What is Christian virtue?

Virtue in the heart of the believer in the Church is union with the heavenly Bridegroom, and sharing or partaking of His heavenly attributes, under the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Every morning, when the believer prays the morning prayer and praises, he remembers the resurrection of the Lord Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, and contemplates the possibility of his own resurrection in Him. He enjoys a new life, heavenly and constantly renewed, that will never wane or grow old. He enjoys the manifestation of the resurrected life in Christ Jesus in his heart and his behavior, as a promise of heavenly perfection.

Following scripture, St. John Chrysostom explains that virtue is not just a set of moral principles that we adhere to, but rather, it is first and foremost a union with Christ, who became our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

St. Cyril the Great says, “The fountain of every blessing is Christ; ‘Who of God was also made unto us wisdom’: for in Him we are made wise, and filled with spiritual gifts. Now any one who is right-minded will affirm that the knowledge of those things by means of which we may prosper in every method of saintly excellence of life, and advance in virtue, is God’s gift, and one well worthy of our winning.”⁷⁴⁹

St. John Chrysostom also says:

“‘Be ye therefore perfect, as your Heavenly Father’ (Matt. 5:48). And He intersperses everywhere abundantly the name of the heavens, by the very place thoroughly elevating their minds.”⁷⁵⁰

“How then was that law given in time past, and when, and where? After the destruction of the Egyptians, in the wilderness, on Mount Sinai, when smoke and fire were rising up out of the mountain, a trumpet sounding, thunders and lightnings, and Moses entering into the very depth of the cloud. But in the new covenant not so,—neither in a wilderness, nor in a mountain, nor with smoke and darkness and cloud and tempest; but at the beginning of the day, in a house, while all were sitting together, with great quietness, all took place.”⁷⁵¹

“… after the resurrection to come had been set before us, demands of us another, even the new conversation, which is brought about in the present life by a change of habits. When then the fornicator becomes chaste, the covetous man merciful, the harsh subdued, even here

749 St. Cyril of Alexandria, A Commentary upon the Gospel According to St. Luke: Part II , trans. R. Payne Smith (Oxford University Press, 1859) 119: p. 551.

750 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 18.9 (NPNF I/10:126).

751 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 1.3 (NPNF I/10:2).

a resurrection has taken place, the prelude to the other. And how is it a resurrection? Why, because sin is mortified, and righteousness has risen again, and the old life has been made to vanish, and this new and angelic one is being lived in. But when you hear of a new life, look for a great alteration, a wide change.”⁷⁵²

“Christ has become all things for you: table, clothing, house, head, and root. For all you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27). See how He has become your clothing. Do you wish to know how He also becomes your food? As I live through the Father , Christ says, so he who eats me, he also shall live because of me (John 6:58). And He also becomes your house: He who eats my flesh abides in me and I in him (John 6:57). And He shows that He is our root and foundation when He says: I am the vine, you are the branches (John 15:5). To show that He is your brother, friend, and bridegroom, He says: No longer do I call you servants, for you are my friends (John 15:15). Again, St. Paul says: I betrothed you to one spouse, that I might present you a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). And again: that He should be the first-born among many brethren (Rom. 8:29). Not only do we become His brothers but even His children, for He says: Behold I and my children, whom God has given me (Isa. 8:18). Not only do we become His children but His members and His Body (1 Cor. 12:27). As if the things already mentioned were not enough to prove the love and kindness which He shows toward us, He set down another thing, greater and more intimate than these, when He spoke of Himself as our Head (Eph. 1:22–23).”⁷⁵³