Trial That Proves and Feeds the Enduring
Basil is speaking to sufferers of famine to show that the present distress is a trial that proves the Christian and requires endurance hope thanksgiving and sharing.
A storm puts the pilot to the proof, the stadium puts the athlete to the proof, the battle line puts the general to the proof, hardship puts the great souled man to the proof, and a trial tests and examines the Christian. Sorrows prove the soul the way fire proves gold.
Are you poor? Do not lose heart. Excessive dejection leads to sin. Sorrow drowns the mind and brings on the dizziness of helplessness, and the failure of reason gives birth to ingratitude. Keep your hope in God. Does he not look upon your groaning? The food is in his hands, and he holds back the gift to test your steadfastness and to learn your resolve, whether it does not resemble that of the dissolute and ungrateful. Those people praise and flatter and marvel while the food is still in their mouths, but when the table is delayed a little they hurl blasphemies like stones at those they worshipped for pleasure as equals of God just before.
Go through the Old Testament and the New, and you will find many in each who were fed in different ways. Mount Carmel held Elijah, a high and uninhabited mountain, a desert place holding a desert man. To the righteous man the soul was everything, and hope in God was his provision for life. Though he lived in this way, famine did not take his life. The most rapacious and gluttonous of birds carried him food and became servants of his nourishment, though by habit they snatched food belonging to others. By the Master's command they changed their nature and became faithful guardians of the loaves and the meat. We learn from the spiritual history that ravens brought these things to the man.
The lions' den in Babylon held the Israelite young man, captive in calamity but free in soul and purpose. What happened there? The lions fasted against nature, while Habakkuk, his feeder, was carried through the air, as the angel bore the man along with the dishes. So that the righteous man would not be crushed by famine, the prophet was lifted over as much land and sea as stretches from Judea to Babylon, in a small moment of time. Consider again the people in the desert whom Moses guided. How were they sustained in life for forty years? No man sowed there, no ox drew a plow, no threshing floor, no winepress, no storehouse, yet they had food that was neither sown nor plowed, and rock supplied springs that had not existed before but burst forth in their need. I will not count one by one the acts of God's providence that he has shown to human beings many times with a father's care.
Endure the calamity a little, as noble Job did, and do not let the wave overturn you, and do not throw overboard any of the cargo of virtue you carry. Preserve thanksgiving in your soul like a costly treasure chest, and you too will receive twice the luxury in return for your thanksgiving. Remember the apostle's saying: Give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Are you poor? You surely have someone poorer than yourself. You have food for ten days, and he has food for one. As a good and grateful man, share your excess equally with the needy.
Greek
Κυβερνήτην μὲν γὰρ ὁ χειμὼν, καὶ τὸν ἀθλητὴν τὸ στάδιον, τὸν στρατηγὸν ἡ παράταξις, τὸν μεγαλόψυχον ἡ συμφορὰ, τὸν Χριστιανὸν δὲ πειρασμὸς δοκιμάζει καὶ βασανίζει. Καὶ αἱ λύπαι τὴν ψυχὴν, ὡς τὸ πῦρ τὸν χρυσὸν, ἀπελέγχουσι. Πένης εἶ; Μὴ ἀθυμήσῃς. Ἡ γὰρ εἰς ἄγαν κατήφεια γίνεται τῆς ἁμαρτίας αἰτία· τῆς μὲν λύπης βαπτιζούσης τὸν νοῦν, καὶ ἀμηχανίας ἐμποιούσης ἴλιγγον, τῆς δὲ ἀπορίας τῶν λογισμῶν τὴν ἀχαριστίαν ἀπογεννώσης. Ἀλλ' ἔχε τὴν ἐλπίδα πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἐπιβλέπει τὴν στένωσιν; Ἔχει τὴν τροφὴν ἐν χερσὶ, καὶ παρέλκει τὴν δόσιν, ἵνα σου δοκιμάσῃ τὸ βέβαιον, ἵνα καταμάθῃ τὴν γνώμην, εἰ μὴ τῇ τῶν ἀκολάστων καὶ ἀγνωμόνων ἐστὶν ὁμοία. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι, μέχρι μὲν ἐν τῷ στόματι τὰ σιτία τυγχάνει, εὐφημοῦσι, κολακεύουσιν, ὑπερθαυμάζουσιν· ὀλίγον δὲ τῆς τραπέζης ὑπερτεθείσης, ὥσπερ τισὶ λίθοις ταῖς βλασφημίαις βάλλουσιν οὓς πρὸ βραχέως ἴσα Θεῷ διὰ τὴν ἡδονὴν προσεκύνουν. Ἔπελθε τὴν Παλαιὰν Διαθή κην, τὴν Νέαν, καὶ πολλοὺς εὑρήσεις ἐν ἑκάστῃ τοὺς διαφόρως τραφέντας. Ἠλίαν εἶχεν ὁ Κάρμηλος, ὄρος ὑψηλὸν καὶ ἀοίκητον, ἔρημος ἔρημον· ψυχὴ δὲ ἦν τῷ δικαίῳ τὰ πάντα, καὶ τῆς ζωῆς ἐφόδιον ἡ πρὸς Θεὸν ἐλπίς. Ζῶν δὲ οὕτω, λιμῷ τὴν ζωὴν οὐκ ἀπήλλαξεν· ἀλλ' οἱ ἁρπακτικώτατοι καὶ μάλιστα γαστρίμαργοι τῶν ὀρνίθων, οὗτοι διεκόμιζον τὰ σιτία, καὶ τροφῆς ἐγίνοντο τῷ δικαίῳ διάκονοι, οἱ τὰς ἀλλοτρίας τροφὰς ἐκ συνηθείας ἁρπάζοντες· καὶ τῷ δεσποτικῷ προστάγματι τὴν φύσιν διήμειψαν, πιστοὶ φύλακες γενόμενοι τῶν ἄρτων καὶ τῶν κρεῶν. Ταῦτα δὲ τῷ ἀνδρὶ φέρειν τοὺς κόρακας παρὰ τῆς πνευματικῆς ἱστορίας ἐμάθομεν. Εἶχε δὲ καὶ ὁ Βαβυλώνιος λάκκος τὸν Ἰσραηλίτην νεανίσκον· αἰχμάλωτον μὲν τὴν συμ φορὰν, ἐλεύθερον δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ φρόνημα. Καὶ τί τὰ παρ' ἐκείνων; Οἱ μὲν λέοντες παρὰ φύσιν ἐνήστευον· ὁ δὲ τούτου τροφεὺς Ἀμβακοὺμ ἐφέρετο δι' ἀέρος, κομίζοντος τοῦ ἀγγέλου μετὰ τῶν ὄψων τὸν ἄνθρωπον· καὶ ἵνα μὴ λιμῷ πιεσθῇ δίκαιος, τοσαύτης ὑπερηνέχθη γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης ὁ προφήτης ἐν μικρῷ μορίῳ καιροῦ, ὅσην ἐκ τῆς Ἰουδαίας μέχρι Βαβυλῶνος ἡπλῶσθαι. Τί δὲ πάλιν ὁ τῆς ἐρήμου λαὸς, οὗ Μωϋσῆς ἐπετρόπευσε; πῶς ᾠκονομήθη τὸν βίον ἐν ἔτεσι τεσσαράκοντα; Οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖ σπείρων ἀνὴρ, οὐ βοῦς ἕλκων ἄροτρον, οὐχ ἅλως, οὐ ληνὸς, οὐ ταμιεῖον· καὶ τὴν τροφὴν εἶχον ἄσπορον καὶ ἀνήροτον, καὶ τὰς πη γὰς ἐχορήγει πέτρα, οὐ πρότερον οὔσας, ἀλλ' ἐκραγείσας ἐπὶ τῆς χρείας, Ἀφίημι τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον ἀπ αριθμεῖσθαι τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας, ἃ πολλάκις ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πατρικῶς ἐνεδείξατο. Σὺ δὲ καρτέρη σον ὀλίγον ἐπὶ τῆς συμφορᾶς, ὡς ὁ γενναῖος Ἰὼβ, καὶ μὴ περιτραπῇς ἐκ τοῦ κλύδωνος, μηδὲν ἀποβά λῃς ὧν φέρεις ἀγωγίμων τῆς ἀρετῆς. Ὡς βαρύτιμον ἐνθήκην τὴν εὐχαριστίαν διάσωσον ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ λήψῃ καὶ σὺ τῆς εὐχαριστίας τὰ διπλασίονα τῆς τρυφῆς. Μνημόνευε τῆς ἀποστολικῆς ῥήσεως· Ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖτε. Πένης εἶ; Ἄλλον ἔχεις πάντως πενέστερον. Σοὶ δέκα ἡμερῶν τὰ σιτία, ἐκείνῳ μιᾶς. Ὡς καλὸς καὶ εὐγνώμων τὸ σὸν περιτ τὸν ἐπανίσωσον πρὸς τὸν ἐνδεῆ.