“The principles involved in this plan for the support of the religious orders are still applicable. God alone is the absolute Proprietor of all things. We are all stewards, and are responsible for the use, no less than the acquisition, of what we may have. By the covenant of grace, a competent livelihood is still secured to all the true children of Abraham. Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come (1 Tim. iv. 8). And God still retains His claim to a tribute. And is it not a just and interesting view of the matter to say that this tribute is properly due to Christ as priest? It is through Him that God blesses His people. It is through Him they serve and worship God.”
“For there is no man free, save only he who lives for Christ. He stands superior to all troubles, and if he does not choose to injure himself no one else will be able to do this, but he is impregnable; he is not stung by the loss of wealth; for he has learned that we brought nothing into this world, neither can we carry anything out;1 Timothy 6:7 he is not caught by the longings of ambition or glory; for he has learned that our citizenship is in heaven; Philippians 3:20 no one annoys him by abuse, or provokes him by blows; there is only one calamity for a Christian which is, disobedience to God; but all the other things, such as loss of property, exile, peril of life, he does not even reckon to be a grievance at all. And that which all dread, departure hence to the other world — this is to him sweeter than life itself. For as when one has climbed to the top of a cliff and gazes on the sea and those who are sailing upon it, he sees some being washed by the waves, others running upon hidden rocks, some hurrying in one direction, others being driven in another, like prisoners, by the force of the gale, many actually in the water, some of them using their hands only in the place of a boat and a rudder, and many drifting along upon a single plank, or some fragment of the vessel, others floating dead, a scene of manifold and various disaster; even so he who is engaged in the service of Christ drawing himself out of the turmoil and stormy billows of life takes his seat upon secure and lofty ground. For what position can be loftier or more secure than that in which a man has only one anxiety, How he ought to please God? 1 Thessalonians 4:1 Have you seen the shipwrecks, Theodore, of those who sail upon this sea? Wherefore, I beseech you, avoid the deep water, avoid the stormy billows, and seize some lofty spot where it is not possible to be captured. There is a resurrection, there is a judgment, there is a terrible tribunal which awaits us when we have gone out of this world; we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.Romans 14:10 It is not in vain that we are threatened with hell fire, it is not without purpose that such great blessings have been prepared for us. The things of this life are a shadow, and more naught even than a shadow, being full of many fears, and many dangers, and extreme bondage. Do not then deprive yourself both of that world, and of this, when you may gain both, if you please. Now that they who live in Christ will gain the things of this world Paul teaches us when he says: But I spare you;1 Corinthians 7:28 and again But this I say for your profit.1 Corinthians 7:35 Do you see that even here he who cares for the things of the Lord is superior to the man who has married? It is not possible for one who has departed to the other world to repent; no athlete, when he has quitted the lists, and the spectators have dispersed, can contend again.”
Chrysostom, Two Exhortations to Theodore After His Fall
