her house, and she has given all things into my hand, and nothing is withheld from me, except you, because you are her servant: and how can I do this evil, this sin before God? A Or is not here present the God of my fathers? Is one God in the land of Canaan, and another in Egypt, even if you are ignorant of this? Is there not a certain observant power, which looks upon him who harms his neighbor? Does God depart because your husband is away? Your husband, O woman, is my master, and he has entrusted all his substance to me, and shall I steal his possessions? He has joined one to one: does he join one to many, or many to one? Be quiet, mistress: I know him who incites you against me. It is not you who attack me, but the devil who has armed my brothers against me. For since he has separated me from my father, now he strives to turn me away from God: he circles about on every side, that he may deprive me of my dreams. Be quiet, therefore: for it is better to bear the name of an adulterer than the act itself. If I do not do your will, I shall be punished by the body; but if I do not obey God, I shall be punished in both. For he knew Him who says: "Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body" (Matt. 10. 28). These things have been said to demonstrate the gentleness and patience of the wise Joseph. Hear also his other work. For you all know that when he had been detained in prison through the calumny of the Egyptian woman, and afterwards by the decree of divine providence reigned in Egypt, and when the event had at last proved the truth of his dreams and likewise of their interpretations; when his brothers descended into Egypt because of the lack of necessary things; seeing them, Joseph, although he ruled as king in all Egypt, did not draw the sword, nor did he cast them into prison, nor did he burden them with stripes, nor did he treat them as B wild beasts which had not had mercy on him, nor did he remember the torn tunic, nor the deep pit, nor the sale into slavery, nor the envy, nor the smoky hatred of brothers, nor paternal grief, nor Benjamin, his uterine brother, wandering among strangers: but leaving all these sad things, mixing threats with gentleness, he sought an opportunity to see how he could be recognized by his brothers. For as soon as he saw them, and Benjamin his uterine brother—simple, perhaps from malice, the last grape of the paternal vine, who had not experienced fraternal hatred—by nature and disposition his heart was immediately moved, making his cheeks wet with tears mixed with joy, and he cried out, saying: "I am Joseph your brother: but now let it not seem hard to you" (Gen. 45. 4, 5). O wondrous things! The innocent clears himself as if he were guilty! I am Joseph, O brothers. If you did not bow down unwillingly, my dreams are false; if my sheaf was not raised up, you rightly sharpened the scythe of fraternal hatred. Now at least learn, O brothers, that "he who believes in the Lord shall not be confounded" (Rom. 9. 33). You stripped me of a simple tunic; behold, I am clothed in purple: you threw me into a pit; behold, I am carried in a chariot adorned with gems: you sold me as a slave; behold, I have been proclaimed king: I dwelt in prison; behold, I dwell in the palace: I wore chains; behold, I am adorned with a diadem set with precious stones. Opportune now are the words of the blessed Paul, as true sayings: "To those who love God all things work together for good" (Rom. 8. 28). In Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire for ages. Amen.
On the Annunciation of the Theotokos, and Against the Impious Arius
On the preceding Sunday, the seeker of the uncreated Trinity and orator, the great Basil, taught by God, herald of truth, generous accuser of falsehood, called this orthodox Church to a heavenly dance; who triumphed over the Arian madness as was fitting; who speaks with his life before his tongue, and shouts with both word and life; the most famous ornament of this city, the star of the Church, who stands like a brave soldier against the enemies of the pious religion, and used his tongue like a sling against the impious; a vigilant guardian of this flock, and most wise protector of the holy fold. And just as that dove in the time of Noah, carrying an ever-green olive branch in its mouth, brought this fruit to us: so he lent his tongue to the Spirit on the preceding Sunday, and with his divine words cast darts at Arius and his blasphemy, which proceeded from the devil's teaching. He showed the wolf in the midst of the sheep, covered like a lamb with the fleece of Christianity, and having removed the cloak of hypocrisy, he exposed him as a ravenous wolf; and him who was thought to be a sheep, using prophetic and apostolic sayings as stones, he stoned like a wild beast: and just as David, having prostrated Goliath, found that sword of his own to use for the slaughter of his enemy; so our new David, with Arius's own weapons, pierced Arius. In his sermon, he described how God and Father is the Father of the Word without time; how the Son is co-eternal with the Father; how he is consubstantial, not of another substance; how he is a co-worker, not a minister; how he is a maker, not a made thing; how he is Lord, not a slave; how he is the splendor of the glory of the Father, and the figure of his substance; how "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1. 1); how the Word became flesh, not changed or altered, and "dwelt among us," preparing for himself a tabernacle inseparable from his divinity and our nature. Thus, therefore, did this herald of truth preach: for he had Christ himself speaking through him, blasphemed through the Arians. Therefore the angels invisibly praised him from heaven, for celebrating the consubstantial Trinity, adored by himself, beautifully on earth, and teaching that glory is to be returned to Him: but you who were placed below rightly exulted with applause, and proclaimed him an imitator of the apostles, worthy of the apostles; inasmuch as he emitted with his tongue the praised confession of Peter, inasmuch as he emitted with his lips the zeal of Paul like fire; and rightly you called the Church blessed, which possessed such a jewel: for it is truly blessed which has such a treasure. These things, therefore, happened on that day. But today I wish to open to you the thresholds of the Incarnation of the only-begotten Son of God; that you may see how the Word, being God consubstantial with the Father, wishing to become consubstantial with his servants by taking our substance; how that Exalted One inclined himself from heaven to our lowliness; how that Rich One assumed our needy first fruits; how He who lacks nothing received that which He had formed; how the Maker joined his handiwork to himself; how, remaining God, that Benign One was made man; how the Sun of justice, kindling the lamp of the body within himself, went about seeking the lost drachma; how the Good Shepherd, covering his divinity with the sheep's skin, ran about everywhere, calling the erring sheep to himself, saying to each: "I am the good shepherd" (John 10. 11). It would be worth the effort, however, for us to bring forth that voice of the holy Gospel which is preached in the churches today: "In the sixth month the archangel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man, whose name was Joseph, of the house and family of David: and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1. 26-28). In the sixth month, when now Zechariah had been made mute because of his unbelief, when now Elizabeth had germinated an unexpected branch, when now John the Baptist had the period of six months in the prison of the womb, when now the precursor was being prepared in a barren place, when now the lamp was shining in the dark places of the womb; the angel Gabriel was sent by the Sun of justice. He went, he says, into the city of Galilee, Nazareth, to the virgin Mary espoused to Joseph the carpenter: for I am the carpenter of the whole creation, this virgin for the salvation of the world...
men." I announce to her my advent without tumult, so that the virgin may not be troubled by being unaware of the mystery: I instruct her beforehand in my clemency, so that she may know why I, as man, come forth into the world. I announce the economy to her, so that she may not be troubled by the sudden swelling of her womb. Finish your journey at once; for you will find me there where I send you now; I anticipate you there, remaining here. I enter to her both before you and after you; do you bring the good tidings of my coming, and I, arriving invisibly, will seal your voice with deeds. For I wish to renew the race of men in a virgin womb: I wish, by condescension, to recast the image which I fashioned: I wish by a new creation to heal the ancient moulding. From a virgin earth I fashioned the first-created man: but the devil, taking him, dragged him away as an enemy and cast him down, and mocked my fallen image. I wish now, from a virgin earth, to fashion for myself a new Adam, so that nature may make a plausible defense for itself, and be lawfully crowned against the one who cast it down, and the enemy be reasonably put to shame. O, immeasurable sea of condescension! O, infinite height of divine benignity! The King did not send many angels or many precursors: the Creator did not stir up the hosts of incorporeal powers, but commanded one single angel to be the forerunner of his presence, so that by the teaching of one he might make secure the mother who was to receive him. The angel, therefore, arrived before the virgin Mary, and entering to her, said: "Hail, full of grace." He greeted his fellow-servant as a mistress, as one who had already become the mother of the Master. "Hail, full of grace." Your ancestress Eve, having transgressed the law, received the sentence to bring forth children in sorrows; but to you, the greeting of joy is fitting; she brought forth Cain, giving birth to envy and murder; but you shall bring forth B a son providing life and incorruption. Rejoice, therefore, and dance: rejoice and tread down the head of the serpent: "Hail, full of grace." For the curse has ceased, corruption has been abolished, the gloomy things are withered, the bright things bloom, the good which was formerly proclaimed by the prophets is present. The Holy Spirit pointed you out, saying through the tongue of Isaiah: "Behold the virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son" (Isa. 7, 14). You are that virgin. Rejoice, therefore, full of grace; you have pleased the Creator, you have pleased the Maker, you have pleased the Fashioner, you have pleased him who finds delight in the beauties of souls; you have found a bridegroom who guards your virginity, not one who corrupts it; you have found a bridegroom who, out of great philanthropy, wishes to become your son. "The Lord is with you," and he who is everywhere is in you, and with you, and from you: in heaven is the Master, in the abyss is the Most High, in all creation is the Creator: the Creator is upon the Cherubim, the charioteer is upon the Seraphim, the Son is in the bosom of the Father, C the Only-begotten is in your bosom, the Lord, as he himself knows, is whole everywhere, whole in you. "Blessed are you among women," because you are now preferred above all virgins together; because you were deemed worthy to receive such a Master; because you have contained the uncontainable when he so willed; because you have received him who fills all things; because you have become a most pure workshop of the divine economy; because you have shone forth as a worthy vehicle for the entry of our King into life; because you have been revealed as a treasury of the spiritual pearl. "Blessed are you among women." Hearing these words, the all-holy virgin, and having seen an angelic form and voice, reasoned within herself (saying, "What manner of greeting is this? What does this address intend? What do these words signify to me? Did the angel greet me first, being what I am, or attaining to what worth? I, full of grace? Whence, or why? The Lord is with me? For with whom of those who fear him is the Lord not present? I, blessed among women? What is the cause of this, or why, and how? What gift does this word proclaim? What miracle does this saying foretell?" Seeing her thus troubled, the angel says to her: "Do not fear, Mary; for it was not so that you might be troubled that I greeted you, but that you might rejoice; I speak with you kindly. Do not, therefore, harbor trouble in your soul, you who possess the peace of the inhabited world within yourself. Do not fear, Mary; for you have found grace with God. You have been adorned above creation, you have been brightened above the heavens, you have shone above the sun, you have been exalted above the angels; you were not assumed into the heavens, but standing upon the earth, you have drawn the heavenly Master and King of all to yourself. And behold, you shall conceive in the womb." The work has anticipated my word; the mystical conception has become swifter than my voice; you have within your womb the Lord, the creator of all, building the temple of his holy flesh from your holy and immaculate flesh without labor; you have within him who is the painter of nature, re-painting his own image, which had grown old, by his grace. "Behold, you shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus: he shall be great." For he is great in divinity, but he shall also be great in humanity. "And he shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father." For he swore truth to David, and will not frustrate it. And what truth did he swear to him? "Of the fruit of your loins," he says, "I will set upon your throne." That oath finds its fulfillment in the present time. "And he shall reign over the house of Jacob unto the ages, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." There is no one superior to this King, and no one more blessed than you, who give birth to him. And Mary said to the angel: "How shall this be, since I know not a man? Joseph is my betrothed, not a husband; for the marriage agreements have proceeded only as far as the betrothal; how then, without marriage, shall I have conception? How shall I bring forth fruit without a sower? Is the course of nature changed in me? Is the law of birth-giving rewritten in me first? Is a strange path of childbirth found in me alone? Are the ancient customs of generation made new in me? D Explain to me clearly, O angel, the manner of the annunciation, and lead me to that stupendous birth, so that I may gradually learn the mystery which is to be brought about in me: let me learn how impossible things become possible: let me learn how things that have no way can be attained, how grace might turn for the better, and how nature serves grace. And the angel answering her said: "The Holy Spirit shall descend upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you." I have told you only so much; how he will be born, he who wills it will himself teach you clearly. I, the servant, have brought the word: he knows the work and he knows the manner: I am a minister of the commands, not an interpreter of the divine counsels: I dare not teach you things I have not learned, I dare not interpret what I have not received, I dare not publish what is a mystery, I am not able to explain what has been announced. I proclaim the miracle, but how it is brought about I cannot say; I do not seek things which surpass all questioning; I do not pursue things incomprehensible, I do not curiously inquire into things which surpass me, I do not subject to reason that which is above reason; I do not recount the ineffable generation. Spiritual conception surpasses me, and the medicinal birth surpasses reason. The Holy Spirit shall descend upon you. The Son knew how he would fashion for himself a spiritual dwelling. He does not serve the laws of nature, he is the Creator: he alone has the counsel, he does as he wills. He knew the unbegotten Son in the incarnation. For where the Holy Spirit is, there is the form he puts on. For where the Son is, there also is the Father: inseparable is the Trinity, the undivided Trinity. For as in the beginning the Father, forming man, exhorted the Son and the Spirit, saying: "Let us make man in our image and likeness" (Gen. 1, 26); so also now, the reformation is effected, the secret holy Trinity is present, whose action is one, and whose reformation is common. Therefore, the one who is born shall be called the Son of God. For this is a true holy offspring, it is a shoot without seed, it is a most holy birth. This is the Son of God, because of his divinity; and he is also the Son, because of his humanity: he is consubstantial with the Father, as is understood: he is consubstantial with you, as is apparent: he is both heavenly and earthly.
A He is invisible, and yet he is seen; he is impassible in his divinity, yet passible in his humanity: and just as he is perfect God, so also is Jesus perfect man. But just as he remained the immutable God when he became man, so too, remaining a virgin, you shall be an incorrupt mother; for neither will your virginity hinder your delivery, nor will your delivery hinder your virginity. Therefore, celebrate him with hymns, and do not curiously inquire into the manner: wonder at the great gift, and do not doubt the grace: adore the mystery committed to you, and do not curiously investigate the stupendous miracle. B If you believe sincerely, he in whom you believe will illuminate your soul; but if you examine it curiously, you will never find what you crave. Do you wish to learn? Learn the truth of the miracle by the manifest miracle that was done in you. Do you wish to contemplate the image of your delivery? Contemplate your neighbor and kinswoman Elizabeth: for he says, "Behold, Elizabeth your kinswoman, she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who is called barren, for every word shall not be impossible with God" (Luke 1:36, 37). C Elizabeth’s barrenness was dissolved beyond hope, so that this dissolution might teach you that your virginity was not dissolved. The barren and aged woman conceived the forerunner of the King who is to be born from you, so that you might believe that you have the Lord in your womb. Go, see Elizabeth; and if you do not find her as I have said, do not believe my announcement. Why then, after these words, did holy Mary—virgin in body and soul, devout and obedient, the honor of human nature, the gate of our life, D who reconciled salvation to us? Receiving the angel’s voice peacefully, she said to him: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word" (ibid. v. 38). As a handmaid, I am subject to the Lord’s command; as clay, I am fashioned by the hands of the potter; as the potter wills, let him work in me with power; as he wills, let him work in me the miraculous birth with kindness: let it be done to me according to your word; let your words be fulfilled in me, and let the works be most clear and true. And the angel departed from her, he who had descended from heaven, who had instructed and prepared the Virgin; and he heard from her what he desired to learn; and he returned to where he had come from, leaving behind the one who had sent him; and he again found him in the heavens adored by all the host of angels.
What then do you say to these things, O Arius? Tell me, miserable man: How is he who cannot be comprehended, comprehended in a virginal womb? How did a virgin conceive, and yet remain a virgin? And how did she bear riches—namely, the Savior—having herself become rich by grace? But you cannot say. For if the mother of the mystery did not understand the mystery she carried, how could you be able to understand it? If the archangel Gabriel, when asked by the mother of the Lord, "How shall this be, since I know not a man," could say nothing more, but took refuge in the Holy Spirit, as one who could put forth nothing greater, how could you be able to say that which Gabriel could not interpret? A But if no one can worthily narrate the birth of Christ according to the flesh, which took place in the latter times, how do you dare to curiously inquire into that heavenly birth, before time, incorporeal, invisible, impassible, ineffable, incomprehensible? Who planted in you the seeds of such daring? Angels adore the holy Trinity incessantly, crying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth: heaven and earth are full of his glory." They do not say, as you say, "The Father is holier, and senior": they do not say with hushed voices, "The Son is holy, as junior; the Paraclete is holy, as briefer"; but they offer one and the same hymn to the equal Trinity. B Whence then did you, O Arius, learn to address a creature against the Creator? But you also adulterate the testimony of the heavens and the angels. To whom do you refer this case? Who will you please as the judge of this dogma? Whom do you wish us to admit as a judge who is without the acceptance of persons? Whose judgment regarding the pious religion will you accept? Do you admit the Father, who knows his Son better than all? Let us hear him crying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him" (Matt. 17:5). If he says, "I and the Father are one," hear him: if he says, "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me," hear him: if he says, "He who has seen me, has seen the Father" (John 10:30; 14:10). C But if he says, "The Father who sent me is greater than I" (John 14:28), do not apply that "lesser" to his divinity, but to the humanity of the speaker. You have heard, Arius, the Father’s judgment: hear also his only-begotten Son confirming this with these words: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). He who believes, not "He who says, 'there was a time when he was not'": he who believes, not "he who doubts." Why then, having abandoned faith, do you bring insult, when you have the judge as your enemy? But you indeed, Arius, delirious and foolish, believe as you wish: if being miserable, you wish to know what is useful, do not utter trifles against yourself. For you will not harm the Son, but you will kindle the fire of Gehenna against your own head. I, however, instructed by the sacred Scriptures, celebrate the Father, who is always Father: I celebrate the Son, who shone forth from the paternal substance before time: I celebrate the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son. D I confess Christ, perfect God, and the same one I proclaim perfect man; I do not shrink from the high things of his divinity, nor am I ashamed of the humility of his humanity, but with the great and blessed apostle Peter I cry to him: "You are the Christ the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16): and to you pertains glory, honor, and adoration, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
the high things, and I am not ashamed of the lowly things of his humanity; but with the great and blessed Apostle Peter, I cry out to him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And to you be glory and honor and worship, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
On Almsgiving
Divine Scripture says: *He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord* (Prov. 19:17). See what a creditor the merciful have: how great, how well-provided! If you lend gold or silver or grain to a man, you draw up a bond and bind the hand that receives it with written documents. But in the case of God, this is not so; rather, you give to the witness and to the poor, and God calls upon and announces that he will receive back the loans that you lent to the poor. He is eager to settle the guarantee, and he does not repay simply, but with much blessing, saying—he speaks, and he is less than many. Likewise, he who buys comes to give a little, and he who sells gives more; and thus, having placed the middle price, they trade what is convenient. And when you have acquired what you desire with such great labor, you do not possess security. For often, before you reach your home, it has perished, or been lost, or proven worthless, and the labor becomes double. But in the kingdom of God, you endure nothing of the sort: no labors of travel, no burning heat, no sluggishness, no grief of failure, nothing of this. While you are sitting in your house, the poor man comes, selling paradise, and says to you: "Give bread, and receive paradise; give a worn-out garment, and receive the kingdom of heaven." Yet he does not compel you to give what you do not have, but from what you are able. But you, unwilling to buy the paradise of God, say: "I have no bread." Give one obol, give a cup of cold water, give what you wish, give what you have; Christ accepts all things. Only buy paradise. Imitate that widow of Sarepta, who gave the handful of flour and inherited the kingdom of heaven; and again, another widow mentioned in the Gospel, keeping nothing else but two mites, and casting these into the treasury. Buy paradise. God does not seek an abundance of wealth, but a merciful soul and a well-disposed heart. Give to the poor, and acquire God as your debtor. *He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord.* And when, he asks, does the one who borrowed repay? When you leave behind all the things here—the houses, the gold, the silver, the clothing, and all the rest—and go there, having left all things here behind; then the one who borrowed repays with thanksgiving. Send your wealth on ahead of you; do not wait for times, do not hoard them, so that you do not lose eternal life. Death is uncertain; you do not know when it comes, at what hour you depart. And you indeed go there, while the wealth remains here, and others distribute your riches among themselves, not even making mention of your name; and often your heirs tear apart your estate and curse you. Send your wealth on ahead to the age that has no end, so that you do not depart into the place of unquenchable fire, as the rich man did on account of Lazarus. *Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink*; and so forth. See what the Creator of the world says. He does not say: "I was king, and you feared me," nor "I was a ruler, and you honored me," but: "I was naked, and you clothed me; sick, and you visited me." Truly there is nothing equal to almsgiving; the poor man spends, and God repays. God, having borrowed from the poor—who are the witnesses who remain—does not only repay the loan, but makes the lenders heirs, saying: *Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.* And when, he asks, was it prepared? When you provided food and clothing to the poor, when you bore fruit in the churches and in the shrines, when you welcomed them into your house, when you visited the sick and those in prison; when you were doing these things, I was preparing this kingdom for you. When you are about to depart from life, do not wait for the hospitality of it; the Master of the house meets you, saying: *Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.* Behold the greatness of almsgiving, how no other virtue is compared to it or preferred before it. For he did not say: "Because you kept virginity," or "Because you fasted for my sake"; he said nothing of the sort, but only: *I was hungry, and you gave me food.* Fasting and virginity and the remaining virtues are great, but nothing is equal to almsgiving. Send your world on ahead to the world there that has no end, and you will find in that age those things which you provide here, just as the Lord also says: *Make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that, when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles* (Luke 16:9). O the friendship of the Master, the foolishness of the wealthy! He himself invites, and the rich man is pained. Do you not understand, O man, what the providence of God is? Could God not have given the poor man as much wealth as he gave to you, and made both you and him rich? Could he not have brought down showers of gold and made the poor rich? Or does God need you to honor him because of your wealth? Consider what you are about to become; look at the exposed bones in the grave. How do you differ there, rich man or poor? Are they not all ash? Are they not all dust? Where is the king there? Where the ruler? Where the powerful? Where the poor? Truly all are equal corpses, and creeping bones, a multitude of worms. Why are you proud against the poor? Why do you despise the weak? Does God not behold both him and you? Is he not also an image of him? Consider that God calls the poor man himself brother, and makes him more preferable than you on that day. For God is not unjust; he does not deprive the poor of eternal life and the heavenly kingdom, if he endures poverty. But for you, he does not give two paradises, unless you send on ahead of you the gifts given to you by God. *For inasmuch as you did it not to one of these least of my brethren, you did it not to me* (Matt. 25:40). Come, then, let us listen, and fill the bellies of the poor from what God has provided for you, so that you find your storehouses full there. For if he is blessed who will eat bread in the kingdom of God once, how much more blessed is he who is deemed worthy to dwell therein for the unending ages! Do not say to me that the poor are destitute and have nothing to give us on that day; their guarantor is rich. Do not ask the poor for it; God will give it to you. He repays the gifts even to the poor, he who governs our life here, and will save us from there, if we do what is pleasing to him. For he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord; and according to his gift, he will repay him; according to his intention, he says. For where there is a good intention, there is an abundant supply. Let us fear the day of the Lord, in which the Master of the house will send forth for the harvest of the grain, and will gather the grain into the storehouse, but will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. For the Master of the house is the Lord, the reapers are the angels, the grain is the righteous, and the chaff is the sinners. Let us strive, therefore, to be found mature grain through almsgiving, so that we may enter into the eternal tabernacles, which He who was taken up from us has prepared; with whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
On Charity
The Lord almost said, *My burden is light* (Matt. 11:30). For what burden, or what labor, is it to forgive the transgressions of a brother—light and insignificant—and to have one's own forgiven, and to be justified quickly? He did not say: "Bring me money, or calves, or goats, or fasting, or keeping watch," lest you say that