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it will not benefit us at all on the fearful day of judgment, but only the keeping of the commandments, which brings with it the preservation of right doctrines. Do not you yourself appear forgetful of these, do not push away the fear of God from your soul, knowing clearly that the breath of all of us is in his hands and to one he adds years of life, but from another, when he wills, he takes them away. For I, he says, will kill and I will make to live and who is he who can deliver out of my hands? It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We are all dust and ashes, all men, a flower of the grass and dust, a shadow, smoke and a dream and we live not living; for from when the words: you are earth and to earth you shall return were brought forth against all our nature. We all have been clothed completely with mortality and corruption and in common we all have already died and one dies today, another tomorrow. For having come from the earth, we are brought down to earth again after a little while, both kings and commoners, rulers and ruled. Therefore look upon those who reigned before you and consider what they were then, and what they have now become. 504 Understand how those who did good things are blessed both while living and after death and on the day of recompense they will come forth to a resurrection of life, but those who did evil things are both here always assailed by all with curses and slanders and they rise up to a resurrection no longer of life but of condemnation. Let your God-loving highness, therefore, also imitate those who kept the faith unharmed and finished the good course of the commandments. And give back to the humble wife of Theognostus and to her children their vineyard. The sorrows that have already come are enough for them; let the terrible things not be intensified nor the afflictions proceed further. Yes, I beseech you, release them quickly from the pain and misfortune that lies upon them, remembering the Savior in the gospels commanding us not to let the sun go down on our anger.

And again when he addressed that rich man and said: 'Fool, this night they require your soul from you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' What does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Will the sweetness of the fruit of the vine go down with us into Hades, or the delight of figs or the richness of oil or an abundance of money and the glory of power? Does not every human endeavor end in corruption? Do we not leave everything behind and depart naked of things here and unprotected? Remembering all these things, therefore, permit the vineyard to be given back, so that it may be well with you on the day of judgment. 507

From Chrysostom to Eudoxia I think, pious child, that it is not unknown to you that of money, if indeed I myself wished to have it, I was not at all hindered by my parents. And I was associated with those who were very powerful and possessed much. But I willingly gave up my wealth to those in need, having least of all considered the matter to be worthy of my concern. How then, (fol. 154) would I not now have been ashamed to appear a desirer of those things, which I myself laid aside with much zeal, and when I advise all to despise common things?

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ὠφελήσει ὅλως ἡμᾶς ἐν τῇ φοβερᾷ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως, ἀλλ' ἢ μόνον ἡ τῶν ἐντολῶν φυλακή, τὴν τῶν ὀρθῶν δογμάτων ἐπαγομένη συντήρησιν. Ὧν αὐτὴ μὴ ἐπιλήσμων φανῇς, μὴ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ φόβον τῆς σῆς ἀπώσῃ ψυχῆς ἐπισταμένη σαφῶς ὡς ἡ πνοὴ πάντων ἡμῶν ἐν ταῖς αὐτοῦ χερσίν ἐστι καὶ ᾧ μὲν προστίθησιν ἔτη ζωῆς, ἐξ οὗ δὲ βούλεται, ἀφαιρεῖται. Ἐγὼ γάρ, φησίν, ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω καὶ τίς ὁ τῶν ἐμῶν χειρῶν ἐξαιρούμενος; Φοβερὸν δὲ τὸ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς χεῖρας θεοῦ ζῶντος. Χοῦς καὶ σποδὸς τυγχάνομεν πάντες ἄνθρωποι, ἄνθος χόρτου καὶ κόνις, σκιά, καπνὸς καὶ ἐνύπνιον καὶ ζῶμεν οὐ ζῶντες· ἐξ οὗ γὰρ τό· γῆ εἶ καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ κατὰ πάσης ἡμῶν ἐξηνέχθη τῆς φύσεως. Τὴν θνητότητα πάντες καὶ τὴν φθορὰν ἄρδην ἠμφιασάμεθα καὶ κοινῇ πάντες ἤδη τετελευτήκαμεν καὶ ὁ μὲν σήμερον, ὁ δὲ αὔριον τελευτᾷ. Ἐκ γῆς γὰρ προελθόντες εἰς γῆν πάλιν μετ' ὀλίγον καταφερόμεθα, βασιλεῖς τε καὶ ἰδιῶται, ἄρχοντες καὶ ἀρχόμενοι. Ἀπόβλεψον τοιγαροῦν εἰς τοὺς πρὸ ὑμῶν βασιλεύσαντας καὶ ἀναλόγισαι τί μὲν ἦσαν τότε, τί δὲ νῦν γεγόνα 504 σι. Σύνες πῶς οἱ μὲν τὰ ἀγαθὰ ποιήσαντες ζῶντές τε καὶ μετὰ θάνατον μακαρίζονται καὶ κατὰ τὴν τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως ἡμέραν εἰς ἀνάστασιν ζωῆς ἐκπορεύσονται, οἱ δὲ τὰ φαῦλα πράξαντες κἀνταῦθα παρὰ πάντων ἀραῖς τε καὶ δυσφημίαις ἀείποτε βάλλονται καὶ εἰς ἀνάστασιν οὐκέτι ζωῆς ἀλλὰ κατακρίσεως ἐξανίστανται. Μιμησάσθω τοίνυν καὶ ἡ ὑμῶν θεοφίλεια τοὺς τὴν πίστιν ἀλωβήτως τηρήσαντας καὶ τὸν καλὸν δρόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν διανύσαντας. Καὶ τῇ ταπεινῇ γυναικὶ Θεογνώστου καὶ τοῖς αὐτῆς τέκνοις τὸν αὐτῶν ἀμπελῶνα ἀπόδοτε. Ἀρκεῖ τούτοις τὰ φθάσαντα λυπηρά· μὴ ἐπιτεινέσθω τὰ δεινὰ μηδὲ ἐπὶ πλέον προβαινέτω τὰ θλιβερά. Ναί, παρακαλῶ λῦσον αὐτοῖς ἐν τάχει τὴν ἐπικειμένην ὀδύνην καὶ συμφορὰν μεμνημένη τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐν εὐαγγελίοις παρακελευομένου ἡμῖν μὴ ἐπιδῦναι τὸν ἥλιον ἐπὶ τῷ παροργισμῷ ἡμῶν.

Πάλιν δὲ πρὸς τὸν πλούσιον ἐκεῖνον ἀποτεινομένου καὶ λέγοντος· ἄφρον, ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπαιτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ, ἃ δὲ ἡτοίμασας τίνι ἔσται; Τί ὠφελεῖται ἄνθρωπος, ἐὰν τὸν κόσμον ὅλον κερδήσῃ καὶ ζημιωθῇ τὴν ψυχὴν αὑτοῦ; ἢ τί δώσει ἄνθρωπος ἀντάλλαγμα τῆς ψυχῆς αὑτοῦ; Μὴ συγκαταβήσεται ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ γλυκύτης καρποῦ ἀμπέλου ἢ ἡδύτης σύκων ἢ λιπότης ἐλαίου ἢ χρημάτων περιουσία καὶ δόξα ἀρχῆς; Οὐχὶ πρὸς φθορὰν καταλήγει πᾶσα ἀνθρώπου σπουδή; Οὐχὶ πάντα καταλιμπάνοντες ἀπερχόμεθα γυμνοὶ τῶν ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἀπροστάτευτοι; Τούτων οὖν ἁπάντων μνημονεύουσα ἐπίτρεψον ἀποδοθῆναι τὸν ἀμπελῶνα, ἵνα εὖ σοι ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως γένηται. 507 Τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου πρὸς τὴν Εὐδοξίαν Οἶμαι, τέκνον εὐσεβές, μὴ ἀγνοεῖσθαί σοι ὅτι χρημάτων, εἴ γε δὴ καὶ ἐβουλόμην αὐτὸς ἔχειν, εἰργόμην οὐδὲν πατράσι. Καὶ ἐχρησάμην μεγάλα τε δυναμένοις καὶ πολλὰ κεκτημένοις. Ἀλλ' ἑκὼν ἐξέστην τοῦ πλούτου τοῖς δεομένοις τὸ πρᾶγμα ἥκιστα λογισάμενος ἐμαυτῷ εἶναι φροντίδος ἄξιον. Πῶς οὖν, (φύλ. 154) ἃ κατὰ πολλήν τε αὐτὸς τὴν σπουδὴν ἀπεθέμην καὶ τῶν κοινῶν πᾶσι καταφρονεῖν συμβουλεύω, τούτων νῦν οὐκ ᾐσχύνθην ἂν ἐπιθυμητὴς φαίνεσθαι;