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“John Chrysostom - Homily 13 on The Statues - Opening Section”
(Preached in Antioch in the year 387)
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Relevant
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Many
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Hagit Amirav
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? Catherine P. Roth On Wealth and Poverty -----------
? David Anderson On Marriage and Family Life ----------- Margaret A Schatkin ----------- Sally Shore
On Virginity Against Remarriage (Studies in Women and Religion, V. 9) -----------
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A further thanksgiving to God for the change in the late melancholy aspect of affairs. Reminiscence of those who were dragged away, and punished because of the sedition. Exposition on the subject of the creation of man, and of his having received a natural law. Of the complete accomplishment of abstinence from oaths.
2. When
the greater portion of the city had taken refuge from the fear and danger of
that occasion, in secret places, in deserts, and in hollows; terror
besetting them in all directions; and the houses were empty of women, and the
forum of men, and scarce two or three appeared walking together across it, and
even these going about as if they had been animated corpses: at this period, I
proceeded to the tribunal of justice, for the purpose of seeing the end of these
transactions; and there, beholding the fragments of the city collected together,
I marvelled most of all at this, that although a multitude was around the doors,
there was the profoundest silence, as though there had been no man there, all
looking upon one another; not one daring to enquire of his neighbour, nor to
hear anything from him; for each regarded his neighbour with suspicion; since
many already, having been dragged away, beyond all expectation, from the midst
of the forum, were now confined within. Thus we all alike looked up to heaven,
and stretched out our hands in silence, expecting help from above, and
beseeching God to stand by those who were brought to judgment, to soften the
hearts of the judges, and to make their sentence a merciful one. And just as
when some persons on land, beholding others suffering shipwreck, cannot indeed
go near to them, and reach out the hand, and relieve their distress, being kept
back from them by the waves; yet away on the shore, with outstretched hands and
tears, they supplicate God that He may help the drowning; so there in like
manner, did all silently and mentally call upon God, pleading for those at the
tribunal, as for men surrounded by the waves, that He would stretch out His
hand, and not suffer the vessel to be overwhelmed, nor the judgment of those
under trial to end in an utter wreck. Such was the state of things in front of
the doors; but when I entered within the court, other sights I saw which were
still more awful; soldiers armed with swords and clubs, and strictly keeping the
peace for the judges within. For since all the relatives of those under trial,
whether wives, or mothers, or daughters, or fathers, stood before the doors of
the seat of justice; in order that if any one happened to be led away to
execution, yet no one inflamed at the sight of the calamity might raise any
tumult or disturbance; the soldiers drove them all afar off; thus preoccupying
their mind with fear. 3. One
sight there was, more pitiable than all; a mother, and a sister of a certain
person, who was among those under trial within, sat at the very vestibule of the
court of justice, rolling themselves on the pavement, and becoming a common
spectacle to all the bystanders; veiling their faces, and shewing no sense of
shame, but that which the urgency of the calamity permitted. No maid servant,
nor neighbour, nor female friend, nor any other relative accompanied them. But
hemmed in by a crowd of soldiers, alone, and meanly clad, and grovelling on the
ground, about the very doors, they were in more pitiable case than those who
were undergoing judgment within, and hearing as they did the voice of the
executioners, the strokes of the scourge, the wailing of those who were being
scourged, the fearful threats of the judges, they themselves endured, at every
scourging, sharper pains than those who were beaten. For since, in the
confessions of others, there was a danger of accusations being proved, if they
heard any one scourged that he might mention those who were guilty, and uttering
cries, they, looking up to heaven, besought God to give the sufferer some
strength of endurance, lest the safety of their own relations should be betrayed
by the weakness of others, while incapable of sustaining the sharp anguish of
the strokes. And again, the same thing occurred as in the case of men who are
struggling with a tempest. For just as when they perceive the violence of a wave
lifting up its head from afar, and gradually increasing, and ready to overwhelm
the vessel, they are almost dead with terror, before it comes near the ship; so
also was it with these. If at any time they heard voices, and cries that reached
them, they saw a thousand deaths before their eyes, being in terror, lest those
who were urged to bear witness, giving way to their torments, should name some
one of those who were their own relatives. And thus, one saw tortures both
within and without. Those within the executioners were tormenting; these women,
the despotic force of nature, and the sympathy of the affections. There was
lamentation within, and without! inside, on the part of those who were found
guilty, and outside on the part of their relatives. Yea, rather not these only,
but their very judges inwardly lamented, and suffered more severely than all the
rest; being compelled to take part in so bitter a tragedy. 4. As
for me, while I sat and beheld all this, how matrons and virgins, wont to live
in seclusion, were now made a common spectacle to all; and how those who were
accustomed to lie on a soft couch, had now the pavement for their bed; and how
they who had enjoyed so constant an attendance of female servants and eunuchs,
and every sort of outward distinction, were now bereft of all these things; and
grovelling at the feet of every one, beseeching him to lend help by any means in
his power to those who were undergoing examination, and that there might be a
kind of general contribution of mercy from all; I exclaimed, in those words of
Solomon, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”...... |
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Homily 13 on The Statues
Homilia XIII
original Greek text
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom in Greek with English Translation
Flavian
Theodosius
Tribunal
Antioch
Migne Greek Text
Patrologiae Graecae Cursus Completus
Patrologia Graeca
