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You marveled at the beauty of gold; you conquered the greater adversary, but the lesser and weaker one has mastered you and prevailed. For this reason he made your defeat more shameful; for this reason you did not even obtain forgiveness, having overcome such violence, and having stripped for the contest even against nature itself, but being caught by the love of money, which even servants and barbarians have often been able to conquer without effort. 8. Knowing all these things, therefore, beloved, both those who are married and those who practice virginity, let us show great earnestness concerning almsgiving, since it is not possible in any other way to attain the kingdom of heaven. For if virginity without almsgiving was not strong enough to lead into the kingdom, what other good deed will be strong enough, or will be able to do this without it? There is none. Therefore, with all our soul and strength let us pour oil into the lamps, and let this be abundant and continuous, so that the light may remain bright and rich. For do not see the poor man who is receiving, but God who is repaying; not the one accepting the money, but the one who becomes responsible for the debt. For this is why one receives, and another repays, so that the poverty and misfortune of the one receiving might bend you to mercy and compassion; and the wealth of the one who will repay, guaranteeing the payment, and the subsequent settlement with much increase, might prepare you to be confident about the loan and the interest, and call forth almsgiving with greater abundance. For who, tell me, expecting to receive a hundredfold, and being entirely confident about the repayment, will not give all things? Therefore, let us not be sparing of our money, or rather, let us be sparing of our money; for he who is sparing of his possessions deposits them into the hands of the poor, into the inviolable treasury, indestructible by robbers and servants and wicked slanderers and all assaults. But if, hearing these things, you are hesitant to give away any of your possessions, and neither the prospect of receiving a hundredfold, nor the misfortune of the poor man, nor anything else can bend you, consider the sins you have committed; enter into the consciousness of your sins, examine your whole life; learn your transgressions 51.279 with exactness; and even if you are more cruel than all men, being surely driven by the fear of the sins committed by you throughout all time, and expecting forgiveness of them to come to you through almsgiving, you will give your own body, let alone your money. For if, having wounds and wishing to drive away bodily sicknesses, we spare none of our possessions, even if it be necessary to sell our very cloak, so as to be delivered from that illness; how much more, when we are about to put away the sickness of the soul and the grievous wounds of sin through almsgiving, shall we practice it with all eagerness. And yet, in the case of sicknesses, it is not possible to be delivered from the disease immediately by paying money, but there is often need of cutting and cautery and bitter medicines, and of hunger, and cold, and other more burdensome prescriptions; but here it is not so, but it is enough to pay down the money into the hands of the poor, and immediately to wash away all one's sins without pain or labor. For the physician who heals the soul does not need methods and instruments, and iron and fire; but it is enough for him only to nod, and all the sins flow out of our soul, and vanish into nothingness. 9. Do you not see the monks who desire the solitary life and withdraw to the mountain tops, how much austerity they endure? For spreading ashes under them, and putting on sackcloth, and placing chains about their whole body, and shutting themselves up in a house, they wrestle with continual hunger, with lamentations

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ἐθαύμασας χρυσίου κάλλος· τὸν μείζονα ἐνίκησας ἀνταγωνιστὴν, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐλάττων καὶ ἀσθενέστερος ἐκράτησέ σου καὶ περιεγένετο. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο αἰσχροτέραν ἐποίησέ σου τὴν ἧτταν· διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲ συγγνώμης ἔτυχες, τοσαύτης μὲν περιγενομένη βίας, καὶ πρὸς τὴν φύσιν αὐτὴν ἀποδυσαμένη, ὑπὸ δὲ φιλαργυρίας ἁλοῦσα, ἣν καὶ οἰκέται πολλάκις καὶ βάρβαροι ἀπονητὶ νικῆσαι ἠδυνήθησαν. ηʹ. Ταῦτ' οὖν ἅπαντα εἰδότες, ἀγαπητοὶ, καὶ οἱ γάμοις ὁμιλοῦντες, καὶ οἱ παρθενίαν ἀσκοῦντες, πολλὴν ἐπιδειξώμεθα περὶ τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην σπουδὴν, ἐπειδὴ μηδὲ ἑτέρως ἔστι τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐπιτυχεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ παρθενία χωρὶς ἐλεημοσύνης οὐκ ἴσχυσεν εἰς βασιλείαν εἰσαγαγεῖν, ποῖον ἕτερον κατόρθωμα τοῦτο ἰσχύσει, ἢ δυνήσεται ταύτης χωρίς; Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδέν. Πάσῃ τοίνυν ψυχῇ καὶ δυνάμει τὸ ἔλαιον ἐγχέωμεν ταῖς λαμπάσι, καὶ δαψιλὲς ἔστω καὶ διηνεκὲς τοῦτο, ἵνα φαιδρὸν καὶ πλούσιον μείνῃ τὸ φῶς. Μὴ γὰρ δὴ τὸν πένητα ἴδῃς τὸν λαμβάνοντα, ἀλλὰ τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἀποδιδόντα· μὴ τὸν δεχόμενον τὸ ἀργύριον, ἀλλὰ τὸν ὑπεύθυνον γινόμενον τῷ ὀφλήματι. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο ἕτερος λαμβάνει, καὶ ἕτερος ἀποδίδωσιν, ἵνα ἡ μὲν τοῦ δεχομένου πενία καὶ ἡ συμφορὰ πρὸς ἔλεον ἐπικάμψῃ καὶ συμπάθειαν· ὁ δὲ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀποδιδόναι πλοῦτος τὴν καταβολὴν ἐγγυώμενος, καὶ τὴν μετὰ πολλῆς προσθήκης ἔκτισιν ἑπομένην, θαῤῥῆσαι παρασκευάσῃ περὶ τοῦ δανείου καὶ τοῦ τέλους, καὶ μετὰ πλείονος δαψιλείας ἐκκαλέσηται τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην. Τίς γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, μέλλων ἑκατονταπλασίονα λαμβάνειν, καὶ θαῤῥῶν πάντως ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀποδόσεως, οὐχὶ τὰ πάντα προήσεται; Μὴ τοίνυν φειδώμεθα χρημάτων, μᾶλλον δὲ φειδώμεθα τῶν χρημάτων· ὁ γὰρ φειδόμενος τῶν ὄντων, εἰς τὰς τῶν πενήτων χεῖρας αὐτὰ ἐναποτίθεται, εἰς τὸν ἄσυλον θησαυρὸν, καὶ λῃσταῖς καὶ οἰκέταις καὶ συκοφάνταις κακούργοις καὶ πάσαις ἐφόδοις ἀνάλωτον. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ταῦτα ἀκούων ὀκνεῖς προέσθαι τι τῶν ὄντων, καὶ οὔτε τὸ ἑκατονταπλασίονα ἀπολαβεῖν, οὔτε ἡ τοῦ πένητος συμφορὰ, οὔτε ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἐπικάμψαι σε δυνήσεται, ἀναλόγισαι τὰ πεπλημμελημένα σοι· εἴσελθε εἰς τὸ συνειδὸς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, πᾶσαν ἐξέτασόν σου τὴν ζωήν· κατάμαθέ σου τὰ παραπτώματα 51.279 μετὰ ἀκριβείας· κἂν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀπηνέστερος ᾖς, πάντως ὑπὸ τοῦ φόβου τῶν ἡμαρτημένων σοι παρὰ πάντα τὸν χρόνον ὠθούμενος, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης ἄφεσίν σοι προσδοκῶν γενέσθαι τούτων, καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἐπιδώσεις σαυτοῦ, μήτι γε χρήματα. Εἰ γὰρ τραύματα ἔχοντες, καὶ νοσήματα σωματικὰ ἀποκρούσασθαι βουλόμενοι, οὐδενὸς τῶν ὄντων φειδώμεθα, κἂν αὐτὸ τὸ ἱμάτιον ἀποδόσθαι δέοι, ὥστε τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας ἀπαλλαγῆναι ἐκείνης· πολλῷ μᾶλλον τῆς ψυχῆς ἀῤῥωστίαν ἀποτίθεσθαι μέλλοντες καὶ τὰ χαλεπὰ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τραύματα διὰ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης, μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας αὐτὴν ἐργασώμεθα. Καίτοι γε ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν νοσημάτων οὐκ ἔστιν εὐθέως καταβαλόντα ἀργύριον ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς νόσου, ἀλλὰ δεῖ καὶ τομῆς πολλάκις καὶ καύσεως καὶ πικρῶν φαρμάκων, καὶ λιμοῦ, καὶ ψύχους, καὶ ἑτέρων φορτικωτέρων ἐπιταγμάτων· ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἀρκεῖ καταβαλεῖν τὸ ἀργύριον εἰς τὰς τῶν πενήτων χεῖρας, καὶ πάντα εὐθέως ἀπολούσασθαι τὰ πεπλημμελημένα χωρὶς ὀδύνης καὶ πόνου. Ὁ γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν θεραπεύων ἰατρὸς, οὐ δεῖται μεθόδων καὶ ὀργάνων, καὶ σιδήρου καὶ πυρός· ἀλλ' ἀρκεῖ νεῦσαι μόνον, καὶ πάντα ἐκρεῖ τῆς ἡμετέρας ψυχῆς τὰ πλημμελήματα, καὶ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν ἀφανίζεται. θʹ. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς τοὺς μοναχοὺς τοὺς τὸν μονήρη βίον ἐπιθυμοῦντας καὶ εἰς τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρέων ἀναχωροῦντας, ὅσην ὑπομένουσι σκληραγωγίαν; Καὶ γὰρ σποδὸν ὑποστρωννύμενοι, καὶ σάκκον περιβαλλόμενοι, καὶ κλοιὰ παντὶ τῷ σώματι περιτιθέντες, καὶ ἐν οἴκῳ καθείρξαντες ἑαυτοὺς, λιμῷ παλαίουσι διηνεκεῖ, θρήνοις