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let us set the accustomed table. For it is not right to spend time on the crimes of enemies, and to overlook the children wasting away with hunger. Yesterday, then, Paul set the table for us, today Matthew; yesterday the tentmaker, today the tax collector; yesterday the blasphemer, today the plunderer; yesterday the persecutor, today the extortioner. But the blasphemer did not remain a blasphemer, but became an apostle; and the plunderer did not remain a plunderer, but became an evangelist. I speak both of their former wickedness and of their subsequent virtue, that you may learn how great is the benefit of repentance, that you may never despair of your salvation. Our teachers shone from sin before this, but afterwards they shone from righteousness, the tax collector and the blasphemer, the firstfruits of wickedness. For what is a tax office? Lawful robbery, violence with impunity, injustice having the law as its advocate; the tax collector is worse than robbers. What is a tax office? Violence putting forward the law for its 52.451 advocacy, having the physician for an executioner.

Have you understood what I said? The laws are physicians, then they also become executioners; for they do not heal the wound, but enlarge it. What is a tax office? Shameless sin, robbery having no excuse, worse than banditry. The robber at least is ashamed when he steals; but this man plunders with boldness. But this tax collector suddenly became an evangelist. How and in what way? As Jesus passed by, it says, He saw Matthew sitting at the tax office, and says to him: Follow Me. O the power of a word! The hook entered, and made the captive a soldier, it worked the clay into gold; the hook entered, And immediately rising up he followed Him. He was in the depth of wickedness, and he ascended to the pinnacle of virtue. Let no one, therefore, beloved, despair of his own salvation. The things of wickedness are not of nature; we have been honored with choice and freedom. Are you a tax collector? You can become an evangelist. Are you a blasphemer? You can become an apostle. Are you a robber? You can plunder paradise. Are you a magician? You can worship the Master. There is no wickedness that is not undone by repentance. For this reason Christ chose the firstfruits of wickedness, so that no one might have an escape to the end.

3. Do not say to me, "I am lost, and what then?" do not say to me, "I have sinned, and what

shall I do?" You have a physician superior to the illness, you have a physician who conquers the nature of the disease, you have a physician who heals with a nod, you have a physician who corrects by his will, both able and willing. He brought you into being when you were not; being existent and corrupted, much more will He be able to correct you. Have you not heard how at the first He took dust from the earth, and formed man? How did He make earth into flesh? How sinews? How bones? How skin? How veins? How a nose? How eyes? How eyelids? How an eyebrow? How a tongue? How a chest? How hands? How feet? How all the other things? The underlying matter was earth, a single substance; and the art entered, and worked a varied creation. Can you not tell the manner in which you were created? So neither can you tell the manner in which sins are destroyed. For if fire falling upon thorns consumes them, much more does the will of God consume our transgressions and tear them up by the roots, and makes the one who has sinned like one who has not sinned. Do not seek the manner, do not be overly curious about what happens, but believe in the miracle.

"I have sinned," you say, "many and great sins." And who is without sin? "But mine," he says, "are grievous and great and beyond any man." This is sufficient for you as a sacrifice; "Declare thou thy iniquities first, that thou mayest be justified." Acknowledge that you have sinned, and this will become for you the beginning of correction. Be downcast, become sullen, pour out tears. For do not

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ἡμεῖς τὴν συνήθη παραθήσωμεν τράπεζαν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ δίκαιον τὸν καιρὸν ἀναλῶσαι εἰς τὰ ἐγκλήματα τῶν ἐχθρῶν, καὶ τὰ παιδία λιμῷ τηκόμενα παριδεῖν. Χθὲς τοίνυν ὁ Παῦλος τὴν τράπεζαν ἡμῖν παρέθηκε, σήμερον ὁ Ματθαῖος· χθὲς ὁ σκηνοποιὸς, σήμερον ὁ τελώνης· χθὲς ὁ βλάσφημος, σήμερον ὁ ἅρπαξ· χθὲς ὁ διώκτης, σήμερον ὁ πλεονέκτης. Ἀλλ' ὁ βλάσφημος οὐκ ἔμεινε βλάσφημος, ἀλλ' ἐγένετο ἀπόστολος· καὶ ὁ ἅρπαξ οὐκ ἔμεινεν ἅρπαξ, ἀλλ' ἐγένετο εὐαγγελιστής. Λέγω καὶ τὴν προτέραν κακίαν, καὶ τὴν μετὰ ταῦτα ἀρετὴν, ἵνα μάθῃς ὅση τῆς μετανοίας ἡ ὠφέλεια, ἵνα μηδέποτέ σου τῆς σωτηρίας ἀπογνῷς. Οἱ διδάσκαλοι ἡμῶν ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας ἔλαμπον πρὸ τούτου, ἀλλ' ὕστερον ἔλαμψαν ἀπὸ δικαιοσύνης, τελώνης καὶ βλάσφημος, τὰ ἀκροθίνια τῆς πονηρίας. Τί γάρ ἐστι τελώνιον; Ἁρπαγὴ ἔννομος, βία πεπαῤῥησιασμένη, ἀδικία νόμον ἔχουσα συνήγορον· λῃστῶν χαλεπώτερος ὁ τελώνης. Τί ἐστι τελώνιον; Βία νόμον εἰς 52.451 συνηγορίαν προβαλλομένη, τὸν ἰατρὸν ἔχουσα δήμιον.

Συνήκατε ὃ εἶπον; Οἱ νόμοι ἰατροί εἰσιν, ἔπειτα καὶ δήμιοι γίνονται· οὐ γὰρ λύουσι τὸ ἕλκος, ἀλλὰ αὔξουσι. Τί ἐστι τελώνιον; Ἀναίσχυντος ἁμαρτία, ἁρπαγὴ πρόφασιν οὐκ ἔχουσα, λῃστείας χαλεπώτερον. Ὁ λῃστὴς κἂν αἰσχύνεται κλέπτων· οὗτος δὲ παῤῥησιάζεται ἁρπάζων. Ἀλλ' οὗτος ὁ τελώνης ἀθρόον εὐαγγελιστὴς ἐγένετο. Πῶς καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ; Παράγων, φησὶν, ὁ Ἰησοῦς, εἶδε Ματθαῖον ἐπὶ τὸ τελώνιον καθήμενον, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Ἀκολούθει μοι. Ὢ λόγου δύναμις· εἰσῆλθε τὸ ἄγκιστρον, καὶ τὸν αἰχμάλωτον στρατιώτην ἐποίησε, τὸν πηλὸν χρυσὸν εἰργάσατο· εἰσῆλθε τὸ ἄγκιστρον, Καὶ εὐθέως ἀναστὰς ἠκολούθησεν αὐτῷ. Εἰς τὸ βάθος ἦν τῆς πονηρίας, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἁψῖδα ἀνέβη τῆς ἀρετῆς. Μηδεὶς τοίνυν, ἀγαπητοὶ, ἀπογινωσκέτω τῆς ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίας. Οὐκ ἔστι φύσεως τὰ τῆς πονηρίας· προαιρέσει τετιμήμεθα καὶ ἐλευθερίᾳ. Τελώνης εἶ; ∆ύνασαι γενέσθαι εὐαγγελιστής. Βλάσφημος εἶ; ∆ύνασαι γενέσθαι ἀπόστολος. Λῃστὴς εἶ; ∆ύνασαι παράδεισον συλῆσαι. Μάγος εἶ; ∆ύνασαι προσκυνῆσαι τὸν ∆εσπότην. Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεμία κακία μετανοίᾳ μὴ λυομένη. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὰ ἀκροθίνια τῆς πονηρίας ἐξελέξατο ὁ Χριστὸς, ἵνα μηδεὶς πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἀποφυγεῖν ἔχοι.

γʹ. Μή μοι λέγε, Ἀπωλόμην, καὶ τί λοιπόν; μή μοι λέγε, Ἡμάρτηκα, καὶ τί

ποιήσω; Ἰατρὸν ἔχεις ἀνώτερον τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας, ἰατρὸν ἔχεις νικῶντα τοῦ νοσήματος τὴν φύσιν, ἰατρὸν ἔχεις νεύματι θεραπεύοντα, ἰατρὸν ἔχεις θελήματι διορθούμενον, καὶ δυνάμενον καὶ βουλόμενον. Οὐκ ὄντα σε παρήγαγεν· ὄντα σε καὶ διαστραφέντα πολλῷ μᾶλλον διορθῶσαι δυνήσεται. Οὐκ ἤκουσας ὡς τὸ πρότερον ἔλαβε χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον; πῶς τὴν γῆν σάρκα ἐποίησε; πῶς νεῦρα; πῶς ὀστέα; πῶς δέρμα; πῶς φλέβας; πῶς ῥῖνα; πῶς ὀφθαλμούς; πῶς βλέφαρα; πῶς ὀφρύν; πῶς γλῶτταν; πῶς θώρακα; πῶς χεῖρας; πῶς πόδας; πῶς τὰ ἄλλα πάντα; Γῆ ἦν τὸ ὑποκείμενον, μία οὐσία· καὶ εἰσῆλθεν ἡ τέχνη, καὶ ποικίλην εἰργάσατο τὴν δημιουργίαν. Μὴ δύνασαι τὸν τρόπον εἰπεῖν καθ' ὅνπερ ἐδημιουργήθης; Οὕτως οὐδὲ τὸν τρόπον δύνασαι εἰπεῖν καθ' ὃν καθαιρεῖται τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ ἐμπῖπτον εἰς τὰς ἀκάνθας, ἀναλίσκει αὐτὰς, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὸ βούλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ πλημμελήματα ἡμῶν δαπανᾷ καὶ πρόῤῥιζα ἀνασπᾷ, καὶ τοῦ μὴ ἡμαρτηκότος τὸν ἡμαρτηκότα ὅμοιον κατασκευάζει. Μὴ ζήτει τὸν τρόπον, μὴ περιεργάζου τὸ γινόμενον, ἀλλὰ πίστευε τῷ θαύματι.

Ἡμάρτηκα, λέγεις, πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα. Καὶ τίς ἐστιν ἀναμάρτητος; Ἀλλὰ ἐγὼ χαλεπὰ, φησὶ, καὶ μεγάλα καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντα ἄνθρωπον. Ἀρκεῖ σοι εἰς θυσίαν τοῦτο· Λέγε σὺ τὰς ἀνομίας σου πρῶτος, ἵνα δικαιωθῇς. Ἐπίγνωθι ὅτι ἥμαρτες, καὶ ἀρχή σοι διορθώσεως τοῦτο γενήσεται. Στύγνασον, γενοῦ κατηφὴς, ἔκχεε δάκρυα. Μὴ γὰρ