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intercessions, thanksgivings. For one must give thanks to God also for the good things that have happened to others, for instance, that he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, that he sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Do you see that not only through prayer, but also through thanksgiving he unites and glues us together? For he who is compelled to give thanks to God for the good things of his neighbor is compelled also to love him and to be kindly disposed toward him. But if one must give thanks for the good things of one's neighbor, much more for those that happen to us and those that happen secretly, both with and without our will, and for those that seem to be grievous; for God manages all things for us for our good. 2. Let every prayer of ours, therefore, contain thanksgiving. But if we are commanded to pray for our neighbors, not only the faithful, but also the unfaithful, consider how great an evil it is to pray against our brothers. What do you say? He commanded you to pray for your enemies, but you pray against your brother? You do not pray against him, but against yourself; for you provoke God by uttering those unholy words: show him thus, do to him thus, strike him, repay him. Far be these things from the disciples of Christ, the gentle and the kind. From the mouth that has been deemed worthy of such a mystery, let nothing bitter be cast out, nothing unpleasant, the tongue that converses with the divine body; let us keep it pure, let us not offer curses through it. For if revilers will not inherit the kingdom, much more those who pray against others; for it is necessary for one who prays against another also to be insolent; but insolence and prayer are far removed from each other; a curse and a prayer have a great distance between them; accusation and prayer have a great distance between them. Do you pray to make God merciful, and pray against another? If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven; and not only do you not forgive, but you also beseech God not to forgive? Do you see the excess of evil? If it is not forgiven to the one who does not forgive, how will it be forgiven to the one who even calls upon the Master not to forgive? You do not harm him, but yourself. Why is that? For even if you were going to be heard for your own sake, on account of these things you will never be heard, because you make your prayers with a defiled mouth; for such a mouth is truly defiled and unclean, filled with every foul odor, with all impurity. When you should be trembling for your own sins, and making every struggle on account of them, do you approach to move God against your brother? For do you not fear and are you not anxious for your own affairs? Do you not see what you are doing? Imitate at least the children who go to school, who, when they see their own group inside being held accountable for their lessons, and all being beaten for their laziness, and each one being examined bitterly and struck by the blows, are dead with fear; and even if one of their fellow students strikes them ten thousand times, they do not suffer themselves to be angry, as fear possesses their soul, nor to entreat the teacher, but they look to one thing only, to enter and be released without blows, and they look to that moment; and if he comes out, whether having received blows or not having received them, he no longer takes those things to mind because of his pleasure. But you, standing and being anxious for your own sins, do you not shudder when you remember those of others? And how do you beseech God? For by the things which you deem worthy for Him to do against that person, by these you also make your own things more bitter, not allowing him to grant pardon to your sins. "For how," he says, "if you wish me to be an exact examiner of the sins committed against you, how do you expect forgiveness to be granted for the sins committed by you against me?" Let us learn at some time to be Christians; if we do not know how to pray, which is easy and very simple, what else will we know? Let us learn to pray as Christians; Those are the prayers of the Greeks, those are the supplications of the Jews; but the Christian's are the opposite, to ask for forgiveness and amnesty for the sins committed against us. Being reviled,

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ἐντεύξεις, εὐχαριστίας. ∆εῖ γὰρ εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν εἰς ἄλλους γενομένων ἀγαθῶν, οἶον ὅτι τὸν ἥλιον ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς, ὅτι βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι οὐ μόνον διὰ τῆς εὐχῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῆς εὐχαριστίας ἑνοῖ καὶ συγκολλᾷ ἡμᾶς; Ὁ γὰρ ἀναγκαζόμενος εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ Θεῷ ὑπὲρ τῶν τοῦ πέλας ἀγαθῶν, ἀναγκάζεται καὶ φιλεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ οἰκείως πρὸς αὐτὸν διακεῖσθαι. Εἰ δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν τοῦ πέλας εὐχαριστεῖν δεῖ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὑπὲρ τῶν εἰς ἡμᾶς καὶ τῶν λάθρα γινομένων, καὶ ἑκόντων καὶ ἀκόντων, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν δοκούντων εἶναι λυπηρῶν· καὶ γὰρ πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῖν ἅπαντα οἰκονομεῖ. βʹ. Πᾶσα τοίνυν ἡμῖν εὐχὴ εὐχαριστίαν ἐχέτω. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὑπερεύχεσθαι τῶν πέλας οὐχὶ πιστῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπίστων προσταττόμεθα, ἐννόησον ὅσον ἐστὶ κακὸν κατεύχεσθαι τῶν ἀδελφῶν. Τί λέγεις; ἐκεῖνός σε ὑπὲρ ἐχθρῶν ἐκέλευσεν εὔχεσθαι, σὺ δὲ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ κατεύχῃ; Οὐκ ἐκείνου κατεύχῃ, ἀλλὰ σαυτοῦ· τὸν γὰρ Θεὸν παροξύνεις, ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἀνόσια φθεγγόμενος ῥήματα· οὕτω δεῖξον αὐτῷ, οὕτω ποίησον αὐτῷ, βάλε αὐτὸν, ἀνταπόδος αὐτῷ. Πόῤῥω ταῦτα τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ μαθητῶν, τῶν ἐπιεικῶν καὶ προσηνῶν. Τοῦ στόματος τοῦ ἠξιωμένου τοιαύτης μυσταγωγίας μηδὲν πικρὸν ἐκβαλλέτω, μηδὲν ἀηδὲς, ἡ τῷ θείῳ σώματι προσομιλοῦσα γλῶσσα· καθαρὰν αὐτὴν φυλάττωμεν, μὴ ἀρὰς προσφέρωμεν δι' αὐτῆς. Εἰ γὰρ λοίδοροι οὐ κληρονομήσουσι βασιλείαν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον οἱ κατευχόμενοι· ἀνάγκη γὰρ καὶ ὑβρίζειν τὸν κατευχόμενον· ὕβρις δὲ καὶ εὐχὴ ἀλλήλων ἀπεσχοίνισται· ἀρὰ καὶ εὐχὴ πολὺ τὸ μέσον ἔχει· κατηγορία καὶ εὐχὴ πολὺ τὸ μέσον ἔχουσι. Προσεύχῃ τὸν Θεὸν ἵλεων ποιῆσαι, καὶ ἑτέρου κατεύχῃ; Ἐὰν μὴ ἀφῇς, οὐκ ἀφεθήσεταί σοι· καὶ αὐτὸς οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀφίης, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Θεὸν μὴ ἀφεῖναι παρακα 62.532 λεῖς; Εἶδες ὑπερβολὴν κακίας; Εἰ τῷ μὴ ἀφιέντι οὐκ ἀφίεται, τῷ καὶ τὸν ∆εσπότην παρακαλοῦντι μὴ ἀφεῖναι, πῶς ἀφεθήσεται; Οὐκ ἐκεῖνον βλάπτεις, ἀλλὰ σαυτόν. Τί δήποτε; Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀκούεσθαι ἔμελλες ὑπὲρ τῶν σαυτοῦ, διὰ ταῦτα οὐδέποτε εἰσακουσθήσῃ, ὅτι μιαρῷ στόματι τὰς εὐχὰς ποιεῖς· μιαρὸν γὰρ ὄντως τὸ τοιοῦτον στόμα καὶ ἀκάθαρτον, πάσης δυσωδίας ἐμπεπλησμένον, πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας. ∆έον σε ὑπὲρ τῶν σῶν τρέμειν ἁμαρτημάτων, καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα πάντα ὑπὲρ τούτων ποιεῖσθαι, σὺ δὲ προσέρχῃ τὸν Θεὸν κινήσων κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ; οὐ γὰρ δέδοικας καὶ μεριμνᾷς τὰ σαυτοῦ; οὐχ ὁρᾷς τί διαπράττῃ; Μίμησαι κἂν τὰ παιδία τὰ εἰς διδασκαλεῖον φοιτῶντα, ἅπερ ἐπειδὰν τὴν ἑαυτῶν συμμορίαν ἔνδον ἴδῃ τῶν μαθημάτων ἀπαιτουμένην τὰς εὐθύνας, καὶ διὰ τὴν ῥᾳθυμίαν ἅπαντας τυπτομένους, καὶ καθ' ἕνα ἕκαστον ἐξεταζόμενον πικρῶς καὶ κοπτόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν πληγῶν, ἀποτέθνηκεν ὑπὸ τοῦ δέους· κἂν μυρία τις αὐτὰ πλήξῃ τῶν συμφοιτητῶν, οὐκ ἀνέχεται ὀργισθῆναι, τοῦ φόβου τὴν ψυχὴν κατέχοντος, οὐδὲ ἐντυχεῖν τῷ διδασκάλῳ, ἀλλ' εἰς ἓν μόνον ὁρᾷ τὸ εἰσελθεῖν καὶ ἀπαλλαγῆναι πληγῶν χωρὶς, καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν σκοπεῖ· κἂν ἐξέλθῃ, εἴτε πληγὰς λαβὼν εἴτε μὴ λαβὼν, οὐδὲ εἰς νοῦν ἐκεῖνα λοιπὸν βάλλεται ὑπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς. Σὺ δὲ ἑστὼς καὶ μεριμνῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τῶν σῶν, οὐ φρίττεις τῶν ἑτέρων μνημονεύων; καὶ πῶς τὸν Θεὸν παρακαλεῖς; ∆ι' ὧν γὰρ αὐτὸν κατ' ἐκείνου ἀξιοῖς, διὰ τούτων καὶ τὰ σαυτοῦ πικρότερα ἐργάζῃ, οὐκ ἀφιεὶς αὐτὸν συγγνώμην δοῦναι τοῖς σοῖς. Πῶς γὰρ, εἰ θέλεις με γίνεσθαι, φησὶν, ἐξεταστὴν ἀκριβῆ τῶν εἰς σὲ πεπλημμελημένων, πῶς τῶν παρὰ σοῦ εἰς ἐμὲ γεγενημένων ἀξιοῖς γενέσθαι τὴν συγχώρησιν; Μάθωμέν ποτε εἶναι Χριστιανοί· εἰ εὔχεσθαι οὐκ ἴσμεν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν εὔκολον καὶ σφόδρα ῥᾴδιον, τί τῶν ἄλλων εἰσόμεθα; Μάθωμεν εὔχεσθαι ὡς Χριστιανοί· Ἑλλήνων εἰσὶν ἐκεῖναι αἱ εὐχαὶ, Ἰουδαίων ἐκεῖναι αἱ δεήσεις· τοῦ Χριστιανοῦ δὲ ἐναντίαι, ἄφεσιν καὶ ἀμνηστίαν αἰτεῖν τῶν εἰς ἡμᾶς πεπλημμελημένων. Λοιδορούμενοι,