ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΙϚʹ
Affliction as the Refiner's Fire
John reassures Olympias that her ongoing trials have strengthened her soul like fire refines gold, and that she need fear no loss because she already counts all earthly things as worthless.
Nothing strange or out of place has happened with your piety. On the contrary, it's thoroughly natural and consistent that through the unbroken run of trials coming one after another the sinews of your soul have grown more taut and strong, your eagerness and strength for the contests have grown greater, and from this you have harvested much joy. For such is the nature of affliction: when it takes hold of a noble and vigorous soul, it is naturally fitted to work these very things. And just as fire makes gold more proven when it comes into contact with it, so too when affliction comes upon golden souls it makes them purer and more proven. That is why Paul also used to say: "Affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces proven character."✦ Because of this we too leap for joy and rejoice, and from this wilderness we harvest the greatest comfort through this courage of yours.1 Because of this, even if countless wolves surround you and many assemblies of those who do evil, we fear nothing. Still, we pray both that the trials already present may be quenched and that others may not be added, fulfilling the Master's command that tells us to pray not to enter into temptation. But if it should be allowed to happen again, we are confident for your golden soul, which even from this gathers for itself the greatest wealth. For with what will those who dare everything against their own head be able to terrify you? With loss of money? But I know well that you count these things as dust, cheaper than any mud.2
The Victorious Athlete
John proclaims that Olympias' lifelong practice of the narrow way has made her an invincible athlete who rejoices even in the contest, standing calm on the rock amid raging waves.
But by exile from homeland and house? Yet you know how to live even in great, crowded cities as if they were deserts—you've spent your whole life in quiet and freedom from worldly busyness, and you've trampled the fantasies of ordinary living underfoot. But they threaten death? Yet you anticipated that too, and you've practiced for it all your life long; even if they drag you to slaughter, they'll be dragging a body already dead.3 What's the use of saying more? No one will be able to do anything to you for which he won't find the endurance already long since perfected in you—and with great abundance. For by always walking the narrow and hard-pressed road, you've trained yourself in all of this.✦ That’s why, having practiced this finest skill in the training grounds, you now shine more brilliantly in the contests—not only unshaken by what’s happening, but even taking wing, leaping, and dancing. For the contests whose training you once took up, you now handle with great ease—in a woman's body, weaker even than spiderwebs—trampling with abundant laughter the frenzy of men who are full of vigor and gnashing their teeth, and ready to suffer more than they are preparing to inflict.✦4 You are blessed, thrice-blessed, for the crowns that come from this—or rather, even for the contests themselves. For that's the nature of these wrestling-matches: even before the prizes, and right there in the arena pits themselves, they already hold both the rewards and the recompense—the joy you're harvesting now, the gladness, the courage, the fortitude, the endurance, invulnerability, unconquerability, standing higher than all, having trained yourself so that no one can make you suffer anything terrible, standing on the rock when so many waves have risen, and being carried on a fair wind with deep calm while the sea rages.✦✦
Present Joy and Final Counsel
John concludes that affliction already yields heavenly prizes, urges Olympias to rejoice for the blessed dead and weep for their persecutors, and adds a brief personal note about his own health and safety.
These are the prizes of affliction—even here, before the kingdom of heaven. For I know—I know—that now, lifted on wings of joy, you don't even think of yourself as still wearing a body; but if the moment calls, you'll strip it off more easily than others take off the clothes they have on. So rejoice and be glad, both for yourself and for those who have met the blessed end—not in a bed or at home, but in prisons and chains and under torture. But mourn only those who do these things, and weep for them. For this too is worthy of your philosophy.5 And since you also want to know about our bodily health: for the time being we've been freed from the illness that was troubling us before, and we're better off now—unless winter comes on again and damages our weak stomach. And as for the Isaurians, we stand in great safety.
Read the original Greek
Οὐδὲν ξένον οὐδὲ ἀπεικὸς γέγονεν ἐπὶ τῆς εὐλαβείας τῆς σῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα εἰκὸς καὶ ἀκόλουθον τὸ τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῶν ἐπαλλήλων πειρασμῶν, εὐτονώτερά σοι γενέσθαι τῆς ψυχῆς τὰ νεῦρα καὶ μείζονα πρὸς τὰ παλαίσματα τὴν προθυμίαν καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν καὶ πολλὴν ἐντεῦθεν καρπώσασθαί σε τὴν ἡδονήν. Τοιαύτη γὰρ τῆς θλίψεως ἡ φύσις, ὅταν γενναίας καὶ νεανικῆς ἐπιλάβηται ψυχῆς, ταῦτα ἐργάζεσθαι πέφυκεν. Καὶ καθάπερ τὸ πῦρ δοκιμώτερον ποιεῖ τὸ χρυσίον, ὅταν αὐτῷ συγγένηται, οὕτω καὶ ταῖς χρυσαῖς ψυχαῖς ἐπιοῦσα θλῖψις καθαρωτέρας αὐτὰς ἐργάζεται καὶ δοκιμωτέρας. ∆ιὸ καὶ Παῦλος ἔλεγεν· «Ἡ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμήν.» ∆ιὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἡμεῖς σκιρτῶμεν καὶ χαίρομεν καὶ τῆς ἐρημίας ταύτης μεγίστην καρπούμεθα παράκλησιν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀνδρείᾳ σου ταύτῃ. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα, κἂν μυρίοι σε κυκλώσωσι λύκοι καὶ πολλαὶ συναγωγαὶ πονηρευομένων, οὐδὲν δεδοίκαμεν· ἀλλ' εὐχόμεθα μὲν καὶ τοὺς ὄντας σβεσθῆναι πειρασμοὺς καὶ ἐτέρους δὲ μὴ προσγενέσθαι, δεσποτικὸν πληροῦντες νόμον τὸν κελεύοντα εὔχεσθαι μὴ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς πειρασμόν. Εἰ δ' ἄρα συγχωρηθείη γενέσθαι πάλιν, θαρροῦμεν ὑπὲρ τῆς χρυσῆς σου ψυχῆς τῆς καὶ ἐντεῦθεν μέγιστον ἑαυτῇ συναγούσης πλοῦτον. Τίνι γάρ σε δεδίξεσθαι δυνήσονται οἱ κατὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν πάντα τολμῶντες κεφαλῆς; Ζημίᾳ χρημάτων; Ἀλλ' εὖ οἶδ' ὅτι κόνις σοι ταῦτα καὶ πηλοῦ παντὸς εὐτελέστερα εἶναι νομίζεται.
Ἀλλὰ πατρίδος ἐκβολῇ καὶ οἰκίας; Ἀλλ' οἶσθα σὺ καὶ τὰς μεγάλας καὶ πολυανθρώπους πόλεις καθάπερ τὰς ἐρήμους οὕτως οἰκεῖν, ἡσυχίᾳ καὶ ἀπραγμοσύνῃ τὸν πάντα συζήσασα χρόνον καὶ τὰς βιωτικὰς καταπατήσασα φαντασίας. Ἀλλὰ θάνατον ἀπειλοῦσιν; Ἀλλὰ σὺ καὶ τοῦτο προλαβοῦσα διὰ παντὸς ἐμελέτησας τοῦ χρόνου, κἂν ἑλκύσωσιν ἐπὶ σφαγήν, νεκρὸν ἐπὶ ταύτην ἕλξουσι σῶμα. Τί δεῖ τὰ πολλὰ λέγειν; Οὐδείς σε οὐδὲν ἐργάσασθαι δυνήσεται τοιοῦτον οὗ τὴν ὑπομονὴν μετὰ πολλῆς οὐχ εὑρήσει τῆς περιουσίας ἐν σοὶ πάλαι κατορθωθεῖσαν. Τὴν γὰρ στενὴν ἀεὶ καὶ τεθλιμμένην ὁδεύσασα ὁδὸν ἐν ἅπασιν ἐγυμνάσω τούτοις. ∆ιόπερ τὴν καλλίστην ταύτην ἐπιστήμην ἐν τοῖς γυμνασίοις ἀσκήσασα, νῦν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι λαμπροτέρα ἀνεφάνης, οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν ὑπὸ τῶν γινομένων θορυβουμένη, ἀλλὰ καὶ πτερουμένη καὶ σκιρτῶσα καὶ χορεύουσα. Ὧν γὰρ προσέλαβες τὰ γυμνάσια, τούτων τοὺς ἀγῶνας μετὰ πολλῆς νῦν μεταχειρίζεις τῆς εὐκολίας ἐν γυναικείῳ σώματι καὶ ἀραχνίων ἀσθενεστέρῳ ἀνδρῶν σφριγώντων καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας βρυχόντων μετὰ πολλοῦ τοῦ γέλωτος τὴν μανίαν καταπατοῦσα καὶ πλείονα ἑτοίμη οὖσα παθεῖν ἢ ἐκεῖνοι παρασκευάζονται. Μακαρία σὺ καὶ τρισμακαρία τῶν ἐντεῦθεν στεφάνων, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀγώνων. Τοιαύτη γὰρ τῶν παλαισμάτων ἡ φύσις τούτων, καὶ πρὸ τῶν βραβείων, καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς σκάμμασιν ἔχει καὶ τὰς ἀμοιβὰς καὶ τὰς ἀντιδόσεις, τὴν ἡδονὴν ἣν καρποῦσαι νῦν, τὴν εὐφροσύνην, τὴν ἀνδρείαν, τὴν καρτερίαν, τὴν ὑπομονήν, τὸ ἀνάλωτον, τὸ ἀχείρωτον, τὸ πάντων ὑψηλοτέραν εἶναι, τὸ οὕτως ἑαυτὴν ἀσκῆσαι ὡς μηδὲν δύνασθαι παρὰ μηδενὸς παθεῖν δεινόν, τὸ τοσούτων κλυδωνίων γενομένων ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας ἑστάναι, τὸ τῆς θαλάσσης μαινομένης ἐξ οὐρίας φέρεσθαι μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς γαλήνης.
Ταῦτα τῆς θλίψεως καὶ πρὸ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐνταῦθα τὰ ἔπαθλα. Οἶδα γάρ, οἶδα ὅτι νῦν οὐδὲ περικεῖσθαι τὸ σῶμα ἡγῇ ὑπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς πτερουμένη, ἀλλ' ἢν καιρὸς καλῇ, εὐκολώτερον αὐτὸ ἀποδύσῃ ἢ ἕτεροι τὰ ἱμάτια ἃ περίκεινται. Χαῖρε τοίνυν καὶ εὐφραίνου καὶ ὑπὲρ σαυτῆς καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν τὴν μακαρίαν τελευτησάντων τελευτὴν οὐκ ἐν κλίνῃ οὐδὲ ἐν οἰκίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐν δεσμωτηρίοις καὶ ἁλύσεσι καὶ βασάνοις. Θρήνει δὲ μόνους τοὺς ταῦτα ποιοῦντας καὶ δάκρυε. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο ἄξιον τῆς σῆς φιλοσοφίας. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν ὑγιείας βούλει μανθάνειν, ἀπηλλάγημεν τέως τῆς πρώην ἐνοχλούσης ἡμῖν ἀρρωστίας καὶ ῥᾷον διακείμεθα νῦν· πλὴν εἰ μὴ πάλιν ἐπελθὼν ὁ χειμὼν λυμήνηται ἡμῖν τοῦ στομάχου τὴν ἀσθένειαν· καὶ τῶν Ἰσαύρων ἕνεκεν, ἐν πολλῇ καθεστήκαμεν ἀσφαλείᾳ.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rom.5.3-Rom.5.4 — And not only that, but we also boast in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces endurance. Rom.5.4 — and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
- ↩Matt.7.14 — Because the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
- ↩Matt.8.12;Acts.7.54 — But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Acts.7.54 — When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and gnashed their teeth at him.
- ↩Matt.7.24-Matt.7.25 — Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matt.7.25 — And the rain came down, and the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
- ↩Matt.8.23-Matt.8.27;Mark.4.35-Mark.4.41 — And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. Matt.8.24 — And behold, a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was sleeping. Matt.8.25 — And they came to him, woke him, saying, 'Lord, save us! We are perishing!' Matt.8.26 — And he said to them, 'Why are you afraid, you of little faith?' Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Matt.8.27 — But the men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?' Mark.4.35 — On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." Mark.4.36 — And leaving the crowd, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Mark.4.37 — And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat against the boat, so that the boat was already filling up. Mark.4.38 — And he was in the stern, on the cushion, sleeping. And they wake him and say to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?' Mark.4.39 — And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Be silent! Be muzzled!' And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark.4.40 — And he said to them, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?' Mark.4.41 — And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'
Notes
- 1 ↩ἐρημίας can mean desert, wilderness, or isolation; here it points to Chrysostom's place of exile, so 'wilderness' preserves both place and desolation.
- 2 ↩κατὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ... κεφαλῆς is an idiomatic Greek phrase for acting at one's own peril / against one's own head; rendered literally to keep the force of self-ruin.
- 3 ↩νεκρὸν...σῶμα: not literal physical death already, but ascetic mortification—she has so died to the world that violence finds nothing living to wound.
- 4 ↩ἀραχνίων ἀσθενεστέρῳ: 'weaker than spiderwebs'—the comparative heightens her bodily frailty against her spiritual strength; not a claim of actual infirmity alone but rhetorical contrast.
- 5 ↩φιλοσοφία here is the Christian/ascetic sense: a disciplined spiritual way of wisdom, not academic philosophy.
Letters to Olympias (Letters of St. John Chrysostom) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit