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will be examined and judged, with nothing happening without judgment or by chance. For (he says) do everything with counsel. And: The thoughts of the righteous are judgments. Therefore, reason, which has obtained the highest place among us, must, like a judge, judge and examine each thing, both what is to be said and what is to be done, and indeed permit the assents to things and the impulses of the soul with precise judgment. For this is what Paul says: For if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. Rescue the one who is wronged. Since being wronged is twofold: for some are wronged in bodily things (such as in money and other external things) or in the soul itself. But we are commanded without distinction to rescue the one who is wronged. It must be known that we owe greater diligence to those who are harmed in the most vital matters; to take back with all haste as captives those who have been oppressed by the devil, and held captive by him; and to bring their thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And one must try to deliver the weaker from bodily wrongs, when, having fallen among plunderers and violent men, they are swept away as if by a torrent of their violence; and when we are not able to lift them up, let us prepare them for the endurance of hardships with words of comfort, sparing nothing that is in our power; and when we fail in our purpose, at least showing sympathy through brotherly love.

1.42 Judge for the orphan, because of the contemptible nature of their age, it is not easy for orphans to bring their wrongdoers to judgment. Judge, therefore, for the orphans who are deprived of advocates, supplying from yourselves what they lack due to their age; so that you may have the boast of Job: I was a father to the powerless. But perhaps it is more spiritual to explain the meaning of the word; since God is called the father of those who have believed in Christ and embraced the way of life according to the Gospel, if anyone, through transgression of the law, is alienated from God and, as it were, orphaned from his providence, be diligent to restore him to fellowship with God by a just and knowledgeable judgment, neither forgiving without judgment, nor using severity against him without sympathy, but also judge for him by suggesting the beneficial ways of repentance. And since everyone who commits sin has been born of the devil, if anyone has willingly alienated himself from that kinship with the evil father and approaches the teaching of piety, so as to be reborn in Christ Jesus through the Gospel, let him, as one blessedly orphaned, receive the fitting care from those who administer the common affairs. For that there is a profitable orphanhood, the Psalm shows, when it prays for the children of Judas to be deprived of the evil one; for thus the prayer will appear to have reason, the one that says: May his children become orphans, so that they may not have an evil teacher in life, having accepted the reproaches of the thief and the traitor on account of the disease of avarice. And vindicate the widow. And this is a person who, on account of weakness, is at a disadvantage in many of life's affairs. For widowhood is easy to attack for those who wish to do wrong; whom you must help in every way, rendering to her the justice that is owed, and especially if she is truly a widow, isolated from the help of men, but having all her hope in God and persevering in her prayers, so as to be pure in heart from every stain through discipline. And since God speaks in many places of Scripture about the human soul as His bride, a widow might also be the one who, through apostasy from Christ, has committed spiritual fornication through idolatry, and has been deprived of union with the Bridegroom, the Word, who must be vindicated by being instructed in the right of repentance. Or since the church of Israel according to the flesh is a widow (having been freed from the yoke of bondage under the law, so as to no longer be called an adulteress, having become another man's, the one who is betrothed

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ἐξητασμένα καὶ κεκριμένα ἔσται, μηδενὸς ἀκρίτως, μηδὲ ὡς ἔτυχε γιγνομένου. Μετὰ βουλῆς γὰρ (φησὶ) πάντα ποίει. Καί· Λογισμοὶ δικαίων, κρίματα. Χρὴ οὖν ὥσπερ δικαστὴν τὸν λόγον τὴν ἀνωτάτω χώραν παρ' ἡμῖν λαχόντα, ἕκαστα κρίνειν καὶ ἐξετάζειν, τά τε λεκτέα καὶ τὰ πρακτέα, καὶ μὴν καὶ ταῖς συγκαταθέσεσι τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ ταῖς ὁρμαῖς τῆς ψυχῆς μετὰ ἀκριβοῦς ἐπικρίσεως ἐπιτρέπειν. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὅ φησιν ὁ Παῦλος· Εἰ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκρίνομεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐκρινόμεθα. Ῥύσασθε ἀδικούμενον. Ἐπειδὴ διττὸν τὸ ἀδικεῖσθαι· ἢ γὰρ εἰς τὰ σωματικὰ ἀδικοῦνταί τινες (οἱονεὶ εἰς χρήματα καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἐκτὸς) ἢ εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχήν. Ἀδιορίστως δὲ προσ τετάγμεθα τὸν ἀδικούμενον ῥύεσθαι. Ἰστέον ὅτι πλείονός ἐσμεν σπουδῆς χρεῶσται τοῖς εἰς τὰ καιριώτατα βλαπτομέ νοις· τοὺς καταδυναστευθέντας παρὰ τοῦ διαβόλου, καὶ αἰχμα λώτους παρ' αὐτοῦ κατεχομένους, ἀνταιχμαλωτίζειν πάσῃ σπουδῇ· καὶ ἄγειν αὐτῶν τὰ νοήματα εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Πειρατέον δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σωματικῶν ἀδικη μάτων ἐξαιρεῖσθαι τοὺς καταδεεστέρους, ὅταν ἅρπαξι καὶ βιαίοις περιπεσόντες, ὥσπερ ὑπὸ χειμάῤῥου τῆς βίας αὐτῶν παρασύρωνται· οὓς ἆραι μὴ ἐξαρκοῦντες, τοῖς τῆς παρα κλήσεως λόγοις τὴν ὑπομονὴν αὐτοῖς τῶν ἐπιπόνων παρα σκευάζωμεν, μηδενὸς μὲν φειδόμενοι τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν· ἀποτυγ χάνοντες δὲ τῶν κατὰ πρόθεσιν, διὰ γοῦν τῆς φιλαδελφίας τὸ συμπαθὲς ἐπιδεικνύμενοι. 1.42 Κρίνατε ὀρφανῷ, διὰ τὸ εὐκαταφρόνητον τῆς ἡλι κίας, οὔτε εἰς κρίσιν ἀγαγεῖν τοῖς ὀρφανοῖς τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας ῥᾴδιον. Κρίνατε οὖν τοῖς ὀρφανοῖς τοῖς ἐστερημένοις τῶν συνηγόρων, παρ' ἑαυτῶν αὐτοῖς τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἡλικίας ἐνδέον ἀναπληρώσατε· ὥστε ἔχειν τὸ καύχημα τοῦ Ἰώβ· Ἐγὼ ἤμην πατὴρ ἀδυνάτων. Μήποτε δὲ πνευματικώτερόν ἐστι τῆς λέξεως τὸν νοῦν διηγήσασθαι· ἐπειδὴ τῶν εἰς Χριστὸν πεπιστευκότων καὶ τὴν κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον πολιτείαν ἀσπαζομένων πατὴρ λέγεται ὁ Θεὸς, ἐάν τις διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ νόμου ἀλλοτριωθεὶς τοῦ Θεοῦ, οἱονεὶ ἀπορφανισθῇ τῆς προνοίας αὐτοῦ, κρίσει δικαίᾳ καὶ ἐπιστημονικῇ εἰς τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν οἰκείωσιν αὐτὸν ἀποκαταστῆσαι σπούδασον, μήτε ἀκρίτως συγχωρῶν, μήτε ἀσυμπαθῶς τῇ ἀποτομίᾳ κατ' αὐτοῦ κεχρημένος, ἀλλὰ καὶ κρίνατε αὐτῷ τοὺς ὠφελίμους τρό πους τῆς μετανοίας ὑποτιθέμενοι. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ πᾶς ὁ ποι ῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγέννηται, εἴ τις ἑκουσίως τῆς συγγενείας ἐκείνης ἑαυτὸν ἠλλοτρίωσε τοῦ πονηροῦ πατρὸς καὶ προσέρχεται τῇ κατ' εὐσέβειαν διδα σκαλίᾳ, ὥστε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἀναγεννηθῆναι διὰ τοῦ Εὐαγ γελίου, ὡς μακαριστῶς ὀρφανισθεὶς, τῆς ἐπιβαλλούσης ἐπι μελείας παρὰ τῶν οἰκονομούντων τὰ κοινὰ τυγχανέτω. Ὅτι γάρ ἐστί τις ὀρφανία λυσιτελὴς, ὁ Ψαλμὸς δείκνυσι, τοῖς Ἰούδα τέκνοις τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ στέρησιν ἐπευχόμενος· οὕτως γὰρ τὸ εὔλογον ἡ εὐχὴ φανήσεται ἔχουσα, ἡ λέγουσα· Γεννηθήτωσαν οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ ὀρφανοί, ἵνα μὴ ἔχωσι πονηρὸν τοῦ βίου διδάσκαλον, διὰ τὴν νόσον τῆς φιλαργυρίας τὰ τοῦ κλέπτου καὶ τοῦ προδότου καταδεξάμενοι ὀνείδη. Καὶ δικαιώσατε χήραν. Καὶ τοῦτο δι' ἀσθένειαν ἐν πολλοῖς τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐλαττούμενόν ἐστι πρόσωπον. Εὐεπίβατος γὰρ τοῖς βουλομένοις ἀδικεῖν ἡ χηρεία· ἧς παντοίως ἀντιλαμ βάνεσθε, τὸ ὀφειλόμενον δίκαιον ἀποδιδόντες αὐτῇ, καὶ μάλιστα ἐὰν ὄντως ᾖ χήρα, μεμονωμένη ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώ πων ἐπικουρίας, πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν ἐλπίδα ἐπὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἔχουσα καὶ προσμένουσα ταῖς δεήσεσιν, ὡς καὶ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἀπὸ πάσης κηλῖδος διὰ τὴν ἄσκησιν καθαρεύειν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὡς περὶ νύμφης ἑαυτοῦ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ψυχῆς πολλαχοῦ τῆς Γραφῆς ὁ Θεὸς διαλέγεται, εἴη ἂν χήρα καὶ ἡ δι' ἀποστασίαν Χριστοῦ διὰ τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας νοητῶς ἐκπορνεύσασα, καὶ τῆς τοῦ νυμφίου Λόγου συναφείας ἐστερημένη, ἣν δεῖ δικαι οῦσθαι διὰ τὸ τῆς μετανοίας δικαίωμα παιδευομένην. Ἢ ἐπειδὴ ἡ κατὰ σάρκα Ἰσραὴλ ἐκκλησία χήρα ἐστίν (ἐλευθε ρωθεῖσα τοῦ ζυγοῦ τῆς κατὰ νόμον δουλείας, ὥστε μηκέτι μοιχαλίδα χρηματίζειν, γενομένην ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ, τῷ καθαρ μοζομένῳ