St. Paul's letter to the Colossians does not possess the length of his letters to the Romans and Corinthians, but overflows with succinct doctrinal and moral teaching, especially in the first part of the first chapter, where God's providence is described in a marvelous way. St. John Chrysostom remarks on its qualities in one of his homilies:
"Indeed, all of the epistles of Paul are holy, but some of them have greater holiness: those which were written when he was in chains, such as his letters to the Ephesians, to Philemon, to Timothy, and this present letter. These were sent when he was in chains, as he says, writing: 'For which I am bound, that I may manifest in such a way that which it is necessary for me to speak' (Colossians 4, 3-4). It seems to me that he wrote this after the letter to the Romans because when he wrote to the Romans, he had not yet seen them, but when he wrote this letter, he had seen them, and was at that time near the end of his preaching. This is clear from what he wrote in his letter to Philemon: 'as Paul, an old man' (Philemon 9). In that letter he makes a plea on behalf of Onesimus. He sent his letter to the Colossians with this Onesimus, whom he calls 'a most beloved and faithful brother' (Colossians 4, 9). This is why he says confidently, 'By the hope of the Gospel which you have heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven' (Colossians 1, 23). For already preaching has been done for a time. I consider this letter to have been written after the letter to Timothy, which was written near the time of his death. But this letter also was written before that to the Philippians, for that was written at the beginning of his imprisonment in Rome. Why have I said that these letters are of greater holiness than those? Because he wrote them when he was in chains. For if a brave man should write while resting from beatings and receiving the stripes of victory, he would produce letters such as this."
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