[GREEK COLUMN] A footsteps (Ps. 16. 5). Flee from the broad and spacious way, which leads to destruction: take up the staff of the Spirit, which effects these things, and kills the serpentine dragon that lies in wait on the path, and sustains you when you are faint and falling in temptations. If you are pressed by thirst, hasten to the immortal fountain, Christ; if you hunger, seek the living bread, that you may not faint, nor yield, softened by pleasures, but take strength, seeing the end of the road, hoping in the kingdom of heaven for a life equal to the angels. B Physician of souls, cut away with the sword of the Spirit the swelling and ulcerated passions of pride; wash away the mire of pleasures with the water of teaching; heal the wounds inflicted by sin upon the souls of men, using wine and oil according to the Lord: with wine astringe, that the soul may no longer, growing flaccid, yield to desires; but with oil, soothe the pains of the soul, and promise them swift forgiveness for their former transgressions. Do not, looking at monetary gains, neglect the poor, nor, again, because of despised wealth, neglect the rich, but exhort both poor and rich alike to be sober. C Let no one despair, not even the great sinner, lest we cast them completely into the abyss of sin; but reach out a hand to the fallen, saying: The Lord did not come to save the righteous, but sinners: that becoming eager, having turned away from evil, they may do good and be saved. Do all things for the health of the infirm, nourished by the hope of those who are saved, and by the exultation hoped for with God. As an athlete, strive lawfully: No one is crowned, unless he strives lawfully (2 Tim. 2. 5). The struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual things of wickedness in heavenly places (Ephes. 6. 12). Embrace ascetic labors; flee the devilish snares. See Paul running, fighting, and wrestling. I so run, he says, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one beating the air; but I buffet my body, lest, having preached to others, I myself should become rejected (1 Cor. 9. 26, 27). Run therefore that you may attain; fight and wrestle, that you may overcome the enemy; be anointed with the oil of piety: you have the wrestling matches left to you by the holy fathers; take the long-suffering of Moses, the chastity of Joseph, the gentleness of David, the virginity of Elias, the fasting of Elisha, the poverty of Isaiah, the faith of Paul and Peter, the love of Christ, that having struggled well in all things, you may receive the prizes of victory from the hand of God. Are you a shepherd of the rational sheep of Christ? Shepherd the sheep, turn back the straying, bind up the broken, heal the wolf-bitten, drive away the wolves, call the dogs for the defense of the fold: for it is not fitting to have sleepy ones, but those who bark and keep watch over the Master's flock; drive out such ones. D Display the ever-blooming herb that sprang from Mary, signify the immortal fountain of baptism, cleanse the soiled sheep with the water of tears; endure every toil and labor, that, when the chief shepherd Christ appears, you may receive the unfading crown of glory. Are you a sheep? Obey your shepherd, do not flee the fold, but cherish the faith, do not decline from the shepherd's rod: for he does not strike you that he may kill, but that he may turn you back from error. Feed without judgment upon the flower that sprouted from the root of Jesse, drink from the immortal fountain springing up like a ripple from the rock; so that from there [you may go] into the fold of delight; do not hoard wealth, or rather, do not love wealth; flee the care of riches, do not collect coins; do not gather wealth, through which crimes grow, but sow abundantly food for the poor, hoping to reap a heavy and infinite sheaf of the soul. Poor man, do not be faint-hearted, do not despair of life, do not blaspheme, but give thanks, endure the short-lived trial of poverty, look to your exemplar Lazarus, and be strengthened in hope: for you shall also attain to the bosom of Abraham's rest; where the Master God of all will deem us worthy ourselves in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
On Charity
No discourse can worthily express charity, because it is not earthly, but heavenly. I think that even the tongue of angels would be at a loss to explore this with precision, since it proceeds incessantly from the very greatness of God's mind. Since, therefore, neither the tongue of men is sufficient for its most precise explanation, shall we ourselves despair? By no means; since with God even the offerings of those who possess much are acceptable, but also those of the sincere with a cheerful mind, even if they be very small, just as the offering of that widow who cast the two mites into the treasury was preferred to the offering of those who deposited much gold. And we, placing our hope in the Lord as helper and corrector of what is said, with a ready heart let us cast the two denarii of charity into the treasury of your mind. For I think these are those two denarii, the two commandments, on which the whole law and the prophets hang (Matt. 22. 39, 40). For it has been said by the Lord in the Gospels: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. In these two commandments is the law and the prophets. Love toward God, and love toward the neighbor, two commandments linked to one another: he who has one of these, but has not the other, does not possess even the one he seems to have. For just as a soul without a body is not called a man, nor again a body without a soul; so neither does love toward God, if it does not have following it also love toward the neighbor, count as love; nor again does love toward the neighbor, if it does not have [love] toward God, count as love. Therefore it is rare to find perfect charity. The Greeks are ignorant of this, even if they seem to have love for one another; but as they are ignorant of God, they are strangers to this. The Jews, even if they have love toward one another, imitating the Lord of the law who says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, they, instead of [the…
, by which heavenly things are augmented: charity, because God sent the Son into the world: for God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son (Joan. 3. 16) as a gift for us. Charity taught us to endure dangers on land and at sea; charity makes martyrs perfect, blesses them, and crowns them; charity looks upon its neighbor as itself, and considers what belongs to it as common to all; charity sets the neighbor's need as its own; charity prepares a table common to all, to the poor and to the rich, to the wise and to the unlearned; charity fills an animosity-filled soul with sweetness, heals the afflicted, and restores the humiliated; charity carries the inextinguishable lamp of virginity around, B and seekingly inquires after its own; charity opens the gates of the kingdom and leads in the crowned virgin, nor does it forbid those who have lived in honorable marriage from entering; charity loves almsgiving, and prepares crowns glittering with gold for those who cultivate it; charity does not know pride, but glorifies the humble; charity flees from slander and embraces blessings; charity urges men and women joined in matrimony to be in harmony, and never allows them to be separated from C one another. Charity commands that parents love their children, and that children serve their parents as their masters; charity exhorts masters to be merciful toward their servants, and servants to serve their masters without deceit; charity casts out fear and establishes confidence toward God in the heart: for perfect charity, it says, casts out fear (1 Joan. 4. 18). Charity has woven this crown of the fathers for us, and has established the plant of hope, sweet and fruitful, within us; charity leads the flock into the sheepfold D of the Church, and imparts the green pleasure of paradise; charity has made our hearing uniform and full of benevolence, and has made our tongue eloquent; charity educates the body, warms the spirit, and makes the soul white; charity renders the labors of the ascetics honorable, and opens the bosom of the Son to those who are laughing; may the Lord of all deem us worthy to be received into these bosoms, unto the ages of ages. Amen.