John Chrysostom, What Kind of Wives Should Be Taken

does he have a voice, and speak openly, so that I might approach and ask him? These are the thoughts of an unbelieving soul. For God is able to accomplish swiftly and without a voice all things that he wishes; which indeed also happened in this case. For he heard no voice, nor did he see any vision; but standing at a spring he prayed, and quickly succeeded. For it happened before he had finished speaking, it says, Rebecca came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, with her water jar on her shoulders; and the maiden was very beautiful in appearance, she was a virgin, no man had known her. Why do you tell me of the beauty of her body? So that you might learn the excellence of her modesty, so that you might learn the beauty in her soul. For it is admirable to be modest; but much more admirable, when this is accompanied by beauty. For this reason also, when about to tell us about Joseph and his modesty, he first set down the beauty of his body, saying: He was handsome in form, and very beautiful in appearance; and then he related his modesty, showing that his beauty did not lead him into licentiousness. For neither is beauty a cause of fornication, nor is homeliness necessarily a cause of modesty. For many who have shone in the beauty of their body, have shone more greatly in modesty; others again, being ugly and ill-favored, became uglier in soul, having been defiled by countless fornications. For not the nature of the body, but the choice of the soul is the cause of both the one and the other. 7. Not without reason did he say a second time that she was a virgin. For having said, She was a virgin, he added: She was a virgin, no man had known her. For since many virgins, while keeping their body uncorrupted, fill their soul with much wantonness, adorning themselves, drawing countless 51.236 lovers from all sides, and rousing the eyes of young men, setting snares and pitfalls, Moses, showing that she was not of this sort, but was a virgin in both respects, both in body and in soul, says, She was a virgin, no man had known her. And yet she had many opportunities to be known by men: first, the beauty of her body; second, the manner of her service. For if she had sat continually in her chamber, like the virgins of today, and never entered the marketplace, nor went out of her father's house, it would not have been so great a thing to be said in her praise, that no man had known her. But when you see her going out to the marketplace, being compelled to carry water every day, both once and twice and many times, and then being known to no man, then most of all you will be able to perceive her praise. For if a virgin who rarely visits the marketplace, and is ill-favored and shapeless, with many attendant maids, often has her character corrupted by these excursions; she who went out from her father's house every day alone, and not simply to the marketplace, but meeting at the spring and drawing water, where it is necessary for many others to gather, how would she not be worthy of countless wonders, having corrupted her character neither from her constant excursions, nor from the beauty of her appearance, nor from the multitude of those present, nor from any other source, but remaining uncorrupted in body and soul, and preserving her modesty more strictly than those who sit in the women's quarters, and appearing such as Paul seeks, saying, that she may be holy in body and in spirit? So, having gone down to the spring, she filled her water jar with water, and came up; and the servant ran to meet her, and said: Give me a little water to drink from your jar. And she said: Drink, my lord; and she hurried, and let down her water jar upon her arm, and gave him to drink until he had stopped drinking; and she said: I will draw water for your camels also, until they have all drunk. And she hurried and emptied the water jar

φωνὴν ἔχει, καὶ διαλεχθῆναι φανερῶς, ἵνα προσελθὼν ἐρωτήσω; Ἀπίστου ταῦτα ψυχῆς. Καὶ γὰρ ὀξέως καὶ χωρὶς φωνῆς πάντα, ὅσα ἂν θέλῃ, δύναται κατασκευάζειν ὁ Θεός· ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου γέγονεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ φωνὴν ἤκουσεν, οὐδὲ ὄψιν τινὰ εἶδεν· ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πηγῇ ἑστὼς ηὔξατο, καὶ ταχέως ἐπέτυχεν. Ἐγένετο γὰρ πρὶν ἢ συντελέσαι λαλοῦντα αὐτὸν, φησὶ, Ῥεβέκκα ἐξεπορεύετο ἡ τεχθεῖσα Βαθουὴλ τῷ υἱῷ Μελχᾶς, ἔχουσα τὴν ὑδρίαν ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων· ἡ δὲ παρθένος ἦν καλὴ τῇ ὄψει σφόδρα, παρθένος ἦν, ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἔγνω αὐτήν. Τί μοι λέγεις τὴν εὐμορφίαν τοῦ σώματος; Ἵνα μάθῃς τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς σωφροσύνης, ἵνα μάθῃς τὸ κάλλος τὸ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ. Θαυμαστὸν μὲν γὰρ τὸ σωφρονεῖν· πολλῷ δὲ θαυμαστότερον, ὅταν μετ' εὐμορφίας τοῦτο γίνηται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ μέλλων ἡμῖν διηγεῖσθαι καὶ τῆς ἐκείνου σωφροσύνης, πρότερον τὴν εὐμορφίαν τοῦ σώματος τέθεικεν, εἰπών· Καλὸς ἦν τῷ εἴδει, καὶ ὡραῖος τῇ ὄψει σφόδρα· καὶ τότε τὴν σωφροσύνην αὐτοῦ διηγήσατο δεικνὺς, ὅτι τὸ κάλλος αὐτὸν εἰς ἀσέλγειαν οὐ προήγαγεν. Οὔτε γὰρ τὸ κάλλος πορνείας αἴτιον, οὔτε ἡ ἀμορφία σωφροσύνης πάντως. Πολλαὶ γὰρ κατὰ τὴν ὥραν τοῦ σώματος λάμψασαι, μειζόνως κατὰ τὴν σωφροσύνην ἔλαμψαν· ἄλλαι πάλιν αἰσχραὶ καὶ δυσειδεῖς οὖσαι, αἰσχρότεραι κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐγένοντο, μυρίαις ῥυπωθεῖσαι πορνείαις. Οὐ γὰρ ἡ φύσις τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλ' ἡ προαίρεσις τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τούτου κἀκείνου αἰτία. ζʹ. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς δὲ δεύτερον αὐτὴν παρθένον εἶπεν. Εἰπὼν γὰρ, Παρθένος ἦν, ἐπήγαγε· Παρθένος ἦν, ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἔγνω αὐτήν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολλαὶ παρθένων τὸ σῶμα ἀδιάφθορον τηροῦσαι, τὴν ψυχὴν πολλῆς ἀκολασίας πληροῦσι, καλλωπιζόμεναι, μυρίους 51.236 πανταχόθεν ἐπισπώμεναι ἐραστὰς, καὶ τοὺς τῶν νέων ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀναπτεροῦσιν, ἐνέδρας τιθεῖσαι καὶ βάραθρα, δεικνὺς ὁ Μωϋσῆς ὅτι οὐκ αὐτὴ τοιαύτη, ἀλλ' ἑκατέρωθεν ἦν παρθένος, ἀπό τε σώματος, ἀπό τε ψυχῆς, φησὶ, Παρθένος ἦν, ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἔγνω αὐτήν. Καίτοι γε πολλὰς εἶχεν ἀφορμὰς τοῦ γνωρισθῆναι ἀνδράσι· πρῶτον μὲν, τὸ κάλλος τοῦ σώματος· δεύτερον δὲ, ὁ τῆς διακονίας τρόπος. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐν θαλάμῳ διηνεκῶς ἐκάθητο, καθάπερ αἱ νῦν παρθένοι, καὶ μηδέποτε εἰς ἀγορὰν ἐνέβαλεν, μηδὲ ἐξῄει τὴν οἰκίαν τὴν πατρῴαν, οὐδὲν τοσοῦτον ἦν εἰς ἐγκώμιον λέγεσθαι περὶ αὐτῆς, ὅτι ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἔγνω αὐτήν. Ὅταν δὲ ἴδῃς αὐτὴν εἰς ἀγορὰν ἐξιοῦσαν, καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὑδροφορεῖν ἀναγκαζομένην, καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς καὶ πολλάκις, εἶτα μηδενὶ γνώριμον οὖσαν ἀνδρὶ, τότε μάλιστα αὐτῆς δυνήσῃ κατιδεῖν τὸ ἐγκώμιον. Εἰ γὰρ ὀλιγάκις εἰς ἀγορὰν παραβάλλουσα παρθένος, καὶ δυσειδὴς οὖσα καὶ ἄμορφος, πολλῶν ἑπομένων θεραπαινίδων, ἀπὸ τῶν ἐξόδων τούτων διεφθάρη τὸ ἦθος πολλάκις· ἡ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐκ τῆς πατρῴας οἰκίας ἐξιοῦσα μόνη, καὶ οὐκ εἰς ἀγορὰν ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν πηγὴν ἀπαντῶσα καὶ ὑδρευομένη, ἔνθα πολλοὺς καὶ ἑτέρους συνιέναι ἀνάγκη, πῶς οὐκ ἂν εἴη μυρίων ἀξία θαυμάτων, οὔτε ἀπὸ τῶν ἐξόδων τῶν συνεχῶν, οὔτε ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὄψιν εὐμορφίας, οὔτε ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν παραγινομένων, οὔτε ἄλλοθεν οὐδαμόθεν διαφθαρεῖσα τὸ ἦθος, ἀλλὰ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀδιάφθορος μείνασα, καὶ τὴν σωφροσύνην τῶν ἐν γυναικωνίτιδι καθημένων ἀκριβέστερον διατηρήσασα, καὶ τοιαύτη φανεῖσα, οἵαν ὁ Παῦλος ἐπιζητεῖ λέγων, Ἵνα ᾖ ἁγία σώματι καὶ πνεύματι; Καταβᾶσα τοίνυν ἐπὶ τὴν πηγὴν ἔπλησε τὴν ὑδρίαν τοῦ ὕδατος, καὶ ἀνέβη· καὶ ἔδραμεν ὁ παῖς εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτῆς, καὶ εἶπε· Πότισόν με μικρὸν ἐκ τῆς ὑδρίας σου. Ἡ δὲ εἶπε· Πίε, κύριε· καὶ ἔσπευσε, καὶ καθεῖλε τὴν ὑδρίαν ἐπὶ τὸν βραχίονα αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐπότισεν αὐτὸν ἕως ἐπαύσατο πίνων· καὶ εἶπε· Καὶ ταῖς καμήλοις σου ὑδρεύσομαι, ἕως ἂν πᾶσαι πίωσι. Καὶ ἔσπευσε καὶ ἐξεκένωσε τὴν ὑδρίαν