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being proud, and giving his soldiers license to plunder, to despoil, to wrong travelers, to besiege the cities in their see, to sack the houses of the poor, to exact from their hosts each day things which no law permits, on the pretext of some ancient custom, both lawless and unjust. And the king harmed the rich man in no way by such evils, but he afflicted poverty, as if truly ashamed of the well-to-do. But the monk is not so, but as soon as he appeared, he came bringing some grace for rich and poor, for these and for those alike, using one garment for the year, drinking water with more pleasure than others drink wonderful wine; asking from the rich no favor for himself, neither small nor great, but for those in need, many and continual favors, profitable to both, to those who provide and to those who are about to receive. Thus he is a common physician for rich and poor alike, freeing the one from sins through good counsel, and for the other, relieving their want. But the king, by ordering the taxes to be lighter, benefited the rich rather than the poor; and by doing the opposite, he harmed those who possessed little. For the severity of the taxes would harm the rich man little, but it sweeps away the houses of the poor like a torrent, filling the villages with wailing, and for those collecting the taxes, neither is pitiable old age, nor widowhood of women, nor orphanhood of children, but they revel all the time, like some common enemies of the country, exacting from the farmers those things which the earth did not produce.

δʹ. Come now, let us also examine this, what the monk and what the king bestows on their subjects. Therefore the one gives gold, the other, the grace of the Spirit; and the one relieved poverty, when he is good, but the other freed souls tyrannized by demons with his prayers. And if it happens that someone is afflicted by such calamities, he passes by the king as he would lifeless things, and flees for refuge to the dwelling of the monks, like one fleeing a wolf, who flees for refuge to a hunter carrying a sword in his hand; for what the sword is to the hunter, this prayer is to the monk. For the sword is not so terrible to wolves, as are the prayers 47.391 of the just to demons. Not only we, therefore, flee for refuge to the holy monks in our needs, but also the kings themselves flee for refuge to them in fearful times, just as the impoverished in a famine flee to the houses of the rich. Did not Ahab, the king of the Jews, in famine and want of grain, have the hope of salvation in the prayers of Elijah? Did not Hezekiah, having the same rule and power, when he was sick and about to die, seeing death standing over him, flee for refuge to the prophet, as to one more powerful than death and a giver of life? And indeed, when war broke out, and Palestine was in danger of being torn up from its very foundations, the kings of the Jews, leaving aside the army, and foot-soldiers and archers and horsemen and generals and captains, fled for refuge to the prayers of Elisha; for they considered that the servant of God would be for them in place of many myriads. And this very thing Hezekiah also did, when the Persian war broke out, and the city was brought down to the greatest danger for its very foundations, and those upon the wall were trembling and afraid and shaken, as if in expectation of thunder, or an earthquake moving everything, the king set the prayers of Isaiah against the many myriads of the Persians; and he was not deceived in his hope. For as soon as the prophet raised his hands to heaven, God destroyed the Persian war with arrows from heaven, teaching the kings to consider his servants the common saviors of the earth, so that they might be taught, and when exhorted by the just to every good and philanthropic action, to respect their counsels and to obey their good admonitions. It is not, therefore, from these things alone that one can see the difference between the two, but

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μέγα φρονῶν, καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις παρέχων ἄδειαν ἁρπάζειν, συλᾷν, τοὺς ὁδοιπόρους ἀδικεῖν, τὰς πόλεις ἐν τῇ καθέδρᾳ πολιορκεῖν, τὰς τῶν πενήτων πορθεῖν οἰκίας, τοὺς ὑποδεξαμένους εἰσπράττεσθαι καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἃ μηδεὶς ἐπιτρέπει νόμος, ἐπὶ προφάσει τινὸς ἔθους ἀρχαίου παρανόμου τε καὶ ἀδίκου. Καὶ τὸν μὲν πλούσιον ἔβλαψεν οὐδὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῖς τοιούτοις κακοῖς, τὴν πενίαν δὲ ἐκάκωσεν, ὥσπερ ὡς ἀληθῶς αἰσχυνόμενος τοὺς εὐπόρους. Οὐ μὴν ὅ γε μοναχὸς οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἅμα τε ὤφθη, καὶ πλουσίων καὶ πενήτων χάριν τινὰ κομίζων ἦλθε καὶ τούτοις κἀκείνοις ὁμοίως, ἱματίῳ μὲν ἑνὶ δι' ἔτους χρώμενος, ὕδωρ δὲ πίνων ἥδιον, ἢ θαυμαστὸν οἶνον ἕτεροι· ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ μὲν οὐδεμίαν, οὔτε μικρὰν, οὔτε μείζω χάριν παρὰ τῶν πλουσίων αἰτῶν, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν ἐν ἐνδείᾳ πολλάς τε καὶ συνεχεῖς, ἀμφοτέροις λυσιτελούσας, τοῖς τε παρέχουσι, καὶ τοῖς κομίζεσθαι μέλλουσιν. Οὕτω κοινός ἐστιν ἰατρὸς καὶ πλουσίων καὶ πενήτων ὁμοίως, τοὺς μὲν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐλευθερῶν διὰ τῆς ἀγαθῆς νουθεσίας, τοῖς δὲ λύων τὴν ἔνδειαν. Βασιλεὺς δὲ τάς τε εἰσφορὰς κουφοτέρας εἶναι κελεύων, τοὺς πλουσίους μᾶλλον, ἢ τὴν πενίαν ὠφέλησε· καὶ τὰ ἐναντία ποιῶν, τοὺς μικρὰ κεκτημένους ἔβλαψε. Τὸν μὲν γὰρ πλούσιον ὀλίγα ἂν βλάψειεν ἡ χαλεπότης τῶν εἰσφορῶν, τὰς δὲ τῶν πενήτων οἰκίας ὥσπερ χειμάῤῥους παρασύρει, οἰμωγῆς πιμπλῶσα τὰς κώμας, καὶ οὔτε γῆρας ἐλεεινὸν τοῖς εἰσπραττομένοις τοὺς φόρους, οὔτε χηρεία γυναικῶν, οὐκ ὀρφανία παίδων, ἀλλὰ κωμάζουσι πάντα τὸν χρόνον, κοινοί τινες πολέμιοι τῆς χώρας, ἅπερ οὐκ ἐξήνεγκεν ἡ γῆ, ταῦτα τοὺς γεωργοὺς εἰσπραττόμενοι.

δʹ. Φέρε δὴ κἀκεῖνο ἐξετάσωμεν, τί μὲν ὁ μοναχὸς, τί δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῖς ὑπηκόοις χαρίζεται. Οὐκοῦν ὁ μὲν χρυσὸν, ὁ δὲ πνεύματος χάριν· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἔλυσε πενίαν, ὅταν ᾖ χρηστὸς, ὁ δὲ ψυχὰς τυραννουμένας ὑπὸ δαιμόνων ἠλευθέρωσε ταῖς προσευχαῖς. Κἂν συμβῇ τινα τοιαύταις χειμάζεσθαι συμφοραῖς, τὸν βασιλέα μὲν ὥσπερ τὰ ἄψυχα παρέρχεται, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν τῶν μοναχῶν οἰκίαν καταφεύγει, ὥσπερ ὁ λύκον ὑποφεύγων, καταφεύγων δὲ ἐπ' ἄνδρα θηρευτὴν ξίφος ἐν τῇ χειρὶ φέροντα· ὅπερ γὰρ τῷ θηρευτῇ ξίφος, τοῦτο προσευχὴ τῷ μονάζοντι. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτω φοβερὸν τοῖς λύκοις τὸ ξίφος, ὡς τοῖς δαίμοσιν αἱ προσευχαὶ 47.391 τῶν δικαίων. Οὐ τοίνυν μόνον ἡμεῖς πρὸς τοὺς ἁγίους μοναχοὺς ἐν ταῖς χρείαις καταφεύγομεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς αὐτοὶ πρὸς τούτους καταφεύγουσιν ἐν καιροῖς φοβεροῖς, ὥσπερ οἱ πτωχεύοντες ἐν λιμῷ πρὸς τὰς τῶν πλουσίων οἰκίας. Οὐκ Ἀχαὰβ, ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαίων βασιλεὺς, ἐν λιμῷ καὶ σιτοδείᾳ τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας εἶχεν ἐν ταῖς Ἠλίου προσευχαῖς; οὐκ Ἐζεκίας τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχων ἀρχὴν καὶ δυναστείαν, νοσῶν καὶ μέλλων τελευτᾷν, ἐφεστηκότα τὸν θάνατον ὁρῶν, ἐπὶ τὸν προφήτην κατέφυγεν, ὡς θανάτου δυνατώτερον καὶ ζωῆς χορηγόν; Καὶ μὴν καὶ πολέμου καταῤῥαγέντος, καὶ τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἐκ βάθρων αὐτῶν ἀνασπασθῆναι κινδυνευούσης, οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων βασιλεῖς, ἀφέντες τὴν στρατιὰν, καὶ πεζοὺς καὶ τοξότας καὶ ἱππέας καὶ στρατηγοὺς καὶ ταξιάρχους, ἐπὶ τὰς Ἑλισσαίου προσευχὰς κατέφυγον· ἡγοῦντο γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ πολλῶν μυριάδων ἔσεσθαι τὸν θεράποντα τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ Ἐζεκίας, τοῦ Περσικοῦ πολέμου συστάντος, καὶ τῆς πόλεως περὶ τῶν ἐδάφων αὐτῶν εἰς κίνδυνον μέγιστον κατακεκλιμένης, καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τῷ τείχει τρεμόντων καὶ δεδοικότων καὶ σειομένων, καθάπερ ἐν προσδοκίᾳ βροντῆς, ἢ σεισμοῦ πάντα κινοῦντος, τὰς Ἡσαΐου προσευχὰς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀντέστησε ταῖς πολλαῖς τῶν Περσῶν μυριάσι· καὶ οὐκ ἐψεύσθη τῆς ἐλπίδος. Ἅμα τε γὰρ ὁ προφήτης τὰς χεῖρας ἦρεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ τοῖς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ βέλεσιν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν Περσικὸν κατέλυσε πόλεμον, παιδεύων τοὺς βασιλεῖς κοινοὺς τῆς γῆς ἡγεῖσθαι σωτῆρας τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ θεράποντας, ὅπως ἂν παιδευθεῖεν, καὶ παρακαλούμενοι παρὰ τῶν δικαίων ἐπὶ πᾶσαν πρᾶξιν ἀγαθὴν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον, αἰδεῖσθαι τὰς συμβουλίας, καὶ πείθεσθαι ταῖς ἀγαθαῖς νουθεσίαις. Οὐ τοίνυν ἐκ τούτων μόνον ἔστι τὸ διάφορον ἰδεῖν ἀμφοτέρων, ἀλλὰ