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What shall we do with so many myriads there? For not only abstaining from former evils, but also demonstrating better good things, is called repentance; For it says, "Turn away from evil, and do good." For it is not enough for our health only to remove the arrow, but also to apply medicine to the wound. But it happens that someone who has repented achieves many and great things, but in the meantime sins again, a sin equivalent to those achievements; and this is especially sufficient to cast him into despair, as if what was built has been torn down, and all those things were labored for by him in vain and for nothing. But one must consider this and reject that thought, that if we had not first laid up a measure of achievements to counterbalance the sins committed afterwards, nothing would have prevented us from sinking violently and completely. But now, just as a strong breastplate receiving a sharp and bitter arrow does not let it do its work, but being itself cut through, it wards off the great danger from the body... It is not terrible, then, for a combatant to be wounded, but to despair after the blow and neglect the wound. No merchant, having once been shipwrecked and lost his cargo, has refrained from sailing, but again he crosses the sea and the long deeps, and recovers his former wealth. We often see athletes who, after many falls, have become victors. And indeed, even a soldier who has often fled has at last been shown to be a champion and has prevailed over his enemies. And many of those who denied Christ through fear of tortures have fought again and have gone away, having bound on the crown of martyrdom. But if each of these had despaired from the first blow, he would not have enjoyed the second good things. May it be that we all attain these, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY IV. On fasting and self-control.

Do you wish to learn what an adornment fasting is for men? What great security and a guard?

Consider for me the blessed and wonderful race of monks. For these, having fled the tumults in the midst, and run up to the peaks of the mountains, and having fixed their huts in the quiet of the wilderness as in some fair-weathered harbor, have taken this as a fellow-traveler and partner of their whole life 63.596. For this reason it has made them angels out of men; not only them, but also in the cities whomever it finds embracing it, it raises to the same height of philosophy. It has even now gathered us to our Father's house; it has today led back even those who were previously more indifferent to their mother's hands. But if merely being anticipated has produced in you such zeal, when it appears and 63.597 has arrived how much reverence will it work in you? If Adam had heard this voice, he would not have heard the second one that says, "You are earth, and to earth you shall return;" but since he disobeyed this, for this reason there is death and despondency and cares, and a life more grievous than any death. And just as when insulted it brought death to the one who insulted it, so again when honored it called back death. For the great and wonderful city of the Ninevites, lying on its knees, bowing its head at the very precipice, and about to receive the blow brought from above, just as some power appearing from above, snatched it from the very hands of the executioner, and led it back to life. Let us see, then, how the Ninevites fasted, and how they were delivered from that wrath. "Let not the men and the cattle and the sheep and the oxen feed," it says. What do you say, tell me? Do the irrational animals also fast, and are horses and mules clothed in sackcloth? "Yes," he says. "For just as when some wealthy person dies, not

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μυριάδων ἐκεῖ τοσούτων τί ποιήσομεν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ τῶν προτέρων ἀποστῆναι κακῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἀμείνονα ἐπιδείξασθαι καλὰ, λέγεται μετάνοια· Ἔκκλινον γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀπὸ κακοῦ, καὶ ποίησον ἀγαθόν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ εἰς ὑγίειαν ἡμῖν τὸ βέλος ἐξελεῖν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ φάρμακα ἐπιθεῖναι τῷ τραύματι. Συμβαίνει δέ τινα μεταγνόντα κατορθῶσαι πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα, μεταξὺ δὲ ἁμαρτεῖν πάλιν τῶν κατορθωμάτων ἐκείνων ἁμαρτίαν ἀντίῤῥοπον· καὶ τοῦτο μάλιστα ἱκανὸν εἰς ἀπόγνωσιν ἐμβαλεῖν, ὡς τῶν οἰκοδομηθέντων καθαιρεθέντων, καὶ πάντων ἐκείνων μάτην καὶ εἰς κενὸν πονηθέντων αὐτῷ. ∆εῖ δὲ ἐκεῖνο λογίζεσθαι, καὶ τοῦτον ἐκκρούειν τὸν λογισμὸν, ὅτι εἰ μὴ φθάσαντες κατορθωμάτων μέτρον ἀντίῤῥοπον τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα γενομένοις ἁμαρτήμασιν ἀπεθέμεθα, οὐδὲν ἂν ἡμᾶς σφόδρα καὶ ὁλοσχερῶς καταδῦναι ἐκώλυσε. Νυνὶ δὲ καθάπερ τις θώραξ ἰσχυρὸς βέλος ὀξὺ καὶ πικρὸν δεχόμενος, οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἐργάσασθαι τὸ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς διατμηθεὶς τὸν πολὺν ἤμυνε τῷ σώματι κίνδυνον ... Οὐ δεινὸν τοίνυν τὸν πολεμοῦντα τρωθῆναι, ἀλλὰ τὸ μετὰ τὴν πληγὴν ἀπογνῶναι καὶ ἀμελῆσαι τοῦ τραύματος. Οὐδεὶς ἔμπορος ἅπαξ ναυαγίῳ περιπεσὼν καὶ τὸν φόρτον ἀπολέσας, ἀπέστη τοῦ πλεῖν, ἀλλὰ πάλιν τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὰ μακρὰ διαβαίνει πελάγη, καὶ τὸν πρότερον ἀνακτᾶται πλοῦτον. Πολλάκις ἀθλητὰς θεωροῦμεν μετὰ πολλὰ πτώματα στεφανίτας γενομένους. Ἤδη δὲ καὶ στρατιώτης πολλάκις φυγὼν, ἔσχατον ἀριστεὺς ἀνεδείχθη, καὶ τῶν πολεμίων ἐκράτησε. Πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν τὸν Χριστὸν ἀρνησαμένων διὰ τὸν τῶν βασάνων φόβον, ἀνεμαχέσαντο πάλιν, καὶ τὸν τοῦ μαρτυρίου στέφανον ἀπῆλθον ἀναδησάμενοι. Εἰ δὲ τούτων ἕκαστος ἐκ τῆς προτέρας πληγῆς ἀπέγνω, οὐκ ἂν τῶν δευτέρων ἀπέλαυσεν ἀγαθῶν. Ὧν γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ∆ʹ. Περὶ νηστείας καὶ σωφροσύνης.

Βούλει μαθεῖν ὅσος κόσμος ἀνθρώποις ἡ νηστεία; ὅση ἀσφάλεια καὶ φυλακή;

ἐννόησόν μοι τὸ μακάριον καὶ θαυμαστὸν γένος τῶν μοναζόντων. Οὗτοι γὰρ τοὺς ἐν μέσῳ θορύβους φυγόντες, καὶ πρὸς τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρέων ἀναδραμόντες, καὶ τὰς καλύβας ἐν τῇ τῆς ἐρημίας ἡσυχίᾳ καθάπερ ἐν εὐδιεινῷ τινι λιμένι πηξάμενοι, ταύτην συνέμπορον καὶ συγκοινωνὸν τοῦ βίου 63.596 παντὸς ἔλαβον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀγγέλους αὐτοὺς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐποίησεν· οὐκ ἐκείνους δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ὅσους ἂν εὕρῃ προσιεμένους αὐτὴν, πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ τῆς φιλοσοφίας ὕψος ἀνάγει. Ἐκείνη καὶ νῦν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὸν πατρῷον συνήγαγεν οἶκον· ἐκείνη καὶ τοὺς πρὸ τούτου ῥᾳθυμοτέρους σήμερον πρὸς τὰς μητρικὰς ἐπανήγαγε χεῖρας. Εἰ δὲ προσδοκωμένη μόνον τοσαύτην ὑμῖν ἐνεποίησε τὴν σπουδὴν, φανεῖσα καὶ 63.597 παραγενομένη πόσην ὑμῖν ἐργάσεται τὴν εὐλάβειαν; Εἰ ταύτης ἤκουσε τῆς φωνῆς ὁ Ἀδὰμ, οὐκ ἂν ἤκουσε τῆς δευτέρας τῆς λεγούσης, Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ταύτης παρήκουσε, διὰ τοῦτο θάνατος καὶ ἀθυμία καὶ φροντίδες, καὶ ζωὴ θανάτου παντὸς χαλεπωτέρα. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὑβρισθεῖσα θάνατον ἐπήγαγε τῷ ὑβρίσαντι, οὕτω πάλιν τιμηθεῖσα θάνατον ἀνεκαλέσατο. Τὴν γὰρ τῶν Νινευιτῶν πόλιν τὴν μεγάλην καὶ θαυμαστὴν ἐπὶ γόνυ κειμένην, παρὰ αὐτὸ τὸ βάραθρον τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνασαν, καὶ μέλλουσαν τὴν ἄνωθεν φερομένην δέχεσθαι πληγὴν, καθάπερ τις ἄνωθεν ἐπιστᾶσα δύναμις, ἐξ αὐτῶν ἥρπασε τῶν τοῦ δημίου χειρῶν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἐπανήγαγεν. Ἴδωμεν τοίνυν πῶς ἐνήστευσαν οἱ Νινευῖται, καὶ πῶς τῆς ὀργῆς ἀπηλλάγησαν ἐκείνης. Οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ τὰ κτήνη καὶ τὰ πρόβατα καὶ οἱ βόες μὴ νεμέσθωσαν, φησί. Τί λέγεις, εἰπέ μοι; καὶ τὰ ἄλογα νηστεύει, καὶ ἵπποι καὶ ἡμίονοι σάκκῳ περιβάλλονται; Ναὶ, φησί· καθάπερ γὰρ εὐπόρου τινὸς τελευτήσαντος, οὐκ