ACC ~ Acts 5 v41

THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF JOY. CHRYSOSTOM: Let us take someone of consular rank, possessed of great wealth and living in the imperial city, who has no business to conduct but is at leisure to live in luxury, seated at the very summit of wealth, honor and power. And let us set against him a Peter, in chains, in evils beyond enumeration, and we will find the latter living in greater luxury. For where there is such an excess of joy, so that one is happy even in chains, imagine how great the joy must be! For just as those in high office, no matter how many terrible things happen, do not perceive them but continue in enjoyment, likewise these men rejoiced all the more precisely because of these circumstances. For it is altogether impossible to put into words the great joy that came to those who suffered something terrible for Christ’s sake. For they delighted more in sufferings than in good things. If someone loves Christ, he understands what I am saying. But what about safety? What owner of countless riches, I ask, could escape so many dangers, visiting so many different peoples for the sole purpose of transforming their way of life? For they accomplished everything as if by imperial decree, only more easily. For a decree would not have been so effectual as were the words of those men. An imperial decree compels by necessity, but these men drew followers who came willingly, spontaneously and grateful beyond measure. What imperial decree, I ask, could have persuaded people to part with all their property and their lives, to despise home, country, kindred and even self-preservation? Yet the voices of fishermen and tentmakers accomplished this, so that they were both happy and stronger, more powerful than all others. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.

PERSEVERANCE IN HOPE. POLYCARP OF SMYRNA: Let us then continually persevere in our hope and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, “who bore our sins in his own body on the tree,” “who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth,” but who endured all things for us, that we might live in him. Let us then be imitators of his patience; and if we suffer for his name’s sake, let us glorify him. For he has set us this example in himself, and we have believed that such is the case. LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS 8.

SUPERIORITY OF VIRTUE. CHRYSOSTOM: Of course, the scourging was no cause of satisfaction, to be sure—rather of pain and distress; but scourging for the sake of God and the grounds on which they were scourged gave rise to satisfaction in them. … Such a powerful and invincible thing is virtue, proving superior even in the course of suffering such torments. HOMILIES ON GENESIS 23.6.