I might not be exalted, a thorn was given to my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me—hinting here at those who oppressed and harassed him, and cast him into prison; for he calls each of these a Satan. I was allowed, he says, to endure trials, so that my arrogance might be checked and I might learn moderation. For this reason, indeed, after I besought God, I did not obtain my request; but I remained continually plotted against, having affliction as a medicine for humility. And even his life before this, before his conversion, was sufficient to sober him.

The one who sat at the feet of Gamaliel, who lived according to the strictness of the ancestral law, the zealot of the traditions of the fathers, who unrolled the prophets each day, who was raised with the law—this man, when Christ came and worked miracles and discoursed and set forth and interpreted things from the Scriptures, did not accept him, but even after he was crucified and had risen, he persecuted him, and with countless hands he pelted that one’s disciple, and made war on the churches, and was more savage than any wolf; and until a light shone from above and a voice was borne to draw him to the truth, he could not from within himself perceive what was right. Therefore he himself constantly turns these things over in his letters, stooping down and covering himself in shame over what had already happened; and writing to Timothy he said: I have gratitude to Christ who strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, placing me into ministry, me who was formerly a blasphemer and persecutor and reviler; but I was pitied, because I acted in ignorance in unbelief. And again: For this reason I was pitied, so that in me first God might show forth all his forbearance as a pattern for those who would believe in him for eternal life. And writing to the Corinthians he said: I who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church.

All these things happened, and God left them bare of his own grace, so that, when they have learned their own weakness, and how man is nothing without the influence from above, having ascended the judicial throne, and become both leaders and rulers, they may show great philanthropy, great condescension, great forgiveness toward those they rule. For this reason, writing to the Galatians, he said: "Brothers, if a man is even overtaken in some transgression, you who are spiritual, correct such a one, watching yourself, lest you also be tempted." Knowing these things, then, let us draw the rebellious, let us be forgiving toward those who sin, let us show great philanthropy together with the laws of God, so that we ourselves may enjoy much forgiveness in the things in which we sin, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom is glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.