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let us do so also. The Holy Spirit has kindled for us teaching from himself; therefore, when we go out and are full of the hearing, if we see a friend, or a relative, or a servant, or anyone else we meet, let us run past, lest, as we are conversing with him about useless and superfluous things, the fire of the teaching be extinguished in the meantime, but may it be at its height in our mind as in a house, and burning on the height of reason as upon some lampstand, may it illumine all things within. For it is strange never to bear seeing one's house in the evening without a lamp and light, but to see one's soul bereft of teaching. From this, many of our sins arise, because we do not quickly light a lamp for the soul; from this we stumble every day; from this many things lie simply and at random in our mind, because when we receive the hearing of the divine words, before we have crossed the threshold of the church, we immediately cast it away, and having extinguished the light, we walk in much darkness. But if these things happened before, let them no longer happen henceforth, but let us have the lamp perpetually burning in the mind, and let us adorn the soul before the house. For the one remains here, but the other we take with us when we depart from here; for this reason it is necessary to deem it worthy of greater care. But now there are some so wretchedly disposed, who adorn their houses here with both golden ceilings, and variegated mosaics, and the blossoms of paintings, and the splendor of columns, and with all other things; but they neglect their mind, which is in a more wretched state than any desolate inn, full of filth, smoke, and much stench, and unspeakable desolation. The cause of all these things is that the lamp of teaching does not continually burn for us; for this reason the necessary things are neglected, but the things of no worth receive much attention. These things have been said by me not only to the rich, but also to the poor. For they too, often adorning their own house according to their ability, neglect their neglected mind; wherefore I make my teaching common to both, exhorting and advising them to make little account of the things in the present life, and to pour out all their zeal into the care of spiritual and necessary matters. Let the poor man see the widow who cast in the two mites, and let him not think poverty is an obstacle to the working of almsgiving and philanthropy; let the rich man consider Job, and just as he possessed all his goods not for himself, but for the poor, so also this one. For on this account 50.653 he nobly bore their removal, because even before the trial of the devil he had practiced alienation from them. And you, therefore, despise your money when it is present, so that when it departs someday, you may not be grieved. Spend it for a good purpose when you have it, so that when you are deprived of it, you may have a double gain, both the reward laid up for you from the best expenditure, and the philosophy engendered from contempt, which is useful at the time of their absence. For they are called `chrēmata` (useful things) for this reason, that we may use them for a good purpose, not that we may bury them; they are called `ktēmata` (possessions) for this reason, that we may possess them, and not that we may become their possessions. You are the lord of much money, do not then be a slave to these things of which God has made you master; you are not 50.654 a slave by spending them for a good purpose, but by burying them. Nothing is so easily tossed about as wealth; nothing is so changeable as abundance. Since, therefore, their possession is uncertain, and often flies away from us faster than any bird, and leaps away more ungratefully than any runaway slave, during the time that we are masters, let us use them for a good purpose, so that from uncertain riches having established certain goods, we may inherit the treasure laid up in heaven; which may it befall all of us to obtain,

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δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς ποιῶμεν. Ἀνῆψεν ἡμῖν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τὴν παρ' ἑαυτοῦ διδασκαλίαν· ἐξελθόντες τοίνυν καὶ τῆς ἀκροάσεως γέμοντες, κἂν φίλον, κἂν συγγενῆ, κἂν οἰκεῖον, κἂν ἄλλον ὁντιναοῦν ἀπαντήσαντα ἴδωμεν, παραδράμωμεν, ἵνα μὴ διαλεγομένων ἡμῶν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀνόνητα καὶ περιττὰ, κατασβεσθῇ μεταξὺ τῆς διδασκαλίας τὸ πῦρ, ἀλλ' ἀκμάζῃ ὥσπερ ἐν οἰκίᾳ τῇ διανοίᾳ, καὶ ἐφ' ὑψηλοῦ τοῦ λογισμοῦ καθάπερ ἐπὶ λυχνίας τινὸς καιόμενον ἅπαντα τὰ ἔνδον φωτίζῃ. Καὶ γὰρ ἄτοπον τὴν μὲν οἰκίαν μηδέποτε ἀνέχεσθαι ἐν ἑσπέρᾳ χωρὶς λύχνου καὶ φωτὸς ὁρᾷν, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν ἔρημον διδασκαλίας ὁρᾷν. Ἐντεῦθεν τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἡμῖν συνίστανται, ὅτι οὐ ταχέως λύχνον ἀνάπτομεν τῇ ψυχῇ· ἐντεῦθεν καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν προσπταίομεν· ἐντεῦθεν πολλὰ ἁπλῶς καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ κεῖται, ἐπειδὴ τὴν τῶν θείων λόγων ἀκρόασιν δεχόμενοι, πρὶν ἢ τὰ πρόθυρα ὑπερβῆναι τῆς ἐκκλησίας, εὐθέως ῥίπτομεν, καὶ τὸ φῶς κατασβέσαντες, μετὰ πολλοῦ τοῦ ζόφου βαδίζομεν. Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ ἔμπροσθεν ταῦτα ἐγίνετο, μηκέτι γινέσθω λοιπὸν, ἀλλ' ἔχωμεν διηνεκῆ τὸν λύχνον καιόμενον ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ, καὶ πρὸ τῆς οἰκίας τὴν ψυχὴν καλλωπίζωμεν. Αὕτη μὲν γὰρ ἐνταῦθα μένει, ἐκείνην δὲ λαμβάνοντες ἐντεῦθεν ἄπιμεν· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ πλείονος αὐτὴν ἐπιμελείας ἀξιοῦν χρή. Νῦν δέ εἰσί τινες οὕτως ἀθλίως διακείμενοι, οἳ τὰς μὲν οἰκίας τὰς ἐνταῦθα καὶ χρυσοῖς ὀρόφοις, καὶ ψηφῖσι διηνθισμέναις, καὶ γραφῶν ἄνθεσι, καὶ κιόνων λαμπρότητι, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις κατακοσμοῦσιν ἅπασι· τὴν δὲ διάνοιαν παντὸς ἐρήμου πανδοχείου παρορῶσιν εὐτελέστερον διακειμένην, βορβόρου γέμουσαν, καπνοῦ, καὶ δυσωδίας πολλῆς, ἐρημίας ἀφάτου. Τὸ δὲ αἴτιον τούτων ἁπάντων, ὅτι συνεχῶς ἡμῖν ὁ λύχνος τῆς διδασκαλίας οὐ καίεται· διὰ τοῦτο τὰ μὲν ἀναγκαῖα ἠμέληται, τὰ δὲ οὐδενὸς ἄξια σπουδῆς ἀπολαύει πολλῆς. Ταῦτά μοι οὐ πρὸς πλουσίους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς πένητας εἴρηται. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι κατὰ δύναμιν πολλάκις τὴν ἑαυτῶν κοσμοῦντες οἰκίαν, τὴν διάνοιαν ἠμελημένην περιορῶσι· διὸ κοινὴν ποιοῦμαι πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους τὴν διδασκαλίαν παραινῶν καὶ συμβουλεύων τῶν ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ βραχὺν ποιουμένους λόγον, ἅπασαν τὴν σπουδὴν εἰς τὴν τῶν πνευματικῶν καὶ ἀναγκαίων πραγμάτων ἐπιμέλειαν κενοῦν. Ὁ πένης ὁράτω τὴν χήραν τὴν τοὺς δύο καταβαλοῦσαν ὀβολοὺς, καὶ μὴ νομιζέτω τὴν πενίαν ἐμπόδιον εἶναι πρὸς ἐργασίαν ἐλεημοσύνης καὶ φιλανθρωπίας· ὁ πλούσιος λογιζέσθω τὸν Ἰὼβ, καὶ καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος οὐχ ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πένησιν ἐκέκτητο πάντα τὰ ὄντα, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο 50.653 γενναίως ἤνεγκε τὴν ἀφαίρεσιν αὐτῶν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ πρὸ τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου πείρας ἐμελέτησεν αὐτῶν τὴν ἀλλοτρίωσιν. Καὶ σὺ τοίνυν καταφρόνει παρόντων τῶν χρημάτων, ἵνα καὶ ἀναχωρησάντων ποτὲ, μὴ ἀλγήσῃς. Ἀνάλισκε εἰς δέον ὅταν ἔχῃς, ἵν' ὅταν ἀφαιρεθῇς, διπλοῦν ἔχῃς τὸ κέρδος, τόν τε ἐκ τῆς ἀρίστης δαπάνης ἀποκείμενόν σοι μισθὸν, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ὑπεροψίας ἐγγινομένην φιλοσοφίαν εἰς τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἀπουσίας αὐτῶν χρησιμεύουσαν. Χρήματα γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο καλεῖται, ἵνα αὐτοῖς εἰς δέον χρώμεθα, οὐχ ἵνα κατορύττωμεν· κτήματα διὰ τοῦτο λέγονται, ἵνα ἡμεῖς αὐτὰ κτησώμεθα, καὶ μὴ αὐτῶν γενώμεθα κτήματα. Κύριος εἶ χρημάτων πολλῶν, μὴ τοίνυν δούλευε τούτοις, ὧν ἐποίησέ σε δεσπότην ὁ Θεός· οὐ 50.654 δουλεύεις δὲ εἰς δέον αὐτὰ ἀναλίσκων, ἀλλὰ μὴ κατορύττων. Οὐδὲν οὕτως εὐρίπιστον ὡς πλοῦτος· οὐδὲν οὕτως εὐμετάβλητον, ὡς εὐπορία. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀβέβαιος αὐτῶν ἡ κτῆσις, καὶ πτηνοῦ παντὸς ταχύτερον πολλάκις ἡμῶν ἀφίπταται, καὶ δραπέτου παντὸς ἀγνωμονέστερον ἀποπηδᾷ, τὸν χρόνον ὂν ἂν ὦμεν δεσπόται, εἰς δέον αὐτοῖς χρησώμεθα, ἵν' ἐκ τῶν ἀβεβαίων χρημάτων βέβαια ἐνστησάμενοι τὰ ἀγαθὰ, τὸν ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἀποκείμενον κληρονομήσωμεν θησαυρόν· οὗ γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν,