Conversation against those who left the church and went to horse races and spectacles

Discourse against those who left the church and went to horse races and spectacles” (4 chapters) was delivered by St. John Chrysostom, probably in Constantinople on July 3, 399. The saint is indignant at those who on Friday immediately after the service hurried to the hippodrome: “... when it was necessary to fast, praise and send prayers of thanks for the good deeds for the universe to the One who performed them, then you, leaving the church and the spiritual sacrifice, and the meeting of the brethren, and forgetting the holiness of fasting, captured by the devil, were drawn to that spectacle.” God will demand from us an account for every day we live, how then will we justify ourselves? In the conversation, visiting horse races is compared with the sin of fornication and adultery. To ward off shame from the Church, St. John warns that he will not allow those who attend such spectacles to the sacrament of the Eucharist: “Otherwise, now the pagans will mock us, and the Jews will mock us, if we look so indifferently at our own sins.” *Title of the work in Greek – Πρὸς τοὺς καταλείψαντας τὴν ἐκκλησίαν κα αὐτομολήσαντας πρὸς τὰς ἱπποδρομίας κα τὰ θέατρα. *The title of the work in Latin is Contra ludos et theatra. 1. Can this be tolerated? Can this be demolished? I want to sue you yourself. This is what God did with the Jews: turning to them against themselves, He said: “My people! What have I done to you and how have I burdened you? answer Me” (Mic.6:3); and again: “What unrighteousness did your fathers find in Me” (Jer. 2:5)? I also want to imitate him, and again I will tell you: can this be tolerated, can this be endured? After such long conversations, after such a teaching, some, leaving us, ran to look at the competing horses and fell into such a frenzy that they filled the entire city with obscene noise and screaming, arousing laughter, or better yet, crying. Therefore, sitting at home and listening to the cry that arose, I suffered more than those caught in the storm. Just as those at the time when the waves hit the walls of the ship tremble, being exposed to extreme danger, so those screams struck me very hard, and I lowered my gaze to the ground and was embarrassed with shame when those sitting in the upper seats behaved so indecently, and those below, in the middle of the square, applauded the drivers and shouted more than them. What will we say, or how will we justify ourselves, if someone stranger happens to be here and begins to condemn and say: is this the city of the apostles, is this the city that had such a teacher, is this a Christ-loving people, a non-sensual, spiritual society? You were not even ashamed of the very day on which the signs of the salvation of our race took place; but on Friday, when your Lord was crucified for the universe, when such a sacrifice was made and paradise was opened, and the thief was elevated to the ancient fatherland, and the oath was resolved, and sin was destroyed, and long-term enmity ceased, and the reconciliation of God with people was accomplished, and everything changed - on that day when it was necessary to fast, praise and send prayers of thanks for the blessings for the universe to To the one who committed them, then you, leaving the church and the spiritual sacrifice, and the meeting of the brethren, and forgetting the holiness of fasting, captivated by the devil, were drawn to that spectacle. Can this be endured, can this be endured? I will not stop constantly saying this and thereby alleviating my grief, so as not to drown it out in silence, but to make it visible and reveal it before your eyes. How then will we be able to bend God to mercy? How can we reconcile Him who is angry with us? Three days before this, torrential rain had poured down, carrying away everything, tearing, so to speak, from the very mouths of the farmers' food, overthrowing the ripe ears of corn and destroying everything else with excess moisture; we had prayers and supplications, and our whole city, like a stream, flocked to the apostolic places, and we implored our defenders - St. Peter and Blessed Andrew, the two apostles - Paul and Timothy. After the wrath of God ceased, we, having crossed the sea and overcome its waves, resorted to the supreme ones - Peter, the foundation of faith, and Paul, the chosen vessel, performing a spiritual triumph and proclaiming their exploits, trophies and victories over demons. And you, not restrained by the fear of the past and not having learned from the greatness of the apostolic deeds, so soon, after one day, you become furious and scream, not paying attention to the fact that your soul is captivated and carried away by passions? If you wanted to see the flight of the dumb, then why didn’t you curb your dumb passions, anger and lust, didn’t put a good and easy yoke of wisdom on them, didn’t put a right mind over them and didn’t hasten to the honor of the highest calling, rushing not from crime to crime, but from earth to heaven? This kind of running, together with pleasure, brings great benefits. And you, leaving your affairs to go on recklessly and as it happens, sat, watching the victory of others, having spent such a day in vain, in vain and even to the detriment of (yourself). 2. Don’t you know that just as we, entrusting money to our servants, demand from them an account of each obol, so God will demand from us an account of the days of our lives, how we lived each day? What shall we say? How will we justify ourselves when they demand from us an account of that day? For your sake the sun shone, the moon illuminated the night, a diverse host of stars shone; for your sake the winds blew, the rivers flowed; for your sake the seeds grew, the plants rose, the flow of nature maintained its order, the day appeared and the night passed; and all this was done for your sake; and you, while the creatures serve you, do the will of the devil? Having received such a great house from God, that is, this world, did you not repay your debt to Him? And the day before was not enough for you, but the next day, when you should have rested a little from your previous wickedness, you again went to the spectacle, rushing from the smoke into the flames, casting yourself into another, most terrible abyss. The elders disgraced their gray hairs, the youths endangered their youth, the fathers brought their children there, plunging them, at the very beginning of an innocent age, into the abyss of wickedness, so that no one would sin if he called them not fathers, but child killers, destroying the souls of those born by them with wickedness. What kind of wickedness, you say, is here? But that’s why I grieve because you are sick, and you don’t know that you are sick, and you don’t look for a doctor. You are full of adultery, and you ask: what wickedness? Or have you not heard the words of Christ: “Whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28)? What if, you say, I don’t look “with lust”? But how will you be able to convince me of this? Whoever does not abstain from looking, but applies such diligence to it, how can he remain pure after contemplation? Is your body a stone? Is it iron? You are clothed with flesh, human flesh, which burns with lust more than straw. And what am I talking about a spectacle? Often, even in the square, when we meet a woman, we become embarrassed; and you, sitting above, where there are so many incentives to immodesty, seeing a prodigal woman coming out with her head naked, with great shamelessness, dressed in golden clothes, making gentle and seductive movements, singing lewd songs and depraved poems, uttering shameful words, and committing such obscenities as you, the viewer, have imagined in your mind, You lower your gaze - how dare you say that you don’t experience anything human? Is your body a stone? Is it iron? I won't stop repeating it either. Are you more wise than those great and valiant men who fell just from one such glance? Have you not heard what Solomon says? “Can anyone take fire into his bosom so that his dress does not burn out? Can anyone walk on burning coals without having their feet burned?” ( Proverbs 6:27–29 ). Even though you did not have intercourse with a harlot, you had a relationship with her by desire and committed a sin by will. And not only at that time, but also when the spectacle is over, when she has already left, her image, words, clothes, looks, gait, harmony, dexterity, adulterous limbs remain in your soul, and you leave, having received many wounds. Isn't this where the troubles in the house come from? Is this not where the death of chastity comes from? Isn't this where marriages end? Isn’t this where the fighting and quarrels come from? Is this where the pointless troubles come from? When you, occupied and captivated by her, come home, then your wife seems less pleasant to you, and your children - more annoying, and the servants - intolerable, and the house - disgusting, and the usual worries about arranging proper affairs seem burdensome, and everyone who comes - unpleasant and hateful. 3. The reason for this is that you are not returning home alone, but you are bringing with you a harlot who does not enter openly and openly - which would be more bearable, because the wife would soon throw her out - but who sits in your soul and in your consciousness, and ignites within you a Babylonian, and even a much stronger flame - because the food of this flame is not brushwood, oil and tar, but what is said above, and that’s all you get in disarray. And just as those sick with fever, having no reason to blame those who serve them, are dissatisfied with everyone due to the bad influence of the disease, reject food, insult doctors, get angry with their family and offend employees, so those possessed by this serious illness are worried and indignant, constantly imagining that harlot. Oh, hard things! A wolf, a lion and other animals, being wounded by an arrow, run away from the hunter; and man, the most intelligent creature, having received a wound, strives for the one that wounded him in order to receive an even more severe wound, and finds pleasure in the latter; This is most unfortunate and produces an incurable disease. Whoever hates his wound and does not want to get rid of it, how will he look for a doctor? Therefore, I grieve and am tormented that you come from there, receiving such a great infection, and for little pleasure you bring upon yourself constant torment. Truly, even before Gehenna and the torment there, you are already subjecting yourself to extreme punishment here. Isn’t it extreme torture, tell me, to harbor such lust, to constantly be inflamed, and to carry with you everywhere the fire of indecent love and remorse? How will you approach the threshold of this sanctuary? How can you touch the heavenly table? How will you listen to a conversation about chastity, all covered with such ulcers and wounds, and having a soul enslaved by passion? And is it necessary to talk about the rest? And from what is happening now among us, one can see spiritual sorrow. And now I see how some people hit themselves in the face at these words, and I express great gratitude to you for being such compassionate people. I think that many, perhaps without sinning in anything themselves, do this out of regret for brotherly wounds. That is why I grieve and am tormented that the devil infects such a flock. But if you want, we will immediately block his entrance. How and in what way? If we see the sick healthy; if, having spread the nets of teaching, we go looking for those caught by the beast and snatch them from the very mouth of the lion. Don’t tell me: there are few who have separated from the herd. Even if there were only ten of them, it would not be a small loss, and at least five, at least one. So that shepherd, who left ninety-nine sheep, went after one and did not return until he brought her and with the return of that lost one he replenished the number that had become depleted without her a hundredfold (Matthew 18:12). Do not say that he is only one, but think that this is the soul for whose sake everything visible was created, for whose sake there are laws, punishments, torments, countless miracles and manifold works of God, for whose sake God did not spare His Only Begotten. Think about what price was paid for one, and do not neglect his salvation, but go and bring him to us again and convince him so that he does not fall into the same thing again, and then we will have sufficient justification. If he does not accept either our advice or your admonitions, then I will finally use “the power that the Lord has given us to build up, and not to destroy you” (2 Cor. 10:8). 4. Therefore, I warn and declare with a loud voice: if anyone, after this admonition and instruction, goes to wicked and disastrous spectacles, I will not let him inside this fence, I will not make him a communicant of the sacraments, I will not allow him to touch the sacred meal; but just as shepherds separate the mangy sheep from the healthy ones so that the disease does not spread to others, so will I do the same. If in ancient times the leper had to remain outside the camp and, even if it was a king, he was taken out there with a diadem, then how much more will we expel the leper with his soul from this sacred camp. Just as at the beginning I used exhortation and advice, so now, after such exhortation and instruction, it is finally necessary to resort to cutting off. After all, a year has already passed since I arrived in your city (i.e. Constantinople), and I have not ceased often and constantly to offer you such an admonition; but since some remained in this infection, now we will cut off. Although I have no iron, I have a word sharper than iron; and although I do not carry fire, I have a teaching that is more fiery than fire and can burn more powerfully. Do not despise our sentence. Although we are unimportant and very humble, yet, by the grace of God, we have received the dignity by which we can do this. So, let such people be excommunicated, so that the healthy among us may become healthier, and the sick may recover themselves from serious illness. If you trembled when you heard this sentence - and I see everyone groaning and contrite - then let them change, and the sentence will be canceled, because just as we received the power to knit, so we received the power to loose and bring again (to the Church). And we do not want to excommunicate our brothers, but to avert shame from the Church. Otherwise, now the pagans will mock us, and the Jews will mock us if we look so indifferently at our own sins. Otherwise, they too will begin to greatly approve of us and be surprised by the Church, having received respect for our laws. So, let no one who indulges in this adultery enter the Church, but let him be rejected by you and become a common enemy. “If anyone,” says the apostle, “does not listen to our word in this epistle, take note of him and do not communicate with him, so as to shame him” (2 Thess. 3:14). Do this: do not talk to them, do not receive them into the house, do not share meals with them, do not have communication with them either at the entrance, or at the exit, or in the marketplace; and in this way we will easily return them. And just as hunters drive those animals that are not easy to catch into a net, pursuing them not from one side, but from all, so we will pursue those that have become like ferocious beasts with our common forces, we on one side, and you on the other side, and then we will soon catch them in the net of salvation. And for this to happen, you too share with us the indignation against them, or better yet, grieve for the laws of God, and little by little convert the brothers who are so seriously ill and sinning, so that they will always be with you. No small condemnation will befall you if you neglect such destruction, but you will undergo the greatest punishment. If in human houses, when one of the servants is caught stealing silver or gold, not only the thief is punished, but also those who knew about it and did not discover it, then even more so in the Church. God will then say to you: seeing how not a silver or gold vessel was stolen from My house, but chastity was stolen, how the one who partook of the most honorable body and participated in such a sacrifice went to a devilish place and fell into such a crime, why were you silent, why did you endure, why didn’t you tell the priest? And then you will undergo no small punishment. Therefore, although I will sadden (you), I will not regret imposing the most severe punishment. It is much better for us, having experienced sorrow here, to get rid of future condemnation, than for the one whom we would flatter with words to be punished then along with you. Truly, it is neither trustworthy nor safe for us to cover this up in silence. Each of you will give an account for himself; and I must be responsible for saving everyone. Therefore, I will not stop doing and saying everything - even if it is necessary to sadden you, even if it is necessary to seem hateful, even if it is intolerable - so that I can appear before that terrible throne without having “spot, or blemish, or anything like that” (Eph. 5:27). Let it be the prayers of the saints that those who have already become corrupted will soon be converted, and those who remain intact will succeed even more in purity and chastity, so that you too achieve salvation, and we rejoice, and God is glorified now and ever, and to the endless ages of ages. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith”