On Not Divulging the Sins of One's Brethren

^A and seek aid from the Spirit, and persuade him to wish to remain with us? Through good works and an excellent way of life. For just as the flame of a lamp is sustained by oil, and when this is consumed, that also is consumed and vanishes; so too the grace of the Spirit, when we have good works and much almsgiving poured out for the soul, remains like the flame sustained by oil; but when this is absent, it departs and withdraws. This is what happened with the five virgins. For even they, after many labors and toils, because they did not have the help that comes from philanthropy, were unable to retain the gift of the Spirit with themselves; and for this reason they were cast out of the bridal chamber, and heard that terrible voice: I do not know you (Matt. 25:12), which was even more grievous than Gehenna. For this reason he also called them foolish; and rightly so, because after they had overcome more tyrannical desires, they were captured by a weaker one. See, I pray: they overcame the violence of nature, they bridled maddened insanity, they calmed the waves of desire, they dwelt on earth while manifesting an angelic life, and while clothed in a body they vied with incorporeal powers; and after such labor, they did not control the desire for money—they were truly foolish and senseless. For this reason they were not even deemed worthy of forgiveness. It was solely a failure of negligence; for those who had been able to extinguish the furnace of desire in such a flame, and had leaped over the race-course, and had shown more than what was enjoined (for virginity is not a law, but is left to the choice of those who hear), then to be defeated by money—who would not be more pitiable than they, having cast the crown from their heads for the sake of a few pieces of silver? I say these things, not to loosen the hands of virgins, nor wishing to extinguish virginity, but so that they may not run to no purpose, so that after myriads of toils they may not depart from the race-course uncrowned and filled with shame. Virginity is good, and the accomplishment is above nature; but this good and great thing, which is above nature, if it does not have philanthropy yoked to it, will not even be able to set foot on the thresholds of the bridal chamber. And mark for me the strength of philanthropy, and the power of almsgiving. Virginity without almsgiving could not lead even to the thresholds of the bridal chamber; but almsgiving without virginity has escorted its own foster-children with many praises into the kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world. For they, because they did not show abundant almsgiving, heard: I do not know you; but those who have given drink to the thirsty and fed the hungry Christ, although they did not put forward virginity, heard: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Ibid., v. 34). And very rightly: for the one who remains a virgin and fasts is useful to himself; but the one who shows mercy is a common harbor for those who are shipwrecked, correcting the poverty of neighbors, and dissolving the necessities of others. And among good deeds, those are accustomed to be most approved which happen to be to the advantage of others. ^B

7. And that you may learn that these commandments are more pursued by God than the others: while discoursing about fasting and virginity, he mentions the kingdom of heaven; but when legislating about almsgiving, philanthropy, and making yourselves merciful, he has set a reward much greater than the kingdom of the heavens: That you may become like your Father who is in the heavens, he says. For those laws most of all make men like God—as it is fitting for men to become like God—which result in the common good. And declaring this very thing, Christ said: That he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and rains on the just and the unjust. So also you, having exhausted your power for the common good of your brothers, imitate him who sets his good things before all alike. Great is the dignity of virginity, and for this reason I wish it to be more firmly established. For the dignity of virginity is not just to abstain from marriages, but to be philanthropic, brotherly, and sympathetic. For what is the profit of virginity with cruelty? What is the gain of self-control with inhumanity? You were not overcome by the desire for the beauty of bodies, but you were overcome by the desire for money; you did not admire the beauty of gold; you overcame the greater antagonist, but the lesser and weaker one controlled you and prevailed. For this reason, it made your defeat more shameful; for this reason you did not obtain forgiveness, since after overcoming such violence, and having stripped yourself against nature itself, you were captured by avarice, which servants and barbarians have often been able to overcome without toil.

8. Knowing all these things, beloved, both those who occupy themselves with marriages and those who practice virginity, let us show great zeal regarding almsgiving, since there is no other way to attain the kingdom of heaven. For if virginity without almsgiving could not lead into the kingdom, what other good deed will be able to do this, or will be able to without it? There is none. With all soul and strength, therefore, let us pour oil into the lamps, and let it be abundant and continuous, so that the light may remain bright and rich. For do not look at the poor man who is receiving, but at God who is paying back; not at the one receiving the silver, but at the one who becomes liable for the debt. For on this account one receives and another pays back, so that the poverty and calamity of the one receiving may incline toward mercy and sympathy; ^C and ^D the wealth of him who is to pay back, guaranteeing the deposit, and the repayment following with much addition, may make one confident about the loan and the interest, and call forth almsgiving with greater abundance. For who, tell me, being about to receive a hundredfold, and being confident in every way about the repayment, would not give up everything? Let us not, therefore, spare our money, or rather let us spare our money; for he who spares his possessions deposits them into the hands of the poor, into the inviolable treasure-house, which is unassailable to robbers, servants, malicious sycophants, and all assaults. If, even hearing these things, you hesitate to give up any of your possessions, and neither the hope of receiving a hundredfold, nor the calamity of the poor man, nor anything else can incline you, then reflect on your transgressions and enter into the conscience of your sins; examine your whole life; understand your failings.

And even if you are the most inhuman of all men, surely being compelled by fear of your sins at all times, and hoping for the remission [of these] through almsgiving, you would expend your very body, not to mention your money. For if we are injured, and wishing to repel bodily diseases, we spare no resources, even if it be necessary to sell one's very clothing, so that we may be freed from that infirmity: how much more shall we, intending to heal the infirmity of the soul and the most grievous wounds of our sins through almsgiving, perform this with the greatest alacrity? ^B And yet, when you are ill, you are not immediately freed from the disease by the counting out of money, but often there is need of surgery, and cauterization, and bitter drugs, and hunger, and cold, and other more grievous mandates: here, however, it is not so, but it is enough to place money into the hands of the poor, and you are immediately cleansed of all your sins, without any pain or labor. For the Physician who heals the soul has no need of art, nor of the instruments of art, nor of iron or fire: but the mere wish alone suffices, and at once all sins are taken away from the soul and vanish.

^B Do you not see those monks who embrace the solitary life, and withdraw to the mountain peaks, what a hard way of life they endure? For they lay down on ashes, and wear sackcloth, and weigh down their whole body with iron chains, and shutting themselves within a cell, they struggle perpetually with hunger, living in lamentation and intolerable vigils, so that they may wash away a small portion of their sins: but you, though without all that hard living, may enter upon this easy and ready way of piety. For what labor is it, I ask, to enjoy what is present, and to spend what is superfluous upon the needy? For even if no reward were proposed, and even if no such ample retribution were set, would not the very nature of the thing be able to persuade even the most inhuman to use what they have left over for the consolation of the needy? Now, since such a quantity of crowns, such a quantity of retributions, such a great oblivion of sins is prepared through almsgiving, what excuse, I ask, have those who spare their money, and sink their soul into the depths of sins? For even if nothing else moves and excites you to show compassion and to give alms, at least reflect how uncertain the end of life is, and consider that even if you do not give to the poor, yet when death comes, whether you will it or not, you will yield your possessions to others. Therefore, dispense your riches, and while you may, be humane. For it would be of extreme madness not to be willing to share voluntarily with the needy those things which you will yield to others even against your will, and that when such great goods are to come to you from this kindness. "That your plenty," he says, "may supply their want": you receive what you give. You give visible things, you receive invisible and spiritual things; you give money, you receive remission of sins; you free the poor man from hunger, he frees you from divine wrath. This is a kind of retribution and commerce, which has a greater and more useful return than the expense. For the expense is of money: indeed, the return brings not only money, but also the remission of sins, and at the same time confidence before God, and the kingdom of heaven, and those goods which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have ascended into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). ^C Is it not, therefore, absurd that merchants spare nothing for their business, and that when they are accustomed to exchange not some unique things, but things almost equal for equal: yet we, when it is permitted to exchange not corruptible and momentary things, but incorruptible and everlasting ones for our corruptible and momentary ones, do not apply the same diligence as they?

Faith requires the help of the Spirit. Unbelief arises from the depravity of morals.

^C Not so, brothers, let us not take such ill counsel for our salvation, but moved by the example of the virgins, and of those who are led into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, because they did not feed, nor give drink to Christ, let us retain the fire of the Holy Spirit through large kindness and profuse almsgiving, lest we make shipwreck regarding the faith. For faith has need of the help of the Spirit and of perseverance, so that it may remain unshaken: but the help of the Spirit is wont to be retained among us by purity of life and by approved morals. Wherefore, if we desire to have faith rooted, we have need of a pure way of life, which retains the Spirit, upon whom the whole strength of faith is agreed to depend. For it is impossible, indeed impossible, if you have an impure life, not to falter in faith.

^D Those who are held by [the doctrine of] fate, and who do not believe in the resurrection by the word, cast themselves down into this abyss of unbelief because of an evil conscience and depraved morals. And just as those laboring with fever, while they wish to drive away the heat, often throw themselves into cold water, and with the evil mitigated for a little while, kindle for themselves a more grievous burning: so they who are oppressed by an evil conscience, and seek some consolation, yet do not wish to wash away their sins through repentance, flee to the tyranny of fate and to the denial of the resurrection: and in this way, while they console themselves for a little while in this life with cold reasonings, they kindle for themselves a greater flame of hell; since, having become more slothful here, after they reach there, they will see that every man pays the due punishments for his own sins. And so that you may know this to be true, namely that evil works vehemently hinder the strength of faith, hear what Paul says writing to Timothy: "That you may wage," he says, "a good warfare, having faith and a good conscience (now a good conscience is wont to come about from life and good works): which some," he says, "rejecting, have made shipwreck concerning the faith" (1 Tim 1:18-19). Again elsewhere: "The root of all evils is avarice, through the desire of which some have strayed from the faith" (Ibid. 6:10). Do you see that both they made shipwreck for that reason, and these strayed for this very cause: because those rejected a good conscience, but these clung to avarice? Thinking on all these things, let us have great concern for living as well as possible, so that a double reward may fall to us, one from the retribution of works, the other from the strength of faith. For as it stands in relation to the heart, it is right...

that the body of Scripture should not be wasted without the nourishment of good works; for faith without works is dead. ^A One thing remains to be said: what is it, "The Same"? For he did not say simply, "Having the Spirit of faith," but what? "Having the same Spirit of faith." And I indeed wished to pursue this also in my discourse; but because I see many rivers of thoughts flowing out from this brief phrase, I fear that by the multitude of things about to be spoken, I might overwhelm all that has been said, and render the instruction useless to you by harming it with immoderation. Therefore, halting the discourse here, I pray and beseech you to keep with accuracy the things that have been said—as much as you have heard concerning conduct, and faith, and virginity, and philanthropy, and almsgiving—and holding these securely, to come together for the hearing of what is to follow. For thus our building of the things said will be firm and unshakeable, when, the former things being well-founded in your minds, we cast the second upon them. But may God, who gave to us both to speak these things and you to hear with eagerness, deign to show forth the fruit through works, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

On the same words of the Apostle, "Having the same spirit of faith," as it is written (2 Cor. 4:13); and against the Manichaeans, and all who slander the Old Testament and attempt to separate it from the New, and concerning almsgiving.

1. ^B Being mindful of the things promised. I owe you a debt of apostolic exposition from long ago; but you perhaps have forgotten this debt because of the time, and I have not forgotten it because of the longing I have for you. For such is love: it is an unsleeping thing, and full of care; and those who love do not only carry the beloved in their minds, but they also have a more accurate memory of whatever they promised them than those who are to receive it. Just so, a very loving mother, having kept the remnants of the table for her children, even if *they* happen to forget, she at least will not forget, but with all diligence she preserves them and brings them into the midst and feeds those who are hungry. If mothers are so very loving towards their offspring, much more ought we to show greater diligence and care concerning your love, by as much as the pangs of the Spirit are stronger than those of nature. What then was the table, the remnants of which we kept for you? It was an apostolic phrase, which at that time provided us with much spiritual nourishment, of which we placed a part in your minds, and a part we postponed to the present day, so as not to overwhelm the power of your memory with the multitude of things spoken. What then is the phrase? "Having the same Spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed, therefore I spoke; and we believe, therefore we speak." Concerning what faith it is spoken—whether that which produces signs, about which Christ says, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move,' and it shall move"; or that which implants knowledge in us, according to which we are all faithful; and why "Spirit of faith" is said, and what this faith is—all these things we discussed according to our ability with your love at that time, when we also stirred up our discourses concerning almsgiving. But since it remained to say why it is said, "The same Spirit of faith," and the multitude of things said then did not permit us to pursue this point with accuracy, for this sake we saved it for the present day, and now we have risen to pay you this debt. Why then did he say, "The same"? ^C He wishes to show the great kinship of the New Testament with the Old; for this reason he reminded us of the prophetic phrase, saying, "Having the same Spirit," and adding, "According to what is written: I believed, therefore I spoke." This David had said from above and many years before, which Paul produced now, declaring that the grace of the Spirit is the same both in him then, and in us now, that has rooted the power of faith; as if to say: "The same Spirit of faith that spoke in him, has also worked in us."

2. ^D Against the Manichaeans. Where now are those who slander the Old Testament, who tear apart the body of Scripture, who attribute one God to the New and another to the Old? Let them hear Paul, who seals the mouths that are full of impiety, and who muzzles the God-fighting tongue, and through this phrase shows that the same Spirit is both in the Old and in the New. For the very names themselves show us much harmony of the Testaments. For the New is named because of the Old, and the Old because of the New; just as Paul also says, "In saying 'New,' he has made the former old" (Hebr. 8:13). And if they were not of the same Master, neither could this be called New, nor that Old. So this difference in the names shows the kinship of each. And this difference is not according to essence, but according to the change of times; for the commonality with the old is only distinguished according to this; and the change of times introduces neither a difference of master nor a lessening. And Christ again indicated this, saying: "Therefore I say to you, every scribe trained in the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who brings out from his treasure new and old things" (Matth. 13:52). Do you see that the possessions are different, but the mastery is one? Just as he there is able to bring out new and old things as one master of a house, so truly even here it is possible for the New and the Old to be of one God; for this very thing especially indicates His wealth and abundance, that He not only possesses new things, but also demonstrates His abundance in the old ones. So that there is only a difference of names in the Testaments.

^A And it is true that to differentiate by name alone is not a conflict, nor is there a contradiction. For the Old Testament is made the "old" by the New, but this is not out of conflict or contradiction, but merely out of a difference of name. I add, moreover, that even if the laws of the Old were contrary to the laws of the New, I would still assert that it would not have been necessary to introduce another God. For if He had established contrary laws at the same time, to the same people, about the same matters, performing the same duties, their fabrication might perhaps have had some ground. But if these laws were written for others, and those for these, at one time for one group and another time for another, with those people being in one state and these in another, what necessity is there to introduce two contrary legislators because of the difference in laws? Indeed, I see no necessity; let them bring one forward if they have anything to say, but they can have nothing. For a physician very often does many contrary things, yet not from a contrary intention, but from the same and suitable one. He burns and does not burn, he cuts and does not cut ^B the same body; he offers bitter medicine to drink at one time, and sweet at another. He does indeed perform contrary acts, but with a similar and identical intention; for he keeps one end in view, namely, the health of the invalid. Is it not, therefore, absurd not to accuse the physician for doing many contrary things regarding the nature of a single body, but to criticize God for having given different commands to different people at different times?

What I am saying, I will make clearer to you as follows. The training of the Old Testament is like the nourishment of milk, while the philosophy of the New Testament is like solid food; and no one provides solid food before the nourishment of milk. This is what the God of the New Testament did, if He is not the same one who also gave the Old; for before He nourished with milk, that is, the discipline of the Law, He led us to solid food. They hold Him guilty not only of this, but also of a greater crime, in that He finally undertook the providence of our race after five thousand years or more. If He who was dispensing our affairs through the prophets and patriarchs and righteous men was not the same, but someone else apart from Him, He will seem to have undertaken our providence very late and tardily, as if He returned to Himself through repentance for what had been done before; which is so far from being true of God, that it does not befit any ordinary person to allow so many to perish for so long a time, and only at the very end of the ages to attend to the providence and care of a few. ^C

But that we may know they are not contrary, but only different, let us bring the laws themselves into the middle. "You have heard," He says, "that it was said to those of old, You shall not kill" (Matt. 5:21). This is the old law; let us now see the new: "But I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to the fire of Gehenna" (Matt. 5:22). Are these, I ask, contrary commands? And what mortal, provided he is in his right mind, would say so? For if the former law forbade killing, and the latter ordered it, perhaps someone might say there is a conflict of laws in these words; now, however, when the former commands not to kill, and the latter commands not even to be angry, the prior command is increased, not contradicted. For it prunes away the fruit of malice, that is, murder; but this one tears out the very root, that is, anger; it removes the stream of vice, while the latter dries up the fountain itself. For the fountain and root of murder is fury and anger. That law made our nature more prepared for the latter, and this one coming afterward supplied what was lacking. What kind of contradiction is this, when one removes the end of evils, and the other removes even the beginning? The former makes the hand clean from blood, the latter also preserves the mind from evil thought. These are the characteristics of concurring laws, not conflicting ones, as the enemies of the truth attempt to construct—not noticing that in doing so, they object to the God of the New Testament a great crime of neglect and sloth; for God will be found (which blasphemy may it turn back upon the heads of those who impose on us the necessity of speaking these things) to have dispensed our affairs at the wrong time. ^D

The error of the Samosatene. Do you see to how many blasphemies they make God liable, those who say the legislator of the New Testament is one, and the legislator of the Old is another? All of which evaporate if we agree that God is one for both Testaments. For thus it will appear that He dispenses our affairs with order and good reason, then indeed through the Law, but now through grace; and that He has governed all our affairs not recently, nor just now, but from the beginning and from the very first day. But in order that we may the more stop their mouths, come let us now bring forward the testimonies both of the prophets and of the apostles, crying out that the legislator of both Testaments is one. Let Jeremiah, then, sanctified in the womb, proceed into the middle and prove this manifestly, that the God of the New Testament and of the Old is one and the same. What then does he say here, crying out from the person of the legislator? "I will make a new testament with you, not like the testament that I made with your fathers" (Jer. 31:31). It is God who had once given that Old testament as well. Here, certainly, the mouths of the followers of Paul of Samosata are also stopped, who deny that the Only-begotten of God existed before the ages. For if He did not exist before the birth of Mary, and before He presented Himself to be seen in the flesh, how was He establishing the law when He did not exist? Or how was He saying: "I will make a new testament with you, not like the testament that I made with your fathers"? For how was He giving a testament to their fathers when He did not yet exist, as they indeed affirm? But against the Jews, and the Paulians who suffer from the same disease, the testimony of this prophet is sufficient to be opposed; but that we may also restrain the mouths of the Manichaeans, let us bring forth a testimony from the New Testament, since they count the Old as nothing; nay rather, they even treat the New, to which they wish to seem to pay respect, with no less injury than the other, in one way indeed, because while they cut it off from the Old, they also undermine the authority of this one.

the proclamation of the prophets, whom these men, turning away, do not perceive, having insulted the apostles more than the prophets. ^A On this account, they insult the New Testament; and again in a second way, by cutting away the greater part of it. Nevertheless, the power of those things which remain in it is so great that it makes the wickedness of these men evident even from the very remnants; for the severed members cry out and wail, seeking harmony with their own members.

5. How, then, shall we prove that one and the same is the Lawgiver of both the New and the Old Testament? From those apostolic words left with them, which, although they seem to involve an accusation against the Law, in fact establish it most strongly, and show it to be a divine oracle coming from above. And this was done by the wisdom of the Spirit, so that those who accuse the Law, being lured by the surface meaning, might—unwillingly and unknowingly—receive the defense written on its behalf: so that, if they should be willing to look toward the truth, they might have the instruction that leads them by the hand; but if they should persist in unbelief, they might receive no further pardon, disbelieving even against their own salvation those whom they claim to believe. Where, then, does the New Testament say that it and the Old have the same Lawgiver? It says so in many places ^B and often; but we are currently endeavoring to bring forward that passage which still survives even now among the Manichaeans. What, then, is this? "Tell me," it says, "you who desire to be under the Law, do you not hear the Law, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-woman, and one by the free woman?" (Gal. IV, 21-22). The heretics heard, "one by the slave-woman," and they immediately leaped upon it; for they thought what was said was an accusation of the Law; and having cut it off from the rest of the sequence, they keep it as if it were pleading their cause. Come, then, let us show from this very passage that there is one Lawgiver. "Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-woman, and one by the free woman; these," it says, "are allegorical." What is it, "are allegorical"? Those things which came to pass in the Old Testament were types of those who have come into the grace. For just as there were two women there, so here there are two Testaments. First, in this, he shows the kinship of the New with the Old, whenever the former things are a type of the latter. For the type ^C of the truth is not an opposite, but a relative. If the God of the Old Testament were opposed to the God of the New, He would not have been going to prefigure the preeminence of the New Testament through the women. If, however, He did prefigure it, Paul ought not to have used the type. But if they say that he was doing this to condescend to the weakness of the Jews, he ought also, when preaching to the Gentiles, to have introduced Greek types and to have made mention of the events that had occurred among the Greeks. But he did nothing of the sort; and with very good reason. For those things had nothing in common with the truth, but these are oracles of God and Law; wherefore the old things have much kinship with the New Testament.

6. The second argument from the same history. Not a few, having been led by the Old Testament, do not fear. In the first place, therefore, this argument is: the Old Testament is in all ways in harmony with the New. Second—which is no less than this—it is taken from the history itself. For just as then there were two women of one husband, so also now there are two Testaments of one Lawgiver; since, if there were one Lawgiver for the New and another for the Old, he would have introduced the history to no purpose. For the husband of Sarah was not one, and the husband of Hagar another, but one and the same. So that, when he says, "For these are the two ^D testaments," he is saying nothing other than that they have one Lawgiver, just as those women had one husband, Abraham. "But," he says, "the one was a slave, and the other was free." And what of that? For the time being, the question was whether there is one Lawgiver for both. Let them concede this first, and then we will answer them regarding that. For if you force them to concede this, and they are persuaded, their entire doctrine will vanish. For when the Old Testament is found to be of the same Lawgiver—as it indeed is—the entire dispute we have with them is resolved. But so that this does not trouble you, let us attend exactly to the wording. For he did not say, "The one was a slave, and the other was free"; but, "The one was born into slavery." Yet the one who gives birth into slavery is not necessarily a slave; and the very fact of being born into slavery is not an accusation against the one who gave birth, but against the children who were born. Since they deprived themselves of freedom through their own wickedness, and fell away from their nobility, God disciplined them as ungrateful slaves with continual fear, punishing them with torments and threats. For many fathers [E] even now raise their own children not as sons, but with the fear appropriate to servants; and the accusation is not with the fathers, but with the children who prepared their fathers to use those who are free as though they were slaves. Thus did God also lead that people then with as much fear and punishment as it was fitting to lead an ungrateful servant; but what was occurring was not an accusation of God, nor an accusation of the Law, but of the Jews who were kicking against the goad and had need of a harsher bridle. In the Old Testament itself, therefore, many will be found who were not led in this way, such as Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and all the others who emulated the philosophy found in the New. For they did not become such as they were through fear and punishment, nor through threat and torment, but through divine love and a burning affection for God. For they did not have need of commands, nor of precepts and laws, in order to choose virtue and avoid wickedness, but like noble and free children, having recognized their own worth, they went over to virtue without any fear and punishment; whereas all the other Jews, since they had inclined toward wickedness, had need of the bridle according to the Law. When, therefore, they made the calf, and worshiped the graven image, then they heard: "The Lord your God, the Lord is one"; because they committed murder, and defiled the wives of their neighbors, then they heard—

^A *Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery*, and all the rest likewise. ^B For it is no accusation against the law that it inflicts punishment and chastisement, and corrects servants as if they were base, but it is a mark of its great excellence, and no ordinary praise, that it was able to deliver those who had fallen into such extreme wickedness from their evils, to soften them and make them obedient, and to pave the way, as it were, for this new philosophy. For the same Spirit was dispensing all things in both the Old and the New Testament, although it did so in different ways. Therefore Paul said: *Having the same Spirit of faith, as it is written, I believed, therefore I have spoken.*

The probity of morals must be joined with the sincerity of faith. ^C And not only for this did he say "the same Spirit," but also for another cause, not less than the one mentioned, which I wished to bring forward now; but fearing that, being burdened by many things, you might forget what has already been said, I shall reserve it for you for another day, exhorting you in the meantime to store up the whole present discourse in your memory, and to hold it fast, that you may join Christian virtues with the purity of doctrines: *That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work* (II Tim. III, 17): since it will profit us nothing to think rightly, if life meanwhile is corrupted by evil morals: just as, on the other hand, a life without blemish profits nothing, unless sincerity of faith also be added. ^D Therefore, that we may attain complete utility, let us provide for ourselves on both sides, bringing forth generous fruits in other respects as well: and first of all, alms, concerning which I also spoke to you recently, exercising them with great liberality and readiness. *For he who sows sparingly*, says the Scripture, *shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows in blessings, shall also reap of blessings* (II Cor. IX, 6). What is, *in blessings*? With great liberality. In secular matters, both the harvest and the sowing are of the same seeds: for he who sows, sows wheat or barley, or something similar, and he who reaps, reaps the same thing; but in alms, it does not happen that way. ^A But you scatter money, and collect confidence before God: you give money, and you receive the remission of sins: you offer bread and clothing, and for these the kingdom of heaven is prepared for you, and those infinite goods, *which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man* (I Cor. II, 9): and what is the sum of all good things, you become like God, as far as it is possible for man. For when Christ had discoursed concerning alms and kindness, he subjoined: *That you may be like your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and rains upon the just and the unjust* (Matt. V, 45). You cannot command the sun to rise, nor send forth rain, nor be beneficent to the whole world so widely and far-reaching: use your faculties for beneficence, and you have become like him who commands his sun to rise, in so far as it is permitted for a man to become like God.

[Regarding the idle, Paul does not so much turn them away from benevolence.] ^B Observe diligently what I say: *Upon the good and the bad*, he says. Therefore you too, as often as you give alms, do not examine the life, nor require an account of morals. For alms, that is mercy, is so called, that we may provide even for the unworthy: for he who shows mercy, does not pity the one who lives correctly, but the one who is begging; for he who lives correctly is worthy of praise and a crown; but he who sins, of pardon and mercy. Therefore in this part too we shall imitate God, if we do not withdraw our kindness even from the wicked. For consider how many blasphemers, criminals, and sorcerers inhabit the world, filled with all vices; yet God feeds even these daily, teaching us that we should embrace all men with beneficence. ^C But we do all things in the contrary way: for we not only turn away from men who are evil and wicked, but even when any healthy man comes to us, either on account of his probity, or on account of his frankness, or perhaps even on account of his laziness (that I may add this too), living in poverty, we cast reproaches, insults, and countless taunts at him, and we send him away with empty hands, upbraiding his health, objecting his idleness, demanding punishment. Have you been ordered, O man, to rebuke and scold the needy? God commanded you to pity and relieve their poverty, not to demand an account and rail at them. ^D But do you wish to correct his morals, and to call back an idle man from his sloth to apply himself to some work? Give first, and then at last rebuke, that you may not be suspected of cruelty, but may carry away the praise of kindness. For the pauper turns away from him who, giving nothing, only upbraids, and he bears it ill, and does not even sustain to look at him; and deservedly so. For he thinks that he is not a rebuker because he wishes him well, but because he does not want to give; just as it is in reality. But he who upbraids *after* he has given, makes his upbraiding be received with a willing mind: because he seems to apply the rebuke not on account of inhumanity, but on account of benevolence. So also Paul did; for when he had said: *He who does not wish to work, let him not eat* (II Thess. III, 10), he immediately added: *And you, brethren, doing good, do not fail* (ibid. v. 13). And yet these precepts seem to be contrary. For if it is not proper for the idle to take food, how do you command to do good to such? But they are not contrary: far from it. For I said this, he says, *He who does not wish to work, let him not eat*, not to turn away those who were otherwise about to give from giving alms, but to recall those living in idleness from their laziness. Therefore when he says, *Let him not eat*, he stirs them up to labor, holding them terrified with a threat: but when he says, *Doing good, do not fail*, he excites these to beneficence, moved by useful exhortation. For lest some should withdraw their hands having heard with what threat those are struck, he provokes them to beneficence with these words: *Doing good, do not fail.* Therefore even if you give to an idle man, you have done good. [For when he had said: *If anyone does not obey our words by this epistle, note him, and do not mingle with him* (II Thess. III, 14), and in this way had cast the man out of the Church, again he reconciles him in another way, bringing him back into favor with those from whom he had been ejected: ]

^A he says, "Do not regard him as an enemy, but as a brother." Just as therefore, once he had said, "If anyone is not willing to labor, let him not eat," he commanded the masters to take great care of them again; so too here, once having said, "Do not associate with him," he did not withdraw the hearers from the care of him, but rather exhorted them strongly to take hold of them, adding and saying, "And do not regard him as an enemy, but as a brother." You have been separated from his company, but do not be separated from your guardianship; you have cut him off from the assembly, but do not cut him off from love. For he commanded this very thing to be done out of love, so that by being separated he might become better and return to the rest of the body; since even fathers cast their children out of their own house, not so that they remain outside forever, but so that by having fallen out of the house they might become more sober-minded and return to the house again.

As for those who accuse him of laziness, these things are sufficient. But since there is also another argument, practiced by many as an excuse, which is full of inhumanity and cruelty, it is necessary to refute this too, not so that we may deprive them of an apology, ^B but so that we may persuade them to lay aside the apology that does not exist and does not profit, and to practice constantly through their deeds that which does exist and can stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What then is this cold and useless apology of the many? I am bringing up children, he says, I manage a household, I support a wife, I have many necessary expenses, because of which I have no means to show mercy to those who approach me. What are you saying? You are raising children, and for this reason you do not show mercy to those who approach you? For these very reasons, you ought to show mercy to the needy—because of your children and their protection—so that from a few funds you may make God, the giver of those children, gracious to you; so that you may leave Him as their protector even after your death; so that you may draw down to them from above much favor from the wealth of those things spent on God. Do you not see that many men possess wealth and are in positions of power, having no relation to them at all, yet they often brought them into their own wills and made them co-heirs with their own children, for no other reason than to secure their own children's possessions with a few funds? And this, without knowing how those who become partners in the inheritance will be disposed toward their children after their own passing. But you, knowing the humanity and kindness and gentleness of your Master, ^C will you not make Him a partner in your will? Will you not make Him a co-heir of your children? And this, tell me, when you are a father who loves his children? For if you care for the children you have brought forth, leave behind for them a document in which you have God as guarantor. This is the greatest inheritance, this is wealth, this is security. Introduce Him into the inheritance here, so that He may introduce you along with your children into the inheritance there. This is a noble heir, humane, kind, powerful, wealthy, so that there is no room to suspect his partnership.

For this reason, almsgiving is called seed; since the thing is not an expenditure, but an income. But as for you, when it is time to sow, you do not pay attention to the fact that you are emptying your storehouses of old grain, but you pay attention to the harvest of crops not yet present—and this, without knowing that it will come to be. For even blight, and hail, and locusts, and the irregularity of the seasons, and many things thwart our hope for a future harvest; but when you are about to sow into heaven, where all irregularity of the seasons is cast out, and the cause of all grief and plotting is removed, do you hesitate and draw back? And what excuse will you find, when you have confidence while casting into the earth and do so with eagerness, but when you are about to cast into the hand of God, you hesitate and are negligent? For if the earth gives back what has been cast into it, much more will the hand of God give back to you everything you receive with all of its abundance.

^D 10. Knowing these things, therefore, let us not pay attention to the expenditure when we give alms, but to the income and to future hopes—and also to the present gain; for almsgiving does not merely procure the kingdom of heaven, but also safety and abundance in the present life. Who says these things? The Lord Himself who gives them. For whoever gives his own to the poor, He says, will receive a hundredfold in this age, and will inherit eternal life (Matt. 19:29). Do you see rewards given in both lives with great abundance? Let us not, therefore, hesitate, nor procrastinate, but let us bring the fruit of almsgiving each day, so that both our present affairs may be carried out according to our mind, and we may attain the life to come; of which may it be granted that we all partake, by the grace and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and power for ever and ever. Amen.

CONCERNING THE SAME WORDS,

"HAVING THE SAME SPIRIT OF FAITH, ACCORDING TO WHAT IS WRITTEN" (2 Cor. 4:13) AND CONCERNING THE FACT THAT ALL REGARDING MONEY AND ALMSGIVING IS COMMON.

1. In the previous assembly, and in the one before that, having taken up one utterance of the Apostle, we spent the whole discourse on its explanation; and today we also strive to spend time again on this same one. We do this intentionally for the benefit of your love, not for our own display. For it is not so that I may show myself to be prolific and deep-thinking, but so that I may reveal to you the wisdom of Paul and stir up your zeal, that I handle the discourse in this way. For the depth of his understanding appears greater when he brings forth such rivers of thoughts for us from a single utterance; you, having learned that it is possible to reap a wealth of philosophy from a single apostolic phrase, will not pass over the Epistles simply, but will be led forward, nourished by these hopes, to examine each of the assigned sayings with great diligence.

^A If, then, those who dig in mines for gold—even if they have exhausted a great wealth of it—do not depart therefrom until they have removed all the gold, much more is it incumbent upon us to apply the utmost alacrity and diligence in the search of the divine oracles. For we too are digging for gold, not a perceptible, but a spiritual one; for we do not labor in the mines of the earth, but in the mines of the Spirit. For the Epistles of Paul are mines and fountains of the Spirit: mines, because they offer us wealth more precious than any gold; fountains, because they never fail, but however much you exhaust them, just as much and much more flows forth again. ^B And the whole time that has elapsed can clearly demonstrate this. For since Paul lived, five hundred years have now passed, and in all this time many, both commentators and teachers and interpreters, have often drawn out many things many times from there, yet they have not been able to empty the riches stored within. For this treasure is not perceptible, and therefore it is not consumed by the many hands of those digging, but is increased and multiplied. And why do I speak of those who were before us? How many are going to speak after us, and others after them, yet the riches, gushing like a fountain, will not fail, nor will this type of mine be exhausted; for they are spiritual, and by their own nature can never be wholly consumed. What then is that apostolic saying? *Having the same Spirit of faith, according to that which is written: I have believed, therefore have I spoken.*

^C But since we are asking why he said, *The same Spirit of faith*, and we have already briefly brought forward the reason—namely, this one: to show the consistency of the Old and New Testaments. For when it is found that the same Spirit of faith moved the tongue of David, saying, *I have believed, therefore have I spoken* (Ps. CXV. 10), and also worked in the soul of Paul, it is sufficiently evident that there is a great kinship between the prophets and the apostles, and thus it necessarily follows that there is a great consistency between the Old and New Testaments. But lest we be troublesome to you by repeating the same things, come, let us also bring forward another reason why he said, "The same." For we had already promised another reason for this saying. But it is necessary that you be awakened; for the thought I am about to tell your charity is deep, and it requires a discerning mind and a sharp wit; wherefore I beseech you to listen to what must be said with the utmost attention. It is your gain, but our toil; or rather, it is a gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit, by whose revelation of secrets neither he who speaks nor he who hears grows weary; for great ease follows upon revelation. Let us therefore listen with diligence; for although we follow the greater part with our ears, if you doze off even a little, once the thread is broken, you will know nothing of the whole. And just as to those who do not know the way and need a guide, if they follow him for a long time but through negligence lose sight of him even for a little, it is of no use to have followed him thus far, but they stand still, not knowing in which direction to proceed; so even those who follow the speaker with their mind, even if they have imbibed his teaching attentively, if they listen even for a little while inattentively, with the whole chain lost, they cannot reach the end of the thoughts. Lest this happen to you, attend to all that we are about to say with equal care, until we arrive at the end.

^D Having said, then, why he says, *Having the same Spirit of faith*, wishing to show that the faith of both Testaments is the same and the mother of all good things, let us take up our discourse from a little higher point. For so will the cause appear to us more clearly. What, then, is this cause? A great war surrounded the faithful when these things were being said; a war, I say, grave and without any truce. For entire cities and peoples had risen up against them on all sides, and all tyrants were laying snares, and kings were preparing war against them; weapons were being moved, swords sharpened, armies arrayed, and all kinds of punishments and tortures were being devised; thence came the looting of property and confiscations, and daily imprisonments and deaths, tortures, chains, fire, iron, wild beasts, gallows, wheels, abysses, precipices, and whatever could be devised for the destruction of the faithful; and the war did not even contain itself within these bounds. For it was not only incited by enemies, but nature itself was irritated against itself. For fathers were laying snares for their children, and daughters had mothers for their enemies, and friends turned away from friends, and this war secretly insinuated itself into kinships and families, and there was a great tumult throughout the entire habitable world. And just as a ship, with waves rising, clouds meeting, thunder crashing, gloom surrounding the hull on all sides, the sea raging, wild beasts raging, pirates attacking, and the passengers themselves in conflict among themselves, can by no means escape unless the heavenly right hand, that great and powerful one, having dispelled the danger and calmed the storm, leads the voyagers into tranquility; so also it happened then among the beginnings of the preaching. For they were not only struck by external storms, but they also often labored within from sedition. Who says this? Paul himself, writing thus: *Without, fightings; within, fears* (2 Cor. VII. 5). And that this is true, and that teachers as well as disciples were surrounded by countless evils, and that this war had been waged equally through all, I again bring Paul himself as a witness. Your part, however, is to remember all these things that I say, so that, having known the perils and temptations, and all the adversities which the faithful of that time endured, you may render all the greater thanks to God, who put an end to all those calamities, and having averted the war, fashioned a most tranquil peace for us; so that no one might escape the punishment of sloth, nor be puffed up on account of a life rightly lived. Hence it is, if you stand generously though attacked from every side and overwhelmed by countless adversities, just as if you were now sitting in a harbor, and possessing a confident spirit in the utmost security. For their condition was no better than those who are tossed by a troubled sea; we, however, live more securely than those who have been brought into port

Let us not, therefore, grow haughty over our successes, nor collapse under the temptations that befall us, nor let us misuse this rest and peace as an excuse for sloth; rather, let us be ever sober and vigilant. For we too have a struggle against the desires of our nature. It is not men who rise up against us now, but the pleasures of the flesh; it is not tyrants and kings who make war, but anger, the lust for vainglory, envy, malice, and the myriad passions of the soul. Since, then, we have been delivered 284 from those early temptations, let us overcome these. For this reason I have reminded you of the hardships of those times, so that he who is currently in affliction may receive sufficient consolation from it, and he who enjoys great security may, in place of the lack of trials, bring great fervor into the battle against perverse thoughts. For all those things were written for our admonition, consolation, and endurance; and it is necessary now to tell you of them, and to teach you the magnitude of the evils that surrounded the faithful in those days—not only the teachers, but the disciples as well. Hear, then, what Paul says while writing to the Hebrews: *Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions* (Heb. 10:32). For not even a short time had passed; but in the very prelude to their instruction and teaching, temptations rose up against them, and immediately upon being baptized they were in danger; and what were they suffering? *Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions* (Ibid. v. 33). For everyone spat upon them, insulted them, mocked them, ridiculed them, calling them fools and senseless, because they had departed from their ancestral way of life and embraced a new doctrine. This is no small thing to shake a soul, if the faith is not deeply rooted. For nothing bites the soul so much as reproach; nothing so wastes away the soul and mind as taunts and calumnies; for many men have often been tripped up by being reproached. I am saying this now so that we may hold our faith with confidence. For if then, when the whole world was reproaching them, they were not tripped up, much more now ought we to hold the preaching of the truth with confidence, when the whole world has changed sides to be with us.

And that those men did not stop at accusations, reproaches, and calumnies, but that those who suffered these things actually rejoiced, hear what follows. *For ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods* (Ibid. v. 34). You see that their possessions were being confiscated in ancient times, and were set before everyone for plunder by those who wished to oppress them. These things he said while writing to the Hebrews.

[5.] But to the Thessalonians he testifies other such things again, saying: *For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews* (1 Thess. 2:14). Behold a war, but a civil war, which makes the pain greater. For if an enemy had reproached me, I could have borne it, he says; but it was you, a man of another soul, my guide and my acquaintance; which is what happened symbolically at that time. Therefore they were in need of much consolation. Seeing this, and beholding those under him suffering and sweating, weighed down by the magnitude of their calamities and pained by the relentless blows, Paul rouses their spirits in many ways: sometimes saying, *It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us* (2 Thess. 1:6, 7); at another time saying, 283 *The Lord is at hand; be careful for nothing* (Phil. 4:5, 6); and again, *Cast not away therefore your confidence; for ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise* (Heb. 10:35, 36). Then, inciting them to patience, he adds: *For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry* (Ibid. v. 37). And just as someone sitting near a crying, fretful child who is seeking its mother consoles it by saying, "Wait yet a little while, and your mother will surely appear," so Paul, seeing those who believed at that time distressed, lamenting, and seeking the presence of Christ because of the unbearable infliction of evils, consoled them by saying: *For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry*. That they were suffering terrible things, and were driven about on every side like lambs caught in the midst of wolves, is clear from these accounts. But in order that you may learn that the teachers were enduring things no less than these, but rather things much more grievous at that time (for the more they grieved the enemies of the truth, the more they were infested by the masses), [6. The teachers themselves were more grievously afflicted.] Thus, what the disciples were suffering, and the many evils they were undergoing, were like lambs being persecuted on all sides in the midst of wolves, and it is evident from these things that—but that you may know that the teachers were enduring things no less than these, but rather much more grievous things (for the more they grieved the enemies of the truth, the more they were infested by the majority), ^D

let us also hear this from the same person who taught the previous things. Writing to the Corinthians, he speaks thus: *Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in insurrections, in labors, in watchings, in fastings* (II Cor. VI, 3-5). Do you see how many struggles he enumerated, how many temptations? Writing to them again, he says: *Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more,* as if to say that it is much more excellent to suffer affliction for Christ than to work wonders; and bringing forward the proof of his apostleship, and showing that he is to be preferred to others—not to the apostles, but to the false apostles—he does not argue from miracles performed by himself, but from the constant dangers in which he moved, writing in this manner: *In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are without* (II Cor. XI, 23-28). These are the true marks of apostleship. For others often performed wonders, and it did not profit them to have performed them, but after all those things they heard: *Depart from me, ye that work iniquity* (Matt. VII, 23). But no one of those who can recount the same things as Paul is ever going to hear that voice; rather, with great confidence he will ascend to heaven and will enjoy all the heavenly goods.

The Master: But do not be anxious; I have not forgotten the promise, but I will return to it immediately. We have not pursued these things with a longer discourse in vain, but that we might confirm our doctrine more certainly and clearly with a more prolific apparatus of words, and at the same time might console the souls of the afflicted, so that as many as are caught in dangers and temptations might depart having found suitable consolation, knowing that they are made companions of Paul through these afflictions, or rather, indeed, of the Lord of the angels himself. For whoever is a participant of his afflictions in this life will also be a participant of his glory in that life; for he says: *If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together* (Rom. VIII, 17); and again: *If we suffer, we shall also reign with him* (II Tim. II, 12). For it is absolutely necessary that the race of the faithful be pressed by afflictions: *For all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution* (II Tim. III, 12); and again: *My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation; make not haste in the time of trouble, and be patient* (Ecclus. II, 1-2). Are these fine promises, to fall immediately from the beginning into temptations? By no means; rather, it is an excellent exhortation and a signal consolation of that servitude, to taste dangers immediately. They are clearly excellent and at the same time admirable, and bring the greatest gain. What is that gain? Hear what follows: *For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of temptation* (Ecclus. II, 5). Take what he says thus: just as gold assayed by fire is rendered purer, in like manner also the soul that spends its time among afflictions and dangers emerges more cheerful and splendid through them, and wipes away every stain of sin. Hence it is that Abraham said to that rich man: *Lazarus received his evil things: but now he is comforted* (Luke XVI, 25). And Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says: *For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world* (I Cor. XI, 30-32). And he even delivered that fornicator for this cause unto the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved (I Cor. V, 5), showing that salvation is perfected by present temptation, and that dangers are the greatest purgation of the soul for those who undergo them with thanksgiving. So, that the faithful endured afflictions, and that both disciples and teachers endured countless calamities, and did not breathe even for a minimum time, being surrounded on all sides by wars of every kind, this our discourse has sufficiently declared, and those who are diligent can collect more also from the holy Scriptures.

Let us bring the discourse back to the matter at hand. But what had we proposed to say? For what reason did Paul say, *Having the same spirit of faith*? Why, then, did he say it? It troubled the disciples that they experienced heavy things in the present life, but conceived good things only in hope, and the former were already present, while the latter were far off; the former were already occurring, the latter were still being hoped for. What wonder if this happened to some at the beginning of the preaching, when now, after such a length of time, after the preaching has been propagated in the whole world, after so many certain arguments for the promises, the same thing is still wont to happen to many?

In the Old Testament rewards were received in this life. — Nor did this alone terrify them, but also something else, and that not less. What is this? They thought within themselves that in the Old Testament human affairs were not dispensed in this way, but that whoever had preferred a just and temperate manner of living received the rewards of virtue immediately. For they were not promised that all these things would be fulfilled after the resurrection of the body, nor in the future life, but here in the present life. For it says: *If thou shalt love the Lord thy God, it shall be well with thee, and the Lord will multiply the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep; there shall not be among you one that is fruitless, neither shall there be among you one that is sterile; there shall not be among you languor or sickness* (Deut. VII, 12-14); he will open the heavens, and he will give thee early and latter rain. The harvester will overtake the vintage, and the vintage...

will overtake the sowing. And many other such things He promised them, all of which were rendered to them during this present life. ^A If anyone is sharper, he already foresees the solution. Since, therefore, soundness of body, the fruitfulness of the land, the abundance and excellence of children, a flourishing old age, the best tempering of the seasons, prosperity, the timely arrival of rain, and many herds and flocks ^B—and, in a word, all good things—were filled up for them in this present life, and nothing was held in hope, not even after their departure from here; the faithful, therefore, reckoning these things—that for their ancestors everything good occurred right at their feet, whereas for themselves all the prizes and crowns were stored up in the life to come, and that the promises were in faith—labored, and grew weary, being compelled to drag their whole present life through temptations.

Paul, therefore, considering these things and the magnitude of the terrible trials hanging over them, and that for the latter God promised the reward of their labors after their departure from here, whereas He requited their ancestors here, and seeing much despondency arising in them from these reasonings, wishing to rouse them and teach them that even in the case of their fathers things were thus ordered, and that many received their reward in faith, not in experience, he reminded them of the prophetic utterance, saying: *Having the same Spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed, therefore I spoke*; as if to say that even the great David, that admirable and noble prophet, obtained his reward by faith, and not by experience; for if this were not so, he would not have said, *I believed, therefore I spoke*. For faith is the substance of things hoped for, not things seen; and what anyone sees, he does not entirely hope for. If, therefore, he believed, he believed in things hoped for. And if he ^C believed in things hoped for, and the things hoped for are not yet seen, he had not yet received these things in which he believed. For this reason he says, *Having the same Spirit of faith*, that is, the same faith that was in the Old Testament, we also have.

For this reason, he says elsewhere, speaking of the saints of that time: *They wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy*; then, teaching that they endured the terrible things but have not yet received the rewards even now, he added, saying: *In faith all these died, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar off and embracing them.* And how, tell me, did they see things not yet present? With the eyes of faith, the eyes that transcend the heavens and look upon all things that are there.

^D 9. And you observe for me the wisdom of God, how He both showed them the prizes from afar, and did not give them immediately, so that He might create in them a greater endurance; but He showed them from afar so that, nourished by these hopes, they might not even have a perception of the present labors.

But perhaps some of those who pay closer attention will think that the argument has encountered a contradiction. For if, he says, not even the former ones received their good things and rewards at their feet, why have you drawn out a long discourse to us, enumerating the tempering of the seasons, the soundness of the body, the excellence and abundance of children, prosperity, the abundance of fruits, flocks, herds, and all worldly well-being? What, then, could we say to this? That God then treated the multitude and the weaker mob differently, and differently the noble ones who were already entering into the philosophy of the New Testament. For to the many, who were creeping on the ground and were able to see nothing great, nor to extend the hope of their soul toward the enjoyment of the goods of the future, He provided these present goods, comforting the weakness of their soul, and through these guiding them toward the practice of virtue, and casting them into a desire for noble things; but Elijah and Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and all the prophets without exception, and as many as have been of the choir of holy and great men, He called toward the heavens and the goods prepared there for those who have distinguished themselves.

For this reason, Paul did not merely enumerate everyone, but those in sheepskins, in goatskins, those in the furnace, those in the prison, those who were tortured, those who were stoned, those in famine, those in poverty, those in deserts, those in caves, those in the holes of the earth, those who suffered myriad terrible things. And then he said they all died in faith, and had not yet received the promises; not hinting at the Jewish multitude, but at those according to Elijah.

But if anyone says: "Why is it that these themselves have not yet received the crowns owed to them even now?" let him learn this reason also from Paul. For after saying, *In faith all these died, not having received the promises*, he added: *God having provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.* For, he says, the festival is common, since there is a greater pleasure when we are all crowned together. This also happens in the Olympic games: the wrestler, the boxer, the contender in the pankration endure their contests at different times, but at one moment of time, all are proclaimed. This also happens at the finest banquets. For when some of the guests arrive first, and others still linger, the hosts, honoring those who are left behind, command those who have already arrived and are present to wait for those who are late. This also God has done; for since He called those from the whole world who had distinguished themselves at different times to a common and spiritual feast, He commands those who have already arrived and departed to wait for those who are to depart after them, so that with everyone arriving together in this way, both the honor and the pleasure may be one for all.

10. For consider what a great thing it is for the sake of honor that Paul and all those who were with him, Abraham and those with him, and those before him again, having contended and conquered so many years ago, should sit now awaiting our own distinction. For the fact that Paul has not yet received the crown, nor anyone else of those who have been pleasing to God from the beginning, nor will they receive it until all those who until the end are to be crowned

have arrived, hear Paul himself saying: ^A *I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me* (2 Tim. 4:7-8). When? *In that day; and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.* And again elsewhere, showing that the enjoyment of these goods is to be granted to all in common, he writes thus to the Thessalonians: *For it is just before God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted along with us* (2 Thess. 1:6-7). And again: *For we who are left alive until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep* (1 Thess. 4:14). By all these, he teaches that we ought all together and in common to receive the possession and the fruit of the heavenly honor. This even brings great pleasure to those who have preceded us, that they are about to enjoy those ineffable goods together with their own members. For indeed a father, having a splendid and bountiful table, then truly enjoys it with greater pleasure when his children are partakers of his delight and joy. So also Paul and those like him will then feel a more ample joy of soul when they enjoy them together with their own members. For parents do not have such affection for their children as they bear concern for those who have entered the same path of virtue. That we, therefore, may also be in the number of those who will then be honored, let us take pains to attain those saints. And how shall we be able to attain them, you say? Who will point out to us the way that leads to them? The Lord of those saints himself, who teaches not only how we may attain them, but also how we may become their table-companions and associates: for he says: *Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails, they may receive you into their eternal dwellings* (Luke 16:9). Here, for indeed, even if you have a splendid house, it is destined to perish entirely by time; ^B nay, before that perishes, death, rushing in, will cast you out of this magnificent dwelling; not rarely, indeed, even before death, unfortunate business, the onslaughts and traps of calumniators, cause you to be cast out from there. But there, there is nothing for you to fear of such a kind; there is no corruption, no death, no ruin, no loss from calumniators, nor anything else; but the dwelling is immovable and immortal. Therefore, he called it eternal. *Make for yourselves friends,* he says, *of the unrighteous mammon.*

The praises of almsgiving. Why the poor are before the doors of the temples; fountains before oratories.

For great is the power of almsgiving, about which we also discoursed in the previous assembly before you, and now also let us discourse. But let no one of you so think that this persistence of exhortation tends toward the accusation of the hearers. For even in athletic contests, those are most stirred up by the spectators who draw closer to the goal and seem to have more certain hope of victory. Therefore, because I see you with great alacrity receiving the discourse concerning almsgiving, so much the more it pleases me to continue this exhortation. The poor are the physicians of our souls, benefactors and protectors; for you do not give as much as you receive; you give money, and you receive the kingdom of heaven; you relieve need, and you reconcile the Lord to yourself. Do you see the unevenness of the retribution? These are earthly, those celestial; these are perishing, those permanent; these are corrupted, those are outside the danger of corruption. For this reason our ancestors established the poor before the doors of the churches, that even the most inhuman and sluggish person might be stirred to almsgiving by the very sight of the needy. For where a chorus of old men stands, bent, clothed in rags, ^C squalid, filthy, holding staves, and with these only with difficulty sustaining themselves, sometimes blinded, and in their whole body badly punished, who is so stony, who so adamantine, who can remain hardened and inflexible toward their old age, weakness, blindness, need, cheapness of clothing, and so many other things that move one to pity? For this reason they stand before our doors, and by their very appearance, more than by any words they can, they provoke those who enter to beneficence. For just as it is customary that fountains are ready before oratories, so that those about to worship God may lift up their hands, first washed, while praying: so did our ancestors place the poor in the stead of fountains before the doors, that just as we wash our hands with water, so might we first, having wiped off our souls through beneficence, then at last offer our prayers.

^D 12. Nor is water so great at washing away the stains of the body as almsgiving is at wiping away the filth of the soul. Just as, therefore, you do not dare to enter to pray with unwashed hands, although this crime is lighter, so neither should you ever approach to pray without almsgiving. And yet, not rarely, even when we have clean hands, we do not stretch them out to God unless they are first washed: so much avails custom. The same thing, therefore, must be done in almsgiving; and even if we are conscious to ourselves of no great sin, yet we ought to wipe away our conscience through almsgiving. You have contracted many evils for yourself in the forum: an enemy has provoked you, a judge has compelled you to do something little becoming, you have often uttered words not good, you have committed some sin so as not to offend a friend; you have contracted other not few stains, as is the habit of men who are occupied in the forum, in the law courts, doing the affairs of the city, for all of which I enter to ask God for pardon and to make apology. Therefore, wash with the hands of the poor, and wipe off those stains, so that with boldness you may call—

upon Him who is able to forgive these sins for you. If you habituate yourself never to approach these sacred thresholds without almsgiving, you will never, either willingly or unwillingly, fall short of this good work, for such is the power of habit. And just as you do not endure to pray with unwashed hands—a thing that should be done—because you have once established the habit, so too with almsgiving: if you impose this law upon yourself, you will perform it every day, both willingly and by nature, being drawn on by the habit. ^B Prayer is fire, especially when it is sent up from a sober and awakened soul; but this fire also requires oil, so that it may reach the very heavenly arches. And the oil of this fire is nothing other than almsgiving. Pour out this oil abundantly, so that, rejoicing in your good deed, you may perform your prayers with greater boldness and zeal. For just as those who are conscious of no good in themselves cannot pray with boldness, so also those who have achieved something, and who come to prayer after that righteousness, rejoicing in the memory of their good deed, perform their supplication with much greater zeal. So that our prayer may be more powerful in this regard as well, let our minds be watchful in our petitions through the memory of our good deeds, and let us come to our prayers with almsgiving. And let us remember with precision everything that has been said; and before all other things, keep that image consistently before me, according to which I said that the poor stand before the doors of the houses of prayer, performing for the soul that same service which the fountain performs for the body. For if we are always mindful of this, continually washing our understanding, we shall be able to perform our prayers in purity and to draw down great favor from God, and to attain to the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

NOTICE REGARDING THE HOMILY ON "WOULD TO GOD YOU COULD BEAR WITH ME A LITTLE IN MY FOOLISHNESS"

This homily bears no mark of either place or time. But Chrysostom, having begun with the praises of Paul, teaches everyone by his example that one must always abstain from self-praise, as far as ability allows; and if at any time, under urgent circumstance, one is compelled to commemorate those things which turn to one's own honor, that it should be done with moderation. He confirms this very thing with the example of David and Samuel; and he touches only incidentally upon whether he delivered this sermon at Antioch or at Constantinople.

The interpretation of some unknown author, which was less well arranged, we have deleted and have prepared a new one.

ON THIS SAYING OF THE APOSTLE, WOULD TO GOD YOU COULD BEAR WITH ME A LITTLE IN MY FOOLISHNESS (2 Cor. 11. 1)

1. The manner of true love. — I love all the saints, but especially the blessed Paul, the vessel of election, the heavenly trumpet, the bridal escort of Christ. I have said this, and I have brought into the middle [of our discourse] the love I have for him, so that I may make you sharers in this affection. For those who love with bodily desire are reasonably ashamed to confess it, inasmuch as they both shame themselves and harm those who hear them; but those who love with spiritual desire should never cease from confessing it, for they benefit both themselves and those who hear them through this good confession. For that love is a crime, but this is a panegyric; that is a perverted passion of the soul, while this is the soul’s gladness, exultation, and finest adornment. That introduces war into the minds of those who love, while this drives away even existing war and establishes those who love in great peace. And from that source no benefit comes, but rather much loss of money and senseless expenditure, the reversal of a life, and the total destruction of homes; from this, however, comes the great wealth of good deeds and a great abundance of virtue. Furthermore, those who love beautiful bodies and gape at bright faces gain nothing toward the removal of their own ugliness if they themselves are ugly and ill-favored; indeed, they are judged all the more base and unsightly. In the case of this love, however, the exact opposite is true. For he who loves a holy, beautiful, bright, and truly handsome soul, even if he himself is ugly and ill-favored, even if he is the most base of all men, by persevering in the love of the saints, will quickly become such as the one he loves. For this too is a work of God’s love for mankind: that while the body, being misshapen and crippled, cannot be corrected, the soul, even if it be base and ill-favored, can be made bright and truly handsome. For from the beauty of the former, no profit could come; but from the beauty of the latter, it is possible to harvest as many good things as it is natural for the lover to possess who has God. Concerning this beauty, David also sings in the Psalms: "Hear, daughter," he says, "and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house, and the king shall desire your beauty" (Ps. 44. 11, 12); calling "beauty" here that which is in the soul, which is built up by virtue and piety.

2. Since, therefore, there is such gain for those who with the saints

are joined and communicate, he is a participant of my love; let us love this holy man with the highest affection. For if this love should enter our soul and kindle a bright flame: if it should find any thorny, or stony, or rough, or stupid thing in our thoughts, by consuming the one and softening the other, it will make our soul like a rich field, fit for the divine seed. And do not say to me, "Paul is not present now, nor is he seen by our eyes; how can someone be loved whom we do not see?" For nothing is an impediment to this love: for we can love even one who is absent, and cherish one who is not seen, especially when we see every day so many and such great monuments of that virtue: namely, the Churches established everywhere in the world, the overthrow of impiety, the change of a bad life for the better, the expulsion of error, the ruined altars, the closed temples, the silence of the demons. For all these things the effective tongue of Paul, through the inspiration of divine grace, destroyed, and kindled a splendid flame of piety everywhere. Along with so many and such great deeds of his, there are also those holy epistles of his, which accurately depict for us the image of that blessed soul. And so, then, if we were discoursing with Paul himself, now present and living among us, we would thus studiously obey his writings; let us unfold these intimate and deep things, and learn what that is which was proclaimed today, saying: ^B *Would you could bear with me a little in my foolishness; but do bear with me: for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy* (2 Cor. 11. 1-2). What do you say, Paul? You who bid disciples to walk in wisdom toward those outside, who say, *Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one* (Col. 4. 5-6); you who pray for all, that they may be filled with spiritual wisdom (Col. 4. 9), do you yourself say, *Would you could bear with me a little in my foolishness*? Was it not enough for you to have uttered some word of foolishness, but you also bring it before the disciples? And not only do you bring it before the disciples, but you make it known to all future men through your epistle? Observe how one ought not to pass over words rashly, but to examine each one accurately; for if that is read simply, it is tossed about before the hearers: but if it is examined, it shows Paul's great wisdom, great prudence, and ineffable care.

^C 3. What, then, is that which is said? There were many pseudo-apostles among the Corinthians who were corrupting them and accusing Paul, craftily wounding the fame he had among his disciples, mocking him with taunts, charging him with arrogance. He is found to be attacking them frequently in his epistle: just as when he says, *For we are not as the many, peddling the word of God* (2 Cor. 2. 17); and again when he says, *I have kept myself without cost to you* (2 Cor. 11. 9); and when he asserted that he would preserve it: *For the truth of Christ is in me, that this boasting of mine shall not be stopped in the regions of Achaia* (2 Cor. 11. 10). When he subsequently added the reason, he points to those villains, saying: *What is it? Because I love you not? God knows. But what I do, and will do: that I may cut off occasion from them that desire occasion* (2 Cor. 11. 11-12); and before these things he exhorts the disciples not to force him to exhibit his authority to them himself, saying thus: *But I beseech you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence wherewith I am reckoned to be bold against some, who count of us as if we walked ^D according to the flesh* (2 Cor. 10. 2). For these very men, of whom he says these things, accusing him through irony, used to say: Paul's epistles carry before them great terror and arrogance of words, but he himself is naught, vile, and abject. But after he has arrived here, they said, he will be seen to be worth nothing: which he declaring, said: *That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by my letters; for his letters, they say, are weighty and strong; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account* (2 Cor. 10. 9-10). Then, accusing the Corinthians themselves, who had been persuaded, he says, *Did I commit a sin in abasing myself, that you might be exalted* (2 Cor. 11. 7)? And answering this crime, he says again, *What we are in word by letters when we are absent, such are we also in deed when we are present* (2 Cor. 10. 11). Because, therefore, there were many pseudo-apostles among them, whom he also calls deceitful workers, he speaks thus: *For such pseudo-apostles are deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder: for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light. It is no great thing, therefore, if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness* (2 Cor. 11. 13-15). Since these, with the slanders they devised against him, were harming the disciples and introducing an assessment of the teacher that was not congruent, he is forced finally to fall into a commemoration of his own praises; for it was no longer safe to be silent. Since, therefore, he is about to narrate his own contests to us, and also the revelations he saw, and the labors he underwent: to show to all that he does this with difficulty and unwillingly, and though he sees it is necessary, he calls it foolishness, speaking thus: *Would you could bear with me a little in my foolishness*. I am about, he says, to address a foolish matter, that I may praise and celebrate myself; yet I am not the cause, but they rather, who forced me into this necessity: wherefore I beseech you to bear with me, and impute the cause to them. *Would you could bear with me a little in my foolishness; but do bear with me: for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy*. He does not come immediately to the narration of his praises, but with words interposed, he thus introduces: *I say again, Let no man think me foolish; but if you do, yet as foolish receive me* (2 Cor. 11. 16). Nor yet does he thus come to the narration, but again he subjoins and says: *That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this substance of boasting* (2 Cor. 11. 17). Nor even after these things does he dare to enter, but puts it off and says: *Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also; for you gladly bear with the foolish, being wise yourselves* (2 Cor. 11. 18-19). Furthermore, later he shrinks and hesitates, and with some things interposed again he introduces: *In whatever any man is bold, I speak in foolishness, I am bold also* (2 Cor. 11. 21). And only then, after so many excuses made beforehand, he entered upon the narration, but not immediately, for he brings in again and says: *If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness* (2 Cor. 11. 30). And not even after these things did he dare to throw down the words, but again he strikes and says: *For if many glory according to the flesh, I will also glory; gladly do you bear with the foolish, being wise yourselves* (2 Cor. 11. 18-19). Then he hesitates and shrinks, and after saying other things, he again adds: *In whatever any man is bold, in foolishness I speak, I am bold also* (2 Cor. 11. 21). And then at last

after thousands of times calling himself a fool and senseless, he finally dared to come to his own praises. *Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? So am I* (2 Cor. 11. 22-23). And not even there did he restrain himself, but again he places the correction, adding: *I speak as a fool, I more* (2 Cor. 11. 23). Nor did he stop there, but after recounting all his praises, he says: *I have become a fool in boasting; you compelled me* (2 Cor. 12. 11). For he was saying: "I had no concern for those things, if your affairs were secure, if you were not being subverted and shaken." For even if those men were always speaking evil of us, no harm would have come through their slander. But since I saw the flock being corrupted, and the disciples leaping away, I despised this burdensome and grievous task, and I was compelled to become a fool, speaking my own praises for your sake and for your salvation.

[E] 5. Such is the custom of the saints: if they have done anything base, they parade it and mourn it every day and make it plain to all; but if they have done anything noble and great, they hide it and let it pass into oblivion. This very saint, then, was constantly turning over and parading his sins, even when no one was coercing him; at one time saying, *Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief* (1 Tim. 1. 15); at another time saying, *I give thanks to Christ who has strengthened me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy, because I did it unknowingly in unbelief* (1 Tim. 1. 12-13); and again, *Last of all He was seen by me also, as by one untimely born; for I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God* (1 Cor. 15. 8-9); and again, *To me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given* (Eph. 3. 8). Do you see how he calls himself not only the least of the apostles, but simply the least of all believers, saying, *To me, the least of all the saints, was this grace given*? Thus, he says he is not worthy even of the salvation by which he was saved; for having said that *Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief*, hear also for what reason he says this: *But for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who were to believe in Him for everlasting life* (1 Tim. 1. 16). ^A What he says is this: "I did not obtain mercy because of a worthy change of life,"—do not imagine that!—"but that no one of those who have lived in wickedness should despair, nor any of those who have warred against Christ, seeing the chief of all sinners—after whom there was no other so hostile to Christ—saved." And Christ says, *For he is a chosen vessel of Mine, to bear My name before Gentiles and kings* (Acts 9. 15). But he, not being puffed up by those praises, remains condemning himself after such great boldness, calling himself the first of sinners, and saying that he obtained mercy for this reason, that no one, even if they have reached the extremity of wickedness, might despair of their own salvation, while looking at him and the philanthropy that happened to him.

6. Sins, therefore, he parades every day in all his epistles, even when there is no need, condemning himself and making them clear not only to the men of that time, but to all who would be hereafter. But his praises—even when he saw there was a necessity—he hesitates and shrinks from recounting. And this is clear not only from the fact that he called it "foolishness" thousands of times, but also from the length of time he kept silent about that marvelous and divine revelation; for he had seen it not just then, nor two or three years before, but much further back. For this reason he also states the time, saying thus: *I know a man fourteen years ago caught up to the third heaven* (2 Cor. 12. 2). That you might learn that not even then would he have spoken, had he not seen that a great necessity was pressing upon him. For if he had wished to recount his own praises, he would have done it immediately, in the first, second, or third year. But now, he waited fourteen years and kept silent, and spoke to no one, but only to the Corinthians. And when? When he saw the pseudo-apostles attacking, showing that a corruption had occurred among the disciples. But not even then would he have spoken, had he not seen such ^B constraint. But we do not do this; rather, we do everything to the contrary. We do not remember our sins for a single day, but if we hear others mentioning them, we are indignant and wash them with thousands of insults. But if we have even done some small good, we dwell on this continually, and we are grateful to those who remember it, and we consider such to be our friends; and yet Christ commanded the opposite: to forget our achievements, but to remember our sins. And He made this clear to us also through those things which He advised His disciples, saying: *When you have done all things, say, "We are unprofitable servants"* (Luke 17. 10); and through the parable of the Pharisee, having set the publican before him. For just as the remembrance of sins justified the latter, so the remembrance of achievements destroyed the former. And God advises these very same things to the Jews, saying, ^{C D}

507 Behold, I am he who blots out your sins, and I will not remember them; but you, remember (Isa. 43:25). Of all the just men, David truly remembered his own sin continuously, but his good deeds never, unless at times necessity compelled him. When, therefore, that barbaric war was vexing the Jews, and all things were full of danger, and he was still a youth and unskilled in war, he left the sheep and descended into the battle line; and seeing everyone terrified, fearing, and trembling, he suffered nothing human, nor did he become faint-hearted seeing the others downcast, but by faith transcending all that was seen, and looking toward the King of heaven, he filled himself with much zeal and approached the soldiers and his brethren, promising that he would deliver them from the impending danger. But when those he addressed mocked him (for they did not see the God within urging him on, nor did they know that generous soul, full of such great wisdom), leaving them, he departed to others. But when they had brought him to the king, whom he found dead with fear, first he raised up his spirit, saying thus: Let not the heart of my lord fail over him, for thy servant will go and fight with this alien (1 Kings 17:32). But when he did not believe and said, Thou canst not go; thou art a boy, but he is a warrior from his youth (1 Kings 17:33), David, being placed in a dilemma, is forced to recount his own praises. For that he was unwilling to do so is proven by his prior behavior, since he had not told his brothers anything about the deeds he had bravely performed, nor the soldiers, nor even the king himself, until he saw that he did not believe and was preventing his engagement against the adversary. What then remained to be done? Or were his praises to be kept silent? But then he would not have let him go forth, nor would he have delivered them from the imminent danger. Therefore, since he had kept silent when it was proper to be silent, when he saw the nature of the time required him to speak, he was silent no longer but addressed him thus: Thy servant was feeding my father's flock, and when a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from the flock, I went out after it and struck it and rescued it from its mouth, and I seized its throat and killed it: and thy servant struck the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised alien shall be as one of them (1 Kings 17:34-36). Do you see how he clearly explained for what reason he mentioned the deeds he did bravely? Then, clearly, the king having taken confidence, ordered him to depart. He departed further, fought, and conquered. But if he had not narrated his own praises, by no means would the king have granted him such a duel; if he had not believed, he would not have let him descend into the battle line; if he had not let him, he would have prevented the victory: and with the victory prevented, neither would God have been glorified at that time, nor would the city have been delivered from the pressing evils. Lest, therefore, so many absurd things should happen, and so great a work of providence should be obstructed, David was forced to recount his own victories. For as they know how to be silent where there is no necessity for speaking, so they also know how to speak when the time presses and is urgent.

^A One might see that the same thing happened there. For when he had been over the Jewish people for so many years, and that according to the pleasure of God, and had never said anything great about himself, though he had many things to say, if he had wished, concerning his upbringing from early childhood, his time in the temple, the gift of prophecy from his swaddling clothes, and after these, the wars and the victories which he carried off not by arms, but by marshalling the battle line with the benevolence of God—yet he had said nothing of these in the previous time. But when he was about to abdicate the principate and hand over the rule to another, then he was forced to recount his own praises, and that very sparingly. And the whole people having been called together, in the presence of Saul, he spoke thus: Behold, I have heard your voice, and I have appointed a king over you: and behold, I have walked in your sight from my youth, even unto this day, and I am grown old. Answer against me in the presence of the Lord, and in the presence of his anointed; whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I oppressed? or whom have I defrauded? or from whose hand have I taken a bribe or a shoe, and hidden my eyes from him? Say against me, and I will restore it to you (1 Kings 12:1-3). And what necessity was there to say these things, you will ask? Many and great ones. For because he was about to introduce Saul to them as prince, in order to teach them in his own defense how it behooved one to rule and care for the subjects, he brings the subjects themselves as witnesses to his own philosophy. And he did not do that during the time of his rule, lest anyone should say they had testified to what was not true out of fear and dread of him; but now when his administration was ended, when the prefecture had been transferred to another, and no danger loomed for the accuser, then he contends with them. Although if another had been in his place, he would have been ill-disposed toward the Jews, nor would he have wanted his princely successor to be fair and moderate, and that not only from the memory of injuries received, but in order that he himself might obtain greater praise. For that malady resides in the souls of princes, the desire that their successors be wicked and villainous. For if they are sturdy and generous, they think they will be judged more illustrious if those who take over the rule are not like them: but if they are perverse and corrupt, they think the wickedness of their successors will be an apology for themselves. But the blessed man was not like this; indeed, he wished and desired with all his prayers that they might enjoy a far better rule: with such great love, in fact, was he held, so completely was he free of envy and alien to vain glory. For he sought only one thing, the salvation of men. Therefore, in his defense, he was depicting the duties of a prince. For because, if he had compelled the king and said, Be fair, gentle, impervious to gifts, do no violence to anyone, harm no one, nor defraud, that would have been heavy and burdensome to the listener; if, likewise, he had been silent, that was to betray the people: but under the guise of an apology he applied a remedy to both: he taught him who ought to be king, and he escaped the burden of such teaching. And indeed, he appears to be contending only for his own affairs, and in the meantime, he teaches him how [the ruler] should... [The rest of the page is cut off]

care for those under his charge. But you observe with me how, with all precision, he showed himself pure of greed. For he did not say, “Have I taken a field from any of you? Or gold?” but what is the most trivial of all: “A sandal?” he says. ^B Thereafter he revealed to us much other virtue of his own. For since many of the rulers, when they steal, are gentle and moderate and mild—not from within, but forced by the necessity of their conscience, having been stripped of boldness by their thefts—while those who are incorruptible [are] burdensome and heavy, not because of their own nature, but because of a certain vainglory and the desire to be pure of greed; and as one would not easily see both coming together in one man—this holy man, wishing to show that he had overcome both, and that he was master of both greed and anger, when he had said, “Have I taken a calf from any of you?” he did not stop, but added, “Or have I oppressed any of you or crushed [you]?”—that is, squeezed [you]?

The meaning of his words is as follows: No one could say, “Though he did not take [from us], yet because he did not take, he became burdensome and heavy and cruel and wild.” For this reason he said, “Or have I oppressed any of you?” What, then, [was] their response? “You have neither oppressed us, nor crushed [us], nor have you taken anything from our hand.” ^C And so that you might learn that he said these things in order to teach the king himself, he added: “The Lord is witness, and His Christ is witness.” By this he pointed out and showed to us that his testimony was not given out of favor, since he called as witness Him who knows the secrets of the mind, which is proof of a pure conscience. For no one, no one—unless he were completely mad and distraught—would ever call God as witness to his own conscience, unless he were very confident in himself.

Having therefore received their testimony regarding what he had said, he shows another virtue of his own; and having reminded them of all the ancient things in Egypt, and of God's protection, and of the wars that happened after them, he reminds them of the battle that took place in his own time and of the miraculous victory; and after saying how, because of their own sins, they were often delivered to their enemies, and how he himself ^D called upon God, and He delivered them from their enemies, joining the new to the old, he adds and says: “The Lord sent Jerobaal, and Gedeon, and Barac, and Jephthe, and Samuel, and delivered you round about from the hand of your enemies, and you dwelt in safety.” (1 Reg. 12, 11).

10. That the saints do not offer their own praises except under urgent necessity.

Knowing these things, then, let us not only praise what is said, but let us also imitate and emulate [them], and forgetting our accomplishments, let us always remember our sins, so that we may be able to be moderate, and reaching forward to those things which are before, we may receive the prize of the upward calling, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, [and] honor, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The remark concerning Jerobaal is from a marginal gloss. And indeed, the same person was Jerobaal and Gedeon. And so either the voice “Gedeon” or the stroke between Gedeon and Jerobaal is to be deleted; however, the stroke is deleted. Two names signify one and the same person.

NOTICE CONCERNING THE HOMILY ON THE SAYING OF THE APOSTLE

^B We know these things, beloved; and even if we have reached the summit of virtue, let us consider ourselves the very last of all: when we have learned that arrogance is able to cast down the man who is not attentive to himself, even from the very heavens, and that humility is able to raise up on high the man who has been submerged into the abyss of sins, if he acts modestly. For this preference of the publican over the Pharisee—that, wondrous arrogance and pride, overcame the power of the bodiless devil himself, while humility and the acknowledgment of one's own sins brought the thief into paradise before the apostles. But if those who confess their own sins procure for themselves such confidence, those who are conscious of many good deeds but nevertheless humble their soul, how great crowns will they not obtain? For when sin is yoked with humility, it runs so expeditiously that it surpasses and outstrips justice yoked with arrogance. If, therefore, you yoke that with justice, to where will it not arrive? How many heavens will it not traverse? It will stand with great confidence among the angels before the very throne of God. On the contrary, if arrogance, coupled with justice, was able to draw away his confidence by the mass and weight of its iniquity, if it is joined with sin, into what gehenna will it not cast down the man who is held by it? Humility is the foundation of our philosophy. I say this not so that we may neglect justice, but that we may flee from arrogance; not so that we may sin, but that we may act modestly. For humility is the foundation of our philosophy. Even if you build countless things above, even if you heap up alms, prayers, fasting, and all virtues, unless you place it as a foundation, you have built all things in vain and to no purpose, and they will quickly collapse, just like that building which is erected upon the sand. ^C For no good work lacks it, nor can any stand without it. And even if you speak of continence, even if of virginity, even if of the contempt of money, even if of anything else, all are unclean and accursed and abominable with humility absent. Everywhere, therefore, itself...

let us lay hold of it—in words, in deeds, in thoughts—and with it let us build these things up.

^C 3. But enough has been said concerning humility, not in proportion to the worth of the achievement—for no one could ever hymn it according to its worth—but in proportion to the understanding of your love. For I know well that even from the few things said, you will draw it forth with much diligence. But since it is necessary to make clear and manifest the apostolic declaration read today, which seems to many to provide an excuse for sloth, so that some, by deriving from it a cold apology, do not neglect their own salvation, come, let us direct our speech to this. ^D What, then, is this declaration? "Whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is proclaimed" (Philipp. 1. 18). Many repeat this simply and as it happens, without reading what comes before or what comes after; but having cut it off from the sequence of the other members, they present it to the more slothful to the destruction of their own souls. For attempting to lead them away from the sound faith, and then seeing them fearful and trembling—as if it were not without danger to do this—and wishing to loosen their fear, they bring forward this apostolic statement, saying: "Paul permitted this, saying: 'Whether in pretense, or in truth, let Christ be proclaimed.'" But this is not the case, it is not. ^A For first of all, he did not say "let him be proclaimed," but "is proclaimed"; and there is a great difference between this and that. For to say "let him be proclaimed" is to legislate, but to say "is proclaimed" is to announce what is happening. That Paul does not legislate that there be heresies, but leads away all who attend to him, hear what he says: "If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, let him be anathema, even if I, even if an angel from heaven" (Gal. 1. 8, 9). He would not have anathematized both himself and an angel if he knew the matter to be without danger. And again, ^B "For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God," he says, "for I betrothed you to one man, a pure virgin. But I fear that perhaps as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your thoughts might be corrupted from the simplicity that is toward Christ" (2 Cor. 11. 2, 3). Behold, he has placed "simplicity," and he gave no indulgence. For if there were indulgence, there was no danger; but if there was no danger, Paul would not have feared. Nor would Christ have ordered the weeds to be burnt (Matt. 13. 30), if it were a matter of indifference to attend to this one, and that one, and another, and to all indiscriminately.

4. What then is the meaning of what is said? I wish to narrate to you the whole history from above; for it is necessary to know in what situation Paul was when he wrote these things. ^C In what situation, then, was he at that time? In a prison, 343 and in chains, and in unbearable dangers. Whence is this clear? From the epistle itself. For above this he says: "But I wish you to know, brothers, that the things concerning me have come rather for the progress of the gospel, so that my bonds have become manifest in Christ in the whole praetorium and to all the rest; and most of the brothers, being confident in my bonds, are more exceedingly bold to speak the word without fear" (Philipp. 1. 12-14). Nero was he who had cast him into prison at that time. For just as a robber, ^D having entered a house while all are sleeping, stealing everything, as soon as he sees someone having lit a lamp, both extinguishes the light and kills the lamp-bearer, so that he may with security steal and plunder other people's goods; thus also Nero Caesar at that time, like some robber and housebreaker, while all were sleeping a certain deep and insensible sleep, plundering everyone's goods, destroying marriages, overturning houses, showing every form of wickedness, when he saw Paul having lit a lamp throughout the inhabited world—the word of the teaching—and exposing his wickedness, he was eager both to extinguish the preaching and to kill the teacher, so that he might have authority to do all things. And having bound that holy man, he threw him into prison. At that time, then, the blessed Paul was writing these things. Who would not be amazed? Who would not marvel? Or rather, who would be able to be amazed and marvel according to their worth at that noble and heaven-high soul, that being bound in Rome and incarcerated, he was writing to the Philippians from such a great distance? You know how great the distance is between Macedonia and Rome. But neither the length of the road, nor the length of time, nor the throng of affairs, nor the danger and the consecutive disasters, 344 nor anything else cast out the love and memory of the disciples, but he held them all in mind; and his hands were not so tied by the chains as his soul was bound and nailed by the yearning for his disciples; which indeed he himself, declaring in the preamble of the epistle, said: "Because I have you in my heart, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel" (Philipp. 1. 7). And just as a king, having ascended the throne under the dais and sat in the royal halls, immediately receives countless letters from everywhere; so too he, sitting in the prison as in royal halls, was receiving and sending much more letters, as all nations from everywhere were referring to his wisdom concerning their own affairs; and he was managing so many more affairs than the kings, by as much as he had been entrusted with a greater rule. For God had placed in his hands not only those inhabiting the Roman territory, but also all the barbarians, and land and sea. And declaring this to the Romans he said: "But I do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, that I often proposed to come to you, and was hindered until now, so that I might have some fruit also in you, as also in the other nations; to Greeks and to barbarians, to wise and to foolish, I am a debtor" (Rom. 1. 13, 14). So, every day he was concerned: this for the Corinthians, that for the Macedonians, how the Philippians are, how the Cappadocians, how the Galatians, how the Athenians, how those dwelling in Pontus, how all men. But nevertheless, having been entrusted with the whole earth, he was not anxious only for entire nations, but also for a single man; and now he was sending the epistle for Onesimus, now for him who had committed fornication among the Corinthians. For he did not consider this, that there was one who had sinned and was in need of protection; but he was yet a man, man the most precious creature to God, and for whom the Father did not spare even His Only-begotten.

5. Do not say to me this, that such a one is a fugitive, and a robber and a thief, and of ten thousand evil marriages...

matters; but consider that Christ died for him, and this is enough for you to undertake every care. Consider who he must be, whom Christ so honored that He did not even spare His own blood. For we would not seek any other proof that someone is a great person and very dear to a king, if that king were willing to sacrifice himself for him, than his death, which I think is sufficient to declare the affection of the one who underwent death toward him. Now, however, it is not a man, not an angel, not an archangel, but the Lord of the heavens Himself, the Only-begotten Son of God Himself, who, having taken on flesh, delivered Himself up for us. Shall we not therefore do everything, shall we not attempt everything, so that men touched by such honor might enjoy our care and solicitude? And what excuse shall we have? What pardon? ^A This very thing, Paul, indicating, said: "Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died" (Rom. 14:15). For in order to put to shame those who despise their brothers and look down upon them as though they were weak, and to lead them to the care and zeal for their neighbor, he put forward the death of the Lord instead of evil deeds. From such a distance, therefore, sitting in chains, he wrote to the Philippians. Such, indeed, is charity towards God: it is hindered by no human things, as it has its root in the heavens and its reward. And what does he say? "I want you to know, brothers" (Phil. 1:12). Have you seen the care for the disciples? Have you seen the master's solicitude? Hear also of the affection of the disciples towards the master, so that you may know that they were strong and invincible because they were bound together by mutual love. For if "a brother helped by a brother is like a fortified city" (Prov. 18:19), much more do so many men, bound by the chains of charity, drive away all the snares of the evil demon. Certainly, that Paul was bound to his disciples, there is no need to demonstrate or say, since even when constrained by chains he bore their solicitude, and daily died for them, kindled by love. ^B Being bound, not only men, but even women—hear what he says about Phoebe: "I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is in the ministry of the Church, which is in Cenchreae, that you may receive her in the Lord as is worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself" (Rom. 16:1-2). Truly, here he gave testimony to her zeal concerning her patronage alone; but Priscilla and Aquila progressed even unto death for Paul's sake. Concerning them he writes thus: "Greet Aquila and Priscilla, who for my soul have laid down their own necks" (Rom. 16:3). And he writes of another again to them: "He came close unto death, delivering up his soul, that he might fulfill that which was lacking in your service toward me" (Phil. 2:30). Do you see how they loved their master, how they provided for his tranquility before their own souls? Wherefore no one surpassed them at that time. I say these things, however, not that we might only hear, but also that we might imitate; and I am not speaking to the subjects only, but also to those in authority, that the disciples may show much care for their masters, and that the masters may have the same affection for their subjects as Paul did, and not only for those present, but also for those far away. For Paul, as if he lived in the whole world as in one house, was thus solicitous for the salvation of all, and with his chains sent, and hardships, and blows, and straits, he considered and inquired daily how those things were faring which concerned his disciples; and he sent ^C often for this reason alone, now Timothy, now Tychicus. For indeed of the latter he says: "That he may know how you are, and may console your hearts" (Eph. 6:22); but concerning Timothy: "I sent him to you, no longer able to endure, lest perhaps he who tempts has tempted you" (1 Thess. 3:5). And elsewhere Titus, elsewhere another. For since he, having been detained in one place, could not be present with them, he used to visit them through his disciples, who were his very bowels. Therefore, when he was in chains, he wrote to the Philippians: "I want you to know, brothers" (Phil. 1:12); he calls his disciples brothers. Such indeed is charity: it casts away all inequality, it knows not preeminence and rank; but even if someone is higher than everyone, he descends to the most humble of all, which Paul also used to do. ^D But let us hear what he wants them to know: "That the things which happened to me have come to the progress of the Gospel" (Phil. 1:12). Tell me, how and in what manner? Have you been freed from your chains? Have you cast off your shackles and are you preaching in the city in freedom? Have you entered the Church and woven long and many sermons about the faith, and departed having gained many disciples? Have you raised the dead and been an object of admiration? Have you cleansed lepers and were all astonished? Have you chased away demons and become exalted thence? "None of these," he says. How, then, was there progress of the Gospel? Tell me, I pray. "So that," he says, "my chains in Christ have become manifest in all the praetorium, and in all the rest" (Phil. 1:13). What are you saying? Is this the progress? Is this the access? Is this the increase of the preaching, that all have learned that you are bound? "Yes," he says. Hear, therefore, the things that follow, so that you may learn that the chains not only were no hindrance, but were even a proof of greater confidence: "So that most of the brothers in the Lord, confident in my chains, more abundantly dared to speak the word without fear" (Phil. 1:14). What are you saying, Paul? Have the chains instilled not anxiety, but confidence? Not fear, but love? "These words do not have a sequence." I know it also. "For these things did not happen according to the custom of human affairs," he says, "but they are above nature, and are works of divine grace." And that which brings anxiety to others, that brought confidence to him. For if someone divulges that a leader has been captured and constrained, he puts the whole army to flight; and if someone has abducted a shepherd from the sheepfold, he provides liberty to drive away the flock. But it was not so with Paul, but the contrary was happening. For the leader was being bound, and the soldiers were more eager, and with greater spirit were attacking their adversaries; the shepherd was constrained, and the sheep were not consumed, nor were they scattered.

^A Who has seen, who has heard of disciples receiving greater consolation amidst the hardships of their teachers? How did they not fear? How were they not terrified? How did they not say to Paul, “Physician, heal yourself! Deliver yourself from these manifold hardships, and then you shall provide us with ten thousand benefits”? Why did they not say these things? Why? Because they had been instructed by the grace of the Spirit that these things were not happening out of weakness, but by the permission of Christ, so that the truth might shine more brightly, growing and rising to greater magnitude through chains, prisons, afflictions, and straits. Thus, the power of Christ is perfected in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). ^B For if the chains had overthrown Paul and rendered him, or those attending to him, more cowardly, they would have had cause for confusion; but if they prepared him to be more confident and led him to greater glory, one ought to be struck with wonder at how, through a thing that brings disgrace, glory was provided to the disciple, and through a thing that casts fear, boldness and consolation were provided to all those others. For who was not struck with amazement then, seeing him wearing a chain? Demons fled all the more when they saw him dwelling in the prison. For the diadem does not make a kingly head as bright as the chain made his hands—not by their own nature, but because of the grace that blossomed within them. For this reason, there was much consolation for the disciples. For they saw his body bound, but his tongue not bound; ^C his hands constricted, but his word set free, running through the entire inhabited world faster than a sunbeam. And this was a source of consolation to them, as they learned through his deeds that none of the present hardships were dreadful. For when the soul has been genuinely dyed with divine longing and love, it is not turned aside by any of the present things; but just as those who are frantic dare to face fire, iron, wild beasts, the sea, and everything, so too these men, having been seized by a certain most noble and spiritual madness—a madness born of self-mastery—laughed at all visible things. For this reason, seeing the teacher bound, they leapt and rejoiced all the more, giving proof to their adversaries through their deeds that they are entirely unconsumable and unconquerable.

9. Since things were in this state, some of Paul's enemies, wishing to stir up the war more fiercely and to inflame the tyrant with greater hatred against him, pretended that they too were preaching, and they preached the correct and sound faith so that the doctrine might increase all the more; they were doing this, not wishing to sow the faith, but so that when Nero learned that the preaching was growing and the doctrine increasing, he might lead Paul to the pit all the sooner. There were, therefore, two schools: that of the disciples of Paul, and that of the enemies of Paul; the former preaching from truth, the latter from contentiousness and hatred toward Paul. ^D And revealing these things, he said: *Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife* (Philipp. 1:15), indicating those enemies; *and some also of good will*, saying this about his own disciples. Again he spoke about the former: *The one party preacheth Christ of faction — the enemies; not sincerely, thinking to raise up affliction to my bonds* (Philipp. 1:17). *Not* preaching, he says, *but thinking to raise up*, that is, imagining; showing that even if they are thinking as they do, he himself is not disposed that way, but rather he rejoices because of the increase of the preaching. He added, therefore, saying: *But in this I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice* (Philipp. 1:18). But if it had been an error in doctrine, and those men brought in heresies, Paul could not have rejoiced. Because the doctrine was sound and unadulterated, for that reason he says, “I rejoice, and will rejoice.” For what matters it if those men destroy themselves by doing this out of hatred? But even against their will, they increase my cause. Do you see the extent of Paul’s power, and how he is not caught by any of the devil’s machinations? And he is not only not caught, but he overcomes [the devil] by these very things. For indeed, the devil’s guile and the wickedness of those who serve him are great; for under the pretext of holding the same opinions, they wanted to extinguish the preaching. But *He that catcheth the wise in their craftiness* (1 Cor. 3:19) did not allow this to happen then. Acknowledging this very thing, Paul said: *But to abide in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all* (Philipp. 1:24-25). For those men desire to cast me out of the present life, and for this reason they endure everything; but God does not allow it, for your sake. Therefore, remember all these things with accuracy, so that you may be able to correct with all wisdom those who use the Scriptures simply and as occasion serves, to the ruin of their neighbors.

Chapter 10

^A and use the Scriptures in a perfunctory manner to the ruin of their neighbor, you may be able to correct them with all wisdom. We shall be able both to remember what has been said, and to correct others, if we always flee to prayers and beseech God, who gives the word of wisdom, that He may grant understanding of what is heard, and an accurate and invincible guardianship of this spiritual deposit. For those things which we are often unable to achieve by our own effort, we shall easily be able to accomplish with the help of prayers—I mean assiduous prayers. For one must pray always and without ceasing, whether one is in distress, or in tranquility, or in calamities, or in the enjoyment of good things. He who is in tranquility and many good things, must pray that these may remain firm and unshaken, and that they may never slip away; and he who is in distress and in many calamities, must pray that he may see a kind transformation, and be brought to the solace of tranquility. Are you in tranquility? Entreat God, therefore, that this tranquility may remain firm for you. Do you see a tempest gathering? Pray to God earnestly, that He may avert the storm and make tranquility out of the tempest. Have you been heard? Give thanks that you have been heard. Have you not been heard? Persevere, that you may be heard. For although God sometimes delays the gift, He does not do so because He hates or turns away, but in order to detain you longer with Himself by procrastinating—just as parents who love their offspring, who, by delaying gifts, cleverly compel their less diligent children to stand before them constantly. You do not have need of patrons before God, nor of much running about, that you may flatter others; but even if you are deserted and destitute of a patron, you yourself, by beseeching God, will attain what is requested. He is not accustomed to assent to others praying on our behalf as much as to ourselves praying, even if we are burdened with countless evils. For if we approach even men, whom we have harmed with countless offenses, at morning, or at noon, or in the evening, when they are indignant, we easily appease them at last by the frequency and assiduity of our presence, how much more shall this come to pass ^B before God? That the unworthy can become worthy through assiduity, and that God grants what is asked more through us than through others; and that He often delays a gift, not to make us doubtful in spirit and send us away with empty hands, but that He may be the author of greater blessings for us—these three things, I say, I shall endeavor to demonstrate through the parable read to you today.

The Canaanite woman approached Christ, praying for her daughter who had a demon, and crying out vehemently, *Have mercy on me, O Lord; my daughter is severely vexed by a demon* (Matt. 15.22). Behold an alien woman and a barbarian, a stranger to the commonwealth of the Jews. And what else was she, but a dog, and unworthy to attain what was desired? *For it is not good,* He says, *to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs* (Ib. v. 26). Nevertheless, by her assiduity she became worthy. For not only did He raise her to such nobility that she who was a dog was counted among the children; but He also dismissed her with much praise, saying, *O woman, great is your faith; let it be done to you as you desire* (Ib. v. 28). Since Christ himself says, *Great is your faith*, seek no other argument regarding the magnanimity of this woman. Do you see how through assiduity the woman became worthy, who before was unworthy?

Do you wish to learn that we accomplish more in prayer through ourselves than through others? She cried out, and the disciples came and said, *Dismiss her, for she cries out after us* (Ib. v. 23): and to them indeed He answered, *I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel* (Ib. v. 24); but when she approached by herself, and persevered in crying out, saying, *Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat from the table of their masters* (Ib. v. 27): then He bestowed the favor, and said, *Let it be done to you as you desire* (Ib. v. 28). Do you see how, when they prayed, He repulsed her, but when she herself asked for the gift by crying out, He assented? To them, indeed, He says, *I was not sent ^C except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel*; but to her, *Great is your faith; let it be done to you as you desire*. And indeed, at the beginning of the petition He replied nothing; but when she approached once, twice, and a third time, then He bestowed the favor; teaching us by the end that He had delayed the gift, not to repulse her, but to exhibit the woman’s patience to all of us. For if He had delayed to repulse her, He would not have given what was requested at the end; but because He was waiting to exhibit her philosophy to all, for this reason He kept silent. For if He had bestowed the kindness immediately from the beginning, we would not have known the virtue and strength of the woman. *Dismiss her,* they say, *for she cries out after us.* But what did Christ say? You hear the voice, I see the mind; I know what she is about to say. I do not wish the treasure hidden in her mind to remain concealed; but I am waiting and keeping silent, so that I may bring it forth detected into the midst, and make it manifest to all.

^D Though we are in sins and unworthy of benefits, let us not despair, knowing that we can become worthy of what is requested through the assiduity of the soul. Even if we are without a patron and deserted, let us not lose heart, knowing that it is a great patronage if someone approaches God by himself with great zeal. If He delays and procrastinates in bestowing a gift, let us not falter, knowing that this procrastination is an argument of His care and kindness. If we are persuaded of this, and approach Him with a grieving and fervent soul, and an excited will—such as the Canaanite woman had when she approached—we too, even if we are like dogs, and even if we have committed some grave thing, will both cast away our evils and receive so much confidence that we may be able to intercede for others also: just as the Canaanite woman did not only obtain confidence and much praise for herself, but was even able to snatch her daughter from intolerable afflictions. For nothing, nothing at all, is more powerful than fervent and sincere prayer. This both dissolves present evils and rescues one from the punishments of that future time. That we may therefore pass the present life more easily, and depart thither with confidence, let us occupy ourselves with prayers with much zeal and alacrity. For thus we shall be able both to obtain present good things, and to enjoy the best hope: which may it be our lot to attain, by the grace, kindness, and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and empire, for ever and ever. Amen.

ON THE HOMILY ON WIDOWS

^A

LET A WIDOW BE CHOSEN NOT LESS THAN SIXTY YEARS OLD (1 Tim. 5:9); AND ON THE REARING OF CHILDREN, AND ON ALMSGIVING.

1. The grace of the Spirit has ordained that this passage from the apostolic epistle be read at a fitting time, which you have heard today. For it has much affinity and connection with what was said before, if not in the words themselves, then certainly in the meanings. For the passage read before was this: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep" (1 Thess. 4:12), and many things were said then concerning the resurrection, and that we must bear such sufferings with a stout heart, and give thanks to God who receives those who belong to us. Today the passage read is this: "Let a widow be chosen not less than sixty years old" (1 Tim. 5:9). Since, therefore, widowhood arises from death, and this is what most heightens the pain and arouses grief, remembering what was said before—which we said to console those who mourn—receive these words also with all zeal and lay them up with the former in the storehouses of your mind. ^B For the name of widowhood seems to be a name of calamity, but it is not; rather, it is a dignity, and an honor, and a total glory; not a reproach, but a crown. For even if a widow does not have a husband living with her, she has Christ dwelling with her, who repels all the evils that threaten. For it is sufficient in the troubles that come upon a widow for her to go in, and bow her knees, and groan bitterly, and shed tears, and repel the whole plot of those who are troubling her; for the weapons of the widow are such: tears, and groanings, and constant prayers. By these she is able to repel not only human trouble, but also the invasions of demons. The widow has been freed from worldly matters, and henceforth travels toward heaven; and the zeal and service she displayed toward her husband, she will be able to expend upon spiritual things. If you should say that in olden times the thing was a calamity, I would say this: that death itself was a curse, but it has become an honor and a dignity for those who bear it bravely when it comes. Thus, indeed, martyrs are crowned; in the same way, the widow also passes on to great dignity.

2. Do you wish to learn how great a thing a widow is, how honored she is before God, and how desirable as a great advocate? In what way, when she appears, she snatches from danger, reconciles, and brings to those who have been condemned, the desperate, those who have no boldness, those who have been at war with God and are deprived of all defense, not only forgiveness and release from punishment, but also great boldness and brightness, and makes them purer than the rays of the sun, even if they are more sullied than all men? ^C Hear God himself saying to the Jews: "When you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear you: for your hands are full of blood" (Isa. 1:15). Yet to these very defiled men, these murderers, these who were without boldness, these who were disgraced, he promises reconciliation if they would aid widows who were being wronged. For after saying, "I will turn away my eyes, and I will not hear," he says: "Judge for the fatherless, and justify the widow: and come, and let us reason together: and if your sins be as scarlet, I shall make them white as snow" (ibid.). Do you see how great power the widow has?

^A Where she shows her patronage, not before a magistrate or a king, who rule on earth, but before the King of heaven Himself? How great power she has to appease anger, and to propitiate the Lord towards those who are infected with incurable disease, to deliver from intolerable punishment, to cleanse the soul overwhelmed with the filth of sins from such a stain, and to lead it to the heights of purity? Let us not, therefore, despise the widow, but show all care towards her. She is our patroness, if she is truly a widow.

On the kinds of widows.

What then? Will someone say, "Are there not many who, even when they began after their twentieth year, lived to the end with praise, endured the yoke, and showed a model of apostolic life? Must we therefore, I ask, restrain them, and although they wish to preserve widowhood, compel them to be joined in second nuptials?" Is this worthy of the apostle's counsel? ^D What, then, do these things mean? Attend diligently, most beloved, to the meaning of the word. For he did not say, "Let a widow be made not less than sixty years old," but, "Let a widow be chosen"; and again, he did not say, "Let not younger widows be chosen," but, "Avoid younger widows" (I Tim. 5:11); for so he speaks writing to Timothy. For since many are easily subject to detractions and slanders, and have tongues sharpened against the rulers of the Church, wishing to exonerate the ruler from the dangers of accusation, he prescribes these laws and says: "You avoid, you do not choose." If she herself wishes of her own accord and by her own will to embrace these things, let her do so; you, however, do not admit her yet, lest by chance they say, "Such and such a one coerced a younger woman, who wished to marry and preside over a house: for that reason she fell, and was supplanted." Do not choose her, that if by chance she has fallen, you may be immune from accusations; if she has not fallen, with greater security at a convenient time you may choose her. But if you say, "I want younger widows to marry, to bear children" (I Tim. 5:14), hear whom he calls "younger"—those who, when they have waxed wanton against Christ, wish to marry, verbose, curious, going about from house to house, speaking things which they ought not, who are turned back after Satan. For he did not remain silent when he had said simply, "I want younger women to marry," but he also says what kind of younger women they are, and declares their falls. What falls, then? When they have waxed wanton, he says, against Christ, they wish to marry, and they say idle things, and curious things, going about from house to house, speaking things which they ought not, and are turned (ibid. vv. 11, 13, 15). After whom, however? After Satan. When, therefore, after they have embraced widowhood, and were willing to sustain all this ignominy, they wish to marry again, it is better, before they are held fast by sin and violate the pacts entered into with Christ, to come to this; but if any such woman is not of this kind, he does not impose the necessity of second nuptials. For if he had established by law for all women that they should marry and preside over a house, he would have superfluously required: "If she has brought up children, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has relieved those who suffer tribulations, if she has followed every good work" (ibid. v. 10); he would also superfluously be saying that: "She who has been the wife of one man" (ibid. v. 9). For if you command all younger widows to marry, how will any be able to be the wife of one man? Thus his discourse regards those. He acts in the same way when he speaks of the conjugal encounter. For when he had said, "Do not defraud one another, unless perhaps by consent for a time, that you may be at leisure for fasting and prayer, and return again into the same" (I Cor. 7:5); so that you do not think it is a law and a precept, he adds the cause, afterwards saying: "Lest Satan tempt you. This, however, I say according to indulgence, not according to command, because of your incontinency" (ibid. vv. 6, 5). Just as

^A in that place he speaks to those who are more incontinent and easily ensnared, so also here he counsels and advises those women who are easily mastered and unable to bear the strict manner of life of widowhood to bring in a second husband. For widowhood is a sort of dual reality. What is this dual reality? An exhibition of good works, and the greatness of the highest dignity. Just as, then, rule also is a dual reality; for it possesses both works and dignity: the dignity of rule being authority, and the homage paid by the many, and the very state of being a ruler; and the works of rule being to help the wronged, to restrain wrongdoers, to preside over cities, to pass the night watching over public affairs, and ten thousand other things; so also widowhood is ^B both dignity and work: dignity is the very state of being a widow, being of the greatest importance, as we have demonstrated before; the work is not to bring in a second man, but to be content with the first, to rear children, to show hospitality, to wash the feet of the saints, to assist the afflicted, to follow after every good work. Paul, therefore, speaking about them, permits her to perform all the works of a widow; but he does not permit her to enter into the dignity of the widow, and into the choir and the order, until she has passed her sixtieth year, saying as it were: Let her perform the works of a widow, but let her be deemed worthy of the honor only when, having displayed everything, she has the security from [the passage of] time, and the proof from her works, and the testimony from without. Let no man think that this teaching is suitable for women alone. For it is useful for men also, so that they too may cherish their own departed wives, and not install lionesses to live with their children, bringing in stepmothers, and upsetting all their own security.

5. We say these things not as legislating that a second marriage should be shunned, but as counseling and advising that one be content with the first through temperance. It is one thing to counsel and advise; it is another to legislate. For he who counsels and advises leaves the one who hears with the power of choice regarding the matters advised; but he who legislates takes this away from them. ^C But the Church does not legislate these things, but only counsels; for Paul did indeed permit a second marriage, saying thus: "The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. But she is happier if she so abide" (1 Cor. 7:39, 40). Just as, then, marriage is good, but virginity is better; so also a second marriage is good, but the first and only one is better than it. We do not therefore cast out a second marriage, nor do we legislate these things, but we counsel, if anyone has the power to be temperate, to remain with the first. We counsel and advise this also for the sake of the security of the house itself; for a second marriage has often been the beginning and occasion of strife and daily wars. Many a time, indeed, a man sitting at table, reminded of his first wife by his second, has wept quietly; but she at once grew wild, and pounced like a wild beast, demanding of him the tribute of affection due to that other. If he should even wish to praise the departed one, the subject of the encomia becomes an occasion for war and fighting. And we make peace with enemies who are departing [from life], and with their life we also put an end to the enmity toward them; but with women, the exact opposite happens. For her whom she never saw, whom she never heard, from whom she suffered no ill, this woman she hates and turns away from, and not even ^D death extinguishes the hatred. Who has seen, who has heard of dust being jealous, and ashes being fought against?

6. But the evil does not stop at this; but even if children are born from the second [marriage], even if they are not born, there is war and fighting again. If they are not born, she is pained all the more, and on this account views those of the first marriage as enemies and as having wronged her in the highest degree, receiving a clearer perception of her own childlessness through their life. But if they are born, the evil is none the less. For the husband, often being affectionately disposed toward the one who has departed, clings to these, loving and at the same time pitying them in their orphanhood; but she wishes her own to be preferred everywhere, and wishes them to be not even in the rank of brothers, but in the rank of cast-off slaves; all of which could overturn a house, and make life unlivable for him who has married. On this account we counsel, if it is possible, to be temperate, to be content with the first marriage, and neither to introduce new husbands for the women, nor new wives for the men, so that the entire house may not be overturned. Why then, when discoursing on widowhood, was he not content with the first alone, by saying, "The wife of one man"? In order that you may learn that it is not merely the not marrying a second time that makes a widow, but the abounding in good works, in alms and philanthropy, and in the service of strangers. For if virginity profited the virgins nothing (and yet virginity is far greater than widowhood), but they departed with the fire of their lamps extinguished, disgraced, because they did not have the fruit to show from philanthropy and alms, much more is this true of widows. Having heard that parable, therefore, Paul, and fearing for these [widows], carries out his exactness about this matter, so that, relying on monogamy, they might not neglect the rest of virtue; for this reason he says, "Well reported of for good works." For just as virginity is good, but without the rest it has become fruitless, and shut [her] out from the bridal chamber; so widowhood is good, but without the rest of virtue it is vain and superfluous. For this reason Paul did not stop his counsel at the point of not bringing in a second man, but he also requires many other things, far more and greater, from the widow. And just as those who enroll soldiers seek the fitness of the body, so also he, enrolling her into the camp of Christ, sought the fitness and strength of the soul and the diligence in all good works, saying thus: "If she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted."

^A For each of these seems to be a bare name, yet it contains much life within itself.

7. And if it seems good, let us examine first that which he placed in the first position: *If she has brought up children.* For he implies here an education, not that simple kind which the masses suppose, so long as we do not neglect children who are perishing from hunger—for not even the necessity of nature will ever permit this to be omitted; hence there is no need for commands or laws for this cause, that widows should bring up their offspring—but he understands by "nurture" here the care of justice and the education that is accompanied by piety. Otherwise those who do not bring them up in this way, would be parricides rather than mothers. This is not said by me to women only, but also to men. For many fathers do everything and scheme so that a good horse might fall to their son, and so that houses might be magnificent, and an estate of great value; but that his soul might become good and his purpose pious, they have no regard. And this is that which perverts the whole world, that we do not nurture our own children, but take care of their possessions and wealth, while we neglect their very soul, and endure a deed of the utmost folly. For possessions, even if they be many and sumptuous, are of no benefit if he who is able to manage them with virtue is not upright and studious; all will perish with him and vanish, and bring the utmost harm to the possessor. But if the soul is noble and wise, even if there is nothing stored away inside, it will be able to keep the goods of all in safety. One must look to this, therefore: not how we might make them wealthy with silver and gold and things of that sort, but how they might become the wealthiest of all through piety, temperance, and the acquisition of virtues; ^B how it might come to pass that they do not have need of many things, that they might not value the things of this life and new desires so highly. And their coming in and going out must be considered diligently and curiously—with whom they associate, who the familiars are—as we understand that if these things are neglected by us, we shall get no pardon from God. For if, when we have not taken care of others, punishment is exacted from us ("Let no one seek his own," says the Apostle, "but that of another" [1 Cor. 10:24]), how much more if we have not taken care of our own children? "Did I not," he says, "place him in your own house from the beginning? Did I not appoint you as his preceptor, and ruler, and guardian, and judge? Did I not transfer all power over him into your hands? I entrusted to you one who was still tender, to be shaped and fashioned: with what pardon will you be worthy if you neglect him when he is reluctant?" For what will you be able to say? That it is difficult and rough to restrain him? But these things ought to have been foreseen from the beginning; and when he could have been restrained by a bridle, when he was still quite young, he ought to have been diligently bridled, and accustomed to perform his duty, to be informed, and to have a remedy applied to the diseases of his soul. When the labor was easier, then the thorns should have been cut out, when, since his age was tender, they were more easily pulled up, and passion, had it not been neglected and tended, would not have become difficult to conquer. Therefore he says: *Bow down his neck in his youth* [Eccl. 7:23], when he is more easily able to be instructed. ^C And he does not command alone, but he himself undertakes the work together with you. How, finally? "He who curses father or mother," he says, "let him die the death" [Exod. 21:17]. You see how great a fear he has struck into them? How great a dread he has cast? How great an authority he has shown his power to possess? What plea, then, shall we be able to offer, when he indeed, if we are affected by injury, does not spare even their lives; but we, if injury is offered to God by them, do not even want to be angry at them? "I," he says, "do not refuse to kill him who has treated you with injury; but you," he says, "are not even willing to grieve him with words, by whom my laws are violated." Is this worthy of pardon? You see the Creator being treated with contumely, and you are not indignant, nor do you terrify, nor do you rebuke—especially when you understand that this was prohibited by God, not because He suffers any detriment who has received the contumely (for the Godhead is not liable to destruction), but for the sake of his very salvation? For he who behaves lawlessly and foolishly toward God, will be able to be much more contumelious and insolent toward his own father and his own soul. If they behave rightly toward God, they shall be famous and illustrious in those things also which pertain to this life. For if anyone passes life with virtue and modesty, all revere and honor him, even if he were the poorest of all, just as all shun and prosecute with hatred the wicked and depraved, even if he abounds with many riches. ^D And he shall be venerable not only to other men, but he shall be even dearer to you, his parent, since, beyond nature, he possesses no smaller occasion for love—virtue itself; and indeed he shall not only be dearer, but also more useful to you, while he honors, while he serves, while he sustains you in old age. For just as those who are injurious and ungrateful toward God also despise their parents, so those who honor their Creator defer immense honor to their own progenitors. Therefore, that you may be well reported both before God and before men, and may make life pleasant for yourself, and be freed from future punishments, honor him with all zeal. For that those who have not taken care of their children, even if they were otherwise modest and moderate, will pay the most severe penalties for that sin, will be clear from an ancient story, which I shall narrate.

Heli the father, being too indulgent. There was a certain priest among the Jews, otherwise modest and gentle, Heli by name. This Heli, therefore, had two children who had come to the highest pinnacle of wickedness; he, however, did not repress them, nor did he prohibit them—or rather, he did indeed repress them and prohibit them, but not with such diligence and vehemence as was needed to cast them out of the paternal home, and to apply every measure of correction; he only encouraged them and advised them, saying thus: "No, my sons, no; you do not do so, for the report is not good that I hear of you" [1 Reg. 2:24]. What are you saying? They have injured God, and you call them "sons"? They have ignored the Creator, and you acknowledge their kinship? Therefore he says that he did not admonish them: for it is an admonition if one does not...

produce an injury as great as the rot of a wound demands, but we must apply a blow of equal measure. It is not enough, therefore, to speak or merely to advise, but it is necessary to build up a great fear, so as to cut off the listlessness of youth. But because he did indeed advise, yet did not advise as he ought, he delivered them to the enemies, and when the battle took place, they fell on the field of slaughter, and the man who brought the news, falling, was shattered and died. Do you see that I was right to say that fathers are also killers of their children, they who do not use severity with their own listless children, nor require of them the piety that is according to God? In such manner, then, Eli became a slayer of his children. For if the enemies slaughtered his sons, yet he was the cause of the slaughter, in that by his listlessness regarding them he diverted the help of God, and exposed them naked and destitute to those who wished to destroy them. And not only them, but he destroyed himself along with them. ^B 9. Now many fathers of the present day suffer the same thing: since they do not wish to scourge, nor to rebuke with words, nor to grieve their own sons who live in a disorderly and illegal manner, they have often seen them caught in the most serious crimes, seized for the courtroom, and cut off by the executioners. For when you do not educate, when you do not bring to wisdom, having mixed yourself with filthy and corrupted men, and having shared in their wickedness, they are led under the public laws and are punished in the sight of all; and along with the calamity, the shame becomes greater, as all point their fingers at the father after the death of the son, and make the marketplace impassable to him. For with what eyes will he be able to look at those who meet him after such unbecoming conduct and calamity of his son? Therefore, I beg and implore you to take much forethought for your own children, and everywhere to seek the salvation of their soul. You are the teacher ^C of the whole house, and God continually commits both your wife and your sons to you. And now, on the one hand, Paul says regarding wives: If they wish to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; but now, regarding children: Bring them up in the instruction and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6. 4). Imagine that you have golden statues in your house, your children; day by day, adjust and inspect them with precision, and in every way ornament and mold their soul; imitate blessed Job, who, even fearing for them regarding the things they sinned in mind, offered sacrifices for them, and took much thought for them. Imitate Abraham; for he too did not busy himself with money and possessions, but with the divine laws, as to how he might deposit their observance with his descendants with precision. And God bears witness to this virtue of his, saying thus: For I know that Abraham will command his sons his judgments and his ordinances (Gen. 18. 19). And David too, when he was dying, calling his own son in place of a great inheritance, enjoined these things and said continually: If you would wish, my child, to live according to the laws of God, nothing of the unexpected will befall you, but all things will go for you according to your heart, and you will enjoy great safety; but if you fall from that help, there is no benefit to you from the kingdom and this great power. These things and such as these he said, even if not in these exact words. ^D 10. These things let us also, both while we live and when we are near death, discuss with our own children, and persuade them that the fear of God is great wealth, and an inheritance that cannot fall away, and a treasure that cannot be plundered; and let us strive not to leave them money that perishes, but piety that remains and is never spent. For where piety is not present, even the money that exists perishes with danger and the ultimate shame; but when this is present, even the things that are not present are added. If you bring up the child well, so too will he his own son, and he his son; and like a series and a sequence of an excellent way of life, it will proceed until the end, having taken its beginning and root from you, and bringing you the fruits of the care of your descendants. If fathers educated their own sons with precision, there would be no need of laws, nor of courts, nor of punishments and chastisements and public executions. For the law is not laid down for the just, he says (1 Tim. 1. 9). But since we neglect them, for this reason we surround them with greater evils, and deliver them to the hands of the executioners, and continually push them into the abyss: For the one who coddles his own son will bind up his wounds, he says (Eccli. 30. 7). What is "the one who coddles"? The one who is merciful, who flatters, who treats beyond measure. For this requires severity and care and fears. I say these things not that we should be too harsh to our children, but that we might not appear contemptible to them. For if a wife ought to fear her husband, much more the child his father. And do not tell me that it is impossible to gain the upper hand over youth. For if Paul demands this forethought from a widowed woman, much more from men; if it were impossible, he would not have commanded it. But all wickedness arises from our own listlessness, and because we do not lead them into piety from the beginning, nor from their earliest age. But we strive that they might partake of outward education, and that they might complete their military service, and we pay money, and we court friends, and we use many wanderings; but that they might be well-regarded before the King of the angels, we make no account. And we allow them to go continually to the spectacles, but we never compel them to the Church; but even if the child attends once or twice, he comes here simply and in vain and to no purpose and for the sake of amusement. But it ought not to be so; but just as when we send them to a school we demand accountability for the lessons, so too when we send them to church, or rather, when we take them. For it was necessary not to entrust them to others, but for us ourselves holding them to enter here, and to demand the memory of the hearing and teaching here. For thus, thus the correction of children would become easier and simple for us; for if they should also hear you in the house at all times discoursing about philosophy, and counseling them the things they ought, and the things heard here were added to them along with those, quickly would they have shown us a noble fruit of these good seeds. But we do nothing of the sort, but we treat the necessary things as secondary; and if one counsels...

^A you to punish your son, the judge will punish him and render him more temperate; does he not have need of external correction, he who has lived for so much time under your own roof? Do you not hide yourself, and are you not ashamed? Tell me, I pray you, do you at all dare to be called a father, you who have so betrayed your son and have not protected him with the necessary defense, but have allowed him to be corrupted by every sort of wickedness? And if you should see some runaway slave striking a small child, you become indignant, you are angered, and you fly into the face of the one striking him more fiercely than any wild beast: but when you see the devil every day striking him, and luring him into sins, you sleep, and you are neither indignant, nor do you snatch your son from the jaws of the most savage beast? ^B Again, if you see him possessed by a demon, you run to all the saints, and you entreat those who dwell on the peaks of the mountains, that they might liberate him from such madness: but when he is always vexed by sin, which is more savage than any demon, nothing moves you at all?

For to be vexed by a demon is not a grievous thing: for the demon cannot in any way cast one into Gehenna; but if we are attentive and wakeful, and if we bear such trials with thanksgiving, that very temptation will secure for us glorious and illustrious crowns; but for him who lives enslaved to sins, it is impossible that he should ever be saved, but it is entirely necessary that he be ignominious in this life, and once departed, be punished again there with immortal torment. ^C Nevertheless, although we know these things, we bestow much zeal on those things which are of little account: but when it is a matter of greater things, we do not wish to be stirred; and while we see one possessed by a demon, we grieve: but while we see him sinning, we do not even perceive it, when we ought to be lamenting and weeping; or rather, not only weeping, but also restraining and bridling, counseling, exhorting, striking fear, reprimanding, and by every kind of healing driving away that disease, and imitating that widow of whom Paul speaks: *If she has brought up children* (1 Tim. V, 10). For he directs this discourse not only to her, but also to all, and exhorts everyone, saying: *Bring up your children in the instruction of the Lord* (Ephes. VI, 4). For this is truly the first and greatest of blessings, which he demanded first of the widow; then after this he says: *If she has received [guests] into her home*. ^D What, I pray you, do you say? Do you require of a widow woman that she receive guests? Is it not enough that she nourish her children? By no means, he says; but it is necessary that this also be added, and while she manages domestic affairs, she should also be concerned for those of others, and open her house to pilgrims. The husband has departed this life; bestow all the care you once gave to him upon the pilgrims. What then, if she be a poor woman, will someone say? There is no one poorer than that widow, who with that small measure of flour and the cruse of oil received the great prophet Elijah (3 Kings XVII). For she had children: but neither the lack of family possessions, nor the violence of hunger, nor imminent death, nor the care of her children, nor widowhood, nor anything else was an obstacle to the hospitable woman. The measure of one's disposition is what is sought. He who is magnanimous and rich in mind, even if he be the poorest of all men in money, will be able to surpass everyone in hospitality, and in almsgiving, and in every other kind of liberality; but he who is niggardly and poor in mind, and crawls upon the ground, even if he be the most wealthy of all men, is the poorest and most needy of all; therefore he declines and shuns all such things. And just as in the poor person poverty cannot bring any obstacle to almsgiving, because of the wealth of the mind: so neither can wealth assist the rich man to exercise liberality because of the excessive poverty of his mind. Nor will it be necessary to seek examples from afar: for the widow received the prophet with a little flour: but Ahab, who possessed so many riches, even coveted the things of others (3 Kings XVII and XXI). Thus it is not the wealth of money, but the wealth of the mind that provides us with facility for almsgiving: since that widow also, with two mites, surpassed countless rich men, nor did poverty present an obstacle (Luke XXI, 2-4). Nay, this very poverty made the almsgiving greater; which surely Paul expressed with these words: *Their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their simplicity* (2 Cor. VIII, 2). For it is right to praise and marvel at her, not because she did not give more, but because when she possessed only these, she did not spare them, but contributed her whole substance. Therefore, we have need not of wealth, but of alacrity of spirit, when guests are to be received. For just as if this be present, poverty can do no harm: so if this be absent, wealth will be of no benefit. What do you say? The widow bears the care of children, and for that reason is unable to harbor pilgrims? Nay, truly for this very reason she will be able to perform this more easily, since she asks her children to join in the consortium of services to be rendered, who may help together, and fulfill that excellent work with her. Therefore, the multitude of children will not be an obstacle to hospitality, but a help, and the hands of many applied to the work will bring great ease to the ministry. For do not recall to me a sumptuous table: if she receives the pilgrim under her roof, if she sets before him whatever was available, if she shows much kindness and cordiality, she has earned the full reward of hospitality. For if a cup of cold water alone secures the kingdom of heaven (Matt. X, 42), what, I pray, will receiving one under one's own roof, making him a participant of one's table, and refreshing him bring forth? And see how accurately Paul explains the matter. For he does not simply require hospitality in this place, but that which is shown with promptness of spirit, a fervent mind, and burning affect. For when he had said, *If she has received into her home*, he added, *If she has washed the feet of the saints*. It is not right for her, sitting with haughtiness, to demand this service toward the pilgrim from handmaids, but for her herself to apply her hand to the work, and to snatch the fruit for herself, nor to yield that excellent treasure to any other. But how will that be possible, someone will say? For if she is noble and illustrious, and famous, and born of celebrated ancestors, is she herself to wash the feet of the pilgrim?

it? Will this not be shameful? It would certainly be shameful if he does not wash them, oh man. For even if you exalt her nobility, and her brilliance, and her radiance a thousand times over, she shares the same nature with the one being washed, and is a fellow-servant of the one being tended and is equal in honor. ^C 13. Consider who it was who washed the disciples’ feet, and cease speaking to me about nobility. The common Master of the inhabited world, the King of angels, both washed and girded himself with a towel, and not only of the disciples, but even of the traitor himself. Do you see how great is the interval between the one washing and those being washed? And yet, he descended through all this distance, and the Master washed the slave, so that the female slave might not be ashamed of her fellow-servant. For this reason, even the traitor's [feet were washed], so that you might not be inclined to say that the one about to enjoy the ministry is base and contemptible. For even if he is base and contemptible, he is not yet like Judas, nor has he caused you such things as that one caused the Master, having come to betrayal after ten thousand benefits. And yet, foreknowing all these things, he washed them, setting down laws for us, so that even if we are higher than all, even if we are more brilliant and radiant than all, even if those about to lodge with us are worse than all, we should not for this reason shrink from tending them, nor be ashamed of their baseness. But you, oh woman, if you see someone helping you in practical business affairs, or cooperating in a court case, or in any other such thing, you meet them, and you receive them with much goodwill, and you kiss their hands, and you pay out silver, and you do the work of handmaidens; but if you see Christ entering, ^D do you hesitate and recoil from his ministry? If you do not receive the stranger as Christ, do not receive him; but if you receive him as Christ, do not be ashamed to wash the feet of Christ. Do you not see how many of those who are suffering mistreatment have fled to the feet of statues? And yet the material is insensible, and the bronze is soulless; but nevertheless, since they are images of kings, they expected to reap some benefit from those feet. But you, seeing not insensible feet, not soulless material, but an image which has the King within, entering in to you, do you not run to him, tell me, and take hold of his feet, and tend him in every way? And how can these things be worthy of pardon? How much shame would this be? Consider whom you are communicating with, as you swell up and lift yourself toward arrogance, and are ashamed of the ministry to the stranger. With the devil, clearly; for pride is his disease. But if you run to him, consider whom you are imitating. You are doing the work of your Master, and the work of Christ. What shame, then, or what disgrace is there in communicating with the Master, tell me? It is shameful, in fact, to be ashamed of these things, and to think it a disgrace, which Christ did. The feet of the saints have great power when they enter into a house; they sanctify the floor itself, they bring in a treasure of ten thousand good things, they correct an impaired nature, they undo famine, they bring in much abundance. ^A Thus also did the feet of Elijah, entering into the house of the widow, show a new and paradoxical way of abundance. He made the house of the widow a threshing floor, and the jar a granary. A new manner of sowing and reaping was happening then; she sowed into the mouth of the just man, and she reaped what was sown from the jar with much abundance; she sowed flour, and she reaped flour; she did not need oxen, and a yoke, and a plow, and a furrow, nor eagle and air and weather, nor threshing floor and sheaves, nor winds for winnowing the chaff from the fruit, nor a grinding mill; but in a single moment of time she found the end of all these things in the jar; and the voice of the prophet caused two fountains continuously to gush forth, one of flour, and one of oil. 14. Such are the gifts of the saints, and they contain much abundance and ease. For those things gathered from the earth are used up, but those fountains, while being drawn from every day, were not exhausted, but the conflict of the supply stood equal to the emptying. Such are the things the feet of the saints grant, or rather, even much more than these; and if I were not making the sermon long, I would have enumerated many such gifts. But just as when they are honored they bring such gifts, so when they are dishonored they bring on great punishment and unquenchable fire. Whence is this clear? Hear Christ himself saying to the disciples: ^B "Into whatever city or house you enter, ask who is worthy in it, and remain there, and entering in, say: Peace be to this house." For so that you might not say: "I am spending money, I am consuming my substance, by setting a table for strangers," he prepares the one entering first to bring gifts and presents surpassing all wealth. What, indeed, are these? The provision of peace. For there is nothing equal to this. Do you see with how much ease the saint enters into the house? This approach is plain, but it is the basis of ten thousand good things. For what could be more secure than a house enjoying peace? And the saints pray for peace for those who welcome them, not just peace with one another, but also peace with ourselves. For often we have war in our thoughts, and we are troubled without anyone bothering us, and evil desires are constantly rising up against us. And this battle, therefore, that word of the saints suppresses, and makes much calm within. For as soon as he spoke, every diabolical thought and absurd reasoning fled from our soul; so that you receive more than you give. "And if they receive you," he says, "may the peace come upon them; but if they do not receive you, shake off the dust of your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in that day than for that city." Do you see that when the feet of the saints are dishonored, how much fire they bring upon them? For this reason he commands us to wash them, so that while being tended they might procure for us much boldness before God; and at the same time, through this exhortation, he teaches us to perform all the works of hospitality by ourselves. Imitate Abraham, become his daughter, he who, having three hundred and eighteen house-born servants, himself along with his wife took part in the hospitality of[...

it, and he indeed brought the heifer, while she kneaded the flour. ^A Emulate these as well: for not only to give money, but also to minister to those in need, acquires6 much reward. For this reason, the Apostles also set those seven, including Stephen, over such a ministry [Acts 6]. Although they were not distributing their own [money] to the poor, but were rightly dispensing what was given by others, they nevertheless brought back a great reward because they were rightly and diligently dispensing what was collected by others.

15. Be then also a good steward of your own possessions, so that you might receive ^B a double fruit: both that which you disperse, and that which you rightly manage. And do not be ashamed to serve the poor with your own hand. Christ is not ashamed to stretch out a hand by means of a poor person and receive; but you—are you ashamed to stretch out a hand and distribute money? Who would not say that this is a deed of extreme foolishness? There is only one source of shame and ignominy: wickedness, namely, and cruelty and inhumanity; but kindness, almsgiving, humanity, and ministering to the poor render us more illustrious. For as much as you are wealthier and more affluent, ^C so much the more will everyone praise you when you have lowered yourself to the beggars and the lowly: and not only men, but also angels, and the Lord of angels; and He will not only praise [you], but will reward you with a double recompense. For it will prepare for you a great reward not only for almsgiving, but also for humility. Do not, therefore, be ashamed of the ministrations to the poor, nor refuse to wash the feet of strangers; for our hands are sanctified by such service; and if, after that ministry, you extend them in prayer, when these are seen, God is more easily entreated and grants what is asked. For while many are able to give money, ^D to minister to those in need by oneself, and to do this with readiness of mind, with love and brotherly affection, requires a great soul and one endowed with philosophy. And this is what Paul above all others requires, when he bids us sympathize with those who are pressed by tribulation and poverty and hardships, as if we were involved in the same evils: "With the bound," he says, "as if bound with them" [Heb. XIII, 3]. For which cause he did not stop the discourse here, but also added: "If she has followed every good work." What does "if she has followed every good work" mean? That she would even enter into prison, and visit the bound, and visit the sick, and refresh the afflicted, and console the mourning, and by whatever way she could, supply all things, and decline nothing at all of those things which pertained to the salvation and comfort of our brothers. And if from a widow woman he requires such great good works, with what excuse will it be just for us to be considered worthy, who, being men, do not do those things which Paul prescribed for women to do? But perhaps someone will say: "How at last does he require such diligence from a widow woman, when writing regarding virginity he said no such thing?" And yet he demanded a greater philosophy from them. For when he says: "The wife and the virgin are divided," and, "She who is unmarried is careful about the things of the Lord, how she may please the Lord"; and again: "But I say this for that which is honest, and which may provide the ability to entreat the Lord without hindrance" [1 Cor. VII, 34-35]—he signifies nothing else through these things, unless that a virgin, who has once sent a message to all worldly business, ought to consecrate her whole soul to God, and to have nothing in common with the earth, nor at one time to be at leisure for these things, at another for those, but since she has renounced them altogether, she ought to spend her whole zeal on spiritual matters. In truth, the very parable of the ten virgins has made this same thing clear to us [Matt. XXV]. For this reason, assuredly, they were excluded from the bridal chamber of the groom, because they did not have oil; and oil is nothing other than mercy and almsgiving, kindness, and the relief of those who suffer injury, and the consolation of those who are pressed by pain: because they lacked these, they went off and fell away from the bridal chamber.

16. Since we know this, all, both women and men, and virgins, and those joined in matrimony, and widows, let us confer much zeal upon almsgiving; and let us not say, "That one is wicked and unworthy to receive a benefit; that one is vile, that one is abject." Do not look at the dignity of him who is in need of cultivation and support, but only at the destitution. For even if he be vile and abject and despised, Christ so imputes the reward to you as if He Himself had received the benefit through him. For so that we might not have regard for the dignity of those who are affected by benefits, hear what He says: "You saw me hungering and you fed me" [Matt. XXV, 35]. Then, when they said to Him, "When did we see you hungering and fed you?" [v. 37] He added, saying: "As long as you did it to one of these little ones, you did it to me" [v. 40]. Thus, no pretext is left. Since we cannot say, "Where now shall we find one like Elias? Where one like Elisha?" or, "Give me such men, and I will receive them with the greatest readiness of mind, and I will not refuse to wash their feet, and I will cultivate them with every kind of duty." Lest we say these things—which is much greater—the Lord of Elias and Elisha and all the prophets promised that He would enter unto us through the poor, when He said: "As long as you did it to one of these least ones, you did it to me."

Four reasons for giving in Christ's name. But do not pass over what has been said. For that saying, "You fed me when I was hungry," exhibits four necessities of almsgiving: that he who asks is trustworthy; that it is the Lord who asks; that destitution presses, while hunger weighs; that it is easy to distribute, since He asks for nourishment, and asks only for bread, not delicacies; that a great reward is expected, since for these small things a kingdom has been promised. Are you inhumane, cruel, and unmerciful? "Revere," he says, "the dignity of him who asks." But toward the dignity are you not entreated? Be moved at least by the calamity. But neither does the reason of calamity move you to mercy? Grant it on account of the ease of the petition. Neither dignity, nor the necessity of poverty, nor the ease of giving can move you?

^A Consider four causes capable of rousing even a stone, and the miser, and the puffed-up man, and the pitiless, and the most sluggish of all men. What excuse, then, can there be for those who, after such exhortation and counsel, overlook those in need? Let me say something else in addition to this: let those listen who are initiated. When He needs to feed you, He does not even spare His own flesh; when He needs to give you drink, He does not even spare His blood, nor does He withhold it. And do you not share even bread or a cup? What excuse will you have, when you receive such things, and things so precious, while you spare those of little value? See that you do not often spare to give to Christ for [your] gain, [only to give] to the devil for [your] loss. For when we do not give to the poor, we give to informers; thieves, ^B or even wicked servants, often take and go off [with it], or other reversals of circumstances occur. And when we have escaped all these things, death comes and carries us off naked. So that these things may not happen, let us anticipate [them and] give to Christ who asks, and place [our possessions] in the inviolable treasury, so that we may be confident both regarding the safe-keeping and the revenue. For He does not only keep what He has received with accuracy; but He restores them to you again with ^C a greater increase. Let us not, therefore, think that our substance is diminished when we provide alms. For it is not diminished, but increased; it is not spent, but multiplies, and what is done is a kind of business and sowing; or rather, it is more profitable and safer than both of these. For trade is subject to winds and the waves of the sea and many shipwrecks, and seeds are subject to droughts and excessive rains and other irregularities of the air; but money cast into the hand of Christ is above every snare. No one can snatch from the hand of Him who has received the gifts once given; but it remains, producing for us much and unspeakable fruit, and bearing the harvest in due season. For he who sows sparingly, he says, shall reap also sparingly; and he who sows in blessings, shall reap also in blessings (2 Cor. 9.6). Let us sow, therefore, with bounty, so that we may thus reap, and partake of eternal life; of which may it be granted that we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the holy Spirit be glory, dominion, [and] honor, now and always, and for ever and ever. ^D Amen.

TO THE HOMILY ON ELIAS AND THE WIDOW.

[Subject matter concerning almsgiving and hospitality, which he always held among the foremost duties of the Christian life.]

ON ELIAS AND THE WIDOW, AND ON ALMSGIVING.

1. The dignity of almsgiving; two widows [exhibit] two covenants. On those days when we all were fasting, being often disposed to set forth discourses concerning almsgiving, I was interrupted, as evening was overtaking us and cutting short the course of my discourse. And this happened, God perhaps providentially ordering it, and deferring the exhortation concerning these things to the present day; so that while you were dispersed throughout the church, the table of almsgiving might not be set before you in such a way—not because we have something great and noble to say, but because the power of almsgiving is great and noble. For there is much boldness of the matter toward God; and just as some queen of our way of life, so it is accustomed to ascend the heavenly vaults with great freedom; and the powers entrusted with the gates of heaven, if they see almsgiving ascending, with great honor open those gates for it and for the other virtues on its account; but if they see [others] arriving without almsgiving, they shut the doors against them. And this is clear from those virgins, who were excluded from the sacred bridal chamber for this reason, because they did not have constant oil in their lamps. And consider for me the difference. Almsgiving without virginity brought its own foster-children into heaven; virginity without almsgiving did not have the strength. Since, then, the power of the matter is so great, let us welcome the accounts concerning it with all diligence. And there would be an excellent and brief exhortation on the matter, if we were to lead you to the widow in Sarephtha of Sidon. For of those who offer counsel by words, those who instruct through deeds become more trustworthy teachers; therefore, the widow would become for us the best teacher of this matter. For we exhort with word; but she will be able to instruct you through deeds, having the one of like mind joined with her. For there are these two widows: one in the New Testament, who cast in the two mites, and one in the Old, who was deemed worthy to receive the prophet; and both...

attained to the same virtue of philosophy, and exhibited the same kindness, and by the similarity of their noble deeds manifested to us the affinity of the Testaments. For just as certain lofty headlands, surrounded by harbors—which it is the custom to call lighthouses, where an inextinguishable fire burns throughout the night—lead those wandering on the sea by the splendor of the light to the ports of security, so these women, as if surrounded by ports of kindness, guide those wandering in the deep night of avarice by the light of their own magnanimity. For the condition of our life is no better than the night, as Paul also says: "The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Rom. XIII, 12). Therefore, those who are wandering in the deepest night ^B on the sea of avarice and are about to be submerged, they invite to their own security, and, possessing the fire of love for humanity always burning, they preserve the inextinguishable light of almsgiving.

But we will speak of the one in the Old Testament among you today. For when she is praised, the crown of the other’s accolades will also be woven, for those whose deeds are equal also have a common rhetoric of praise. There arose, therefore, in these times a grievous famine; not because the earth, being weary, refused its produce, but because human sins turned away the gift of God. There arose, therefore, a grievous famine, and the most bitter of all; and this great famine the great Elijah brought on, and called it, as it were, a fearful servant, so that he might punish his fellow servants who were offending their Master; or rather, the sins of the Jews summoned it, and the prophet’s mouth brought it forth. "For the Lord God lives," he says, "if there shall be rain, except by my mouth" (3 Kings XVII, 1). ^C

It was, therefore, an unbearable evil. For that fearful voice of the prophet did not only render the womb of the earth barren, but it also restrained the very currents of the rivers, and all the torrents were then drying up. And just as when a vehement and burning fever has invaded the nature of the body, it dries up not only the surface but, penetrating the interior, burns up the very nature of the bones; so the drought of the air that then prevailed did not burn only the face of the earth, but, penetrating to its very bowels, exhausted every internal moisture. What, then, does God say to the prophet? "Arise," He says, "and go to Sarephtha of Sidon; I have commanded a woman, a widow, to nourish you there" (3 Kings XVII, 9). What does this mean? In his own country he experienced no kindness, and You send him to a foreign region, and to a widow woman? For if she were wealthy, if she were most rich, if she were the wife of the king himself, if she held storerooms filled with many fruits of the earth, would not the fear of famine render her will more barren than the earth itself? In order, therefore, that the prophet might not say these things, or ponder them, for this reason He first fed him through the ravens ^D, as if to say to him, by the things that were happening: "If I have brought it about that a nature devoid of reason received you in hospitality, much more will one endowed with reason be persuaded to do this."

3. Therefore, the widow had to see the prophet, and that soul, sublime and divine to the very heavens, the noble and lofty Elijah, coming like some wanderer and beggar to the door of the widow; and that mouth, which had shut up heaven, pouring forth the voices of beggars: "Give me bread, give me water"; so that you might learn that nothing is as benevolent and humane as the house of a widow, a tabernacle full of need, and devoid of riches, and free from the evils that arise from riches. For the place was free from tumults, and full of all philosophy, and more tranquil than any port. Such are the domiciles that the souls of the saints most require.

4. The prophet, therefore, went to the widow, who was to prove the Jews—by whom strangers were loathed—wrong by her own example; he went to the widow, and taught everyone that the Jews were justly suffering that punishment. For when God is about to bring punishment upon some, He does not bring the affliction in just any way, nor is He content with the calculation of His own judgment, but He also apologizes for Himself before men by the very facts and defends Himself, just as if he were arguing in a common court, exposed to the suspicions of the crowd. And just as those who exercise judgment, when they are about to bring someone to the punishment of death, sitting on a high tribunal, and ordering the veils to be drawn, while caring for the whole city to stand around, thus judge as if in a public theater, and in the eyes and ears of all apply the interrogations, and order the acts and the records of the crimes perpetrated by him to be read, and cause the accused himself to become the accuser of his own deeds, and only then bring the sentence; so also God, as if on a high tribunal of the preaching of the Scriptures, commanding the whole world to stand around, with all watching and listening, institutes an inquiry into sins, not by ordering records and acts to be read, nor by bringing tablets into the midst, but by proposing the very sins of the guilty for us to contemplate before our eyes.

When He was about to loose the grievous thunderbolts against the Sodomites, and to remove the peoples and cities from the midst of the region by that fearful flame, when He was casting down that new and unusual rain, far more terrible than any previous one, which the sun first and only beheld—before He brought such punishment, He indicated to us the wickedness of those who were to be punished, not by reading the tablets, as I said, but by bringing their very sins into the midst (Gen. XIX). Therefore, surely, He sent the angels, not only to lead Lot out, but to show their iniquity; which also happened. For when they had received the angels, all besieged the house of the host, and stood around in a circle. The leader of this siege of forces was an unspeakable love, a desire for an iniquitous union, which exceeded the limits of age and nature. For not only the young men stood around, but also the elders; and neither did gray hair calm the madness, nor did old age...

^A extinguish the madness, but it was possible to see in the harbor a shipwreck, and in old age an unlawful desire. Nor did they stop even there in their lawlessness, but even when Lot promised to surrender his own daughters, not even then did they desist, but pressed on, saying that they would not stop until they seized the men; and they threatened great evils to him who promised to give his own daughters up because of the honor due to guests. Do you see how from every side he demonstrated the wickedness of the Sodomites, and only then brought upon them the punishment? For so that you might not, seeing them punished afterwards, be broken by the magnitude of the calamity, nor blame God together with them, but rather together with God condemn them, by having previously demonstrated their wickedness, He snatched away all pity for them, having distanced us from sympathy for them.

And this He has now done in the case of the prophet. So that you might not feel sorry when seeing the Jews perishing from famine, He shows you their inhumanity and cruelty, and their lack of hospitality. For indeed, they not only did not welcome the prophet, but they even threatened to kill him; and this is clear from the words of God. For He did not say only "Depart," but also "Hide yourself." For escape is not enough for your salvation, but you must also remain hidden with great caution; for the Jewish people is a people that thirsts for prophetic blood, and has been trained in the slaughter of the saints: they have always stained their own hands with the blood of the prophets. And that He sent him away from Judea, "Go and hide yourself," He says; but when He sent him to the widow, "I," He says, "have commanded her." Do you see how, on the one hand, He orders him while fleeing to do so with much safety, but here, when seeking refuge, He commands him to go with much boldness and confidence?

5. But not this alone, but also another thing has been ordered through the presence of the prophet with the widow. For so that some might not afterwards, seeing Christ, after His many and unspeakable benefits in Judea—after the countless dead whom He raised, after the blind whom He made to see, after the lepers whom He cleansed, after the demons whom He drove out, after the wonderful and saving teaching—being driven away by those who had been benefited, but honored by those among the Gentiles, who knew nothing of this nor had heard, might wonder, be perplexed, and consider the event unbelievable; from above and long before the time, through His servants, He teaches the Jewish ungratefulness and instructs us in the friendliness of the Gentiles. Thus, indeed, Joseph, whose brothers came to him to be fed, they even attempted to kill, but a barbarian man brought him to the greatest honor. Thus the Jews, who had been benefited, drove out Moses, but a barbarian man, Jethro, welcomed him and deemed him worthy of much friendliness. Thus Saul drove out David after the head of Goliath, after the countless dangers, which he [David] ^B had often resolved for both him and the city, but Achish, the king of the barbarians, welcomed him and brought him to much honor. Thus even now the Jews drove out Elijah, but the widow welcomed him. When, therefore, you see Christ being driven out by them, but welcomed by the Gentiles, after having learned the types from above, do not wonder at the truth of the event. You heard, indeed, even today, Christ saying and hinting at this very thing. For speaking to the Jews who were grumbling, He said, that *there were many widows in the days of Elijah, and unto none of them was Elijah sent, but unto the widow at Zarephath of Sidon* (Luke 4. 25-26).

But perhaps one might ponder this: why did God leave him, who had lived so much for the glory of God, to be afflicted and driven from place to place, sending him now to the brook, now to the country, now to another place, as if making him—a wanderer, as it were—change his types and places? For that he was distressed and hemmed in, hear even the word of Paul: *They wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, evil-entreated* (Heb. 11. 37). Why, then, did He allow him to be afflicted? If indeed He were exacting that judgment from the Jews for the sins they committed against him, one might reasonably say that he experienced the distress of affliction so as to become gentler and to slacken his cruelty. But if it was not for the wrongs done to himself, but rather, as he was melting away with grief for the impiety and insult against the Master, that he brought this calamity upon them, for what reason does he himself participate in the evils, and does not enjoy much comfort and security? Because if, while the others were being evil-entreated and perishing from famine, he himself had enjoyed comfort and a rich table, perhaps one might have considered what happened to be an act of cruelty. For it would not have seemed at all wonderful to be enjoying prosperity while relishing the evils of others. For this reason God let him share in the calamity, and experience the evils that had happened, and partake of the famine, so that you might learn that it was not mere famine, but divine zeal in him. For he would not have chosen, while being so distressed and destitute and afflicted and evil-entreated, to not resolve the threat, unless it were from great zeal that he gave utterance to that blessed, ^C and soul-chastening voice. For which reason it was even sweeter for him to be distressed and to see them being chastened, or having been freed from the necessity of the imminent calamity, to see them return to their former impiety.

6. For such are the souls of the saints everywhere: they sacrifice their own safety for the correction of others. So that no one might say that it was because of cruelty that He allowed him to share in the famine, so that you might learn the philosophy of the prophet. And besides this, since the nature of miracles is somehow accustomed to both puff up those who work miracles and to persuade those who see miracles to conceive of something greater than human nature concerning them; both these [dangers] He corrected, having changed the weakness of nature. And that these things are so, it is easy to learn from the voice of Paul. For that miracles puff up, hear what he says: *And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me* (2 Cor. 12. 7). And that it also persuades those who see the miracles and those who hear them to conceive of something greater concerning those who work miracles, this too is clear from that. For having spoken concerning

343 and, as it were, established by his own revelations, he adds: "If I have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish: for I will say the truth" (2 Cor 12:6). Why, then, do you not glory? "But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or something he heareth from me." ^A That this might not happen to the prophet (for although he was Elijah, he was nevertheless a man), he mingled the defect of nature with the miracle. Therefore, he who commanded the heaven did not command the famine; he who restrained the fruit of the earth could not restrain the necessity of the belly, but needed a widow, that you might recognize divine grace and human infirmity at the same time. Nor did that occurrence profit for this alone, but for another thing no less than the former. And what was that? That when someone urges you to the zeal of the prophet, you might not despond ^B or despair, thinking that he was of another human nature, and therefore had such confidence before God. This, indeed, someone hinted at when he said: "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are" (Jas 5:17): as if to say, "Do not think it impossible to reach the same pinnacle of philosophy as he; for he too was a participant of the same nature." Yet, his admirable and divine resolution showed him to be far more sublime than the others.

"And he came," it says, "to Sarephtha of Sidonia, ^C and found a widow woman gathering of sticks" (3 Kings 17:10). These are the vestibules worthy of her domestic poverty. What then? Did he turn back when he had seen such beginnings of hospitality? Not at all; for he had heard the divine sentence: but he cried after her and said: "Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink" (1 Kings 17:11). Truly a generous and wise woman, and—unless this saying appear somewhat too bold—she was worthy even of the magnanimity of the prophet; ^D nay, by no means does this saying deserve to seem bold: for had she not been worthy, she would not have been held worthy to receive that holy man. Just as Christ also said to his disciples: "Into whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide" (Matt 10:11). He knew that this woman was worthy to receive the prophet; therefore, leaving all others, he sent him thither. But let us see her nobility from the things themselves. "Fetch me," he says, "a little water." Great is the woman's humanity. That she answered, that she entered into conversation with him, that she did not—by rebuking him—call the whole city to punish that sacred head, ^A does this not seem worthy of astonishment and admiration? For that a poor woman, driven by the necessity of famine, would have been provoked to such wrath, you may recognize from this Jewish example.

Elisha the disciple of Elijah, Elisha the double of Elijah

^C 8. Know, furthermore, that when we are occupied with some need, very often we do not even look gladly upon our own kin, but we are angry even toward them; and when such an affliction has come upon us, even the light itself seems to us to be an annoyance: which once again is made plain by the Jewish example. Indeed, when Moses had come and announced to the Jews innumerable blessings, liberation from tyranny, freedom, and the return to their ancient fatherland: "They saw him," it says, "and did not hear him, for anguish of spirit and most cruel bondage" (Exod 6:9). They, when they saw him bringing such a favorable report, turned away: ^D she, having seen the prophet arriving—not to remove the famine but to burden her with it—no such thing happened to her. And they, indeed, were so difficult and morose on account of the labor of their works: she, however, afflicted not by labor but by the vehement famine (for truly there is a great difference between labor and famine), not only did not turn away from the man, but even exhausted all her own poverty, that she might receive him who had brought the famine upon them. "And she went to fetch water," it says, "and the prophet cried and said: Bring me also, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand, that I may eat" (3 Kings 17:11). What then the woman? She does not take this amiss, but what does she say? "As the Lord thy God liveth, if I have a cake, but a handful of meal" (1 Kings 17:12). For what cause does she swear? The prophet asked for bread; but she had no bread. She feared, therefore, that perhaps while she was cooking, roasting, preparing, and then delaying, the prophet, impatient in his habit, would depart, and would flee from the prey of hospitality. Therefore, she anticipated him with an oath, saying that she did not lack meal, but that she had no cake, only meal. [alt-version omitted] Nor does she make faith by oath alone, but also by the very demonstration of the things that are done. "For behold," she says, "I gather two sticks, and I will go in and make it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die" (1 Kings 17:12). The widow leaves no excuse to the rich. Let them listen, who construct magnificent buildings and purchase sumptuous estates, and lead droves of servants through the forum: or rather, let both the wealthy and the poor listen: for to no one, after this widow, will any excuse be left. She was entangled with so many impediments, but the woman broke through and transcended them. Listen indeed. She was an alien: this is one impediment. A Sidonian: the second impediment. For the condition is not equal if you are an alien in any way, and if you are sprung from Sidon, a most wicked city;

^A a woman, the weaker sex, and one in need of succor on every side. There was also widowhood, a fourth impediment; and a fifth, greater than all those, the care of raising children. Let widows, and those who nourish children, hear that this excuse was not sufficient for not practicing almsgiving, nor for not receiving strangers; and, a handful of meal was all that remained, and after that, death was expected. For you, if you should empty all your wealth, and if you should strip yourself of your possessions, are able to go to the doors of others and obtain comfort; but at that time, it was not even possible to beg, so completely had the famine blocked all the harbors. But none of these things hindered her. ^B Shall I also say a seventh impediment? The very man who was about to be lodged by the woman. For he was neither a relative, nor an acquaintance, but a stranger and an alien, and according to the account of piety, separated from her. And not only a stranger and an alien, but he was the very man who had brought on the famine.

9. Yet none of these things turned the woman away, but she fed him, even though he was the cause of the famine, with the remains of the famine. For your sake, she says, my entire wealth has been brought down to this handful; yet not even this handful do I spare for your sake, but I shall hand over both myself and my children to death, so that you, she says, who are the cause of the distress, may not even feel a small sensation of that distress. What other excess of hospitality will one find? It is not possible to find any. ^C She saw a stranger, and immediately she forgot about nature, and disregarded her birth pangs, and looking at the company of her children, she was not broken. And I know I have heard many people say often: "Such a one saw a beggar, and the tunic he was wearing, he took it off and clothed the naked man, and he himself borrowed a garment from someone else, and so departed"; and this seemed to be a great and marvelous thing. And indeed it is truly great; but the case of this widow is much greater than that. For that man, having stripped himself and clothed the naked man, was able to receive a garment from another; ^D but she, having a handful of flour remaining, was not able to receive another handful; nor was the danger for her just down to nakedness, but after that, death was expected both for herself and her children. When, therefore, neither poverty nor the care of raising children, nor grievous famine, nor such great destitution, nor expected death hindered her, what excuse shall we have, we who are well-off? or what [excuse] those who are poor? "As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing, save for a handful of flour in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse; and behold, I am gathering two sticks, and I shall enter in, and I shall prepare them for my children, and we shall eat, and we shall die." Let everyone write this pitiful—or rather, this blessed and heaven-worthy—saying upon the walls of his house, in the bedchamber where we sleep, in the house where we dine.

But perhaps someone will say: «Bring me a prophet, and I will receive ^A him with the same goodwill.» Promise this, and I will bring you the prophet. And why do I say the prophet? I will bring you the Master of the prophet Himself, our common God and Lord, Christ. For He Himself says, "You saw Me hungering, and you fed Me." But if some disbelieve the voice, and neglect the kindness, they will learn this then through the punishment and the retribution. For just as they would have neglected Christ Himself, so they will go away to intolerable punishment. Thus, therefore, those who nourish the poor, having tended to Christ Himself, are brought into the kingdom of heaven.

10. ^B Perhaps more has been said than was necessary. If, indeed, it were possible for you to spend all your days on discourses about almsgiving! But if this seems to you to have been sufficiently covered, come, let us recapitulate everything. I have said for what reason the prophet was sent to the widow: so that you might not bless poverty, so that you might not admire wealth, so that you might not deem the well-off man the one to be envied, so that you might not deem him who lives in poverty miserable and pitiful, so that you might learn the Jewish wickedness. For it is the manner of God, when He is about to punish, also to apologize for Himself through the very deeds; so that after this, having seen the common Savior of all being driven away by them ^C but received by the nations, you might not be amazed and puzzled, having learned from above of their ingratitude, and how it is their custom to drive away their benefactors; so that you might not think the prayer of the prophet, and the extension of the punishment, to be [a sign of] cruelty, but of divine zeal and providence; so that you might learn that human nature stands in need of correction even in the greatest of achievements; so that you might not, when called to the same zeal as the prophet, think the imitation impossible. I have spoken concerning the widow, how, being in such great distress, with the famine exerting pressure, she did not utter a bitter word toward the prophet, although it was likely [she would]; and I showed this too from the Jewish mind-set; but she suffered nothing of the sort, but received him with all hospitality, and emptied all her poverty ^D for his honor, and being a Sidonian and an alien, she heard neither of the prophets philosophizing about almsgiving, nor of Christ saying, "You saw Me hungering, and you fed Me." What forgiveness, then, shall be ours, if after such exhortations, if after the promise of such rewards, if after the kingdom of heaven, we do not hasten to the same measure of hospitality as the widow? For she was indeed a Sidonian and an alien, and a widowed woman, and was responsible for many children, and was going to receive a dangerous famine and expected death, and a man she did not know, and one who had brought on the famine, and not even so did she spare the handful; but we... non-Greek script column: see facsimile

having partaken of prophecy and having received divine teachings, and being able to philosophize much about things to come, and not seeing hunger impending, and possessing much more than the woman—what excuse shall we be able to put forward, sparing as we do our wealth and being prodigal of our own salvation? That we might therefore avoid those grievous torments, let us show every compassion toward the poor, so that we too may be deemed worthy of the goods to come, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

CONCERNING THINGS TO COME,

^A 1. The heat is intense, and the drought is burdensome; yet it did not weaken your eagerness, nor did it extinguish your desire for hearing. Such is the fervent and attentive listener; strengthened by a desire to hear, he is able to endure all things patiently, so that he may fulfill this noble and spiritual desire; and he cannot be thwarted by cold or heat, by a crowd of affairs, by a multitude of anxieties, or by any other such things; just as, likewise, one who is lazy and idle—neither the fair tempering of the air, nor leisure and security, nor ease or comfort can stir him, but he remains overcome by a certain sleep most worthy of blame and censure. But you are not such as this; rather, you are much better than those who inhabit our city. For you are the head and vertex of the city, being so upright and vigilant, and you are accustomed to continuously and diligently pursue what is said. ^B This theater of yours is to me more august than the courts of kings. For there, indeed, the things that are bestowed end along with this life, and are full of tumult and redundant with disturbances; here, however, there is nothing of the sort; but there is complete security, and a status free from mobs, and a magistracy that never ends nor is interrupted even by death itself, but then becomes all the more secure. For do not recall to me him who sits in a chariot, raises his eyebrows, and is surrounded by a large retinue, nor the belt and the herald's voice; do not point out to me a magistrate in such a way. But rather, demonstrate it from the condition of the soul, if he rules over his passions, if he conquers vices—that is to say, if he masters the greed for riches, if he has subdued the unsatiable love of bodies, if he does not pine away with envy, if he is not distracted by the agitation of vainglory, if he does not fear and tremble at poverty, if he is not terrified at the prospect of a change for the worse, if he is not in a state of collapse from this fear. ^C Show me such a magistrate—for this is what it means to hold a magistracy. But if he rules over men, yet acts as a slave to the passions of his soul, I would say that this man is more subject to slavery than all other men. And just as one who has a fever enclosed within his organs and veins, even if the external appearance of the body offers nothing of the sort, the physicians will assert that he is entirely seized by a great fever, even if the unskilled be ignorant of it; so too do I declare him to be subject to slavery more than everyone else, whose soul is a slave and in bondage to the passions of the mind, even if his outward appearance displays nothing of the sort but rather the opposite, seeing as he has the fever of vices raging within and the tyranny of the passions settled upon his soul. But to hold a magistracy, and to be free and more august than kings themselves, even if one be clothed in rags, even if one lies in prison, even if one be surrounded by chains, is to be the man who has shaken off the yoke of this tyranny and is held neither by depraved desires, nor is seized and trembling with an absurd fear of poverty and ignominy, nor of those things which seem burdensome in this life.

^D 2. These authorities are not something to be bought with money, nor do they have anyone who envies them—this, the tongue of an accuser does not know, nor the eye of the envious, nor the contrivances of the treacherous, but just as if residing in some inviolable dwelling-place of philosophy, it remains forever unconquered, and yields not to other accidents of misfortune, nor even to death itself.

And the martyrs are witnesses of these things, whose bodies indeed have been dissolved and have become dust and ashes, but their authority and principality live and work daily, while it drives away demons and puts diseases to flight, while it rouses whole cities and leads people into this place. So great is the virtue of this magistracy and dominion, not only of living princes, but also of those who have passed from this life; the mind and desire to come here, and

the human nature, and commanded all to migrate to heaven; for when the law commanded "an eye for an eye," He Himself says, "If anyone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also" (Mt. 5:39). He did not say, "merely endure the insolence bravely and gently," but go further in your philosophy, and be prepared to suffer greater things than he desires to do; with the abundance of your philosophy, overcome the rashness of his insolence, so that, shamed by your exceeding gentleness, he may withdraw. And again He says, "Pray for those who persecute you; pray for those who hate you; do good to those who hate you" (Mt. 5:44). Again, He introduced counsel concerning virginity, saying: "He who is able to receive it, let him receive it" (Mt. 19:12). For since that virtue had flown away from paradise, and after the disobedience it had departed, He, coming down from heaven, brought it back again, as if leading a fugitive back to its ancient fatherland, and releasing it from a long exile; and coming, He was first born of a virgin, and stirred the laws of nature, honoring it from the very beginning, and showing the virgin to be a mother. Since, therefore, upon arriving, He commanded such things, and was fashioning an exalted way of life, He also offered rewards worthy of the labors—or rather, much greater and more sublime. But these too were invisible, and in hope, and in faith, and in the expectation of things to come. Since, therefore, the commandments were arduous and sublime, but the rewards and the prizes were in faith, surely ^A in hope: one in our hands, the other in hope; and one He commanded to be the stadium, the other the prize; and to this one He assigns struggles, labors, and sweat, but to that one, crowns, rewards, and recompenses: the one He made a sea, the other a harbor; and the one He made short, the other ageless and immortal. Since, therefore, many men preferred these sensible things to those spiritual ones, He joined to them this transitory and short-lived nature, so that he might lead them away from present things, and attach them with great precision to the love of things to come. Then, since those things were invisible and spiritual, and placed in faith and hope, look at what He does. When He came here, and took upon Himself our flesh, and accomplished that wonderful dispensation, He brings the things to come before our eyes, and by this means He convinces our duller minds. For since He came bringing an angelic way of life, and making the earth heaven, and commanding such things as to liken those who pursue them to the incorporeal powers, and made men angels, and called them to the hopes above, and extended small training grounds, and commanded them to fly higher, and to ascend to the very vaults of the heavens, and to strip for battle against demons, and to be arrayed against the whole phalanx of the devil—having a body, being entwined with flesh, and yet mortifying the bodies, and banishing the tumult of the passions, and simply being clothed in flesh, yet striving in the contest against the incorporeal powers. 4. Since He commanded these things, see what He does; how He makes the contest easier. Or rather, if it seems good, let us first speak of the magnitude of the commandments, and how He fashioned the wing to be high, and almost driving it out from ^B human nature, He commanded all to migrate to heaven. For whereas the law commanded an eye for an eye, He Himself says, "If anyone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." He did not say, "bear the insolence only bravely and gently," but advance further in your philosophy, and be prepared to suffer greater things than he is eager to perform; with the abundance of your philosophy, win out over the rashness of his insolence, so that, shamed by your exceeding gentleness, he may withdraw. And again He says, "Pray for those who abuse you; pray for your enemies: do good to those who hate you." Again, He introduced counsel concerning virginity, saying, "He who is able to receive it, let him receive it." For since the thing had flown away from paradise, and after the disobedience it had withdrawn, He, having descended from heaven, brought it back again, as calling back a fugitive to its ancient fatherland, and releasing it from its long exile: coming, He was first born of a virgin, and stirred the laws of nature, honoring it from the beginning, and declaring the virgin a mother. Since, therefore, upon arriving, He commanded such things, and was working out a sublime way of life, He offered rewards worthy of the labors, or rather by far (greater) and higher. But these too were invisible, and in hope, and in faith, and in the expectation of ^C things to come. Since, therefore, the commandments were laborious and sublime, but the prizes and the rewards were in faith, surely ^D

see what he does, and in what manner he makes the struggle easy, and in what manner he makes the contests simple. In what manner, then? By two ways: one, that he himself performs the same; the other, that he shows the rewards and sets them before our eyes. For of the things said by him, some were a commandment, some were rewards. The commandment indeed: ^A *Pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you* (Matt. 5.44): the reward however: *That you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven* (Ibid. v. 45). Again, *Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for your reward is great in heaven* (Ibid. v. 11, 12). ^B Do you see that one is a commandment, the other a reward? Again, *If you wish to be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me, and you shall have treasure in heaven* (Matt. 19.21). For he enjoined the one to them, and prepared the other for them, which was a wage and a recompense. And again: *Whoever has left houses, or brothers, or sisters*—this is the commandment: *He shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life* (Ibid. v. 29)—this is the reward and the crown.

^C Since, therefore, the commandments were great, but the rewards were not visible, see what he does; he demonstrates them through his own works and brings the crowns into view. For just as one who is ordered to walk an untrodden path, if he sees someone else walking it first, tackles it more easily and gains greater enthusiasm in his soul: so, too, it happens with the commandments; those who see those who have gone before, follow easily. In order, therefore, that our nature might follow more easily, by taking on our flesh and our nature, he thus walked through it, and demonstrated the commandments by his deeds. For the statement, *If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also* (Matt. 5.39), he himself performed when the servant of the high priest struck him. ^D For he did not take vengeance on him, but showed such modesty as to say: *If I have spoken evil, bear witness to the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?* (John 18.23). Do you see his tremendous gentleness? Do you see his amazing humility? He was being struck, not by any free man, but by a servant, a slave, and a domestic, and he answers with such modesty. So too his Father used to say to the Jews: *My people, what have I done to you, or in what have I grieved you, or with what have I troubled you? Answer me* (Mic. 6.3). Just as he himself says, *Bear witness to the evil*, so too his Father, *Answer me*; and just as he himself says, *Why do you strike me?*, so also his Father, *What have I grieved you, or in what have I troubled you?* Again, teaching poverty, see in what manner he exhibits it by deed, saying: *The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head* (Matt. 8.20). Do you see his extreme poverty? He had no table, no lamp, no house, no seat, nor any other such thing. He was teaching that we should bear those who hear us badly with patience, and he exhibited this indeed by deed. For when they were calling him demon-possessed and a Samaritan, although he could have punished them again and exacted a penalty from them for the insults, he did nothing of the sort, but rather he was doing good to them, and casting out demons from them. And when he had said, *Pray for those who despitefully use you* (Matt. 5.44), when he had ascended the cross, he did it. For after they had crucified him and nailed him with nails, hanging there he said, *Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing* (Luke 23.34). These things were said by him, not because he was unable to forgive, but to teach us to pray for our enemies. For because he was not only teaching the doctrine by word, but also by deed, he therefore added the prayers as well. Let no one of the heretics, therefore, because of his excessive humanity, judge these words to be of infirmity. For he is the one who says, *But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins* (Matt. 9.6). But because he wished to teach (now he who teaches brings the doctrine into the midst not only by his words, but also by his facts), for this reason he added the prayers as well; for otherwise he even washed the feet of his disciples, not because he was inferior; but being God and Lord, he humbled himself to such great humility.

On the image of Christ’s future glory

And for this reason also he used to say: *Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart* (Matt. 11.29). By another way again, listen to how the very prizes and rewards are brought into the midst and subjected to the eyes. He had promised the resurrection of bodies, immortality, the meeting in the air, the being caught up in the clouds; he demonstrated these by the facts themselves. In what manner, then? Being dead he rose; and for this reason he lived with them for forty days, so as to render them more certain, and to show what kind our bodies will be after the resurrection. Again, he who said through Paul: *We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet him in the air* (1 Thess. 4.17), demonstrated this also by deed. For after the resurrection, when he was about to go into the heavens, in their presence, *He was taken up*, he says, *and a cloud received him out of their sight* (Acts 1.9); and they were looking intently as he was departing. Thus, surely, our body also will be of the same substance as that body, inasmuch as it is from the same mass; for as the head, so also the body; as the beginning, so also the end. And indicating this more clearly Paul said: *Who will transform the body of our humility, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory* (Phil. 3.21). If, therefore, it is conformed, it will also traverse the same path, and will be caught up in the clouds likewise. Expect this also in the resurrection. For because until that time the word of the kingdom of heaven had been obscure to the hearers, therefore when he had ascended the mountain, he was transfigured before his disciples (Matt. 17), and showed them the glory of things to come, and showed obscurely, as in a riddle, what our body was to be like. But truly he appeared then with garments; but not so in the resurrection. For our body will not need garments, nor roof, nor vaulting, nor any other such thing. For if Adam before the transgression, when he was naked, was not ashamed, being clothed with glory: much more our bodies, which will be transferred to a more excellent and better condition, will by no means

fare worse, but will be filled with unspeakable glory and blessedness. Knowing these things, therefore, beloved, and having been instructed by words and taught by our eyes, let us show such a manner of life, that, having been caught up in the clouds, we may always be dwelling with Him, being saved by His grace, and enjoying the good things to come, which may it be granted to us all to attain in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, and adoration, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

COMMENTARY ON THE HOMILY CONCERNING NOT PUBLISHING THE SINS OF BRETHREN

Tillemont made a fair calculation when he said that the discourse *On Not Publishing the Sins of Brethren* precedes by one day that which, in Morell’s edition, is placed before it and bears the title *That One Ought Not to Despair*. For in that discourse, Chrysostom speaks expressly of the former as having been delivered the day before, in no. 3: "But for what reason, then, did God hear the publican so quickly, yet permitted Isaac to pray for twenty years, and to supplicate Him on behalf of his wife, and only then assented to the prayers of the just man? For there remains for you the continuation of yesterday's teaching." And he expands upon these matters at length in the Homily *On Not Publishing the Sins of Brethren*, numbers 3 and 4, where he discourses much concerning the transformation of Rebecca’s twenty years of sterility into fecundity. Moreover, these things which are said concerning Rebecca lie almost in the same words in the 49th Homily on Genesis, and constitute almost the entire forty-ninth homily, with a few exceptions. Take care, however, not to think that the discourse on Genesis is mentioned in the second homily *On [That One Ought Not to Despair]*; for those things which are said at the beginning of this second homily cannot fit it; namely: "Which was also performed by you yesterday. I had scattered the word of contrition, and the groaning of confession has germinated, a groaning bearing with it many riches of good things." For in that homily on Genesis, there does not exist even a trace of anything that could move one to contrition. In the former homily *On Not Publishing the Sins of Brethren*, he speaks quite tenderly against those who pour out prayers against their enemies; namely, in numbers 5 and 6, especially before the *Amen*, where he says: "Collect your mind, humble your soul by the memory of the sins committed against you." Whence this doubt of Tillemont is also removed. Why, he asks, does he not expressly commemorate the contrition in the former homily, although in the latter he says that he had spoken of contrition in the former? But he does not say that in the former he had made mention of contrition specifically, but he says this: "I had scattered the word of contrition, and the groaning of confession has germinated." What else, then, are these, "Collect your mind, humble your soul by the memory of your faults," and many other things scattered here and there, other than the word of contrition? One can just as easily pull out another thorn of the same kind, which is of this sort: in the latter homily, no. 3, Chrysostom says: "But for what reason at last did God..." etc. [Note: The text continues to examine the chronology of these sermons and Tillemont's critique, concluding that there are no such discrepancies as Tillemont feared, and that both homilies concern perseverance in prayer and not praying against enemies. The translation of both homilies is by Fronto Ducaeus.]

THAT ONE OUGHT NOT TO PUBLISH THE SINS OF BRETHREN, NOR IMPRECATE AGAINST ENEMIES

1. I congratulate you, beloved, on the zeal with which you run to the paternal house. For from this zeal, I have reason to be confident also concerning our health, which is of the soul; for the place of instruction of the Church is a wonderful infirmary; an infirmary not of bodies, but of souls. For it is spiritual, and it rectifies not the wounds of the flesh, but the sins of the mind; and the medicine for these sins and wounds is the word. This medicine is not from herbs of the earth, but from ^A

the tongues of the prophets it is composed. ^A Wherefore it is perpetual, and is neither weakened by the long passage of time, nor overcome by the strength of diseases. For the medicines of physicians, indeed, suffer from both these defects; while they are fresh, they reveal their power: but when much time has elapsed, they become weaker, in the manner of bodies worn out by old age: nay, they are very often overcome by the difficulty of the diseases, inasmuch as they are human; but the divine medicine is not of this kind, but after much time has passed it retains all its strength. Indeed, from the time when Moses lived (for from him is the beginning of the Scriptures), it has healed so many people, and has not lost its own virtue: nor yet has it ever been overcome by any malady. This medicine cannot be received by counting out silver, but he who displays a sincere will and affection carries the whole of it away with him. ^B For this reason, rich and poor alike enjoy this medicine. For where it is necessary to expend money, he who is wealthy becomes a participant in the benefit: but the poor man often departs destitute of gain; since he does not have enough income to suffice for the preparation of the medicine. Here, however, since one is not permitted to count out silver, but faith and a will are to be shown, he who can count these out and pay with alacrity, he especially receives the benefit: since these are what are required as the price of this medicine. Both the rich and the poor equally participate in this utility: or rather, they do not participate equally, but the poor man departs having received more. Why so? Because, clearly, the rich man is preoccupied with various anxieties, swelling with pride, inflated by riches and haughtiness, given to sloth and negligence, and does not receive the medicine of the hearing of the Scripture with much attention, nor with great study: but the poor man, free from delicacies and gluttony and negligence, ^C and procuring much philosophy for his soul from thence, as he spends his whole time in the work of his hands and lawful labors, becomes more attentive and robust, and perceives what is said with greater diligence: whence it comes to pass that, having paid a greater price, he departs having carried off a greater utility.

But I do not speak these things to condemn any rich men whatsoever, nor to praise any poor men whatsoever: for neither are riches an evil, but using riches badly is; nor is poverty a good, but using poverty well is. That rich man who lived in the time of Lazarus was tormented, not because he had been rich, but because he had been cruel and inhuman. That poor man was praised in the bosom of Abraham, not because he had been poor, but because he had endured poverty with thanksgiving. For some things (attend diligently to what we say: for they will be able to instill sufficient philosophy and modesty into you, and to expel every vicious thought, and to cause you to render a right judgment concerning matters); ^D things, therefore, are by nature some good, others entirely contrary; others which are neither good nor evil, but hold a certain middle place. Piety is a good thing by its own nature, impiety an evil: virtue a good, wickedness an evil: furthermore, riches and poverty of themselves are neither this nor that: but according to the proportion of the purpose and will of those who use them, they become either this or that. For if you use riches for humanity, the matter will be handed over to you for an opportunity of good: but if for rapine, avarice, and injury, you will turn it to the contrary use: yet, nevertheless, riches are not the cause, but he who used riches for injury. One may say the same also about poverty: for if you have endured it patiently, giving thanks to the Lord, the matter becomes an occasion and material for crowns for you: but if you have for this reason been blasphemous against the Creator, and accused his providence, you have again translated the matter to an evil use. But just as there, riches are not the cause of avarice or fraud, but he who uses riches badly: so also we will not cast the blame of blasphemy upon poverty, but upon him who did not wish to bear the matter with moderation. For everywhere both praise and vituperation depend on our judgment and will. Riches are good, but not simply; rather, to him to whom there is no sin: and again, poverty is evil, but not simply; rather, in the mouth of the impious, because he bears it with difficulty, because he blasphemes, because he accuses the Creator. Let us not accuse riches, nor simply vituperate poverty, but those who do not wish to use these things rightly: for the things themselves are placed in the middle. But what I was saying (for it is good that we return to that first argument), both the rich and the poor enjoy these medicines of ours with the same confidence and liberty: and often even the poor man with greater study. This is not the chief praise of these medicines, that they heal souls, that they are not corrupted by the length of time, that they are not overcome by diseases, that their utility is proposed gratis, that the medicine is open to the rich and poor alike: but it has also some other thing, not less than these goods. What, then, is that? That we do not divulge those who come to this dispensary of medicine. For they indeed who go to the profane dispensaries of physicians have many spectators of their wounds: and unless the physician first uncovers the ulcer, he does not apply the medicine: here, however, it is not so, but when we see countless sick, we cure them in secret. For we do not, with sinners brought into the middle, thereupon divulge their sins: but with the doctrine proposed to all in common, we leave it to the conscience of the auditors, so that they may extract from what has been said the medicine suitable to their own wound. For there proceeds from the orator’s tongue a sermon of doctrine which contains the vituperation of vice, the praise of virtue, the reprehension of luxury, the commendation of chastity, the accusation of pride, the proclamation of modesty, like a varied and multifarious pharmacum composed of all kinds: furthermore, it is for each of the auditors to take what is suitable and useful to him. The sermon, therefore, proceeds openly, and, residing in everyone’s conscience, secretly displays its medicine, and before the malady is made public, it often restores health. You have heard then yesterday, how I praised the power of prayer, how I vituperated those who pray with negligence.

^A Likewise, let those who are conscious of their own diligence accept the eulogy of prayer and become more diligent through these praises; let those who are conscious of their own sloth accept the rebuke in turn, and cast off their negligence. But we know neither the one nor the other; and this ignorance is useful for both. In what way? I shall say. He who heard the eulogies of prayer, and is conscious of his own diligence, if he had many witnesses to the praises, would have slipped into arrogance; but now, having received the praise secretly, he is set free from all vanity. Again, he who is conscious of his own sloth, having heard the accusation, became better from the accusation, having no one ^B cognizant 1 of the rebuke—but this itself benefited him not as chance would have it. For because of being fluttered by the opinion of the many, as long as we think we are hidden as evil, we are diligent to become better; once we become manifest to all, and lose the consolation that comes from being hidden, we become then more shameless and more slothful. And just as wounds, when bared and frequently exposed to the cold air, become more grievous; so also a soul that has sinned, if it is censured in the midst of many regarding those things in which it has transgressed, becomes more shameless. In order then that this might not happen, the discourse has healed you secretly. And so that you might learn that this hidden medicine possesses much gain, hear what Christ says: *If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone* (Matt. 18.15); and He did not say, between thee and the city, nor between thee and the public, but, *between thee and him alone*. Let the accusation be without witnesses, He says, so that the change toward correction might be easy. It is therefore a great good to make an admonition not public. The conscience suffices; that judge, the impartial one, suffices. You do not so much rebuke the one who has sinned as his own conscience does (that accuser is more bitter), nor know the transgressions more accurately. Do not, therefore, add wound to wounds by making known the one who has sinned, but make the admonition without witnesses. ^C This, therefore, we also do now, what Paul also did, making the accusation of the one who had sinned among the Corinthians without witnesses. And hear how: *For this cause, brethren*, he says, *I have in a figure transferred these things to myself and Apollos* (1 Cor. 4.6). And yet neither he himself, nor Apollos were the ones who split the public and rent the Church asunder; but nonetheless he shrouded the accusation, and as if with some masks, by his own name and that of Apollos, having concealed the faces of those responsible, he gave them authority to change from that wickedness. And again, *Lest, when I come, my God will humble me, and I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and lasciviousness which they have committed* (2 Cor. 12.21). See how even here he speaks of those who have sinned indefinitely, so that by not making the accusation manifest, he might not render the soul of those who have sinned more shameless. Just as, therefore, we make rebukes with so much sparing, so, I pray, do you also accept correction with all diligence, and pay attention to what is said with precision.

6. We discoursed to you yesterday concerning the power of prayer. ^D I showed how the devil then lies in wait, being a malefactor. For since he sees that the greatest gain is being made by us from prayer, then he attacks most—in order that he might strike us out of the petition, in order that he might send us home with empty hands. And just as with rulers, when those of the rank and those who are around the ruler himself are hostile to those who are petitioning, they drive them far away with rods, preventing them from approaching and lamenting and obtaining philanthropy; so also the devil, when he sees them approaching the judge, drives them far away, not with a rod, but with sloth. For he knows, he knows clearly, that if they approach soberly, and say the things wherein they have sinned, and lament with a burning soul, they depart having received much forgiveness; for God is a lover of mankind; and for this reason he anticipates, and leads them away from the petition, in order that they might not obtain any of the things they need. But the soldiers of the rulers drive away the petitioners with force; but he [does so] not with necessity, but by deceiving us and casting us into sloth. For this reason we are not worthy of pardon, depriving ourselves of good things of our own volition. Prayer is a light of the mind and soul, a light unquenchable and continuous. For this reason, he casts into our minds myriads of heaps of considerations 2, and things which we have never considered, collecting these at the time of prayer he pours them into our souls. And just as winds often falling upon us from an opposite direction, having fanned a lamp being kindled, have extinguished it; so also the devil, when he sees the flame of prayer being fanned in us, does not depart until he has extinguished the light that is being kindled, with myriads of cares from here and there. But let us do what those who light those lamps do. And what do they do? When they see a strong wind approaching, having placed a finger at the opening of the lamp, they wall off the entrance to the wind. For as long as it may strike from without, we shall be able to stand our ground; but when we open to it the doors of the mind, and receive the enemy within, no longer in the future are we able to stand against him even a little; but having extinguished our memory from everywhere, like a smoking lamp, he allows the mouth to utter empty words. But just as they place the finger at the opening of the lamp, thus let us place our faculty of reason at our mind; let us fence off the entrance of the wicked spirit, so that it may not extinguish our light of prayer. Remember both of these examples, both that of the soldiers and the ruler, and that of the lamp; for for this reason we say these things, so that even after departing from here and at home, we might take remembrance of the things said from the matters we have at hand. Prayer is a great weapon, and a great security.

6.

On the three children and Isaac, and that prayer conquers nature.

[LATIN COLUMN]

their nature, as they broke the power of fire, so here the sterile woman dissolved the bonds of nature. And learn how she did this. He besought, it says, for his wife, since she was sterile (Gen. xxv, 21). These things were read to you today: yesterday a sermon was held concerning prayer, and today again the demonstration of the power of prayer occurs. Do you see how it happened by the providence of the grace of the Spirit, that things consonant with what was said yesterday were read today? He besought, it says, for Rebecca his wife, because she was sterile. ^A First of all, it is worth asking for what cause she was sterile. A glorious life and one full of great chastity belonged both to her and to her husband. We cannot carp at the life of the saints and say that sterility was the effect of sins. Nor was she alone sterile, but also his mother, Sarah, who bore him; nor indeed was his mother only sterile, nor his wife, but also his daughter-in-law, the wife of Jacob, Rachel. What does this crowd of sterile women signify? All were just, all were living in virtue, all were approved by the testimony of God. For of them He had said: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exod. iii, 6). Concerning them, Paul also speaks thus: For which cause God is not ashamed to be called their God (Heb. xi, 16). Many of their praises are in the New, many of their praises in the Old Testament; they were in every way bright and illustrious, and all had sterile wives, and lived without children for a long time. When, therefore, you see a man and his wife living according to the precept of virtue, when you see them religious, studious of piety, and yet bereft of children, do not think that childlessness is by any means a retribution for sins. ^B For many are the reasons of God's providence that are hidden to us, and for all things thanks must be given, and only those are to be called miserable who live contaminated by vices, not those who lack children. Often God does this usefully, but we are ignorant of the reasons for what happens. Therefore, it is right to praise His wisdom everywhere, and to render glory to His ineffable benevolence.

On the fact that no one should despair of himself

is able to teach us; but the cause must also be touched upon, for which those women were sterile. For what then was the cause? That, when you see a virgin bringing forth our common Lord, you might not refuse to have faith. Train your mind, therefore, on the womb of the sterile women: so that when you see an unfruitful and bound womb opened by divine grace to beget children, you may not wonder when you hear that a virgin has brought forth. Nay, rather both wonder and be astonished, yet do not refuse to believe the miracle. When the Jew says to you, How did a virgin give birth? you say to him, How did a sterile woman, and one burdened with old age, give birth? Two impediments existed then, advanced age, and inapt nature: but in the virgin there was one impediment, that she had not known marriage. Therefore, the sterile woman paves the way for the virgin. And so that you may understand that the sterile went before, so that the birth of the virgin might be believed, hear with what words Gabriel explained it to her. For when he had come, and had said to her, Thou shalt conceive in the womb, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Jesus (Luke i, 34), the virgin was astonished, and wondered, and said: How ^C shall this be, seeing I know not man? (Ib. v. 34). What then the angel? The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee (Ib. v. 35). Do not seek the order of nature, he says, when that which is being done is above nature: do not look around for marriages and the pains of childbirth, when the mode of generation has been above marriages. How shall this be, she says, seeing I know not man? And yet for this reason it shall be, because thou dost not know man. For if thou hadst known man, thou wouldst not have been accounted worthy to serve in this ministry. So believe on this very account, for which you refuse to have faith. Furthermore, you would not have been held worthy to serve in such a ministry, not because marriage is an evil, but because virginity is better: for it was necessary that the entry of the Lord be more august; for it was royal: and the king enters by a more august way. It behooved him both to share in common generation, and to differ from ours. Therefore, both these things are ordained. For to be born from the womb is common with us: but to be born without marriage exceeds our condition. And to be carried and conceived in the womb is human nature; but that conception happens without intercourse is narrower than human nature. For this reason both things happened, so that you might learn both how much more superior to you is He who is born, and how much He shares of your nature. ^D that they are done, shines forth. Neither did that superiority injure the likeness and kinship by which He is joined with us; nor did our kinship obscure His superiority, but both were declared in all things; and one part had what was ours intact, the other, however, diverse from us. But as I was saying, the sterile women went before for this reason, that the birth of the virgin might be believed, that she might be led as if by the hand to have faith in the promise and that pledge which she heard the angel say, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: thus, he says, thou art to bring forth. Look not to the earth; from heaven comes the efficacy. The grace of the Spirit is what is being done, do not seek from me the nature and laws of marriages. But because these words exceeded her capacity, he wishes to provide also another demonstration. But you consider how the sterile woman leads her to have faith in this matter. For because that demonstration exceeded the mind of the virgin, hear how, letting down his discourse to lower things, he leads her as if by the hand through things subject to the senses. For behold, he says, Elizabeth thy kinswoman, and she hath also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her, who is called sterile (Luke i, 36). Do you see that she is sterile for the sake of the virgin? Why else did he bring forward the kinswoman’s birth into the middle? For what cause did he say: In her old age? Why did he add, She who is called sterile? Doubtless, by all these things he was inciting her to have faith in the annunciation. Therefore he related both age and the weakness of nature: therefore he also bade her watch the time elapsed from the day of conception.

for he did not herald it to her immediately from the beginning, but waited for the barren woman to reach the sixth month, so that the swelling of the belly might henceforth guarantee the pregnancy and become an indisputable proof of conception. And observe for me again the wisdom of Gabriel. He did not remind her of Sarah, nor of Rebecca, nor of Rachel; although they too were barren, and they too were aged, and what happened was a miracle, yet those were ancient tales. But as for ancient things, new and recent ones happening in our own generation are wont to lead us more surely to faith in miracles. For this reason, leaving those aside, he proposed from the kinswoman herself, Elizabeth, that which concerned her, so as to lead her from that woman to her own most awesome and most holy birth. For the place of the barren woman was halfway between ours and the Master’s—lesser than that of the Virgin, yet greater than ours. For this reason, as if by a bridge, Elizabeth being in the middle, he leads the mind from the pangs according to nature to those beyond nature of the Virgin.

9. On Isaac's Prayer

^B 10. Do we not then feel shame, nor are we covered in confusion, seeing the righteous man persisting for twenty years and not withdrawing; while we, after a first or second request, often give up and become indignant? And yet he had great boldness before God, and still he did not fret at the postponement of the gift, but kept on enduring; but we, filled with countless sins, living with a wicked conscience, displaying no affection toward the Master, if we are not heard before we have even spoken, we are agitated, we are vexed, we withdraw from the request—for this reason we always depart empty-handed. Who has besought God for one thing for twenty years, like this righteous man? Or rather, who has remained for twenty months? Yesterday, indeed, I was saying that there are many who pray with listlessness, and yawning, and stretching, and turning about constantly, and using all manner of neglect regarding their prayers; today, however, I have found another injury even more destructive than that which additionally attends prayers. For many, casting themselves prone, and striking the earth with their forehead, and pouring forth hot tears, and groaning bitterly from within, and stretching out their hands, and displaying great zeal, use this very heat and eagerness against their own salvation. For they are not beseeching God for their own sins, nor asking for forgiveness for the faults committed by them, but they stir up all this zeal against their enemies, doing the same as if someone, having sharpened a sword, were not to use the weapon against the enemies, but to thrust it through his own throat. Thus also do these not use their prayers for the forgiveness of their own sins, but for the punishment of their enemies; which is to thrust the sword against themselves. The wicked one has devised this also, so that we might destroy ourselves from every side, both through sloth and through zeal. For some provoke God by their neglect regarding prayers, displaying their contempt through their sloth; others, because they display zeal, display the zeal again against their own salvation. So-and-so, he says, is slothful; it is enough for me that he obtains nothing; this one is zealous and vigilant; what then should be done? I cannot quench the zeal, nor cast him into neglect; I will circumvent his destruction in another way. How? I will prepare him to use the zeal for transgression; for to pray against enemies is unlawful. He shall depart, therefore, not only having gained nothing from his zeal, but having suffered even greater harm than that which came through sloth. Such are the machines of the devil: he destroys some through sloth, and others through zeal itself, whenever it is not performed according to the laws.

11. But it is also worth hearing the very words of the prayer, and how the words are of a childish mind, how of an infantile soul. I am ashamed, indeed, as I am about to say them, yet it is necessary by all means to speak and to mimic that untaught tongue. What then are the—