had put on. A It is the flowering garment of a sluggish and slothful soul, and fine in its workmanship; but a great-souled person, perceiving the truly real world, casts off every soft garment, longing for that which is higher, that which is simple, and more becoming, and most solemn, having preferred purity above all things. Rest content, therefore, with the reminder through the things that have been said, and guard your solemnity, not to carry rigor to excess—like bitterness—which becomes sweeter than honey and the honeycomb both to him who hears and to those who draw near. For spiritual joy converses with the soul in a solemn and magnificent manner, and it fills those who encounter it with sweetness. B But do not take occasion from my words—because you have been prevented from living in cheerfulness—to begin to be gloomy and harsh toward the brothers who come to you, nor be an unyielding, inaccessible, and inhuman person instead of a useful and loving one; nor be gloomy in your greetings to the brothers who approach, nor unsociable in your answer and speech. For "rejoice always" is an apostolic command, as are "encourage one another" and "be kind to one another," and "Love," he says, "is kind." The apostles’ friendliness is present in their writings, as they show affection to those who hear them as children, and encourage those who pay attention as brothers; and there is much to learn from the holy C Scriptures concerning the sacred kindness that is according to love. Nor is there a need to shift toward immoderate cheerfulness, nor to spoil with buffoonery the kindness that is an imitation of God, but to stand between, in perfect cheerfulness, and neither to grieve those who encounter you, nor to cause them to grow slack and slothful, nor to upbraid them harshly, nor to flatter them deceitfully, but to convert them helpfully and encourage them kindly. "He who refrains," he says, "from uttering a harsh word is wise; but good words are honeycombs, and their sweetness is the healing of the soul." There are those who, when they speak, wound like swords, but the tongues of the wise heal. And it is also good to take D part in divine hymns with moderation; for such cheerfulness sanctifies the soul, according to the Apostle: "Be filled," he says, "with the Spirit, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord." It is good, therefore, to approach with diligence such joy, and not, because of some bitter and harsh manner, to be reluctant toward the divine hymn, as if not deigning to offer a voice to the melody of God. For one must be cheerfully disposed toward such a divine spirit and toward the sacred discourse; not loosening oneself into mellifluence, nor behaving like the Bacchantes toward the divine hymns, nor inflecting them melodically, and looking about this way and that to see if you are being praised, but rejoicing in God, and striving to please Him alone—and here, indeed, most of all, so that there may be found a blending of the solemn and the cheerful: the fear of God providing us with the solemnity, and the divine hymn leading us into cheerfulness and producing an imitation of the eternal joy, in which those who have comported themselves well will live with the Lord, to whom is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.
BY THE SAME: A DISCOURSE ON FASTING AND ALMSGIVING.
Fasting is good, and the reading of the Scriptures is good; but it is good when the action taken from them follows, for if you read, but do not act, the reading becomes a judgment and a provision for punishment for you. "For not the hearers of the law," he says, "are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified." And again Christ says: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin." But blessed is he who speaks into the ears of those who hear, especially when they lay down the interest; for interest is obedience and the working of the commands of God, just as the Lord says: "And I, coming, would have demanded my own with interest." What then have you gathered, brother, from your fasting? For a farmer sows for this reason, that he may reap; and a merchant undertakes journeys for this reason, that he may gather wealth; and a helmsman crosses many seas for this reason, that he may fill his ship with cargo. Do not tell me, "I fasted for so many days, I did not eat such and such, I did not drink wine, I endured the lack of salt," but show me if, having been irascible, you became gentle, and if, having been cruel, you became humane. For if you are drunk with anger, why do you afflict your flesh? If envy and greed are within, what is the benefit of drinking only water? I do not ask now what kind of table you have, but if there has been a change of evil intent. If the mistress—I mean the soul—is committing fornication, why do you scourge the handmaid, I mean the belly? If the soul is led astray, why do you waste away the body?
I say these things not to accuse you, but for the sake of the slothful. For as much as I see you flying, I still wish for you to fly higher; for such is the tyranny of love. And as the greedy, the more gold they gather, the more they seek; so we too crave more for your progress. If, therefore, you wish to be accepted by God, fast like the Ninevites, brother; they did not receive the law. Concerning whom Paul says: "For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, who do not have the law, are a law unto themselves." Do not, therefore, show an idle fast; for fasting does not ascend alone to heaven if it does not have its sister, almsgiving; for it is its yoke-fellow, and not only a sister and yoke-fellow, but also a chariot. And whence is this? The angel said to Cornelius: "Your prayers and your alms have ascended for a memorial before God." For almsgiving is a wing of prayer; if, therefore, you do not make a wing for your prayer, it does not fly; but when your soul is winged, it flies into heaven. How long will there be greed and the desire for possessions? These things all, brother, are destroyed with the present life. But you will surely say to me: "Say these things to yourself." And I say them to myself, brother, and to you; for the counsel is common. I, hearing these things and being corrected, receive grace from you; and even if the one speaking is a servant, I accept the counsel, and if he is free, I listen readily. Nor
is it the difference of persons, but the use of the counsel that causes me to receive what is said. For if that Moses, so great a man, who spoke with God, did not turn away from the counsels of his father-in-law, even though he was a barbarian, but even accepted them, and God confirmed them, how much more should we? A I do not tell you, "Become destitute," but "Spend your surplus on the poor, so that your abundance may become for you a cause of salvation." Do you not see many poor people along the road, how they remain sick and naked? And one is younger, another older, and one is supported by another, and great is their tragedy. Give, therefore, to your fellow-servant, so that you may have the Master as your debtor—the One who gladly owes, the One who gives back the principal with interest; for in the case of worldly things, interest is a crime, but before God, it is praise. Do you give to the poor man? Watch the One who asks through him, and revere the dignity of the receiver; the poor man receives, and God borrows. Consider where your Master descended for that reason, to move you not to be cruel and inhuman. For, He says, "I was hungry and you did not feed Me; I was thirsty and you did not give Me drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked and you did not clothe Me," and so on. Do you not give, then, to the hungering Christ? You and the poor man partake of His body in common from the table; you partake of His cup likewise; He communicates with you in the great and awesome things, and will you not share the small things with Him? Do you not provide your own things to Him? For even if you received them from parents, even if from ancestors, they belong to God. Why do you bury them in the earth? Give to the poor man, and the Master guards them for you with great security. Do you not see what farmers do? Because often, out of poverty, not having seed, one pledges his garment and takes what he wants and entrusts it to the earth; and although often a seasonal irregularity occurred and he went away having harvested nothing, yet he trusts the earth because of his hope. B Does the Master not have the power to do what the earth does? Imitate that widow in the Old Testament, who had a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug, because she received the prophet as a guest through them; or this one in the Gospel, who by casting in two mites surpassed them all; for she cast in all her wealth. But what do you say? "I am poor and I do not have money." Do you not have two mites? But if you do not even have those, God seeks the abundance of a good intention. For this reason He said, "Whoever gives a cup of cold water will by no means lose his reward." Look at what He says: "cold water," not hot, so that you might not be deprived of the reward because of the expense of firewood. And a king, whatever gold he might impose on you, whether you be hanged or bound, you give what he wants; even if you are poor, he does not pay attention to the capacity of your circumstances, but to his own gain. But God is not like this, but asks according to the capacity of each. For why are there poor people? For could God not have brought down a rain of gold? But it is so that the poverty of the former may become for you a solace for your sins. A man is great, and a merciful man is precious; see how great almsgiving is. God compares the merciful man to Himself: "For become," He says, "merciful, as your Father who is in heaven is merciful." If death comes, money remains here; why then do you not send it ahead for yourself there, so that on that day the poor may stand by you, where there is no orator, nor advocate? For the poor display the garments and the swaddling clothes and snatch you from the fire. The sun, having come upon ice, does not melt it as much as almsgiving, when it falls upon a multitude of sins, wipes them away. But so that you may learn the height of almsgiving, what is more demanding than virginity? Nothing; there are many virtues, some great, some greater, some lesser, but there is nothing more demanding than virginity. It wrestles against nature; this war has no truce; it is a battle that never has peace, if not through the mercy of Christ. C The virgin stands, gathering the furnace to herself and not being burned; a virgin standing on coals is not burned; being in the furnace, she is not scorched, having dew like the three children; competing against the invisible powers, she imitates Michael and strives against Gabriel. Virginity was in Paradise and was corrupted by the serpent. For this reason, in the intervening times it did not appear; but when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born of a virgin, came, then it appeared again. And do you wish to know the greatness of virginity? Moses cleft the sea, changed the air, brought down manna, yet they spoke against him about his own wife, the Ethiopian, because he had a wife; and Abraham, too, and Isaac and Jacob, and indeed Joseph, even if he was chaste, yet nonetheless he had a wife afterward. Do you wish to learn how great virginity is? Christ, having come, did not bind it by necessity; for while having intensified the other virtues, He did not intensify this one, so that, if you accomplish it voluntarily, you may be crowned. Those who practice continence, and poverty first, manage it. For there are eunuchs who were born so, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven—not by cutting off members, but by cutting off wanton desire. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it. And the Apostle, having gone through all the virtues, knowing the sea of it, says: "As for virgins, I have no command from the Lord." Did you see how great virginity is? And yet, without almsgiving, it did not save; but almsgivings without virginity have saved. The five foolish virgins, because they did not have oil, but only virginity, did not enter the bridal chamber; for they say to the wise: "Give us some of your oil." And they were rightly called foolish, because having accomplished the more demanding work, they did not do what is without labor; they brought down the great wrestler, and were defeated by the lesser. And having come, the Bridegroom, the wise entered into the bridal chamber; and those came knocking, and He says to them: "I do not know you." Why? D Because you saw me hungry and did not feed me. But may it not be for us to hear such a voice; but to those who have accomplished almsgiving, He says: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Why? Because they kept virginity? By no means; but because "I was hungry and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; sick and in prison, and you visited Me." But so that you may learn how great almsgiving is, I wish to remind you again of this story. There were ten virgins, five wise and five foolish; and a cry was made at midnight: "Arise, the bridegroom is coming." The midnight is the resurrection, when the angels shall awaken us all. And having arisen, the virgins adorned their lamps. But the lamp is virginity, the pure, the sharp, the luminous. The foolish say to the wise: "Give us some of your oil." The wise say to them: "We are afraid lest it be not enough for us and you"—but they did not refuse out of jealousy; for what need is there of gold there? For there is no rich and poor there—"but go away and buy." And who are the sellers? The poor; for you receive more than you give; you give him earthly things, and you receive heavenly. As, therefore, they went away to buy, the Bridegroom came; and those who were ready entered into the bridal chamber, and the doors were shut. And those having come knocked, and He says to them: "I do not know you." Do you see? Because they did not have almsgiving, they also failed in the labor of virginity, and remained outside the bridal chamber. Having learned, therefore, the gain of almsgiving, brothers, let us perform almsgiving, so that we may both attain the bridal chamber and enjoy the eternal goods, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory with the holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.