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| Homily XXXV on Acts xvi. 13, 14. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Homily XXXV.
Acts XVI. 13, 14
“And on the sabbath we
went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont (Chrys.
“was thought likely”) to be made; and we sat down, and
spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named
Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped
God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the
things which were spoken of Paul.”
See again Paul judaizing. “Where818
818 mss. and Edd. place οὗ ἐν.
προσευχὴ
εἶναι after
ἀπὸ τοῦ
τόπου, so that it
reads, “See Paul again judaizing both from the time and from the
place.” Chrys. here explains the ἐνομίζετο (in the sense “was thought”): viz. St. Paul
expected to find a congregation assembled for prayer, both because the
place was set apart for that purpose, and because it was the
sabbath. |
it was thought,” it says, both from the time and from the place,
“that prayer would be.—Out of the city, by a river
side:” for it is not to be supposed that they prayed only where
there was a synagogue; they also prayed out of synagogue, but then for
this purpose they set apart, as it were, a certain place, because as
Jews they were more corporeal—and, “on the
sabbath-day,” when it was likely that a multitude would come
together.819
819 Two
variations of text occur in v.
13,
which materially affect the meaning. Modern critics read πύλης St. πόλεως—“they went outside the gate” and ἐνομίζομεν
instead of ἐνομίζετο—“where we supposed there was a place of
prayer.” (So B. C. א, R.V., Tischendorf, Westcott
and Hort.) If the reading ἐνομίζετο is retained, it more probably means; “where a place of
prayer was wont to be” rather than (as Chrys.) “where, it
was thought, that prayer would be.” The προσευχαι
were places of prayer situated often in the open air,
and chosen in the neighborhood of streams on account of the custom of
washing the hands before prayer. They served the purposes of synagogues
in places where they did not exist.—G.B.S. | “And we sat down, and spake
to the women which resorted thither.” Mark again the freedom from
all pride. “And a certain woman:” a woman and she of low
condition, from her trade too: but mark (in her) a woman of elevated
mind (φιλόσοφον). In the first place, the fact of God’s calling her
bears testimony to her: “And when she was baptized,” it
says, “she and her household”—mark how he persuaded
all of them—“she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And
she constrained us820
820 ἀλλ᾽
αὐτοὺς ἀφῆκε
κυρίους
εἶναι, καὶ. Mod. text, οὐκ
ἀφῆκε κ. ἐ.
ἀλλὰ καὶ. | ”
(v. 15): then look at her
wisdom, how she importunes (δυσωπεἵ), the Apostles how full of humility her words are, how full of
wisdom. “If ye have judged me faithful,” she says. Nothing
could be more persuasive. Who would not have been softened by these
words? She did not request (or, “claim”) did not entreat
simply: but she left them to decide, and (yet) exceedingly forced them:
“And she constrained us,” it says, by those words. And
again in a different way: for see how she straightway bears fruit, and
accounts it a great gain. “If ye have judged me,” that is,
That ye did judge me is manifest, by your delivering to me such (holy)
mysteries (i.e. sacraments, see p. 225, note 3): and she did not dare
to invite them before this. But why was there any unwillingness on the
part of Paul and those with them, that they should need to be
constrained? It was either by way of calling her to greater earnestness
of desire, or because Christ had said, “Enquire who is worthy,
and there abide.” (Luke x. 8.) (It was not
that they were unwilling), but they did it for a purpose.821
821 ᾽Αλλὰ δἰ
οἰκονομίαν
ἐποίουν,
B. Cat. “their seeming reluctance was
‘economy.’” A. C., ῞Ολα
δἰ οἰκ. ἐπ. Mod. text, ῞Ωστε πάντα δἰ
οἰκ. ἐπ. | —“And it came to pass,”
it says, “as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a
spirit of divination met us,822
822 Most critical editions read in v. 16. πύθωνα st. πύθωνος (following A. B. C. א). In this case the word is in
apposition with πνεῦμα and
has the force of an adjective, “having a Pythonic spirit,”
in allusion to the serpent which was said to have guarded Delphi and to
have been slain by Apollo. From this feat the God was called Pythius,
and in his temple the priestess was called “the Pythian,”
as being inspired by Apollo. Hence the term became equivalent to
a δαιμονίον
μαντικόν. In later times the power of the ventriloquist was
attributed to such a Pythonic spirit (as by Plutarch) and the LXX.
render the word אוב by ἐγγαστρίμυθος
in accordance with this view. Meyer maintains that
this damsel had the power of ventriloquism which the people attributed
to a πνεῦμα
πύθωνα. The
apostle did not share this opinion but treated the case as one of
demoniacal possession.—G.B.S. | which brought
her masters much gain by soothsaying: the same followed Paul and us,
and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God,
which show unto us the way of salvation.” (v. 16, 17.) What may be the
reason that both the demon spoke these words, and Paul forbade him?
Both the one acted maliciously, and the other wisely: the demon wished
in fact to make himself credible.823
823 B. and Cat. ἐβούλετο
λοιπὸν
ἀξιόπιστον
ἑαυτὸν (B. αὐτὸν)
ποιεῖν. The
other mss. ἐβούλετο (ἐβουλεύετο
A.C.) γὰρ μὴ ἀξ.
αὐτὸν
ποιεῖν: wished
to make him (Paul) not credible. That the former is the true reading,
is shown by what follows: ἵνα
στήσῃ τὰ
ὑπὲρ
ἑαυτοῦ: i.e.,
to gain credit with the believers in order to deceive them afterwards.
In the next clause, we read with Cat. and Sav. τὰ καθ᾽
ἑαυτοῦ, our
mss. ἑαυτοὺς, and
so the other Edd. | For if
Paul had admitted his testimony, he would have deceived many of the
believers, as being received by him: therefore he endures to speak what
made against himself, that he may establish what made for himself: and
so the demon himself uses accommodation (συγκαταβάσει) in order to destruction. At first then, Paul would not
admit it, but scorned it, not wishing to cast himself all at once upon
miracles; but when it continued to do this, and pointed to their work
(καὶ τὸ
ἔργον
ἐδείκνυ)
“who preach unto us the way of salvation,” then he
commanded it to come out. For it says, “Paul being grieved,
turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus
Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. (a)824
824 The scribe has copied the parts in the order 1, 3, 5: 2, 4, 6. See
p. 213, note 5. | And when her masters saw that the hope
of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas.”
(v. 18, 19.) (d) So then
Paul did all, both miracles and teaching, but of the dangers Silas also
is partaker. And why says it, “But Paul being grieved?” It
means, he saw through the malice of the demon, as he saith, “For
we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Cor. ii. 11.) (b)
“And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was
gone.” Everywhere money the cause of evils. O that heathen
cruelty! they wished the girl to be still a demoniac, that they might
make money by her. “They caught Paul and Silas,” it says,
“and dragged them into the marketplace unto the rulers, and
brought them unto the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do
exceedingly trouble our city!” (v. 20): by doing what? Then why did you not drag them (hither)
before this? “Being Jews:” the name was in bad odor.
“And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive,
neither to observe, being Romans.” (v. 21.) They made a charge of treason of it (εἰς
καθοσίωσιν
ἤγαγον).
(e) Why did they not say, Because they cast out the demon, they
were guilty of impiety against God? For this was a defeat to them: but
instead of that, they have recourse to a charge of treason
(ἐπὶ
καθοσίωσιν): like the Jews when they said, “We have no king but
Cæsar: whoso maketh himself a king speaketh against
Cæsar.” (John xix. 14; 12.)
(c) “And the multitude rose up together against them: and
the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat
them.” (v. 22.) O the irrational
conduct! They did not examine, did not allow them to speak. And yet,
such a miracle having taken place, ye ought to have worshipped them,
ought to have held them as saviors and benefactors. For if money was
what ye wished, why, having found so great wealth, did ye not run to
it? This makes you more famous, the having power to cast out demons
than the obeying them. Lo, even miracles, and yet love of money was
mightier. (f) “And when they had laid many stripes upon
them, they cast them into prison.”—great was their
wrath—“charging the jailer to keep them safely”
(v. 23): “who, having
received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made
their feet fast in the stocks.” (v. 24.) Observe, he also again thrust them into the
“inner” prison: and this too was done providentially,
because825
825 Edd. have ᾽Επειδὴ
γὰρ, and join this sentence
with the following. The compiler of the Catena perceived that the
Recapitulation begins with the next sentence, which he therefore gives
to v. 13, though he repeats it
wrongly under v. 24.—Mod. text,
inserts the ᾽Αλλ᾽
ἴδωμεν κ. τ.
λ. before Γνύη, φ.,
πορφυρόπωλις. | there was to be a great miracle.826
826 This is the first recorded instance of the persecution of
Christians by the Roman power. Hitherto the persecutions have proceeded
from the Jews and here it is inflicted upon the Christians because they
are considered to be Jews who were now under special disfavor, having
been shortly before banished from Rome by
Claudius.—G.B.S. |
(Recapitulation.) “Out of
the city.” (v.
13.)
The place was convenient for hearing the word, aloof from troubles and
dangers. (b) “On the sabbath.” As there was no work
going on, they were more attentive to what was spoken. (a)
“And a certain woman, named Lydia, a seller of purple”
(v. 14): observe how the
writer of the history is not ashamed of the occupations (of the
converts): (c) moreover neither was this city of the Philippians
a great one. Having learnt these things, let us also be ashamed of no
man. Peter abides with a tanner (ch. ix.
43):
(Paul) with a woman who was a seller of purple, and a foreigner. Where
is pride? “Whose heart the Lord opened.” Therefore we need
God, to open the heart: but God opens the hearts that are willing: for
there are hardened hearts to be seen.827
827 Here mod. text. “But let us look over again what has been
said. ‘A woman,’ it says, ‘a seller of
purple,’” etc. | “So
that she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul.” The
opening, then, was God’s work, the attending was hers: so that it
was both God’s doing and man’s. And she was baptized
(v. 15), and receives the
Apostles with such earnestness of entreaty; with more than that used by
Abraham. And she speaks of no other token than that whereby she was
saved (Gen. xviii. 3): she says not,
“If ye have judged me” a great, a devout woman; but what?
“faithful to the Lord:” if to the Lord, much more to you.
“If ye have judged me:” if ye do not doubt it. And she says
not, Abide with me, but, “Come into my house and abide:”
with great earnestness (she says it). Indeed a faithful
woman!—“A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of
Python.” (v.
16.)
Say, what is this demon? The god, as they call him, Python: from the
place he is so called. Do you mark that Apollo also is a demon? And
(the demon) wished to bring them into temptation: (therefore) to
provoke them, “the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying,
These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the
way of salvation.” (v.
17.)
O thou accursed, thou execrable one! if then thou knowest that it is
“His way of salvation” that “they show,” why
dost thou not come out freely? But just what Simon wished, when he
said, “Give me, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive
the Holy Ghost” (ch. viii.
19),
the same did this demon: since he saw them becoming famous, here also
he plays the hypocrite: by this means he thought to be allowed to
remain in the body, if he should preach the same things. But if Christ
“receive not testimony from man,” (John v. 34), meaning John,
much less from a demon. “Praise is not comely in the mouth of a
sinner” (Ecclus. xv. 9), much less from a
demon. For828
828 mss. and Edd. τὸ γὰρ
κηρύττειν
οὐκ ἀνθρώπων
ἀλλὰ Πν.
᾽Επεὶ οὖν
ἀλαζονικῶς
ἐποίουν
βοῶντες κ. τ.
λ. The passage needs emendation. We
read οὐκ for οὖν. “They did not
catch at praise, least of all from a demon: for they were no braggarts,
knowing that the power to preach was not of men,” etc. | that they preach is not of men,
but of the Holy Ghost. Because they did not act in a spirit of
boasting. “And Paul being grieved,” etc. By their clamor
and shouting they thought to alarm them (the magistrates): saying,
“These men do exceedingly trouble our city.” (v. 18–20.) What sayest
thou? Dost thou believe the demon? Why not here also? He saith, They
are “servants of the most high God;” thou sayest,
“They exceedingly trouble our city:” he saith, “They
show us the way of salvation;” thou sayest, “They teach
customs which are not lawful for us to receive.” (v. 21.) Observe, how they do
not attend even to the demon, but look only to one thing, their
covetousness. But observe them (Paul and Silas), how they do not
answer, nor plead for themselves; (b) “For when,”
saith he, “I am weak, then am I strong. My grace is sufficient
for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”
(2 Cor. xii. 9): so that by reason of their gentleness also they should be
admired. (a) “And the magistrates,” etc.,
“charging the jailer to keep them safely” (v. 22): that they may be the
means829
829 ἵνα
μείζονος
θαύματος
αἴτιοι
γένωνται. B. Cat. Sav. marg. The other mss.
read ἵνα
μείζονος
ἄξιοι θαύμ.
γ., “They forbear to answer, so as
to become worthy of more admiration.” Hence this clause has been
transposed. We refer it to v.
23.
“The magistrates give order for their safe custody, thereby
becoming the means of a greater miracle.” | of a greater miracle. (c) The
stricter the custody, the greater the miracle. It was probably from the
wish to cut short the disturbance, that the magistrates did these
things; because they saw the crowd urgent, and wished to stay their
passion at the instant, therefore they inflicted the stripes: at the
same time it was their wish to hear the matter, and that was why they
cast them into prison and gave charge “to keep them
safely.” And, it says, “he made them fast in the
stocks” (v.
24),
(το
ξύλον) as we should
say, the nervum (νέρβον).
What tears do not these things
call for! (Think) what they suffer, while we (live) in luxury, we in
theatres, we perishing and drowning (in dissolute living), seeking
always idle amusement, not enduring to suffer pain for Christ, not even
as far as words, not even as far as talk. These things I beseech you
let us ever call to mind, what things they suffered, what things they
endured, how undismayed they were, how unoffended. They were doing
God’s work, and suffered these things! They did not say, Why do
we preach this, and God does not take our part? But even this was a
benefit to them, even apart830
830 B.
C , καὶ χωρὶς
τῆς ἀληθειας,
ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ
πράγματι. A. and mod. text, καὶ χ. τῆς
βοηθείας
αὐτῷ. τῷ. πρ., “even without the Divine succour, even though that
had been withheld, yet their sufferings were ipso facto a
benefit.” But this alteration is not necessary. “Even apart
from the Truth which they preached,—irrespectively of the fact
that they were preachers of the Truth—their sufferings were a
benefit. Even though they were deceived, and not preachers of the
Truth, they gained by suffering: it made them strong,”
etc. | from the truth,
in the thing itself; it made them more vigorous, stronger, intrepid.
“Tribulation worketh endurance.” (Rom. v. 4.) Then let us not
seek loose and dissolute living. For as in the one case the good is
twofold, that the sufferers are made strong, and that the rewards are
great; so in the other the evil is twofold, that such are rendered more
enervated, and that it is to no good, but only evil. For nothing can be
more worthless than a man who passes all his time in idleness and
luxury. For the man untried, as the saying is, is also unapproved;
unapproved not only in the contests, but also in everything else.
Idleness is a useless thing, and in luxury itself nothing is so
unsuited to the end proposed as the leading a luxurious life: for it
palls with satiety, so that neither the enjoyment of the viands is so
great, nor the enjoyment of relaxation, but all becomes vapid, and runs
to waste.
Then let us not seek after this.
For if we will consider which has the pleasanter life, he that is
toiled and hardworked, or he that lives in luxury, we shall find it to
be the former. For in the first place,831
831 As
no “secondly” follows this “first,” the scribes
have supplied the seeming deficiency: thus N. (Sav. marg.) πρῶτον
μὲν ὅτι τὸ
σῶμα
ἀνεπιτήδειον
πρὸς πάντα
καὶ
ἐκνενευρισμένον
ἐστί·
δευτέρον δὲ
ὅτι καὶ—.
Mod. text Πρ.
μὲν γὰρ τοῦ
τοιούτου τὸ
σῶμα αὐτὸ
ἔκλυτον καὶ
πεπλαδηκός·
ἔπειτα καὶ—. |
the bodily senses are neither clear nor sound, but dull (χαὕναι) and languid; and when those are not right, even of health
there is plainly no enjoyment. Which is the useful horse, the pampered
or the exercised? which the serviceable ship, that which sails, or that
which lies idle? which the best water, the running or the stagnant?
which the best iron, that which is much used, or that which does no
work? does not the one shine bright as silver, while the other becomes
all over rusty, useless, and even losing some of its own substance? The
like happens also to the soul as the consequence of idleness: a kind of
rust spreads over it, and corrodes both its brightness and everything
else. How then shall one rub off this rust? With the whetstone of
tribulations: so shall one make the soul useful and fit for all things.
Else, how, I ask, will she be able to cut off the passions, with her
edge turned (ἀνακλώσης) and bending like lead? How shall she wound the
devil?—And then to whom can such an one be other than a
disgusting spectacle—a man cultivating obesity, dragging himself
along like a seal? I speak not this of those who are naturally of this
habit, but of those who by luxurious living have brought their bodies
into such a condition, of those who are naturally of a spare habit. The
sun has risen, has shot forth his bright beams on all sides, and roused
up each person to his work: the husbandman goes forth with his spade,
the smith with his hammer, and each artisan with his several
instruments, and you will find each handling his proper tools; the
woman also takes either her distaff or her webs: while he, like the
swine, immediately at the first dawn goes forth to feed his belly,
seeking how he may provide sumptuous fare. And yet it is only for brute
beasts to be feeding from morning to night; and for them, because their
only use is to be slaughtered. Nay, even of the beasts, those which
carry burdens and admit of being worked, go forth to their work while
it is yet night. But this man, rising from his bed, when the
(noon-tide) sun has filled the market-place, and people are tired of
their several works, then this man gets up, stretching himself out just
as if he were indeed a hog in fattening, having wasted the fairest part
of the day in darkness. Then he sits there for a long time on his bed,
often unable even to lift himself up from the last evening’s
debauch, and having wasted (still) more time in this (listlessness),
proceeds to adorn himself, and issues forth, a spectacle of
unseemliness, with nothing human about him, but with all the appearance
of a beast with a human shape: his eyes rheumy from the effect of
wine,832
832 Mod. text, “his eyes watery, his mouth smelling of
wine.” It is evident that Chrys. is very imperfectly reported
here. | * * * while the miserable soul, just
like the lame, is unable to rise, bearing about its bulk of flesh, like
an elephant. Then he comes and sits in (various) places, and says and
does such things, that it were better for him to be still sleeping than
to be awake. If it chance that evil tidings be announced, he shows
himself weaker than any girl; if good, more silly than any child; on
his face there is a perpetual yawn. He is a mark for all that would do
harm, if not for all men, at least for all evil passions; and wrath
easily excites such a man, and lust, and envy, and all other passions.
All flatter him, all pay court to him, rendering his soul weaker than
it is already: and each day he goes on and on, adding to his disease.
If he chance to fall into any difficulty of business, he becomes dust
and ashes,833
833 τέφρα καὶ
κόνις
γίνεται.
Unless there be an hiatus here, the meaning is, he has no more solidity
in him than so much ashes and dust. | and his silken garments are of
no help to him. We have not said all this without a purpose, but to
teach you, that none of you should live idly and at random. For
idleness and luxury are not conducive to work, to good reputation, to
enjoyment.834 For who will not condemn such a
man? Family, friends, kinsfolk (will say), He is indeed a very
encumbrance of the ground. Such a man as this has come into the world
to no purpose: or rather, not to no purpose, but to ill purpose against
his own person, to his own ruin, and to the hurt of others. But that
this is more pleasant—let us look to this; for this is the
question. Well then, what can be less pleasant than (the condition of)
a man who has nothing to do; what more wretched and miserable? Is it
not worse than all the fetters in the world, to be always gaping and
yawning, as one sits in the market-place, looking at the passers by?
For the soul, as its nature is to be always on the move, cannot endure
to be at rest. God has made it a creature of action: to work is of its
very nature; to be idle is against its nature. For let us not judge of
these things from those who are diseased, but let us put the thing
itself to the proof of fact. Nothing is more hurtful than leisure, and
having nothing to do: indeed therefore hath God laid on us a necessity
of working: for idleness hurts everything. Even to the members of the
body, inaction is a mischief. Both eye, if it perform not its work, and
mouth, and belly, and every member that one could mention, falls into
the worst state of disease: but none so much as the soul. But as
inaction is an evil, so is activity in things that ought to be let
alone. For just as it is with the teeth, if one eats not, one receives
hurt to them, and if one eats things unfitting, it jars them, and sets
them on edge:835
835 ποιεῖ
αὐτους
βρύχειν καὶ
ὠμοδιᾷν (r. ὠμωδιᾷν). In Jer. xxxi.
(Gr. xxxviii.) 29, the phrase is ὀδόντες τῶν
τέκνων
ᾑμωδίασαν and so Hippocrat. uses the verb. αἱμωδιᾷν. But as Ed. Par. Ben. 2, remarks, the passage of Jer. is
sometimes cited with ὠμωδίασαν; Synops. Athanas. t. ii. 167. Isidor. Pelus.
iv. Ep. 4. | so it is here; both if the soul be
inactive, and if inactive in wrong things, it loses its proper force.
Then let us eschew both alike; both inaction, and the activity which is
worse than inaction. And what may that be? Covetousness,836
836 Here, Edd. before Par. Ben. 2, adopt the amplified peroration of
D. F. “Covetings, wrath, envyings, strifes, grudgings,
emulations, and all the other passions. In these we ought to aim at
being inactive, and with all earnestness to do the work of the virtues,
that we may attain,” etc. | anger, envyings, and the other
passions. As regards these, let us make it our object to be inactive,
in order that we may obtain the good things promised to us, through the
grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father,
together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, honor, now and ever,
world without end. Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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