and confession? For I say, "Watch, for you do not know the day nor the hour" (Matt. 24:42). But from this point on, do not sin, and do not, by forsaking me, be called an adulteress. And we, too, beseech you, "Be reconciled to God," and you, O virgin, say thus: "I will wash my hands among the innocent, and will compass thine altar, O Lord" (Ps. 25:6); because you have raised up the one lying fallen, you have brought to life the one dead, you have made the defiled one splendid, you have drawn out the one drowned in sin with the hook of piety, you have led back the one who had wandered, you have redeemed the captive, you have not taken vengeance on the one who offered insult, you have recalled the fugitive, you have washed the one stained with blood, you have recovered the one captured by pleasure as if by hunting, you have made a citizen of heaven out of one worthy of Tartarus, you have delivered from Gehenna, you have redeemed from the sword, you have loosed from chains, you have deemed worthy of eternal life, you have rescued from danger, you have put the devil to shame, you have torn up the bond. O husbandman of goodly tears! What is more splendid than these miracles? Gather together, therefore, all you who have fallen into the danger of such a shipwreck; know, learn, be instructed, that the fruit of sin is death, but the fruit of the Spirit is life, peace, and sanctification. Whoever, therefore, wishes now and always to escape this death, receive all these words as an argument for salvation, and let all meditate on this always, but especially the monks and virgins, who have consecrated your bodies to the Lord; "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). For the concupiscence of the flesh has brought forth the fruit of sin, which is death; but the fruit of the Spirit is eternal life, incorruption, sanctification, and peace of soul and body. Wherefore let this be known to all of you, that no virtue is more precious than virginity for every sprout of piety; but also that nothing similar to this can be found, if that monk or virgin does not commit fornication in their mind: for the consent of the thoughts completes the whole act. For he is not a liar who said: "Everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). For no distinction is made between the male and the female; for we are all from the same lump, as the Gospel says, when it states that the will of man and the will of the flesh are the same thing (John 1:13). Therefore, it behooves A the virgin of Christ to keep herself entirely with an immaculate heart and incorrupt for her spouse as for Christ the Creator, and to look with the eyes of her mind upon Him who is "fairer in form than the children of men": to avert oneself from any idle word that is not for edification: not to consort freely with men, especially if they are immodest. But if business must be done concerning the utility of the soul, modest and temperate men are not to be repelled. One must not act with excessive familiarity nor linger; one must not converse with immodest women; let no oath proceed from your mouth: for it is a commandment of the Lord that it is not even permitted to swear by your head: "Everything," he says, "which is more than Yea and Nay, is from evil" (Matt. 5:37). Sordid and dishonest thoughts and all temptations of the flesh are to be driven away by the fear and love of Christ and by the sign of His cross. Behold, parents and mothers, brothers and sisters and children, and all things, I have commended to you, namely to the monks and virgins. Keep these things, and you shall not fall; but you also shall be worthy, who are declared the heirs of Christ, of all which goods, which have been prepared, may the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation make us worthy, by the grace, mercies, and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father be glory, honor, and adoration with the most holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. B
MONITUM IN SERMONEM SEQUENTEM
What Chrysostom often pursues in his writings clearly, sharply, and lucidly in his own manner against the Arians and Anomoeans, this writer, whoever he may be, treats in a confusing way; he attacks Arius and the Arians; in many places so obscurely, that we have sometimes been forced to translate them into Latin by conjecture.AGAINST THE HERETICS
A Seeing you as dancers of piety and soldiers, I now propose to your ears the sweetness of moral matters for you as dancers, and now the dogmatic severity as if a trumpet blast, a voice for soldiers. For the structure of piety is composed of both: moral matters filling out the order of the body, and the coupling of doctrines arranged in the dignity of the soul. For just as when the soul is separated from the body, the structure of the limbs is useless, even if it be praised; so too is the beauty of moral virtue dead, if it is not quickened by the power of doctrines. For what profit is there in having been taught to be temperate in conduct, when he who is temperate is ignorant of the Judge of temperance? What is the gain of almsgiving, when the Judge who is set at naught by the almsgiving is indignant? What benefit will there be to soldiers, who display a great performance of good deeds, but are enemies to the King? B It is a useless advantage of virtues to use them not, with the correctness of doctrines not being rooted [underneath]. For it is necessary that fruits come forth from a root, and that the sinews of the virtues originate from the Head. Hanging as we do from this [Head], and weaving together with it the limbs of our actions, we complete the whole body of piety, tightening our hold upon Christ, the Head of the body. For He is, he says, the Head of the body of the Church; whom the heretics have deemed unworthy to have as Head. It is, therefore, worthy of prayer that those who are called Christians should not have been crazed against Christ. But now, one must even know grace toward them for their madness, because they make us wakeful by their raging, because they incite us to a desirable battle. For I love a battle better than peace, I love a war more blessed than charity; I love to carry my opinion, which is puffed up by Christ against the Greeks, but which is also in sedition among us, because we exalt Christ. For Arius was like this: whenever he speaks to Greeks, he speaks grandly of Christ; but whenever he discourses with us, he speaks against Christ. Eunomius is like this: whenever he condemns Hellenism, he denounces deification; but whenever he speaks to us, he establishes the making of a god. For it is a species of deification to say that the God Word is a created god and a creature made to be worshipped. What are you doing, you blind heretic? You are introducing what you destroyed, constructing Christ, and you are planting what you tore up in thought—the deification of creatures, the worship of creatures, as [something even] greater. Do not harm the nobility of Christianity; do not make it a kinsman of Hellenism; for the worship of a creature, even if the thing worshipped be greater or smaller as a creature, is a brother to Greek worship. For Paul does not blame the Greeks because they worshipped in a small way, but because they worshipped the creature at all, rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). For to worship a creature, both in small and in great, is of equal power; or rather, the heretic is more grievous to the divine nature than the Greeks. For he who calls the creature God is not as much an insulter toward the divine as he who names God a creature. For the one, deifying the creature, seems to clothe a slave in kingly purple; but the other, introducing God as a creature, forces the divine to [act as a] private person. The Greek indeed suspects the divine, but worships it in every way; Arius, however, does not revere it, nor does he bear the good fame of God. He does not deny that we should revere and worship Christ, but he is pained when He is honored with the highest honors. If someone says "uncreated," they were straightway angered; if "masterless," they were distressed; if "sharer of the ancestral dignity," they were provoked as if by a greater blow; if "autonomous giver of gifts," even at this they gnash their teeth; having the appellation of Christians, but the intent of Christ-haters. Consider, Arius, what sovereignty you are setting at naught; hear Him ordering matters with kingly power to others: I will give you, He says, the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matth. 16:19); and, Today you will be with me in paradise (Luc. 23:43). You, having left the tax office, follow Me; You, do not fear, but speak, because I am with you; I say to you, leper, be cleansed (Matth. 9:9 and 8:3); You, having run, wash yourself in Siloam, and receive sight (Joan. 9:7); You, paralytic, your sins are forgiven (Matth. 9:2 and 4:19); You, sea, be silent, be muzzled; You, come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men; You, loosen this temple, and in three days I will raise it (Joan. 2:19); You, make disciples of all nations, and lo, I am with you always even unto the consummation of the age (Matth. 28:19, 20). He said nothing of these: "The Father will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; the Father will lead you into paradise; you, leper, by the will of the Father be cleansed; you, from the Father, command the sea: Be silent, be muzzled; you, come after Me, and the Father will make you fishers of men"; but the statements are from an authoritative power. But if anywhere the words of the authority are more modest, C as in the "I thank You, Father, that You have heard Me," He adds the cause of the natural [relationship]; "For the sake of the crowd," He says, "that stands around I said it, that they might believe that You sent Me" (Joan. 11:41, 42); but those who gaped at Him crowned every high word toward Him. A centurion approached concerning his boy, raising Him up in praises with as much power as he had; for, "Lord," he says, "I am not sufficient that You should enter under my roof, but say the word only, and my boy will be healed"; and He, being applauded, received the gift. For "Amen," He says, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. But go, and as you believed, so be it done to you" (Matth. 8:8, 10, 13). Again, a certain woman with a flow of blood, bringing honor of doxology to the Lord's garment—to say nothing of the Divinity itself—was receiving the gift with praises. And the thief was honored in paradise, because he had called the one being crucified King. Greater faith than this is owed by us to the Master Christ, by as much as we have partaken of greater knowledge. Let it be, however, Arius, let there be at least similar words. Do you not wish me to think anything higher of Christ than what was said before? The opinion is evil, but stop at this. Why do you dictate even lower words to those who call upon Him? I have the words of those then as characters for prayer. I do not say to Christ, "Lord, remember me in Your ministry," but I say the voice through which the thief was heard: "Lord, remember me in Your kingdom" (Luc. 23:42). I do not say to the God Word, "Lord, assistant of the gifts of the Father"; for the centurion does not allow me, crying out that, "Lord, say the word only, and my boy will be healed." I do not say to Him, "Lord, if You ask of the Father, I will be saved"; for, Arius, I do not offer to the Divinity a faith smaller than a woman's. Thus I call the Son, as He rejoices to be called; I approach with such words as those with which they approached Him and returned having obtained [their requests]. But if the thief and the woman and the faithful soldier are unacceptable for the teaching of faith, be ashamed at least of the chorus of the apostles, where it was necessary to invoke Christ for gifts beyond nature. By saying what does Peter raise the paralytic? "Aeneas," he says, "Jesus Christ heals you" (Act. 9:34); and again, working another healing, "There is no," he says, "salvation in any other name" (Act. 4:15). By saying what did Ananias heal Paul? "Saul, brother, the Lord Jesus sent me, who appeared to you in the way, so that you might receive sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit" (Act. 9:17). Whose power did Paul pray for himself? "Most gladly," he says, "will I boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell upon me" (2 Cor. 12:9). For what did James and John entreat *against* the punishment of the Samaritans? "Lord," he says, "do You will that we tell fire to descend from heaven, and consume them?" (Luc. 9:54). And the chorus of angels, what did it deliver to men concerning Him? "He himself," it says, "will save His people from their sins" (Matth. 1:21). And these things are less than the worth. For there is no hymn, not one lifting up the Son, not one equalizing, but as much as you might advance with praises, as much glory as you might contrive with words, you will shout, being defeated, with David: "What shall I render to the Lord for all that He has rendered to me?" But if, Arius, the voice of honor surpassing the Son were to be "uncreated," D [it shall be...
to the Lord, crying out as David does: "What shall I return to the Lord for all that he has returned to me?" A But if, O Arius, that word "uncreated" exalts the Son more than is right, it will be permitted to you, with a change, to cry out with the voice of David: "Lord, if I have called you uncreated, what will you return to me, who bestow upon you honor greater than is your due?" But against them John will shout: B "Foolish and blind, we are not worthy to loosen the thong of his shoe." From every side, therefore, let us be stirred to exalt the divine nature in words: let us meditate on great thoughts concerning God in our hymns: let us exalt with all our might him whom we honor: let us put away an impoverished mind at the time when we speak of God: let us honor the Father with the sublime praises of the Son, let us glorify the Begetter and the likeness of the nature of the Begotten with equal honor to him: let us confess the truth of the generation: C let us possess the love of the Father through the worship of him who is from him: for "He who loves me," he says, "my Father will love him" (John 14:21): to whom be glory and imperium for ages of ages. Amen.
NOTICE CONCERNING THE SERMON ON ALMSGIVING
A most inept little work, published in Greek by Savile (Vol. 6, p. 811), we publish here in a Latin translation. Savile could have omitted this oration without any loss, as being unworthy of the light, he who left not a few similar ones in darkness. But so that we might not appear to have omitted anything from Savile's editions, we have published this along with other Savilian works of the same flour.CHRYSOSTOM'S HOMILY ON ALMSGIVING
D Again, time has been given to us by the Lord and our God and Savior Jesus Christ, in which we might cast the seeds of almsgiving into your ears: again, Christ has granted us the way in which we might imitate that sower, who, when he had cast his seed into good ground, received a hundredfold. For behold, the trumpet has sounded to proclaim the works of the hands: behold, the theater of almsgiving has been readied. Let those, therefore, who are religious, generous, and lovers of the poor be called into the midst: let the lovers of crowns be called. For God is present, who bestows rewards, who grants the kingdom of heaven to those who give in exchange for money received, however small. I beseech you, let no one among you be deprived of such grace: let no one despise this great and heavenly gift because of a small amount of money, not the pauper, not the rich, not the slave, not the free, not the wise, not the unlearned, not the man, not the woman: but all, I pray, with eagerness buy the kingdom of heaven. And let no one of the poor say to me: "I am poor"—for it is necessary to approach the poor first, because they think their excuse seems probable before God. For what does the poor man often say? "I have no money, I am in need of daily food, I am pressed all day long by labor and sweat, so that I can barely manage to keep [myself] alive: I carry burdens on my shoulders, I labor with smith's work and hammer, and I use up the strength of my body: and you, sitting [there], condemn me to give my labors to others?" Do you think, I ask, that your labors are entirely yours, and do you think that the strength of your body is your own? Do you not believe that if you give even a small thing from those labors, which you call yours, you are giving alms to him who implanted in you the vigor and strength to work? Rather, give a little to the body, so that you may grant a great treasure to the soul. If, possessing ten obols, you have given nine to the body and one to the soul, are all your life’s faculties overturned for you by this? If, having fifty obols, you have distributed five to God through the needy, and forty-five to yourself, you have strengthened your soul, you have made your body more robust through the prayers of others, and you have received grace for further labor and for greater gain, and you have become wealthier than the wealthy for [the purpose of] almsgiving. But you will certainly say to me: "What gain shall I have?" You will no longer be called a pauper, but a lender to God. And from where, you will say, will this happen to me? Believe Scripture, which says: "He who has pity on the poor, lends to God" (Prov. 19:17); and you will hear from him: "Insofar as you did it to one of these least [ones], you did it to me" (Matt. 25:40). Have you not often, while sitting in the forum, seen a rich man passing by, and called him blessed, saying: "Happy is this rich man, because he is not in need of the help of others, but rather lends?" Truly, he lends to men, you to God: he receives from the labors of individuals, and sins, and not without strife and litigation; you, however, without labor and care, receive a hundredfold from God with joy: he receives for this short life, you will possess a perennial and eternal life. If you do not believe me, believe God, with an oath affirming and saying: "Amen, I say to you, you will receive a hundredfold, and you will inherit eternal life" (Matt. 19:29). Do not think, therefore, that your resources are diminished when you give to the poor; you do not become a pauper by giving to the poor. If a pauper has pity on a pauper, he does not become poorer, but is to be praised, and he acts more safely in poverty. Have you heard the prophet saying: "I was younger and also I have aged; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread" (Ps. 36:25)? And again: "The just shows mercy and lends all the day, and his seed shall be in blessing" (Ibid. v. 26)? In blessing, why? Because he who sows in blessing, reaps from blessing: for he who has care for your clothes will also care for your soul. For nothing so covers the soul as the covering of the widow, the orphan, and the pauper. For it does not permit the soul to be seen naked by God on that terrible and fearful day; but surrounded by a garment of light through almsgiving, it will appear before God with all glory: for God says through the prophet: "Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the needy and wandering into your house; and then your morning light shall appear, and your healings shall arise quickly, and your justice shall go before you" (Is. 58:7-8). If one obol is laid up for you? Do you know how much light the fruit of almsgiving brings to you? Do you want to know how great a treasure small charity made by the poor procures for us? Do you want to see which paupers, offering the least, obtained great treasures? Listen. For we will inform you about this matter not only from the New Testament, but also from the Old, so that you may gain a heavenly treasure from love of the poor. Famine was once consuming men throughout the whole earth; and such was the famine, that every day a river, as it were, of men and animals was rushing into death, not for a short time, but for three and a half years; so that all the earth was in perdition. The cause of the evil was the idolatry of the Israelites, as well as the iniquity of Ahab and Jezebel; because of which Elijah, though he was a man, was able to place bars upon the heavens, saying: "The Lord lives, if there shall be rain [except through my mouth]," for three years and six months. Finally, the lawless king perceivingA that the widow's flour and oil were lacking—those things in which she had suspended all the hope of her own life and that of her children—the prophet Elijah says to her: "Bring me a little bread in your hand." And the woman said to him: "The Lord your God lives, if I have a hearth-cake, except for a handful of flour in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse; and behold, I am gathering two sticks, and I am going in to make it for myself and for my children, and we shall eat it and die." Is there any one of us today who is driven to such poverty? God forbid. Yet from that remnant of death, the widow first made a hearth-cake for the prophet and brought it out to him, disregarding herself and her children. And what reward did she receive for this meager almsgiving? Hear clearly what the prophet says: "Thus says the Lord: The jar of flour shall not fail, and the cruse of oil shall not diminish." Until when, O prophet? "Until the Lord gives rain and dew upon the earth." For this reason, the prophet says: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord; and his hope shall be in the time of drought, and it shall not diminish nor fail." And the word of the prophet became a deed, and neither the jar failed, nor the cruse diminished. Are you poorer than this woman, O man? Is such a famine pressing upon you that you cannot perform an act of charity? It is not so; God forbid. Rather, you have [the means] and you are able, whoever you may be, and especially if you are a believer. You are ambitious regarding the body, but reckless regarding the soul. Almsgiving is the nourishment of the soul; and just as bread and wine are the nourishment and joy of the body, so also almsgiving and prayer are the healing and joy of the soul. And what will a man give as an exchange for his soul, if not almsgiving? B If you are ignorant of this, learn from the widow in the New Testament, that for two mites she gained the whole kingdom of heaven, having found God himself to be the approver of this poverty, and her fruit-bearing reached even unto the heavens. Did you not see the Savior in the holy Gospels receiving the widow who cast the two mites into the treasury, and bestowing upon her the heavenly crown? For he saw the fragrance of her soul; he saw the poor woman who loved the poor; he saw the one who was in need of money contributing to those who were not in need. Many were those who were casting much into the treasury; and God was present with those who had come, who was at once God and man, the same who does not judge by appearance, but examines the hearts of men. And what judgment does he bring forth regarding them? Let us hear: "Amen, amen I say to you, that this widow has cast in more than all." For I do not accept all that is cast in, he says, but I test the intention of those contributing. "Amen, amen I say to you, that this widow has cast in more than all." Why? Because they brought from their surplus, but she brought her whole livelihood. Therefore, since he has judged righteously, let us all say to God, as the prophet said: "Righteous are you, O Lord, and straight are your judgments"; because you test the intention of men, and you do not restrict the kingdom by the multitude of the offerings. For you do not heed the things being offered, but the disposition of those who offer them. Therefore, let none of you grow weary, I beseech you, even to cast two mites, or ten obols, into the treasury of the widows and orphans; for so the holy Scripture teaches, that according to the intention a man has, he is acceptable before God. May that table not be estranged from your fruit-bearing; but have a portion with it, that you may receive a portion with those who are receiving mercy from the merciful God, who said: "Give alms, that you may receive mercy." Just as it is believed that there is an angel C from heaven who receives the prayers of the people and offers them to God, and hastens to present the prayers to God with everyone, so that your gift of prayer may be accepted with everyone; so believe that in these matters also there is an angel who receives what is given by you to the poor, and offers these things to God. And who is this angel, but he who offered the prayers and almsgivings of Cornelius to God, and said to him: "Cornelius, your alms and your prayers have ascended for a memorial before God"? And he was formerly a Greek; but after this, when the angel spoke to him, he became a believer, and thus they were accepted. How much more so than you, the Christ-lover? D We ought now, therefore, to exhort the rich also. Mostly, indeed, the many are lovers of the poor, and do this of their own accord (for they were well trained by such men, those teachers before us, to bear fruit); but nevertheless, since they require an account even from the poor among us, I will not hesitate to exhort them, and to guide them toward almsgiving, observing these two things: that neither they themselves be accused before God, nor I be disparaged by the angels; and how, I say. For if I do not cast the sayings of the divine Scripture into your good table, like silver to the money-changer, I am immediately accused by God, and I hear from him: "You ought to have cast my money to the money-changers, and I, coming, would have demanded my own with interest." For this reason he also accused, in the holy Gospels, the one who was entrusted with the talent, and who hid it. And how does the prophet call it silver? Hear the words of the Lord: "The words of the Lord are pure words; silver refined, proven for the earth, purified sevenfold." So also God says to the prophet: "Son of man, testify to this people"; and again otherwise: "Exhort, O priests, my people; speak to the ears" of Jerusalem. Having received such commands, therefore, I exhort all of you to come to almsgiving, that I may not be disparaged by you at that hour, if, which may it not come to pass, one should hear from the Judge at that fearful day: "Wicked servant, why did you not have mercy on your fellow-servant? And now, how do you wish to receive mercy?" And again: "Repent now, for there is no time for repentance there; lest one, being accused at that fearful hour, should say that I was not taught by the shepherd, I did not learn what a man shall give in exchange for his soul, nor did he tell us that almsgiving expiates sins; he did not interpret for us the Scripture given to him, saying: 'Blessed is he who understands concerning the poor and needy; the Lord shall deliver him in the evil day'; but he only separated us from Jewish unbelief, and again denounced the superstition of the Greeks; from whose lawlessness, having been taught, we abstained." For if he had instructed us in almsgiving, we would have had the fruits of this to show. For this reason, I do not cease to exhort with boldness, but I admonish and testify to rich and poor alike, men and women together: spare your own souls, and redeem them through money from the coming wrath; lighten the burden of your sins through almsgiving; show mercy, that you may receive mercy. For almsgiving has the power of a holy baptism; and just as the holy bath cleanses the sins of men, so also almsgiving cleanses the sins of the soul of those who show mercy. It is not my word, but the holy Scripture teaches, saying: "Alms and faith purge sins." Money, even if we do not wish it, remains here; but the soul, even if we do not wish it, is led elsewhere, bearing the account of its sins. For this reason, our Lord Jesus Christ said in the Gospels: "What shall a man be profited, if he gain the world, but suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what shall a man give as an exchange for his soul?" Hear then, I beseech you, this word, that in peace it is despised, but in necessities it shows the power of God's law. For the listener often hears: "What shall a man be profited, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?" and he passes over the power of this saying. And if he despises the word in peace, he learns in necessities the power of the one who spoke it. For what does God do, when he sees someone holding fast to money, and turning away from almsgiving, and choosing to suffer everything rather than surrender his money? In necessities, he teaches him to know the law of God; and how, listen: Consider some merchant sailing the sea, and intent only on money...
up to their height, and then avarice withers away; and he who endured every labor to gather wealth now throws it away with his own hands and distributes his riches to the sea. But question him immediately: "What are you doing, my man? Why are you mad? Why are you casting away your money to no purpose? The sea does not keep your deposits; it does not receive seeds like the earth to return much more; it does not receive seeds for the sake of returning sheaves. Why, then, do you uselessly lend to an ungrateful element? Why do you deposit your trust in faithless waves? Why do you commit a deposit to the sea, which returns nothing? You did not want to lend to God, yet you cast your riches into the vast deep?" What, then, does he answer immediately? "I prefer to save my soul than to gain the whole world." Now you recognize the saying, "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:37). Now you have learned the word of Christ thus admonishing: "For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but suffers the loss of his own soul?" (Matt. 16:26). But did not the law teach you? Let fear at least teach you. Did not the doctrine of God teach you? Let the raging sea teach you. O action lacking consistency! O necessity teaching all! The sea by force receives everything; yet God, exhorting to the kingdom of heaven, barely obtains the smallest part? You trust the sea, which promises you nothing good, and you do not obey God, who promises and grants you a hundredfold? Do you wish that I set before you another image of such necessity? For it is necessary that we be profited by your soul from all sides, through both terrible things and good things. Consider, therefore, those who trade on the earth, who do everything and leave nothing undone to gain something, who dare to swear and use every perjury to add a coin to themselves: these certainly adulterate the laws of God. The prophets preach, and they close their ears; teachers cry out, and they mock the warnings. What, finally, happens to them? For not to all, but to those alone. For such a merchant often falls among thieves; and he who was panting after riches and was held by an insatiable love of money, immediately lays aside this disease and becomes generous; for he sees the sword with which he is being attacked by the thief, and he discards his affection; the thief rushes upon him, and he finally is found liberal and hands over his own with entreaties. What, then, does he say to the thief? "Take everything, and only spare my soul and life." Hear this also: "And now you know what a man shall give in exchange for his soul." You give to the thief whatever he wants with entreaties, although he harms you in all things; but to God, who wishes to receive a small something as a loan, you do not lend, who nevertheless lavishly grants you all things, both earthly and heavenly; but do you not fear God as much as the thief? You fear a naked sword, but you despise the fire of hell which God threatens. Do not, I beseech you, do not let any of ours be such; for you are not such, being lovers of Christ; for you know all things that are to happen to men. Place your souls in safety before your departure from this life, and acknowledge Him who said in the holy Gospels: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Matt. 5:7). To Him therefore, the merciful, nurturing, and non-exprobating God, let us offer glory, together with the Father and the most holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.