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again, are the good deeds related? Do you want me to show you another one? For we will not be at a loss for another who philosophizes about the same things. Samuel, that prophet, was insulted by the Jews, he was voted out of office, he was so dishonored, that God willed to console him and say: They have not rejected you, but me.

What then did he, the one rejected, the one insulted, do? Far be it from me, he says, to sin in such a way as to cease praying for you to the Lord. He considered it a sin not to pray for his enemies. For far be it from me to sin in such a way as not to pray for you. Christ says: Father, forgive them their sin; for they know not what they do. Stephen says: Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Paul says: I could wish that I myself were accursed for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Moses says: If you will forgive their sin, forgive it; but if not, blot me out of the book which you have written. David says: Let your hand be against me and against my father's house. Samuel says: Far be it from me to sin by ceasing to pray for you to the Lord. What pardon then shall we obtain, tell me. when the Master, the servants, those from the New, those from the Old, all push us to the 49.407 prayer for our enemies, while we ourselves do the opposite, and pray against our enemies? Do not, I beseech you, do not, brethren. For the more examples there are, so much the greater the punishment if we do not imitate them. It is a greater thing to pray for enemies than for friends; for the one does not benefit you as much as the other.

For if you love those who love you, you do nothing great, He says; for even the tax collectors do the same. So if we pray for our friends, we have not yet become better than the Gentiles or the tax collectors; but when we 49.408 love our enemies, we have become like God according to human ability, because He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Let us therefore become like the Father. For be, He says, like your Father who is in heaven, that we may also be counted worthy of the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

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πάλιν συγγενῆ τὰ κατορθώματα; Βούλει σοι δείξω καὶ ἄλλον; οὐδὲ γὰρ ἑτέρου τὰ αὐτὰ φιλοσοφοῦντος ἀπορήσομεν. Σαμουὴλ ὁ προφήτης ἐκεῖνος ὑβρίσθη παρὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἀπεχειροτονήθη, ἠτιμάσθη οὕτως, ὡς τὸν Θεὸν θελῆσαι αὐτὸν παραμυθήσασθαι καὶ εἰπεῖν· Οὐ σὲ ἐξουθενήκασιν, ἀλλ' ἐμέ.

Τί οὖν ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἐξουθενηθεὶς, ὁ ὑβρισθείς; Ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο, φησὶν, ἁμαρτεῖν οὕτως, ὡς διαλιπεῖν προσευχόμενον ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ. Ἁμαρτίαν ἐνόμισεν εἶναι, τὸ μὴ προσεύχεσθαι ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐχθρῶν. Μὴ γένοιτο γάρ μοι ἁμαρτεῖν οὕτως, ὡς μὴ προσεύχεσθαι ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν. Ὁ Χριστὸς λέγει· Πάτερ, ἄφες αὐτοῖς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· οὐ γὰρ οἴδασι τί ποιοῦσιν. Ὁ Στέφανος λέγει· Κύριε, μὴ στήσῃς αὐτοῖς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ταύτην. Ὁ Παῦλος λέγει· Ηὐχόμην ἀνάθεμα εἶναι ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου, τῶν συγγενῶν κατὰ σάρκα. Ὁ Μωϋσῆς λέγει· Εἰ μὲν ἀφίης αὐτοῖς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἄφες· εἰ δὲ μὴ, κἀμὲ ἐξάλειψον ἐκ τῆς βίβλου ἧς ἔγραψας. Ὁ ∆αυῒδ λέγει· Γενέσθω ἡ χείρ σου ἐπ' ἐμὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός μου. Ὁ Σαμουὴλ λέγει· Ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο ἁμαρτεῖν τοῦ διαλιπεῖν προσευχόμενον ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ. Ποίας οὖν τύχωμεν συγγνώμης, εἰπέ μοι. τοῦ ∆εσπότου, τῶν δούλων, τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Καινῆς, τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Παλαιᾶς, πάντων ἡμᾶς ὠθούντων εἰς τὴν 49.407 ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εὐχὴν, αὐτοὶ τὸ ἐναντίον ποιοῦντες, καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εὐχόμενοι; Μὴ, παρακαλῶ, μὴ, ἀδελφοί. Καὶ γὰρ ὅσῳ πλείονα τὰ παραδείγματα, τοσούτῳ, ἐὰν μὴ μιμησώμεθα, μείζων ἡ κόλασις. Μεῖζον τὸ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εὔχεσθαι τοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν φίλων· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὕτως ὑμᾶς ὠφελεῖ ἐκεῖνο, ὡς τοῦτο.

Ἐὰν γὰρ φιλῆτε τοὺς φιλοῦντας ὑμᾶς, οὐδὲν μέγα ποιεῖτε, φησί· καὶ γὰρ οἱ τελῶναι τὸ αὐτὸ ποιοῦσιν. Ὥστε ἐὰν ὑπὲρ τῶν φίλων εὐξώμεθα, οὐδέπω τῶν ἐθνικῶν ἢ τελωνῶν ἐγενόμεθα βελτίους· ὅταν δὲ 49.408 τοὺς ἐχθροὺς φιλήσωμεν, τοῦ Θεοῦ κατὰ δύναμιν ἀνθρωπίνην ὅμοιοι γεγόναμεν, ὅτι Τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς, καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους. Γενώμεθα τοίνυν ὅμοιοι τοῦ Πατρός. Γίνεσθε γὰρ, φησὶν, ὅμοιοι τοῦ Πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἵνα καὶ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν καταξιωθῶμεν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.