The tongue's removal proves the martyr's victory
Chrysostom is arguing that even if Romanus had been silenced after his tongue was cut out, the very removal of the tongue would itself prove the devil's defeat, and he now presses this point with a series of comparisons.
And yet even if the martyr had stood speechless after his tongue was cut out, his contests would still have been complete and his crown finished. For the cutting of the tongue was a very great and clear proof. If you did not fear the tongue, you foul and utterly defiled one, why did you cut it out? Why did you not leave the ground of the wrestling alone, but shut up the arena? It is as if someone about to fight in the pancration, after receiving unspeakable blows and no longer able to resist, should order his opponent's hands to be cut off and then strike him. No further proof would be needed to award the victory to the one whose hands were cut off. So too in the martyr's case, the cutting out of the tongue became the clearest proof of all of his victory over the devil. For even though the tongue was mortal, yet since it gave immortal wounds to the devil, he breathed against it with all his force, making himself more shameful and making the martyr's crown more brilliant. For just as it is wonderful to see a tree without a root and a river without a spring, so too a voice without a tongue.
Where now are those who disbelieve in the resurrection of bodies? Look: the voice both died and rose again, and both happened in a single moment. And yet this is far greater than the resurrection of bodies. For there the nature of bodies remains; only the composition is dissolved. But here the very ground of the voice was destroyed, and yet it became more brilliant again. If you remove the reeds of a flute, the instrument lies useless from then on. But not so the spiritual flute: even when the tongue was removed, it was not only not voiceless, but it sent forth a more melodious and more mystical song, and with greater astonishment. And again with a lyre: if someone merely snatches away the plectrum, the craftsman is idle, the craft useless, the instrument vain. But here nothing of the sort—rather the complete opposite. For the mouth was the lyre, the tongue was the plectrum, the soul was the craftsman, and the craft was confession. Yet when the plectrum was removed—I mean the tongue—neither the craftsman nor the craft nor the instrument became useless, but all displayed their proper power. Who did these things? Who displayed these wonderful and paradoxical things? God, who alone does wonders, about whom David says, "O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth! For your majesty is lifted high above the heavens. Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise" (Psalm 8:1-2). Then it was out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies; now it is out of the mouth of the tongueless. Then the nature was unripe; now the mouth is desolate. Then the root on the children was tender, but the fruit was complete. Here the root itself was destroyed, and yet the production of the fruit was not hindered—for the fruit of the tongue is voice. The later things are more wonderful than the former. For so that these things might not be disbelieved, those earlier things ran ahead, so that we might not be disturbed by these, our mind having been accustomed beforehand in those things. For this reason these things came to meet us, so that those unseen and ancient things might be believed from the visible things that had just happened.
Greek
Καίτοι καὶ εἰ ἄφωνος ἔστη μετὰ τὴν τῆς γλώττης ἐκκοπὴν ὁ μάρτυς, καὶ οὕτως αὐτῷ τὰ τῶν ἀγώνων πεπλήρωτο, καὶ ὁ στέφανος ἀπήρτιστο· ἧττα γὰρ μεγίστη καὶ σαφὴς ἀπόδειξις ἦν τὸ τὴν γλῶτταν τεμεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἐφοβοῦ τὴν γλῶτταν, ὦ μιαρὲ καὶ παμμίαρε, τίνος ἕνεκεν αὐτὴν ἀπέτεμες; τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐκ ἀφῆκας τῶν παλαισμάτων τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, ἀλλ' ἀπέκλεισας τὸ στάδιον; Ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις παγκρατιάζειν μέλλων, εἶτα πληγὰς ἀφάτους λαβὼν, καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος ἀντιστῆναι λοιπὸν, κελεύσειεν ἐκκοπῆναι τοῦ ἀνταγωνιστοῦ τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ οὕτως αὐτὸν παίοι, οὐ χρεία λοιπὸν ἑτέρας ἀποδείξεως πρὸς τὸ τὴν νίκην τῷ τὰς χεῖρας ἐκκοπέντι ψηφίσασθαι· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μάρτυρος σαφεστέρα πάντων ἀπόδειξις ἡ τῆς γλώττης ἐκκοπὴ γέγονε τῆς κατὰ τοῦ διαβόλου νίκης. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ θνητὴ ἦν ἡ γλῶττα, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἀθάνατα τραύματα δέδωκε τῷ διαβόλῳ, διὰ τοῦτο κατ' ἐκείνης ἔπνευσεν ὅλος, ἑαυτὸν μὲν εἰς μείζονα καθιστῶν αἰσχύνην, τῷ δὲ μάρτυρι λαμπρότερον ποιῶν τὸν στέφανον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ θαυμαστὸν χωρὶς ῥίζης δένδρον ἰδεῖν, καὶ χωρὶς πηγῆς ποταμόν· οὕτω καὶ χωρὶς γλώττης φωνήν. δʹ. Ποῦ νῦν εἰσιν οἱ τῇ τῶν σωμάτων ἀναστάσει διαπιστοῦντες; Ἰδοὺ ἡ φωνὴ καὶ ἀπέθανε καὶ ἀνέστη, καὶ ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ ταῦτα ἀμφότερα γέγονε. Καίτοι τοῦτο τῆς τῶν σωμάτων ἀναστάσεως πολλῷ μεῖζόν ἐστιν· ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἡ φύσις τῶν σωμάτων ὑπόκειται, ἡ σύνθεσις δὲ διαλέλυται μόνον· ἐνταῦθα δὲ αὐτὴ ἡ ὑπόθεσις τῆς φωνῆς ἀνῄρητο, ἀλλ' ὅμως λαμπροτέρα πάλιν ἐγίγνετο. Καίτοι γε αὐλοῦ τὰς γλωττίδας ἂν ἀφέλῃς, ἄχρηστον λοιπὸν κεῖται τὸ ὄργανον· ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ὁ αὐλὸς ὁ πνευματικὸς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν ἀφαιρεθεὶς οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἦν ἄφωνος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμμελέστερον καὶ μυστικώτερον ἠφίει μέλος, καὶ μετὰ πλείονος τῆς ἐκπλήξεως. Καὶ ἐπὶ κιθάρας δὲ πάλιν, ἂν τὸ πλῆκτρόν τις ἐξαρπάσῃ μόνον, ἀργὸς ὁ τεχνίτης, ἄχρηστος ἡ τέχνη, μάταιον τὸ ὄργανον γίγνεται· ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἅπαν. Καὶ γὰρ ἦν κιθάρα τὸ στόμα, ἦν πλῆκτρον ἡ γλῶττα, τεχνίτης δὲ ἡ ψυχὴ, καὶ τέχνη ἡ ὁμολογία· ἀλλ' ὅμως ἀφαιρεθέντος τοῦ πλήκτρου, τῆς γλώσσης λέγω, οὔτε ὁ τεχνίτης, οὔτε ἡ τέχνη, οὔτε τὸ ὄργανον ἄχρηστον γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ πάντα τὴν οἰκείαν δύναμιν ἐπεδείκνυτο. Τίς ταῦτα ἐποίησε; τίς ταῦτα ἐπέδειξε τὰ θαυμαστὰ καὶ παράδοξα; Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ποιῶν θαυμάσια μόνος, περὶ οὗ φησιν ὁ Δαυῒδ, Κύριε ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν, ὡς θαυμαστὸν τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ· ὅτι ἐπήρθη ἡ μεγαλοπρέπειά σου ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν· ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον. Τότε μὲν οὖν ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων, νῦν δὲ ἐκ στόματος ἀγλώτ των· τότε φύσις ἄωρος; νῦν δὲ στόμα ἔρημον· ἁπαλὴ τότε ἡ ῥίζα ἐπὶ τῶν παίδων ἦν, ἀλλ' ὁ καρπὸς ἀπηρτισμένος· ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ῥίζα ἀνῄρητο, καὶ ἡ τοῦ καρποῦ γένεσις οὐκ ἐκωλύετο· καρπὸς γὰρ γλώττης φωνή. Θαυμαστότερα τὰ ὕστερα τῶν προτέρων. Καὶ γὰρ ἵνα ταῦτα μὴ ἀπιστῆται, διὰ τοῦτο ἐκεῖνα προέδραμεν, ἵνα ἐν τούτοις μὴ θορυβώμεθα, τῆς διανοίας ἡμῶν ἐν ἐκείνοις προεθισθείσης Διὰ τοῦτο, ταῦτα ἀπήντησεν, ἵνα ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἀφανῆ καὶ τὰ παλαιὰ ἀπὸ τῶν φανερῶν καὶ νεωστὶ γενομένων πιστεύηται.