Yovhannēs Mandakuni, Čaṙkʿ (Homilies)

and they never bring to mind Peter’s words: “Tend the flock that is from God among you; be overseers not unwillingly, but willingly according to God; not with greed, but with readiness; not as lording it over the flock, but as an example of good works.” For concerning the people, he says, even if they fall a thousand times, they can attain pardon and forgiveness; but if a teacher contracts the same affliction as the people, he will be found deprived of every excuse, and will pay the penalty of the final punishments. For it is very difficult for erring leaders to live. Therefore, you faithful shepherd, heed the apostolic command, and do not resemble those defiled and lost ones whom the fire has burned; those who have only the name of shepherds, and who snatch the plunder of wolves. They are to be given over to harsh punishments as prey, so that they may learn and be admonished according to the will of God. But by wandering according to the will of their own selves, they fall as food for the evil-toothed beast that wounds grievously and kills cruelly. Remember also Eli: although he had blameless hair, yet because he saw the laws of God and disregarded them, he was punished with inevitable vengeance. But you, always admonish and labor unceasingly, that you may be spared from punishments and chastisements.

but they demand the penalty from the shepherds for the wolf-eaten and the stolen, and they strictly require the brand and the hide of the dead animal, and they ask for the count of the scattered limbs. And if anyone does not bring everything forth truthfully and confirm it with trustworthy witnesses, he is liable to severe punishment, and is expelled from the flock with great shame. Now if for the sake of the speechless sheep such demands and penalties are required, how much more for the sake of living souls, for whom Christ also died, should terrible accounts be demanded from the priests. Perhaps some may be negligent regarding the care of the rational flock, because the accounts are strict and the torments are unbearable for those who take on leadership but do not lead. See how many deaths the commander is liable for from the king, if he takes the troops and fails to preserve them, and through negligence delivers them to the sword. Or the guard who did not keep watch—will not all the blood of the slain be demanded from his hands? And those who receive a deposit from kings, if even a little is lost from it, are punished with severe penalties. See also the punishments of servants who cause loss to the royal estates. Look also at the guardians of flocks, who dig pits, set traps, place snares, and have dogs circle around the flock so that they may not be torn by beasts.

and if they become a little lazy and give themselves over to sleep, wolves and thievish ambushers enter the flock, snatch away, scatter, and wound. And now see how much more man is than the sheep.

And if for the senseless sheep such vigilance is necessary against the visible wolves and their plundering, how much more vigilant protection is needed for the souls of men against the invisible arrows of Satan, who stands arrayed in force above, and besieges and besets all with snares and nets, and goes about and encircles all, and lets fall arrows as from clouds into the thoughts of men: into some, greed; into others, injustice; into some, fornication; into others, adultery; into some, theft; into others, hatred; into some, murder; into others, envy; into some, rancor; into others, slander; into some, wrath; into others, deceit; into some, flattery; into others, sorcery; into some, evil speech; into others, poisoning; into some, fraudulent commerce; into others, usury; into some, deceit in measures and weights; into others, divination, incantations, and witchcraft; into some, love of the theater; into others, vanity; into some, satanic grief and sorrow; into others, despair; into some, disobedience; into others, incontinence; into some, unbelief; into others, vainglory; into some, tedium; into others, forgetfulness; into some, falsehood; into others, blasphemy; into some, vengefulness; into others, perjury; into some, calumny; into others, gluttony and drunkenness and every kind of lustfulness and arrogance and

of pride and impurity, and of yet other multitudes of passions, which Satan has come and poured into the hearts of all, and grievously wounds, and kills with an evil death. And seeing all this, do you not care and are you unconcerned, and are you negligent, and do you not weep and mourn over such a multitude of wounds? Tremble and shudder with fearful dread, lest with what eyes and face you shall see the Lord of glory, and how many heads of punishments and chastisements are sufficient for your sloth. But arise from your sloth, O shepherd, and take the zeal of Phinehas; pierce Satan and the demons, wound them with the Holy Spirit; drive out the dwellers of the slanderer; write down the powers of Satan; shatter the bows of the evil one, and turn their arrows back upon them; proclaim the words of teaching, and make for your flock a medicine of mercy—for the old, for men and women, for servants and masters, for the sick afflicted with diseases; and do not at all delay or be idle, but teach unceasingly. You are a watcher, you are a superintendent, be vigilant; you are a leader, follow the church; you are a shepherd, pasture on the straight path of faith; you are a physician, heal the wounds of sins; you are a helmsman, steer your ship from the storm. You received a deposit, and you must render an account; if you are negligent in any way, it is a debt. But arise from your sloth, O shepherd, and seek your lost rational flock, and gather all together; fortify with the counsel of teaching.

Reconcile the enemies with God. Unite those who have been enslaved by Satan. Draw near those who have been estranged from the Church. Urge the fearful of prayer to diligence. Seek those who have been lost from truth. Turn those who have been led astray from righteousness back to righteousness. Heal those who have been made ill by the enemy of lust. Restore to health those who have been wounded by Satan. Raise up those who have fallen through lawlessness. Enlighten those who have been darkened by ignorance. Familiarize those who have been alienated from the commandments of God. Enlighten those who have been defiled by idolatry. Justify those who have sinned through repentance. Feed those who hunger for the body of Christ. Give drink to those who thirst for the blood of Christ. And make all worthy to enter the heavenly city through such works of virtue. Urge them to modest conduct. Strengthen them in orthodox faith. Command humility and meekness. Teach the keeping of commandments and the fulfillment of the Lord’s laws. Urge purity of heart and truth of tongue, lowliness of eyes and modesty of body. Urge temperance and patience. Command steadfastness in fasts, abundance in prayers, and increase in mercy for all. For thus, perfected, sanctified, and enlightened in every way, you shall stand before Christ to receive the crown of unfading glory.

Whom may make us worthy to enjoy, and to give glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto eternity of eternities. Amen. HOMILY ON SLANDERERS AND ON NOT JUDGING THE VARDAPET Clouds of the spirit and mists of sorrow are constantly piled upon my heart, for evil afflictions and lawless iniquities have entered the church like fire kindled upward, burning all alike, and Satan makes them seem small in our minds, as he made Miriam slander Moses, the servant of God, and made it seem small in her mind, that she might not come to repentance; and for this reason she received the punishments of the torments. But as Ham made slander the nakedness of Noah, his father, and made it seem small in his mind, until he received the curses of servitude, so this fire, having now entered the church, burns and destroys all alike; likewise with snares: for one steals, and one slanders, and both are equally lawless; one steals, and another slanders the thief, and they are punished alike; one gets drunk, and another slanders the drunkard, and they are condemned similarly. And every nature of sins: one commits, and another slanders, and they are judged and tormented equally; for Paul does not show that stealing and committing fornication are more lawless than slandering and getting drunk, but all are equally evil.

He indicates with one word the equal departure of both from the kingdom, saying: "Neither thieves, nor fornicators, nor drunkards, nor slanderers inherit the kingdom of God." And now behold, Satan will issue forth from the mouths of all with the lawless vice of slander, and the tongues of all are ceaselessly and constantly inflamed against their brother with slanders and blasphemies. I see those who commit this lawlessness as fearless and undaunted, and they do not hasten to wash and cleanse themselves with repentance as they do the evils of theft and fornication. For if you abhor fornication, abhor also slander; for if fornication is evil, slander is equal to it. But the apostle, the lawgiver, shows even more the lawlessness of slanderers by saying: "Whoever slanders his brother slanders the law and judges the law." And what lawlessness could be greater than that which is not to be done to the laws of God, but one becomes Lord and judge? "There is one lawgiver and judge," he says, "who saves and preserves and destroys." Why do you judge another's servant? And now see how many deaths are owed by one who usurps the honor and authority of the king, and judges the judgment of the judge himself; for he says: "The penalties are mine, and I shall exact them," says the Lord.

Why do you judge your brother, or why do you despise your brother? And now you, who are judged and condemned for sins, do you not fear and tremble to judge another’s judgment? For it is not that you have despised and become an enemy of a man, but of God. And having usurped his honor and authority, you judge his judgment, not recalling the word of the holy Gospel which says: “Do not judge, lest you be judged; for by the judgment with which you judge, you will be judged.” It is for the saints to judge, and for the blameless to reprove; and that privately and with entreaty, and not publicly to reprove anyone’s sins, or secretly to slander them to others’ ears. And there are terrible sins and iniquities: for if anyone is in some error and becomes an enemy of others through error, he certainly does not first become an enemy of himself before that. But also, if he himself has acquired countless evils, he conceals them and keeps peace; yet if the brother has transgressed in some small thing, he rushes about, goes around, and casts it to all listeners, and becomes a harsh torturer and a cruel examiner of the brother’s transgressions. He has a beam in his own eye and conceals it, but seeks the splinter in his brother’s eye. For Christ not only calls him a sinner, but also a hypocrite: “Hypocrite,” he says, “first remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will be able to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.

And now who is more shameless than he who, knowing some errors of his own sins, and having disregarded them, becomes inquisitive about the faults of his brother, to slander him before the multitudes who hear? And he slanders that brother, and by the same torments of sins he himself is punished. And incessantly, unceasingly, the tongues of all complain with slanders against the brother; for the torments of all the sins he has committed are prepared, and the same torments are equal for the slanderers as well. And now why are you condemned with such torments, or what benefit did you gain from your slanders? What desire of your will did you fulfill, or what abundance of wealth did you profit? What sweet consolation did you obtain from your slanders, or what covering for your nakedness? You will find nothing else, but only that you see the mind of slanderers as that of Satan, which is ever filled and pregnant with evils; as if from a birth-pang they spew forth slanders outwardly. They wander about, and speak evil of the brother. Either from his own evil thoughts he knows, or from another, to those who hear, he adds evil seed and abominable things, and shows the brother as hateful to all, and causes many to stumble at him; by whose stumbling he himself is condemned. He who sounds forth evil opinions of the brother to all who hear—to whom it is also said: Woe to those who think, and wretched are those who give credence to such opinions.

The Lord is the rewarder and judge, good for good deeds, and evil for evil deeds. Why do you judge your brother, and why do you revile and slander him? Behold, the judge stands at the door, and rewards each according to their works. And now with what torments will those be condemned who not only slander their brothers, but also the teachers and the priests? For they are lawless and filled with grievous depravity, and are wholly in submission to Satan. For he has poured out his venomous malice upon them, until he overturns them with lawless acts. Just as with the people in the wilderness, he first made Moses an enemy, and then caused God to be despised; likewise with the Jewish people, who first slaughtered the prophets, and then killed Christ; likewise with Judas, who first caused the poor to be robbed, and then betrayed the Lord. According to the same pattern, slanderers first cause their companions to be slandered, and then the teachers and the priests, whose slander ascends to God. As Christ Himself says: "He who receives you, receives me; and he who dishonors you, dishonors me." And if one slanders the priests and the teachers, he makes Christ an enemy. You are a layman; do not slander or blaspheme the honor of the priesthood. Look at Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who made enmity against the honor of the priesthood. See how the earth opened and swallowed them, and fire was kindled in their camp.

Be watchful, lest you also receive the trial of those who despise the honor of the priesthood. It was not commanded to you to revile the leaders, but to listen to them and to honor them. "Listen," it says, "to your leaders, and be subject to them; for they care for your souls, and they will give account for you." And you wage war against him with blasphemy and slander. See that you do not fight against him, but against God, who granted him the honor of the priesthood. For whoever honors the priest, glorifies and honors God; and whoever despises him, becomes an enemy of God. Honor your priests, and do not despise the rulers of your people. For even if the priest is of unworthy character, God sees that you honor the unworthy for his sake; for the sake of the holy one, you regard the sanctity. But for the sake of God, that honor is that you honor the unworthy; yet he is not unworthy, for the priest is an angel of the Lord Almighty. And if you despise him, you sin against God, who gave him his ordination, and through him Himself performs the mystery and the baptism; even if they are not worthy of the awesome mystery's proximity, yet for the salvation of the people they do not hinder the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

For if Balaam the diviner spoke concerning the salvation of the people, how much more does the unworthy priest himself do everything for our salvation? And if you partake with holiness of the holy mystery, the priest's impurity does not harm you; likewise, if you approach with impurity, the priest's holiness does not avail you. But if you think that through a defective priest the grace of the Spirit does not descend upon the sacrifice and that God does nothing through him, consider that you are abolishing the order of the Church and the name of your own Christianity. And if it were so, and the sacrifice is not a sacrifice according to your saying, then neither is ordination ordination, nor is the order of the priesthood established; behold, your hope of Christianity is vain, for we are all bound by sins. And now do not bring such thoughts to mind, and do not revile the leader's hair, and do not slander your priests and teachers. You have not received permission to examine the sins of others, let alone those of the priest. It is for God to examine and judge; why do you examine and judge and blaspheme? For if you have not received permission to judge, examine, and slander a peer, how much less the priests and teachers? Examine and judge your own hair, and not that of the leaders.

But if in the faith there is something worthless, and he teaches some sorcery, flee from him, do not approach, do not partake, do not communicate with him, and do not be near him. For if in him the faith is defective, and he teaches some sorcery, even if it were Paul or an angel, do not communicate with him. For communication without discrimination is not without punishments. For it is yours to examine concerning the faith, and it is God's to judge concerning the conduct. And if the priest is sound in the faith, be obedient to him; do not revile him on account of his conduct. You are a disciple, do not judge the teacher. It is Christ who examines and judges. For if we are to be given over to fire for empty words, or if you call a brother foolish and contemptible, how much more worthy of punishment shall you be considered, who revile the teacher and the priest of God with blasphemy? Not that he is free from punishment who has some slight sins and dares to serve at the holy altar, but he is to be judged with terrible fire and inexorable torments. For, it says, not even the most grievous sins are so great as to be able to arouse all the wrath of God more than that one who unworthily approaches the priesthood. For the servant of the immaculate one ought to be immaculate in spirit and body, so that through the immaculate one we, who are blemished, may be saved.

But those among the priests who despise, who know something of the wretched thoughts, and with contempt approach the holy altar before the awesome mystery, great and evil-punishing torments are prepared for them to receive the terrible vengeance of the despisers of God. Remember the sons of Aaron, who entered the service with contempt, and the fire of wrath consumed them. Remember the sons of Eli, who served the sanctities unworthily, and the sword consumed them. Because of them, Eli also perished, and many from Israel were destroyed. For if it was so in that time, how much more terrible vengeance would be demanded in this time, if someone with lawlessness approaches the service of the awesome mystery. Now, if priests transgress in some small way, and with conscience approach the holy mystery, such are the torments. But you have not taken permission to slander and despise. For you do not blaspheme and despise man, but God. The people despised Moses, and God accounted it to Himself. The sons of Israel despised Samuel, and God accounted it to Himself. It is not that they dishonor you, but that they despise me. For everyone who slanders and despises the priest, sins against God. Do not say, "My slanders are true, and everyone knows it." For if it is true, it is not ours, but it is for the judge to examine.

See that not everyone examines and judges the capital offender, but only the judges. But do not judge a judgment in vain, and do not speak of anyone, and do not listen to anyone. And if you hear a word from a brother, let it die in your heart, so that it does not pierce and come out. And now let us not slander one another, for we stand before God according to each one's deeds, and we are to receive punishment according to each one's deeds, and each one is to bear his own burden, and no one can help his companion. For among the many calamities of Gehenna, and from the terror of the fiery streams of the river's torrents, it is considered as if one were alone in torments because of the bitter pains of the wicked; for the raging flame of fire is like vengeance against those who despise God. And now, for those whom such terrible fears and harsh judgments await, it is necessary for each to care for his own soul, and to labor his own labors, and to mourn his own sins, and to examine his own faults, to seek out his own evils, to bring only his own calamities to mind, to grieve and sigh for his own, to weep and lament for his own, and constantly to slander his own iniquities, and to speak ill of his own sins, and not to seek out the faults of his companion, and especially those of the priests and the teachers. For the priest stands in the church on your behalf; he serves and ministers on your behalf; he reads and teaches on your behalf; he raises his hands upward on your behalf.

He administers the mystery for your sake; he continually offers the sacrifice for you; he presents your fast to God; he fulfills your feast day perpetually; he teaches and turns back your erring ones; he baptizes your children; he instructs those who have sinned; he seeks forgiveness for the penitent; he admonishes concerning piety; he sends off your departed with blessing; he promotes your weddings and those of your children with joyful crowns and does not cause them to fail; and he puts the enemy to shame. He prays for your life and salvation; on behalf of your afflictions, he falls before God at the appointed time; he intercedes for your salvation, always reconciling your Lord with you; he asks unceasingly for mercy and remission of your sins; and he cares for your soul at all times, and serves your body perpetually, and more than a gold-bought slave he stands in obedience to you. And now such service and more than this the priest renders to you, and along with all this the priest hears insults and slanders. And what fires and torments, terrible and unforgivable, await you!

Because of those benefactions, it was your duty to serve the priest, to entreat and beseech, to minister in person and with your children, to fear him as God, to serve him as a father, to revere him as a benefactor, to love him as your own self and soul, to comfort his sorrow, to bless his labor, to strengthen him in his teaching, to console him in any weakness, to feed and satisfy him, to care for all his bodily needs, and to occupy him solely with spiritual things. This and many such benefactions it was your duty to render in return for the priest’s labors, and not slanders, blasphemies, and reckless contempt. And now, hearing all this, let us quench the inflamed furnace of blasphemy, let us cease the fire of contempt. Bridle your tongues from evil slanders; straighten your hearts from evil designs; serve the Lord with fear; honor the teachers; obey the priests; minister to the sick; clothe the naked; fill the hungry; comfort the afflicted; help the orphan; and labor unceasingly with prayers, fasts, and alms. This is for you the path of salvation, which leads to the upper city of the desirable delights of the saints, which may we also enjoy, and give glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

Concerning Love, and the Altar, and the Offering There is no need to seek anything new concerning love, for we have the same Christ himself as our teacher of love, who said: "If you love one another, and if you love me, you will keep my commandments," for the head of the commandment is love. And whoever wishes to approach divine worship must, before all commandments, receive love. From this let all discern whether you are my disciples: if you love one another, as I loved you. For he himself is love, and John calls God love. And whoever abides in his love dwells in God, and God dwells in him, for he fulfilled the commands of his love. For love was also proclaimed in ancient times, but in this new era Christ commands us to love even our friends, and also to love our enemies, and even to lay down our lives for the sake of the beloved. And he himself laid down his life for enemies and friends alike, so that he might establish the commandment of love for us not only by words, but also by deeds. Therefore, let us love God with our heart, and keep his commandments with fear, for this is to love God: if we keep his commandments with our heart. And his commandments are these: that we sincerely love one another. And whoever truly loves his brother keeps his commandments.

And this is truly to love: when we do not love for the sake of some favors, nor for the sake of some customary acquaintance, nor for the sake of a pleasant countenance, nor for the sake of some pity of kinship, nor do we love a love in exchange for love. But only for the sake of the commandment of God shall you love everyone, and with everyone you shall have peace. But the power of your possessions you shall bestow only upon the one in need, as one cares for the afflicted members of his own body for the poor; for we are all members of one another, and we are obliged, with the one afflicted member, to grieve with the other members according to the saying of Paul, and to give oneself to torments for the sake of the love of a companion. Just as Christ, who was God, gave himself, descending to such humiliation for our sake and for the sake of enemies and haters, what answer shall we have if we do not love one another according to the commandment which commanded us to love our enemies, to bless our persecutors, to do good to those who hate us, and to pray for our persecutors? For even tax collectors repay love with love; but that was for the sake of the commandment that they loved their enemies. And according to his power, he shall help everyone; he shall comfort the needy; he shall console the sorrowful; he shall speak with the wronged concerning vengeance; he shall help the helpless; he shall serve the sick.

bring the erring one to knowledge, and fill up every weakness of the brother, and put every skill and power of all to use, for all things are common to the faithful. And thus it is necessary to love the Christian brothers and the disciple of Christ, for by this all shall know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. For to love the brother is higher than to receive the gift of prophecy, and more honorable than the honor of martyrs, and appears honored above all virtues, and is altogether as a king among the people, resplendent in enjoyments. For even if the enjoyment of virginity is great, yet before the splendor of love all the lights of virtue are diminished, as all the brightness of the stars is hidden by the rays of the sun, where mercies occur without love. And how then can mercies occur without love? When someone does them out of vainglory for show among men, or when someone with that same passion wastes away in prisons and bonds, and is burned in fire, it avails nothing, as Paul says: If I give away all my possessions to the poor, and deliver my body to the fire, and have no love, I avail nothing.

For if someone does not have love in the heart with holiness, even if he possesses the spirit of prophecy, and the gifts of apostleship, and torments his body with great austerity, and enlightens many with the word of teaching, and performs great signs through faith, and moves mountains, in everything and all things he is of no use whatsoever. For love is the seasoning salt of every virtue; and where love does not enter, it perishes and is cast out from the kingdom. Whoever has love in the heart, to him belong mercy and poverty; for it is necessary for the lover to become poor, because love and possessions do not dwell in one person; for love scatters possessions for the benefit of the needy. From love are driven away greed, malice, deceit, enmity, envy, anger, impiety, vainglory, and all the snares of vices depart from the one who preserves love. But with love are united and bound humility, meekness, gentleness, mercy, poverty, sincerity, selflessness, peace, truth, holiness, innocence, beneficence; and the one who preserves love fulfills every virtue and perfect commandment-keeping. But he who is not established in love in his heart, all the evil counsels of Satan pour through him, all the multitudes of vices.

The head of satanic passions is self-love, and in it are arrayed the multitudes of all passions. For the self-lover can never be a lover of others. But the head of the commandment is love, and in it are arrayed all virtues. For the lover of others cannot seek the desires of his own self, but rather fulfills all the pleasures of his companion in good things, and even gives himself into service for the sake of the commandment of God. For he knows that the fulfillment of the commandment is love. And all virtues which are without love, the gates of the heavenly bridal chamber are closed to them, and they hear that terrible voice: "I do not know you," and they are cast into the fire of Gehenna along with fornicators and murderers. For it is said: "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer." But he who is evil-eyed and envious, into what darkness shall he go, or where shall he be submerged, or with what torments shall he be consumed and wasted away? For the beginning of the passions is envy and malice. For by it Satan fell from the glories; by it Adam went out from Paradise. And curses and condemnations, thorns and thistles, death and sins prevailed over all the generations of Adam. By it Cain, trembling, wavered. And now there are many who are always burning with envy when they see the success of their brother, whether in wealth, or in skill, or in the word of teaching honored by the many.

and seeing that, the envious ones waste away and wither, and they add to that words of slander, and they are opposed to the will of God, who granted success. Therefore, even if the envious one should undertake many labors, and acquire countless virtues, and possess holiness and chastity, and wear himself out continually with fasts and all manner of mortification, and mourn day and night with sackcloth, ashes, and perpetual tears, and dispense alms, and perform great signs, and emulate the heavenly blessed ones with fervent prayers and acts of munificence, and even if he should become a martyr and be burned with fire, yet if he has envy and malice in his heart, he will be found more abominable than all murderers and poisoners, and more unjust than all the wicked steeped in sins. And what evils are more venomous than envy and the evil eye? For it is more burning than fire and more destructive than the sword; it destroys its own possessors. And who can endure that flame, or what forgiveness can be granted to such satanic souls? For no evil is like envy and the evil eye, for it is always in sin; day and night it never ceases from destruction, for it always carries its own evils with it. And who can disperse that thick darkness which has spread and enveloped the minds of the envious?

because the venomous poison of the envious man-slayer never departs from their hearts. For even if such persons enter the church, and wear themselves out in prayers and supplications, even if they weep and perform acts of mercy, they are never cleansed from murder. Therefore, what forgiveness could such persons have, or to what kind of terrible evil can we compare such inexplicable lawlessness? What venomous beast, what biting reptile, what viper, or what asp possesses such evil venom? There is, and there is not, any means to find a more unholy and lawless person than the wicked and the envious, for he is always kindled and inflamed in his mind by his own malice. He trembles and grows pale when he sees his brothers and neighbors, that they have a house and children; and demons destroy that house—by stones, or by fire, or by drowning in water—fulfilling the will of Satan. Such a one ought to weep and mourn perpetually. For it would be better for such a person to be blind in both eyes than to be sent with all his limbs into the eternal fire. Let it be manifest: he is a yoke-fellow of Satan through his evil envy, and with him he shall inherit the fiery Tartarus and the unquenchable Gehenna.

And even if he has taken upon himself all good works and various virtues and the hair-shirts and fasts of each nation, he will find no benefit from all this, if he keeps the darkness of hatred in his heart, and envy and jealousy. Now hasten henceforth and flee from the dark-cloaked sins, and with tears say to the Lord God, “I have sinned,” for you will be able to hear from Christ who says, “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” To whom is glory from eternity to eternity. Amen. HOMILY ON THE WRATHFUL All natures of sins and foul passions of lawlessness strive to conceal their lawlessness from men. But the madness of the passion of wrath is shameless and savage in character, reckless and beast-minded, and quickly moves to shouting like the hawk-chaser of the partridge-keepers, which, even before anything is stirred up, begins to cackle, showing the lightness of its nature. The same is true of the wrathful man, for before any opposition of words has reached the heart, he [...] like kindled fire, blazes up with shouting, and shamelessly shows to all the lightness of his nature, and from his unrestrained bestiality he cannot conceal the lawlessness of his madness.

hatred, as if a wind entering a fire, kindles the iniquity of wrath in his oppressions, and he causes all in general to suffer with clamor as if from ancient persecutions. For when one submits to the demon of wrath, it drives all his senses mad, and inflames his tongue to evil as it wills; it fills his mouth with enmities, turns his mind to a beast in anger, makes his heart thunder with rage, hardens his liver with contentiousness, boils his blood, makes his body tremble, changes the color of his eyes, alters his complexion, and altogether renders the man savage, and gives him to cry out with much foolish speech, more bestial than the savagery of wild beasts. Yet no biting beast, nor venomous reptile, has ever borne such malice; nor does the bitterness of vipers and asps equal the affliction of the wrathful; no deadly poisons or wounds of the sword are like the wounds of wrath; no cutting of steel or burning of fire causes more torment than that of the wrathful; and the madness of demons is not so evil as the wrathful are made by that demon. For the demon burns with wrath in envy always, and strengthens irreconcilable rancor, and perpetually keeps the darkness of envy hidden over the heart. And just as venomous creatures always carry their poison within themselves, so too the wrathful carry their anger and the vengeance of envy.

and they all rush forth like mad dogs, and ceaselessly sting like scorpions, and bite like vipers, and filled with the venom of wrath, they cannot quickly humble themselves before one another. For they are called serpents and offspring of serpents, irreconcilable with each other, and disobedient. They contrive many words, each one justifying himself, and they compose many lines of narratives to vindicate themselves, and each strives to inflict loss upon his companion before all, making him appear harmful. For his demon of sorrow hardens him in implacability, and stiffens his mind in unyielding irreconcilability, and petrifies his heart so that he will not listen to the counsel of his brother or to the teaching of the scriptures. And with his senses bound by Satan, he is not given to recognize his own faults; rather, in his mind, he is made to consider himself innocent. Likewise, in the other companion, he is made to consider this one harmful, and himself righteous in all things. And again, he hardens this one here, saying, "It is he who must humble himself before you, for he is harmful," and he stiffens that one there, saying, "It is not fitting for you to submit to him first, for you are innocent." And thus Satan estranges both from each other in enmity, so that they remain unyielding and irreconcilable. For many days he weighs down the heart of the brother, and makes him consider humility before his companion as shame and dishonor.

If I humble myself first, he says, someone will think me weak, and consider him innocent. For this reason, they become bestial and disobedient. For as soon as the lawless passion of wrath seizes the mind, it snatches away the thoughts from him, and makes him bestial, and utterly does not allow him to know the fear of God, nor the terror of the awesome judgment. Rather, it removes him from righteousness, and he never brings judgment to mind, nor remembers the power of his own death and the terrors of the fearful tribunal. But he stubbornly contends, fulfilling the desires of his own will. And neither shame before brothers, nor the counsel of teachers, nor the commands of the commandments, nor the fear of God, nor the longings for the kingdom, nor the terrors of torments cause him to turn back and repent. But he even dares to enter the church and perform prayers to God, which are not accepted, and do not ascend to God. The Lord himself says to you: If you have set forth your offering upon the altar, and there you remember that your brother has a grudge against you, leave the offering upon the altar. Go first, reconcile with your brother, and then come and present your offering, and it will be acceptable. And for each one, prayers are offerings. And they are unacceptable to God, unless you first go and appease the aggrieved brother, and then come and pray to God, and it is acceptable. Moreover, he says: Let the sun not set upon your wrath.

for the demons come by night and stir up your heart, so that in the morning you will not be reconciled with your companion, and they cast evil counsels, grudges, envy, and all manner of treacheries into your mind. But before the night has fallen, go and be reconciled with your brother. While you are still in the world, be reconciled with your enemy. Lest they hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the executioners, and you will not escape. Likewise, you, while the day still stands before you, hasten to be reconciled with your companion, and do not delay until the morning, for our departure from the world is unseen, and we do not know whether we shall inherit the morning or not. Yet we inherit the morning, and we do not hasten to be reconciled with our brother. We are counted among the pagans, for it is unacceptable to approach without reconciliation with one's brother and companion. And with what bitter torments will those be judged who have any trace of enmity with their companion and approach the holy sacrament. What fire, and what dark hells await them. You partake of the Lord's body, and you wish to steal God, by hiding your enmity with your companion. Yes, and Cain wished to steal God, by hiding the murder of his brother. And now see the trembling and vacillation of him, the fruit of his evil counsel. He who approaches the Lord's body and has enmity with his companion, it is not a life-giving body for him, but a consuming fire, for he eats and drinks the judgment of his own soul.

But some do not hasten to reconciliation with their companion for the sake of desiring the holy mystery; rather, they remain far from the holy mystery for many days, and they consider it more burdensome to be reconciled and at peace with their brother than to be separated and not partake of the holy mystery—of the body and blood of Christ. Because their companion humbles himself, they despise the Lord’s mystery; by withdrawing from him, they think they are doing honor to God by not approaching the mystery. And they do not understand that they despise it all the more by not hastening to reconciliation with their companion for the sake of the love of the desirable body of Christ, concerning which even Paul says: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Distress or death? And those who are in the order cannot separate us from the love of Christ.” Yet a small enmity with your companion has separated you from the love of Christ and has cast you out and removed you from the holy mystery. For if someone has become your enemy, and you humble yourself for the sake of God’s commandment, have you suffered any loss? On the contrary, you would receive great rewards. Someone has called you base and contemptible; but you, call yourself dust and ashes. Someone calls you a cripple and a beggar; but you say: “I came into this world naked, and I am about to return just as naked of limb.

With such humility you have bound the tongue of the lawless, sealed the mouths of the hostile, dissolved the sinews of Satan, scattered his counsels, and none at all can harm you from among the hostile, if only you keep a sound mind. Behold, many have become hostile and endured; moreover, they even made prayers over the hostile. Stephen prayed over those who stoned him; Moses, Samuel, David, and Christ the Son of God became hostile, and before the Father he offered prayers on their behalf. And now, be you an imitator of those illustrious men. Be still from wrath, and rest from indignation, and do not envy the wicked, says the prophet; for where wrath and indignation enter, there the graces of the Spirit do not enter, and counsels of righteousness do not issue from a wrathful heart, as it is said: The wrath of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God. There is also a just anger, and a wrath of righteousness, when you seek some vengeance for the commandments of God, like Samuel and Phinehas, or vengeance for a wronged brother. But if one becomes angry more than this, or seeks vengeance for his own person, that is to be angry in a vain manner, which Christ also said: vain anger is a path to many passions.

for it is anger and clamor and strife, hatred and enmity, envy and rancor, vengeances and murders, and many other evils. And he who conquers anger, all these cease and desist like fire without fuel. For when someone becomes angry, and you endure with patience, you extinguish the anger. But if someone calls you possessed by a demon, do not become angry at all; and if you become angry, you justify those who are hostile, for anger is from the demon and not from God. Behold, they even called the Lord possessed by a demon, and he did not become angry, but with meekness he answered, "I am not a demon." If someone is hostile to you and despises you, yet even more they were hostile to the Lord and despised him. If someone strikes you and slaps you, behold, they also struck and slapped the Lord, and moreover they tormented and crucified him, which you have not yet received. Now, consider all this when the time comes to stir up that passion. Satan is a great enemy to us; let us not make our brothers enemies to us. Rather, let us hasten to reconcile them with us, so that we may receive the crown of martyrdom by anticipating and falling before our brother. For there are crowns and rewards between the enemies and the ranks. And whoever first martyrs himself and humbly, with entreaties, brings the aggrieved brother to reconciliation, he seizes the rewards and the crowns on account of his prior humble martyrdom.

for the evil enemy Satan wounded him in his humility, and freed both himself and his brother from his hands, and saved them from eternal death. On account of this, he boldly receives many rewards and the enjoyment of imperishable goods. And now let us not, for the sake of a little humility, lose the eternal delights. For many, for the sake of eternal life, despised themselves and their possessions, the love of marriage and the care of their own children; they endured various torments and were delivered to fire, that they might receive only the kingdom of God. But for you there is no fire before you, nor sword, nor endurance of various torments; only to humble yourself before the grieving brother, and to reconcile him with entreaties, and to receive the same crown of martyrdom. Why do you harden your heart to entreat your brother? You are not going into fire, but descending into humility. You first hasten to fall down with entreaties before your companion, and take the crown of light and glory of martyrdom, and the boundless enjoyments of the heavenly kingdom. Now, having heard all this, let us put down the griefs, quench the anger, stop the clamor, love love, acquire humility, receive obedience, and go forward to reconciliation with our companion; so that we may boldly inherit the heavenly goods in Christ Jesus our Lord.

in which glory is eternal from eternity. ON THE VENGEFUL AND THE MALEVOLENT We behold a terrible iniquity and a grievous wickedness in the vengeful and the malevolent, beyond all the iniquity of sins. For all sins and iniquities sometimes flare up fiercely and sometimes cease. But the evil-minded malevolence, if it hears some word of opposition from a companion, always burns with iniquity in the cunning thoughts. And at all times the inextinguishable flame of envy blazes in their minds, and perpetually torments the heart of the vengeful and the malevolent; and in their minds they are consumed, wasted, and tormented. And the very complexion of some faces is corrupted by the evil thoughts and the deceit of the heart. And the cunning serpent goes about among men, bearing the deceit of his heart like the venom of a serpent; and their minds are always a dwelling and a lair of Satan. And whatever Satan says, he listens to him, and whatever he desires, he immediately fulfills his will. In the sight of men he appears as a man, and with good things like some evil-natured beast. He sits in the squares like a man, and the cunning wiles of the evil demon are in his thoughts. He enters the church like a Christian, and his prayers are more foul than the impurity of sacrifices. For the prayers of the vengeful do not ascend to God, because wickedness is in their hearts, and they perpetually plot iniquitous deceit.

Even if such a one has spent much in mercy, even if he fasts and keeps vigil and dries up his body with severe asceticism, he will profit nothing at all, so long as he harbors rancor against his fellow and keeps the evils buried in his heart. He sits constantly and ponders the misfortunes and the onset of trials for the envious one. He yearns, he goes about brooding, consumed by gall, and trembles like a woman in childbirth. He devises evil for his fellow; for him he ponders the sword, for him he ponders the knife, for him he ponders snares, for him he ponders deaths and all evils and malicious deeds. His face is hidden from the sight of that one, and he does not wish to pass before his doors. If he should chance upon him somewhere on the road, he seeks to leave the way and not meet him; and if he sees him in church, he does not wish to enter the church; and if he encounters him in the square, he pretends that his eyes cannot look upon his face, but he bows his head and speaks as if to the ground, and yearns to speak some evil of the envious one. And if someone speaks evil of that one, he looks up, becomes alert and cheerful, and listens with pleasure, and magnifies his slander, and with great care speaks along with his slanderer. And if he hears some good word about the envious one, his face becomes sad and gloomy, and his mind melts and wastes away. He is dear to his enemies, and an enemy to his friends.

He hates even his children, and speaks evil of his relatives. And not only does he hate his speech, but also his livestock, and he casts an evil eye on his household, desiring wrath, calamities for him. This and even more than these does the evil-minded and rancorous one ponder in his heart, and does not reveal the enmity to people's faces. And so it is not right to call such satan-minded ones men, but rather serpents and vipers, and if there is anything more beastly than them. For he is a worse beast than the natures of serpents and vipers, because cruelty is in the nature of vipers and serpents, but the rancorous one voluntarily and willingly received the evil counsels of Satan, with whom he is to inherit the unquenchable fire and the darkness of the abyss. But I also marvel at the forbearance of God, that he does not immediately send lightning from the heavens upon such frenzied iniquities, for the lawlessness of his evil is even more than that of bandits and murderers. For they sometimes kill, and sometimes cease, but the rancorous, evil-minded one never ceases from killing. He is a murderer even in his meals, for he holds the grudge of his companion in his heart; he is a murderer even in his sleep, when he remembers the grudge of his companion; he is a murderer even at home, he is a murderer even in church, and he is a murderer in the marketplace.

But also on the road, by day and by night and at all times he is a murderer, for he constantly nourishes the venom of envy in his heart. And then the lawless wickednesses of the grudge-bearers, having increased, urge him on to vengeance, so that Satan may take revenge on the one who wronged him. Even if his wrongs are small, Satan urges him on to great ones, until he causes damage to vineyards and gardens. And as the wickednesses of Satan increase, he emboldens him even more to lawless acts, until he harms houses and fortresses with fire. Now what abysses of Gehenna threaten such lawless ones? What fire and pitch-black darkness? Those who became so wicked as to set fire to the dwellings of men, and to tremble and shudder at the hands of death? And also to destroy children and infants indiscriminately, mercilessly and without regard. And now what lawlessness is more wicked than this, or what sins are more evil than this, or what evils are more evil than this could anyone imagine, or what man is there who has fallen into such lawlessness and such terrible wickedness? O evil and lawless Satan, who plunges men into such chasms, until they commit such terrible lawless deeds and shed much blood.

and such is the folly that leads human hearts astray, that they would utterly destroy all possessions, set houses ablaze, and put the inhabitants to a cruel, merciless, and unforgiving death by the sword, all alike. This is astonishing even among lawless pagans. Not even among idolaters or barbarians does anyone do this. Who would inflict such numerous deaths and harms upon people all at once, as is done by the lawless madness of the grudge-bearer? Even if his inhabitants should escape from the fire and from death, yet he, in thought and deed, has accomplished the murder of all and has shed their blood; and he will be held accountable and will suffer punishments for the murders of all. So what have you done, O wretched and lawless soul, that you have fallen into such a pit of wickedness? You have become an accomplice of Satan, and have gone astray more than demons, and have wrought lawless harms, and have become indebted for the blood of many. For if Cain, for the murder of one, was condemned to such punishments of torment, how much more will the fires and the streams of molten rivers await you? For God demands more strictly from the hands of a man the blood of his fellow, and especially such murders, which, in exchange for some grievous and ugly word or for the sake of some small debt of vengeance, someone sheds great and terrible blood.

And now consider, O wretched one, the folly of your lawlessness. And in the vain and lawless deed of yours, behold, the possessions were burned, the houses were set ablaze, the inhabitants died, the goods perished, and all property was destroyed. And now what did you gain by carrying out this satanic lawlessness? But only the penalty of the soul and the fear of Gehenna did you acquire—fire, darkness, and eternal torments. Those whom you tormented with inextinguishable fire, for you are preserved blazing, unquenchable furnaces, where the fire of darkness shall burn beneath, and rivers of fire shall flow over them. For a moment you caused them pain, and for yourself the agonies and cruelty of terrible afflictions and of venomous worms shall ever, perpetually, cause you unendurable torments, where there is ceaseless weeping of eyes and restless gnashing of teeth, and you shall find no mercy whatsoever in those dreadful places; instead, for having inflicted great wrongs for a small grievance. For if you were wronged by him in some way, and he caused you pain, it was your duty to submit to the avenging ruler and to the great judgment of God, and not to seek vengeance personally. For a servant who oppresses his fellow servant, and he endures patiently out of fear of his master, the master judges his judgment.

But if he does not await the vengeance and judgment of the Lord, but takes vengeance himself upon his fellow servant, he provokes the wrath of the Lord against himself, which even the judges of this world strictly demand. If one of the oppressed does not await the vengeance of the judge, but, despising the honor of his authority, takes vengeance himself upon the oppressor, see how much anger the judge brings upon him. The same applies to the judgment of God. If one is oppressed by a violent man, and endures out of fear of God, and does not seek vengeance for the wrongs from the oppressor, the Lord is his avenger, and he repays his oppressors with oppression, and his tormentors with torments, and demands from the oppressor his vengeance with the fire of Gehenna and various torments. And he who, for fear of God, endures the wrongs, receives the crowns of the perfect patient ones, and the eternal blessings of the saints and the righteous.

But he who does not leave vengeance to God, nor await his judgment, but seizes the authority of God’s vengeance and himself demands the penalty for his own injuries, stirs up against his own person the severe wrath and terrible anger of God, to torment and torture him with merciless and unforgivable torments of the fire of Gehenna and the unlighted darkness, where with many lamentations and bitter torments he shall mourn and weep over the straits of the terrible calamities, and shall in no wise be helped. For because he did not consent to the judgment of God’s vengeance, but despised the honor of God’s judgeship, and himself judged the judgment of God by taking vengeance and harming his injurer. And as he judged the injurer, so he shall be judged by God with many times more torments. For the injurer is to be judged for a few injuries, but the avenger for countless losses, for the destruction of all his possessions, and for the shedding of much blood, with unforgivable torments. For even if the goods and the house and the inhabitants survived the destruction of the fire, yet he accomplished the lawlessness of his own person; and whatever he wished to destroy, he is liable for all of it to the penalties of chastisements and impossible torments.

Let no one fall into the abyss of lawless vengeance, nor demand vengeance for himself, but submit to the judge, God. For "Vengeance is mine, and I will exact it," says the Lord. But do not repay evil with evil; rather, if your enemy is hungry, give him bread; and if he is thirsty, give him water; and "the recompense of evils I myself will exact," says the Lord. And since the Lord is the avenger and the one who exacts recompense for the wronged and the wrongdoers, no one ought to seek vengeance for himself, nor demand punishment for the wrongdoer. For this lawlessness surpasses even pagan impiety, from which let us flee with all caution, lest we fall into the abyss of perdition with Satan and be burned, be bound with unbreakable chains, and be tormented without respite in the unillumined darkness. ... of God and of the prophets. And we are to be judged for empty words and untimely thoughts and for our meditations. But what shall those do who act contrary to the commandments of God and think it a small matter, even considering open thefts as small and insignificant, and, deeming the terrible as nothing, leave it unconfessed, and do not confess with broken heart and sorrowful soul, and do not repent with many supplications?

but approach everything indiscriminately with evil designs, and consider nothing, saying, “If a little something is stolen from within or from without, God neither seeks nor judges.” This speech is wicked and satanic, and full of much lawlessness. And if the merciful one receives the kingdom only through right intentions, and through a single cup of water receives many rewards, why would he leave manifest and countless sins unpunished? Therefore, do not let Satan make you think thus. But even if the offense is measured by a single drop, you have cut and trampled upon the commands of God, and despised all his commandments. For whoever is merciful toward one of God’s commandments becomes a debtor to all the laws. For it is not the measure of the things that aggravates the wound of sins, but the transgression of the command destroys the transgressors. For if someone tears the king’s decree, they do not demand from him merely the replacement of the document with another document—for that could have been paid for with a small coin, or punished according to the measure of the document—but for despising the king’s commands, there are various torments and bitter deaths. Likewise with Adam: it was not that the theft was great, but the cutting of a single fruit. And now see the many hosts of punishments, curses, and deaths, not only upon Adam but upon all the generations of Adam.

for it is not that the thief is debtor to the stolen goods, but to the commander of the commandments and to the word of the mouth of the New One who said: "Do not kill," the same said: "Do not steal." And it is not that there is inquiry into small and great sins, but into transgression of commandment and violation of ordinance. For He Himself also says: "And the latter will be sought after," and if anything from the commandments of God is dissolved, it will be called small in your kingdom. For whatever is among the heap of sins, and is considered small and is not atoned for, that is a mortal sin. See that a piece of manna is small, and then it grows and becomes a tree; little is also leaven, and it makes the whole lump like itself; slight is also the flash of lightning, but entering into some material it sets many places ablaze; narrow and thin is also the bite of a serpent and its wound is something small, but the harshness of its venom works a terrible death; invisible is also the blow of a short [weapon], but it inflicts sharp pain throughout the whole body as far as the heart. How much more does the command of the word of the mouth of God torment its despisers with deadly torments. Behold, Ham considered his shamelessness toward his father as small, and he became accursed and into servitude with all his offspring. Small also considered the sons of Aaron the corruption of their own service, and alien fire consumed them.

Cain considered it a small thing to offer an unacceptable sacrifice, and to despise and dishonor the face of God. And the prophet considered it a small thing, the command not to eat the bread, and the lion on the road tore him apart. And everyone who considered the commands of God's commandments a small thing received great punishments, not only with eternal torments, but also with temporal and present punishments. For just as in mercy, with two coins he received the reward of all mercy, so also in transgression of the commandment, even if someone sins equally with two coins and does not repent, he receives the full punishment and torments of the transgression of the commandment. For he who intends to steal a piece of iron, even if gold were to come his way, he would not heed it; for Jesus himself says: "He who is unjust in small things is also unjust in many things; he who is faithful in small things is also faithful in many things." For although there are great and small killings among men, the commandment of God is one: "Do not steal, do not commit adultery, and do not kill." Behold, the command is one for small and great. For he who kills a king, that is the same killing as he who kills a poor man, and the same killing of an old man and a child; and he who commits adultery with a queen, that is the same adultery as with a poor woman.

Thus also, whoever steals gold commits the same theft and transgression of the commandment as one who steals a copper coin. But even more blameworthy is he who, for the sake of a trifle, despises the command of God. For if someone kills another for much gold, one might perhaps say that he was deceived by the gold; but if he kills someone for a single mite, he receives even greater punishment. Likewise, he who despises the commandments of God for small things is wretched, miserable, and deserving of many torments. And it is even more evil to sin against one's own household and one's own kin; and self-murder is worse than the murder of a stranger. For the passion of avarice has so inflamed him that he has been led to sin against his own household and neighbor. And let no one say, "I cut off from my own household, and this does no harm." On the contrary, it is theft, and it is even more sinful than if one were to steal from strangers, because they sin against their own household and loved ones, as I said above: that self-murder is worse than the murder of a stranger. Therefore, let us cast aside such crafty hypocrisy, and with great vigilance let us keep the commandments of God. For God does not compel us by force or unwillingness to do good, but leaves it to the free will of our own choice.

And if we do not keep his commandments with fear, he will hold all our transgressions against us on the great day of terrible judgment and the dreadful tribunal of exposure, when the seat of judgment is set, and he sits for the ancient days, and rivers of fire flow forth, furnaces are kindled, and dark Tartarus, weeping of eyes and gnashing of teeth, and the inconsolable mourning of sinners. Now, bringing all this to mind, let us cease our obstinacy, and turn our laziness into diligence; let us be heedful of his commandments, and purify our souls; let us pass our days in holiness, and complete our end in innocence; let us inherit the desirable paradise, and enjoy the immortal blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and honor forever and ever. Amen. ON THE EVIL HABIT OF SWEARING Very evil are the habits of the evil one everywhere; but even more evil are the disease and habits of lawless oaths. And the habit of this disease so stupefies one that from the habitual practice, the evil itself is not even perceived as evil. As we now see many whom Satan has trained in lawless oaths, and in their hearts no one fears that he might commit some lawless sin.

Although it was said in ancient times, "If you swear, swear by your Lord God," it was not to establish any commandment of swearing, but to wean their childish minds from the oaths of the idols. For they were not yet able to receive all perfections at once, but he led them gradually, like young saplings. If it had been said, "Do not swear at all," perhaps they would not have sworn at all; but it was said, "If you swear, swear by your Lord God." But in the New [Testament], Christ commanded all the commandments of perfection, and utterly banished satanic oaths. And Moses says, "Do not swear falsely at all." But I say, "Do not swear at all—not by the heavens, for that is the throne of God; not by the earth, for that is the footstool of his feet; and not by Jerusalem, for that is the city of the great king; and do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black." And now see the superiority of the new commandment. Moses said, "Do not swear falsely." But I say, "Do not swear at all, neither falsely nor truly, for a true oath is never [good], but is from Satan. For Christ himself said, 'That which is more than both yes and no is from Satan.'" And now, if he does not command swearing by the throne of God, how many will be condemned to gehenna and terrible fire who swear by God?

And if He does not command swearing by the temple, into what darkness would one go who swears by the cross and by His torments? And if He does not command swearing by the head, it is evident that you are not master over your own head, but He who makes it white. And if you are not master over your head, how much less over your companion? With what torments, then, shall those be condemned who swear by the prophets, by the apostles, and by the martyrs? And if He does not command swearing by Jerusalem, it is evident that neither does He command swearing by its holy inhabitants. And if He does not command swearing by the heavens, it is evident that neither does He command swearing by the heavenly one. Where, then, is it righteous to swear, when He says: Do not swear at all—neither by God, nor by the heavens, nor by the earth, nor by anything that is in them? He has utterly forbidden and abolished the satanic custom of oaths. But what then? Let your word be "yes" for yes, and "no" for no. And that which is more than this is an oath, and that is from Satan. Where, then, is the righteous swearing, when He says that if anyone says more than "yes" and "no," it is from evil? And if anyone calls an oath righteous, it is evident that he justifies Satan. Christ said that all oaths are the offspring of Satan, except only this oath which commands "yes" and "no," which He Himself put into practice when He swore by Abraham, saying: "Yes, blessing, I will bless you." And elsewhere He says: "Truly I say to you." And in another place He says:

Amen, amen, I say to you. This is the oath which He commanded us, and by such oaths all the faithful are confirmed and made confident. But the wicked and the opponents take the judgment of confirmation from satanic oaths, as Paul says: "For all opponents, the judgment of confirmation is the oath." For opponents and not for Christian believers. But for the faithful, the "yes" and the "no" are firm, and nothing else. And the servant of God who swears more than "yes" and "no," even if he is called a Christian because of baptism, is not a believer, but an opponent. Just as there are Christians who are thieves, Christians who are fornicators, so too there are Christians who are opponents, perjurers, and oath-breakers. But for the faithful, this is the observance of the commandment concerning oaths, concerning which the Apostle James, the brother of the Lord, also warns, saying: "Before everything, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor by any other oath." And for this reason he said "before everything," because an oath is a greater transgression than all the wickedness of sins. Behold, the sons of Israel committed sins and transgressions: some committed evil murders and fornications, some killed their father and mother, some seized the wives of their companions, some sacrificed their own sons and daughters to demons.

Some abandoned God and worshipped idols. And by all this, the wrath of God was not aroused against them as when they swore and lied. For they cut down a vine from the temple, and the priests and King Zedekiah passed between its parts, and swore to the king of the Babylonians that they would not rebel, and they rebelled. And God says: "Zedekiah, who lied to my oath," he says, "behold, I will strike him under the nape of his neck." Then God roused the king of the Babylonians against Jerusalem, and the Chaldean forces came and surrounded him, they razed the city to its foundations, they destroyed the temple, they darkened the eyes of the king, they slaughtered his sons, they put his nobles to the sword, and they led the people into captivity. These are the iniquities of the oath, greater than all other wickednesses. As it is also written: The rebellion of Israel was justified by the covenant-breaking of Judah. The rebellion of Israel was idolatry, and the covenant-breaking of Judah was the oath of Zedekiah. And because of the greater sin of the oath of Judah, the idolatry of Israel was considered as if it were righteousness. For just as one who has a slight pain, and then severe torments later befall him, would consider the first pain as health in comparison to the final afflictions, so also, in comparison to the greater sins and the evil of the oath, other iniquities were considered as if they were righteousness.

And now, from this evil habit, this vice, they do not at all consider it a grievous sin and lawlessness; but as if fire were kindled in the mouth, they burn with the habit of swearing constantly and are not aware, and they even swear constantly in the public squares. And when they go to enter the church, to swear inside, one is roused and thinks: Why? For "I am going to swear," he says; and he who swore outside, many times does not know that, and does not consider it anything because of the habitual practice. Is God confined within, and not outside? But He is outside and within; and every sin and lawlessness that one commits, whether done outside or inside, is before God. And do not consider the swearing in the public square as something small and insignificant. Take heed of what I say: all murders, whether outside or inside, even if trivial, murder is committed; and all thefts, whether outside or inside, and whether in jest or in earnest, theft is committed; and all fornication, whether outside or inside, and in whatever manner, fornication is committed. Likewise, all oaths, whether sworn outside or inside, and whether in jest or in earnest, and in whatever manner, the evil of the oath is fulfilled. Do not consider this a small thing.

If there you swore, and there, if there you lied to God, and there, if there you denied, and there, and everywhere you swore, before God you swore, before God you lied, before God you denied. Now what shall we do about this terrible wickedness, this vice of ours? For like fire it has spread throughout the whole land, and the mouths of all have been filled with the flame of the vice of lawlessness. Those in the marketplaces—oaths in their mouths; youths in their amusements—oaths in their mouths; merchants trade and swear; enemies quarrel and swear; the prosecutor prosecutes and swears; and for all, more than speech, the satanic oath of the mouth comes first; and of all the debauched and foul-mouthed, there is no speech in the heart—the oath is ready on the tongue. And now, who would call such a one a man? It is not, it is not at all to be called a man, but an evil serpent and a servant of the evil Satan. Foul is the mouth of such a one, and a fiery, venomous flame continually issues from his mouth. Why do you continually blaspheme, swear, and deny before God? Why have you taken fire into your mouth to burn yourself continually? Why do you have a sharpened sword on your tongue to wound yourself incessantly? Do you not know that oaths are sharpened arrows of Satan, and as often as you swear, they pierce your heart? The oath is a bond of Satan; it binds people, and there is no release.

The oath that strangles the soul, by which it strangles people at the hour of death, and takes them away to hell. And now, brothers, let us beware of the oath more than of all sins and more than of all lawlessness, for it estranges one from God more than all sins. For the accursed enemy knew that at the hour of baptism they renounce him by oath, and by oath they deny me, by oath they distance themselves from him, saying: We renounce you, Satan, we renounce your worship, we renounce your angels, we renounce all your deception. And again three times they swore and believed in the Holy Trinity, saying: We believe in the Father, we believe in the Son, we believe also in the Holy Spirit, and they sealed themselves with the trinitarian power of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the holy cross upon the finger of Jesus. To whom glory and honor now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

On the Drunkenness of the Lawless With great grief and with sorrowful tears it is necessary to recount the thoughts of this homily, and to show the unbridled wickednesses of the drunkards, the impious lawlessnesses of the slanderers—who are always servants of the belly, and are subject to the evil demon of drunkenness. And they are constant blasphemers, despisers, and enemies of the commandments of God; for whom even Paul wept, lamenting the enemies of the Cross of Christ. "Their fulfillment," he says, "is destruction; their god is their own belly, and their glory is shame; they think only of earthly things, and not of the reward of virtue, which we enjoy in heaven." And with great insensibility they resemble mindless beasts at all times, grazing on grass, for they are enemies of the Cross and of the sufferings of Christ—the gluttons and drunkards who always worship the belly and not Christ, and pass their lives in unbearable insensibility. Concerning them the prophet openly protests, saying that the shameless and mindless will perish. And nowhere else are there such shameless follies, nor such a lack of self-control as that which is deprived of the light of the sun. And if this is a deficiency, it must be known how much greater and more unbearable a deficiency and blindness it is for those who are darkened from the light of the commandments, and have strayed from the knowledge of the Scriptures, and cannot distinguish evil from good, nor understand them in relation to each other.

This is what I say: as if someone should encounter two venomous serpents, and consider one of them poisonous and flee from it, and approach the other without fear—though it has the same deadly venom and would kill him wickedly. So are those who hear and keep one of the commandments with fear, but despise and disregard the equal of the other, and by that same evil perish. And this is how they perish: we hear from Paul, and especially from Christ himself, who says: "Thieves, fornicators, drunkards, and slanderers do not inherit the kingdom of God." And where is such foolishness of blindness, that one does not count all these as one evil? But they are wary of and keep from some, and despise and disregard others, and approach without fear that which has the same evil. Truly, such persons are shameless and mindless, like the blind who wander and grope in the dark; so they approach everything indiscriminately, abandoned by severe sloth, and without fear they do what is forbidden by the commandments. For if it forbids fornication and theft, it also forbids drunkenness and slander; for by one single equal command it forbids all. But why do you, from among these equal things, fearfully flee from some as from evil, and approach others without hesitation as if they were good?

For if theft and fornication are foul, so also are slander and drunkenness. Why do you repent and do penance for fornication, yet why do you treat your drunkenness as negligible and despise it, when both alike wound and both kill? For if the lawgiver had shown equal evil and similar foulness, and had said, "Thieves and fornicators do not inherit the kingdom of God," he would likewise have said, "Slanderers and drunkards cannot inherit the kingdom of God." And now, if fornication is evil, drunkenness is also evil. But why do you not fear and shrink from drunkenness as from fornication? Instead, you approach it without fear and perform the foulness of drunkenness without hesitation. Did you not hear from Paul that he punished the fornicator and the drunkard with the same penalties? But those who think that God judges fornicators but not drunkards are foolish and blind in mind. For the same fire, the same abyss, and the same torments await the drunkard as the fornicator. And as the prophet, indicating the abyss of Gehenna, said: "Woe to you mighty ones who drink wine, and to princes who mix the cup, for wine," he says, "burns them through excess and drunkenness." Yet some do not even know the anger; they strike the blow from the evil of the passions, and do not know the deadly destruction that comes from it.

Those whose debaucheries of drunkenness not only kill the soul, but also tear and corrupt the body with the putrefactions of wine, and perpetually dull the heart, and oppress it with nausea and stupor and with the swelling of the belly. And they constantly afflict and torment the pitiable soul as if it were an enemy, and keep it confined in mist and darkness, when the fumes of foods and drinks are stored up within, and when, along with the filth and mire, the worms writhe, and the humors of the salts are washed away, and the putrid belly corrupts the excrement. And it always groans and constantly sighs from the heaviness of the belly, and with the stinking, foul putrefaction it defiles those nearby, and from the frequent accumulation of filth, vomitings rise upward and discharges are sent downward, and polluted vapor enters through the face and spreads through the passages, and it inflicts various pains upon the body: it enervates the heart, weakens the body, deranges the stomach, corrupts the bowel, makes the eyesight dim, and dislocates all the limbs. Moreover, from the stagnant putrefaction of the filth, vermin swarm and worms are born, which often, constricting the heart, cause sudden death. Now these and suchlike pains and torments of the body are from the debauchery of drunkenness.

And what shall I say of the pains of the soul, or what mouth is sufficient to recount the ineffable calamitous pains that shall be revealed on the great and terrible day of judgment? The terror of the tribunal, the horrors of the judgment, the harsh judgment, the merciless torments, the unrelenting thirst of the nether gloom of Gehenna, the inner Tartaruses and the burning furnaces, into which the fire flows descending from the fiery rivers that exist and are kept in store for the demand of all sinners and drunkards. And if it were possible to show visibly, from here already in torments and condemnation it would show the souls of drunkards, for the stupor of drunkenness always keeps them in darkness and shadow, and as if fallen into some abyss of gloom it places the body. And always oppressed by the madness of wine, it lies buried perpetually like a half-dead and sorrowful corpse in a tomb. And as much as the heaviness increases in the body, by that much the soul descends into weakness. And indeed, rightly are the souls of drunkards in such darkness, who spend all the day in drunkenness, and pass the whole night in sleep, and rising at dawn, heavy-lidded like madmen they dally, and not having shaken off the stupor of the evening, they immediately return to the same, and do not recognize the words of the fear of God and the ways of virtue. Are not such ones in that lightless darkness?

Are they not dead and buried in mist and error from the good, and only the evil are alive? Those who, because of drunkenness, even add words of lawlessness to the mind-born debaucheries and say that if one does not steal, fornicate, or kill in drunkenness, one does not sin by drunkenness alone. These are the murmurs of those whose minds are emptied, who do not even know the name of drunkenness. For everyone who drinks and kills, the evils are two: he is a killer and a drunkard. Likewise, he who drinks and fornicates is a fornicator and a drunkard. But the dissolute are drunkards alone. Wine-lovers are those who with bold desire go about after wine, and persist in it, and bequeath the curses to those who do not keep the commandments. As Solomon says: Woe to whom? To whom is the disturbance? If not to those who persist in wine, and who watch where the wine-bibbers are, and, overflowing with the excess of wine, become foolish and stupefied like speechless beasts, not knowing that God made you a wise, rational being, and you, in your dissolute drunkenness, are stupefied and become foolish and fall from your mind, and are not counted among men, but lower even than beasts, you have become insensible in your foolishness and speechlessness, and have become utterly insensible like wood and stone from the excess of wine.

For although the body of the drunkard is present, the hands have ceased from work, the feet are bound from walking, the tongue is silenced from speaking, the ears are stopped from hearing, the eyes are blinded from sight, the heart is maddened from wisdom, and by all his members he is in darkness—senseless and mind-lost. These are the evils and lawlessnesses of drunkenness, which do not inherit the kingdom of God, but are judged with fornicators and murderers. For they have transformed the wise creature of God into foolishness through the lust of the wine of drunkenness. And where they are, and where they go, and whence they come, they do not know at all, for the stupors of wine have seized their senses, which render wisdom foolish, weaken the stupor, dissolve the thoughts, and dissolve the dissolution of wine from the strength of its power. And is this not worthy of great torments and of the terrible wrath from above? For the dissolution of drunkenness has made the speaking and rational being a speechless beast. For this reason Paul commands: "Do not get drunk with wine, in which there is dissolution.

For if in the olden days those who entered the tabernacle did not taste wine at all, how much more in this new time must we enter before God with sobriety, lest we become dissolute through drunkenness and, being rebuked, be condemned like the sons of Aaron, whom foreign fire consumed because of their dissoluteness, which became a pattern for wanton priests. For this reason the Scripture says: Wine is wanton, and drunkenness is hostile, and whoever mingles with it is not wise; for the wise man, even water alone is sufficient to quench thirst and for the needs of cheerful sobriety of mind. For it says, the minds of water-drinkers are cheerful, and the bodies of those who eat vegetables are healthy. For the Lord of all creation also satisfied the people in the desert with such tables, and did not mention wine at all; for the meal of Christ was to be a pattern for the whole world. But I know you will say: Why then did He create wine, if He forbids drinking it? It is not that He forbids drinking, but drunkenness; just as He created woman for marriage, and forbade fornication; He also created iron for agriculture, and forbade murder; He also created wine for weakness, and limited excess. It is not that He condemns drinking, but He punishes drunkenness. But wine is indeed for the sick and the mourners, and for the great mystery; as it is said: wine for the mourners, and joy for those who are in sorrow.

As for the one who pays the dues of life, it is bread and water and clothing. But all the rest are desires and not necessities, to which some bind themselves by habit and will, and others withdraw by will and habit. And now let us not bind ourselves even by habit to the evil demon of drunkenness; but let us willingly withdraw from gluttony of foods and from wicked drunkenness, that we may receive its laws. Let us adorn our hair, and establish virtues, and love holy love, be steadfast in vigils, engage in prayers, incline to mercy, and be ready for chastity, justify ourselves, and keep our souls alive. Let us receive a good end, that we may be glorified in the life to come, and be associated with the spiritual ones. Let us inherit the longed-for paradise, and enjoy the immortal goods in Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom is glory forever and ever. Amen.

Concerning the Wicked Theatrical Spectacles Whither shall I go to cease and weep over the flood of lawlessness that crushes me? Or where, in silence, shall I lament my sorrowful sins, and my every vile and ill-reputed report, which ever bind my heart, and cause my entrails and my belly to writhe in lamentation, and my griefs perpetually consume and suffocate me? For at every hour I hear of abominable impurities and behold lawless wickedness. And from the many agitations of my heart, my bone has cleaved to the earth, and my body has fallen to the ground, for from the silence of many thoughts, agitation has arisen like dried dung, and like some image without breath. And from the stupor of my thoughts, having cast my errors behind, I have forgotten, and I examine the matter constantly. For evil tidings and vile report reach our ears and resound perpetually, from which arises a fierce stench and a putrid decay, and a foul odor, rising upward, defiles the holy churches, wherewith the souls of all the righteous, struck with awe, lament the lawlessness. And I, full of all transgressions, ever sigh and mourn in grief, for in the vile lawlessness of the spectacle, at all times satanic theaters rejoice and frolic, while the churches of Christ ever weep bitterly.

For he took the children of my holy church and offered them to Satan, defiled and polluted in the lawless spectacles of the theaters. He who always and constantly wishes to remove men from the mercy of God and from the most radiant and eternal goods, and to lead them, making them partakers of his own terrible calamities and torments. Because of this, I have disregarded my many transgressions, and I become a sharer in your sorrows, and I lament the invisible wound and fracture of your soul, that you have rejected and despised the commandments of God’s ordinances, and have trampled underfoot the faith of the apostolic church, and have accounted as nothing the sanctity of the body and blood of Christ, which you constantly receive at the awesome and dreadful altar. And now you are deeply immersed in that diabolical error, and are captured and seized by the counsels of Satan; you hasten to fall into his deadly snares, going and entering the corrupting theaters of games, listening to the filthy voices that deceive the ears, from the vile and polluted ones, from the lawless and evil-maddened minstrels, who always persecute the gifts of the Holy Spirit and sow the deadly, foul counsel of Satan into your hearts and minds.

From which is kindled the fire of lusts, and the flame is inflamed and burns with the passions of each kind in the bodies of the submissive, who, like serpents and scorpions, wound themselves hiddenly, and, accumulating, consume the grievous burdens upon the lost souls. And having acquired for themselves a burning fire and a destroying sword, they go forth into the theaters of defilement, becoming targets and a broad mark for the secret arrows of Satan, which wickedly wound the souls and make the great iniquities seem small. From which one ought to tremble and quake perpetually, and flee and withdraw with great fear. For the habit is evil, and its instigators are evil: wine, the gusan, and Satan, and minds deranged by debauchery and by the lewdness of lust, which willingly and readily receive the evil seeds of Satan, especially the light-minded and dissolute-natured race of immodest women, quick to hear, compliant, and easily corrupted. Who, inflamed with lewdness, always hasten to the theaters without fear, to the lawless spectacle of the players and the satanic arena, going up to the high places of observation, they sit, deliberate, and watch their own likenesses in evil things. For even if they do not immediately encounter the lawlessness of the deed, yet they receive the destroying arrows driven into their hearts, from which one ought to die forthwith.

Like a beast wounded by hunters' arrows, which, though it escapes the chase for a moment, yet carries the arrows and dies. And now, how shall we quench the fierce burning of that blazing flame? Or how shall we find the means of healing for the invisible wounds? Or by what means shall we seize and destroy the place of the theaters of impurity, the deadly snare, the assembly of manifold evils, the workshop of all passions? For from there, maidens are incited to fornication, married men to adultery; from there, wives become hateful to their husbands, and husbands contemptible to their wives; from there, sons become hostile to their fathers, and servants to their masters; from there, the insensibility of the aged and the lustfulness of the young; from there, the wantonness of the elderly and the shamelessness of the newlywed, the impudence of men and the fury of women; from there come deceptions of men, murders of women, infanticides, and other injustices for the sake of adornments and finery; from there come vanities and luxuries, and many machinations of evil-doing passions; from there come also various impurities, which it is even foul to mention. Moreover, it teaches shamelessness of the person, effeminacy of the spirit, dissolution of the mind, persistence of the eyes, empty talk of the tongue, negligence of deeds; and it busies one with all evils, which, alienated, remove one from the love of God, and, rejected, cast one out from the Christian order.

But I am not sufficient to recount the various forms of evil, of every kind, which the theaters teach: arrogance, blasphemy, deceit, contentiousness, slander, envy, calumny. Because of these, the just punishments of God come upon the earth, condemning with severe wrath to torments. Behold, all these iniquities are acquired by those who enter the theaters of the games, and they increase within their bodies the evil fruit of the seeds of Satan. And now, what mouth is sufficient to bewail and weep for such defiled and polluted ones? Or what tongue can recount the countless multitude of calamities which they receive from that place? Or what mind can show the multitude of terrible torments prepared for them in the streams of the fire of Gehenna, together with the God-fighting Satan, whom they, delighting in the dark ones, have received? And now, is it for such torments that you deliver yourself? Or why have you received the foul game? Crumblings, debaucheries, and frivolities, and profit, and nothing—but a countless multitude of terrible calamities. For even if the sight of the foul theaters is desirable to the lustful, who are always dissolving and flowing in the desires of the passions, yet to the healthy it appears as loathsome filth and shameful lewdness.

Women are transformed into the forms of harlots, and men into those of horse-grooms, who by their lawless foul speech descend even lower than beasts, and more foul than the vomit of dogs do they spew forth the abominations of their filthy words, from which arises a stench of putrefaction and a foul odor that disgusts the souls of the pious, and is desirable to demons. For Satan, assembled, moves about amidst such shameful things. For where there are jesters and minstrels, and play and shameless mockery, there also demons dance with them, and sow many impurities into the minds of the dissolute, and even more do they inflame the minstrels into frenzy—those who are impure and who persecute the grace of holiness, who kindle the fire of lust, who despise the commandments, who are stewards of Satan’s counsels, who are lawless and God-fighting and enemies of all righteousness. Those whom it would be fitting to stone with many stones and to drive from the world, these the dissolute take into their playhouses for their amusement, into which the whole-bodied enter and come out wounded, having stripped off Christ and clothed themselves with Satan, having driven out the Spirit of grace and become filled with the impure spirit of demons. For all who approach Christ with faith and fear are illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and day by day ascend through works of virtue, and, having separated, distance themselves from all deceptions of Satan.

And those who, with defilement, cling to the demons of the theaters perpetually, enveloped in the mists of darkness, are darkened by their ways, and they fill themselves with the foul spirit of Satan, and from day to day, weighed down by lawlessness, they fall into the abyss, until, estranged, they depart from the fear of God's commandments and become vessels of satanic designs. And because of this, taking even greater pleasure, they hasten to the banquet of demons, rushing to the call of Satan rather than to Christ's holy church. For the theaters of the game are the camps of demons, and all the licentious and minstrel-mad drunkards, who, dissolute and wanton, lawlessly and godlessly, having loosened the reins of the tongue and unbound the clasp of the mouth, devour and revel in all kinds of foods, and the stench flowing from their mouths reeks of many abominations. And they think and speak all the desires of Satan, and they do not know the evil arrows of Satan. He strikes, and heals the wounds, and does not let it be known, so that we may not heal them with repentance; for he is a thief, and does not go by the open path, lest we beware; but secretly and from behind, he causes us to despise the great commandments unawares, and makes them seem small, so that we may not be vigilant. He knows that foul and idle speech, slander, and blasphemy are forbidden by the commandments.

and further they pour into the mouths of the lewd minstrels and many buffooneries and foolish speeches, foul speech, empty talk. Contempt, madness, and blasphemy flow from them continually. For demons hasten to mockery, confusion, and confused speech, and they bring and pour many afflictions and administer them to those who are debauched there. Therefore it is necessary to weep and lament such dissoluteness, and especially the insane antics that occur among the shameless crowds. As if they were madmen, they twist, contort, writhe, and contort themselves, and defile all with the filth of their mouth. They blaspheme some, slander some, make enemies of some, and drive some mad, blinding them with deceit and shame. They deceive some, and puff them up with honors. Like a mad dog, they bite everyone indiscriminately. What are you doing, wretch? Why do you not hasten to cast off your evil wickedness and come to your senses? Why do you not take pity on your lost soul? Why do you not weep and lament these iniquities? Why do you add fire to fire, burning bitterly? Why do you walk continually on thorns and thistles? Why are you burdened with the weight of sins? Why are you a precipice and a torrent of fear? Why do you sharpen a sword and wound yourself with it? For no one extinguishes fire with fire, nor does evil meet with good. Who plants a thorn and harvests grapes?

or if one sows tares and reaps wheat, and if by dissolute conduct one should not see Christ and inherit the kingdom, but is condemned to the fire of Gehenna among the worm-infested. And whoever lives with such lawless shamelessness and drunken debauchery, and conducts himself with demonic theaters and mocking minstrels, let him not at all expect to live apart from the fire of torments. Remember the terrible word: woe to those who laugh now, for they shall mourn; woe to those who rejoice now, for they shall weep and lament; woe to those who drink wine to drunkenness and anoint themselves with fragrant oils; woe to you great ones, for you receive from here the recompense of your goodness, for it is with much hardship that one must enter the kingdom of God. Now Christ said to weep and mourn in this world, and you laugh and revel, and you do not tremble and quake at the terrible judgments of God, who truly examines everything done willingly and unwillingly, from sloth and from forgetfulness. Now hasten to cleanse your soul from that wantonness, your tongue from that idle talk, your hearing from that foul habit, and your mind from those death-bearing satanic thoughts. Fall before God and say: I have sinned against heaven and before you. Do not be negligent in the labors of penance while the day remains; behold, hasten to reach that terrible and dreadful darkness and gloom of the night.

Now recognize the multitude of your sins, as if you are to die tomorrow. Observe the separation of your soul from your body, and constantly bring to mind the great and terrible day of judgment, the unquenchable fire, the thick darkness, the abyss of corruption, and the Tartarus of Gehenna, and the bitter lamentation of sinners at the terrible judgments of the awesome Judge, where words cease and deeds reign, where there is an accounting of thoughts and deeds, where the pleas of the idle talker are empty and the reckonings of ill-considered thought are vain. Now bring this constantly to mind, remember this always; sigh and mourn, groan and weep without ceasing, that perhaps you may be able to escape the terrible affliction of torments and the unillumined darkness, and attain the eternal blessings promised in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory forever. Amen. LETTER AGAINST THE WOMAN-HATERS Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the sake of the salvific word, was crucified with the torments of reproach by the God-fighting race and by the opposing populace. And now those who speak the straight and salvific word for the sake of the salvific spirits of the wise. But that is not wisdom, but the injustice of power; wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and he who knows the fear of God, he also knows wisdom. But if one is wise, it is not right to despise his own benefit. Thus Moses was wise, yet he heeded the counsel of Jethro.

David was also spiritual, yet even he needed Nathan’s reproof. The wise listen to the wise, and the humble obey the humble. For those who look rightly with the eyes of the mind upon God’s commandments and have acquired the sweetness of the heart through spiritual conduct, with the tranquility of free-born virtues, it is not fitting to despise such supplications as these. For the blessed Peter says: “If kings dwell with women in wisdom, they will honor women as if they were weak and foolish.” And he does not command to withdraw in hatred. For he says: “He who hates his brother is a murderer; but he who hates his wife is a suicide.” But if someone, because of poverty, conceives hatred toward his spouse for the sake of a child, it is evil before God. What use is it to seek children and to lose the soul through unjust hatred? For it is not the seeking of children that is before God, but the seeking of pure souls. For the prophet also speaks about the unjust seeking of children: whose rewards are with God, that is the fruit of her womb, and her holy offspring is her sacred image. But he does not know whether God has withheld the fruit of the womb because of the man’s transgressions, or because of some other good; for there are many children who anger their parents and pass their lives in bloodshed, and for that reason God rightly withholds them.

Another injustice is this: if someone demands from a person the work of God, and says unjustly that they do not inherit the kingdom of God, for they are full of injustice. But for kings and princes, the commandments of God are reproving and restraining of injustice. And what use, then, are the sons of the spirit? Behold, a man, it is said, and his works. Now bring to mind the terrible and dreadful great day of that time, and do nothing contrary to the will of God, for which at that dreadful time they will be delivered to the torments of calamities. For let no one think that these are like some light tortures that earthly kings inflict upon the condemned. But there it is bitter weeping, and grievous torments, and lamentations from the overflowing rivers of fire that will flow over them, into the fiery pits of the glowing furnace, where the bodies of sinners are tormented and consumed in the depths of Tartarus and in the unlit darkness, among venomous worms. The grievous things of those calamities no one can with words show the pitiable confusion, and the terrible lamentation of the unforgivable torments. For if the whole world were to mourn with great grief, and even trees and stones were to weep with the voice of pitiable lamentations, they could not worthily mourn and grieve for those who have been delivered to that evil-tormenting Gehenna and to the unforgivable calamities.

It is necessary always to keep this in mind, and to pass with caution through the slippery, the treacherous, and the sin-loving life of this world. And the eternal things are boundless; the worldly things are but a dream and a vision, dear one, and more fragile than a spider's web. Behold, today and tomorrow, and we are no more; the rest of this world is short-lived, and the torments and shame are eternal. Behold, we must pass to another world, and we must see the Lord of glory. Let us examine heart with heart, and let us cleanse ourselves from this; for after a few days we are to go before the terrible and unfailing judge, to whom our secrets are revealed, and who lays bare the counsels of the heart; from whom nothing is hidden from the true-seeing and examining eye. Now, fear that terrible judgment, and do not wound yourself further with the long invisible sword, and do not add evil to evil, causing your limbs to become accustomed to irremediable sorrow; for which long periods of penance are needed, and even then, if you are repentant before God. Now, do not further delay penance from the priests, and do not sadden the church, and with more time, the common end is near; hasten to draw near to God, and God will draw near to you. Behold, death is a thief; perhaps it will come untimely. Be watchful, it says, for you know neither the day nor the hour, which suddenly and unexpectedly falls upon you like a snare.

Now, you, from now on, repent quickly of what you have done while time is still near. Do not be ensnared by worldly things, for we are soon to be transferred to the upper city, and what is gathered here in the world remains behind. For we brought nothing into the world, and we shall be able to take nothing from here. Rather, we entered the world naked, and we are to depart from here naked of limb. Therefore, always keep in mind the terrible fear of that day, and do not forget the fire that never goes out. Hasten to turn away from the left side of Satan, and let God be on your right side. Heed the Holy Spirit, and may God hear you on the dreadful day of distress. Do not seek as intercession the words of splendid faces and the honor of the foremost seat, from which you receive but scant reward. But remember that there are judgments, there are torments, there will be a resurrection and an accounting of all deeds. And with this fear, be obedient, so that you may receive great rewards. It is great to hear the voice of the Gospel as intercession for mortal men. Heed the prophetic command and the apostolic precepts as intercession for yourself, and obey the divine ordinances. Keep in mind also the multitude of your sins. Do not demand the small from anyone. Consider the terrible accusation of the commandments that testified against you. Know that judgment is according to the words, and according to the counsel, and the demand of punishment for even a small thing.

Look to the life of this world, for it passes like a shadow, and hasten to the terrible judgment of that day. Tremble before the dreadful tribunal and the awesome face of the judge, and come to sobriety. Shudder at the bitter judgment and the unbearable shame, and hasten to reconcile him. Be terrified at the cruel torments and the unillumined darkness, and come to the path of light. Yearn for the infinite blessings and the insatiable delight, and drive from yourself the soul-destroying counsels of Satan. Obey the commands of the Holy Spirit, and the word of the mouth of God, which was spoken to you in this letter, that the reward of your obedience, the kingdom of heaven, may be granted to you together with its infinite blessings. And in this life, preserve you with a healthy body from pains, and with a soul cleansed from sins. And may your whole spirit, breath, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and honor unto eternity of eternities. Amen.

Concerning the Unnatural and the Invert and the Bestial Mourning, my soul, amazed, I marvel, and with terrible astonishment and trembling, my being groans incessantly, ever constantly bringing to mind: into what kind of dark abyss of passions our wantonness descends and falls. By whose passion my perplexed tongue is weakened, unable to suffice to show the terrible pollutions of the passions, which more than all the natures of sins transgress with lawlessness. For this is a robbery beyond all manifest impieties, and beyond the evils of secret thefts, and beyond the adulteries of the married, and beyond the fornications of virgins, and beyond the bloody slaughter of murders. And beyond all these evil impieties of sins, even more terrible are those impieties and unspeakable pollutions which men commit with men, abominable lawlessnesses and demonic frenzies, and women perform with women unnatural lusts and satanic rages. And even more than that is when someone pollutes himself with a beast. At this even the higher powers stand amazed and marvel. At this even the ranks of the saints are saddened and mourn. At this all the souls of the righteous also lament, because they have made the Creator of creation an enemy, despising him with lawless pollutions. Because of this the Holy Spirit also abhors and flees and departs, and returns no more to this.

and then it becomes a dwelling place of Satan and demons, and pitiable to all. For no iniquity is equal to this passion; rather, more than all demoniacs, the souls of those who rage with lust against each other are always insensible—men, lascivious, pervert the masculine nature of males into the feminine, and women, shameless and unblushing, pervert the feminine nature into the masculine. But even the irrational beasts are corrupted, which is beyond all defilements. Yet I am amazed and marvel at such forbearance of God, that He does not immediately send lightning from the heavens upon such iniquitous ones, nor does He once rend the earth and engulf the defiled ones in the foul mire, for they have been polluted outside the laws, and have transgressed beyond all bounds of sin. For it is not enough to show the licentiousness of this grievous passion. And even more I marvel and wonder at this: when women also commit such mad frenzies and perform such irrational defilements. For from the beginning, man was created for the need of women, and woman was created for the assistance of men; but the lawless perversions of the insensate passions have changed the God-established boundaries with iniquity.

and the natural duties which men ought to receive from women, and women from men, they have changed into other filthinesses, and have transformed into unimaginable pollutions, which is loathsome to all hearers, and even to recount casts me into astonishment. Now you also, hearing something of the words, be disgusted; but would that you were nauseated and abhorred from the deeds themselves, for it is more abominable than all passions. For with such a one it is not lawful to dwell, nor to partake with him; but to flee as from a demon. For everything which his hand touches becomes polluted, and it is more polluted than all pollutions, and worthy of great vengeance, and of many thunderbolts of fire from above. But moreover, such persons are judged with many deaths like fornicators, with inexorable terrible torments. For fornication, although it is lawless and contrary to the divine command, yet the sinful union is according to nature. But the pollutions of bestialists, and of those who consort with women unnaturally, and of pederasts, are greater than all most evil lawlessnesses, and they arouse the wrath of God and his severe indignation. For all sins, it is said, are outside the body; but he who fornicates, his own body sins. But how abominable and wretched is this madness, and an unimaginable pollution beyond all fornications; and it justifies all most evil lawlessness of sins according to the excess of its own wickedness.

As it is written: The idolatry of Israel was justified by the covenant-breaking of Judah; likewise this wickedness raged more than all the evil of the lawless passions of iniquity, which it is not possible by the force of words to set forth the pollutions of them in the midst, for they confusedly changed their natures, making the masculine become feminine, and the feminine masculine; and moreover, creeping beyond reason, they corrupted themselves like beasts. Lawless, terrible lawlessnesses, and horrors and dreadful trembling come to mind in speech. Now what shall I say, or with what words shall I make known the bitter evil of this passion? For abysses of foul stench open from this passion, which you cannot bear to hear calmly. For if I were to make known the nature of the passion openly by word, so that you might take it well to heart, I would defile my tongue and befoul it with mud; or if I were to speak with regret under pretext, the evil of the mad passion would be concealed. But now let me pass over the narration of the passion according to the calmness of your hearing, and in thought let us conceive in our minds the abominable passion, and not show all the putrefaction by word, lest you also, being disgusted, loathe the lack of calmness in hearing; for for the wise, even one word is sufficient for instruction and for the vigilance of the soul.

For such frenzies as the bestial defile, or women with women perform, and men with men, which even pass beyond the mind—it is a pollution of the spirit. But how much more so is the deed of pederasty? For the righteous man barely endures, but where will the sinful wicked be found? For an inextinguishable fire was kindled in their bodies, and burning upward, it corrupted the nature of the soft. For the man was a man, and desired to become a woman, and to be a man was ruin; and the woman was a woman, and wished to become a man, and to be a woman was ruin. These must be driven out from men and from women, for they abandoned natural needs and went astray into unnatural ones. Concerning which Paul also lamented, saying: Their women exchanged natural needs for unnatural needs; likewise the men, having abandoned the natural needs of womanhood, were inflamed with lust for each other, men with men performing abomination. Those who, with foul designs, having filled their evil desires in their bodies, were inflamed even against brute beasts, and overflowed into all wickedness, and were defiled even more than the self-castrated and the grave-robbers, and became lawless, worse even than murderers. For the murderer kills only the body, and that only once; but these kill both soul and body with eternal torments. This is even more impious than paganism. And because of this, terrible wrath poured down upon the earth.

Because of this, the heavens either close harshly, or the word with severity; because of this, untimely deaths and various punishments; because of this, universal floods overwhelmed and destroyed the world; because of this, also rains of fire and lightning spread and fell upon Sodom and burned all its borders because of the male-mad frenzies and female rages. O lawless delusion! O severe blindness and mist-covered stupidity! For from the beginning I shudder, and my mind is stupefied with terror, and I cannot complete the words. Who has seen, or who has heard such terrible horrors and lawless wickedness and abominable pollutions? O Satan, and from the beginning murderer, into what darkness or what depth of lawlessness have you cast man, that you make him male-mad and beast-mad and womanish in deeds? And now what shall we call those who have raged in such frenzies? For he is not a man, and is not at all. But shall we call him beast? Yet he is found even more mindless than beasts, for we never see beasts delighting in the nature of man. But shall we call them mad dogs? Yet they rage more shamelessly than dogs. For dogs delight in their own kind and approach according to their lawful nature.

But the effeminate, the lovers of men, and the lawless bestialists are more than rabid dogs, and they surpass the wickedness of demons in their transgressions. O the terrible forbearance of God! O the great love and boundless beneficence of the Benefactor, who does not cast down the heavens upon such impious ones, nor rend the earth beneath and cover the corrupt and the hardened, nor send down fierce lightning from above and scorch them with fiery thunderbolts, but with forbearance endures until the time of vengeance and the day of terrible judgment. And how many hells and fiery furnaces would be sufficient for such persons? How many lower Tartaruses and dark abysses for such lawless licentiousness? How many worm-filled pits and multitudes of torments are threatened, which I am not even sufficient to describe—the streams of the fiery rivers that flow down upon the impious, where there are terrible horrors and weeping and wailing without ceasing.

Now what shall you do, wretched and miserable one, in the harsh folly of your perverse end on the evil day of your death, when the merciless exactors of your soul come with terrible forms upon you, hastening with urgency to snatch your soul from the body, and your troubled soul, agitated with great trembling, strives in vain to turn back within, and is caught under the roof of your body, and cannot calmly look upon the faces of the angels who have come, who with severe threats will draw your soul from the body and cast it out? And then the terrors of that dreadful and awesome hour will strike you, and the fear of the torments of evil calamities. And now, have you not brought that fear to mind, weeping bitterly, and with ceaseless lamentation groan over the multitude of your evil wickedness? Perhaps, if you are long-suffering, the Lord may have mercy on the fervent tears of your sorrowful heart, and with compassionate mercy receive the supplications of your groaning. Now hasten to repentance while it is still our time, so that the day of seizure may not come to deliver you from your impurity, trusting in the philanthropy of God. For even if your iniquities are countless, the philanthropies of God are boundless; even if you have fallen evilly, hasten to beseech Christ, who raises the fallen. For even if you have been defiled, wallowing in the mire, you have a fountain of tears that cleanses and washes.

Even if you have been ruined by the irremediable filth of sins, do not despair and remain in your ruin, and you will find forgiveness and salvation. Even if you have rotted in the black-dyed wickedness of your present state, draw near to Christ with fervent tears, and he will illuminate and make you radiant. Even if you have provoked severe wrath by persisting in your corrupted, dark ways, anticipate with confession, and he will receive you like the prodigal son. Even if you have been grievously wounded from foot to head, you are able to heal through mercy and compassion for the poor. Even if you have been bound in the chains of Satan and entangled and enmeshed in his snares, the steadfastness of your fasts and the fervor of your prayers will dissolve the putrid bonds of sin of Satan. Even if your terrible iniquities have cast you into dark abysses and depths, the seeking and sighing of your voluntary penance will draw you out from the deep darkness and raise you to the vault of heaven where the blessings of the righteous are. Even if you have become a foul-smelling dwelling-place of dark demons by your loathsome filth, now you are cleansed from your vile rottenness; with ashes, sackcloth, and supplications, enter the temple of God. Even if your evils are evil, his mercies are victorious. Even if you are more polluted than a sacrificial victim or a corpse, you are able to be purified by the ways of virtue and to please God.

Even if you have been defiled by the loathsome filth of sins, your body, and you are mixed and corrupted in your iniquity, broken in person, humbled in heart, cast out from yourself your iniquity, and quickly be enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Many strayed from the truth, and then found the paths of salvation. Many fell grievously, and again stood upright. Many among the martyrs were wounded half-dead, and again achieved victory. Many who were impoverished by shipwreck again became great. Many were sunk in the depths of evils, and again were justified by repentance. Many who were sick after being hopeless were healed. Many heavily burdened with sins were lightened by fervent repentance. Now you too, do not despair of the mercy of the philanthropist God. Remember that many tax collectors were justified, many harlots were sanctified, many robbers were justified and opened the gates of paradise. And you, hasten to stand up from your fall, and cast out from yourself your iniquity, and you will attain salvation. Do not imitate the Sodomites in your unrepentance, lest you be burned with them in the fire of Gehenna. But imitate Nineveh in repentance, and turn from the evil path. Behold, the iniquitous enemy still dwells in you, and hardens your heart not to turn to the repentance of contrition.

Now recognize the hidden arrows of Satan, and hasten to free yourself from his snares. Behold, countless hosts of demons are lying in wait for you, and they have surrounded and besieged your mind, to prevent you from confessing and doing penance. But leap out from among them as from a blazing fire, and hasten to cast yourself upon the mercy of God. Lament, saying: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; do not cast me away from your mercy." From which I hear through the hand of the prophet, that your sins shall be forgiven you. May we also be worthy of that mercy, by the grace and loving-kindness of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto eternity. Amen. ON THE UNQUENCHABLE FIRE OF THE LOVE OF PHILANTHROPY TOWARD THE ENEMY OF GOD Constantly bringing this to mind, I tremble at these terrible transgressions, and my thoughts are ceaselessly agitated. My heart is astounded and fearful, for I am perpetually wounded by this covenant; because from the inveterate habit, the wound itself does not even appear. We are cruelly pierced by evils, and we are heedless as if we were healthy. I am ever amazed and mourn constantly, for I know the malignancy of the wound, I know fully the indolence of the wounds. Therefore it is fitting to mourn all the more with trembling, and to lament unceasingly the blindness of our folly. For I know that terrible bonds and great chains and various punishments of torments await those who despise the word and the kings of the world.

But how much more terrible the fire of torments will remain for those multitudes who despise the command of the Spirit and the commandment of God, and become friends of the enemies of God, who continually blaspheme the Holy Spirit and grieve Him by their lawless ways, and do not turn back and repent, but persist in the same. From such it is necessary for the God-fearing and Christ-loving to keep far away, according to the word of Paul who says: If a so-called brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or a drunkard, or a slanderer, or a plunderer, do not even eat bread with such a one. He is called brother who was illumined by the birth of the font and by the communion of the holy altar. And because by unholy ways and lawless iniquities he has defiled and corrupted the sanctity of the holy font, and has been cast out and rejected from among us and from the holy faith of Christianity, or has been defiled among the lawless by the filth of fornication, or by foul and abominable beds has defiled marriage, wallowing like a pig in mud and mire—if such a one be even a brother or a sister, or a son or a daughter, let him be cursed and rejected from love and care and friendship. And curse him because he has turned back from Christ, and has denied the font, and has believed the lawless deception of Satan. Now where are these commands, where are these commandments?

not even the Only-Begotten of God and the King of Kings, who commanded through the Holy Spirit by the mouth of the apostle. And now, having become hostile, they despise the commands of the Holy Spirit and the commandments of God because we do not first withdraw from the love of lawlessness and from unworthy care, which is perpetual fornication. And now, for whom are we worthy of pardon and forgiveness, since we have trampled upon the orders and commandments of God? He did not command making friendship with the covetous and the drunkard, and we make friendship and care with Jews, with pagans, and with heretics. And into what darkness shall we go, or where shall we sink because of our impossible laziness and evil habit, that we despise the commandments of God? Or what answer shall we have on the day of the terrible judgment, when we are reproached face to face before the universal assembly? What shall we say? Shall we say that we never heard from anyone, or that no one taught us? Behold, Paul protests and says: If any brother is covetous, or a drunkard, or a slanderer, or a plunderer, from them, he says, separate and withdraw far away; do not even eat bread with such a one. But go out from among them, and separate yourselves from them; do not partake, do not associate, for they are perpetual enemies of God, and despisers of his commandments.

We hear this at all times from Paul, and especially from the Holy Spirit, that it is not right to be a friend of the enemies of God. Behold, the prophet also says: "Your Lord, whom I separated, I hated, and I grieved because of your enemies. I hated them with a perfect hatred, and I became their enemy, because they did not keep your laws." Behold, the prophet teaches that it is right to hate the enemies of God, and not to make friendship with the enemies of God. And another prophet says: "And for this reason I shattered your ships, because you became a friend of the enemies of God." Behold, this one also protests the same: that it is not right to make friendship and care with the enemies of God and to become hateful and an enemy of God. And yet another prophet says: "He who was arrogant of eye and greedy of heart, with him I would not even eat bread, and he would not dwell in my house, who would do and commit the lawlessness." Now, knowing this, let us also distance ourselves from the enemies of God. For it is not right for Christ-lovers and God-worshippers to have any love or friendship with the haters of God and the enemies of Christ, but rather to hate them and consider them as enemies. If a woman were to see her husband become an enemy, she would not only be an enemy to the one who is hostile, but she would also take vengeance and bear a grudge against him.

We do not hate for the sake of Christ at any time, nor do we separate ourselves from thieves and fornicators and slanderers and all the enemies of God, who at all times provoke him by their lawless ways. A son dishonors and is hostile to those who dishonor his father; but we love and honor the enemies of God, our Father, and make friendship with them. Many servants die for their masters, but we are unwilling even to be hated by the enemies of our God, our Father and Creator. And how are we called God-lovers and God-worshippers, and have any hope of eternal life? Or how shall we be loved by him, when we do not love him from the heart? For "by the measure you measure, it will be measured to you." For if you call me father, he says, and you do not do what I say, I too will call you sons, and I will cast you out from my inheritance. Why, Lord, and for what reason? Because you loved my enemies, and made my haters your friends. And now many do not regard that at all, but mix indiscriminately with enemies, with dogs and thieves and fornicators and the covetous and plunderers we eat, and with slanderers and oppressors, and we bring them with care into our homes, and honor those who are hostile to God, and we ruin and destroy our souls.

his father, and a daughter dishonors her mother, and they do not repent or turn back, nor do they do penance. And Satan makes that seem small, and does not let them know that these are sins that are deadly. For this reason it is not right to join with such persons and to partake with them, but rather to flee from their communion as from a serpent, lest someone learn their deeds. For if one is not commanded to eat bread with an evil eye, how much more so with evil-doing, by which our spirits are corrupted? For if one is commanded to keep away from a fornicating spouse, how much more so from an alien fornicator, who separates us from God? For if one is commanded to flee from an idle person, who wanders about empty and without work and deceitful, how much more so to flee from slanderers and drunkards? For if one is not commanded to dwell with an angry man, lest he learn his ways, how much more so to keep away from those who provoke God continually? Why do we torment ourselves with alien evils, and why are we condemned for the sins of others?

see that if one has clean garments and rubs against those who are soiled with mud, will not that one also be soiled and corrupted with them? Likewise, one who has acquired holiness and makes friendship and intimacy with the greedy, the plunderers, and all those soiled with sins, corrupts his holiness by the impurity of the impure. Then, if one sees a corpse, rotten and stinking with foul-smelling wounds, he does not even wish to lie down in the same bed. But we mingle with the lawless and the faithless, and with the heretics who are worse than the stench and putrefaction, for the weight of sins that they bear pollutes and corrupts our bodies and souls, and casts us out of the kingdom, and makes us partakers of Satan and demons, who provoke Christ to anger by defiling the lawless bed. But Christians are those who keep and fulfill the commandment of Christ always. Yet the always-sinful Christians who fornicate with the lawless are condemned even more than the pagans. "A servant," it says, "who knows the will of his master and does not do it, receives severe punishment." And Paul says: "If a brother is called either greedy or an idolater, do not even eat bread with such a one." Behold, the blessed Paul considers as idolaters those who willingly fornicate with the lawless and consider it marriage.

the circumcision they honor, and the baptism and illumination of Christ they despise. And they do not know that there is no likeness of light to darkness, nor of Christ to Satan, nor any portion of the believer with the unbeliever. Now, if you are beloved of Christ, hate his enemies. If you are a friend of Christ, be an enemy to those he hates. For everyone who commits lawlessness despises his commandments and is an enemy of God. He who is pious of heart rejects and distances himself from such a one as from an enemy, even if he is a very dear one and a close relative. It is a great virtue for those who are martyrs to reject and distance themselves from those who despise God, and to become enemies of those who are hostile to him. With them are great retributions and various gifts and honors among the intimates of God. Ask the kings of this world: if they should see one of their servants who becomes an enemy to their enemies, see with how much grace, honor, and glory they exalt him before their great ones. But if they hear that some servant of the king makes friendship with his enemies and establishes intimacy with them, consider with how many blows, bonds, and various torments they would destroy him, and remove him from this world by an evil death.

But we, in whom shall we be worthy of forgiveness and remission, if we make friendship and love with the enemies of God, who constantly go lawlessly, blaspheme and hate him? From whom it is necessary to beware with great fear of their table and their friendship. For the foods are of lawless ones, and of plunderers and thieves; the foods of fornicators and slanderers are foul; the carousals of drunkards are an occasion of eternal torments, and the tables of the covetous are mixed with the blood of human sacrifices. And the foods of all the lawless and those who rebel against God are unholy and corrupting, from which even Paul commands to keep away. For if the offerer is foul, his sacrifice is even more foul. And those whose conduct is unholy, their foods are also unholy. And if you are a worshiper of God in heart, reject and keep away from his table and his friendship. See that even the judges of this world, when they find someone with thieves and murderers, judge them together with them, especially their friends and accomplices. Therefore, let us also keep away from those whom God is to judge, lest we also be judged with them in the terrible fire of Gehenna and with unforgivable torments. And now, knowing all this, let us be removed from friendship with Jews and pagans and heretics, thieves and murderers, fornicators and slanderers, drunkards and the covetous and plunderers.

and even more than those, we should separate ourselves completely from those who are corrupted by the lawless evil and from the lawless, for there is no unity of the righteous with the lawless, because righteousness is an enemy of lawlessness. What unity is there of light with darkness, or what common ground has the believer with the unbeliever? For the Lord is the portion of believers, and fire is the inheritance of unbelievers. Or what likeness is there between the temple of God and pagan shrines? For the Christian is a temple of God's dwelling, and the lawless one is an altar of demons. Likewise, all those corrupted by sins are shrines of Satan and dwellings of demons. Behold, these are the portions, boundaries, and distinctions that separate us from love of the lawless. Where is it that doves dwell with crows, or lambs lie down with wolves, or that there be mixtures of unity between foul demons and luminous angels? Rather, the saints seek the saints, and the lawless cleave to the lawless; for it is said, every bird flies to its own flock, and a man seeks his like. Therefore, let us also seek the saints and cleave to the saints; let us honor the saints, love the apostles and make them intercessors, and let us not be neglectful of grace, mercy, and prayers; and let us be worthy, together with them, of the promised divine blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory forever. Amen.

ON THE TERRIBLE PLAGUES OF THE LORD There are many forms of the threats of God's punishment, which provide us with benefit and mercy. For although the faces of things are marked as such, they show us the care of paternal providence. For when we despise his commandments and commit some offense, going according to the will of our own selves, he forgives little by little and is patient, having in view the return of repentance. And when we do not hasten to repentance out of fear of Gehenna or desire for eternal goods, he wishes to rouse the sluggishness of our laziness a little by means of some slight punishment, for admonition and caution. For having made a test of each one's heart, he may know the lawlessness of his ways, and being delivered, he may distance himself from the evil habit of sins, and they may live apart from the terrible calamity of torments. Then if we despise even this, and do not hasten to reconcile God through repentance, he gives us yet another draught of the bitterness of punishments to drink, and pours upon us the multitude of terrible plagues, and makes us drink the fierce dregs of his wrath with harsh threats. For we did not hasten beforehand to reconcile him by means of the rod of admonition. For if Pharaoh had been admonished by the first plague, he would not have tasted the ten plagues.