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such a number, and horses, and countless other things providing great strength? But nevertheless such great power is destroyed when it is at odds with itself. For nothing is so constituted by nature to produce weakness as contentiousness and strife; just as nothing 48.862 so produces strength and power as love and concord. Solomon, therefore, perceiving this, said: A brother helped by a brother is like a strong city, and a kingdom secured with bolts. Have you seen how great is the strength of concord? how great is the harm of contentiousness? A kingdom at strife is destroyed, but two being of one mind, and bound together with one another, are stronger than any wall. And I know indeed that through the grace of God the greater part of this flock of ours has been delivered from this sickness, and the disease is confined to a few; but nevertheless the cure is not to be neglected on this account. For even if only ten, or if five, or if two, or if only one were sick, not even so ought we to be neglectful. For even if he is one and lowly and cast out, yet he is a brother for whom Christ died. And great is Christ's regard for the lowly. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, he says, it is better for him that a millstone be hung around his neck, and he be drowned in the sea. And again: Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of these little ones, you did not do it to me; and again: It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. How then is it not absurd, if Christ shows such great providence for the little ones, that we should be neglectful of them? Do not say this, that he is one, but that being one and neglected, he will transmit the disease to the rest; For a little leaven, he says, leavens the whole lump. And this is what destroys and overthrows everything, that we neglect the small things. For this reason the wounds become great, just as, therefore, great things could easily 48.863 become small if they receive the proper care. This, then, we say to them first, that nothing is worse than contentiousness and fighting and tearing apart the Church, and cutting into many parts that tunic which the robbers did not dare to tear. Are not the other heresies enough, but must we also cut ourselves up? Do you not hear Paul saying: But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another? You are walking outside the flock, tell me, and do you not fear the lion that goes about outside? For your adversary, as a lion, he says, goes about roaring and seeking whom he may devour. See the wisdom of the shepherd; he neither allowed it to be inside among the sheep, lest it terrify the flock; nor did he drive it away from outside, so that by fear of the beast he might gather everyone inside. Do you not reverence the father? Fear the enemy; if you separate yourself from the flock, he will certainly receive you. For Christ could have driven him away from outside, but so that he might prepare you to be sober and watchful and to flee continually to the mother, he allowed him to roar outside, so that those within, hearing his voice, might be drawn more closely together, and flee to one another. So also loving mothers do; they often threaten to throw their weeping children into the mouths of wolves, not so that they might be thrown, but so that they may stop being difficult. Christ did all things for this reason, that we might be at peace, that we might be bound together with one another.

2. For this reason also Paul, having many and great things to charge the Corinthians with, charged them with nothing before this; but although he had to charge them both concerning fornication, and concerning arrogance, and the outside courts, and the feasts in idol temples, and that women were not covering their heads while men were doing this, and with all these things on account of the contempt for the poor, and the arrogance arising among them from spiritual gifts, and concerning the resurrection of the bodies; yet having with all these things to rebuke them also concerning their contentiousness and dissension with one another, he passed by all the other things, and corrects that first. And if not

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ἀριθμὸς τοσοῦτος, καὶ ἵπποι, καὶ μυρία ἕτερα πολλὴν παρέχοντα τὴν ἰσχύν; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἡ τοσαύτη δύναμις καταλύεται, ὅταν πρὸς ἑαυτὴν στασιάζῃ. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἀσθένειαν ἐργάζεσθαι πέφυκεν, ὡς φιλονεικία καὶ ἔρις· ὥσπερ οὐδὲν 48.862 οὕτως ἰσχὺν καὶ δύναμιν, ὡς ἀγάπη καὶ ὁμόνοια. Ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ Σολομὼν συνιδὼν, ἔλεγεν· Ἀδελφὸς ὑπ' ἀδελφοῦ βοηθούμενος ὡς πόλις ὀχυρὰ, καὶ μεμοχλευμένη βασιλεία. Εἶδες ὅση τῆς ὁμονοίας ἡ ἰσχύς; ὅση τῆς φιλονεικίας ἡ βλάβη; Βασιλεία στασιάζουσα καταλύεται, δύο δὲ ἐπὶ ταὐτὸ ὄντες, καὶ συνδεδεμένοι μετ' ἀλλήλων, παντός εἰσιν ἀῤῥαγέστεροι τείχους. Καὶ οἶδα μὲν ὅτι διὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν τὸ πλέον ἡμῖν τῆς ἀγέλης ταύτης ἀπήλλακται τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας, καὶ εἰς ὀλίγους τὸ νόσημα περιέστηκε· πλὴν ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ τοῦτο ἀμελητέον τῆς θεραπείας. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ εἰ δέκα μόνον, καὶ εἰ πέντε, καὶ εἰ δύο, καὶ εἰ εἷς μόνος ὁ κάμνων ἦν, οὐδ' οὕτω καταφρονῆσαι ἔδει. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ εἷς ἐστι καὶ εὐτελὴς καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένος, ἀλλ' ἀδελφός ἐστι, δι' ὃν ὁ Χριστὸς ἀπέθανε. Καὶ πολὺς τῷ Χριστῷ τῶν εὐτελῶν ὁ λόγος. Ὃς ἐὰν σκανδαλίσῃ, φησὶν, ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς ἐμὲ, συμφέρει αὐτῷ ἵνα κρεμασθῇ μύλος ὀνικὸς περὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ, καὶ καταποντισθῇ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἐφ' ὅσον οὐκ ἐποιήσατε ἑνὶ τῶν μικρῶν τούτων, οὐδὲ ἐμοὶ ἐποιήσατε· καὶ πάλιν· Οὐκ ἔστι θέλημα ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἵνα ἀπόληται εἷς τῶν μικρῶν τούτων. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄτοπον, εἰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοσαύτην ποιουμένου τῶν μικρῶν πρόνοιαν, ἡμεῖς αὐτῶν καταῤῥᾳθυμήσαιμεν; Μὴ τοῦτο εἴπῃς, ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ὅτι εἷς ἀμελούμενος, καὶ εἰς τοὺς λοιποὺς παραπέμψει τὸ πάθος· Μικρὰ γὰρ ζύμη, φησὶν, ὅλον τὸ φύραμα ζυμοῖ. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ὃ τὰ πάντα ἀπόλλυσι καὶ ἀνατρέπει, ὅτι τῶν μικρῶν καταμελοῦμεν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μεγάλα γίνεται τὰ ἕλκη, ὥσπερ οὖν τὰ μεγάλα ῥᾳδίως 48.863 ἂν γένοιτο μικρὰ τῆς προσηκούσης ἀπολαύοντα ἐπιμελείας. Τοῦτο τοίνυν πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγομεν πρότερον, ὅτι οὐδὲν χεῖρον φιλονεικίας καὶ μάχης καὶ τοῦ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν διασπᾷν, καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα, ὃν οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν οἱ λῃσταὶ διαῤῥῆξαι, τοῦτον εἰς πολλὰ κατατεμεῖν μέρη. Οὐκ ἀρκοῦσιν αἱ λοιπαὶ αἱρέσεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἑαυτοὺς κατατέμωμεν; Οὐκ ἀκούεις τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· Εἰ δὲ ἀλλήλους δάκνετε καὶ κατεσθίετε, βλέπετε μὴ ὑπὸ ἀλλήλων ἀναλωθῆτε; Ἔξω τῆς ἀγέλης βαδίζεις, εἰπέ μοι, καὶ οὐ δέδοικας τὸν λέοντα τὸν ἔξωθεν περιιόντα; Ὁ ἐχθρὸς γὰρ ὑμῶν, ὡς λέων, περιέρχεται, φησὶν, ὠρυόμενος καὶ ζητῶν τίνα ἁρπάσῃ. Ὅρα σοφίαν ποιμένος· οὔτε ἔνδον ἀφῆκεν εἶναι ἐν τοῖς προβάτοις, ἵνα μὴ καταπλήξηται τὴν ποίμνην· οὔτε ἔξωθεν ἀπήγαγεν, ἵνα τῷ φόβῳ τοῦ θηρίου πάντας ἔσω συναγάγῃ. Οὐκ αἰδῇ τὸν πατέρα; φοβήθητι τὸν ἐχθρόν· εἰ ἀποσχίσῃς σαυτὸν τῆς ἀγέλης, ἐκεῖνός σε δέξεται πάντως. Ἠδύνατο μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἔξωθεν αὐτὸν ἀπαγαγεῖν ὁ Χριστὸς, ἀλλ' ἵνα σε παρασκευάσῃ νήφειν καὶ ἐναγώνιον εἶναι καὶ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα συνεχῶς καταφυγεῖν, ἀφῆκεν ἔξωθεν ὠρύεσθαι, ἵνα οἱ ἔνδοθεν, ἀκούοντες αὐτοῦ τῆς φωνῆς, μᾶλλον συσφίγγωνται, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους καταφεύγωσιν. Οὕτω καὶ μητέρες ποιοῦσι φιλόστοργοι· τὰ παιδία κλαυθμυριζόμενα πολλάκις ἀπειλοῦσι τοῖς στόμασι τῶν λύκων ῥίπτειν, οὐχ ἵνα ῥιφῶσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα παύσωσι δυσχεραίνοντα. Πάντα ὁ Χριστὸς διὰ τοῦτο ἐποίησεν ἵνα εἰρηνεύωμεν, ἵνα πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὦμεν συνδεδεμένοι.

βʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ Παῦλος πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα Κορινθίοις ἐγκαλεῖν ἔχων, οὐδὲν ἐνεκάλεσε πρὸ τούτου· ἀλλ' ἔχων αὐτοῖς ἐγκαλέσαι καὶ περὶ πορνείας, καὶ περὶ ἀπονοίας, καὶ τῶν ἔξω δικαστηρίων, καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς εἰδωλείοις συμποσίων, καὶ ὅτι γυναῖκες μὲν οὐκ ἐκαλύπτοντο τὰς κεφαλὰς, ἄνδρες δὲ τοῦτο ἐποίουν, καὶ μετὰ τούτων ἁπάντων διὰ τὴν τῶν πενήτων ὑπεροψίαν, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῶν χαρισμάτων ἐγγινομένην αὐτοῖς ἀπόνοιαν, καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν σωμάτων ἀναστάσεως· ἔχων δὲ μετὰ τούτων ἁπάντων καὶ περὶ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλονεικίας καὶ διχοστασίας αὐτοῖς ἐπιτιμῆσαι, πάντα τὰ ἄλλα παραδραμὼν, ἐκεῖνο διορθοῦται πρότερον. Καὶ εἰ μὴ