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of a judge and calls himself ashes. Considering this voice, let one practice forbearance, let him emulate humility, let him yield the first place to his neighbor, let him not be puffed up in dignity, let him not be inflamed in power, let him not be arrogant in his belt of office, let him not hope in wealth, let him not kick back in health, let him not be boastful in eloquence. For he who is in honor today, tomorrow is in the earth; he who is in glory today, tomorrow is in a coffin; he who is on a throne today, tomorrow is in lamentation; he who is in pride today, tomorrow is in a tomb; he who is on the tribunal today, tomorrow is at the monument; he who is a general today, tomorrow is ashes; he who is brilliant today, tomorrow is clay; he who is conspicuous today, tomorrow is abominable; he who is visible today, tomorrow is invisible; he who is strutting today, tomorrow is wrapped in funeral swaddling clothes and bonds; he who is eloquent today, tomorrow is speechless; he who is escorted by flatterers today, tomorrow is consumed by worms; he who is handsome today, tomorrow is unsightly; he who is burdensome today, tomorrow is hideous. The wise man said well, "Why is earth and ashes proud?" Knowing these things, Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, said in her prayer, offering her child to God: "Let not the mighty man boast in his might, and let not the rich man boast in his riches; but let him who boasts boast in this, in understanding and knowing the Lord." "Let not the wise man boast," she says; for when he becomes ashes, the wise man is unwise. Let not the mighty man boast; for appearing as clay in the tomb, like grass, he casts off the flower of his body. Let not the rich man boast; for he is a sojourner and stranger to his wealth, as David the psalmist said. But when she says, "the wise man, the mighty man, the rich man," she brought down the pride of all 60.716 who have hoped in the uncertainty of the present surge. For present things are truly a surge and a sea, and the end of each is uncertain, as experience is the teacher; present things are a surge and a sea; and successive waves raising a storm for the soul each day. For it puffs one up with honor, another with a belt of office, it breaks another’s neck with power, it leads another down a cliff with wealth or beauty; and it has pushed all, so to speak, by gusts of desire into the abyss of passions. But you, O faithful one, according to the Apostle, O man of God, flee the waves of desire, turn aside from the surges of life; and having become superior to the passions, as to waves, sail the sea of life, having entrusted the little boat of your soul to the saving wood. Let the cross be your mast, faith your anchor, hope your rope, prayer your oar, right reasonings your rudders, Christ your sail, the Holy Spirit your fair wind, the Father of all your pilot. If you sail thus, the conclusion of your life will not be uncertain. For thus sailing, Noah sailed unharmed across that ecumenical sea; thus sailing, Abraham yielded the first place to Lot, and called himself earth, and for this reason, together with Isaac, he obtained what he longed for; thus sailing, Jacob remained unfeigned and untroubled by storms, asking from God only bread and a garment, not wealth; for those who desire to be rich fall into temptation. thus sailing, Joseph escaped the tempest of plotting and pleasure; thus sailing, Moses, and Joshua and the rest of the choir of prophets and righteous ones, as into a waveless harbor, entrusted themselves, like a skiff, into the right hand of the Creator; For, it says, "the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God," those who converse with God, and call themselves earth and ashes, having the divine right hand as their harbor after sailing well. But indeed, O the madness, O the derangement of mind! For Abraham converses with God, was ordained father of nations, the sojourner was heir of the promise, he offered his firstborn like a sheep, and yet he called himself earth and ashes; but those now, who have become not masters but stewards of the smallest piece of earth, of a temporary or ephemeral dignity

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κριτοῦ καὶ σποδὸν καλεῖ ἑαυτόν. Ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν λογισάμενός τις ἐπιείκειαν ἀσκείτω, ταπεινοφροσύνην ζηλούτω, τῷ πλησίον τῶν πρωτείων παραχωρείτω, ἐν ἀξίᾳ μὴ ἐπαιρέσθω, ἐν δυναστείᾳ μὴ φλεγμαινέτω, ἐν ζώνῃ μὴ ὀφρυούσθω, ἐν πλούτῳ μὴ ἐλπιζέτω, ἐν ὑγιείᾳ μὴ λακτιζέτω, ἐν εὐγλωττίᾳ μὴ ἀλαζονευέσθω. Ὁ γὰρ τήμερον ἐν τιμῇ, αὔριον ἐν γῇ· ὁ τήμερον ἐν δόξῃ, αὔριον ἐν θήκῃ· ὁ τήμερον ἐν θρόνῳ, αὔριον ἐν θρήνῳ· ὁ τήμερον ἐν τύφῳ, αὔριον ἐν τάφῳ· ὁ τήμερον ἐπὶ βήματος, αὔριον ἐπὶ μνήματος· ὁ τήμερον στρατηγὸς, αὔριον σποδός· ὁ τήμερον λαμπρὸς, αὔριον πηλός· ὁ τήμερον ἐπίβλεπτος, αὔριον βδελυκτός· ὁ τήμερον ἐμφανὴς, αὔριον ἀφανής· ὁ τήμερον σοβῶν, αὔριον σπάργανα περικείμενος ἐπιτάφια καὶ δεσμά· ὁ τήμερον εὔγλωττος, αὔριον ἄφωνος· ὁ τήμερον ὑπὸ κολάκων δορυφορούμενος, αὔριον ὑπὸ σκωλήκων δαπανώμενος· ὁ τήμερον εὐειδὴς, αὔριον δυσειδής· ὁ τήμερον ἐπαχθὴς, αὔριον εἰδεχθής. Καλῶς ἔλεγεν ὁ σοφὸς, Τί ὑπερηφανεύεται γῆ καὶ σποδός; Ταῦτα εἰδυῖα Ἄννα ἡ τοῦ προφήτου μήτηρ Σαμουὴλ εὐχομένη ἔλεγε, τὸν παῖδα προσφέρουσα Θεῷ· Μὴ καυχάσθω ὁ ἰσχυρὸς ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ καυχάσθω ὁ πλούσιος ἐν τῷ πλούτῳ αὐτοῦ· ἀλλ' ἐν τούτῳ καυχάσθω ὁ καυχώμενος, ἐν τῷ συνιεῖν καὶ γινώσκειν τὸν Κύριον. Μὴ καυχάσθω, φησὶν, ὁ σοφός· σποδὸς γὰρ γινόμενος, ἄσοφος ὁ σοφός. Μὴ καυχάσθω ὁ ἰσχυρός· πηλὸς γὰρ ἐν τάφῳ φανεὶς, ὃν τρόπον χόρτος, ἀποβάλλει τοῦ σώματος τὸ ἄνθος. Μὴ καυχάσθω ὁ πλούσιος· πάροικος γὰρ οὗτος τοῦ πλούτου καὶ παρεπίδημος, καθὼς ὁ ψάλλων ἔλεγε ∆αυΐδ. Ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ, ὁ σοφὸς, ὁ ἰσχυρὸς, ὁ πλούσιος, πάντων 60.716 τὴν ὀφρὺν ἐχάλασε τῶν ἠλπικότων ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ παρόντος κλύδωνος ἀδηλότητα. Κλύδων γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς τὰ παρόντα καὶ θάλαττα, καὶ τὸ ἑκάστου πέρας ἄδηλον, ὡς ἡ πεῖρα διδάσκαλος· κλύδων τὰ παρόντα καὶ θάλαττα· καὶ ἀλλεπάλληλα κύματα καθ' ἑκάστην τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ζάλην ἐγείροντα. Τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τιμῇ, τὸν δὲ ἐπὶ ζώνῃ φυσᾷ, ἄλλον ἐπὶ δυναστείαν ἐκτραχηλίζει, ἕτερον πλούτῳ ἢ κάλλει ἄγει κατὰ κρημνοῦ· πάντας δὲ, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἐν ἐπιθυμίαις πνεύματος εἰς τὸν τῶν παθῶν ὤθησε βυθόν. Ἀλλὰ σὺ, πιστὲ, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον, ἄνθρωπε τοῦ Θεοῦ, φεῦγε τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τὰ κύματα, ἔκκλινε τῶν τοῦ βίου κλυδώνων· ἀνώτερος δὲ τῶν παθῶν, ὡς κυμάτων γενόμενος, πλέε τοῦ βίου τὴν θάλασσαν, σωτηρίῳ ξύλῳ ἐμπιστεύσας τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ ἐφόλκιον. Ἱστός σοι γινέσθω σταυρὸς, ἄγκυρα πίστις, σχοῖνος ἐλπὶς, κώπη εὐχὴ, οἴακες ὀρθοὶ λογισμοὶ, ὀθόνη Χριστὸς, οὐριοδρόμον Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, κυβερνήτης ὁ τῶν ὅλων Πατήρ. Ἂν οὕτω πλέῃς, οὐκ ἄδηλόν σοι τὸ τοῦ βίου συμπέρασμα. Οὕτω γὰρ πλεύσας Νῶε ἀβλαβῶς τὸ οἰκουμενικὸν ἐκεῖνο διέπλευσε πέλαγος· οὕτω πλεύσας Ἀβραὰμ τῶν πρωτείων παρεχώρει τῷ Λὼτ, καὶ γῆν ὠνόμαζεν ἑαυτὸν, καὶ τούτου χάριν ἅμα Ἰσαὰκ ἔτυχεν ὧν ἐπόθησεν· οὕτω πλεύσας Ἰακὼβ ἄπλαστος μεμένηκε καὶ ἀχείμαστος, ἄρτον μόνον καὶ ἱμάτιον παρὰ Θεοῦ, οὐ πλοῦτον αἰτῶν· οἱ γὰρ σπεύδοντες πλουτεῖν ἐμπίπτουσιν εἰς πειρασμόν. Οὕτω πλεύσας Ἰωσὴφ, τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς καὶ τῆς ἡδονῆς τὴν ζάλην διέφυγεν· οὕτω πλεύσας Μωϋσῆς, Ἰησοῦς τε καὶ ὁ λοιπὸς τῶν προφητῶν χορὸς καὶ δικαίων, ὡς εἰς ὅρμον ἀκύμαντον, ἐν τῇ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ δεξιᾷ, καθάπερ σκάφος παρέθεντο ἑαυτούς· ∆ικαίων, γὰρ, φησὶ, ψυχαὶ ἐν χειρὶ Θεοῦ, μετὰ τοῦ πλεῖν καλῶς τὸν ὅρμον ἐχόντων τὴν θείαν δεξιὰν, τῶν ὁμιλούντων Θεῷ, καὶ γῆν καὶ σποδὸν καλούντων ἑαυτούς. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ, ὢ τῆς παραπληξίας, ὢ τῆς τῶν φρενῶν ἐκστάσεως· Θεῷ γὰρ ὁμιλεῖ Ἀβραὰμ, πατὴρ κεχειροτόνητο ἐθνῶν, τῆς ἐπαγγελίας κληρονόμος ὁ πάροικος, ὡς πρόβατον προσέφερε τὸν πρωτότοκον, καὶ γῆν καὶ σποδὸν ἐκάλει ἑαυτόν· οἱ δὲ νῦν βραχυτάτης γῆς οὐ δεσπόται, ἀλλ' οἰκονόμοι γενόμενοι, προσκαίρου ἢ ἐφημέρου ἀξίας