John Chrysostom, On the Praises of Saint Paul the Apostle

brilliant; and this made him such. Let no one therefore despair, let no one give up. For if you present your mind, there is nothing to prevent you from receiving the same grace. For God is no respecter of persons; and He Himself formed him, and He Himself brought you forth; and just as He is his Master, so also is He yours; just as He proclaimed him, so also does He wish to crown you. Let us therefore submit and cleanse ourselves, so that we too, having received abundant grace, may obtain the same good things, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

5.t By the same, Encomium on the Holy Apostle Paul, Sermon 5 5.1 Where now are those who blame death, and say that this passible and corruptible body is an obstacle to them for virtue? Let them hear of Paul’s achievements, and cease from this wicked slander. For what harm has death done our race? Or what has corruption hindered in respect to virtue? Consider Paul, and you will see that becoming mortal has also benefited us in the greatest ways. For if he had not been mortal, he would not have been able to say, or rather he would not have been able to show what he said through his works, that: "I die daily, I protest by your boasting, which I have in Christ Jesus." For everywhere we need soul and zeal, and nothing prevents us from being ranked among the first. Was he not mortal? Was he not an unlearned man? Was he not poor and making his living from his daily labor? Did he not have a body subject to all natural necessities? What then prevented him from becoming such as he became? Nothing. Let no poor man therefore be disheartened, let no unlearned man be discontented, let none of the humble grieve, but only those who have a softened soul and an enervated mind. For this alone becomes an impediment to virtue, wickedness of soul and softness of will; but without this, none of the other things are. And this is clear from this blessed one who has now gathered us together. For just as these things did not harm him at all, so the opposite things did not help those on the outside at all, not skill in words, not abundance of money, not distinction of family, not greatness of reputation, not being in power. 5.2 Why do I speak of men? Rather, how long do I confine my discourse to the earth, when it is possible to speak of the powers above, the principalities, and the authorities, and the world-rulers of the darkness of this age? For what did it profit them to have obtained such a nature? Do not all the powers come to be judged through Paul, and those like him? For "Do you not know," he says, "that we shall judge angels, not to mention matters of this life?" Let us not therefore grieve for any other reason, but for wickedness alone, nor rejoice and be glad for anything else, but for virtue alone. If we emulate this, there is nothing to prevent us from becoming like Paul. 5.3 For he became such not from grace alone, but also from his own zeal; and for this reason from grace, because also from zeal. For both were in abundance, both what God breathed into him, and what came from his own choice. Do you wish to learn what was of God? Demons feared his garments. But I do not marvel at this, just as I do not marvel that diseases fled from Peter's shadow; but I marvel that he was seen doing this wonderful thing before grace, and from the very starting-line and prelude of it; not even having this power, nor having received ordination, he was so inflamed with zeal for Christ, that all of the Jews'

λαμπρά· καὶ τοῦτο ἐκεῖνον τοιοῦτον ἐποίησε. Μηδεὶς τοίνυν ἀπογινωσκέτω, μηδεὶς ἀπαγορευέτω. Ἐὰν γὰρ παραστήσῃς σου τὴν διάνοιαν, οὐδὲν τὸ κωλῦον τὴν αὐτὴν δέξασθαι χάριν. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι προσωπολήπτης ὁ Θεός· καὶ ἐκεῖνον αὐτὸς ἔπλασε, καὶ σὲ αὐτὸς παρήγαγε· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐκείνου ∆εσπότης, οὕτω καὶ σός· ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνον ἀνεκήρυξεν, οὕτω καὶ σὲ βούλεται στέψαι. Ὑπόσχωμεν τοίνυν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ καθάρωμεν, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς δαψιλῆ δεξάμενοι τὴν χάριν, τῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιτύχωμεν ἀγαθῶν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

5.t Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐγκώμιον εἰς τὸν ἅγιον ἀπόστολον Παῦλον λόγος εʹ 5.1 Ποῦ νῦν εἰσιν οἱ τὸν θάνατον αἰτιώμενοι, καὶ τὸ παθητὸν τοῦτο σῶμα καὶ φθαρτὸν ἐμπόδιον εἶναι λέγοντες αὐτοῖς πρὸς ἀρετήν; Ἀκουσάτωσαν τῶν Παύλου κατορθωμάτων, καὶ παυέσθωσαν τῆς πονηρᾶς ταύτης διαβολῆς. Τί γὰρ τὸ γένος ἡμῶν ἔβλαψεν ὁ θάνατος; τί δὲ ἡ φθορὰ πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἐνεπόδισεν; Ἐννόησον Παῦλον, καὶ ὄψει ὅτι καὶ ὤνησεν ἡμᾶς τὰ μέγιστα τὸ γενέσθαι θνητούς. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ θνητὸς ἦν οὗτος, οὐκ ἂν ἐδυνήθη εἰπεῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἐπιδείξασθαι ἐδυνήθη ὃ διὰ τῶν ἔργων εἶπεν, ὅτι· Καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκω, νὴ τὴν ὑμετέραν καύχησιν, ἣν ἔχω ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. Πανταχοῦ γὰρ ἡμῖν ψυχῆς καὶ προθυμίας δεῖ, καὶ τὸ κωλῦον οὐδὲν ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις τετάχθαι. Οὐχὶ θνητὸς ἦν οὗτος; οὐχὶ ἰδιώτης; οὐχὶ πένης καὶ ἐκ τῆς καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐργασίας ποιούμενος τὴν τροφήν; οὐχὶ σῶμα εἶχε πάσαις ἀνάγκαις ὑποκείμενον φυσικαῖς; Τί οὖν αὐτὸν ἐκώλυσε γενέσθαι τοιοῦτον οἷος γέγονεν; Οὐδέν. Μηδεὶς τοίνυν ἀθυμείτω πένης, μηδεὶς δυσχεραινέτω ἰδιώτης, μηδεὶς ἀλγείτω τῶν εὐτελῶν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι μόνοι ὅσοι ψυχὴν μεμαλακισμένην καὶ διάνοιαν ἔχουσιν ἐκνενευρισμένην. Τοῦτο γὰρ γίνεται κώλυμα μόνον πρὸς ἀρετήν, κακία ψυχῆς καὶ μαλακία γνώμης· ταύτης δὲ ἄνευ τῶν ἄλλων οὐδέν. Καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον ἀπὸ τοῦ μακαρίου τούτου τοῦ νῦν συναγαγόντος ἡμᾶς. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῦτον οὐδὲν ταῦτα παρέβλαψεν, οὕτω τοὺς ἔξωθεν οὐδὲν τὰ ἐναντία ὠφέλησεν, οὐ λόγων δεινότης, οὐ χρημάτων πλῆθος, οὐ περιφάνεια γένους, οὐ δόξης μέγεθος, οὐ τὸ ἐν δυναστείᾳ εἶναι. 5.2 Τί λέγω τοὺς ἀνθρώπους; μᾶλλον δὲ μέχρι πότε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κατέχω τὸν λόγον, ἐξὸν εἰπεῖν τὰς ἀνωτέρω δυνάμεις, τὰς ἀρχάς, καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας, καὶ τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου; τί γὰρ ὤνησε τούτους τὸ φύσιν τοιαύτην λαχεῖν; οὐχὶ ἔρχονται πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις κρινόμεναι διὰ Παύλου, καὶ τῶν κατ' ἐκεῖνον; Οὐκ οἴδατε γάρ, φησίν, ὅτι ἀγγέλους κρινοῦμεν, μήτι γε βιωτικά; Μὴ τοίνυν δι' ἕτερον μηδὲν ἀλγῶμεν, ἀλλὰ διὰ κακίαν μόνον, μηδὲ δι' ἄλλο χαίρωμεν καὶ εὐφραινώμεθα, ἀλλὰ δι' ἀρετὴν μόνον. Ἐὰν ταύτην ζηλώσωμεν, οὐδὲν τὸ κωλῦον γενέσθαι κατὰ Παῦλον. 5.3 Ἐκεῖνος γὰρ οὐχὶ ἀπὸ τῆς χάριτος μόνον τοιοῦτος ἐγένετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκείας προθυμίας· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῆς χάριτος, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς προθυμίας. Μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς γὰρ ἑκάτερα, καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔπνευσεν αὐτῷ, καὶ τὰ τῆς οἰκείας προαιρέσεως ὑπῆρξε. Βούλει μαθεῖν τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ; Τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ἐδεδοίκεισαν δαίμονες. Ἀλλ' οὐ θαυμάζω τοῦτο, ὥσπερ οὐδ' ὅτι τὴν σκιὰν Πέτρου τὰ νοσήματα ἔφυγεν· ἀλλὰ θαυμάζω ὅτι τὸ θαυμαστὸν τοῦτο πρὸ τῆς χάριτος, καὶ ἀπὸ βαλβῖδος αὐτῆς καὶ προοιμίων αὐτῶν ἐφάνη ποιῶν· οὐδὲ τὴν δύναμιν ταύτην ἔχων, οὐδὲ χειροτονίαν δεξάμενος, οὕτω τῷ πρὸς Χριστὸν ἐξήφθη ζήλῳ, ὡς πάντα τῶν Ἰουδαίων