A heard, he fled far away. Thus, therefore, he delivered the one who had committed fornication when he was far off, and snatched him back again from his hands; just as he does with others, that they might learn not to blaspheme. Observe, moreover, how he also engages those set under him, rousing and inciting them; and now he says to the Ephesians: *We do not have a struggle against blood and flesh, but against principalities and powers* (Eph. 6.12); then he also sets the prize in the heavenly places, saying: The struggle for us is not about earthly things, he says, but about heaven and those things that are in the heavens; B and now he says to others: *Do you not know that we shall judge angels, much more then worldly matters?* (1 Cor. 6.3)? Pondering, therefore, all these things, let us stand courageously. For Paul also was a man, sharing in the same nature as us, and having all other things in common; but since he showed great love toward Christ, he surpassed the heavens and stood with the angels. So that if we also wish to be roused a little, and to kindle that fire within us, we shall be able to emulate that holy man. For he would not, if this were impossible, have cried out, saying: *Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.* Let us not, therefore, merely marvel at him, and merely be struck with awe, but let us also imitate him, so that we may be deemed worthy, even when we have departed from here, to see him and to share in the unspeakable glory; which may we all attain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
SPURIA
MONITUM
That this work is not by Chrysostom, but by an inept little Greek, anyone will declare immediately and at first glance. For here, as far as style is concerned, there is no lack of errors, countless repetitions, and epithets for the most part insipid and multiplied to the point of nausea. You will discover grammatical laws violated everywhere in nouns, in verbs, and in the choice of words. Thus, whoever the writer is, he has woven together the longest discourse of all. This third one...
AN EXHORTATORY DISCOURSE CONCERNING REPENTANCE, IN WHICH HE COMMEMORATED AND REPROVED ALL THE PASSIONS OF MEN. DISCOURSE IV.
1. It is always good to remember God—even very good; and what could be better than this? For the remembrance of His judgments provides consolation, as the Prophet says: *I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord, and I was consoled* (Ps. 118.52). How much consolation, therefore, and comfort and joy is it reasonable to receive for the one who always remembers God? As again the same Prophet says: *I remembered God, and I was glad* (Ps. 76.4). And having come to the enjoyment of the joy derived from this remembrance, he no longer endured to hold anything else in his memory except God alone, saying: *O Lord, I will be mindful of thy justice alone* (Ps. 70.16); and again: *I will remember thy name in every generation and generation* (Ps. 44.18). And elsewhere again he says more universally: *All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord* (Ps. 21.28). Do you see what benefit the remembrance of God provides? Do you see what power it provides, so as to draw even the ends of the inhabited world toward itself? And it has liberated them not only from idolatry, but has also caused a forgetting of their very memories. For having been drawn by the remembrance of God, and enlightened, and having known the true God, they say concerning the vain idols: *I will not remember their names through my lips* (Ps. 15.4). Did you see the power of the remembrance of God? Did you see the good change? Did you see the praiseworthy transformation? Truly, *This is the transformation of the right hand of the Most High* (Ps. 76.11), that is, the advent of Christ, who is at the right hand of the Father, through whom all things were made. Therefore, I said well in the beginning of the discourse, that of all good things, remembering God is the best. Having experienced this remembrance, and grasped the benefit from it, the Prophet, as if forgetting all pleasures and delightful things, even to the point of eating bread, said: *O Lord, I will be mindful of thy justice alone* (Ps. 70.16); and, *I will not forget thy commandments* (Ps. 118.93). Having found and tasted the benefit of such a remembrance, the Apostle also spoke, not to Timothy alone, but to every man, saying to Timothy: *Remember Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead* (2 Tim. 2.8). And just as one who has a treasure hidden in some place, every hour, day and night, his whole mind is there, and just as someone bound in iron remains there, and does not depart even a little from the place, just as the Lord also said: *Where the treasure is, there is also your heart* (Luc. 12.34); so also he who longs for that beauty and for the arrival of the heavenly bridegroom, always remembers that one alone, being drawn by divine love and insatiable desire, always chanting with the holy psalmist David: *I remembered God, and I was glad* (Ps. 76.4). This also the Lord commanded us, saying: *Do this in my remembrance* (Luc. 22.19). Do you see how the Lord wishes to be remembered by us? Let us then, lovers of Christ, remember God at all times, and let us not forget, so that the Holy Spirit may not reproach us: *Thou didst abandon God who begat thee, and didst forget God who nourisheth thee* (Deut. 32.18). But let us not cease to remember God, and for us to be remembered, let us not be hesitant to cry out to Him: *Remember us, Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom* (Luc. 23.42). And just as it is good to remember God for that unspeakable joy, so again this memory would hold great profit and benefit, not only of the delightful and other joyful things, but also of the gloomy and sorrowful ones. For to ponder such things makes the one who remembers better, and prepares him to become more diligent. And of what gloomy things, you ask? You do not ignore, as I suppose, that you are already seeking to be taught? Hear from many, a few: the pitiful voices of the rich man being tormented to the hospitable patriarch Abraham, who on account of his own lack of compassion could not cross over that terrible and fearful chasm which his lack of compassion dug for him; and likewise also of the five foolish virgins, whom lack of mercy similarly condemned to be shut out of the blessed bridal chamber; then, again, the reproach, the shame, the confusion of those on the left, and finally also the painful verdict, that: *Depart from me, you cursed.* Consider also that one, and especially...
those who, having been bound at those royal and glorious nuptials, were cast out with great shame and thrust into that horrendous and terrifying place, *where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth* (Matt. 8:12), the mere hearing of which causes torture. For to remember such things, as I said above, is no small gain for the soul; indeed, to remember God, as they say, brings joy to the memory A and draws one to the heights; but the memory of sad things brings fear and compunction, and makes a man earnest and diligent. Who, when considering that inconsolable loss of the kingdom, is not pricked, does not lament, does not crush his own heart? Who does not water his bed with tears, his breast and his entire body, when he thinks of such a loss, which admits of no consolation? For any misfortune or shipwreck before death has some remedy and consolation. For while one is still among the human gathering, he finds other things in place of those he lost, with which to soothe his distress; but that destruction after death has an inconsolable mourning: for that which he lost he cannot recover. However much he is troubled, however much he groans, laments, pours out tears, or cries out with a loud voice, nothing is accepted. Therefore all Scripture cries out, for this reason the law was given with such care, for this reason there are struggles, therefore there are accountings and entreaties, tears, vigils, sleeping on the ground, maceration of the body, dry food, renunciation, virginity, poverty of spirit, ministries, alms, withdrawal from the world: for this reason there is patience in adversities, tolerance of ignominy, hatred, persecutions, spittle, blows, and all temptations, in imitation of the Lord, Stephen, and the rest of the saints; so that we might not most unhappily miss the mark on that day, when we most especially have the commands of our Lord, which protect us more than any city, more than every garrison. Which commands? *I am with you* (Matt. 28:20); *I will not leave you orphans* (John 14:18); *Do not fear those who kill the body* (Matt. 10:28); *Hold fast to the head* (Col. 2:19); *For I am the head of every man* (1 Cor. 11:3); *You shall not forget the Lord your God* (Deut. 8:11); *Having redemption of your souls in my body and blood* (Ephes. 1:7); *Do this in my remembrance* (Luke 22:19), and for your salvation. Do you see how He commands that we do not forget Him and that we always remember Him, as has already been said? Therefore I say to all men what Paul writes to Timothy: *My son Timothy, always remember, and never forget God who nourishes you, nor forget all His retributions* (Ps. 102:2). But especially remember frequently the terrible words of the Judge, which He uttered without mercy to those who are on the left, and likewise to the five foolish virgins; and also what He said through the patriarch Abraham to the unmerciful rich man; and to these, also to that rich miser who was increasing his barns without measure. Do you know what sentence He pronounced concerning both? Do you remember those sad words? do you retain in your heart even a small word from the divine reading? If you are ignorant of these things, why, I ask, do you come to church? Do you not approach in order to listen and receive profit from here? If for this reason you betake yourself to the gathering of the church, your zeal is praiseworthy, and in you the Lord's word is fulfilled: *My sheep hear my voice* (John 10:27). For I know that many gather here, not for the sake of God, nor to hear His holy words. For I see some sleeping, others turning themselves hither and thither, others talking with friends: and the Lord indeed addresses us with a loving voice, *You are my friends* (John 15:14); but we, having abandoned Him, prefer our friends to Him. I see others creating disturbances, and daring this while God is still addressing us. O immense stupidity! O incurable impudence! O grave insanity! A king, similar to us in his passions, often addresses the people, and all stand like inanimate columns without a voice B until he has finished speaking. And not only that, but even if his letters are read, great silence is commanded for the listeners in that place, so that no one may appear to be there except him who is reading the royal letters; yet here the prophets, apostles, and patriarchs, more sublime than all kings, speak of what God wills, and how He is to be worshipped, and how we may be able to traverse that grave sea of life: yet we consider these words to be trifles, indeed, while we persevere in using idle words, we consider that to be rest. Is the Lord worshipped in this way, who said to the saints conversing with us, *You are the light of the world* (Matt. 5:14)? And why do I speak of ministers and servants, when the Lord of all Himself and King of glory, whom every creature fears, whom every spirit praises, addresses you through the immaculate Gospels, warns, terrifies with threats, exhorts, invites, and offers His own immense and unfailing kingdom; yet we apply our minds to Him in such a way that when some infirm and needy man addresses us triflingly, we do not even deem it worthy to treat him as a friend. Truly, *Vain are the sons of men* (Ps. 61:10); it is opportune indeed that it be said to them: *Fools, when will you be wise* (Ps. 93:8); and they have spent their days in vanity: for they cast aside the angelic hymn and the divine words as if they were trifles, and gave themselves over to idle speech and sleep. But sleep of this kind is not an ordinary sleep, but it is sloth, the grave sleep of the soul, the detriment of the weak, the blindness of the heart, which steals the treasures of the Spirit: for which reason the prophet prayed to God saying: *Illumine my eyes, lest I ever sleep unto death* (Ps. 12:4). Concerning which Solomon wrote: *When will you be awakened from sleep* (Prov. 6:9)? And who will hear that: *Why do you stand all the day, nay, through your whole life, idle* (Matt. 20:6)? Men of this kind are not gathered in assemblies, are without celebration at feasts, are unblessed in prayers, are unmindful in the memory of the saints, are reprobate when peace is given, are unprepared in the church, unworthy in communion, and are troubled, fearful, sad, dark, and desperate in death and departure: concerning whom the prophet predicted, *In that day all their thoughts shall perish* (Ps. 145:4).
On Penance
8. Sleep contains the evils of sloth; it is a pit of souls, a fellow-conversant of the lax, a companion, a mistress. Therefore Paul calls some women on account of their excessive sloth and laxity: and not only women, but also "silly women burdened with sins" (2 Tim. 3:6): for such women are accustomed to keep watch together, to sit together, and to speak of trifles and indecencies, whom God does not feed; *For they have not set God before their sight* (Ps. 53:5); *Always learning, and never arriving at the knowledge of the truth* (2 Tim. 3:7). But he who loves the Lord with his whole heart, and always keeps His memory; where he hears the herald, inviting him to that terrible and life-giving immolation of God, he rises immediately, and first thinks whether he has anything against another or another against him, and having removed this hurdle to salvation, after he has loosed himself from this heavy bond, he goes toward hearing the divine words: as the stag to the fountains of waters (Ps. 41:2), so running with faith and desire, he arrives at the spiritual harbor of God: and having girded himself, with a focused mind, having cast aside all secular care, he prepares his ears to hear the angelic melody. Then with the holy psalmist David C, he cries out: *Come, and see the works of God. Come, you children, hear me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord* (Ps. 65:5; 33:12; and so forth); come, see above the altar the fatted calf, and the Lamb of God immolated, yet not delivered unto death; *Magnify the Lord, and let us exalt His name together. Taste, and see, that the Lord is sweet* (Ps. 33:4, 9). Afterward Isaiah, the swallow of the Church, cries out with a great voice: *As a sheep to the slaughter*
A (Is. 53:7). Depart, O people, to hear: hear what the Lord commands concerning my people: speak, brethren, to those who hate you and who reject you, so that the name of the Lord may be glorified. Then the successor of Isaiah, Paul, the lyre of the Holy Spirit, the cicada of the Church, the habitation of Christ, erect upon the ambo, cries out with a clear voice and with confidence: *Christ our passover is sacrificed* (1 Cor. 5:7). *Who is made unto us wisdom from God, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption* (1 Cor. 1:30). By His blood *we have received remission of sins*. But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice (1 Cor. 11:28). What is it, *let a man prove himself*? It is, that he should ponder what is written, and examine himself, lest he be unprepared to receive the body and blood of the Lord: and let him not prepare himself like Simeon, and like Anna the prophetess, and like Joseph with the clean shroud. If you have prepared yourself so, with confidence and faith and fear, approach crying and saying: *You are Christ the Son of the living God* (Matt. 16:16): and you shall not be condemned, since you have endeavored to make yourself worthy. For he that *eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself* (1 Cor. 11:29). See, brethren, that B none *render evil for evil* (Rom. 12:17). *Let not the sun go down upon your anger* (Ephes. 4:26). See how you walk (Ephes. 5:15). Do you see what good things and what kind of joy he receives, who loves God, and comes together for His sake? Hear again John crying out: *Little children, it is the last hour, and the antichrist comes; and now many antichrists have appeared* (1 John 2:18). But *believe not every spirit, for many seducers have gone out into the world* (1 John 4:1). Then the brother of God, James, coming into the midst, says: *Count it all joy, my brethren, when you shall fall into divers temptations* (James 1:2). *Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which God hath promised to them that love him* (James 1:12). After him Peter, the lofty one, running up, cries out: *Beloved, the end of all is at hand: be prudent and watch in prayers* (1 Pet. 4:7). *Laying away all malice, and all guile, and simulations, and envies, and all detractions, as newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile* (1 Pet. 2:1-2). Afterward the lessons give way to the heavenly speech of the angels, the praise of God, C the tragedy of the powers above; even as the blessed John saw and wrote, saying: *I heard the voice of the powers above as the voice of many multitudes, and as the voice of strong thunders, saying, Alleluia* (Apoc. 19:6). Finally, after all things have been proclaimed, the precursors and ministers cease from preaching and announcing the ascent of the Master upon the ambo, the priests meanwhile sitting down, and the ministers keeping silence, and the hour approaching for the insatiable Master and Lord of glory to appear in a high place, and the people preparing their ears for the hearing of the divinely-spoken and life-giving words, and pushing themselves and approaching the ambo, and a great silence having come to pass, when it is no longer permitted for anyone to sit—neither archpriest, nor priest, nor king, for the sake of the surpassing glory of the One appearing—those who hold the rank of angels cry out with power, saying to all, small and great: Let us all stand, let us hear what the Lord God will speak; let us stand, let us hear what the King of kings commands and wills; let us stand, let us hear the words and commandments of eternal life; for His commandment is eternal life. What then does "Let us stand" mean? Do you suppose it means only the rising from the thrones? For I know that many think only of the rising from the thrones; but I suspect the word has deeper meaning, and signifies a more mystical concept: that is, D upright in faith, upright in heart, upright in thoughts, in charity, in confession, upright toward every commandment of the Lord, upright toward heaven above. As rational beings, think on the things above, and do not look down like the beasts. Then, when all have stood up and are standing in fear, hear what the Lord will tell us in Scripture, even as the prophet David signaled beforehand, what He commands, what He enjoins, what the One terrible in counsels wills. Then there is exalted also the precious pearl and expectation of the nations, the light-bringing to the world, the grace which poured from the lips of our Savior God, the rest of the afflicted, the release of the bound, the redemption of sins, the correction of the fallen, the infirmary of the sick, the hope of the despairing, the aid of those labored, the joy of the repentant, the refuge of the persecuted, the law of freedom for those condemned by the alien, the net which does not kill, but vivifies those engulfed in the salt sea of the world, the fountains of waters, the foundations of the world, the four rivers flowing from the paradise of the holy mouth of Christ. And when the divine and venerable and immaculate Gospels have been opened, the earthly angels again—the priests, I mean—cry out with fear to the people, *Let us attend*; this is, "Here the mind of each, here the hearts of all; let no one be distracted, let no one look around, let no one whisper." Let us attend, God is the One speaking; let us attend, for the King of heaven and earth and all creation is conversing with us; let us attend, the great Shepherd is distributing the food of the life of souls; let us attend, He who slew death and conquered the world promises to us the unworthy an immense joy and a kingdom that has no end. O the inconceivable philanthropy! O the ineffable goodness! That He Himself, the invisible, the incomprehensible, the Creator and Master of all, whom heaven and earth and sea tremble at, to whom every knee bends of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, not through an angel or through the Seraphim or through any other minister, but He Himself through Himself converses with us the unworthy, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet, who says: *No ambassador, nor angel, but the Lord Himself shall come and save us* (Is. 35:4). Similarly also David concerning this preached beforehand, saying *that the Lord Himself shall declare it in the writing of the peoples* (Ps. 86:6). Whence the holy apostle, in a more shaming manner, wrote to us, saying: *Therefore ought we to observe more abundantly those things which we have heard* (Hebr. 2:1). *For if the word spoken by angels became steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which having begun to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard* (Hebr. 2:3)? *Therefore ought we to observe more abundantly*. Why, then, tell me, Paul? Because not through an angel nor through other powers does He converse with us, as also with those of old, but the Lord of angels and of every breath Himself converses and announces and declares the commandment of the Father, as if some poor man. What? Will you not tremble? Who will not marvel? Who will not be pricked with compunction at such goodness and condescension of the Philanthropist? 3. Shall we then, by saying these things, persuade you, or some from the multitude, to attend more abundantly to the speaking God? I believe there are many among you attending laboriously and undistractedly; who shall also hear the Lord saying to the Father, *that they also believed that You sent me; Father, keep them in Your name* (John 17:8, 11). But those who have not believed shall hear: *You are not of my sheep: my sheep hear my voice* (John 10:27). Do you see how you trembled hearing such things? How long will you be heavy-hearted? How long will you be children in mind? How long will you not attend to the One speaking, and stand as becomes Christians, not having your hearts *upward*, but have made the church a cattle-stall, a praetorium, and a shop? See how the terrible saying of the apostle is fulfilled upon you: *And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, He delivered them up to uncleanness* (Rom. 1:28). But we, leaving behind those who have lost their heart to the things of which Solomon spoke as if from the person of the Lord: *I was speaking, and you did not hear; I stretched out words, and you did not attend*, let us return to the set theme, and let us approach the ambo, and let us hear what the Lord God will speak in us, receiving the heavenly commandment of the Father and declaring it to the inhabitants of the earth. But it is clear that He will speak peace upon His people, as the God of peace; He invites to Himself as good those who are labored, and takes up as a just King; He blesses those who weep unto repentance, He judges those who live in hypocrisy, He blesses those who are watchful, and judges those who are slothful; He glorifies the pure of heart as merciful, and blesses the merciful as merciful. *Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy*.
A (Matt. 5:7). But as He is a stranger to cruelty and inhumanity, and void of all wickedness, He rejects and eliminates all inhumanity, and turns away from the inhuman, the unmerciful, and the tenacious; and He will hold an account with them, sometimes by Himself, sometimes through the patriarch Abraham or other holy men. Those who are to be placed on the left He accuses and reproaches, for they were able to show mercy and did not. For the Judge does not demand a debt of such as these from the indigent—since they are in need of the help of others—but from those who have received God’s gifts in abundance and, having forgotten the Giver, boast as though they had not received them: these He vituperates, these He accuses, saying: "O foolish and unmerciful ones B! Did I not give you all things? For what have you brought into the world? Were you not born naked, and shall you not depart naked again? Have you not heard the Apostle crying out that *we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out* (1 Tim. 6:7)? Consider, foolish one, that you possess nothing of your own, except for your will, whether it be good, as God has commanded, or cruel, as you have willed. *The silver is mine, and the gold is mine* (Hagg. 2:8). *Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool of my feet* (Isa. 66:1). All the vastness in my hand, all the universe serves me; heaven and all the hosts of angels, earth and sea, all creation and every spirit is mine; it obeys, ministers, and serves me: you alone, the unmerciful one, have been found an outsider to my kindness. Tell me, foolish one, who spread out the earth for you? Who increased the plants? Who gives the seeds the increase? Who gives the earth rain in the time of the threshing, and winds suitable for the winnower? Who subjected and subdued oxen of such great size that they might furrow the earth, thresh on the floor, and haul wagons? Have I not provided all these things abundantly, as much to those who are worthy as to you C; in that I wished you to be my stewards and dispensers of my gifts, so that in an evil time and in days of famine you might provide for me? *For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat* (Matt. 25:42). I gave, and I hungered; I sought of my own, and you did not give me what to eat. I did not ask for superfluous expenses, nor luxuries, nor provisions, but only what to eat in the present necessity; and you did not give me food. And often, while you were living luxuriously and with tumult on my gifts, and were making merry dressed in soft garments, I stood at the door, dressed in tattered rags, consumed by cold, wasting away with hunger, so that from the force of the famine I could not even cry out; and you did not give me what to eat. I did not seek wine, nor meats, nor strong drink, but only bread; and you did not give it to me. O cruelty, and heavy, profound darkness! How have you not remembered Him who bestowed these things upon you? How have you not recalled to mind righteous Job crying out: *Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return thither* (Job 1:21)? Have you never heard the priest at the mystical table crying out to me, thanking me, and saying: "Thine own of thine own we offer unto thee"? D Yet you boast as though you had not received them; you wished in that plenty of things to remain unshaken for ever. The prophet, having assumed the person of such men, exposed their sickness, saying: *I said in my abundance, I shall not be moved for ever* (Ps. 29:7). Even so, you did not give bread, since you did not acknowledge what God had given you; why did you not at least receive him under your roof? For even this deserves a great reward; or why did you not visit the infirm? For I would not have despised your steps. Or did you not approach me when I was placed in prison, that you might help me with consoling words? Surely you would not have lacked your reward. Or did you not clothe me when naked, or, when I was thirsty, did you not give me a drink of water? How great a reward would you have received from me? But you, when you were able to do all these things, did not do them. *But you became vain in your imaginations, and your foolish heart was darkened* (Rom. 1:21), and you deprived yourselves of eternal life, and suffered shipwreck, for which no remedy can be brought. What, therefore, shall I finally say to you? Shall it be that word, "Come"? But that word does not suit your inhumanity; for that, "Come, you blessed," was given to others. Therefore, all who stood at my right were found worthy of this voice, received this glory, and gained this joy; this kingdom the merciful and compassionate have seized. For in the eternal mansions the inhumane have no inheritance; into my palace the unmerciful does not enter; the ungentle is not judged worthy of the heavenly bridal chamber; in the supernal mansions he who does not give does not dwell; but only the merciful, only the gentle, the hospitable, the providers for orphans, the caretakers of widows and the needy, the protectors of the afflicted, the patrons of the wretched, the confirmers of those who are wavering, the providers for the indigent, the consolers of the desperate, the ministers to the infirm, the constant sustainers of those who suffer evil. The consolers of those who mourn and the faint-hearted, the fathers of those who are in hard servitude, the helpers of those who are involved in calamity, bound with the bound, the guides of the wandering, the coverers of the naked, the sureties for those who are in debt; and, to speak concisely, the stewards of the needy and the poor: such are the inhabitants of my palace, and heirs of the interior goods; for such is the supernal city a dwelling-place, for such I asked my Father: *Father, I will that where I am, they also may be, that they may see my glory* (John 17:24): to such men I have said, and always say: *You are my friends* (John 15:14). But to you, what shall I say? Shall I have mercy on you? But I do not see the fruit of mercy in you. Shall I be merciful? But I do not see bowels of mercy in you. Shall I grant forgiveness? But the wickedness is greater than that it can be pardoned. For not only have you closed your bowels to me when I asked for bread, but you have even snatched from me the rags with which I was clothed, and stripped me naked, and you tore from my mouth the bread which another merciful man had given me. How often did I come to your door, and see such a table, such a mass of foods, so many dogs fed to excess, and lying in beds; and you closed the doors to me, and sent me away indignantly, and did not offer me a crust of bread as you did one of the whelps? How often did you cast me out from your luxury, when the cold was pressing, and you brought in your horses, and you did not consider that I was not crucified and did not shed my blood for the sake of dogs and horses? You care for beasts, dogs, and horses, and seeing my members, the poor and the needy, perishing with hunger, thirst, and cold, you laugh and despise, you turn away your face, and especially from those who lie held by sacred disease? Whose members before death are committed to the earth, whose bodies are considered by many to be dark and abominable; but the soul shall shine like the sun. But you, given to feasts and delights, have received your good things in your life. But now, what shall I say to you? Have you not heard that the future judgment is prepared for those who did not exercise mercy? Even so, you were not merciful, but rather you served inhumanity. Furthermore, why did you snatch away even what the poor man had? Truly he who does not show mercy is punished because he did not give; but he who wears down and steals the things of others, what shall he suffer? What, therefore, shall I say of your inhuman purpose? For I see your sin is greater than that it can be forgiven; the wound surmounts all remedy, your misfortune has no consolation; your shipwreck is without a cure, the blow is incurable, the disease is insanable, your crimes do not deserve pardon. No longer will repentance, no longer will consolation avail, there is no longer need for tears. You did not remember me, you did not listen to the apostles, you have abominably treated my holy Scriptures; you were not merciful to me as I hungered: listen at last to the bitter voice congruent with you, which unmercifulness has gathered for you: *Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire* (Matt. 25:41). [alt-version omitted]
A
Discourse on Penance
O unmerciful ones, tremble and put on bowels of mercy. O relentless ones, shudder and learn to show mercy. O tyrants, grow dizzy and cease from your wickedness. O robbers, be afraid and do not covet rapine (Ps. 11 [10]: 11). Let us all contemplate the fearful hour of the Requiter, and let each of us turn from our own wicked path. Let us imitate the Ninevites and become ready, as the Lord has commanded. I could speak and reveal also those who in lasciviousness defile their garments, and through shame are cast out from the royal wedding and that joy and glory into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But let us first render the following matters concerning the unmerciful; for the tragedy regarding them still remains.
For indeed, the five foolish virgins were excluded due to this same unmercifulness—not because of their virginity (for they were virgins), nor because of fasting, nor because of lack of psalmody, nor because of a lack of bodily hardship or wasting away. For they accomplished all these things with great struggle, and showed forth many labors, and bore the weight of the day and the burning heat; but they were excluded because of their unmercifulness. For this is the mother of all evils, the generator of hatred, that which provokes God the Father, that which drives away the Holy Spirit. B Unmercifulness is what makes Christ—the meek, the calm, the Giver of peace, and the One not prone to anger—appear as judgmental, according to what is written: *Then He will speak to them in His anger* (Ps. 2:5).
Then, when? Clearly when, with much anguish and grief, He speaks to them: *Depart from me, you cursed*. Do you see of what good things unmercifulness becomes the procurer? For the fruit of this is hatred of the brethren; its cultivation is avarice; its therapy is stinginess; its festival has filled the affliction of God; its storehouse is full of inhumanity. In its marketplace, everything is cheap, but there is a lack and a famine of the mercy of God, of compassion, and of philanthropy. Its inhabitants are those on the left; its disciple is that unmerciful rich man, who loathed the beggar Lazarus once lying at his gate. Its friends and disciples are those five foolish virgins. Its citizens sell and buy every kind of thing without mercy and love; whence they also shall hear: *I do not know you* (Matt. 25:12). Its heirs shall hear: *Depart from me* (Matt. 25:41). Its merchants possess everything except the philanthropy of God—just as the aforementioned foolish virgins accomplished everything: virginity, fasting, psalmody, vigil, self-control, sleeping on the ground, dry-eating, prayer, lack of bathing, many labors and sweats, silence. Yet in addition to all these things, they acquired a terrible and destructive possession, the God-hating unmercifulness, which rendered all their aforementioned virtues and sweats useless. C O unmercifulness, hater of brethren and hater of God! O unmercifulness, storehouse of the anger of God! O unmercifulness, dwelling-place having the outer fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth! Do you see a possession that seems small, yet obliterates many and great virtues and achievements?
Believe me, brothers, I am fearful and trembling, contemplating how that one passion rendered all those achievements useless and unacceptable, and made the contestants unrecognizable; for they heard: *Amen, I say to you, I do not know you*. And what is the power of this saying? It is not that He who knows all things before their birth was ignorant, but that their struggles and labors were not for His sake, but for the exhibition of men, and not according to the love of God. Whence, having also taken unmercifulness as their counselor, they were deprived not only of the heavenly bridegroom, but also of the insatiable nourishment of the most beautiful paradise. For where anything is accomplished without love, there Christ has nowhere to lay His head. And henceforth unmercifulness, having found an opening and a place unguarded, eagerly leaped in, takes hold and becomes master of the place, drives out love, banishes sympathy, exiles mercy, and forces the angel of peace to withdraw. And henceforth, remaining deprived of the love and mercy that is from God, the house becomes desolate and a dwelling-place of every passion and unclean spirit, and it becomes a strange land and a forgotten land, D where God is not known. Therefore they hear: *I do not know you*.
Oh, this terrible beast! Which fruit of the vine did it destroy and not fill itself? For this devoured the whole multitude of those on the left, having become the procurer of the eternal fire. This, having found the place in the minds of the five foolish virgins, and having made them its own disciples, and having closed the doors of the bridal chamber, prepared them to be unrecognizable to the bridegroom. O most wicked and insatiable beast! How many did it devour, how many did it destroy, how many did it murder, how many did it burn with that fire? But not so the merciful and kind; may it never be! For the merciful one boasts, not fearing judgment; *for perfect love casts out fear* (1 John 4:18). But it is prepared for the devil, according to the immortal voice of the Lord, and for his angels (Matt. 25:41).
But I add: and for his disciples, concerning whom we spoke a little while ago, both those on the left and the foolish virgins. All these, and those who do similar things until the end, happen to be his disciples. This, having also taken that rich man as a disciple, procured for him that place of torment, where, scorched, he uttered loud voices, saying, *I am in anguish in this flame* (Luke 16:24); for such are the gifts that unmercifulness bestows on those who love it. For this also dug that immense chasm before his face, so that he would never be able to pass over into the place of comfort and find rest. For this is the digger of pits and a creator; for this beast knows no other craft. Woe to you, unmercifulness, and to your disciples! Woe to you, inhumanity, and to your possessors! What is the benefit to you to separate such a multitude of men from God?
Do you hear, as it were, unmercifulness answering? "My work is to dig pits, to close doors, to stain garments, to shut up bowels so as not to show mercy. My gain is to acquire many friends and to destroy them. My joy is to make more disciples and to send them off to Hades. When those on the left stood there ashamed, reproached and accused, then I was dancing. And when they were sent off into the eternal fire, which I procured for them, I was leaping for joy. When they went away mourning, gnashing their teeth and being pushed by demons, I was pushing along with them and rejoicing with them. And when the ten virgins were preparing to meet the bridegroom, I circled them; and the five I could not turn away; for they had many needy, beggars, and the helpless around them, who were guarding them and were with the angels. I beheld also the right hand of the Lord shading them, and I was trembling. But having found the remaining five bare of the love of God, I made them my own disciples and convinced them not to buy oil; and I extinguished their lamps with unmercifulness, and darkened their hearts, and henceforth, not having light, they were deprived of the entrance. But the other five, being ready, entered with the bridegroom; and I closed the doors, and did not allow my five to enter. For my work is to close doors in front of men and not let them enter into that eternal life. As many as I persuade to become my disciples, and teach not to buy oil, are not able to enter there, nor to be separated from me."
5. O this terrible and cruel beast, to say it again, what a multitude it has deceived into not showing mercy, making them sons of Gehenna. Listen, you relentless ones who close your bowels to those in need! Listen, you stingy and wicked ones! For just as those who do not show mercy happen to be disciples of unmercifulness, so also those who afflict and cause harm, those who cheat, those who strike, those who imprison, and especially the innocent, those who strip, those who rob, those who enslave free brethren, those who starve their own slaves and leave them naked and strike them unsparingly, those who unjustly rob widows and orphans and grow rich—all these are children and disciples of unmercifulness. For God, who is merciful and compassionate, commanded to forgive even those who are under judgment and unworthy of punishment. What shall those who oppress the innocent suffer? Listen, you stingy ones, whose friends you happen to be you do not know. Listen, unmerciful ones, whose disciples you have become by your own will!
brothers, whose ministers you happen to be; and when you have learned what kind of rest and gift He has prepared for you in that place, what rivers, what pits, what chasms, what outer darkness, what gnashing of teeth, and other such things, shudder, tremble, be filled with darkness; and leaving behind this shameless inhumanity, which is an enemy of God and of brothers, let us become disciples of the merciful and compassionate God, who has pity on all and forgives all. B "As many as are disciples and friends of inhumanity, put on hearts of mercy." Since we have time, let us learn mercy and compassion, let us learn to grant forgiveness. You who once acted as tyrants, cease, and harass no one; let your provisions be enough for you. You who strive for soft living and are unmerciful, put on hearts of mercy, as Christ commands through the mouth of Paul; you who build huge houses and gather there all things that are thought to be good through the hands and sweat of the poor, who labor without food and without hire, remember what that insatiable and ill-advised rich man once heard, who, like a destitute pauper, was lamenting and saying, "What shall I do, because I have no larger barns?" Recalling the judgment pronounced against him by God, "Open your treasures and give alms; make for yourselves a treasure that does not fail in heaven" (Luke 12:33), as the Lord commands. C You who possess unjust riches from usury and iniquity, "make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness," as the Lord commands, "that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations" (Luke 16:9). You who practice injustice, consider Him who executes judgment for those who suffer wrong, and shudder; you who defraud hirelings of their wages, remember Him who says, "He who defrauds the hireling of his wages is as one who sheds blood" (Eccli. 34:27). And he who is defrauded by you cries out, "And the cries of the reapers in your fields have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." You who strike your brothers, cease; rather, begin to strike your own faces, mindful of the intolerable condemnation of those who struck the sinless Lord with their hands; and also of him who scourged Him, and groan, because often in the brother whom you strike, Christ is hidden, who is again struck with scourges by you. For those who are struck by us with blows have put on Christ, as the Apostle says, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27), on whose account He died, with whom He is struck with blows. Does not hearing this make you shudder and tremble? And do you not cease striking your fellow servants? And upon hearing these things, has your hand grown numb? D I myself, merely speaking these things, tremble. But you who do them, what sort of soul of a beast do you have, that you persevere without shame? Do you not know that "with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matt. 7:2)? At last, even if only a little, cease from vanity, "lest you treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds" (Rom. 2:5-6). But again, taking each one up individually as is fitting, I will admonish you briefly. A O inhuman rich, who rejoice daily, be mindful of that unmerciful rich man, whom his own inhumanity does not allow to pass that chasm which his own lack of mercy dug for him, and shudder. You who boast in virginity alone and are full of inhumanity, do not forget the foolish virgins who closed their hearts to the needy; always consider those who stand on the left, and with much shame bow their heads, and hear that bitter voice: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire" (Matt. 25:41), and shudder. You who seize what belongs to others, hear Him who speaks through the mouth of the saints: "He who lays his hands on things unjustly shall not remain unpunished" (Prov. 11:21); and again, "I the Lord hate robbery from iniquity" (Isa. 61:8); and elsewhere, "Do not set your heart on robbery" (Ps. 61:11). You who oppress orphans and widows, consider who is their protector and avenger. For God, as David says, is "the father of orphans and the judge of widows" (Ps. 67:6). You who exalt yourselves against the married, be accusers of Christ, who says through the mouth of Paul: "Marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled" (Hebr. 13:4). You, however, who corrupt the temple of God through fornication, hear the same One saying, "Fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (Hebr. 13:4). You who kiss with deceit, hear and do not forget the deceitful kiss of Judas, who betrayed Jesus. B Listen, O thieves, what the Lord has spoken concerning you to the prophet Zechariah: "What do you see, Zachariah?" And he said, "I see a flying sickle; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits." And the Lord said, "This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth; for every thief shall be judged from this time even unto death; and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that swears falsely by my name; and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, and the timber thereof and the stones thereof" (Zach. 5:2-4). Are these things enough, O thieves, to draw you back from an wicked course? Or shall I bring forth other divine words which might avert and condemn you, and deter you toward repentance? Hear, therefore, also the Apostle saying, "Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs" (Eph. 4:28); and again, "Thieves shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:10). C You who remember injuries, hear the apostle Peter crying out: "Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but putting away all malice, and all guile, as newborn babes live" (1 Pet. 3:9; 2:1-2). If at any time, overcome and forced to yield to someone, you hate him, do not dare to say, "I love God"; for a great burden to you, a great condemnation is the hatred of a brother, the heaviest of all burdens; and do not attach a lie to yourself; for "he who hates his brother and says, 'I love God,' is a liar" (1 John 4:20), as it is written. D You avaricious ones, consider what you love, as the Apostle cries out; but if this escapes you, come, listen, and I will tell you what evil you love: "The love of money is the root of all evils" (1 Tim 6:10). But what is this wild beast that you love? No one who is greedy for gold has ever been truly human; and whoever is not human does not love Christ. How shameless! It did not reverence that venerable and blessed choir of apostles, whom the demons shudder at, whose shadows banished diseases, whose bodies healed sicknesses, under whose feet all nations, kings, potentates, and wise men were subjected. Yet that shameless one sprang upon them like a thief and like a roaring lion, and snatched the apostle, even from among those twelve elect, chief ones, who was not lacking in the blessing or gifts of Christ any more than the other eleven. For since the Master was generous and beneficent, He honored him like the rest, and gave him the grace of healings and power against the adversary. Indeed, even his feet—the feet that were running against the Master—together with those of the other disciples, that good and never-remembering-a-wrong Lord washed with His own hands. What power do you think he had received from God and the Lord of all against demons and every kind of disease? I tell you, he surpassed all kings and potentates, and was more formidable than any power. Consider, O avaricious ones, if he has dealt with and captured such and so great a soldier as if he were naked and destitute of help, what will become of us, who have no excellent work of virtue? But why do I speak of the apostles and disciples? He did not even reverence the Lord of all, but laid his hands upon Him, and sold Him who could not be sold, and dishonored Him who was worthy of all glory and honor, and beat with buffetings Him before whom every knee bends; He spat upon Him whom the trembling heavenly hosts adore; and, to say what is greater, he killed the Prince of life, who gives life to all. Finally, let no one boast in men, let no one confirm himself in his own vanity, let no one be confident or say, "Vice never overcomes me." For in many things it overcomes you; and you think yourself a victor?
Do you wish that I reveal to you how much you do from the evil one, and yet you walk about as though innocent? Listen: you have sworn by the fearful name of God, which not even the angels dare to do; this is from the evil one, as the Lord has revealed. You have lied: it is a defeat. You have insulted: you have been defeated. You have put away money from your brother, or rather from Christ who was hungry and naked; you have been defeated by a harsh and inexcusable victory, which is the source of that last and fearful accusation: "I was hungry, and you gave me no food," and what follows. And what is more grievous is that you did not show mercy even to the brother of Christ as he was crying out. And after a little while, leaving everything behind, you will depart to a place from which you will not return, but you will be enumerated among those who will hear: "Depart from me, you cursed," and the rest. Do you see in what things you have been defeated, and yet you do not understand? Do you see for how many transgressions you are held accountable, and yet, as if you were a victor and innocent, you spend your time in negligence, having been defeated, and conquered, and are wretched? Have you not heard what is written, that he who overcomes will inherit the eternal goods, which John in the Apocalypse revealed and recounted, things which he saw: joy unfulfilled, gladness undefiled, and a life with the Master of the universe and all the holy angels and archangels? And after relating many other wondrous things, he finally concluded by saying: "He who overcomes shall inherit these things" (Apoc. 21. 7). We have spoken of the victory, if you hold it in your minds; but for the sake of those who are more listless, let us say again which victory he means. A victory which our Lord gained and taught by saying: "Take heart, I have overcome the world" (Jo. 16. 33). Have you heard what victory he means? "He who overcomes shall inherit joy." O blessed inheritance, O lot filled with every joy! There is need, brothers, for many struggles, for many sweats, for many tears, and for much prayer and heart-felt humility. What manner shall we use? What art shall we devise? What method shall we invent so that we may not fall away from those signified goods, which were revealed to the blessed John? Whom shall we ask, that he might teach us the way, how we might be able to become heirs of those ineffable goods which God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2. 9)? The Lord, who teaches man knowledge, he himself will teach us the way: how one must overcome the world. Let us approach him boldly, and ask sincerely. Let us imitate that honorable choir of the apostles, and just as they, coming to him, asked him about the consummation and about everything, and learned the truth from the Truth, let us also approach him now, even if we are unworthy and base, and far from the dignity of the apostles. For he is not far, nor distant from those who seek him in truth, as the prophet says: "The Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth" (Ps. 144. 18). Tell us, Lord, tell us how one must overcome the world. Lord, teach us to do your will (Ps. 142. 10; 68. 16). Lord, guide us in your way, lest the depth of this evil age swallow us up. Lord, Lord, do not forsake us; Lord, besides you we know no other; have mercy on us, because we are weak; Lord, do not leave us as orphans. Good Teacher, what must we do to inherit eternal life (Luc. 10. 25)? To these things, let us hear what he will answer and speak: "Come after me, follow in my footsteps, be imitators of me; willingly become poor, that you may become rich in the manner of my victory." Hear the apostle describing it and saying: "For our sake he became poor, being rich" (2 Cor. 8. 9). "He humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death" (Philipp. 2. 8). Thus also let everyone who wishes to overcome be humbled; he owes it to me as a servant, but if not, then as I, the Master; let him endure persecutions, insults, ignominies, slaps, spittings. Thus he who lives with a right confession overcomes the world, and inherits those things signified by John, which the angels desire to behold. Truly, there is nothing stronger than those who become poor for the sake of the Lord; no one is so fearful to the demons as he who is humble of mind. He who wishes to overcome the world and the things in the world and the high-minded and proud one, A shall keep my commandments, just as I have kept those of my Father, having become obedient even unto death, having accepted abuses and insults, slaps and spittings; and thus he overcomes the world. This way frightened and enervated the devil, and broke his teeth, and crushed his strength and his vain dominion; in this let him who glories boast, as it is written: "Let the humble brother boast in his height" (James 1. 9); for this is he who overcomes the world. Do you see the height of humility, do you see the victory of poverty? Have you seen the invincible battle-array of him who is humble in heart? O poverty B wealthier than all kings; O humility more powerful than giants! O humility and obedience, a weapon and an arrow against the evil one! Truly, every man is troubled in vain who wishes to overcome without this way. Do not be deceived, O man; no one is stronger than Christ; but he himself thus arrayed himself and overcame, having taught us an invincible way of victory; by this way he cast down the proud one, by this art he cast down him who said, "I will be like the Most High"; by this strategy he overcame the world and broke the teeth of the ruler of this world, while being persecuted, plotted against, insulted, spat upon. Do you see the invincible weapon? Do you see the C victory and the art? Do you see the unconquerable power of poverty according to God? Have you seen how fearful the one who has put on humility is to the demons? He is, as has been said before, an imitator of the Lord, desirable to the angels, honorable to the apostles, numbered with the martyrs, fearful to the demons, a victor over the world, an heir of eternal and incorruptible goods. Fear never touches him; every legion of demons retreats and trembles before him, seeing in him Christ, the victor over the world, who trampled them and pulled down their vain dominion.
7. Finally, my children, having learned the way and being taught the art, let us not be negligent, but let us imitate our Lord, and through humility and virtues let us be made like unto him, and let us overcome, with the Lord cooperating; and especially as we highly desire those goods, about which you have often heard, let us not be lazy, let us not give sleep to our eyes, let us not be overcome by the terrible ruler of this world, lest he say, "I prevailed against him." See to it, therefore, beloved, that you do not become drowsy in your eyelids; see to it that he who guards you does not slumber; the ungodly walk in a circle. Your adversary the devil as a roaring lion goes about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5. 8). D Knowing these things, my children, let us stir ourselves up, let us be prepared for wars, and again after a little while let us be prepared for the defense. How long shall we not pay attention to the words of the Lord who says, "Be ready," clearly for the departure from here? Then, when the Judge opens the books—not other, foreign ones which we have not known, but these which we carry about and read and hear every day, those showing us in every instance the safe practice of every commandment—what shall we answer? How shall we escape those who have been persecuted by us, and others who have been despised and suffered many terrible things, especially those standing near the Judge and crying out: "Vengeance, Lord, for we are finally yours; for you are a God of vengeance, Master." What then was one to do? Tell me, if you know anything; for as the argument has demonstrated, it is impossible to escape the hands of the Judge; and we have known that nothing escapes him; that even Hades will appear naked, and all things are naked to his eyes; we know that every work and every action, whether good or evil, whether small or great, is read out in the middle of that theater before the angels and all powers and every human breath. And we have been taught this, that "then shall be the praise to everyone from God," and we have learned that "each shall bear his own burden," and we have been confirmed in the fact that the ready ones enter with him into the eternal tabernacles, and that for the listless the door is shut. And to say the more fearful thing, it has been declared to us that the punishments have no end, but extend into infinite ages; and that we shall all stand naked before the judgment seat of Christ, that each may receive for what he has done, this also we have heard; and that the judgment is without mercy, we have not considered; and that he is coming to judge the living and the dead and to render to each according to his works, we carry upon our lips daily; and that everyone who has sinned...
and has not cared to perform repentance is cast into eternal punishment, we all know. Since we know these things with certainty, why do we not tremble? Why do we not weep? Why do we not rouse one another with salutary counsel that pleases God? Come therefore, all you who are faithful and religious: come, let us assemble with one accord, and since it is impossible for all the ends of the earth to gather together, let at least regions gather; but if even that is difficult, let at least the city with its neighboring places gather; and when many are gathered, let us examine one another concerning those A fearful judgments; let us begin and see if we are ready; let us see concerning each transgression, what judgment the Lord has delivered in writing. Thus each, recognizing his own transgression and its condemnation, will amend himself before the gathering breaks up, unless he remains incurable. For if a king does not remit what is owed to him, but exacts it accurately, and every ruler demands debts: how much more will the just Judge demand all our debts? For this reason I ask your charity in Christ, let no one depart from here bearing a debt. Here there is given a place for apology; there are many ways, many paths to leading a life. For even if sins are many, yet the mercy of God is much greater, as we have often told you: and even if the matter is ineffable, yet I will address your charity in Christ again about it; but let us hear attentively with the fear of God and many tears. As for those of us who are slothful, let us wake up; those who are drowsy, let us be shaken into wakefulness; those who are in temptations, let us cast all our care1 upon the Lord, as it is written, For He cares for us. Here let us gather our mind, let us hear of good morals, salutary morals, arts useful to the soul, the method of conversion and repentance, the divine word briefly explained, and sincere doctrine. Only, as I have said, bring your mind to it; let no one listen slothfully and negligently. For that method, of which I am about to speak, recalls to the minds of those standing by every kind of transgression, so that each one of us, recognizing his own sin, might weep, groan, amend the sin, and prepare himself for a defense. I wish to recall to your memory again those B sad and horrible punishments, as I did also at the beginning of the discourse: for when we say these things, we bring no harm, but rather great utility to you: for a drop falling often hollows out a stone, as it is written. Where then shall I begin? What transgression, what disease shall I set forth, so that I may induce a remedy appropriate to the illness? The first evil is undoubtedly pride, which thrust down the Lucifer from heaven to earth. Do you, O proud one, first listen, remember that which is written, God resists the proud, and cast out this grave disease from yourself, so that you do not offend C God by resisting you: remember him who fell from above to earth; and who was living with God and the remaining ministering angels, [and] now dwells in the infernal regions, in dark and pernicious places: consider always the Lord of glory, how, when He was rich, He became poor; recall to mind the snares laid for Him, the calumnies, the blows, and, filled with horror, humble yourself, so that you may obtain salvation and be exalted in the day of visitation; for the Lord is near to those who are of a contrite heart; and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Those who were wandering in fornications, let them depart, and let them wander no more; but let them remember the Apostle crying out, God will judge fornicators and adulterers (Heb. xiii, 4); and, Every sin, whatever a man has committed, is outside the body; but he who commits fornication, sins against his own body (I Cor. vi, 18); and, Fornicators shall not possess the kingdom of God (Ibid., v, 9). But do not forget him who through fornication defiled the bridal garment, and was cast out of the royal marriage with disgrace: and, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near (Matt. iii, 2). Adulterers, fear the divine voice saying, Do not commit adultery, and the Apostle D crying out, God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Remember also Solomon saying: The adulterer, however, because of his lack of sense, prepares destruction for his own soul (Prov. vi, 32). Go, and sin no more (John viii, 11). To speak more briefly. Repent. Hear also the Apostle preaching, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all impiety and injustice of men (Rom. i, 18). Tremble before the Judge arrives, when you are especially acting boldly against nature, thinking what punishments await such evildoers, unless they perform repentance with much labor and in proportion to the transgression. Remember the Apostle crying out, The unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind (I Cor. vi, 9, 10) shall possess the kingdom of God. And for what reason did they fall into such a serious lapse? Tell me, Paul. Because They did not see fit to have God in their knowledge (Ibid., v, 28), God gave them over into the desires of their heart to impurity, so that their bodies might be dishonored in themselves. Did you see the cause of the serious lapse? And therefore the same apostle admonishes, that we not be desirous of evil things, nor servants of vices (Ibid., x, 6): For by whom anyone is overcome, of him he is also the servant (II Petr. ii, 19). Therefore it is necessary always to pray, always to pour out tears and to mourn, that the Lord may rescue us from the evil sense of the body of this death; so that at last we may desire those things which are truly desirable, into which even the angels desire to look. Let us strive that through repentance we may become so pure as we were before the fall. For such is the kind, such is the power of repentance, which is a precious possession: for it restores the penitent to the first honor which he had before the fall. Indeed, I would dare say that some have become more sublime. After they had labored much, and had shed many tears, they washed away the stench of sins, as that one says: You shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow (Ps. L, 9). But there is need of much care, because we do not know at what hour the exactor will snatch us, and there is no one to rescue. Wherefore the divine voice cries out ceaselessly: Be prepared. You who have the office of judging, avoid passing judgment, with the Lord saying, Do not judge (Luke vi, 37); but remember the Lord saying, Do not judge according to outward appearance, but judge righteous judgment (John vii, 24). But if, while condemning another, you do the same things yourself, you shall not escape the judgment of God. Hear the Apostle rebuking such men and saying: For which cause you are inexcusable, O man, who judge (Rom. ii, 1) those who do such things, and you yourself do them: for in that in which you judge another, you condemn yourself. Do you therefore who teach another, not teach yourself? You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery (Ibid., v, 21, 22)? Cast out first the beam out of your own eye (Matt. vii, 4), as the Lord said: For with what judgment, He says, you judge, you shall be judged. Look therefore, you who judge, that you do not take bribes against the innocent: for it is written: Woe to those who justify the wicked for the sake of bribes, and take away what is just from the just (Isai. v, 23). If any judge therefore finds himself subject to these things, let him strive to make himself irreprehensible through repentance: for behold, the Judge of judges stands at the doors. Therefore, let no one judge another any longer, but let us love one another, let us help one another, let us pray for one another, so that we may be healed from here through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone is subject to anger and fury, let him hear the Apostle saying: Let all bitterness and anger and indignation be taken away from you (Ephes. iv, 31); and again, The anger of man does not work the justice of God (Jas. i, 20); and again, Put away anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth (Col. iii, 8). Hear especially the prophet thus exhorting you, Cease from anger, and leave fury (Ps. xxxvi, 8). And over and above, Solomon says, Do not live together with an angry man (Prov. xxii, 24). For whoever is such, is not a servant of God, but of the vice possessing him, as it is written: For by whom anyone is overcome, of him he is also the servant (II Petr. ii, 19). And having quickly cast aside anger, perform repentance with labor, so that you may not be snatched and carried off into...
that place where the children of wrath are gathered, from whence we are redeemed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You who have been satiated and given to delicacies, hear the Lord as He threatens: Woe unto them that are full, for they shall hunger (Luke vi, 25); and the prophet who says: Jacob ate and was filled, and he forsook God his Maker (Deut. xxxii, 15). Do you see how those who live in luxury are separated from God, those concerning whom the Apostle, demonstrating them to be atheists, said: Whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things (Phil. iii, 19)?
Hear again how God provides in advance for all through Moses, saying: Take heed to thyself, lest when thou hast eaten and art full, thou forget the Lord thy God (Deut. vi, 12-13); and having diligently put away luxury, the mother of all vices and of every stench, lay hold of the fragrance—that is, of temperance—the fruit of the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle has taught. And take heed to thyself, that you too may not hear, like that rich man—the glutton who also hated the poor—that: Thou hast received thy good things in thy lifetime (Luke xvi, 25). And hold fast to repentance, the capital of our salvation, because we know neither the day nor the hour in which our Lord comes.
You who are overcome by drunkenness and are cutting yourselves off by your own will from the incorruptible Kingdom of heaven, hear the prophet who proclaims: Woe unto them that are drunken (Isa. xxviii, 1); and the Apostle who says that drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of God (I Cor. vi, 10); and again as he commands: Be not drunk with wine in which is excess (Eph. v, 18). And having left behind wine—or rather, the drunkenness that shuts one out of the Kingdom—long for that other wine which God has mixed for us from the Holy Scriptures, according to the prophet: the wine of compunction. Having drunk it, repent in compunction, weeping, for the words of the Lord are sweet.
You who trust in the flesh and in your own vanity, hear God crying out through the mouth of the holy ones: All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass (Isa. xl, 6); and again: Trusting in the flesh of his own arm, for vain is the salvation of man (Jer. xvii, 5; Ps. lix, 13). Therefore, the Apostle also writes that we should not be trusting in ourselves, but in God (cf. I Cor. i, 9), just as the prophet says in like manner: It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man (Ps. cxvii, 8). And repent; for the Judge who is no respecter of persons is coming to abolish every principality and power and might (I Cor. xv, 24); for nothing is stronger than Him.
You who practice curious things, secret murderers, A you who are heirs to the place of murderers, hidden wolves, carnal demons, dwellers in the netherworld, sons of the eternal darkness and children of the unquenchable fire, hear what the holy evangelist Luke recounts concerning such people in the Acts of the Apostles, saying: Many also of those who practiced curious arts, bringing their books together, burned them before all, and they counted up their prices, and found fifty thousand pieces of silver (Acts xix, 19). Do you see the swift obedience and the ready salvation? Do you see how their infirmities were multiplied? But the speed of their obedience set all things right. And you who are led astray by similar things, and are deceived by your own will, having spat upon such a harsh and inhuman deception, and having fled from it as from a snake, strive to show forth worthy repentance, before the baseless threat and wailing against such as you overtakes us; for the time is near, and do not be negligent.
You who suffer from the difficult disease, I speak of envy and malice, remember those envious ones who heard: Friend, I do me no wrong; take what is thine, and go thy way (Matt. xx, 13-14). Whither, then? Clearly, into the outer darkness. And having cast off such an infirmity, repent; for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. x, 31).
You who despise the divine Scriptures and insult the Holy Spirit who spoke through the mouth of those in the Old and New Testament, what will you do in that fearful hour when the judgment seat is set, and the books are opened, which you now loathe and turn away from? Where will you flee? Where will you hide from the face of Him who spoke every divine Scripture, and compiled every holy book? Woe and destruction shall overtake you if you do not quickly take up lamentation and wailing, and appease God, whom you have provoked, the Comforter. Do you not hear the Lord saying: Search the Scriptures (John v, 39)? Do you not hear how He called those who do not know the Scriptures deceived? Hear the Apostle calling them God-breathed and profitable, and a word that is sound and healing, and calling them Holy Letters. B Hear again how through Solomon the Holy Spirit called you impious, saying: But the impious will despise wisdom and instruction (Prov. i, 7).
§9. Hearing these things, repent and prepare yourselves for an apology before the day of the Lord comes. And that I may sum up all things: every man who does not strive henceforth to correct himself, but departs while still needing to be corrected, let such a one expect that: The wrath of God is revealed from heaven (Rom. i, 18), not upon this sin or that, but upon all impiety and injustice of man, of men and of women. For there is no distinction; for all have sinned. Therefore, the holy Apostle, according to the grace given to him, wrote also concerning women, saying: Women to be grave, faithful servants in all things. I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence, keepers at home, teachers of good things, that they may instruct the young women to be lovers of their own husbands, not enslaved to much wine (I Tim. iii, 11; ii, 12; Tit. ii, 4). And concerning widows he wrote thus: Honor widows, the widows indeed. She who waits upon supplications and prayers, if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has followed every good work (I Tim. v, 3, 10). And the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of the saints concerning presbyters and deaconesses, and gave ordinances concerning servants and masters, and spoke concerning kings, and spoke concerning soldiers, and laid down rules for bishops, and passed by nothing profitable; because, as he said, wrath is revealed from heaven upon all impiety and injustice of small and great. I have reminded your love of all things, so that you may know all the commandments, and every principality and power and every age may learn the counsel of God and His will, and His fearful coming from heaven, and the fearful torments, and that sharp separation, and each may strive to correct his own life, C and prepare himself for an apologetic, and not give himself up to desire, and fail of the unutterable and eternal goods.
See then, O slothful one, do not remain in sloth; do not be overcome by deception and pleasure. See that you do not despise the riches of the goodness of God and His forbearance and long-suffering, and treasure up for yourself wrath, as the Apostle says, in the day of wrath (Rom. ii, 4-5). Turn back, therefore; be sober; watch; for the time that has passed is enough; do not persist in your deception and love of pleasure, do not delve deep into your injustice. Do you not see the angel following and writing down your deeds? Do you not know that according to your hardness and impenitence the wound is becoming greater, and is inscribed more heavily, and the wrath is more kindled? Do you not know that to practice evil becomes difficult to erase, just as on a tablet characters that are placed more lightly are easily smoothed away, but those that are deep are found to be difficult to erase? See then that you do not despise Him who is going to judge you; see then that you do not, by persisting, prepare for yourself wickedness greater than the remission. Therefore, the Comforter and good Spirit provided in advance for all in all things, and reminded them of everything, and how the fornicator is cast out of the royal marriage with shame, how also the five foolish virgins were shut out of the heavenly joy because of their harshness, how that rich man fared in that place of torment because of luxury and his pitiless mind. Similarly, and the other rich man, who was extending his storehouses and gathering many things and gaining nothing, was rightly called a fool. You are not ignorant of what they who were on the left heard because of their lack of charity. And the Lord called the thief a murderer, saying: The thief comes not but to steal and to kill and to destroy (John x, 10). These things and such as these the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of the saints, and I too have reminded you; and over all these things the Apostle cries out, saying: See that you refuse not Him that speaks (Heb. xii, 25). And the things said will be sufficient for you for the time being, and especially for those more diligent, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has ordered all things according to the aforementioned time for our salvation, and is calling us to His eternal Kingdom. D
more diligent, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has ordered all things for our salvation at the appointed time, and is calling us to His eternal kingdom A His, with the prayers of the saints which we have mentioned, to whom be glory and power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Sunday of Tyrophagus on Repentance and Almsgiving. Sermon II
The soldiers of an earthly king are prepared by sounding trumpets; but the reading of the divine Scriptures stirs the soldiers of the heavenly King, Jesus Christ, to give glory to God and to fear Him. But the former are gathered for the battle against sensible enemies and wars that fall under the senses, while we are gathered against invisible enemies and demons, as Paul says: "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6: 12). B See, brethren, with what enemies we fight. For they are malignant, as you see, and shameless, dragging us by force toward every sin. If they fail in their goal in one thing, they move to another; if they fail in that, they pass to yet another; and, to speak briefly, they do not cease to invade from one thing to another until they attain what they desire. They incite one to fornication, another to adultery, some to seize the property of others, some to theft, some to insatiable greed, one to envy and malice, another to murder or to cause injury, another to slander and the slaughter of brethren, another to gluttony and the corruption of children, another to the despoiling of temples and shamelessness, one to seek the favor of men and vain glory, another to mercilessness and inhumanity, another to apostasy and swearing, another to insult and infamy, another to wrath and fury, another to usury, emulation, and contention, and another to blasphemy and impurity. And some they persuade not to take pity on the poor, others to remove their neighbors' boundaries, others to deprive laborers of their wages—for what could be more miserable than this?—others they persuade to strip orphans, others to oppress widows, others not to enter the church; they precipitate others into a thousand vices, the number of which is beyond count, and if I were to relate them, the time of life would fail me. C See, brethren, into how many evils we fall daily, and we do not pay attention. But, woe is me, what will become of me if I relate these things? Believe me, brethren, as I write these things, I am held by fear and trembling, horror falls upon me, I am stunned, and I am moved to tears while I think how we are ensnared by so many base and diabolical vices. Why, therefore, do we neglect? Why do we procrastinate? What time are we expecting? Why do we despise our salvation? Why do we not care for our end? Why do we neglect, why do we flee? How long shall we lose heart? How long with delights, how long with drunkenness, how long with pleasures, how long with enticements, how long with insatiability, how long with robbery, how long with injustice? How long with attacks on the poor? How long with plunder taken from the needy? How long with riches, how long with money, how long with gold? How long with avarice, the snare of souls? How long with envy, how long with lies, how long with slander, how long with reviling, how long with shameful and wanton desires? Why do we err? Why do we wait? Why do we labor inopportunely? Why do we mock ourselves? Why do we torment ourselves in vain? Why do we invade the property of others? Why are we troubled? Why are we exhausted? Why do we gather temporal things? Let us finally repent; let us wake up, let us keep watch, I beseech you, brethren; let us shake off the heavy sleep of sin. D "Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps. 33: 11). Come, listen, and hear spiritual and salutary things; come, learn the salutary counsel that is pleasing to God; come, know how we shall make confession to God our Savior; come, before the fellowship of life is dissolved; come, before the doors of life are shut; come, before death arrives and finds you unprepared; come, before the sun sets and the light is darkened. Come, listen, all you nations, give ear, all you who inhabit the world; come, "You sons of men, both low and high, rich and poor together" (Ps. 48: 2); come, nobles and glorious, servants and free; come, every race, every age, men and women together, little and great, young and old; come, priests of the Lord, and all the fullness of the Church from the ends to the ends of the earth. Come, "Young men and maidens, old men with the younger" (Ps. 148: 12); come, kings of the earth, whether wise or simple; come, "let us fall down before the Lord who made us, for He is the Lord our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand" (Ps. 94: 6-7). Come, brethren, and know that the ends of the earth will profit us nothing; come, see that we entered naked, and naked we shall depart; come, let us confess to the Lord with tears, groans, alms, and mercies for the poor; and He will teach us how we may attain salvation. Let us also say to Him: Lord, we have sinned against heaven and before you; receive our conversion and repentance, receive our groaning and tears, receive the repentance of our sins, receive the groaning and weeping until death; receive us wretches, who have lived shamefully; receive us, O Benign One, who have provoked you much to wrath; receive us, Lord, who have passed our whole life in luxury and all iniquity and impurity; receive, Lord God, those who have transgressed your commandments; receive us, Lord, your unworthy servants, and do not render to us according to the works of our hands. We confess, Lord, that we are not even worthy of life because of our sins; we confess, Lord, that we are not even worthy to behold the sun, because there is no sin, no kind of evil, that we wretches have not committed. But receive us, Lord, as the prodigal son, as the robber, as the harlot and the publican. Lord, convert us; Lord, grant us prudence, and do not be angry, but be propitious to our sins. You are our God, and besides you we know no other. Lord, deliver us from our enemies, and do not enter into judgment with your servants; Lord, you are God, and we are your people. For we have sinned, we have acted wickedly, we have committed iniquity and evil, we have sinned in all things, and we have not obeyed your commandments; therefore we have wandered far from you. But have pity, Lord, on the works of your hands; have pity, Lord, on those who were cast out of paradise by the serpent's deceit; have pity on us, and clothe us in the tunic of joy, the garment of salvation; have pity on us, whom the devil stripped by your help. O Merciful One, have pity on those who have abandoned you and served him; have pity on the erring, have pity on those who have not observed your commandments and have ministered to the malignities of demons; have pity on those who have been contaminated by sins; have pity on those who have been under the tyranny of the devil; have pity on those who have been soiled by luxury; have pity, O Merciful One, have pity, O Benign One, have pity, O Long-suffering One, because our hands have practiced every evil, every impurity, avarice, and iniquity. For we have polluted the soul which you made in your image; we have polluted the body and the senses. Our tongue has been a sharp sword against our neighbor; our eyes look upon fire; our hands are full of blood; our feet are swift to do evil; our mouth has been defiled with revilings, and, to speak briefly, we have contaminated the earth and the air. For our iniquities have reached unto