Ambrose of Milan : So, then, a widow is not only marked off by bodily abstinence but is distinguished by virtue. It is not I who give this command but the apostle. I am not the only person to do them honor, but the teacher of the Gentiles did so first, when he said, "Honor widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow has children or nephews, let her first learn to govern her own house and to take care of her parents." Thus we encourage every inclination of affection in a widow to love her children and to do her duty to her parents. So when discharging her duty to her parents she is teaching her children and is rewarded herself by her own compliance with duty, in that what she performs for others benefits herself. — Concerning Widows 2.7 Cyprian : That all widows that are approved are to be held in honour. In the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy: "Honour widows which are truly widows. But the widow that is wanton, is dead while she liveth." And again: "But the younger widows pass by: for when they shall be wanton in Christ, they wish to marry; having judgment, because they have cast off their first faith." — Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews Ignatius of Antioch : "Honour widows that are widows indeed." Be the friend of orphans; for God is "the Father of the fatherless, and the Judge of the widows." Do nothing without the bishops; for they are priests, and thou a servant of the priests. They baptize, offer sacrifice, ordain, and lay on hands; but thou ministerest to them, as the holy Stephen did at Jerusalem to James and the presbyters. Do not neglect the sacred meetings [of the saints]; inquire after every one by name. "Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example to the believers, both in word and conduct." — Epistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to Hero, a Deacon of Antioch Jerome : [Paul] is training a church still untaught in Christ and making provision for people of all stations but especially for the poor, the charge of whom has been committed to himself and Barnabas. Thus he wishes only those to be supported by the exertions of the church who cannot labor with their own hands and who are widows indeed, approved by their years and by their lives. — LETTERS 79.7 John Chrysostom : "Honor widows, that are widows indeed." Why does he say nothing of virginity, nor command us to honor virgins? Perhaps there were not yet any professing that state, or they might have fallen from it. "For some," he says, "are already turned aside after Satan." For a woman may have lost her husband, and yet not be truly a widow. As in order to be a virgin, it is not enough to be a stranger to marriage, but many other things are necessary, as blamelessness and perseverance; so the loss of a husband does not constitute a widow, but patience, with chastity and separation from all men. Such widows he justly bids us honor, or rather support. For they need support, being left desolate, and having no husband to stand up for them. Their state appears to the multitude despicable and inauspicious. Therefore he wishes them to receive the greater honor from the Priest, and the more so, because they are worthy of it. — Homily on 1 Timothy 13 Oecumenius : Honor widows who are truly widows. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to manage their own household properly and to repay their elders. For this is acceptable in the sight of God. Why does Paul say nothing about virgins? Perhaps they were not in their prime. And who is the truly widowed woman, he goes on to say. He ordered that she herself be honored, because they have no husbands nor children, and the matter seems to be a curse for many. Therefore, he says, she should enjoy much honor from the priest, as if restoring the reproaches from others. Or Paul calls the honor the condition of necessities. if any widow has children. These are not truly widows. For truly they are those who are isolated on all sides. — [OECUMENIUS] to manage their own household properly. That is, to arrange well. [end of the excerpt by Oecumenius] — and to repay their elders. See the wisdom of the blessed Paul. Often he also urges from human reasoning. For he says, since those before you were not able to give back the recompenses (for they died), through the descendants of those, your children, you should repay them the favors which you owed to those. — And furthermore. That children and grandchildren should first learn to revere their own household; that is, that children and grandchildren should learn to honor their own mother and to nourish and treat her well. For this is what it means to revere. And also the ancestors, that is, the grandmother. Add also to the account that this is acceptable to God. — COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY Tertullian : Further, if we set down in order the higher and happier grades of bodily patience, (we find that)it is she who is entrusted by holiness with the care of continence of the flesh: she keeps the widow, and sets on the virgin the seal and raises the self-made eunuch to the realms of heaven. — Of Patience Theodore of Mopsuestia : Paul's intention is precisely not to give honor to women who have given only a promise of widowhood but rather to give honor to those who have clearly fulfilled the promise by their action. — COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY Theodoret of Cyrus : Those faithful widows who have no other support must have churchly assistance. — INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY