John Chrysostom, Letters 87
created: This entry is taken from Letters 87 written by John Chrysostom in 404 C.E.. This
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
availability: Except for materials quoted from other sources, this entry is copyright 2023 by the contributors (Joseph L. Rife, et al.) and the Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project. It is licensed under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Some texts quoted in this entry may be in the public domain in the United States. No copyright is asserted for these quotations. Some texts quoted in this entry may have copyright restrictions and are reused under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/344

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at John Chrysostom, Letters 87. This passage was written ca. 404 C.E. possibly in Kokousos. John Chrysostom was the archbishop of Constantinople over the turn of the 4th to 5th centuries celebrated for his keen intellect and masterful oratory. He met with great opposition for his theological arguments and criticism of Imperial authority, particularly the empress Eudoxia, which led to his final expulsion from Constantinople to exile at the remote town of Cucusus (Κουκουσός, modern Goksün) in southern Cappadocia, from late June of 404 until his death in September of 407. This brief epistle which John wrote in early September of 404 to Eulogius, bishop of Caesarea, is remarkable for two reasons. First, although in substance it is vacuous, the letter exemplifies the extravagant prose style of the virtuosic rhetor in the service of personal praise. Second, in light of reports that Eulogius was one of the most cruel persecutors of John’s supporters across the Eastern Church (see Related Texts), we may interpret John’s encomiastic missive from two viewpoints, one as idealistic and one as pragmatic. Either John overlooked the political machinations of his worldly foes from a position of moral superiority, or he aimed to soften his detractor in hopes of mitigating the pain of his brethren.

Ἡμεῖς κἂν πρὸς αὐτὰς ἀφικώμεθα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰς ἐσχατιὰς, ἐπιλαθέσθαι σου τῆς ἀγάπης οὐ δυνάμεθα, ἀλλὰ πανταχοῦ περιφέροντες ἄπιμεν· οὕτως ἡμᾶς εἷλες καὶ ἐχειρώσω, δέσποτά μου τιμιώτατε καὶ εὐλαβέστατε, ἐπεὶ καὶ νῦν ἐν Κουκουσῷ καθήμενοι, τῷ πάσης τῆς καθ’ ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένης ἐρημοτάτῳ χωρίῳ, οὐ παυόμεθα διηνεκῶς τὴν χρηστότητα, τὴν γλυκύτητα, τὴν τῶν τρόπων ἐπιείκειαν, τὸ γνήσιον τῆς διαθέσεως, τὸ πεπυρωμένον, τὸ σφοδρὸν, τὸν ζῆλον τὸν φλογὸς σφοδρότερον, τὴν ἄλλην ἅπασάν σου ἀρετὴν ἀναλογιζόμενοι, καὶ τῶν λογισμῶν τούτων τῇ μνήμῃ ἐντρυφῶντες, καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντας ἀνακηρύττοντες τὸ στεῤῥὸν τῆς γνώμης, τὸ ἀπερίτρεπτον, ὅπερ ἐπεδείξω πρὸς τοὺς πολεμήσαντας ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις καὶ τοσούτων σκανδάλων τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐμπλήσαντας· εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα τοῦτο οὐ δεῖται τῆς ἡμετέρας γλώττης· σάλπιγγος γὰρ λαμπρότερον αὐτὸς πᾶσι τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ἀνατολὴν καὶ ποῤῥωτάτω οὖσι διὰ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν ἀνεβόησας. Ὑπὲρ τούτων χάριτας ὁμολογοῦμεν, μακαρίζομεν, θαυμάζομεν καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν τὸν αὐτὸν παραμεῖναι ζῆλον ἐπιδεικνύμενον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἴσον ἐστὶ, κατὰ ῥοῦν τῶν πραγμάτων φερομένων, ὀρθότητα ἐπιδείκνυσθαι, καὶ πολλῶν ὄντων τῶν ἐπιχειρούντων καταλῦσαι τὰς Ἐκκλησίας μηδὲν ἐκεῖθεν παραλογίζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ μένειν ἀκλινῆ, τούτους ἀποστρεφόμενον μετὰ τῆς προσηκούσης ἀνδρείας. Οὐ γὰρ μικρὰ αὕτη, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα μεγίστη τῶν κακῶν διόρθωσις. Ὅτι δὲ τῆς σῆς εὐλαβείας οὕτω διακειμένης πάντες οἱ κατὰ τὴν Παλαιστίνην κύριοί μου τιμιώτατοι καὶ εὐλαβέστατοι ἐπίσκοποι ἕψονταί σου τοῖς ἴχνεσιν, οὐδὲν οἶμαι δεῖν ἀμφιβάλλειν. Οἶδα γὰρ σαφῶς ὅτι ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις κατορθώμασιν ὥσπερ σῶμα συνεχὲς κεφαλῇ, οὕτως αὐτοὺς τῇ γλυκύτητί σου τῆς ἀγάπης συνῆψας καὶ συνδεδέσθαι παρεσκεύασας, ὅπερ καὶ τοῦτο μέγιστον δεῖγμα τῆς σῆς ἀρετῆς.

[Ed. Migne 1859] [Minor corr. (punctuation)]

Even if we have arrived at the outer reaches of the inhabited world, we are unable to forget your love, carrying it around with us everywhere we go. You have so captivated and conquered us, my most honored and most devout master, that even now, settled in at Koukousos, the most desolate place in our whole world, I do not cease from continuously counting up your goodness, your sweetness, the fairness of your ways, the nobility of your disposition, your spirit on fire, your mind in force, your zeal more potent than flame, and all your other virtues; (I do not cease from) enjoying the memory of your evaluations; and (I do not cease from) proclaiming to everyone the solidity of your judgement, the immovability, the very thing that I point out to those warring against the churches and filling our community with so many outrages. Is there any need at all for my voice? You yourself, through your very deeds, have cried out more clearly than a trumpet to all those dwelling in the East and the furthest lands. For all this we express gratitude, we offer blessings, we are filled with wonder, and we urge that the same zeal you have displayed endures. For the man who exhibits rectitude when a situation is underway is not the same as the man who makes no miscalculation when many are attempting to destroy the Church but, ever unswayed, deflects them with his usual courage. This is no small remedy for evil but indeed the strongest. I think we need not doubt that, because your piety is so disposed, all my lords in Palestine, the most honored and devote bishops, will follow in your footsteps. For I see clearly that in these righteous acts, just like the body connected to the head, so you have united (the bishops) by the sweetness of your love and provided for their interconnection—that is the greatest proof of your virtue. [Trans. J. L. Rife]

Works Cited

[...] 87 654

[Palladius of Galatia, Dialog on the Life of St. John Chrysostom 20.143-157]

[Koukousos (Kokousos, Cucusus, Göksun)

Palestine]

[Eulogius, Bishop of Caesarea

St. John Chrysostom]

[Christianity

Government and Law

Roman History

Society and Culture]