Homilies on Colossians 11

'Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.'

'Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.'

'Children, obey your parents in all things;

for this is well-pleasing in the Lord.'

'Fathers, provoke not your children, lest they be discouraged.'

Servants, obey in all things those who are 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 unto the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the recompense of the inheritance;

for you serve the Lord Christ.

But he who does wrong shall receive back the wrong which he has done, and there is no respect of persons with God.

Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Why does he not enjoin these things everywhere and in all his epistles, but only here, and in that to the Ephesians, and to Timothy, and to Titus? Because it is likely that in these cities there were dissensions;

or it is likely that in other respects they had set things right, but in these fell so far short that it was needful for them to hear instruction concerning these matters also.

Rather, what he says to these he says to all.

This Epistle bears much resemblance to that to the Ephesians.

But elsewhere he does not do this;

either because they were men now living in peace, whom it behooved to be learning about high doctrines still lacking to them, and it was not fitting to write to them concerning these matters;

or because, having been exhorted amid their trials, it was superfluous for them to hear concerning these things.

So then I conjecture that here the Church was by now firmly established, and that these things are being said toward the end.

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord;

which is to say, Submit yourselves for God's sake;

since this, he says, adorns you, not them.

For I speak not of a slavish subjection, nor of that which comes from nature only, but of that which is for God's sake.

Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

See how again he counsels what is suitable to each.

Just as there he sets down fear and love, so also here;

for it is possible even for one who loves to be bitter.

For nothing is so bitter as this strife, when it arises from a husband toward his wife.

For the quarrels that arise toward the persons we love, these are bitter;

and it shows that it comes from much bitterness, when, he says, one is at variance with his own member.

Now to love belongs to the husbands, but to yield belongs to those others.

If then each contributes his own part, all things stand firm.

For from being loved the wife too becomes affectionate;

and from submitting herself the husband becomes gentle.

And observe that even in nature it is so constituted, that the one should love, and the other should obey.

For when the ruler loves the ruled, then all things are held together.

The love from the ruled is not so much required toward the ruled as is the love from the ruler;

for from the former comes obedience.

For that the wife should be in beauty, and he in desire, shows nothing else but that it has come to be so because of love.

Do not therefore, because the wife is made subject, lord it over her;

nor you, because your husband loves you, be puffed up.

Let neither the husband's love lift up the wife, nor the wife's submission puff up the husband.

For this reason he subjected her to you, that she might the more be loved;

for this reason he caused you to be loved, O wife, that you might easily bear being made subject.

For to be made subject to one who loves you has no difficulty at all.

In no other way, then, could the bond have come to be.

You have, then, from nature a rule that is necessary; have also the bond that is from love;

for he made the weaker one to be endurable.

Children, obey your parents in all things;

for this is well-pleasing in the Lord.

Again he has set down the phrase 'in the Lord,' both laying down laws of obedience, and putting them to shame, and casting them down.

For this, he says, is well-pleasing to the Lord.

See how he wills that we should do all things, not from nature alone, but before this from what seems good to God, that we may also have a reward.

Fathers, provoke not your children, lest they be discouraged.

Behold again here also submission and love.

And he said not, Love your children;

for nature itself constrains to this, but he corrected what needed correcting, namely that the love here too should be more intense, since the obedience also is greater.

For nowhere does he set down as an example the case of the husband and that of the wife;

but what? Hear the Prophet saying:

Like as a father pitieth his sons, so the Lord pitied them that fear Him.

And again Christ says:

What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? And if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? – Fathers, provoke not your children, lest they be discouraged.

That which he knew was especially able to sting them, this he set down, and he spoke in a more affectionate way when enjoining it upon them, and nowhere does he set down God;

for he softened the parents, and bowed down their inward affections.

But the phrase 'provoke not' means this: Make them not more contentious;

there are times when you ought even to make concessions.

Then he came to the third relation, saying, Servants, obey your masters according to the flesh.

Here too there is a certain affection, but no longer a natural one, as above, but one of custom, and from the relation itself, and from the works.

Since then here the element of affection is cut short, but that of obedience is heightened, he dwells upon this, wishing to give to these by means of obedience that which the first have from nature.

So that he discourses not to the household servants alone on behalf of their masters, but also on behalf of the servants themselves, that they may render themselves beloved to their masters.

But he does not set this down openly;

for he would else have made them supine.

Servants, he says, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh.

And observe how he always sets down the names — wives, children, servants — as a ground of obligation for obeying.

But that it might not grieve them, he added:

That which is better in you, the soul, has been set free, he says;

Subject that motive, then, so that the service may no longer be one of compulsion.

'Not with eye-service, as men-pleasers.'

Cause, he says, that the servitude imposed by law should proceed instead from the fear of Christ.

For even if you do what is required and what tends to your master's honour when he is not looking, it is plain that you do it for the sake of the eye that never sleeps.

'Not according to eye-service,' he says, 'as men-pleasers.'

So that it is you who will sustain the loss.

For hear the Prophet saying:

'The Lord has scattered the bones of the men-pleasers.'

Observe, then, how he spares them and at the same time sets them in order.

'But in singleness,' he says, 'of heart, fearing God.'

For that other thing is not singleness but hypocrisy—to have one disposition and to act out another;

to appear one man when the master is present, and another when he is absent.

'In singleness of heart,' but, 'Fearing God.'

For this is what it means to fear God: when no one is watching, that we do nothing wicked;

but if we do commit it, then we are fearing not God, but men.

Do you see that he is setting them in order? 'Whatever you do,' he says, 'work at it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.'

He wishes them to be delivered not only from hypocrisy, but also from idleness.

He has made them free instead of slaves, when they no longer need the oversight of their masters;

for the phrase 'from the soul' means this: with goodwill, not with a slave's compulsion, but with freedom and free choice.

And what is the reward? 'Knowing,' he says, 'that from the Lord you will receive the recompense of the inheritance.'

Therefore it is plain that from Him you will receive the reward.

And that you serve the Lord is plain from this.

'But he that does wrong,' he says, 'shall receive back the wrong that he has done.'

Here he confirms the earlier statement.

For lest his words should seem to be flattery, 'He shall receive,' he says, 'the wrong that he has done';

that is, He also renders punishment;

'For there is no respect of persons with God.'

For what if you are a slave? Are you not ashamed?

And indeed this ought to have been said to the masters, just as it is also in the Epistle to the Ephesians.

But here he seems to me to be hinting at the Greek masters.

For what if that one is a Greek, and you a Christian? It is not the persons, but the deeds, that are examined.

So that even so one must serve with goodwill and from the soul.

'Masters, render to your servants that which is just and equal.'

And what is 'that which is just'? And what is 'equality'? To establish them in abundance of all things, and not to allow them to be in need of others, but to requite them for their labours.

For do not, because I said that they have their reward from God, on that account defraud them.

And elsewhere he says, 'Forbearing threatening,' desiring to make them more gentle;

that is, 'With what measure you measure, it shall be measured again to you.'

And the saying, 'There is no respect of persons,' was spoken to these;

yet it is laid upon those others, so that these may receive it.

For whenever we say to one person what fits another, we correct not so much that person as the one who is accountable.

'And you along with them,' he says.

Here he made the servitude common to both;

'For knowing,' he says, 'that you also have a Master in heaven.'

'Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving.'

For since persevering in prayers often makes men grow slack, on this account he says:

'Watching,' that is, being sober, not letting the mind wander.

For the devil knows, indeed he knows, how great a good prayer is;

and Paul too knows how many grow weary while praying;

therefore he says, 'Continue steadfastly in prayer,' as of something laborious.

'Watching therein, with thanksgiving.'

For let this be your work, he says: in your prayers to give thanks both for the manifest and for the hidden things, and both for the benefits He has done us willingly and for those unwillingly, and for the kingdom and for gehenna, and for affliction and for relief.

For thus it was the custom of the saints to pray, and to give thanks even for the benefits common to all.

I myself knew a certain holy man who prayed in this way.

He would say nothing before this utterance, but only that:

'We give thanks for all Your benefits, which from the first day even to the present are shown toward us who are unworthy;

for those we know and those we do not know, for the manifest, for the hidden, for those wrought in deed, for those in word, for the willing, for the unwilling;

for all that has been done toward us who are unworthy;

for afflictions, for reliefs, for hell, for punishment, for the kingdom of the heavens.'

'We beseech You to keep our soul holy, having a pure conscience, and an end worthy of Your loving-kindness.'

'O You who have so loved us as to give Your Only-Begotten for us, count us worthy to become worthy of Your love;

give wisdom in Your word, and in Your fear, O only-begotten Christ, breathe into us the strength that comes from You;

You who gave the Only-Begotten for us, and sent forth Your Holy Spirit for the remission of our sins—if in anything we have sinned willingly or unwillingly, forgive it, and do not reckon it against us;

remember all those who call upon Your name in truth;

remember all those who wish us well, and those who wish us the contrary;

for we are all human beings.

Then, having added the prayer of the faithful, he ceased at this point, having made the prayer, as it were, a coping-stone and a bond on behalf of all.

For God does us many benefits even against our will;

many, indeed, even without our knowing, and greater ones at that.

For when we pray for the contrary things, but He does the contrary, it is plain that He benefits us even without our knowing.

Praying at the same time also concerning ourselves.

See his humility: he ranks himself after those others.

That God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ.

He means an entrance and boldness of speech.

So great a champion did not say, 'That I may be freed from my bonds,' but, being himself a prisoner, he besought others on behalf of others; and he besought them for a great matter, that he might receive boldness to speak.

There are two great things here: both the quality of the person and that of the matter.

'The mystery,' he says, 'of Christ.'

He shows that nothing was more longed for by him than this—to speak.

For which also I am bound, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

'With much boldness,' he says, 'and holding nothing back.'

You see, the bonds make him manifest; they do not cast a shadow over him.

'With much boldness,' he says.

Tell me, you are bound, and yet you exhort others? 'Yes,' he says.

'The bonds give me greater boldness;'

'but I stand in need of God's help;'

'for I have heard Christ saying:'

'When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak.'

And see how metaphorically he spoke:

'That God may open to us a door for the word;'

See how free from pride he is, and how, even while in bonds, he utters humble words:

that is, 'That He may soften their hearts.'

He did not say it thus, but, 'That He may give us boldness,' speaking so out of humility; and this very thing which he already had, he counts himself worthy to receive.

In this Epistle he shows why Christ did not come at that time, when He called those things a shadow:

'But the body,' he says, 'is Christ's.'

So that it was needful first to be trained in the shadow.

At the same time he displays also a very great proof of his love toward them:

'That you,' he says, 'may hear;'

Again he sets his bond in the midst—that bond which I dearly love, which rouses up my heart, and ever brings me to a longing to behold Paul bound, and writing in bonds, and preaching, and baptizing, and catechizing.

On behalf of the Churches everywhere it was borne up to him while he was bound; bound, he built up countless souls.

For hear him saying:

'So that most of the brethren, being made confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.'

And he himself again confesses this, saying:

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

'But the word of God is not bound.'

He was bound together with malefactors, with prisoners, with murderers:

the teacher of the whole world, he who ascended to the third heaven, he who heard unspeakable words, was bound.

But then the course was all the swifter.

He that was bound was loosed, and he that was not bound was bound.

For this man did whatever he wished;

but that other neither hindered him, nor fulfilled his own purpose.

What are you doing, O foolish one? Is he a bodily runner? Does he contend in a stadium such as ours? He has his citizenship in heaven:

the things of earth cannot bind, nor hold back, him who runs in heaven.

Do you not see this sun? Cast bonds upon its rays, stay it from its course:

and far more this one than that;

for this man enjoyed a greater providence than that sun, inasmuch as he bore not such a light as ours, but carried the true Light.

Where now are they who are unwilling to suffer anything for Christ's sake? And why do I say to suffer, when they are not even willing to part with their money? Paul too once bound others, and cast them into prison;

but since he became Christ's servant, he glories no longer in doing, but in suffering.

And this too is a marvel of the preaching, that it is thus raised up and increased through those who themselves suffer, and not through those who do evil.

Where has anyone seen contests such as these? He who suffers evil, conquers;

and he who does evil, is defeated.

This one is more illustrious than that;

through bonds the preaching made its entrance.

'I am not ashamed,' he says, 'but I even glory in preaching Him who was crucified.'

The whole world, leaving those who were unbound, came to those who were bound;

turning away from those who bind, it honors those who wear the chain;

hating those who crucified, it worships Him who was crucified.

It is marvelous not only that the heralds were fishermen, that they were unlettered men, but that there were also other hindrances—hindrances by nature—and yet the increase became all the greater.

Not only did their want of learning not hinder, but this very thing caused the preaching to be made manifest.

For hear Luke saying:

'And when they perceived,' he says, 'that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled.'

Not only did the bond in no way hinder, but this very thing made them the bolder.

The disciples were not so bold when Paul was loosed, as when he was bound;

'For much more,' he says, 'are they bold to speak the word of God without fear.'

Where are they who gainsay, saying that the preaching is not divine? Was not their want of learning enough to make them despised? Ought not this too, then, to have made them afraid? For you know that the multitude is held fast by these two passions, vainglory and cowardice.

Their want of learning did not suffer them to be free from shame;

the dangers were bound to cast them into cowardice.

'But they wrought miracles,' one says.

You believe, then, that they wrought miracles.

But suppose they did not work them? This is a greater marvel than the working of them, if without miracles men were brought to the faith.

Socrates too was bound among the Greeks;

what then? Did not his disciples straightway flee to Megara? Assuredly they did.

For it was not because they had received teachings concerning immortality that they took courage.

Paul was bound, and the disciples took the greater courage; for they saw that the preaching was not hindered.

For they saw that the preaching was in no way impeded.

Can you then bind the tongue? By this very means it runs all the faster.

For just as, if you do not bind a runner's feet, you have not hindered his running,

so also, if you do not bind the evangelist's tongue, you have not hindered his running.

And just as that runner, if you bind his loins, runs all the better and is borne along, so too this man, when bound, preaches all the more, and with greater boldness.

The prisoner is afraid only when a bond is all there is;

but he who despises death, how could he be bound? They were doing the same as if they had bound Paul's shadow and stopped up its mouth.

For to his own people he became the more longed-for, and to his enemies the more revered, inasmuch as he bore his bond as the prize of his courage.

A crown adorns the head, but does not shame it; rather it even makes it splendid.

Against their will they crowned him with the chain.

Tell me, could iron have bound him who dared to face the adamantine gates of death? Let us come, beloved, to a zeal for these bonds.

As many of you women as wear golden ornaments, long for the bonds of Paul.

The necklace about your neck does not gleam upon you as that adornment of iron bonds shone about his soul.

If anyone longs for those things, let him hate these.

For what fellowship has softness with manliness, or bodily adornment with the love of wisdom? Those bonds the angels reverence; these they even mock.

Those bonds are wont to draw one from earth to heaven; these bonds bring one down from heaven to earth.

For truly these are bonds, not those;

those are adornment, these are bonds.

These, together with the body, oppress the soul as well; those, together with the body, adorn the soul as well.

Do you wish to learn that those are an adornment? Tell me, who drew the beholders more, you or Paul? And why do I say you? The queen herself,

she who is decked out in all manner of gold, would not have drawn the beholders more;

but if it had happened that Paul, at the same moment, bound, and the queen too, should enter into the church, all would have transferred their eyes from her to him;

for to behold a man greater than human nature, having nothing of the human but being an angel upon earth, is more wondrous than to behold an adorned woman.

For these things one may see in theatres, and in processions, and in baths, and in many places;

but a man clothed in bonds, and reckoning that he possesses the greatest adornment, and not yielding to the bonds, this is no earthly spectacle for the beholder to see, but a sight worthy of the heavens.

The soul that is decked in these ornaments looks about to see who has seen and who has not; it is filled with vanity, held fast by anxieties, bound by ten thousand other passions;

but he who is clothed in those bonds is free of vanity;

his soul exults, is delivered from all care, rejoicing, looking toward heaven, made winged.

If someone were to grant me to see Paul peering down from heaven and uttering his voice, or from the prison, I would have chosen the prison;

for they who are from heaven come to him whenever he is in the prison.

The bond of the preaching is the bonds of Paul; the foundation is that chain.

Let us long for those bonds.

And how, one says, is it possible? If we crush and break these to pieces.

We gain no benefit from these bonds, but rather harm.

There these things will show us to be prisoners, but the bonds of Paul will loose those bonds;

she who is bound here with these will be bound there hand and foot with the undying bonds; but she who is bound with those of Paul will have them then encircling her as an adornment.

Loose both yourself from the bond and the poor man from famine.

Why do you tighten the cords of your sins? How, one asks?

When you wear gold, while another perishes;

when you, in order to gain empty glory, take so much gold, while another has not even enough 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 wish to wear the King of all Himself? If someone gave you the purple robe and the diadem, would you not accept it in exchange for all the gold? I give you not the royal adornment, but grant you to put on the King Himself.

And how, one says, could anyone put on Christ? Hear Paul saying:

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Hear the apostolic exhortation:

Make no provision, he says, for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts.

Thus does one put on Christ, by making no provision for the flesh unto lust.

If you put on Christ, even demons will fear you;

but if you put on gold, even men will laugh at you;

if you put on Christ, even men will revere you.

Do you wish to appear beautiful and comely? Be content with the Creator's forming.

Why do you bring in gold ornaments, as though to correct God's handiwork? Do you wish to appear comely? Clothe yourself with almsgiving, clothe yourself with kindness toward men, clothe yourself with self-control, with humility;

all these are more precious than gold;

these make even the beautiful woman more comely;

these render even the one who is not shapely, shapely.

For whenever one looks upon a countenance with goodwill, he casts his votes out of love;

but the wicked woman, no one can call beautiful, even though she be beautiful;

for the mind, when smitten, does not render a right verdict.

The Egyptian woman was once adorned; Joseph too was adorned;

who then was the more comely? I do not speak of the time when she was in the royal halls, while he was in the prison.

This man was naked, but he was clothed with the garments of self-control;

that woman was clothed, but she was more shameful than one naked.

Whenever you adorn yourself excessively, O woman, then you have become more shameful than the naked;

for you have stripped off comeliness.

But when she was clothed, then she was the more shameful;

for when she was naked, she was adorned with self-control;

but when she put on the garment of sin, then she was shameful.

And you, when you put on the garment of vanity, then you appear the more shameful.

For that costliness is not enough to make one appear comely, but that it is possible for a woman clothed to be more unseemly than one naked, I will show.

If you were ever to put on the trappings of a flute-player or a piper, would it not be unseemly? And yet the garments are of gold.

But for this very reason it is unseemly, because they are of gold.

For the costliness of the stage befits the tragedians, the actors, the mimes, the dancers, and those who fight against wild beasts.

But to a faithful woman other garments have been given by God—the Only-begotten Son of God Himself.

For 'as many of you,' he says, 'as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.'

Tell me, if someone had given you a royal robe, and you, taking the slave's garment, had put it on over that one, would you not, besides being unseemly, also have been punished? You have put on the Master of heaven and of the angels, and do you still turn back toward the earth? These things have I said to show that vanity is a great evil even in itself, even if nothing else were born of it, and it were possible to hold to it without danger—for it anoints one for vainglory and pride.

But as it is, many other things also are born of adornment: manifest suspicions, untimely expenses, blasphemies, occasions for covetousness.

For why do you adorn yourself, tell me? That you may please your husband? Then do this at home.

But here the opposite happens.

For if you wish to please your own husband, do not please others;

but if you please others, you will not be able to please your own husband.

So that you ought to lay aside all this finery when going into the marketplace, when going forth to the church.

And otherwise, please your husband not by those things by which harlots also please, but rather by that by which free women please.

For by what, tell me, does a wife differ from a harlot? By this: that the one looks to a single man only, how by the beauty of her body she may draw to herself the one who loves her;

but the wife presides over the household, and shares in the children, and in all the other things.

Have you a little daughter? See that she does not inherit the harm;

for habits are somehow wont to be shaped according to one's upbringing, and to imitate the habits of mothers.

Be an example of chastity to your daughter; adorn yourself with that adornment, and see how you will despise this other one.

For truly those things are adornment, but these are unadornment.

And may God, who made the world and gave us the adornment of the soul, adorn us and clothe us with His own glory;

that all of us, shining forth in good works and living to His glory, may send up glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.