1

In illud: Vidua eligatur

ON THE PASSAGE "Let a widow be enrolled, being not less than sixty years old;" and concerning the upbringing of children, and concerning almsgiving.

51.321

1. The grace of the Spirit has timely ordained for this passage of the apostolic epistle, which you have heard today, to be read; for it has a certain kinship and great consistency with what was said before, if not in words, at least in thoughts. For what was read before was this: Now concerning those who are asleep, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren; and many things were said then about the resurrection, about bearing such sufferings nobly, and giving thanks to God who takes our relatives. Today what was read is this: Let a widow be enrolled, being not less than sixty years old. Since, then, widowhood comes from death, and this is what especially intensifies the pain and stirs up grief, remember what was said before, which we spoke to comfort the grieving, and having received these things with all diligence, store them up with those former things in the treasuries of your mind. For the name of widowhood seems to be a name of misfortune, but it is not; rather it is a dignity, and an honor, and a very great glory; not a reproach, but a crown.

For even if the widow does not have a husband living with her, yet she has Christ living with her, who wards off all approaching evils. For it is enough for the widow in approaching insults, to enter and bend the knee, and to groan bitterly, and to pour out tears, and to ward off every plot of those who treat her insolently; for such are the weapons of the widow: tears, and groans, and incessant prayers; through these she is able to ward off not only human insolence, but 51.322 also demonic assaults. The widow is freed from the affairs of this life, and henceforth journeys toward heaven; and the diligence and care she used to show for her husband, this she will be able to expend on spiritual matters. But if you should say that of old the matter was a misfortune, I would say this, that death too was a curse; but it has become an honor and a dignity for those who nobly bear its approach. Thus, at any rate, are the martyrs crowned; in the same way the widow also passes to a great dignity. 2. Do you wish to learn how great a thing a widow is? how she is honorable to God, and lovely, and a very great advocate, and how, appearing, she snatches away and reconciles the condemned, and the despaired of, and those who have no confidence, and those who have been at war with God and deprived of all defense, and brings them not only pardon, nor release from punishment, but also much confidence and splendor, and makes them purer than the rays of the sun, even if they be more defiled than all men? Hear God himself saying to the Jews: When you spread forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you; even if you make many prayers, I will not listen; for your hands are full of blood. But yet to these defiled ones, these murderers, these without confidence, these dishonored ones, he promises to be reconciled, if they should help widows who are wronged. For after saying, I will turn away my eyes, and I will not listen, he says: Judge for the orphan, and justify the widow; and come, let us reason together; and though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Have you seen how much power the 51.323 widow has? where she demonstrates her protection, not before a ruler and king of those on earth, but before the very King of the heavens? how much wrath she is able to appease, to reconcile the Master to those

1

In illud: Vidua eligatur

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ "Χήρα καταλεγέσθω μὴ ἐλάττων ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα γεγονυῖα·" καὶ περὶ παίδων ἀνατροφῆς, καὶ περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης.

51.321

αʹ. Εἰς καιρὸν ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος ᾠκονόμησε χάρις ταύτην τῆς ἀποστολικῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἀναγνωσθῆναι τὴν περικοπὴν, ἣν ἠκούσατε σήμερον· ἔχει γάρ τινα πρὸς τὰ πρώην εἰρημένα συγγένειαν καὶ ἀκολουθίαν πολλὴν, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἐν τοῖς ῥήμασιν, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς νοήμασι. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρώην ἀναγνωσθὲν τοῦτο ἦν· Περὶ δὲ τῶν κεκοιμημένων οὐ θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί· καὶ πολλὰ περὶ ἀναστάσεως ἐλέχθη τότε, τὸ γενναίως τὰ τοιαῦτα φέρειν πάθη, καὶ εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ λαμβάνοντι τοὺς προσήκοντας ἡμῖν Θεῷ. Σήμερον τὸ ἀναγνωσθὲν τοῦτό ἐστι· Χήρα καταλεγέσθω μὴ ἐλάττων ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα γεγονυῖα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀπὸ θανάτου χηρεία γίνεται, καὶ τοῦτο μάλιστά ἐστι τὸ τὴν ὀδύνην ἐπιτεῖνον, καὶ διεγεῖρον τὸ πένθος, μεμνημένοι τῶν πρώην εἰρημένων, ἃ τοὺς πενθοῦντας παρακαλοῦντες εἰρήκαμεν, καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ πάσης ὑποδεξάμενοι τῆς σπουδῆς μετ' ἐκείνων εἰς τὰ ταμιεῖα τῆς διανοίας ἀπόθεσθε. Τὸ γὰρ τῆς χηρείας ὄνομα δοκεῖ μὲν εἶναι συμφορᾶς ὄνομα, οὐκ ἔστι δὲ, ἀλλ' ἀξίωμα, καὶ τιμὴ, καὶ δόξα μεγίστη· οὐκ ὄνειδος, ἀλλὰ στέφανος.

Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχει συνοικοῦντα ἡ χήρα, ἀλλὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ἔχει συνοικοῦντα, τὸν πάντα ἀποκρουόμενον τὰ ἐπιόντα δεινά. Ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ἐπιούσαις ἐπηρείαις τῆς χήρας, εἰσελθεῖν καὶ γόνυ κλῖναι, καὶ στενάξαι πικρὸν, καὶ δάκρυα προχεῖν, καὶ πᾶσαν ἀποκρούσασθαι τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων τὴν ἐπιβουλήν· τὰ γὰρ ὅπλα τῆς χήρας τοιαῦτα, δάκρυα, καὶ στεναγμοὶ, καὶ εὐχαὶ διηνεκεῖς· διὰ τούτων οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνην ἐπήρειαν μόνον, ἀλλὰ 51.322 καὶ δαιμονικὰς ἐφόδους ἀποκρούσασθαι δύναται. Ἡ χήρα τῶν μὲν βιωτικῶν ἀπήλλακται πραγμάτων, πρὸς δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν ὁδεύει λοιπόν· καὶ ἣν περὶ τὸν ἄνδρα ἐπεδείκνυτο σπουδὴν καὶ θεραπείαν, ταύτην εἰς τὰ πνευματικὰ πράγματα ἀναλῶσαι δυνήσεται. Εἰ δὲ λέγοις, ὅτι τὸ παλαιὸν συμφορὰ ἦν τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἐκεῖνο ἂν εἴποιμι, ὅτι καὶ ὁ θάνατος κατάρα ἦν· ἀλλὰ γέγονε τιμὴ καὶ ἀξίωμα τοῖς γενναίως αὐτὸν φέρουσιν ἐπιόντα. Οὕτω γοῦν οἱ μάρτυρες στεφανοῦνται· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἡ χήρα πρὸς ἀξίωμα μέτεισι μέγα. βʹ. Βούλει μαθεῖν ὅσον ἐστὶ χήρα; πῶς ἐστι τιμία τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐπέραστος καὶ συνήγορος μεγίστη, καὶ τοὺς καταδικασθέντας, καὶ τοὺς ἀπεγνωσμένους, καὶ τοὺς παῤῥησίαν οὐκ ἔχοντας, καὶ τοὺς ἐκπεπολεμωμένους τῷ Θεῷ καὶ πάσης ἐστερημένους ἀπολογίας φανεῖσα ἐξαρπάζει καὶ καταλλάττει, καὶ οὐχὶ συγγνώμην αὐτοῖς κομίζει μόνον, οὐδὲ ἀπαλλαγὴν τιμωρίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὴν τὴν παῤῥησίαν καὶ τὴν λαμπρότητα, καὶ τῶν ἡλιακῶν ἀκτίνων καθαρωτέρους ἐργάζεται, κἂν ἁπάντων ὦσι κατεῤῥυπωμένοι μᾶλλον ἀνθρώπων; Ἄκουσον αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγοντος πρὸς Ἰουδαίους· Ὅταν τὰς χεῖρας ὑμῶν ἐκτείνητε, ἀποστρέψω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου ἀφ' ὑμῶν· ἂν πληθύνητε τὴν δέησιν, οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι ὑμῶν· αἱ γὰρ χεῖρες ὑμῶν αἵματος πλήρεις. Ἀλλ' ὅμως τούτοις τοῖς μιαροῖς, τοῖς ἀνδροφόνοις, τοῖς ἀπαῤῥησιάστοις, τοῖς ἠτιμωμένοις ἐπαγγέλλεται καταλλάττεσθαι, εἰ βοηθήσειαν ἀδικουμέναις χήραις. Μετὰ γὰρ τὸ εἰπεῖν, Ἀποστρέψω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, καὶ οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι, φησί· Κρίνατε ὀρφανῷ, καὶ δικαιώσατε χήραν· καὶ δεῦτε, καὶ διαλεχθῶμεν· καὶ ἐὰν ὦσιν ὑμῶν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ὡς φοινικοῦν, ὡς χιόνα λευκανῶ. Εἶδες πόσην ἔχει δύναμιν ἡ 51.323 χήρα; ποῦ τὴν προστασίαν ἐπιδείκνυται τὴν ἑαυτῆς, οὐ παρὰ ἄρχοντι καὶ βασιλεῖ τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἀλλὰ παρ' αὐτῷ τῷ τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλεῖ; πόσην δύναται καταλῦσαι ὀργὴν, καταλλάξαι τὸν ∆εσπότην τοῖς