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who widened his storehouses to an immeasurable extent. Do you know what decision has been given against both of them? Do you remember such somber voices? Do you hold even one brief word in your heart from the divine sayings that were read? And if you do not know these things, why then do you gather in the church, tell me? Is it not to hear the voices that you hasten to gather and be edified? If, then, you gather in the church for this reason, your eagerness is praiseworthy, and the Lord's saying is fulfilled in you: My sheep hear my voice. For I know many who come together, not for God, nor for the hearing of His holy words. For I see some dozing off, others with their minds wandering here and there, others conversing with friends; and while our Lord speaks to us with a compassionate voice, saying, You are my friends; we, leaving Him speaking, have made our friends more honorable. I see others making a disorderly disturbance, and they dare this while God is still speaking to us. O the deep foolishness, O the incurable shamelessness, O the grievous madness! A king of like nature to us often speaks to the people, and all, like lifeless pillars, remain speechless until the speaker ceases. And not only this, but also when his letters are often 60.684 read, they produce great silence in the place for the surrounding listeners, so that it seems no one is there, but only the one reading the king's letters. But here prophets and apostles and patriarchs, who are higher than all kings, are speaking about what God wills and how He is served, and in what way we will be able to cross the harsh sea of life; but we consider the words nonsense, and rather persevering in idle words, we consider it rest. Is the Lord served in these things, He who said to the saints who speak to us, You are the light of the world? And what shall I say of ministers and servants? When the very Master of all and King of glory, whom all creation dreads, and every breath hymns, speaks to us through the undefiled Gospels, admonishing, threatening, exhorting, inviting, bestowing His unending and pure kingdom, we pay attention to Him as when a weak or poor man babbles speaking to us, and we do not even pay attention as to some friend. Truly, vain are the sons of men; truly it is opportune to say to such men, Fools, when will you be wise? And another verse of the prophet will be fitting for them, which says, Their days have failed in vanity; for having cast aside the angelic hymn and the divine words and having considered them nonsense, they loved idle talk, and took up sleep. But the sleep of such men is not this sleep, but sloth, the grievous sleep of the soul, the damager of the more lax, the blindness of the heart, the plunderer of the treasures of the Spirit; concerning which the Prophet prayed to God, saying: Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep unto death; concerning which Solomon also wrote more reproachfully, saying, When will you arise from sleep? who will also hear, Why do you stand all the day, that is, all your life, idle? Such men are also disorderly in the assemblies, and uncelebratory in the feasts, and unblessed in the prayers, unremembered in the memory of the saints, unapproved in the giving of the peace, unprepared in the church, unworthy in communion, and in the sleep of their departure troubled and fearful and downcast and dark and in despair; concerning whom the Prophet proclaimed beforehand, that In that day all their thoughts shall perish.

2. Do you see how much damage sloth contains? The bitter sleep, and of souls

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ἀποθήκας πλατύναντα εἰς ἄμετρον ἔκτασιν. Ἆρα ἐπίστασαι ὁποία πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους αὐτῶν ἀπόφασις δέδοται; ἆρα μνημονεύεις τὰς τοιαύτας σκυθρωπὰς φωνάς; ἆρα κατέχεις κἂν βραχύ τι ῥῆμα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου ἐκ τῶν ἀναγνωσθέντων θείων ῥημάτων; Καὶ εἰ ταῦτα οὐ γινώσκεις, τί λοιπὸν συνάγῃ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, εἰπέ μοι; οὐχὶ ἵνα ἀκούσῃς τὰς φωνὰς, σπεύδεις συνάγεσθαι καὶ ὠφεληθῆναι; Εἰ μὲν οὖν διὰ τοῦτο συνάγῃ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἡ σπουδή σου ἐπαινετὴ, καὶ πληροῦται ἐπὶ σὲ τὸ τοῦ Κυρίου λόγιον· Τὰ ἐμὰ πρόβατα τῆς φωνῆς μου ἀκούει. Οἶδα γὰρ πολλοὺς συνερχομένους, οὐ διὰ Θεὸν, οὐδὲ δι' ἀκρόασιν τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ ῥημάτων. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ὁρῶ νυστάζοντας, τοὺς δὲ ὧδε κἀκεῖσε μετεωριζομένους, ἄλλους πρὸς φίλους διαλεγομένους· καὶ ὁ μὲν Κύριος ἡμῶν πρὸς ἡμᾶς διαλέγεται εὐσπλάγχνῳ φωνῇ λέγων, Ὑμεῖς φίλοι μού ἐστε· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐκεῖνον καταλιπόντες λαλοῦντα, τοὺς φίλους ἐντιμοτέρους ἐποιησάμεθα. Ἑτέρους ὁρῶ ἀτάκτως θορυβοῦντας, καὶ ταῦτα τολμῶσιν ἔτι τοῦ Θεοῦ λαλοῦντος πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Ὢ τῆς βαθείας ἀφροσύνης, ὢ τῆς ἀνιάτου ἀναισχυντίας, ὢ τῆς χαλεπῆς παραφρονήσεως. Βασιλεὺς ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν πολλάκις διαλέγεται πρὸς τὸν λαὸν, καὶ πάντες ὥσπερ ἄψυχοι στῆλαι ἄφθογγοι μένουσιν, ἄχρις ἂν καταπαύσῃ ὁ λαλῶν. Καὶ οὐ μόνον τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ γράμματα αὐτοῦ πολλάκις 60.684 ἀναγινωσκόμενα, ἐν τόπῳ πολλὴν ἡσυχίαν ποιοῦσι τοῖς περιεστῶσιν ἀκροαταῖς, ὡς δοκεῖν μὴ εἶναι ἐκεῖσέ τινα, ἀλλ' ἢ μόνον τὸν ἀναγινώσκοντα τὰ τοῦ βασιλέως γράμματα. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ προφῆται καὶ ἀπόστολοι καὶ πατριάρχαι, οἱ πάντων βασιλέων ὑψηλότεροι, διαλέγονται, τί βούλεται Θεὸς καὶ πῶς θεραπεύεται, καὶ ποίῳ τρόπῳ δυνησόμεθα διαπερᾶσαι τὴν χαλεπὴν θάλασσαν τοῦ βίου· ἡμεῖς δὲ λῆρον τὰ ῥήματα ἡγούμεθα, καὶ μᾶλλον ἀργοῖς ῥήμασι προσκαρτεροῦντες, ἀνάπαυσιν λογιζόμεθα. Ἆρα θεραπεύεται ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁ Κύριος, ὁ εἰπὼν πρὸς τοὺς ὁμιλοῦντας πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἁγίους, Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου; Καὶ τί λέγω περὶ λειτουργῶν καὶ δούλων; Αὐτοῦ τοῦ πάντων ∆εσπότου καὶ βασιλέως τῆς δόξης, ὃν φρίττει πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις, καὶ ὑμνεῖ πᾶσα πνοὴ, διὰ τῶν ἀχράντων Εὐαγγελίων διαλεγομένου πρὸς ἡμᾶς, νουθετοῦντος, ἀπειλοῦντος, παρακαλοῦντος, προσκαλουμένου, τὴν ἀπλήρωτον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀκήρατον βασιλείαν δωρουμένου, οὕτως αὐτῷ προσέχομεν, ὡς ὅτε ἀσθενὴς ἢ πτωχὸς ἄνθρωπος πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀδολεσχεῖ διαλεγόμενος, καὶ οὐδὲ κἂν ὡς φίλου τινὸς προσέχομεν. Ὄντως Μάταιοι υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ὄντως εὔκαιρον πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους εἰπεῖν, Μωροὶ, πότε φρονήσετε; Ἁρμόσει δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ ἕτερος τοῦ προφήτου στίχος ὁ λέγων, Ἐξέλειπον ἐν ματαιότητι αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτῶν· τὸν γὰρ ἀγγελικὸν ὕμνον καὶ τὰ θεῖα ῥήματα ἀποβαλόντες καὶ λῆρον ἡγησάμενοι, ἠγάπησαν ἀργολογίαν, καὶ προσελάβοντο ὕπνον. Ὕπνος δὲ τῶν τοιούτων οὐχ ὁ ὕπνος οὗτος, ἀλλ' ἡ ῥᾳθυμία ὁ χαλεπὸς ὕπνος τῆς ψυχῆς, ὁ ζημιωτὴς τῶν χαυνοτέρων, ἡ τυφλότης τῆς καρδίας, ἡ συλήτρια τῶν θησαυρῶν τοῦ Πνεύματος· περὶ οὗ ὁ Προφήτης ἐδέετο τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγων· Φώτισον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, μή ποτε ὑπνώσω εἰς θάνατον· περὶ οὗ καὶ Σολομὼν ἐντρεπτικώτερον ἔγραψε λέγων, Πότε ἐξ ὕπνου ἐγερθήσῃ; οἳ καὶ ἀκούσονται τὸ, Τί ἑστήκατε ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, ἤγουν ὅλον τὸν βίον ἀργοί; Οἱ τοιοῦτοι καὶ ἐν ταῖς συνάξεσιν ἀσύντακτοι, καὶ ἐν ἑορταῖς ἀνέορτοι, καὶ ἐν ταῖς εὐχαῖς ἀνευλόγητοι, ἐν τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν ἁγίων ἀμνημόνευτοι, ἐν τῷ τὴν εἰρήνην διδόναι ἀδόκιμοι, ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀνέτοιμοι, ἐν τῇ μεταλήψει ἀνάξιοι, ἐν τῇ κοιμήσει τῆς ἐξόδου τεταραγμένοι καὶ ἔμφοβοι καὶ κατηφεῖς καὶ σκοτεινοὶ καὶ ἀπεγνωσμένοι· περὶ ὧν ὁ Προφήτης προεκήρυξεν, ὅτι Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπολοῦνται πάντες οἱ διαλογισμοὶ αὐτῶν.

βʹ. Εἶδες πόσην ζημίαν περιέχει ἡ ῥᾳθυμία; Ὁ πικρὸς ὕπνος, καὶ τῶν ψυχῶν