“By equality,” writes Blessed Theodoret, “the Apostle did not mean equality of honor, but the proper care which servants also ought to receive from masters.” “What is justice? What is equality?” asks Chrysostom, and he answers: they are one and the same. It means “providing slaves with everything in sufficient measure, and not allowing them to turn to others with their needs, but rewarding them for their labors. Since I said that they have their reward from God, you must not think it permissible to deprive them of what ought to come to them from you” (the same is in Blessed Theophylact).
As an encouragement to masters for such action, the Apostle sets forth that they too have a Master in the heavens. It is understood that He is also a righteous rewarder. Masters allow themselves injustices toward slaves chiefly from a false feeling of complete independence: who is there to command me? So they act without direction.
The Apostle cuts off their boldness by assuring them that they are not independent. They themselves have a Master, before Whom they are answerable. He will require from them an account of their deeds, as they require it from servants in their deeds, including their conduct toward slaves. Thus in accountability and dependence you are equal with slaves.
“‘And ye,’ he says, that is, you also with them. Here the Apostle makes slavery common” (Chrysostom). “Therefore you should treat them as fellow-servants. As they have you, so you also have a Master. Therefore, ‘with what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to you’ (Mt 7:2)” (Blessed Theophylact).
Often outside help is needed, and for some, service. A stranger is received into the house by agreement, to take an active and laboring part in the affairs of the household. A new union is formed between those serving and those receiving service. From this arise new duties for masters and servants.
Masters, before all else, must keep a faithful understanding of themselves and of servants. Servants are of the same nature as they are. They are children of the same heavenly Father, deemed worthy of the same grace, and having the same hope and the same inheritance in the heavens.
Masters also have above themselves the Master, Who will take an account from them at their departure. He alone raises up and brings low, and in this He shows no partiality. Masters and servants are temporary, incidental, and passing conditions. What is eternal in both is that each is in Christ Jesus. Because of this, according to the Lord’s word, sometimes “the last shall be first” (Mt 19:30).
Proceeding from this understanding, it is not proper for a Christian master to despise servants, be proud over them, or still less drive them about as a thing. On the contrary, he must in every way awaken in his heart the chief Christian dispositions toward them. He must regard them as brethren in Christ, and accordingly not deprive them of respect, affection, justice, or attention.
Such dispositions will not interfere with rights, and rights must not extinguish them. The former are outward, but the latter are inward. The former are in action, but the latter in the heart. Nothing in the world can give a Christian the right to free himself from Christian dispositions toward a Christian, whoever he may be.
Hence, in the chief matter between servant and master, service and command, or orders, everything must be arranged so that the master does not dominate in commanding, and the servant is not turned into a passive instrument in obeying. For this, it is better to introduce him into the order of affairs and make him as though master in his own sphere. Let him act as though in his own person.
A servant must be conscious of his dependence and be ready for unquestioning and silent obedience. Yet brotherhood must compel the master also to make him an unfettered agent. Rational service is better than mechanical service. He has been received into the house; let him be with you like a native member of the household.
A servant serves and is ready to serve according to duty. But if you recognize him as a brother, then you must not receive his labors as a due obligation, but as brotherly service, for which you owe gratitude. It is a duty to feel and express this gratitude in deed.
The best way to testify to this gratitude is by reciprocal service to him, or by zealous care for the servant. Provide rest and sufficiency for his body. Preserve his health and wholeness. To maim, exhaust, or neglect a servant is inhuman.
Yet all this is temporary, as the servant’s material service is temporary. There is an eternal work for the servant, which temporal service must not hinder. This is zeal for the salvation of the soul. In this respect, a master can be the servant’s savior.
Instruct and explain what the matter is. Teach and dispose him. Provide means for fulfilling the works of piety, especially on feast days. In general, actively watch over his conduct. Do not disrupt what is good, but correct what is bad. Such are the works of love.
Justice requires that one demand nothing from servants to which they are not obliged, and that one give everything to which one is obliged. The more evident this duty is, and the easier it is to fulfill, the more criminal is its violation. It tears the soul, and draws forth murmuring and complaint, which in the word of God stands together with the groaning of orphans and widows.
No less does justice require condescension, or patient bearing with their weaknesses and defects, as far as these are tolerable. One who is unjust in this respect, being contemptuous, reproachful, and dissatisfied, sins against God, Who distributes gifts and knows how to distribute them.
Temperament is another matter. But before what does not come from the will, one must keep patient silence, remembering God, Who sees all and tests all.
Finally, in conduct one must be free from pride, love of authority, and cruelty, but meek, quiet, and kindly, as in general. Even rebukes must be softened by the tone of persuasion and compassion. They must be given on behalf of justice, not from one’s own will.
In general, everything must be done so that the servant, as much as possible, is brought near in his relation to the master to one’s own household and relatives. He must not reach a feeling of alienation, for this is painful, especially in a Christian household.
THEOSIS