Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 39

But when they heard of a resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said,

'We will hear you again concerning this matter.'

And so Paul departed from the midst of them.

Why then, when he had persuaded them to the point that the Athenians even said, 'We will hear you again concerning this,' and when there were no dangers, does Paul make haste to leave Athens? Perhaps he knew that he would gain no great benefit;

and moreover he was being led by the Spirit to Corinth.

But certain men joined themselves to him and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

And after these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth.

And finding a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, lately come from Italy, with Priscilla his wife (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome), he came to them;

and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked;

for by their trade they were tent-makers.

Fittingly, as I said, he was being led by the Spirit into Corinth, in which it was necessary for him to remain.

For the Athenians, although they were lovers of hearing strange discourse, nevertheless gave no heed;

for this was not what they were earnest about, but rather —

which is the very thing that made them hold back as well.

But if this were their custom, how do they bring the charge that 'he seems to be a proclaimer of strange demons'? Yet these matters were exceedingly perplexing.

But nevertheless he persuaded Dionysius the Areopagite and certain others.

For those who took thought for their manner of life quickly received the word, but the rest did so no longer.

It seemed sufficient, therefore, to Paul for the present to cast in the seeds;

for the greater part of his life had already gone by here.

For under Nero he was made perfect, and from the days of Claudius onward the war against the Jews was being kindled up — from afar, indeed, yet not improbably — so that in this way too they might come to their senses; and they were being driven out of Rome as though they were pests.

For this reason it is providentially ordered that he should be led there as a prisoner, so that he might not be expelled as a Jew, but that, being under official custody, he might both act and be guarded there.

'And he abode with them,' it says.

Marvellous! What a just occasion he found for dwelling together with them!

For since here especially it behoved him not to receive anything, as he himself says, 'That wherein they glory they may be found even as we,' it is providentially ordered that he should remain there.

And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

But when both Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the Spirit, testifying earnestly to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

That is to say, they insulted him, they set upon him.

And what did Paul do? He withdrew from them, and that with much fear.

'For it was no longer needful,' he says, 'that the word should be spoken to you;'

but he also speaks to them in a veiled manner.

But when they set themselves in opposition and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them:

'Your blood be upon your own heads.'

'I am clean; from henceforth I will go to the Gentiles.'

And departing thence, he came into the house of a certain man named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house was adjoining to the synagogue.

And Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house;

and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.

See how, again, having said 'From henceforth,' not even so does he neglect them;

so that it was for the sake of rousing them that he said this.

And so afterwards he came to Justus, whose house was bordering on the synagogue.

It was near at hand, so that they might even take on zeal from the nearness, if only they were willing.

'And Crispus,' it says, 'the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.'

And this was especially sufficient to draw others in.

And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision:

'Fear not, but speak, and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee, for I have much people in this city.'

See through how many things He persuades him, and how that which especially took hold of him, this He tells him last of all:

'For I have much people in this city.'

'How then did they set upon him?' one might ask. And indeed they availed nothing, but only brought him before the proconsul.

And he sat there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment-seat, saying that 'Contrary to the law this fellow persuades men to worship God.'

Do you see why they always wove together their accusations in public? Observe, at any rate, that here, when these said, 'Contrary to the law he persuades men to worship God,' the proconsul took no account of any of this, but rather made a defence on Paul's behalf.

And hear how he answers:

'If indeed it were some wrong or wicked piece of villainy touching the affairs of the city, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you.'

This man seems to me to be a fair-minded person;

and this is plain from the way he answers with discernment.

'But when Paul was about to open his mouth,' it says, 'Gallio said to the Jews:'

'If indeed it were some wrong or wicked piece of villainy, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you;'

'but if it is a question about a word and names and your own law, see to it yourselves;'

'for I am not minded to be a judge of these matters.'

And he drove them from the judgment-seat.

And all the Greeks laid hold of Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment-seat; and Gallio cared for none of these things.

From this, again, the man's fairness is shown.

For when he himself was being beaten, Gallio did not consider it to be an affront to himself;

so reckless were the Jews.

But let us look from the beginning at what has been read.

'But when they heard of a resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said:'

How many great and lofty things they heard, and yet gave no heed, but mocked!

But the resurrection they mocked.

For the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit.

And so, he says, Paul departed from among them.

How? Having persuaded some, while being laughed at by the others.

And having departed from Athens, he says, he came to Corinth.

And finding a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, lately come from Italy, he stayed with them and worked.

Observe how the Law now begins to be dissolved.

For this man, being a Jew, after shaving his head at Cenchreae, afterward departs together with Paul into Syria.

Being a native of Pontus, he was not eager to come to Jerusalem or anywhere near it, but rather farther away.

With him, then, Paul stays, and is not ashamed of staying, but stays for this very reason, having found a suitable lodging.

For it was far more suitable for him than a royal palace.

And do not laugh when you hear this, beloved.

For just as the wrestling-school is more useful to an athlete than soft bedding,

so also to the warrior the sword is of iron, and not of gold.

Let us be ashamed, we who even apart from preaching live in idleness.

And he reasoned in the synagogue, he says, every sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

But when they set themselves in opposition and blasphemed, he withdrew.

Expecting by this the more to draw them, he withdraws.

For why, having left that house, did he come near to the synagogue? Was it not for this reason? For he saw no danger there.

Testifying to them, he says.

He no longer teaches, but testifies solemnly.

And when they set themselves in opposition, he says, and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said:

Your blood be upon your own head.

He does this so as to strike fear into them not by word only, but also by deed;

and he speaks more vehemently, inasmuch as he had also persuaded many.

I am clean, he says.

From now on I will go to the Gentiles.

So then we too are answerable for the blood of those entrusted to us, if we neglect them.

So that also when he says, Henceforth let no one give me trouble, he says it to strike fear;

for punishment did not so much frighten them as this stung them.

And having removed from there, he came into the house of Justus.

He removes, wishing to persuade them that he was pressing on toward the Gentiles.

And Crispus, he says, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord together with his whole house.

Observe how the faithful then did this together with their entire household.

And when this had taken place, immediately many others also, having believed, were baptized.

This Crispus he calls the ruler of the synagogue, concerning whom he says in writing:

I baptized no other, except Crispus and Gaius.

And I think that this man is also called Sosthenes, who was so faithful a man that he was even beaten and was ever present with Paul.

And the Lord said, he says, to Paul in a vision:

For this reason he remains there a long time;

for the multitude also persuaded him, but the intimacy of Christ still more.

For the danger now became greater, as both the greater number believed and the ruler of the synagogue.

This was enough to rouse him: that he was convicted of being afraid; or, though not convicted, yet in order that he might not even suffer this, he is encouraged.

For He did not always permit them to suffer harm, lest they should become weaker.

For nothing so grieved Paul as those who disbelieved, as those who set themselves in opposition.

This was even more grievous to him than the dangers.

And do not keep silence, he says, for I have much people in this city.

Perhaps for this reason also Christ appears to him.

And when Gallio, he says, was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul.

Observe, after the year and the six months they set upon him, when they were no longer able to make use of their own laws.

This most of all raised up the Corinthians, that they were the more persuaded, seeing that not even the ruler stooped to interfere.

For it was not the same thing to conquer by disputation, and to learn.

to learn, that is, that the matters of the case were of no concern to him.

And consider how prudent that man was.

For he did not at once say in reply:

but what? If indeed it were some wrongdoing or wicked villainy, O Jews, I should with reason have borne with you;

but if it is a question about words and names, and of your own law, see to it yourselves;

for I am not willing to be a judge of these things.

He walled off the tribunal against them.

And having laid hold of Sosthenes the ruler of the synagogue, they beat him before the judgment-seat, and none of these things concerned Gallio.

Oh, the shame with which they were put to shame!

And none of these things, he says, concerned Gallio;

and yet the whole was directed against his own dignity;

but as though they had taken license, they themselves beat him, doing the deed of unreasoning rage because of their shame.

And why did that man not strike back, though he too had the power? But they were being trained to bear things philosophically.

He does not strike back, so that the judge too might learn which was the more equitable party.

This profited the bystanders not a little;

for both the equity of these and the insolence of those taught that such matters require a judicial verdict.

But these men do all things without order.

And he did not say, You must not, lest they should beat him again;

'For I,' he says, 'have no wish to be a judge of these matters.'

This is what Pilate too said concerning Christ:

'Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.'

He indeed thought it right that they should judge according to the law, but they, like men drunk and out of their minds, were of such a disposition.

For this reason he withdrew from Athens, since there was a great multitude of people there.

He was being struck, and yet said nothing.

Let us too imitate this man;

let us strike back at those who strike us with gentleness, with silence, with long-suffering.

More grievous are these wounds, greater and more burdensome the blow;

for it is not the striking of the body, but of the mind, that is grievous.

We strike many people, but because it is in the manner of friendship, they even take pleasure in it;

yet if you strike any chance person insolently, since you have touched his heart, you have grieved him exceedingly.

In this way we strike their heart the more.

That gentleness strikes more heavily than insolence, come, let us demonstrate as far as is possible by argument.

The clear demonstration is indeed through deeds and experience;

but if it seem good, let us also make the examination by argument, though we have already often done so.

For in cases of insult nothing grieves us so much as the verdict of the onlookers;

for it is not the same thing to be insulted publicly and in private, but those insults we bear easily, when they come upon us in solitude, when there is none to bear witness to it, nor any who is aware.

Thus it is not the nature of the insult that stings, but the suffering of it before all;

so that if someone were to honour us before all, yet insult us in private, we should even feel gratitude.

Therefore the painfulness lies not in the nature of the insult, but in the verdict of the onlookers, lest one seem to be contemptible.

What then, if this very verdict is on our side? Is not rather the one who insults himself insulted, when they cast their votes in our favour? Tell me, whom do those present despise? The one who insults, or the one who is insulted and keeps silence? Anger indeed suggests that it is the one insulted;

but now, while we are free from the passion, let us consider it, that we may not then be carried away.

Whom then do we all condemn? It is plain that it is the one who insults;

and if he be an inferior, we shall say that he is even mad; if an equal, that he is foolish; if a superior, not even so shall we approve of him.

For who, tell me, is worthy of approval? The one who is troubled, storm-tossed, made savage, thus disposed toward our common nature, or the one in calm and in harbour and in much philosophy? Does not the one resemble an angel, and the other not even a man? For the one cannot even bear his own troubles, while that other bears even the troubles of others;

the one could not endure even himself, while the other endures even another;

the one is in shipwreck, while the other sails in safety, his ship borne along by favouring winds;

for he did not allow the blast of anger, falling upon the sails, to overturn the vessel of his mind;

but a light and pleasant breeze, blowing gently upon him—the breath of forbearance—leads him with much tranquillity into the harbour of philosophy.

And just as in a shipwrecked vessel the sailors do not know what they throw overboard, whether they take up deposits belonging to their own or to others, but make jettison of all the contents alike, both the precious and those that are not such;

but when the storm ceases, then reckoning up how much they cast out, they weep, and do not perceive the calm because of the loss from the jettison;

so indeed here too, when anger blows and the storm is roused, they do not know how to cast out what is fitting in due order;

but when the anger ceases, then reckoning up what sort of things they cast out, they consider the loss and do not perceive the repose, remembering the words by which they disgraced themselves and suffered the greatest loss—not in money, but in the reputation for gentleness and meekness.

Truly anger is darkness.

'The fool,' it says, 'has said in his heart';

perhaps it is fitting to say this also concerning the man in anger, that the angry man has said:

'For according to the abundance of his wrath he will not seek out.'

For whatever godly reasoning enters, he thrusts them all away and drives them off, casting them all headlong aside.

Unless you grieve more than the one insulted, then insult, even though there be none to accuse you;

unless the tribunal of conscience, taking you in private, scourges you ten thousand times.

When therefore you hear that the one insulted uttered no bitter word, are you not the more pained by this? Tell me, how did you drench a man gentle and lowly and forbearing with ten thousand revilings? These things we say continually, but we do not see them exhibited in deeds.

Being a man, do you insult a man? Being a slave, your fellow-slave? But why do I marvel at this, when many insult even God? IV.

Let this be a consolation to you who are insulted.

Are you insulted? God too is insulted.

Are you reproached? God too is reproached.

Are you spat upon? For our Master too was.

In these things, then, He shares with us, but in the contrary things no longer.

For He never insulted anyone unjustly;

nor did He reproach without cause, nor did He wrong anyone.

So that it is we who share with Him, not you.

For to bear being insulted belongs to God;

but to insult without cause belongs to a demon.

'You have a demon,' Christ heard;

He was struck by the servant of the high priest.

Those, then, who insult unjustly stand with those men;

for if Peter even heard himself called Satan for one word, much more shall these Jews hear it, when they do the deeds of the Jews, just as those men were children of the devil, since they wrought the works of the devil.

You insult—being who, tell me? Rather, for this very reason you insult, because you are nothing;

for no one who is truly a man insults.

So that what is said in quarrels, 'Who are you?' ought to be said the other way round;

that is, one ought to say, 'Insult away';

but as it is, when we say, 'As being who do you insult?' one may hear throughout, 'As being better than you.'

And yet the opposite ought to be said;

but since we ask amiss, for this reason they too answer amiss;

for as though those who insult were great men, we so speak:

'As being who do you insult?' For this reason they too answer thus.

But the contrary ought to be said;

and to those who do not insult, this rather ought to be said:

'As being who do you not insult? You have surpassed human nature.'

This is nobility, this is freedom—to utter nothing ignoble, even though one deserve to hear it.

Tell me, then, how many are not deserving to be put to death? And yet the judge does not do this of himself, but he questions;

and not even this does he do of himself.

But if it is intolerable for one who is judging to converse with a wicked man, and instead he employs some intermediary, then much more ought we not to insult those who are our equals;

for we shall not so much gain the advantage over them by insulting them, as we shall be taught that we have insulted ourselves.

The wicked, therefore, we must not insult, for this reason; and the good, for yet another reason, namely that they do not deserve it;

and thirdly, because one ought not to be an insolent person at all.

A man is insulted and outraged, and he who does the outrage is a man, and those who look on are men.

What then? Must the wild beasts come into the midst and make peace? For that is what is left.

For when the men are those who take delight in injustice, it remains for the beasts to effect the reconciliation;

when masters are quarrelling in a house, it remains for the servants to reconcile them ( for this the very nature of the matter demands, even if perhaps it does not come about in this way).

For this reason insolence has come to seem something great, and to seem to befit the great;

whereas it rather befits slaves, just as fair speech becomes free men.

For as to do evil belongs to the former, so to suffer evil belongs to the latter.

What a thieving maidservant is, secretly filching her master's goods, such a thing also is insolence;

and, as one might say, just as the thief, entering in haste, looks all around, eager to snatch away something;

so also this man scans everything around him.

Perhaps let us portray him by yet another illustration.

For just as if someone were to steal unclean vessels out of a house, and to carry them out in front of everyone, he would not so much disgrace the things stolen as he would disgrace himself, in filching these and carrying them out;

so indeed this man too, casting out unclean words in front of everyone, disgraced not others but himself through his words, bringing forth such things and defiling both his tongue and his mind.

For the same thing happens when we contend with the wicked, as if a man, in order to strike one who is in a state of putrefaction, were to defile himself by plunging his hands into the mire.

Reckoning up all these things, I exhort you, let us flee the harm that comes from this, and keep our tongue given to fair speech, so that, being kept pure from all insolence, we may be able with all exactness to accomplish the present life, and to attain the good things promised to those who love Him, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honour, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.