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you will die. The flight from death, the tree of the cross; for from there sprang 59.704 immortal life. From the cross to paradise the thief has passed over, having exchanged death for life. The fruit of the envy of the plant in paradise was the eating; and the undoing of envy is the partaking of the fruit of the cross. If Adam had fasted, he would not have been condemned to death, he would not have been exiled from tireless delight, he would not have been subjected to corruption. For the divine Scripture says that God created man for incorruption; but by the envy of the devil, death entered into the world. But Christ came, our Peace, and having broken down the middle wall of the partition, the enmity in His flesh, He nailed the record of sin to the cross, cancelling the handwriting of death against us. And Paul cries out: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. Let us therefore repay our benefactor according to our ability, beloved; with small obols let us attend to the One rich in mercy.

Our Master was crucified for us; let us then feed the poor man created according to His image; He conversed with death, that He might free us from death; let us for His sake with small obols snatch our kinsmen from deadly famine. For it is He Himself who, through the poor, receives what is given. Do not, therefore, run past, O man, when the poor man extends his hand, looking to the Master who receives through him; but let the hand of the poor man be for you a censer set forth in the marketplace. For it has instead of fire the wasting coals of famine. Let us therefore cast in two obols instead of incense, and let us fill heaven with the sweet fragrance, that from the heavens we may hear: ‘Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to me,’ cries Christ; to Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.

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ἀποθανεῖσθε. Φυγὴ θανάτου, σταυροῦ τὸ δένδρον· ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ ἐπήγα 59.704 ζεν ἡ ζωὴ ἡ ἀθάνατος. Ἀπὸ σταυροῦ πρὸς παράδεισον ὁ λῃστὴς μεταβέβηκεν, ἀντὶ θανάτου ζωὴν ἀνταλλαξάμενος. Καρπὸς τοῦ φθόνου τοῦ ἐν παραδείσῳ φυτοῦ ἡ βρῶσις· καὶ ἀναίρεσις τοῦ φθόνου ἡ ἐκ τοῦ καρποῦ τοῦ σταυροῦ μετάληψις. Εἰ ἐνήστευσεν ὁ Ἀδὰμ, οὐκ ἂν θανάτῳ κατεδικάσθη, οὐκ ἂν τῆς ἀκαμάτου τρυφῆς ἐξόριστος γέγονεν, οὐκ ἂν τῇ φθορᾷ ὑπεβλήθη. Φησὶ γὰρ ἡ θεία Γραφὴ, ὅτι Ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔκτισεν ἐπ' ἀφθαρσίᾳ· φθόνῳ δὲ διαβόλου θάνατος εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν. Ἀλλ' ἦλθε Χριστὸς, Ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν, καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσας, τὴν ἔχθραν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ, προσήλωσε τὸ γραμματεῖον τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ σταυρῷ, ἀκυρώσας τὸ καθ' ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῦ θανάτου. Καὶ βοᾷ Παῦλος· Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξηγόρασεν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου, γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα. Ἀμειψώμεθα τοίνυν κατὰ δύναμιν τὸν εὐεργέτην, ἀγαπητοί· μικροῖς ὀβολοῖς θεραπεύσωμεν τὸν πλούσιον ἐν ἐλέει.

Ὁ ∆εσπότης ἡμῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐσταυρώθη· ἡμεῖς δὲ θρέψωμεν τὸν κατ' εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ κτισθέντα πένητα· ἐκεῖνος θανάτῳ προσωμίλησεν, ἵνα ἡμᾶς θανάτου ἐλευθερώσῃ· ἡμεῖς δι' αὐτὸν μικροῖς ὀβολοῖς τοῦ θανατικοῦ λιμοῦ τοὺς ὁμογενεῖς ἐξαρπάσωμεν. Αὐτὸς γὰρ, αὐτός ἐστιν, ὁ διὰ τῶν πενήτων δεχόμενος τὸ παρεχόμενον. Μὴ τοίνυν παραδράμῃς, ἄνθρωπε, ἐκτείνοντος τὴν χεῖρα τοῦ πένητος, ἀφορῶν εἰς τὸν δι' ἐκείνου δεχόμενον ∆εσπότην· ἀλλὰ γενέσθω σοι ἡ χεὶρ τοῦ πένητος θυμιατήριον ἐν ἀγορᾷ προκείμενον. Ἔχει γὰρ ἀντὶ πυρὸς, τοῦ λιμοῦ τοὺς ἄνθρακας κατατήκοντας. Ἐπιβάλλωμεν οὖν ἀντὶ θυμιάματος ὀβολοὺς δύο, καὶ τῆς εὐωδίας πληρώσωμεν τὸν οὐρανὸν, ἵνα ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἀκούσωμεν· Ἐφ' ὅσον ἐποιήσατε ἑνὶ τούτων τῶν μικρῶν, ἐμοὶ ἐποιήσατε, βοῶντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ· αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων.