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calling the righteous and saying: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. 1.10.1 And it came to pass that the poor man died. There is a certain double meaning concerning the poor man: the one indicating a lack of necessities, and the other moderation of mind and humility of character. Therefore, let not the one who is destitute of material things and lacking money, and is clothed in a pitiful cloak, appropriate to himself the praise of virtue, nor let him think that want will be sufficient for his salvation. 1.10.2 For not he who is poor by necessity is praised, but he who voluntarily moderates his mind is admired. Since for those who are simply destitute, but have an undisciplined or uncorrected character, their poverty by necessity becomes a provision for many and wicked deeds of daring. And I have seen that all the house-breakers and kidnappers, and moreover the clothes-stealers and thieves and the murderers themselves, whenever I attended a magistrate's court, were poor men, unknown, homeless, without a hearth. 1.10.3 From this it is manifest that Scripture now blesses that poor man who bears his toils with a philosophic soul, and who endures nobly the circumstances of life and does no evil wrong, in order to grant his flesh the enjoyment of luxury. Whom the Lord also describes more clearly in the first of the beatitudes, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Therefore, not every poor man is righteous, but one such as Lazarus, nor is every rich man despaired of, but one living with such a disposition as the contemporary of Lazarus had; and of this the witnesses through the experience of life are manifest. 1.10.4 For who was richer than the divine Job? But nevertheless his excessive wealth neither estranged the man from righteousness, nor, to put it briefly, banished him from virtue. Who was poorer than Iscariot? And he gained nothing from his poverty for salvation, but living together with the eleven poor and philosopher disciples and with the Lord Himself, who for our sakes willingly became poor, through the evil of his disposition he was carried away into the love of money, and from there he also easily committed the betrayal. 1.11.1 It is worthwhile also to examine wisely the funeral procession of each of the dead. For the poor man, having fallen asleep, had angels as bodyguards and attendants, leading him with good hope to the place of rest; but the rich man, it says, died and was buried. For there is nothing like using the scriptural word itself, which sufficiently explains through a single word the dishonorable end of the rich man. 1.11.2 For the sinner, when he dies, is truly buried, being earthly in body and earthy also in soul, and having brought down her natural dignity to matter through sympathy with the flesh, leaving behind no good memorial of his own life, but being covered with dishonorable oblivion and dying the death of beasts. For the tomb has the body, and Hades the soul; two dark prisons dividing the punishment of the wicked creature. 1.11.3 And who would not blame the wretched man for his folly? when he was above the earth exulting, boasting, looking down on all his companions and fellow men and all but calling those he met ants and worms, and being burst asunder by the empty pride of his short-lived glory; but when he was torn away from life and like a flogged slave was deprived of the things of others, of which he foolishly thought he was master, he is brought down to a humility that counterbalances his arrogance, and uttering the long and fruitless laments of a wailing old woman, he calls upon the patriarch, saying: 1.11.4 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame,' seeking the mercy which he did not give when he had the ready power to do good; and asking that Lazarus come to him as a helper against the fire; praying to suck the slightly moistened finger of the leper

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προσκαλούμενον τοὺς δικαίους καὶ λέγοντα· ∆εῦτε, οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν. 1.10.1 Ἐγένετο δὲ ἀποθανεῖν τὸν πτωχόν. ∆ιπλῆ τις ἐστὶν ἡ περὶ τὸν πτωχὸν σημασία· ἡ μὲν δηλοῦσα τῶν ἀναγκαίων τὴν ἔνδειαν, ἡ δὲ τὴν μετριοφροσύνην καὶ τοῦ ἤθους τὴν ταπεινότητα. Μὴ τοίνυν ὁ τῶν ὑλῶν ἀπόρως ἔχων καὶ πενόμενος ἀργυρίου, ἠμφιεσμένος δὲ τὴν ἐλεεινὴν ἐφεστρίδα, οἰκειούσθω τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν ἔπαινον, μηδὲ νομιζέτω ἀρκέσειν αὐτῷ τὴν ἔνδειαν πρὸς σωτηρίαν. 1.10.2 Οὐ γὰρ ὁ κατ' ἀνάγκην πενόμενος ἐπαινεῖται, ἀλλ' ὁ τὴν γνώμην αὐθαιρέτως μετριάζων θαυμάζεται. Ἐπεὶ τοῖς ἀπορουμένοις ἁπλῶς, ἔχουσι δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἀπαιδαγώγητον ἢ ἀκατόρθωτον, ἐφόδιον γίνεται πολλῶν καὶ πονηρῶν τολμημάτων ἡ πρὸς ἀνάγκην ἀκτημοσύνη. Καὶ πάντας ἐγὼ τοὺς τοιχωρύχους καὶ ἀνδρα ποδιστάς, ἔτι μὴν λωποδύτας καὶ κλέπτας καὶ τοὺς ἀνδροφόνους αὐτούς, εἴ ποτε παρέβαλον ἀρχοντικῷ κριτηρίῳ, πένητας ἐθεασάμην, ἀγνώστους, ἀοίκους, ἀνεστίους. 1.10.3 Ὡς ἐκ τούτου πρόδηλον εἶναι, ὅτι μακαρίζει νῦν ἡ Γραφὴ τὸν πτωχὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν φιλοσόφῳ ψυχῇ τοὺς μόχθους βαστάζοντα, καρτεροῦντα δὲ γενναίως πρὸς τὰς περιστάσεις τοῦ βίου καὶ οὐδὲν κακουργοῦντα πονηρόν, ἵνα τῇ σαρκὶ χαρίσηται τῆς τρυφῆς τὴν ἀπό λαυσιν. Ὃν καὶ σαφέστερον διαγράφει ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν μακαρισμῶν ὁ Κύριος λέγων· Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι. Οὔτε οὖν πᾶς πτωχὸς δίκαιος, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος οἷος ὁ Λάζαρος, οὔτε πᾶς πλούσιος ἀπεγνωσμένος, ἀλλ' ὁ μετὰ τοιαύτης ζῶν προαιρέσεως, οἵαν εἶχεν ὁ τοῦ Λαζάρου σύγχρονος· καὶ τούτου οἱ διὰ τῆς πείρας τοῦ βίου μάρτυρες πρόδηλοι. 1.10.4 Τί γὰρ τοῦ θείου Ἰὼβ πλουσιώτερον; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἡ εἰς ἄγαν εὐπορία τὸν ἄνδρα οὔτε τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἠλλοτρίωσεν, οὔτε συλ λήβδην εἰπεῖν, τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐξώρισεν. Τί τοῦ Ἰσκαριώτου πενέστερον; Καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπώνατο τῆς ἐνδείας εἰς σωτηρίαν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἕνδεκα πένησι καὶ φιλοσόφοις συνδιαιτώμενος καὶ αὐτῷ γε τῷ Κυρίῳ, τῷ δι' ἡμᾶς αὐθαιρέτως πτωχεύσαντι, κακίᾳ προαιρέσεως εἰς φιλαργυρίαν παρενεχθεὶς ἐκεῖθεν καὶ τὴν προδοσίαν ἐρᾳδιούργησεν. 1.11.1 Ἄξιον δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐκφορὰν ἑκατέρου τῶν τεθνηκότων συνετῶς δοκιμάσαι. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ πτωχὸς κοιμηθεὶς ἀγγέλους εἶχεν δορυφόρους καὶ θεραπευτάς, ἄγοντας αὐτὸν μετὰ καλῆς τῆς ἐλπίδος εἰς τὸν τόπον τῆς ἀναπαύσεως· ὁ δὲ πλούσιος ἀποθανών, φησίν, ἐτάφη. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οἷον αὐτῇ χρήσασθαι τῇ λέξει τῇ γραφικῇ, ἱκανῶς διὰ μιᾶς λέξεως ἑρμηνευούσῃ τὴν ἄτιμον τοῦ πλουσίου κατάλυσιν. 1.11.2 Ὁ γὰρ ἁμαρτωλὸς τελευτῶν ὄντως θάπτεται, χθόνιος ὢν τὸ σῶμα, γήινος δὲ καὶ τὴν ψυχήν, καὶ τὸ φυσικὸν ἐκείνης ἀξίωμα τῇ συμπαθείᾳ τῆς σαρκὸς πρὸς τὴν ὕλην καταγαγών, οὐδὲν χρηστὸν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ζωῆς καταλιμπάνων ὑπόμνημα, λήθῃ δὲ ἀτίμῳ καλυπτόμενος καὶ τὸν τῶν βοσκημάτων θάνατον τελευτῶν. Τάφος μὲν γὰρ ἔχει τὸ σῶμα, ᾅδης δὲ τὴν ψυχήν· δύο σκοτεινὰ δεσμωτήρια μεριζόμενα τοῦ πονηροῦ ζῴου τὴν τιμωρίαν. 1.11.3 Καὶ τίς οὐκ ἂν τῆς ἀβουλίας τὸν ἄθλιον καταμέμψαιτο; ἡνίκα μὲν ὑπὲρ γῆς ἦν γαυριῶντα, μεγαλαυχούμενον, πάντων ὑπερφρονοῦντα τῶν συζώντων καὶ ὁμοφύλων καὶ μονονουχὶ μύρμηκας καὶ σκώληκας ἀποκαλοῦντα τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας, κενῷ δὲ φρονήματι τῆς ὀλιγοχρονίου δόξης διαρρηγνύμενον· ἡνίκα δὲ ἀπεσπάσθη τοῦ βίου καὶ ὡς μαστιγίας δοῦλος ἀφῃρέθη τῶν ἀλλοτρίων, ὧν ἐξ ἀνοίας ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι δεσπότης, εἰς ἀντίρροπον τῆς ὑπερηφανίας καταφέρεται ταπεινότητα, καὶ γραὸς θρηνούσης ὀδυρμοὺς προβαλλόμενος μακρὰ καὶ ἀνόνητα τὸν πατριάρχην ἐπικαλεῖται λέγων· 1.11.4 « Πάτερ Ἀβραάμ, ἐλέησον με καὶ πέμψον Λάζαρον, ἵνα βάψῃ τὸ ἄκρον τοῦ δακτύλου αὐτοῦ ὕδατος καὶ καταψύξῃ τὴν γλῶσσαν μου, ὅτι ὀδυνῶμαι ἐν τῇ φλογὶ ταύτῃ», ζητῶν ἔλεον, ὃν οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἡνίκα τοῦ εὐεργετεῖν πρόχειρον εἶχεν τὴν ἐξουσίαν· ἀξιῶν δὲ αὐτῷ βοηθὸν κατὰ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀφικέσθαι τὸν Λάζαρον· εὐχόμενος ἀπομυζῆσαι τοῦ λεπροῦ τὸν δάκτυλον ὀλίγον νενοτισμένον