THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
They were now in the greatest danger. They were frightened both because one had been killed and because the other had been put in prison.
This prayer is a sign of love. All prayed for their father, a meek father. "Earnestly," it says, "prayer was made for him."
Listen to how they were disposed toward their teachers. They did not rebel or cause disturbances, but turned to prayer and fled to this invincible champion.
They did not say, "I am not important, and I would pray for him in vain." They acted out of love, and therefore thought no such thing.
Do you wish to know what the Jews did against their own will? They made the former more glorious, and the latter more zealous.
And see: temptations overtook them on the feast, so that they might appear more glorious.
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See what a good thing affliction is. See what success their prayer had in the night, and how watchful they were.
Do you see what fruits came from the murder of Stephen? Do you see what benefit came from this prison?
Truly, God reveals the greatness of the Gospel preaching not for vengeance upon their persecutors, but for the persecutors themselves. Though they suffer nothing unpleasant, He shows how great afflictions are in themselves.
He does this so that we too may not try by every means to escape them, or to avenge them.
Truly, there is nothing better than moderate affliction. What do you think their souls were like then? With what joy were they filled?
Where now are the women who sleep through the whole night? Where are the men who do not even wish to turn over on their beds?
Do you see the wakeful soul? With wives and children and maidservants they sang hymns, and through affliction they became purer than heaven.
But now, as soon as we see a slight danger, we fall in spirit. Nothing was brighter than the Church of that time. Let us imitate them, then, and emulate them.
The night was not given so that we might sleep through all of it and remain idle. Craftsmen, mule drivers, merchants, and the Church of God, rising in the middle of the night, bear witness to this.
Rise also, and look at the choir of stars, the deep stillness, and the great silence. Marvel at the works of your Master.
Then the soul is purer, lighter, and more wakeful. It is especially able to soar upward and be lifted on high. The darkness itself and the complete silence greatly dispose it to compunction.
If you look at the sky, adorned with stars as with countless eyes, you will receive perfect delight by at once thinking of the Creator.
If you consider those who during the day make noise, laugh, play, leap about, injure others, extort, annoy, and commit countless evils, you will see that now they differ in no way from the dead.
Then you will recognize all the vanity of human self-love. Sleep has come and shown nature as it is. Sleep is an image of death. It is an image of the end of the world.
If you look into the street, you will not hear a single voice. If you look inside the house, you will see all lying as though in a tomb.
All this can awaken the soul and bring the end of the world to mind.
My word is addressed to men and women. Bend your knees, sigh, and beg your Lord to be merciful to you.
He is especially moved to mercy by prayers at night, when you make the time of rest a time of weeping.
Remember the king and how he spoke: "I am weary with my groaning; every night I wash my bed, I water my couch with my tears" (Ps 6:7).
Whatever pleasures you may have, you will not have more than he had. However rich you may be, you will not be richer than David.
Yet he also says elsewhere, "At midnight I arose to give praise to Thee for Thy righteous judgments" (Ps 118:62).
Then vainglory does not trouble us. How could it, when all are sleeping and do not see?
Then laziness and carelessness do not attack us. How could they, when so much awakens the soul?
After such all-night vigils, even sleep is pleasant and visions are wondrous.
Do this also, husband, and not the wife alone. Let the house become a Church composed of men and women.
Do not consider it an obstacle that you are only one man and she is only one woman. "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Mt 18:20).
Where Christ is present, there is a great multitude. Where Christ is, there must also be angels, archangels, and the other powers.
Therefore you are not alone when the Master of all is with you. And listen again to what the prophet says: "One righteous man is better than a thousand sinners" (Sir 16:3).
There is nothing weaker than many sinners, and nothing stronger than one who lives according to the law of God.
If you have children, raise the children also, and let the whole house become a Church during the night.
If they are very young and cannot endure wakefulness, then let them hear at least one prayer or two, and then rest. Only rise yourself. Only make this your habit.
There is nothing more beautiful than a dwelling in which such prayers are offered. Listen to what the prophet says: "I remembered Thee upon my bed; in the morning hours I meditated on Thee" (Ps 62:7).
But you will say, "I was very tired during the day, and I cannot." This is an excuse and a pretext.
However much you toil, you do not toil more than the coppersmith. He lets a heavy hammer fall from a great height, is sprinkled with sparks, and is soaked all over with smoke.
Yet he spends the greater part of the night in this. And you women know this when you must go to the field or come to a night gathering. There they spend the whole night without sleep.
So let there also be a spiritual forge in you, not for fashioning cauldrons and pans, but for fashioning your soul. It is far better than any work of copper or gold.
Cast your soul, grown old through sins, into the furnace of repentance. Strike it from a great height with the hammer, that is, with confession of sins. Kindle the fire of the Spirit.
Your craft is far better. You are not fashioning golden vessels, but a soul more precious than any gold, just as the coppersmith fashions his work.
You are not preparing a material vessel, but freeing the soul from every worldly care.
Let a lamp stand before you, not this one which burns away, but the one the prophet had when he said, "Thy law is a lamp unto my feet" (Ps 118:105).
Kindle the soul by prayer. If you see that it has enough fire, then take it out of this furnace and fashion it as you wish.
Believe me, fire does not consume the rust of metal so much as night prayer consumes the rust of our sins.
Let us be ashamed, if of no one else, then at least of the night watchmen. Obeying human law, they make their rounds in the cold, crying loudly as they pass through the streets.
Often they do this in rain and while stiff with cold, for you, for your safety, and for the protection of your property.
He shows such care for your property, but you do not show care even for your soul.
And I do not compel you, like him, to walk under the open sky, nor to cry aloud and strain yourself.
Remain in the same dwelling, in the same bedroom. Bend your knees and turn to the Lord in prayer.
Why did Christ Himself spend the whole night on the mountain (Lk 6:12)? Was it not to give us an example in Himself?
Then plants recover their strength, that is, during the night. Then the soul much more receives the dew into itself.
What is scorched by the sun during the day is refreshed at night. Night tears descend better than any dew upon desires and upon every fiery burning, and they do not permit any harm to be suffered.
If the soul is not nourished by this dew, it will be burned during the day.
Yet may none of you be burned by that fire. Rather, abiding in coolness and under the shelter of God's love for mankind, may we all be counted worthy to be freed from the burden of sins.
May this be by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, belong glory, dominion, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.