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gold. For all your things, such as they are, compared to my gifts are grass and clay; for your things are earthly, but mine are heavenly; all your things are withering, but mine are light, life and joy and rest.

I know what things you have done for me, I know what things you cut from your own mouth, and filled my soul; I understand, and I have not forgotten how you showed me hospitality; and because of all these things, whatever good things exist in heaven and on earth, I grant to you, my friends, for ever and ever.

3. See, brothers, the profit of almsgiving, you have known its strength,

you have learned its power, you have understood its benefit. Then, he says, the Lord says to those on the left, to the unmerciful, to those who spend their lives shamefully: For I was hungry, he says, and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink, and so on. How many times did I come to your door seeking a commandment, and you turned me away empty-handed? how many times did I come to your houses, and saw a table full of all kinds of good things, feeding harlots and dancers and flatterers, and you did not deem me worthy even of a fragment of bread? For was I seeking your things? And from my own things you did not give me to eat. How many times did I come to your houses with a harsh winter upon me, naked and unshod, unable even to speak from the force and the necessity; but you, having given orders, having scorned me, left me outside, and did not even consider me as one of the little dogs? And for this reason, depart from me, you cursed, into the outer fire, where the worm does not sleep, 60.704 and there is gnashing of teeth; because not only did you not have mercy on me, but you also often hindered those wanting to have mercy on me, and you persuaded them, saying, The poor are thieves; why do you have mercy on them? You fed the dogs, you cared for the horses, you took care of the cattle and looked after donkeys, and you were concerned for pigs and sheep; but my members, the poor and the weak, you never had mercy on; thus you too will not receive mercy. Do you not know, wretched ones, that through the poor every person has salvation? have you not read that I called them my brothers? have you not heard the Scripture saying, He who has mercy on the poor, lends to God? have you not learned that judgment is without mercy for those who have not practiced mercy? O how the poor, my brothers, cried out, lamenting, weeping and mourning? what word did they not cry out to bend your relentless heart, saying, Have mercy, help, give, you doers of good, give, you merciful, give, you friends of God, give, you compassionate, and devising countless other words and gestures able to soften even stones, and to make savage beasts tame; but you hardened your hearts, and not only did you not have mercy and comfort them, but you even pursued them from place to place, so that many died from hunger and cold?

O how many orphans you have wronged, how many widows you have defrauded, how many weak you have afflicted, how many oppressed you have made naked and captive? O of how many hired men have you withheld wages, for which you will also be punished eternally? Have you not learned from the five foolish virgins, that every virtue without almsgiving profits nothing? Whether you say virginity, or fasting, or prayer, or vigil, and dry eating and hunger and thirst, or whatever you say without almsgiving, it is nothing. So what shall I say to your inhuman disposition? For this reason, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire. For into my palace an unmerciful one does not enter, into the heavenly mansions an uncompassionate one is not deemed worthy; into my paradise an evil or blasphemous or wicked person does not come; into my bridal chamber a fornicator or an adulterer or a sodomite will not be deemed worthy; at my table a harsh or ungenerous one will not recline; into the mansions above a robber

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χρυσόν. Πάντα γὰρ τὰ ὑμέτερα, οἷά εἰσι, πρὸς τὰς ἐμὰς δωρεὰς χόρτος εἰσὶ καὶ πηλός· τὰ γὰρ ὑμέτερα ἐπίγεια, τὰ δὲ ἐμὰ ἐπουράνια· τὰ ὑμέτερα πάντα μαραινόμενα, τὰ δὲ ἐμὰ φῶς, ζωὴ καὶ χαρὰ καὶ ἀνάπαυσις.

Οἶδα ἐγὼ ὅσα μοι ἐποιήσατε, γινώσκω ἐγὼ ὅσα ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν ἀπεκόψατε, καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν ψυχὴν ἐνεπλήσατε· ἐπίσταμαι, καὶ οὐκ ἐπελαθόμην ὅσα με ἐξενοδοχήσατε· καὶ διὰ ταῦτα πάντα, ὅσα ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ὅσα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὑπάρχει ἀγαθὰ, ὑμῖν χαρίζομαι τοῖς φίλοις μου εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος.

γʹ. Εἴδετε, ἀδελφοὶ, τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης τὸ κέρδος, ἔγνωτε αὐτῆς τὴν ἰσχὺν,

ἐμάθετε αὐτῆς τὴν δύναμιν, κατενοήσατε αὐτῆς τὴν ὠφέλειαν. Εἶτα, φησὶν, ὁ Κύριος πρὸς τοὺς εὐωνύμους λέγει, πρὸς τοὺς ἀνηλεεῖς, πρὸς τοὺς αἰσχρῶς τὸν βίον δαπανῶντας· Ἐπείνασα γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ οὐκ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν· ἐδίψησα, καὶ οὐκ ἐποτίσατέ με, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Πόσα ἦλθον εἰς τὴν θύραν ὑμῶν ζητῶν ἐντολὴν, καὶ ἄπρακτόν με ἀπεστρέψατε; πόσα ἦλθον εἰς τοὺς οἴκους ὑμῶν, καὶ εἶδον τράπεζαν παντοίων ἀγαθῶν μεστὴν, καὶ πόρνας τρέφουσαν καὶ ὀρχηστὰς καὶ κόλακας, καὶ ἐμὲ κἂν κλάσματος ἄρτου οὐκ ἠξιώσατε; Μὴ γὰρ τὰ ὑμέτερα ἐζήτουν; Καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν οὐκ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν. Πόσα ἦλθον εἰς τοὺς οἴκους ὑμῶν χειμῶνος σφοδροῦ ἐπικειμένου, γυμνὸς καὶ ἀνυπόδετος, μηδὲ λαλῆσαι δυνάμενος ἀπὸ τῆς βίας καὶ τῆς ἀνάγκης· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐπιτάξαντες, ἐξουθενήσαντες, ἔξωθέν με ἐγκατελίπετε, καὶ οὐδὲ κἂν ὡς ἕνα τῶν κυναρίων ἐλογίσασθε; Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πορεύεσθε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, οἱ κατηραμένοι, εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ ἐξώτερον, ὅπου ὁ σκώληξ ὁ ἀκοίμητος, 60.704 καὶ βρυγμὸς ὀδόντων· ὅτι οὐ μόνον ὑμεῖς με οὐκ ἠλεήσατε, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς θέλοντάς με πολλάκις ἐλεεῖν ἐκωλύετε, καὶ ἐπείθετε λέγοντες, ὅτι Κλέπται εἰσὶν οἱ πτωχοί· τί ἐλεεῖτε αὐτούς; Τοὺς κύνας ἐτρέφετε, τοὺς ἵππους ἐθεραπεύετε, τῶν κτηνῶν ἐπεμελεῖσθε καὶ ἐπεβλέπετε ὄνους, καὶ χοίρους καὶ πρόβατα ἐμεριμνᾶτε· τὰ δὲ ἐμὰ μέλη, τοὺς πτωχοὺς καὶ ἀδυνάτους, οὐδέποτε ἠλεήσατε· οὕτως οὐδὲ ὑμεῖς ἐλεηθήσεσθε. Οὐκ οἴδατε, ἄθλιοι, ὅτι διὰ τῶν πτωχῶν ἔχει πᾶς ἄνθρωπος τὴν σωτηρίαν; οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε, ὅτι ἀδελφούς μου αὐτοὺς ἐπεκάλεσα; οὐκ ἠκούσατε τῆς Γραφῆς λεγούσης, ὅτι Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν, δανείζει Θεῷ; οὐκ ἐμάθετε, ὅτι Κρίσις ἀνίλεώς ἐστι τοῖς μὴ πράξασιν ἔλεος; Ὢ πόσα ἐβόων οἱ πένητες, οἱ ἀδελφοί μου, ὀδυρόμενοι, κλαίοντες καὶ θρηνοῦντες; ποῖον ῥῆμα οὐκ ἐπιβοώμενοι εἰς τὸ ἐπικάμψαι ὑμῶν τὴν ἀμείλικτον καρδίαν, Ἐλεεῖτε, βοηθεῖτε, λέγοντες, δότε οἱ ἀγαθοποιοὶ, δότε οἱ ἐλεήμονες, δότε οἱ φίλοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, δότε οἱ εὔσπλαγχνοι, καὶ ἄλλα μυρία ῥήματα καὶ σχήματα ἐπιτηδευόμενοι τὰ δυνάμενα καὶ λίθους μαλάξαι, καὶ ἀγρίων θηρίων τὴν ἡμερότητα ποιῆσαι· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐσκληρύνατε τὰ σπλάγχνα ὑμῶν, καὶ οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐλεεῖτε καὶ παραμυθεῖσθε, ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον κατεδιώκετε ἀπὸ τόπου εἰς τόπον, ὥστε πολλοὺς ἀποθνήσκειν ἀπὸ τοῦ λιμοῦ καὶ τοῦ ψύχους;

Ὢ πόσους ὀρφανοὺς ἠδικήσατε, πόσας χήρας ἐπλεονεκτήσατε, πόσους ἀδυνάτους ἐθλίψατε, πόσους καταπονουμένους γυμνοὺς καὶ αἰχμαλώτους κατεστήσατε; ὢ πόσων μισθίων μισθοὺς ἐκρατήσατε, ὑπὲρ ὧν καὶ αἰωνίως τιμωρηθήσεσθε; Οὐκ ἐμάθετε ἐκ τῶν πέντε μωρῶν παρθένων, ὅτι πᾶσα ἀρετὴ χωρὶς ἐλεημοσύνης οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖ; Κἂν παρθενίαν εἴπῃς, κἂν νηστείαν, κἂν προσευχὴν, κἂν ἀγρυπνίαν, ξηροφαγίαν τε πεῖνάν τε καὶ δίψαν, κἂν ὁτιοῦν εἴπῃς χωρὶς ἐλεημοσύνης, οὐδέν ἐστι. Λοιπὸν τί εἴπω πρὸς τὴν ἀπάνθρωπον ὑμῶν προαίρεσιν; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο Πορεύεσθε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, οἱ κατηραμένοι, εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον. Εἰς γὰρ τὸ ἐμὸν παλάτιον ἀνελεήμων οὐκ εἰσέρχεται, εἰς τὰς οὐρανίους μονὰς ἄσπλαγχνος οὐκ ἀξιοῦται· εἰς τὸν ἐμὸν παράδεισον πονηρὸς ἢ βλάσφημος ἢ πανοῦργος οὐκ ἔρχεται· εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν παστάδα πόρνος ἢ μοιχὸς ἢ ἀρσενοκοίτης οὐ καταξιωθήσεται· εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν τράπεζαν σκληρὸς ἢ ἀμετάδοτος οὐκ ἀνακλιθήσεται· εἰς τὰς ἄνω μονὰς ἅρπαξ