Annotation CCCXXI

”The laborer is worthy of his hire.” — 1 Timothy 5:18

Whether clerics ought to possess anything beyond food and clothing.

Chrysostom, [in] the former [epistle] to Timothy, homily 15: “To the Levites,” he says, “there had been rendered, constituted by law, tithes, gold, first-fruits, vows, and very many other [things]. But to them, by the law, these [things] by right

—were permitted [to them], [namely] to those seeking only present and earthly [things]. But I would boldly say that the prelates of the church ought to have nothing beyond food and clothing, lest they be drawn to those [things] by desire.” These [things] have been observed [in] Annotation 121 of this book.