But given to hospitality, gentle, sober, just, holy, continent:
αλλα φιλοξενον φιλαγαθον σωφρονα δικαιον οσιον εγκρατη
11 Church Fathers comment on this verse
That is, one who distributes all his possessions to those in need. By “self-controlled” one should understand here not a faster, but one restrained from passion, tongue, hand, and shameless glance. For self-control consists in not yielding to any passion.
“But hospitable.” This means not only refusing to gain profit, but also distributing everything to strangers.
“A lover of good.” Thus the Apostle calls one who is meek, moderate, and free from envy.
“Sober-minded.” That is, pure.
“Just.” Impartial toward men.
“Pious.” That is, reverent toward everything divine, omitting nothing in relation to God.
“Self-controlled.” Self-controlled not only in food, but also in tongue, hands, and shameful glances. True self-control consists precisely in this.
What is holy, οσιον, and what is just, δικαιον? (Tit 1:8) Answer: In my understanding, holiness is what is fitting and due from inferiors toward one higher, on account of his superiority. Justice is what is rendered to each according to the worth of his deeds. In the matter of holiness, grateful acknowledgment and recompense for the good alone have place. In relation to justice, the examination of evil deeds and recompense for them also have place.
He does not act according to the self-will of his own soul, but according to the counsel of those who are with him. He loves not for the sake of temporal goods, but every good thing. And he preserves the holiness of which he was counted worthy in baptism.
That is, he does not readily raise his hand to strike.
That a priest must avoid covetousness is taught both by Samuel, who testified before the people that he had taken nothing from anyone (1 Sam 12:1-3), and by the poverty of the Apostles. Though they received support from the brethren, they boasted that, besides food and clothing, they had and desired nothing else; cf. 1 Tim 6:8.
The Apostle says the same in the Epistle to Timothy. By “self-willed” he means audacious; by “given to anger,” resentful; by “a drunkard,” one who drinks to excess; by “a striker,” one who imposes punishments without understanding.
“But hospitable, a lover of good, sober-minded.” He speaks here of wisdom because one who has known one wife is sober-minded with respect to marriage.
“Just.” He must be just toward men.
“Holy.” He must be holy toward God.
“Self-controlled.” This concerns the actions of the mind and the movements of the heart, and every passion expressed by tongue, gaze, or hands. For it is said, “Everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things” (1 Cor 9:25). That is, he must be self-controlled in everything.
"Hospitable." There were very many occasions for showing the virtue of hospitality in apostolic times. The Church of Christ was then only being built and ordered in human societies through the preaching of the Apostles and their disciples. For the most part it was persecuted by the people of the age. Therefore hospitality was then one of the lofty virtues, and the commandment concerning it occurs very often in the apostolic epistles. Yet even in our own time it can be no less worthy of love in a shepherd of the Church.
"A lover of good." According to blessed Theophylact's interpretation, by this name the Apostle means "a meek man, quiet, disturbing no one, moderate in everything, and not envious." Thus a lover of good is a man who in ordinary speech is called good, or in the highest degree, the kindest of men. By this one chiefly indicates the softness and tenderness of the heart's disposition.
The chastity of a bishop or presbyter who is married must consist in the purity of his thoughts, in fidelity to his wife, and likewise in moderate and noble use of the marital bed. For the unmarried and widowed, chastity must consist not only in purity of thoughts, but also in the most complete bodily purity.
The righteousness commanded by the Apostle for a clergyman is, according to the interpretation of the Fathers of the Church, the same as impartial justice. In examining the affairs of the flock, this quality in a spiritual shepherd is one of his most precious qualities. Truly only a man of God, strong in spirit, can possess impartial righteousness.
The holiness of a clergyman is his reverence before all that is holy and divine, or the fear of God filling his heart. According to the measure of this fear of God overshadowing his soul, or according to the measure of his religious reverence, a shepherd may be called venerable or most venerable. This is not only by title, but according to the very truth of things.
In temperance the holy Apostle Paul indicates a moral quality of the bishop and presbyter that must cover or penetrate all his other qualities. It must, so to speak, give tone and determine the direction of his whole life. Every virtue is possible only on the condition of temperance. Whatever good thing one undertakes, he must first abstain from something evil. Blessed Jerome reasons thus about this: "According to the Apostle, a bishop must be temperate not only from fleshly desire and from the embraces of a wife, but also from all passions of the soul. He must not flare up in anger, fall into sorrow, be stricken by fear, or be carried away immoderately by joy."
The positive qualities of bishops, as also of presbyters, are hospitality (Mt 25:35), love for the poor, care for widows and orphans, the sick and the poor, chastity, impartiality, holiness. Reverence for God and dedication of all to Him, fidelity to the doctrine handed down, the ability to act upon believers with persuasiveness, and the ability to rebuke opponents of the faith.
"As the word of God is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, so let the bishop show himself to be such that everything he says is considered worthy of faith, and his words are a rule of truth. If a bishop has only a holy life, then by living so he benefits only himself. But if he is also apt to teach, he builds up both himself and others" (blessed Jerome).
"The other qualities may also be found in those subject to him, such as blamelessness, raising children in obedience, hospitality, and piety. But what especially distinguishes a bishop and presbyter is that he instructs the people by teaching. Whoever does not know how to struggle with enemies, to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and to cast down reasonings (1 Cor 10:5), let him be far from the teacher's throne" (Saint John Chrysostom).
"The Apostle placed teaching at the end in the enumeration of the things with which a bishop must be adorned, because in the episcopate teaching completes all the other qualities and forms its distinctive mark" (Bishop Theophan).
Considering how the qualities of bishops relate to presbyters, one must understand that these names at the beginning were not as definitely distinct as they are now. Among the Greeks, a bishop was a person sent to oversee subordinate cities. So it was also in the Church. But since bishops were elders, or generally honored men, they could also be called presbyters according to age. Yet very soon the great difference between these names began to be marked more and more clearly. Beyond all doubt, the Apostles appointed bishops, for example Timothy and Titus. Bishops appointed presbyters, that is, priests. But nowhere is a presbyter mentioned as appointing a bishop. "The Apostles knew from our Lord Jesus Christ about the episcopal dignity," says Saint Clement, bishop of Rome. And Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, wrote to the Philadelphians "that they should be in unity with the bishop, his presbyters, and deacons," clearly expressing the subordination of the latter to the first.
Then the Apostle reminds Titus that he was left in Crete in order to complete everything the Apostle had not completed in the ordering of the Church. First of all, he was to appoint presbyters in every city. The Apostle also sketches the image of the true servant of the Church, to guide Titus in choosing men for the office of presbyter; vv. 5-9, cf. 1 Tim ch. 3.
“Do you see what a high virtue he requires?” says Chrysostom. “Until now, by the Apostle’s word, it has been commanded what a bishop or presbyter must not have. Now, by contrast, it is set forth what he must have,” says blessed Jerome.
“Given to hospitality.” “He must not merely refrain from profiting from others, but spend his own substance on strangers,” says blessed Theophylact.
“Above all, hospitality is sought in one who is to become a bishop. If all desire to hear that word foretold in the Gospel, ‘I was a stranger and you took Me in’ (Mt 25:35), how much more should a bishop desire it? His house must be a common inn for all strangers. A layman fulfills the duty of hospitality if he receives and refreshes one, or two, or a few, not many, in his house. But if a bishop does not receive all, he is inhuman.
“And I fear lest, just as the queen of the south, who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, will condemn the men of the time of Christ’s first coming, and the men of Nineveh, who repented at Jonah’s preaching, will condemn those who. Through contempt and negligence, did not wish to hear the Savior, who is greater than Jonah, so also many of the people who have withdrawn from ecclesiastical rank, yet zealously do the works which a bishop does not consider his own work, may condemn bishops.
“I think John also writes of such people to Gaius: ‘Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness to your love before the Church. If you send them forward in a manner worthy of God, you will do well’ (cf. 3 Jn 1:5-6).
“And truly, by the Holy Spirit speaking in him, he then already rebuked what would later be in the Church, saying: ‘I wrote to the Church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to do so, and casts them out of the Church’ (cf. 3 Jn 1:9-10).
“Truly, one may now see this foretold thing in many cities. It happens that bishops or presbyters, seeing laymen hospitable and lovers of good, look upon this unfavorably, as though a layman could no longer do what a bishop does not do. Such laymen will serve for the condemnation of consecrated persons,” says blessed Jerome.
Saint Paul everywhere commands hospitality to whole Churches. For this reason common houses of hospitality were established, and care for them lay with the bishop. But so that he may fulfill this more faithfully and willingly, one must first ascertain before his election whether he has an inclination toward it.
“A lover of good.” “By this the Apostle means one who is meek, quiet, disturbing no one, measured in everything, and free from envy,” says blessed Theophylact. Or, according to Chrysostom, “one who distributes all his possessions to those in need.”
This requires that he be zealous for every kind of good work, and especially a benefactor. Care for the poor and sick, for widows and orphans, lies upon him. The flock supplies what is needed for this, but the bishop or presbyter must have a heart disposed toward such works.
“Self-controlled” means pure from sins of the flesh, which are possible even in married life. It also means using the marriage bed chastely and at its proper time, or even abstaining from it altogether, as was later enacted by the Councils for bishops.
Blessed Jerome writes: “A bishop must also be self-controlled, sophrona, as the Greeks say. If even laymen are commanded to abstain from their wives for the sake of prayer, what shall be said of a bishop, who must daily offer to God spotless sacrifices for his own sins and for the sins of his people?
“Let us open the book of Kings, and we shall find that Ahimelech the priest did not give David and his servants the showbread before asking whether the servants were clean from a woman, not from a stranger, but from their own wives (see 1 Sam 21). If he had not heard that yesterday and the day before they had no marital relations, he certainly would not have yielded those loaves to them.
“But between the showbread and the Body of Christ there is such distance and difference as between shadow and body, image and truth, or the type of the future and that which the type foreshadowed.
“Therefore, as meekness, patience, sobriety, moderation, freedom from avarice, hospitality, and love of good must be present in a bishop in the highest degree, so also priestly purity or chastity must be such that he abstains not only from fleshly intercourse. The one who is to celebrate the Mystery of the Body of Christ must have a mind pure from thought of a woman, and an eye pure from looking upon her.”
“Just,” that is, “without partiality toward people,” says blessed Theophylact. It is required that he wrong no one in his own dealings, and that when he must examine the affairs of those entrusted to him, he observe the law of justice blamelessly.
Blessed Jerome writes: “A bishop must also be just, so that, presiding over the people, he may preserve justice, giving each what he deserves, and showing no partiality in judgment. The difference between the justice of a layman and that of a bishop is this: a layman may show himself just within a smaller circle, but a bishop must preserve justice in relation to as many persons as he has under his pastoral care.”
“Holy,” that is, “reverent before everything divine, omitting nothing obligatory toward God,” says blessed Theophylact. A bishop must be holy, adorned with every virtue of soul and body.
Yet holiness in this sense is the higher form of sanctity, when “it is joined with piety and sanctified by reverence toward God and by the dedication of everything to Him,” says blessed Jerome.
“Temperate.” “Here the Apostle means not only one who fasts, but one who restrains himself from every passion manifested by the tongue, the hand, or the shameless glance. For temperance consists in not yielding to any passion,” says Chrysostom.
“A bishop must be temperate not only from fleshly desire and from the embraces of a wife, but from all passions of the soul. He must not be inflamed by anger, fall into sorrow, be stricken by fear, or be carried away by immoderate joy.
“Temperance is placed by the Apostle among the fruits of the Holy Spirit. If temperance is required of all, how much more is it required of a bishop, who must patiently and meekly bear the infirmities of the weak and the sins of sinners, comfort the fainthearted, support the weak, repay no one evil for evil, but overcome evil with good,” says blessed Jerome.
“What has been said so far about the virtues of a bishop pertains to his life. What follows pertains to his knowledge,” says blessed Jerome.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 7 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS