Homilies on 1 Thessalonians 10.1–10.4

“But we ask you, brothers, to acknowledge those who labour among you and preside over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace with them.” The ruler must necessarily [put up with] many petty grievances. And just as the sons of physicians are forced to cause the sick much pain, preparing foods and medicines that have no pleasantness but great benefit, and just as fathers are often burdensome to their sons, so too are teachers, and much more. For the physician, even if he incurs the hatred of the patient, is yet on pleasant terms with his relatives and friends, and often with the patient himself; and the father, both from nature and from the laws outside, exercises his rule over his son with great ease; even if he disciplines him and rebukes him against his will, no one will prevent him, nor will the son himself be able to look him in the face. But in the case of the priest the difficulty is great. For first he must rule over willing subjects, who are grateful to him for his rule; and this cannot quickly come about. For the one who is reproved and rebuked, whoever he may be, certainly lets go of gratitude and is hostile; and likewise the one exhorted, the one admonished, the one entreated will do the same. If then I say, “Empty out your money to the needy,” I have said something oppressive and burdensome; if I say, “Check your anger, quench your wrath, stop your perverse desire, cut away a small part of your luxury,” all are burdensome and oppressive. And if I punish the careless man, or remove him from the church, or exclude him from the common prayer, he is pained, not because he has lost these things, but because of the public shame. For this too is an aggravation of the disease, that when we are kept from spiritual things we are pained not at being deprived of such great goods, but at the shame before those who see; we do not shudder, we do not fear the thing itself. Therefore Paul speaks much about these things up and down his letters. And Christ subjected them with such compulsion as to say, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; so whatever they tell you to keep, keep it; but do not act according to their works.” And again, when he healed the leper, he said, “Go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.” And yet you say, “You make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.” Therefore, he says, I said, “Do not do what they do,” [and so] Christ [took away every excuse from those who are ruled]. And this man, writing to Timothy, said, “[Let the presbyters who rule well] be counted worthy of [double] honour”; and writing to the Hebrews he said, “Obey your leaders and submit to them”; and here again, “But we ask you, brothers, to acknowledge those who labour among you and preside over you in the Lord.” For since he had said, “Build one another up,” so that they might not think that he had raised them to the rank of teachers, he added this, all but saying: I have entrusted you too with building one another up; for it is not possible for the teacher to say everything. “Those who labour,” he says, “among you and preside over you in the Lord and admonish you.” “And how is it not absurd?” someone says. What do you say? If a man stands before another man on your behalf, you do everything, you confess every gratitude; but this man stands before God on your behalf, and do you not confess gratitude? “And how does he stand before God for me?” someone says. Because he prays for you, because he ministers to you the spiritual gift through baptism, he visits, he exhorts and admonishes; if you call him in the middle of the night, he comes; he does nothing else but submit to your mouth, and bear the abuse that comes from you. What necessity did he have? Has he done well, or badly? You have a wife, and live in luxury, and choose a life of trade; but the priest has given himself wholly to this; he has no other life, but turns about the church. “To esteem them very highly,” he says, “in love because of their work. Be at peace with them.” Do you see how he knows that petty grievances arise? Do not love them simply, he says, but “very highly,” as children love fathers. For through them you have known the eternal birth, through them you obtained the kingdom, through their hands everything is done, through them the gates of heaven are opened to you. Let no one quarrel, let no one contend. The one who loves Christ, whatever sort the priest may be, will love him, because through him he has obtained the awesome mysteries. Tell me, if, wishing to see the palace shining with much gold and flashing with the gleam of stones, you found the man who has the keys, and he, when asked, opened at once and led you inside, would you not prefer him to all? Would you not love him like your eyes? Would you not cherish him? This man has opened heaven to you, and do you not love and honour him? If you have a wife, do you not long above all for the one who arranged the match? So, if you love Christ, if you love the kingdom of heaven, recognise through whom you obtained it. Therefore he says, “because of their work. Be at peace with them.” “And we exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient toward all.”

Here he speaks to the rulers. “Admonish,” he says, “the disorderly”; that is, do not rebuke from authority or arrogance, but with fairness, with gentleness. “Encourage the faint-hearted, [help the weak, be patient] toward all.” For the one [rebuked] harshly, despairing of himself, becomes bolder in his contempt; therefore one must make the medicine pleasant with admonition. And who are the disorderly? Surely those who act contrary to God’s will. For this order of the church is more fitting than that of soldiers. So the reviler is disorderly, and the drunkard is disorderly, and the greedy, and all who sin; for they do not walk in rank in the [line] … But there is another kind of evil too, not like this, yet itself wickedness. What is this? Faint-heartedness; for this too destroys, just as carelessness does. The one who does not bear insult is faint-hearted; the one who does not bear temptation is faint-hearted; this is the one sown on the rock. There is another kind too, that of weakness. “Help the weak,” he says, speaking of those weak in faith; for there is weakness in that too. But see how he does not allow them to be spurned. And writing elsewhere he said, “Receive those who are weak in faith.” For in our bodies too we do not allow the weak part to perish. “Be patient,” he says, “toward all.” What then? Toward the disorderly too? Very much so; for no medicine is equal to this, especially for a teacher; nothing is so suitable for those ruled; it can certainly shame, certainly put to the blush, even the most savage and shameless of all. “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil.” If one must not repay evil for evil, much more must one not repay evil for good, much more not repay evil when no evil has gone before. “But so-and-so,” someone says, “is wicked, and grieved me, and wronged me much.” Do you wish to avenge yourself on him? Do not repay him; leave him unpunished. So far only? By no means. “But always pursue what is good, both toward one another and toward all.” This is a greater philosophy: not only not to avenge evils with evils, but to repay them with good things; for this is truly vengeance, bringing harm to him and benefit to you; or rather great benefit to him too, if he will. And so that you may not think that this has been said of the faithful only, he therefore said, “both toward one another and toward all.” “Rejoice always.” This he says about the temptations, the afflictions, all who are in grievous circumstances; for from these joy is born. For when we have such a soul as to avenge ourselves on no one, but to do good to all, from where, tell me, will the sting of grief be able to enter? For the one who so rejoices in suffering ill as even to take vengeance on the one who has done him ill by kindnesses, how will he be able to be grieved any longer? “And how is this possible?” someone says. If we are willing, it is possible. Then he showed the way too: “Pray unceasingly; in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God.” To give thanks always, this belongs to a philosophic soul. Have you suffered some ill? But if you will, it is not an ill: give thanks to God, and the ill has been changed into good. Say you too, like Job, “May the name of the Lord be blessed forever.” For what, tell me, of such a kind have you suffered? Has sickness fallen on you? But it is nothing strange; for our body is mortal and subject to suffering. Has poverty of money met you? But these things are acquired and lost, and remain here. Plots and false accusations from enemies? But it is not we who are wronged in these, but those who did them; for “the soul,” it says, “that sins, it shall die.” And it is not the one who suffered ill who sinned, but the one who did ill. So one must not take vengeance on one who has died, but pray for him, so as to rescue him from death. Do you not see the bee, that when it stings it dies upon its sting? Through that creature God teaches us not to grieve our neighbours; for we ourselves receive death first. For by striking them we perhaps grieved them for a little; but we ourselves no longer live, just as that creature does not. And yet Scripture praises it, saying, “How industrious she is,” whose work kings and private persons bring to their health; but nothing of hers protects her from dying; she must certainly perish. And if [her usefulness] does not rescue her when she does harm, much more [will it not rescue] us. For it belongs to the most savage beasts to begin injustice against those who have done no wrong; or rather not even to beasts. For if you let them graze in the desert, they will neither do harm, nor approach, nor bite, but will go their own way; but you, being a rational man, honoured with such rule and honour and glory, do not even imitate the beasts in regard to those of your own kind, but wrong your brother and devour him? And how will you be able to defend yourself? Do you not hear Paul saying, “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? [But you yourselves wrong and defraud], and that your brothers.” Do you see that to suffer ill lies in doing ill, and to be well off lies in suffering ill? For tell me, if someone abuses the rulers, if someone insults those in power, whom does he wrong? Himself, or them? Plainly himself. Then does the one who insults a ruler insult not him but himself, and the one who insults a man not insult Christ through him? “By no means,” someone says. What do you say? The one who stones the king’s images, whom does he stone? Not himself? Then if the one who stones the image of an earthly king stones himself, does not the one who insults the image of Christ (for man is the image of God) wrong himself? How long shall we love money? For I will not stop crying out against it; for it is the cause of all evils. Till when shall we not be sated with this insatiable desire? What good does gold have? I am amazed at the thing; truly it is a kind of sorcery that gold and silver are so prized among us. Of our souls we take no account, but of lifeless images great is the service. From where did this disease enter the world? Who will be able to destroy it? What word to cut out this grievous beast and ruin it utterly? The desire has been sown in men’s minds, even of those who seem to be in piety. Let us be ashamed before the gospel commands: the words lie in Scripture only, but the deeds are shown nowhere. But what is the specious argument of most people? “I have children,” someone says, “and I am afraid that I may be brought to the necessity of hunger and want, that I may need others; I am ashamed to beg.” Is that why, then, you make others beg? “I cannot bear hunger,” he says. Is that why, then, you surround others with hunger? Do you know how terrible a thing begging is? How terrible to waste away with hunger? Spare your brothers too. You are ashamed to be hungry, tell me, and are you not ashamed to rob? You fear to waste away with hunger, and do you not fear to make others waste away? And yet hunger brings neither shame nor charge; but to surround others with such [necessities] brings not only shame, but also the final punishment. All these things are pretext and words and nonsense. For that you do not do these things for your children’s sake those bear witness who neither have nor will have children, yet labour and toil just as much, and surround themselves with as much wealth as if they had ten thousand children to leave it to. It is not care for children that makes a man a money-maker, but a disease of the soul. Because of this many who have no children are mad for money, while others living with many children despise even what they have; these will accuse you on that day. For if the necessity of children forced men to gather money, those too ought to have had the same longing, the same desire; but if they do not, then we are mad not from having many children but from love of money. “And who are those,” someone says, “who despise money though they have children?” Many, and in many places; and if you wish, I will speak of the ancients too. Did not Jacob have twelve children? Did he not live the life of a hired servant? Was he not wronged by his father-in-law? Did he not often break faith with him? Did his many children force him to plan anything improper? And what of Abraham? Did he not have many other children besides Isaac? What then? Did he not possess his goods for strangers? Do you see that not only did he not do wrong, but he even gave up his goods, not only doing good but choosing to be wronged by his nephew? For to bear being robbed for God’s sake is much greater than doing good. Why? Because the one is the fruit of a soul and of choice, so that it happens easily too; but this is injury and force. And one would more easily give up ten thousand talents willingly, and think he had suffered nothing terrible, than bear gently being robbed of three obols against his will. So this is rather the philosophy of the soul. And we see this happened in the case of Abraham: “For Lot saw,” it says, “the region around, that it was well watered like the paradise of God, and he chose it for himself.” And he said nothing against it. Do you see that not only did he not do wrong, but he was wronged? Why do you accuse your children, man? It is not for this that God gave us children, that we might rob others. See that you do not provoke God by saying this. For if you say this, that they are the cause of your robbery and money-making, I fear lest you be deprived of them, as people who harm you and plot against you. God gave you children to care for you in old age, to learn virtue from you.

For this is why he willed the human race to be constituted so, providing the two greatest things: one, setting fathers over children as teachers; the other, implanting great love. For if men were simply to come into being [each separately], no one would have had any relation to anyone. For if now, when there are fathers and children and grandchildren, many do not care for many, much more then. This is why God gave you children: so do not accuse your children. And if those who have children have no defence, those who do not have them, and labour at gathering wealth, what argument could they give? But they too have an argument devoid of all defence. What is it? “So that,” he says, “instead of children we may have wealth as a memorial.” Truly a great joke. “Instead of children,” he says, “the house becomes an immortal memorial of my glory.” Not of your glory, man, but of your greed will it be a memorial. Or do you not see now how many, passing by splendid houses, say such things to one another: “How much did so-and-so take by greed, how much did he rob, to build this house? And now he has become ash and dust, and this has passed into another’s inheritance.” So you leave a memorial not of your glory but of your greed. And your body is hidden in the earth, but the memorial of your greed, which could be forgotten in the length of time, you do not let be forgotten, but make it be stirred up and dug up through the house. For as long as it stands, bearing your name and called “So-and-so’s,” it is quite necessary that the mouths of all be opened against you. Do you see that it is better to have nothing than to endure this accusation? And these things are here; but there, what shall we do, tell me, having become masters of so much here and having shared nothing of what we had, or very little? How shall we put off our greedy acts? For the one who wishes to put off greed does not give a little out of much, but many times what he took, and stops robbing. Hear what Zacchaeus says: “And whatever I have robbed, I repay fourfold.” But you, having robbed ten thousand talents, if you give a few drachmas, and that barely, think you have repaid the whole, and are disposed as one who has given more; and yet you must both repay those things themselves and add others from your own household. For just as the thief does not make his defence by repaying only those things, but often has paid his life besides, and often settled it by paying many times as much, so too the greedy man. For the greedy man too is a thief, and a robber far more grievous than he, as he is more tyrannical. For the thief, by hiding and by attempting it at night, cuts away much of his daring, as being ashamed and afraid of sinning; but this man, having cast off shame, with head uncovered robs everyone’s goods in the middle of the marketplace, being at once thief and tyrant. He does not dig through walls, nor put out a lamp, nor open a chest, nor break seals; but what? He does things more brazen than these: while those wronged look on, he carries things out through the door, he opens everything openly, he forces the very owners to bring out their own goods. So great is the excess of the violence. This man is far fouler than those, as he is more shameless and more tyrannical. For the one who suffers something by deceit is pained, but has no small comfort in that the wrongdoer at least feared him; but the one who, along with suffering ill, is also despised will not be able even to bear the violence; for the mockery is greater. Tell me, if one man committed adultery with a woman secretly, and another did it while the husband looked on, who would grieve him more and be able to bite him? Not the latter? For the one, besides doing evil, also spat upon him; but the other, if nothing else, showed that he feared the man he wronged. So too with money: the one who took secretly honoured the owner in this, by taking secretly; but the one who took openly and publicly added shame to the loss. Let us stop robbing others’ goods, then, both poor and rich; for this word of mine is not for the rich only, but for the poor too. For they too rob those [poorer than themselves, and cheat in] the marketplace. So I wish to take injustice away from every side. For the wrong lies not in the measure of what is robbed and stolen, but in the purpose of the one who steals. And that these are rather thieves and greedy who do not despise even small gains, I know and remember having said to you, if you too remember. But let us not be precise about anything; let them too be like the rich. Let us train our mind henceforth not to desire greater things, not to reach for more. And in heaven let the desire for more never have a limit, but let each always reach for more; but on earth let each be content with need and sufficiency, and seek nothing more, so that so we may be able to obtain the truly good things, by the grace and loving-kindness, and so on.