Gregory of Nazianzus, On Love for the Poor

you are incurably ill, approach the Healer, pray, heal the wounds through the wounds, acquire like by like, or rather, be healed in the greater things by the lesser. He will say to your soul: I am your salvation; and, Your faith has saved you; and, Behold, you have become well; and all the words of loving-kindness, if only He sees you showing loving-kindness to those who are in pain.

38. Blessed, he says, are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Mercy is not the least among the beatitudes. And, Blessed is he who understands concerning the poor and needy; and, A good man is he who pities and lends; and, The just man is merciful and lends all the day long. Let us seize the blessing, let us be called understanding, let us become good. Let not even the night interrupt your mercy. Do not say: Come back again, and tomorrow I will give to you; let nothing come between the impulse and the good deed; this alone, loving-kindness, does not admit of delay. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the poor who are homeless into your house, and these things with eagerness. For he who shows mercy, he says, let him do it with cheerfulness; and the good is doubled for you by your readiness. For that which is from grief, or from necessity, is both charmless and unadorned. One must celebrate, not mourn, the 35.909 good deed. If you take away the bond, he says, and the stretching forth of the hand—I mean by this niggardliness and scrutiny, or then doubt, and a word of murmuring—what will happen? How great and wonderful a thing! Such and so great is its reward! Your light will break forth like the morning, and your healing will spring up quickly. Who then does not long for light and healing?

39. And I am moved to reverence by Christ's money-box, which exhorts us to the support of the poor; and the agreement of Paul and Peter, that having divided the Gospel, they made the poor their partners; and the perfection of the young man, defined and legislated in the giving of his possessions to the poor. Do you think that loving-kindness is not a necessity for you, but a choice? Not a law, but an exhortation? I myself very much wished this, and supposed it; but the left hand frightens me, and the goats, and the reproaches they receive from the one who set them there; not because they plundered, nor because they robbed, or committed adultery, or did anything else of the forbidden things, were they condemned to this rank, but because they did not minister to Christ through those in need.

40. If then you are persuaded by me, servants of Christ, and brothers, and fellow heirs, while there is time, let us visit Christ, let us minister to Christ, let us feed Christ, let us clothe Christ, let us gather Christ, let us honor Christ; not only with a table, as some do; nor with ointments, like Mary; nor only with a tomb, like Joseph of Arimathea; nor with things for the burial, like Nicodemus, the half-hearted lover of Christ; nor with gold and frankincense and myrrh, like the Magi before those mentioned; but since the Lord of all desires mercy and not sacrifice, and compassion above ten thousands of fat lambs, let us offer this to Him through those in need, and those cast upon the ground today, so that, when we depart from here, they may receive us into the eternal tabernacles, in Christ Himself our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

ἀνιάτως ἔχῃς, πρόσελθε τῷ θεραπευτῇ, δεήθητι, θεράπευσον τὰ τραύματα διὰ τῶν τραυμά των, κτῆσαι τῷ ὁμοίῳ τὸ ὅμοιον, μᾶλλον δὲ, τοῖς ἐλάττοσι τὰ μείζονα θεραπεύθητι. Ἐρεῖ τῇ ψυχῇ σου· Σωτηρία σου εἰμὶ ἐγώ· καὶ, Ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέ σε· καὶ, Ἰδοὺ ὑγιὴς γέγονας· καὶ πάντα τὰ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ῥήματα, μόνον ἂν ἴδῃ σε τοῖς ἀλγοῦσι φιλάνθρωπον.

ΛΗʹ. Μακάριοι, φησὶν, οἱ ἐλεήμονες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἐλεηθήσονται. Οὐ πολλοστὸς ἐν τοῖς μακαρισμοῖς ὁ ἔλεος. Καὶ, Μακάριος ὁ συνιὼν, ἐπὶ πτωχὸν καὶ πένητα· καὶ, Χρηστὸς ἀνὴρ ὁ οἰκτείρων καὶ κιχρῶν· καὶ, Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἐλεεῖ καὶ δανείζει ὁ δίκαιος. Ἁρπάσωμεν τὸν μακαρισμὸν, συνιέντες κληθῶμεν, χρηστοὶ γενώμεθα. Μὴ διακοψάτω σου μηδὲ νὺξ τὸν ἔλεον. Μὴ εἴπῃς· Ἐπανελθὼν ἐπάνηκε, καὶ αὔριον δώσω σοι· μή τι μέσον γένη ται τῆς ὁρμῆς καὶ τῆς εὐεργεσίας· τοῦτο μόνον, οὐ δέχεται ἀναβολὴν ἡ φιλανθρωπία. ∆ιάθρυπτε πεινῶντι τὸν ἄρτον σου, καὶ πτωχοὺς ἀστέ γους εἰσάγαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου, καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ προθυμίας. Ὁ γὰρ ἐλεῶν, φησὶν, ἐν ἱλαρότη τι· καὶ διπλασιάζεταί σοι τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῇ ἑτοιμό τητι. Τὸ γὰρ ἐκ λύπης, ἢ ἐξ ἀνάγκης, ἄχαρί τε καὶ ἀκαλλώπιστον. Πανηγυριστέον δὲ, οὐ θρηνητέον τὴν 35.909 εὐποιίαν. Ἐὰν ἀνέλῃς σύνδεσμον, φησὶ, καὶ χειροτονίαν, μικρολογίαν δὴ λέγω τοῦτο καὶ δο κιμασίαν, εἶτ' οὖν ἀμφιβολίαν, καὶ ῥῆμα γογγυ σμοῦ, τί γενήσεται; Ὡς μέγα τι καὶ θαυμά σιον! οἷον καὶ ὅσος ὁ τούτου μισθός! Ῥαγή σεται πρώιμον τὸ φῶς σου, καὶ τὰ ἰάματά σου ταχὺ ἀνατελεῖ. Τίς οὖν οὐκ ἐφίεται φωτὸς καὶ ἰά σεως;

ΛΘʹ. Αἰδοῦμαι δὲ καὶ τὸ Χριστοῦ γλωσσόκομον, ὃ πρὸς πτωχοτροφίαν ἡμᾶς παρακαλεῖ· καὶ τὴν Παύλου καὶ Πέτρου συμφωνίαν, ὅτι τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον διελόμενοι, τοὺς πτωχοὺς κοινωνοὺς ἐποιήσαντο· καὶ τὴν τοῦ νέου τελείωσιν ἐν τῷ τὰ ὄντα δοῦναι πτωχοῖς ὁρισθεῖσάν τε καὶ νομοθετηθεῖσαν. Οἴει μὴ ἀνάγκην εἶναί σοι τῆς φιλανθρωπίας, ἀλλ' αἵρεσιν; μηδὲ νόμον, ἀλλὰ παραίνεσιν; Σφόδρα καὶ αὐτὸς ἐβουλόμην τοῦτο, καὶ ὑπελάμβανον· ἀλλὰ φοβεῖ με ἡ ἀριστερὰ χεὶρ, καὶ οἱ ἔριφοι, καὶ ἂ παρὰ τοῦ στήσαντος ὀνειδίζονται· οὐχ ὅτι διηρπάκασιν, οὐθ' ὅτι σεσυλήκασιν, ἢ μεμοιχεύκασιν, ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων πεποιήκασιν, ταύτην τὴν τάξιν κατακριθέντες, ἀλλ' ὅτι μὴ Χριστὸν διὰ τῶν δεομένων τεθεραπεύκασιν.

Μʹ. Εἴ τι οὖν ἐμοὶ πείθεσθε, δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἀδελφοὶ, καὶ συγκληρονόμοι, ἕως ἐστὶ καιρὸς, Χριστὸν ἐπισκεψώμεθα, Χριστὸν θεραπεύσωμεν, Χριστὸν θρέψωμεν, Χριστὸν ἐνδύσωμεν, Χριστὸν συναγάγωμεν, Χριστὸν τιμήσωμεν· μὴ τραπέζῃ μόνον, ὥς τινες· μηδὲ μύροις, ὡς ἡ Μαρία· μηδὲ τάφῳ μόνον, ὡς Ἰωσὴφ ὁ Ἀριμαθαῖος· μηδὲ τοῖς πρὸς τὴν ταφὴν, ὡς Νικόδημος ὁ ἐξ ἡμισείας φιλόχριστος· μηδὲ χρυσῷ καὶ λιβάνῳ καὶ σμύρνῃ, ὡς οἱ μάγοι πρὸ τῶν εἰρημένων· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἔλεον θέλει καὶ οὐ θυσίαν ὁ πάντων ∆εσπότης, καὶ ὑπὲρ μυριάδας ἀρνῶν πιόνων ἡ εὐσπλαγχνία, ταύτην εἰσφέρωμεν αὐτῷ διὰ τῶν δεομένων, καὶ χαμαὶ σήμερον ἐῤῥιμμένων, ἵνα, ὅταν ἐνθένδε ἀπαλλαγῶμεν, δέξωνται ἡμᾶς εἰς τὰς αἰωνίους σκηνὰς, ἐν αὐτῷ Χριστῷ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.