Homilies on Colossians 10.1–10.5

[Homily 10] “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they lose heart. Slaves, obey in everything your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Whatever you do, work at it from the soul, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will receive back the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality with God. Masters, grant your slaves what is just and equal, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.” Why does he not give these commands everywhere and in all his letters, but here and in the Letter to the Ephesians and in the one to Timothy and the one to Titus? Because it is likely that there were dissensions in these cities; or it is likely that they had succeeded in other things but fell so short in these that they needed to hear about them too. Or rather, what he says to these he says to all. This letter has a great resemblance to the one to the Ephesians. Elsewhere he does not do this; either because to men who were by then at peace, but who still needed to learn the lofty doctrines which they lacked, he ought not to write about these things; or because for those who needed comfort in their trials it was superfluous to hear about them. So I conjecture that the church here was by then settled, and that these things are said toward the end. “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord”: that is, be subject for God's sake; for this adorns you, he says, not them. For I mean not a master's subjection, nor the subjection that comes from nature only, but that which is for God's sake. “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter toward them.” See how again he has exhorted what corresponds. As there he set down fear and love, so here too; for it is possible to love and yet be bitter. What he says is this: Do not fight; for nothing is more bitter than this fighting, when it comes from husband to wife. For the fights that arise with beloved persons are the bitter ones; and he shows that this comes from great bitterness, when, he says, someone is at odds with his own member. To love, then, belongs to husbands; to yield, to wives. If then each contributes his own part, everything stands firm. For from being loved the wife too becomes loving, and from her submission the husband becomes gentle. See too that in nature it has been so arranged that he loves and she obeys. For when the ruler loves the one ruled, then everything holds together. Love is not sought so much from the one ruled as from the ruler toward the one ruled; for from the one ruled obedience is sought. For the woman's being in her bloom and the man's being in desire shows nothing other than that it was so made for the sake of love. Do not, then, since your wife is subject, play the despot; nor you, wife, since your husband loves you, be puffed up. Let neither the husband's love lift up the wife, nor the wife's subjection puff up the husband. For this reason God subjected her to you, that she might be loved the more; for this reason he made you loved, woman, that you might easily bear being subject. Do not fear being subject; for to be subject to one who loves has no difficulty. Do not fear loving; for you have her yielding. Otherwise there would not have been a bond. You have, then, the authority from nature by necessity; have also the bond that comes from love; for love has made the weaker bearable. “Children, obey your parents in everything; for this is well-pleasing in the Lord.” Again he has set down “in the Lord,” both laying down laws of obedience, and shaming and overpowering them. “For this,” he says, “is well-pleasing to the Lord.” See how he wants us to do everything not from nature alone, but before nature from what pleases God, so that we may also have a reward. “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they lose heart.” See, again here too there is subjection and affection. And he did not say, “Love your children,” for that was superfluous, since nature itself compels it; but he corrected what had to be corrected, that the affection here should be stronger, since the obedience is greater. For nowhere does he set down the example of husband and wife; but what? Hear the Prophet saying, “As a father pities his sons, the Lord has pitied those who fear him.” And again Christ says, “Who is there among you, whom if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? And if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?” “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they lose heart.” He set down what was most able to bite them, and spoke more lovingly in commanding them, and nowhere sets down God; for he softened the parents and bent their hearts. “Do not provoke” means this: Do not make them more contentious; there are times when you ought even to give way. Then he came to a third kind of rule: “Slaves,” he says, “obey your masters according to the flesh.” Here there is some affection too, but no longer natural as above, but from habit, and from the rule itself, and from the works. Since then here the affection is cut short and the obedience intensified, he dwells on this, wishing to give these through obedience what the first have from nature. So he speaks to the servants not only for the masters' sake, but also for their own, so that they may make themselves loved by their masters. But he does not set this down openly; otherwise he would have made them careless. “Slaves,” he says, “obey in everything your masters according to the flesh.”

And see how he always sets down the names, “wives,” “children,” “slaves,” as a ground of the duty to obey. But lest the slave be pained, he added, “your masters according to the flesh.” The better part of you, the soul, has been freed, he says; the slavery is temporary. Subject, then, that part, so that the slavery may no longer be one of necessity. “Not with eye-service, as men-pleasers.” Make the slavery that comes from the law come from the fear of Christ, he says. For if, even when your master does not see, you do what is needed and what tends to his honour, clearly you do it because of the unsleeping eye. “Not with eye-service,” he says, “as men-pleasers.” So you yourselves will suffer the harm. For hear the Prophet saying … See, then, how he spares them and also regulates them. “But in singleness,” he says, “of heart, fearing God.” For that is not singleness but hypocrisy, to have one thing in mind and do another, to appear one man when the master is present and another when he is absent. So he did not simply say, “in singleness of heart,” but “fearing God.” For this is to fear God: when, with no one watching, we do nothing wicked; but if we do, we fear not God but men. Do you see that he regulates them? “Whatever you do,” he says, “work at it from the soul, as to the Lord and not to men.” He wants them freed not only from hypocrisy but also from idleness. He made them free instead of slaves, when they do not need the masters' supervision; for “from the soul” means with goodwill, not with servile necessity but with freedom and choice. And what is the reward? “Knowing,” he says, “that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord.” So clearly you will receive the reward from him. And that you serve the Lord is clear from this: “He who does wrong,” he says, “will receive back the wrong he has done.” Here he confirms what he said before. For lest his words seem to be flattery, “He will receive,” he says, “the wrong he has done,” that is, he also pays a penalty; “for there is no partiality with God.” For what if you are a slave? You are not put to shame for it. And yet this should have been said to the masters, as in the Letter to the Ephesians. But here he seems to me to hint at Greek masters. For what if he is a Greek and you a Christian? Not persons but deeds are examined. So even so one must serve with goodwill and from the soul. “Masters, grant your slaves what is just and equal.” What is “just”? What is “equal”? To set them in abundance of everything, and not let them need others, but to reward them for their labours. For do not, since I said that they have their reward from God, on that account defraud them. Elsewhere he says, “forbearing threatening,” wishing to make them gentler; for those were perfect. That is, “With what measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.” And “there is no partiality” is said to these, the masters, but it is placed with the words to the slaves, so that the masters may take it to heart. For when we say to one person what fits another, we correct not so much him as the one who is liable. “And you along with them,” he says. Here he made the slavery common: “knowing,” he says, “that you too have a Master in heaven.” “[Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in] it with thanksgiving.” For since persevering in prayers often makes people slack, that is why he says this. For the devil knows, he knows how great a good prayer is; that is why he presses heavily. And Paul too knows how many grow weary when praying; that is why he says, “Continue steadfastly in prayer,” as of something laborious. “Being watchful in it, with thanksgiving.” Let this be your work, he says: in your prayers to give thanks both for the visible things and for the invisible, both for the good he did us when we were willing and when we were unwilling, both for the kingdom and for Gehenna, both for affliction and for relief. For this is the custom of the saints: to pray thus and to give thanks for the common benefits.

I know a certain holy man who prayed thus. He said nothing before these words, but: “We give thanks for all your benefits shown to us, the unworthy, from the first day until the present; for those we know and those we do not know, for the manifest and for the unseen, those done in deed, those in word, those done willingly, those unwillingly; for all that have come to us, the unworthy; for afflictions, for times of relief, for Gehenna, for punishment, for the kingdom of heaven. We beseech you to keep our soul holy, with a pure conscience, and an end worthy of your lovingkindness. You who loved us so as to give your Only-begotten for us, make us worthy to become worthy of your love; give wisdom in your word, and in your fear, only-begotten Christ, breathe into us the strength that is from you. You who gave the Only-begotten for us, and sent forth your Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of our sins, if we have sinned in anything, willingly or unwillingly, pardon us and do not reckon it; remember all who call on your name in truth; remember all who wish us well and the opposite; for we are all men.” Then, adding the prayer of the faithful, he stopped there, making that prayer for all as a kind of finishing stroke and bond. For God does us much good even against our will, and much also without our knowing, and greater things. For when we pray for the opposite, and he does the opposite, it is clear that he does us good even without our knowing. “Praying at the same time for us too.” See the humility: he places himself after them. “That God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ.” He means entrance and boldness. Ah! so great a champion did not say, “that I may be freed from my bonds,” but, being a prisoner, he besought others, and besought them about a great matter, that he might receive boldness. The two things are great: the quality of the person and that of the matter. Ah, how great the dignity! “The mystery,” he says, “of Christ.” He shows that nothing is more desirable to him than this, to speak. “For which I am also bound, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.” With great boldness, he means, and shrinking from nothing. Do you see? The bonds make him manifest; they do not overshadow him. “With great boldness,” he says. Tell me, you are bound, and you beseech others? “Yes,” he says, “the bonds give me greater boldness; but I need God's aid; for I heard Christ saying, ‘When they hand you over, do not be anxious how or what you will speak.’” And see how he spoke by a metaphor: “that God may open to us a door for the word.” See how free from pride he is, and how in bonds he speaks lowly words. He means, “that he may soften their hearts”; but he did not say so, but “that he may give us boldness.” He spoke thus out of humility, and asks to receive the very thing he had. He shows in this letter why Christ did not come then, by calling those things a shadow: “but the body,” he says, “is Christ's.” So they had to be accustomed first in the shadow. At the same time he shows a very great token of his love toward them: “that you may hear,” he says; “but I am bound.” Again he sets the bond in the midst — the bond which I love exceedingly, which stirs my heart and always leads me to desire to see Paul bound, and writing in bonds, and preaching, and baptizing, and catechizing. The concerns of the churches everywhere were brought to him in his bonds; bound, he built up countless things. Then he was the more free. For hear him saying, “So that most of the brothers, trusting in my bonds, are much more bold.” Again he confesses this, saying, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” That is why he also said, “But the word of God is not bound.” He was bound with evildoers, with prisoners, with murderers; the teacher of the world, who went up to the third heaven, who heard unspeakable words, was bound. But then his race was swifter. The one who was bound had been loosed, and the one who was not bound was bound. For Paul did what he wished; but the other did not hinder him, nor fulfil his own purpose. What are you doing, fool? Is he a bodily runner? Does he compete in our stadium? He lives as a citizen in heaven; earthly things cannot bind or hold back one who runs in heaven. Do you not see this sun here? Put bonds on its rays, stop its course; but you will not be able. Then neither can you stop Paul; and much less this one than that; for this one enjoyed more providence than that, since he carried a light not such as ours, but bore the true light. Where now are those who will suffer nothing for Christ? And why do I say suffer, when they will not even part with money? Paul too once bound men and threw them into prison; but since he became Christ's slave, he prides himself no longer on doing but on suffering. And this too is the marvel of the preaching, that it is raised up and increases through those who suffer, and not through those who do evil. Where has anyone seen such contests? The one who suffers ill conquers, and the one who does ill is defeated. This one is more glorious than that; through bonds the preaching came in. “I am not ashamed, but I even boast,” he says, “in preaching the crucified.” For consider: the whole world, leaving those who were free, came to those who were bound; turning away from those who bound, it honours those who wear the chain; hating those who crucified, it worships the crucified.

It is not only marvellous that the preachers were fishermen and unlettered, but that there were other hindrances too, hindrances by their very nature, and yet the increase became greater. Not only did their lack of learning hinder nothing, but this very thing made the preaching manifest. For hear Luke saying, “And perceiving that they were unlettered and ordinary men, they marvelled.” Not only did the bond hinder nothing, but this very thing made them bolder. The disciples were not so bold when Paul was free as when he was bound: “More abundantly,” he says, “they dare to speak the word of God without fear.” Where are those who will say that the preaching is not divine? Was not their lack of learning enough to make them despised? And here, ought not the danger to have frightened them? For you know that the multitude is held by these two passions, vainglory and cowardice. Their lack of learning ought to have made them ashamed; the dangers ought to have thrown them into cowardice. “But they did wonders,” someone says. Then believe that they did wonders. But they did not do them? This is a greater wonder than doing them, if men came over without wonders. Socrates too was bound among the Greeks; what then? Did not his disciples at once flee to Megara? Certainly; for they had not received the doctrines about immortality. But see here: Paul was bound, and the disciples were bolder — rightly, for they saw the preaching unhindered. For can you bind a tongue? It is with this chiefly that he runs. For just as with a runner, unless you bind his feet, you have not hindered his course, so too with an evangelist, unless you bind his tongue, you have not hindered his course. And just as the runner, if you bind up his loins, runs the better and is carried along, so too this man, when bound, preaches the more, and with greater boldness. The prisoner is afraid when there is only the bond; but how could one who despises death be bound? They did the same as if they had bound Paul's shadow and stopped its mouth. For the bond was … ; he was more beloved to his own and more revered by his enemies, carrying the bond as a prize of courage. A crown adorns a head and does not shame it, but makes it brilliant. Unwillingly they crowned him with the chain. For tell me, could iron bind him who … the adamantine bonds of death? Let us come, beloved, to the emulation of these bonds. All you women who wear gold, long for Paul's bonds. Your necklace does not shine around your neck as the adornment of the iron bonds gleamed about his soul. If anyone longs for those, let her hate these. For what fellowship has silliness with courage, bodily beautification with philosophy? Those bonds angels revere; these they even mock. Those bonds are wont to draw men from earth to heaven; these bonds bring them down from heaven to earth. For truly these are bonds, not those; those are adornment, these are bonds. These afflict the soul along with the body; those adorn the soul along with the body. Do you want to learn that those are adornment? Tell me, who attracted the onlookers more, you or Paul? And why do I say you? The empress herself, wearing gold all over, would not have attracted the onlookers more; but if it happened that Paul in bonds and the empress entered the church at the same time, all would have turned their eyes from her to him — rightly. For to see a man greater than human nature, having nothing human about him, but an angel on earth, is more marvellous than to see a woman adorned. For such things one can see in theatres and processions and baths and in many places; but a man wearing bonds, and thinking that he has the greatest adornment, and not yielding to the bonds, is not an earthly sight for the onlooker; the sight is worthy of heaven. The soul that wears those ornaments looks around to see who saw and who did not see; it is full of vanity, held by cares, bound by countless other passions; but he who wears these bonds is free of pride; his soul exults, is rid of all care, rejoicing, looking to heaven, winged. If someone offered me to see Paul leaning out from heaven and uttering his voice, or to see him in prison, I would choose the prison; for those who are in heaven come to him when he is in prison. The bond that holds the preaching together is Paul's bonds; its foundation is that chain. Those bonds …

“And how,” she says, “can that be?” If we break and shatter these. We have no profit from these bonds, but even harm. These will show us there as prisoners, but Paul's bonds will loose those bonds. She who is bound here with these will be bound there too with the undying bonds, hands and feet; she who is bound with Paul's will then have them about her as an adornment. Loose both yourself from your bond and the poor man from his hunger. Why do you tighten the cords of your sins? “How?” she says. When you wear gold and another perishes; when, to obtain empty glory, you take so much gold, and another does not even have anything to eat, have you not tightened your sins? Put on Christ, and not gold; where mammon is, there Christ is not; where Christ is, there mammon is not. Do you not want to wear the King of all himself? If someone gave you the purple and the diadem, would you not accept it instead of all your gold? I offer you not the royal adornment, but to put on the King himself. “And how,” she says, “could one wear Christ?” Hear Paul saying, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”; hear the apostolic exhortation: “Make no provision for the flesh,” he says, “for its desires.” So one puts on Christ, by making no provision for the flesh for its desires. If you put on Christ, even demons will fear you; but if gold, even men will laugh at you. If you put on Christ, even men will respect you. Do you want to appear beautiful and comely? Be content with the Creator's handiwork. Why do you bring in gold, as if to correct God's work? Do you want to appear comely? Put on almsgiving, put on kindness, … all these are more precious than gold; these make even a beautiful woman more comely; these make even a plain woman well-formed. For when one looks at a face with goodwill, one casts one's vote from love; but a wicked woman, even if she is beautiful, no one can call beautiful; for the mind, struck by her wickedness, does not cast a right vote. The Egyptian woman once adorned herself, and Joseph too was adorned; who then was the more beautiful? I do not mean when she was in the palace and he in the prison. He was naked, but he was clothed with the garments of chastity; she was clothed, but was more shameful than a naked woman, for she had no chastity. When you adorn yourself excessively, woman, then you have become more shameful than a naked woman; for you have stripped off decorum. Eve too was naked; but when she was clothed, then she was more shameful. For when she was naked, she was adorned with the glory of God; but when she put on the garment of sin, then she was shameful. And you too, putting on the garment of love of finery, then appear the more shameful. For that costliness is not enough to show a woman fair, but that even when clothed she can be more indecent than a naked woman, I will tell you. If you ever put on the costume of a piper or a chorus flute-player, would it not be a disgrace? And yet the clothes are golden; but it is a disgrace precisely because they are golden. For the costliness of the stage befits the soldiers who fight the wild beasts; but to a believing woman other garments have been given by God: the only-begotten Son of God himself. “For as many,” he says, “as were baptized into Christ …” … if someone gave you a royal garment and you put … over it, would you not be punished as well as disgraced? You have put on the Master of heaven and of the angels, and do you still turn about the earth? These things have been said by me because love of finery is a great evil even in itself, even if nothing else were born from it and it were possible to have it without danger (for it anoints one for vainglory and vanity); but as it is, many other things too are born from beautification, occasions of greed. For why do you beautify yourself, tell me? To please your husband? Then do it at home. But here the opposite happens. For if you want to please your own husband, do not please others; but if you please others, you will not be able to please your own. So you should lay aside all your adornment when you go into the marketplace, when you go to church. And besides, do not please your husband by the means harlots use, but rather by the means free women use. For in what, tell me, does a wife differ from a harlot? In this: the harlot looks to one thing only, how to draw her lover by the beauty of her body; but the wife presides over the house, shares in the children and in all other things. Do you have a little daughter? See that she does not inherit the harm; for character tends somehow to be shaped by upbringing, and to imitate the mother's character. Be an example of chastity to your daughter; adorn yourself with that adornment, and see how you will despise this one. For truly those things are adornment, and these are disorder. What has been said is enough. May God, who made the world and gave us the adornment of the soul, adorn us and clothe us with his glory, so that all of us, shining in good works and living for his glory, may send up glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.