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demons believe and shudder; faith without works is dead.” For what does it profit a man to confess that God exists, but by his evil works denies him? How does he confess to have a master, not serving him? For because of this he hears his lord, and slaves know those who bought them and honor them, and we ought to honor him, not in word only but also in deed; for our Lord Jesus Christ himself testified in the gospel, saying: ‘Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ And again: ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.’ And again he commanded us, saying: ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.’ But do you want to know that the wild beasts and the cattle know God, and bless him? Hear the Holy Spirit commanding them in hymns: ‘Bless the Lord, you wild beasts and all cattle;’ if they did not bless, he would not have commanded them. And not only do they bless God, but also all creation, both visible and seen, unceasingly confesses him.

16 And you, therefore, servant of God, whether you rise, whether you sit, whether you do some work, whether you eat, whether you go to your bed for sleep, whether you are getting up, let the hymn of God not depart from your lips. Blessed are the ears that receive these words. And when the twelfth hour comes, you will perform a greater and longer service with your like-minded virgins; but if you do not have a like-minded one, perform it alone with God being present and listening. It is good to pour out a tear before God. Remember the twelfth hour, because in it our Lord descended into Hades; and seeing him, it shuddered and was astonished, saying: Who is this, who has come down in authority and great power? Who is this who shatters the bronze gates of Hades and breaks the adamantine bars? Who is this who came down from heaven and was crucified and is not held by me, Death? Who is this who looses the bonds of those held by me? Who is this who by his own death destroys me, Death?

17 For this reason we ought to pay attention to ourselves in that hour, and in tears in the night to beseech the Lord; for the tear is a great virtue, a great achievement; great sins and iniquities are wiped away by tears, and the holy gospel testifies to me: For when the Savior was delivered to the Jews, Peter with an oath denied him a third time before the cock crowed. But the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him: ‘Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times, and going outside he wept bitterly.’” You see the medicine of tears, you saw what kind of iniquity it wiped away. For what is worse than this evil, that for a third time with an oath he denied his own master, and he wiped away so great an iniquity through tears. You see how great a power tears have. For those things were written for our instruction, so that we, by following, might inherit eternal life. Not many have the gift of tears, but as many as have their mind above, as many as forget earthly things, as many as make no provision for the flesh, who do not know at all if there is a world, who have put to death the members that are upon the earth; to these alone is given the grief of tears. For having a pure mind and a sharp-sighted gaze of the intellect, while still being on the earth they see the punishments in Hades and the eternal torments, in which the sinners are punished, and the eternal fire and the outer darkness, the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. But they also see the heavenly gifts, which God granted to the saints, and the glories and the crowns and the holy robes and the royal garments and the bright

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δαιμόνια πιστεύουσι καὶ φρίττου σιν· ἡ πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων νεκρά ἐστι.» τί γὰρ ὠφελεῖται ἄνθρωπος ὁμολογῶν, ὅτι ἔνι Θεὸς, τοῖς δὲ ἔργοις αὐτοῦ τοῖς πονηροῖς ἀρνεῖται αὐτόν; πῶς ὁμολογεῖ δεσπότην ἔχειν, μὴ δουλεύων αὐτῷ; διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἀκούει τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ δοῦλοι οἴδασι τοὺς ἀγοράσαντας αὐτοὺς καὶ τιμῶσιν αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἡμεῖς ὀφείλομεν τιμᾶν αὐτὸν, οὐ λόγῳ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔργῳ· αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ἐμαρτύρησε λέγων· «οὐ πᾶς ὁ λέ γων μοι κύριε, κύριε, εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.» καὶ πάλιν· «οὐ μὴ λήψῃ τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ σου ἐπὶ ματαίῳ.» καὶ πάλιν προσέ ταξεν ἡμῖν λέγων· «ἀποστήτω ἀπὸ ἀδικίας πᾶς ὁ ὀνομάζων τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου.» θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ὅτι τὰ θηρία καὶ τὰ κτήνη οἴδασι τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ εὐλογοῦσιν αὐτόν; ἄκουε τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος προστάττοντος αὐτοῖς ἐν ὕμνοις· «εὐλογεῖτε τὰ θηρία καὶ πάντα τὰ κτήνη τὸν κύριον·» εἰ μὴ εὐλόγουν, οὐκ ἂν αὐτοῖς προσέταττεν. οὐκ αὐτὰ δὲ μόνον εὐλογοῦσι τὸν Θεὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις ἡ φαινομένη καὶ ὁρωμένη τὰ ἀμφότερα αὐτὸν ἀκαταπαύστως ὁμολογεῖ.

16 Καὶ σὺ οὖν δούλη τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἴτε ἐγείρῃ, εἴτε καθέζῃ, εἴτε ἔργον τι ποιεῖς, εἴτε ἐσθίεις, εἴτε ἐπὶ τῆς κοίτης σου ἔρχῃ πρὸς ὕπνον, εἴτε ἀνισταμένη, μὴ ἀποστήτω ὁ ὕμνος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν χειλέων σου. μακάρια τὰ ὦτα τὰ δεχόμενα τοὺς λόγους τούτους. ἐὰν δὲ εἰσέλθῃ ἡ δωδεκάτη ὥρα, μει ζοτέραν καὶ μακροτέραν ἐπιτελέσεις τὴν σύναξιν μετὰ τῶν ὁμοψύχων σου παρθένων· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἔχῃς ὁμόψυχον, μόνη ἐπιτέλει τοῦ Θεοῦ συνόντος καὶ ἀκούοντος. καλὸν τὸ ἐκχέειν δάκρυον ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ. μνημόνευε τὴν δωδεκάτην ὥραν, ὅτι ἐν αὐτῇ καταβέβηκεν ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν εἰς τὸν ᾅδην· καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν ἔφριξε καὶ ἐξέστη λέγων· τίς ἐστιν οὗτος, ὁ ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ μεγάλῃ δυνάμει κατελθών; τίς οὗτος ὁ τὰς πύλας τοῦ ᾅδου τὰς χαλκὰς συντρίβων καὶ τοὺς μοχλοὺς τοὺς ἀδαμαντίνους συνθλάσας; τίς οὗτος ὁ ἐξ οὐρανῶν κατελθὼν καὶ σταυρωθεὶς καὶ ὑπ' ἐμοῦ τοῦ θανάτου μὴ κρα τούμενος; τίς οὗτος ὁ λύων τὰ δεσμὰ τῶν ὑπ' ἐμοῦ κρατου μένων; τίς οὗτος ὁ τῷ ἰδίῳ θανάτῳ ἐμὲ τὸν θάνατον καταλύων;

17 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὀφείλομεν ἑαυτοῖς προσέχειν ἐν τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, καὶ ἐν δάκρυσιν ἐν νυκτὶ παρακαλεῖν τὸν κύριον· μεγάλη γὰρ ἀρετή ἐστι τὸ δάκρυον, μέγα κατόρθωμα, μεγάλαι ἁμαρτίαι καὶ ἀνομίαι διὰ δακρύων ἀπαλείφονται, μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι τὸ ἅγιον εὐαγγέλιον· ὅτε γὰρ ὁ σωτὴρ παρεδόθη τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις, ὁ Πέτρος μεθ' ὅρκου τρίτον αὐτὸν ἠρνήσατο πρὶν ἀλέκτορα φωνῆσαι. ὁ δὲ κύριος στραφεὶς ἐνέβλεψε τῷ Πέτρῳ, καὶ ὑπε μνήσθη ὁ Πέτρος τοῦ ῥήματος τοῦ κυρίου, ὡς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· «πρὶν ἀλέκτορα φωνῆσαι, τρὶς ἀπαρνήσῃ με, καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἔξω ἔκλαυσε πικρῶς.» ὁρᾷς τὸ φάρμακον τῶν δακρύων, ἐθεάσω οἵαν ἀνομίαν ἐξήλειψε. τί γὰρ χεῖρον τοῦ κακοῦ τούτου, ὅτι τρίτον μεθ' ὅρκου τὸν δεσπότην ἑαυτοῦ ἠρνήσατο, καὶ τὴν τηλικαύτην ἀνομίαν διὰ δακρύων ἐξήλειψεν. ὁρᾷς ἡλίκην δύναμιν ἔχουσι τὰ δάκρυα. ἐκεῖνα γὰρ ἐγράφη εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν νουθεσίαν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς ἐπακολουθήσαντες ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσωμεν. οὐχ οἱ πολλοὶ ἔχουσι τὸ χάρισμα τῶν δακρύων, ἀλλ' ὅσοι τὸν νοῦν ἔχουσιν ἄνω, ὅσοι τῶν γηΐνων ἐπιλανθάνονται, ὅσοι τῆς σαρκὸς πρόνοιαν οὐ ποιοῦσιν, οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστανται ὅλως, εἰ ἔνι κόσμος, οἵτινες ἐνέκρωσαν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· τούτοις μόνοις δίδοται πένθος δακρύων. κα θαρὸν γὰρ ἔχοντες τὸν νοῦν καὶ ὀξύδορκον τὸ βλέμμα τῆς διανοίας ἔτι ὄντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς βλέπουσι τὰς κολάσεις τὰς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ καὶ τὰς βασάνους τὰς αἰωνίους, ἐν αἷς οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ κολάζονται καὶ τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον καὶ τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων. βλέπουσι δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐπουράνια χαρίσματα, ἃ ἐχαρίσατο ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἁγίοις καὶ τὰς δόξας καὶ τοὺς στεφάνους καὶ τὰς στολὰς τὰς ἁγίας καὶ τὰ βασιλικὰ ἐνδύματα καὶ τὰ φωτεινὰ