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will care for you. Did he then have no one like-minded among those with him? No one. What does this mean? In place of, "One who cares for you and is concerned for you in the same way I am." No one would easily choose, he says, to make so great a journey for this reason. The one who loves you with me, is Timothy; for it was possible to send others, 62.247 but no one is like him. So this is what it is to be like-minded, to love his disciples in the same way. Who, he says, will genuinely care for your affairs; that is, in a fatherly way. For all seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ; that is, their own rest and to be in safety. This he also says when writing to Timothy. Why then does he lament these things? To teach us who hear not to fall into the same things, to teach those who hear not to seek ease. For he who seeks ease, seeks not the things of Christ, but his own things; for one must be prepared for every labor, for every hardship. But you know his proven worth, he says, that as a child with a father, he served with me in the Gospel. And that I do not speak simply, you yourselves, he says, know that, as a child with a father, he served with me in the Gospel. He commends Timothy here, reasonably, so that he might receive much honor from them. This he also does when writing to the Corinthians, saying, "Let no one despise him; for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do;" not caring for him, but for those who receive him, so that they may carry away a great reward. Him therefore, he says, I hope to send, as soon as I see how things will go with me, at once. That is, "When I see where I stand, and what end my affairs will have." But I trust in the Lord that I myself will also come to you shortly. I do not send him for this reason, as if I were not coming, but "That I may be of good cheer, when I know your state," so that I may not be in ignorance even in the time between. But I trust in the Lord, he says; that is, if God wills. 2. See how he makes everything depend on God, and utters nothing from his own mind. But I thought it necessary Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier. And him again he sends with the same commendations as Timothy. For he commended that one on two accounts: that he loves them, saying, "Who will genuinely care for your affairs," and that he was approved in the Gospel; and this one he praised on the same accounts, again for the same reason as that one. How? For to call him brother and fellow worker, and not to stop only at this, but to add also fellow soldier, is to show his great fellowship in dangers, and to testify the same things of him as of himself. But "fellow soldier" is more than "fellow worker." For perhaps someone has worked together in simple matters, but no longer in war and dangers; but by saying, "fellow soldier," he indicated this also. But your, he says, apostle, and minister to my need, to send to you. That is, I grant your own to you. Either we send your own to you, or the one who teaches you. Again he adds many things concerning his love, saying: Because he was longing for you all, and was distressed, because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick, near to death; but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow. And here he establishes another point, showing that he himself also 62.248 knows very well, he says, that he is loved by you. And this is no small thing for drawing out love. How? He was sick, he says, and you grieved; he became well, and delivered you from the sorrow which you had because of his sickness; yet not even so was he without sorrow, but he grieved, because having recovered he did not see you. Here he also establishes another point, making an apology that he is sending to them after a time, "Not through laziness," he says, "but I was keeping Timothy because I had no one;"

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περὶ ὑμῶν μεριμνήσει. Οὐδένα οὖν οὐκ εἶχε τῶν μετ' αὐτοῦ ἰσόψυχον; Οὐδένα. Τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν; Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ὁμοίως ἐμοὶ κηδόμενον ὑμῶν καὶ φροντίζοντα. Οὐκ ἄν τις εὐκόλως ἕλοιτο, φησὶ, ταύτης ἕνεκεν τῆς αἰτίας ὁδοιπορίαν τοσαύτην ποιήσασθαι. Ὁ φιλῶν ὑμᾶς μετ' ἐμοῦ, Τιμόθεός ἐστιν· ἐνῆν μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἄλλους 62.247 πέμψαι, ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς τοιοῦτός ἐστιν. Ἄρα τοῦτο ἰσοψύχου ἐστὶ, τὸ τοὺς μαθητευομένους αὐτῷ ὁμοίως φιλεῖν. Ὅστις, φησὶ, γνησίως τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν μεριμνήσει· τουτέστι, πατρικῶς. Οἱ πάντες γὰρ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ζητοῦσιν, οὐ τὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· τουτέστι, τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνάπαυσιν καὶ τὸ ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ εἶναι. Τοῦτο καὶ Τιμοθέῳ γράφων λέγει. Τί δήποτε δὲ ἀποδύρεται ταῦτα; Παιδεύων ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀκούοντας μὴ τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπεσεῖν, παιδεύων τοὺς ἀκούοντας μὴ ζητεῖν ἄνεσιν. Ὁ γὰρ ἄνεσιν ζητῶν, οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ Χριστοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ· δεῖ γὰρ παρεσκευάσθαι πρὸς πάντα πόνον, πρὸς πᾶσαν ταλαιπωρίαν. Τὴν δὲ δοκιμὴν αὐτοῦ, φησὶ, γινώσκετε, ὅτι ὡς πατρὶ τέκνον, σὺν ἐμοὶ ἐδούλευσεν εἰς τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον. Καὶ ὅτι οὐχ ἁπλῶς λέγω, ὑμεῖς, φησὶν, αὐτοὶ ἐπίστασθε, ὅτι, ὡς πατρὶ τέκνον, σὺν ἐμοὶ ἐδούλευσεν εἰς τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον. Παρατίθεται ἐνταῦθα τὸν Τιμόθεον, εἰκότως, ὥστε πολλῆς ἀπολαῦσαι παρ' αὐτῶν τιμῆς. Τοῦτο καὶ πρὸς Κορινθίους ἐπιστέλλων ποιεῖ, λέγων, Μή τις αὐτοῦ καταφρονήσῃ· τὸ γὰρ ἔργον Κυρίου ἐργάζεται, ὡς καὶ ἐγώ· οὐκ ἐκείνου κηδόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῶν δεχομένων αὐτὸν, ὥστε πολὺν ἀπενέγκασθαι τὸν μισθόν. Τοῦτον μὲν οὖν, φησὶν, ἐλπίζω πέμψαι, ὡς ἂν ἀπίδω τὰ περὶ ἐμὲ, ἐξ αὐτῆς. Τουτέστιν, Ὅταν ἴδω ἐν τίνι ἕστηκα, καὶ ποῖον ἕξει τέλος τὰ κατ' ἐμέ. Πέποιθα δὲ ἐν Κυρίῳ, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς ταχέως ἐλεύσομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς. Οὐ διὰ τοῦτο πέμπω αὐτὸν, ὡς μὴ ἐλευσόμενος, ἀλλ' Ἵνα εὐψυχῶ, γνοὺς τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν, ἵνα μηδὲ τὸν ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ χρόνον ὦ ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ. Πέποιθα δὲ ἐν Κυρίῳ, φησί· τουτέστιν, ἂν ὁ Θεὸς βούληται. βʹ. Ὅρα πῶς πάντα ἐξαρτᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐξ οἰκείας φθέγγεται διανοίας. Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἡγησάμην Ἐπαφρόδιτον τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ συνεργὸν καὶ συστρατιώτην μου. Καὶ τοῦτον πάλιν μετὰ ἐγκωμίων τῶν αὐτῶν, ὧν καὶ τὸν Τιμόθεον, ἀποστέλλει. Ἐκεῖνον γὰρ ἀπὸ δύο τούτων συνέστησεν, ὅτι τε αὐτοὺς ἀγαπᾷ, εἰπὼν, Ὅστις γνησίως τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν μεριμνήσει, καὶ ὅτι ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ ηὐδοκίμησε· καὶ τοῦτον ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν πάλιν διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν, ἣν καὶ ἐκεῖνον, ἐπῄνεσε. Πῶς; Τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν ἀδελφὸν καὶ συνεργὸν, καὶ μὴ μέχρι τούτου μόνον στῆναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ συστρατιώτην προσθεῖναι, δεικνύντος ἐστὶ τὴν πολλὴν αὐτοῦ κοινωνίαν τὴν ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις, καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ αὐτῷ μαρτυροῦντος, ἅπερ καὶ ἑαυτῷ. Τὸ δὲ, Συστρατιώτην, πλέον ἐστὶ τοῦ, Συνεργόν. Ἴσως γάρ τις ἐν μὲν ψιλοῖς πράγμασι συνήργησεν, ἐν δὲ πολέμῳ καὶ κινδύνοις οὐκέτι· τῷ δὲ εἰπεῖν, Συστρατιώτην, καὶ τοῦτο ἐδήλωσεν. Ὑμῶν δὲ, φησὶν, ἀπόστολον, καὶ λειτουργὸν τῆς χρείας μου, πέμψαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς. Τουτέστι, Τὰ ὑμέτερα ὑμῖν χαρίζομαι. Ἤτοι τὸν ὑμέτερον ὑμῖν πέμπομεν, ἢ τὸν ὑμᾶς διδάσκοντα. Πάλιν πολλὰ περὶ τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ προστίθησι, λέγων· Ἐπειδὴ ἐπιποθῶν ἦν πάντας ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἀδημονῶν, διότι ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἠσθένησε. Καὶ γὰρ ἠσθένησε παραπλήσιον θανάτου· ἀλλ' ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ἠλέησεν, οὐκ αὐτὸν δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμὲ, ἵνα μὴ λύπην ἐπὶ λύπῃ σχῶ. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ ἕτερον κατασκευάζει, δηλῶν ὅτι καὶ 62.248 αὐτὸς σφόδρα οἶδε, φησὶν, ὅτι ἀγαπᾶται παρ' ὑμῶν. Οὐ μικρὸν δὲ τοῦτο εἰς τὸ φιλεῖν ἐπισπάσασθαι. Πῶς; Ἠσθένησε, φησὶ, καὶ ἠλγεῖτε· ὑγίαινε, καὶ ἀπήλλαξεν ὑμᾶς τῆς λύπης, ἣν εἴχετε διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν αὐτοῦ· οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ οὕτως ἔξω λύπης ἦν, ἀλλ' ἤλγει, διότι ὑγιάνας οὐκ εἶδεν ὑμᾶς. Ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἄλλο κατασκευάζει, ἀπολογούμενος ὅτι διὰ χρόνου πέμπει πρὸς αὐτοὺς, Οὐ διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν Τιμόθεον διὰ τὸ μηδένα ἔχειν κατεῖχον·