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houses, speaking things they ought not, having turned aside after Satan. For he did not simply say, "I will that the younger women marry," and then fall silent, but he also says which younger women, and he details their failings. What failings? "When they have begun to wax wanton," he says, "against Christ, they will marry," and they learn to be idle, and busybodies, wandering about from house to house, speaking things which they ought not, and they have turned aside. After whom? After Satan. Since therefore after choosing widowhood, and enduring all this unseemliness, they want to marry again, it is better to come to this before they are bound, and before they have trodden under foot their covenants with Christ; as if to say that if any is not of such a sort, he does not impose the necessity of a second marriage. 4. And that this is true, is clear from what follows. For if he had laid this down as a law for all women to marry and guide the house, he would have superfluously demanded those things: "If she has brought up children, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work;" he would also have superfluously said this: "having been the wife of one man." For if you command all the younger women to be married, how will any be able to be the wife of one man? Therefore his argument is addressed to them. He does the same regarding intercourse in marriage. For having said, "Defraud not one another, except it be with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again;" lest you should think the matter a law, he adds the reason afterwards, saying, "That Satan tempt you not." "But I speak this by permission, not of commandment, for your incontinency." As therefore he does not there discourse these things to all, but 51.325 to the more incontinent and easily captured of men; so also here to the more easily overcome of women, and those unable to bear the strict life of widowhood, to these he exhorts and counsels to bring in a second husband. For widowhood is a twofold thing. What is twofold? A display of good works, and an preeminence of greatest honor. Just as, therefore, authority is also a twofold thing; for it has both works and dignity; the dignity of authority is power, and the service from the many, and the very fact of being a ruler; but the works of authority are to help the wronged, to restrain the wrongdoers, to preside over cities, to stay up all night with the common cares of affairs, and countless other things; so also widowhood is both a dignity and a work; it is a dignity, the very fact of being a widow, which is a very great thing, as we have shown before; it is a work, not to bring in a second husband, but to be content with the first, to bring up children, to lodge strangers, to wash the saints' feet, to relieve the afflicted, to follow after every good work. Paul, therefore, discoursing about them, permits her to fulfill all the works of a widow; but into the dignity of the widow, and the choir, and the order, he does not permit her to enter until the sixtieth year has passed, as if to say; Let her do the works of a widow, but let her be deemed worthy of the honor then, when having displayed everything she has also at length the security that comes from age, and the proof that comes from her works, and the testimony from without. Let no one think that this discourse is suitable for women only. For it is also useful for men, so that they too may love their own departed wives, and not bring lionesses to live with their children, introducing stepmothers, and overthrowing all their own security. 5. But we say these things not legislating to turn away from a second marriage, but exhorting and counseling to be content with the first with sobriety. It is one thing to exhort and to counsel, another to legislate. For he who exhorts and counsels, leaves the hearer to be master of his choice of the things counseled; but he who legislates, takes away this power from them. But the Church does not legislate these things, but only exhorts; for Paul also permitted a second marriage, saying thus: "The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord." "But she is happier if she so abide." As therefore

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οἰκίας, τὰς λαλούσας τὰ μὴ δέοντα, τὰς ἐκτραπείσας ὀπίσω τοῦ Σατανᾶ. Οὐ γὰρ εἰπὼν ἁπλῶς, Βούλομαι νεωτέρας γαμεῖν, ἐσίγησεν, ἀλλὰ λέγει καὶ ποίας νεωτέρας, καὶ τὰ πτώματα αὐτῶν ἔπεισι. Ποῖα πτώματα; Ὅταν καταστρηνιάσωσι, φησὶ, τοῦ Χριστοῦ, γαμεῖσθαι θέλουσι, καὶ ἀργαὶ μανθάνουσι, καὶ περίεργοι, περιερχόμεναι τὰς οἰκίας, λαλοῦσαι τὰ μὴ δέοντα, καὶ ἐξετράπησαν. Τίνος ὀπίσω; Τοῦ Σατανᾶ. Ἐπεὶ οὖν μετὰ τὸ χηρείαν ἑλέσθαι, καὶ ταύτην πᾶσαν ὑπομεῖναι τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην, βούλονται γαμῆσαι πάλιν, βέλτιον πρὶν ἔχεσθαι, καὶ τὰς πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν καταπατῆσαι συνθήκας, ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἐλθεῖν· ὡς εἰ μή τις εἴη τοιαύτη, οὐκ ἐπιτίθησιν ἀνάγκην γάμου δευτέρου. δʹ. Καὶ ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθὲς, δῆλον ἐκεῖθεν. Εἰ γὰρ ὡς νόμον τοῦτο τέθεικε πάσαις ταῖς γυναιξὶ τὸ γαμεῖν καὶ οἰκοδεσποτεῖν, περιττῶς ἐκεῖνα ἀπῄτει, Εἰ ἐτεκνοτρόφησεν, εἰ ἁγίων πόδας ἔνιψεν, εἰ θλιβομένοις ἐπήρκεσεν, εἰ παντὶ ἔργῳ ἀγαθῷ ἐπηκολούθησε· περιττῶς κἀκεῖνό φησι τὸ, Ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γεγονυῖα. Εἰ γὰρ πάσας τὰς νεωτέρας κελεύεις γαμεῖσθαι, πῶς δυνήσεταί τις ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς εἶναι γυνή; Ὥστε πρὸς ἐκείνας ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς συνουσίας τῆς κατὰ τὸν γάμον ποιεῖ. Εἰπὼν γὰρ, Μὴ ἀποστερεῖτε ἀλλήλους, εἰ μή τι ἂν ἐκ συμφώνου πρὸς καιρὸν, ἵνα σχολάζητε τῇ νηστείᾳ καὶ τῇ προσευχῇ, καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συνέρχησθε· ἵνα μὴ νομίζῃς τὸ πρᾶγμα νόμον εἶναι, προστίθησι τὴν αἰτίαν ὕστερον λέγων· Ἵνα μὴ πειράζῃ ὑμᾶς ὁ Σατανᾶς. Τοῦτο δὲ λέγω κατὰ συγγνώμην, οὐκ ἐπιταγὴν, διὰ τὴν ἀκρασίαν ὑμῶν. Ὥσπερ οὖν οὐ πᾶσιν ἐκεῖ ταῦτα διαλέγεται, ἀλλὰ 51.325 τοῖς ἀκρατεστέροις τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ εὐαλώτοις· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα ταῖς εὐχειρώτοις τῶν γυναικῶν, καὶ μὴ δυναμέναις ἐνεγκεῖν τὸν μετὰ ἀκριβείας βίον τῆς χηρείας, ταύταις παραινεῖ καὶ συμβουλεύει δεύτερον ἐπεισάγειν νυμφίον. Ἡ γὰρ χηρεία διπλοῦν τι πρᾶγμά ἐστι. Τί ποτέ ἐστι διπλοῦν; Ἔργων ἐπίδειξις ἀγαθῶν, καὶ τιμῆς ὑπεροχὴ μεγίστης. Καθάπερ οὖν καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ διπλοῦν τι πρᾶγμά ἐστιν· ἔχει γὰρ καὶ ἔργα καὶ ἀξίωμα· ἀξίωμα μὲν ἀρχῆς ἡ ἐξουσία, καὶ ἡ παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν θεραπεία, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι ἄρχοντα· ἔργα δὲ ἀρχῆς, τὸ βοηθεῖν τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις, κωλύειν τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας, προεστάναι τῶν πόλεων, διανυκτερεύειν ἐν ταῖς κοιναῖς τῶν πραγμάτων φροντίσι, καὶ μυρία ἕτερα· οὕτω καὶ ἡ χηρεία καὶ ἀξίωμά ἐστι καὶ ἔργον· ἀξίωμά ἐστιν, αὐτὸ τὸ χήρα εἶναι, μέγιστον ὂν, ὡς ἀπεδείξαμεν ἔμπροσθεν· ἔργον ἐστὶ, τὸ μὴ δεύτερον ἐπεισάγειν ἄνδρα, ἀλλ' ἀρκεσθῆναι τῷ προτέρῳ, τὸ τεκνοτροφῆσαι, τὸ ξενοδοχῆσαι, τὸ ἁγίων πόδας νίψαι, τὸ θλιβομένοις ἐπαρκέσαι, τὸ παντὶ ἔργῳ ἀγαθῷ ἐπακολουθῆσαι. Ὁ τοίνυν Παῦλος περὶ αὐτῶν διαλεγόμενος, τὰ μὲν ἔργα τῆς χήρας ἀφίησιν αὐτὴν πάντα ἐπιτελεῖν· εἰς δὲ τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς χήρας, καὶ τὸν χορὸν, καὶ τὴν τάξιν οὐκ ἀφίησιν αὐτὴν εἰσελθεῖν, ἕως ἂν ἑξηκοστὸν ἔτος παρέλθῃ, μονονουχὶ λέγων· Ποιείτω μὲν τὰ τῆς χήρας ἔργα, τῆς δὲ τιμῆς ἀξιούσθω τότε, ὅταν πάντα ἐπιδειξαμένη καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου λοιπὸν ἀσφάλειαν ἔχῃ, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων ἀπόδειξιν, καὶ τὴν ἔξωθεν μαρτυρίαν. Μηδεὶς γυναιξὶ μόνον τὸν λόγον τοῦτον ἐπιτήδειον εἶναι νομιζέτω. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀνδράσιν ἐστὶ χρήσιμος, ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ στέργωσι τὰς ἑαυτῶν καὶ ἀπελθούσας, καὶ μὴ λεαίνας συγκατοικίζωσι τοῖς παιδίοις, μητρυιὰς ἐπεισάγοντες, καὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἅπασαν ἀνατρέποντες. εʹ. Ταῦτα δὲ λέγομεν οὐχὶ νομοθετοῦντες δεύτερον ἀποστρέφεσθαι γάμον, ἀλλὰ παραινοῦντες καὶ συμβουλεύοντες μετὰ σωφροσύνης ἀρκεῖσθαι τῷ προτέρῳ. Ἕτερόν ἐστιν παραινεῖν καὶ συμβουλεύειν, ἕτερον νομοθετεῖν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ παραινῶν καὶ συμβουλεύων, κύριον ἀφίησι τὸν ἀκούοντα τῆς τῶν συμβουλευομένων αἱρέσεως εἶναι· ὁ δὲ νομοθετῶν, ταύτην παραιτεῖται τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτῶν. Ἀλλ' ἡ Ἐκκλησία οὐ νομοθετεῖ ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ παραινεῖ μόνον· καὶ γὰρ καὶ δεύτερον ἐπέτρεψε γάμον ὁ Παῦλος, οὕτως εἰπών· Γυνὴ δέδεται νόμῳ, ἐφ' ὅσον χρόνον ζῇ ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς· ἐὰν δὲ κοιμηθῇ ὁ ἀνὴρ, ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ᾧ θέλει γαμηθῆναι, μόνον ἐν Κυρίῳ· μακαριωτέρα δέ ἐστιν, ἐὰν οὕτω μείνῃ. Ὥσπερ οὖν