To Stagirius the ascetic,

possessed by a demon.

FIRST WORD. 1

SECOND WORD. 16

THIRD HOMILY 31

FIRST WORD.

Stagirius, who came from a noble and wealthy family and was brought up in the rules of the Christian faith, in his pious mood renouncing wealth and worldly occupations in Antioch, devoted himself to the ascetic life of hermits, in which soon, by God's permission, he was subjected to the action of a demon (a demon or an evil spirit), suffered from fits of demonic possession, which caused him such torment and such spiritual despondency that he even attempted to take his own life. St. John Chrysostom, having learned of the miserable condition of Stagirius, with whom he was on friendly terms, wished to give him spiritual consolation by means of written exhortations, not being able to visit him personally because of his own illness, which had befallen him after his exploits in the wilderness at the end of 380 A.D. X. At this time or at the beginning of the year 381, the proposed three words of the saint could have been written.

We should now be with you, my most dear Stagirius, and take part in your sufferings, and at least to the best of our ability, alleviate your despondency, comforting you with words, helping with deeds, and using all other means; but since bodily weakness and a headache have compelled us to remain at home, and have deprived us of the opportunity to serve in such a useful work, let us not hesitate to accomplish to the best of our ability what still remains for your comfort and for our benefit. Perhaps this will help you to bravely endure the present calamity; if we do not succeed in this, then at least the thought that we have not omitted anything due on our part will ease our soul. Whoever has done everything that he considers useful for the cessation of the sufferings that have befallen his neighbor, even if he does not succeed in this, is at least freed from the reproaches of conscience and, having laid aside the burden of these reproaches, must bear only the weight of sorrow. If I were one of those who are pleasing to God and can do great things, I would not cease to pray and ask God for a person who is precious to me; but since the multitude of sins deprives me of this boldness and strength, I will try to offer you verbal consolation. So it is with those who suffer from bodily illnesses: the abolition of suffering and the cessation of illness is the business of physicians, but the consolation of the sick is not forbidden to the slaves who serve them; they are especially the ones who speak much in favor of their masters, if they are well disposed towards them. Therefore, if we say anything that can put an end to your excessive sorrow, then that which we desire will be fulfilled; but if we do not find anything of the kind to say, then surely He will approve of our zeal, Who through Blessed Paul commanded us to weep with those who weep and to follow the humble (Rom. XII, 15,16). The reason for your despondency, apparently, is one – the fury of the evil demon; but one can find many sorrows born later from this root. I say this now not on my own behalf, but on the basis of those complaints which I often heard from you when you were with us; and in the first place (you complained) that in former times, when you led a worldly life, you did not tolerate anything like this, but when you were crucified to the world, then you also felt such an illness that is capable of confusing and throwing you into despair; secondly, that many of those who live in pleasure, having been subjected to the same disease as you, after a short suffering have been freed from this illness and have completely recovered, so that they have married, have fathered many children, enjoyed the pleasures of the present life, and have not been subjected to such an illness again, – but you spend so much time in fasting, all-night vigils and other feats, and yet you do not receive liberation from the sufferings that have befallen you; thirdly, that the holy man who manifested such great power on other people, could not do the same on you, beloved, and not only he, but also those who were with him, who are even stronger than he, all departed from you equally unsuccessful. Moreover, according to your words, you grieve greatly because the power of despondency has so taken possession of your soul that you often almost threw yourself into a noose, or into a river, or into an abyss. There is also a fifth complaint, which consists in the fact that you see how your peers and those who have begun to lead an ascetic life together with you are enjoying themselves, while you are still in the most severe storm and live in the most terrible prison. According to your words, it is not so much that those who are bound in iron should weep as those who are bound with these chains. Then, you told me, there is something else that troubles you greatly: you fear and tremble for your father, lest he, having learned of this, cause great trouble to the saints who received you at first; for, trusting in his own strength and riches, and giving himself up to tribulation, he will dare to do anything against them, and will not refrain from anything he pleases. Until now, his mother could hide what had happened to him and distract him when he was looking for you; but in the course of time the mother's pretense would be revealed, and he would treat her and the monks cruelly. But the height of misfortune is that you cannot hope for the future, and you do not know for sure whether this illness will ever cease and end, after you have hoped so many times for healing and then again subjected to the same torments. All this, of course, is capable of disturbing the soul and filling with great confusion, but a soul that is weak, inexperienced and careless. If we wish to be somewhat attentive and to judge piously, then let us scatter these causes of despondency like fine dust. Do not think that I now promise you this so easily because I myself am a stranger to this sorrow and storm. Even if my words seem incredible to others, I will nevertheless speak; And you yourself, of course, will not distrust us along with others. When the unclean demon first attacked your soul and threw you down while you were praying with everyone, although I was not present (for which I thank the loving God), I nevertheless learned everything exactly, as if I were there. My friend and your friend Theophilus the Ephesian, having come, told me in detail about everything: about the writhing in the hands, about the crooked eyes, about the foam on the lips, about the terrible and inarticulate voice, the shaking of the body, the prolonged fainting, and the dream that you had that night: it seemed to you," he said, "that a wild pig, stained with mud, was constantly rushing at you and fighting with you; and when the one who slept beside you, alarmed by this vision, woke up, he saw that the demon was tormenting you again.

2. When he told us about this, he brought upon us the same darkness into which the demon plunged you, beloved! But when, after a long time, I came to my senses, everything unpleasant in this world ceased to seem unpleasant to me, and everything pleasant – pleasant; Having long known all the vanity of life, I felt it even more, and my love for your piety became stronger. Such is the nature of misfortunes: they usually strengthen friendship; This is evident from the fact that they can easily stop enmity. And there is no man so cruel and insensitive, who, seeing his enemy in misfortune, could still harbor hatred for him. But if we pity even our enemies, and treat them as friends, when we see them suffering some misfortune, then think what I must have felt when I saw in the grievous torments of despondency the one who is most dear to me, and whom I cherish as my own head. Do not think that we are strangers to your sorrow, and therefore do not accept my consolation with suspicion. Though I, by the mercy of God, am free from the torments and attacks of the evil demon, yet no less than yours I feel despondency and sorrow from these torments, as anyone who knows how to love as one should love will believe me. Let us shake off this dust; then this despondency will be tolerable and easy by its nature, if only we do not want to carelessly allow this feeling to drag us into the abyss, but try to cheer up and think about what we need to do. Many of the seeming misfortunes seem great and intolerable until they have been well considered; but whoever considers them wisely will find that they are much easier than they were thought of; This, I hope, will happen now. Be of good cheer, therefore, and do not follow the vain and foolish opinion of the multitude, and do not make the enemy stronger against us. If I were to speak to any of the unbelievers, or those who think that everything happens by chance, or who attribute the providence of the world to evil demons, then I would have much work to do in order first to refute the false opinion and inspire conviction in the true Providence for the universe, and then to turn to consolation; but since, by the grace of God, you have known the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and, having received from your ancestors the true and salvific dogmas, you undoubtedly believe that God provides for everything, and especially for those who believe in Him, then, leaving this part of the speech, we will begin with something else. When God created the angels – or rather, let us speak from the highest – before the angels and the other powers of heaven came into being, there was a God who did not have the beginning of His being. As a Being who never needs anything (for such is the Godhead), he created angels, archangels, and other incorporeal beings; He created it solely according to His goodness, and not for any other reason. If He had not been supremely good, He would not have created those whose service He did not need. After creating them, He creates, again for the same reason, both man and this whole world. Having endowed man with innumerable blessings, He made this small and feeble creature ruler over so many creatures, making him on earth what He Himself is in heaven. For the words, Let us make man in our image and after our likeness (Gen. 2:11). I, 26) mean nothing else than that man has been given dominion over earthly things. Having created him and placed him in such honor, God assigned to him, as a king, the royal, most beautiful place on earth – paradise. In addition, wishing to show him in another way how superior he is to other creatures, God brings all the animals to him and commands him to give them all names; but he does not give him any of them as helpers, giving him also the reason: "Thou shalt not find," he says, "a helper like unto him" (Gen. 2:11). II, 20). Having thus shown man that he occupies the middle ground between the two natures (heavenly and earthly), that he is above all earthly things, and that of the multitude of these creatures none is equal to him, God then creates a woman, and thereby honors him with a new honor, and clearly shows that the woman was created for him, as Paul also says, For man was not created for the woman's sake, but the wife for her husband's sake (1 Cor. XI, 9). And not only did God distinguish man by this, but also by imparting to him the gift of speech to one of all creatures, vouchsafed him the knowledge of Himself, allowed him to enjoy communion with Himself as much as was possible for him, promised to give him immortality, filled him with great wisdom, and bestowed upon him spiritual grace, so that he uttered certain prophecies. God gave all this to man at a time when no good deed had yet been done on his part. What did man do after so many and great blessings? He trusted the enemy more than the one who gave him all this, and, despising the commandment of the Creator, he preferred to deceive the one who tried to completely destroy him and deprive him of all blessings – he preferred in spite of the fact that the devil did not show him any favor, neither great nor small, but only said a few words to him. But did God destroy man because he showed such ingratitude at the very beginning and, so to speak, at his first step? In justice, it would be necessary to destroy and expel from among the living the one who, having received innumerable blessings, at the very beginning of his life paid for these blessings with disobedience and ingratitude. But God continued to do good to him no less than before, showing that even though we sinned a thousand times and departed from Him, He would never cease to arrange our salvation, and that if we were converted, we would be saved; but if we persist in evil, then at least it will be clear that God does everything that depends on Him. In the same way, the expulsion from paradise, and the removal from the tree of life, and the condemnation to death seem to be the work of the one who punishes and avenges, but in fact it is no less than the former work of the Providence (of man). Although these words seem strange, they are true: the events were certainly opposite to one another, but the goals of both are the same and agree; That is, the expulsion from paradise, the settlement in view of it, the prohibition (to eat) from the tree of life, the removal from this tree, the condemnation to death, the temporary postponement of this condemnation, all this, just like the former beneficence, is done for the salvation and honor of man. Of the former I will say nothing (for it is obvious to everyone), but of the latter it is necessary to say.