king, saying: "We have no need to answer thee regarding this word. For our God, whom we serve, is in heaven, and He is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of thy hands, O king." A
Matt. x, 28, 29. — "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
Acts v, 29. — "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men."
Galat. i, 10. — "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
LETTER Ψ
TIT. I. — On falsehood and calumny.
Gen. xxxix, 14, 15. — "She called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: and it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out." B
Levit. xix, 11. — "Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another."
Deut. v, 20. — "Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour."
Deut. xix, 16-18. — "If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear, and fear." C
III Reg. xxi, 12-14. — "They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died." D
Psal. v, 7. — "Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing."
Psal. xi, 4. — "The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips."
Psal. c, 7. — "He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight."
Prov. x, 4. — "He that getteth treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death."
Prov. xii, 22. — "Lying lips are abomination to the Lord."
A "He who works treasures with a lying tongue pursues vanity, and comes upon the snare of death." Prov. xxi, 6. "A lying tongue hates truth." Prov. xxvi, 28. "Remove far from me a vain word and a lie." Prov. xxx, 8. "A false witness shall perish." Prov. xxi, 28. "Be not a false witness against thy fellow citizen." Prov. xxiv, 28. "Slander disquiets a wise man, and destroys the heart of his strength." Eccli. vii, 8. "The mouth that lies kills the soul." Sap. i, 11. "Love no false oath: for all these things I have hated, says the Lord Almighty." Zach. viii, 17.
B "And the two elders arose in the midst of the people, and laid their hands upon the head of Susanna. And she weeping looked up to heaven. And the elders said: As we were walking in the garden alone, this woman came in with two maids, and shut the doors of the garden, and sent away the maids. And a young man, who was hidden, came to her and lay with her. And the multitude believed the elders of the people and the judges, and they condemned her to death. But Susanna cried out with a loud voice and said: O eternal God, who art the knower of hidden things, thou knowest that they have borne false witness against me." Dan. xiii, 34-42.
"Plow not a lie against thy brother: neither do the like to thy friend. Do not wish to lie at all, for lying is not good." Eccli. vii, 13, 14.
"A wicked reproach in a man is a lie." C Eccli. xx, 26. "What can be made clean by the unclean? And from a liar what truth will there be?" Eccli. xxxiv, 4. "A thief is better than a man that is always lying: but both of them shall inherit destruction." Eccli. xx, 27. "A certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and defrauded of the price, his wife being privy thereunto." Act. v, 1. "All lying is not of the truth." I Joan. ii, 21. "Am I then become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" Galat. iv, 16. "Neither in legal disputes, nor in other actions, is a lie fit for those who have purposed to themselves to follow the straight and true path of life." S. Basil, Hom. de legend. gentil. lib. "The extreme limit of wickedness is a lie." Ejusd., De Spir. sancto, cap. 1. "Speech seems in a certain way, when once from the truth..." D
should it deviate, to be swept away into many dangerous absurdities. A
The falling away from the truth is a hallucination and blindness of the mind.
The truth is indeed one, while falsehood is manifold.
*S. Chrysost.*—Falsehood rises on high; mutual trust has taken flight; truth has left the earth; calumniators sell what is false, lying to their own mutual ruin; they have used up every type of oath, since they have come to know God in no other way than by swearing.
*Didymus.*—False opinions and judgments, as they proceed with countless lies, possess no single, identical account for their own teaching.
TIT. II. — Concerning Whisperers.
*Eccli.* xxi, 11.—"A whisperer defiles his own soul, and wheresoever he shall dwell, he shall be hated."
*Eccli.* xxviii, 15.—"A whisperer and a double-tongued man is accursed. For he has destroyed many that were at peace."
*Eccli.* v, 16.—"Be not called a whisperer, and be not ensnared by thy tongue." B
LETTER Ω (OMEGA)
Concerning the hour and day of death and our passing; and that it is necessary that we be prepared for it, and how one ought to depart from this life.
*Ps.* lxxxviii, 49.—"Who is the man that shall live, and shall not see death?"
*Prov.* xxiv, 27.—"Prepare thy works for the exit, and make thyself ready for the field."
*Eccle.* v, 14–16.—"As he came forth from his mother's womb naked, he shall return as he came, and he shall take nothing of his labor to take away in his hand. And this is a most grievous malady; as he came, so shall he go. What then is his abundance for which he labors for the wind? C And all his days he eats in darkness, and in mourning, and in much provocation, and in anger, and in sickness, and in madness."
*Zach.* 1, 5.—"Your fathers and the prophets, where are they? Shall they live for ever?"
*Wisd.* vii, 6.—"One is the entrance for all into life, and one is the exit."
*Eccli.* vii, 40.—"In all thy works remember thy last things, and thou shalt never sin."
*Eccli.* xiv, 12.—"Remember that death will not be slow, and the covenant of the infernal regions has not been revealed to thee."
*Eccli.* xxviii, 6.—"Remember thy last things, and cease to be an enemy."
*Eccli.* xli, 5–7.—"Fear not the judgment of death. Remember what things have been before thee, and what shall come after thee: this is the judgment given by the Lord to all flesh. And why dost thou refuse to follow the good pleasure of the Most High? Whether it be ten, whether a hundred, D or a thousand years: for there is no accusation of life in Hades."
A "At the end of a man is the uncovering of his works." (Eccl. xi, 29). "Watch, for you do not know the day nor the hour in which the Son of man comes." (Matth. xxv, 42). "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; and you yourselves like to men waiting for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he comes shall find watching. Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down, and passing will minister to them. And if he comes in the second watch, and if he comes in the third watch, and finds them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken through. Be you also ready, for at what hour you think not, the Son of man will come." (Luc. xii, 35–40).
It behooves him who is beginning his life to have the end of life before his eyes. (S. Basil. Exhort. ad Bapt.)
Let no man deceive you with vain words (Ephes. v, 6). For a sudden destruction will come upon you, and your overthrow will be like a storm, when the means of living shall fail you; and distress and consolationless affliction will surround you on all sides, when physicians and kin despair of your salvation, when, held fast by thick and dry breathing, and an impetuous fever burning and consuming your inward parts, you groan from the depths of your heart, B and will find no one to share your sorrow. You shall utter something faint and feeble, but there shall be none to hear; and all that is spoken by you will be despised as raving. Perhaps a physician promises you a few hours, and you, for your innate love of life, do not despair of yourself—yet death stands by, and they press on to whom the business of taking you away has been given. Who then shall deliver you? God, whom you yourself have despised? But will He hear you then? You yourself do not hear Him now! Will He give you a term? For you have made good use of the time given! Is it God, whom you have yourself spurned? Yet perhaps He may then grant your prayers. He will grant you a space for amendment, O you who have—if indeed you have—used well the ears He granted you!
Deep night, and heavy disease, and the one who might help is nowhere to be found. He who is lying in wait for the inheritance is at hand, acting to direct everything to his own utility. Vainly does he labor, who studies to carry out plans and decrees. C Then, looking about this way and that, and seeing the peace which stands around you, you will then perceive your folly; then you will lament your mindlessness, that you stored up the commandment for such a time, when the tongue is loosened, and the hand is trembling, shaken by convulsions, so that you can signify what your will is by neither voice nor writing. (Ejusd. Hom. ad divites.)
The Lord teaches us not to neglect necessary things, but to be prepared ahead of time with the provisions of life, waiting in the preparation of the heart for the arrival of the Bridegroom. For the wise virgins, as it is written in the Holy Scriptures, because they had the oil in their lamps, entered in together with the Bridegroom; but the foolish, because D
they had not prepared themselves, were excluded from that joyful bridal chamber. A
From the same, Homily 9 on the Hexaemeron. — Will you not exert diligent effort for yourself, O man? Will you not store up for yourself in the present age the rest of the future, looking to the example of the ant, which in the summer gathers its winter food for itself? And not for the reason that the troubles of winter have not yet arrived does it idly spend its time, but with a certain inexorable zeal it stretches itself toward labor, until it has stored up sufficient provisions in its storehouses?
The soul is blessed that turns over no other concern in its mind, night and day, than how it may, on that great day when every creature shall stand before the tribunal of the Judge, render an account of the things done in life. For he who keeps that day and hour before his eyes, and who constantly meditates on what he shall bring B forward for the sake of his own purification at that tribunal, where no deception can be practiced, such a one will commit either no sins at all, or most certainly minimal ones; because sinning happens to us due to the absence of the divine fear. But when the clear expectation of the things required is present, that indwelling fear will give no opportunity to such persons to fall into thoughtless actions or imaginations.
St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orat. on St. Athanasius. — It is to no avail that someone repents when struggling at the final breath of life; at which time, for the tribunal of the other life, everyone is a just judge of his own affairs.
From the same, Orat. on Caesar. — I am led by the words of the wise to believe that every noble and God-beloved soul, when it has been loosed from the bonds of the body and departed from here, immediately perceives that good which awaits it; and having either purified or cast off—or by whatever word I might express it—that which was obscuring its mind with darkness, and contemplating [it], it is affected with a certain marvelous pleasure and rejoices, and having left behind this life as if it were some heavy prison, and having shaken off the shackles by which the wing of the mind was weighed down, it flies joyfully to its Lord, and already enjoys the blessedness stored up for it as if through an image. C
From the same, Orat. on Himself. — Await [your] dissolution as the appointed day of necessary liberty, and of a joyful and pleasant migration to another life; where no one is exhausted, nor old, but all are perfect in spiritual age.
From the same, Tetrastich 58. — Always be zealous for your own salvation; But especially toward the final day of [your] life. Old age has come, the herald proclaims exit: Let all be prepared; the Judge God is imminent. D
From the same, Monostich. — To gain life is to die each day.
St. Gregory of Nyssa, Homily on the Lord’s Prayer. — Who does not know the enigma of the Holy Scripture, saying that death has entered through the windows (Jer. ix, 21)? For the senses, through which the soul, revealing itself toward external things, perceives the things of its own will...