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"So that we ourselves glory in you in the Churches of God." Indeed in the first Epistle he says, that all the Churches of Macedonia and Achaia resounded, having heard of their faith. "So that we need not," he says, "to speak anything. For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you." But here he says, "so that we glory." What then is it that is said? There he says that they need not instruction from him, but here he has not said that we teach them, but "we glory," and are proud of you. If therefore we both give thanks to God for you, and glory among men, much more ought you to do so for your own good deeds. For if your good actions are worthy of boasting from others, how are they worthy of lamentation from you? It is impossible to say. "So that we ourselves," he says, "glory in you in the Churches of God, for your patience and faith." Here he shows that much time had elapsed. For patience is shown by much time, not in two or three days. And he does not merely say patience. It is the part of patience indeed properly not yet to enjoy the promised blessings. But here he speaks of a greater patience. And of what sort is that? That which is shown in persecutions. "For your patience," he says, "and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye endure." For they were living with enemies who were continually endeavoring on every side to injure them, and they were manifesting a patience firm and immovable. Let all those blush who for the sake of the patronage of men pass over to other doctrines. For whilst it was yet the beginning of the preaching, poor men who lived by their daily earnings took upon themselves enmities from rulers and the first men of the state, when there was nowhere king or governor who was a believer; and submitted to irreconcilable war, and not even so were unsettled.

But how Paul, an apostle, from being a persecutor, who first of all shed the blood of the church, though afterwards he exchanged the sword for the pen, and turned the dagger into a plough, being first a ravening wolf of Benjamin, then himself supplying food as did Jacob, -how he, (I say, ) speaks in favour of martyrdoms, now to be chosen by himself also, when, rejoicing over the Thessalonians, he says, "So that we glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations, in which ye endure a manifestation of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be accounted worthy of His kingdom, for which ye also suffer! As also in his Epistle to the Romans: "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, being sure that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed.

As if they should say, "You have thus far made progress in faith and patience, so that not only the children in the Church but we also, apostolic men, may take pride in the same faith and patience."

In the first epistle the apostle said: everyone knows you so well that there is no need for us to speak about you. How then does he now say that he boasts about them "in the churches"! This is clear from the expression itself. He did not say: we tell them about you, but: we boast and pride ourselves in you. Therefore, if we thank God for you and boast about you before people, then all the more you ought to do so in everything that happens to you, and not lose heart or be discouraged in trials. The Apostle shows that the Thessalonians were subjected to temptations for a long time; for patience is not revealed in two or three days. True patience consists in waiting, when people have not yet received the promised blessings. But in the present case he speaks of a greater patience, of patience in persecutions and afflictions. For the Thessalonians lived among irreconcilable enemies, and they needed special patience – this at the beginning of the preaching, when they were still poor people. Let those therefore be ashamed who for the sake of human patronage accept false teaching.

And then he sets out their progress, when he says, "so that we ourselves also glory in you in the churches of God," because what is yours I consider mine. For the good of the disciples is the glory of the prelate. "A wise son brings joy to his father" (Prov 10:1). "Grandchildren are the crown of the aged" (Prov 17:6). "For which I boast about you" (2 Cor 9:2). Then he sets out a sign of their progress, namely patience, which is most of all apparent in tribulations. "Blessed the man who endures temptation" (Jas 1:12). In tribulations there are two things to be safeguarded, namely patience, lest we abandon faith—"patience has a perfect work" (Jas 1:4)—and faith in the midst of persecutions. "We are persecuted, and we endure it" (1 Cor 4:12). Hence he says, "and faith, and in all your persecutions and tribulations." These tribulations are so named from "tribuli" (thistles), by which we are pricked interiorly through afflictions. "Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you" (Gen 3:18). "The troubles of my heart are multiplied" (Ps 24:17).