Chrysostom
Beloved of All
The plea for a wall of fire and warrior angels rises from a soul that trembles before visible and invisible enemies, yet I fear that very trembling betrays a deeper snare. For more grievous than a demon is sin, and while you cry out against external assaults, the passions within wage a far more relentless war. Where is your anxiety over the lusts and the pride that make a habitation for the adversary? When a man examines himself strictly and uproots the love of money, the roots of bitterness, the careless tongue, then he builds a fortress mightier than any wall of angelic flame… he builds the tabernacle of a pure heart, in which the Lord Himself dwells.
Daily wars and destructions surround us, and the wrath of God encloses as in a net, yet we so often remain in a false security. We make hands ready for our own gain, but none for helping the needy. One fear possesses all: lest we become poor. No man is in anguish lest we fall into hell. Let us collect ourselves, I exhort you. Shatter first the assignment of your own greed and self-love, and you will find that the spirits of fear and confusion have no place to lodge. When a man’s treasure is stored in Heaven, where neither moth nor age corrupts, he no longer cringes before sickness or financial ruin, for his health and his wealth are eternal and undefiled.
Consider Timothy, whom the Apostle sent with anxious paternal care that he be without fear among the church. Yet that freedom from fear was not found in a ring of angels visible to the eye, but in a congregation that purified its own malice and slander, that the young teacher might labor in peace. In the same way, enforce divine order over your relationships not by binding words, but by the costly labor of love. When a brother speaks evil of you, bear it nobly, and you become more venerable than a father to him, disarming the enemy more completely than any rebuke.
The Lord trains his own to cast out first care for food, then fear of perils, and finally fear of calumny. The whole armor of God is put on precisely so that, having done all, we stand, not because the warfare has ceased, but because the soul, through almsgiving and a cleansed conscience, has passed into the nuptial chamber that is undefiled, far above undermining disease and desponding anxiety. The hands of the poor build such houses; the hands of the poor procure a kingdom and give us confidence toward God.
Do not, then, gaze so fixedly upon the broken darts of the enemy that you neglect the venom of your own unrepented sin which festers within. That venom is what makes the soul weak and insensible to shame, even after the outward trouble has passed. Those who suffer bodily possession and bear it thankfully depart hence to the Master purified, having put away many of their sins. How much more you, who are in your right mind, spend your days in examining your own heart, hating the demon of pride and the cup of devils? Seek first that spiritual beauty which is ever-blooming, and let the anxiety for health and wealth be swallowed up in the one trembling consideration: that you may not fall into hell. For where sin is truly uprooted, there the true Warrior Angels, the encamping presence of the Holy Spirit, keep the soul in perfect liberty, asking no question of the world’s fears.
Daily wars and destructions surround us, and the wrath of God encloses as in a net, yet we so often remain in a false security. We make hands ready for our own gain, but none for helping the needy. One fear possesses all: lest we become poor. No man is in anguish lest we fall into hell. Let us collect ourselves, I exhort you. Shatter first the assignment of your own greed and self-love, and you will find that the spirits of fear and confusion have no place to lodge. When a man’s treasure is stored in Heaven, where neither moth nor age corrupts, he no longer cringes before sickness or financial ruin, for his health and his wealth are eternal and undefiled.
Consider Timothy, whom the Apostle sent with anxious paternal care that he be without fear among the church. Yet that freedom from fear was not found in a ring of angels visible to the eye, but in a congregation that purified its own malice and slander, that the young teacher might labor in peace. In the same way, enforce divine order over your relationships not by binding words, but by the costly labor of love. When a brother speaks evil of you, bear it nobly, and you become more venerable than a father to him, disarming the enemy more completely than any rebuke.
The Lord trains his own to cast out first care for food, then fear of perils, and finally fear of calumny. The whole armor of God is put on precisely so that, having done all, we stand, not because the warfare has ceased, but because the soul, through almsgiving and a cleansed conscience, has passed into the nuptial chamber that is undefiled, far above undermining disease and desponding anxiety. The hands of the poor build such houses; the hands of the poor procure a kingdom and give us confidence toward God.
Do not, then, gaze so fixedly upon the broken darts of the enemy that you neglect the venom of your own unrepented sin which festers within. That venom is what makes the soul weak and insensible to shame, even after the outward trouble has passed. Those who suffer bodily possession and bear it thankfully depart hence to the Master purified, having put away many of their sins. How much more you, who are in your right mind, spend your days in examining your own heart, hating the demon of pride and the cup of devils? Seek first that spiritual beauty which is ever-blooming, and let the anxiety for health and wealth be swallowed up in the one trembling consideration: that you may not fall into hell. For where sin is truly uprooted, there the true Warrior Angels, the encamping presence of the Holy Spirit, keep the soul in perfect liberty, asking no question of the world’s fears.
