John Chrysostom, On the Praises of Saint Paul the Apostle

being carried, and the courage of the one carrying it. Since, therefore, Paul also enters today, not into a city, but into the world, let us all run together. For he also bears a sign, not of the king below, but the cross of Christ above, and not men go before, but angels, both for the honor of the one being carried and for the safety of the one carrying. For if to those who manage their own life, and do none of the common affairs, angels are given as guardians from the Master of all, as Jacob also says: The angel who has delivered me from my youth; much more are the powers above present for those who have been entrusted with the world and carry so great a weight of gifts. Those, therefore, who have been deemed worthy of this honor by outsiders, are clothed in robes and a golden neck ornament, and are splendid on all sides; but this man, clothed in a chain instead of gold, bears the cross; this man being driven out, this man being scourged and starving. 7.2 But do not be sad, beloved. For this adornment is much better and more splendid than that one, and dear to God; for which reason also he did not grow weary carrying it. For this is the wondrous thing, that with bonds and scourgings he was more splendid than those having the purple and the diadem. For that he was more splendid, and what has been said is not a boast, his garments have shown. For if you should put countless diadems and so many purple robes on a sick person, you will not be able to diminish the fever even a little; but his aprons, coming into contact with the bodies of the sick, make every disease flee, and reasonably so. For if robbers seeing this sign do not dare to attack, but flee without turning back, much more do diseases and demons seeing that sign flee. But he carried it, not that he might bear it alone, but that he might make all men such and teach them to carry it; for which reason he also said: Be imitators of me, as you have us for a pattern; and again: What you have heard and seen in me, do these things; and again: It has been granted to us, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. For the dignities of the present life seem greater then, when they belong to one alone; but in spiritual things it is the opposite; the honor shines most then, when it has many who share in the preeminence, and when the participant is not one, but has many who enjoy the same things. You see, therefore, all are standard-bearers, and each one bears his name before nations and kings, but he also before Gehenna, and before punishment. But he did not speak thus; for they were not able to bear it. 7.3 Have you seen of how much virtue our nature is receptive? how there is nothing more honorable than a man, even while remaining mortal? For what can you say to me greater than this? or what equal? and of how many angels and archangels is not he worthy who said this word? For he who in a mortal and perishable body gave up everything for Christ, of which he was lord, or rather of which he was not, —for he gave up things present, and things to come, and height and depth and another creation—, if this man were in an incorporeal nature, what would he not have said? and what would he not have done? For I also admire the angels for this reason, that they were deemed worthy of such honor, not because they happen to be incorporeal; since the devil is also incorporeal and invisible, but yet he is more wretched than all, because he offended God who made him. Hence we say that men are wretched, not when we see them clothed in flesh, but when they do not use it as they ought; since Paul also was clothed in flesh. From where, then, was he such a man? Both from himself, and from God, and for this reason from God, because from himself; for God is not a respecter of persons. But if you should say: and how is it possible to imitate them, hear what he says: Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ. He became an imitator of Christ,

φερόμενον, καὶ τοῦ βαστάζοντος τὴν ἀνδρείαν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ Παῦλος εἰσέρχεται σήμερον, οὐκ εἰς πόλιν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην, συνδράμωμεν ἅπαντες. Καὶ γὰρ οὗτος σημεῖον βαστάζει, οὐ τοῦ κάτω βασιλέως, ἀλλὰ τὸν σταυρὸν τοῦ ἄνω Χριστοῦ, καὶ προηγοῦνται οὐκ ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλ' ἄγγελοι, καὶ εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ βασταζομένου καὶ εἰς ἀσφάλειαν τοῦ φέροντος. Εἰ γὰρ τοῖς τὸν ἴδιον βίον οἰκονομοῦσι, καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν κοινῶν πράττουσιν, ἄγγελοι παρὰ τοῦ τῶν ὅλων ∆εσπότου εἰσὶ δεδομένοι φύλακες, καθὼς καὶ Ἰακώβ φησιν· Ὁ ἄγγελος ὁ ῥυόμενός με ἐκ νεότητός μου· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐγχειρισθέντων καὶ τηλικοῦτον βασταζόντων ὄγκον δωρεῶν πάρεισιν αἱ δυνάμεις αἱ ἄνω. Οἱ μὲν οὖν παρὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν ταύτης ἠξιωμένοι τῆς τιμῆς, ἱμάτια περίκεινται καὶ περιαυχένιον κόσμον χρυσοῦν, καὶ πάντοθέν εἰσι λαμπροί· οὗτος δὲ ἅλυσιν ἀντὶ χρυσοῦ περικείμενος βαστάζει τὸν σταυρόν· οὗτος ἐλαυνόμενος, οὗτος μαστιζόμενος καὶ λιμώττων. 7.2 Ἀλλὰ μὴ στυγνάσῃς, ἀγαπητέ. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ κόσμος οὗτος ἐκείνου πολλῷ βελτίων καὶ λαμπρότερος, καὶ Θεῷ φίλος· διὸ καὶ βαστάζων οὐκ ἔκαμνε. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ θαυμαστόν, ὅτι μετὰ δεσμῶν καὶ μαστίγων λαμπρότερος τῶν τὴν ἁλουργίδα καὶ τὸ διάδημα ἐχόντων ἦν. Ὅτι γὰρ λαμπρότερος, καὶ οὐ κόμπος τὰ εἰρημένα, ἐδήλωσεν αὐτοῦ τὰ ἱμάτια. ∆ιαδήματα μὲν γὰρ μυρία καὶ πορφυρίδας τοσαύτας ἂν ἐπιθῇς ἀρρωστοῦντι, οὐδὲ μικρόν τι τῆς φλογὸς ὑποτεμέσθαι δυνήσῃ· τὰ δὲ ἐκείνου σιμικίνθια ὁμιλοῦντα τοῖς σώμασι τῶν καμνόντων, πᾶσαν νόσον δραπετεύειν ποιεῖ, καὶ εἰκότως. Εἰ γὰρ λῃσταὶ τοῦτο ὁρῶντες τὸ σημεῖον οὐ τολμῶσιν ἐπελθεῖν, ἀλλ' ἀμεταστρεπτὶ φεύγουσι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον νόσοι καὶ δαίμονες ὁρῶντες ἐκεῖνο τὸ σημεῖον φεύγουσιν. Ἐβάσταζε δέ, οὐχ ἵνα αὐτὸς αὐτὸ φέρῃ μόνος, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἅπαντας τοιούτους ποιήσῃ καὶ διδάξῃ βαστάζειν· διὸ καὶ ἔλεγε· Μιμηταί μου γίνεσθε, καθὼς ἔχετε τύπον ἡμᾶς· καὶ πάλιν· Ἃ ἠκούσατε καὶ εἴδετε ἐν ἐμοί, ταῦτα πράσσετε· καὶ πάλιν· Ἡμῖν ἐχαρίσθη, οὐ μόνον τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάσχειν. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ παρόντος ἀξιώματα βίου τότε μείζονα φαίνεται, ὅταν εἰς ἕνα περιστῇ μόνον· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν πνευματικῶν τοὐναντίον· τότε μάλιστα λάμπει τὸ τῆς τιμῆς, ὅταν πολλοὺς τῆς προεδρίας ἔχῃ κοινωνούς, καὶ ὅταν ὁ μετέχων μὴ εἷς ᾖ, ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς ἔχῃ τοὺς τῶν αὐτῶν ἀπολαύοντας. Ὁρᾷς οὖν πάντας σημειοφόρους, καὶ ἕκαστον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ βαστάζοντα ἐνώπιον ἐθνῶν καὶ βασιλέων, αὐτὸν δὲ καὶ ἐνώπιον γεέννης, καὶ ἐνώπιον κολάσεως. Ἀλλ' οὐκ εἶπεν οὕτως· οὐ γὰρ ἠδύναντο ἐκεῖνοι βαστάζειν. 7.3 Εἶδες ὅσης ἐστὶν ἀρετῆς ἡ φύσις ἡ ἡμετέρα δεκτική; ὡς οὐδὲν ἀνθρώπου τιμιώτερον καὶ θνητοῦ μένοντος; Τί γάρ μοι τούτου μεῖζον ἔχεις εἰπεῖν; τί δὲ ἴσον; πόσων δὲ ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων οὐκ ἔστιν ἄξιος ὁ τοῦτο εἰπὼν τὸ ῥῆμα; Ὁ γὰρ ἐν σώματι θνητῷ καὶ ἐπικήρῳ πάντα ὑπὲρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ προδούς, ὧν κύριος ἦν, μᾶλλον δὲ ὧν οὐκ ἦν, -καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὰ ἐνεστῶτα, καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα προέδωκε, καὶ ὕψωμα καὶ βάθος καὶ κτίσιν ἑτέραν-, οὗτος εἰ ἐν ἀσωμάτῳ φύσει ἦν, τί οὐκ ἂν εἶπε; τί δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἔπραξε; Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους διὰ τοῦτο θαυμάζω, ὅτι κατηξιώθησαν τοιαύτης τιμῆς, οὐχ ὅτι ἀσώματοι ἔτυχον ὄντες· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ διάβολος ἀσώματός τέ ἐστι καὶ ἀόρατος, ἀλλ' ὅμως πάντων ἐστὶν ἀθλιώτερος, ἐπειδὴ τῷ ποιήσαντι προσέκρουσε Θεῷ. Ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἀθλίους εἶναί φαμεν, οὐχ ὅταν σάρκα περι κειμένους ἴδωμεν, ἀλλ' ὅταν μὴ εἰς δέον αὐτῇ χρωμένους· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος σάρκα περιέκειτο. Πόθεν οὖν τοιοῦτος ἦν; Καὶ οἴκοθεν, καὶ παρὰ Θεοῦ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παρὰ Θεοῦ, ἐπειδὴ οἴκοθεν· οὐ γάρ ἐστι προσωπολήπτης ὁ Θεός. Εἰ δὲ λέγοις· καὶ πῶς δυνατὸν ἐκείνους μιμήσασθαι, ἄκουσον τί φησι· Μιμηταί μου γίνεσθε, καθὼς κἀγὼ Χριστοῦ. Ἐκεῖνος τοῦ Χριστοῦ γέγονε μιμητής,