Well reported of for good works; if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.
Read Chapter 5
John Chrysostom
AD 407
If she have received strangers, if she have washed the Saints' feet. But who are these? The distressed saints, not any saints whatever. For there may be saints, who are much waited on by every one. Do not visit these, who are in the enjoyment of plenty, but those who are in tribulation, who are unknown, or known to few. He who has done it unto the least of these, He says, has done it unto Me. Matthew 25:40
Moral. Give not your alms to those who preside in the Church to distribute. Bestow it yourself, that you may have the reward not of giving merely, but of kind service. Give with your own hands. Cast into the furrow yourself. Here it is not required to handle the plow, to yoke the ox, to wait the season, nor to break up the earth, or to contend with the frost. No such trouble is required here, where you sow for heaven, where there is no frost nor winter nor any such thing. You sow in souls, where no one takes away what is sown, but it is firmly retained with all care and diligence....
The title of true widow is not a title of calamity but of honor, even of the greatest honor…. “Heavens,” cried a sophist teacher [of as a young man], “what women there are among the Christians.” So great is the admiration and praise enjoyed by widowhood not only among ourselves but also among those who are outside the church. And being aware of all this, the blessed Paul said, “Let not a widow be enrolled under threescore years of age.” And even after this great qualification of age he does not permit her to be ranked in this sacred society but mentions some additional requisites. She must be “well reported of for good works, if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.” Heavens! What testing and scrutiny! How much virtue does he demand from the widow, and how precisely does he define it! He would not have done this had he not intended to entrust to he...
Observe, the hospitality here spoken of is not merely a friendly reception but one given with zeal and alacrity, with readiness, and going about it as if one were receiving Christ himself.
Poorer, cottages? Who will willingly bear her being taken from his side by nocturnal convocations, if need so be? Who, finally, will without anxiety endure her absence all the night long at the paschal solemnities? Who will, without some suspicion of his own, dismiss her to attend that Lord's Supper which they defame? Who will suffer her to creep into prison to kiss a martyr's bonds? nay, truly, to meet any one of the brethren to exchange the kiss? to offer water for the saints' feet?
