Titus 1:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

As violent winds fall upon a calm sea and stir it up from the very depths, so that sand is mingled with the waves, so the passions break into the soul. They overturn everything in it and blind its power of thought, especially the passion for glory.

It is not difficult for one who wishes to despise wealth. But to despise honor from men requires great effort, lofty philosophy, and a soul almost angelic, reaching the very height of heaven.

For truly there is no other passion so strong and so universally dominant. It rules everywhere, in greater or lesser degree, but in any case everywhere.

How then can we overcome it, if not completely, then at least in some small measure? We can do so if we look toward heaven, if we keep God before our eyes, and if we lift our thoughts above every earthly thing.

When you desire glory, imagine that you have already received it. Think the matter through to the end, and you will find nothing there. Consider what harm it causes and what great goods it deprives you of.

For its sake you will undergo labors and dangers, yet you will receive no fruit or reward from it. Remember that among people who have gained glory there are many evil men, and despise their glory.

Reflect on each of them, who he is, and you will see that this glory is worthy of laughter. It is more shame than glory. Then raise your mind to the vision above.

When you do some good deed and think that it must be shown to men, when you seek spectators for the deed and strive to be seen, remember that God sees you. Then you will destroy every such desire in yourself.

Renounce the earth and direct your gaze to the heavenly spectacle. Men, even if they praise, will afterward revile, envy, and harm. Even if they do none of this, they bring absolutely no benefit to the one they praise.

But it is not so with God. On the contrary, He rejoices when He praises our good deeds.

You have spoken well and were found worthy of applause. But what benefit comes from this? If those who applauded received benefit, changed, became better, and abandoned their former vices, then one should truly rejoice.

Yet one should rejoice not in the praise, but in the good and wondrous change of the hearers. But if they constantly offer praises, keep making noise, and applaud, while receiving no fruit from their applause, then one should rather grieve.

For this will serve for their condemnation.

But you receive glory for piety. If you are truly pious and know nothing evil in yourself, then you should rejoice, not because you seem such, but because you truly are such.

But if you are not such and desire glory from men, then remember that they will not judge us on the last day. He Who knows exactly what is hidden in us will judge.

If you know sins in yourself, yet are honored by all as pure from sins, you should not rejoice at this. Rather, you should grieve and weep bitterly, continually setting before yourself that day when everything will be revealed.

Then God “will bring to light the things hidden in darkness” (1 Cor 4:5).

Do they give you honor? Reject it, knowing that it makes you a debtor. Does no one give you honor? You should rejoice at this, because God will set before you, among other things, that you enjoyed honor.

Or do you not know that God reproaches this too among His other benefactions, when He says through the prophet, “I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites” (Amos 2:11)?

In this way you will gain the benefit of not being handed over to greater punishment.

He who receives no honor in this present life, but endures contempt, enjoys no respect, but undergoes insult and humiliation, will at least be freed from responsibility for receiving honor from fellow servants. This is so even if he gains nothing else.

Meanwhile, he also receives another benefit from this. He becomes meek and humble. If he is more attentive to himself, he will never become exalted, even if he wishes.

By contrast, one who enjoys great honor not only becomes a heavy debtor, but is given over to arrogance and vainglory, and becomes a slave of men. Then, as men’s power over him increases, he is forced to do much that he does not want.

Knowing, then, what is better for us, let us not seek honors. Let us reject even those offered to us, and let us tear this passion away from ourselves and destroy it.

I say this both to those who rule and to those who are subject. A soul thirsting for honor and glorification will not see the Kingdom of Heaven. These are not my words. I do not speak them of myself, but from the Divine Spirit.

It will not see it, even if it struggles in virtue. “They have,” says the Lord, “their reward” (Mt 6:5). And how can one who does not receive the recompense see the Kingdom of Heaven?

I do not forbid seeking glory, but true glory, the glory that is from God. “His praise,” says the Apostle, “is not from men, but from God” (Rom 2:29).

Let us be pious in secret, not covering ourselves with pride, pretense, and hypocrisy. Let us take off the sheep’s skin, or rather, let us be sheep. There is nothing more worthless than human glory.

Tell me, if you saw a multitude of little children, or more exactly nursing infants, would you want glory from them? Look on all men in the same way with respect to glory. This is why it is called vainglory.

Do you see the masks worn by actors on the stage? How beautiful they are, how splendid, how perfectly made according to the strict demands of external beauty. Can you show me such faces in reality? No.

What then? Has love for them ever been stirred in you? No. Why? Because it is an empty mask. It imitates beauty, but in reality it is not beauty.

So too human glory is empty. It only imitates glory, but in reality it is not glory. Only one glory is constant: natural and inward glory. This outward glory often covers deformity.

Yet it covers it only from men, and only until evening. When the spectacle is over and the mask is removed, each appears as he is.

Therefore let us not deal with truth as on the stage, nor with hypocrisy. Tell me, what good is there in being seen by the crowd? This is vainglory, and nothing else.

Enter your house, remain alone, and at once everything disappears. You came to the marketplace and drew the attention of those present. What then? Nothing. Everything vanished and passed like smoke dispersed.

Are we so attached to worthless things? What foolishness! What madness!

Let us look only to this: that God may praise us. If we keep this in view, we will never seek praise from men. Even if it happens, we will despise it, laugh at it, and abhor it.

We will dispose ourselves as though, reaching out for gold, we had grasped mud.

Let this or that man not praise you. He will bring you no benefit by it. If he censures you, he will cause no harm. From God, however, both praise and censure bring us benefit or harm. From men all this is vain.

In this way we shall become like God, Who has no need of human glory. “I do not receive glory from men,” He says (Jn 5:41). Tell me, is this a small thing?

When you are not inclined to despise glory, say to yourself: by despising it, I shall become like God. Then you will at once despise it.

A slave of glory cannot avoid being a slave of all, even more slavish than slaves themselves. We do not command our slaves what glory commands those devoted to it.

It forces us both to speak and to endure shameful and dishonorable things. And when it sees us obedient, it increases its demands all the more.

Therefore let us flee, I exhort you, let us flee from this slavery. How, you ask, can we do this? If we reason philosophically about the goods here, and if we understand that all present things are a dream and a shadow, and nothing else.

Then we shall easily overcome this passion and not surrender to it either in small matters or in great. But if we allow it in small matters, we will easily fall under its power in the most important things.

Let us remove its sources also, that is, madness and baseness of soul. If we have lofty thoughts in this way, we shall be able both to despise honor from men and to direct our mind to heaven.

Then we shall attain the heavenly goods. May we all be found worthy to receive them by the grace and love for mankind of Christ, with Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, dominion, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

He had to keep the Cretans in the truth they had received, especially under the activity of false teachers.

Saint John Chrysostom says: "One must not treat everyone in the same way, but differently and variously, according to the persons. If they are inclined to lying, then they need the most rebuking word. Such a man cannot be moved by meekness." "Therefore rebuke them sharply." And this, "rebuke sharply," does not contradict the saying, "correcting opponents with meekness," writes blessed Theodoret. "Those who have not yet believed must be taught the divine doctrine with meekness. But those who have promised to believe and attempt to act contrary to it must be healed with severe measures."

Concerning stopping mouths, Bishop Theophan says: "This can be done either by the force of pastoral authority or by the force of rebuke and confirmation of the truth. This is for the first instance. If they remain in their stubbornness afterward, they should be cut off completely, as the Apostle also legislated below (3:10). But rebuke is more applicable. When such vain talkers are encountered, whoever they may be, the falsehood of their teaching must be exposed so strongly that they have nothing to say in its defense. And if such men cannot be met, but it becomes known that some go from house to house secretly and vainly speak this and that, then one must disclose before the faithful the falsehood that has become known and rebuke it. The truth of God, opposed to the lie, must be set forth more fully and confirmed more strongly. This will be a stopping, if not of the mouths of the vain talkers, then of the entrance of their lie into the souls of the hearers. The Apostle commanded that the mouths of harmful alien vain talkers be stopped, but he commands that his own be rebuked sharply. This is not so that one may satisfy his displeasure against them, but so that they may be sound in the faith. That is, they must not accept false views inconsistent with the faith. The body becomes unhealthy when it receives elements alien to it. So also faith becomes unhealthy when it receives thoughts that destroy its structure, either wholly or in part. So that the Cretans may not fall into such sickness, the Apostle commands that they be rebuked sharply when it is noticed that they heedlessly open their ear to vain talkers."

For, the Apostle adds to explain his instruction to Titus, these commandments are insignificant. To those pure in conscience all things are pure. But to those impure in conscience, who have evil thoughts and convictions, all things are impure. Every object produces impure desires in their soul. Such, precisely, are the Cretan false teachers in the Apostle's eyes. They know God in words, but by deed they utterly deny Him.

“Therefore, if the Wise One commands, ‘Do not seek to become a judge if you are unable to remove injustice’ (Sir 7:6), then much more may it be said here: do not strive to become a teacher if you have no capacity for this work. Avoid it even if others were drawing you to it.”

It is also evident in itself that Saint Titus, when meeting such persons, could not and must not remain silent. Thus “must” may be understood generally of everyone upon whom lies the duty to spread the truth and confirm others in it.

“To stop their mouths” can be done either by the force of pastoral authority, or by the force of convicting falsehood and confirming truth. The first applies here if one recognizes that the opposing vain talkers belonged to the community of believers, though they acted within it self-willedly.

This applies at first. If, however, they remain stubborn afterward, they must be cut off entirely, as the Apostle legislates below (see Tit 3:10).

But the second meaning is more applicable, because it applies to all. When one meets such vain talkers, whoever they may be, one must convict the falsity of their teaching so strongly that they have nothing to say in its defense.

“The Apostle rightly said, ‘to stop their mouths,’ that is, by the force of convicting falsehood, to bring them to the point where they no longer dare say a word. This is so that those who hear may also benefit from it,” says Oecumenius.

“What benefit is there from such stopping of mouths when they are among those who do not submit to the truth? For them there is none. But it is useful for those who may be corrupted if the bishop passes over their false words and teaching in silence,” says blessed Theophylact.

Yet one can stop mouths in this way only by meeting the vain talkers. If this does not happen, but it is known only that certain people go from house to house and speak this or that vanity which can corrupt, even then the matter must not be left unattended.

Before the faithful, one must disclose and convict the falsity of the known lie. The truth of God, opposed to the falsehood being scattered, must be more fully explained and more firmly confirmed.

This too will be a stopping, if not of the mouths of the vain talkers, then of the entrance of their falsehood into the souls of those who hear. For a thought will already have been planted there to answer their falsehood. It will know the faithful word and be able to repel the false word striking the ears.

“Who subvert whole households.” This suggests that they do not preach openly, but go secretly from house to house. Such a manner of acting befits falsehood, which knows itself to be false and thereby exposes itself as false.

“Teaching what they ought not.” What exactly was it? It would be curious to know. But since the Apostle did not intend to satisfy curiosity or empty inquisitiveness, he did not say. He also teaches us not to inquire vainly.

The norm of truth is known. It is simple and not complex. The Cretan Christians knew it. This was what ought to be taught. Everything inconsistent with it is what ought not to be taught, and therefore those being taught, who know the truth, ought not to hear it.

With this single phrase the Apostle said everything.

“For the sake of shameful gain.” “Do you see that insubordination is connected with love of money and shameful acquisitiveness? All these are levers in the hands of the devil, by which he destroys the houses of God, that is, Christian families,” says blessed Theophylact.

“Is there anything unlawful to which this passion has not persuaded and inclined people?” says Oecumenius.

What gain is meant? Ordinary material gain, the receiving of money, things, and food. They are zealous to acquire disciples so that they may live at their expense and have sufficiency.

But Saint Hilary and blessed Jerome, in addition to this, consider it possible to understand the gain as the disciples themselves, who are drawn away by the teaching of the vain talkers. They apply this to the Savior’s words: “You travel sea and land to make one proselyte” (cf. Mt 23:15).

Blessed Jerome writes: “These words, ‘for the sake of shameful gain,’ may also be interpreted otherwise. The Apostle used this common expression from daily life to show how heretics, by corrupting minds, commonly call themselves gainers of men. Yet to kill the souls of the deceived is not gain, but loss.

“On the contrary, whoever, according to the Gospel, convicts an erring brother so that he turns back, truly gains him (see Mt 18:15). For what gain can be greater, or what more precious, than to gain a human soul?

“Therefore every teacher of the Church who by the right path draws people to faith in Christ is an honorable gainer. By contrast, every heretic who turns people away from the truth by seductive words and inclines them to follow his improper teaching is a shameful gainer.”

This thought is not in the Apostle, but it may be allowed as a secondary inference or allegorical interpretation of his word, which, outside the context, is permissible.