Homilies on Titus 4

That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience;

the aged women likewise, that they be in deportment as becometh holiness, not slanderers, not enslaved to much wine, teachers of good things; that they may school the young women to be lovers of their husbands, lovers of their children, discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, subject to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

There are certain failings which old age has, and not youth;

and while it has some of the failings of youth as well, it nevertheless also has sluggishness, indolence, forgetfulness, dullness, and irritability.

For this reason, in giving charge concerning these things, he says:

'That the aged men be sober.'

For there are many things that make those of such an age not sober;

and first of all, the very thing I mentioned, that they are dulled on every side, and are with difficulty roused, and with difficulty moved;

wherefore he adds, 'grave, temperate.'

For temperance (sophrosyne) is so called from being the preservation of the mind (soteria ton phrenon).

For there are, indeed there are, even among those grown old, men who rave and are out of their mind, some from wine, some from grief;

for old age makes men faint-hearted.

'Sound in faith, in love, in patience.'

And well has he said, 'in patience;'

for this too is especially fitting for the aged;

'The aged women likewise, that they be in deportment as becometh holiness,' that is, showing forth their decorum by their very bearing and dress.

'Not slanderers, not enslaved to much wine.'

For this is especially the failing of women and of old age;

for by reason of the ages being chilled, the desire for this also becomes great.

Hence it is concerning this above all that he addresses his exhortation to them, cutting off drunkenness on every side, wishing them to be free from this malady, and to escape the derision that arises therefrom.

For indeed the vapours rising from below are more easily carried up, and the membranes of the brain more readily receive the injury, since they are worn out by time;

and hence drunkenness especially ensues.

Now this age indeed has special need of wine, for it is weak;

but it needs not much, even as neither do the young women, though not for the same reason, but because the flame of desire is thereby greatly kindled.

But indeed you forbid women to teach;

how then do you here permit it, when elsewhere you say, 'I suffer not a woman to teach'? But hear what he added: 'nor to usurp authority over the man.'

For to men indeed it has been entrusted from the beginning to teach both men and women;

but to women he permits the word of exhortation within the household, nowhere suffering them to preside, nor allowing them to deliver a long discourse.

For this reason he added, 'nor to usurp authority over the man.'

'That they may school,' he says, 'the young women.'

Do you see how he binds together and gathers the people? how he makes the younger subject to the aged? For here he is not speaking of daughters, but simply according to age.

Let each elder woman, he says, school the younger.

This is the chief of the household blessings;

'For a wife,' he says, 'that lives agreeably with her husband.'

For where this is, none of the unpleasant things will come to pass.

For how, when the head is at one with the body, and there is no separation there, shall not all the rest be at peace? For when the rulers are at peace, who is there to divide and sever the peace? just as, on the other hand, when these are ill-disposed toward each other, there will be nothing sound throughout the house.

And this is more profitable than wealth and noble birth and power and all other things.

He did not say simply, to be at peace, but, to love their husbands.

For when there is love, none of the difficulties will find an entrance;

for from this the rest of the good things also are born.

For she that loves the root will much more love the fruits also.

'Discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good.'

All things are born of that;

for they become good too and keepers at home from love and from affection toward their husband.

'Subject to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed;'

inasmuch as she who despises her husband neglects the household as well.

But from loving, great self-control is also born; from loving, all contention is done away with.

Even if he be a Greek, he will quickly be won over;

and if he be a Christian, he will become better.

Do you see Paul's condescension? He who does everything to draw us away from worldly affairs now takes great thought concerning matters of the household.

For when these are well ordered, spiritual things too will find their place;

but otherwise, those things too are ruined.

For the woman who keeps the house will also be temperate—she who keeps the house and manages it well;

she will busy herself neither with luxury, nor with untimely expenditures, nor with any other such thing.

That the word of God, he says, be not blasphemed.

Do you see that his primary concern is for the preaching, not for worldly matters? For indeed, writing to Timothy, he says:

that we may lead a life in all godliness and gravity;

and here too, That the word of God and the teaching be not blasphemed.

For if it should happen that a believing woman living with an unbeliever were not virtuous, the blasphemy is wont to pass over onto God;

but if she be orderly, the preaching reaps the glory that comes from her and from the good deeds accomplished by her.

Let the women give heed—all those who live with wicked or unbelieving husbands;

let them give heed, and let them be instructed to lead their husbands into godliness through their own manner of life.

For even if you gain nothing else, and do not draw your husband into the fellowship of right doctrines, yet you have stopped his mouth, not allowing Christianity to be blasphemed.

And this is no small thing, but exceedingly great—that the doctrine be admired by reason of our conduct.

The younger men likewise exhort to be sober-minded.

See how everywhere he exhorts that what is fitting be preserved.

For of the teaching directed to the women he assigned the greater part to the women, setting the aged over the younger;

but of the men he gives and assigns the whole to him himself.

For nothing, nothing could be so difficult and hard for this age of life as to overcome unseemly pleasures.

For neither love of money, nor desire for glory, nor anything else so troubles this age of life as the love of bodies.

Therefore, leaving aside all other matters, he fixes his exhortation upon the crucial point for this age.

Then he is not negligent even concerning the other virtues, but what does he say? In all things showing yourself a pattern of good works.

Let the elder women, then, he says, teach the younger women, and do you yourself also exhort the younger men to be sober-minded.

Let the splendor of your own life be a common school and example of virtue for all, set forth publicly before all, like some archetypal image having in itself all things good, providing to those who wish it, with great ease, examples for taking an impress of any of the good things in it.

In your teaching, incorruptness, gravity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he who is of the contrary part may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say concerning us.

By 'him who is of the contrary part' he means both the devil and everyone who serves him.

For when both one's life shines and one's speech is consistent with it—reasonable, gentle, kindly, affording no handle to adversaries—the gain is great and unspeakable.

Great, therefore, is the need for the ministry of the word—not any chance word, but one proved and unassailable, affording to those who wish it no pretext from any quarter.

That servants be subject to their own masters, that they be well-pleasing in all things.

Do you see what he said in anticipation? That he who is of the contrary part, he says, may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say concerning us.

Worthy of condemnation, then, is he who separates wives from husbands under the pretext of continence, and he who deprives masters of their servants under this very same pretense.

This is not a word that cannot be condemned;

rather, it gives much handle even to unbelievers, and opens the mouths of all against us.

Servants, he says, are to be subject to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not gainsaying, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn in all things the doctrine of God our Savior.

With good reason, then, he said elsewhere: As serving God, and not men.

For even if you serve your master with goodwill, yet the occasion of it takes its beginning from fear.

So that he who serves that master with so great a fear will obtain the greatest of rewards.

For if he does not master his hand, nor his unbridled tongue, whence shall the Greek admire the doctrine that is among us? But if they should behold the servant who lives as a philosopher in Christ, displaying a self-control greater than those among them who profess philosophy, and ministering with much gentleness and goodwill, in every way he will admire the power of the Gospel.

For the Greeks do not judge doctrines from doctrines, but doctrines from deeds and manner of life.

Let there be, then, both wives and servants as teachers to them through their own conduct.

For indeed, both among them and everywhere this is acknowledged: that the race of servants is somehow headstrong, hard to mold, intractable, not very apt for the teaching of virtue—not because of their nature, God forbid, but because of their upbringing and the neglect on the part of their masters.

For since everywhere those who rule over them take thought for nothing else but their service,

and if perchance they do give some care to their character, this too again they do for their own ease, so that the servants may cause them no trouble either by fornicating, or stealing, or getting drunk;

so, reasonably enough, being neglected and having no one to concern himself with them, they are plunged into the very pits of wickedness.

For if, where a father presides and a mother and a tutor and a nurse and a teacher and companions of like age, and the very glory of freedom encompassing him, and many other things besides, one would scarcely escape the company of the wicked;

what do you think those will be who are destitute of all these things, and are mingled with vile persons, and consort freely with whomever they wish, there being no one to concern himself with their friendships? What do you think such men will be? For this reason it is difficult for a servant to become good.

In other respects, too, they enjoy no teaching, neither that from without nor that among us;

they do not associate with free men, orderly men, who take much thought for their own reputation.

For all these reasons it is difficult and marvelous that a household servant should ever become useful.

When, therefore, they see that a race so self-willed the power of the preaching has, by putting a bridle upon it, rendered more orderly and more gentle than all others, then—even though the masters be the most irrational of all—they will conceive a great notion concerning the doctrines that are among us.

For it is plain that, having first implanted in their soul the fear concerning the resurrection, and the fear of the judgment, and of all the other things that are philosophized among us after death, they were thus enabled to beat back wickedness, having set within their own soul a certain counterbalancing fear against the pleasure that comes from evil deeds.

So it is not at random nor lightly that he everywhere makes much discourse concerning these matters;

for the more wicked they are, the more especially is the strength of the preaching admired.

For indeed we admire a physician then, when he leads back to health and sets right one who has been despaired of, and who enjoys no aid, and who cannot even master his untimely desires but wallows in them.

And see what he requires of them:

the things which above all please the master:

Not gainsaying, not pilfering;

that is, to display much goodwill in whatever they are entrusted with, to be especially good in their dealings toward their masters, submitting in their commands.

Do not, then, suppose that I am now going over these things at random;

for the rest of my discourse is now directed to the household servants.

Do not, then, O best of men, look to this—that you serve a man—but that you serve God, that you adorn the preaching;

and you will submit to do all things, obeying your master and bearing with him even when he is unseasonably angry and displeased.

Consider that you are not granting the favor to him, but fulfilling God's command, and you will readily submit to do anything whatsoever.

And what I always say, this I will say now also: that when our spiritual matters are set right, the things of the present life too will follow.

For such a household servant, one so well-disposed, so gentle, not only will God receive and impart to him those splendid crowns, but even the master himself who has been well treated—though he be a wild beast, though he be some man of stone and inhuman and savage—will praise and admire him and prefer him above all others, and will set him over the rest, even though he be a Greek.

And that, even if the masters be Greeks, he commands...

That a household servant may show himself to be of this sort, I will, if you please, relate to you an example as well.

Joseph was sold to the chief cook, and he was of another dignity, not of the Egyptian.

What then did that master do? Since he saw that the young man was virtuous, he did not dwell upon the disparity of rank, but he himself loved him and cherished him and admired him, and he committed to him the oversight of all the rest, and on his account he took no thought for anything in the house.

Rather, that man was a second master—nay, even more lord than the master himself, seeing that the one was ignorant of his own affairs, while this one knew that man's affairs better than the master did.

And it seems to me that afterward too, when he believed his wife who had brought that lawless slander against him, out of honor for the just man—from his former respect and esteem—he stayed his wrath at the prison door.

For had he not greatly respected the man, and admired him for his former services, he would straightway have made away with him, and driven the sword through that body.

For 'full of jealousy,' it says, 'is the wrath of a man;'

'he will not be appeased by any ransom for his enmity, nor be assuaged though the gifts be many.'

But if such is the jealousy of any man, much more of that man, being both an Egyptian and a barbarian, and, as he supposed, wronged by one whom he had honored.

For you all surely know that the wrongs done us by everyone do not sting us alike, but more sharply and bitterly than the rest do the wrongs done by those who were kindly disposed toward us, who were trusted by us and trusted us, and who received many kindnesses from us; the evils that come from such become to us a greater grief and pain.

He did not reason within himself, nor did he say:

'What is this? I took him as a slave and gave him a share in all that belonged to the house, I made him free and even something greater than myself—and has he rendered me such recompense as this?' He said none of these things;

so did his former respect hold sway over his soul.

And what wonder is it, if in the house he enjoyed such honor, when even in the prison—behold him—how great a care he enjoys? Now you know how the disposition of those to whom prisons are entrusted is trained to cruelty;

they reap profit from the misfortunes of others, and those whom others feed while they suffer ill, these men tear to pieces, gaining profits worthy of many tears, being crueler than wild beasts.

For from the very things by which they ought to have pitied the imprisoned, from these they themselves reap gain.

And let us not consider this alone, but also that these very men do not treat all the imprisoned alike.

For those imprisoned on false accusations, and simply insulted and bound, they might even pity;

but those cast in for the most shameful and dreadful and daring deeds they torment with countless blows.

So that not only from his disposition was the jailer likely to be cruel, but also from the charge on which Joseph had been imprisoned.

For whom would the young man not have stirred up against himself, having enjoyed such great honor, yet being suspected of making an attempt upon his mistress, and requiting his benefactor with such recompense as this? Reflecting on these things, then—the honor shown the prisoner, and the deed for which he was imprisoned—would not the jailer have treated the man more harshly than any wild beast? But the hope in God proved higher than all these things;

so does the virtue of a soul know how to tame even wild beasts.

For by the very same gentleness by which he had won his master, by the very same he won the chief jailer too;

and once again Joseph was a ruler, and in the prison he held sway, just as in the house.

For since he was to reign, fittingly he first learned to be ruled, and while being ruled he was a ruler and presided over the house.

For if Paul requires this of one who is drawn into the Church, saying thus:

'For if a man knows not how to preside over his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?'—then he who comes to rule must first be excellent at presiding over a household.

He presided over the prison not as over a prison, but as over a household.

For he lightened everyone's misfortunes;

and he cared for the imprisoned as for his own members, not only busying himself with their misfortunes and comforting them, but also, if he saw anyone downcast, he would go up and learn the cause, not enduring even to look upon one dejected without first delivering him from his dejection;

and yet no one has shown such affection even toward his own children.

From these things, at any rate, the beginning of his good fortune also came to him.

For our own part must come first, and then the things that come from God.

For that he practiced such thoughtfulness and care, it says: he saw the eunuchs who had been imprisoned by Pharaoh, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and said:

'Why are your faces sad today?' And not from this alone, but also from what those men did, one may perceive the man's virtue.

For not as being servants of a king did they disdain him, nor as being in dejection did they rebuff him, but as to a genuine brother, one who knew how to share their pain, they disclosed to him all their own affairs.

Now all these things have been said by me to show that even in slavery, even in captivity, even in prison, even if the virtuous man be beneath the very earth, nothing will be able to overcome him.

These things I have spoken to the household servants: that even if they have brutes for masters, like the Egyptian, even if cruel ones, like the chief jailer, they will be able to win them over; even if they be pagans, like those men, even if anything whatever, they will quickly tame them.

For nothing is more harmonious than good manners, nothing sweeter, nothing more pleasant than gentleness and meekness and obedience;

such a one is suited to all.

And such men are neither ashamed of servitude, nor do they shun the poor man, nor the sick and suffering;

for virtue prevails over all things and gets the better of all.

But if among slaves the matter has such power, how much more among the free? Let us then practice these things, both slaves and free, both women and men;

thus shall we be beloved both by men and by God—and by men, not only the virtuous, but also the wicked, and especially by those;

for those are the ones who most of all honor and reverence such people.

For just as subjects most of all tremble before the gentle, so also the licentious tremble before the virtuous, knowing from what they themselves have fallen.

Since then the fruit of virtue is so great, let us pursue it, let us follow after it.

If we hold fast to this, nothing will be dreadful to us, all things will be easy, all things will be smooth;

even if we pass through fire, even if through water, all things yield to virtue and give way—even death itself.

Let us then be zealous for it, that we may also attain the good things to come, in Christ Jesus our Lord.