Homilies on Ephesians 8 part 1/2

'I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness of mind and meekness.'

It belongs to teachers to seek virtue, not honor, nor glory from those under their rule, but their salvation, and to do all things for the sake of this;

since he who seeks that other thing would be no teacher, but a tyrant.

For God did not set you over them for this reason, that you should enjoy the greater attendance, but that your own interests should be neglected, and all their interests should be built up.

Such was the blessed Paul, who was freed from all conceit, and was so disposed as to be one of the many, or rather even the least of them.

For this reason he even calls himself their servant, and utters the greater part of his words in the manner of a suppliant.

Observe, at any rate, that even now he writes nothing commanding, nothing authoritative, but in a restrained and submissive manner.

'I therefore beseech you,' he says, 'the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called.'

What do you beseech, tell me? That you yourself may obtain something? 'By no means,' he says, 'but that I may save others.'

And yet those who beseech, beseech on behalf of things that pertain to themselves. 'And this pertains to me too,' he says, just as, writing in another place, he also said:

'Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.'

For he ever earnestly longed for the salvation of those he was teaching.

A great dignity and a fervent one, greater than kingdom and consulship and all things.

'As Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner in Christ.'

For nothing is so splendid as a bond for Christ's sake, as those chains that lay upon those holy hands.

More splendid than to be an apostle, than to be a teacher,

than to be an evangelist—more splendid than this is to be a prisoner for Christ's sake.

If anyone loves Christ, he understands what is being said;

if anyone is mad with love and set aflame for the Master, he knows the power of these bonds.

Such a one would choose to be a prisoner for Christ's sake rather than to dwell in the heavens.

He showed his hands to them as more splendid than all gold, than any royal diadem.

For a fillet set with jewels laid about the head does not make it so splendid as an iron chain worn for Christ's sake.

In those days the prison was more splendid than royal palaces.

Why do I speak of royal palaces? Rather, more splendid than heaven itself.

If anyone loves Christ, he knows this dignity, he knows this virtue, he knows how great a gift it was to the race of men to be bound for His sake.

Perhaps this is more splendid than to sit at His right hand; this is more honorable than to sit upon twelve thrones—to be bound for His sake.

And why do I speak of human things? I am ashamed to compare wealth and golden ornament with bonds.

But leaving aside speaking of those great things, even if the matter had no reward at all, this alone is a great reward, this a sufficient recompense—to suffer these dread things for the sake of the one who is loved.

Those who love know what is being said—even if not God, yet men whom they love—those who take more delight in suffering evil than in being honored by the ones they love.

It belongs to the holy choir alone to perceive these things—I mean the choir of the apostles.

For listen to the blessed Luke, who says

that 'They departed rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ.'

Now to the rest it seems a matter for laughter, if to be dishonored is to be counted worthy, if to be dishonored is to rejoice;

but to those who understand the longing for Christ, this has been reckoned more blessed than all things.

If someone were to grant me the whole heaven, or that chain, I would prefer that chain;

if someone were to set me on high with the angels, or with Paul in his bonds, I would choose the prison;

if someone were to make me one of those powers that are about heaven, that are about the throne, or such a prisoner as this, I would choose to become such a prisoner.

Nothing is more blessed than that chain.

I could wish to be in those places now;

for the bonds are said to remain even yet;

and to see and marvel at those men for their longing after Christ;

I could wish to see the chains, which demons indeed dread and shudder at, but which angels reverence.

There is nothing better than to suffer some evil for Christ's sake.

I do not count Paul so blessed because he was caught up into paradise, as because he was cast into prison.

I do not count him so blessed because he heard unspeakable words, as because he endured the chains;

I do not count him so blessed because he was caught up into the third heaven, as I count him blessed on account of the chains.

That these things are indeed greater than those, hear how he himself knows it.

For he did not say, 'I, who heard unspeakable words, exhort you,' but what? 'I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you.'

And if he does not add this to all his epistles, it is no wonder;

for he was not always in bonds, but only at certain times.

I would rather suffer evil for Christ than be honored by Christ.

This is great honor, this is glory that surpasses all things.

If He who became a servant for my sake, and emptied Himself of His glory, did not so count Himself to be in glory as when He was crucified for me, why ought I not to suffer? For hear Him saying:

What do you say? You are led to the cross with robbers and grave-plunderers, You are to undergo the death of the accursed, You are about to be spat upon and buffeted—and do You call these things glory? 'Yes,' He says;

'for I suffer these things for those whom I love, and even now I count them as glory.'

If He who loved the wretched and miserable calls this thing glory, and not being seated on the Father's throne, nor being in glory, but being in dishonor was glory, and He preferred this to that,

much more ought I to count these things as glory.

O blessed chains! O blessed hands, which that fetter adorned!

The hands of Paul were not so precious when they raised up and lifted the lame man at Lystra, as when they were girded about with the chains.

If I had lived in those times, I would then above all have embraced them, and pressed them to my very eyes;

I would not have ceased kissing those hands which were counted worthy to be bound for the sake of my Master.

Do you marvel at Paul, when the viper fastened on his hand and did him no harm? Marvel not;

for even the whole sea reverenced this man.

If someone gave me now to raise the dead, I would not choose this, but rather the chain;

if I were free from the cares of the churches, and had a body in health, I would not refuse to make so long a journey merely to see the chains, and the prison where he was bound.

And yet many signs of his miracles are found everywhere, but they are not so much to be longed for as those of his scars.

And in the Scriptures too, he does not so much gladden me when working miracles, as when he suffers evil, is scourged, is dragged about.

Truly wonderful are the handkerchiefs and aprons from his body that wrought marvels;

but they are not such as those.

'Having beaten them,' it says, 'and laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison;'

and again, 'Being bound, they sang praises to God;'

and again, 'Having stoned him, they dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.'

Do you wish to learn how great a thing is an iron chain worn about a servant's body for Christ's sake? Hear Christ Himself saying, 'Blessed are you.'

When? When you raise the dead? No;

but what? When you heal the blind? By no means;

but what? 'When men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil word against you falsely, for My sake.'

But if to be evil spoken of makes men so blessed, what would suffering evil not have wrought? Hear this blessed man saying elsewhere:

'Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.'

But brighter than this crown is the chain.

'He will count me worthy of this,' he says, 'and I make no exact reckoning about those things.'

It suffices me, as full recompense, to suffer evil for Christ's sake.

Let him grant me to utter that word: 'I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ,' and I need nothing more.

Peter also was counted worthy of this chain;

'For he was,' it says, 'bound, and delivered to soldiers, and was sleeping.' So did he rejoice, and felt no pain, as even to sleep;

and deep sleep would not have held him, had he been in great anxiety.

He slept while he was in the midst of the soldiers;

and an angel came to him, and smote him on the side, and raised him up.

If then someone said to me, 'Which would you have wished to be—the angel who nudged Peter, or Peter who was delivered?'—I would have chosen to become Peter, on whose account the angel also came.

May I have the joy of those chains!

And how is it, one asks, that he prays as one delivered from great evils? Marvel not;

for he prays because he fears lest he die.

And he feared to die because he still wished his life to be the occasion of his sufferings.

Hear then the blessed Paul himself, what he says: 'To depart and to be with Christ is far better, but to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake.'

This too he called grace, when he wrote:

'For it has been granted to you as a gift,' he says, 'on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.'

So that this is greater than that;

truly it is the greatest grace, and greater than all these—than to make the sun and moon stand still, than to move the world;

this is greater than to have power over demons, or to drive out demons.

For those demons do not so much grieve when driven out by the faith that is in us, as when they see us suffering some evil for Christ's sake, and being bound;

for this makes our boldness the greater.

It is not on this account good to be bound for Christ, because the thing procures a kingdom, but because it is done for Christ;

I do not count the bonds blessed because they usher one into heaven, but because they are for the Master of heaven.

How great a boast it is to know that one was bound for Christ! How great the delight, how great the honor, how great the splendor! I could wish to utter these things continually;

I could wish to cling to the chain;

I could wish, even though I am deprived of the reality, at least in word to put the chain about my soul through my disposition.

'The prison was shaken,' it says, 'while Paul was bound, and the bonds of all were loosed.'

Do you see the nature of bonds loosing bonds? For as the death of the Lord put death to death, so also the bonds of Paul loosed the bound, shook the prison, opened the doors;

and yet this is not the nature of bonds, but the contrary—to hold the bound man in security, not to open the walls for him.

But this is not the nature of bonds simply; yet of bonds for Christ's sake this is the nature.

The jailer fell down before Paul and Silas.

But neither is this what bonds simply do—to bring those who bound them to the feet of the bound, but the contrary, to make these subject to those.

But now he who was loosed was at the feet of the bound.

The one who had bound him was begging that the one he had bound might be released from his fear.

Was it not you who bound him? Tell me. Did you not cast him into the inner prison? Did you not make his feet fast in the stocks? Why then do you tremble? Why are you in an uproar? Why do you weep? Why have you drawn your sword? 'I bound no such man,' he says.

I did not know that so great was the power of the prisoners of Christ.

What are you saying? They received authority to open the heavens, and were they not to open a prison? They loosed those bound by demons, and was iron to prevail against them? You do not know these men.

For this reason you also obtained pardon.

It is Paul who was bound, before whom all the angels stood in awe.

It is Paul, whose very handkerchiefs and aprons drove out demons and put diseases to flight; and yet the bond laid on him by the demon was far harder than iron, and more unbreakable.

For the one binds the soul, while the other binds the body.

He then who looses souls that are bound, would he not have been able to loose his own body? He who bursts asunder the bonds of demons, could he not have loosed a fastening of iron? He who through his garments looses those prisoners and delivers them from the demons, could he not by himself have loosed himself? For this reason he was first bound, and then loosed those who were bound, that you might learn that the servants of Christ, even when bound, have far greater strength than those who are free.

If he had done this while free, it would not have been so wonderful.

So that the bond was a sign not of weakness, but of greater power.

For thus the strength of the saint is shown all the more brilliantly, when even bound he prevails over those who are free, when the one who is bound looses not only himself but also those who are bound.

What use are the walls? What was gained by casting him into the inner prison, seeing that he opened even the outer one? And why did it happen at night, and with an earthquake? Grant me a little, and permit me, while refraining from the apostolic words, yet reveling in the apostolic deeds, to feast upon the chain of Paul.

Allow me to dwell upon it yet longer.

I have laid hold of the bond, and no one shall tear me away.

More securely am I now bound by longing than he was then by the stocks.

No one looses this bond.

For it springs from longing for Christ.

This neither the angels nor the kingdom of heaven has power to loose.

One may hear Paul himself saying: Neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ.

For what reason then did the event take place in the middle of the night? For what reason also with an earthquake? Hear the dispensation of God, and marvel.

The bonds of all were loosed, and the doors were opened.

But this happened solely for the sake of the jailer, not for display, but for salvation.

For that the prisoners did not know they had been loosed is clear from the voice of Paul.

For what does he say? He cried out with a loud voice, saying:

Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.

But they would not all have been within, had they seen the doors opened and themselves loosed.

For those who cut through walls, and climb over roofs and parapets, and dare all things,

daring even in their chains, would not have endured, when the bonds were loosed and the doors opened, to remain within, and that too while the jailer himself was asleep.

But instead of iron bonds, the bond of sleep was upon them.

For this reason it was so ordered, that both the event might take place, and yet no harm from the miracle might befall the jailer who was destined to be saved.

And in another way too, prisoners are for the most part bound at night, not by day.

With great diligence, then, was it arranged that they should be seen bound again, and asleep.

But if these things had happened by day, there would have been much tumult.

For what reason then was the building also shaken? So that the jailer might rise up to behold what had taken place;

for he alone was worthy of salvation.

But behold, I pray you, the surpassing greatness of the grace of Christ.

For it is good, in the midst of Paul's bonds, to make mention also of the grace of Christ; or rather, these very things too are of the grace of God.

There are some who bring an accusation, because the jailer was saved, and for the very things for which they ought to have marveled at the loving-kindness of God, from these they find fault;

For such are the weak, who even find fault with the food that nourishes them, which they ought to admire, and say that honey is bitter.

And those whose sight is dim are darkened by the very thing from which they ought to have been enlightened; this happening not through the nature of the things themselves, but through the weakness of those who are unable to use them for their proper end.

What then were they saying? Whereas they ought to have marveled that He took hold of this man who had fallen into the uttermost wickedness, and made him better, they say:

For how was it that he did not think the thing to be sorcery and trickery, and rather seize them and raise a loud outcry? Many things contributed to this;

first, because he heard them singing hymns to God;

and sorcerers would not sing such hymns;

For he heard them, it says, singing hymns to God.

Secondly, because they themselves did not flee, but even prevented him from slaying himself;

and had they done it for their own sakes, they would not have remained within, but would first have delivered themselves.

Great too was their loving-kindness;

they prevented him from slaying himself, the very man who had bound them, all but saying to him:

With great security did you make us fast, casting us into the inner prison, and did you bind us bitterly, that you yourself might be loosed from the most bitter of bonds.

For with the cords of his own sins is each one bound fast.

For those bonds are accursed, but these are blessed, and worthy of much prayer.

For that these bonds loose those others, he showed from things perceptible to the senses.

Have you seen those bound with iron loosed? You shall see yourself too set free from other, grievous bonds.

These bonds—I mean those of the prisoners, not those of Paul—those bonds of sin make.

Doubly were those within prisoners, and the jailer himself was also a prisoner.

For they were bound with iron and with sins, but he with sins alone.

Paul loosed those men for the full assurance of this man;

for indeed the bonds were visible.

Thus too did Christ do, or rather in the reverse order.

And what was this? That of sins, and that of the body.

What then does He do? Be of good cheer, He says, child, your sins are forgiven.

First He loosed the paralysis that was truly such, and then He comes to this one.

For when certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemes, Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said:

Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Rise up and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—He says to the paralytic:

Rise, take up your bed, and go to your house.

He confirmed the spiritual by the perceptible, working that which pertains to the soul by means of that which pertains to the body.

And why did He do this? That what was spoken might be fulfilled:

You wicked servant, out of your own mouth will I judge you.

But what of those men? 'No one can forgive sins, save God alone.'

Therefore it is no angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power that can do so.

What then ought He to have said? 'If I be shown to forgive sins, it is plain that I am God.'

But He did not speak thus. Rather, what did He say? 'That you may know that

the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' — then He says to the paralytic, 'Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.'

'When therefore,' He says, 'I have wrought the more difficult thing, it is plain that no pretext nor gainsaying is left concerning the easier.'

For this reason He first did the intelligible thing, since there were many that gainsaid Him;

but here He led it from the intelligible to the perceptible.

So then, this faith was no light matter.

He saw the prisoners, and he neither saw nor heard anything base;

he saw that nothing had come about by sorcery;

he saw that everything had happened out of much loving-kindness;

for they did not avenge themselves upon him, though they were able.

For it was possible for them, freeing both themselves and those who were bound, to depart;

or if not those who were bound, at least themselves.

But they did not do this.

So that it was not from the miracle alone, but also from their manner of conduct, that they put him to shame.

How did Paul cry out? Saying with a loud voice, 'Do yourself no harm;'

You see both his freedom from vainglory, his lack of arrogance, and his tender affection.

He did not say, 'These things have happened on our account;'

but, as though he were one of the prisoners, he says;

And yet, even if not before this, nor through the miracle had they freed themselves — though it was possible for them to keep silence and let all go free, even those bound —

For if they had kept silent, and had not by the loud cry stayed his hands, he would have driven the sword through his throat.

For this reason too Paul cried out, since the man had been cast into the inner prison.

'You have done this against yourself,' he says, 'in casting further within those who were about to deliver you from the danger.'

But they did not imitate the things done by him.

And had he died, they all would have escaped.

You see that they chose rather to remain bound than to overlook him perishing.

For this reason he also pondered within himself: 'If they were sorcerers, they would certainly have loosed those men and freed themselves from their bonds;'

for it was likely that many such men also had been cast in.

And besides, having often received sorcerers, and seeing nothing of the sort come to pass, he marveled.

A sorcerer would not have shaken the foundations so as to awaken the keeper of the prison, and to make his own escape the more difficult.

But let us now behold the faith of the jailer.

'Having called,' it says, 'for lights, he sprang in, and being trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas, and having brought them out, he said:'

'Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved?' Fire and sword were pressing upon him, and he was saying:

'Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved?' And they said:

'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, you and your house.'

'This,' he says, 'is not the way of sorcerers, to deliver such a teaching;'

nowhere here is there any mention of a demon.

You see how worthy that man was to be saved? For having seen the miracle, and being freed from fear, he did not forget the things that profit him, but even in so great a danger he was concerned about the salvation of his soul, and he came to them as one ought to come to teachers;

and he fell down at their feet.

'And they spoke to him,' it says, 'the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.'

'And taking them that same night, he washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all his, immediately.'

You see the fervor of the man? He did not defer, he did not say, 'Let day come, let us see, let us consider;'

but with great fervor both he and all his household were baptized;

not as now the greater part neglect their servants and wives and children who remain uninitiated.

Become, I beseech you, like the jailer;

I speak not of the rank, but of the purpose of will.

For what profit is there in rank, when the purpose of will is weak? Wonder of wonders! The savage, the harsh man, who lived amid a thousand evils, who ever practiced this cruelty — how suddenly he became so loving to men, so full of care!

'He washed them,' it says, 'from their stripes.'

Behold again also the fervor of Paul;

bound, scourged, he thus preached the good news.

O blessed chain! What travail-pains it travailed during that night!

And concerning these it is possible to say, 'Whom I have begotten in my bonds.'

You see how he exults, and desires that the children born of this should be more illustrious? You see how great is the abundance of glory!

of the bonds, seeing that they make illustrious not only him who wears them, but also those who were begotten by him at that time? Have those begotten in Paul's bonds anything more — I speak not concerning grace, for the grace is the same, nor concerning remission, for the remission of all is the same, but that from the very outset they are trained to rejoice and exult in such things.

'At that very hour of the night,' it says, 'taking them, he washed them from their stripes, and was baptized.'

And behold now also the fruit;

he immediately gave back the fleshly things in return.

Having brought them up into his house, he immediately set a table before them, and he rejoiced with all his household, having believed in God.

For why should he not, seeing that heaven had been opened to him through the opening of the prison doors? He washed his teacher, set a table, and rejoiced greatly.

Paul's chain entered into the prison, and made everything there into a church, and made all men into the body of Christ, and set up the spiritual table, and brought forth travail-pains over which angels rejoice.

Was it then in vain that I said the prison was more radiant than heaven? For this was the cause of the joy there.

For if over one sinner that repents there is joy in heaven, if where two are gathered together in His name, there Christ is in the midst of them — where Silas and Paul and the jailer and his whole household and so great a faith are found, how much more? Behold the vehemence of the faith.

But this prison has reminded me of another prison.

Which one, then? That in which Peter was.

But no such thing happened there;

rather, he had been delivered to four quaternions of soldiers to guard him, and he neither sang hymns nor kept watch, but was sleeping;

and he had not been scourged, yet the danger was greater.

For here everything had already been wrought, and they had already paid the penalty;

So that, even if it was not the pangs of suffering, yet the very expectation of what was to come threw him into confusion.

'Behold,' it says, 'an angel of the Lord stood by, and a light shone in the cell';

and smiting Peter on the side, he raised him up, saying:

'And immediately the chains fell off from his hands.'

So that he might not suppose the matter to be one of the light only, he also pricked Peter.

But no one saw the light, only he himself alone; and he thought that it was a vision.

In this way those who are asleep do not perceive the benefits of God.

'And the angel,' it says, 'said to him:'

'Gird yourself, and bind on your sandals.'

'And he says to him, Cast your garment about you, and follow me.'

'And going out, he followed him; and he did not know that what was being done through the angel was real.'

'And when they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them of its own accord.'

'And going in, they went forward through one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.'

Why did that not happen here which happened in the case of Paul and Silas? Because there they were about to release them;

for this reason he was not willing that they should be released in that manner.

But in the case of the blessed Peter, they were about to lead him out to death.

What then? Would it not, one asks, have been far more wonderful for him, after he had been led out and delivered into the hands of the king, then to be snatched from the very midst of the dangers and to suffer nothing? For thus not even the soldiers would have perished.

A great question is here raised.

God, one says, saved His own servant with the punishment of others, with the destruction of others? What then shall we say? First, then, that it was not with the destruction of others;

second, that this came about not from the ordering of the matter itself, but from the bitterness of the judge.

How? God so ordered it that not only these should not perish, but that even that man should be saved—just as here also in the case of the jailer;

but that man did not use the gift as he ought.

'And when day came,' it says, 'there was no small stir among the soldiers, as to what then had become of Peter.'

Then what? Herod makes an inquiry into the matter, and having examined them, commanded that they be led away.

For if he had not examined them, there might have been some excuse;

but as it was, he set them before him, examined them, learned that he had been bound, that the

prison had been made secure, that the guards were before the doors;

no wall had been broken through, no door had been opened, no other sign of foul play.

He ought from these things to have marveled at the power of God, which even snatched him from the midst of the dangers;

and to have worshipped Him who was able to do such great things.

How then is God here the cause? For if He had caused the wall to be torn open, and had thus brought him out, perhaps the matter would have been thought to be due to their negligence;

but if He so ordered it as to show that the matter was not one of human wrongdoing, but of divine wonder-working, why then did He do this? For if he were going to flee, he would have fled just as he was, with the chains upon him;

if he were going to flee in confusion, he would not have taken such forethought as even to take his sandals, but would have left them.

But as it is, for this reason the angel says to him, 'Bind on your sandals';

so that they might learn that he did the thing not as one fleeing, but with much ease and leisure.