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more honorable, and a wife more desirable to a husband. For it is not beauty 48.812 of body that makes a woman lovely, but virtue of soul; not powders and paints, nor gold and costly garments, but temperance and gentleness and a fear fixed upon God. And this spiritual beauty cannot be practiced to perfection anywhere else but in this wondrous and divine place, where the apostles and prophets wipe clean, beautify, scrape away the old age of sin, introduce the bloom of youth, and cast out every stain, every wrinkle, every spot from our soul. Therefore, let us, both men and women, be eager to establish this beauty in ourselves. For that of the body, sickness has withered, the passage of time has corrupted, old age has extinguished, and death, coming upon it, has destroyed completely; but that of the soul, not time, not sickness, not old age, not death, nor anything else of that sort can mar, but it remains blooming forever. And the beauty of the body often calls those who see it to licentiousness, but the beauty of the soul draws God himself to its own love; just as the Prophet says, speaking to the Church: "Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; and the king shall desire thy beauty." Therefore, beloved, that we may become friends of God, let us practice this beauty every day, wiping away every stain by the reading of the Scriptures, by prayers, by almsgiving, by harmony with one another; so that the king, being enamored of the beauty of our soul, may deem us worthy of the kingdom of heaven; which may we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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τιμιώτερος, καὶ γυνὴ ἀνδρὶ ποθεινοτέρα. Γυναῖκα γὰρ ἐπέραστον οὐκ εὐμορφία ποιεῖ 48.812 σώματος, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς ἀρετὴ, οὐκ ἐπιτρίμματα καὶ ὑπογραφαὶ, οὐδὲ χρυσίον καὶ ἱμάτια πολυτελῆ, ἀλλὰ σωφροσύνη καὶ ἐπιείκεια καὶ φόβος ἐρειδόμενος πρὸς Θεόν. Καὶ τὸ νοητὸν κάλλος οὐκ ἔστιν ἀλλαχοῦ πρὸς ἀκρίβειαν ἀσκηθῆναι, ἀλλ' ἢ ἐν τῷ. θαυμαστῷ καὶ θείῳ τούτῳ χωρίῳ, τῶν ἀποστόλων, τῶν προφητῶν ἀποσμηχόντων, καλλωπιζόντων, ἀποξυόντων τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὸ γῆρας, ἐπαγόντων τῆς νεότητος τὴν ἀκμὴν, πᾶσαν κηλῖδα, πᾶσαν ῥυτίδα, πᾶν σπῖλον ἐκβαλλόντων τῆς ψυχῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας. Τοῦτο τοίνυν καὶ ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες σπουδάσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς ἐγκατοικίσαι τὸ κάλλος. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ σώματος καὶ νόσος ἐμάρανε, καὶ πλῆθος χρόνου διέφθειρε, καὶ γῆρας ἔσβεσε, καὶ θάνατος ἐπελθὼν ἀνεῖλεν ἅπαν· τὸ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς οὐ χρόνος, οὐ νόσος, οὐ γῆρας, οὐ θάνατος, οὐκ ἄλλο οὐδὲν τῶν τοιούτων λυμήνασθαι δύναται, ἀλλὰ μένει διηνεκῶς ἀνθοῦν. Καὶ τὸ μὲν τοῦ σώματος τοὺς ὁρῶντας εἰς ἀκολασίαν ἐκκαλεῖται πολλάκις, τὸ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς κάλλος αὐτὸν τὸν Θεὸν πρὸς τὸν ἔρωτα ἐπισπᾶται τὸν οἰκῖον· καθάπερ καὶ ὁ Προφήτης φησὶ, πρὸς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν διαλεγόμενος· Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ, καὶ ἴδε, καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου, καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου, καὶ ἐπιθυμήσει ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου. Ἵνα οὖν, ἀγαπητοὶ, γενώμεθα φίλοι τῷ Θεῷ, τοῦτο καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐξασκῶμεν τὸ κάλλος, τῇ τῶν Γραφῶν ἀναγνώσει πᾶσαν κηλῖδα ἀποσμήχοντες, ταῖς εὐχαῖς, ταῖς ἐλεημοσύναις, τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμονοίᾳ· ἵνα ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐρασθεὶς ἡμῶν τῆς κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν εὐμορφίας, τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἡμᾶς καταξιώσῃ· ἧς γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ δόξα ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.