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But you shall be cast out in the mountains like a dead man who is abhorred, with many who are dead, pierced through with the sword, going down to Hades. For just as a garment stained with blood shall not be clean, neither shall you be clean; therefore you have destroyed my land, and killed my people, says the Lord. "Guile is in his hand, and in his heart he shall be magnified, and by guile he shall destroy many, and he shall stand for the destruction of many." "By the envy of the devil death entered into the world." "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil; and after fasting forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. And the tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God. Then the devil takes him into the holy city, and sets him on the pinnacle of the temple, and says to him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. But Jesus said to him, It is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Again the devil takes him to a very high mountain, and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and says to him, All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me. Then Jesus says to him, Get behind me, Satan. For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." "But the Lord said to the seventy, I beheld Satan falling like lightning from heaven.

Behold, I give you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Be sober, be watchful, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; resist him, firm in the faith. The Lord, preventing us from receiving the evil counsels of the devil, says, Today, if you hear my voice. That one says, Today is mine, and tomorrow is God's. The Lord pleads in turn: Today, if you hear my voice. Consider the enemy: he does not dare to counsel us to depart from God altogether. He knows that this is hard for Christians to hear; but by deceitful arts he manages his attempt. He is wise to do evil: today he steals us away by his scheming, and tomorrow he dangles promises before us. Then, when tomorrow comes, he comes again as a wicked sharer, claiming today for himself and tomorrow for the Lord; and so always, taking away the present through pleasure and leaving the future to our hopes, he escapes our notice, leading us away from life. The devil is evil, and a maker of every kind of wickedness; and just as abundance follows the good, so envy follows the devil. With the weapon of envy, from the foundation of the world until the consummation of the age, the destroyer of our life, the devil, who rejoices in destruction, wounds and casts down all. He who fell through envy casts us down with himself by the same weapon. From where is the devil evil? From his own free choice.

For having life self-determined, and the authority lying in his own power either to remain with God or to be estranged from the good—Gabriel, an angel, both stood by God continually, and Satan, an angel, fell from his own rank. And the one his choice preserved among the things above, and the other the self-determination of his will cast down. For the one was able to fall away, and the other not to fall; but the insatiable love of God preserved the one, and the departure from God showed the other to be rejected. From where, then, is his war against us? Because, being a vessel of all wickedness, he received also the disease of envy, and he envied us our honor. For he did not endure our life in paradise free from sorrow, but by guiles and devices he deceived man, and his desire which he had to become like God—using this for the deception—he showed the tree, and promised that by eating of it he would make him like God. For if you eat, he says, you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. He was not, then, established as an enemy to us, but from jealousy he set himself against us in enmity. For seeing himself cast out from the angels, he could not bear to see the earthly one raised up by progress to the dignity of the angels. Since, then, he has become our enemy, God has kept for us our opposition to him, through which he spoke to him the threat concerning him who served him, that I will put enmity between you and between her seed. Since the devil has become an apostate—an enemy of God, and an enemy of men, who have been made according to the image of God—for this reason he is a hater of mankind.

Because he is also a fighter against God, and he hates us as creatures of the Master, and as the likeness of God; and the one who wisely and providentially orders human affairs made use of his wickedness as a training-ground for our souls, just as a physician uses the viper's venom for the preparation of healing medicines. He is called Satan, then, because he opposes the good. Of the angels, the one who dared to rebel and to be lifted up beyond his worth, who stiffened his neck against the Lord Almighty and devised a seat above the clouds, as the account says, paid a penalty worthy of his madness, being condemned to be darkness instead of light. TITLE 26. On disbelief; and that the one who disbelieves on a good and reasonable ground is forgiven by God.

God said to Abraham: Sarah your wife—her name shall no longer be called Sarah, but Sarrah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and I will give you a child from her, and I will bless him, and he shall become a nation, and kings shall come from him. And Abraham fell on his face and said in his mind, saying: Shall a child be born to a hundred-year-old man, and to Sarrah who is ninety years old? And Abraham said to God: Let this Ishmael live before you. And God said to Abraham: Behold, Sarrah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant, to be God to him and to his seed after him. Elisha said: A double measure of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be as this hour tomorrow in the gate of Samaria. And he answered, the

the third man to Elisha, and he said: "Behold, the Lord makes cataracts in the heavens; this word shall not be." And Elisha said: "Behold, you shall see with your eyes, and from there you shall not eat." "Zechariah said to the angel: 'By what shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days.' And the angel answered and said to him: 'I am Gabriel, who stands before God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you good news of these things. And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.'" "Mary said to the angel: 'How shall this be for me, since I do not know a man?' And the angel answered and said to her: 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one being born will be called the Son of God.'" But Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him: "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them: "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." And after eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus comes with the doors closed, and stood in the midst, and said: "Peace to you." Then he says to Thomas: "Bring your finger here, and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing.

And Thomas answered and said to him: "My Lord and my God." Jesus says to him: "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed." TITLE 27. — On dinner, and feasting. "Do not dine with an envious man, nor desire his delicacies. For in the manner that if someone should swallow a hair, so he eats and drinks. If you sit down to dine at the table of a ruler, understand mentally what is set before you." "There is no good for a man, except that he should eat and drink, and that he should show good to his soul. And indeed this is from the hand of God." "Come, eat your bread in gladness." "Prepare the table; eat, drink; arise, you rulers, prepare shields." "Let righteous men be your fellow diners." "Eat as a man, if you have sat at a great table. Do not open your throat upon it, and do not say: 'There is indeed much upon it.' Whatever you look upon, do not stretch out your hand, and do not press it with him in the dish. Eat as a man what is set before you, and do not chew greedily, lest you be hated. Stop first for the sake of instruction, and do not be insatiable, lest you stumble. And if you have sat in the midst of many, do not stretch out your hand before them." "The Lord said to the one who had invited him: 'When you make a breakfast or a dinner, do not call your friends, nor rich neighbors, nor your relatives, nor your brothers, lest they also invite you in return, and it become a repayment to you. But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and you will be blessed, because they do not have it to repay you.'

For it will be repaid to you in the resurrection of the righteous." And just as it is fitting to bless God of all things before food, so also at the drinking it is proper to sing psalms. A table that has no remembrance of God differs in nothing from a manger of brute beasts.

TITLE 28. — On the righteous: that the Lord guards them. "He will not take away his eyes from a righteous man, and he will seat them for victory, and they will be exalted." "Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him." "The righteous cried out, and the Lord heard them. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of all of them the Lord will deliver them. The Lord guards all their

bones, not one of them will be crushed." "Salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. The Lord supports the righteous." "The Lord guards all who love him." "The dwellings of the righteous are blessed." "The house of the righteous is blessed." "The house of the righteous is great strength." "The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the righteous. Gladness lingers long with the righteous." "Light is for the righteous continually." "The righteous spend many years in wealth." "The righteous will be in joy and gladness." "The righteous escapes from the hunt; and the impious is delivered up in his place." "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine, and rivers will not shut you in, and if you pass through fire, you will certainly not be burned." "The Lord knows how to deliver the pious from temptation." And the righteous fall into many adverse circumstances; but these are not scourges—the fact that the earnest man endures them not through sin.

TITLE 29. — Concerning the righteous: that their death is precious before the Lord. "Let my soul die in the tents of the righteous." "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones." "The remembrance of the righteous is with praises." "When the righteous is praised, many peoples will rejoice." "From the face of the one who does injustice the righteous is taken away, and his burial will be in peace." We honor the tombs of the saints, and, as it were, in the order of honors and recompense for their so illustrious valor, we lay upon them the unfading remembrance. We honor holy men who honored the faith, and who were right well crowned with the boasts of valor, who contended even to soul and blood, and bore witness to the glory of Christ, and were made illustrious by the brave deeds of piety. Whoever touches the bones of a martyr receives some participation in sanctification from the grace that attends the body. Precious, therefore, in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones. TITLE 30. — Concerning the difference between God and men; and that there is a great distance between God and men, and between sinning against God and against men. "Eli was very old, and he heard what his sons were doing to the sons of Israel; and he said to them: Why do you do according to this word, which I hear from the mouth of all the people of the Lord? No, children; for the report is not good which I hear, that the people should not serve God. If a man sinning sins against a man, then he shall pray concerning him to the Lord; but if he sins against the Lord, who shall pray concerning him?" "Seek God, and when you find him, call upon him.

When he draws near to you, let the ungodly abandon his ways, and the lawless man his counsels; and let him turn to the Lord, and he shall be shown mercy, for he will forgive your sins abundantly. For neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. But as far as the heaven is from the earth, so far is my way from your ways, and your thoughts from my thought. So great is the distance between God and man, that not even speech will be able to set it forth.

LETTER E.

TITLE 1. — Concerning the commandments of God, and those who keep them. "The Lord said: If you will indeed hear the voice of the Lord, and keep my covenant, you shall be to me a people chosen out of all the nations. For all the earth is mine; but you shall be to me a royal priesthood, and a holy nation." "If you will indeed hear my voice, and do all that I shall say to you, I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you." "If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them, I will give you my rain in its season, and the earth shall give its produce, and the trees of the fields shall yield their fruit. And the threshing shall overtake the sowing for you, and you shall eat your bread to the full, and you shall dwell securely in your land, and you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. And I will destroy evil beasts from your land, and your enemies shall fall before you by slaughter, and five of you shall pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you shall pursue ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

And I will look upon you, and I will increase you, and I will establish my covenant with you. And you shall eat old things and old things of old things, and you shall bring out old things from before new things. And I will place my covenant among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and I will be your God. Take heed to yourself, and guard your soul exceedingly. Do not forget all the words that your eyes have seen, and do not let them depart from your heart. Carefully guard the commandments of the Lord your God, the testimonies and the judgments, as many as he commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right, nor to the left, in all the way that the Lord your God commanded you. If you hear these my judgments, and guard them, and do them, the Lord your God will carefully preserve for you the covenant and the mercy that he appointed to your fathers, and the Lord will love you, and will bless the offspring of your womb, and the fruit of your land, and your grain, and your wine, and your oil; and you shall be blessed beyond all the nations. If you indeed hear the voice of the Lord, blessed shall you be in the field, and blessed your storehouse, and your remnants. Blessed shall you be when you go in; the Lord shall send upon you the blessing wherever you lay your hand, and he will bless all the works of your hands, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations. And the Lord will make you a head, and not a tail, and he will give the rain of your land until the proper time. Samuel said: Are whole burnt offerings and sacrifices desirable to the Lord, as is hearing the voice of the Lord?

Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice. Your obedience has enlarged me into broadness. I have kept his ways, and I will surely not turn aside from his commandments, that I may not die. If they hear and serve, they shall complete their days in good things, and their years in comeliness. The commandment of the Lord is far-shining, enlightening the eyes. His righteousness is upon the sons of sons to those who keep his covenant. Would that my ways were directed to keep. Your law is truth. All the words of the Lord are tried in fire. And he shelters those who revere him. The end of the matter, hear the whole: fear God, and keep his commandments. The ordinance of the Lord is a fountain of life. Those who love the law will wrap themselves in a wall. Thus says the Lord: If you walk in my ways, and keep my ordinances, you shall judge my house. Hear me, and you shall eat good things, and your soul shall delight in good things. Better is one defeated in understanding and fearful, than one abounding in prudence and transgressing the law. Nothing is sweeter than attending to the commandments of the Lord. He who seeks the law will be filled with it. Place your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, and it will profit you more than gold. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Everyone who hears my words and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.

And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it did not fall. For it had been founded upon rock. Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother, and sister, and mother. He who is of God hears the words of God. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our dwelling with him. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. He who keeps his commandment abides in him, and he in him. What skill is in harp-playing, that the demonstration through works is in the laws of God. Whatever the law commands us, these things we must necessarily keep; and these have the character of a tribute. But whatever is from free choice, such as virginity, withdrawal from the world, are gifts, and have the character of a guest-gift. But a guest-gift is not offered under compulsion; otherwise it is not a guest-gift. TITLE 2. — Concerning the commandments of God, and those who do not keep them. God called Adam, and said to him: Adam, where are you? Adam said to him: I heard the sound of you walking in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid myself. And he said to him: Who told you that you are naked, unless you have eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat? If you do not hear me, nor do my commandments, I will bring upon you distress, both the scab and the jaundice, causing your eyes to rot, and wasting away your soul.

And you shall sow your seeds in vain, and your adversaries shall eat them, and you shall fall before your enemies; and you shall flee with no one pursuing you, and I will crush the insolence of your pride; and I will make your heaven iron, and your earth like bronze, and the earth shall not give its seed, and the tree of your field shall not give its fruit; and you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. Cursed is the man who does not abide in all the words of the law to do them; and all the people shall say: So be it. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall you be in your storehouses, and your remnants. Cursed shall be the offspring of your womb, and the produce of your land, the herds of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep. Cursed shall you be when you go in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. The Lord shall send upon you want, and famine, and consumption upon everything on which you lay your hand, because of your evil practices. The Lord shall strike you with perplexity, and fever and chill, and irritation, and slaughter, and blight. And the heaven above your head shall be bronze to you, and the earth beneath you iron. May the Lord give the rain of your land as dust; and you shall be scattered among all the kingdoms of the earth. The Lord shall strike you with madness, and blindness, and bewilderment of mind, and you shall grope at midday, as the blind man gropes in the darkness, and your ways shall not prosper. And you shall be wronged and plundered, and there shall be no one to help you.

You shall take a wife, and another man shall take her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it. Samuel said to Saul: Are you not small, and the Lord anointed you as king over Israel? And the Lord sent you on the way, and said to you, Go, destroy Amalek, and those who sin against me; and you shall fight them until you have finished them. And why did you not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rushed upon the spoils, and did evil before the Lord? And Saul said: Because I listened to the people. It shall be that just as the Lord said, and they did not listen to him, so they shall cry out, and I will certainly not listen to them, says the Lord. The seed of the disobedient has become destruction. If you had listened to my commandments, your peace would have become like rivers, and your righteousness like a wave of the sea. They shall say, Woe to those who set aside; those who set aside the law, fear and a pit and a snare are upon you. Everyone who hears my words and does not do them shall be compared to a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. And the rain came down, and the rivers came, and the winds blew, and they struck that house, and it fell, and its fall was great. As many as

They sinned without the law, and they will perish without the law; and as many as sinned under the law will be judged through the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. Become doers of the law, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves; for if anyone is a hearer of the law and not a doer, this one is like a man who observes the face of his birth in a mirror, and immediately forgets what sort he is. I saw these things, and I marveled at the wisdom of God in all things. If irrational creatures are inventive and watchful for their own salvation, and a fish knows what is to be chosen and what is to be avoided, what shall we say—we who are honored with reason, and educated by the law, urged on by promises, made wise by the Spirit, we who order our own affairs more irrationally than the irrational fish? Since they know how to take some forethought for what is to come, while we spend our life in grazing like cattle on pleasure. A fish crosses such great seas in order to find some benefit. What will you say, you who live with idleness? For idleness is the beginning of wickedness. Let no one plead ignorance as a pretext. The natural law has been sown in us, showing us our affinity with the good and our alienation from harmful things. Fish do not contradict the law of God, and we do not endure the ordinances that bring salvation. Do not despise the fish because they are irrational and altogether voiceless; but you are more irrational than they, opposing the ordinance of the Creator. It is impious to say that the commandments of the Spirit are impossible.

Evil has been mingled with nature through those who from the beginning received the passion, who by disobedience took the disease into their dwelling. All creation obeys the command of God; but man alone disobeys, for whose sake all things came to be. The Father does not listen to those who do not imitate the father when they call him father. Therefore approach the Master with the marks of recognition, and he will welcome you as a child. For those who follow the will of God and do not dare to transgress what has been well legislated, all things are set right by faith, and the prize of blessedness is set before them by God. But insofar as they stand away from the exact care of these things, the things that are obtainable become impassable, and whatever they may strive to do as good is turned into incurable calamities. TITLE 3. — Concerning blessedness and beatitude; and that one must not call anyone blessed before death.

"Before death do not call anyone blessed. Do not call a man blessed before his end." He who is still in this life is not yet to be called blessed, because of the uncertainty of the outcome. But he who has completed what is due and has closed his life with an undisputed end, this man is already safely called blessed. Do not say anything great while sailing well before the storm. For many a ship, sailing well toward harbor, has sunk; many have been brought to port out of a rough sea. TITLE 4. — Concerning dreams.

Dreams give wings to the foolish. As one who grasps at a shadow and pursues the winds, so is he who attends to dreams, and like a woman in labor he is deluded in his heart. Unless they are sent from the Most High in visitation, do not give your heart to them. For dreams have deceived many, and those who hoped in them have grown weak. Divination and augury and dreams are sin. The phantasies of sleep are by nature, in some way, for the most part the echoes of our daily cares. For whatever our pursuits in life are, such must our dreams also be. TITLE 5. — On hope: that one must hope in God, and not in the protections of men.

He who trusts in the Lord shall be saved. Let all those who hope in you be glad forever, and the rest. A protector over all who hope in him. Some in chariots, and some in horses; but we in the name, and the rest. Our fathers hoped in you, they hoped, and you delivered them. My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for he, and the rest. Hoping in the Lord, I shall not be weakened. My heart hoped in him, and I was helped. In you, Lord, I hoped; let me not be put to shame forever. Mercy shall surround the one who hopes in the Lord. Hope in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land.

Reveal your way to the Lord. Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord. Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will nourish you. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for my soul has trusted in you. In God I have hoped; I shall not fear what man will do to me. He led them in hope, and they did not fear. It is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in man. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. Do not trust in rulers, in the sons of men; on that day their thoughts will perish. Be trusting in the Lord with your whole heart. He who trusts in the Lord will be in his care. He who trusts in the Lord is most blessed. He who trusts in the Lord will be gladdened. The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler, the Lord is our king, the Lord is our savior; he will save us. Behold, God is my savior; I will be trusting in him, and I will be saved. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord; and the Lord will be his hope; and he will be like a tree flourishing by the waters, and he will send forth his root to the moisture. There is no shame for those who trust in you. Look to ancient generations, and see: who believed in the Lord and was put to shame? Or who remained in his fear and was forsaken? Or who called upon him, and he overlooked him? For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, and he forgives sins. In hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he also hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, we await it with patience.

Stand therefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, being sober. Hope perfectly in the grace that has been given to you. Let us persuade ourselves, brothers, in the time of trial, not to run off to human hopes and to hunt for helps for ourselves, but with tears and groans, and with laborious prayer, and with intense vigil, to make our supplications. For thus does the one who despises human help as vain receive help from affliction. It is impossible for the one who hopes with his whole mind in God and contributes all that is in his power to fall short of the end; it is impossible for anyone who applies zeal and is anxious for his own salvation and demonstrates all that is in his power ever to be abandoned by God. When we have from nowhere a hope of human help, let us not despair, let us not grow slack, but let us seize the anchor of faith. Let us cast the tool of hope, not into the sea, but into heaven, and the storm-tossed vessel will be delivered from dangers. Do not trust in rulers; do not be elated by the uncertainty of wealth; do not be proud of bodily strength; do not pursue the splendor of human glory. None of these saves. All things are temporary; all things are deceptive; God is the one refuge. Cursed is he who has his hope in man. When we are in afflictions, we run to everything rather than to God. Is the child sick? And you look around for the enchanter, or for the one who puts curious characters around the necks of innocent children, or finally you come to the physician, having neglected the medicines of the one who is able to save.

Even if a dream disturbs you, you run to the interpreter of dreams. Even if you fear an enemy, you look around for one of men as a protector; and in every need you are altogether convicted, naming God with your word as a refuge, but in deed drawing upon the help that comes from useless and vain things. But God is true help for the righteous; just as some general, having a brave army at his disposal, is always ready to help the part that is hard pressed, so God is our helper. Are you sick? Be of good cheer, for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. Are you poor? Rejoice, because the good things of Lazarus will succeed to you. Are you dishonored for the name of Christ? Blessed are you, because your shame will be changed into the glory of an angel. And even if, as you say, this patron dies, the Lord will again provide for you another patron, better than this one and more magnanimous, if you keep your faith toward him. He who hopes in man, or is lifted up in hope upon anything else in life—such as power or money, or any of the things that many consider to be splendid—cannot say: In you, Lord, I have hoped. For it is a command not to hope in rulers. And, Cursed is the man who has his hope in man. He who strives to attain divine dispassion ought to keep his own reason free from slavery to every passion. Persuade yourself, then, for God's sake alone, and not for the sake of human glory, which is easily corrupted and fades away, to accomplish the good.

TITLE. 6. — Concerning the church, and the house of God, and the altar, and the priestly sacrifice; and that one ought not to peddle in churches. "The altar shall be holy of holies; and everyone who touches the altar shall be sanctified." "You shall bring the firstfruits of the firstborn of your land into the house of your God." "You shall not go up by steps to my altar, lest you uncover your nakedness upon it." "You shall set bread before me on my table continually." "Everyone who touches the sacrifice of the priests shall be sanctified." "The Lord said to Moses: Speak to Aaron your brother, and let him not enter at every hour into the inner holy place before the face of the mercy seat. "But I, in the abundance of your mercy, will enter into your house; I will worship toward your holy temple in fear of you," and the rest. "In the midst of the church I will sing praise to you. You who fear the Lord, praise him." "Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house, and the place of the tabernacle of your glory." "One thing I have asked from the Lord, this I will seek," and the rest. "Worship the Lord in his holy court." "We shall be filled with the good things of your house." "In the churches bless God the Lord from the springs of Israel." "How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts, my King. One day is better in your courts than a thousand." "Holiness befits your house, O Lord, for length of days." "Enter into his gates with confession." "Let them exalt him in the church of the people." "Open to me the gates of righteousness, having entered through them," etc.

I rejoiced when they said to me, "We shall go into the house of the Lord." "The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be in awe before him." "The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord Almighty." "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob. He will announce his way to us." "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." "How great is the house of God, and how long the place of his creation! Great, and it has no end; lofty and immeasurable." "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Jesus entered the temple and cast out all those who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those selling doves. And he says to them, 'It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.'" "Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God? Shall I praise you?

In these matters I do not praise you." It is a sign of piety to make continual remembrance of the more divine places, and to propitiate God with frequent visits. For God wills that men put in at the harbors of the houses of the saints. The altar is a heavenly table, receiving things from the earth and sending them on to heaven; receiving things from the heavens and supplying them to the earth; established upon the earth, and set beside the throne above. For the altar is fearful even to the angels, to those who fly over the heavenly vault. From his side, then, Christ created the Church, just as from the side of Adam he made Eve. For this reason Paul says: "We are of his flesh and of his bones," hinting at the side. For just as then God took the side and formed the woman, so he gave us blood and water from his side, and remade the Church. And just as then he took the side in an ecstasy while Adam slept, so now after death he has given the blood and the water, and what was then an ecstasy is now death. Just as harbors in the sea, so God has fixed the churches in cities, that fleeing here from the surge of worldly affairs, we may enjoy calm. For neither is it possible, having fled here, to fear the rush of waves, nor the assault of evildoers, nor the violence of winds, nor the attacks of beasts. For it is a harbor freed from all these things. The Church, then, is a harbor of souls.

For through it all the wild beasts were subdued, as by a kind of divine incantation, when the hearing of the divine Scriptures enters each person's soul through the ear and lulls to rest these irrational passions. Do not keep away from the Church; nothing is stronger than the Church. She is stronger than the rock, higher than heaven, wider than the earth. For him whom the things above and the things below could not contain, a womb was not too narrow to contain. She never grows old, but all things in her flourish. Why did the Scripture call her a mountain? Because of her immovability. And it calls her a rock, because of her incorruptibility. TITLE 7. — Concerning prayer; and what things are accomplished for you through prayer. "Moses went out from Pharaoh outside the city, and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the voices and the hail ceased." "Samson cried out to the Lord and said: Lord, remember me this once, and I will repay one repayment for my two eyes upon the Philistines. And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house was supported, and said: Let my soul die with the Philistines. And the house fell, and it killed more than it killed in his life." "Hezekiah the king prayed, and the Lord sent an angel, and he destroyed every mighty man, and warrior, and ruler, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria." "The Lord spoke against Manasseh, and they seized Manasseh, and bound him in fetters, and brought him to Babylon. And he prayed to him, and he heard his cry." Note.

It is recorded by Africanus that when Manasseh was singing a song, the iron bonds were broken and he fled. "Elijah cried out to heaven and said: Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hear me in fire; and fire fell from the Lord out of heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and the water that was in the sea the fire licked up." "The servant of Elisha rose early, and behold, a host encircling the city, and horses, and chariots. And the young servant said to him: What shall we do? And Elisha said: Fear not, for those with us are more than those with them. And Elisha prayed and said: Lord, open the eyes of the young servant; and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses, and a chariot of fire around Elisha; and Elisha prayed and said: Strike this nation with blindness." "Isaiah was in the middle court, and the word of the Lord came to him: Turn back, and you shall say to Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord Almighty, I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears, and I will add to your years sixteen years." Rise early to the Lord Almighty in supplication. If you are pure and true, he will hear your supplication. "Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High." "I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people." "Pray to me, and I will hear you, and seek me with your whole heart, and I will appear to you." "Lord Almighty, God of Israel: a soul in groans, and a spirit in despondencies has cried out to you.

Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for you are a merciful God, and have mercy. "With a contrite soul and a spirit of humility may we be accepted, as with whole burnt offerings." "Do not be faint-hearted in your prayer; do not hinder yourself from paying your vow in due time." "When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, gloomy, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room. And when praying, do not babble, as the Gentiles do; for they think that in their much speaking they will be heard. Do not, then, be like them. For your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him. Thus, then, pray: Our Father," and so on. "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives." "The disciples came to Jesus privately and said: Why could we not cast it out? And Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you: if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: Move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." "Watch, and pray, that you do not enter into temptation." "Truly, truly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you." "He spoke a parable to them, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. A certain judge in a certain city," and so on.

Watch at every time, praying, that you may be counted worthy to escape all that is about to happen." "Having come to the place, he said to them: Pray that you do not enter into temptation. And he himself was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and kneeling down he prayed, saying: Father, if you will, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And having come to the disciples, he found them sleeping, and he said to them: Pray, that you do not enter into temptation." "Amen I say to you, whoever says to this mountain: Be lifted up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, it shall be done for him, whatever he says. Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in the heavens may also forgive you your trespasses." "These all were persevering with one accord in prayer and supplication." "And the twelve, having summoned the multitude of the disciples, said: It is not pleasing that we, leaving the word of God, should serve tables. Therefore, brothers, look out from among you seven men who are well attested, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we will appoint over this need. But we will persevere in prayer and in the ministry of the word." "There was a certain man in Caesarea, by name Cornelius, a centurion, from the cohort called the Italian, devout, and fearing God with all his household, doing many alms among the people, and entreating God continually.

He saw clearly in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to him and saying to him, "Cornelius." And he, having looked intently at him and become afraid, said, "What is it, lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have gone up before God." "Praying with all prayer and supplication at every time in the Spirit, and watching unto this very thing with all perseverance, and supplication for all the saints, and for me." "I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good before God. I desire that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. Likewise also the women." "Is any among you suffering hardship? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick." "Be sober and watch unto prayers." Let us not be condemned for smallness of mind, in that we ask for small things and things unworthy of the giver. That voice is well-sounding and ascends even to the divine hearing—not the cry that is made with some straining, but the thought sent up from a pure conscience. He is separated from God who does not join himself to God through prayer.

Therefore we must first be taught this by the word, that we ought always to pray and not to lose heart. For from praying comes being with God; and he who is with God is separated from the adversary. Prayer made the sea-monster a home for Jonah; it brought Hezekiah back from the gates of death to life; and for the three young men it turned the flame into a spirit of dew. He who in the time of prayer is not intent on the things profitable to the soul, but asks God to share in the passionate motions of his mind, is truly a fool, a babbler, a prater, and a trifler, and whatever else belongs to such a meaning. From you let life be mine, and from you let the occasion for living come as well. Since human nature wandered from the judgment of the good through deceit, and the life of men was overpowered toward the worse, we rightly pray that the kingdom of God may come. For it is not otherwise possible to escape the evil dominion of corruption, unless the life-giving power takes hold of the rule over us. If, then, we pray, let us entreat God by this power: May I be released from corruption; may I be freed from death; let not the passions that now prevail rule over me any longer, nor let the enemy lead me captive through sin; but let your kingdom come upon me, that the tyranny of the adversary may depart. For darkness does not endure the presence of light, nor does disease stand when health has taken hold, nor do the passions work when impassibility is present. Death is gone, corruption is unseen, when life reigns in us and incorruption holds the rule.

Let your will be done in me, so that the will of the devil may be quenched. For just as when light is brought into dark caves the darkness disappears, so when your will is done in me, every evil and disordered motion of my choice is brought to nothing. For the salvation of men is your will. He who prays to be delivered from the evil one asks to be outside of temptations. When we ask something of the Master through prayer, let us not quickly grow weary, but let us overcome the persistence of failure by the persistence of our asking. In the delays and postponements of God's gifts let us not grow faint, nor give up beforehand. For often the Master draws out what seems a delay for the training of faith. It is good always to converse with God through prayer. For if the meeting with a good man makes the one who meets him better, how much more to converse with God both by day and by night. Great is the good of prayer, if it is made with a grateful mind, if we train ourselves to give thanks to God not only when we receive but also when we fail to receive. For sometimes he gives, sometimes he does not give, both for our benefit. So that whether you receive or do not receive, you have received in not receiving; and whether you succeed or not, you have succeeded in not succeeding. For there is a time when not

To receive what we ask is more profitable than to receive it. For if receiving were often beneficial to us, he would certainly have given it. But to fail beneficially is to succeed. Prayer is a great weapon, a great protection, a great security. For when we petition men, we need both expense and money, and servile flattery, and much going about and busy effort. For it is often not possible to speak directly to the very masters who grant the favor, but one must first court their servants, stewards, and overseers with money and words and every manner of attention, and only then be able through them to obtain the request. But with God it is not so. For he does not need mediators for those who ask, nor is he entreated through others in such a way that he grants the grace through us ourselves who petition. And here, whether we receive or do not receive, we can profit; but in the case of men we have often been harmed in either outcome. Since, then, the profit is greater and the ease is greater for those who come to God, let us not despise prayer. For then he gives you more fully what you ask, if you ask through yourself, if you do not ask carelessly, as most people do. The tongue speaks the words, but the soul wanders through the streets of the house or the marketplace. And this whole thing is the devil's device. For since he knows that at that very time we have spoken with God, so that we can even obtain forgiveness of sins, wishing to block up for us the harbor of prayer, he opposes us at that very time, driving our mind away from what is being said, so that we depart having suffered loss rather than gain.

Knowing these things, then, O man, when you draw near to God, consider to whom you are coming, and this is enough for you for watchfulness. Jesus went out into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, and behold, a woman, the ancient weapon of the devil, she who cast me out of paradise, the mother of lawlessness, the beginning of sin—that very woman comes. A new and paradoxical thing! Jews flee, and a woman pursues. And she kept begging him, saying: Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me. The woman becomes an evangelist, and she confesses both the divinity and the economy: Lord, also the lordship; Son of David, the assumption of the flesh. Have mercy on me. I have no achievement of life; I have no boldness of conduct. I have fled to mercy, where salvation is without examination. And what did you see, being wicked and lawless? How did you dare to approach? And observe the philosophy of a woman. She does not appeal to James; she does not entreat John, nor does she approach Peter, but she cuts through the chorus. I have no need of a mediator, but taking repentance as my advocate, I approach the very fountain. For this he came down, for this he took up flesh, so that I might converse with him. Above, the Cherubim tremble before him, and below, a harlot converses with him. Have mercy on me—a bare word, and a vast sea of salvation. Have mercy on me—for this you came, for this you took up flesh, for this you became what I am. Above, trembling, and below, boldness. Have mercy on me—what do you have? I seek mercy. What do you suffer? My daughter is badly demon-possessed. Sympathy is exercised, nature is tormented. The advocate of the little daughter has come out; she does not bear the sick one, but she bears the faith. He is God and sees all things.

My daughter is terribly demon-possessed. A grievous mourning, the sting of nature, tears through the womb, and has made a tossing storm in my inmost parts. What shall I do? I am perishing. And why did she not say, Have mercy on my daughter, but, Have mercy on me? For that one has her suffering in weakness. She does not know what she suffers, and does not perceive the pleasure, having as a veil over her calamity her freedom from pain—or rather, her insensibility. But have mercy on me, the spectator of daily evils. I have a theater of calamity in my house. Where shall I go? Into the desert? But I do not dare to leave her alone. But into the house? But I find the war within, the waves in the harbor. What shall I call her? Dead? But she moves. But alive? But she does not know what she suffers. I cannot find a name that interprets the suffering. Have mercy on me. If my little daughter had died, I would not have suffered such things. I would have delivered the body to the bosom of the earth, and in time brought in forgetfulness, and dispersed the wound. But now I have a dead one who produces for me a continual spectacle, weaving my wounds for me, multiplying my sore for me. How did I see eyes distorted, hands strangled, locks loosed, foam coming forth, the executioner within and not appearing, the lashes appearing? I stand as a spectator of another's evils, while nature goads me. Have mercy on me. Grievous is the tossing storm, suffering and fear. Suffering of nature, and fear of the demon. To draw near—I cannot, nor to hold fast. The suffering drives me, and fear beats me back. Have mercy on me. But consider the philosophy of a woman. She did not go to diviners; she did not make amulets;

She did not hire sorceress women, those who train demons and magnify the wound, but she left the devil's workshop. Have mercy on me; my daughter is terribly demon-possessed. All you who have become fathers, help with your word, and all you who have been made mothers. I cannot describe the storm that the woman endured. You saw her endurance, her courage, her patience. But he answered her not a word. Strange are these things! She pleads, she begs, she weeps at her misfortune; she heightens the tragedy; she recounts her suffering, and the lover of mankind does not answer, the Word is silent, the fountain is shut, the physician withholds the remedies. What is this strange thing? What is this paradoxical thing? You run to others, and this woman who runs to you you drive away. But consider the physician's wisdom. But he did not answer her a word. What then? Since she did not obtain an answer, his disciples came and said to him, Send her away, for she cries out after us. Another evangelist says, before us. The statements are contrary, but not false. For she did both. Before this she cried out behind. When he did not answer, she came in front, like a dog licking its master's feet. Send her away. She stirred up a theater, she gathered a crowd. Send her away, for she cries out after us. What then does he say? I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When he answered, he made her wound worse. What then? Was it for this that you became man, that you took on flesh, that you accomplished so many economies, so that you might save one corner?

The Canaanites were forbidden, abominable in their impiety, accursed, polluted, unclean; the Jews, fulfilling and completing the law, would not even endure to hear them. Since the woman was a Canaanite, and from that forbidden border, where also frenzy and madness and impiety lay upon them, and the tyranny of the devil, and the bacchants of demons, and nature trampled down and brought down to the unreason of brute beasts, to the wickedness of demons. But the law commanded: Have nothing to do with Canaanites; do not give, do not receive with them. Do not take a wife, no contracts, no dealings. For this reason he set a fence around them. So that the Jews might not say, "Because you abandoned us and went outside, therefore we did not believe in you"—behold, they come from the nations, and I do not receive them, but you who flee I call: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest—and you do not come. But this woman I cast out, and she remains. I became manifest to those who did not seek me. Send her away, because she cries out after us. Let us see, then, what he says: I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she, hearing this, came and worshiped, saying, Yes, Lord. And he says, It is not good to take the bread of the children and throw it to the dogs. What then? Yes, Lord. You call me a dog, I call you Lord; you insult me, I praise you. Yes, Lord; for even the dogs eat from the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. O the wisdom of the woman! You call me a dog? Feed me as a dog. I do not refuse the reproach; let me receive the food of the dog. You called me a dog? Give me a crumb.

You became an advocate for me in my request; in the granting, show your assent. Yes, Lord; for even the little dogs eat from the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. What then

does the one who refuses, the one who pursues, the one who says: It is not good to take the bread of the children and give it to the little dogs? The one who says: I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What does he say? O woman, you have become a praiser? You proclaim the woman, did you not put her to shame? Did you not pursue her? For this reason I was pursuing. For if I had dismissed her from the beginning, you would not have learned her faith. If she had received it from the outset, she would have withdrawn, and her treasure would not have been known. For this reason I deferred the gift, so that I might show them her faith. O woman. God says, O woman! Let those who pray with vulgarity hear. When I say, Entreat God, beseech him, supplicate him, he says, I have entreated once and twice, a third time, a tenth time, and I have not received. Do not depart until you receive. Then depart when you receive; or rather, then—but even then remain. And if you receive, keep asking; and when you receive, give thanks, because you received. Many enter the Church and rattle off countless lines of prayer, and go out. Does God need many words? He needs only your prayer. And what, he says, did I bow the knee and pray? You bowed your knees, but your mind was flying outside. Your body was inside, and your soul was outside. Your mouth was speaking, and your mind was counting interest, contracts, agreements, estates, properties.

For the devil, being wicked and knowing that in the time of prayer we accomplish great things, then attacks. Often we lie on our backs and reckon nothing, and the mind is at rest. We have come to pray, and countless thoughts assail us, so that he may cast us out empty. Knowing these things in prayers, recognize the Canaanite woman. But you do not have a daughter possessed by a demon. What did the Canaanite woman say? Have mercy on me; my daughter is badly demon-possessed. Great is the demon, sin; the one demon-possessed is shown mercy, the one sinning is hated. That one has pardon, this one is deprived of defense. Have mercy on me: the phrase is brief, and a sea of love for humanity. For where there is mercy, there are all good things. Even if you are outside, cry out and say, Have mercy on me; not moving the lips, but shouting with the mind; and God hears even those who are silent. No place is sought, but the manner suffices. Jeremiah was in the mire, and he drew God to himself. Daniel was in the lions' den, and he propitiated God; the three youths were in the furnace, and they entreated God. The thief was crucified, and the cross did not hinder him, but opened paradise. Job was on the dung-heap, and he made God propitious. Wherever you are, pray. Even if you stand before a judge, pray. When a judge is angry with you, pray. The sea was in front, the Egyptians were pursuing behind, Moses was in the middle. Great is prayer in distress; but great is the sea of prayer. The Egyptians were pursuing behind, and prayer was in the middle. And Moses was saying nothing; and God says to him, Why do you cry out to me? Even if your mouth is silent, your heart cries out. And you, when you stand before a raging and tyrannical judge, and before the very executioners, pray to God.

When you pray, the waves are calmed. Is a judge against you? Flee to God. Is a ruler near you? Entreat the Master. For is he a man? He is always near, and is everywhere, and fills all things. If you wish to entreat a man and learn what he is doing, he does not answer while serving. But with God there is nothing like this. Wherever you go and call, he hears. No doorkeeper, no steward, no mediator, no servant, none of these. Say: Have mercy on me, and God comes. While you are still speaking he will say: Behold, I am present. O word full of gentleness, not waiting for the prayer to be finished. You have not yet finished the prayer, and you receive the gift. Have mercy on me—let us imitate this Canaanite woman. Have mercy on me—my daughter is badly demon-possessed. And what did she hear? O woman, great is your faith; let it be done to you as you wish. You were at a loss, you were insulted by me. I drove you away, and you did not withdraw, but you remained. Truly, O woman, great is your faith. The woman died, and her praise remains brighter than a diadem over all the earth the sun looks upon. You hear Christ saying: O woman, great is your faith; let it be done to you as you wish. And the demon came out,

And her daughter was healed. When? From that hour. Not from the hour her mother came, but from the hour she heard from our Savior, "O woman, great is your faith; let it be done to you as you wish." And thereafter she came expecting to find the girl demon-possessed, and found her well, healed by her will according to the command of the Master. One must always pray, both before the struggles and in the struggles themselves, and ask for help from above. For the common salvation of mankind, one must pray first, and then for oneself. For we were made for fellowship, and whoever prefers this to his own private good would be especially pleasing to God. The Lord commanded that you call upon him in the day of affliction. Therefore one must not be slack, but call upon God at every time, and especially in times of affliction, so that we may show our enemies that we have not been swallowed up by our circumstances, but with confidence we look upward to God. Having asked many times and failed, do not grow weary, nor despair, but renewing your petitions to God, come again shamelessly to the Master. For in necessities shamelessness is preferred to shame. For because of his shamelessness it will be given to him as much as he wishes, as the Lord said. Just as breathing is never untimely, so neither is asking the Lord for mystical requests, until the last breath. "By day," he says, "I cried out, and in the night before you, O Lord my God." You see how the inspired David becomes a pattern for you, to pray without ceasing and not be carried away into sloth.

If we have been benefited many times by meeting a good man, how great a gain will we reap by conversing day and night through prayer and psalmody with the Master of all things! It is no ordinary good, but exceedingly great, always to commit ourselves to the Better One through supplication. It is no small thing for the least also to ascend one step of the ladder of virtues, and for a time to be above the earth. Dare to approach with weeping Jesus, the heavenly Chief Physician, and to lay bare all the wounds of the soul. For there would be no passion that Christ, the most loving of humanity, is unable to heal. Hasten to destroy the worms of the mind through prayer, and fasting, and strenuous vigil. Know well that we have known some who had even reached old age, who through prayer and hope obtained the greatest heavenly gift. Nothing at all can set itself against the Lord—not time, not place, not circumstance, not the roaring devil, not demons warring, not weakness of soul or body, not barrenness of thoughts, not the law of the members of flesh and blood, over which Satan and the dragon exult, he who has his strength on his loins, and his power full of abomination on the navel of the belly; not the worst habit full of passions; not a custom of many years and long standing. We must not cherish the thoughts that please the devil, but destroy them with the dagger of the divine word. Our soul, it says, was delivered as a sparrow from the snare of the demons who hunt.

For just as sparrows by the movement of their wings become raised up above the earth, so too the God-fearing man transfers himself from earthly things to heavenly things through prayers. Fulfill the power of prayer. For whether you eat, he says, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. When you sit at table, pray; when the bread is set before you, give thanks to the one who gave the grace. Has the need of food passed? Let not the memory of the benefactor pass away. When you put on your tunic, give thanks to the one who gave it. When you wrap yourself in your cloak, increase your love toward God, who has graciously provided us with coverings suitable for both winter and summer, preserving our life and covering what is unseemly. Has the day been completed? Give thanks to the one who has graciously given us the sun for the service of the day's works, and has provided fire to light the night and to serve the remaining needs of life. When you look up to heaven, and toward the

When you gaze upon the beauties of the stars, pray to the Master of things seen, and worship the God who is the supreme craftsman of all things, who made all things in wisdom. When you entreat God concerning some good thing, and he does not hear you at once, do not grow slack, nor be faint-hearted. For often the request is not for your present benefit. Every one who asks receives, it says. But he receives if he seeks the things that profit the soul. Do not seek wealth in prayer, nor health, nor vengeance on enemies, nor human glory, but only the things that contribute to the salvation of the soul. If you ask wickedly and unprofitably, just as a man in a fever begs that wine be given him, God, looking to what is to come, does not do your will; he does not grant the irrational request. Let us remember Judas the traitor, and let us not leave the church. For for him the beginning of perdition was not remaining in prayer. For having received the bread, he went out first of the rest, and immediately Satan entered into him, and he hastened to the betrayal. If, then, anyone departs before the dismissal, he will pay the penalty of Judas. Let us not, then, for the sake of one hour be condemned with Judas. The remaining will not weigh us down; it has no storms within, no fire, no other punishments. If the Lord says to man in the Gospels, To every one who asks of you, give alms, how much more will the Lord himself give to every one who is in need rich mercies, and the forgiveness of sins, and the release from sorrows, the countless good things.

Christ the King of all, God, in no way turns away from those who gape after him and groan from the depth of their heart, even if they happen to be weighed down with many sins, but he even receives them and cleanses them, grants them the gift of adoption as sons, and, as time goes on, shows them to be workers of virtues.

TITLE 8. — On almsgiving and the doing of good to the poor. "The needy shall by no means fail from the earth. Therefore I command you to do this thing, saying: You shall surely open your hands to your brother, to the poor man who is in need." — "You shall not turn away your hand from before your brother." "I command you to love the stranger, to give him bread and clothing." "My door was open to everyone who came. The helpless did not fail to obtain the need they once had; and I did not cause the eye of the widow to waste away. But if I also ate my bread alone, and did not share it with the orphan? And if I also overlooked the naked man perishing, and did not clothe him? But if the helpless did not bless me, and their shoulders were not warmed from the fleece of my lambs. I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame; I was a father to the helpless." "The righteous man has compassion and gives." "Blessed is he who understands concerning the poor and needy." "A good man is he who has compassion and lends; he has scattered abroad, he has given," and the rest. "Let almsgiving and faith not fail you; bind them upon your neck, and you will find favor. Do not refrain from doing good to the needy, whenever your hand has the means to help. Do not say: Go away and come back, and tomorrow I will give, when you are able to do good. For you do not know what the coming day will bring forth." "A blessing upon the head of the one who shares.

A merciful man does good to his own soul. The wealth of a man is the ransom of his soul. The righteous are compassionate and merciful. He who is merciful to the poor is blessed. By almsgiving and acts of faith sins are cleansed. He who shows compassion will be shown mercy. He who is merciful to the poor lends to God, and he will repay him according to his gift. As many as give to the poor will not be in want. The way of righteousness and almsgiving will find life and glory. God loves a cheerful and generous man. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your strength. I knew that there is no good in them, except to be glad and to do good in his life. My judgment will go forth as a flame, because I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the poor who are without shelter into your house. If you see the naked, clothe him. If you give your bread to the hungry from your soul, and fill a humbled soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be as midday, and God will be with you always. O king, let my counsel be pleasing to you: redeem your sins with almsgivings, and your lawless deeds with compassion for the poor. Piety is stronger than everything. Water will quench a flaming fire, and almsgiving makes atonement for sins. Child, do not deprive the poor of their life, and do not turn your eyes away from the needy. Do not grieve a hungry soul, and do not put off a gift to one who is in need. Do not turn your face away from the poor, and do not turn your eye away from one who is begging.

Incline your ear to the poor, and answer him peaceably in gentleness. Do not neglect to give alms. Stretch out your hand to the poor, that your blessing may be made complete. Do good to the pious, and you will find a recompense, and if not from him, yet from the Most High. If you do good, know to whom you do it, and there will be grace for your good deeds. The almsgiving of a man is as a seal with him. He who shows mercy lends to his neighbor; and he who strengthens with his hand keeps the commandments. Be patient with the humble, and do not put him off when it comes to almsgiving. Shut up almsgiving in your treasuries, and it will deliver you from every affliction; it will fight for you against the enemy. Almsgiving endures forever. A brother and help in time of affliction; and above both, almsgiving delivers. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Take heed that you do not practice your almsgiving before men to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Therefore when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your almsgiving may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly. Go and learn what this means:

I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. Whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. John answered and said to them, He who has two tunics, let him share with him who has none, and he who has food, let him do likewise. The Lord said to them, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but the inside of you is full of rapine and wickedness. Fools, did not he who made the outside also make the inside? Nevertheless, give alms of what is within, and behold, all things are clean to you. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make for yourselves purses that do not grow old, a treasure that does not fail in the heavens, where no thief draws near, nor does moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The Lord said to the one who had invited him, When you make a breakfast or a dinner, do not call your friends, nor rich neighbors, nor your relatives, nor your brothers, lest they also invite you in return, and it become a recompense to you. But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and blessed shall you be, because they do not have the means to repay you. For it will be repaid to you in the resurrection of the righteous. You yourselves know that my hands ministered to my needs and to those who are with me. I have shown you all things, that thus laboring you must support the weak, and remember the words of the Lord, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. He who gives in simplicity.

Let the one who leads be diligent; let the one who shows mercy be cheerful. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; he who sows in blessings will also reap in blessings. Each one as he purposes in his heart, not out of grief or out of necessity. For God loves a cheerful giver. Having all sufficiency, may you abound in every good work, as it is written: He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor. Remember the poor. To the rich in this present age I charge them not to be high-minded, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in God who provides all things richly for enjoyment; to do good, to be rich in good works, to be ready to share, generous, laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future. You, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. Do not forget beneficence and fellowship. For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Mercy boasts over judgment. That one is rich who shows mercy to many, and who, in imitation of God, gives out of what he has. For God has given entirely from his own creatures. Understand then, you rich, that you ought to minister, having received more than you yourselves need; learn that what abounds in you is lacking to others. Be ashamed to hold on to what belongs to others; imitate the equality of God, and no one will be poor. Imitate the earth, O man; bear fruit as it does. Do not show yourself worse than the soulless thing. For it brought forth its fruits not for its own enjoyment, but for your service; but you, whatever fruit of beneficence you display, you gather it for yourself. For the graces of good works return upon those who give.

You gave to the hungry, and what was given becomes yours, returning with increase. For just as grain falling into the earth becomes a gain to the one who casts it forth, so bread cast down into the hungry person yields back a rich benefit afterward. Let the end of your farming, then, through sharing with those in need, be the beginning of heavenly sowing. For sow for yourselves, it says, in righteousness. Why then are you distressed? Why do you beat yourself, striving to lock up your wealth in mud and bricks? A good name is better than much wealth. But if you admire money because of its value, consider how much more profitable for glory it is to be called the father of ten thousand children than to have ten thousand staters in a purse. For you will leave your money here even against your will, but the honor arising from good works you will carry away to the Master, when a whole people stands around you before the common Judge and calls you nourisher and benefactor and every name of philanthropy. It is God who receives it; angels sing your praise, and humans from the beginning of creation call you blessed; eternal glory, crowns of righteousness, the kingdom of heaven will be your prizes. Wells, when drawn from, become more flowing; but when left alone they rot. And of wealth, what is stationary is useless, but what is moved and passes on is beneficial to all and fruitful. Give thanks to the Benefactor, because it is not you who trouble other people's doors, but others who come to yours. Let the rich man lend to the poor. Trust in God, who always takes up the cause of the oppressed as his own, and repays the favor from his own house.

A trustworthy guarantor, having his treasures spread out everywhere on earth and sea. Wealth, when scattered in the manner the Lord suggests, is by nature disposed to remain; but when held together, it is alienated. If you guard it, you do not have it; if you scatter it, you will not lose it. He scattered, he gave to the poor, his righteousness endures forever and ever. At a festival no one is grieved when giving up what is present and acquiring what is needed, but to the extent that he buys precious things at a lower price, he rejoices all the more, as though the transaction itself had been splendid. But you are grieved when giving gold and silver, that is, when providing dust, in order to gain the blessed life. Anticipate and bury yourself beforehand. Piety is a fine burial garment. Clothe yourself in everything and depart. Make wealth a familiar adornment. Have it with yourself. Be persuaded by a good counselor, by Christ who loved you, who became poor for our sake, so that we might become rich by his poverty. Whenever you are about to give to a poor person for the Lord's sake, this is both a gift and a loan: a gift, because of the hopelessness of repayment; a loan, because of the great generosity of the one who repays on his behalf, who, having received little through the poor person, will repay great things on his behalf; for "He who has mercy on the poor lends to God," it says. He who gives money asks alms from you through the hand of the poor, and even if he receives his own, he repays you the grace intact as his own. "The rich man is not yet to be envied because of his wealth; nor the ruler because of the bulk of his office. For these are instruments of the remaining virtue for those who use them well, not having blessedness in themselves.

The one who uses them badly is pitiable, like a man who willingly stabs himself with the sword he took up for defense against enemies. But if he uses what is present well and according to right reason, he is a steward of what has been given by God, and such a man is justly praised and loved for the brotherly love and generosity of his character. Become, O man, like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, never stripped of hope, but always keeping around yourself the salvation that comes through faith, flourishing; thus you will imitate the ever-flourishing leaf and emulate its fruitfulness, providing alms without grudging at every season. I do not think that the sacred word weighed generosity and magnificence by the amount of material given from outside, but rather by the dispositions and choices of those who offer. God is served by nothing so much as by mercy, because nothing is more akin to God than this, whose mercy and truth go before him, and to whom mercy must be brought before judgment. For the love of humanity is repaid by nothing else so much as by benevolence, by the one who justly measures out mercy in balance and weight. Give God a thank-offering, that you have become one of those able to do good, and not one of those in need of receiving good, that you do not look to others' hands, but others to yours. Be rich not only in possessions but also in piety; not only in gold but also in virtue. Become more honored than your neighbor by appearing kinder. Become a god to the unfortunate, imitating the mercy of God. For man has nothing that makes him so like God as doing good.

Do you think that beneficence is not a necessity for you, but a matter of choice? I myself very much wished and supposed it to be so, but the left hand and the goats frighten me, and the things for which those who set them there are reproached—not because they have plundered, nor because they have despoiled, or committed adultery, or done any other of the forbidden things, having been condemned to this rank—but because they did not serve Christ through those in need. No one who has brought anything to God has ever regretted it. He is abundant in repayment. Let your good be from what is needed, not from what is surplus—for God rejoices more in this fruit-bearing than in the quantity of the contribution and the greatness of the gift. God requires of us philanthropy toward one another, even if we are being punished by Him. The most beautiful and most philanthropic thing is that God measures the gift not by the worth of what is given, but by the power and disposition of the one who bears fruit. Do not wait to become good, but become so now; and do not, because it falls short of worth, fall short of the whole, but bring what you can and be zealous for the rest. Nothing of what is brought to God, even if it is the least, or even if it falls far short of worth, is such that He does not altogether receive and accept it, even if He knows how to weigh mercy with righteous judgment. It is a good thing to snatch something from moths and from envy—to have Christ as a debtor rather than to have all things, He who grants a kingdom for a fragment of bread. You shelter and feed Christ when you feed the poor. If you owe God nothing by way of punishment, do not yourself be unsympathetic to those who owe. But if you know that you owe, then also lend your gentleness in advance. For mercy is weighed by mercy, even by God.

Why should one store up treasure for robbers and thieves and for changes of circumstance, which at one time transfer it to one set of people and at another to another, and fan into flame the unstable abundance? Rather, one should deposit it in the safe storehouses that are stronger than those who plot against them. Gold is a heavy thing; but virtue is a light and upward-borne matter. But surely these things are opposed to one another—weight and lightness. If, then, we must step up to the things above, let us become poor in the things that drag us down, so that we may come to be among the things above. For it is impossible for one who has consumed himself with the weight of matter to become light. And what is the manner? The psalmody sets it forth: He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor; his righteousness endures forever and ever. Whoever, then, has shared with the poor will establish himself in the portion of the one who became poor for our sake. Poverty is no hindrance to almsgiving. And the witness is the widow, who cast in the two mites and surpassed those who deposited much. —The blind man knows how, when shown mercy, to lead by the hand into the kingdom of the heavens, and he who strikes against walls and slips into pits—this man becomes a path-maker of the ascent into the heavens. Through the poor our Judge is bribed; knock on the Judge's side-door with the hand of the poor man. For he receives your gifts given through him, and he bends the laws. He receives them, and instead of just he becomes a lover of humanity. He receives them, and he ranks mercy before truth, and against the scale of sins he weighs in the hand of the poor man. —When you have fed the poor man, think that you are feeding yourself. For such is the nature of the matter. What is given passes over from us to us.

For our philanthropic Master, seeing our small-mindedness, elevates the work beyond all measure, and calls himself a debtor of almsgiving; he calls beneficence a loan from God. O how great is the power of almsgiving! A power that enters the divine courtroom. Let us not fear a judge who stretches out his hand before the courtroom. Let us not fear a judge who does not refuse to receive. –Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and watched how the crowds threw in copper coins. Passing by the altar, he runs to the treasury. Passing by those who sacrifice, he arrives at the theater of beneficence, showing through their deeds that God alone takes delight in this spectacle; showing that the divine eye alone can be likened to the Creator; showing that this alone joins man to God; showing that this alone brings the clay near to the Potter. For, he says, be merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful. For the one entrance to divine kinship is beneficence. –O philanthropic soul! O merciful disposition! Poverty did not cut off the compassion of the will. Poverty did not expose the love of honor in the disposition. Want did not contract the generosity of the soul. The matter of almsgiving wipes away sins, triumphs over judgment, tames the flame of punishment, persuades the judge—or rather, joins one to God, makes one numbered among the choirs of the saints; and it carries one also to the city above, procures the kingdom of heaven, unfading glory, a sure and established hope; and what more?

Is it not for those who perfect themselves unto unshaken cheerfulness? — He who distributes his own wealth to those in need and in poverty never becomes poor. For "he who has mercy on the poor lends to God," it is said. The borrower is creditworthy, the receiver is faithful. He knows how to repay with interest what is given. Rich and generous is he who has received the deposit of the merciful lover. Do not wait to become good, but become so now. "You shall not appear," it says, "empty before me." Let no one be empty, nor the unfruitful, nor any barren and unproductive soul. Let each bear fruit to God from what is at hand, and from his own possessions. — Let us be transformed by the brightness from above; in the bosom of Abraham let us find rest in return for our compassion here below. Let us judge with a righteous judgment; let us rescue the needy and the poor; let us show mercy to the widow and the orphan; let us ransom those being slain; let us not overlook the one who begs of us; let us not pass by the wounded man; let us not live in luxury while others suffer hardship; let us not abhor our fellow servant; let us not become friends and brothers of the rich man's portion, nor

Let us not be pained in the flame; let us not stand apart from the saints by reason of a gift; let us not beg Lazarus the poor man to cool our burning tongue with the tip of his finger. Let us become kind, compassionate, sympathetic. Let us imitate the goodness of the Master, who makes the sun rise on the good and the evil, and nourishes all alike with the rain. Let us seek the rest that is there; let us cast away the abundance that is here; whatever of it is good, let us gain only this; let us acquire our own souls through almsgiving; let us share our possessions with the poor, that we may be rich in what is there. Give a portion also to the soul, not to the flesh alone; give a portion also to God, not to the world alone; subtract something from the belly, dedicate it to the spirit; snatch something from the fire; set aside a little from the flame that is spreading; snatch from the tyrant, and believe in the Master. Give a little to him from whom you have the more; give even the whole to him who has bestowed all things. You will never surpass the munificence of God: however much you bring in, what remains is always more; and you will give nothing of your own, because all things are from God. And just as it is impossible to overleap one's own shadow, or for the body's size to become greater than the head, so neither can we surpass God by what we give. For we give nothing outside of what is his. From where are all these things yours, and from whom? Who can surpass God in gifts?

Who gave you the beauty of heaven to behold, the course of the sun, the circle of the moon, the multitude of stars, and in all these, as in a lyre, a harmony and order likewise maintained, the changes of the seasons, the alterations of times, the revolutions of the years, the equal measure of day and night, the sproutings of the earth, the outpouring of the air, the expanses of the sea both loosened and standing, the depths of rivers, the streams of the winds? Who gives the rains, the farming, the food, the crafts, the dwellings? From where do you have the animals—some tamed and yoked, others handed over as food? Who set you as lord and king of all things upon the earth? Then are we not ashamed, if having received so many things from him, and hoping for others, we shall not bring in even this one thing to the Master—the love of humanity? If the one who dishonors the poor provokes the one who made him, the one who honors the maker cherishes the work. He who has mercy on the poor lends to God, it says. Who does not accept a debtor who will repay in due time with the interest the loan? By almsgivings and acts of faith sins are cleansed. Let us therefore be cleansed by showing mercy. The Father was able to make no one poor; but if doing good were removed, no one would now think it right to suffer with one another for each other's sake. And we are both well-off and in want, so that we may become a place for doing good. Enlist for yourself a host contrary to other men—unarmed, unwarlike, bloodless, without anger, undefiled: godly old men, God-loving orphans, widows armed with gentleness, men adorned with love. Acquire such as these with your wealth, and with your body and your soul as bodyguards, whose commander is God.

He wishes us to be merciful, not only those who show mercy, but also those who wish to do good, even if they are unable, since for them the doing is present according to their purpose. Therefore those who wish shall share the same honor as those who were able, whose purpose is equal, even if others have the advantage through their abundance. Alms must be given, the word says, but with judgment, and to those who are worthy. And just as the farmer sows not simply into the earth, but into good soil, so that it may bring him fruits, so must one sow beneficence into widows, into orphans, into those without protection, so that through their prayers you may obtain fruitfulness from them. In whatever a person is able to do good to his neighbor, if he does not do it, he will be reckoned a stranger to the love of the Lord. To show mercy and to do good, there is nothing else more honorable or more philanthropic for us, since not even for God. Truly it is blessed to understand toward every poor and needy person, so that one may with understanding make provision of fellowship for the poor and needy, making the care greater and more earnest toward those who have become poor or needy through virtue or piety; and otherwise toward those who are in want from illnesses or misfortunes, as opposed to those from evildoing or profligacy

those who have become poor. A stranger and a poor man are God's possession. He who receives them will quickly regain his sight. –The road becomes smooth through almsgiving. The Master of all knows how to be fed through the sharing of what is given to those who are well treated. –Whatever benefaction of almsgiving you perform for all who are in need, Christ takes it as his own. For he says, I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. The beauty of wealth is not in purses, but in the assistance of those in want. TITLE 9. –Concerning those who do not give alms but take advantage, and concerning the stingy who love wealth and love silver. “The mouth of the unjust has been stopped. What those men reaped, the righteous shall eat; but they themselves shall not be delivered from evils.” “The impious have transgressed the boundary; they have seized a flock together with its shepherd and gone off; they have led away the beast of burden of orphans; they have taken the ox of a widow as a pledge. They have turned the powerless aside from the righteous road, and with one accord they have surrounded the meek of the earth.” “Those who sow improper things shall reap pains for themselves; they shall perish by the command of the Lord, and by the spirit of his wrath they shall be destroyed.” “He himself knows the works of the lawless; and having seen improper things, he will not overlook them.” “There is no place for those who do lawless things to hide.” “He has labored for empty and vain wealth, from which he will not taste. For he has crushed the houses of many who were powerless. He has snatched away the livelihood of orphans, and has not restored it. There is no salvation for him in his possessions; in his desire he shall not be saved. His good things shall not flourish.

When it already seems to be fulfilled, it will be extinguished, and every necessity will come upon him. –»Guard yourself against doing unjust things.» «You took your brothers as pledges in vain, and you stripped the clothing from the naked. You did not give water to the thirsty, but you deprived the hungry of a morsel. You sent widows away empty, and you mistreated orphans. Therefore snares have surrounded you, and a sudden war has pressed upon you.» «They snatched the orphan from the breast, and they humbled the fallen, and they cast out the naked unjustly, and they took away the morsel from the hungry. They did not walk in the way of righteousness, nor did they travel its paths. But knowing their works, he delivered them into darkness.» «Woe and destruction to the unjust.» «Let every unjust man be crushed like incurable wood.» «Wealth gathered unjustly will be vomited up.» «If he gathers silver as dust, and prepares gold as mud, all these things will be acquired, but his wealth will be held by the truthful. But his house has come to be like moths, and his wealth like a spider's web.» «The face of the Lord is upon those who do evil, to destroy them» and the rest. «Do not fear when a man becomes rich, or when he multiplies.» «Evils will hunt an unjust man to corruption.» «Elisha said to Gehazi: Where are you from, Gehazi? And Gehazi said: Your servant has not gone anywhere. And Elisha said to him: Did not my heart go with you, when the man turned back from the chariot to meet you? And now you have taken the silver and the garments, and now you will take for yourself gardens, and olive groves, and vineyards, and sheep, and male servants, and female servants.

And the leprosy of Naaman will cleave to you and to your seed forever. «He who spares gifts stirs up fierce wrath.» – «Wealth adds many friends.» – «The rich will rule over the poor.» – «The wise man is rich in himself.» – «Substance hastily gathered with lawlessness becomes less.» – «Treasures will not profit the lawless.» – «He who turns his face away from a poor man will be in great distress.» – «The merciless man destroys his own body.» – «The bowels of the ungodly are merciless.» «He who loves silver will not be filled with silver.» «All things will be subject to silver.» – «There is an evil which I saw under the sun: a man to whom God gives wealth, and substance, and glory, and he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires; and that a stranger will eat it.» «Canaan, in his hands is a yoke

of injustice; he loved to oppress.» «Woe to him who multiplies to himself things that are not his own, and heavily weighs down his collar, because suddenly those who bite him will rise up, and they will become sober. He who grasps wicked gain for his house, and to set his nest.» «Woe to those who join house to house, and draw field near to field, that they may take away something from their neighbor.» «The plunder of the poor is in your houses. Why do you wrong my people, and shame the face of the poor, says the Lord?» – «I gave into your hand; but you did not give them mercy.» – «When you stretch out your hands, I will turn my eyes away from you.

For your hands are full of blood. «Because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations.» «The unjust, like the boiling sea, so shall they be tossed to and fro, and they shall not be able to rest.» «Depart from the unjust man, and you shall not be afraid, and trembling shall not come near you.» «This was the iniquity of Sodom: that in pride, and fullness of bread, and in abundance of wine she reveled, she and her daughters, and they did not take hold of the hand of the poor and the needy, and they boasted greatly, and they committed iniquity before me.» «A people oppressing by injustice, and seizing plunder, tyrannizing over the poor and the needy, and not dealing with the stranger with judgment.» «Your mother was a lion's whelp, she came to be in the midst of lions; she multiplied her whelps, and one of her whelps leaped up, became a lion; it learned to seize plunder.» «Thus says the Lord: You are the land that is not watered, nor has rain come upon you in the day of wrath. Those who lead in the midst of her are like roaring lions, seizing plunders, devouring souls in power.» «The eye of the covetous man is not satisfied with a portion.» «The Lord will crush the loin of the merciless.» «Do not rejoice over unjust riches.

For they will profit nothing in the day of visitation. The sinner will not escape in his plundering. He who builds his house with another's money is like one who gathers his stones into a torrent-bed. A lion lies in ambush for prey; so does sin for those who work injustice. He who sacrifices from unjust gains—the sacrifice is defiled. The wealth of the unjust will be dried up like rivers, and will resound like great thunder in the rain. He who offers a son before his father is the one who brings a sacrifice from the money of the poor. There will be no good things for the one who persists in evils, and for the one who does not grant alms. The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; he who deprives them of it is a man of blood. Good is wealth in which there is no sin. Sleeplessness over wealth wastes the flesh, and its anxiety drives away sleep. He who loves gold will not be justified. Many have been given over to a fall because of gold, and their destruction has come before their face. Wood is a stumbling block to those who sacrifice to it, and every fool will be caught by it. A hunter of lions, wild asses in the desert—so are the poor to the pastures of the rich. When a rich man stumbles, there are many to support him; they speak hidden things and justify him. A rich man speaks, and all are silent, and they lift up his word to the clouds. According to a man's strength, so is his anger, and according to his wealth he will lift up his wrath. Blessed is the rich man who is found blameless, and who has not gone after gold. Who is he? And we will call him blessed. For he has done wondrous things among his people. Who has been tested in it and perfected? And let it be for boasting.

Who could have transgressed and did not transgress, done evil and did not do it? His good deeds will be made firm, and the Church will recount his acts of mercy. There is one who grows rich by his carefulness and stinginess, and he will leave them to others, and he will die. He who gathers from his own soul gathers for others, and others will revel in his possessions. The wicked man is evil to himself; to whom is he good? Child, as far as you have, do good to yourself. Jesus said to his disciples: Truly I say to you, that a rich man will with difficulty enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And when his disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying: Who then can be saved? And Jesus looked at them and said to them: With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. The country of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly, and the rest. Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh, for you will mourn and weep. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Why are you not rather wronged? Why are you not rather defrauded? But you wrong and defraud, and that your brothers. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? He who does wrong will receive back what he did wrong. And there is no partiality with God. Not to overreach and take advantage of his brother in a matter;

because God is the avenger concerning all these things. Let everyone who names the name of God depart from unrighteousness. Those who wish to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evils; some, reaching after it, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. You rich, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their rust will be a testimony against you, and the rust will eat your flesh. You have stored up treasure as fire in the last day. Judgment is merciless to the one who has not shown mercy. If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, but you do not give them the things needed for the body, what benefit is it? The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptations, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. Whoever has the livelihood of this world and sees his brother in need and shuts up his compassion, how does the love of God remain in him? Hear, O man, Solomon: Do not say, Go away and come back again, and tomorrow I will give. For you do not know what the coming day will bring forth. What commands you disregard! And you are sullen and hard to meet with, avoiding encounters, lest perhaps you be compelled to throw out something small from your hands. You know one phrase: I do not have, nor will I give.

For I am poor. You are poor in reality, and in need of every good thing: poor in love, poor in philanthropy, poor in faith toward God, poor in eternal hope. Make your brothers sharers with the moths. What will rot tomorrow, give today to those in need. It is the most grievous form of greed not to distribute any of the perishable things to the needy. Whom, he says, do I wrong by keeping what is my own? What things, tell me, are your own? Did you not come forth naked from the womb? Do you not return naked again to the earth? And where are the things you have now from? If you say from chance, you are godless, not recognizing the Creator, nor giving thanks to the one who gave. But if you confess they are from God, tell the reason for which you received them. Is God unjust, who divides the things of life unequally among us? Why is it that you are rich, and that man is poor—either certainly so that you also may receive a reward for goodness and faithful stewardship, and that man may be honored for the great contests of endurance? But you, encompassing all things in the insatiable bosoms of greed, do you think you wrong no one when you deprive so many? Who is the greedy man? The one who does not abide by self-sufficiency. And who is the robber? The one who takes away what belongs to each. But you are the greedy man, you are the robber, making the things you received for stewardship your own private property. If the one who strips a clothed man is acknowledged as a clothes-stealer, is the one who does not clothe the naked, though able to do so, worthy of another name? The bread belongs to the hungry man—the bread which you hold back.

The garment of the man who goes naked is what you keep in your storehouses; the shoe of the man who goes barefoot is what rots in your possession. The silver of the man in need is what you have buried; so you wrong as many people as you were able to provide for. What is it, O man, that prevents you from sharing? The hungry man wastes away; the naked man freezes; the man being pressed for payment is choked, and do you put off your almsgiving until tomorrow? You pray that everything be changed into the nature of gold. What device for the sake of gold do you not devise? Your grain becomes gold, your wine is transformed into gold, your wool is gilded for you; every contrivance brings gold to you. Gold itself begets itself, multiplied in loans, and there is no satiety, and the end of desire is not discovered. The more you abound in wealth, the more you fall short in love. Why are you disheartened, O man, when you give away corruptible things and receive in return the kingdom of the heavens? Why do you refuse the one who asks, and reject the gift, devising countless pretexts for expenditure? What will you answer to the Judge, you who clothe the walls but do not clothe a man? You who adorn your horses, do you overlook your brother in disgrace? You who let your grain rot, do you not feed the hungry? You who bury your gold, do you despise the man being choked? Just as those who climb ladders always lift their foot to the step above and do not stop until they reach the top, so too the rich do not cease until, having been exalted, they dash themselves to pieces by their fall. As many things as the eye sees, so many things the greedy man desires.

The eye will not be satisfied with seeing, and the money-lover will not be satisfied with taking. Hades has not said, "It is enough," nor has the greedy man ever said, "It is enough." When will you use what is present? When will you enjoy them, always beset by the toils of creation? Woe to those who join house to house and bring field near to field, so that they may take something from their neighbor. But what are you doing? Do you not invent countless pretexts in order to take what belongs to your neighbor? "My neighbor's house," he says, "casts a shadow on me, it makes noise, or it harbors the stray; or whatever cause he happens to allege, driving them out, thrusting them away, always dragging and tearing, he will not cease until he brings upon them the necessity of revolt. Why then did he kill Naboth the Israelite? Was it not Ahab's desire for the vineyard? An evil neighbor in the city, an evil greedy man in the fields. The sea knows its own boundaries, the night does not overstep the ancient limits; the greedy man does not respect time, does not recognize a boundary, does not yield to the succession of inheritance, but imitates the violence of fire: it seizes everything, it devours everything. And just as rivers, having rushed forth from a small first beginning, then by little additions receiving an irresistible increase, sweep away what stands in their way by the violence of their course. What then after this? Do not three cubits await you, all of them? Will not the weight of a few stones suffice for the protection of the wretched flesh? For what do you toil? For what do you transgress the law? Why do you gather with your hands unfruitfulness? Would that it were unfruitfulness, and not fuel for eternal fire. Will you never sober up from this drunkenness? Will you not heal your reasonings?

Will you not become your own? Will you not bring before your eyes the judgment seat of Christ? What will you answer when those whom you have wronged stand around you in a circle and cry out against you before the righteous judge? What then will you do? What advocates will you hire? What witnesses will you bring forward? How will you persuade the judge who cannot be deceived? There is no orator there any longer, no persuasiveness of words able to steal the truth from the judge. Flatterers do not follow, nor wealth, nor the pomp of rank. Desolate of friends, desolate of helpers, without an advocate, without a defense, put to shame you will be left behind, sullen, downcast, isolated, without freedom of speech. For wherever you turn your eye, you will see vivid images of your evils: from here the tears of the orphan, from there the groan of the widow, from another direction the paupers beaten by you, the servants you flayed, the neighbors you provoked to anger—all will rise up against you; a wicked chorus of your evil deeds will surround you. For just as a shadow follows the body, so sins follow souls, vividly portraying their deeds. Therefore there is no denial there, but the shameless mouth is stopped. For the deeds themselves testify against each person, not uttering a voice, but appearing such as they have been fashioned by us. How can I bring those dreadful things before your eyes? If then you hear, if then you yield, remember that day on which the glorious coming of Christ is revealed. Then they will rise, those who have done good to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to a resurrection of judgment.

Then eternal shame comes upon sinners, and a zeal of fire that is about to devour the adversaries. Let those things grieve you, and do not let the commandment grieve you. How shall I put you to shame? What shall I say? You do not desire the Kingdom; you do not fear Gehenna. From where will healing be found for your soul? If the dreadful things do not terrify you, and the bright things do not urge you on, we are speaking to a heart of stone. Look, O man, at the nature of wealth. Why are you so fluttered about gold? Gold is a stone; silver is a stone; the pearl is a stone; each of the stones is a stone—the chrysolite, and the beryl, and the agate, and the hyacinth, and the amethyst, and the jasper. These are the flowers of wealth, of which you store some away, hiding them, and you hide the transparent stones in darkness; while others of great price you carry about, exulting in their radiance. Tell me, what profit is it to you to turn about a hand gleaming with stones? Are you not ashamed of pebbles, like women when they are pregnant? For they too nibble at little stones, and you are greedy for the flowers of stones, seeking after sardonyxes, jaspers, and amethysts. Who, having adorned himself, has been able to add one day to his life? Whom has death spared because of wealth? From whom has disease held back because of money? Until when shall gold be the noose of souls, the hook of death, the bait of sin? Until when shall wealth be the pretext of wars, by which weapons are forged? Why are swords sharpened? It is for this that kinsmen do not recognize nature, and brothers look murderously upon one another. Because of wealth, the deserts feed murderers, the sea feeds wreckers, and the cities feed informers.

Who is the father of falsehood? Who is the maker of forgery? Who is the one who has begotten perjury? Is it not wealth? Is it not the zeal for it? What is happening to you, O people? Who has turned your own possessions into a plot against you, things that cooperate for living? For wealth is not a starting point for destruction, but is necessary for the sake of children. This is a plausible starting point for greed; for you put forward your children, but you satisfy your heart. Do not blame the innocent one; it has its own master, its own steward. It received life from another, and from him it awaits the starting points of life. Were the Gospels not written for those who are married? If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions and give to the poor. When you were asking from the Lord for good children, when you were deeming yourself worthy to become a father of children, did you add this: Give me children, so that having become greedy under the pretext of children I may be handed over to Gehenna; give me children, so that I may despise the Gospel? Show your works, and demand the recompenses. No one does business after the festival has been dissolved, nor does one who comes forward after the contests receive a crown, nor does one act bravely after the wars; therefore, clearly, neither does one practice piety after life. In ink and letters you promise your good deeds. Who then will announce to you the time of your departure, who will be a guarantor of the manner of your death? How many have been snatched away by violent accidents, not even being allowed to utter a sound by the suffering? How many has fever made delirious? Why then do you wait for a time in which you will often not even be in control of your own thoughts? Deep night, and severe illness, and no one to help, and the one lying in wait for the lot is ready.

Having employed everything for his own approval, he makes your plans ineffective. Then, looking around here and there, and seeing the desolation surrounding you, then you will perceive

your folly, then you will groan over your senselessness, at what a time you were storing up the commandment; when the tongue is idle, and the hand already trembling, shaken by its contractions, so that neither by voice nor by letters can one make known one's thought. And yet even if all things had been written openly, and every voice had been proclaimed distinctly, a single letter inserted was enough to alter the whole meaning. I know many who fast, pray, groan, displaying all inexpensive piety, yet do not give out a single obol to the afflicted. What benefit is their remaining virtue to them? For the kingdom of heaven does not receive them. Sell your possessions, and give to the poor, so that you may have provision for eternal enjoyment. Do you go away sorrowful? But if you hear, Give money to women who revel in luxury, give to stonecutters, carpenters, mosaic-makers, painters, you rejoice as though acquiring something more precious than money. Do you not see these walls, crumbling under time, whose remains stand like so many reefs throughout the whole city? How many poor people were there in the city when these were being raised, who because of the zeal for these things were overlooked by the rich of that time? Where then is the splendid construction of the works? Where is the one envied for his great achievement in these things? Are not some things confounded and obliterated, like those things children lovingly craft in play in the sands? And does he not lie in Hades, repenting of his zeal for vain things?

Keep a great soul. Walls, both small and great, serve the same need. When I enter the house of an ignorant man and see it adorned with flowers of every kind, I know that this man possesses nothing more valuable than what is seen; but he beautifies lifeless things while keeping his soul unadorned. Tell me, what greater need do silver couches and silver tables, ivory beds and ivory chairs serve, so that wealth on their account does not pass over to the poor, even though countless people stand at the door uttering every pitiable cry, and you refuse the gift, saying it is impossible to provide for those who ask? And with your tongue you swear an oath, but by your hand you are convicted; for your hand, though silent, proclaims your falsehood, flashing all around with the bezel of your ring. How many debts can one ring of yours cancel! How many houses on the verge of collapse can it set upright! One chest of your garments can wrap an entire people shivering with cold; but you endure to send the poor man away with nothing, not fearing the justice of the Judge's recompense. You did not show mercy? You will not receive mercy. You did not open your house? You will be sent away from the kingdom. You did not give bread to the hungry? You will not receive eternal life. But you say you are poor yourself? I agree. For poor is the one who lacks many things. But the insatiability of desire makes you lack many things. To the ten talents you strive to add ten more. When they become twenty, you seek as many again. And always what is added does not stop your impulse but inflames your appetite.

For just as for drunkards the addition of wine becomes an occasion for drinking, so too the newly rich, having acquired many things, desire more. Are you elated by wealth, and do you pride yourself on your ancestors? And do you exult in your fatherland, and in beauty of body, and in the honors given by all? Pay heed to yourself, that you are mortal; that you are earth, and to earth you will depart. Look around at those before you who were examined in similar circumstances. Where are those who wrapped themselves in political powers? Where are the most formidable orators? Where are those who arranged the festivals? The splendid horse-breeders, the generals, the tyrants? Is not everything dust? Is not everything a myth? Are not the memorials of their life in a few bones? Stoop down to the tombs, if you can distinguish, who is the servant and who is the master; where is the poor man, and who is the rich. Distinguish whether you have any power to tell the prisoner from the king, the strong from the weak, the comely from the ugly. Remembering therefore your nature, you will never be puffed up. What can restrain the greedy man? He is harsher than fire,

Grasping everything by continual acquisition, he took what belonged to his neighbor; another neighbor appeared, and he appropriated his property too. He does not attend to what lies behind, but is grieved by what remains lacking. He does not attend to the enjoyment of what has been gathered, but exhausts himself in the desire for the possession of more. Then come sleepless nights, and from this, anxieties and cares; the more wealth increases, the more it brings of a life full of worry. A judge is expected, and the covetous man looks about lest he be dragged into court, lest an orphan publicize his tear in the courtroom. He deliberates at night whom of the bitter advocates he will station beside him, so that he may hire false testimonies, how he will besiege by siege the man in the desert and tyrannize over him, and in court steal the truth, and destroy both parties—both deceiving the judge and defrauding the infant. These cares consume the soul of the covetous man. A dog barks, and the rich man thinks it is a thief. The sound of a mouse, and the rich man's heart leaps. He holds everything under suspicion. He sees his sons growing up as plotters, because their age presses on the succession. For, it says, the country of a rich man bore abundant fruit, and he reasoned within himself: What shall I do? I will tear down my storehouses and build greater ones. Why then did the country bear abundant fruit for a man who was going to do nothing good from its fertility? So that the longsuffering of God might be more clearly shown, and his goodness extended even to such people. For he rains on the just and the unjust, and makes his sun rise on the evil and the good.

But such goodness brings greater condemnation upon those who do evil. He bore with the land cultivated by grasping hands through the rains. He gave the sun to warm the seeds and to multiply the fruits through fertility. And the things that come from God are such as these: the suitability of the land, temperate conditions of the air, abundance of seeds, the cooperation of oxen, and the other things by which farming naturally thrives. But what are the things that come from man? The bitterness of his character, his misanthropy, his unwillingness to share—these he showed in return to his Benefactor. He did not remember the common nature. He did not consider that he ought to distribute his surplus to the needy. He gave no thought to the commandment: Do not refrain from doing good to the needy; and, Let alms and faith not fail you; and, Break your bread to the hungry. And all the prophets, and all the teachers, crying out, were not heard, but the storehouses were bursting, cramped by the multitude of what was stored up. Yet the stingy heart was not filled. For always adding new things to old, and increasing his wealth by yearly additions, he fell into this inextricable perplexity: not allowing the old to give way because of his greed, yet not able to receive the new because of their multitude. Therefore their plans are unaccomplished, and their anxieties without resource. What shall I do? Who would not pity the man who is truly besieged? Wretched because of his fertility, pitiable because of the goods present, more pitiable because of those expected. For does the land not bring him revenues? It grows him groans. Does it not gather an abundance of fruits?

Cares, and griefs, and dreadful perplexity. He laments like the poor. Or does not the man who is straitened by poverty also utter this voice? What shall I do? Where will food come from? Where will clothing come from? The rich man too says these things. He is pained in heart, eaten away by anxiety. For what gladdens others, this melts the covetous man. For he does not rejoice when all his storehouses are filled, but his wealth, flowing around and overflowing his treasuries, pricks his soul, lest perhaps, peeping out even to those outside, it become a source of some good for the needy. And his soul's passion seems to me to resemble that of gluttons, who choose rather to burst from greed than to share the leftovers with the needy. Understand, man, who it is that gave; remember yourself, who you are; what you administer; from whom you received; why you were preferred above the many. You have become a servant of a good God, a steward of your fellow servants. Do not think that all things have been prepared for your belly. Manage what is in your hands as belonging to others. It gladdens you for a little time, then it will slip away and be gone, and the account for them will be required of you with exactness. But you have shut everything up together with doors and bars, and having bound it with seals you lie awake in anxieties, and you deliberate with yourself, using yourself as a foolish counselor. What shall I do? It was ready to say, I will fill the souls of the hungry; I will open the storehouses, and I will call all the needy. I will imitate Joseph by the proclamation of love for mankind. I will utter a great-souled voice:

All you who lack bread, come to me, each to partake of the grace given by God, sufficient for each, as from common springs. But you are not such a man; how is it that you envy men their enjoyment, and having assembled a wicked council-chamber in your soul, you take thought not how to share with each one what is needful, but how, having received all things, you may deprive all of the benefit from them? Those who demand the soul stood by, and that man was spoken of as concerned about food for his soul. In that night it was taken from him, and he imagined enjoyment for many years. He was permitted to plan all things and to make his opinion manifest, so that he might receive a sentence worthy of his choice. For the treasuries of injustice are worthy of demolition. Tear down with your own hands what you built badly. Loose the granaries, from which no one ever departed having obtained consolation. Make to vanish every house that guards covetousness. Strip off the roofs, remove the walls, show the moldering grain to the sun. Lead the imprisoned wealth out of its prison, triumph over the dark dwellings of mammon. Because of you, even the misfortune was condemned, because having, you did not give; because you ran past the hungry; because you did not turn to those who lamented; because being worshipped, you did not have mercy. There comes even because of a few upon a people evil, and a people has tasted the wretchedness of one man. Achar committed sacrilege, and the whole army was scourged. Zambri again fornicated with the Midianite women, and Israel fell into judgment. Let us all, then, both privately and publicly, examine our own lives. Hear, you peoples.

Christians, give ear, because thus says the Lord, not speaking publicly in his own voice, but sounding in the mouths of his servants as instruments: let us who are rational not appear more savage than the irrational beasts. For they use what grows from the earth by nature as common, and flocks of sheep graze on one and the same mountain. And countless horses pasture on one and the same plain, and all creatures thus yield to one another the enjoyment of necessary needs. But we hug common things to our bosoms; we alone possess the things of the many. Let us be ashamed at the humane tales of the Greeks. Among some of them there is a humane law, one table, and common food; one hearth, so to speak, makes the populous people. Let us leave those outside, and go to the example of the three thousand; let us emulate the first assembly of the Christians, how all things were common to them: their life, their soul, their concord, their common table; an undivided brotherhood, unfeigned love, many bodies working as one, joining diverse souls into one concord. You have many examples of brotherly love from the Old Testament and from the New. If you see an elder starving, summon him and feed him as Joseph fed Jacob. If you find an enemy in distress, do not apply anger that holds vengeance, but feed him as that man fed the brothers who sold him. If you meet a younger man in distress, weep thus as that man wept for Benjamin, the son of his old age; perhaps greed also tempts you, as the mistress drew Joseph by his garments, so that you might despise the commandment? Cast away your garments;

Keep faith with the Lord, as he did with Potiphar. Manage the shortage in the year, as he did in the seven. Why do you set before yourself a fair-seeming occasion for sin? He who made the servant also made you. He who provides you with occasions will also provide the servant with the means of living. Do not use your servants as a pretext, you covetous man. Are they servants? Store up for them an eternal treasure. And the treasure is godliness more than money. Leave to your children a good memory, or great wealth. Make all men fathers to your child through your goodwill. You must one day depart from this life; then you will leave your child in his minority, needing guardians. If you are good and kind, each man will raise your offspring as his own. For he will remember that you too became a father to orphans. But if you lived in wickedness, and grieved many, and became more savage to those you met than any beast, and then slipped away from life, you have left your offspring a common enemy of the living. For just as one who sees a scorpion's child fears lest, when it comes of age, it imitate its father, so too your offspring, being heirs of their father's wickedness, will be plotted against by all before they come of age. Why then do you gather many plotters and enemies for your own children? Being servants, we are set free, and we do not pity our fellow servants. Being hungry, we are fed, and we pass by the needy man as though he had no need, having God as our provider and steward; yet we have become stingy and unwilling to share with the poor. Your sheep are prolific, and the naked are more numerous than the sheep.

The storehouses of what is laid up are cramped, and we do not pity the one who is cramped. Therefore the just judgment threatens us; therefore God also does not open his hand, since we have shut out brotherly love; therefore the fields are dry, since love has grown cold. So-and-so, squandering his wealth on beast-fighters and exulting in the vain shouts of the crowds, is puffed up by praises and thinks proudly, having his glory in his shame. You say "teacher," and you do not heed the disciples. You confess "good," and you wave away what is given. What harsh or burdensome or excessive word did the teacher set before you: "Sell your possessions and give to the poor"? If he had proposed to you agricultural labors, or the dangers that come from trade, and all the toils that attend those storm-tossed, you would have had to be grieved. But if by so easy a road, having no toil nor sweat, he promises to show you an heir of eternal life, do you not rejoice at the ease of salvation, but go away distressed in soul and mourning, and make all your former labors useless for yourself? For if you did not murder, as you said, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor bear false witness against anyone, you make your zeal concerning all things profitless for yourself, not adding the thing that is lacking, through which alone you will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. And if a physician had promised to correct maimings of limbs present in you by nature or illness, you would not be disheartened at hearing it.

Since the great physician of souls wishes to make you perfect, and you are lacking in the most essential things, you do not even have gratitude, but you mourn and look sullen, clearly being far from that commandment, and having borne false witness to yourself, that you have loved your neighbor as yourself, and that from your youth you have kept the commandment of love, and that you have given back so much to each. From where do you have this abundance of possessions? For the care of the needy is the spending of wealth. What are you suffering, O people? Who has turned your own possessions for you into a plot against us, things that cooperate toward living? For surely possessions were not given as provisions for evils, as a ransom for the soul? Surely not as an occasion for destruction? See that you do not, after gathering wealth with countless labors, prepare material for sins for others, and then be found receiving double punishment. You see all things as gold; you imagine all things as gold. This is your dream when you sleep, and your thought when you are awake. For just as those deranged by madness do not see the things as they are, but imagine them from their affliction, so your soul, possessed by the love of money, sees all things as gold, all things as silver.

You would more gladly see gold than the sun. Most fish devour one another, and among them the smaller is food for the larger. And if it ever happens that the one which has overpowered the lesser becomes in turn the prey of another, they are all brought into the one belly of the last. What then do we men do, but the very same, in our tyrannizing over those weaker than ourselves? How does he differ from the last fish, who in his gluttonous love of wealth hides the weak in the insatiable folds of his greed? That fish had the possessions of the poor; you, having taken a share of these, have made them part of your own estate—more unjust than the unjust, more grasping than the grasping. See that the same end does not await you—a hook somewhere, or a weel, or a net. For surely we too, having passed through many unjust deeds, will not escape the punishment of the last. He who judges wealth gathered from injustice to be a sufficient resource for himself to have strength and power is like a sick man who places his good health in the abundance of his disease. If you see one of those who are exceedingly rich, do not call his life blessed. If money flows around him from many sides and from abundant springs, do not accept his abundance. The nature of wealth is fluid; it runs past its possessors more swiftly than a winter torrent; it is its nature to pass by one after another. Just as a river borne from on high touches those standing by the bank, and no sooner has it touched than it has straightway withdrawn, so also the ease of wealth has a most swift and slippery presence, being by nature such as to pass by one after another. Today the field is this man's, and tomorrow another's, and shortly after another's.

Look at the houses in the city, how many names they have already received since they came to be, being called now after one owner and now after another, and gold, always flowing through the hands of its possessor, passes over to another, and from that one to another. You can sooner hold water by enclosing it in your hand than keep wealth securely for yourself. Everyone who does wrong is ready with a defense. A poor man came and went away without obtaining his request. I fear, O Christ, that I too may depart from your hand in need, empty because of my own laws. For let no one hope for what he has not given. Do not love wealth, except to help the poor. Let us not mix our wealth with the tears of others, by which it will be consumed like rust and moth, or, to speak in the words of Scripture, vomited out. He who has many things perhaps has them even beyond expectation; for this is already the most unjust thing of all: he is cramped by his many storehouses, filling some and tearing down others, so that he may build greater ones for the fruits to come, not knowing that he is snatched away before his hopes, and will give an account of his prosperity and his imagination, having become a bad steward of other people's goods. Let us recognize the cause of the evil: from where have farms dried up, storehouses been put to shame, and the grazing of flocks failed? The beautiful things of the earth have been diminished; the plains have not been filled with fatness, but with dejection; the valleys have not multiplied grain, but have been wept over; the mountains have not dripped sweetness as afterward for the righteous, but have received the curse of Gilboa from their adversaries. Such is the wealth of the impious. Such are the farms of those who sow badly.

But our man oppressed the poor, wrested away a portion of land, and wickedly overstepped a boundary, either by stealing or by tyrannizing, and joined house to house and field to field, so as to take something from his neighbor, and he strove to have no one else, as though he alone would dwell on the earth. Another polluted the earth with interest and usury, gathering where he did not sow and reaping where he did not even scatter; farming not the earth but the need of those in want. Another deprived God, who gives all things, of the firstfruits of the threshing floor and the winepress, and became at once ungrateful and foolish, neither giving thanks for what he had nor securing the future through gratitude. Another did not have mercy on the widow and the orphan, nor share bread and a little food with the needy—or rather with Christ, who is fed through the little ones who are fed. Another turned aside from the path of the humble and perverted the righteous among the unjust. Another sacrificed to his own net because it gathered much, and

Those who spread themselves out over the plains and the mountains, both holding some things and taking others besides? And what of those who sit upon lofty thrones and set up the princely tent, and do not consider the God who is over all, and the unapproachable height of the true kingdom, so that they may rule their subjects as fellow servants—they who themselves need equal compassion? Consider also for me those who live in luxury upon ivory couches, whom the divine Amos rightly attacks, and who anoint themselves with the finest perfumes. The harvest is worthy of your sowing: did you sow bitterness? Reap the sheaves. Did you honor mercilessness? Have what you loved. Did you flee mercy? Mercy will flee from you. Did you loathe the poor man? The one who became poor for our sake loathes you. No one ever becomes satisfied with gaining, but what is always received becomes matter and fuel for the desire of more. Do not turn away the poor. The poor man enters your courtyard seeking a command, and spends two hours having received nothing. And sometimes you order your servant to throw him out. Have you not heard Christ saying: Into whatever city or house you enter, say to that house, Peace to you. And if the house is worthy of peace, your peace will rest upon it; but if not, shake off even the dust of your feet. Truly I say to you: it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in that day than for that house. A poor man enters your courtyard, and you order your servant to throw him out. But you do not know that if you throw the poor man out, you have driven out Christ? For he himself said: Whatever you did to one of these my brothers, you did to me.

Do you see that if you insult the poor man, you have dishonored Christ? These things I say, and in saying them I will not cease; for me, speaking is not burdensome, but for you it is safe. I will not cease instructing you until you become better. Do you see a poor man and not have mercy? How do you enter the church and pray? How do you open your mouth and call upon your God? Are you not afraid? Do you not tremble? Do you not stand in dread? You enter the church to pray? Give alms, so that your petition may be signed. Sometimes some people submit a petition to the emperor and spend two or three hundred gold pieces, and often it comes to nothing for them, but they hold on to him like a wild goat; and you are unwilling for your petition to be signed for two obols? Here the earthly king signs, and often the signature is contrary; but the King of kings, if he signs, it is ratified and confirmed. Did you see a petition of two obols being signed? For this reason there are two basins before the doors of the church, one of water, in which you wash your hands, and the other the hand of the poor man, in which you cleanse your soul. You enter the church and wash your hands; put an obol into the hand of the poor man, and you cleanse your soul. If you enter and pray and wash, but do not give to the poor man, what is the benefit? You have wealth, and you hide it upon the earth, and sometimes thieves come by night and dig and steal the treasure; and you rise in the morning and see it plundered. Do you wish not to be plundered? What I tell you, do this, and you will never be plundered for ever.

Bury it in the belly of the poor, at my peril, and it can never be plundered. But if you bury it in the earth, you will destroy it. And if you destroy it, it will be kept safe; and if after your death you are outside it, what profit is it to you? Why do you toil and grow rich, while others enter into your possessions

and revel in luxury? Have you not heard the prophet saying: The rich man stores up treasure, and does not know for whom he will gather it? And again elsewhere he says: "The foolish and senseless shall perish; and they shall leave their wealth to strangers." Do you see what those who store up treasure on the earth suffer? But store up treasure in heaven, where there is no moth, nor worm devouring, nor thief breaking in. O wretched and miserable man: you entrust your treasure to the earth, and you do not trust God who said: What you did to one of these your brothers, you did to me? What excuse will you have? You love gold, the blood-drinker, the enemy of all, and desired by all, loved by all, and plotting against all, the runaway, the servant, the thankless one? Do you not know what wealth is like? Like a shameless prostitute, it converses with this one, nods from there to that one, makes an agreement with another. What are you, man? Today a ruler, and tomorrow ruled; today rich, and tomorrow poor; today you judge, and tomorrow you are judged. Do you see the change of life? Does it not pass by like a shadow? Is it not cheaper than smoke? Is it not torn apart like a spider's web? Will I not cease instructing you? Even if you do not do it. For it is written: Speak into the ears of those who hear. Disobedience works death.

Imitate also that widow who gave the two obols, how she was justified. You do not have two obols? Give one. What you have, even if it is bread; even if you groan when you see the poor man, and the petition is accepted. For he who knows the secrets of each one's mind, who knows all things before their coming to be, knows that if you had, you would give. For he searches the heart and knows. For man looks on the face, but God on the heart. You labor in vain, O rich man, hiding the things of the poor among your own? What are you asking of them, that you are indignant as though spending from your own house? They want the things of the father, not yours; what was entrusted to you on their account, not what was born with you, you received. Give also the use; gain profit, and it suffices for you that you were commanded to give, not to receive. His are the plunderings, and others' the pleasures. His are the curses, and others' the services. Against him are the groanings, and with others the abundances. Against him are the tears, and with others the money; he is punished in Hades, and others often reveling in his goods sing psalms. Lions indeed, and bears, and leopards, in the midst of the cities, for whose sake are they lavishly fed, while the poor man crawls on the ground, wasted away? And the lion, warmed, belches the fat-smoke of the public meats. If I ask whose need this is, I shall rather be covered in shame. For men sharpen the teeth of beasts against men. Do not tell me, "I fear poverty." You fear poverty, and do you not fear sin? Do not fear poverty, but sin, the mother of punishment. The Master asks for a commandment, and you do not give it to him. For when you hear him saying:

Whatever you did for one of these my brothers, you did for me. See: whatever you give to the poor, you give to Christ. If, then, you do not give to him, how will you ask in that day that he have mercy on you? Does he not accuse you, saying: I was hungry and you did not feed me; I was thirsty and you did not give me drink; I was naked and you did not clothe me? What then will you say to him, or what excuse will you have? You are clothed in silks and furs and goatskins, and the poor man does not have a rag. And you eat pheasants and geese and all that is in the way of delicacies, and the poor man cannot fill his own belly with bread. You have walls with golden ceilings and varied Lacedaemonian marble, and columns, and golden capitals of columns, and the poor man does not have a hut. And sometimes you have your house from robbery, from greed. And you die and depart having nothing, and your house remains a perpetual accuser, convicting your deeds. For each one who passes by will say: This is the house of the robber, of the greedy man. How many widows did he maltreat? How many orphans did he make? How many possessions did he plunder? How many poor men did he defraud? Do not tell me, "I am a consul," or "I am a prefect." I do not know rank; I do not slander wealth, but those who use what is good badly. For the

To be rich; for if God made anything, it was very good. Because of money we have sold the free elements. The roads are taxed; the waters are held in ownership; the air is subjected to voices. Babbler and tax-collectors and publicans fill the cities. The rich are consumed by anxieties; lenders wither with cares; robbers disturb life; lovers of money wear out the courts; informers sell falsehood; profiteers traffic in disasters; deceiving one another, we have exhausted our oaths, knowing only to swear by God. The earth can no longer bear the evils. The air is polluted even up to the aether itself. Since we are thus driven headlong in evils, the prophet, spitting out his life, cries aloud saying: Nevertheless, every man living is troubled in vain. Is man alone troubled, O prophet? Or is only the rational creature accused, O prophet? Did you find nothing else among living things troubled? Yes, he says, the waters are troubled, and again are restored. The earth is shaken, and again is settled. The winds are moved, and again are at rest. Every beast is disturbed, and when satisfied ceases. Flame is kindled, and having consumed the underlying matter is quenched; but man, troubled over money, never ceases. He has taken this, and looks to another. He has grasped that, and still gapes for more. He hastens to double the hundred, and striving to multiply tenfold what has been doubled, eager again to heap up as much upon so much, he never ceases heaping until his end is heaped up.

He is a condemned man, gripped by the fever of love of money; he goes about paler than gold, because of much-desired wealth, the unstable friend, wealth the faithless housemate, the plotting desire, the slavish mocker, the much-loved scoffer, the ready deserter, the winged prisoner, lighter than every dream-fancy, the war-maker, who flees more swiftly than every hope, the wind that flies away when it is held, wealth the begetter of all prodigality, the advocate of all licentiousness, the inventor of all vice, the accomplice of all soul-destroying food, the adversary of self-control, the enemy of chastity, the secret thief of every virtue. But why, he says, do I slander wealth, leaving aside those who possess it? Wealth itself is wronged, held prisoner by them and bound fast. It seems to me that it sends forth such a voice against them: Why, O lovers of money, do you fetter me, wealth? Why do you bind me round with countless bonds as though I were a runaway? From mine to mine, into your hands you pass me on; if you wish me to look up even a little into the light, let me go, even a little, hastening to pass over into the right hands of the poor. But, he says, I gather treasure for children, so that they may not become heirs of poverty. Well said, O wealthy man of many fancies: you do not know what is present, and you take thought for what is to come. You are ignorant of your own affairs, and you calculate about your children; you do not know whether you will be buried, and you deliberate about heirs. Fool, tell me your own end, and then secure things for your children.

Tell me the things of today, and then I will entrust to you the things of tomorrow. Why do you deceive yourself even after death? Why do you wish to be a dead man mocked? Why do you define what God must do? Why do you legislate for Providence? Take care of the things given to you. Nothing concerns you about the things after you. You cannot be both dead and the administrator of the living. No one among those in Hades has governed the things above the earth. There is one judge of the living and the dead, who weighs the justice of each. For he stores up, says the prophet, and does not know for whom he gathers them. Why do you run down the poor as though they were orphans? Why are you vexed when asked by them, as though you were spending from your own house? They want their father's things, not yours; the things entrusted to you on their account, and not born with you. What you received, give, and gain the use of it. It is enough for you that you were commanded to give, not to receive. It is enough for you that through a poor man God stretches out his right hand to you. He who rains down upon the earth under heaven

asks you for a drop of copper. He who thunders and flashes lightning says to you, Have mercy. He who clothes the heaven with clouds asks a rag from you. It is enough for you that the poor entreat and supplicate you as a god: O merciful one, have mercy; O compassionate one, pity. But you raise your brows, and barely bend when supplicated. Give them their own things, before you stand at the reckoning. Give them their own things; they have a father, a king. Give them their own things, and receive from their father freedom from care. What freedom from care, he says? Inasmuch as you did it to one of these least, you did it to me. For he who has mercy on the poor lends to God, says the prophet. See the wealth, the runaway—

Not only a runaway slave, but also a murderer. For it does not merely abandon those who possess it, but also slaughters them. For it has no faith. Wealth is a venomous beast: if it is held, it flees; if it is scattered, it remains. He scattered, he gave to the poor; his righteousness remains forever and ever. Scatter it, then, so that it may remain. Store it up in the heavens, where no thief approaches, nor does moth destroy. Where are those who grew rich before us? They have been forgotten. I would gladly ask the dead, and I did ask them: Where is the wealth, and the soldiers, and the swords flashing from the whetstone? Where are the silver vessels, and the silver couches? Where are the servants? Where are the eunuchs? Where are the friends? Where are the houses? Why do you hold on to wealth that helps you nothing in the time of need? I have not attached myself to the rich, but to those who use wealth badly. I do not slander or revile the rich man—may it not be—but the robber. One thing is a rich man, another a robber, and another a covetous man. Distinguish the matters; do not mix the unmixable. Are you rich? I do not forbid it, I do not envy it. Do you seize what belongs to others? I accuse you. Do you have what is your own? Enjoy it. Do you take what belongs to others? I do not keep silent, but I cry out. Do you wish to stone me? I am ready. Do you wish to cut off my head? I do not refuse. I am ready to pour out my blood, if only I may win your sin, and prevent it from you. It matters to me, since it harms you; one thing only matters to me, the progress of those who hear. Both the poor are my children, and the rich are my children. For the same womb labored to bring forth both.

The same pangs and the same labors gave birth to both. If you have attached yourself to the poor man, I accuse you, not so much of the poor man as of the rich man. For the poor man suffers no great injustice. For what do you have of his to seize, unless indeed he had money? But you plot harm against your own soul by seizing the poor man. Until when money? Until when silver vessels? Until when flatteries of servants? Until when wine poured out? Until when garlanded mixing bowls? Until when Satanic drinking parties, full of diabolical activity? Do you not know that the present life is a road? Do you not know that we are away from home? For you are not a citizen; you are a traveler. We are not citizens, but travelers and wayfarers. Do not say, "I have this city"; you have nothing here. Our city is above. The things present are nothing; the things present are a road. We travel day by day. Nature runs on. Is anyone building a house on the road? Is anyone depositing money on the road? When you travel and enter an inn, do you not beautify or build up the inn? No, he says; but you eat, you drink, and you hurry to leave? The present life, then, is an inn. Thus we entered and lodge in the present life; let us hasten to depart with good hope. Let us leave nothing behind, nor let us lose anything. When you enter the inn, you say: "Make the cool drinks ready for us, because we travel by night." And likewise to the servant: "Secure the garments, so that you forget nothing, lest anything be lost, but let us bring everything into the house." So let us also regard the present life as an inn. Let us leave nothing here in the inn.

Let us carry everything off to the metropolis. You are a traveler and a wayfarer, or rather even more insignificant than a wayfarer. How do I mean? The traveler knows when he enters the inn, and he knows when he departs. But I enter the inn of this life, and I do not know when I depart. Sometimes I even make preparations for a long time by means of provisions, and my master calls me at once: Fool, the things you have prepared, whose will they be? This night they take your soul from you. Our departure is uncertain; creation is unstable; enjoyment is treacherous; countless are the precipices, and waves on every side. Why do you remain and trouble yourself about shadows? Why do you leave the truth and run after the shadow? Hate money, and love your life. Throw away the evils of this life, so that you may inherit the good things there. What do I mean? Do not rob a poor man, do not covet your neighbor's goods; do not strip a widow bare; do not rob an orphan; do not take the house of the poor man. If anyone's conscience takes hold of him, he himself is the guilty one. Why do you rob a poor man? Why do you rob where there is envy and curses? Rob where there is a crown of incorruption. Do not rob the things of the earth, nor the earth itself, but rob heaven. For the kingdom of heaven, it says, is taken by force, and the violent seize it. Do you rob the poor man, who appeals against you to God night and day, and cries out? Seize Christ, who praises you. If you seek to seize the kingdom below, even if you are understood, it punishes; but if you do not seize the kingdom above, then it punishes worse. Have you lit a lamp in the church?

But the poor man whom you wronged entered in, and pleading with God through his tears, he extinguished your lamp. Did you give bread to the poor man? But your herd of cattle and your flocks devoured the poor man's entire harvest. Do not wrong greatly and then embellish a little. Do not wrong your neighbor; do not strike the orphan with your fist; do not oppress the widow; do not envy your neighbor. He who looks to those in positions of superiority will not be able to perceive the prosperity that is his own; for example, the man who possesses a hundred gold pieces, if he thinks of the man who has two hundred, will consider that he has nothing, since the desire for more stings him. And even if he obtains them, not even thus will he put away his desire, since he longs for others in greater number. And the desire for things not yet acquired, troubling him continually, does not allow the pleasure of what has already been gathered to appear. The life of the rich is precarious, and their change of fortune is hard to handle. And yet you say: The rich man leads many servants about, and possesses many plethra of land. First, he will face harsh accounts, giving a reckoning to God for all things. For he received them not only so that he might enjoy them, but so that he might also be useful to others. Second, that from this wealth nothing more comes to him than cares, and anxieties, and daily angers, and vexations, and being continually in tumults and confusions. For this man fills countless stomachs; but the poor man fills only one; yet both this man and that man fill one, and both tend one body.

But the one [acts] without struggle and fear, while the other [acts] with trembling and dreading uprisings, and needing countless people to take hold with him of the management of affairs. Let him not, then, have seen it as having great abundance, but [consider] whether he enjoys something more than this great abundance. The one who has been softened and has nailed himself to present things, when torn away and separated, is bitten more severely, and laments and wails more. But the poor man is not so, but having philosophized much in the former time, he will not receive death with so much despondency, so that both when present and when expected it is more fearful to that one than to this one. Certainly the wronged man is set ablaze by grief, but being unable to avenge himself or to come through equal measures, sometimes for this reason he calls the sting of the justice from above to his aid. It is natural for each of the wicked men to think that the just thing is evil. Sell your possessions. Why do some not readily accept to cast away the substance they possess—the sympathy toward them, the excessive desire, the wakefulness concerning it, the sickness, the cares, the thorns of life, which choke the seed of life? A great obstacle to those hastening toward virtue is the sympathy for worldly affairs, and for soul and body

Often bringing destruction. For what destroyed Naboth the Israelite? Was it not a enviable vineyard that became the cause of death for him, stirring his neighbor Ahab to his murder? And what prepared the two and a half tribes to remain outside the promised land? Was it not a multitude of cattle? And what also separated Lot from Abraham? Was it not the great number of livestock, stirring up continuous quarrels among the herdsmen, until it completely tore them apart from one another? Gain makes every unlawful path. Perhaps you did not attend to the one who prophesies aptly and says: Do not hasten to be rich, lest you quickly become poor. For men who have practiced extreme love of money and stinginess, Providence is accustomed to procure many occasions for loss. The beauty of wealth is not in purses, but in the assistance of those in need. Nothing at all is earnestly pursued by you—not a splendid life, not right speech, not the protection of the oppressed, not the things that follow—except loving, and making it a matter of prayer, and collecting whole-woolen TITLE 10. —Concerning works and deeds; and that whatever a person does, so much he also undergoes; and that according to our works our reward also is made like by our God. "If anyone gives a blemish to his neighbor, as he did to him, so it will be done to him in return: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. According to whatever a person gives as a blemish to a man, so it will be given to him." "They ran down after Adonibezek, and they overtook him, and they cut off the extremities of his hands and of his feet. And Adonibezek said:

Seventy kings with the tips of their feet and their hands cut off were gathering what was under my table. As therefore I did, so God has repaid me. Those who sow improper things will reap pains for themselves. Let it be repaid to him for what he did. Empty things will come to empty things. The recompense of his lips will be given to him. They will eat the fruits of their own way, and they will be filled with their own impiety. For examination will destroy the impious. One who is pregnant with good things seeks favor; but things seeking evil will overtake him. The one who sows worthless things will reap evil things; and he will accomplish the vanity of his works. Give to her from the fruits of her hands. In the manner you did, so it will be to you. Your recompense will be repaid into your head. Let the produce of their works be eaten. Woe to the lawless one; evil things according to the works of his hands will be given to him. I am the Lord who examines hearts and tests kidneys, to give to each according to his ways and according to the fruits of his pursuits. As she did, do to her. According to their ways I will do to them, and by their judgments I will avenge them, and they will know that I am the Lord. By the things through which one sins, through these he is punished. Those who have guarded holiness will be made holy. Do not do evil things, and evil things will certainly not overtake you. Depart from the unjust, and turn aside from sin. Good things were created for the good from the beginning; so also evil things for sinners. He will judge a man according to his works, and each will find according to his works. The one who digs a pit will fall in, and the one who sets a trap will be caught in it.

The one who does evil will be rolled up in it, and he will surely not know from where it comes to him. Do not judge, and you will surely not be judged; do not condemn, and you will surely not be condemned. Release, and you will be released. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down and shaken and overflowing, they will give into your bosom. For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Because the one who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Each one, whatever good he does, this he will receive from the Lord, whether slave or free. Good is the hope of mercy. For the power of God, and from him is mercy; for you will repay each one according to his works. With the measure, he says, you measure, it will be measured to you. Have you oppressed your brother? Expect the same. Have you plundered the possessions of those weaker? Have you struck the poor? Have you shamed them with insults? Have you slandered? Have you lied? Have you plotted against another's marriage? Have you sworn falsely? Have you moved the boundaries of the fathers? Have you encroached on the property of orphans? Have you oppressed widows? Have you preferred present pleasure to the good things in the Gospels? Expect the measuring back of these things. For whatever each one sows, such things he will also reap. And if you have done any good, expect the returns of those things many times over. The righteous judgment of God is made like our dispositions, and whatever things are from us, such things he provides to us from the like. For it is necessary in every way to reap certain things that one has sown, and it is not otherwise.