2

During Lent, as we read to you the law concerning oaths, and through the grace of God many mouths of our hearers were taught that melody of the law, and having driven out the wicked habit of swearing by God, they carry "Yea," and "Nay," and "Believe me" on their lips continually in every conversation; and even if the necessity of ten thousand matters presses them, they would not endure to go any further. 2. But since the acceptance of one commandment is not sufficient for our salvation, come, let us today lead you on to another; for even if not all have mastered the former law, yet as time goes on, those who have lagged behind will catch up with those who went before. For I have learned that so great is the zeal for this matter, that both at home and at the table there is a contest between husbands and wives, and between slaves and free, concerning this commandment, and I have blessed those who are thus feasted. For what could be holier than that table, where drunkenness and gluttony and all dissoluteness are driven away, and a wonderful contest has been introduced in its place concerning the keeping of God's laws, and a husband watches his wife, lest she ever fall into the pits of perjury, and a wife guards her husband, and a very great penalty is set for the transgressor; and the master is not ashamed to be reproved51.19 even by his slaves, nor to correct his household in these matters? One would not err in calling such a house a church of God. For where there is so much sobriety, as to be concerned for the divine laws in a time of feasting, and for all present to strive and contend with one another for this, it is evident that every demon and evil power has been driven away, and Christ is present, rejoicing in the noble contention of his servants, lavishing upon them every blessing. For these reasons, then, leaving this commandment for now—for I know that by the grace of God it will overrun the whole city, since you have taken up a warm prelude and a strong beginning—I will move on to another: the contempt of anger. For just as on the lyre it is not enough to produce the melody from one string, but one must go over them all with the proper rhythm; so also in the virtue of the soul, one law alone is not sufficient for our salvation, as I said before, but we must keep them all with exactness, if indeed we are to produce the melody that is sweeter and more useful than all harmony. Has your mouth learned not to swear? Has your tongue been taught to say Yea and Nay everywhere? Let it also learn to turn away from all reviling, and to bring greater earnestness to this commandment, since it requires more labor from us. For in that case it was necessary only to overcome a habit, but in the case of anger, a more vigorous zeal is needed; for the passion is tyrannical, and often sweeps away the sober, and drags them down to the very pit of destruction. Bear, therefore, with the length of my words. For it is absurd that we, being wounded every day in the marketplaces, in our homes, by friends, by relatives, by enemies, by neighbors, by servants, by a wife, by a child, by our own thoughts, should not even once in the whole week take thought for the healing of those wounds, and this when we know that this manner of healing is both without cost and without pain. For I do not now hold the knife in my hand, but I employ reason instead of a knife, which is sharper than any knife, and cuts out all the corruption of sin, but does not cause pain to the one being cut. I do not have fire in my right hand, but I have teaching more vehement than fire, which does not bring a cautery, but checks the spread of wickedness, and instead of agony provides great pleasure to the one being delivered from wickedness. There is no need of time here, no need of labors,

2

Τεσσαρακοστῆς, τὸν περὶ τῶν ὅρκων νόμον ὑμῖν ἀναγινώσκοντες, καὶ διὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν πολλὰ στόματα τῶν ἀκροατῶν ἡμῖν ἐπαιδεύθη τὴν τοῦ νόμου μελῳδίαν ἐκείνου, καὶ τὴν πονηρὰν ἀπελάσαντες συνήθειαν ἀντὶ τοῦ τὸν Θεὸν ὀμνύναι, τὸ Ναὶ, καὶ τὸ Οὒ, καὶ τὸ Πίστευσον, ἐπὶ τοῦ στόματος φέρουσι διηνεκῶς ἐπὶ διαλέξεως ἁπάσης· κἂν μυρίων πραγμάτων ἀνάγκη βιάζηται, περαιτέρω προελθεῖν οὐκ ἂν ἀνάσχοιντο. βʹ. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐκ ἀρκεῖ πρὸς σωτηρίαν ἡμῖν μιᾶς ἐντολῆς ὑποδοχὴ, φέρε τήμερον καὶ ἐπὶ ἑτέραν ὑμᾶς μεταγάγωμεν· καὶ γὰρ καὶ εἰ μὴ πάντες κατώρθωσαν τὸν πρότερον νόμον, ἀλλά γε τοῦ χρόνου προϊόντος τοὺς φθάσαντας οἱ ὑστερήσαντες καταλήψονται. Καὶ γὰρ ἔγνων, ὡς τοσαύτη τοῦ πράγματος γίνεται σπουδὴ, ὡς καὶ ἐπὶ οἰκίας καὶ ἐπὶ τραπέζης ἀνδράσι πρὸς γυναῖκας, δούλοις πρὸς ἐλευθέρους ἅμιλλαν εἶναι περὶ τῆς ἐντολῆς ταύτης, καὶ ἐμακάρισα τοὺς οὕτως ἑστιωμένους. Τί γὰρ τῆς τραπέζης ἐκείνης ἁγιώτερον γένοιτ' ἂν, ἔνθα μέθη μὲν καὶ ἀδηφαγία καὶ πᾶσα ἀσωτία ἀπελήλαται, θαυμαστὴ δέ τις ἀντεισενήνεκται περὶ τῆς φυλακῆς τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμων ἅμιλλα, καὶ παρατηρεῖ μὲν ἀνὴρ τὴν γυναῖκα, ὅπως εἰς τὰ τῆς ἐπιορκίας μηδέποτε ἐμπέσῃ βάραθρα, φυλάττει δὲ γυνὴ τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ καταδίκη τῷ παραβάντι κεῖται μεγίστη· οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται δὲ οὐδὲ ὑπὸ τῶν δούλων ὁ δεσπότης ἐλέγχε51.19 σθαι, οὐδὲ τοὺς οἰκέτας αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τούτοις διορθοῦν; Οὐκ ἄν τις ἁμάρτοι τὴν τοιαύτην οἰκίαν ἐκκλησίαν Θεοῦ προσειπών. Ὅπου γὰρ σωφροσύνη τοσαύτη, ὡς ἐν καιρῷ τρυφῆς μεριμνᾷν ὑπὲρ τῶν θείων νόμων, καὶ τοὺς παρόντας ἅπαντας ὑπὲρ τούτου πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀγωνίζεσθαι καὶ φιλονεικεῖν, εὔδηλον, ὅτι δαίμων μὲν ἅπας καὶ πονηρὰ δύναμις ἀπελήλαται, Χριστὸς δὲ πάρεστι χαίρων ἐπὶ τῇ καλῇ τῶν δούλων φιλονεικίᾳ, πᾶσαν αὐτοῖς ἐπιδαψιλευόμενος εὐλογίαν. ∆ιὰ δὴ ταῦτα ταύτην ἀφεὶς λοιπὸν τὴν ἐντολὴν οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι Θεοῦ χάριτι πᾶσαν ἐπιδραμεῖται τὴν πόλιν ὑμῖν θερμὰ προοίμια ἀναλαβοῦσι καὶ ἀρχὴν ἰσχυρὰν, ἐφ' ἑτέραν μεταβήσομαι· τὴν τῆς ὀργῆς ὑπεροψίαν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς κιθάρας οὐκ ἀρκεῖ μόνον ἀπὸ μιᾶς νευρᾶς τὴν μελῳδίαν ἐργάσασθαι, ἀλλὰ πάσας ἐπιέναι δεῖ μετὰ ῥυθμοῦ τοῦ προσήκοντος· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀρετῆς οὐκ ἀρκεῖ μόνος ἡμῖν εἰς σωτηρίαν εἷς νόμος, καθάπερ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, ἀλλὰ δεῖ πάντας αὐτοὺς μετὰ ἀκριβείας φυλάττειν, εἰ δὴ μέλλοιμεν τὴν ἁπάσης ἁρμονίας ἡδίω καὶ χρησιμωτέραν μελῳδίαν ἐργάζεσθαι. Ἔμαθέ σου τὸ στόμα μὴ ὀμνύναι; ἐπαιδεύθη ἡ γλῶττα Ναὶ καὶ Οὒ λέγειν πανταχοῦ; Μαθέτω καὶ λοιδορίαν ἀποστρέφεσθαι ἅπασαν, καὶ πλείονα περὶ τὴν ἐντολὴν ταύτην εἰσφέρειν σπουδὴν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ πλείονος ἡμῖν δεῖται καὶ πόνου. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ συνηθείας περιγενέσθαι μόνον ἔδει, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ὀργῆς εὐτονωτέρας δεῖ τῆς σπουδῆς· τυραννικὸν γὰρ τὸ πάθος, καὶ πολλάκις παρασύρει τοὺς νήφοντας, καὶ πρὸς τὸ βάραθρον αὐτὸ κατάγει τῆς ἀπωλείας. Ἀνάσχεσθε τοίνυν τοῦ μήκους τῶν λόγων. Καὶ γὰρ ἄτοπον καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τραυματιζομένους ἐν ἀγοραῖς, ἐν οἰκίαις, ὑπὸ φίλων, ὑπὸ συγγενῶν, ὑπὸ ἐχθρῶν, ὑπὸ γειτόνων, ὑπὸ οἰκετῶν, ὑπὸ γυναικὸς, ὑπὸ παιδίου, ὑπὸ οἰκείων λογισμῶν, μηδὲ ἅπαξ τῆς ἑβδομάδος ἁπάσης ὑπὲρ τῆς θεραπείας τῶν τραυμάτων ἐκείνων φροντίζειν, καὶ ταῦτα εἰδότας ὡς ἀδάπανός τε καὶ ἀνώδυνος οὗτος τῆς θεραπείας ὁ τρόπος. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ σιδήριον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ κατέχω νῦν, ἀλλὰ λόγον ἀντὶ σιδηρίου μεταχειρίζομαι, σιδηρίου μὲν παντὸς ὄντα τομώτερον, καὶ πᾶσαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐκκόπτοντα τὴν σηπεδόνα, οὐ παρέχοντα δὲ ὀδύνην τῷ τεμνομένῳ. Οὐκ ἔχω πῦρ ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ, ἀλλ' ἔχω διδασκαλίαν πυρὸς σφοδροτέραν, οὐ καυτῆρα ἐπάγουσαν, ἀλλ' ἀναστέλλουσαν μὲν τὴν νομὴν τῆς κακίας, ἀντὶ δὲ ἀλγηδόνος πολλὴν τῷ τῆς κακίας ἀπαλλαττομένῳ παρέχουσαν τὴν ἡδονήν. Οὐ χρεία χρόνων ἐνταῦθα, οὐ χρεία πόνων,