14

they brought forth trustworthy witnesses; not only those lying in the Scripture. But, By two and three witnesses every word shall be established, so that we do not extend the account of the narrative at length. Wherefore, may the Lord God, having snatched us out of this error and shame and reproach, arrange for us to live in sobriety; and may He make you to be with a pure conscience towards your spouses, and gentle and cheerful to your children and slaves, and neighbors, so that you may also be deemed worthy to become partakers of the kingdom of heaven. But since I also promised to speak of the third order, that of widowhood, this I will also do, using a few words concerning them as well. A widow, according to the apostle Paul, must be such: a raiser of children, a partaker in the memorials of the saints, to perform service to strangers, and not to run after the pursuits of her own thoughts. For he says, clothed, after the death of her husband, in the tunic of widowhood, and contrite, being shown forth in all her ways. But a disorderly widow is a wild beast, and going through houses, she utters unseemly words: I am poor, a widow unsup 56.538 ported; I had much wealth in fields, in houses, and in four-footed animals and garments, and my husband, being uninitiated in worldly craft, consumed them; I had a costly dowry; whatever I said to him, he did not listen; but in his own mind, even though unwilling, I was an advocate for him; he left me nothing. And him whom she greeted and embraced while he was alive, this one after his death she made a public spectacle to her friends and relatives. Such a one, after the death of her husband, looks around here and there, where she might find a secret paramour, and on the pretext of prayer or care of her house becomes a public spectacle to the many; and performing lawless deeds, and conceiving in her womb, she keeps it secret, devising countless stratagems for herself, to expel the infant from her womb, whether by poison, or by means of other lawless women. And she does not hold the fear of God who oversees all things in her heart; but committing the sin, she does not blush, and she is ashamed and abashed at the fruit that comes from her. For how many slaves have I seen as masters because of the love of pleasure of such evil women? the free children standing by them with fear and trembling, having their hands bound on their chests, even if they do not wish it, and these men walking about with golden belts and wearing silk? Have you heard, Christ-lovers, the explanation of the discourse? Do you know the subject of the story? I have narrated the triumphs of licentious and foolish women. These ways Eve taught, and her censure, and the taste of disobedience. But having remembered a little the sober and glorious women, we will end the discourse. Behold for me a sober woman, the one from Zarephath, who fed the prophet Elijah in a time of famine. Behold for me the Shunammite, who showed hospitality to Elisha in her house, for which he also raised her child. Behold for me Hannah, who broke the bonds of barrenness, and bore Samuel, and was shown to be a mother through prayer and supplication. Behold for me Sarah and Rebecca, their pure and undefiled cohabitation, which they showed to the patriarchs. Behold for me Susanna, who through sobriety condemned unjust elders to death. Emulate these women, the undefiled nature of one, the prayer of another; the hospitality of another, the sobriety of another, the God-pleasing nature of another, so that you may obtain the kingdom of heaven; of which may it be for all of us to attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be honor and glory, with the holy and life-giving

14

μάρτυρας ἀξιοπίστους παρήγαγον· οὐχὶ τούτους μόνον ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ ἐγκειμένους. Ἀλλ' Ἐπὶ δύο καὶ τριῶν μαρτύρων πᾶν ῥῆμα σταθήσεται, ἵνα μὴ μακρὸν τὸν λόγον τῆς διηγήσεως ἐφαπλώσωμεν. ∆ιὸ ἡμᾶς Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἐκσπάσας ἐκ τῆς πλάνης ταύτης καὶ τῆς αἰσχύνης καὶ τοῦ ὀνειδισμοῦ, καὶ ἐν σωφροσύνῃ διάγειν οἰκονομήσει· καὶ ὑμᾶς ἐν καθαρῷ συνειδότι πρὸς τοὺς συζύγους εἶναι, καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ τοὺς δούλους, καὶ τοὺς πλησίον προσηνεῖς καὶ ἱλαροὺς ἀπεργάσαιτο, ὅπως καὶ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀξιωθήσησθε συμμέτοχοι γενέσθαι. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ καὶ τρίτον τάγμα ἐπηγγειλάμην τὸ τῆς χηρείας εἰπεῖν, τοῦτο καὶ ποιήσομαι, μικροῖς καὶ περὶ αὐτῶν χρησάμενος ῥήμασι. Χήραν γυναῖκα κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον Παῦλον τοιαύτην εἶναι χρή· τεκνοτρόφον, τῶν ἁγίων ταῖς μνείαις κοινωνοῦσαν, ξένοις τὴν διακονίαν ἐκτελεῖν, καὶ μὴ ἐπιτρέχειν ἐν ἐπιτηδεύμασι τῶν ἑαυτῆς λογισμῶν. Φησὶ γὰρ, περιβεβλημένη, μετὰ θάνατον τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς, χιτῶνα χηροσύνης, καὶ κατανενυγμένη, πᾶσι δεικνυομένη τοῖς ἤθεσιν. Ἄτακτος δὲ χήρα ἄγριον θηρίον ὑπάρχει, καὶ κατ' οἴκους διερχομένη, ῥήματα ἀπρεπῆ προβάλλεται· Πτωχὴ ὑπάρχω, χήρα ἀπερί 56.538 στατος· πλοῦτος πολὺς ὑπῆρχέ μοι ἔν τε ἀγροῖς, ἐν οἴκοις, καὶ τετραπόδοις καὶ ἱματισμοῖς, καὶ ὁ σύζυγός μου ἀμύητος ὢν τέχνης κοσμικῆς, αὐτὰ κατηνάλωσε· προὶξ ὑπῆρχέ μοι πολυτελής· ὅσα αὐτῷ ἐλάλουν οὐχ ὑπήκουεν· ἀλλὰ τῷ ἰδίῳ φρονήματι αὐτοῦ καὶ μὴ θέλουσα συνήγορος ὑπῆρχον· οὐδέν μοι κατέλιπεν. Ὃν δὲ ζῶντα ἠσπάζετο καὶ ἠγκαλίζετο, τοῦτον μετὰ θάνατον θρίαμβον τοῖς φίλοις καὶ τοῖς συγγενέσιν ἐποίησεν. Ἡ τοιαύτη μετὰ θάνατον τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς, περιβλέπεται ἔνθεν κἀκεῖθεν, ποῦ παράκοιτον εὕρῃ κρύφιον, καὶ προφάσει προσευχῆς ἢ ἐπιμελείας τοῦ οἴκου αὐτῆς θρίαμβος τοῖς πολλοῖς καθίσταται· καὶ πράξεις ἀθεμίτους ἐκτελοῦσα, καὶ κατὰ γαστρὸς συλλαμβάνουσα, κρύφιον αὐτὸ κατέχει, μυρία τεχνάσματα πρὸς ἑαυτὴν περιποιοῦσα, πρὸς τὸ ἐκτρῶσαι τὸ βρέφος ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτῆς, εἴτε διὰ δηλητηρίου, εἴτε δι' ἑτέρων παρανόμων γυναικῶν. Καὶ τὸν φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἐφορῶντος τὰ πάντα οὐ κατέχει ἐν τῇ ἑαυτῆς καρδίᾳ· ἀλλὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν πράττουσα οὐκ ἐρυθριᾷ, καὶ τὸν καρπὸν τὸν γινόμενον ἐξ αὐτῆς αἰσχύνεται καὶ ἐντρέπεται. Πόσους γὰρ ἑώρακα δούλους δεσπότας διὰ φιληδονίαν κακοήθων τοιούτων γυναικῶν; τοὺς ἐλευθέρους παῖδας μετὰ φόβου, καὶ τρόμου παρεστῶτας αὐτοῖς, τὰς χεῖρας ἐν τοῖς στέρνοις αὐτῶν δεδεμένας ἔχοντας, κἂν μὴ θέλωσι, καὶ τούτους χρυσοζώνους καὶ σηρικοφόρους περιπατοῦντας; Ἠκούσατε, φιλόχριστοι, τοῦ λόγου τὴν ἐξήγησιν; ἐγνωρίσατε τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τῆς ἱστορίας; Ἐδιηγησάμην τῶν γυναικῶν τῶν ἀκολάστων καὶ ἀφρόνων τὰ τρόπαια. Τούτους τοὺς τρόπους ἡ Εὔα ἐδίδαξε, καὶ ἡ ταύτης ἐπιτίμησις, καὶ τῆς παρακοῆς ἡ γεῦσις. Ἀλλὰ τῶν σωφρόνων καὶ ἐνδόξων γυναικῶν μνημονεύσαντες ὀλίγον, καταπαύσομεν τὸν λόγον. Ἴδε μοι σώφρονα γυναῖκα τὴν Σαραφθίαν, τὴν τὸν προφήτην Ἠλίαν θρέψασαν ἐν καιρῷ λιμοῦ. Ἴδε μοι τὴν Σωμανῖτιν, ἥτις ἐφιλοξένισε τὸν Ἐλισσαῖον ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτῆς, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ τὸν παῖδα αὐτῆς ἀνέστησεν. Ἴδε μοι τὴν Ἄνναν, τὴν τῆς στειρώσεως δεσμὰ διαλύσασαν, καὶ τέξασαν τὸν Σαμουὴλ, καὶ διὰ προσευχῆς καὶ δεήσεως μητέρα ἀναδειχθεῖσαν. Ἴδε μοι τὴν Σάῤῥαν καὶ τὴν Ῥεβέκκαν, τὴν καθαρὰν καὶ ἀμίαντον αὐτῶν συνοίκησιν, ἣν ἐπεδείξαντο τοῖς πατριάρχαις. Ἴδε μοι τὴν Σωσάνναν, τὴν διὰ σωφροσύνης κατακρίνασαν θανάτῳ πρεσβυτέρους ἀδίκους. Ταύτας τὰς γυναῖκας ζηλώσατε, τῆς μὲν τὸ ἀμίαντον, τῆς δὲ τὴν προσευχήν· ἄλλης τὸ φιλόξενον, ἑτέρας τὴν σωφροσύνην, ἄλλης τὸ θεάρεστον, ἵνα τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐπιτύχητε· ἧς γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ τιμὴ καὶ δόξα, σὺν τῷ ἁγίῳ καὶ ζωοποιῷ