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the saviour of the body. But as the Church is subject to the Lord, so also are wives to their own husbands in everything. 1. A certain wise man, having set forth many things in the order of beatitudes, has also placed this one thing in the order of a beatitude: And a wife, he says, who is in accord with her husband. And again elsewhere he places this among the beatitudes, that a wife live with her husband in harmony. And from the beginning God appears to have made much provision for this union; and as if speaking about one, while speaking about both, He said thus: Male and female He made them; and again, There is neither male nor female. For there is not so great an intimacy of a man for a man, as there is of a wife for a husband, if one is joined as one ought to be. For this reason a certain blessed man, declaring his surpassing love, and mourning one of his friends and kindred souls, did not say father, or mother, or child, or brother, or friend, but what? Your love, he says, has fallen upon me, as the love of women. For truly, truly, this love is more tyrannical than any tyranny. For other desires are vehement; but this desire has both vehemence and unfadingness. For there is a certain love lurking in nature, which, escaping our notice, entwines these bodies. For this reason also from the beginning the woman was from the man, and after that from man and woman came man and woman. Do you see the bond and the interweaving, and how He did not allow another substance to enter from outside? And see how many things He arranged. He permitted him to marry his own sister, or rather not his sister, but his daughter, or rather not his daughter, but something more than a daughter, his own flesh. And He did the whole thing from above, as with stones, bringing them together into one. For neither did He fashion her from outside, lest she should be regarded as a stranger; nor again did He limit marriage to her, lest, contracting and drawing himself in, he should be separated from the rest. And just as with plants, those are best which have one trunk and extend into many branches, whereas if everything merely revolves around the root, it is in vain; and if it has many roots, the tree is no longer wonderful; so also here, from one, Adam, He made the whole race to be planted, establishing a great necessity for it not to be torn apart and separated. And contracting it further, He no longer permitted sisters and daughters to be married, lest we again contract love into one, and be otherwise separated from ourselves. For this reason He said: He who made them from the beginning, made them male and female. For great evils and great 62.136 goods are born from this for both households and cities. For nothing so holds our life together as the love of a man and a woman; for this many even take up arms, for this they even betray their own souls. For Paul would not simply or idly have made such great effort concerning this matter, saying: Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Why is this? Because if these two are in harmony, the children also are well brought up, and the servants are orderly, and the neighbors, and friends, and relatives enjoy their sweet fragrance; but if the contrary, all is overturned and confused. And just as when generals are at peace with one another, all is in order, and again when they are in turmoil, all is turned upside down; so it is now. Wherefore, he says, Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Indeed! How then do you say elsewhere: If any one does not renounce both wife and husband, he cannot follow me? For if one must be subject as to the Lord, how does he say to separate for the Lord's sake? And indeed one must; but the word, as, is not everywhere of equality. Or he means this: As knowing that you are serving the Lord; which he also says elsewhere, that even if it is not for the husband's sake, but principally for the Lord's sake; or, When you submit to your husband, consider that you are obeying as one serving the Lord. For if he who opposes these external, civil authorities, resists the ordinance of God, much more she who is not subject to her husband. Thus, he says, God willed it from the beginning. Let us then suppose the one

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σωτὴρ τοῦ σώματος. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἡ Ἐκκλησία ὑποτάσσεται τῷ Κυρίῳ, οὕτω καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν ἐν παντί. αʹ. Σοφός τις ἀνὴρ ἐν τάξει μακαρισμῶν πολλὰ θεὶς, ἓν καὶ τοῦτο τέθεικεν ἐν τάξει μακαρισμοῦ· Καὶ γυνὴ, φησὶν, ἀνδρὶ συμπεριφερομένη. Καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ μετὰ τῶν μακαρισμῶν αὐτὸ τίθησι, τὸ γυναῖκα ἀνδρὶ μετὰ ὁμονοίας συνεῖναι. Καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς δὲ πολλὴν ὁ Θεὸς φαίνεται πρόνοιαν πεποιημένος τῆς συζυγίας ταύτης· καὶ ὡς περὶ ἑνὸς, περὶ ἀμφοτέρων διαλεγόμενος, οὕτως ἔλεγεν· Ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς· καὶ πάλιν, Οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀνδρὸς πρὸς ἄνδρα τοσαύτη οἰκειότης, ὅση γυναικὸς πρὸς ἄνδρα, ἂν ᾖ τις, ὡς χρὴ, συνεζευγμένος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καί τις τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἀγάπην δηλῶν μακάριος ἀνὴρ, καί τινα τῶν αὐτῷ φίλων καὶ ὁμοψύχων πενθῶν, οὐ πατέρα εἶπεν, οὐ μητέρα, οὐ τέκνον, οὐκ ἀδελφὸν, οὐ φίλον, ἀλλὰ τί; Ἔπεσεν ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἡ ἀγάπησίς σου, φησὶν, ὡς ἀγάπησις τῶν γυναικῶν. Ὄντως γὰρ, ὄντως πάσης τυραννίδος αὕτη ἡ ἀγάπη τυραννικωτέρα. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλαι, σφοδραί· αὕτη δὲ ἡ ἐπιθυμία ἔχει καὶ τὸ σφοδρὸν, καὶ τὸ ἀμάραντον. Ἔνεστι γάρ τις ἔρως ἐμφωλεύων τῇ φύσει, καὶ λανθάνων ἡμᾶς συμπλέκει ταῦτα τὰ σώματα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἡ γυνὴ, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ γυνή. Ὁρᾷς σύνδεσμον καὶ συμπλοκὴν, καὶ πῶς οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἑτέραν ἐπεισελθεῖν οὐσίαν ἔξωθεν; Καὶ ὅρα πόσα ᾠκονόμησε. Τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἠνέσχετο γαμῆσαι αὐτὸν τὴν αὑτοῦ, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐ τὴν ἀδελφὴν, ἀλλὰ τὴν θυγατέρα, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐ τὴν θυγατέρα, ἀλλά τι πλέον θυγατρὸς, τὴν σάρκα τὴν αὑτοῦ. Τὸ δὲ ὅλον ἐποίησεν ἄνωθεν, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν λίθων, εἰς ἓν αὐτοὺς συνάγων. Οὔτε γὰρ ἔξωθεν αὐτὴν εἰργάσατο, ἵνα μὴ ὡς ἀλλοτρία προσέχῃ· οὔτε πάλιν μέχρις αὐτῆς τὸν γάμον ἔστησεν, ἵνα μὴ συστέλλων ἑαυτὸν καὶ συνάγων, τῶν λοιπῶν χωρίζηται. Καὶ καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν φυτῶν ἐκεῖνα μάλιστά ἐστιν ἄριστα, ἂν καὶ ἓν πρέμνον ἔχῃ, καὶ εἰς πολλοὺς κλάδους ἐκτείνηται, ὡς ἐὰν περὶ τὴν ῥίζαν στρέφηται μόνον πάντα εἰκῆ· κἂν καὶ πολλὰς ἔχῃ τὰς ῥίζας, οὐκέτι θαυμαστὸν τὸ δένδρον· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα, ἐξ ἑνὸς τοῦ Ἀδὰμ τὸ πᾶν ἐποίησε φυτευθῆναι γένος, τοῦ μὴ διασπᾶσθαι καὶ χωρίζεσθαι καταστήσας εἰς ἀνάγκην μεγάλην. Καὶ μᾶλλον συστέλλων, οὐκέτι ἐποίησεν ἀδελφὰς γαμεῖσθαι καὶ θυγατέρας, ἵνα μὴ πάλιν τὴν ἀγάπην εἰς τὸ ἓν συστέλλωμεν, καὶ ἑτέρως ἑαυτῶν χωριζώμεθα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγεν· Ὁ ποιήσας ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς. Μεγάλα γὰρ ἀπὸ τούτου κακὰ τίκτεται καὶ μεγάλα 62.136 καλὰ καὶ οἰκίαις καὶ πόλεσιν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἡμῶν συγκροτεῖ τὸν βίον, ὡς ἔρως ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικός· ὑπὲρ τούτου καὶ ὅπλα πολλοὶ τίθενται, ὑπὲρ τούτου καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν προδιδόασιν. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ εἰκῆ πολλὴν ὑπὲρ τούτου τοῦ πράγματος ἐποιήσατο τὴν σπουδὴν Παῦλος, λέγων· Αἱ γυναῖκες, τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν ὑποτάσσεσθε, ὡς τῷ Κυρίῳ. Τί δήποτε; Ὅτι ἐὰν ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ ὦσιν οὗτοι, καὶ παῖδες τρέφονται καλῶς, καὶ οἰκέται εὐτακτοῦσι, καὶ γείτονες ἀπολαύουσι τῆς εὐωδίας, καὶ φίλοι καὶ συγγενεῖς· ἐὰν δὲ τοὐναντίον, πάντα ἀνατέτραπται καὶ συγκέχυται. Καὶ καθάπερ τῶν στρατηγῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους εἰρηνευόντων, πάντα ἐν ἀκολουθίᾳ ἐστὶ, καὶ ταραττομένων πάλιν ἐκείνων, πάντα ἄνω καὶ κάτω γίνεται· οὕτω δὴ καὶ νῦν. ∆ιὸ, Αἱ γυναῖκες, φησὶ, τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν ὑποτάσσεσθε, ὡς τῷ Κυρίῳ. Βαβαί! πῶς οὖν ἀλλαχοῦ λέγεις· Ἐὰν μή τις ἀποτάξηται καὶ γυναικὶ καὶ ἀνδρὶ, οὐ δύναται ἀκολουθῆσαί μοι; Εἰ γὰρ ὡς τῷ Κυρίῳ ὑποτάσσεσθαι χρὴ, πῶς λέγει διὰ τὸν Κύριον ἀφίστασθαι; Καὶ σφόδρα μὲν οὖν χρή· ἀλλὰ τὸ, ὡς, οὐ πάντως πανταχοῦ ἰσοτιμίας ἐστίν. Ἢ τοῦτό φησιν· Ὡς εἰδυῖαι ὅτι τῷ Κυρίῳ δουλεύετε· ὅπερ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησιν, ὅτι εἰ καὶ μὴ διὰ ἄνδρα, ἀλλὰ προηγουμένως διὰ τὸν Κύριον· ἢ, Ὅταν ὑπείκῃς τῷ ἀνδρὶ, ὡς τῷ Κυρίῳ δουλεύουσα ἡγοῦ πείθεσθαι. Εἰ γὰρ Ὁ ἀρχαῖς ταύταις ταῖς ἔξωθεν ταῖς πολιτικαῖς ἀντιτασσόμενος, τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ διαταγῇ ἀνθέστηκε, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡ τῷ ἀνδρὶ μὴ ὑποτασσομένη. Οὕτως ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἠθέλησε, φησὶν, ὁ Θεός. Ὑποθώμεθα οὖν τὸν μὲν