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they act disgracefully by following such things. But let us not do this; for we have been sent to accomplish many urgent things, and if, leaving those things aside, we stand gaping at these unprofitable things, with all our time having been spent rashly and in vain, we will pay the ultimate penalty. For if you wish to occupy yourself, you have things which you ought to admire, and at which to gape for all time; things which are not worthy of laughter, but of wonder and much praise, since he who admires ridiculous things will himself be such a person, and worse than the one who makes a joke; that you may not suffer this, leap away quickly. For why do you stand, tell me, gaping at wealth and with spirits uplifted? What wonderful thing do you see, sufficient to hold your eyes? The horses adorned with gold, and the servants, some barbarian, some eunuchs, and the costly garments, and the soul made soft in these things, and the haughty eyebrow, and the running about, and the tumults? And where are these things worthy of wonder? and how do 60.422 these differ from the beggars who dance and pipe in the marketplace? For these also, being held fast by a great famine of virtue, dance a more ridiculous dance than they, being led and led about, now to costly tables, now to the lodging of prostituting women, now to swarms of flatterers and a multitude of parasites. And if they wear gold, for this reason they are most pitiable, because things of no concern to them are their chief pursuits. Do not look at their garments, but uncover their soul, and see if it is not full of a myriad of wounds, and clothed in rags, and is desolate and unprotected. What then is the profit of this outward madness? For it is much better to be a poor man living in virtue, than a king with wickedness. For the poor man enjoys within himself all the soul's luxury, and does not even perceive his outward poverty because of his inward wealth; but the king, delighting in things that do not concern him, is punished in those things that concern him most, in his soul and thoughts and conscience, which travel yonder with him. Knowing these things, then, let us put away our golden garments, and let us take up virtue and the pleasure from it. For thus both here and there we shall enjoy much delight, and attain the promised good things, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, honor, might, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY V. And even as they did not approve to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over

to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting. 1. Lest he should seem to be hinting at them, having dwelt at length on the topic of pederasty, he then moved on to other kinds of sins; wherefore he also puts forward the whole discourse in the persons of others. And just as when always discoursing to the faithful about sins, and wishing to show these things are to be avoided, he brings forward the Gentiles, saying: Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the other Gentiles which know not God; and again, That ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope; so also here he shows that the sins are theirs, and deprives them of all excuse; for he says their daring acts are not of ignorance, but of deliberation. Wherefore he did not say, And as they did not know, but, As they did not approve to have God in their knowledge; saying the sin is one of a corrupted judgment and contentiousness rather than of being carried away, and showing that the sins are not of the flesh, as some of the heretics say, but of the evil desire of the mind, and that the source of evils is from there. For since the mind became reprobate, all things were henceforth swept away and overturned, the charioteer having been corrupted. Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. See all with

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τοιαῦτα ἀσχημονοῦσιν ἀκολουθοῦντες. Ἀλλὰ μὴ ἡμεῖς τοῦτο ποιῶμεν· καὶ γὰρ ἀπεστάλμεθα ἀνύσαι πολλὰ τῶν κατεπειγόντων, κἂν ἀφέντες ἐκεῖνα στῶμεν κεχηνότες πρὸς τὰ ἀνόνητα ταῦτα, ἀναλωθέντος ἡμῖν τοῦ καιροῦ παντὸς εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην, τὴν ἐσχάτην δώσομεν δίκην. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀσχολεῖν βούλει σαυτὸν, ἔχεις ἃ θαυμάζειν ὀφείλεις, καὶ περὶ ἃ κεχηνέναι πάντα τὸν χρόνον· ἅπερ οὐ γέλωτός ἐστιν ἄξια, ἀλλὰ θαύματος καὶ ἐπαίνων πολλῶν, ὡς ὅ γε τὰ καταγέλαστα θαυμάζων, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται τοιοῦτος, καὶ τοῦ γελωτοποιοῦντος χείρων· ὅπερ ἵνα μὴ πάθῃς, ἀποπήδησον ταχέως. Τί γὰρ καὶ ἕστηκας, εἰπέ μοι, πρὸς τὸν πλοῦτον κεχηνὼς καὶ ἀνεπτερωμένος; τί θαυμαστὸν ὁρᾷς καὶ ἱκανόν σου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς κατασχεῖν; τοὺς χρυσοφοροῦντας ἵππους, καὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας τοὺς μὲν βαρβάρους, τοὺς δὲ εὐνούχους, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια τὰ πολυτελῆ, καὶ τὴν καταμαλακιζομένην ἐν τούτοις ψυχὴν, καὶ τὴν ἀνεσπασμένην ὀφρὺν, καὶ τὰς περιδρομὰς, καὶ τοὺς θορύβους; Καὶ ποῦ ταῦτα ἄξια θαύματος; τί δὲ 60.422 οὗτοι τῶν ἐπαιτῶν διεστήκασι τῶν ὀρχουμένων, καὶ συριζόντων ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς; Καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι πολλῷ τῷ λιμῷ τῆς ἀρετῆς κατεχόμενοι, χορεύουσιν ἐκείνων χορείαν καταγελαστοτέραν, ἀγόμενοι καὶ περιαγόμενοι, νῦν μὲν εἰς τραπέζας πολυτελεῖς, νῦν δὲ εἰς ἑταιριζομένων γυναικῶν καταγώγιον, νῦν δὲ εἰς κολάκων ἐσμοὺς καὶ παρασίτων πλῆθος. Εἰ δὲ χρυσοφοροῦσι, διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα ἐλεεινοὶ, ὅτι τὰ μηδὲν πρὸς αὐτοὺς περισπούδαστα αὐτοῖς μᾶλλόν εἰσι. Μὴ γάρ μοι τὰ ἱμάτια ἴδῃς, ἀλλὰ ἀνακάλυψον αὐτῶν τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ σκόπησον εἰ μὴ μυρίων γέμει τραυμάτων, καὶ ῥάκια περιβέβληται, καὶ ἔστιν ἔρημος καὶ ἀπροστάτευτος. Τί οὖν ὄφελος τῆς ἔξω μανίας; Καὶ γὰρ πολλῷ βέλτιον πένητα εἶναι ἐν ἀρετῇ ζῶντα, ἢ βασιλέα ὄντα μετὰ πονηρίας. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ πένης παρ' ἑαυτῷ ἀπολαύει πάσης τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν τρυφῆς, καὶ οὐδὲ τῆς ἔξωθεν αἰσθάνεται πενίας διὰ τὸν ἔνδον πλοῦτον· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τρυφῶν ἐν τοῖς οὐδὲν αὐτῷ προσήκουσιν, ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα αὐτῷ διαφέρουσι κολάζεται, ἐν ψυχῇ καὶ λογισμοῖς καὶ τῷ συνειδότι, τοῖς ἐκεῖ συναποδημοῦσιν αὐτῷ. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδότες, τὰ μὲν ἱμάτια ἀποθώμεθα τὰ χρυσᾶ, ἀνελώμεθα δὲ ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν ἐκ ταύτης ἡδονήν. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἐκεῖ πολλῆς ἀπολαύσομεν τῆς τρυφῆς, καὶ τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἐπιτύχωμεν ἀγαθῶν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δόξα, τιμὴ, κράτος νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Εʹ. Καθὼς οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν Θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώ σει, παρέδωκεν ὁ Θεὸς

αὐτοὺς εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, ποιεῖν τὰ μὴ καθήκοντα. αʹ. Ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ αὐτοὺς αἰνίττεσθαι, ἐπὶ πολὺ τῷ τῆς παιδεραστίας ἐνδιατρίβων λόγῳ, μετέβη λοιπὸν ἐφ' ἕτερα εἴδη ἁμαρτημάτων· διὸ καὶ ἐφ' ἑτέρων προσώπων προάγει τὸν λόγον ἅπαντα. Καὶ ὥσπερ ἀεὶ τοῖς πιστοῖς διαλεγόμενος περὶ ἁμαρτημάτων, καὶ βουλόμενος ταῦτα δεῖξαι φευκτὰ, παράγει εἰς μέσον τὰ ἔθνη, λέγων· Μὴ ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας, καθάπερ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα τὸν Θεόν· καὶ πάλιν, Μὴ λυπεῖσθε, ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα δείκνυσιν ἐκείνων τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ὄντα, καὶ πάσης αὐτοὺς ἀποστερεῖ συγγνώμης· οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοίας, ἀλλὰ μελέτης εἶναί φησι τὰ τολμήματα. ∆ιόπερ οὐκ εἶπε. Καὶ καθὼς οὐκ ἔγνωσαν, ἀλλὰ, Καθὼς οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν Θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει· κρίσεως διεφθαρμένης καὶ φιλονεικίας μᾶλλον, οὐ συναρπαγῆς λέγων εἶναι τὸ ἁμάρτημα, καὶ δεικνὺς οὐχὶ τῆς σαρκὸς, καθώς τινες τῶν αἱρετικῶν φασιν, ἀλλὰ τῆς διανοίας ὄντα τῆς πονηρᾶς ἐπιθυμίας τὰ ἁρμαρτήματα, καὶ τὴν πηγὴν ἐκεῖθεν οὖσαν τῶν κακῶν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ νοῦς ἀδόκιμος γέγονε, πάντα παρεσύρη λοιπὸν καὶ ἀνετράπη, τοῦ ἡνιόχου διαφθαρέντος. Πεπληρωμένους πάσῃ ἀδικίᾳ, πονηρίᾳ, πλεονεξίᾳ, κακίᾳ. Ὅρα πάντα μετ'