THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
Do you see that it is necessary to speak constantly about the same subject and to renew the same words in memory? They had heard him speak about this when he was with them, and again they needed a reminder.
It is just as with afflictions. Though they had heard of them, for he says, "For even when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we should suffer" (1 Thess 3:4), they forgot this. So he again encouraged them by a letter.
So also now, although they had heard about the coming of Christ, they again needed a letter to instruct them. Therefore he calls it back to their memory. He shows that he is not now telling them anything unusual, but the same thing he had always said.
Read more (1896 words)
It is as with farmers. They once cast seed into the earth, but the seed does not always remain there. On the contrary, it needs great care.
If someone does not cover what has been sown with plowed earth, he has sown for the birds that pick up the seeds. So it is with us. If by constant remembrance we do not warm what has been sown in us, all our words will be as if cast to the wind.
The devil steals them away. Our negligence destroys them. The sun dries them up. The rain floods them. The thorns choke them.
Therefore it is not enough merely to sow once and then leave the seeds unattended. Whoever wishes to gather fruit must show great concern and care. He must drive away the birds, destroy the thorns, enrich the stony soil with much earth, and stop, block, and remove everything that can harm.
Yet in an ordinary field everything depends on the farmer, because the field itself is without soul and is prepared only to receive the activity of others. But in this spiritual field it is not so.
Here not everything depends on the teachers. At least half, if not more, depends on the disciples. It is our duty to sow the seed. It is yours to fulfill what we have said.
Remember it, and by your deeds show fruit in yourselves. Uproot the thorns from yourselves. Truly, wealth is a thorn. It bears no fruit at all. It is ugly in appearance and unpleasant in use.
It wounds the one who touches it. It not only bears no fruit itself, but also prevents growing plants from bearing fruit. Such is wealth. It not only bears no eternal fruit, but also becomes an obstacle for those who desire to acquire it.
Thorns serve as food for irrational camels. They are fuel for fire and a wholly useless product of nature. Likewise, wealth is useful for nothing. It serves only to kindle the furnace of Gehenna and to inflame that day which will burn like a heated oven.
It serves to feed the irrational passions in you, malice and anger. Such indeed is the camel that feeds on thorns. Those who know say that no animal is so malicious, savage, and vengeful as the camel.
Wealth has the same qualities. It feeds the senseless desires of the soul, while it pricks and wounds the rational powers exactly like a thorn. This plant is hard and prickly, and it springs up of itself.
Let us see, then, where it grows, so that we may tear it out. It grows in steep, stony, and dry places, where there is no moisture. Therefore, if someone is hard and harsh, that is, without compassion, thorns grow in him.
When farmers wish to destroy thorns, they do not do it with iron. How, then? They kindle fire, and so draw out of the earth everything harmful.
It is not enough to cut the thorns off above while the root remains unharmed below. It is not enough even to pull out the root, because something harmful still remains in the earth.
So it is with every ulcer that wounds the body. Harmful consequences remain in it. Fire, by drawing upward all the moisture with which the thorn is soaked, as though drawing out poison, extracts it from the depths of the earth through heat.
As a cupping glass used for bloodletting, when applied, draws every harmful thing from the body, so fire sucks out from the earth every harmful thing contained in the thorn, and makes the earth clean.
Why have I said all this? Because the passion for wealth must be destroyed everywhere. We too have a fire that uproots this evil from the soul. I mean the spiritual fire.
If we kindle this fire, we shall be able not only to dry up the thorn, but also the moisture that comes from it. Even if it has taken root in us, it will then be reduced to nothing.
Look, in fact, how a rich man or a rich woman enters here. She is not concerned to hear the word of God. She is concerned to show herself, to take her place here with grandeur and great pride.
She wants to surpass all others by the splendor of her clothing. By her appearance, her look, and her gait, she wants to stir in others greater respect for herself.
All her care and concern is this: did such a woman see me? Did she admire me? Was I well dressed? Yet this is not her only concern. She is also concerned that her garment not be wrinkled or torn.
In this alone consists all her care. Likewise a rich man enters with the intention of showing himself to the poor man. He wants to frighten him by the richness of his garments and by the multitude of servants standing around him and driving away the crowd.
Because of excessive pride, he himself does not deign to do even this. He considers it so unworthy of a free man that, despite his excessive pride, he does not dare do it himself.
He entrusts it to the slaves who accompany him. Yet to act in this way truly belongs only to men of slavish and shameless character.
Then, when he sits down, cares about his house at once take possession of him, distracting his attention in every direction. Pride embraces him and enslaves his soul.
He thinks he has shown favor to us, to the people, and perhaps to God Himself, by entering the temple of God. Can such a proud man ever be healed?
Tell me, if someone entered a hospital and did not seek mercy from the physician, but thought that he himself was doing the physician a favor, and instead of asking for medicine for his wound concerned himself with his clothing, would he receive any benefit when he left?
I do not think so. If you wish, I will tell you the cause of all this. When they come here, they think that they come to us. They think that what they hear, they hear from us.
They pay no attention and do not think that they are coming to God, and that He Himself speaks with them here.
Indeed, when the reader stands and says, "Thus says the Lord," and when the deacon stands and urges all to silence, he says this not to honor the reader, but to honor Him who through the reader addresses all.
If they knew that God says this through the prophet, they would lay aside every pride. If, when rulers speak with them, they avoid all inattention, how much more should they do so when God speaks with them?
Beloved, we are only ministers. We speak not our own words, but the words of God. Here are read letters sent down daily from heaven.
Tell me, I ask you, if now, when we are all gathered, a man adorned with a golden belt were to enter and solemnly and proudly announce that he had been sent by an earthly king and had brought a letter addressed to the whole city on a matter of utmost necessity, would you not all turn toward him?
Would perfect silence not reign here, even without the deacon's invitation? I think so. I have heard imperial letters read here.
Therefore, when someone comes here from the king, you all listen to him attentively. But when a prophet comes from God and speaks from heaven, no one listens to him? Do you not believe that everything is spoken by God?
These letters have been sent by God. Therefore let us come to the churches with due reverence, and let us listen with fear to what is said in them.
You say, "Why should I come if I hear no preacher?" This is exactly what ruins and corrupts everything. Whence came the need for a preacher? This need arose from our negligence.
What need is there of preaching? Everything said in the Divine Scriptures is clear and simple. Everything necessary is plain. But because you love to listen only for your own diversion, you seek this.
Tell me, did Paul ever speak grandly? Yet he converted the whole world. Or Peter, who was unlearned? But you say, "I do not know what is contained in Holy Scripture."
Why do you not know it? Were the Scriptures written in Hebrew, or Roman, or some foreign language? Are they not spoken there in Greek? But you say, "They are obscure."
Tell me, what is obscure there? Are these not narratives? You know what is clearly said there, so that you may ask about what is obscure. Scripture contains many histories. Tell me one of them.
But you will not tell me. All this is only a pretext and empty words. You say, "Every day we have to hear the same thing." What then? Tell me.
Do you not hear the same thing in the theaters? Do you not see the same thing at the horse races? Are not all things always the same? Does not the same sun always rise?
Do we not always use the same food? I would like to test you, since you say that every day you hear the same thing. Tell me, from which prophet was the passage read? From which apostle? From which epistle?
But you cannot tell me. It seems to you that you have heard something unknown to you. So when you want to justify your laziness, you say that you hear everything the same.
But when you are asked, you become so confused, as though you had never heard it. If the same thing is read each time, you ought to know it. Yet you do not know.
All this is worthy of tears, tears and groaning, because the silversmith labors in vain. For this very reason you ought to be attentive, because the same thing is always heard here.
We do not cause you the least labor. We say nothing new or different from what came before.
What then? Since you say that the books of Scripture always contain the same thing, at least what we preach is not always the same. On the contrary, each time we say something new.
Do you attend to this latter thing? Not at all. If we ask why you do not remember what we have said, you answer, "We hear it only once. How can we remember?"
If we ask why you do not attend to what is read in the books of Scripture, you answer, "They repeat the same thing each time." All this is suggested by laziness and is one excuse.
Yet this will not always continue. A time will come when we shall weep over this in vain and without any benefit.
May the Lord not allow this. Rather, let us strive here to be changed. Let us attend with due zeal and reverence to what is said here.
With all care, let us devote ourselves to good works and to the correction of our life, so that we may receive the good things promised to those who love Him, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.