John Chrysostom, On the Letter to the Colossians

she who is clad all in gold, would not have drawn the onlookers more; but if it happened that Paul was in chains at the same time, and the queen entered into the church, all would have turned their eyes from her to him; and rightly so. For to see a man greater than human nature, and having nothing human, but an angel on earth, is more wonderful than to see an adorned woman. For these things can be seen both in theaters, and in processions, and in baths, and in many places; but for the beholder to see a man clad in chains, and considering it the greatest adornment, and not yielding to the chains, is not an earthly spectacle, but the spectacle is worthy of the heavens. The soul clad in these things looks around, who saw, who did not see, is filled with vanity, is possessed by cares, is bound by countless other passions; but he who is clad in those things, is without vanity; the soul exults, is released from every care, rejoicing, looking to heaven, winged. If someone were to give me to see Paul looking down from heaven and speaking, or from the prison, I would have chosen from the prison; for those from heaven come to him, when he is in the prison. The bond of the preaching are the chains of Paul, 62.372 the foundation is that chain. Let us long for those chains. 5. And how, he says, is it possible? If we shatter and break these ones. There is no benefit to us from these chains, but even harm. These will show us as prisoners there, but the chains of Paul will loose those chains; she who is bound by these here will also be bound there by immortal chains, hands and feet, she who is bound by Paul's will have them as an ornament around her then. Loose yourself from the chain, and the poor man from hunger. Why do you tighten the chains of sins? How? he says. When you wear gold, and another perishes; when you, in order to gain vain glory, take so much gold, and another has not even enough to eat, have you not tightened your sins? Put on Christ, and not gold; where mammon is, there Christ is not; where Christ is, there mammon is not. Do you not wish to be clothed in the King of all Himself? If someone gave you the purple robe and the diadem, would you not accept it in place of all the gold? I do not give you the royal adornment, but I grant you to put on the King Himself. And how can one put on Christ, he says? Hear Paul saying: As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ; hear the apostolic exhortation: Make no provision for the flesh, he says, to gratify its desires. Thus one puts on Christ, by not making provision for the flesh unto its desires. If you put on Christ, even demons will fear you; but if you put on gold, even men will laugh at you; if you put on Christ, even men will respect you. Do you wish to appear beautiful and comely? Be content with the creation of the Creator. Why do you bring in gold, as if to correct the creation of God? Do you want to appear comely? put on almsgiving, put on philanthropy, put on modesty, humility; all these are more precious than gold; these make even the beautiful more comely; these make even the not well-formed well-formed. For when one looks on a face with goodwill, he casts his vote from love; but the wicked one, one cannot call beautiful, even if she is beautiful; for the mind, being struck, does not cast its vote correctly. The Egyptian woman was once adorned, and Joseph was adorned; who then was the more beautiful? I do not say when she was in the palace, and he in the prison. He was naked, but was clothed in the garments of modesty; she was clothed, but was more shameful than one naked; for she did not have modesty. When you adorn yourself excessively, O woman, then you have become more shameful than the naked; for you have stripped off seemliness. Eve was also naked; but when she clothed herself, then she was more shameful; for when she was naked, she was adorned with

ἡ πάντα χρυσὸν περικειμένη, οὐκ ἂν μᾶλλον ἐπεσπάσατο τοὺς ὁρῶντας· ἀλλ' εἰ συνέβη καὶ Παῦλον κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν δεδεμένον, καὶ τὴν βασιλίδα εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν εἰσελθεῖν, πάντες ἂν ἀπ' ἐκείνης ἐπὶ τοῦτον μετήγαγον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς· καὶ εἰκότως. Τὸ γὰρ ὁρᾷν ἄνδρα τῆς φύσεως τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης μείζονα, καὶ οὐδὲν ἔχοντα ἀνθρώπινον, ἀλλ' ἄγγελον ἐπὶ γῆς, θαυμασιώτερον τοῦ ὁρᾷν γυναῖκα κεκαλλωπισμένην. Ταῦτα μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἐν θεάτροις, καὶ ἐν πομπαῖς, καὶ βαλανείοις, καὶ πολλαχοῦ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν· ἄνθρωπον δὲ δεσμὰ περικείμενον, καὶ νομίζοντα τὸν μέγιστον κόσμον ἔχειν, καὶ οὐκ εἴκοντα τοῖς δεσμοῖς, οὐκ ἔστι γῆς θέαμα ἰδεῖν τὸν ὁρῶντα, ἀλλ' οὐρανῶν ἄξιον τὸ θέαμα. Ἡ ταῦτα περικειμένη ψυχὴ περισκοπεῖ, τίς εἶδε, τίς οὐκ εἶδε, τύφου πεπλήρωται, φροντίσι κατέχεται, μυρίοις ἑτέροις δέδεται πάθεσιν· ὁ δὲ ἐκεῖνα περικείμενος, ἄτυφος· ἡ ψυχὴ γαυροῦται, πάσης ἀπήλλακται φροντίδος, γεγηθυῖα, πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν βλέπουσα, ἐπτερωμένη. Εἴ τίς μοι Παῦλον ἐδίδου ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διακύπτοντα ἰδεῖν καὶ φωνὴν ἀφιέντα, ἢ ἐκ τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου, ἐκ τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου ἂν εἱλόμην· οἱ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔρχονται, ὅταν εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον ᾗ. Ὁ σύνδεσμος τοῦ κηρύγματος τὰ δεσμὰ Παύ 62.372 λου, ὁ θεμέλιος ἡ ἅλυσις ἐκείνη. Ἐκεῖνα τὰ δεσμὰ ποθήσωμεν. εʹ. Καὶ πῶς, φησὶν, ἔνι; Ἐὰν ταῦτα συντρίψωμεν καὶ διακλάσωμεν. Οὐδὲν ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τούτων ὄφελος τῶν δεσμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βλάβη. ∆εσμώτας ἡμᾶς ἐκεῖ δείξει ταῦτα, τὰ δὲ Παύλου δεσμὰ λύσει ἐκεῖνα τὰ δεσμά· ἡ τούτοις ἐνταῦθα δεδεμένη καὶ τοῖς ἀθανάτοις ἐκεῖ δεσμοῖς δεθήσεται χεῖρας καὶ πόδας, ἡ τοῖς Παύλου δεδεμένη ἕξει καθάπερ κόσμον περικείμενον αὐτῇ τότε. Λῦσον καὶ σαυτὴν τοῦ δεσμοῦ, καὶ τὸν πένητα τοῦ λιμοῦ. Τί τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τὰς σειρὰς ἐπισφίγγεις; Πῶς; φησίν. Ὅταν σὺ μὲν χρυσοφορῇς, ἕτερος δὲ ἀπόλλυται· ὅταν σὺ μὲν ἵνα δόξης τύχῃς τῆς κενῆς, τοσοῦτον λαμβάνῃς χρυσίον, ἕτερος δὲ μηδὲ φαγεῖν ἔχῃ, οὐχὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἐπέσφιγξας; Περίθου τὸν Χριστὸν, καὶ μὴ τὸν χρυσόν· ἔνθα μαμμωνᾶς, ἐκεῖ Χριστὸς οὐκ ἔστιν· ἔνθα Χριστὸς, ἐκεῖ μαμμωνᾶς οὐκ ἔστιν. Οὐ βούλει τὸν Βασιλέα αὐτὸν περικεῖσθαι τῶν πάντων; Εἴ τίς σοι τὴν ἁλουργίδα καὶ τὸ διάδημα ἔδωκεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐδέξω ἀντὶ παντὸς τοῦ χρυσίου; Ἐγώ σοι οὐ τὸν κόσμον δίδωμι τὸν βασιλικὸν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν περιθέσθαι τὸν Βασιλέα παρέχω. Καὶ πῶς ἄν τις περικέοιτο τὸν Χριστὸν, φησίν; Ἄκουε τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· Ὅσοι εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε· ἄκουσον τῆς παραινέσεως τῆς ἀποστολικῆς· Τῆς σαρκὸς, φησὶ, πρόνοιαν μὴ ποιεῖσθε εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν. Οὕτω τις ἐνδύεται τὸν Χριστὸν, μὴ προνοῶν τῆς σαρκὸς εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν. Ἂν τὸν Χριστὸν ἐνδύσῃ, καὶ δαίμονές σε φοβηθήσονται· ἂν δὲ τὸν χρυσὸν, καὶ ἄνθρωποι καταγελάσονται· ἐὰν ἐνδύσῃ τὸν Χριστὸν, καὶ ἄνθρωποί σε αἰδεσθήσονται. Βούλει φαίνεσθαι καλὴ καὶ εὐπρεπής; ἀρκέσθητι τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ τῇ πλάσει. Τί τὰ χρυσία ἐπεισάγεις, ὡς διορθωσομένη τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ πλάσμα; Θέλεις εὐπρεπὴς φαίνεσθαι; περιβαλοῦ ἐλεημοσύνην, περιβαλοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, περιβαλοῦ σωφροσύνην, ἀτυφίαν· ταῦτα πάντα χρυσοῦ τιμιώτερα· ταῦτα καὶ τὴν ὡραίαν εὐπρεπεστέραν ποιεῖ· ταῦτα καὶ τὴν οὐκ εὔμορφον εὔμορφον ἐργάζεται. Ὅταν γάρ τις μετ' εὐνοίας ὄψιν ὁρᾷ, ἀπὸ ἀγάπης φέρει τὰς ψήφους· τὴν δὲ πονηρὰν οὐ δύναταί τις οὐδὲ καλὴν οὖσαν, καλὴν εἰπεῖν· πεπληγμένη γὰρ ἡ διάνοια οὐ φέρει τὴν ψῆφον ὀρθήν. Ἐκοσμήθη ποτὲ ἡ Αἰγυπτία, ἐκοσμήθη καὶ ὁ Ἰωσήφ· τίς οὖν ἦν ὁ ὡραιότερος; οὐ λέγω ὅτε ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις ἦν ἐκείνη, οὗτος δὲ ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ. Γυμνὸς ἦν οὗτος, ἀλλ' ἐνεδέδυτο τῆς σωφροσύνης τὰ ἱμάτια· ἐνδεδυμένη ἦν ἐκείνη, ἀλλὰ γυμνῆς ἦν αἰσχροτέρα· σωφροσύνην γὰρ οὐκ εἶχεν. Ὅταν σφοδρῶς κοσμήσῃ, ὦ γύναι, τότε τῆς γυμνῆς αἰσχροτέρα γέγονας· ἀπεδύσω γὰρ τὴν εὐκοσμίαν. Ἦν καὶ ἡ Εὔα γυμνή· ἀλλ' ὅτε ἐνεδύσατο, τότε ἦν αἰσχροτέρα· ὅτε μὲν γὰρ ἦν γυμνὴ, κεκόσμητο τῇ