The answer
St. John Chrysostom rebukes wealthy Christians who owned thousands of slaves.1050 In his view, a Christian might have one or two slaves to serve his household but must never demean them.1051 He makes it clear that slavery was never in God’s original plan1052 and encourages Christians to help their slaves to learn a trade so that they might work and liberate themselves from slavery. St. Gregory of Nazianzus declares that slavery is a sin that is nonetheless a part of the reality of life.1053
St. Basil the Great says that no one is a slave by nature. But at the same time, he does not call for the existing social order to be overturned. He says, “So, even if one is master and the other slave, nevertheless all men are fellow slaves in respect of their equality in honor toward each other and insofar as all are the possessions of our maker.”1054
St. Gregory of Nyssa was the first theologian to initiate an intellectual revolution against slavery. In his fourth homily on Ecclesiastes,1055 he provides a theological foundation for his opposition to slavery, which we can summarize in the following points:
• Let no one think that he is master over his own species, nor count himself to be
different to those under him.
• God created human nature to be free and every individual has the right to make his
own decisions.
• We must distinguish between irrational beings on the one hand, and the free and
rational being who is the image and likeness of God on the other.
• It is impossible to be master over the free image of God; thus, no one can put a price
on another person.
• Who are you to presume that you can be master over a human being?
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Notes
1050 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 63.4 (NPNF I/10:372–373).
1051 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the First Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 40.5 (NPNF I/12:247).
1052 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the First Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 40.5 (NPNF I/12:247); St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians 22 (NPNF I/13:158–159).
1053 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Concerning His Own Life 80–82 (FOTC 75:27).
1054 St. Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit 20.51 (PP 42:88).
1055 St. Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on Ecclesiastes, ed., Stuart George Hall, trans., Stuart George Hall and Rachel Moriarty (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1993) 4: pp. 73–75.