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but are pious in their way. Have you seen the length of paradise extending to the ends of the inhabited world? Here there is no serpent, the place is clean of wild beasts, and it is walled by the grace of the Spirit. This paradise also has a spring, just like that one, a spring the mother of countless rivers, not four. For this spring sends forth not the Tigris, nor the Euphrates, nor the Egyptian Nile, nor the Indian Ganges, but countless rivers. Who says these things? God Himself, who has granted us the rivers; For he who believes in Me, He says, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.’ Do you see how not four rivers, but innumerable ones, pour forth from that spring? The spring is marvelous not only in its multitude, but also in its nature; for its streams are not of water, but the gifts of the Spirit. This spring is divided among each soul of the faithful, and is not diminished; divided, and not consumed; portioned out, and not lessened; whole among all, and whole in each one. For so many are the gifts of the Spirit. Do you want to learn the abundance of these streams? do you want to learn the nature of the waters? how it is not like these, but is better than these and more marvelous? Hear again Christ Himself speaking to the Samaritan woman, so that you may learn the abundance of the spring. The water that I will give, He says, to the believer, will become in him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life. He did not say ‘going out,’ He did not say ‘being poured forth,’ but ‘leaping up,’ showing us its abundance through its leaps. For those 51.89 fountain waters are accustomed to leap up and spring from every side, which the springs cannot contain in their bosoms, but, overcome by the continuity of the flow, gush them forth from every side. Wishing, therefore, to show the abundance of the streams, He said, ‘leaping up,’ not, ‘going out.’ Do you want to understand its nature as well? Learn from its use. For it is useful not for the present life, but for eternal life. Let us linger, therefore, in this paradise, let us sit beside the spring, lest we suffer what Adam suffered, and fall out of paradise; let us not accept deadly counsel, let us not accept the deceit of the devil; let us remain within; for great is the safety from this; let us remain in the reading of these Scriptures. For just as those sitting beside a spring, and enjoying that breeze, and when a burning heat is present, constantly bathing their faces, they ward off the stifling heat with the streams, and when thirst troubles them, they easily heal the affliction, having the remedy nearby from the spring; so the one sitting beside the spring of the divine Scriptures, even if he sees the troubling flame of an unseemly desire, having easily washed his soul with those streams, he has repelled the flame; and if burning anger should trouble him, making the heart boil like a heated cauldron, having dripped a little of the stream, he immediately quelled the shamelessness of the passion; and from all evil thoughts, as from the midst of a flame, the reading of the divine Scriptures snatches away the soul.

2. Wherefore also that great prophet David, knowing the benefit from the reading of the Scriptures, compares the one who continually gives heed to the Scriptures and enjoys this discourse to a plant that is ever-flourishing, standing by the streams of waters, saying thus: Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he will meditate day and night, and he shall be like the tree planted by the channels of waters. For just as that tree planted by the channels of waters, standing by the very streams, having a continual supply of irrigation, becomes unconquered by any irregularity of the weather, and neither a ray having become hotter

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εὐσεβοῦσι δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ. Εἶδες παραδείσου μῆκος πρὸς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐκτεταμένου; Ἐνταῦθα οὐκ ἔστιν ὄφις, καθαρὸν τῶν θηρίων ἐστὶ τὸ χωρίον, καὶ τῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος τειχίζεται χάριτι. Ἔχει καὶ πηγὴν ὁ παράδεισος οὗτος, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος, πηγὴν μυρίων ποταμῶν μητέρα, οὐχὶ τεσσάρων. Οὐ γὰρ τὸν Τίγρητα, οὐδὲ τὸν Εὐφράτην, οὐδὲ τὸν Αἰγύπτιον Νεῖλον, οὐδὲ τὸν Ἰνδὸν Γάγγην, ἀλλὰ μυρίους ἀφίησι ποταμοὺς αὕτη ἡ πηγή. Τίς ταῦτά φησιν; Αὐτὸς ὁ τοὺς ποταμοὺς ἡμῖν χαρισάμενος Θεός· Ὁ πιστεύων γὰρ εἰς ἐμὲ, φησὶ, καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ Γραφὴ, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος. Εἶδες πῶς οὐχὶ τέσσαρες ποταμοὶ, ἀλλὰ ἀδιόριστοι ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς ἐκείνης ἐκχέοντες; Οὐ τῷ πλήθει δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ φύσει θαυμαστὴ ἡ πηγή· οὐ γὰρ ὕδατός ἐστι τὰ νάματα, ἀλλὰ Πνεύματος τὰ χαρίσματα. Αὕτη ἡ πηγὴ καθ' ἑκάστην ψυχήν ἐστι τῶν πιστῶν μεριζομένη, καὶ οὐ μειουμένη· μεριζομένη, καὶ οὐ δαπανωμένη· κατακερματιζομένη, καὶ οὐκ ἐλαττουμένη· παρὰ πᾶσιν ὁλόκληρος, καὶ ἐν ἑκάστῳ ὁλόκληρος. Τοσαῦτα γὰρ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὰ χαρίσματα. Βούλει μαθεῖν τὴν δαψίλειαν τῶν ναμάτων τούτων; βούλει μαθεῖν τῶν ὑδάτων τὴν φύσιν; πῶς οὐκ ἔοικε τούτοις, ἀλλὰ βελτίω τούτων καὶ θαυμασιώτερά ἐστιν; Ἄκουσον πάλιν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος τῇ Σαμαρείτιδι, ἵνα μάθῃς τὴν δαψίλειαν τῆς πηγῆς. Τὸ ὕδωρ, ὃ ἐγὼ δώσω, φησὶ, τῷ πιστῷ, γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Οὐκ εἶπεν, ἐξιόντος, οὐκ εἶπε, προχεομένου, ἀλλὰ, ἁλλομένου, διὰ τῶν ἁλμάτων τὴν ἀφθονίαν ἡμῖν ἐμφαίνων. Ἐκεῖνα 51.89 τῶν κρηναίων ὑδάτων ἐξάλλεσθαι καὶ πηδᾷν πανταχόθεν εἴωθεν, ἅπερ ἂν αἱ πηγαὶ ἐν τοῖς κόλποις μὴ δύνανται κατέχειν, ἀλλὰ νικώμεναι τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῆς ἐπιῤῥοῆς πανταχόθεν αὐτὰ ἀναβλύζουσι. Βουλόμενος οὖν τὴν δαψίλειαν τῶν ναμάτων δεῖξαι, εἶπεν, ἁλλομένου, οὐκ, ἐξιόντος. Βούλει καὶ τὴν φύσιν αὐτῆς καταμαθεῖν; Μάνθανε ἀπὸ τῆς χρείας. Οὐ γὰρ εἰς ζωὴν τὴν παροῦσαν, ἀλλ' εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιόν ἐστι χρησίμη. ∆ιατρίψωμεν τοίνυν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τούτῳ, παρακαθεζώμεθα τῇ πηγῇ, μὴ πάθωμεν ὅπερ ἔπαθεν ὁ Ἀδὰμ, καὶ ἐκπέσωμεν τοῦ παραδείσου· μὴ δεξώμεθα συμβουλὴν ὀλεθρίαν, μὴ παραδεξώμεθα τὴν ἀπάτην τοῦ διαβόλου· μένωμεν ἔνδον· πολλὴ γὰρ ἡ ἐντεῦθεν ἀσφάλεια· μένωμεν ἐν τῇ ἀναγνώσει τῶν Γραφῶν τούτων. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ πηγῇ παρακαθήμενοι, καὶ τῆς αὔρας ἐκείνης ἀπολαύοντες, καὶ καύσωνος ἐπικειμένου τὴν ὄψιν συνεχῶς ἐπικλύζοντες, ἀποκρούονται τὸ πνῖγος τοῖς νάμασι, καὶ δίψους διενοχλοῦντος ῥᾳδίως ἰῶνται τὸ πάθος, ἐγγύθεν τὸ φάρμακον ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς ἔχοντες· οὕτως ὁ παρὰ τὴν πηγὴν τῶν θείων Γραφῶν παρακαθήμενος, κἂν ἐπιθυμίας ἀτόπου φλόγα διενοχλοῦσαν ἴδῃ, ῥᾳδίως ἀπὸ τῶν ναμάτων ἐκείνων τὴν ψυχὴν ἀποκλύσας ἀπεκρούσατο τὴν φλόγα· κἂν ὀργὴ διακαὴς ἐνοχλῇ, τὴν καρδίαν καθάπερ λέβητα ὑποκαιόμενον ἀναβράσσουσα, μικρὸν τοῦ νάματος ἐπιστάξας, εὐθέως κατέστειλε τοῦ πάθους τὴν ἀναισχυντίαν· καὶ ἐκ πάντων τῶν πονηρῶν λογισμῶν, ὥσπερ ἐκ μέσης φλογὸς, ἐξαρπάζει τὴν ψυχὴν ἡ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἀνάγνωσις.

βʹ. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ προφήτης ὁ μέγας ∆αυῒδ ἐκεῖνος, εἰδὼς τὴν ὠφέλειαν τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως τῶν Γραφῶν, τὸν διηνεκῶς προσέχοντα ταῖς Γραφαῖς καὶ τῆς ὁμιλίας ταύτης ἀπολαύοντα παρεικάζει φυτῷ ἀεὶ τεθηλότι, παρὰ τοὺς ῥύακας ἑστηκότι τῶν ὑδάτων, οὑτωσὶ λέγων· Μακάριος ἀνὴρ, ὃς οὐκ ἐπορεύθη ἐν βουλῇ ἀσεβῶν, καὶ ἐν ὁδῷ ἁμαρτωλῶν οὐκ ἔστη, καὶ ἐπὶ καθέδραν λοιμῶν οὐκ ἐκάθισεν· ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ νόμῳ Κυρίου τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ μελετήσει ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς, καὶ ἔσται ὡς τὸ ξύλον τὸ πεφυτευμένον παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων. Καθάπερ γὰρ τὸ ξύλον ἐκεῖνο τὸ παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων πεφυτευμένον, παρ' αὐτοὺς τοὺς ῥύακας ἑστηκὸς, διηνεκῆ τῆς ἀρδείας ἔχον τὴν χορηγίαν, πάσῃ ἀέρων ἀνωμαλίᾳ ἀχείρωτον γίνεται, καὶ οὔτε ἀκτῖνα θερμοτέραν γενομένην