De jejunio et eleemosyna

Of the Same Author, a Discourse on Fasting and Almsgiving. Fasting is good, and the reading of the Scriptures is good; but it is good when the action that follows from it also accompanies it, since if you read but do not act, the reading becomes for you a judgment and a provision for punishment. For it is not the hearers of the law, it says, who are just before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified; and again Christ says: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin; but now they have no excuse concerning their sin. Blessed is the one who speaks into the ears of those who hear, especially when they pay back the interest; the interest is obedience and the working of the commandments of God, as the Lord says: And I, when I came, would have demanded what is mine with interest. What then have you gathered, brother, from fasting? For the farmer sows for this reason, that he may reap, and the merchant undertakes his journeys for this reason, that he may gather money, and the pilot crosses many seas for this reason, that he may fill the ship with cargo. Do not tell me: I fasted so many days, I did not eat this or that, I did not drink wine, I endured going without a bath; but show me whether, being prone to anger, you became gentle, and whether, being harsh, you became humane. For if you are drunk with anger, why do you oppress the flesh? If envy and greed are within, what is the benefit of drinking water? I do not now ask what kind of table you had, but whether there was a change of evil disposition. If the mistress—I mean the soul—commits fornication, why do you scourge the handmaid—I mean the belly? If the soul is carried away, why do you waste the body? I say these things not accusing you, but for the sake of the careless.

For as much as I see you flying, I still want you to fly higher; such is the tyranny of love. And just as the avaricious, the more gold they accumulate, the more they seek, so we too yearn more for your progress. If therefore you wish to be accepted by God, fast as the Ninevites did, brother; they received no law—concerning whom Paul says, "For when nations that have no law do by nature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law to themselves." Do not, then, show your fasting to be idle; for fasting does not ascend to heaven alone, unless it has its sister, almsgiving; for it is its yoke-mate, and not only sisterhood and yoke-mate, but also a vehicle. And whence this? The angel said to Cornelius, "Your prayers and your alms have gone up into remembrance before God." For almsgiving is the wing of prayer; if therefore you do not give a wing to prayer, it does not fly; but when your soul is winged, it soars to heaven. How long will avarice and the desire for possessions last? All these things, brother, are dissolved with the present life. But you will surely say to me, "Say this to yourself." And I say it to myself, brother, and to you; for the counsel is common. Hearing these things and correcting myself, I receive grace from you; and if the speaker is a slave, I accept the advice; if he is free, I listen eagerly. For it is not the difference of persons, but the use of the advice, that makes me accept what is said.

For that Moses, that great man, who conversed with God, did not spurn the counsels of his father-in-law, even though he was a barbarian, but he accepted them, and God confirmed them; how much more should we? I do not tell you to become possessionless, but to spend the surplus on the poor, so that your abundance may become an occasion of salvation for you. Do you not see many poor people along the road, how they remain sick and naked? One is younger, another older, and another is supported by someone else, and their tragedy is great. Give, then, to your fellow servant, so that you may have the Master as your debtor, who gladly owes, who gives the principal along with the interest; for among external matters interest is a reproach, but in the case of God it is praise. Do you not give to the poor man? Pay attention to the one who asks through him, and respect the dignity of the receiver; the poor man receives, and God borrows. Consider where your Master descended for that one, in order to bend you so that you are not harsh and inhuman. For, he says, you saw me hungry and did not feed me; thirsty, and did not give me drink; a stranger, and did not take me in; naked, and did not clothe me, and so forth. Do you not give, then, to the hungry Christ? You and the poor man commonly partake of his body from the table, you likewise share in his cup; in the great and awesome things he communes with you, and you do not give him a share of the small things? For do you not offer him your own things? Even if you received them from your parents, even if from your ancestors, they belong to God. Why do you bury them in the ground? Give to the poor man, and the Master will keep them for you with great security.

Do you not see what the farmers do? That often, when they lack seed due to poverty, they pawn their garment and take what they want, and entrust it to the earth? And yet, often there has come a season of irregular weather, and they have gone away reaping nothing, and still they trust the earth because of hope. What the earth does, then, can the Lord not do? Imitate that widow in the Old Testament, who had a handful of meal in her jar and a little oil in her flask, because from these she entertained the prophet; or that one in the Gospel, who, casting in two obols, outdid all, for she cast in her entire wealth. But what do you say? I am poor and have no money. Do you not have two obols? And even if you do not, God seeks an abundance of good will. For this reason he said, Whoever gives a cup of cold water shall not lose his reward. See what he says: cold water, not hot, so that you may not be deprived of the reward because of the expense of the wood. And with a king, however much gold he imposes on you, while you are hanging, being stretched on the rack, you give whatever he wants; and if you are poor, he does not regard the capacity of persons, but his own profit. But God is not like that; rather, he demands according to each one's ability. For why are there poor people? Could God not have brought down a rain of gold? But so that their poverty might become a consolation for your sins. Great is a man, and honorable is a merciful man; see how great almsgiving is. God compares the merciful man to himself: For, he says, be compassionate, as your heavenly Father is compassionate.

If death comes, the wealth remains here. Why then do you not send it ahead of you to that place, so that on that day the poor may stand by you, where there is no orator nor advocate? For the poor display their garments and their headbands, and they snatch you from the fire. The sun coming upon ice does not melt it as almsgiving, falling upon a multitude of sins, obliterates them. And that you may learn the height of almsgiving, what is more laborious than virginity? Nothing. There are many virtues, some great, some greater, some lesser, but nothing is more laborious than virginity. It wrestles against nature; this war has no respite; it is a battle that never has peace, except through the mercy of Christ. The virgin stands, gathering the furnace to herself, and is not burned. A virgin standing on coals is not consumed; being in the furnace, she is not inflamed, having dew like the three youths. Striving against the invisible powers, she imitates Michael and contends with Gabriel. In paradise was virginity, and by the serpent

was destroyed. For this reason, in the intervening times it was not seen; but when Jesus Christ the Son of God, born of a virgin, came, then it appeared again. Do you wish to know the greatness of virginity? Moses split the sea, changed the air, brought down manna, and they slandered him about his own wife, the Ethiopian, because he had a wife; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob also, and even Joseph, though chaste, nevertheless afterward had a wife. Do you wish to learn how great virginity is? Christ, when he came, did not bind it by necessity; for while he intensified the other virtues, he did not intensify this one, so that if you achieve it voluntarily, you may be crowned. Those who practice continence also make poverty the first of their concerns. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, 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 their members, but by cutting off their licentious desire. Let him who is able to advance, advance. And the Apostle, when he had gone through all the virtues, knowing its vastness, says: "Concerning virgins, I have no command from the Lord." Do you see how great virginity is? And yet without almsgiving it did not save; but almsgivings without virginity saved. The five foolish virgins, because they had no oil, but only virginity, did not enter the bridal chamber; for they say to the wise ones: "Give us some of your oil." And they were rightly called foolish, because they achieved the more difficult thing, but did not do the thing without effort.

the great antagonist they brought down, and were defeated by the lesser. And when the bridegroom came, the wise ones entered the bridal chamber; and those others also came, knocking. And he says to them: I do not know you. Why? Because you saw me hungry and did not feed me. May we never hear such a voice; but to those who have accomplished almsgiving he says: Come, the blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Why? Because they preserved virginity? Not at all; but because I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was sick and in prison, and you visited me. And 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 voice came at midnight: Arise, the bridegroom is coming. The midnight is the resurrection, when the angels awaken us all. And the virgins, having arisen, adorned their lamps. The lamp is virginity—pure, sharp, bright. The foolish say to the wise: Give us some of your oil. The wise say to them: We fear that it may not suffice for us and for you (but it was not out of envy that they did not give; for what need of gold is there there? For there is no rich and poor there), but go and buy some. And who are the sellers? The poor; for you receive more than you give: you give him earthly things, and you receive heavenly things. So as they went to buy, the bridegroom came.

And the prepared ones entered the bridal chamber, and the doors were shut. But those others came and knocked, and he says to them: I do not know you. Do you see? Because they had no almsgiving, they failed even in the labor of virginity, and remained outside the bridal chamber. Therefore, having learned the profit of almsgiving, brothers, let us practice almsgiving, so that we may attain the bridal chamber and enjoy the eternal goods, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom glory is to the Father together with the holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.