7

This seemed to be also wonderful. For truly it is a great thing; but that of this widow is much greater than this. For that one, having stripped himself and clothed the naked man, was able to receive a garment from another; but this woman, giving away her handful of meal, was not able to receive another handful; nor was her danger only up to nakedness, but after that, death was expected both for her and for her children. When, therefore, neither poverty, nor the care of raising children, nor a harsh famine, nor such destitution, nor expected death could hinder her, what defense will we have, we who are wealthy? what, we who are poor? As the Lord your God lives, I have no cake, but only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a cruse; and behold, I am gathering two sticks, and I will go in and prepare it for my children, and we will eat, and we will die. Let each one inscribe this pitiful voice—or rather, this blessed and heaven-worthy voice—on the walls of his own house, in the chamber where we sleep, in the house where we dine.

Let each one meditate on this voice at home, this 51.346 in the marketplace, this in the gatherings of friends, this when going to court, this when entering, this when leaving; and I would strongly affirm that not even if one were of stone, and of iron, and of adamant, would he endure to send away a poor man who approached with empty hands, if he inscribes this voice, if he keeps the widow before his eyes. But perhaps someone will say this: "Bring me a prophet too, and I will receive him with the same goodwill." Promise this, and I bring you the prophet. And why do I say the prophet? I bring you the Master of the prophet Himself, our common God and Lord, Christ. For He Himself says, "You saw Me hungry, and you fed Me." But if some disbelieve the voice and neglect hospitality, they will learn this then through chastisement and punishment. For just as those who have neglected Christ Himself, so will they depart to an unbearable punishment. Thus, then, those who feed the poor, as if they had cared for Christ Himself, are brought into the kingdom of heaven. 10. Perhaps what has been said is more than necessary. Would that it were possible to spend all our days on the topic of almsgiving. But if these things seem to you to be sufficient, come let us recapitulate them all. I said for what reason the prophet was sent to the widow: that you may not count poverty blessed, that you may not admire wealth, that you may not think the well-to-do person enviable, that you may not think the one living in destitution wretched and pitiful, that you may learn the wickedness of the Jews. For it is God’s custom when He is about to punish, to also justify Himself to us through the events themselves; that you may not, after this, seeing the common Savior of all being driven away by them, but being received by the Gentiles, be amazed and perplexed, having understood from the beginning their ingratitude, and how it is their custom to drive away their benefactors; that you may not think the prophet’s prayer and the extension of the punishment to be of cruelty, but of divine zeal and care; that you may learn that even in the greatest achievements our nature needs correction; that you may not, when exhorted to the same zeal as the prophet, think the imitation impossible. I spoke about the widow, how being in such distress, with the famine compelling her, she did not utter even a bitter word to the prophet, although it was likely; and I showed this too from the dispositions of the Jews; but she suffered nothing of the sort, but received him with all hospitality, and emptied out her entire poverty in his honor, and though a Sidonian and a foreigner, she had neither heard the prophets philosophizing about almsgiving, nor Christ saying, "You saw Me hungry, and you fed Me." What excuse, then, will there be for us, if after such exhortations, if after the promise of such prizes, if after the kingdom of heaven, we should not attain to the same measure of hospitality as the widow? For she was a Sidonian, and a foreigner, and a woman

7

ἔδοξε τοῦτο εἶναι καὶ θαυμαστόν. Καὶ γὰρ ὄντως ἐστὶ μέγα· τὸ δὲ τῆς χήρας ταύτης πολὺ τούτου μεῖζον. Ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν γυμνώσας, καὶ τὸν γυμνὸν περιβαλὼν, ἔσχε παρ' ἑτέρου λαβεῖν ἱμάτιον· αὕτη δὲ τὴν δράκα τοῦ ἀλεύρου προϊεμένη, οὐκ ἴσχυσε δράκα ἑτέραν λαβεῖν· οὐδὲ μέχρι γυμνότητος ἦν ὁ κίνδυνος αὐτῇ, ἀλλὰ μετ' ἐκεῖνο θάνατος προσεδοκᾶτο καὶ αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν παίδων. Ὅταν οὖν μήτε πενίας, μήτε παιδοτροφίας ἐπιμέλεια κωλύσῃ, μήτε λιμὸς χαλεπὸς, μήτε πτωχεία τοσαύτη, μήτε θάνατος προσδοκώμενος, ποίαν ἕξομεν ἀπολογίαν οἱ εὔποροι; ποίαν οἱ πένητες; Ζῇ Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, εἰ ἔστι μοι ἐγκρυφίας, ἀλλ' ἢ ὅσον δρὰξ ἀλεύρου ἐν τῇ ὑδρίᾳ, καὶ ὀλίγον ἔλαιον ἐν τῷ καμψάκῃ· καὶ ἰδοὺ συλλέγω δύο ξυλάρια, καὶ εἰσελεύσομαι, καὶ ποιήσω αὐτὰ τοῖς τέκνοις μου, καὶ φαγόμεθα, καὶ ἀποθανούμεθα. Ταύτην ἕκαστος τὴν ἐλεεινὴν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἕκαστος ταύτην τὴν μακαρίαν φωνὴν καὶ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀξίαν ἐν τοῖς τοίχοις τῆς οἰκίας ἐγγραφέτω τῆς ἑαυτοῦ, ἐν τῷ θαλάμῳ, ἐν ᾧ ἂν καθεύδωμεν, ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ, ἐν ᾧ ἀριστοποιούμεθα.

Ταύτην ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας, ταύ 51.346 την ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, ταύτην ἐν τοῖς συλλόγοις τῶν φίλων, ταύτην εἰς δικαστήριον ἀπιὼν, ταύτην εἰσιὼν, ταύτην ἐξιὼν ἕκαστος μελετάτω τὴν φωνήν· καὶ σφόδρα ἂν ἰσχυρισαίμην, ὅτι οὐδ' ἂν εἰ λίθινός τις εἴη, καὶ σιδηροῦς, καὶ ἀδάμας, ἀνέξεται προσελθόντα πένητα κεναῖς ἀποπέμψαι χερσὶν, ἂν τὴν φωνὴν ἐγγράψῃ ταύτην, ἂν τὴν χήραν πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχῃ. Ἀλλ' ἴσως ἐκεῖνο ἐρεῖ τις· Ἄγε κἀμοὶ προφήτην, καὶ μετὰ τῆς αὐτῆς εὐνοίας ὑποδέξομαι. Ὑπόσχου τοῦτο, καὶ ἄγω σοι τὸν προφήτην. Καὶ τί λέγω τὸν προφήτην; Αὐτὸν ἄγω σοι τὸν τοῦ προφήτου ∆εσπότην, τὸν κοινὸν ἡμῶν Θεὸν καὶ Κύριον τὸν Χριστόν. Αὐτὸς γάρ φησιν, ὅτι Πεινῶντά με εἴδετε, καὶ ἐθρέψατε. Εἰ δὲ ἀπιστοῦσί τινες τῇ φωνῇ, καὶ τῆς φιλοφροσύνης ἀμελοῦσι, μαθήσονται τότε διὰ τῆς κολάσεως καὶ τῆς τιμωρίας τοῦτο. Ὥσπερ γὰρ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παραμελήσαντες, οὕτω πρὸς ἀφόρητον ἀπελεύσονται κόλασιν. Οὕτως οὖν οἱ τοὺς πτωχοὺς τρέφοντες καθάπερ αὐτὸν τὸν Χριστὸν θεραπεύσαντες, εἰς τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰσάγονται βασιλείαν. ιʹ. Τάχα πλείω τοῦ δέοντος τὰ εἰρημένα. Εἴθε μὲν οὖν πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἐνδιατρίβειν ἦν τοῖς περὶ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης λόγοις. Εἰ δὲ ἀρκούντως ὑμῖν ἔχειν ταῦτα δοκεῖ, φέρε αὐτὰ ἀνακεφαλαιωσώμεθα πάντα. Εἶπον τίνος ἕνεκεν ὁ προφήτης πρὸς τὴν χήραν ἀπεστέλλετο, ἵνα μὴ μακαρίζῃς πενίαν, ἵνα μὴ θαυμάζῃς πλοῦτον, ἵνα μὴ τὸν εὔπορον ζηλωτὸν εἶναι νομίζῃς, ἵνα μὴ τὸν ἐν πτωχείᾳ ζῶντα ἄθλιον καὶ ἐλεεινὸν, ἵνα μάθῃς τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν πονηρίαν. Ἔθος γὰρ τῷ Θεῷ μέλλοντι κολάζειν, καὶ ἡμῖν ἀπολογεῖσθαι διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν· ἵνα μὴ μετὰ ταῦτα ἰδὼν τὸν κοινὸν ἁπάντων Σωτῆρα παρὰ μὲν ἐκείνων ἐλαυνόμενον, παρὰ δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν ὑποδεχόμενον, θαυμάζῃς καὶ διαπορῇς, ἄνωθεν αὐτῶν τὴν ἀγνωμοσύνην καταμαθὼν, καὶ ὡς ἔθος αὐτοῖς τοὺς εὐεργέτας ἐλαύνειν· ἵνα μὴ νομίσῃς ὠμότητος εἶναι τοῦ προφήτου τὴν εὐχὴν, καὶ τὴν τῆς τιμωρίας παράτασιν, ἀλλὰ ζήλου θείου καὶ κηδεμονίας· ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις κατορθώμασι καὶ σωφρονισμοῦ ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις δεῖται· ἵνα μὴ παρακαλούμενος εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦ προφήτου ζῆλον, ἀδύνατον εἶναι νομίσῃς τὴν μίμησιν. Εἶπον περὶ τῆς χήρας, πῶς ἐν τοσαύτῃ στενοχωρίᾳ οὖσα, τοῦ λιμοῦ καταναγκάζοντος, οὐδὲ ῥῆμα πικρὸν πρὸς τὸν προφήτην ἐξέβαλε, καίτοι γε εἰκὸς ἦν· καὶ ἔδειξα καὶ τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν φρονημάτων· ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον ἔπαθεν ἐκείνη, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πάσης αὐτὸν ἐδέξατο φιλοφροσύνης, καὶ τὴν πενίαν ἅπασαν εἰς τὴν ἐκείνου τιμὴν ἐκένωσε, καὶ Σιδωνία οὖσα καὶ ἀλλόφυλος, καὶ οὔτε τῶν προφητῶν φιλοσοφούντων περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης ἤκουσεν, οὔτε τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος, Πεινῶντά με εἴδετε, καὶ ἐθρέψατε. Τίς οὖν ἡμῖν ἔσται συγγνώμη, εἰ μετὰ τοιαύτας παραινέσεις, εἰ μετὰ τοιούτων ἐπάθλων ὑπόσχεσιν, εἰ μετὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, μὴ φθάσαιμεν πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ τῇ χήρᾳ τῆς φιλοφροσύνης μέτρον; Ἐκείνη μὲν γὰρ καὶ Σιδωνία ἦν, καὶ ἀλλόφυλος, καὶ γυνὴ