To a Young Widow

Contents

Published in full. Its sequel is 'On Not Marrying Again' (chrysostom-non-iterando-coniugio).

Reading pages: 1–6 · 7

1. 1Chrysostom begins his consolation of a young widow by explaining why he waited until her first grief had passed, and by telling her that God has taken her husband's place as her protector.
2. 2Chrysostom shows from 1 Tim 5 that widowhood is a name of honour, notes that young widows are often drawn into second marriages, tells how his pagan teacher admired his mother's long widowhood, and says that widows are joined to Christ in their husbands' place.
3. 3Chrysostom tells the widow that her husband Therasius has gone to a better life, and urges her to keep his bed untouched by another man and to live as he did, so as to be with him in the age to come.
4. 4Chrysostom reminds the widow of the ruin of other great families and of the violent deaths of most recent emperors and the sorrows of their wives, to show that worldly rank is no security.
5. 5Chrysostom contrasts the widow's comfort at her husband's deathbed and tomb with the widows of the soldiers and the emperor lost in the war, and turns to the emptiness and tyranny of the glory that comes from the many.
6. 6Chrysostom tells the widow that God has freed her from the slavery of vainglory, and that she should cast her care on the Lord, who will protect her affairs and her soul.
7. 7Chrysostom urges the widow to store her wealth in heaven, reminds her that her husband's hoped-for prefecture was uncertain and dangerous, and promises that by imitating his life she will be joined to him again in a union better than marriage.