787 S. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 788 A re- penses? But how? O Judas, usurping a proper name, which was rather that of one who pities and recalls, not of one who is angry. Nor did He say, "O my teacher, O my Lord, O my benefactor"; but, "Do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" For even if He had not been Master, nor Lord, towards you so mild in spirit was He affected, that in the very time of the betrayal He was kissed; do you betray Him with a kiss? And thus indeed He behaved towards the betrayer; but towards those who attacked Him with swords and clubs, how? What could be more mild than the words uttered by Him? For when it was in His power to destroy them all, He compels them in the manner of one exhorted: "Why have you come out," He says, "as against a robber, with swords and clubs?" And when He had cast them back, and they were stunned, again He voluntarily yielded Himself, and seeing His holy hands bound in chains, He bore it patiently, when it was in His power to B put them all to flight, or prostrate them on the ground. Who shall tell the powers of the Lord, shall make all His praises heard? And we, brothers, let us emulate His tolerance, His meekness, His humility. "For learn," He says, "from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls." Therefore, Paul also puts these things saying: "Bless those who persecute you," namely, those who in any way waylay you. Nor did He say, "Do not be mindful of injuries, do not avenge yourselves," but, what is much greater, He requires, saying, "Bless." For indeed, to forget injury, to refrain from vengeance, is of a philosopher; but this, of an angel. But after He had said, "Bless," He subjoined, "And do not curse," so that we might not do both, but the former only, for those who persecute us procure for us a reward. But if you are vigilant, you shall receive another reward besides. For while he shall prepare for you a crown from the persecution, you shall prepare for your own self a reward from the blessing towards him, exhibiting the greatest proof of love towards Christ. Therefore, to those who afflict us with insults of any kind, who persecute us, who harm us by their deeds, that spiritual doctor commands us to render the contrary; and after He commanded to bless them above, progressing further, He also exhorts us to perform deeds: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep" (Rom. 12:15). For since it is possible that someone may bless and abstain from cursing, yet not do so out of love, He C wills us to burn also with love: therefore He added that command also, so that we may not only bless, but also sympathize, if ever we see them going through adversities. For nothing so conciliates love as making joy and sorrow common among one another. For hear what Peter says to Christ: "If my brother sins against me, how many times shall I forgive him? Up to seven times?" (Matt. 18:21). He simultaneously asks and promises; and before he learns, he gives liberally. For when he had rightly perceived the mind of the Master, that it was inclined rather to clemency, wishing to please the Master, he says: "Up to seven times?" Then, that you may know what is the difference between man and God; and how the liberality of a disciple, even how far it may reach, when compared with the abundance of the Master, is viler than all poverty; and as a drop is to an infinite sea, so is our goodness compared to His immense benignity: when he had said, "seven times," and thought he had offered to give much and exhibited singular liberality, Christ says: "I do not say, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven" (Ibid. v. 22): which makes four hundred and ninety. And do not think this command is difficult: for if you are prepared to despise so many times the sins committed against you, being D practiced by giving forgiveness once and again and a third time, you shall feel no difficulty in this philosophy henceforth, having been accustomed to forgive frequently, nor would you be offended by the neighbor's sins. But even if one suffers unjust robbery, and for this injury gives thanks to God, he shall obtain countless rewards through that act of thanksgiving. For nothing is so pleasing to God as not to return evil for evil. But if someone says: "How could I, who am weaker, avenge myself upon him who afflicts me with injury?" I would answer that, that you could have done it, by taking it badly, by being angry, by praying against him who harms you, by cursing him with countless evils, by finally slandering him before everyone: for these things are placed in our power. Therefore, he who has not done these things shall receive the reward of him who did not take revenge: for it is manifest that if he had been able to do that [evil] thing, he nevertheless would not have done it. When, therefore, you see an enemy has fallen into your hands, do not then think it is a time for revenge, but for salvation and safety. For then it is most fitting to spare enemies, when we have obtained power over them: and if we manage our affairs in this way, and help the salvation of our neighbors, quickly we shall be pleasant and lovable even to them; and what is greatest of all, we shall obtain those hidden goods, by the grace and benignity of our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom [be] glory and power, with the Father and the holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the everlasting ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXX. An Oration on the Praises of the holy Apostle Paul, composed by Theodore the Magistrate, from various orations of our holy Father John Chrysostom.
Of the inscription of the Acts of the Apostles, we have discharged the whole debt to you. It was fitting, furthermore, to undertake the beginning of the book, and to say what that is, "The first account I made of all things, O Theophilus, which Jesus began to do and to teach" (Acts 1.1). But Paul does not permit us to use this order of sequence; he calls our tongue to himself and his own illustrious deeds. For I desire to see him being introduced to Damascus, bound, not with an iron chain, but with a Dominical voice; I desire also to see this great fish captured, who stirred up the whole sea, who excited countless tempests against the Church; I desire to see him captured, not by a hook, but by a Dominical sermon. For as some fisherman sitting on a high rock, and lifting a rod, lets down a hook from on high into the sea; so also our Lord, while He opened spiritual fishing, as if—
A dropping down that voice and saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" (Acts 9:4), and capturing this fierce fish. For who would have endured that cruel and inhuman man, who was a persecutor and a blasphemer, and so greatly laying waste the Church, that he even wandered through houses dragging away men and women, and confounding and disturbing all things, had our King not suddenly, having summoned him, transformed him, and brought him back to Himself? For the disciples, wherever they saw him approaching, were seized with fear and trembled, and dared not even look him in the face: and they showed the same fear when he became their friend. If, therefore, they feared him after he had been reconciled, being still an enemy and an adversary, what would they not have done? But what am I to suffer? I am forced to fly with great vehemence, lest he again, having seized me, should lead me away from the proposed subject. For you know that when I am walking elsewhere and turned toward another matter, he often met me in the middle of the speech and stopped me, and so captured me, that he persuaded me even to end the discourse on him. This blessed Paul, therefore, who enlightened the whole world, was once blinded at the time of his calling; but his deprivation of sight became the illumination of the world. For because he saw wickedly, God blinded him well, so that he might recover his sight usefully; and because he persecuted the Church to excess, and was so fierce and unapproachable, he received a more severe bridle; so that, not being carried away by the rush of that zeal, he might miss what was being said, and might learn whom he was fighting, whom he could not endure, though He was not only punishing him, but even benefiting him. For it was not darkness that blinded him, but the excess of light that darkened him.
If a barbarian war surrounded us, and in the battle the enemies provided us with a thousand troubles; and then the general of the barbarians, who brought a thousand engines, and was confounding all our affairs, and filling everything with noise and confusion, and threatening to level the city itself B and deliver it to fire, and threatening us with slavery, were suddenly bound by our King and led captive into the city; would we not all, with wives and children, have rushed out to that spectacle? Since, then, now also a war has arisen, with the Jews raising a tumult and disturbing everything, and applying many engines against the safety of the Church, and the head of the enemies is Paul—he who is greater at everything, both doing and saying, he who was disturbing and agitating everything—and our Lord Jesus Christ, our King, bound him, bound him and led him captive; shall we not all go out to this spectacle, so as to see him being led captive? For the angels from the heavens, seeing him bound and led in, were exulting; not because they saw him bound, but because they understood how many men he was about to free from bonds; not because they saw him being led by the hand, but because they calculated how many he was about to lead by the hand from the earth to there; not because they saw him blinded, but because they understood how many he was about to lead out of darkness. For this reason I also, having left all the others, hasten to jump toward Paul. For Paul and the longing for Paul have compelled us to make this leap. Who shall speak of Thy mighty acts, O Lord, that Thou didst not allow Paul to be hidden, that Thou didst show such a man to the world? All the angels praised Thee with one accord, when Thou didst make the stars, and when Thou didst make the sun, but not so as when Thou didst show Paul to the whole world. For this reason the earth has become brighter C than the heaven, because he is brighter than the light of the sun. And this sun indeed gives way to the night, but he overcame the devil; and the former, coming down from above, sends his rays downward; but he, rising from below, did not only fill the space between heaven and earth with light, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he filled the angels with much pleasure. For if there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, and he hunted down fifty thousand men from his first public address, of how much joy does he fill the powers above? And what am I saying? It is simply enough for Paul to speak, and for the heavens to leap and rejoice. For what is more ardent than the heart of this man, who ran around the whole world being dragged and stoned, that he might loose those who were bound, and translate them to himself? For he did not accomplish things as if fighting, but as if coming for an easy and ready victory, so he erected the trophies, digging up, pulling down, and casting down the strongholds of the devil, and the machines of the demons, and he did not breathe even a little, but from these he would leap to those, and again from those to others, and like some excellent general, erecting trophies every day, or rather every hour. For having gone into the battle with a small tunic alone, he would capture the cities of his adversaries with their men; and his tongue was the bows, the spears, the arrows, and everything to Paul. For he only spoke, and the words, falling upon the enemies more fiercely than any fire, pursued the demons, and led back to him the men who were held by them. For when he cast out that bad demon, fifty thousand sorcerers came together, burning the books of magic, and moving to the truth. And just as in a war when a tower has fallen, or a tyrant has been brought down, all those with him, having thrown down their weapons, run to the general, so it happened also then: for the demon having been cast out, all having been besieged, and having thrown down the books, or rather having destroyed them, they ran to Paul’s feet. And he, as if being stationed in the world as in one camp, stood nowhere, but like one who had wings, he did everything; and now he healed a lame man, now he raised a dead man, now he blinded another—the mage, I mean; and not even when shut up in prison did he rest, but even there he gathered the jailer to himself, producing this beautiful captivity. David is admired for bringing down Goliath from one single stone; but if anyone should examine the achievements of Paul, that is a child’s work; and as much as the difference between a shepherd and a general, so much is the difference between him and this man; for he did not bring down the intellectual Goliath by throwing a stone, but by merely speaking he destroyed the whole phalanx of the devil. And like a lion roaring and sending forth flame from his tongue, so he was unbearable to all as he came on; and everywhere he leapt continuously, he ran to these, he came to those, he turned to these, he leapt away to others, coming faster than the wind; and he flew from these to those. D
A And as if governing one house or one ship, the whole world, he kept taking up those who were being baptized, strengthening those who were wavering, exhorting the sailors, sitting at the helm, looking over the prow, stretching the ropes, pulling the oar, drawing the sail, looking toward heaven; he was all things, both sailor and ship’s rector, and prorector, and sail, and ship, enduring all things in order to dissolve the evils of others. And like some athlete, he himself was wrestling, running, fighting; or like a soldier attacking city walls, or joining in infantry and sea battles, thus he engaged in every kind of combat; and breathing fire, he was inaccessible to all. In one body he grasped the whole world, and with one tongue he turned all in flight. Not so much did those many trumpets, falling upon the walls of Jericho, cast them down, as the resounding voice of Paul was destroying the diabolical fortifications and transferring his enemies to himself. And he was let down through a window from the wall, in order to send those cast to the ground from the bottom upwards. To recount, then, the hunger and thirst, the nakedness, the shipwrecks, the fears, the ambushes, the prisons, the stripes, and all the other things which the blessed Paul endured for the sake of the preaching of the divine Word, I believe there is no need, as even single ones of these would suffice to disturb and thoroughly shatter that holy soul; but when he says, B "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I do not burn?" (2 Cor. 11:29), this produces for him, more than all else, continuous and intolerable misery. For if, in each one of those who were scandalized, he himself was burning, that fire could not be extinguished in his own soul; for there were never wanting those who were scandalized, and who provided material for this fire. For he who saw the Jews as unbelievers, how could he have even slight rest from the soul’s sickness and pain? For I desired, he says, "to be anathema from Christ for my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites" (Rom. 9:3-4). What he says here has this meaning: It was more desirable to me to fall into Gehenna than to see the Israelites as unbelievers. Since he chose the punishments of hell in order to be able to convert all the Jews, it is manifest that, having been frustrated of this hope, he led a life more bitter than those who sustain the punishments of Gehenna. C O, what a fiery love of charity! Paul, undaunted against fire, that adamantine, firm, immovable man, saying, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?" (Rom. 8:35); he who attacks land and sea, who makes a mockery of the adamantine gates of death, was himself, while watching the tears of some beloved ones, so greatly broken and crushed that he could no longer hide his affection, but said immediately: "What are you doing, weeping and afflicting my heart?" (Acts 21:13). O, thing to be wondered at! The abyss of the most deep waters did not break him, and slight tears did break and crush him? "What are you doing, weeping and afflicting my heart?" What do you say, I ask you? Could tears crush that adamantine mind? D Certainly, he says; for great is the power of charity; it surpasses me, it overcomes me; for I resist all things, charity alone excepted. Hear, whoever you are who do not count as nothing wealth for the sake of Christ, or rather for your own sake, and shudder, perceiving in your mind the cause of Paul’s love toward Christ. For he did not love Christ for the sake of the goods of Christ, but these for his sake; and he feared this one thing: lest he fall away from His charity, for this was more formidable to him than Gehenna itself, just as to remain in that same love was more desirable than the kingdom. Since, then, he prepared himself to be cast even into Gehenna for the sake of the love of Christ, and to lack the kingdom, if both of these were proposed, while we do not even despise the present life, are we even worthy of his sandals, we who are so far removed from that greatness of his mind? For if someone, looking after the care of one house, even if he has servants and stewards and administrators, nevertheless cannot frequently breathe from his cares, with no one existing who might disturb him, think what he endured, who had the care not of one house alone, but of cities and peoples and nations and even the whole world, and, being alone in matters of such moment among so many persecutors, suffering so many things and being so solicitous, as no father ever was for his children. If anyone desires to love sincerely, and to know the virtue of charity, let him betake himself to the pupil of this, I mean the blessed Paul, and he will teach him how great a struggle it is to be torn away from whom one loves, and how much spirit is needed to bear this.
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A For it does not suffice for those who love each other merely to be bound together in spirit, nor does this suffice for their consolation, but they also stand in need of bodily presence; and if this is absent, no small part of their joy has been cut away. Do you wish to learn what a device it is for drawing brothers—even if they should be unbelievers—to oneself: to be gentle, and mild, and to display a sweet manner? Hear what Paul says as he enters before the judge to be tried: “I count myself blessed, being about to be judged before you” (Acts 26:2). And he was saying these things, not flattering him—far from it—but wishing to win him over through his gentleness. And so he did win him over in part, and the man who was formerly thought to be a convict called the judge himself the one who was captured, and the one who was overcome confesses the victory with a clear voice in the presence of all, saying: "In a little you persuade me to become a Christian" (Ibid. v. 28, 29).
Many, therefore, are the signs of Paul’s miracles in many places, but they are not as desirable as the scars. And he does not so much delight me in the Scriptures when he is working miracles as he does when he is suffering evil—being scourged, dragged about, stoned; for it says, "Having stoned him, they dragged him outside the city" (Acts 14:19); and again, "Having beaten him, and having inflicted many wounds, they threw him into prison" (Acts 16:23). What glory, what pleasure, what honor, what splendor to know that he was bound for the sake of Christ! B But observe the marvelous thing: "And the prison was shaken," he says, "with Paul bound, and the bonds of all were loosed" (Acts 16:26). Do you see the nature of the bonds loosening the bonds? Having awakened, the jailer, seeing the doors of the prison open, drew his sword and was about to destroy himself. What then does Paul do? He called out with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here" (Acts 16:28). Do you see his lack of vanity, and his lack of pride, and his affection? He did not say, "Because of us these things have happened," but as if he were one of the prisoners, he says, "For we are all here." For if he had kept silent, and had not restrained his hands through that great voice, he would have thrust the sword through his throat. But he cried out, because he had been thrown into the inner prison. "You have done this against yourself," he says, "by throwing deeper inside those who were about to free you from danger." Do you see the humanity and the care of Paul? He chose to be bound and to be in danger himself rather than to see that man perishing.
And just as a soldier having the whole world at war, and moving about in the midst of the ranks of the enemy, suffers no harm; so too Paul, alone among barbarians, among Greeks, appearing everywhere on land, everywhere on the sea. And as a spark falling into straw or grass changes the things that are burning to its own nature, so too this man, approaching all, changed all toward the truth. C Who would not be struck with awe at the power of the chains that encircled the blessed Paul? Because it led those who bound him to the feet of the one who was bound and made those men subject to him. For the jailer fell down, he says, before Paul, and the one who was loosed was at the feet of the one who was bound, and the one who had bound him begged the one who had been bound to be freed from fear. Did you not bind him, tell me? Did you not throw him into the inner prison? Did you not make the feet secure in the stocks? Why do you tremble? Why are you troubled? Why do you weep? Why have you drawn your sword? "I did not know," he says, "that so great is the power of the prisoners of Christ." What are you saying? He received authority to open the heavens, and was he not about to open a prison? He was loosing those bound by demons, and was iron about to prevail over him? If he was loosening souls that were bound, would he not have had the power to loosen his own body? He who, through his garments, was loosening others from those bonds and delivering them from demons—would he not have loosened himself by himself? For this reason he was first bound, and then he loosed those who were bound, so that you might learn that the servants of Christ, even when bound, possess a power much greater than those who are loosed. For thus the power of the holy one is shown to be more brilliant, when even while bound he holds sway over those who are loosed. When, therefore, the one who is bound not only looses himself, but also looses those who are bound, what is the value of the walls? What is the advantage of throwing him into the inner prison, where he even opened the outer one?
D Do you wish to learn how great a thing it is to have an iron chain placed around a servant's body for the sake of Christ? Hear the blessed Paul boasting of this very thing and saying: "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you" (Eph. 4:1). For it is indeed a great dignity, and intense, and greater than kingdoms and consulships and all things, to be bound for the sake of Christ. For nothing is so brilliant as to be a prisoner for Christ, as the chains that encircled those holy hands; this is much more brilliant and more solemn than being an apostle, than being a teacher, than being an evangelist. If anyone loves Christ, he knows what is being said; if anyone is mad and inflamed with love for the Master, he knows the power of the bonds; he would choose to be a prisoner for Christ rather than to inhabit the heavens. For this is more brilliant than even sitting at His right hand, and more solemn and blessed than sitting upon twelve thrones. If anyone were to grant me either the whole heaven or that chain with which Paul’s hands were bound, I would have set that one above the former; if anyone were to set me above with the angels or with Paul in bonds, I would have chosen the prison; if anyone were to make me one of those powers that are around the throne, or such a prisoner, I would have chosen to be a prisoner of such a kind; for there is nothing better than to suffer some ill for the sake of Christ. If anyone gave me the power to raise the dead now, I would not choose this, but the chain; for there is nothing more blessed than that chain. I would have liked to be in those places now, in which those bonds remain, and to see the chains, which demons fear and shudder at, but which angels revere. If I were free from ecclesiastical cares, and had a healthy and robust body, I would not have refused to make such a long journey just to see the chains, and the prison where Paul was bound. If anyone would give me Paul to see, looking down from heaven and sending forth a voice, or from the prison; from the prison—
for it is to him actually in prison that the heavenly ones come. O blessed chains! O blessed hands, which that chain surrounding Paul adorned! His hands were not so honorable when they were raising the lame man at Lystra, as they were when they were surrounded by chains. If I had lived at that time, I would most certainly have embraced them and pressed them to my eyes; nor would I have ceased kissing those hands which were deemed worthy to be bound for my Lord. I do not proclaim him so blessed because he was caught up to the third heaven and into paradise, as I do because he was thrown into prison; I do not judge him so happy for having heard unspeakable words, as I do for having borne chains; for these are indeed far greater than those. For it is preferable to me to suffer evils for Christ, than to be honored by Christ. Paul also, as is fitting, considering this in his mind, said: If He became a servant for me, and emptying Himself of glory, considered Himself to be in no greater honor than if He were crucified for me, what ought I not to suffer? For hear Him saying: Glorify Me, O Father (John 17:5). What do you say? You are being led to the cross with thieves and tomb-robbers, and you are suffering the death due to criminals; you are to be spat upon and struck, and yet you call these things glory? Certainly, he says; for I suffer these things for my beloved, and I deservedly account them as glory. If therefore my Lord, by loving the wretched and miserable, calls this glory, and prefers it to the glory of the heavenly throne, much more ought I to account these tribulations as my glory. Wherefore, A there is nothing more blessed than the soul of Paul. For in what does he glory? In chains, in tribulations, in the fetter, in the stigmata: for he says: Bound in the spirit, I go to Jerusalem, not knowing what shall befall me there; save that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and tribulations remain for me (Acts 20:22-23). Why therefore do you go, if chains and tribulations remain for you? For this very reason, he says, that I may be bound for Christ, and that I may die for His sake: for I am prepared not only to be bound, but also to die for the name of my Lord. B What then is this? Are you not ashamed, do you not fear to go around the world in chains? Do you not fear that someone might refute the weakness of your God from this? That someone might be unwilling to approach for this reason? They are not of such a kind, he says, for they know how to shine even in royal halls: That my chains, he says, may be made manifest in the whole praetorium, and that the more part of the brethren in the Lord, being confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word (Philip. 1:13-14). Do you see the virtue of the chains rather than the raising of the dead? He was bound in Rome, and he drew many; he was bound in Jerusalem, and, while bound, by speaking he terrified the king, and struck fear into the governor; for, being terrified, he released him. He was sailing, bound, and he released the shipwreck and hindered the storm—him, constrained by chains, that beast apprehended, and again it escaped him without having caused any injury. C And see this happening everywhere. He was scourged, and indeed he was scourged vehemently; for, he says, they laid many stripes upon him (Acts 16:23); and he was bound, and this likewise vehemently; for they cast him into the inner prison, and with greater custody: and yet he, among these things, about midnight, when even those who are completely carefree are asleep, was singing and praising the Lord. What is firmer and more constant than this soul? He was considering that the children also in the fire and in the furnace were singing. Perhaps he was reasoning that he had suffered nothing of the kind. But our discourse has opportunely led us to other chains and another prison. What shall I do? I wish to be silent, but I cannot; I have found another prison, far more wonderful and more astonishing than that one. But rise up as if for a new discourse, and attend with fresh minds. I wish to cut off the discourse, but it does not allow it: D I cannot desist, I cannot keep silent, many things flow around me here: I know not what to say first, what second. Therefore I beseech you, let no one require order from me; for great is the affinity of the matters. Long was Paul’s chain, and it detained us for a long time; but I shall not be silent for that reason. For if he himself did not keep silent in prison, nor among the scourges, shall I keep silent, who am sitting here in the day and speaking with much leisure? And how would that be reasonable? For who would not stand aghast and admire, or rather, who would be able to admire and stand aghast sufficiently for that generous soul of Paul, which is sublime even to the heavens? For, constrained by chains and shut up in prison, he wrote letters to the Philippians from such a great distance: for you do not ignore how great an interval there is between Macedonia and Rome. But neither the length of the road, nor the duration of time, nor the multitude of business, nor the dangers and the evils continuously following one another, nor anything else took away from him the love and remembrance of his disciples, but he held them all in his heart: nor were his hands so much constricted by chains, as his soul was bound and affixed to the desire for the disciples. And just as some king, having ascended his throne in the morning, sits in the royal hall, and continuously receives countless letters from every place: so he in prison, as if in a certain royal hall, sitting, was incessantly sending and receiving far more frequent letters, of those, indeed, who from all parts of the nations were referring their affairs accurately to his wisdom: and he was administering as many more matters as any king would have, in as much as a greater authority had been entrusted to him. O the power of Paul! He was surrounded by a chain, and he laid low Nero who was crowned with a diadem; he was clothed in worn-out and sordid rags, for he was living in prison; and he turned the eyes of all more to the chains surrounding him than to any purple garment: he was detained standing on the ground and looking downward, and, having dismissed him who was in the golden chariot, they were paying attention to him—and deservedly so. For it was a known and customary sight to see a king sitting on white steeds; but this is truly new and unusual, to see a captive with such liberty conversing with a king, when a king is perhaps with a wretched and miserable man. A crowd was standing around, and all were slaves of the king; they were marveling not at their master, but at the one who was winning over their master. Yet indeed they made a mistake in praising the lion-tamer, when they ought to have praised the others. What will come of this with the King of heaven with radiant...
splendor, when Nero shall stand there abashed and downcast? For if, when the time of the crowns had not yet arrived, the athlete enjoyed such honor, when the Arbiter of the contest shall come, of how great honor shall he partake? He was in lands not his own, a stranger and a sojourner, A and yet he is so admired; when he is in his own, what good thing shall he not enjoy? What shall he not share in? What shall he not attain? No King, having become ruler of Rome, enjoyed as much honor as Paul. But the king lies cast away somewhere outside, whereas this man holds the center of the city, as if ruling and living. If, then, here, where he was driven and persecuted, he enjoyed such honor, when He comes, what will it be? If where he was a tentmaker he became so radiant, when He comes, shining brighter than the sun’s rays, what will it be? If with such poverty he achieved such magnificence, when He comes, what will it be? Is it not possible to avoid these realities? Do you wish that I show you that the tentmaker has become more honored than the one who was admired above all kings? B Who in the glory of this world is more renowned than Alexander? Who is greater? Did he not accomplish many and great things while alive? Did he not subdue nations and cities, conquer many wars and battles, and set up trophies? Was he not considered the thirteenth god by the Roman Senate? But for one who is alive to accomplish wars and victories, being a king and having armies, is nothing wonderful; but to accomplish so much everywhere by land and sea every day after death and burial—this is what is full of the greatest astonishment. For where, tell me, is Alexander’s monument? Show it to me and tell me the day he died; you would not be able. But one might see Paul’s monument as well, having reached the most royal Rome, and a manifest day, which they make a feast for the inhabited world. C And his [Alexander’s] own people are ignorant of his, but Paul’s are known even by the barbarians; and the tomb of the servant of Christ is more brilliant than royal courts. For even he who wears the purple, goes to embrace that tomb, and putting aside his pride, stands as a suppliant before the dead man, so that he might intercede for him before God; and the one who has the diadem needs the tentmaker and the fisherman and the deceased man as his protector. And one might see this not only in Rome, but also in Constantinople. For even here the son [of Constantine] thought he was honoring Constantine the Great with great honor, if he laid him at the very thresholds of the fisherman. And just as door-keepers are to kings in the palaces, D just so are kings to the fishermen at the tomb; and the former, like masters of the place, hold the inner parts, while the latter, as guests and neighbors, have deemed the outer gate to be set apart for them. And the kings are surrounded by the dignity of servants and attendants, while the others [the fishermen] are surrounded by the dignity of kings. If things beyond nature came to pass here, how much more so in the world to come? Who now would grant me to be wrapped around the body of Paul, and to be fastened to the tomb, and to see the dust of that body, through which he ran throughout the inhabited world, which filled up the deficiencies of Christ, which bore the marks, which sowed the preaching everywhere? The dust of the mouth, through which Christ spoke, and the light shone forth that was higher than any lightning, and a voice leaped forth more fearful to the demons than any thunder? For we do not fear thunder as those demons feared that voice; for if they shuddered at his garments, they feared the voice much more. I wished to see the dust of this mouth, through which Christ spoke the great and ineffable things, and greater things than through Himself; through which He uttered that blessed statement, saying: *I could wish that I myself were accursed for my brothers* (Rom. 9:3); through which he spoke before kings, and was not ashamed; through which demons fled, not hearing him speaking only, but even when he was far away; through which he set all things on earth in order, and also ordered in whatever way he wished those in the heavens, binding whom he wished and loosening—there, according to the authority given to him. Who would have pointed out to me the dust of Paul’s heart, which was burning for each of the perishing, and travailing a second time 666 for his aborted children? I desired to see this, even though it be dissolved—a heart higher than the heavens, wider than the inhabited world, more radiant than the sun, hotter than fire, firmer than adamant, which lived a new life, or rather this life of ours: *For I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me* (Gal. 2:20) (for that heart of Paul’s was the heart of the Holy Spirit, and a tablet of grace); which was deemed worthy to love Christ as no one else has loved, which despised death and hell, and was crushed by the tears of his brothers: *For what are you doing,* he says, *weeping and breaking my heart?* (Acts 21:13). I desired to see the dust of Paul’s hands, which were in bonds, through which the Spirit was granted by the laying on of hands, through which the divine writings were written: *See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand* (Gal. 6:11)—of those hands, the sight of which caused the viper to fall into the fire. I desired to see the dust of his eyes—once blinded, given sight for the salvation of the inhabited world, and counted worthy to see Christ even in the body; I desired also to see the dust of those feet, which ran around the inhabited world and did not grow weary; which were bound in the stocks, when he shook the jail, which traversed the inhabited and the uninhabited world. And what need is there to speak in part? I desired to see that very lion, the spiritual one. For just as a lion, casting fire from his eyes into herds of foxes, so he fell upon the faction of demons and philosophers, and like the cast of a thunderbolt, he was brought down upon the phalanxes of the devil. For the devil did not even stand against him in battle, but so he feared and trembled, that if he saw his shadow and heard his voice from afar, he would flee immediately. Consider and shudder, what a spectacle Rome will see when Paul suddenly rises from his...
B tomb with Peter, to be caught up to meet Christ! What a gift Rome will send to Christ! With what two crowns she is adorned! With what golden chains she is girded! The heaven is not so radiant when the sun scatters its rays as the city of the Romans is, sending forth these two torches to every place in the world. What speech will suffice for reciting the noble deeds of Paul, or what tongue will be able to attain his praises? For whatever great things the prophets or patriarchs or holy ones or apostles or martyrs have achieved, he alone contains them all within himself, and with such excellence indeed, as none of them ever possessed the good that each held. When, therefore, one soul holds together all the ornaments of men, and all these things with a certain excellence, and not only those of men but also those of angels, how shall we escape [the condemnation] from such a magnitude of praises? Of what condemnation, then, should we not be worthy, if, when one man has collected all the ornaments of virtues into himself, we study not to imitate even the thousandth part of them? For his many illustrious deeds, the patriarch Abraham is an object of admiration to men, especially indeed because he did not refuse to sacrifice his own son; Isaac indeed for his clemency, because while he was being driven out of his own borders, he did not avenge himself, but yielded his possessions everywhere, until he had satisfied the unjust desire of his adversaries; Jacob indeed the patriarch for his temperance and patience; David for his meekness; and Elias because he was zealous for the Lord. But what could be equal to Paul, who possesses all these things joined together, and that indeed in an excellent manner? He indeed did not sacrifice a son, but he sacrificed himself a thousand times; nor was he driven out of his own borders only, but he wandered like one winged over land and sea, and Greece and barbarism, and to sum up, over the whole earth that the sun beholds; he was dragged, he was struck with scourges, he was attacked with stones, he was undergoing death every day. Nor was he scorched for fourteen years by the servitude, the heat of the day, or the cold of the night, but he spent his whole life in hunger and destitution, in chains and prisons, in ambushes and dangers. But C as for justice and meekness, who has fulfilled the roles of both more, or equally, than Paul? But if you also consider his zeal for God, you will see that he surpasses Elias just as much as he surpassed the other prophets. But John lived on locusts and wild honey. Yet this man, living in the middle of the world, just as he lived in the solitude, did not feed on locusts and wild honey, yet he had a table far more humble than that set before him, and he scarcely obtained necessary nourishment for himself, because of his zeal and solicitude for preaching the Gospel. It remains further that we should liken him to the angels. But let no one accuse my speech of rashness. For if Scripture called John an angel, why do you wonder if we compare the most excellent of all men to those heavenly powers? For what man is, and how great is the nobility of our nature, and of how great virtue this animal is capable, no man has shown more than Paul; and even now he stands, from the time he was born [anew], answering on behalf of the Lord with a clear voice to all who reproach this fabric of ours, and showing that there is no great interval between men and angels, if we should wish to attend to ourselves. For he did not attain another nature, nor did he obtain a dissimilar soul, nor did he inhabit another world, but dwelling in the same earth and region, by the same laws and customs, he excelled all men who have existed since men were born: and just as he was motionless toward death, so quite plainly, subduing the impulses of nature, he never succumbed to any human passion in any matter. If, therefore, Paul, adorned with so many and such great illustrious deeds, and appearing as an angel upon the earth, was busy every day in making profit, and in opposing himself to dangers for the sake of the truth, and in preparing a spiritual trade for himself, and never subsisting: what excuse finally shall we have, who are not only stripped of all illustrious deeds, but are also subject to so many vices, of which even one alone, if it were in us, would suffice to cast us into the abyss of perdition; and meanwhile we apply no care to at least amend these, so far are we from setting out upon the works of virtues? D Was that blessed man not of the same nature as we are? For I am inflamed with love for the holy man, and I do not cease to turn him over continually; and looking back at his soul, as if to a primal image, I consider in him the contempt of affections, the excellence of fortitude, the fervor of love for God: I am stunned that one man, when he willed, successfully attained all virtues simultaneously, while we each do not even desire to attain the smallest part of them. Who, therefore, would deliver us from the inevitable punishment, since Paul has shown such a magnitude of virtue, who was endowed with the same common nature as we are, and was subject to the same affections, and lived in such a time of difficulty, and was vexed, torn, and dragged publicly by the enemies of the preaching on almost every day? And that you might not hear as though fabricated by me what that holy man has done in an 'illustrious and memorable way, and the greatness of soul which he showed daily for the sake of the proclamation of religion; it is necessary that you hear him saying: "In what any one is bold, in foolishness I speak, I am bold also" (2 Cor. 11.21). Consider for me the soul dear to God, who calls not only boldness but also foolishness a "business"; teaching us not to divulge rashly and without necessity and without being urged by anything what has been done by us, if indeed any might be found among us who have done anything good. "Are they Hebrews? and I: Are they Israelites? and I: Are they the seed of Abraham? and I" (Ibid. v. 22). In these, he says, do they boast themselves? Let them not think us to be inferior: for we have these things in common with them. Then he adds: "Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one less wise) I more" (Ibid. v. 23).