"See what care all the disciples showed for the chief apostles. Communion with the Church has great power. What a man cannot do by himself, he will do together with others.
"For this reason prayers are offered here especially for the whole world, for the Church in all its bounds, for their well-being, and for those in dangers."
"Thus those who sent Paul away could do something great by themselves. With him they would have done and accomplished even more, but for the time being they wished to deliver him from danger."
"As for leaving Silas and Timothy in Berea, this was done to continue the preaching there. This had partly been practiced earlier in Philippi (see Acts 16:40), and later in Thessalonica.
"From there Paul commanded Silas and Timothy to return to him quickly in Athens. One may think that, despite Paul's brief stay in Athens, Timothy came to him there (see 1 Thess 2:18-3:2).
"So also he had come from Philippi to Thessalonica. Their more prolonged meeting occurred in Corinth, where the Apostle Paul remained for a longer time."
Saint John Chrysostom, as a profound venerator of the holy Apostle Paul, expresses joy at his arrival in the center of Greek culture, Athens. He says: "It is good that they were brought by God into Macedonia, for Greece was already renowned."
"Leaving Macedonia was very bitter for the apostle. He had been summoned there in such an extraordinary way, and his activity there had proved especially fruitful.
"It was more bitter because the cause lay in the Jews. They were so close to his heart that, for their conversion, he was ready to sacrifice his own salvation.
"It was especially grievous for Saint Paul that the Jews not only did not convert themselves. Displeasing God and opposing men, they also prevented the apostle from speaking to the Gentiles so that they might be saved.
"In this way they filled up the measure of their sins (1 Thess 2:16). Only one conviction strengthened the apostle.
"The sacred ministry of the Gospel of God which he performed (Rom 15:16) was determined by the will of God Himself.
"Sorrows and persecutions are necessary for those who serve Christ, since through them we must enter the Kingdom of God.
"Only this conviction gave the apostle strength, with hope for the good shoots of the seed already sown, to turn to new places where the word of the Gospel had not yet sounded."
Since he was not yet able to visit such Macedonian cities as Thessalonica, the apostle took care to strengthen the Church there through his two epistles, written soon afterward from Corinth.
In the first of them he wrote: "we were gentle among you, as a nurse cherishes her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to impart to you not only the Gospel of God, but also our own souls, because you had become dear to us" (1 Thess 2:7-8).
"Each of you, as a father does his children, we exhorted and encouraged and charged to walk worthily of God, Who calls you into His own Kingdom and glory" (1 Thess 2:11-12).
"You remember, brethren, our labor and toil: working night and day, so as not to burden any of you, we preached to you the Gospel of God" (1 Thess 2:9).
This was said against idlers, of whom there were many in Thessalonica.
Further, the apostle announced that the Thessalonians would have to endure many temptations (see 1 Thess 3:2-4; 5:2-3).
This will be a terrible time for the sons of darkness. But for those counted worthy of temptation, it will be an object not of fear, but of joyful expectation.
Especially terrible will be the son of perdition (2 Thess 2:3), the Antichrist, who exalts himself above everything. And now the mystery of lawlessness is at work.
But it will not be fulfilled until the one who restrains is taken out of the way (2 Thess 2:7). That is, until laws and lawful bearers of right and justice cease to be recognized and respected.
When the lawless one is revealed, the Lord Jesus will slay him with the spirit of His mouth and destroy him by the manifestation of His coming (2 Thess 2:8).
"To communicate to the Christians of newly founded Churches a correct view of the state, civil authority, and the relation of the Church to the state was a matter of high importance for the apostle.
"Only such a view could preserve Christians from those deeply grievous consequences which would follow from a contemptuous, and still more a rebellious, attitude toward representatives of the civil order of law."
THEOSIS