THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
"Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear" of Christ.
That is, let your petitions ascend to God with thanksgiving. Nothing so gladdens God as when someone gives thanks to Him. Above all, we can express our gratitude by removing our soul from what was said above, and by cleansing it from the things of which the Apostle spoke.
"Giving thanks," he says, "always for all things." How is this? Must one give thanks for everything that happens? Truly so, even if it be illness, even if poverty.
If even in the Old Testament a certain wise man counseled, saying, "Whatever happens to you, accept" joyfully, "and in the changes of your humiliation be long-suffering" (Sir 2:4), how much more must this be so in the New.
Even if you do not understand the reason for something, give thanks. This is precisely what thanksgiving is. There is nothing great or wonderful in giving thanks when you have received benefits, are healthy, everything succeeds for you, and you are happy.
You must give thanks in misfortunes and sorrows. Say nothing except these words: "I thank You, Master." But why do I speak of the afflictions that happen here on earth?
For Gehenna itself, for the punishments, and for the torments that will be there beyond the grave, we must thank God. If we are attentive, this will bring us great benefit, when the fear of Gehenna places a bridle on our hearts.
We must give thanks not only for evident benefactions, but also for hidden ones, sent against our will. God benefits us greatly when we do not wish it or do not see it.
If you do not believe it, I will explain this matter to you. Consider whether the lawless and impious Greeks do not attribute everything to the sun and to their idols. What then? Does He not send benefits to them also?
Do they not owe their life, health, children, and other such things to His providence? And what of the so-called Marcionites? And the Manichaeans? Do they not blaspheme Him?
What then? Does He not benefit them every day? If He benefits them without their knowing it, how much more does He benefit us?
What else is proper to God except to benefit the human race, both in punishments and in blessings? Therefore we must not give thanks only in happiness, for there is nothing great in that.
The devil knew this, and therefore said: "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not put a hedge around him, his house, and all that he has? But stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and will he bless You?" (Job 1:9-11).
Yet this wicked one gained nothing from it. May it never happen that he should have anything greater against us.
When poverty, illnesses, and misfortunes overtake us, then especially we must give thanks. I mean thanksgiving not merely in words or on the tongue, but in deeds, actions, thought, and heart.
Let us thank Him with the whole soul. For He loves us more than our parents do, and the love of God differs from parental love as much as goodness is distant from wickedness.
These are not my words, but those of Christ who loves us. Listen to what He says: "What man is there among you who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?"
"Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him?" (Mt 7:9-11).
Again, listen to what He says elsewhere: "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even if she should forget, I will not forget you, says the Lord" (Isa 49:15).
If He did not love us, why did He create us? Was this necessary for Him? Do we do anything useful or necessary for Him? Does He need any one of us?
Listen to the words of the Prophet: "You are my Lord; my good things are not needed by You" (Ps 15:2).
Those who do not understand or feel this say, "If God is good, there must be equality for all." But tell me, ungrateful man, where do you see the absence of God's goodness, and what do you call equality?
One man, they say, has been crippled from childhood. Another is mad and possessed by a demon. Another spent his whole life, to extreme old age, in poverty. Another lives in cruel diseases.
Are these the works of Providence? One is deaf, another mute, a third poor. Another is evil and lawless, full of countless vices, yet has money, keeps prostitutes and parasites, has acquired a splendid house, and lives carefree.
They say many similar things, weaving a long accusation against divine Providence. What then? Is there no Providence? What are we to say against them?
If they were Greeks and said to us, "By whom is the world governed?" we would ask them in turn, "What then? Is there no Providence? Why do you honor gods, worship demons, and venerate heroes?"
If there is Providence, then it watches over all. If among Christians and Greeks there are those who despair and doubt, what should one say to them?
Tell me, did so many blessings come about by chance: the daily light, the orderliness in existing things, the choir of stars, the measured course of days and nights, and the succession of nature in plants, animals, and people?
Tell me, who governs this? If no one cares for it and everything is upheld by chance, then who spread above earth and waters, as though inverted, so beautiful and majestic a tent? I mean the heaven.
Who gave the fruit-bearing seasons? Who placed such power in seeds and plants? Everything accidental is utterly disorderly, while everything well-ordered is fashioned with skill.
Tell me, what among us that happens by chance is free from great confusion, great disorder, and lack of order? I am not speaking of what happens without cause.
Even when someone acts, but undertakes a task without skill, what happens? Let there be wood, stones, and lime. Let a man who does not know house-building take them and begin to build and work.
Will he not ruin and spoil everything? Again, let there be a ship without a pilot, furnished with everything a ship ought to have except a pilot.
I do not say it is unequipped, but even equipped. It will not be able to sail. Could this earth, standing upon water, have stood for so long without a sustaining power?
Is there sense in such a notion? Is such an opinion not worthy of being mocked a thousand times?
If, in addition, the water bears the heaven, there is another weight. But whether the heaven rests upon water is another question. All this is the work of Providence.
Everything borne upon water should not be concave, but convex. Why? Because a convex body, as in a ship, remains outside and tends upward, while a concave body is entirely submerged in the water.
Therefore it needs a resilient and solid body, able to withstand pressure and bear the imposed weight. Does air support the heaven? But air is far thinner and looser than water.
It cannot offer sufficient resistance even to the lightest things, much less to so great a mass. A whole lifetime would not suffice if we began to examine all the works of Providence, both generally and in detail.
I will ask the present disputant: did all this happen by Providence or by chance? If he says, "There is no Providence," I will ask again, "How did this happen?" He will not be able to indicate even one cause.
From this you should all the more refrain from prying and trying to solve questions concerning human life. Why? Because man is more excellent than all these things.
All these things came into being for man, not man for them. If you do not understand the wisdom and order contained in providential care for him, how can you comprehend the causes contained in God?
Tell me, why was man made so small, so far removed from the heights of heaven that he doubts what appears from above? Why are the northern and southern regions uninhabitable?
Tell me, why is the night longer in winter and shorter in summer? What purpose do cold and heat serve? Why is the body mortal?
I will set before you an abyss of other questions. If you wish, I will not cease asking, and in everything you will be answerless before me.
Providence consists chiefly in this: its reasons are incomprehensible to us. If this did not surpass our understanding, perhaps someone might really consider man the cause of everything.
You say, "Such a man is poor, and poverty is evil." What is disease, or blindness? All these are nothing, O man. There is only one misfortune: to sin. About this alone should we reason.
We leave aside inquiry into the causes of real calamities and trouble ourselves too much with extraneous things. Why does none of us ever try to learn why he sinned?
Is it in my power to sin, or not in my power? There is no need to say much here. I will seek the answer in myself.
Have I not at some time conquered passionate impulses? Have I not triumphed over anger out of shame, or fear of men? When I find such instances, I will conclude from them that sinning is in my power.
No one is curious about this. No one takes the trouble to learn it. But without reflection, in the words of Job, mortal man "is vainly wise" (Job 11:12).
What concern is it of yours that one man is blind and another poor? God does not command you to reason about this, but about what you yourself are doing.
If you doubt whether any power has providential care for the world, you are the most senseless of men. If you are convinced of it, why do you doubt that you must please God?
"Giving thanks always," he says, "for all things to God." Enter a hospital and, when a wounded man is there, look at how the physician cuts and cauterizes him.
Still, I do not say this in relation to you. Enter a carpenter's workshop. You will not grasp the meaning, and you will understand almost nothing of what is done there.
Much will seem confused to you, when, for example, he drills or planes wood. If I bring you to another, simpler art, such as painting, there too you will be at a loss.
Tell me, will what the painter does not seem useless to you? What purpose do the outlines and interwoven lines serve? But when he applies the colors, the beauty of the art will strike your eye.
Even after this, you will still not be able to understand anything precisely. But why do I speak of carpenters and painters, who are slaves like us?
Tell me how the bee makes honeycombs, and then speak about God. Learn the art of ants, spiders, and swallows, and after this speak about God.
Explain this to me, if you are wise. But you are not able. Will you not then cease, O man, to seek what is superfluous? This is truly superfluous.
Will you not cease your senseless curiosity? There is nothing wiser than such ignorance. Those who confess complete ignorance in this matter prove wiser than all, while those who are vainly wise prove more foolish than all.
Thus a declaration of knowledge does not always show wisdom. Sometimes it shows stupidity. Tell me, if one of two men claimed that he would measure with stretched cords the air extending from earth to heaven, what then?
If the other mocked the first and admitted that he did not know this, which one would we mock? The one who calls himself knowledgeable, or the one who does not know? Clearly, the supposed expert.
Therefore the one who does not know is wiser than the one who pretends to know. Again, if someone declared that he knows how many cups of water the sea contains, while another said that he does not know, is ignorance not again wiser than knowledge here?
Certainly. Why? Because this ignorance is broader than that knowledge. The one who confesses ignorance knows something. What does he know? That something is hidden from man, and this is no small thing.
But the one who says that he knows understands especially poorly the very thing he claims to know. For this reason he deserves ridicule.
Alas, how many motives we have to restrain inappropriate inquiry and curiosity, and yet we do not hold back. We meddle in the lives of others and ask, "Why is that man poor? Why is this one blind?"