Commentary on the Epistle to Titus

AD HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLE TO TITUS

Chrysostom seems, as if he himself were among the number of the bishops being assailed by curses. But these things are not such as to be able to lead us away from our prior opinion. For although the holy doctor could not yet assume the role of a bishop while addressing the people, as orators are accustomed to do, he surely could, when he held the primacy among the priests of Antioch, justifiably assume the role of one injured by the bishop’s person, since, when those subject to him were incessantly attacking bishops with insults, he did not hesitate to bring charges against the priests themselves.

He pursues the rest with more study and diligence than in others: he deals at length with the many vices of the Cretans in the third homily, and in the fifth and the fourth with the crimes of the Greeks. At the end of the sixth homily, he speaks of two Christians who underwent martyrdom for Christ in a singular manner, whom I know not to be mentioned anywhere else.

We have prepared a new interpretation, as that of Ambrogio Traversari is in many places redundant, obscure, and often does not agree with the Greek sequence. It should be noted that variety in that version arises from a diversity of Greek manuscripts. We have also rejected the interpretation of the Homilies on the Epistle to Philemon for a similar reason.

OF OUR HOLY FATHER JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO TITUS

729 HOMILY I.

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal; but in his own seasons manifested his word in the message, wherewith I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior, to Titus, my true child after a common faith: grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

1. This man was acceptable to Paul; for if he had not been acceptable, he would not have committed the whole island to him, nor commanded him to rectify the things that were wanting: for he says, "That you should set in order the things that are wanting" (v. 5); nor would he have committed to him the judgment regarding so many bishops, had he not had great confidence in him. They say he was young, because he calls him his child; yet this is not altogether clear from that. I think, however, that he is mentioned in the Acts. He was perhaps a Corinthian, unless he were another of the same name. And Zenas indeed he calls to him, and he wishes Apollos to be sent (Tit. 3:13); but this man by no means: for he testifies that he will have more fortitude and virtue before the Emperor than the others.

It seems to me that certain times had intervened, and that Paul was freer when he wrote these things. For he speaks nothing of temptations; but he most frequently gives thanks to God, which was a suitable exhortation to those who believed to pursue virtue. For when they learned what they deserved, to what they had been translated through grace, and to what they had been deemed worthy, they were not a little stirred up by this.

He also inveighs against the Jews. But if he attacks the whole nation, do not wonder; for writing to the Galatians, he does this very thing, saying, "O foolish Galatians" (Gal. 3:1)! This, moreover, is not the mark of one being insulting, but of a more fervent love. For if he had done this for his own sake, he could rightly be reproved; but if he does it burning with fire and zeal for the message, he is certainly not acting insultingly. For Christ also reproached the scribes and Pharisees a thousand times, not for his own sake, but because they were destroying all others. He writes a short epistle, and deservedly so. This, however, was an indication of the virtue of Titus, that he was not in need of many words, but [was content] as if with some admonition.

Regarding the time when this epistle was written.— This epistle seems to me to precede the one he wrote to Timothy. For he was writing that one when the end was imminent and he was in bonds; here, however, he seems free and unfettered: for that saying, "I have determined to winter at Nicopolis" (Tit. 3:12), was a sign that he was not yet in bonds: there, however, he often says he is bound. What, then, does he say? Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in hope of eternal life. According to the faith of God's elect.

"Or because you believed, or because you were entrusted?" I think he means that he was entrusted with the elect of God. That is to say, they did not receive their dignity from achievements, nor from labors and sweats, but the whole thing came from the grace of Him who entrusted it. Then, so that this grace might not be thought irrational (for if it were entirely his own, why did He not entrust it also to others?), he added, "And the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness." From this, he says, I was entrusted; or rather, even this was entrusted to me by His grace, for of this too, He is the author. For this reason, Christ Himself also says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16); and again, this same blessed man, writing elsewhere, says, "I shall know, even as I have been known" (1 Cor. 13:12); and again, "If I may apprehend, for which I have been apprehended by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:12). ^A We were apprehended first, and then we knew; we were known first, and then we apprehended; we were called first, and then we obeyed. By saying, "according to the faith," he attributes the whole thing to them, in that "I am an apostle for their sake," not as being worthy, but for the sake of the elect; which he also says elsewhere: "For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos" (1 Cor. 3:22). "And the knowledge," he says, "of the truth which is according to godliness." For there is a truth of things, but not according to godliness; for instance, to know agriculture, to know the arts, is truly to know; but this truth is according to godliness. Or "according to the faith," means that they believed just as the other elect, and recognized the truth. Therefore, knowledge comes from faith, not from reasonings. "In hope of eternal life." He mentioned the present life, which is in the grace of God; he also speaks of the future, and sets before us prizes for the benefits with which He has favored us. For since we have believed and have been delivered from error, He wishes to crown us. See how the prologue is full of the benefits of God; and this entire epistle is especially of such a nature, exciting that holy man himself more towards labors, as well as those who are being discipled. ^B For nothing benefits us as much as the constant remembrance of the benefits of God, both those in common and those bestowed on us individually. For if, when we recount the kindnesses of a friend, or hear a kindly word or deed, we are warmed, much more, when we see into how many dangers we had fallen, and that God rescued us from them all, shall we be more ready for obedience. "And the knowledge," he says, "of the truth." He called truth here "knowledge" according to the type. For that, too, was knowledge, and was piety, but not of truth—not indeed of falsehood, but of types and shadows. He spoke well, "In hope of eternal life," because that was in hope of the present life. "For he who has done these things," he says, "shall live in them" (Rom. 10:5). Do you see how, from the very beginning, the excellence of grace is shown? They were not elect, but we. For even if they were once called elect, they are no longer. "Which God, who cannot lie," he says, "promised before times eternal." That is, not now, out of a change of mind, but from of old these things were predetermined. He states this in many places, as when he says, "Set apart for the gospel of God;" and again, "Whom He foreknew and predestinated," showing our nobility, in that He loved us not now, but from above. And this, to be loved from above and from the beginning, is no small thing.

^C 2. "Which God, who cannot lie," he says, "promised." If He cannot lie, what He promised will surely come to pass; if He cannot lie, one must not doubt, even if it be after death. "Which God, who cannot lie," he says, "promised before times eternal." And by saying, "before times eternal," he shows its trustworthiness. He says this, not because the Jews did not now come to Him, but because it had been thus ordained from of old. Hear, therefore, what he says: "But manifested in its own times." What then is the delay? It is for the sake of His providential care, that He might do it at the right time. "A time," says the prophet, "is for the Lord to act" (Psalm 118:126). For "in its own times" means, in the proper, due, and fitting times. "He manifested," he says, "in its own times His word in preaching, with which I was entrusted"—that is, the preaching itself. [732] For this contained all things: the gospel, the things here and those to come, life, godliness, faith, all together. "In preaching"—that is, openly, with boldness; for this is what "in preaching" means. Just as a herald proclaims with everyone present in the theater, so we too proclaim, so as to add nothing, but to say the very things we have heard. For the virtue of a herald consists in telling everyone what has happened, not in adding or taking away anything. If, therefore, one must preach, he must preach with boldness; otherwise, it is not preaching. For this reason, Christ did not say, "Speak upon the housetops," but, "Preach upon the housetops," portraying what had happened from the place and the manner. "With which I was entrusted according to the commandment of our Savior God." Both the "I was entrusted" and the "according to the commandment" show its trustworthiness; ^D so that no one may feel slighted, nor pretend reluctance, nor be vexed. If, therefore, it is a commandment, I am not the master; for I am fulfilling a command. For of things to be done, some lie within our power, and others do not lie within our power; those things which He says while commanding are not within our power, but those which he entrusts are within our power. For instance, the saying, "Whoever says to his brother, 'Fool,' shall be liable to the hell of fire," this is a command; and, "When you offer your gift upon the altar, and know that your brother has something against you, leave there your gift before the altar, and go, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift"—this also is a command, and it is a necessity that he who has not done so should be liable to punishment. But when He says, "If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions," and again, "He who is able to receive it, let him receive it," this is no longer a command; for He makes the hearer the master of what has been spoken, and gives him the choice of what is to be done. For these things are within our power to do or not to do; but commandments are not within our power—rather, there is a necessity either to do them or, if one has not done them, to be punished.

Commentary on the Epistle to Titus

^A nor is it allowed; for it is left to the auditor’s discretion whether he does it or not. For these things indeed, to do or not to do, are in our power; but to omit the commandments is not allowed, but it is necessary either to execute them or to undergo punishment. This he himself insinuates when he says: *Necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel* (1 Cor. IX, 16). But I will speak more clearly, that it may be plain to everyone. For instance, he to whom the principate of the Church is entrusted, and who has been adorned with the dignity of the episcopate, if he does not indicate to the people what things are to be done, will not be innocent; but a layman is bound by no such necessity. Therefore Paul says, *According to the commandment of our Saviour* I do this. And see how the things that are added square with what I said. For since he had said above, *God who does not lie*; here he says, *According to the commandment of our Saviour God*. If, therefore, he is the Saviour, and he himself out of the will for human salvation commanded these things, then it is not a matter of ambition; for it is faith and the commandment of God the Saviour. *To Titus my beloved son*. For there can be sons who are not beloved, such as he of whom he says: *If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, with such an one no not to eat* (1 Cor. V, 11). Lo, he is a son, and yet not a beloved son; he is a son indeed, because he once received grace and has been regenerated; yet not genuine nor beloved, because he is unworthy of his father, and betakes himself to another tyrant. For in natural sons, the genuine and the not genuine are defined by the parent and the one who sows; here, however, it is not so, but depends on judgment and purpose. For he who was brought forth genuine can fail to remain genuine; he can also become genuine who is not so: nor are these things limited by the necessity of nature, but they hang upon the liberty of the will; whence also they are frequently changed. Onesimus had been a beloved son; but he was not beloved afterwards, because he had become useless; yet again he became a beloved son, so that he was called apostolic bowels. *To Titus my beloved son according to the common faith* (Phil. 12). What does it mean, *According to the common faith*? After he had termed him his son, and had transferred him into the order of a father, why does he diminish and contract this honour? Listen. He added *according to the common faith*; that is, according to faith I have nothing more than you; for it is common, and through the same I and you were generated. By what reason, then, does he call him a son? Either to show the great affection of a father; or because he was prior in the preaching; or because that man had been illuminated by him. Therefore he calls them both sons and brothers: brothers, because they were generated from the same faith; sons, because they were through his own hands. When, therefore, he said *according to the common faith*, he sub-indicated the brotherhood. ^B *Grace and peace from God the Father and our Saviour Jesus Christ*. That he might raise up his mind, and that he might learn whose son he was; and that he might show the parity of honour, not only by saying, *Common faith*, but by adding, *From our Father*. See also how he prays for things for the teacher that he prays for the disciples and the multitude: for this man is in need of the same prayers, nay, more than they, as one who has more enmities, and more occasions and dangers of divine offence. For by how much greater the dignity is, by so much the greater the dangers that threaten the priest: for it is possible for the episcopate, even if one thing be well done, to lift itself to heaven, and for one sin to cast itself into hell itself. For, to pass over all other things which happen daily; if it ever happens that through friendship, or for some other cause, he promotes an unworthy man to the episcopate, and confers upon him the principate of a great city, see to how great a fire he makes himself liable. For he will have to give account not only of the souls perishing, which he destroys because he lacks piety; but he must give account of all his actions. For he who was not religious in a private order will be much less so when he has obtained the principate: for it is a difficult thing for one who was pious beforehand to remain such, once he has taken on the office of the episcopate. For then the greed for vain glory threatens more vehemently, and the love of money and pride, when the principate itself provides the power; then offences, insults, curses, and numberless other things. If anyone, therefore, was little religious, he will be much more irreligious in such a state. When, therefore, he has constituted such a person as prince of the Church, he will be liable for all his sins and those of the subject people. But if, to him who scandalizes one soul, it is profitable that a millstone be hanged about his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea (Matt. XVIII, 6): he who scandalizes so many souls—entire cities and peoples, and numberless souls, men, women, children, citizens, farmers, those who are in that city, those in others subject to him—what shall he suffer? For if you say that he will suffer a triple greater punishment, you will say nothing: he will be liable to such punishment and torture. He therefore here has the greatest need of God's grace and peace: for unless he rules the people supported by this, everything perishes and is ruined, since he holds no rudders. For although he be skilled in governing, unless he holds these rudders, the grace and the peace ^C which is from God, both the little boat and the navigators will be submerged. Therefore I am seized with wonder at those who crave such a mass. Wretched man and unhappy, do you not see by what desire you are held? If you were private and unknown, even if you had committed numberless sins, you would give an account for only one soul, and for it you would pay the penalty: but when you have been raised to such a principate, think to how many heads punishment is due to you. For hear Paul saying: *Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account* (Hebr. XIII, 17). But does honor and principate entice you? What sort of pleasure of such honor can there be? For I do not see it: for it cannot be that such a man is truly a prince. How? Because it is in the power of the subjects to obey or not. And if anyone examines the matter accurately, such a man does not come to a principate, but serves numberless masters who wish and say contrary things. For what one praises, another disapproves: what this one vituperates, that one admires. Whom, therefore, it behooves to hear, whom to obey, cannot be seen. A bought slave, indeed, if a master orders contrary things, at least grumbles. ^D

it, you too will pay the penalty for these things, opening mouths against you on all sides. Is this, I ask you, honor? Is this headship? Is this power?

4. The bishop orders that money be brought in: if the subordinate is unwilling, not only does he not bring it, but even, so as not to appear to be doing so out of laziness, he accuses the one who gave the order: ^A “He steals,” he says, “he seizes, he swallows up the belongings of the poor, he devours the goods of the needy.” Cease your railing: how long will you say these things? If you do not wish to contribute, there is no one constraining you, no one using force: why do you also revile the one who is advising and counseling? But if someone has fallen into necessity and does not reach out a hand, because he cannot, or because he is occupied in other business: ^B no pardon is given, but again accusations worse than the former ones. Is this then headship? And he cannot strike back: for they are his own bowels. And just as with a bowel, even if it is inflamed, even if it causes pain to the head and to the rest of the body, we do not dare to strike back—for we do not take a sword and rend it asunder—so even if one of the subjects be such, causing us pains and sorrows from these accusations, we do not dare to strike back: for these things are far from a fatherly disposition; rather, it is ^C necessary to bear the pain until he is restored to health. The purchased slave has some task assigned to him, and if he accomplishes this, he remains for the rest the master of his own time; but this man is dragged about everywhere, many things beyond his strength are required of him: if he does not know how to speak, there is much grumbling; if he does know how to speak, again accusations: “He is vain-glorious.” If he does not perform miracles, “He is worthy of no account,” he says; “Such-and-such a person is devout, but this one is not.” If he happens to partake of moderate food, again accusations: “He ought to have been strangled,” he says; if someone sees him bathing, there are many accusations: “In short, he ought not even to see the sun,” he says. If he does the same things that I do—and bathes and eats and drinks and is clothed in garments and cares for a house and servants—for what reason is he set over me? ^D But, he says, he even has servants who minister to him, and he rides upon a donkey; for what reason, then, is he set over me? But tell me, should he not have someone to minister to him, but himself kindle the fire, and carry water, and chop wood, and go into the marketplace? And what a disgrace this becomes! And those holy men of old, the apostles, do not even wish to attend to the service of widows for the one who persists in the Word, but they count the matter unworthy of him; and do you pull him down even to the service of your own servants? Why do you, who command these things, not come yourself and fulfill them? Tell me, does he not minister to you a greater service than you do for his bodily needs? Why do you not send your own boy for this man's service? Christ washed the feet of the disciples: if you provide care for the teacher, are you doing something great? But neither do you wish to provide it, and you prevent him. ^A What then? Ought he to live from heaven? But God does not altogether want that. What then? The apostles, he says, had free men serving them? Do you wish to hear also how the apostles lived? They made journeys, and free men and noble women used to lay down their own souls and heads for their rest. But listen also to this blessed man advising and saying: *Hold such men in honor;* and again, *Because for the work of Christ he drew near unto death, hazarding his life, that he might supply that which was lacking in your service toward me* (Phil. II, 29, 30). Do you see what he says? But you do not even utter a word for your father, much less do you undertake such a hazard. But, he says, it is not right to bathe. Why, tell me, where has this been forbidden? For dirt is not ^B a good thing. Nowhere do we see these things either accused or admired. For there are other things which Paul ordered the bishop to have: to be blameless, temperate, orderly, hospitable, apt to teach; these the Apostle demands; these it is necessary to seek from the ruler, and nothing further. You are not more precise than Paul, or rather, you are not more precise than the Spirit. If he is a striker, or a drunkard, if he is cruel and pitiless, accuse him—these things are unworthy of a bishop; if he indulges in luxuries, this too is an accusation; but if he provides for the body so that he may serve you, if he takes care of himself so that he may be useful to you, must he be accused on these counts? Do you not know that bodily weakness harms us and the Church no less than spiritual weakness? ^C Why does Paul correct it by writing to Timothy: *Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities* (1 Tim. V, 23)? For if we achieve virtue by the soul alone, it were not necessary to care for the body. But why then were we created at all? And if the latter's perfection is great, how is it not the height of folly to neglect it? For let there be a man honored with the episcopacy and entrusted with the guardianship of the Church in common, and let him be virtuous in other respects and possess everything which it befits a consecrated person to possess, but let him be tied to his bed by much infirmity: ^D what will this man be able to accomplish? What journey make? What visitations? Whom to rebuke? Whom to exhort? I have said these things so that you may know not to accuse simply, so that you may know rather to accept, so that even if someone desires the office, seeing the snowstorm of accusations, he may extinguish such a desire. It is truly a great danger, requiring the grace of God and the peace which you pray that we may have in abundance, and we for you, so that both having achieved virtue, we may thus attain to the promised goods, in Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY II

*For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly.*

^A For those who lived with them, their entire life was a work and a struggle; for us, it is not so, but it is full of negligence. They truly knew that they were brought into this world in order to act according to the will of the Creator; we, however, act as if we were created only to eat and drink and devote ourselves to pleasures: thus we have no regard for spiritual things. I do not speak only of the apostles, but also of those who came after them. You see, therefore, how they traversed all things, as if having undertaken this one task, and were always dwelling in strange regions, as those who had no city on earth. Hear, therefore, what this blessed man says: *For this cause left I thee in Crete.* Governing the whole world like a single house, they managed all things in such a way that they cared for all who were in the world, while one took to himself this part, another that. For this cause, he says, *left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting.* He does not exhort in the manner of one commanding: "That thou shouldest set in order," he says. You see a soul free from all envy, everywhere consulting the benefit of his disciples, not caring whether it happens through himself or through another? For where there was the greatest danger and difficulty, he was present and carried it out himself; but what brought honor rather than praise, he left to his disciple; namely, the ordinations of bishops and all other things that needed correction and, if I may say so, greater perfection. What, I pray, do you say? Does he set your matters in order? Do you not think it a base thing and a disgrace to you? By no means: for I look only to the common benefit; and whether it be done by me or by another, it makes no difference to me. Thus it is necessary that a pastor should be disposed, not seeking his own honor, but the common benefit. And *ordain*, he says, *elders in every city.* He calls them bishops here, as we have already said elsewhere. *As I had appointed thee: If any one is blameless.* In every city, he says: for he did not wish the whole island to be committed to one, but for its own care and solicitude to be assigned to each one: for thus the labor would be lighter for him, and the subjects would be governed with greater diligence, if the teacher did not run through many churches, but devoted himself to governing and adorning one. *If any one*, he says, *is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly.* Why does he bring a man of this kind into the middle? He stops the mouths of the heretics who condemn marriage, showing that the matter is free from blame, nay, that it is to be honored so much that one joined in wedlock may even ascend the holy throne: and at the same time he chastises the unchaste, not permitting them to be assumed to the rule of the Church after a second marriage. For he who has not kept benevolence toward a deceased wife, how could he be a good prelate of the Church? To what accusations will he not be subject? For we all know, you surely know, that although second marriages are permitted by the laws, the matter is nevertheless open to many accusations. He wishes, therefore, for the prelate to provide no occasion to his subjects. Therefore he places here, *If any is blameless*; that is, if his life is immune from fault, if he has provided no occasion for being criticized. ^B Hear Christ saying: *If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?* (Matt. vi. 23). *Having faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly.* Let us weigh how much providence he exercises in educating children. For he who could not be a teacher of his own children, how shall he teach others? If those whom he had with him from the beginning and nourished, and over whom he had power by law and by nature, he could not rightly instruct, how will he be able to be of use to strangers? For unless there were supreme sloth on the part of the father, he would not have allowed those who were under his power to become evil. Neither is it possible that one who was educated with great care and diligence from the beginning should be evil: for sins are not of such a nature that they can overcome such care. That he gave himself to hoarding money, leaving behind the education of his children, and did not have such care for his children; even so, he is unworthy. For if, when natural affection urged him, he was so slothful, or so foolish, that he was more solicitous about money than about his children, how can he be raised to the throne and so great a principality? For if he could [have done it], it is a crime of great sloth; but if he did not apply the effort, as being devoid of paternal affection, he is to be condemned. Therefore, he who neglects his own children, how will he have the care of others? Nor did he simply say, *Not riotous*; but he wished them to be neither accused of that matter nor to have a bad reputation. ^C *For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker.* ^D [He governs] by law and by necessity, [and] deservedly often does not rule by the will and judgment of the subjects: but he who wishes to preside over those who are willing, and who give thanks for the authority assumed; if he behaves in such a way that he does everything by his own judgment, giving an account to no one, he exercises such an office more tyrannically than popularly. *For a bishop must be*, he says, *blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry.* For how will he teach others to overcome this vice, who has not taught himself? For this principality introduces [one] into many affairs, which would make even a moderate man troublesome and ungrateful, as it carries about daily innumerable causes for anger. Unless, therefore, he has approached this having premeditated, he will be most troublesome, and will corrupt and lose many of those things which are of his office. *Not given to wine, no striker.* He speaks here of the abusive man: for all things are to be done by exhorting rather than by rebuking: for what, I pray thee, is the necessity of abuse? One must be terrified by the threat of Gehenna, and great fear must be applied. For one who is insulted becomes more bold, and despises the abusive person more. For nothing produces such contempt as abuse, which disgraces the abusive person and does not allow him to be venerable. One ought to speak words with much piety, and mention the future judgment to those who sin, and be pure and alien from all abuse. But if there be any who impede the things that are of his office, then the matter is to be dealt with all authority. *No striker*, he says.

^A Physician is the doctor of souls: but the physician does not strike, but amends and heals him who is affected by disease or wound. *Not greedy of base gain*; 8. but *hospitable, kind, sober, just, holy, continent; 9. holding fast the faithful word which is according to the teaching*. See you how great a safeguard of virtue he requires? *Not greedy of base gain*, he says; for this is what implies a contempt for great sums of money. *Hospitable, kind, sober, just, holy*: all his own, he says, he shares with the needy: *continent*: not that he says he is devoted to fasting, but that he overcomes the passions—the tongue, the hand, and unchaste eyes: for this indeed is continence, not to be drawn aside by any passion. *Holding fast the faithful word which is according to the teaching*. By "faithful" here he means the true, or that which has been handed down through faith, which does not stand in need of syllogisms or questions. *Holding fast*, that is, caring for it, making this his work. What then, if he is unskilled in external learning? For this reason I said, *the faithful word which is according to the teaching*. So that he may be able both to exhort and to convict those who contradict. So there is no need for a boast of words, but for a mind, and experience of the Scriptures, and power of thoughts. ^B Paul was able to do more than Plato. — Do you not see Paul who converted the whole world, and was able to do more than Plato, and more than all the rest? But it was by signs, you will say. Not by signs alone: for if you go through the Acts of the Apostles, in many places you will find him prevailing by his teaching even before his signs. *So that he may be able to exhort in the sound teaching*; that is, for the keeping of his own, and for the overthrow of enemies. *And to convict those who contradict*. For if this is not present, all goes to ruin. For he who knows not how to fight against enemies, and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and to cast down reasonings; he who does not know what things it behooves one to teach concerning sound doctrine, let him be far from the teacher’s throne. For as for other things, one might find them even in those who are subjects, such as to be blameless, to have children in subjection, to be hospitable, just, holy; but that which most characterizes the teacher is this: to be able to instruct in the word, for which there is now no concern. For there are many and unruly, vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision: whom it behooves to silence. You see how he shows where such are from? From not wishing to be ruled, but to rule; for this he hinted at. When therefore you cannot persuade, do not appoint these, but silence them for the benefit of others. What then is the gain, when they are not persuaded, or even if they are unruly? Why is it necessary to silence them? So that others may be benefited thereby. *Who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of base gain*. For if he has accepted the teaching, but is not sufficient to fight against them nor to silence them though they are so shameless, he will be the cause of the ruin of those who perish. For if one gives advice saying, "Seek not to become a judge, if you are not strong enough to remove injustice," much more here would one say, "Seek not to become a teacher, if you fall short of the worthiness of the matter, but even if dragged, jump away." Do you see everywhere that the love of money, the greedy desire for base gain, is the cause of these things? *Teaching*, he says, *things which they ought not, for the sake of base gain*.

3. *The contempt of honor, how difficult.* — For there is nothing that these passions do not spoil; but ^C just as certain wild winds falling into a tranquil sea, stir it all up from the lowest depths, so that even the sand is mixed with the waves: so these passions entering into the soul, turn everything upside down, and obscure the discerning power of the mind, and especially the mad desire for glory. For it is easy for him who wills to despise riches; but to disregard the honor from the many, needs much labor, great philosophy, and an angelic soul that touches the very summit of heaven. For there is not, there is not anything so tyrannical a passion and reigning everywhere, from a greater and a lesser share, yet everywhere nevertheless. How then could we overcome it, if not mightily, yet at least in the smallest part? If we look up to heaven, if we have God before our eyes, if we take a thought greater than worldly things. Consider, when you desire glory, that you have already attained it, and learn the end, and you will find nothing: consider how much loss the matter has, of how many and how great goods it deprives you: for you will endure the labors and the dangers, but will be deprived of the fruits and of the rewards: consider that most are evil, and despise their glory. Towards each one separately reckon who he is, and you will see the matter full of ridicule; you will see that the matter is shame rather than glory; and after these things raise your thought to the mirror above. When you are doing some good thing and think that you must show it to men, and seek for some spectators of the matter, and travail so that you may be seen; consider that God sees, and you extinguish all that desire: withdraw from the earth, look to that theater which is in the heavens. Men may praise, but later they will blame, but they envy, but they lay hold; even if they do not do this, they will not benefit the one praised at all; but with God it is not so, but He rejoices in praising our good deeds. You spoke rightly, and obtained applause? And what is the gain? For if those who applauded were benefited and were changed and became better, and departed from their former evils, one ought indeed to rejoice, not at the praises which have come to pass, but at the good and ^D wonderful change. But if they continually persist in praising and clamoring and applauding, but reap no benefit from the applauses, one must rather grieve, because these things become a judgment to them. But do you have glory for piety? If you are indeed pious, and are not conscious to yourself of anything evil, you ought to rejoice, not because you seem to be, but because you are; if, however, you are not, and seek the glory of the many, consider that they will not judge us on that day, but He who knows the hidden things with accuracy. And if, being conscious to yourself of sins, you suspect that you are pure before all, not only ought you not to rejoice, but you ought even to grieve and to groan bitterly, constantly considering the day in which all things are revealed, in which the hidden things of darkness are brought to light. Do you enjoy honor? Fend it off, knowing that it constitutes you a debtor. Does no one offer you honor? You ought to rejoice at this also; for this is what God will present to you along with other things, that you enjoyed honor. Or do you not see, as with other benefits, God also rebukes this through the prophet: *I took of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for sanctification?* Even if you gain this, that you will not be responsible for greater punishment. For he who is not honored in the present life, and is despised and enjoys not even any account, but—

and when he is insulted and reviled, and even when he is considered nothing, he reaps this advantage, that he is not liable to any account for this, nor is he honored by his fellow slaves. And he gains many other things from this: he is humbled, and he will not be able, even if he wishes, to have high thoughts, if he pays more attention to himself. But he who enjoys much honor, besides the fact that he is liable for great debts, is puffed up by arrogance and vainglory, and becomes a slave to men. Then, as his dominion increases, he is forced to do many things, ^A of which he does not want.

4. As we know, therefore, that this is better for us than that, let us not seek honors, and if they are offered, let us repel them: let us cast away and extinguish this desire from ourselves. These things have been said by us for both rulers and subjects. For the soul that seeks honor and glory will not see the kingdom of heaven. It is not my word, nor do I bring forth my own words, but those of the divine Spirit: he will not see it, even if he works virtue. They have received, he says, their reward (Matt. 6:5). He, therefore, who does not receive the reward, how will he not see the kingdom of heaven? I do not forbid the desire for glory; but I desire the true glory, which is from God: Whose praise, he says, is not from men, but from God (Rom. 2:29). Let us be pious in secret, not surrounded by much haughtiness, or by a stage-play and simulation: ^B let us cast away the sheep's clothing, or rather let us become sheep; for nothing is more abject than human glory. For tell me, if you saw a multitude of nursing infants, would you desire to be praised by them? Be so disposed toward all men as far as glory is concerned. Therefore it is called vain glory. Do you not see the masks which actors put on themselves on the stage, how beautiful they are, how splendid, how well-fashioned to perfection? Could you show me such a form in reality? Not at all. What then? Have you been captured by the love of some such thing? No. Why? Because they are empty, and they imitate, and they do not have true beauty. Thus this glory is empty, and it imitates a beauty which it does not possess. Only that one remains which is within, and is natural; ^C but this exterior one often covers up deformity: it covers it up, I say, before men, and only until evening; but when the theater is dissolved, and the masks are removed, individuals appear as they are. Let us not, therefore, approach truth as if on a theatrical stage. For tell me, what good is there in being looked at by the multitude? It is vain glory and nothing else: for climb up into your house, and be alone, and it has all flowed away. Have you entered the forum, and did you turn those who were present toward you? And what more? Nothing. The glory has been extinguished, and has departed like smoke. Do we love such unstable things then? And how much madness is that, tell me? How much stupidity? Let us look, therefore, to one thing alone, how God is going to praise us: ^D if we look to this, we will never seek human things; but, if they are present, we will despise them, we will mock them, we will reject them; and just as if we were desiring gold and had stumbled upon mud, so will we be affected. Let no one praise you; for it does not profit you, just as it does not harm you if he reviles you. Before God, however, both bring either gain or detriment: for those things which are from men are all vain. In this, furthermore, we are equal to God, in that he does not need the glory of men: for he says, I do not receive glory from men (John 5:41). Is this, I ask you, a small thing? Since, therefore, you can barely despise glory, say: I will be equal to God if I despise it, and immediately you will despise all things. For it is not possible that he who is a slave to human glory should not be a slave to all men, and more abject than the slaves themselves. Nor do we command such things to our servants, as the love of glory does to those who are held by it; for it leads to things base and full of disgrace, both to be said and to be suffered, and when it sees them following it, then it commands greater things. Let us flee, therefore, let us flee, I pray, such slavery. How, you will say, shall we be able? If we philosophize about the things of this world; if we consider that present things are a dream and a shadow, and nothing else, we will easily overcome it, and we will not be caught in small things, nor in great; but if we do not despise it in small things, we will certainly easily fall in the greatest. Let us, therefore, divert its sources from afar: these are stupidity and an abject soul. And so if we assume a sublime soul, we will be able to despise the glory of the multitude, and to raise our soul to heaven, and to attain the heavenly goods, which I pray that we all may attain by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the holy Spirit be glory, dominion, honor, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY III

Cap. 1. v. 12. A certain one from among them, their own prophet, said: Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies. 13. This testimony is true. For which cause rebuke them harshly, that they may be sound in the faith, not heeding Jewish fables and statutes of men who turn themselves away from the truth.

There are many things to be sought here: first, who said these things; second, why Paul used them; third, why he brought forward a testimony which did not seem right. Come, therefore, by adding other things, let us thus bring the timely solution. For when he was speaking to the Athenians, in the middle of his discourse he said, To an unknown God, and again, For we are also his offspring, as even some of your poets have said (Acts 17:23, 28). It is Epimenides, therefore, who said these things, who was himself a Cretan; but why he was moved to say these things, it is necessary to tell you: for such is the occasion of this saying. The Cretans have the tomb of Jupiter inscribed thus: Here lies Jupiter, whom they call Zeus.

^A And proceeding further, he adds again, increasing the ridicule: *For they fashioned a tomb for you, O King,* *But you did not die, for you are forever.* If, therefore, this testimony is true, look how great the danger is. For if the poet is true, saying that they lied by stating that Jupiter had died, as the Apostle says, the danger is great. Pay attention, beloved, with much precision. The poet said that the Cretans are liars—they who stated that Jupiter had died; the Apostle confirmed his testimony. Therefore, according to the Apostle, Zeus is immortal; for this, he says, is true testimony. What, then, shall we say? Or rather, how is this to be solved? The Apostle did not say this, but simply took the testimony and guilelessly applied it to their mendacious character. For why did he not add, *“For they fashioned a tomb for you, O King”*? So the Apostle did not say this, but rather that the poet was right to say that the Cretans are liars. We do not argue solely from this that Zeus is not a god; for it is possible to demonstrate this clearly from many other sources as well, and not from the testimony of the Cretans. Moreover, he did not say that they were lying in this instance only; rather, it is likely that they lied in this matter too, ^B since they also considered others to be gods. For this reason, the Apostle called them liars.

But the question is: why does he fetch testimony from the Greeks? Because we refute them most effectively when we bring forward testimonies and accusations from their own sources, when we set those whom they admire as their accusers. For this reason, he has used this elsewhere, saying, *“To an Unknown God.”* For since the Athenians did not receive all the gods from the beginning, but over time added others—such as those from the Hyperboreans, such as those of Pan, such as the small and the great mysteries—they, conjecturing from these that it is likely there is another god who is unknown to them, so that they might be pious toward him as well, erected an altar to him, inscribing it, *“To an Unknown God,”* all but declaring this: *“And if there be any unknown god.”* He said, therefore, *“Whom you, in your ignorance, worship, him I preach to you.”*

Now, regarding *“For we are also his offspring,”* this was said in Aratus concerning Zeus; for when, in the beginning, he said, *“And the streets are full of Zeus, and the sea is full,”* he then added, *“For we are also his offspring,”* showing that he too believed we were born of God. How, then, did Paul draw what was said about Zeus to the God of the universe? He did not draw what was said about Zeus to God, but he attributes to God things that are proper to God, and which were not genuinely or strictly applied to Zeus; for even the name "god" belongs to Him alone, and is unlawfully applied to idols. But from where should he have discoursed with them? From the prophets? But they would not have believed; since even to the Jews he speaks nothing from the Gospels, but from the prophets; for this reason he says, *“To the Jews I became as a Jew, to them that are without law as without law, that I might gain them that are under the law”* (1 Cor. 9:20-21).

2. God does this, too; for instance, in the case of the Magi, He does not lead them through an angel, nor through a prophet, nor through an apostle, nor through an evangelist, but from where? Through a star; for since they held their art in these things, he drew them from there. Again, in the case of the oxen drawing the ark (1 Reg. 6:9): *“If they go this way,”* he says, *“the indignation of God is true,”* even as the seers suggested. Do the seers, therefore, speak the truth? Far from it! But from their own mouths He refutes and strikes them with awe. Again, in the case of the necromancer: ^C for because Saul believed in her, through her He made him hear the things that were to come upon him. Why, then, did Paul silence the demon who said, *“These men are the servants of the Most High God, who declare unto us the way of salvation”* (Act. 16:17)? And why does Christ also forbid the demons to speak (Marc. 1:25; Luc. 4:35)? There it was reasonable; for signs were going before; since even here there was no star, but He was preaching Himself; and the demons were not being worshipped. For the one speaking was not an idol, that it should be forbidden. And He allowed Balaam to bless, and did not forbid him (Num. 23). Thus, everywhere He condescends.

And why do you wonder at this? He allows wrong opinions and ones unworthy of Himself to be set forth concerning Himself—for instance, that He had a body before, that He was visible; in response to this, He says, *“God is a Spirit”* (John 4:24). Again, that He delights in sacrifices, which was foreign to Him, and He utters words inconsistent with His confession, and such like. He looks nowhere to His own dignity, but everywhere to what is useful for us. For if a father does not look to his own dignity, but babbles with his children, and does not call food and delicacies and drinks by Greek names, but by some childish and barbaric dialect, much more does God. ^D And He upbraids them condescendingly through the prophet, saying: *“Will the nations change their gods?”* (Jer. 2:11). And everywhere in the Scriptures there is condescension, both in words and in deeds.

For which reason, he says, *“Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.”* For this reason he says it, because their character is insolent, deceitful, and licentious. They have countless evils. But when they also lie readily, and are deceitful and gluttonous and slothful, the speech needs to be vehement and striking; for such a person would not be led by gentleness. *“Rebuke them, therefore.”* Here he does not mean others, but their own. *“Sharply.”* Give, he says, a deeper wound. For one must not apply the same method to all, but differently and variously, and according to the circumstances. Nowhere does he exhort here. For just as he who strikes the gentle and well-born destroys and ruins him; so he who flatters one needing vehemence corrupts him and does not...

allow him to rise. “That they may be sound in faith,” he says. That, then, is health: to have nothing spurious, to introduce nothing foreign. But if those who observe food-laws are not sound, but are infirm (“Receive those who are weak in faith,” he says, “not for the disputation of thoughts” [Rom. 14:1]), what would you say of those who fast together with them, who keep the sabbath, ^B of those who go to those places consecrated to them—into Daphne, I say, and into the cave called Matrona’s, into that place of Cilicia called Saturn’s? How are they sound? Therefore they have need of a more violent blow. Why, then, does he not do the same to the Romans? Because they were not of the same character; because those were noble. “Not clinging to Jewish fables,” he says. Jewish fables are twofold: either because they are simulations, or because they are done at the wrong time; finally, they are truly fables. For since it is not the right time to do those things now, and since they bring harm when performed, they are fables, just as they are useless. As, therefore, one must not obey those, so neither these; for that would not be sound. For if you believe in the faith, why do you introduce other things, as if the faith were not enough to justify? Why do you make yourself a slave to the law and subject yourself to it? Do you not trust the things of the faith? This is the act of one infirm and unbelieving; for it belongs to a faithful mind not to doubt, but he who is such as this doubts. 15. “All things,” he says, “are pure to the pure.” You see that this saying looks toward a certain thing? “But to the defiled,” he says, “and to the unbelieving, nothing is pure.” For things are not in themselves clean or unclean, but depend upon the judgment and will of those who receive them. “But their mind and conscience are defiled.” 16. “They profess that they know God, but they deny Him by their deeds, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” ^C Therefore the pig is also clean: why then is it forbidden as unclean? It was not by nature unclean; for all things are clean. For there is nothing more unclean than a fish, since it eats human bodies; but it was permitted, and it was considered clean. Again, there is nothing more unclean than a hen; for it eats worms; there is nothing more impure than the deer; for they say it is called *daphon* among the Greeks for this reason, because it eats snakes; yet all these were eaten. Why then did He forbid the pig and other similar things? Not because they were unclean, but so that He might cut away the greater part of luxury. But if He had said this, he would not have persuaded [them]; but now He restrained them by the fear of uncleanness. ^D For what, I ask you, is more unclean than wine, if we examine the matter? What more impure than water, by which, however, they were mostly purified? They did not touch the dead, and they were purified by the dead; for what was sacrificed was dead, and by it they were purified. To such a degree was this a teaching for children. And I would have you consider: does not wine consist of dung? For just as the vine draws moisture from the earth, so it draws it also from the adjacent dung. Finally, if we wish to examine the matter more curiously, all things are unclean. But nothing will be unclean unless we examine it more curiously, but all things are pure; God has made nothing unclean; for there is nothing unclean, except sin alone—for it touches the soul and stains it. But this is a human, prejudiced opinion. “To the defiled,” he says, “and to the unbelieving nothing is pure, but their mind and conscience are defiled.” For how can the unclean be found among the pure? He who is infirm in soul defiles all things. For if this thought occupies him, while he asks what is clean and what is unclean, he will touch nothing. For not according to their reasoning are fish and the rest clean (“Their mind and conscience are defiled,” he says), but all things are defiled. But he did not say this, but what? He turned the whole thing upon them. Nothing is unclean, he says, but they alone, and their mind and conscience—there is nothing more unclean than these. “They profess that they know God, but they deny Him by their deeds, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Chap. 2.) 1. “But do you speak the things which become sound doctrine.” This is uncleanness; they themselves are unclean; yet do not for this reason keep silent. Even if they themselves do not receive it, he says, you fulfill what is your own; if they do not obey, you exhort with counsels. Here he accuses them more strongly. For those who are raving think nothing stands still; but these things are not caused by the things seen, but by the eyes that see. Because they are unstable and dizzy, they think the earth is spinning; but it is not spinning, but stands firm; for their malady is foolish, it is not a malady of the elements. So also here, when the mind is unclean, it thinks all things to be unclean. Therefore, it is not from such observation that purity proceeds, but purity is to approach all things. For he who is pure by nature dares all things; but he who is defiled, nothing. This must also be said against Marcion. Do you see that he sets the sign of purity as being superior to every stain; and of uncleanness, that nothing is touched? So also in God: that He assumed flesh is a sign of purity; if, fearing it, He had not assumed it, that would have been a sign of filth. He who does not eat things that seem to him to be unclean, he is unclean and infirm; he who eats is not. Therefore let us not call such men pure; these are the unclean; but he who dares all things is pure. This piety must be exhibited in those things which stain the soul: for this is uncleanness, these are the stains; but not these things [mentioned]. For those who have a corrupted mouth think the things offered are unclean; but that comes from vice. It behooves one, therefore,

to know the nature of things clean and unclean.

4. What then is unclean? Sin, malice, avarice, wickedness. "Wash yourselves," he says, "be clean; take away your wickedness from your souls" (Is. 1. 16). "Create a clean heart in me, O God" (Ps. 50. 12). "Go out from the midst of them, and be separate," he says, "and touch no unclean thing" (Is. 52. 11); for those observances were symbols of purifications. "Touch not," he says, "that which is dead" (Lev. 11. 8); for such is sin, dead and loathsome. "The leper," he says, "is unclean" (Lev. 13. 15). For sin is various and manifold. And that he hints at this, is clear from what follows. For if the leprosy is throughout the whole body, he is clean; but if in part, he is no longer so. Do you see that the unclean is that which is various and mutable? Again, he who has an issue of seed is unclean in his soul (Lev. 15. 4). Consider him who has an issue of seed, who casts away the seeds. He who is uncircumcised is also unclean. Do you see how these are not an allegory, but types? He who has not put away, he says, the wickedness of his soul. He who works on the Sabbath is stoned; that is, he who is not continually devoted to God, he perishes. Do you see how many are the modes of uncleanness? "She who is from the bed," he says, is unclean (Lev. 15. 19). Why, tell me? Did he not himself form the seed and generation? Why then is the woman unclean? Unless it hinted at something else. And what is this? It produced reverence in the soul, it led it far away from fornication. For if she who brings forth is unclean, much more she who fornicates; if to approach one's own wife is not perfectly clean, to mix with another's is much more so. He who comes from a funeral, he says, is unclean; much more he who comes from murder and war. And one might find many modes of uncleanness, if indeed it were necessary to recount all. But we are not called to these things now, but the whole matter has been transferred to the soul. For bodily things are closer to us; for this reason he led off from this; but not now; for it was not right to sit by types, nor to remain at the shadows, but to hold fast to the truth, and to grasp it.

Unclean is sin; let us fly from this, let us abstain from it. If you approach, he says, to it, it will receive you (Eccl. 21. 2). Nothing is more unclean than avarice. Whence is this clear? From the things themselves. For what does it not defile? Hands, soul, the very house where the things that are seized are laid up. To the Jews, indeed, this does not seem to be anything. And yet Moses carried the bones of Joseph, and Samson drank from the jawbone of an ass, and ate honey from the lion, and Elijah was fed by ravens, and by a widow woman. But what, tell me, if it is necessary to be precise about these things, are not the skins of their own books more accursed? For they are from dead animals. Not the corpse, therefore, is solely unclean, but others are more so than this, and the adulterer is unclean; and both this man and that man are unclean, not because of the intercourse; since by this logic even he who approaches his own wife is unclean; but because of the injustice and the avarice, because he defrauded his brother in the most necessary things. Do you see that wickedness is the unclean thing? And he who had two wives was not unclean, and David who had many was not unclean; but because he had one unlawfully, he became unclean. Why? Because he acted unjustly, because he defrauded. And the fornicator is not unclean because of the intercourse, but because of the manner, because he wrongs the woman, and they wrong one another by making the woman common, and overturning the laws of nature; for she ought to have belonged to one. For "male," he says, "and female he created them; and said, They shall be two into one flesh" (Gen. 1. 27. and 2. 24); not the many, but the two into one flesh. Here, therefore, there is injustice, and for this reason the thing is evil. Anger again, when it exceeds its bounds, makes a man unclean, not because of the wrath, but because of the manner; since this also is added: "He who is angry," not simply, but "without cause" (Matt. 5. 22). Therefore, everywhere, the desiring of more is unclean; for from insatiability and the unbridled, the thing is born. Let us be sober, therefore, I beseech you, and let us be pure with the true purity, that we may be accounted worthy to see God in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, dominion, honor, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY IV

^A Titus 2: 2. "Old men that they be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience: 3. The aged women likewise in holy attire, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, 4. That they may train the young women to be lovers of their husbands, to be lovers of their children, 5. To be sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

1. Old age has certain shortcomings, and youth does not; and it has indeed some of those of youth, but yet it has also the languid, the slothful, the lethargic, ^B the dim, the choleric. For this reason, commanding regarding these, he says: "Old men that they be sober." For many are the things that cause those of such an age not to be sober; and first that which I said, the being blunted in all things, and with difficulty stirred, and with difficulty moved; wherefore he also adds, "Grave, temperate." Here he speaks of the wise; for prudence is called the safety of the mind. For there are, there are even among those who have grown old, raging men, fools, some from wine, others from grief; for old age makes men faint-hearted. "Sound in faith, in love, in patience." And he has well said, "in patience"; for this also particularly befits old men. "The aged women likewise in holy attire," that is, from their very attire and clothing exhibiting modesty. "Not false accusers, not given to much wine." This is the greatest vice of women and of old age; for because the age grows cold, a great desire for wine is generated. Therefore he instructs them regarding this, as one who wishes to remove drunkenness everywhere, and to remove the laughter that comes from it. For more easily do vapors rise, and the membranes of the brain are damaged when...

they have become hardened with time; and from this, drunkenness is born. ^A Yet wine is indeed necessary for this age, as it is infirm, but not in large quantities. This admonition concerns the younger ones as well, not for the same cause, but because from it the flame of passion is greatly ignited. "Good teachers." And yet, you forbid women to teach: how then do you permit it here, you who said elsewhere, "I do not permit a woman to teach" (1 Tim. ii, 12)? But hear what he added: "nor to have authority over a man." For it has been permitted since ancient times for men to teach men and women; but to women he grants the faculty of admonition, yet only at home; he allows her nowhere to preside, nor to deliver a long discourse; and therefore he adds, "nor to have authority over a man." "That they may teach the young women to be sensible," he says. How does he connect and congregate the people? How does he make the young women subject to the aged? He does not speak here of daughters, but of the age in a simple sense. "Let any aged woman," he says, "chasten the young woman." "To love their husbands." In the house, this is the head of all goods: "A woman," he says, "in agreement with her husband" (Eccli. xxv, 2). When this exists, nothing unpleasant will happen. For if the head is in agreement with the body, and there is no dissension there, will not all remaining things be in peace? For when the rulers live in peace, who could break or violate the peace? And conversely, with these in discord, nothing will be sound at home. There is nothing, therefore, greater than this; and it is far more useful than riches, nobility, power, and all other things. He did not say simply, "Let them be in peace," but, "To love their husbands." For when love is present, nothing unpleasant or burdensome will be able to enter in: for from this all other goods are born. "To love their children," he says. Beautifully; for whoever loves the root will love the fruits much more. "Sensible, chaste, keepers at home, kind." All things are born from love: for they become both kind and keepers at home from the love of the husband. "Subject to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." ^B Conversely, she who despises her husband also has no care for the house. From love, prudence arises; from love, every contention is removed: if one is a Gentile, she will soon be persuaded; if a Christian, she will be better. Do you see Paul's moderation? He who does everything so that we may be abstracted from the business of life, now takes great care in ordering the house. For when these things are rightly ordered, spiritual things will have a place; otherwise, those things also are shaken. For a wife who cares for her home will also be chaste, and will dispense all things; nor will she give herself over to delights, untimely expenses, and similar things. "That the word of God be not blasphemed," he says. Do you see that he has concern primarily for the preaching, not for secular things? For writing to Timothy he says: "That we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all piety and honesty" (1 Tim. ii, 2); here, however, "That the word and doctrine of God be not blasphemed." For if it should happen that a believing woman, joined to an unbelieving husband, is not endowed with virtue, from this blasphemy is wont to pass over to God; but if she is adorned with virtue, the preaching gains glory both from her and from her upright deeds. Let women hear, who are joined to either wicked or unbelieving husbands: let them hear, and let them learn by their own upright character to lead them to piety. For even if you gain nothing else, nor draw your husband to a participation in the correct dogmas, yet you will obstruct his mouth, and will not allow him to attack Christianity with blasphemies. ^C But this is not the least thing, but truly the greatest, when from our conduct the dogma is held in admiration. ^D See how he admonishes everywhere that decorum be kept. For he permitted the teaching of women to women for the most part, when he placed older women in charge of the younger; but the instruction of the men he commits to Titus himself. For there is nothing, nothing so difficult and grave at this youthful age, as overcoming absurd pleasures. For neither the love of money, nor the desire for glory, nor anything else so agitates this age as the love of the body. Therefore, having dismissed all other things, he institutes an admonition surrounding that wound of the age. Then neither does he neglect the rest; but what does he say?

7. In all things, present yourself an example of good works.

9. Servants to be subject to their own masters, in all things pleasing.

753 philosophers in demonstrating self-control, and serving with much gentleness and goodwill, he will wonder at the power of the proclamation in every way. For Gentiles judge dogmas not by dogma, but by deeds and life. Let, therefore, even your servants be teachers for them through their own conduct. For even among them, and everywhere, it is conceded that the race of servants is somehow headstrong, difficult to reason with, unmanageable, and not very apt for the teaching of virtue—not by nature, may it not be so, but because of their upbringing and the neglect of their masters. For since those who hold them in power care for nothing elsewhere than their own service; and if ever they do pay attention to their character, they do this again for their own ease, so that they might not provide them with trouble by whoring, stealing, or getting drunk; being neglected in this way, and having no one to concern themselves with them, they are submerged into the very pits of wickedness. For if, where father and mother are present, and tutor and foster-father and teacher and peers, and the very conceit of freedom wraps around one, and many other things, one would hardly escape the company of the wicked; what do you think of those who are destitute of all these things, and are mixed with the defiled, and with boldness consort with whomsoever they wish, when there is no one who concerns themselves with their friendships? What do you think such ones will be? Therefore it is difficult for a servant to become good. Moreover, they do not even enjoy instruction, neither that from without nor that from us; they do not consort with free, orderly men who care much for their own reputation. For all these reasons it is difficult and wonderful for a servant to become useful at any time. When, therefore, they see that the power of the proclamation, having placed a bridle on a race so headstrong, has made them more orderly and gentle than all others, even if the masters be very much more irrational than all men, they will receive a great idea concerning our dogmas. For it is clear that having previously planted in their soul the fear of the resurrection and that of the judgment and of all others that are philosophized about among us after death, they are thus able to beat back vice, having fixed in their own soul an equal-weighing fear of pleasure derived from evils. So not in vain nor simply does he make much of the word concerning these things everywhere; for by how much they may be evil, by that much more is the strength of the proclamation marvelously admired. For we admire a physician only when he brings to health and corrects one who is despaired of and who enjoys no assistance, nor is able to master intemperate desires, but is wallowing in these. And what does he require of them? That which most of all gives rest to the master: “Not gainsaying, not purloining,” that is, to show much goodwill in the things they are entrusted with, to be good in those things most of all towards their masters, yielding in their commands. 4. Do not, therefore, think that I am simply setting these things forth now; for henceforth my word is to the servants. Do not, therefore, O best of men, look to this, that you serve a man, but that you serve God, that you adorn the proclamation; and you will endure to do everything, obeying the master and bearing with one who is angry inopportunely and is troublesome. Consider that you do not give the favor to him, but fulfill the command of God, and you will endure everything easily. And what I always say, this I will also say now, that if spiritual things are successfully accomplished by us, those of the present life will follow. For such a servant, who is so well-disposed, so gentle, not only will God accept and grant him those bright crowns, but the master himself who has been well treated, even if he be a beast, and even if he be stone-hearted and inhuman and cruel, will praise and admire and prefer him to all others, and will set him over the rest, even if he be a Gentile. And that even if the masters are Gentiles, he commands the servant to show himself as such, if you wish, I will relate to you a paradigm: Joseph was sold to the arch-cook, and he was of a different glory, not of the Egyptian glory; what then that one? Because he saw the young man was virtuous, he did not dwell on the difference of their glory, but he himself loved and cared for and admired him, and entrusted to him the entire supervision, and of the things in the house he knew nothing because of him; but that man was a second master, or rather even more sovereign than the master himself, if at least the one was ignorant of his own affairs, but this one knew the affairs of that one better than the master. And it seems to me that even later, because he trusted in the woman who had made that lawless slander against him, honoring the righteous man from previous respect and honor, he stopped his anger at the prison. For if he did not greatly respect the man and admire him from the things previously done for him, he would have immediately dispatched him, and driven the sword through that body. For, he says, the anger of a man is full of jealousy; he will not exchange the enmity for any ransom, nor will he be appeased by many gifts. And if the jealousy of every man is such, much more that of this one, being an Egyptian and a barbarian, and, as he thought, wronged by the one who had been honored. For you all surely know that injuries from all men do not bite us in the same way, but those from those who have been well-disposed towards us, and who were trusted and trusted us, and who had received many good things from us, when they turn to evils, they hurt and grieve us the more. He did not consider within himself, nor did he say: What is this? Having purchased him a servant, I shared all the things of the house, I made him free and something greater than myself, and does he render me such...

retribution; for not only from his custom was the jailer cruel, but also from the cause for which the wretched man had been thrown into prison. For whom would it not have provoked, that a young man, who had been enjoying such great honor, had come under suspicion of trying to violate his mistress, and had wished to repay the favor in such a way? Thinking on these things, therefore, the jailer—and considering his former honor and the cause for which he had been cast in—would he not have been more cruel than any beast against the young man? But the hope of all these lay in God; thus virtue is wont to tame even beasts themselves. With the same gentleness, indeed, with which he had captivated his master, he also captivated the jailer. And again, Joseph was ^A a prince, and in prison he held command, as he did in the house. For because he was to reign, he rightly learned first to be subject, and while he was subject, he held command and was prefect in the house.

5. For if one who is elected to the Church knows not how to preside over his own house, how will he have the care of the Church of God? ^B This is what Paul requires, saying so: *If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?* (1 Tim. 3:5). It was necessary that he, too, who was coming to authority, should first be an excellent prefect in the house. Joseph was prefect of the prison, not as a prison, but as a house. For he relieved the calamities of all, and ruled over the incarcerated as if they were his own members, not only curiously observing and assuaging their calamities; but if he saw any man pensive, he approached to learn the cause; for he could not bear to see one sad, unless he first freed him from sadness: although no one shows such affection even toward his children. From these things, therefore, the beginning of good things arose for him. For it is ^C necessary that first those things which are our own appear, and afterwards those which are of God. But that he used such commiseration and diligence, is evident from this: *He saw*, he says, *the eunuchs enclosed by Pharaoh, the chief of the cupbearers and the chief of the bakers, and he said: Why are your faces sad today?* (Gen. 40:7). Nor from this alone, but also from the things that they themselves did, the virtue of the man can be learned. For they did not reject him as household servants would, nor did they repulse him as being mournful and sad, but as a genuine brother, who knew how to sympathize, they revealed all their own things to him. These things, therefore, have all been said by me for this reason, that he who is endowed with virtue, even if he be in slavery, even if in captivity, even if in prison, even if placed under the very earth, nothing will ever be able to conquer him; and even if he may be born virtuous, nothing will be able to cause him to be cast down.

These things have been said by me to the servants, that even if they have beastly masters, like the Egyptian, even if inhuman, like the jailer, they will be able to win them over; and even if they remain Gentiles, as those were, in any way they will be able to soothe them quickly. For nothing is more agreeable than good morals, nothing more pleasant and sweeter than modesty, gentleness, and obedience; such a one is suitable for all. And those of this kind are not ashamed of slavery, nor do they flee the poor, nor do they forsake the infirm and the sick; for virtue overcomes all things, virtue conquers all things. But if this matter has so much strength in servants, how much more in the free? Let us therefore practice these things, both servants and free, women and men; so we shall be dear to men and to God, not only to those endowed with virtue, but even to the wicked; for these indeed are the ones who honor and reverence us more. For just as subjects tremble ^D more at modest masters; so also those who are intemperate tremble more at those endowed with virtue, knowing from what things they themselves have fallen. Therefore, because such is the fruit of virtue, let us follow it. If we pursue this, nothing will be grave to us; all things are easy, all things are light; whether we pass through fire, or through water, all things yield to virtue, and even death itself. Let us therefore emulate and pursue it, that we may attain the future goods, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

HOMILY V. CHAPTER 2. v. 11.

After he demanded great virtue from servants (for it is surely a great virtue to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, and to give no occasion to masters for complaint, even in the most trivial matter), he subjoins the just cause why servants ought to be such. What is this? *For the grace of God*, he says, *that bringeth salvation hath appeared*. Those who have obtained God as their teacher, why, I ask, should they not be such as I have now described, to whom countless sins have been forgiven? For you know that, among other things, this does not a little affect and repress the soul with shame, that although it is liable to a thousand sins, it does not suffer punishments, but obtains both forgiveness and countless goods. For if anyone, tell me, were to take a captured servant who had committed many offenses, and not strike him with lashes, but granting forgiveness for the past, were to warn him that he would exact penalties for the future, and command him to take heed not to fall into like matters, and were to adorn him with great gifts: whom do you think would not be changed having heard and accepted such grace? But do not think that grace stops its step with the forgiveness of the past granted; but it also fortifies us for the future; for that also is a gift of grace. For, if he were never to punish those who commit wickedness, it is no longer grace, but an incentive to ruin and corruption. *For the grace of God*, he says, *hath appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.* See how he places virtue along with rewards. And this is of grace, that it abstracts us from worldly things, and leads us to heaven. Here he shows two advents: for there are in truth two; the first of grace, the second of retribution and justice. *Denying*, he says,

impiety and worldly desires. Behold the subject of all virtue. He did not say, "That we may flee," but, "That we may deny." The denial reveals a great separation, a great hatred, a great aversion: with as much disposition, with as much zeal as idols were turned away from, with just as much, he says, should you turn away from wickedness itself and worldly desires. For these, too, are idols, worldly desire and covetousness, and he calls this *idolatry*; and whatever is useful to us for the present life are "worldly desires." Everything that perishes with the present life is a worldly desire. Let us then have nothing to do with these. Christ came that we might deny impiety. By impiety he means false doctrines, and by worldly desires, the profane life. *Let us live soberly, and righteously, and godly in this present world*.

2. ^B Do you see that, as I always say, soberness is not just this—to abstain from fornication—but also to be free from the rest of the passions? For he who loves money is also not sober. Just as the one is toward bodies, so this one is toward money; or rather, this one is more unbridled, inasmuch as he does not even have such a force pushing him. For that charioteer would be called most intemperate who could not hold back the rough and unruly horse, not him who could not subdue the one that is quiet and milder. ^C What then, you ask; is the desire for money less than that for bodies? It is clear to everyone, and it is demonstrated from many things; first, because the desire for bodies was made by necessity, and what is made by necessity is clearly accomplished with much labor, since it is naturally implanted in the nature. Second, because among the ancients, there was not much talk about money, but a great deal about chastity; and one who associates with a woman according to law would be blamed by no one even up to old age, but he who is money-grubbing is blamed by all. And many of the philosophers from without despised money, but not women; so this is more tyrannical than that. But since our discourse is to the Church, let us not bring examples from without, but from the Scriptures. This blessed one puts this down almost in the place of a command, saying thus: *Having food and clothing, we shall be content* (1 Tim. 6:8). But concerning wives he says: *Do not deprive one another, except by consent*; and again: *Come together again* (1 Cor. 7:5). And you can often see him legislating regarding lawful intercourse. ^D And indeed he allows for the enjoyment of this desire, and to enter into a second marriage, and he takes great care of the matter, and nowhere does he punish for this; but he condemns everywhere the one who covets money. And Christ gave commands in many places concerning money, so as to flee the corruption that comes from it; but concerning abstinence from a wife, not so. For hear what he says about money: *Unless one renounces all his possessions* (Luke 14:33). He never said: "Unless one renounces his wife"; for he knows what kind of tyranny he implanted. And this blessed one says: *Marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled* (Heb. 13:4). He nowhere calls the care of money honorable, but the opposite. *But those who wish to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful desires* (1 Tim. 6:9). He did not say, "to be covetous," but "to be rich." And that you may learn also from common notions, it is necessary to bring this line into the middle as well. For one who is completely deprived of money would no longer be troubled by the desire; for nothing makes one desire money so much as having money. But in the case of the desire for bodies, it is not so; but even those who have been made eunuchs have not extinguished the fire that troubles them from within; for that desire lies in other organs, being implanted within in the nature. For what reason then has this been said to us? Because the covetous are more unbridled than the fornicators, in that they are troubled by a lesser desire—or rather, the matter is not even one of desire, but of sloth. For here, the desire is so natural that even if one does not approach a woman, nature does its own thing and works; but there, nothing of the sort happens. *And godly*, he says, *let us live in this present world*. And what is the hope? What is the reward of the labors? *Looking for*, he says, *the blessed hope and appearing*. For in truth nothing is more blessed than that, nothing more to be zealously sought; and words cannot convey these things; for they transcend the mind, the good things of that time. *Looking for*, he says, *the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior*. Where are those who say the Son is less than the Father? *Of the great*, he says, *God and Savior*. He who saved his enemies, what will he not do when he takes them [being] approved? *Of the great*, he says, *God*. When he says "great" in regard to God, he does not say it as "great in relation to something," but absolutely great, after whom there could not be [another] great, since [the other] would be relative. But if it were relative, it would be by comparison, and not great by nature; but now he is incomparably great. *Who gave himself for us*, he says, *that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people*, that is, one chosen, having nothing in common with the rest. *Zealous for good works*. Do you see that even of those from...

childhood one must be exhorted to be in earnest? But if you have been reared in a ^A virtuous manner, you nevertheless may have many sins; if you are not, as you suppose, you must realize that this has come about not by your own virtue, but by the grace of God; for if He called your ancestors, He did the same for you, although you were disobedient. See how He runs through all wickedness. ^B Was not God the dispenser of ten thousand things through all the prophets? Yet we have not heard; we have been led astray. For he says, *But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared*. How? Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His own mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. ^C Bah! How were we plunged in wickedness, such that we could not be cleansed, but had need of regeneration! For this is what regeneration is. Just as with a house that is falling into ruin, no one puts a support, nor adds anything to an old building, but, having demolished it from the foundations, he raises it up anew and renovates it; so did He also: He did not add to the building, but raised it up from the foundations. For this is the meaning of "and renewing of the Holy Spirit"—He made us new from the bottom to the top. How? Through the Spirit. And again, showing this in another way, he adds: *Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior*. So much mercy do we need. *That being justified by His grace*. Again grace, not debt. *We might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life*. There is both an exhortation here to humility and a hope of future things. ^D For if He saved us when we were so desperate that we needed to be generated anew and saved by grace, having nothing of good, much more will He do this in the time to come.

There was nothing worse than human bestiality before the coming of Christ; for just as enemies and foes were they divided against each other; fathers slaughtered their children, and mothers raged against their own sons; there was nothing stable, neither the natural law nor the written law; but all things were subverted; adulteries were frequent, murders, and if there were anything worse than murders, thefts too; and someone of the outsiders says that this was then thought to be a work of virtue; and rightly so, since they worshipped such a god, and there were frequent oracles ordering this or that one to be killed.

The Story of Androgeos and Minos

^A were called to the spectacle. O, the abomination! At night, in the theater, there was a vigil, and a maiden sat among frenzied youths and a drunken crowd. Darkness was the festival, and the abominable deeds done by them. Therefore he says: "We were also once foolish, disobedient, erring, serving divers lusts and pleasures." One man, he says, fell in love with his stepmother, and [this or that] woman with her stepson, and she hanged herself. For the loves of boys, which it is their custom to call "favorites," one cannot even name. But what more? Do you wish to see mother-marriages? This also exists among them, and—what is terrible—the thing was done by ignorance, and the god among them did not prevent it, but overlooked nature being insulted, even in the case of those who were eminent. If those by whom, if not for any other reason, at least for the opinion of the many, it was fitting to hold fast to virtue—if they were carried so headlong into wickedness—what is it likely that the many, who live in obscurity, were committing? What is more slippery than this pleasure? Such a woman fell in love with such a man; she slew her husband upon his return because of the adulterer. Perhaps many of you know the story. The son of the murdered man killed the adulterer and sacrificed her as well; after this, he himself went mad and was driven by the Furies; then he himself, having thus gone mad, went and slew another, and took his wife. What is worse than these calamities? For this reason, I speak these things from outside sources, that I might persuade the Greeks how many evils held the world. But, if you wish, I will also demonstrate it from our own [Scriptures]. "They sacrificed," he says, "their sons and their daughters unto demons" (Ps. CV, 37). And again, those who inhabited Sodom perished for no other reason than that they were mad for boys. But again, in the beginnings of the advent of Christ, was not the king's daughter dancing in the midst of the banquet among drunken men? Did she not ask for a murder, and the head of the prophet as the prize of her dance? (Matt. XIV, 6). "Who shall speak of the mighty acts of the Lord?" (Ps. CV, 2). "Odious," he says, "hating one another" (Tit. III, 3). For it is absolutely necessary that, when we surrender all our pleasures to the soul, much hatred should arise. Why? Because where love is not joined with virtue, no one fails to overreach anyone. See also what Paul says: "Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor covetous, nor drunkards, shall inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. VI, 9-10). "And such were some of you." Do you see how every kind of wickedness abounded, and there was a great mist, and justice was destroyed? For if ^B those who enjoyed prophecy, and who saw so many evils happening both among their enemies and among themselves, nevertheless did not endure, but wrought ten thousand new [sins], what would others do? But again, someone among them commanded that naked virgins wrestle in the sight of men. Much good befalls you, that you cannot bear even to hear the word! But the philosophers were not ashamed of the thing itself. And another philosopher, the chief among them, even leads them into wars, and commands them to be common, being like some procurer and pander. "Living in malice and envy," he says. For if those who philosophize among them legislated such things, what should we say about those who did not philosophize? If those who have long beards and have put on the coarse cloak say such things, what should we say about others? For this reason woman was not created, O man, that she should be common to all. You are overturning all things; you who mingle with males as with females, and lead females into war as men; for this is the work of the devil—to confuse and overturn all things, and to move and displace the boundaries set from the beginning which God set for nature. For to the woman God gave only the keeping of the house, and to the man the doing of public affairs; but you bring the head down to the feet, and bring the feet up to the head. You armor women, and are you not ashamed? But why do I say these things? They introduce among them a woman who has killed her own children, and they are not ashamed or embarrassed to cast such abominable tales into the ears of men. "But when the kindness," he says, "and love of God our Savior towards man appeared, not according to works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by the laver of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." What is, "According to hope"? That is, as we have hoped, so we shall enjoy; or that "You are already heirs." "Faithful is the saying." Since he spoke about things to come, and not yet present, he brought in that which is trustworthy. These things are true, he says, and it is clear from those that have already occurred. For He who delivered us from such lawlessness and from such evils, it is manifest that He will also surely grant us the things to come if we remain in grace; for all things come from the same providence.

5. Let us therefore give thanks to God, and let us reproach no others, let us not accuse them, but let us rather exhort, pray for them, counsel, and advise, even if they revile, and even if they kick; for such are they who are sick. But those who hasten toward the health of such men endure all things, do all things, even if they accomplish nothing, so that they may not hold themselves responsible as if they had been negligent. Or are you not aware that often when a physician has despaired of the patient, another one of his relatives says to him: "Apply the treatment again, and omit nothing, so that I may not blame myself, so that I may not reproach myself, so that I may not have to accuse myself"? Do you not see how much care relatives take for those who are appropriate? How much they do for this, both by entreating physicians and by attending [the patient] continuously? If we emulate these—and yet we do not struggle for the same things… ^{C D}

and whomsoever neglects this. Do you not know that often, when a physician despairs of a sick man, another of his relatives addresses him thus: "Apply care again, omit nothing, that I may not bring blame upon myself, that I may not be reproached, that I may not have cause to accuse myself"? Do you not see how much friends and relatives provide for their own? How much they do for this matter, begging physicians, always sitting by them? Let us imitate them, at least, even if the concern is not for the same things. But now, if a son labors with a disease, a father will not refuse to undertake a long journey to free him from the disease; but when the soul is in a bad state, no one cares for it; but we all collapse, we are all slothful, we all care for nothing, and we treat our children and wives and ourselves as nothing, being affected by such a great disease. But we come to the sense of the matter too late. Think how shameful, how ridiculous it is afterwards to say: "We were not expecting it, we did not think it would be so." That is not only shameful, but also dangerous. For if in the present life it is the part of fools not to foresee the future, much more is it so when it concerns the future: since we hear many now counseling and saying what must be done and what must not be done. Let us therefore seize the care of this hope, let us be solicitous for our salvation, let us pray to God in all things that He may stretch forth His hand. How long shall we neglect? How long shall we be careless? How long shall we despise ourselves and our fellow-servants? He has poured forth the grace of the Spirit upon us in abundance. Let us therefore consider what grace He has exhibited to us, and let us exhibit as much zeal ourselves; or rather, we cannot do as much, but at least let us apply less. For if even after this grace we are void of sense, a greater punishment hangs over us: for He says: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse" (John 15:22). But far be it that such things be said of us; rather, may we attain the good things promised to those who love Him, in Christ Jesus our Lord, etc.

HOMILY VI

Cap. 3, v. 8. "These things I will have thee affirm: that they who believe in God may be careful to excel in good works. These things are good and profitable unto men." v. 9. "But foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law avoid: for they are unprofitable and vain." v. 10. "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition avoid:" v. 11. "Knowing that he that is such an one is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself."

^A Having spoken of the philanthropy of God toward us, and what things He has wrought for us, he subjoins and says: "These things I will have thee affirm, that they who believe in God may be careful to excel in good works." That is, it is necessary to speak these things, and by these to exhort unto almsgiving. For the things said do not exhort only to humility, nor do they only warn that no one should exalt himself or reproach others, but they are consonant to every remaining virtue. For thus also, addressing the Corinthians, he says: "You know that the Lord became poor, though He was rich, that through His poverty we might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9). ^B Considering, therefore, the providence of God and His immense kindness, he exhorts them to almsgiving, not just any way, nor incidentally; but what? "That they may be careful," he says, "to excel in good works"; that is, to help the unjustly harmed, not with money only, but also with patronage: and to defend widows and orphans, and to establish in safety all who suffer evils: for this is "to excel in good works." "For these things," he says, "are good and profitable unto men." "But foolish questions and genealogies, and contentions and strivings about the law, avoid: for they are unprofitable and vain."

What are genealogies? What do those genealogies mean? For in the Epistle to Timothy also he mentions this, saying: "Fables and endless genealogies" (1 Tim. 1:4). Perhaps both here and there he indicates the Jews, who, being wise in their own eyes because they had Abraham as their progenitor, were neglectful regarding other things that concerned them. ^C And therefore he calls them both foolish and unprofitable; for it is foolish to trust in unprofitable things.

He says that contentions against heretics are to be avoided, so that we may not labor in vain, since no gain comes from this: for the end turns into nothing. For when someone is so distorted that, whatever happens, he has determined not to change his opinion, why do you labor in vain, sowing upon a rock, when it would be fitting to undertake this labor among your own, by discussing almsgiving and other virtues? Why then does he say elsewhere, "If peradventure God will give them repentance" (2 Tim. 2:25); but here, "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition avoid, knowing that he that is such an one is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself"? There, indeed, he was speaking about those whose correction there was hope for, and about those who were struggling simply; but where an adversary is altogether manifest and known to all, why do you struggle in vain? Why do you beat the air? ^D What does that mean, "being condemned of himself"? For he cannot say, "No one told me, no one warned me." When therefore, after admonition, he remains the same, he is condemned by his own judgment.

"When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis." What do you say? You appointed him in Crete, and you call him back to yourself? Not that I may remove him from this office, but that I may instruct him more. But that he does not call him to himself so that he may lead him around, and have him following him everywhere; hear what he says: "For I have determined there to winter." Nicopolis is in Thrace.

"Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them." These had not yet been entrusted with Churches, but were with Paul: but Apollos was more vehement, being mighty in the Scriptures.

^A

HOMILY VI.

"Salute them that love us in faith." He means either those who love him, or the faithful men. "Grace be with all of you. Amen."

Why, then, do you command him to stop the mouths of those who contradict, if we must avoid them when they do everything for their own ruin? He says that we should never do this primarily for their gain; for they would never gain anything, once their minds are perverted. If ^B they were harming others, you must stand aloof, fight, and with much boldness stop their mouths; but if you should be in a necessity, seeing others being corrupted, do not be silent, but stop their mouths, caring for those who are about to perish. In general, one who has zeal and a right life cannot endure strife. Still, as I have said, do so: for out of idleness and superfluous philosophy does the matter arise, of being preoccupied only with the platforms. For to speak superfluous things is great damage, when one ought to teach, or pray, or give thanks. ^C For we ought not to be economical with money, but not with words; but rather with these than with those, and not simply give ourselves over to all.

"That they may learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful." That they may not wait for those in need to come to them, but may themselves forage for those who need their help; for he who is concerned, is concerned in this way; for thus he will surely do this with much zeal. For in the things which he does well, the action brings income and profit not so much to those who suffer as to those who do good; ^D for it gives them boldness toward God. But in that other matter, there is no end to the strife. The uncorrectable man, therefore, he calls a heretic. For just as it is slothfulness to overlook those who have hopes of change, so it is madness and the greatest folly to treat those who are suffering from incurable diseases; for we make them the more bold. "Let them learn, also, our people, to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful." Do you see that he is more concerned for them than for those who receive? For it was possible perhaps to send these out from many places, but he says, "I am concerned for our own." For what is the profit, tell me? For if others were nourishing the teachers by digging up treasures, these would still have no profit; for they remained unfruitful.

What then, tell me? Could not Christ, who fed five thousand from five loaves, and four thousand from seven, have fed Himself and those with Him? Why then was He fed by women (for, he says, "women followed Him, who ministered unto Him")? Teaching us from above that He is concerned for those who do good. Could not Paul, who even provided for others through his own hands, take from nowhere? But you see him both taking and asking; and listen why: "For I seek," he says, "not the gift, but the fruit that abounds to your account." And at the beginning, that they were selling all their possessions and laying them at the feet of the apostles, do you see the apostles being more concerned for them than for those who receive? For if they were concerned only for the poor in any way whatsoever, they would have made no argument over Sapphira and Ananias, when they embezzled the money; Paul would not have ordained, saying: "Not from sorrow, or from necessity." What do you say, Paul? Are you hindering the poor? No, he says; for I do not see that matter, but that of the givers. See also the prophet, when he was advising Nebuchadnezzar of that excellent counsel, not being concerned for the poor only; for he did not say, Give to the poor simply, but what? "Redeem your sins with alms, and your iniquities with mercies to the poor." Empty out your money, he says, not only that others may be fed, but that you yourself may be rid of the punishment. And again, Christ: "Sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and come follow me." Do you see that even there, this was commanded for the sake of following? Since money is a hindrance, for this reason He commanded to give to the poor, training the soul to be merciful and compassionate, training it to despise money, training it to depart from covetousness. For he who is trained to give to one who has not, will also be trained in time not to take from those who have. This makes one like to God.

And yet, virginity has a more difficult labor than this, and fasting and sleeping on the ground; but nothing is so strong and powerful to quench the fire of our sins as alms; this is greater than all, it sets its lovers beside the King Himself; and very reasonably. For virginity and fasting and sleeping on the ground stand only around the one who does them, and saved no other person; but alms extends to all, and embraces the members of Christ; and the accomplishments that extend to many are much greater than those that stand around the one.

3. For this is the mother of love, love that characterizes Christianity, that which is greater than all signs, through which the disciples are seen to be of Christ; this is the medicine of our sins, the soap for the filth of our soul, a ladder set up to heaven; this binds together the body of Christ. Do you wish to know how great a good this is? In the time of the apostles, all sold their own and brought them to them, which were also distributed: "For they distributed," he says, "to each, as anyone had need." For tell me, even without the things to come (let us not now stir up the matter of the Kingdom, but look at the present), who profit, those who receive, or those who give? Those others were grumbling and disputing with one another; but these had one soul: "For the heart and soul," he says, "of all was one, and grace was upon them all, and they lived with much benefit." Do you see that even from this, those others were gaining? Tell me then, whose would you rather have been, those who were throwing away their own and having nothing, or those who were also taking the things of others? See the fruit of alms: the partitions and the obstacles were removed, and immediately their souls were joined together: "The heart and soul of all was one." So that even without alms, the emptying of money has much profit. And these things have been said by me, so that those who have not inherited a fortune from their ancestors may not grieve nor be dejected, as being less than the rich.

For they have more, if they so will. Indeed, they will come more readily to the giving of alms, like that widow; and they will have no occasion for enmity toward their neighbor, and they will be the most free of all. No one will be able to threaten such a person with the confiscation of their goods, for such a one is superior to being harmed. And just as no one can easily lay hold of those who flee naked, while he who is wrapped in garments and weighed down is easily captured, so it is with the rich and the poor. For the latter, even if he should be seized, will be able to flee easily; but the former, even if he should not be captured, is entangled by his own ropes, by a thousand anxieties, sorrows, anger, and provocations. All these things weigh down the soul, and not these things only, but many other things too, which we draw upon ourselves from riches. For it is harder for the rich to live moderately than for the poor, as it is harder for the rich than for the poor to live simply and be free from anger. Therefore, you say, will he have a greater reward? By no means. Why, if he endures greater difficulties? Because he has devised these difficulties for himself. For it was not commanded to be rich, but the contrary; yet he prepares for himself a thousand stumbling blocks and impediments. Others, however, not only put aside money, but even macerate the body for the most part, as if walking along a narrow road; but you not only do this, but even increase the furnace of the passions, and heap other things around yourself.

Go, then, to the broad road; for that is the one that receives those like you. But the narrow road receives the afflicted, the constrained, those who carry nothing other than these burdens which it is possible to carry along it: alms, benevolence, probity, gentleness. If you carry these, you will be able to enter easily; but if you have arrogance, a swelling of the soul, and the burden of thorns—that is, riches—you will need much breadth. For you will not be able to burst into a crowd without striking others as you move upward; rather, much space and breadth will be needed here. He, therefore, who carries gold and silver—I mean the works of virtue—not only does not strike his neighbors as he flees, but he also draws his loved ones and his associates along with him. But if riches are thorns, what will the greed for having be? Why do you take these things with you to that place, so as to kindle a greater flame by laying these burdens upon the fire? Is the fire of Gehenna not enough? Consider how the three youths overcame the furnace. Imagine that it is Gehenna, and that they fell into it bound and fettered, but found much breadth inside; yet not so those who were standing around. ^A Something of the kind will be the case now also, if we are willing to stand firmly and manfully against the temptations brought upon us. If we have our hopes in God, we shall be in security and breadth; but those who cast us into them will perish, for *He who digs a pit*, it is said, *shall fall into it* (Eccli. 27:29). Even if they bind our hands and feet, the pressure itself will be able to release us. See a wondrous thing: the men whom they bound, the fire released. For just as if someone were to hand over his friends to servants, they, reverencing the friendship of their master, not only do not harm them but treat them with great honor; so too did the fire, because it knew that those youths were friends of its Master; it broke their bonds and released them and let them go, and it was to them in place of a pavement upon which they walked. And rightly so, for it was for the sake of the glory of God that they had been cast into it. Whosoever among us are in tribulations, let us hold fast to these examples. ^B But, you will say, they were freed from tribulations, while we are not. They deservedly were, because they did not enter the furnace as if they were to be freed, but rather as if they were destined to die. For hear them saying: *There is a God in heaven who will deliver us; but if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not worship your gods, and we do not adore the golden image which you have erected* (Dan 3:17-18). But we, as if imposing conditions upon the chastisements of God, define the time, saying, "If He has not had mercy within this definite time," and therefore we are not released. Indeed, Abraham also did not proceed as though he were to receive his son back safe, but as though he were to slaughter him; and beyond expectation he received him safe. And you also, when you fall into tribulation, do not be in a hurry to be released. Prepare your soul for all patience, and you will quickly be released from the tribulations; for it is for this reason that God inflicts them: that He may instruct. So, because from the beginning we have been so trained as to bear them patiently and not grieve, He releases us at last when we have acquitted ourselves well. ^C I wish to tell you something very useful and profitable. What is this? When persecution was threatening and the Church was being shaken by a violent war, two men were seized. One of them was ready to suffer anything whatever; the other was prepared and willing to have his head cut off, but feared and trembled at other torments. See, then, the dispensation of God: when the judge was seated, he ordered the one who was ready to suffer anything to be beheaded, but the other, the sublime one, to be torn apart—and not once or twice, but throughout all the cities through which he was led. But why was this permitted? So that he might strengthen and fortify his negligent soul through the torments, and that he might eliminate all fear, so that he would no longer fear, nor be cowardly, nor tremble at the punishment. And Joseph, when he was being urged to escape, even then most of all remained firm; for hear him saying: *I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews*, and, *Remember me*, he says, *with the king* (Gen 40:15, 14). ^D He remained, therefore, so that he might learn not to trust in men, but that everything should be cast upon God. Knowing these things, therefore, let us give thanks to God, and let us do all things that befit us, so that we may obtain the good things to come in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.