In stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labours, in watchings, in fastings,
εν πληγαις εν φυλακαις εν ακαταστασιαις εν κοποις εν αγρυπνιαις εν νηστειαις
11 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Each of these things is grievous in itself: to endure scourging, to be in bonds, and to have no rest from persecutions. This is what he means by disturbances. But when all these sorrows overtake them, and all at once, consider what kind of soul is required.
"Under blows, in prisons." Both blows and prisons: see how many evils there are! Each of them is very grievous in itself. "In exiles." That is, in persecutions, when one has no place to stop, being driven from place to place. "In labors, in vigils, in fasts." Having spoken of external afflictions, he speaks here of his own, to which he voluntarily subjected himself. By labors he means the work of his hands, by which he fed both himself and others. At the same time he kept vigil and fasted.
He was immeasurably and repeatedly under blows (2 Cor 11:23-25; Acts 16:23), more than once in prisons and bonds, in dark and foul places, and in exiles for righteousness.
He labored to feed himself, preached the word of God without ceasing, and kept watch in the midst of preaching. Thus he spent the whole night in Troas in divine service.
The Apostle also worked day and night to have for himself at least a meager piece of bread.
He was in fastings, sometimes involuntarily endured because of lack of food, but more often in voluntary fasting, in both bodily and spiritual abstinence.
Such were the external, constricting circumstances of the holy Apostle Paul. Yet this was not all. He strove to be a true servant of God.
This grace of the Holy Spirit embraces the whole soul and fills its dwelling with joy and power (cf. 2 Cor 5:1). It makes the sufferings of the Lord sweet to the soul, removing the feeling of present grief through hope in future blessings.
Therefore, since you intend to ascend to the high power and glory in the cooperation of the Spirit, live your life in this way. Bear every calamity and trial with joy, that you may be found worthy of the Spirit’s coming to you and of inheritance with Christ.
Do not be exalted in any way, and do not grow slack through negligence, lest you yourselves fall, or be found the cause of others’ sin.
In the prisons of persecutors, in the uprisings of rulers, in the labors of travel and the preaching of the Gospel, in the vigils of prayer, and in fasts from food.
See verse 3. Afflictions that came upon him from outside were not enough for the Apostle. For the training of the body he also devised for himself not only fasting and vigil, but also handiwork. This is what he means by the words "in labors."
He says that they not only gave no occasion for scandal, but in every work showed and proved themselves to be servants of God. They proved this by enduring every affliction.
“In patience.” He placed patience first because, amid the persecutions and sufferings with which the Apostles were then struck, it was absolutely necessary. Had it been lacking, the preaching of the Gospel would have had to cease.
He did not say simply, “in patience,” but “in much patience,” because the sufferings were many and severe.
He then lists the hardships that required much patience: “in afflictions,” he says, “in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings.”
The afflictions that Paul endured in Asia and elsewhere are described by him himself (2 Cor 1:8; 2 Cor 2:4; Eph 3:13).
The divine Luke described the necessities and distresses that Paul suffered at Damascus from the Jews, and at Jerusalem from the Hellenists (Acts 9:24-25; Acts 16:23).
He described his wounds and imprisonments at Philippi, a city of Macedonia, at the hands of the magistrates and the people there.
He described the tumults by showing him constantly passing from place to place. He described his labors by saying that, while in Corinth, he supported himself by his handiwork, working with Aquila (Acts 18:3).
He described his watchings by saying that “he prolonged his discourse until midnight,” and that for three years, night and day, he did not cease teaching the Ephesians (Acts 20:7, 31).
By fastings Paul here does not mean fixed fasts performed with prayer (Acts 27:9; Acts 14:23), but those that occur in hunger and thirst, that is, from lack of food and drink.
Having thus listed his active virtues (2 Cor 11:27), which he practiced while contending against persecutors, he then passes on to the contemplative virtues. These are the virtues his soul bore fruitfully, being moved of itself.
In preaching these fundamental truths of Christianity, we strive in our life and conduct to place no stumbling block before anyone in anything. That is, we allow nothing scandalous, so that our apostolic ministry may not be blamed.
“But in everything we commend ourselves as servants of God: in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments,” and so forth.
In the words that follow, the holy Apostle Paul vividly depicts the outward contrast between the constraint and oppression of his position and the greatness of the labors he undertook.
He undertook them so as not to give believers even one stumbling block in anything.
“We are unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”
As though defending himself against accusation, the Apostle lists his labors and virtues. He sets forth two chief distinguishing marks of a blameless life.
The first is freedom from accusations. The second is faithfulness to the service of God, shown in the patient endurance of every kind of hardship while fulfilling his apostolic duty.
The holy Apostle Paul himself speaks more fully of some of these hardships elsewhere, for example in 1 Cor 11:23 and 2 Cor 11:24-25. Others also speak of them; see Acts chapters 14-18 and Acts 20:7-11.
“Each of these trials is grievous by itself,” says Saint John Chrysostom. “It is grievous to endure scourging. It is grievous to be in bonds and to have no rest from persecutions.
But when all these sorrows come together, consider what sort of soul is needed for this.”
“To the external and involuntary sorrows he adds those which depended strictly on himself.
He points to the labors with which he burdened himself, passing from place to place and working with his own hands.
He points to the nights in which he taught or labored for himself. At the same time he did not forget fasting, though his labors alone were worth not one thousand fasts.”
“He justifies his apostleship no less by the fact that they were counted worthy of spiritual gifts. We remained blameless in the Spirit, that is, in spiritual gifts.
‘In love unfeigned.’ This was higher than all the good things he had acquired. This made him what he was and preserved in him the Spirit, by Whose action everything in him was brought to completion.”
"In all things commending ourselves as servants of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in disorders, in labors" (2 Cor 6:4-5).
Saint Paul, as the planter of the Church of Corinth, writes to the Corinthians. As the universal Apostle, he cries out to all Christians: "We beseech you not to receive the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor 6:1).
That is, he urges Christians to live so that the grace of God, received from Christ through His mysteries, may not remain fruitless in them. They must actively use its help and confirm their salvation by good works.
He is not like teachers who lay heavy and hard-to-bear burdens on others' shoulders, while they themselves do not wish to touch them with a finger.
On the contrary, the Apostle presents himself as having borne, and still bearing, heavy and hard-to-bear burdens. Thus his disciples would not refuse to bear something lesser, which was possible for them.
"In all things commending ourselves as servants of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in disorders, in labors," and in many other struggles and virtues. For brevity, I interrupt the enumeration.
From this multitude of burdens, truly more or less heavy for corrupted nature, yet not impossible to bear with the help of grace, I now take one. It is among the more unavoidable and more bearable.
I desire to see it on my shoulders and on yours. This is labor. I beseech you with the Apostle: commend yourselves as servants of God in labors.
Or is teaching about labors not worth the labor, and unworthy of the pulpit? Will some not say that whoever must labor will go to labor without instruction, either by compulsion or by the pull of passion?
And if someone can get along without labor, must he really be tormented with labor in vain?
If anyone admits that he has these thoughts in his head, or, looking carefully, finds them in the disposition of his life, let him also accept our admission.
These very thoughts show us that teaching about labors requires labor and deserves attention.
Is compulsory labor much better than the labor of an ox bearing the yoke and pulling the plow? Is it not doubly heavy, first by the labor's own weight, and second by the burdensome feeling of compulsion?
Would it not be good if we could raise even man's lowest labor above the labor of an irrational creature?
Without weakening necessary labor, we could lessen its weight by replacing the oppressive feeling of compulsion with the bearable burden of moral necessity, consciously understood by reason.
Is labor done from passion, for example from love of gain, noble? Is it not joined to torment, since every ruling passion is an inner tormentor?
Would it not be better if we ennobled labor by expelling, or at least overcoming, a base inclination to profit through a higher motive for action?
Some may not agree to call labor from ambition ignoble. Without entering into dispute about this, I would ask only the eminent and powerful.
Are they entirely satisfied with those who labor in their service, if this is done only in order to rise and attain honor?
Would they not prefer that this be done from purer motives, from deep respect, devotion, zeal, and love?
What shall be said about contempt for labor, aversion to it, and an idle life? If life is activity, then by the contrary conclusion, inactivity and idleness are not life.
At least, they are not the life of a rational and moral being.
Long sleep in the morning, slow awakening, then breakfast, a walk, idle talk with visitors or hosts, perhaps reading no better than idle talk, then dinner, rest, a show, a game, supper, and again long sleep.
Is this the life of a rational and moral being?
Therefore compulsory labor, labor from passion, aversion to labor, and idleness all require correction or improvement by sound teaching about labor.
Nowhere can such teaching be drawn better than from the source of Christian wisdom.
Is there labor in heaven? We cannot affirm this, although we know from the Revelation of John that the Powers there "have no rest day or night" (Rev 4:8), as they offer unceasing doxology to the Almighty.
Yet it is not there as it is here on earth. Here labor, rest, and pleasure are separated, bounded, and divided.
There the activity of the created Powers, which needs no rest, their rest in God, and blessedness are one.
Yet for the good "spirits" sent to earth "to minister for those who shall inherit salvation" (Heb 1:14), I think there is labor. It is not light labor.
They descend for us from the pure and radiant heavenly realm into the gloomy and suffocating earthly realm, as into a cellar or mine shaft.
They keep watch over our unworthiness. They extend to us subtle spiritual promptings, often drowned out by our coarse sensuality.
They endure our deficiencies and unfaithfulness. Sometimes necessity makes them withdraw from our impurities, but not too far.
They watch again for favorable moments to draw near to us for our benefit. At times, finally, they grieve inconsolably over our impenitence.
Think of this without levity, son of dust. If the dwellers in heaven do not think it low or unpleasant to descend from their blessedness to wretched earth for labor that saves you, will you dare reject any beneficial labor as low and unpleasant?
Beware only of base motives. They alone make labor truly base.
If we ask whether there was labor in paradise, the book of Genesis answers us: "The Lord God took the man whom He had formed and placed him in the paradise of delight, to till it and keep it" (Gen 2:15).
Paradise had no need of intensive cultivation like our fields and gardens. There had not yet been the curse that grows thorns and thistles.
Why, then, was it appointed even to the man of paradise to till? To resolve this, Saint Chrysostom cites the saying of the wise man: "Idleness has taught much evil" (Sir 33:28).
Therefore, he concludes, God "willed" that man "should have some small and measured care in keeping and tilling."
"If he had been entirely freed from every labor, then, enjoying great repose, he would easily have inclined toward sloth."
"But by doing work, though work not accompanied by pain and exhaustion, he could better preserve chastity."
From this reasoning of the golden-mouthed teacher, we must learn a lesson. Even if one of us lived almost in paradisal abundance and prosperity, and nothing compelled him to labor, he still must not neglect labor or flee from it.
He must use it as a guardian of inner and outer well-being, lest idleness come and teach much evil.
But our condition is no longer paradisal. In this condition labor has a new meaning and is necessary in a new way.
To the man expelled from paradise for pride and disobedience, God the Judge said: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread" (Gen 3:19).
That is, as Saint Chrysostom explains: "Since you did not make use of such freedom, I will curse the earth."
"It will no longer bring forth its produce for you without plowing and sowing, as before, but with much labor, hardship, and exhaustion."
"I will impose upon you constant sorrows and disturbances. I will make you do everything with the shedding of sweat."
"These constraints will be for you a continual lesson, teaching you to humble yourself and to know your nature."
If labor is thus God's punishment for the whole race of men, it is also God's instruction in humility and in the knowledge of our weakness. This should lead to the appeasement of God the Judge.
Then can one flee from labor as from God's punishment without danger of greater punishment? Is it not unreasonable to flee from labor as from God's instruction?
Should we not fear that a new judgment of God may say this?
Since you knew that, because of inattentive tilling and parasitic idleness in paradise, man was brought down from painless labor to painful yet beneficial labor on earth, and yet you do not wish to use this corrective remedy.
Therefore it remains to bring you down to a still lower degree, to labor in the nether regions, tormenting and fruitless.
Yet Christianity, by which everything is eased, improved, sweetened, and perfected, prescribes labor to us not so much as God's punishment, but as service to God.
"In all things," says the Apostle, "commending ourselves as servants of God," and among other things, "in labors."
How so? If labor is necessary for you, do not look upon it as blind necessity. Look upon it as the ordering of God's wisdom in human life.
Therefore bear it not with a feeling of compulsion, but with a feeling of obedience to God's will.
If, according to the order of society, labor is laid upon you by another man, bear it not only for man's sake, but also for God's sake.
"Not working only while being watched, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul" (Eph 6:6).
If you are burdened with heavy and long labors, offer to God in your labors the sacrifice of patience without murmuring.
If nothing compels you to labor, then it is easier still for you to present yourself as God's servant in labor undertaken for the good of your neighbor.
For service to the good of one's neighbor is actual service to Christ, according to His own word: "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" (Mt 25:40).
Shall I speak yet one decisive apostolic word about labor? Shall I speak it especially to the free, noble, and abundant, or shall I refrain, lest they send me with it to slaves and workers?
But the apostolic word speaks to all. With it I dare not retreat before anyone.
What, then, does it say? "This we commanded you: if anyone will not work, neither let him eat" (2 Thess 3:10).
Let us consider, we who stretch an unwearied hand toward a plentiful table. According to this commandment or rule, would we be worthy to share bread and water with this tentmaker?
He himself fulfilled the rule he gave to others, even more strictly than others. He did so not only by apostolic labor, but also by simple work.
As he says: "You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me" (Acts 20:34).
"We labor, working with our own hands" (1 Cor 4:12).
"Nor did we eat anyone's bread without payment, but with labor and toil we worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you" (2 Thess 3:8).
But whoever is not worthy to eat with Paul will certainly not be worthy to eat with Christ at His table in His Kingdom.
Therefore let us not be lazy, inactive, and idle. Let us love labor. Let us do what is useful, if not according to our own need, then out of love for mankind toward others.
After good work, according to the apostolic commandment, may we taste earthly food with the sweetness of conscience.
Finally, may we enjoy the immortal table, according to the testament of Christ the Lord, who said: "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father appointed unto Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom" (Lk 22:29-30). Amen.
By wounds he means, of course, those from blows. By the time this was written, the Apostle’s stoning at Lystra was known (Acts 14:19), which could not have occurred without wounds. His beating with many rods at Philippi was also known (Acts 16:22-23).
He himself testifies that five times he received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes, and that three times he was beaten with rods (2 Cor 11:24-25).
“In prisons.” After they had beaten him severely with rods at Philippi, they threw him into prison together with Silas. In general, as he himself says, he had been in prisons abundantly (2 Cor 11:23).
“In tumults,” akatastasiais, when persecution rose against him with noise and confusion, forcing him to flee from one place to another. For the most part, the Jews stirred up such storms against him.
So it was in Iconium (Acts 14:5), in Thessalonica (Acts 17:5), in Berea (Acts 17:13), and in Corinth itself toward the end of his stay there (Acts 18:12).
Saint Chrysostom says: “Each of these three trials is grievous by itself. It is grievous to endure scourging. It is grievous to be in bonds. It is grievous to have no rest from persecutions, for this is what he means by tumults.
But when all these sorrows come together, consider what sort of soul is needed for this.”
“In labors.” These were the heaviest labors: travel, mostly on foot; then laboring with his hands to support himself and his companions. Teaching also required labor, as did establishing order in newly founded Christian Churches.
“In watchings,” when he spent the nights in prayers or in conversation with the newly converted. Thus in Philippi, around midnight, he and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God (Acts 16:25).
Afterward he occupied himself with instructing and baptizing the jailer with his whole household, and he spent the entire night without closing his eyes.
So later in Troas he prolonged his discourse until midnight. After restoring the young Eutychus, who had fallen from the window, he conversed until dawn, when the hour came to leave the city (Acts 20:7, 11).
The same thing, of course, happened in all other places.
“In fastings,” when he did not abstain from food because of lack, but voluntarily deprived himself of it as an aid to prayer and the appeasing of God. He did this to prepare for some struggle against falsehood and error.
Fasting is a powerful moral means and a precious ascetic labor before the eyes of God.
Saint Chrysostom says: “Here, to the external and involuntary sorrows, he adds those which depended strictly on himself.
He points to the labors with which he burdened himself, passing from place to place and working with his own hands.
He points to the nights in which he taught or labored for himself. At the same time he did not forget fasting, though these labors alone were worth not one thousand fasts.”
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 12 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS