Homilies on 1 Thessalonians 11.1–11.5

“Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophecies. [Test everything; hold fast what is good.] Abstain from every form of evil.” A thick mist and gloom and cloud has been poured over the whole earth; and the apostle, making this plain, said, “For you were once darkness”; and again, “But you, brothers, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief.” Since then it is, so to speak, a moonless night, and we walk in this night, God has given us a bright lamp, kindling the grace of the Holy Spirit in our souls. But some, receiving this light, have made it brighter and more radiant, like Paul, like Peter, like all those saints; but others even quenched it, like the five virgins, like those who made shipwreck of the faith, like the man in Corinth who committed sexual immorality, like the Galatians who turned aside. Therefore Paul now says, “Do not quench the Spirit,” that is, the gift; for so he is accustomed to call the gift of the Spirit. And an unclean life quenches it. For just as one quenches the light of this lamp by pouring water or dust over it, or, if none of these, by taking away the oil, so too with the gift. For if you pour on earthly things and …, you have quenched the Spirit; and if you yourself do nothing of the sort, but a temptation comes from somewhere else and strikes violently, like a wind, and the flame is not strong, or does not have much oil, or you do not stop up the hole, or do not shut the door, everything is lost. And what is the hole? As with the lamp, so with us, the hole is the eye and the ear. Do not let a violent wind of wickedness fall upon these, lest it quench the lamp, but stop them up with the fear of God. The door is the mouth: shut it, so that it may both give light and keep off [the wind] from outside. Shut your mouth; for if you open it, you have fanned the wind. Do you not see in houses, when two doors stand opposite and in a straight line, and the wind is strong, how, if you shut one and there is no draught, the wind has no force, but most of its strength is cut off? So now too there are two doors: your mouth, and the mouth of the one insulting you and behaving drunkenly toward you; if you shut yours and do not give a draught, you have quenched the whole wind; but if you open it, [it cannot be checked]. And often, even with nothing attacking the flame, when the oil fails, when we do not give alms, the Spirit is quenched. For it came to you from God’s mercy; then, seeing that this fruit is not with you, it flies away; for it does not stay with an unmerciful soul. And when the Spirit has been quenched, you know the rest, as many of you as have walked in a moonless night. And if it is difficult to walk the road from earth to earth at night, how is the road that leads from earth to heaven safe? Do you not know how many demons there are in this space, how many beasts, how many spiritual forces of wickedness? If then we have that light, they will be able to harm us in nothing; but if we quench it, they quickly catch us, they quickly carry off all our goods; for robbers too first put out the lamp, and then rob. For they see in this darkness, since they [are without the light]. Let us not then quench it. Every wicked act quenches this light: abuse, insult, and whatever you name. For just as with fire everything foreign to it destroys it, while what is akin to it kindles it, so too with this light: whatever is dry, whatever is warm, whatever is fervent kindles the flame of the Spirit. Let us bring on nothing cold, nothing wet; for these destroy it. There is also another interpretation. Many among them prophesied, some truly and some falsely. This he says in the letter to the Corinthians too, that he gave the discernment of spirits for this reason. For the devil, being vile, wished through this gift to overturn the whole of the church. For since both foretold future things, the demon and the Spirit, the one lying and the other telling the truth, and there was no way to get a proof of either, but both spoke without accountability, as [happened in the days of] Jeremiah and Ezekiel; but when the time came they were refuted; he gave the discernment of spirits too. Since then at that time too many prophesied among the Thessalonians, whom he hints at elsewhere too, saying, “not to be troubled, either by word or by letter as if from us, as though the day of the Lord has come,” having said, “Do not quench the Spirit,” he added fittingly, “Do not despise prophecies.” What he wishes to make plain here, then, is this: Do not, because there are some false prophets among you, [reject] these too on their account; that is, do not despise prophecies. Do you see that this is what he says, “Test everything”? Since he said, “Do not despise prophecies,” so that they might not think that he had opened the platform to all, “Test everything,” he says, “hold fast what is good,” that is, the true prophecies. “Abstain from every form of evil”: not from this or that, but “from every.” And [test] both the false and the true, so as to discern them with testing. For so the hatred of those will be strong, and the love of these will come, when we do everything not lightly nor unexamined, but with exactness. “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept whole and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” See the tender affection of a teacher: after the exhortation he adds a prayer too; and not only this, but in his letters; for both counsel and prayer are needed. Therefore we too first counsel, and then make prayers for you; and this the initiated know. But Paul did this having great boldness toward God; whereas we are put to shame and without boldness; but since we have been appointed to this, we do it, unworthy as we are even to stand by and to hold the place of the last of the disciples; but since grace works even through the unworthy, not for their sake, but for the sake of those who are to be benefited, we bring in our own part. “May he sanctify you wholly,” he says, “and may your spirit and soul and body be kept whole and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What does he mean here by “the spirit”? The gift. For if we depart with our lamps bright, we shall enter into the bridal chamber; but if quenched, no longer. Therefore he says, “your spirit whole”; for when that remains entire, this too remains. “And the soul,” he says, “and the body.” For neither does it receive anything wicked, nor this. “Faithful is he who calls you, who will also do it.” See the humility: since he had prayed, do not think, he says, that this happens from my prayers, but from the purpose with which he called you. For if he called you to salvation, and he is true, he will certainly save you, since he wills it. “Brothers, pray for us too.” Wonderful, how great a humility! But he said this for the sake of humility; we say “Pray for us too” not for the sake of humility, but because of great benefit, and wishing to gain something great from you. For even if you are benefited by us in nothing great or wonderful, still [pray] for the honour itself, for the name itself. Someone once had children; and even if they have been benefited by him in nothing, yet since he has become a father, he perhaps puts this forward, saying, “Have I not been called your father for a single day?” Therefore we too say, “Pray for us too,” not saying this lightly, but greatly desiring your prayers. For if I have been made accountable for the charge of all of you, and am to give account, much more ought I to enjoy prayer from you. The accounts I must give have become greater because of you; so the help from you must be greater too. “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.” Wonderful, the warmth! Wonderful, the mind! Since, being absent, he could not greet them with a kiss, he greets them through others; as we too do when we say, “Kiss him for me.” So you too hold fast the fire of love; for it does not tolerate distances, but stretches itself through the middle of the roads, and is present everywhere. “I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.” And this too is above all a mark of longing, not so much of teaching: “so that I may converse with them too,” he says. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” And he does not simply command, but adjures, doing this too from a warm mind, so that even if they despise him, they may do what is commanded because of the adjuration. For they had a great fear of the thing then; but now this too has been trampled underfoot. And often a slave boy, being flogged, adjures his master by God and his Christ, and says, “So may you die a Christian,” and no one attends, no one turns round; but if he adjures him by his own son, at once, even unwillingly, gnashing his teeth, he lets go of his anger. Another again, dragged and led away in the middle of the marketplace, with Greeks and Jews present, [adjures,] and no one attends. What will the Greeks not say, when a believer adjures a believer and a Christian, and no account is taken, but we even despise it?

Do you wish me to tell you a thing that I myself have heard? For I do not speak inventing it, but having heard it from a trustworthy person. A maidservant was joined to a wicked husband, vile, a runaway. Since her husband had committed many offences and was about to be sold by their mistress (for the offences were too great for pardon, and the woman was a widow and could not punish him as he ruined her household, but decided to sell him), and since she then thought it unholy to separate the girl from him, useful though she was, she decided to sell the wife along with him in order to be rid of him. The girl, then, seeing herself in straits, went to a respected person who was acquainted with her mistress, the very one who told me, and clasping her knees and lamenting greatly, begged her to plead with her mistress on her behalf; and having spent many words, she finally added this too, thinking to persuade her by it most of all, adding a most awesome oath. The oath was this: “So may you see Christ on the day of judgment, do not neglect my request.” And having said this she went away. But the woman who had been asked, some worldly care falling upon her, as happens in households, forgot. Then suddenly, in the afternoon, the most awesome oath came to her memory, and she was deeply pricked in conscience, and going, she pleaded with great care, and accomplished the matter. And that very night she suddenly saw the heavens opened, and saw Christ himself; she was counted worthy of this. I have said this so that we may not despise adjurations, especially when people ask us for good things, for almsgiving, for kindness. But now poor people sit with their feet cut off, seeing you run past; then, since they cannot follow with their feet, they expect to hold you back with the fear of the oath as with a hook, and stretching out their hands they adjure you to give one obol, or only two; and you run past, though they adjure you by your Lord. And if they adjure you by the eyes of your husband who is abroad, or of your child, or of your daughter, you yield at once, and your mind leaps and grows warm; but if they adjure you by the Lord, you run past. And I know many women who, hearing the name of Christ, ran past; but when praised for their beauty by those approaching, melted, softened, and held out their hand. Therefore they have reduced the wretched poor to this, to playing the buffoon. For since, when they speak earnest and bitter words, they do not touch the soul, they come to this road, by which they most of all give pleasure; and our great baseness has forced the man in calamity and choked by hunger [to speak] praises of beauty. And would it were only this! But there is another kind too: [our baseness has forced them] to be both foul-mouthed and buffoons. For when [one, striking] cups and vessels and goblets [together], or [another], having a pipe, sings through it the shameful songs full of love, and shouts with his voice; then many stand around, and some give a morsel of bread, some an obol, some something else, and keep him a long while, and both men and women take pleasure, what is more grievous than this? Do these things not deserve much groaning? They are small and are thought small; but they breed great sins in our characters. For when something shameful is said, and a sweet tune, it softens the mind and corrupts the very soul. And the poor man who calls on God and prays ten thousand good things for you is not thought worthy even of a word by you; but the one who brings in these licentious things instead is admired. But what has now come into my mind to say to you, I will say. What is it? When you are surrounded by poverty and sickness, if from nowhere else, at least from the beggars who go through the lanes learn to give thanks to the Master. For these, having spent their whole life in begging, do not blaspheme, are not indignant nor vexed, but make their whole tale of begging with thanksgiving, calling God great and loving. The one wasting away with hunger calls him loving; but you, living in plenty, if you do not get everyone’s goods, call him cruel. How much better is he! How will he condemn us then! God has left the poor throughout the world as common teachers of us in calamities and as a comfort. Have you suffered something unwelcome? But nothing like what he has. Have you lost an eye? He has lost both. Have you suffered a long sickness? He has an incurable one. Have you lost your children? He has lost the health of his own body too. Have you suffered a great loss? But you have not yet come to needing others. Give thanks to God then. Do you see them in the furnace of poverty, asking from all and receiving from few? Consider how often you heard a poor man calling you and did not listen, and he was not indignant nor did he insult you. And yet you do this from cruelty, whereas God does even not-hearing from loving-kindness. If then you, not hearing your fellow servant from cruelty, do not think you should be accused, do you accuse the Master of the servant who does not hear from loving-kindness? Do you see how great the inequality? How great the injustice? Let us think on these things always, on those lower than us, on those in greater calamities, and so we shall be able to give thanks to God. Life is full of many such examples; and the sober man who is willing to attend has no small teaching even from the houses of prayer. For this reason, in the churches and in the martyrs’ shrines, the poor sit before the gateways, so that we may receive great benefit from the sight of them. For consider that when we enter the palaces on earth, one can see nothing of the kind; but grave and splendid and rich and prudent men run about everywhere; but in the true palace, I mean the church and the houses of prayer of the martyrs, the possessed, the crippled, the poor, the old, the blind, those with twisted limbs. Why? So that you may be taught by the sight of them: first, that if you come in dragging some pride with you from outside, looking at them and laying aside your swelling and crushing your heart, you may so come in and hear what is said (for it is not possible to be heard if one prays with pride); that when you see an old man you may not be proud of your youth; for these old men too were young; that when you boast greatly of military service and royal power, [you may consider] that from among these too some have become distinguished in the royal courts; that when you are confident in bodily health, attending to these you may humble your pride. For one who comes in here continually, if healthy, will not be proud of bodily health; and if sick, will receive no ordinary comfort. And they sit here not only for this, but also to make you merciful, and that you may be bent to pity, that you may admire God’s loving-kindness. For if God is not ashamed of them, but has set them in his gateways, much more you; so that you may not be proud of the palaces on earth. Do not then be ashamed when called by a poor man; even if he comes up, even if he clasps your knees, do not shake him off; for these are some wonderful dogs of the royal courts. For I did not call them dogs to dishonour them, far from it, but greatly praising them: they guard the royal court; feed them, then; for the honour goes up to the king. There everything is pride, I mean in the palaces on earth; here everything is humility. That human things are nothing you learn most of all from the very gateways; that God does not delight in wealth you are taught by those who sit before them. For their sitting and their gathering is all but an exhortation, sending out a clear voice to the nature of all men and saying that human affairs are nothing, that they are shadow and smoke. If wealth were a good thing, God would not have seated the poor before his own doors. And if he admits the rich too, do not wonder; for it is not for this reason, [for their wealth], … of their swelling; for hear what Christ says to them: “You cannot serve God and mammon”; and again, “With difficulty will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven”; and again, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” For this reason he receives the rich, that they may hear these words, that they may long for the eternal wealth, that they may desire the things in heaven. And why do you wonder if he does not disdain to seat such people at his doors? For he does not disdain to call them to his spiritual table and to give them a share of that feast; but the maimed and crippled, the old man clothed in rags and having filth and running nose, comes together with the handsome young man, and with the very one who wears the purple and has the diadem on his head, to share the table, and is counted worthy of the spiritual feast, and both enjoy the same things, and there is no difference.

Then does Christ not disdain to call them to the table with the king (for both are called together), and do you perhaps disdain even to be seen giving to the poor, or talking with them? Wonderful, the folly and the pride! See that we do not suffer the same things as the rich man once did. He disdained even to look at Lazarus, and did not share a roof or shelter with him, but he lay outside by the gate, and was not counted worthy even of words from him. But see how, when he came into need and want of his help, he failed to obtain it. For if we are ashamed of those of whom Christ is not ashamed, we are ashamed of Christ, being ashamed of his friends. [Let] your table [be full] of the lame, the crippled; through these Christ comes, not through the rich. Perhaps you laugh when you hear it. Then, so that you may not think the word mine, hear Christ himself saying, so that you may not laugh but shudder: “When you give a dinner or a supper,” he says, “do not call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your relatives, nor rich neighbours, lest they too invite you in return and you be repaid; but when you give a feast, call the poor, the crippled, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” And the glory becomes greater here too, if indeed you love it. For from those come envy and jealousies and accusations and abuse, and great fear lest anything happen improperly; and you stand by like a servant before a master, if those called are greater, fearing their blame and their mouths; but with these there is nothing of the kind, but whatever you bring them they receive everything with pleasure; and from this comes great applause, a brighter glory, greater admiration. All who hear do not applaud those as they applaud these. And if you disbelieve, try it, you who are rich, who invite generals and governors: invite the poor too, and fill your table with them, [and see] whether you will not be applauded by all, whether you will not be loved by all, whether all will not hold you as a father. For from those dinners there is no gain; but for these heaven is laid up, and the good things in heaven; which may we all obtain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, might, honour, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.