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SERMON 23.

Concerning the honor of parents and love for children. Deut. 5:16. Honor your father and your mother; and, Love your neighbor as

yourself.

Col. 3. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord.

Sirach 3. Child, help your father in his old age, and if his understanding fails, have patience; and do not dishonor him in all your strength. For alms to a father will not be forgotten; and as fair weather in frost, so shall your sins be melted away.

Sirach 7. With all your heart, glorify your father, and do not forget the birth pangs of your mother. Remember that through them you were born, and what will you give back to them, as they have given to you?

Of Basil. Grateful children compose great praises for their fathers.

Of the Theologian. Do what is good, because it is good to obey your father; and if it matters not to you that nothing will come of it, this itself is a reward: to please your father.

Serve those who begot you as a servant; for what will you give back to them, such as they have given you? For it is not possible to beget them in return.

Fathers who neglect the decorum and soundness of mind of their children are child-murderers, and worse than those, inasmuch as the destruction and death are of the soul.

(860) Of Cyril. The first virtuous piety of Christians is to honor those who begot them; to repay the labors of those who gave them birth, and with all one’s power to bring them things for their repose. For even if we were to give them the most, we would not yet be able to beget them in return.

It is necessary for children to yield to their fathers; but wherever the word of truth drives, let God be honored and let his will conquer even the power of natural affection.

Of Philo. No one honors God worthily, but only justly, since it is not possible to return equal favors even to parents; for it is not possible to beget them in return.

Of Aristotle. A son ought to be a slave to his father, or a household servant; for the one is a slave to his father by nature, the other by law.

Of Isocrates. Be such towards your parents as you would pray that your own children be towards you.

Of Alexander. King Alexander, having been asked whom he loved more, his father Philip or his teacher Aristotle, said, For the one is the cause of my being, the other of my being well.

The same, when his mother Olympias was commanding something burdensome of him, said, O mother, you demand of me a bitter rent for my nine-month stay.

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ΛΟΓΟΣ ΚΓ´.

Περί τιμῆς γονέων καί φιλοτεκνίας. ∆ευτ. ε´στ´. Τίμα τόν πατέρα σου καί τήν μητέρα· καί· Ἀγάπα τόν πλησίον σου ὡς

ἑαυτόν.

Κολ. γ´. Τά τέκνα ὑπακούετε τοῖς γονεῦσιν ὑμῶν κατά πάντα· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν εὐάρεστον ἐν Κυρίῳ.

Σιράχ γ´. Τέκνον, ἀντιλαβοῦ ἐν γήρᾳ πατρός σου, καί ἐάν ἀπολίπῃ σύνεσιν, συγγνώμην ἔχε· καί μή ἀτιμάσῃς αὐτόν ἐν πάσῃ ἰσχύϊ σου. Ἐλεημοσύνη γάρ πατρός, οὐκ ἐπιλησθήσεται· καί ὡς εὐδία ἐν παγετῷ, οὕτως ἀναλυθήσονταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι.

Σιράχ ζ´. Ἐν ὅλῃ καρδίᾳ σου δόξασον τόν πατέρα σου, καίμητρός ὠδῖνας μή ἐπιλάθῃ. Μνήσθητι ὅτι δι᾿ αὐτῶν ἐγεννήθης, καί τί ἀνταποδώσεις αὐτοῖς, καθώς αὐτοί σοί;

Βασιλείου. Εὐγνώμονες παῖδες μεγάλα ποιοῦσι τά τῶν πατέρων ἐγκώμια.

Θεολόγου. Ἔργασαι τό καλόν, ὅτι καλόν τῷ πατρί πείθεσθαι· καί εἴ σοι μηδέν ἔσεσθαι μέλοι, τοῦτο αὐτό μισθός, τῷ πατρί χαρίσασθαι.

Ὥς οἰκέτης δούλευσον τοῖς γεννήσασί σε· τί γάρ ἀνταποδώσεις αὐτοῖς, οἷα αὐτοί σοί; ἀντιγεννῆσαι γάρ αὐτούς οὐκ ἔνι.

Οἱ τῆς τῶν παίδων κοσμιότητός τε καί σωφροσύνης ἀμελοῦντες πατέρες, παιδοκτόνοι τυγχάνουσι, καί χαλεπώτερον ἤ ἐκεῖνοι, ὅσῳ καί πρός ψυχήν ἡ ἀπώλεια καί ὁ θάνατος.

(860) Κυρίλλου. Χριστιανῶν ἐνάρετος εὐσέβεια πρώτη τό τιμᾷν τούς γεννήσαντας· τό τούς πόνους ἀμείψασθαι τῶν φύντων, καί πάσῃ δυνάμει τά πρός ἀνάπαυσιν αὐτοῖς ἐνεγκεῖν. Κἄν γάρ τά πλεῖστα τούτοις ἀποδῶμεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἀντιγεννῆσαι τούτους οὔπω δυνησόμεθα.

Εἴκειν ἀναγκαῖον πατράσι τούς παῖδας· ἀλλ᾿ ἔνθαπερ ἄν ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐλαύνῃ λόγος, τιμάσθω Θεός καί νικάτω τά αὐτοῦ καί φιλοστοργίας δύναμιν φυσικήν.

Φίλων. Ἀξίως οὐδείς τόν Θεόν τιμᾷ, ἀλλά δικαίως μόνον, ὁπότε οὐδέ τοῖς γονεῦσιν ἴσας ἀποδοῦναι χάριτας ἐνδέχεται· ἀντιγεννῆσαι γάρ οὐχ οἷόν τε τούτους.

Ἀριστοτ. Χρή τόν υἱόν δοῦλον εἰναι τοῦ πατρός ἤ τόν οἰκέτην· ὁ μέν γάρ φύσει τοῦ πατρός δοῦλός ἐστιν· ὁ δέ νόμῳ.

Ἰσοκράτ. Τοιοῦτος γίνου περί τούς γονεῖς, οἵους ἄν εὔξαι περί σευτόν γενέσθαι τούς σαυτοῦ παῖδας.

Ἀλεξάνδρ. Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ βασιλεύς ἐρωτηθείς, τίνα μᾶλλον ποθεῖ, τόν πατέρα Φίλιππον, ἤ Ἀριστοτέλην τόν διδάσκαλον, ἔφη, Ὁ μέν γάρ τοῦ γενέσθαι, ὁ δέ τοῦ καλῶς γενέσθαι αἴτιος.

Ὁ αὐτός βαρύ τι ἐπιταττούσης αὐτῷ τῆς μητρός Ὀλυμπιάδος, ἔφη, Ὦ μήτερ, πικρόν γε ἐνοίκιον τῆς ἐνναμηναίου με ἀπαιτεῖς.