Cities and Deserts

Σὺ δὲ, εἰ μὲν πόλιν μέλλεις οἰκεῖν, πολλὰ περὶ ἀέρων πολυπραγμονεῖς, εὶ μὴ νοσώδεις, εἰ μὴ δύσκρατοι, εἰ μὴ αὐχμηροί· ψυχῆς δὲ μέλλων ποιεῖσθαι λόγοιν, οὐ περιεργάζῃ τὴν συνουσίαν τῶν μελλόντων ὁμιλεῖν αὐτῇ· ἀλλ' ἁπλῶς καὶ ὡς ἔτυχε πᾶσιν αὐτὴν ἐπιτρέπεις; Καὶ ποίας τεύξῃ συγγνώμης, εἰπέ μοι, οὕτως αὐτῆς ὑπερορῶν; Πόθεν γὰρ οἴει τοὺς τὰς ἐρήμους κατειληφότας θαυμαστούς τινας καὶ λαμπροὺς γίνεσθαι; οὐκ ἐπειδὴ θορύβους καὶ ἀγορὰς φεύγουσι, καὶ τοῦ καπνοῦ τῶν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ πραγμάτων μακρὰν ἑαυτοὺς ἐσκήνωσαν; Τούτους καὶ αὐτὸς ζήλωσον, ἐπὶ μέσης πόλεως ἐρημίας διώκων. Πῶς δὲ ἔσται τοῦτο; Ἐὰν τοὺς πονηροὺς φεύγῃς, ἐὰν τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς διώκῃς. Οὕτω γὰρ πλείονα καρπώσῃ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐρήμοις ἀσφάλειαν, οὐκ ἐν τῇ τῶν βλαπτόντων φυγῇ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν ὠφελούντων κοινωνίᾳ. Ἂν γὰρ φεύγῃς μὲν τοὺς πονηροὺς, διώκῃς δὲ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς, ἐκατέρωθεν σοι τὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς αὐξηθήσεται, καὶ τὰ τῆς κακίας οἰχήσεται. Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος, Εἰς Τον Δ' Ψαλμον

But you, if in some city you are intending to dwell, is it not that you enquire carefully about the air, whether it is healthy, whether temperate, whether dry, and yet you are uninterested in what may be the state of one's soul there, nor do you care for the conduct there, those with whom you will dwell, but boldly and without consideration you will permit them anything? And what, tell me, shall become of those who neglect this? Do you judge those who dwell in the desert admirable and glorious? Is it not clamour and the marketplace they have fled? And can it be that they may be far from the smoke of business who live in the mist of it? Yes, even these one may imitate and in the midst of the city seek the desert. But how shall this be? It can be if you flee the wicked and follow the good. Thus even you may lay hold of greater safety along with those who dwell in the deserts, not only fleeing those things which wound, but even being in communication with things which benefit. For if you flee evil things you will follow after good things, and as virtue grows so vice decreases. Saint John Chrysostom, from the Exposition of the Psalms, Psalm 4