Homilies on First Thessalonians 11

'Despise not prophesyings.'

'Abstain from every form of evil.'

A certain thick mist, and gloom, and cloud have been poured out over all the earth;

and, making this plain, the Apostle said:

and again, 'But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.'

Since, then, it is night, so to speak, and moonless, and in this night we are walking, God has given us a bright lamp, having kindled the grace of the Holy Spirit in our souls.

But this light some, having received it, made yet brighter and more radiant—such as Paul, such as Peter, such as all those holy men;

while others actually quenched it—as the five virgins, as those who made shipwreck concerning the faith, as the man who committed fornication in Corinth, as the Galatians who were turned aside.

For this reason Paul now says, 'Quench not the Spirit'—that is, the gift of grace;

for it was his custom thus to call the gift of the Spirit.

And an unclean life quenches it.

For just as, in the case of this lamplight, a man who pours water or dust upon it puts out the light—and even if he does none of these things, yet if he takes away the oil the flame goes out—

so likewise it is with the gift of grace.

For whether you pour earthly cares and the anxieties of transient affairs upon it, you have quenched the Spirit;

or whether you yourself do no such thing, but a temptation coming from some other quarter assails you fiercely, like a gust of wind, and if the flame is not strong, or does not have abundant oil, or if you do not stop up the vent-hole, or do not shut the door, then all is lost.

But what is the vent-hole? As in the case of the lamp, so also with us, the vent-hole is the eye and the ear.

Do not let a violent wind of wickedness fall upon these, since it has put out the lamp; but block it up with the fear of God.

Shut it, close it fast, so that the light may both give its light and repel the assault from without.

For instance: has someone insulted you? has he reviled you? Do you shut your mouth;

for if you open it, you have fanned the wind into flame.

Do you not observe in houses, when two doors stand directly opposite and in a straight line, and a strong wind is blowing, how, if you shut the one so that no counter-draught arises, the wind has no force, but the greater part of its strength is cut off? So it is now also: there are two doors, your mouth, and the mouth of the one who insults and rails against you in his drunken frenzy;

if you shut yours and give it no counter-draught, you have quenched the whole blast;

but if you open it, it becomes uncontrollable.

Let us not, therefore, quench it.

But it is possible for it often to be quenched even when nothing presses upon it from without,

when the oil runs short—when we do not practise almsgiving, the Spirit is quenched.

For indeed it came to you from the mercy of God;

then, seeing that this fruit is not found with you, it flies away;

for it does not remain with an unmerciful soul.

But when the Spirit is quenched, the rest you know—as many of you as have walked in a moonless night.

But if it is hard to travel by night the road that leads from earth to earth, how can the road that leads from earth to heaven be safe? Do you not know how many demons are in that interval, how many wild beasts, how many spiritual powers of wickedness? If, then, we have that light, they will be able to do us no harm;

but if we quench it, they quickly overpower us, quickly carry off all that is ours;

since robbers also, having first put out the lamp, then set about their robbery.

For they see in this darkness, because they practise the deeds of darkness;

but we are unaccustomed to that light.

Every wicked deed quenches this light—railing, insult, and whatever else you may name.

For just as, in the case of fire, everything foreign to it is destructive of it, while that alone kindles it which is akin to it;

so also with this light: whatever is dry, whatever is warm, whatever is ardent kindles the flame of the Spirit.

Let us therefore bring nothing cold, nothing moist;

for these are destructive of it.

But there is also another interpretation.

Among them there were many: some prophesied truly, while others spoke falsely.

This too he mentions in the Epistle to the Corinthians, saying that for this reason he had given the discerning of spirits.

For the devil, being foul, wished by means of this gift to overturn the whole order of the Church.

Since both foretold things to come, both the demon and the Spirit—but the one lying and the other speaking truth—and there was no means from any quarter of obtaining a proof of either, but each spoke without being called to account, as did Jeremiah and Ezekiel;

but when the time came they were put to the test—He gave also the discerning of spirits.

Since, then, at that time also among the Thessalonians many were prophesying—whom elsewhere too he hints at, saying, 'Be not soon shaken, neither by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand'—

having said, 'Quench not the Spirit,' he opportunely added what follows, saying, 'Despise not prophesyings.'

What, then, he wishes to make plain here is this:

Do not, because there are certain false prophets among you, on their account hinder these true ones also and turn away from them;

that is, 'Despise not prophesyings.'

You see that this is what he means by 'Prove all things.'

Since he had said, 'Despise not prophesyings,' lest they should suppose that he had thrown open the tribunal to all, he says, 'Prove all things, but hold fast that which is good'—that is, the prophecies that are genuine.

'Abstain from every form of evil';

not from this or that, but 'From every kind';

so that with careful testing you may discern both the false and the true, and abstain from the former and hold fast the latter.

For in this way both the hatred of those will be intense and the love of these will arise, when we do all things not carelessly nor without examination, but with exactness.

'And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.'

Behold the tender affection of the teacher;

after the exhortation he adds a prayer also;

and not this only, but he does so even in his letters;

for there is need both of counsel and of prayer.

For this reason we also, having first given counsel, then offer up our prayers on your behalf;

and this the initiated know.

But Paul, indeed, did this with good reason, having much boldness of access toward God;

whereas we are put to shame and without boldness;

but since we have been appointed to this office, we perform it—though we are unworthy even to stand by, and to occupy the place of the lowest of the disciples;

yet since grace works even through the unworthy—not for their own sakes, but for the sake of those who are to be benefited—

we contribute what is ours.

'May He sanctify you,' he says, 'wholly; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.'

What does he here call 'the spirit'? The gift of grace.

For if we depart having our lamps bright, we shall enter into the bridal chamber;

for this reason he says, 'Your whole spirit';

for while that remains undamaged, this also remains.

'And the soul,' he says, 'and the body.'

For neither does the one receive anything wicked, nor does the other.

'Faithful is He that calls you, who also will do it.'

For since he had prayed, 'Do not suppose,' he says, 'that this comes to pass from my prayers, but out of the purpose with which He called you.'

For if He called you unto salvation, and He is true, He will assuredly save you, since He wills it.

'Brethren, pray also for us.'

Ah, what humility!

But he said this out of humility, whereas we say it not out of humility, but because of the great benefit it brings, and because we desire to gain something great from you, when we say, 'Pray also concerning us.'

For even if you gain nothing great or wonderful from us, yet for the very honour's sake, for the very title's sake.

A man may once have had children, and even if he has gained nothing from them, yet because he has become a father, he perhaps advances this as his plea, saying, 'Not for one day of yours was I called father.'

For this reason we too say, 'Pray also concerning us;'

not saying this lightly, but earnestly longing for your prayers.

For if I have been made accountable for the guardianship of you all, and am about to render an account, much more ought I to enjoy the benefit of prayer from you.

My reckonings have become the greater because of you;

therefore the help from you must also be the greater.

'Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.'

Since, being absent, he could not greet them with a kiss, he greets them through others;

so too we do, as when we say, 'Kiss him on my behalf.'

In this way do you also keep alive the fire of love;

for it does not endure separations, but even across the midst of the roads it stretches itself out, and is present everywhere.

'I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.'

And this comes especially of longing, not so much of instruction;

'that I may be conversing with them also,' he says.

'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.'

And he does not simply enjoin it, but with an adjuration, doing even this out of a fervent mind, so that even if they should despise him, they might yet do what was enjoined for the sake of the oath.

For at that time they had a great fear of the matter;

but now even this has been trampled underfoot.

And often it happens that a servant, when being scourged, adjures God and His Christ, saying, 'So mayest thou die a Christian,' and no one heeds him, no one turns to him;

but if he adjure a man by his own son, at once, even against his will and gnashing his teeth, he lets go of his anger.

Again, another man being dragged and haled away through the midst of the market-place, with both Greeks and Jews present, adjures the one dragging him with the most fearful oaths, and no one heeds.

What will the Greeks not say, when a believer adjures a believer and a Christian, and no account is made of it, but we even despise it?

Will you have me relate to you a certain matter, which I myself have also heard? For I do not speak inventing it, but having heard it from a trustworthy person.

A certain maidservant was yoked to a wicked husband, a foul fellow and a runaway; and when this husband had sinned in many things and was about to be sold off by the mistress—

for indeed his sins were beyond pardon, and the mistress was a widow, and had not the power to punish him as he was ruining her household, but resolved to sell him off—

then the mistress, thinking it impious to tear the wife away from her husband, though the girl was useful to her, consented for the sake of ridding herself of him to sell off the wife together with him.

So the girl, seeing herself to be in straits,

went to a person held in reverence and familiar to her mistress—the one who related it to me as well—and, clasping his knees and lamenting a thousand times, besought him to entreat her mistress on her behalf;

and having spent many words, at last she added this also, thinking thereby especially to prevail with him, laying upon him a certain most fearful oath:

'So mayest thou behold Christ in the day of judgement, do not disregard my entreaty;'

and having said these things, she departed.

But he who had been entreated, some worldly care having befallen him, such as happens in households, forgot.

Then suddenly, in the afternoon of midday, he came to remember the most fearful oath, and was pierced to the heart exceedingly, and going off he made the entreaty with much diligence, and accomplished the matter.

And on that very night he suddenly saw the heavens opened, and Christ Himself;

he saw, however, in such measure as it is possible for a man to see.

For since he had at all taken thought of the adjuration, since he had feared, he was deemed worthy of this vision.

These things I have said, that we may not despise adjurations, especially when men entreat us for good deeds—for almsgiving, for kindness to men.

But now the poor sit with their feet cut off, seeing you run past;

then, since they cannot follow you with their feet, they expect to hold you fast as with a hook by the fear of the oath, and stretching out their hands they adjure you to give a single obol, or but two;

but you run past, though it is your own Master by whom you are being adjured.

And if one adjure you by your eyes, or by your husband who is abroad, or by your child, or by your daughter, at once you yield, and your mind leaps up and is set aglow;

but if he adjure you by the Lord, you run past.

And I know many women who, when they heard 'Christ,' ran past;

but when they were praised for their beauty by those approaching them, they melted, were softened, and stretched out a hand.

Accordingly they have reduced the poor, the wretched creatures, to this—to playing the buffoon.

For since, by speaking vehement and bitter words, they do not lay hold of the soul, they come to this way, by which they especially give delight;

and our great baseness has compelled him who is in calamity and choked by famine, the beggars, to utter praises of beauty.

And would that it were only this! but there is also another kind more grievous than this;

it has compelled the poor to become jugglers and speakers of shameful things and buffoons.

For when a man, threading cups and bowls and drinking-vessels upon his fingers and setting them about himself, clashes them like cymbals, and having a pipe sings through it the shameful songs full of lust, and cries aloud with his voice;

then many stand around, and some hand him a morsel of bread, some an obol, some something else, and detain him a long while, and both men and women take delight—what is more grievous than this? Are not these things worthy of much groaning? Small indeed they are, and are reckoned small;

but they breed great sins in our characters.

For when some shameful and pleasant strain is sung, it has softened the mind, and has corrupted that very soul itself.

And the poor man who calls upon God, and prays down upon you ten thousand blessings, is not even deemed worthy of a word from you;

but he who instead of these things brings in the newfangled fashions is admired.

But what has now come into my mind to say to you, that will I speak.

What then is this? When you are encompassed by poverty and sickness, if from nowhere else, then at least from the beggars who make their way through the alleys, learn to give thanks to the Master.

For these men, who spend their whole life in begging, do not blaspheme, nor are they indignant, nor are they discontented, but make their whole tale of begging in thanksgiving, proclaiming God great and a lover of mankind.

The one perishing with hunger calls Him a lover of mankind;

but you who live in abundance, if you do not get everything that belongs to others, call Him cruel.

How much better is that man! how will he then condemn us? God has left the poor throughout the whole world as common teachers to us of our calamities and as our consolation.

Have you suffered some unwished-for thing? but nothing such as he has.

Have you had your eye cut out? but he has lost both.

Have you fallen sick with a long disease? but he has one that is incurable.

Have you lost your children? but he has lost even the health of his own body.

Have you been damaged with a great loss? but you have not yet come to the point of needing others.

Therefore give thanks to God.

Do you see those men in the furnace of poverty, begging from all yet receiving from but few?

When you grow weary of praying and do not receive, consider how many times you have heard a poor man calling upon you and did not heed him; yet he was not indignant, nor did he insult you.

And whereas you do this out of cruelty, God's not hearing proceeds from His love for mankind.

If then you yourself, when you refuse to hear your fellow-servant out of cruelty, do not think it right to be blamed, how do you blame the Master of the servant when He does not hear out of love for mankind? Do you see how great the inequality is? how great the injustice?

Let us always consider these things—those below us, those in greater misfortunes—and thus shall we be able to give thanks to God.

Life is full of such examples.

And he who is watchful and willing to give heed gains no small instruction even from the houses of prayer.

For this reason, both in the churches and at the shrines of the martyrs the poor are seated before the porches, so that from the sight of them we may receive much benefit.

For consider that when we enter into the palaces here on earth, one can see nothing of this kind;

but men grave and splendid and wealthy and prudent run about everywhere; whereas into the true palaces—I mean the church and the houses of prayer of the martyrs—come the demon-possessed, the maimed, the poor, the aged, the blind, those with distorted limbs.

Why is this? So that you may be instructed by the sight of them: first, that if you enter dragging in with you some pride from without, you may look upon them, lay aside your arrogance, break your heart, and so enter and hear what is said (for it is not possible for one who prays with pride to be heard);

so that, when you see an old man, you may not be high-minded about your youth;

for these old men too were once young;

so that, when you boast greatly of military rank and imperial power, you may consider that from among these are also those who became illustrious in the imperial courts;

so that, when you are confident in bodily health, by giving heed to these you may humble your mind.

For here, by coming in continually, he who is in health will not be high-minded about the health of his body;

while he who is sick will receive no ordinary consolation.

And not for this reason only do they sit here, but also that they may make you merciful, and that you may be bent toward compassion, and that you may marvel at God's love for mankind.

For if God is not ashamed of them, but has set them in His porches, much more should you not be;

so that you may not be high-minded about the palaces upon the earth.

Do not therefore be ashamed when you are called upon by a poor man;

and though he come near, though he clasp your knees, do not shake him off;

for these are certain marvelous dogs of the imperial courts.

For I did not call them dogs to dishonor them—God forbid—but rather in high praise;

they guard the imperial court;

for the honor ascends to the King.

There all is pride—in the palaces upon the earth, I mean—but here all is humility.

That human things are nothing you learn especially from these very porches;

that God does not delight in wealth you are taught by those very ones who sit before them.

For their sitting and their gathering is well-nigh an exhortation, sending forth a clear voice to the whole nature of mankind 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 the very doors of His own house.

But if He also admits the wealthy, do not marvel;

for He admits them not that they may remain wealthy, but that they may be delivered from their pride;

hear then what Christ says to them:

You cannot serve God and mammon;

and again, With difficulty shall a rich man enter into 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 into the kingdom of heaven.

For these reasons He receives the rich, that they may hear these words, that they may long for the eternal riches, that they may desire the things in the heavens.

And why do you marvel if He does not deem such men unworthy to sit at His doors? For at His spiritual table too He does not deem it unworthy to call them and to give them a share of that banquet;

but the crippled and maimed, the aged man clad in rags and full of filth and rheum, comes together with the fair young man, even with him who is wrapped in purple and wears the diadem upon his head, to partake of the table, and is counted worthy of the spiritual banquet; and both alike enjoy the very same things, and there is no difference whatever.

Then, seeing that Christ does not deem it unworthy to call them to the table along with the king;

for both together are called;

yet you perhaps deem it unworthy even to be seen giving to the poor, or even conversing with them? Alas for the folly and the pride!

Take heed lest we suffer the same things as that rich man of old.

He deemed it unworthy even to look upon Lazarus, and gave him neither roof nor shelter, but he lay outside cast down beside the gate; nor was he counted worthy even of words from that man.

But behold how, when the rich man came into necessity and need 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, in being ashamed of His friends.

Let your table be filled with the lame, with the maimed;

for through these Christ comes, not through the wealthy.

Therefore, that you may not think the saying is mine, hear Christ Himself speaking—not that you may laugh, but that you may shudder:

When you make a dinner or a supper, He says, call not your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and a recompense be made to you;

but when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the blind; and you shall be blessed, for they have nothing to repay you;

for it shall be repaid you at the resurrection of the just.

And greater glory too comes here, if indeed you love glory.

For from those feasts come envy and jealousy and accusations and revilings, and much fear lest something be done contrary to what is fitting;

and like a household servant before his master, so you stand—if those invited be your superiors—dreading their censure and their mouths;

but with these there is nothing of the kind, but whatever you bring them, they receive it all with pleasure;

and hence much applause, more splendid glory, greater wonder.

Not so loudly do all who hear applaud those as they do these.

But if you disbelieve, make trial of it yourself, you who are wealthy, you who invite generals and governors;

invite the poor also, and from these fill your table—see whether you are not applauded by all, whether you are not loved by all, whether all do 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 the heavens;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.