De exitu animi HOMILY 14

 sins, from youth, until the day of the end, in which I was overtaken, then investigating.

 in unbreakable bonds, to a dark and gloomy land, to the lower parts, in the subterranean prisons and guards of Hades where the souls of sinners are s

 punishment, when they are brought before the fearful judgment seat, what shame will seize them before the righteous judge, having no word of defense!

 in the bridal chamber, the sinners into a boundless chaos. The righteous in manifestations of light, the sinners in the gloom of a storm. The righteou

 How their heart was changed by hardness, not taking into mind the covenant with Christ, and the renunciation of the devil! How they turned aside from

 are punished. Those who meddle with the beauty of another, are deprived of the beauty of paradise. Those who rejoice at the fall of others, cause thei

 let us kill anger, let us wither grief, let us dry up avarice. Let us not fear the common death, the reaper of the human race, but the destroyer of me

let us kill anger, let us wither grief, let us dry up avarice. Let us not fear the common death, the reaper of the human race, but the destroyer of men; for death properly is not that which separates the soul from the body, but that which separates the soul 77.1089 from God.

God is life; and he who is separated from life is dead, having cast away his former confidence as his life; and since he is death, the devil the father of death, stands as a strong adversary, arming himself, that in the holy days he might wrestle with us and break us, and say: I have conquered the soldiers of Christ, having shown the beauty of women, and from their hearing I have ensnared them; having thrown them into the pit of vainglory and gluttony, I seized them by the hair of their virtues, and having tripped them up with desires, and having tickled them with wine-drinking, pushing them I have thrown them into a pit of fornication; let us not therefore make the unclean demons rejoice, because our God is the salvation of all and the destroyer of demons. Since, therefore, we too are entwined with bodies, and are subject to death, let us strive bravely, that we may conquer the unclean demons; for if we have fear in the heart, and carry about the memory of death in the soul, all the demons arm themselves against us; but as if striking a battering ram, they will find us as a wall; because our Lord is with us; for to Him belongs glory, honor and power, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

θυμὸν ἀποκτείνωμεν, τὴν λύπην μαράνωμεν, τὴν φιλαργυρίαν ξηράνωμεν. Μὴ φοβηθῶμεν τὸν κοινὸν θάνατον, τὸν τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων θεριστὴν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ὀλοθρευτὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων· θάνατος γὰρ κυρίως, οὐχὶ ὁ χωρίζων τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλ' ὁ χωρίζων ψυχὴν 77.1089 ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Ὁ Θεὸς ζωή ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ τῆς ζωῆς χωριζόμενος, τέθνηκε, τὴν πρόσθεν παῤῥησίαν ὡς τὴν ζωὴν ἀποβαλών· καὶ ἐπειδὴ θάνατος, ὁ διάβολος ὁ τοῦ θανάτου πατὴρ, ἵσταται ὡς ἀντίπαλος ἰσχυρὸς καθοπλιζόμενος, ἵνα ἡμᾶς ἐν ταῖς ἁγίαις ἡμέραις παλαίσῃ καὶ ῥήξῃ, καὶ εἴπῃ· Ἐνίκησα τοὺς Χριστοῦ στρατιώτας, κάλλος δείξας γυναικῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκοῆς ἐκρέμασα αὐτούς· κενοδοξίᾳ καὶ γαστριμαργίᾳ βοθρίσας, ἐδραξάμην αὐτῶν τῆς κόμης τῶν ἀρετῶν, καὶ σκελίσας ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, καὶ γαργαλίσας τῇ οἰνοποσίᾳ, ὠθίσας ἔῤῥιψα εἰς βόθρον πορνείας· μὴ οὖν χαροποιήσωμεν τοὺς ἀκαθάρτους δαίμονας, διότι ὁ ἡμέτερος Θεὸς, πάντων ἐστὶ σωτηρία καὶ δαιμόνων ὀλετήρ. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς σώματα συμπεπλέγμεθα, καὶ θανάτῳ ὑπεύθυνοί ἐσμεν, ἀγωνισώμεθα γενναίως, ἵνα τοὺς ἀκαθάρτους νικήσωμεν δαίμονας· ἐὰν γὰρ τὸν φόβον ἔχωμεν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ τὴν μνήμην τοῦ θανάτου ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ περιφέρωμεν, πάντες οἱ δαίμονες καθ' ἡμῶν ὁπλίζονται· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ κριοκρούοντες, ὡς τεῖχος ἡμᾶς εὑρήσουσι· διὰ τὸ εἶναι τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν μεθ' ἡμῶν· ὅτι αὐτῷ πρέπει δόξα, τιμὴ καὶ κράτος, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.