Note 759 — EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.

E.g. Chrysostom and Theodore of Mopsuestia (Spic. Solesm. I. p. 152). Yet St Chrysostom himself pleads the cause of slaves earnestly elsewhere. In Hom. xl. ad 1 Cor. x. p. 385 he says of slavery, ‘It is the penalty of sin and the punishment of disobedience. But when Christ came, he annulled even this, For in Christ Jesus there is no slave nor free. Therefore it is not necessary to have a slave; but, if it should be necessary, then one only or at most a second’. And he then tells his audience that if they really care for the welfare of slaves, they must ‘buy them, and having taught them some art that they may maintain themselves, set them free.’ ‘I know,’ he adds, ‘that I am annoying my hearers; but what can I do? For this purpose I am appointed, and I will not cease speaking so.’ On the attitude of this father towards slavery see Möhler p. 89 sq.