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Oration concerning those who have fallen asleep in the faith

OF THE BLESSED JOHN, CONCERNING THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP IN THE FAITH, HOW THE LITURGIES AND GOOD WORKS PERFORMED ON THEIR BEHALF BENEFIT THEM.

95.248 A. Sweet and precious foods, when often set forth, not only draw the hungry to eat, but sometimes even stimulate those who are already satisfied; just as also very sweet-tasting and fragrant drinks entice not only the thirsty, but indeed also those who are the opposite, to partake. Likewise again, as for the lovers of wealth, when they have gained possession of great abundance, a desire always compels them to seek opportunities that will daily increase their wealth. Therefore, you also, O most honorable chosen ones of the Church, priests and Fathers, brothers and mothers and dearest children, it is not a hunger for the divine oracles, nor any thirst for sacred teachings, nor yet a poverty of inspired knowledge, that would incline you to the discourse now set forth, but a desire truly most divinely graced, leading you from strength to strength, and from graces to graces, and from memory to remembrance. For what has often been left behind by the perfect, a child has found; and what has passed by the wise has come upon the simple; and what has escaped the teachers has visited the disciples. But we must not dare to say even this, but just as having gathered up the gleanings left behind after the vintage, and an ear of corn overlooked after the harvest because of the abundance, and simply all the fruit on the trees forgotten after the gathering, so we shall welcome those who are willing, with Christ the true God cooperating, and confirming the word through works and proofs. B. Therefore, the serpent that hollows out all good and God-loving things and thoughts, and the murderous, blood-guilty enemy, being struck by brotherly love, broken by faith, killed by hope, shaken by compassion, has brought upon some a lawless pretext, a certain unnatural and alien 95.249 and entirely opposite to the sacred ordinances; 95.249 that all God-loving works after death do not benefit even those who have gone before. "For God," he says, "has shut them out;" and, "Each one will receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad;" and, that "In Hades who will confess to you?" and again, "For you will render to each one according to his works;" and, "For whatever a man has sown, this he will also reap. But, O wise ones, let us say to them, search and be taught, that great is the fear of God the Lord of all, but much greater is his goodness; and terrible are the threats, but incomparable is the love for mankind of God; and dreadful again are the condemnations, but unspeakable is the ocean of His compassions. C. For see what the divine Scripture says: how Judas Maccabeus in Sion, the city of the great King, when he saw the people under him put to death by foreign enemies, having searched their garments and found idols within them, he immediately offered an atonement for each of them to the Lord who is ready for mercy, acting most piously and with great brotherly love, for which reason also in the divine Scripture, as in all things, he is admired in this also. But the initiates and eyewitnesses of the word, who the

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Oratio de his qui in fide dormierunt

ΤΟΥ ΜΑΚΑΡΙΟΥ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΙ ΚΕΚΟΙΜΗΜΕΝΩΝ ΟΠΩΣ ΑΙ ΥΠΕΡ ΑΥΤΩΝ ΓΙΝΟΜΕΝΑΙ ΛΕΙΤΟΥΡΓΙΑΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΥΠΟΙΙΑΙ ΤΟΥΤΟΥΣ

ΟΝΙΝΗΣΙΝ. 95.248 αʹ. Τὰ τῶν βρωμάτων ἡδέα καὶ τίμια προτιθέμενα πολλάκις, οὐ μόνον τοὺς πεινῶντας εἰς βρῶσιν ἕλκουσιν, ἀλλ' ἐνίοτε καὶ τοὺς ἤδη κεκορεσμένους προσερεθίζουσιν· ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν πομάτων τὰ λίαν ἡδύποτα καὶ εὐώδη, οὐ τοὺς διψῶντας μόνον, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τοὺς ἔμπαλιν πρὸς μετάληψιν θέλγουσιν. Ὡσαύτως πάλιν καὶ τοὺς φιλοπλούτους, ὅταν μεγάλης περιουσίας κρατήσωσιν, ἔρως ἀεὶ ἀναγκάζει τούτους ζητεῖν ἀφορμὰς, ὅσαι καθ' ἡμέραν τὸν πλοῦτον τούτοις προσεπεκτείνουσιν. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ὑμᾶς, ὦ τιμιώτατα τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐκλόγια, ἱερεῖς καὶ Πατέρες, ἀδελφοὶ καὶ μητέρες καὶ τέκνα φίλτατα, οὐ τῶν θείων λογίων λιμὸς, οὔτε τις δίψα τῶν ἱερῶν μαθημάτων, οὔτ' αὖ πενία γνώσεως τῆς ἐνθέου, ἐπὶ τὸν νῦν ἐκτεθέντα λόγον προσεπικλίνειεν, ἀλλ' ἔφεσις ὄντως θεοχαριτώτατος προσάγουσα ὑμᾶς ἐκ δυνάμεως εἰς δύναμιν, καὶ ἐκ χαρίτων εἰς χάριτας, καὶ ἐκ μνήμης εἰς ἀνάμνησιν. Ὃ γὰρ πολλάκις τελείοις λέλοιπε, τοῦτο παιδίον ηὕρατο· καὶ ὃ σοφοὺς παρέδραμεν, ἰδιώταις ἐνέσκηψε· καὶ ὃ διδασκάλους διέλαθε, μαθηταῖς ἐπεφοίτησεν. Ἡμῖν δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο εἰπεῖν τολμητέον, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐπιφυλλίδα μετὰ τὸν τρυγητὸν καταλελειμμένην, καὶ στάχυν μετὰ τὸν ἀμητὸν διὰ τὸ πλῆθος παρεωραμένον, καὶ πᾶσαν ἁπλῶς ἐπὶ δένδροις ὀπώραν μετὰ τὴν συλλογὴν ἐκλελησμένην ἐπισωρεύσαντες, οὕτω τοὺς βουλομένους, Χριστοῦ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ συνεργοῦντος Θεοῦ, καὶ τὸν λόγον διὰ τῶν ἔργων καὶ ἀποδείξεων βεβαιοῦντος, δεξιωσόμεθα. βʹ. Ὁ περὶ πάντα τοίνυν τὰ καλὰ καὶ θεοφιλῆ πράγματα καὶ διανοήματα κοιλαινόμενος ὄφις, καὶ σφαττόμενος παλαμναῖος ἐχθρὸς, τῇ μὲν φιλαδελφίᾳ πληττόμενος, τῇ δὲ πίστει ῥηγνύμενος, τῇ ἐλπίδι νεκρούμενος, τῇ συμπαθείᾳ κραδαινόμενος, ἐνέσκηψέ τισιν ὁ παράνομος σκῆψίν τινα ἔκφυλον καὶ ἀλλό 95.249 τριον, καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν θεσμῶν εἰς ἅπαν ἀντίθετον· 95.249 ὡς ὅτι τὰ μετὰ θάνατον πάντα τὰ θεοφιλῆ ἔργα οὐδὲ τοὺς προλαβόντας ὀνίνησιν. «Ἀπέκλεισε γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ Θεὸς κατ' αὐτῶν·» καὶ, «Κομιεῖται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν, εἴτε ἀγαθὸν, εἶτε φαῦλον·» καὶ, ὅτι «Ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ τίς ὁμολογήσεταί σοι;» καὶ πάλιν, «Ὅτι σὺ ἀποδώσεις ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ·» καὶ, «Ὅτι ὃ ἔσπειρεν ἕκαστος, τοῦτο καὶ θερίσει. Ἀλλ', ὦ σοφοὶ, εἴπωμεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς, ἐρευνήσατε καὶ διδάχθητε, ὅτι πολὺς μὲν ὁ φόβος τοῦ τῶν πάντων ∆εσπότου Θεοῦ, πολλῷ πλέον ἡ ἀγαθότης· καὶ φοβεραὶ μὲν αἱ ἀπειλαὶ, ἀνείκαστος δὲ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπία· καὶ φρικταὶ πάλιν αἱ καταδίκαι, ἄφατον δὲ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν αὐτοῦ τὸ πέλαγος. γʹ. Ἴδετε γὰρ τί φησιν ἡ θεία Γραφή· ὡς Ἰούδας ὁ Μακκαβαῖος ἐν τῇ Σιὼν τῇ πόλει τοῦ Βασιλέως τοῦ μεγάλου, ὁπηνίκα τεθανατωμένον εἶδε τὸν ὑπ' αὐτὸν λαὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἐχθρῶν, ἐρευνήσας αὐτῶν τοὺς κόλπους καὶ τούτων ἔνδοθεν εὑρὼν εἰδωλεῖα, ἐξιλασμὸν αὐτίκα ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου τούτων πρὸς τὸν εἰς οἶκτον ἕτοιμον Κύριον προσενήνοχε, πανευσεβῶς ποιήσας καὶ φιλαδέλφως λίαν, ὅθεν καὶ παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ, ὡς ἐν πᾶσι, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τεθαυμάστωται. Οἱ δέ γε μύσται καὶ αὐτόπται τοῦ λόγου, οἱ τὸν