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silver for no need, but not even for display? For not even for this very purpose will it be useful to you, but it will be turned to the contrary. For you 50.774 do this in order to become illustrious and distinguished, but the opposite happens. For you are not illustrious and distinguished, but all slander you for cruelty and greed, and the worst evils. For how great is the envy, how great the malice, how great the hatred from all, how great the desire for change for all! For I pass over the blasphemies against God, which such riches produce; and yet this is more grievous than all; and the one before this, and whatever you might say, you will find the one worse than the other. But not so the well-proportioned and moderate state that we have, which no prophet scoffs at, no man finds fault with, God does not blame, fire does not punish, no one turns away from it, does not hate, does not envy, but God approves, angels share in it, men praise it, and heaven receives it. These tables received angels; to these Christ comes, not to those others. Such were those of the prophets, such were those of the apostles, such were those of the righteous. But the tables of tyrants and of those wickedly rich on earth, having dancers, and the others of those who live for the ruin of life, and of robbers, and of sorcerers, and of tomb-robbers, are those. When you set such a table, an angel leaps away, but God is provoked, but the chief of the demons rejoices, and they turn away, and hate, and waste away, not only the enemies, but even the very people who seem to be friendly, being consumed more by envy than enjoying what is present. But when one sets that other table, the temperate, and well-proportioned one, having no excess, and it is most pleasant and gracious to all friends, and to God, and to angels, and to men; then the Only-begotten of God comes. For just as he flees pride, and every high-minded person, and tumult; so he is a friend to the humble, and is with them always, and fences everything, and walls it on every side. And with Christ being present, it is necessary to seek nothing else. Knowing these things, therefore, beloved, let us flee those things, let us pursue these things, that we may obtain the good things both of the present and of the future, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, honor, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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ἄργυρον εἰς οὐδὲν δέον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὸ τοῦτο χρήσιμον ἔσται σοι, ἀλλ' εἰς τοὐναντίον περιτραπήσεται. Σὺ 50.774 μὲν γὰρ ὥστε ἐπιφανὴς καὶ ἐπίσημος γενέσθαι τοῦτο ποιεῖς, συμβαίνει δὲ τοὐναντίον. Οὐ γὰρ εἶ τις ἐπιφανὴς καὶ ἐπίσημος, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ὠμότητι καὶ πλεονεξίᾳ, καὶ τοῖς ἐσχάτοις κακοῖς ἅπαντές σε διαβάλλουσι. Πόσος γὰρ ὁ φθόνος, πόση ἡ βασκανία, πόσον τὸ μῖσος παρὰ πάντων, πόση ἡ μεταβολῆς ἐπιθυμία πᾶσι! Τὰς γὰρ εἰς τὸν Θεὸν βλασφημίας ἀφίημι, ἃς οἱ τοιοῦτοι πλοῦτοι τίκτουσι· καίτοι τοῦτο πάντων χαλεπώτερον· καὶ τὸ πρὸ τούτου, καὶ ὅπερ ἂν εἴπῃς, θάτερον θατέρου χεῖρον εὑρήσεις. Ἀλλ' οὐχὶ τὴν σύμμετρον καὶ μετρίαν οὖσαν ἡμῖν, ἣν οὐ προφήτης σκώπτει, οὐκ ἄνθρωπος μέμφεται, οὐ Θεὸς αἰτιᾶται, οὐ πῦρ κολάζει, οὐκ ἀποστρέφεταί τις, οὐ μισεῖ, οὐ βασκαίνει, ἀλλ' ἀποδέχεται μὲν Θεὸς, κοινωνοῦσι δὲ ἄγγελοι, ἐπαινοῦσι δὲ ἄνθρωποι, καὶ δέχεται οὐρανός. Αὗται αἱ τράπεζαι ἀγγέλους ἐδέξαντο· ταύταις ὁ Χριστὸς παραγίνεται, οὐκ ἐν ἐκείναις. Τοιαῦται αἱ τῶν προφητῶν ἦσαν, τοιαῦται αἱ τῶν ἀποστόλων, τοιαῦται αἱ τῶν δικαίων. Αἱ δὲ τῶν τυράννων καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς κακῶς πλουτούντων, ἔχουσαι ὀρχηστὰς, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τῶν ἐπὶ λύμῃ τοῦ βίου ζώντων, καὶ λῃστῶν, καὶ γοήτων, καὶ τυμβωρύχων, ἐκεῖναι. Ὅταν τοιαύτην παραθῇς τράπεζαν, ἄγγελος μὲν ἀποπηδᾷ, παροξύνεται δὲ Θεὸς, χαίρει δὲ ὁ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀρχηγὸς, ἀποστρέφονται δὲ, καὶ μισοῦσι, καὶ τήκονται, οὐχ οἱ ἐχθροὶ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ δοκοῦντες ἔχειν ἐπιτηδείως ἄνθρωποι, φθόνῳ μᾶλλον ἐσθιόμενοι, ἢ τῶν παρόντων ἀπολαύοντες. Ὅταν δὲ ἐκείνην τις παραθῇ, τὴν σώφρονα, καὶ σύμμετρον, καὶ οὐδεμίαν ἔχουσαν φλεγμονὴν, καὶ ἡδίστη καὶ προσηνὴς ᾖ πᾶσι τοῖς φίλοις, καὶ Θεῷ, καὶ ἀγγέλοις, καὶ ἀνθρώποις· παραγίνεται οὖν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Μονογενής. Ὥσπερ γὰρ φεύγει τὸν τῦφον, καὶ τὸν ὑψηλόφρονα ἅπαντα, καὶ τὸν θόρυβον· οὕτω τῷ ταπεινῷ φίλος ἐστὶ, καὶ σύνεστιν ἀεὶ, καὶ πάντα περιφράττει, καὶ τειχίζει πανταχόθεν. Τοῦ δὲ Χριστοῦ παραγινομένου, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἐπιζητεῖν χρή. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδότες, ἀγαπητοὶ, φεύγωμεν ἐκεῖνα, διώκωμεν ταῦτα, ἵνα καὶ τῶν παρόντων καὶ τῶν μελλόντων τύχωμεν ἀγαθῶν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ δόξα, τιμὴ, ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.