by St. John Chrysostom
No man loved Christ more than Paul.
No man exhibited greater zeal, no man was counted worthy of more grace: nevertheless, after all these great advantages, he still has fears and tremblings concerning this government and those who were governed by him.
I fear, he says, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)
And again,
I was with you in fear and in much trembling; (1 Corinthians 2:3)
and this was a man who had been caught up to the third Heaven, and made partaker of the unspeakable mysteries of God, (2 Corinthians 12:4) and had endured as many deaths as he had lived days after he became a believer— a man, moreover, who would not use the authority given him from Christ lest any of his converts should be offended.
On the Priesthood, Book 3:7
