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Nevertheless, the servant called such a gentle and benevolent master hard. For such are the habits of ungrateful and lazy servants; they always shift the blame for their own faults onto their masters. For this reason, that one, being tortured and bound, was led out into the outer darkness. Lest we should suffer this, let us apply our teaching to the brethren, whether they are persuaded or not. For if they are persuaded, they will benefit both themselves and us; but if they are not persuaded, they draw upon themselves inevitable punishment, but could not harm us in the slightest. For we have done our part by giving counsel; but if they are not persuaded, no harm could come to us from this. For the charge is not for failing to persuade, but for failing to give counsel; and after the exhortation and the counsel, the continuous and the constant, the account to God will no longer be against us, but against them. I would indeed like to know clearly that you continue to exhort them, and if they constantly remain in their laziness, I would never have troubled you; but now I fear, lest by your contempt and neglect they remain uncorrected. For it is impossible for a person who continually enjoys exhortation and teaching not to become better and more diligent. And the proverb I am about to speak is indeed a common one; nevertheless it establishes this very point. For a persistent drop of water, it says, hollows out a rock. 51.174 And yet what is softer than water? And what is harder than rock? But nevertheless, persistence conquered nature. And if persistence conquers nature, much more could it overcome free will. Christianity is not a game, beloved, nor a trivial matter. We say these things continually, and we do nothing more. 2. How do you think I am grieved, when I recall that at the festivals the multitudes of the assemblies resemble vast seas, but now not even the smallest fraction of that multitude is gathered here? Where now are those who crowded us at the festivals? I seek them, and for them I lament, considering what a multitude of those being saved is lost, what a loss of brethren I endure, how the means of salvation are confined to a few, and the greater part of the body of the Church resembles a dead and motionless body. And what is that to us, he says? Rather it is most especially to you who do not minister, who do not exhort and counsel, to you who do not apply compulsion, and draw them with force, and lead them away from their great laziness. For Christ made it clear that one must not be useful to oneself alone, but to many, by calling us salt and leaven and light; and these things are useful and profitable to others. For the lamp does not shine for itself, but for those sitting in darkness; and you are a lamp, not so that you alone may enjoy the light, but so that you may bring back that one who has gone astray. For what is the use of a lamp, when it does not shine for the one sitting in darkness? And what is the use of a Christian, when he gains no one nor leads anyone back to virtue? Again, salt does not preserve itself alone, but it also contracts the decaying parts of bodies, and does not allow them to dissolve and perish. So also you, since God has made you spiritual salt, bind up and contract the decaying members, that is, the lazy and worldly-minded of the brethren, and having freed them from their laziness, as from some sort of decay, unite them to the rest of the body of the Church. For this reason He also called you leaven; for the leaven does not leaven itself, but the small and tiny thing leavens the rest of the great and immense dough. So also you; though you are few in number, yet many and

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ὅμως σκληρὸν ἐκάλει τὸν οὕτως ἥμερον καὶ φιλάνθρωπον δεσπότην ὁ δοῦλος. Τοιαῦται γὰρ τῶν ἀγνωμόνων καὶ ῥᾳθύμων οἰκετῶν αἱ συνήθειαι· τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων εἰς τοὺς δεσπότας ἀεὶ μετατιθέασι τὰς αἰτίας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο στρεβλούμενος καὶ δεσμούμενος ἐκεῖνος εἰς τὸ σκότος ἐξήγετο τὸ ἐξώτερον. Ὅπερ ἵνα μὴ ἡμεῖς πάθωμεν, καταβάλλωμεν τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς, κἂν πείθωνται, κἂν μὴ πείθωνται. Πειθόμενοι μὲν γὰρ, καὶ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἡμᾶς ὠφελήσουσι· μὴ πειθόμενοι δὲ, αὐτοῖς μὲν ἀπαραίτητον ἐπισπῶνται κόλασιν, ἡμᾶς δὲ οὐδὲ τὸ τυχὸν παραβλάψαι δύναιντ' ἄν. Τὸ γὰρ ἡμέτερον ἐποιήσαμεν, συμβουλεύσαντες· εἰ δὲ μὴ πείθοιντο, οὐδὲν ἡμῖν ἐκ τούτου γένοιτ' ἂν βλάβος. Ἔγκλημα γὰρ, οὐ τὸ μὴ πεῖσαι, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ συμβουλεῦσαι· μετὰ δὲ τὴν παραίνεσιν καὶ τὴν συμβουλὴν, τὴν διηνεκῆ καὶ τὴν συνεχῆ, οὐκέτι πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἐκείνους ἔσται ὁ λόγος τῷ Θεῷ. Ἐβουλόμην γοῦν εἰδέναι σαφῶς, ὅτι παραινοῦντες αὐτοὺς διατελεῖτε, καὶ εἰ διαπαντὸς μένουσιν ἐπὶ τῆς ῥᾳθυμίας ἐκεῖνοι, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ὑμῖν οὐδέποτε ἠνόχλησα· νῦν δέδοικα, μή ποτε ἐκ τῆς ὑμετέρας ὑπεροψίας καὶ ἀμελείας μένωσιν ἀδιόρθωτοι. Καὶ γὰρ ἀμήχανον ἄνθρωπον συνεχῶς ἀπολαύοντα παραινέσεως καὶ διδασκαλίας, μὴ γενέσθαι βελτίω καὶ σπουδαιότερον. Καὶ δημώδης μέν ἐστιν ἡ παροιμία, ἣν ἐρεῖν μέλλω· πλὴν ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο συνίστησι. Πέτραν γὰρ κοιλαί 51.174 νει, φησὶ, ῥανὶς ὑδάτων ἐνδελεχοῦσα. Καίτοι τί μαλακώτερον ὕδατος; τί δὲ πέτρας σκληρότερον; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἡ ἐνδελέχεια τὴν φύσιν ἐνίκησεν. Εἰ δὲ φύσιν ἐνδελέχεια νικᾷ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον προαιρέσεως δύναιτ' ἂν περιγενέσθαι. Οὐκ ἔστι παίγνια ὁ Χριστιανισμὸς, ἀγαπητοὶ, οὐδὲ πρᾶγμα πάρεργον. Συνεχῶς ταῦτα λέγομεν, καὶ οὐδὲν πλέον ποιοῦμεν. βʹ. Πῶς οἴεσθέ με ὀδυνᾶσθαι, ἀναμιμνησκόμενον ὅτι ἐν μὲν ταῖς πανηγύρεσι πελάγη θαλάττης μακρὰ μιμεῖται τῶν συνάξεων τὰ πλήθη, νῦν δὲ οὐδὲ τὸ πολλοστὸν τοῦ πλήθους ἐκείνου μέρος ἐνταῦθα συλλέγεται; Ποῦ νῦν εἰσιν οἱ διενοχλοῦντες ἡμᾶς ἐν ταῖς ἑορταῖς; Ἐκείνους ἐπιζητῶ, καὶ δι' ἐκείνους ὀδύρομαι, ἐννοῶν ὅσον πλῆθος ἀπόλλυται τῶν σωζομένων, ὅσην ἀδελφῶν ὑπομένω ζημίαν, πῶς εἰς ὀλίγους τὰ τῆς σωτηρίας περιίσταται, καὶ τὸ πλέον τοῦ σώματος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας μέρος νεκρῷ καὶ ἀκινήτῳ προσέοικε σώματι. Καὶ τί πρὸς ἡμᾶς, φησί; Πρὸς ὑμᾶς μὲν οὖν μάλιστα τοὺς μὴ θεραπεύοντας, τοὺς μὴ παραινοῦντας καὶ συμβουλεύοντας, πρὸς ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἐπιτιθέντας ἀνάγκην, καὶ μετὰ βίας ἕλκοντας, καὶ τῆς πολλῆς ἀπάγοντας ῥᾳθυμίας. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐχ ἑαυτῷ χρήσιμον εἶναι χρὴ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοῖς, ἐδήλωσεν ὁ Χριστὸς, ἅλας ἡμᾶς καὶ ζύμην καλέσας καὶ φῶς· ταῦτα δὲ ἑτέροις ἐστὶ χρήσιμα καὶ λυσιτελῆ. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ λύχνος οὐχ ἑαυτῷ φαίνει, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐν σκότῳ καθημένοις· καὶ σὺ λύχνος εἶ, οὐχ ἵνα τοῦ φωτὸς ἀπολαύσῃς μόνος, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἐκεῖνον τὸν πεπλανημένον ἐπαναγάγῃς. Τί γὰρ ὄφελος λύχνου, ὅταν μὴ φαίνῃ τῷ ἐν τῷ σκότει καθημένῳ; τί δὲ ὄφελος Χριστιανοῦ, ὅταν μηδένα κερδάνῃ μηδὲ πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἐπαναγάγῃ; Πάλιν τὸ ἅλας οὐχ ἑαυτὸ ἐπισφίγγει μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ σεσηπότα τῶν σωμάτων συστέλλει, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίησι διαῤῥυέντα ἀπολέσθαι. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ σὺ, ἐπειδὴ ἅλας σε κατεσκεύασεν ὁ Θεὸς πνευματικὸν, τὰ σεσηπότα μέλη, τουτέστι, τοὺς ῥᾳθύμους ἀδελφῶν καὶ βαναύσους ἐπίσφιγξον καὶ σύστειλον, καὶ τῆς ῥᾳθυμίας, ὥσπερ τινὸς σηπεδόνος, ἀπαλλάξας, ἕνωσον τῷ λοιπῷ σώματι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό σε καὶ ζύμην ἐκάλεσε· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡ ζύμη οὐχ ἑαυτὴν ζυμοῖ, ἀλλὰ τὸ λοιπὸν φύραμα τὸ πολὺ καὶ ἄφατον ἡ μικρὰ καὶ βραχεῖα. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς· εἰ καὶ ὀλίγοι ἐστὲ κατὰ τὸν ἀριθμὸν, ἀλλὰ πολλοὶ καὶ