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to consider it to be his, since it belongs to others. For indeed our possessions then most truly become ours, when we are always possessing them not for ourselves, but 54.586 for the poor. And how, I will tell you. If you place the silver in the right hand of the poor man, no slanderer attacks it, no envious eye sees it, no robber steals it, no housebreaker digs through, no servant takes it and runs away; for that treasury is inviolable. But if you bury it at home, you make the gold liable to the robber and the housebreaker and the envious and the slanderer and the servant and every harm. Often indeed, with countless doors and bars it has escaped the threats from without, but it has not escaped the guards, but those guarding it have taken it and run away. Do you see that we are more the masters of our possessions then, when we entrust them to the poor. And not only for the sake of protection is that place safer, but it is also the source of profit and of greater income. For if you lend to a man, you have received one percent interest; but if you lend to God through the poor man, not one percent, but a hundredfold will you receive. And if you sow a fertile field, when it brings a great yield, you will carry off the seeds tenfold; but if you sow into heaven, after it has become a hundredfold, you will also receive life eternal and ageless and immortal. And here indeed the labor is great for those who cast the seeds; but there, without plow and oxen and farmers and all the other hardship, the crop of what was sown grows, and for those sowing there, there is never drought, nor excessive rains, nor blight, nor hail, nor an army of locusts, nor floodings of rivers, nor any other thing at all to fear; but the seeds sown there stand above all harm. When, therefore, there is neither labor, nor danger, nor suspicion, nor any misfortune, and what grows becomes much more than what was sown, and such good things sprout forth, "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man," how would it not be a mark of the utmost indifference, to let go of the greater and pursue the lesser, and abandoning what is safe, to go after that which is untrustworthy and full of dangers and has many failures? For what pardon will there be for us if we do this, and what defense? We plead poverty, no doubt; but we are not poorer than that widow, who having only two mites, cast in even these. Let us then emulate her wealth, let us imitate the magnanimity of her purpose, so that we may also obtain the good things laid up for her; of which may we all be counted worthy, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY II. Why, in the case of the sun and moon and heaven and the others, did he say, "Let there be"; but in the case of man, "Let us make"? and what does "According to" mean?

the image. 1. Do you remember the questions that were previously proposed to you? For to such a point of recklessness and boldness have you raised us, as even now to dare to address questions; or rather, this would not be a matter of boldness, nor of recklessness. For not trusting in our own strength, but having cast our all upon the prayers 54.587 of the presidents and upon yours, we have stripped for the arena. But the prayer of the Church is so powerful, as, even if we were more speechless than stones, to make our tongue lighter than any wing. For just as a west wind into the midst

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τούτου νομίζειν εἶναι αὐτὴν, ἐπειδὴ τῶν ξένων ἐστί. Καὶ γὰρ τὰ ἡμέτερα κτήματα τότε μάλιστα ἡμέτερα γίνεται, ὅταν μὴ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ 54.586 τοῖς πένησιν αὐτὰ κεκτημένοι διαπαντὸς ὦμεν. Καὶ πῶς, ἐγὼ λέγω. Ἂν εἰς δεξιὰν τοῦ πένητος ἀποθῇς τὸ ἀργύριον, οὐ συκοφάντης ἐπιτίθεται, οὐ βάσκανος ὀφθαλμὸς ὁρᾷ, οὐ λῃστὴς ὑφαιρεῖται, οὐ τοιχωρύχος διορύξας, οὐκ οἰκέτης ἀφελόμενος ἀποδιδράσκει· καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ἄσυλον ἐκεῖνο τὸ ταμιεῖον. Ἂν δὲ οἴκοι κατορύξῃς, καὶ λῃστῇ καὶ τοιχωρύχῳ καὶ βασκάνῳ καὶ συκοφάντῃ καὶ οἰκέτῃ καὶ πάσῃ βλάβῃ ποιεῖς ὑπεύθυνον τὸ χρυσίον. Πολλάκις γοῦν μετὰ θύρας μυρίας καὶ μοχλοὺς τὰς μὲν ἔξωθεν ἐπηρείας διέφυγε, τοὺς δὲ φύλακας οὐ διέφυγεν, ἀλλ' οἱ τηροῦντες αὐτὸ λαβόντες ἀπέδρασαν. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι τότε μᾶλλον κύριοι τῶν κτημάτων ἐσμὲν, ὅταν τοῖς πένησιν αὐτὰ παρακαταθώμεθα. Οὐ φυλακῆς δὲ ἕνεκα μόνον ἐκεῖνο ἀσφαλέστερον τὸ χωρίον, ἀλλὰ καὶ κέρδους καὶ προσόδου πλείονός ἐστιν ὑπόθεσις. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ ἀνθρώπῳ δανείσῃς, ἑκατοστὴν ἔλαβες· ἂν δὲ Θεῷ δανείσῃς διὰ τοῦ πένητος, οὐχ ἑκατοστὴν, ἀλλ' ἑκατονταπλασίονα λήψῃ. Κἂν μὲν σπείρῃς εὔφορον ἄρουραν, ὅταν πολλὴν ἐνέγκῃ τὴν φορὰν, δεκαπλασίονα οἴσῃ τὰ σπέρματα· ἂν δὲ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν σπείρῃς, μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι ἑκατονταπλασίονα, καὶ ζωὴν αἰώνιον καὶ ἀγήρω καὶ ἀθάνατον ἀπολήψῃ. Καὶ ἐνταῦθα μὲν πολὺς ὁ πόνος τοῖς τὰ σπέρματα καταβάλλουσιν· ἐκεῖ δὲ χωρὶς ἀρότρου καὶ βοῶν καὶ γηπόνων καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ταλαιπωρίας ἁπάσης ἡ τῶν καταβληθέντων φορὰ φύεται, καὶ οὐκ αὐχμὸν, οὐκ ἐπομβρίας, οὐκ ἐρυσίβην, οὐ χάλαζαν, οὐκ ἀκρίδος στρατόπεδον, οὐ ποταμῶν ἐπικλύσεις, οὐκ ἄλλο τι οὐδὲν ἐκεῖ σπείροντάς ἐστι φοβηθῆναί ποτε· ἀλλὰ πάσης ἀνωτέρω βλάβης ἕστηκε τὰ ἐκεῖ καταβαλλόμενα σπέρματα. Ὅταν οὖν μήτε πόνος, μήτε κίνδυνος, μήτε ὑποψία, μήτε ὑποτυχία τις ᾖ, καὶ πολλῷ πλείονα τῶν καταβαλλομένων γένηται τὰ φυόμενα, καὶ τοσαῦτα βλαστάνῃ ἀγαθὰ, Ὅσα οὔτε ὀφθαλμὸς εἶδεν, οὔτε οὖς ἤκουσεν, οὔτε ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου ἀνέβη, πῶς οὐκ ἂν εἴη ῥᾳθυμίας ἐσχάτης, τὸ πλέον ἀφέντας, τὸ ἔλαττον διώκειν, καὶ τὸ ἀσφαλὲς καταλιπόντας, τὸ ἄπιστον καὶ κινδύνων γέμον καὶ πολλὰς ἔχον ἀποτυχίας μετιέναι; Τίς γὰρ ἡμῖν ἔσται συγγνώμη τοῦτο ποιοῦσι, ποία δὲ ἀπολογία; Πενίαν προβαλλόμεθα πάντως· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐσμὲν τῆς χήρας ἐκείνης πενέστεροι, ἣ δύο λεπτὰ ἔχουσα μόνα, καὶ ταῦτα κατεβάλετο. Ζηλώσωμεν τοίνυν ἐκείνης τὸν πλοῦτον, μιμησώμεθα τῆς προαιρέσεως τὴν μεγαλοψυχίαν, ἵνα καὶ τῶν ἐκείνῃ ἀποκειμένων ἀγαθῶν ἐπιτύχωμεν· ὧν γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς καταξιωθῆναι, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ, ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, δόξα, κράτος, τιμὴ, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ Βʹ. Τί δήποτε ἐπὶ μὲν ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἶπε, Γενηθήτω· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, Ποιήσωμεν; καὶ τί ποτέ ἐστι τὸ, Κατ'

εἰκόνα. αʹ. Ἆρα μέμνησθε τῶν ζητημάτων τῶν πρώην προτεθέντων ὑμῖν; Εἰς τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἀπονοίας καὶ τόλμης ἐπήρατε, ὡς καὶ ζητημάτων ἤδη κατατολμᾷν· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἂν εἴη τόλμης, οὐδὲ ἀπονοίας τοῦτο. Οὐ γὰρ οἰκείᾳ δυνάμει θαῤῥήσαντες, ἀλλὰ ταῖς εὐχαῖς 54.587 τῶν προέδρων καὶ ταῖς ὑμετέραις τὸ πᾶν ἐπιῤῥίψαντες ἀπεδυσάμεθα πρὸς τὸ στάδιον. Εὐχὴ δὲ Ἐκκλησίας τοσοῦτον δύναται, ὡς εἰ καὶ λίθων ἦμεν ἀφωνότεροι, πτεροῦ παντὸς κουφοτέραν ἡμῖν τὴν γλῶτταν ἐργάσασθαι. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ζέφυρος εἰς μέσα