Homilies on Second Corinthians 26

'It is not indeed expedient for me to boast.'

'For I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.'

What is this? He who has said so much now says, 'It is not indeed expedient for me to boast,' as though he had said nothing? Not as though he had said nothing, but because he is about to pass over to another kind of boasting, which does not have so great a reward, yet seems more splendid to the many — not to those who examine things accurately.

he says, 'It is not indeed expedient for me to boast.'

For these great boasts, which he has enumerated, are those of his trials;

the others he is about to speak of are those of revelations, those of unutterable mysteries.

And for what reason does he say, 'It is not expedient for me'? 'Lest it lift me up into conceit,' he says.

What do you say? For if you do not tell them, do you not know them? But we are not lifted up in the same degree when we ourselves know them as when we publish them abroad to others.

For it is not the nature of one's achievements that is wont to lift a man up, but the testimony and knowledge of the many.

For this reason, then, he says, 'It is not expedient for me,' and that I may not put too high a notion concerning myself into my hearers.

For those false apostles used to say even things that were not so concerning themselves;

but this man conceals even the things that are, and that too when so great a necessity presses upon him, and says, 'It is not expedient for me,' teaching all men out of great abundance to flee such a thing.

For the matter has no gain in it, but rather harm, unless there be some necessary occasion, and the motive leading to it be profitable.

Having therefore spoken of the dangers, the trials, the plots, the despondencies, the shipwrecks, he passes over to another kind of boasting, saying:

'I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not;

or out of the body, I know not;

God knoweth) such a one caught up even to the third heaven.

And I know that he was caught up into paradise (whether in the body, I know not;

or out of the body, I know not), and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

'On behalf of such a one will I boast;

but on behalf of myself I will not boast.'

Great indeed was this revelation.

Yet it did not occur by itself alone, but there were also many others besides it.

But he sets forth only one out of the many.

That there were indeed many, hear what he says:

'By reason of the abundance of the revelations, that I should not be exalted above measure.'

And indeed one might say: if he wished to conceal it, he ought not to have given any riddle at all, nor to have said anything of the sort;

but if he wished to speak of it, he ought to have spoken plainly.

For what reason, then, did he neither speak plainly nor keep silent? In order that here too he might show that he comes to the matter unwillingly.

For this reason too he set down the period of fourteen years.

For he does not simply make mention of it, but shows that one who had held out so long a time would not now have spoken of it, had there not been great necessity; nevertheless, he would still have kept silent, had he not seen the brethren perishing.

But if from the very outset Paul was such a man as to be counted worthy of so great a revelation, when as yet he had no such achievements to his credit,

consider how great he became in the course of fourteen years.

And observe how in this very matter he practises moderation, by telling some things and confessing his ignorance of others.

For that he was caught up, he stated; but whether in the body or out of the body, he says he no longer knows.

And yet it would have been enough for him, having spoken of the rapture, to keep silent;

but now, out of moderation, he adds this too.

What then? Was the mind caught up and the soul, while the body remained dead? Or was the body caught up? But it is not possible to say.

For if Paul, who was caught up and who obtained such and so great unutterable things, was ignorant, much more are we.

For that he was in paradise he knew, and that he was in the third heaven he was not ignorant; but the manner of it he did not clearly know.

Consider also from another quarter his freedom from vanity.

For in the case of the city of the Damascenes he confirms his statement, but here he no longer does so;

for neither did he greatly wish to establish it, but only to state it and to hint at it.

'Of such a one will I glory.'

not signifying that it was some other person who was caught up;

but, inasmuch as it was possible and feasible both to state it and to shrink from speaking openly about himself, he thus frames his discourse.

For what consistency would there have been, while discoursing about himself, to bring another person into the midst? For what reason, then, did he put it in this way? It was not the same thing to say 'I was caught up' and 'I know a man caught up';

and to say 'I glory on my own behalf' and 'Of such a one will I glory.'

But if anyone should say, 'How is it possible to be caught up apart from the body?' I will ask him in turn, 'How is it possible to be caught up together with the body?' For this too is more perplexing than that, if you examine it by reasonings and do not yield to faith.

And for what reason was he caught up? In order, as I for my part think, that he might seem to be no way inferior to the rest of the apostles.

For since those others had companied with Christ, whereas this man had in no way done so, on this account He caught him too up into paradise unto glory.

For great was the name of this place, and it was sung of everywhere.

And Christ said, 'Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.'

'Of such a one will I glory.'

For what reason? For if it was another who was caught up, why dost thou glory? Whence it is plain that he was saying these things concerning himself.

But if he added, 'yet of myself I will not glory,'

he means nothing else than this: 'When there is no necessity, I will say nothing of the sort lightly and at random;'

or else he is again casting a shadow over what has been said, so far as was possible.

For that the whole discourse was concerning himself, what follows also makes plain;

for he went on to say, 'For though I should desire to glory, I shall not be foolish;'

How then didst thou say before, 'Would that ye could bear with me a little in my foolishness,' and 'What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as in foolishness';

but here, 'though I should desire to glory, I shall not be foolish'? Not in respect of glorying, but in respect of lying;

for if glorying belongs to foolishness, how much more does lying? In this respect, then, he says, 'I shall not be foolish.'

Wherefore he also added, 'For I will speak the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should account of me above that which he seeth me to be, or heareth anything from me.'

This is the acknowledged reason;

for they even accounted them to be gods, on account of the greatness of the signs.

Just as, therefore, in the case of the elements God has done both, having fashioned them both weak and splendid — the one, that He might proclaim His own power, the other, that He might restrain the error of men;

so also here they were both wonderful and weak, that by these very works the unbelievers might be instructed.

For if, remaining only wonderful and bearing no token of weakness, they had by their word turned away the multitude from suspecting anything about them greater than the truth,

they would not only have accomplished nothing, but would have brought about the very opposite.

For disclaimers made through words would have seemed rather to be marks of humility, and would have caused them to be admired the more.

For this reason their weakness was disclosed by deed and in actual events.

And one might see this also in the men who lived under the Old Testament.

For Elijah too was wonderful, yet he was once convicted of cowardice;

and Moses was great, yet he too, for this very passion, became a fugitive.

And these things they suffered, God withdrawing Himself and permitting human nature to be convicted.

For if, when he had led them out, they say, 'Where is Moses?' had he also brought them in, what would they not have said? For this reason he too says, 'I forbear, lest any man should account of me.'

He did not say, 'lest he should say,' but, 'that no man should account anything greater than my desert.'

So that from this also it is plain that the whole discourse is concerning himself.

Wherefore also at the outset he said, 'To glory is not indeed expedient for me.'

He would not, if he had been going to say concerning another the things he did say, have said this;

for why should it not be expedient to glory concerning another? But it was he himself who had been counted worthy of these things;

wherefore also he goes on to say, 'And by reason of the abundance of the revelations, lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me.'

What sayest thou? He who counted the kingdom as nothing, nor even hell, in comparison with the longing for Christ — did he account the honour from the multitude to be anything, so as even to be lifted up and to need a perpetual curb? For he did not say 'that he might buffet me,' but 'that he may keep buffeting me.'

And who could say this? What then is meant? When we have uncovered what the thorn ever is, and who the messenger of Satan is, then we will say this also.

Now some have said that he means a certain headache brought on by the devil;

For the body of Paul would not have been given over into the hands of the devil, seeing that the devil himself yielded to Paul at his mere command;

and Paul laid down laws and limits for him, when he delivered the fornicator over unto the destruction of the flesh;

and that other one did not dare to overstep these.

What then is meant? 'Satan' is said in the language of the Hebrews to mean 'the adversary';

and in the third book of Kings the Scripture thus called the adversaries, when, narrating concerning Solomon, it says, 'There was no satan in his days.'

That is, one who opposes, wars against, or harasses.

What he says, then, is this:

God did not allow the preaching to advance unhindered, thereby restraining our high thoughts, but permitted the adversaries to set upon us.

For this was enough to bring down high-mindedness, but that other thing was not—

no longer so, I mean the matter of the headache.

By an angel of Satan, then, he means Alexander the coppersmith, the company of Hymenaeus and Philetus, all who opposed the word, those who contended with him and warred against him, those who cast him into prison, who beat him, who dragged him away;

since they were doing the works of Satan.

Just as, then, he calls the Jews children of the devil because they emulated his deeds, so also he calls everyone who opposes an angel of Satan.

This, then, is what he says: 'There was given to me a thorn, that it might buffet me';

not as though God arms such men—God forbid!—nor as punishing or taking vengeance, but as permitting and suffering them for the time.

'Concerning this I besought the Lord three times.'

And this too is a mark of great humility: that he did not conceal that he could not bear the plots against him, that he was worn down and needed supplication for deliverance.

'My grace is sufficient for thee; for My power is made perfect in weakness.'

That is: It is sufficient for thee that thou raisest the dead, that thou healest the blind, that thou cleansest lepers, that thou workest the other miracles;

seek not also to preach in safety, without fear, and free from troubles.

But dost thou grieve and despond? Let it not seem a mark of My weakness that many plot against thee, and beat thee, and drive thee, and scourge thee;

for this very thing shows My power.

'For My power,' He says, 'is made perfect in weakness';

when, being persecuted, ye prevail over your persecutors; when, being driven, ye overcome those who drive you; when, being bound, ye put to flight those who bind you.

Seek not therefore what is superfluous.

Seest thou how he himself assigns one cause, and God another? For he says, 'Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh';

but God, he says, declared that He permits this in order to display His power.

Thou seekest, then, not only what is superfluous, but a thing that would overshadow the glory of My power.

For the words 'It is sufficient for thee' signify this: that nothing else ought to be added, but that the whole is already complete.

So that from this also it is plain that he does not mean a headache.

For surely they did not preach while sick (for they could not preach while ailing), but the point is that, though driven and persecuted, they prevailed over all.

'When therefore I heard these things,' he says, 'most gladly will I glory in my weaknesses.'

For lest they should be cast down—since those false apostles boasted in the opposite things, while these men were in persecutions—he shows that for this very reason he becomes more illustrious, and thus the power of God shines forth the more, and what befalls him is worthy of boasting.

Wherefore he says, 'Most gladly therefore will I glory.'

It was not in grief that I said those things which I enumerated, nor this which I have now spoken, that 'there was given to me a thorn,' but as glorying in them and drawing to myself greater power.

Wherefore also he adds, 'That the power of Christ may rest upon me.'

Here he hints at yet another thing: that in proportion as the trials were intensified, so also the grace increased and abode with him.

'Wherefore I take pleasure in many weaknesses.'

In what kind of weaknesses, tell me? 'In insults, in persecutions, in necessities, in distresses.'

Seest thou how he has now revealed it most clearly? For in naming the kind of weakness, he did not say fevers, or any such recurring ailment, or any other bodily sickness, but insults, persecutions, distresses.

Seest thou a right-minded soul? He desired to be delivered from those terrors;

but when he heard from God that this must not be, so far from desponding at failing of his prayer, he even rejoiced.

Wherefore he said: I take pleasure, I rejoice, I desire to be insulted, to be persecuted, to be distressed for Christ's sake.

And these things he said both to repress those men and to lift up the spirits of these, that they might not be ashamed at Paul's sufferings.

For the cause itself suffices to make all men more illustrious.

Then he adds yet another reason:

'For when I am weak, then am I strong.'

Why marvellest thou that the power of God is then displayed? I too am then strong;

for then especially did grace come upon him.

'For as His sufferings abound, so our consolation also aboundeth.'

Where affliction is, there also is consolation;

where consolation is, there also is grace.

…the prison: it was then that he wrought those marvellous deeds;

when he was shipwrecked and cast ashore upon the barbarian land, then most of all was he glorified.

When he entered the judgement-hall in bonds, then he even prevailed over the judge.

So also did it happen in the Old Testament:

in trials the righteous flourished;

so was it with the three children, so with Daniel, and Moses, and Joseph;

all of them became illustrious thence, and were counted worthy of great crowns.

For then is the soul purified, when it is afflicted for God's sake;

then it enjoys greater help, since it needs greater succour and is worthy of more grace.

And even before the reward laid up with God, it reaps great blessings in becoming truly wise.

For affliction plucks away conceit, cuts off all slothfulness, and trains a man for endurance;

it lays bare the worthlessness of human affairs, and introduces much true wisdom.

For all the passions give way before it: envy, jealousy, lust, love of power, love of money and of bodies, boastfulness, conceit, wrath, and all the remaining swarm of these diseases.

And if thou wilt see this in the facts themselves—both in a single man and in an entire people—I shall be able to show thee men both in affliction and in ease, and to teach thee how great the gain from the one, and how great the slothfulness from the other.

For the people of the Hebrews, when they were afflicted and driven, groaned and called upon God, and drew down great favour from above;

but when they had grown fat, they kicked.

The Ninevites again, when they enjoyed security, so provoked God that He threatened to tear up the whole city from its foundations;

but when they were humbled by that preaching, they displayed all true wisdom.

And if thou wouldest see a single man by himself, consider Solomon.

For he too, when he was amid cares and turmoil, taking counsel concerning the government of that nation, was counted worthy of that vision;

but when he came to live in luxury, he slid down into the very abyss of wickedness.

And what of his father? When was he admirable and marvellous? Was it not when he was in trials? And Absalom—was he not sober-minded so long as he was in flight, but when he returned, became both a tyrant and a parricide? And what of Job? He was illustrious indeed even in prosperity, but he appeared more illustrious after his affliction.

And why need we speak of things ancient and of old? For if a man will examine our own affairs of the present day, he will see how great is the gain of affliction.

For now, while we enjoy peace, we have grown slack and dissolute, and have filled the Church with countless evils;

but when we were driven and persecuted, we were more sober-minded and more gentle and more earnest, and more eager both for these assemblies and for the hearing of the word.

For what fire is to gold, that is affliction to souls: it scours away the filth, renders them clean, and makes them shining and radiant.

The one leads into the kingdom, the other into hell.

Therefore the one road is broad, but the other is narrow.

For this reason He Himself also said, 'In the world you shall have tribulation,'

as though bestowing upon us some great good.

If, then, you are a disciple, walk the narrow and afflicted way, and neither be discontented nor lose heart.

For even if you are not afflicted in this way, you will inevitably be afflicted altogether from some other cause that brings no gain.

For the envious man, and the lover of money, and he who is inflamed with lust for a harlot, and the vainglorious, and every one of the rest who pursue evil things, endure many despondencies and afflictions, and are afflicted no less than those who mourn.

But if he neither weeps nor mourns, it is from shame and from insensibility;

for were you to examine his soul closely, you would see it teeming with countless waves.

Since, then, both this man and that, in pursuing their course of life, are of necessity afflicted, why do we not choose this affliction which bears countless crowns? For thus did God lead all the saints, through affliction and distress, at once benefiting them and at the same time securing the rest, so that men should not hold an opinion of them greater than their worth.

For it was in this way that idolatries first prevailed, when men were admired beyond their worth;

the Roman senate reckoned Alexander to be the thirteenth god.

For it too claimed this prerogative, to appoint and to enroll gods.

When, therefore, all that concerned Christ was reported, the ruler of the nation sent to inquire whether it seemed good to them to appoint Him also a god.

But they did not assent, being angry and indignant that, before their vote and decision, the power of the Crucified, blazing forth, had drawn the whole world to its own worship.

But this was so ordained even against their will, that the Godhead of Christ should not be proclaimed by human vote, nor that He should be reckoned one of the many appointed by them.

For indeed they reckoned even boxers to be gods, and the favorite boy of Hadrian;

whence too the city is called Antinous.

For since death bears witness against the mortal nature, the devil devised another way, the immortality of the soul, into which, mingling excessive flattery, he led many into impiety.

Whenever we adduce it for a proper purpose, he overturns the argument;

but whenever he himself wishes to establish it for harm, he sets it up with much zeal.

And should someone say, 'How is Alexander a god? Has he not died, and that wretchedly?' — 'But the soul is immortal,' he answers.

Now you make your argument on behalf of immortality, and you philosophize, in order to withdraw us from the God who is over all;

but whenever we say that this is the greatest gift of God, you persuade men, as though they were deceived, that they are lowly and grovelling, and disposed no better than the brute beasts.

And should we say that the Crucified lives, there is immediately laughter, even though the whole world proclaims it aloud, both long ago and now;

then indeed from the signs, but now from those who have been converted;

for these achievements are surely not those of a dead man.

But should someone say that Alexander lives, you believe it, though you can adduce no sign at all.

'For he achieved many great things while he lived;'

for indeed he subdued nations and cities, and conquered in many wars and battles, and set up trophies.

If, then, I show what that man while living never conceived — neither he nor any other of the men who have ever existed — what other proof of the resurrection do you seek? For that a king, while living and possessing armies, should succeed in wars and victories is nothing wonderful, nor strange and new;

but that after cross and tomb He should accomplish such great things everywhere on land and sea — this it is that is filled with the greatest astonishment, and proclaims the divine and ineffable power.

And Alexander, after his death, did not restore his empire, which had been torn asunder and utterly brought to naught;

for how could a dead man do so? But Christ then most of all established His, when He had died.

And why do I speak concerning Christ, when to His disciples also, after their death, He granted to shine forth? For where, tell me, is the tomb of Alexander? Show it to me, and tell me the day on which he died.

But of the servants of Christ, even their tombs are illustrious, having taken possession of the most royal city, and their days are conspicuous, making a festival for the whole world.

And the one, even his own kinsmen know not; but the other's, even the barbarians are acquainted with.

And the tombs of the servants of the Crucified are more splendid than royal palaces, not only in the greatness and beauty of the buildings;

for in this indeed they prevail;

but, what is far greater, in the zeal of those who gather there.

For even he who wears the purple comes to embrace those tombs, and, laying aside his pomp, stands making supplication to the saints that they may be his patrons before God; and he who wears the diadem entreats the tentmaker and the fisherman, though dead, to be his protectors.

Will you dare, then, tell me, to call the Master of these men dead — He whose servants, even when dead, are patrons of the kings of the world? And this one may see coming to pass not in Rome only, but also in Constantinople.

For here too the son thought to honor Constantine the Great with great honor, if he should lay him at the porch of the fisherman;

and what the doorkeepers are to kings in the palaces,

that in the tomb the kings are to the fishermen.

And the one, as masters of the place, hold the interior; but the others, as sojourners and neighbors, were content to have the outer door assigned to them, showing from these things, even to the unbelievers, that in the resurrection the superiority will belong to the fishermen.

For if here it is so in the tombs, much more will it be in the resurrection.

The kings are clothed with the dignity of servants and attendants, but the subjects with the dignity of kings, or rather with one yet more splendid.

And that the matter is no flattery, this truth itself demonstrates;

for from those men these also have become more illustrious.

For these tombs are far more venerable than the other royal sepulchres;

for there is much desolation, but here much festal assembly.

And if you wish to compare these tombs also with the royal palaces, again here is the victory.

For there many are those who bustle about, but here many are those who call and draw in the rich, the poor, men, women, slaves, free;

there much is the fear, but here unspeakable the pleasure.

But it is a sweet spectacle to behold a king wearing gold and crowned, and generals standing by, rulers, commanders of ranks, chiefs of tribes, prefects.

But the things here are so much more venerable and awe-inspiring, that one would reckon those to be but a stage-play and child's game in comparison with these.

For as soon as you set foot upon the threshold, the place at once conveyed your mind to heaven, to the King above, to the host of the angels, to the lofty throne, to the unapproachable glory.

And here indeed He has made subject to a ruler of those beneath him to loose the one and to bind the other;

but the bones of the saints have not this pitiable and lowly authority, but that other far greater one.

For they present demons and torment them, and release from those most bitter bonds those who are bound.

What is more fearful than this tribunal? Though nothing is seen, though nothing presses upon the sides of the demon, there are cries and convulsions, scourgings, torments, tongues set aflame, since the demon cannot endure that wondrous power.

And those who bore bodies prevail over the incorporeal powers;

the dust and the bones and the ashes tear asunder those invisible natures.

For this reason, then, no one would ever journey abroad merely to behold royal palaces;

but many kings have often journeyed abroad for the sake of this spectacle.

For the martyria of the saints furnish traces and tokens of the coming judgment, with demons being scourged and men being punished and set free.

Have you seen the power of the saints even when they are dead? Have you seen the weakness of sinners even while they yet live? Flee vice, therefore, that you may prevail over such men, and pursue virtue with all diligence.

For if the things here below are of such a kind, consider how great are the things to come.

And being held continually by this longing, lay hold of eternal life;

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