Parents And Adornments

Ἄκουε υἱέ παιδείαν πατρός σου καὶ μὴ ἀπώσῃ θεσμοὺς μητρός σου, στέφανον γὰρ χαρίτων δέξῃ σῇ κορυφῇ καὶ κλοιὸν χρύσεον περὶ σῷ τραχήλῳ...   Πατὴρ μὲν δικαίων, ὁ Θεός. Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγένηται. Μήτηρ δὲ ἡμῶν, ἡ Ἐκκλησία, ἦς νυμφίος ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Θεσμοὶ δὲ, αἱ ἀποστολικαὶ διατάξεις. Εἰ καὶ ἀναγωγὴν ἔχει τὰ προκείμενα, ἀλλ' ἐφαρμόζονται καὶ τοῖς κατὰ φύσιν γονεῦσιν, ὅταν θεοσεβεῖς ὄντες ἀνατρέφωσι τὰ τέκνα. Ὄντες δὲ ἀνδρὸς  τοῦ διδασκάλου, τοῦ γεννήσαντος διὰ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τοὺς παιδευομένους, σύζυγος τούτῳ καὶ μήτηρ τῶν τεχθέντων ἐστὶν ἡ Ἐκκλησία μᾶλλον δὲ ἡ ἐκκλησιαστικὴ γνώμη καὶ πολιτεία. Ἤν τοίνυν ἐμοῦ, φησὶ, τοῦ παροιμιαστοῦ, νῦν ὡς καθηγητοῦ καὶ πατρὸς, νῦν δὲ σοφίας καὶ ἀρετῆς ἀντὶ μητρὸς κατακούσῃς, στρεφθήσῃ χαρίτων στεφάνῳ, καὶ τὸν τράχηλον κοσμηθήσῃ κλοιῷ, ἐκ νοητοῦ χρυσοῦ καὶ κόσμου κατεσκευασμένῳ. Ὕλη γὰρ στεφάνου  ὄν ἀναδεῖται ἡ τοῦ ἔσω ἀνθρώπου κεφαλὴ, ἡ τῶν ἀρετῶν περιοχὴ, χάριτες ὀνομαζόμεναι τυγχάνουσι Συμφώνως τῷ στρεφάνῳ, νοητῷ ὄντι, ἐκληπεόν καὶ τὸν χρυσοῦν κλοιὸν ἐπιβαλλόμενον τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς τραχήλῳ, τουτέστι τῷ ὑποτακτικῷ αὐτῆς.  Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Παροιμιας Source: Migne PG 39.1624c-d

Hear, O son, the teaching of your father and reject not the rules of your mother, for so your head will be given a crown of graces and around your neck a golden necklace... 1   The father of the righteous is God. For whoever exerts himself in righteousness is born from God. Our mother is the Church of whom the bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ. The rules are the Apostolic constitutions. And even if what is said is a figure it will accommodate even natural parents when they raise their own children in piety to God. A man is a teacher who raises his children in the Gospel, and his wife, the mother of his young, is the Church, living according to the ecclesiastical doctrines and reason. If then, you have me, says the author of Proverbs, as a teacher and a father, and you attend to the wisdom and virtue of the mother, you thus make for yourself a crown of graces and you adorn your neck with a necklace of golden thought. The material of the crown which is placed on the head is the virtues which surround one, which they call graces, and the understanding of the intellect is a golden necklace around the neck of the soul, that is, obedience. Didymus the Blind, On Proverbs, fragment 1 Prov 1.8-9