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you liken the body to fierce beasts, and you do not shudder? But since the discourse is about the Lord's body, come, let us also remember that body, the one that was crucified, the one that was nailed, the one that is sacrificed. If you are the body of Christ, bear the cross; for He also bore it; bear the spitting, bear the slaps, bear the nails. Such was that body. That body was sinless; For, it says, He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth; His hands did all things for the benefit of those in need; His mouth uttered nothing of what was not fitting; You have a demon, He heard, and said nothing in reply. But since our discourse is about the body, as many of us who partake of the body, as many as taste of this blood, consider that we partake of that which is in no way different or separated from Him; that we taste of Him who is seated above, who is worshipped by angels, who is near the unblemished power. Alas, how many are the ways to salvation for us! He has made us His own body, He has given us His own body, and none of these things turns us away from evils. O the darkness, and the great abyss! O the insensibility! Set your minds on things above, it says, where Christ is, 62.28 seated at the right hand of God; and after these things some are anxious for money, others are captured by passions. δʹ. Do you not see that even in our own body, whatever is superfluous and useless is cut off, is lopped off? And it is no advantage that it was part of the body, when it is maimed, when it is dead, when it is rotten, when it also corrupts the rest? Let us not therefore be confident, because we have once become part of the body. But if this physical body is nevertheless cut off, what terrible thing will not be suffered by that which depends on choice, if it does not abide? When the body does not partake of this food, when the passages are blocked, then it dies; when the channels are, then it is maimed. So also with us, when we block our ears, our soul is maimed; when we do not partake of the spiritual food, when certain evils, like corrupted humors, ruin us, all these things give birth to a grievous disease, a disease that works consumption; and it will need that fire hereafter, it will need to be cut in two For Christ does not endure to enter into the bridal chamber with such a body. If He led away and cast out the one clothed in filthy garments, what will He not do to the one who adds filth to the body? What will He not inflict? I see many partaking of the body of Christ simply and as it happens, and more by custom and law, than by reason and thought. If the time of holy Lent arrives, he says, whatever sort of person one may be, he partakes of the mysteries, if the day of Epiphany arrives. And yet this is not the time for approaching; for neither Epiphany nor Lent makes one worthy to approach, but sincerity and purity of soul. With this, always approach; without it, never. For as often, it says, as you do this, you proclaim the Lord's death; that is, You make a remembrance of the salvation on your behalf, of my benefaction. Consider, those who partook of the old sacrifice, how much care they used. For what did they not practice? What did they not do? They were always purifying themselves; but you, approaching a sacrifice at which even angels shudder, do you define the matter by periods of time? And how will you stand at the judgment seat of Christ, daring to touch His very body with polluted hands and lips? And you would not choose to kiss a king when your mouth stinks; but you kiss the King of heaven with a stinking soul? The matter is an outrage. Tell me, would you choose to approach the sacrifice with unwashed hands? I think not; but you would rather not approach at all, than with filthy hands. Then, while being so reverent in a small matter, do you approach with a filthy soul, and dare to touch? And yet by the hands it is held for a time, but into that one it is wholly absorbed. What then? Do you not see the vessels so washed all around? So glistening? Our souls must be purer than these, holier and brighter than these. Why is that? Because those things become such for our sake. Those things

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τὸ σῶμα θηρίοις παραβάλλεις χαλεποῖς, καὶ οὐ φρίττεις; Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ περὶ σώματος Κυριακοῦ ὁ λόγος, φέρε, καὶ περὶ ἐκείνου μνημονεύσωμεν, τοῦ σταυρωθέντος, τοῦ προσηλωθέντος, τοῦ θυομένου. Εἰ σῶμα εἶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, φέρε τὸν σταυρόν· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἤνεγκε· φέρε ἐμπτύσματα, φέρε ῥαπίσματα, φέρε ἥλους. Τοιοῦτον ἐκεῖνο τὸ σῶμα ἦν. Τὸ σῶμα ἐκεῖνο ἀναμάρτητον ἦν· Ἁμαρτίαν γὰρ, φησὶν, οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ εὑρέθη· αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ πρὸς εὐεργεσίαν ἅπαντα ἔπραττον τῶν δεομένων· οὐδὲν τὸ στόμα ἐξέβαλε τῶν οὐ προσηκόντων· ∆αιμόνιον ἔχεις, ἤκουσε, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀντεῖπεν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ σώματος ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος, ὅσοι μετέχομεν τοῦ σώματος, ὅσοι τοῦ αἵματος ἀπογευόμεθα τούτου, ἐννοεῖτε ὅτι τοῦ μηδὲν ἐκείνου διαφέροντος οὐδὲ διεστῶτος μετέχομεν πρὸς μετοχὴν, ὅτι ἐκείνου τοῦ ἄνω καθημένου, τοῦ προσκυνουμένου παρὰ ἀγγέλων, τοῦ τῆς ἀκηράτου δυνάμεως ἐγγὺς, τούτου ἀπογευόμεθα. Οἴμοι, πόσαι πρὸς σωτηρίαν ἡμῖν ὁδοί! Σῶμα ἡμᾶς ἑαυτοῦ ἐποίησε, σῶμα ἡμῖν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ μετέδωκε, καὶ οὐδὲν τούτων ἡμᾶς ἀποτρέπει τῶν κακῶν. Ὢ τοῦ σκότους, καὶ τοῦ βυθοῦ τοῦ πολλοῦ! ὢ τῆς ἀναλγησίας! Τὰ ἄνω, φησὶ, φρονεῖτε, οὗ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν 62.28 ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθήμενος· καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα χρημάτων φροντίζουσί τινες, ἕτεροι ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν ἁλίσκονται. δʹ. Οὐχ ὁρᾶτε, ὅτι καὶ ἐν τῷ σώματι τῷ ἡμετέρῳ, ὅσα μὲν ἂν ᾖ περιττὰ καὶ ἄχρηστα, ἀποτέμνεται, περικόπτεται; καὶ οὐδὲν κέρδος, ὅτι γέγονε τοῦ σώματος, ὅταν πεπηρωμένον ᾖ, ὅταν νενεκρωμένον, ὅταν σεσηπὸς, ὅταν καὶ τῷ λοιπῷ λυμαίνηται; Μὴ τοίνυν θαῤῥῶμεν, ὅτι γεγόναμεν ἅπαξ τοῦ σώματος. Εἰ δὲ τὸ σῶμα τοῦτο φυσικὸν ὂν, ὅμως ἀποτέμνεται, τὰ τῆς προαιρέσεως ἂν μὴ μένῃ, τί οὐ πείσεται δεινόν; Ὅταν μὴ μετέχῃ τῆς τροφῆς ταύτης τὸ σῶμα, ὅταν οἱ πόροι ἐμφραγῶσι, τότε νεκροῦται· ὅταν οἱ ὀχετοὶ, τότε πηροῦται. Οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς ὅταν ἀποφράξωμεν τὰς ἀκοὰς, πηροῦται ἡμῶν ἡ ψυχή· ὅταν μὴ μετέχωμεν τῆς πνευματικῆς τροφῆς, ὅταν πονηρίαι τινὲς ἀντὶ χυμῶν διεφθαρμένων ἡμᾶς λυμαίνωνται, πάντα ταῦτα τίκτει τὴν νόσον χαλεπὴν, νόσον τηκεδόνα ἐργαζομένην· καὶ δεήσεται τοῦ πυρὸς ἐκείνου λοιπὸν, δεήσεται τοῦ διχοτομηθῆναι Οὐ γὰρ ἀνέχεται μετὰ τοιούτου σώματος εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν νυμφῶνα ὁ Χριστός. Εἰ τὸν ἱμάτια ῥυπαρὰ ἐνδεδυμένον ἀπήγαγε καὶ ἐξέβαλε, τὸν τῷ σώματι ῥύπον προστιθέντα τί οὐκ ἐργάσεται; τί οὐ διαθήσει; Πολλοὺς ὁρῶ τοὺς σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ μετέχοντας ἁπλῶς καὶ ὡς ἔτυχε, καὶ συνηθείᾳ μᾶλλον καὶ νόμῳ, ἢ λογισμῷ καὶ διανοίᾳ. Ἂν ἐπιστῇ, φησὶν, ὁ τῆς ἁγίας Τεσσαρακοστῆς καιρὸς, οἷος ἐὰν ᾖ τις, μετέχει τῶν μυστηρίων, ἂν ἐπιστῇ ἡ τῶν Ἐπιφανίων ἡμέρα. Καίτοι καιρὸς οὐ τοῦτο προσόδου· οὐ γὰρ Ἐπιφάνια, οὐδὲ Τεσσαρακοστὴ ποιεῖ ἀξίους τοῦ προσιέναι, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς εἰλικρίνεια καὶ καθαρότης. Μετὰ ταύτης ἀεὶ πρόσιθι, χωρὶς ταύτης μηδέποτε. Ὁσάκις γὰρ, φησὶ, τοῦτο ποιεῖτε, τὸν θάνατον τοῦ Κυρίου καταγγέλλετε· τουτέστιν, Ὑπόμνησιν ποιεῖτε τῆς σωτηρίας τῆς ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, τῆς εὐεργεσίας τῆς ἐμῆς. Ἐννόησον, οἱ τῆς θυσίας μετέχοντες τῆς παλαιᾶς πόσῃ ἐκέχρηντο τῇ φειδοῖ. Τί γὰρ οὐκ ἔπραττον; τί δὲ οὐκ ἐποίουν; Πάντοτε ἐκαθαίροντο· σὺ δὲ θυσίᾳ προσιὼν ἣν καὶ ἄγγελοι φρίττουσι, καιρῶν περιόδοις τὸ πρᾶγμα ὁρίζεις; καὶ πῶς παραστήσῃ τῷ βήματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, μιαραῖς χερσὶ καὶ χείλεσι κατατολμῶν αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος; Καὶ βασιλέα μὲν οὐκ ἂν ἕλοιο καταφιλῆσαι, ὀδωδότος σου τοῦ στόματος· τὸν δὲ Βασιλέα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ψυχῇ καταφιλεῖς ὀδωδυίᾳ; Ὕβρις τὸ πρᾶγμά ἐστιν. Εἰπέ μοι, ἆρα ἂν ἕλοιο χερσὶν ἀνίπτοις τῇ θυσίᾳ προσελθεῖν; Οὐκ ἔγωγε οἶμαι· ἀλλ' ἐθέλοις ἂν μηδὲ ὅλως προσελθεῖν, ἢ ῥυπαραῖς χερσίν. Εἶτα ἐν τῷ μικρῷ οὕτως ὢν εὐλαβὴς, ψυχὴν ἔχων ῥυπαρὰν προσέρχῃ, καὶ ἅπτεσθαι τολμᾷς; Καίτοι ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν χειρῶν πρὸς καιρὸν κατέχεται, εἰς δὲ ἐκείνην ὁλόκληρος ἀναλύεται. Τί δέ; οὐχ ὁρᾷς τὰ σκεύη οὕτω περικλυζόμενα; οὕτως ἀπολάμποντα; Τούτων καθαρωτέρας ἡμῖν εἶναι δεῖ τὰς ψυχὰς, τούτων ἁγιωτέρας καὶ λαμπροτέρας. Τί δήποτε; Ὅτι ἐκεῖνα δι' ἡμᾶς τοιαῦτα γίνεται. Ἐκεῖνα