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In decem virgines On the parable of the ten virgins, and concerning almsgiving. On Holy

and Great Wednesday.

59.527 1. When I consider the lavishness of life, and the beckoning cycle of the year, and the much-troubled conduct of men, and the circumstances of life, and the passing of the present age, and the shadow of things, the fleetingness of glory, the frailty of power, the illusion of prosperity, and the dream of wealth; then when I behold the day of the end, and that inevitable swiftness of the consummation, and the time of the rendering of accounts, and the un-flattering judge, and the state full of terror, how the judge flashing with lightning comes from heaven, how the powers, being troubled, run before, how the fearful throne is prepared, how the heaven is rolled up like a scroll, how the elements will be burned up, dissolved in fear, how the ground is shaken, awaiting the tread of the judge, how the trumpets sound fearfully, how the memorials are opened, how the tombs are shaken out, how the dead leap up as from sleep, how the dust in the twinkling of an eye returns to its own order, how the souls return to the bodies, how the just run to meet him, how the bridegroom arrives at midnight, how the just are deemed worthy of entry, how the door of the bridal chamber is shut to the slothful; when I ponder all these things in my soul, I bless those prudent virgins, whom the book of the Gospels has just now presented to us, because they contended against the sleep of passion, because having detested the slippery and passionate nature of this fleeting life, they worthily cared for the undefiled and divine life, because having considered the inevitability of time, they kept watch for the hour of his coming, and they called to mind the fear of the arrival of that incorruptible bridegroom, and having tested the 59.528 darkness of the night, they took careful thought for their lamps. And nothing prevents us from going through the divine syllables of the Gospel itself.

For the kingdom of heaven, he says, was likened to ten virgins, who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom. When did they go out? Was it not when the appointed time of life overtook them? when the command arrived? when the sentence of death was upon them? when the angels who hasten the end were sent, was it then they went out to meet the bridegroom? By no means. But when did they go out? When they renounced the distractions of this life, when they chose to walk the narrow and afflicted way, when they loved voluntary hardship, when they were not subjected to the laws of marriage, when they despised the pleasures of life, when they chose the good portion of incorruptibility, when they loved the way of gladness, when they abhorred the filth of sin, when they agreed to the things of temperance, when they loved the pure bridegroom, when they desired the beauty of the kingdom, when they put off every care of this life, then they went out to meet the bridegroom. And five of them, he says, were wise, and five were foolish. And what was the mark of the wise? That they joined almsgiving to temperance, they adorned their virginity with good works, they knew that faith without works is dead, they tested that one good deed is not sufficient for salvation; for with one wing an eagle does not reach the height; They remembered the voice of the bridegroom saying, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and again, that Mercy triumphs over judgment. Deliberating well on these things, they filled their vessels with oil. What vessels then? The bellies of the hungry. For the poor as mediators of the spiritual marriage

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In decem virgines Εἰς τὴν παραβολὴν τῶν δέκα παρθένων, καὶ περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης. Τῇ ἁγίᾳ

καὶ μεγάλῃ γʹ.

59.527 αʹ. Ὅταν τὸ εὐδαπάνητον τῆς ζωῆς ἐννοήσω, καὶ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τὸν ἐπινεύοντα κύκλον, καὶ τὴν πολύσκυλτον τῶν ἀνθρώπων διαγωγὴν, καὶ τὰς βιωτικὰς περιστάσεις, τό τε παρατρέχον τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος, καὶ τὴν σκιὰν τῶν πραγμάτων, τῆς δόξης τὸ πρόσκαιρον, τῆς δυναστείας τὸ εὐδιάλυτον, τῆς εὐημερίας τὴν φαντασίαν, καὶ τοῦ πλούτου τὸ ὄναρ· εἶτα σκοπήσω τὴν τοῦ τέλους ἡμέραν, καὶ τῆς συντελείας ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἀπαραίτητον τάχος, τόν τε τοῦ λογοθεσίου καιρὸν, καὶ τὸν ἀκολάκευτον δικαστὴν, καὶ τὴν γέμουσαν φρίκης κατάστασιν, πῶς ἀστράπτων ὁ κριτὴς παραγίνεται ἐξ οὐρανῶν, πῶς ταραττόμεναι αἱ δυνάμεις προτρέχουσι, πῶς ὁ φοβερὸς ἑτοιμάζεται θρόνος, πῶς ὁ οὐρανὸς ὡς βιβλίον εἱλίσσεται, πῶς καυσοῦνται τὰ στοιχεῖα τῷ φόβῳ λυόμενα, πῶς κλονεῖται τὸ ἔδαφος προσδεχόμενον τὴν τοῦ κριτοῦ ἐπίβασιν, πῶς φοβερῶς ἀλαλάζουσι σάλπιγγες, πῶς ἀνοίγονται τὰ μνήματα, πῶς ἐκτινάσσονται τάφοι, πῶς ὡς ἐξ ὕπνου ἀποπηδῶσιν οἱ νεκροὶ, πῶς ὁ χοῦς ὡς ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπανέρχεται τάξιν, πῶς παλινδρομοῦσιν αἱ ψυχαὶ πρὸς τὰ σώματα, πῶς εἰς ἀπάντησιν οἱ δίκαιοι τρέχουσι, πῶς ἐφίσταται ὁ νυμφίος μεσονυκτίῳ, πῶς ἀξιοῦνται τῆς εἰσόδου οἱ δίκαιοι, πῶς τοῖς ῥᾳθύμοις ἀποκέκλεισται ἡ θύρα τοῦ νυμφῶνος· ὅταν ταῦτα πάντα ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ μου μεριμνήσω, μακαρίζω τὰς φρονίμους ἐκείνας παρθένους, ἃς ἡμῖν ἀρτίως ἡ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων παρήγαγε βίβλος, ὅτι πρὸς τοῦ ὕπνου κατηγωνίσαντο τοῦ πάθους, ὅτι τὸ εὐόλισθον καὶ ἐμπαθὲς τῆς ἐπικήρου ζωῆς βδελυξάμεναι, τῆς ἀκηράτου καὶ θείας ζωῆς ἀξίως ἐφρόντισαν, ὅτι τὸ ἀπαραίτητον τοῦ χρόνου σκοπήσασαι, τὴν ὥραν τῆς παρουσίας ἐτήρησαν, καὶ τῆς ἐπιστασίας ἐκείνου τοῦ ἀφθάρτου νυμφίου τὸν φόβον ἐνεθυμήθησαν, καὶ τὸ νυκτερινὸν δοκιμάσασαι 59.528 σκότος, ἀκριβῶς τῶν λαμπάδων ἐφρόντισαν. Οὐδὲν δὲ κωλύει καὶ αὐτὰς τὰς θείας τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου διεξελθεῖν συλλαβάς.

Ὡμοιώθη γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν δέκα παρθένοις, αἵτινες λαβοῦσαι τὰς λαμπάδας αὐτῶν, ἐξῆλθον εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ νυμφίου. Πότε ἐξῆλθον; ἆρα μὴ ὅτε κατέλαβεν αὐτὰς τῆς ζωῆς τὸ ἐμπρόθεσμον; ὅτε ἔφθασε τὸ πρόσταγμα; ὅτε ἐπέστη τοῦ θανάτου ἡ ἀπόφασις; ὅτε ἀπεστάλησαν οἱ κατεπείγοντες τοῦ τέλους ἄγγελοι, τότε ἐξῆλθον εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ νυμφίου; Οὐδαμῶς. Ἀλλὰ πότε ἐξῆλθον; Ὅτε τοῖς βιωτικοῖς περισπασμοῖς ἀπετάξαντο, ὅτε τὴν στενὴν καὶ τεθλιμμένην ὁδὸν βαδίζειν προείλοντο, ὅτε τὴν ἑκούσιον σκληραγωγίαν ἠγάπησαν, ὅτε τοῖς γάμου οὐχ ὑπετάγησαν νόμοις, ὅτε τῶν τοῦ βίου ἡδονῶν κατεφρόνησαν, ὅτε τὴν ἀγαθὴν μερίδα τῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἐξελέξαντο, ὅτε τῆς εὐφροσύνης τὸν τρόπον ἠγάπησαν, ὅτε τὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐβδελύξαντο ῥύπον, ὅτε τὰ τῆς σωφροσύνης συνέθεντο, ὅτε τοῦ καθαροῦ νυμφίου ἠράσθησαν, ὅτε τοῦ τῆς βασιλείας ἐπεθύμησαν κάλλους, ὅτε πᾶσαν βιωτικὴν ἀπεδύσαντο φροντίδα, τότε ἐξῆλθον εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ νυμφίου. Ἦσαν δὲ, φησὶν, αἱ πέντε φρόνιμοι, καὶ αἱ πέντε μωραί. Καὶ τί τῶν φρονίμων τὸ γνώρισμα; Ὅτι συνῆψαν τῇ σωφροσύνῃ τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην, ἐκόσμησαν τὴν παρθενίαν τῇ εὐποιίᾳ, ἔγνωσαν ὅτι ἡ πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν, ἐδοκίμασαν ὅτι τὸ ἓν οὐκ ἐπαρκεῖ πρὸς σωτηρίαν κατόρθωμα· ἑνὶ γὰρ πτερῷ ἀετὸς εἰς ὕψος οὐκ ἐφικνεῖται· Ἐμνημόνευσαν τῆς τοῦ νυμφίου φωνῆς τῆς λεγούσης. Ἔλεον θέλω, καὶ οὐ θυσίαν· καὶ πάλιν, ὅτι Κατακαυχᾶται ἔλεος κρίσεως. Ταῦτα καλῶς βουλευόμεναι, ἐπλήρωσαν τὰ ἀγγεῖα αὐτῶν ἐλαίου. Ποῖα ἄρα ἀγγεῖα; Τὰς τῶν πεινώντων κοιλίας. Μεσίτας γὰρ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ γάμου τοὺς πτωχοὺς