“Have you noted the measure of obedience? Pay attention to love’s high standard. If you take
the premise that your wife should submit to you, as the church submits to Christ, then you
should also take the same kind of careful, sacrificial thought for her that Christ takes for the
church. Even if you must offer your own life for her, you must not refuse. Even if you must
undergo countless struggles on her behalf and have all kinds of things to endure and suffer, you
must not refuse. Even if you suffer all this, you have still done not as much as Christ has for the
church. For you are already married when you act this way, whereas Christ is acting for one
who has rejected and hated Him. So just as He, when she was rejecting, hating, spurning and
nagging him, brought her to trust Him by His great solicitude, not by threatening, lording it
over her or intimidating her or anything like that, so must you also act toward your wife.”
(Saint John Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians)