What do the Church Fathers say about slavery?

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:

1048 Eusebius Pamphili, Ecclesiastical History 4.23.10 (NPNF II/1:201).

1049 St. Clement of Rome, First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 55 (ANF 1:19–20). History never recorded such generosity amongst pagans, but perhaps St. Clement wished to focus on examples of such love amongst Christians, as suggested by his phrase: “among ourselves.” And this actually happened in the case of Peter, one of the Alexandrian nobles, who sold himself as a slave to provide for the needy (cf. the story of the ascetic slave).

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.

• 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?