Homilies on Colossians 10

'Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord;'

'and whatsoever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through him.'

Having exhorted them to be thankful, he shows also the way.

What sort of way is this? The very one of which we lately discoursed to you.

Saying what? 'Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.'

Or rather, not this alone, but also another way.

For I, on my part, said that those who have suffered more grievous things should recount them, and that those who have endured harder things than what we suffer should reckon them up, and give thanks that those calamities did not befall us;

but what does he himself say? 'Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;'

that is, the teaching, the doctrines, the exhortation, in which he declares that the present life is nothing, nor are its good things.

For if we behold these things, we shall yield to none of the hardships.

'Let it dwell,' he says, 'in you richly'—not simply, but with great abundance.

Hear, all you who are worldly and have charge of wife and children, how he enjoins upon you above all to read the Scriptures;

and not simply, nor in a chance manner, but with great diligence.

For as the man rich in money is able to bear loss and penalty, so he who is rich in the doctrines of true philosophy will easily bear not poverty only, but also all misfortunes, and far more easily than the other.

For in the one case, in the paying off of the loss, the man who is rich must needs be diminished and be put to the proof;

and should he suffer this often, he will no longer be able to bear it;

for we do not expend our sound reasonings when it is needful to bear something of the things we would not wish, but they abide throughout.

And mark the discernment of this blessed man;

'Let the word of Christ be in you'—not simply, but what? 'Let it dwell,' and, 'Richly.'

'In all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another.'

for humility too, and almsgiving, and all such things, are wisdom;

just as, on the contrary, their opposites are folly.

Whence in many places he calls all sin folly.

'The fool,' he says, 'has said in his heart, There is no God;'

and again, 'My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.'

For what, tell me, is more senseless than one who wraps himself in garments, yet overlooks his own brethren going naked? than one who feeds dogs, but neglects the image of God perishing in famine? than one who is simply persuaded that human affairs are nothing, and yet clings to them as though they were immortal? As, therefore, nothing is more senseless than such a man, so nothing is wiser than he who pursues virtue.

For see, he says, how wise he is;

he imparts of his goods, he is merciful, he is kindly toward men;

he has recognized that our nature is common to all;

he has recognized the use of money, that it is worth no account;

that one must spare one's own body rather than one's money.

Wherefore, despising glory, he is also a lover of wisdom;

for he knows human affairs for what they are.

Philosophy is the knowledge of things divine and human.

He knows, then, what things are divine and what are human, and from the one he abstains, but the other he practices;

he knows, and gives thanks to God in all things;

he counts the present life to be nothing;

therefore he neither delights in prosperity, nor grieves in adversity.

Do not wait for another teacher;

no one teaches you as those Scriptures do.

For a human teacher often conceals much, both through vainglory and through envy;

Hear, I beseech you, all you who are engaged in the affairs of life, and acquire books, the medicines of the soul.

If you will have nothing else, at least acquire the New Testament, the Acts of the Apostles, the Gospels, as continual teachers.

If grief befall you, bend over them as over a chest of medicines;

take thence consolation for your trouble, whether it be loss, or death, or the bereavement of kinsfolk;

or rather, do not merely bend over them, but take up the whole of them, and keep them in your mind.

This is the cause of all evils—the not knowing the Scriptures.

We march to war without arms;

and how are we to be saved? It is a great thing to be saved even with these arms, much less without them.

Do not cast everything upon us;

you are sheep, yet not without reason, but endowed with reason;

Paul commits many things to you also.

Those who are being taught do not spend all their time forever in learning, since then they are not truly taught;

if you are always learning, you will never have learned.

Come not as one who will forever be learning;

since so you will never know, but come as one who will finish learning, and will teach another.

But tell me, do not all men remain for appointed seasons at their studies, and in all the arts whatsoever? Thus we all fix a definite time;

but if one is always learning, it is a proof of having learned nothing.

This reproach God spoke against the Jews:

'Borne from the womb, and being instructed even unto old age.'

If you did not always expect this, all things would not thus go backward.

If it were possible for some to be already learned, and others to be about to become so, the work would have advanced for us;

you would have given place to others, and would have lent your aid to us as well.

Tell me, if some were to go to a schoolmaster, and then were to remain forever learning their letters, would they not cause the teacher much toil? How long shall we keep discoursing to you about the conduct of life? In the days of the Apostles it was not so; rather, they were continually passing on, appointing those who had learned before as teachers of certain others who were being made disciples.

In this way they were able to go about the whole inhabited world, precisely because they were not bound fast to any one place.

How much instruction do you suppose your brethren out in the fields need, and their teachers as well? Yet you hold me fast, having nailed me down.

For before the head has been rightly ordered, it is superfluous to proceed to the rest of the body.

You ought to learn from us alone;

but the women should learn from you, and the children from you;

yet you leave everything to us.

'Teaching,' he says, 'and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.'

Observe also the gentleness of Paul, that he lays no heavy burden.

Since reading involves toil, and much that is burdensome, he did not lead them to narrative histories, but to psalms, so that at once you may both delight your soul by singing, and beguile the toil away.

'With hymns,' he says, 'and spiritual songs.'

But as it is, your children take up satanic songs and dances, like cooks and caterers and stage-dancers;

yet not a single one knows any psalm at all; nay, the thing even seems to be a shame and a mockery and a matter for laughter.

From that source all the evils are kept in being.

For in whatever soil a plant may stand, such is the fruit it bears.

if in sandy and briny soil, such is its fruit;

if in sweet and rich soil, again the fruit is like it.

Thus teachings are a kind of spring.

Teach him to sing those psalms that are laden with wisdom—for example, on temperance from the very start; or rather, before all else, on not keeping company with the wicked—right from the very beginning of the book (for it was for this reason that the Prophet also began from this point, saying:

'Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly';

and again, 'I have not sat with the assembly of vanity.'

'In his sight the evildoer is despised;

but he honors those who fear the Lord').

on keeping company with the good (these things too you will find there);

on ruling over the belly, on restraining the hands, on not being covetous;

that riches are nothing, nor glory, and all things of that kind.

When from childhood you have led him on in these things, little by little you will lead him also to the loftier ones.

The psalms contain all things, but the hymns again have nothing human;

when he has learned in the psalms, then he will also come to know the hymns, as being a more divine matter.

For the powers above sing hymns, they do not chant psalms;

for 'praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner,' it says;

and again, 'My eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell together with me';

and again, 'He that works pride did not dwell in the midst of my house';

and again, 'He that walked in a blameless way, he ministered to me.'

So take care to associate yourselves not only with friends, but not even with servants who are corrupt.

For countless evils come upon the free-born, whenever we set corrupted slaves over them.

For if, even while enjoying a father's tender affection and such great wisdom, they are scarcely preserved,

when we hand them over to the negligence of servants, what will they become? Men treat their slaves as though they were enemies, supposing that their mastery over them is the more secure if they render them stupid and base and worthy of no account.

Before all else, then, let us be diligent in these matters.

'I have loved,' he says, 'those who love your law.'

This man, then, let us also emulate, and let us love such as these.

And that the children may in turn be temperate, let them hear the Prophet saying, that 'My loins are filled with mockings';

and again, 'You will utterly destroy every one that plays the harlot away from you.'

And that one must restrain the belly, let them hear again:

'And he slew,' it says, 'among the greater part of them, while the meat was yet in their mouths.'

And that one must be master over gifts, from this they will learn:

'If riches,' it says, 'flow in, set not your heart upon them';

and that they should be master over glory, this too they will find:

'Nor shall his glory go down after him with him.'

'Do not be envious over those that do evil';

to count dominions as nothing;

'I saw the ungodly exalted on high and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon, and I passed by, and behold, he was not';

to reckon present things as nothing;

'They have called the people blessed to whom these things belong';

'blessed is the people whose helper is the Lord their God';

that we do not sin without consequence, but there is a recompense;

that 'You will render,' it says, 'to each according to his works.'

And why does he not render it every day? 'God is a judge,' it says, 'righteous and strong and long-suffering';

that humility of mind is a good thing;

'Lord,' it says, 'my heart was not lifted up';

'For this cause,' it says, 'pride laid hold of them to the end';

and again, 'The Lord sets himself against the proud';

and again, 'Their iniquity will come forth as from fatness.'

'He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever';

'A good man is he who pities and lends.'

And many teachings even more numerous than these, full of wisdom, will you find there;

for instance, that one ought not to speak evil:

'Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,' it says, 'him did I drive away.'

What the hymn of those on high is, what the Cherubim say, the faithful know.

What did the angels say down below? 'Glory to God in the highest.'

For this reason, after the psalms come hymns, as being something more perfect.

'Singing with spiritual songs in grace in your hearts to God.'

Either he means this, that God gave us these things on account of grace; or with the songs that are in grace; or, admonishing yourselves and teaching one another in grace; or that they possessed these spiritual gifts in grace; or it is a further explanation.

'From the grace of the Spirit,' he says.

'Singing in your hearts to God.'

Not simply with the mouth, he says, but with attentiveness.

For this is to sing to God, but the other is to sing to the air;

for the voice is simply scattered abroad.

Even if you are in the marketplace, you are able to collect yourself and to sing to God, with no one hearing.

Since Moses too prayed in this way, and was heard;

'Why do you cry out to me?' And yet he had said nothing, but was crying out in his mind with a contrite heart;

wherefore God alone heard him.

For one is not hindered even while walking about from praying in the heart and being on high.

'And whatever you do,' he says, 'in word or in deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.'

For if we act in this way, nothing will be defiled, nothing unclean, wherever Christ is invoked.

If you eat, if you drink, if you marry, if you travel abroad, do all in the name of God;

that is, calling him to your aid;

in all things first praying to him, then lay hold of your affairs.

Do you wish to utter something? Set this before it.

For this reason we too place the name of the Lord at the head of our letters.

Wherever the name of the Lord is, all things are auspicious.

For if the names of consuls make legal documents secure, much more does the name of Christ.

Say and do all things according to God;

do not bring in the angels.

Do you eat? Give thanks to God, both when about to and afterwards.

Do you sleep? Give thanks to God, both when about to and afterwards.

Do you enter the marketplace? Do the same;

nothing worldly, nothing pertaining to this life.

Do all things in the name of the Lord, and all things will prosper for you.

Wherever the name of God is set upon a thing, all things are auspicious.

If it casts out demons, if it drives away diseases, much more will it bring about ease in one's affairs.

And what is it to do 'in word or in deed'? Either in making a request, or in doing anything whatsoever.

Hear how Abraham sent his servant in the name of God, how David overthrew Goliath in the name of God.

'Wondrous is his name and great.'

Again Jacob, sending his sons, says:

'And may my God give you favour in the sight of the man.'

For he who does this has God as his ally, without whom he dared to do nothing.

Therefore, being honoured by being invoked, he will return the honour by making one's affairs go smoothly.

Call upon the Son, give thanks to the Father.

For when the Son is called upon, the Father is called upon, and when he is thanked, the Son is thanked.

Let us learn these things, so as to fulfil them not merely in words but also through our deeds.

Nothing is equal to this name;

it is marvellous everywhere;

'Your name,' he says, 'is ointment poured forth.'

He who said this was straightway filled with fragrance.

'No one can say the Lord Jesus,' he says, 'except in the Holy Spirit.'

This name accomplishes so many things.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, with faith, you have accomplished all things.

You have created a new man, and you have wrought all the rest from baptism.

So fearful is the name when it commands diseases.

For this reason the devil brought in the worship of angels, grudging us this honour.

Such are the incantations of the demons.

Even if it be an angel, even if an archangel, even if the Cherubim, do not tolerate it;

since not even these powers will accept it, but they will even shake it off, when they see the Master dishonoured.

'I honoured you,' he says, 'and said:

and do you dishonour him?' If you sing this incantation with faith, you will drive away both diseases and demons;

and even if you do not drive away the disease, it is not from weakness, but because of what is expedient.

'According to your greatness,' he says, 'so also is your praise.'

Through this name the whole world was converted, the tyranny

was dissolved, the devil was trampled down, the heavens were opened.

And why do I speak of the heavens? We ourselves were born anew through this name.

If we possess this, we shine forth.

This makes both martyrs and confessors;

let us hold fast to this as to a great gift, that we may live in glory, and be well-pleasing to God, and be counted worthy of the good things promised to those who love him, by the grace and lovingkindness (of Christ).