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to those who are ready? If you have the opportunity, teach; but if not, having fettered your tongue, loosen your hearing. Meditate on divine things, but remain within the limits. Speak the things of the Spirit, and, if possible, nothing else; and speak rather than breathe (for this is good and godly, to be ever spurred toward God by the memory of divine things), but considering what you have been commanded. Do not be overly curious about the nature of the Father, the essence of the only-begotten Son, the glory and power of the Spirit, the one divinity and splendor in the three, the indivisible nature, and confession, and glory, and the hope of those who have believed. Hold to familiar words; let the discourse be for those who are wiser. It is enough for you to have the foundation; let the master builder build upon it. It is enough for the heart to be strengthened with bread; but concede the delicacies to the rich. No one who has sense judges you for not feasting lavishly; but if you do not set out bread, nor give water, whether to a disciple of Christ, or to anyone else, when you are able to do so much. Do not be quick in words, wisdom exhorts you; do not extend yourself, being poor, with the rich, nor seek to be wiser than the wise 36.200. Wisdom is also to know oneself, and not to be haughty, nor to suffer the same fate as voices, which fail completely if they are strained beyond measure. It is better, being wise, to yield through fairness, than being ignorant, to overextend oneself through rashness. Let your quickness be up to the point of confession, if ever you should be required to give it; but beyond this, be more timid. For in that case slowness, but in this case quickness, holds the danger.

22. What harm is it to you, if you do not master every argument, and have the first place in every problem or question, but others appear than you, either wiser or bolder? Thanks be to God, that He both gives exceptional things, and knows how to save through common things. And this wonder is not only about words, but also about creation itself, if you have ever considered it. Neither in created things do the first places belong to some, but to all, and the grace of the one creation is common; nor in faith are the things that save for the more able, but for those who are willing. What is more beautiful than air, fire, water, earth, rains, fruits both cultivated and wild, shelter, clothing? The participation in these things is common, in some entirely, in others moderately; and no one is so much a tyrant as to enjoy the common grace alone. He makes the sun rise on all alike, He sends rain on rich and poor; the alternation of night and day is common, health is a common gift, the term of life is common, the measure and grace of the body is common, the power of the senses is common; and perhaps the poor man has even more, in that he gives more thanks for these things, and enjoys common things more sweetly than the more powerful enjoy things from their abundance. These things then are common, and of equal honor, and marks of God's justice; but gold, and transparent and beloved stones, and whatever clothing is soft and elaborate, and the table that inflames and maddens, and the superfluous things of possession, the toil of their possessors, are the adornments of a few.

23. This I observe also concerning faith. Common are the law, prophets, Covenants, oracles of Covenants, grace, instruction, perfection, sufferings of Christ, new creation. apostles, Gospels, the abiding of the Spirit, 36.201 faith, hope, love toward God and from God, and 36.201 not by measure, as was once the gift of manna to the ungrateful and foolish Israel; but according as each one wills, an ascent, an illumination, a little of it from here, but a clearer one hoped for; the greatest thing, the knowledge of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and the confession of our first hope. Of these things what is greater? What indeed is more common? But the things beyond these, though they may have greater honor in their rarity, are yet second in necessity; for the things without which it is not possible to be a Christian are more useful than those attainable by few.

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ἑτοίμοις; Εἰ μὲν ἔστι σοι καιρὸς, δίδαξον· εἰ δὲ μὴ, τὴν γλῶσσαν πεδήσας, λῦσον τὴν ἀκοήν. Μελέτα μὲν ἐν τοῖς θείοις, ἀλλ' εἴσω τῶν ὅρων μένων. Φθέγγου μὲν τὰ τοῦ Πνεύμα τος, καὶ, εἰ δυνατὸν, μηδ' ἄλλο τι· καὶ φθέγγου μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνάπνει (καλὸν γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ ἔνθεον, τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν θείων, ἀεὶ κεντρίζεσθαι πρὸς Θεόν), ἀλλ' ἃ προσετάχθης διανοούμενος. Μὴ περιεργάζου Πατρὸς φύσιν, Υἱοῦ μονογενοῦς οὐσίωσιν, Πνεύματος δόξαν καὶ δύναμιν, τὴν μίαν ἐν τοῖς τρισὶ θεότητα καὶ λαμπρότητα, τὴν ἀμέριστον καὶ φύσιν, καὶ ὁμολογίαν, καὶ δόξαν, καὶ τῶν πεπιστευκότων ἐλπίδα. Ἔχου τῶν συντρόφων ῥημάτων· ὁ λόγος ἔστω τῶν σοφωτέρων. Ἀρκεῖ σοι τὸν θεμέλιον ἔχειν· ἐποικοδομείτω δὲ ὁ τεχνίτης. Ἀρκεῖ τῷ ἄρτῳ τὴν καρδίαν στηρίζεσθαι· τὰ ὄψα δὲ τοῖς πλουσίοις συγ χώρησον. Οὐδεὶς κρίνει σε, μὴ τρέφοντα πολυτελῶς, τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων· ἀλλ' ἐὰν μὴ παραθῇς ἅρτον, μη δὲ ποτίσῃς ὕδωρ, εἴτουν μαθητὴν Χριστοῦ, εἴτε ἄλλον τινὰ μέχρι τούτων δυνάμενος. Μὴ ἴσθι ταχὺς ἐν λόγοις, ἡ σοφία διακελεύεταί σοι· μὴ συμπαρ εκτείνου, πένης ὢν, πλουσίῳ, μηδὲ ζήτει τῶν σοφῶν 36.200 εἶναι σοφώτερος. Σοφία, καὶ τὸ γινώσκειν ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλὰ μὴ ὑπεραίρεσθαι, μηδὲ ταυτὸν ταῖς φωναῖς πά σχειν, αἳ παντελῶς ἐκλείπουσιν, ἐὰν ὑπερφωνῶνται δι' ἀμετρίαν. Κρεῖττον ὄντα σοφὸν, ὑφίεσθαι δι' ἐπι είκειαν, ἢ ἀμαθῶς ἔχοντα διὰ θράσος ὑπερεκτείνε σθαι. Τὸ τάχος ἔστω σοι μέχρι τῆς ὁμολογίας, εἴ ποτε ταύτην ἀπαιτηθείης· τὸ δὲ ὑπὲρ ταύτην εἶναι δειλότερος. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἡ βραδυτὴς, ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἡ ταχυτὴς ἔχει τὸν κίνδυνον.

ΚΒʹ. Τί σοι δεινὸν, ἐὰν μὴ πᾶσι λόγοις ἐνδυναστεύ σῃς, καὶ τὴν προεδρίαν ἔχῃς ἐπὶ παντὸς προβλήμα τος, ἢ ζητήματος, ἀλλ' ἕτεροί σου φανῶσιν, ἢ σοφώ τεροι, ἢ θρασύτεροι; Τῷ Θεῷ χάρις. ὅτι καὶ τὰ ἐξαί ρετα δίδωσι, καὶ διὰ τῶν κοινῶν, σώζειν ἐπίσταται. Καὶ τοῦτο οὑ περὶ λόγους μόνον τὸ θαῦμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τὴν δημιουργίαν αὐτὴν, εἴ ποτε κατενόησας. Οὔτε ἐν τοῖς κτίσμασι τὰ πρωτεῖά τινών ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ πάντων, καὶ κοινὴ χάρις τοῦ ἑνὸς πλάσματος· οὔτε ἐν τῇ πίστει τὰ σώζοντα τῶν δυνατωτέρων, ἀλλὰ τῶν βουλομένων. Τί κάλλιον ἀέρος, πυρὸς, ὕδατος, γῆς, ὑετῶν, καρπῶν ἡμέρων τε καὶ ἀγρίων, στέγης, ἐνδύματος; Τούτων ἡ μετουσία κοινὴ, τῶν μὲν καὶ παντάπασι, τῶν δὲ μετρίως· καὶ οὐδεὶς οὕτω τύραν νος, ὥστε μόνος ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς κοινῆς χάριτος. Ἀνα τέλλει τὸν ἥλιον ὁμοτίμως, βρέχει πλουσίοις καὶ πέ νησι· κοινὴ νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ἐναλλαγὴ, κοινὸν δῶ ρον ὑγίεια, κοινὸς ὅρος ζωῆς, κοινὸν μέτρον καὶ χάρις σώματος, κοινὸν αἰσθήσεων δύναμις· τάχα δὲ καὶ πλεῖον ὁ πένης ἔχει, τὸ ἐπὶ τούτοις πλεῖον εὐχαριστεῖν, καὶ ἀπολαύειν ἥδιον τῶν κοινῶν, ἢ τῶν ἐκ περιουσίας οἱ δυνατώτεροι. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν κοινὰ, καὶ ὁμότιμα, καὶ Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνης γνωρίσματα· ὁ χρυσὸς δὲ, καὶ οἱ διαφανεῖς λίθοι καὶ ἀγαπώμενοι, καὶ τῆς ἐσθῆτος ὅση μαλακὴ καὶ περίεργος, καὶ ἡ φλεγμαίνουσα καὶ ἐκμαίνουσα τράπεζα, καὶ τὰ περιττὰ τῆς κτήσεως, ὁ πόνος τῶν κεκτημένων, ὀλίγων ἐστὶν ἐγκαλλωπίσματα.

ΚΓʹ. Τοῦτο καὶ περὶ τὴν πίστιν ἐγὼ θεωρῶ. Κοι νὰ, νόμος, προφῆται, ∆ιαθῆκαι, λόγια ∆ιαθηκῶν, χά ρις, παιδαγωγία, τελείωσις, πάθη Χριστοῦ, καινὴ κτίσις. ἀπόστολοι, Εὐαγγέλια, διαμονὴ Πνεύματος, 36.201 πίστις, ἐλπὶς, ἀγάπη εἰς Θεόν τε καὶ ἐκ Θεοῦ, καὶ 36.201 οὐ πρὸς μέτρον, ὡς ἡ τοῦ μάννα ποτὲ δωρεὰ τῷ ἀχα ρίστῳ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἀγνώμονι· ἀλλὰ καθ' ὅσον ἕκα στος βούλεται, ἀνάβασις, ἔλλαμψις, ὀλίγη μὲν ἡ ἐν τεῦθεν, τρανοτέρα δὲ ἡ ἐλπιζομένη· τὸ μέγιστον, ἡ Πατρὸς, καὶ Υἱοῦ, καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπίγνω σις, καὶ ὁμολογία τῆς πρώτης ἡμῶν ἐλπίδος. Τούτων τί μεῖζον; τί δαὶ κοινότερον; Τὰ δὲ ὑπὲρ ταῦτα, κἂν τῷ σπανίῳ τὸ τιμιώτερον ἔχῃ, ἀλλὰ τῷ γε ἀναγκαίῳ τὸ δεύτερον· ὧν γὰρ ἄνευ τὸ εἶναι Χριστιανὸν οὐχ οἷόν τε, ταῦτα τῶν ὀλίγοις ἐφικτῶν χρησιμώ τερα.