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he reproaches and accuses, saying: O foolish and merciless ones, did I not give you all that you have? For what did you bring into the world? Were you not born naked, and will you not depart naked again? Have you not heard the Apostle crying out, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out"? Consider, O foolish one, that you possess nothing of your own, except for your choice, whether good, as God said, or harsh, as you have willed.

The silver and the gold are mine. Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; the ends of the earth are in my hand, all things serve me; the heaven and all the hosts of angels, the earth and the sea, and all creation and every breath is mine, and obeys me and heeds me and serves me. You alone, O merciless one, were found a stranger to my love for mankind. Tell me, foolish one, who spread out the earth for you? Who made the plants grow thick? Who gives increase to the seeds? Who gives the earth rain in the season of threshing, and winds suitable for the winnower? Who subdued such great oxen, and persuaded them to draw furrows, and to tread the threshing floor, and to carry wagons? Did I not provide all these things abundantly, to you as to the worthy, wishing to have you as my providers and stewards from my gifts, so that in a time of evil and in days of famine you might provide for me? And I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I have given, and I was hungry; I asked from what was mine, and you gave me nothing to eat. And I did not ask for excessive expenses nor luxury nor provisions, but for food because of my pressing need; and you gave me nothing to eat. And while you were often living in luxury from my gifts, and making merry and rejoicing in soft clothing, I stood at the door clothed in rags, held fast by frost, wasting away with hunger, not even having the strength to cry out from the violence of the hunger; and you gave me nothing to eat. And I did not ask for wine, nor meat, nor strong drink, but only plain bread; and you gave me nothing to eat. O harshness and cruel savagery and deep darkness; how did you not remember the one who gave you your possessions? how did you not call to mind the just Job crying out, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I depart"? Have you never heard the priest at the mystical table crying out to me, and giving thanks to me and saying, "Thine own of Thine own we offer unto Thee"? But you boast, as if you had not received; you wished in that abundance to remain unshaken forever. Well did the prophet, taking up the person of such men, expose their sickness, saying: "And in my prosperity I said, 'I shall never be moved.'" Yes, you did not give bread because you did not know God who gave it; why did you not at least receive me under your roof? For this too has a great reward; or did you not visit me when I was sick? for I would not have overlooked your steps; or when I was in prison, you did not come, and grant a word of comfort? and you would not have lost your reward; or did you clothe me when I was naked; or give me a cup of water to drink when I was thirsty? what a recompense you would have received from me! But you, being able to do all these things, did not do them, But you became futile in your thoughts, and your foolish heart was darkened, and you deprived yourselves of eternal life, and you suffered a shipwreck that cannot be righted.

What, then, shall I say to you? Is it, "Come"? But such a voice is not fitting for harshness; for, "Come, you blessed ones," was given to others. All those, therefore, standing at my right hand were deemed worthy of this voice, they inherited this glory, 60.688 they gained this joy, this kingdom the merciful seized, the compassionate. For into the eternal mansions the harsh do not an inheritance

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ὀνειδίζει καὶ ἐγκαλεῖ λέγων· Ὢ ἀνόητοι καὶ ἄσπλαγχνοι, οὐκ ἐγὼ ὑμῖν δέδωκα τὰ ὑμῶν πάντα; τί γὰρ εἰσηνέγκατε εἰς τὸν κόσμον; οὐ γυμνοὶ ἐγεννήθητε, καὶ πάλιν γυμνοὶ ἐξέρχεσθε; οὐκ ἠκούσατε τοῦ Ἀποστόλου κράζοντος, ὅτι Οὐδὲν εἰσηνέγκαμεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, δῆλον ὅτι οὐδὲ ἐξενεγκεῖν τι δυνάμεθα; Ἐννόησον, ἄφρον, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἴδιον κέκτησαι, εἰ μὴ τὴν προαίρεσιν, εἴτε ἀγαθὴν, ὡς ὁ Θεὸς εἶπεν, εἴτε ἀπηνῆ, ὡς σὺ ἠθέλησας.

Τὸ ἀργύριον καὶ τὸ χρυσίον ἐμόν ἐστιν. Ὁ οὐρανὸς θρόνος ἐμὸς, ἡ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου· τὰ πέρατα ἐν τῇ χειρί μου, τὰ σύμπαντα ἐμοὶ δουλεύει· ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ πᾶσαι τῶν ἀγγέλων στρατιαὶ, ἡ γῆ καὶ ἡ θάλασσα, καὶ πᾶσα κτίσις καὶ πᾶσα πνοὴ ἐμή ἐστι, καὶ ἐμοὶ πείθεται καὶ ὑπακούει καὶ δουλεύει. Σὺ μόνος ὁ ἄσπλαγχνος ἀλλότριος εὑρέθης τῆς ἐμῆς φιλανθρωπίας. Εἰπέ μοι, ἄφρον, τίς τὴν γῆν σοι ἐφήπλωσε; τίς τὰ φυτὰ κατεπύκνωσε; τίς τοῖς σπέρμασι παρέχει τὴν αὔξησιν; τίς δίδωσι τῇ γῇ ὑετὸν ἐν καιρῷ τοῦ ἀλοητοῦ, καὶ ἀνέμους ἐπιτηδείους τῷ λικμητῇ; τίς τὰ τοιαῦτα μεγέθη τῶν βοῶν ὑπέταξε, καὶ ἔπεισεν αὔλακας ἑλκῦσαι, καὶ ἅλωνα συνθλᾶσαι, καὶ ἁμάξας περιφέρειν; οὐ ταῦτα πάντα ἀφθόνως παρέσχον, καθὼς τοῖς ἀξίοις, καὶ ὑμῖν, βουλόμενος ἔχειν ὑμᾶς χορηγούς μου καὶ οἰκονόμους ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν δωρεῶν, ἵνα ἐν καιρῷ πονηρῷ καὶ ἐν ἡμέραις λιμοῦ οἰκονομήσητέ με; Καὶ ἐπείνασα, καὶ οὐκ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν. Ἐγὼ δέδωκα, καὶ ἐγὼ ἐπείνασα· ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν ἐζήτησα, καὶ οὐκ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν. Καὶ οὐκ ᾔτησα περισσοτέρας δαπάνας οὐδὲ τρυφὴν οὐδὲ ἐφόδια, ἀλλὰ φαγεῖν διὰ τὴν εὐπερίστατον ἀνάγκην· καὶ οὐκ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν. Καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἐμαῖς δωρεαῖς πολλάκις τρυφώντων ὑμῶν, καὶ θορυβούντων καὶ εὐφραινομένων ἐν μαλακοῖς ἐνδύμασιν, ἐπέστην τῇ θύρᾳ ῥάκη περιβεβλημένος, παγετῷ συνεχόμενος, λιμῷ τηκόμενος, οὔτε κράζειν ἰσχύων ἐκ τῆς βίας τοῦ λιμοῦ· καὶ οὐκ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν. Καὶ οὐκ ᾔτησα οἶνον, οὐ κρέα, οὐ σίκερα, εἰ μὴ ἄρτον ψιλόν· καὶ οὐκ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν. Ὢ ἀπήνεια καὶ ὠμότης χαλεπὴ καὶ σκότος βαθύ· πῶς οὐκ ἐμνημονεύσατε τὸν δεδωκότα τὰ ὑπάρχοντα; πῶς οὐκ ἐνεθυμήθητε τοῦ δικαίου Ἰὼβ κράζοντος, Γυμνὸς ἐξῆλθον ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου, γυμνὸς καὶ ἀπελεύσομαι; Οὐδέποτε ἠκούσατε τοῦ ἱερέως ἐπὶ τῆς μυστικῆς τραπέζης βοῶντος πρός με, καὶ εὐχαριστοῦντός μοι καὶ λέγοντος, Τὰ σὰ ἐκ τῶν σῶν σοι προσφέρομεν; Ὑμεῖς δὲ καυχᾶσθε, ὡς μὴ λαβόντες· ἐβούλεσθε ἐν τῇ εὐθηνίᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἀσάλευτοι διαμεῖναι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Καλῶς ὁ προφήτης τῶν τοιούτων πρόσωπον ἀναλαβὼν ἐθριάμβευσεν αὐτῶν τὴν νόσον λέγων· Ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπα ἐν τῇ εὐθηνίᾳ μου, Οὐ μὴ σαλευθῶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ναὶ, ἄρτον οὐκ ἔδωκας διὰ τὸ μὴ γνωρίσαι σε τὸν δεδωκότα Θεόν· κἂν ὑπὸ στέγην διὰ τί μὴ ὑπεδέχου; καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ μισθὸς μέγας ἐστίν· ἢ ἀσθενοῦντα μὴ ἐπεσκέψου; οὐ γὰρ μὴ παρεῖδον τὰ βήματά σου· ἢ ἐν φυλακῇ με ὄντα, οὐ παρεγένου, καὶ ἐχαρίσω λόγον τῶν παρακλήσεων; καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀπώλεσας τὸν μισθόν σου· ἢ καὶ περιέβαλές με γυμνητεύοντα· ἢ διψῶντα ἐπότισας ποτήριον ὕδατος; πόσην ἀνταπόδοσιν ἀνελήψω παρ' ἐμοῦ; Ὑμεῖς δὲ ταῦτα πάντα δυνάμενοι ποιῆσαι, οὐκ ἐποιήσατε, Ἀλλ' ἐματαιώθητε ἐν διαλογισμοῖς, καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ἡ ἀσύνετος ὑμῶν καρδία, καὶ ἐστερήσατε ἑαυτοὺς τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον, καὶ ἐναυαγήσατε ναυάγιον μὴ ἔχον διόρθωσιν.

Τί λοιπὸν εἴπω πρὸς ὑμᾶς; ἆρα τὸ, ∆εῦτε; Ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀπηνείᾳ οὐ προσαρμόζει τοιαύτη φωνή· τὸ γὰρ, ∆εῦτε οἱ εὐλογημένοι, ἄλλοις ἐδόθη. Πάντες οὖν οἱ ἐκ δεξιῶν μου παριστάμενοι ταύτης τῆς φωνῆς ἠξιώθησαν, ταύτην τὴν δόξαν ἐκληρονόμησαν, 60.688 ταύτην τὴν εὐφροσύνην ἐκέρδησαν, ταύτην τὴν βασιλείαν ἥρπασαν οἱ ἐλεήμονες, οἱ εὔσπλαγχνοι. Εἰς τὰς αἰωνίους γὰρ μονὰς ἀπηνεῖς κληρονομίαν οὐκ