HOMILIES OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE TITUS. HOMILY I. TITUS i. 1-4. " Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God s elect, and the ac knowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began ; But hath in due times manifested His word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the command ment of God our Saviour; To Titus, mine own son after the common faith; Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour." TITUS was an approved one of the companions of Paul ; otherwise, he would not have com mitted to him the charge of that whole island, nor would he have commanded him to supply what was deficient, as he says, " That thou shouldest set in order the things that are want ing." (Ver. 5.) He would not have given him jurisdiction over so many Bishops, if he had not placed great confidence in him. They say that he also was a young man, because he calls him his son, though this does not prove it. I think that there is mention made of him in the Acts. 1 Perhaps he was a Corinthian, unless there was some other of the same name. And he sum mons Zenas, and orders Apollos to be sent to him, never Titus. (Tit. iii. 13.) For he also 1 In the Vulgate, Acts xviii. 7, there is mention of " Titus, sur- named Justus," at Corinth, and a few MSS. have the name. In the Synac, which St. Chrysostom might know, " Titus " stands for " Justus." [W. and Hort. read: Tiriov IOVCTTOV. P. S.] attests their superior virtue and courage in the presence of the Emperor. Some time seems to have since elapsed, and Paul, when he wrote this Epistle, appears to have been at liberty. For he says nothing about his trials, but dwells continually upon the grace of God, as being a sufficient encouragement to believers to persevere in virtue. For to learn what they had deserved, and to what state they had been transferred, and that by grace, and what had been vouchsafed them, was no little encouragement. He takes aim also against the. Jews, and if he censures the whole nation, we need not wonder, for he does the same in the case of the Galatians, saying, " O foolish Gala- tians." (Gal. iii. i.) And this does not proceed from a censorious temper, but from affection. For if it were done for his own sake, one might fairly blame him ; but if from the fervor of his zeal for the Gospel, it was not done reproach fully. Christ too, on many occasions, reproached the Scribes and Pharisees, not on his own ac count, but because they were the ruin of all the rest. And he writes a short Epistle, with good reason, and this is a proof of the virtue of Titus, that he did not require many words, but a short remembrance. But this Epistle seems to have been written before that to Timothy, for that he