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1. THAT it is possible then to make use of deceit for a good
purpose, or rather that in such a case it ought not to be called
deceit, but a kind of good management worthy of all admiration, might
be proved at greater length; but since what has already been said
suffices for demonstration, it would be irksome and tedious to lengthen
out my discourse upon the subject. And now it will remain for you to
pave whether I have not employed this art to your advantage.
BASIL: And what kind of advantage have I derived from this piece
of good management, or wise policy, or whatever you may please to call
it, so as to persuade me that I have not been deceived by you?
CHRYSOSTOM: What advantage, pray, could be greater than to
be seen doing those things which Christ with his own lips declared to
be proofs of love to Himself? For addressing the leader of the
apostles He said, "Peter, lovest thou me?" and when he confessed
that he did, the Lord added, "if thou lovest me tend my sheep."
The Master asked the disciple if He was loved by him, not in order'
to get information (how should He who penetrates the hearts of all
men?), but in order to teach us how great an interest He takes in
the superintendence of these sheep. This being plain, it will
likewise be manifest that a great and unspeakable reward will be
reserved for him whose labors are concerned with these sheep, upon
which Christ places such a high value. For when we see any one
bestowing care upon members of our household, or upon our flocks, we
count his zeal for them as a sign of love towards ourselves: yet all
these things are to be bought for money :--with how great a gift then
will He requite those who tend the flock which He purchased, not with
money, nor anything of that kind, but by His own death, giving his
own blood as the price of the herd. Wherefore when the disciple said,
"Thou knowest Lord that I love Thee," and invoked the beloved one
Himself as a witness of his love, the Saviour did not stop there,
but added that which was the token of love. For He did not at that
time wish to show how much Peter loved Him, but how much He Himself
loved His own Church, and he desired to teach Peter and all of us
that we also should bestow much zeal upon the same. For why did God
not spare His only-begotten Son, but delivered Him up, although
the only one He had? It was that He might reconcile to Himself
those who were disposed towards Him as enemies, and make them His
peculiar people. For what purpose did He shed His blood? It was
that He might win these sheep which He entrusted to Peter and his
successors. Naturally then did Christ say, "Who then is the
faithful and wise servant, whom his lord shall make ruler over His
household." Again, the words are those of one who is in doubt, yet
the speaker did not utter them in doubt, but just as He asked Peter
whether he loved Him, not from any need to learn the affection of the
disciple, but from a desire to show the exceeding depth of his own
love: so now also when He says, "Who then is the faithful and wise
servant?" he speaks not as being ignorant who is faithful and wise,
but as desiring to set forth the rarity of such a character, and the
greatness of this office. Observe at any rate how great the reward
is--" He will appoint him," he says, "ruler over all his
goods."
2. Will you, then, still contend that you were not rightly
deceived, when you are about to superintend the things which belong to
God, and are doing that which when Peter did the Lord said he should
be able to surpass the rest of the apostles, for His words were,
"Peter, lovest thou me more than these?" Yet He might have said
to him, "If thou lovest me practise fasting, sleeping on the
ground, and prolonged vigils, defend the wronged, be as a father to
orphans, and supply the place of a husband to their mother." But as
a matter of fact, setting aside all these things, what does He say?
"Tend my sheep." For those things which I have already mentioned
might easily be performed by many even of those who are under
authority, women as well as men; but when one is required to preside
over the Church, and to be entrusted with the care of so many souls,
the whole female sex must retire before the magnitude of the task, and
the majority of men also; and we must bring forward those who to a
large extent surpass all others, and soar as much above them in
excellence of spirit as Saul overtopped the whole Hebrew nation in
bodily stature: or rather far more. For in this case let me not take
the height of shoulders as the standard of inquiry; but let the
distinction between the pastor and his charge be as great as that
between rational man and irrational creatures, not to say even
greater, inasmuch as the risk is concerned with things of far greater
importance. He indeed who has lost sheep, either through the ravages
of wolves, or the attacks of robbers, or through murrain, or any
other disaster befalling them, might perhaps obtain some indulgence
from the owner of the flock; and even if the latter should demand
satisfaction the penalty would be only a matter of money: but he who
has human beings entrusted to him, the rational flock of Christ,
incurs a penalty in the first place for the loss of the sheep, which
goes beyond material things and touches his own life: and in the second
place he has to carry on a far greater and more difficult contest. For
he has not to contend with wolves, nor to dread robbers, nor to
consider how he may avert pestilence from the flock. With whom then
has he to fight? with whom has he to wrestle? Listen to the words of
St. Paul. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Do you see
the terrible multitude of enemies, and their fierce squadrons, not
steel clad, but endued with a nature which is of itself an equivalent
for a complete suit of armor. Would you see yet another host, stern
and cruel, beleaguering this flock? This also you shall behold from
the same post of observation. For he who has discoursed to us
concerning the others, points out these enemies also to us, speaking
in a certain place on this wise: "The works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these, fornication, adultery, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation,
wrath, strife, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults," and
many more besides; for he did not make a complete list, but left us to
understand the rest from these. Moreover, in the case of the shepherd
of irrational creatures, those who wish to destroy the flock, when
they see the guardian take to flight, cease making war upon him, and
are contented with the seizure of the cattle: but in this case, even
should they capture the whole flock, they do not leave the shepherd
unmolested, but attack him all the more, and wax bolder, ceasing not
until they have either overthrown him, or have themselves been
vanquished. Again, the afflictions of sheep are manifest, whether it
be famine, or pestilence, or wounds, or whatsoever else it may be
which distresses them, and this might help not a little towards the
relief of those who are oppressed in these ways. And there is yet
another fact greater than this which facilitates release from this kind
of infirmity. And what is that? The shepherds with great authority
compel the sheep to receive the remedy when they do not willingly submit
to it. For it is easy to bind them when cautery or cutting is
required, and to keep them inside the fold for a long time, whenever
it is expedient, and to bring them one kind of food instead of
another, and to cut them off from their supplies of water, and all
other things which the shepherds may decide to be conducive to their
health they perform with great ease.
3. But in the case of human infirmities, it is not easy in the first
place for a man to discern them, for no man "knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of man which is in him." How then can any one
apply the remedy for the disease of which he does not know the
character, often indeed being unable to understand it even should he
happen to sicken with it himself? And even when it becomes manifest,
it causes him yet more trouble: for it is not possible to doctor all
men with the same authority with which the shepherd treats his sheep.
For in this case also it is necessary to bind and to restrain from
food, and to use cautery or the knife: but the reception of the
treatment depends on the will of the patient, not of him who applies
the remedy. For this also was perceived by that wonderful man (St.
Paul) when he said to the Corinthians--"Not for that we have
dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy." For
Christians above all men are not permitted forcibly to correct the
failings of those who sin. Secular judges indeed, when they have
captured malefactors under the law, show their authority to be great,
and prevent them even against their will from following their own
devices: but in our case the wrong-doer must be made better, not by
force, but by persuasion. For neither has authority of this kind for
the restraint of sinners been given us by law, nor, if it had been
given, should we have any field for the exercise of our power,
inasmuch as God rewards those who abstain from evil by their own
choice, not of necessity. Consequently much skill is required that
our patients may be induced to submit willingly to the treatment
prescribed by the physicians, and not only this, but that they may be
grateful also for the cure. For if any one when he is bound becomes
restive (which it is in his power to be), he makes the mischief
worse; and if he should pay no heed to the words which cut like steel,
he inflicts another wound by means of this contempt, and the intention
to heal only becomes the occasion of a worse disorder. For it is not
possible for any one to cure a man by compulsion against his will.
4. What then is one to do? For if you deal too gently with him who
needs a severe application of the knife, and do not strike deep into
one who requires such treatment, you remove one Dart of the sore but
leave the other: and if on the other hand you make the requisite
incision unsparingly, the patient,driven to desperation by his
sufferings, will often fling everything away at once, both the remedy
and the bandage, and throw himself down headlong, "breaking the yoke
and bursting the band." I could tell of many who have run into
extreme evils because the due penalty of their sins was exacted. For
we ought not, in applying punishment, merely to proportion it to the
scale of the offence, but rather to keep in view the disposition of the
sinner, lest whilst wishing to mend what is torn, you make the rent
worse, and in your zealous endeavors to restore what is fallen, you
make the ruin greater. For weak and careless characters, addicted for
the most part to the pleasures of the world, and having occasion to be
proud on account of birth and position, may yet, if gently and
gradually brought to repent of their errors, be delivered, partially
at least, if not perfectly, from the evils by which they are
possessed: but if any one were to inflict the discipline all at once,
he would deprive them of this slight chance of amendment. For when
once the soul has been forced to put off shame it lapses into a callous
condition, and neither yields to kindly words nor bends to threats,
nor is susceptible of gratitude, but becomes far worse than that city
which the prophet reproached, saying, "thou hadst the face of a
harlot, refusing to be ashamed before all men." Therefore the pastor
has need of much discretion, and of a myriad eyes to observe on every
side the habit of the soul. For as many are uplifted to pride, and
then sink into despair of their salvation, from inability to endure
severe remedies, so are there some, who from paying no penalty
equivalent to their sins, fall into negligence, and become far worse,
and are impelled to greater sins. It behoves the priest therefore to
leave none of these things unexamined, but, after a thorough inquiry
into all of them, to apply such remedies as he has appositely to each
case, lest his zeal prove to be in vain. And not m this matter only,
but also in the work of knitting together the severed members of the
Church, one can see that he has much to do. For the pastor of sheep
has his flock following him, wherever he may lead them: and if any
should stray out of the straight path, and, deserting the good
pasture, feed in unproductive or rugged place, a loud shout suffices
to collect them and bring back to the fold those who have been parted
from it: but if a human being wanders away from the right faith, great
exertion, perseverance and patience tare required; for he cannot be
dragged back by force, nor constrained by fear, but must be led back
by persuasion to the truth from which be originally swerved. The
pastor therefore ought to be of a noble spirit, so as not to despond,
or to despair of the salvation of wan derers from the fold, but
continually to reason with himself and say, "Peradventure God will
give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they
may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil." Therefore the
Lord, when addressing His disciples, said, "Who then is the
faithful and wise servant?" For he indeed who disciplines himself
compasses only his own advantage, but the benefit of the pastoral
function extends to the whole people. And one who dispenses money to
the needy, or otherwise succors the oppressed, benefits his neighbors
to some extent, but so much less than the priest in proportion as the
body is inferior to the soul. Rightly therefore did the Lord say that
zeal for the flock was a token of love for Himself.
BASIL: But thou thyself--dost thou not love Christ?
Chrysostom: Yea, I love Him, and shall never cease loving Him;
but I fear lest I should provoke Him whom I love.
BASIL: But what riddle can there be more obscure than this--
Christ has commanded him who loves Him to tend His sheep, and yet
you say that you decline to tend them because you love Him who gave
this command?
Chrysostom: My saying is no riddle, but very intelligible and
simple, for if I were well qualified to administer this office, as
Christ desired it, and then shunned it, my remark might be open to
doubt, but since the infirmity of my spirit renders me useless for this
ministry, why does my saying deserve to be called in question? For I
fear lest if I took the flock in hand when it was in good condition and
well nourished, and then wasted it through my unskilfulness, I should
provoke against myself the God who so loved the flock as to give
Himself up for their salvation and ransom.
BASIL: You speak in jest: for if you were in earnest I know not
how you would have proved me to be justly grieved otherwise than by
means of these very words whereby you have endeavored to dispel my
dejection. I knew indeed before that you had deceived and betrayed
me, but much more now, when you have undertaken to clear yourself of
my accusations, do I plainly perceive and understand the extent of the
evils into which you have led me. For if you withdrew yourself from
this ministry because you were conscious that your spirit was not equal
to the burden of the task, I ought to have been rescued from it before
you, even if I had chanced to have a great desire for it, to say
nothing of having confided to you the entire decision of these matters:
but as it is, you have looked solely to your own interest and neglected
mine. Would indeed you had entirely neglected them; then I should
have been well content: but you plotted to facilitate my capture by
those who wished to seize me. For you cannot take shelter in the
argument that public opinion deceived you and induced you to imagine
great and wonderful things concerning me. For I was none of your
wonderful and distinguished men, nor, had this been the case, ought
you to have preferred public opinion to truth. For if I had never
permitted you to enjoy my society, you might have seemed to have a
reasonable pretext for being guided in your vote by public report; but
if there is no one who has such thorough knowledge of my affairs, if
you are acquainted with my character better than my parents and those
who brought me up, what argument can you employ which will be
convincing enough to persuade your hearers that you did not purposely
thrust me into this danger: say, what answer shall I make to your
accusers?
CHRYSOSTOM: Nay! I will not proceed to those questions
until I have resolved such as concern yourself alone, if you were to
ask me ten thousand times to dispose of these charges. You said indeed
that ignorance would bring me forgiveness, and that I should have been
free from all accusation if I had brought you into your present
position not knowing anything about you, but that as I did not betray
you in ignorance, but was intimately acquainted with your affairs, I
was deprived of all reasonable pretext and excuse. But I say
precisely the reverse: for in such matters there is need of careful
scrutiny, and he who is going to present any one as qualified for the
priesthood ought not to be content with public report only, but should
also himself, above all and before all, investigate the man's
character. For when the blessed Paul says, "He must also have a
good report of them which are without," he does not dispense with an
exact and rigorous inquiry, nor does he assign to such testimony
precedence over the scrutiny required in such cases. For after much
previous discourse, he mentioned this additional testimony, proving
that one must not be contented with it alone for elections of this
kind, but take it into consideration along with the rest. For public
report often speaks false; but when careful investigation precedes, no
further danger need be apprehended from it. On this account, after
the other kinds of evidence he places that which comes from those who
are without. For he did not simply say, "he must have a good
report," but added the words, "from them which are without,"
wishing to show that before the report of those without he must be
carefully examined. Inasmuch, then, as I myself knew your affairs
better than your parents, as you also yourself acknowledged, I might
deserve to be released from all blame.
BASIL: Nay this is the very reason why you could not escape, if
any one chose to indite you. Do you not remember hearing from me, and
often learning from my actual conduct, the feebleness of my character?
Were you not perpetually taunting me for my pusillanimity, because I
was so easily dejected by ordinary cares?
5. CHRYSOSTOM: I do indeed remember often hearing such
things said by you; I would not deny it. But if I ever taunted
you, I did it in sport and not in serious truth. However, I do not
now dispute about these matters, and I claim the same degree of
forbearance from you while I wish to make mention of some of the good
qualities which you possess. For if you attempt to convict me of
saying what is untrue, I shall not spare you, but shall drove that
you say these things rather by way of self--depreciation than with a
view to truth, and I will employ no evidence but your own words and
deeds to demonstrate the truth of my assertion. And now the first
question I wish to ask of you is this: do you know how great the power
of love is? For omitting all the miracles which were to be wrought by
the apostles, Christ said, "Hereby shall men know that ye are my
disciples if ye love one another," and Paul said that it was the
fulfilling of the law, and that in default of it no spiritual gift had
any profit. Well, this choice good, the distinguishing mark of
Christ's disciples, the gift which is higher than all other gifts,
I perceived to be deeply implanted in your soul, and teeming with much
fruit.
BASIL: I acknowledge indeed that the matter is one of deep
concern to me, and that I endeavor most earnestly to keep this
commandment, but that I have not even half succeeded in so doing,
even you yourself would bear me witness if you would leave off talking
out of partiality, and simply respect the truth.
6. CHRYSOSTOM: Well, then, I shall betake myself to my
evidences, and shall now do what I threatened, proving that you wish
to disparage yourself rather than to speak the truth. But I will
mention a fact which has only just occurred, that no one may suspect me
of attempting to obscure the truth by the great lapse of time in
relating events long past, as oblivion would then prevent any objection
being made to the things which I might say with a view to
gratification. For when one of our intimate friends, having been
falsely accused of insult and folly, was in extreme peril, you then
flung yourself into the midst of the danger, although you were not
summoned by any one, or appealed to by the person who was about to be
involved in danger. Such was the fact: but that I may convict you
out of your own mouth, I will remind you of the words you uttered:
for when some did not approve of this zeal, while others commended and
admired it, "How can I help myself?" you said to those who accused
you, "for I do not know how otherwise to love than by giving up my
life when it is necessary to save any of my friends who is in danger:"
thus repeating, in different words, indeed, but with the same
meaning, what Christ said to his disciples when he laid down the
definition of perfect love.
"Greater love," He said, "hath no man than this that a man lay
down his life for his friends." If then it is impossible to find
greater love than this, you have attained its limit, and both by your
deeds and words have crowned the summit. This is why I betrayed you,
this is why I contrived that plot. Do I now convince you that it was
not from any malicious intent, nor from any desire to thrust you into
danger, but from a persuasion of your future usefulness that I dragged
you into this course?
BASIL: Do you then suppose that love is sufficient for the
correction of one's fellowmen?
CHRYSOSTOM: Certainly it would contribute in a great measure
to this end. But if you wish me to produce evidence of your practical
wisdom also, I will proceed to, do so, and will prove that your
understanding exceeds your loving-kindness.
At these remarks he blushed scarlet and said, "Let my character be
now dismissed: for it was not about this that I originally demanded an
explanation; but if you have any just answer to make to those who are
without, I would gladly hear what you have to say. Wherefore,
abandoning this vain contest, tell me what defence I shall make, both
to those who have honored you and to those who are distressed on their
account, considering them to be insulted.
7. CHRYSOSTOM: This is just the point to which I am
finally hastening, for as my ex planation to you has been completed I
shall easily turn to this part of my defence. What then is the
accusation made by these persons, and what are their charges? They
say that they have been insulted and grievously wronged by me because I
have not accepted the honor which they wished to confer upon me. Now
in the first place I say that no account should be taken of the insult
shown to men, seeing that by paying honor to them I should be
compelled to offend God. And I should say to those who are
displeased that it is not safe to take offence at these things, but
does them much harm. For I think that those who stay themselves on
God and look to Him alone, ought to be so religiously disposed as not
to account such a thing an insult, even if they happened to be a
thousand times dishonored. But that I have not gone so far as even to
think of daring anything of this kind is manifest from what I am about
to say. For if indeed I had been induced by arrogance and vainglory,
as you have often said some slanderously affirm, to assent to my
accusers, I should have been one of the most iniquitous: of mankind,
having treated great and excellent men, my benefactors moreover, with
contempt. For if men ought to be punished for wronging those who have
never wronged them, how ought we to honor those who have spontaneously
preferred to honor us? For no one could possibly say that they were
requiting me for any benefits small or great which they had received at
my hands. How great a punishment then would one deserve if one
requited them in the contrary manner. But if such a thing never
entered my mind, and I declined the heavy burden with quite a
different intention, why do they refuse to pardon me (even if they do
not consent to approve), but accuse me of having selfishly spared my
own soul? For so far from having insulted the men in question I
should say that I had even honored them by my refusal.
And do not be surprised at the paradoxical nature of my remark, for I
shall supply a speedy solution of it.
8. For had I accepted the office, I do not say all men, but those
who take pleasure in speaking evil, might have suspected and said many
things concerning myself who had been elected and concerning them, the
electors: for instance, that they regarded wealth, and admired
splendor of rank; or had been induced by flattery to promote me to this
honor: indeed I cannot say whether some one might not have suspected
that they were bribed by money. Moreover, they would have said,
"Christ called fishermen, tentmakers, and publicans to this
dignity,whereas these men reject those who support themselves by daily
labor: but if there be any one who devotes himself to secular
learning, and is brought up in idleness, him they receive and admire.
For why, pray, have they passed by men who have undergone innumerable
toils in the service of the Church, and suddenly dragged into this
dignity one who has never experienced any labors of this kind, but has
spent all his youth in the vain study of secular learning." These
things and more they might have said had I accepted the office: but
not so now. For every pretext for maligning is now cut away from
them, and they can neither accuse me of flattery, nor the others of
receiving bribes, unless some choose to act like mere madmen. For how
could one who used flattery and expended money in order to obtain the
dignity, have abandoned it to others when he might have obtained it?
For this would be just as if a man who had bestowed much labor upon the
ground in order that the corn field might be laden with abundant
produce, and the presses overflow with wine, after innumerable toils
and great expenditure of money were to surrender the fruits to others
just when it was time to reap his corn and gather in his vintage. Do
you see that although what was said might be far from the truth,
nevertheless those who wished to calumniate the electors would then have
had a pretext for alleging that the choice was made without fair
judgment and consideration. But as it is I have prevented them from
being open mouthed, or even uttering a single word on the subject.
Such then and more would have been their remarks at the outset. But
after undertaking the ministry I should not have been able day by day
to defend myself against accusers, even if I had done everything
faultlessly, to say nothing of the many mistakes which I must have
made owing to my youth and inexperience. But now I have saved the
electors from this kind of accusation also, whereas in the other case
I should have involved them in innumerable reproaches. For what would
not the world have said? "They have committed affairs of such vast
interest and importance to thoughtless youths, they have defiled the
flock of God, and Christian affairs have become a jest and a
laughingstock." But now "all iniquity shall stop her mouth." For
although they may say these things on your account, you will speedily
teach them by your acts that understanding is not to be estimated by
age, and the grey head is not to be the test of an elder--that the
young man ought not to be absolutely excluded from the ministry, but
only the novice: and the difference between the two is great.
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