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because of much laziness has become difficult, not for women only, but now also for men. What is easier than sleeping? But even this we have made difficult. At least many of the rich toss and turn through the whole night, by not waiting for the need for sleep, and then sleeping. And in general nothing is difficult for those who are willing, just as nothing is easy for us who are unwilling; for we are masters of all things. For this reason the Scripture also says, If you are willing, and will hearken to me; and again, If you are not willing, it says, nor hearken to me. So in willing, and in not willing lies the whole matter. For this reason we are both punished and praised. May it be that we, having become among those who are praised, may obtain the promised good things, by grace and love for mankind, and the rest.

HOMILY VI. But concerning brotherly love we have no need to write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. For indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. 1. Why is it that, after having discoursed forcefully to them about self-control, and being about to discourse on the need to work, and on not grieving for the departed, he sets this down by way of omission, which was the chief of all good things, the matter of love, saying: We have no need to write to you? This too is from his great understanding and his spiritual teaching. For he indicates two things here: one, that the matter is so necessary, as to not even need teaching; for very great things are clear to all; and second, he shames them more than if he had exhorted them by saying this. For he who thinks they have succeeded, and for this reason does not exhort them, even if they have not succeeded, would have led them on more. And see: He does not speak of the love toward all, but of that toward the brothers. We have no need to write to you. It was necessary then to be silent, and to say nothing, if there was no need. But now by saying, There is no need, he has done more than if he had said it. For you yourselves are taught by God. And see with how much praise he has appointed God as their teacher of this. You have no need, he says, to learn from man. Which the prophet also says, And they shall all be taught of God. For you yourselves, he says, are taught by God to love one another. For indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia; and toward all the others, he says. These things are a powerful inducement to do it. And I do not say simply, that you are taught by God, but I know it from what you do. And he testified many things to them on this account. But we urge you, brothers, to abound more, that is, to increase, and to make it your ambition to be quiet, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we commanded you, so that you may walk becomingly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing. Here he shows how many evils idleness is the cause of, and how many good things work is; and he makes it clear from our own circumstances, which he does in many places, and this with understanding; for most people are influenced more by these things than by spiritual ones. For it is a mark of love for one's neighbor not to receive from them, but to provide for them. And behold his understanding; being about to exhort and advise, he places their good deed in the middle, so that they may both catch their breath from the previous exhortation, and from the threat, when he said: Therefore he who rejects, rejects not man, but God; and so that they might not recoil from this. But this comes from working, so as not to receive or be idle, but by working to provide for others. For it is more blessed, he says, to give than to receive. And to work, he says, with your hands. Where then are those who seek the work that is

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ὑπὸ τῆς πολλῆς βλακείας δύσκολον γέγονεν, οὐκ ἐπὶ γυναικῶν μόνον, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ ἐπὶ ἀνδρῶν. Τί τοῦ καθεύδειν εὐκολώτερον; ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο δύσκολον πεποιήκαμεν. Πολλοὶ γοῦν τῶν πλουσίων δι' ὅλης περιστρέφονται τῆς νυκτὸς, τῷ μὴ περιμένειν τὴν χρείαν τοῦ ὕπνου, καὶ τότε καθεύδειν. Καὶ ὅλως οὐδὲν δύσκολον βουλομένων, ὥσπερ οὐδὲν εὔκολον μὴ βουλομένων ἡμῶν· πάντων γὰρ ἡμεῖς κύριοι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ Γραφὴ, Ἂν θέλητε, καὶ εἰσακούσητέ μου· καὶ πάλιν, Ἂν μὴ θέλητε, φησὶ, μηδὲ εἰσακούσητέ μου. Ὥστε ἐν τῷ θέλειν, καὶ τῷ μὴ θέλειν κεῖται τὸ πᾶν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ κολαζόμεθα καὶ ἐπαινούμεθα. Γένοιτο δὲ τῶν ἐπαινουμένων γενομένους ἡμᾶς τυχεῖν τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀγαθῶν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΣΤʹ. Περὶ δὲ τῆς φιλαδελφίας οὐ χρείαν ἔχομεν γρά φειν ὑμῖν. Αὐτοὶ γὰρ ὑμεῖς θεοδίδακτοί ἐστε εἰς τὸ ἀγαπᾷν ἀλλήλους. Καὶ γὰρ ποιεῖτε αὐτὸ εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τοὺς ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ Μα κεδονίᾳ. αʹ. Τί δήποτε περὶ σωφροσύνης σφοδρῶς αὐτοῖς διαλεχθεὶς, καὶ περὶ τοῦ δεῖν ἐργάζεσθαι μέλλων διαλέγεσθαι, καὶ περὶ τοῦ μὴ λυπεῖσθαι τοῖς ἀπελθοῦσιν, ὃ πάντων ἦν κεφάλαιον τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης, τοῦτο κατὰ παράλειψιν τίθησι, λέγων· Οὐ χρείαν ἔχομεν γράφειν ὑμῖν; Καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῆς πολλῆς συνέσεως καὶ τῆς πνευματικῆς διδασκαλίας. ∆ύο γὰρ ἐνταῦθα ἐμφαίνει, ἓν μὲν, ὅτι οὕτως ἀναγκαῖον τὸ πρᾶγμα, ὡς μηδὲ διδασκαλίας δεῖσθαι· τὰ γὰρ σφόδρα μεγάλα πᾶσίν ἐστι δῆλα· δεύτερον δὲ, μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς ἐντρέπει, ἢ εἰ παρῄνεσε τοῦτο εἰπών. Ὁ γὰρ νομίζων, αὐτοὺς κατωρθωκέναι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ παραινῶν, καὶ εἰ μὴ κατώρθωσαν, ἐνήγαγεν ἂν μᾶλλον. Καὶ ὅρα· Οὐ λέγει περὶ τῆς ἀγάπης τῆς εἰς πάντας, ἀλλὰ τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἀδελφούς. Οὐ χρείαν ἔχομεν γράφειν ὑμῖν. Ἐχρῆν οὖν σιωπῆσαι, καὶ μηδὲν εἰπεῖν, εἰ μὴ χρεία ἦν. Νῦν δὲ τῷ εἰπεῖν, Οὐ χρεία ἐστὶ, μεῖζον ἐποίησεν, ἢ εἰ εἶπεν· Αὐτοὶ γὰρ ὑμεῖς θεοδίδακτοί ἐστε. Καὶ ὅρα μεθ' ὅσου ἐγκωμίου τὸν Θεὸν αὐτοῖς διδάσκαλον ἐπέστησε τούτου. Οὐ δεῖσθε, φησὶ, παρὰ ἀνθρώπου μαθεῖν. Ὅπερ καὶ ὁ προφήτης φησὶ, Καὶ ἔσονται πάντες διδακτοὶ Θεοῦ. Αὐτοὶ γὰρ ὑμεῖς, φησὶ, θεοδίδακτοί ἐστε εἰς τὸ ἀγαπᾷν ἀλλήλους. Καὶ γὰρ ποιεῖτε αὐτὸ εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τοὺς ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ· καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἄλλους πάντας, φησί. Σφόδρα ταῦτα ἐντρεπτικὰ πρὸς τὸ ποιεῖν αὐτό. Καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς λέγω, ὅτι θεοδίδακτοί ἐστε, ἀλλ' οἶδα ἀφ' ὧν ποιεῖτε. Καὶ πολλὰ αὐτοῖς ἐμαρτύρησε τούτου ἕνεκεν. Παρακαλοῦμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοὶ, περισσεύειν μᾶλλον, τουτέστι, πλεονάζειν, καὶ φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἡσυχάζειν, καὶ πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια, καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι ταῖς χερσὶν ὑμῶν, καθὼς παρηγγείλαμεν ὑμῖν, ἵνα περιπατῆτε εὐσχημόνως πρὸς τοὺς ἔξω, καὶ μηδενὸς χρείαν ἔχητε. Ἐνταῦθα δείκνυσιν ὅσων μὲν ἡ ἀργία κακῶν αἰτία, ὅσων δὲ ἡ ἐργασία καλῶν· καὶ ποιεῖ αὐτὸ σαφὲς ἀπὸ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν, ὃ πολλαχοῦ ποιεῖ, καὶ τοῦτο συνετῶς· μᾶλλον γὰρ τούτοις ἐνάγονται οἱ πλείους, ἢ τοῖς πνευματικοῖς. Ἀγάπης γάρ ἐστι τῆς εἰς τοὺς πλησίον, οὐχὶ παρ' ἐκείνων λαμβάνειν, ἀλλ' ἐκείνοις παρέχειν. Καὶ θέα σύνεσιν· Μέλλων παρακαλεῖν καὶ παραινεῖν, μέσον τὸ κατόρθωμα τίθησιν, ἵνα καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς προτέρας παραινέσεως ἀναπνεύσωσι, καὶ τῆς ἀπειλῆς, ἡνίκα ἔλεγε· Τοιγαροῦν ὁ ἀθετῶν, οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ἀθετεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὸν Θεόν· καὶ ὅπως ταύτῃ μὴ ἀποσκιρτήσωσι. Τοῦτο δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐργάζεσθαι γίνεται, ὥστε μὴ λαμβάνειν μηδὲ ἀργεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐργαζόμενον ἑτέροις παρέχειν. Μακάριον γάρ ἐστι, φησὶ, διδόναι μᾶλλον, ἢ λαμβάνειν. Καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι, φησὶ, ταῖς χερσὶν ὑμῶν. Ποῦ τοίνυν εἰσὶν οἱ τὸ ἔργον ζητοῦντες τὸ