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departed, but was joined to that one; but if I put forth a word, it is both with me, and you all have it; if I keep the word to myself and do not share it, then I am poor, but when I put it forth, then I become richer; if I do not put forth the word, then I alone am rich, but if I put it forth, I carry away the fruit with all of you. Come, then, let us pay the debt; and what was this? We were recently practicing our discourse on repentance and we were saying that there are many and various ways of repentance, so that our salvation might be made easy. For if God had given us one way of repentance, we would have put it off, saying: We cannot follow this way, we cannot be saved; but now, cutting off this excuse of yours, He has given you not only one way, nor a second, nor a third, but many and different ones, so that by their number He might make the ascent to heaven easy for you. And we were saying that repentance is easy, and there is no burden in it. Are you a sinner? Enter into the church, say that I have sinned, and you have loosed the sin. For we also brought forward David who had sinned, and who loosed his sin; then we proposed a second way, to mourn over the sin, and we were saying, what labor is this? it is not necessary to pay money, nor to travel a long road on foot, nor anything else of that sort, but only to mourn over the sin; and we brought this forward from Scripture, that God relented concerning Ahab, because he mourned and was downcast; and He Himself said this to Elijah: Have you seen how Ahab has walked before me mourning and downcast? I will not act according to my 49.293 wrath. Then we also gave a third way of repentance, and we brought forward from Scripture the Pharisee and the tax collector, that the Pharisee, boasting proudly, fell from righteousness; but the tax collector, by humbling himself, went down fruitful in righteousness, and having expended not a single labor, he became righteous; he uttered words, and received realities. Come, then, let us proceed to what follows, and let us bring forward a fourth way of repentance; and what is this? I mean almsgiving, the queen of virtues, which quickly leads people up to the arches of the heavens, the best advocate. A great thing is almsgiving; for this reason Solomon also cried out: A great thing is a man and precious a merciful man. Great are the wings of almsgiving; it cuts through the air, it passes by the moon, it goes beyond the rays of the sun, it ascends to the very arches of the heavens. But not even there does it stop, but it passes by heaven too, and runs past the multitudes of angels, and the choirs of archangels, and all the higher powers, and it stands before the royal throne itself; and learn this from the Scripture itself which says: Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have ascended before God. And the phrase, Before God, means, Even if you have many sins, but almsgiving is your advocate, do not be afraid; for none of the powers above opposes it; it demands a debt, holding its own handwritten bond in its hands. For it is the voice of the Master Himself, that Whoever has done it to one of the least of these, has done it to me. Therefore, however many other sins you have, your almsgiving outweighs them all. 2. Or do you not know in the Gospel the example of the ten virgins, how those who did not have almsgiving, but practiced virginity, remained outside the bridal chamber? For there were, it says, ten virgins, five foolish and five wise; and the wise had oil, but the foolish had no oil, and their lamps were going out. And the foolish went to the wise and said: Give us oil from your vessels. I am ashamed and I blush and I weep, whenever I hear of a foolish virgin; hearing this name I blush, after so much virtue, after the practice of virginity, after the body to heaven

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ἀνεχώρησεν, ἐκείνῳ δὲ ἐκολλήθη· λόγον δὲ ἐὰν καταβάλω, καὶ μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐστι, καὶ πάντες αὐτὸν ἔχετε· ἐὰν κατάσχω τὸν λόγον καὶ μὴ μεταδῶ, τότε πένης εἰμὶ, ὅταν δὲ καταβάλω, τότε εὐπορώτερος γίνομαι· ἐὰν μὴ καταβάλω τὸν λόγον, τότε μόνος πλουτῶ, ἐὰν δὲ καταβάλω, μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν τὸν καρπὸν ἀποφέρομαι. Φέρε οὖν ἀποδῶμεν τὸ χρέος· τί δὲ ἦν τοῦτο; Περὶ μετανοίας τὸν λόγον ἐγυμνάζομεν πρώην καὶ ἐλέγομεν, ὅτι πολλαὶ καὶ ποικίλαι ὁδοὶ τῆς μετανοίας, ἵνα εὔκολος ἡμῖν γένηται ἡ σωτηρία. Εἰ γὰρ μίαν ἡμῖν ἔδωκεν ὁδὸν ὁ Θεὸς μετανοίας, ἀνεβαλόμεθα ἂν λέγοντες· Οὐ δυνάμεθα ταύτην μετελθεῖν, σωθῆναι οὐ δυνάμεθα· νῦν δὲ ἐκκόπτων σου τὴν πρόφασιν ταύτην, οὐ μίαν σοι δέδωκε μόνον ὁδὸν, οὐδὲ δευτέραν, οὐδὲ τρίτην, ἀλλὰ πολλὰς καὶ διαφόρους, ἵνα τῷ πλήθει εὔκολόν σοι ποιήσῃ τὴν ἀνάβασιν τὴν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν. Καὶ ἐλέγομεν ὅτι εὔκολος ἡ μετάνοια, καὶ οὐδὲν βάρος ἐν αὐτῇ. Ἁμαρτωλὸς εἶ; εἴσελθε εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, εἰπὲ ὅτι ἡμάρτηκα, καὶ ἔλυσας τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὸν ∆αυῒδ παρηγάγομεν εἰς μέσον ἁμαρτήσαντα, καὶ λύσαντα τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· εἶτα δευτέραν ὁδὸν ὑπεθέμεθα, τὸ πενθῆσαι ἐπὶ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, καὶ ἐλέγομεν, ποῖος κάματος οὗτος; οὐκ ἔνι χρήματα καταβαλεῖν, οὐδὲ πολλὴν ὁδὸν πεζεῦσαι, οὔτε τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ πενθῆσαι μόνον ἐπὶ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ· καὶ παρηγάγομεν ἀπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς τοῦτο, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς μετεμελήθη ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀχαὰβ, διὰ τὸ πενθῆσαι αὐτὸν καὶ σκυθρωπάσαι· καὶ τοῦτο αὐτὸς ἔλεγε τῷ Ἠλίᾳ· Εἶδες πῶς ἐπορεύθη Ἀχαὰβ ἐνώπιόν μου πενθῶν, καὶ σκυθρωπάζων; Οὐ μὴ ποιήσω κατὰ τὸν 49.293 θυμόν μου. Εἶτα καὶ τρίτην ὁδὸν ἐδιδόαμεν μετανοίας, καὶ παρηγάγομεν ἐκ τῆς Γραφῆς εἰς τὸ μέσον τὸν Φαρισαῖον καὶ τὸν τελώνην, ὅτι ὁ μὲν Φαρισαῖος ὑπερηφάνως ἀλαζονευόμενος, τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐξέπεσεν· ὁ δὲ τελώνης ταπεινοφρονήσας, ἔγκαρπος δικαιοσύνης κατῆλθε, καὶ οὔτε ἕνα κάματον ἀναλώσας δίκαιος ἐγένετο· ῥήματα ἔβαλε, καὶ πράγματα ἔλαβε. Φέρε οὖν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ἔλθωμεν, καὶ τετάρτην ὁδὸν μετανοίας προάξωμεν· ποίαν δὲ ταύτην; Λέγω δὴ τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην τὴν βασιλίδα τῶν ἀρετῶν, τὴν ταχέως ἀνάγουσαν εἰς τὰς ἁψῖδας τῶν οὐρανῶν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, τὴν συνήγορον τὴν ἀρίστην. Μέγα πρᾶγμα ἐλεημοσύνη· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Σολομὼν ἐβόα· Μέγα ἄνθρωπος καὶ τίμιον ἀνὴρ ἐλεήμων. Μεγάλα τὰ πτερὰ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης· τέμνει τὸν ἀέρα, παρέρχεται τὴν σελήνην, ὑπερβαίνει τὰς ἀκτῖνας τοῦ ἡλίου, εἰς αὐτὰς ἀνέρχεται τὰς ἁψῖδας τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ἀλλ' οὔτ' ἐκεῖ ἵσταται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν παρέρχεται, καὶ τοὺς δήμους τῶν ἀγγέλων παρατρέχει, καὶ τοὺς χοροὺς τῶν ἀρχαγγέλων, καὶ τὰς ἀνωτέρας πάσας δυνάμεις, καὶ αὐτῷ παρίσταται τῷ θρόνῳ τῷ βασιλικῷ· καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς διδάχθητι τῆς Γραφῆς τοῦτο λεγούσης· Κορνήλιε, αἱ προσευχαί σου, καὶ αἱ ἐλεημοσύναι σου ἀνέβησαν ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τὸ δὲ, Ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔστι, Κἂν πολλὰς ἔχῃς ἁμαρτίας, ἐλεημοσύνη δὲ ᾖ συνήγορος, μὴ φοβοῦ· οὐδεμία γὰρ αὐτῇ τῶν ἄνω δυνάμεων ἀντιτάσσεται· χρέος ἀπαιτεῖ, ἴδιον ἔχει χειρόγραφον μετὰ χεῖρας βαστάζουσα. Αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστι τοῦ ∆εσπότου φωνὴ, ὅτι Ὃς ἂν ποιήσῃ ἑνὶ τῶν ἐλαχίστων τούτων, ἐμοὶ ἐποίησεν. Ὥστε οὖν ὅσας ἔχεις ἄλλας ἁμαρτίας, ἡ ἐλεημοσύνη σου βαρεῖ τὰς ὅλας. βʹ. Ἢ οὐκ οἶδας ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ τῶν δέκα παρθένων τὸ ὑπόδειγμα, πῶς αἱ μὴ ἔχουσαι ἐλεημοσύνην, παρθενίαν δὲ ἀσκήσασαι ἔξω ἔμειναν τοῦ νυμφῶνος; Ἦσαν γὰρ, φησὶ, δέκα παρθένοι, πέντε μωραὶ, καὶ πέντε φρόνιμοι· καὶ αἱ μὲν φρόνιμοι ἔλαιον εἶχον, αἱ δὲ μωραὶ ἔλαιον οὐκ εἶχον, ἐσβέννυντο δὲ αἱ αὐτῶν λαμπάδες. Προσελθοῦσαι δὲ αἱ μωραὶ ταῖς φρονίμοις εἶπον· ∆ότε ἡμῖν ἔλαιον ἐκ τῶν ἀγγείων ὑμῶν. Αἰσχύνομαι καὶ ἐρυθριῶ καὶ δακρύω, ὅταν παρθένον μωρὰν ἀκούσω· τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα ἀκούων ἐρυθριῶ, μετὰ τοσαύτην ἀρετὴν, μετὰ παρθενίας ἄσκησιν, μετὰ τὸ σῶμα εἰς οὐρανὸν