John Chrysostom, On the Letter to the Colossians

why do you make her contemptible in yet another way by your conduct? I praise that virgins are present honoring their peer, that women are present honoring her who has been brought down to them; this has been well established. For these are two choirs, that of the virgins, and that of the married women; these hand over, those receive. The bride is between these, neither virgin, nor woman; for she departs from there, and enters this company. 62.387 But the prostitutes, why? When they ought to be veiled when there is a wedding, when they ought to bury themselves (for prostitution is the corruption of marriage), we bring them to weddings. And when you do anything, you take even a word as an omen of its opposite; for instance, when you are sowing, when you are drawing the wine from the vats, you would not even answer to things that signify vinegar; but here, when a matter of chastity is taking place, do you bring in the vinegar? for the prostitute is this. When you prepare ointment, you allow nothing foul-smelling to come near. Marriage is an ointment; why then do you bring the stench of the mire to the preparation of the ointment? What do you say? the virgin dances, and is not ashamed before her peer? For she ought to be more modest than her; she came from the women's chambers, not from a wrestling school. For a virgin ought not to appear at weddings at all. 5. Do you not see in palaces, that the honored are inside around the king, but the dishonored are outside? You too, be inside around the bride. But remain pure at home; do not make a show of your virginity. Each choir stands by, the one showing what sort of person they are giving, the other that they may guard her; why do you disgrace virginity? For if you are such a one, the bridegroom will suspect such things about her also; if you wish to be desired, these are the ways of a female shopkeeper, and a greengrocer, and an artisan. Is this not a shame? Shame is to behave unbecomingly, even if one is a king's daughter. For does poverty prevent it? or one's trade? Even if a virgin is a slave, let her remain in chastity; For in Christ Jesus there is neither slave nor free. For is marriage a theater? It is a mystery, and a type of a great thing; and if you do not reverence it, reverence that of which it is a type. This mystery, he says, is great; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. It is a type of the Church and of Christ, and you bring in prostitutes? If then, one says, neither virgins dance, nor married women, who will dance? No one; for what need is there of dancing? Dances belong in the mysteries of the Greeks, but in ours, silence and good order, reverence and modesty. A great mystery is being celebrated; outside with the prostitutes, outside with the profane. How is it a mystery? They come together, and the two make one. Why, when he entered in, was there no dancing, no cymbals, but great silence, great quiet; but when they come together, making not a lifeless image, nor an image of anything on earth, but of God Himself, do you bring in so much noise, and disturb those who are there, and shame the soul, and make a clamor? They come to become one body. Behold again a mystery of love. If the two do not become one, they do not produce many, as long as they remain two; but when they come into oneness, then they produce. What do we learn from this? That great is the strength of union. The resourcefulness of God divided the one into two in the beginning, and wishing to show that even after being divided he remains one, did not permit one to be sufficient for generation. For he is not yet one, but half of one; and it is clear, that he does not beget children, just as before. Have you seen the mystery of marriage? He made one from one, and again having made these two one, He so makes one; so that even now a human being is born from one. For a wife and 62.388 a husband are not two human beings, but one human being; and it is possible to confirm this from many sources, for instance from Jacob, from Mary the mother of Christ, from the saying: Male and female He made them. If the one is head, and the other body, how are they two? For this reason the one is of a disciple,

τί αὐτὴν καὶ ἑτέρως εὐκαταφρόνητον ποιεῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀναστροφῆς; Ἐπαινῶ ὅτι παρθένοι παραγίνονται τὴν ὁμήλικα τιμῶσαι, ὅτι παραγίνονται γυναῖκες τὴν εἰς αὐτὰς καταχθεῖσαν τιμῶσαι· καλῶς τοῦτο ὥρισται. ∆ύο γάρ εἰσιν οὗτοι χοροὶ, ὁ τῶν παρθένων, καὶ ὁ τῶν γεγαμημένων· αὗται παραδιδόασιν, ἐκεῖναι δέχονται. Ἡ νύμφη μεταξὺ τούτων ἐστὶν, οὔτε παρθένος, οὔτε γυνή· ἐκεῖθεν μὲν γὰρ ἐξέρχεται. ταύτης δὲ ἐπιβαίνει τῆς συμμορίας. 62.387 Αἱ δὲ πόρναι, διὰ τί; ∆έον αὐτὰς ἐγκαλύπτεσθαι ὅταν γάμος ᾖ, δέον αὐτὰς κατορύττεσθαι (φθορὰ γὰρ γάμου πορνεία), ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄγομεν αὐτὰς εἰς γάμους. Καὶ ὅταν μέν τι ποιῆτε, καὶ μέχρι ῥήματος οἰωνίζεσθε τὰ ἐναντία· οἷον, ὅταν σπείρῃς, ὅταν ἀπαντλῇς τῶν ὑποληνίων τὸν οἶνον, τὰ ὀξίνην σημαίνοντα οὐδ' ἂν ἀποκρίνοιο· ἐνταῦθα δὲ σωφροσύνης γινομένης, ἐπεισάγετε τὴν ὀξίνην; τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ πόρνη. Ὅταν μύρον κατασκευάζητε, οὐδὲν δυσῶδες ἀφίετε πλησιάζειν. Μύρον ἐστὶν ὁ γάμος· τί τοίνυν τὴν τοῦ βορβόρου δυσωδίαν ἐπεισάγεις τῇ τοῦ μύρου κατασκευῇ; Τί λέγεις; ὀρχεῖται ἡ παρθένος, καὶ οὐκ αἰσχύνεται τὴν ὁμήλικα; Ταύτης γὰρ σεμνοτέραν αὐτὴν εἶναι δεῖ· ἐξ ἀγκάλης γε, οὐκ ἐκ παλαίστρας ἐξῆλθε. Φαίνεσθαι γὰρ ὅλως ἐν γάμοις τὴν παρθένον οὐ δεῖ. εʹ. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις, ὅτι οἱ μὲν τετιμημένοι ἔνδον περὶ τὸν βασιλέα εἰσὶν, οἱ δὲ ἄτιμοι ἔξω; Καὶ σὺ ἔνδον ἔσο περὶ τὴν νύμφην. Ἀλλὰ ἁγνὸς μένε ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας· μὴ ἐκπόμπευε τὴν παρθενίαν. Παρέστηκεν ἑκάτερος ὁ χορὸς, ὁ μὲν οἵαν διδόασι δεικνὺς, ὁ δὲ ἵνα ταύτην φυλάττωσι· τί καταισχύνεις τὴν παρθενίαν; Εἰ γὰρ σὺ τοιαύτη, τοιαῦτα καὶ περὶ ἐκείνης ὁ νυμφίος ὑποπτεύσει· εἰ σὺ ἐρᾶσθαι θέλεις, παντοπώλιδος καὶ λαχανοπώλιδος καὶ δημιουργοῦ ταῦτα. Οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα αἰσχύνη; Αἰσχύνη ἐστὶ τὸ ἀσχημονεῖν, κἂν βασιλέως θυγάτηρ ᾖ. Μὴ γὰρ ἡ πενία κωλύει; μὴ γὰρ τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα; Κἂν δούλη τις ᾖ παρθένος, ἐν σωφροσύνῃ μενέτω· Ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ οὔτε δοῦλος, οὔτε ἐλεύθερος. Μὴ γὰρ θέατρόν ἐστιν ὁ γάμος; Μυστήριόν ἐστι, καὶ τύπος μεγάλου πράγματος· κἂν αὐτὸ μὴ αἰδῇ, αἰδέσθητι οὗ τύπος ἐστί. Τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο, φησὶ, μέγα ἐστίν· ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω εἰς Χριστὸν, καὶ εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν. Τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τύπος ἐστὶ καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ πόρνας εἰσάγεις; Ἂν τοίνυν, φησὶ, μήτε παρθένοι ὀρχῶνται, μήτε γεγαμημέναι, τίς ὀρχήσεται; Μηδείς· ποία γὰρ ὀρχήσεως ἀνάγκη; Ἐν τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων μυστηρίοις αἱ ὀρχήσεις, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἡμετέροις σιγὴ καὶ εὐκοσμία, αἰδὼς καὶ καταστολή. Μυστήριον τελεῖται μέγα· ἔξω αἱ πόρναι, ἔξω οἱ βέβηλοι. Πῶς μυστήριόν ἐστι; Συνέρχονται, καὶ ποιοῦσιν οἱ δύο ἕνα. ∆ιὰ τί, ὅτε μὲν εἰσῄει, οὐκ ὄρχησις, οὐ κύμβαλα, ἀλλὰ πολλὴ σιγὴ, πολλὴ ἡσυχία· ὅταν δὲ συνίωσιν, οὐκ εἰκόνα ἄψυχον, οὐδὲ εἰκόνα τινὸς τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ ποιοῦντες τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοσοῦτον ἐπεισάγεις θόρυβον, καὶ ταράττεις τοὺς ὄντας, καὶ αἰσχύνεις τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ θορυβεῖς; Ἔρχονται ἓν σῶμα γενησόμενοι. Ἰδοὺ πάλιν ἀγάπης μυστήριον. Ἂν οἱ δύο μὴ γένωνται ἓν, οὐκ ἐργάζονται πολλοὺς, ἕως ἂν δύο μένωσιν· ὅταν δὲ εἰς ἑνότητα ἔλθωσι, τότε ἐργάζονται. Τί μανθάνομεν ἀπὸ τούτου; Ὅτι πολλὴ τῆς ἑνώσεως ἡ ἰσχύς. Τὸ εὐμήχανον τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ἕνα εἰς δύο διεῖλε παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν, καὶ θέλων δεῖξαι ὅτι μετὰ τὸ διαιρεθῆναι καὶ εἷς μένει, οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἕνα ἀρκεῖν πρὸς τὴν γέννησιν. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν εἷς [ὁ] οὐδέπω, ἀλλ' ἥμισυ τοῦ ἑνός· καὶ δῆλον, ὅτι οὐ παιδοποιεῖ, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον. Εἶδες τοῦ γάμου τὸ μυστήριον; Ἐποίησεν ἐξ ἑνὸς ἕνα, καὶ πάλιν τοὺς δύο τούτους ἕνα ποιήσας οὕτω ποιεῖ ἕνα· ὥστε καὶ νῦν ἐξ ἑνὸς τίκτεται ἄνθρωπος. Γυνὴ γὰρ καὶ 62.388 ἀνὴρ οὐκ εἰσὶν ἄνθρωποι δύο, ἀλλ' ἄνθρωπος εἷς· καὶ παρὸν καὶ πολλαχόθεν αὐτὸ πιστώσασθαι, οἷον ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰακώβου, ἀπὸ τῆς Μαρίας τῆς μητρὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀπὸ τοῦ λέγειν· Ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς. Εἰ ὁ μὲν κεφαλὴ, ἡ δὲ σῶμα, πῶς δύο; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡ μὲν μαθητοῦ,