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having fortified the vital parts of their limbs with many weapons and safeguards, they undertake the battle against them; so also now there are many men who, as if about to box with fasting as with a wild beast, thus arm themselves with gluttony, and having burst themselves and darkened their minds, with much madness they receive the calm and gentle eye of the fast. And if I should ask you, For what reason do you run to the bath today? So that I may receive the fast 49.314 with a clean body, you will say; but if I should ask, For what reason are you drunk? Because I am about to enter into the fast, you will say again. And how is it not absurd to receive this most beautiful feast with a clean body, but with an unclean and drunken soul? It was possible, then, to say even more than this, but for the sober-minded these things are also sufficient for correction. Therefore it is necessary to stop the discourse; for I desire to hear the voice of the father. For we, like shepherd boys, pipe on a slender reed, as if under some oak or poplar tree, sitting in the shadow of these sacred things; but he, like some excellent musician having tuned a golden lyre, with the harmony of his strings raises up the whole theater; so also he, not with a harmony of strings, but with a harmony of words and deeds, instills great benefit in us. Christ also seeks such teachers; For he who has done, He says, and taught, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Such is this man; wherefore he is also great in the kingdom of heaven. May it be that we, by his prayers and those of all the assembly, may be able to be counted worthy of the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom is glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

A HOMILY SPOKEN CONCERNING FASTING in the sixth week of the holy forty days.

Homily 2.

a'. How delightful to us are the waves of this spiritual sea, and more delightful than those on the ocean. For those are stirred up by the disorder of winds, but these by a desire for hearing; and those, when cresting, cause great anxiety for the pilot, but these, when they appear, instill great confidence in the speaker. For those are proofs of a storm-tossed sea, but these are signs of a rejoicing soul; and those, striking against the rocks, give off an indistinct sound, but these, breaking against the word of teaching, give off a gentle voice. So also when breezes of Zephyr fall upon a cornfield, and bend and stir up the heads of the ears of corn, they imitate the waves of the sea on dry land. But these are more delightful even than those cornfields; for not the breezes of Zephyr, but the grace of the Spirit has stirred up and warmed your souls, and that fire, which Christ long ago said, that I came to cast fire on the earth, and what do I will, if it is already kindled? this I see cast down and burning in your souls. Since, therefore, the fear of Christ has lit so many lamps for us, come let us from here drip on the oil of teaching, so that the light may become more lasting for us. For the season of the fast is now hastening for us towards its end; for having reached the middle of the race-course we have now met the end. For just as he who is beginning is in the middle, so he who has come to the middle has taken hold of the end. The season, then, is hastening towards the end, 49.314 and the ship is now looking towards the harbor, but the thing sought is not to come to the harbor, but not to drag the empty of its cargo

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πολλοῖς ὅπλοις καὶ ἀσφαλίσμασι τὰ καίρια τῶν μελῶν περιφράξαντες, τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνα ἀναδέχονται μάχην· οὕτω καὶ νῦν πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰσὶν, οἳ καθάπερ θηρίῳ τῇ νηστείᾳ πυκτεύειν μέλλοντες, οὕτω τῇ γαστριμαργίᾳ καθοπλίζονται, καὶ διαῤῥήξαντες ἑαυτοὺς καὶ σκοτώσαντες μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς παραφροσύνης ὑποδέχονται τὸ γαλήνιον καὶ ἥμερον τῆς νηστείας ὄμμα Κἂν μὲν ἐρωτήσω σε, Τίνος ἕνεκεν εἰς βαλανεῖον τρέχεις σήμερον; Ἵνα καθαρῷ τῷ σώματι τὴν νηστείαν 49.314 ὑποδέξωμαι, φήσεις· ἂν δὲ ἐρωτήσω, Τίνος ἔνεκεν μεθύεις; Ἐπειδὴ εἰς νηστείαν μέλλω εἰσιέναι, πάλιν ἐρεῖς. Καὶ πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπόν ἐστι, σώματι μὲν καθαρῷ, ψυχῇ δὲ ἀκαθάρτῳ καὶ μεθυούσῃ, τὴν καλλίστην ταύτην ἑορτὴν ὑποδέχεσθαι; Ἐνῆν μὲν οὖν καὶ πλείονα τούτων εἰπεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς σωφρονοῦσι καὶ ταῦτα ἀρκεῖ πρὸς διόρθωσιν. ∆ιόπερ ἀνάγκη καταπαῦσαι τὸν λόγον· καὶ γὰρ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς φωνῆς ἐπιθυμῶ ἀκοῦσαι. Ἡμεῖς μὲν γὰρ, κατὰ τὰ παιδία τὰ ποιμενικὰ, λεπτῷ τῷ καλάμῳ συρίζομεν, ὥσπερ ὑπό τινα δρῦν ἢ λεύκην, τῇ σκιᾷ τῶν ἱερῶν τούτων καθήμενοι· οὗτος δὲ καθὰ μουσικός τις ἄριστος χρυσῆν ἁρμοσάμενος κιθάραν, τῇ συμφωνίᾳ τῶν κρουσμάτων ὁλόκληρον ἀνίστησι θέατρον· οὕτω δὴ καὶ οὗτος, οὐ συμφωνίᾳ κρουσμάτων, ἀλλὰ συμφωνίᾳ λόγων καὶ πράξεων πολλὴν ἡμῖν ἐντίθησι τὴν ὠφέλειαν. Τοιούτους καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ζητεῖ διδασκάλους· Ὁ γὰρ ποιήσας, φησὶ, καὶ διδάξας, οὗτος μέγας κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν. Τοιοῦτος οὗτός ἐστι· διὸ καὶ μέγας ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐστι. Γένοιτο δὲ ἡμᾶς εὐχαῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν συνέδρων ἁπάντων δυνηθῆναι καταξιωθῆναι τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἡ δόξα, ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΛΕΧΘΕΙΣΑ ΠΕΡΙ ΝΗΣΤΕΙΑΣ τῇ ἕκτῃ ἑβδομάδι τῆς ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς.

Ὁμιλία ʹ.

αʹ. Ὡς τερπνὰ τῆς πνευματικῆς ταύτης ἡμῖν θαλάσσης τὰ κύματα, καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ πελάγει τερπνότερα. Ἐκεῖνα μὲν γὰρ ἀνέμων ἀταξία, ταῦτα δὲ ἀκροάσεως ἐπιθυμία διανίστησι· κἀκεῖνα μὲν κορυφούμενα πολλὴν τῷ κυβερνήτῃ τὴν ἀγωνίαν παρέχει, ταῦτα δὲ φαινόμενα πολλὴν τῷ λέγοντι τὴν παῤῥησίαν ἐντίθησι. Τὰ μὲν γάρ ἐστι χειμαζομένης θαλάσσης τεκμήρια, ταῦτα δὲ ψυχῆς εὐφραινομένης σημεῖα· κἀκεῖνα μὲν ταῖς πέτραις προσαραττόμενα ἄσημον τὸν ἦχον ἀφίησι, ταῦτα δὲ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας προσρηγνύμενα προσηνῆ τὴν φωνὴν ἀφίησιν. Οὕτω καὶ ζεφύρου πνοαὶ ὅταν ἐμπέσωσιν εἰς λήϊα, καὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς τῶν ἀσταχύων ἐπικλίνωσι καὶ διανιστῶσι, τὰ κύματα τῆς θαλάσσης ἐπὶ τῆς χέρσου μιμοῦνται. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκείνων τῶν ληΐων ταῦτα τερπνότερα· οὐ γὰρ ζεφύρου πνοαὶ, ἀλλὰ Πνεύματος χάρις τὰς ὑμετέρας διανέστησε ψυχὰς καὶ ἐθέρμανε, καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἐκεῖνο, ὃ πάλαι ὁ Χριστὸς ἔλεγεν, ὅτι Πῦρ ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ τί θέλω, εἰ ἤδη ἀνήφθη; τοῦτο ὁρῶ καταβεβλημένον καὶ καιόμενον ἐν ταῖς ὑμετέραις ψυχαῖς. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοσαύτας ἡμῖν λαμπάδας ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ φόβος ἀνῆψε, φέρε ἐντεῦθεν τὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἔλαιον ἐπιστάξωμεν, ὥστε διαρκέστερον ἡμῖν γενέσθαι τὸ φῶς. Ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς τῆς νηστείας ἡμῖν λοιπὸν πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἐπείγεται· εἰς γὰρ τὰ μέσα τῶν σταδίων φθάσαντες πρὸς τὸ τέλος λοιπὸν ἀπηντήκαμεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ ἀρχόμενος ἐμέσασεν, οὕτως ὁ πρὸς μέσον ἐλθὼν τοῦ τέλους ἐπείληπται. Ὁ μὲν οὖν καιρὸς πρὸς τὸ τέλος 49.314 ἐπείγεται, καὶ πρὸς τὸν λιμένα βλέπει τὸ σκάφος λοιπὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ζητούμενον οὐ πρὸς τὸν λιμένα ἐλθεῖν, ἀλλὰ μὴ κενὸν τῆς ἐμπορίας ἑλκύσαι τὸ