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ship. I beseech and implore all of you, let each one consider in his conscience the business of fasting, and if he finds that a great profit has been made, let him add to the business; but if nothing has been gathered, let him use the remaining time for the trade. While the festival lasts, let us depart having gained a great profit, so that we may not depart with empty hands, so that having endured the labor of fasting, we may not lose the reward of fasting. For it is possible both to endure the labor of fasting, and not receive the reward of fasting; how? When we abstain from foods, but do not abstain from sins; when we do not eat meat, but devour the houses of the poor; when we are not drunk with wine, but are drunk with wicked desire; when we spend the whole day without food, but spend the whole day at licentious spectacles. Behold, there is the labor of fasting, and nowhere the reward of fasting, when we go up to the theaters of lawlessness. My speech is not directed to you; for I know that you are clean of the accusation, but it is the custom of those who are in pain, when they cannot get at the culprits, to vent their anger on those present. What profit is there in going up to the theaters of lawlessness while fasting, in entering the common school of licentiousness, the public gymnasium of intemperance, to sit in the seat of the pestilent? For if anyone were to call the orchestra a seat of pestilence, and a gymnasium of intemperance, and a school of licentiousness, and all the most shameful things, he would not be wrong, that most wicked49.315 place, full of all kinds of diseases, the Babylonian furnace. For just as if into some furnace, the devil, having cast the city into the theater, thus kindles it from below, not by placing vine-branches underneath, as that barbarian did then, nor naphtha, nor tow, nor pitch, but things much worse than these: lewd sights, shameful words, effeminate songs, melodies full of all wickedness. Therefore, barbarian hands kindled that furnace, but reasonings more foolish than barbarians' light this furnace; this one is worse than that one, since the fire is also worse; for it does not burn the nature of bodies, but corrupts the well-being of the soul; and what is worse, those who are being burned are not even aware of it; for if they were aware, they would not break out in broad laughter at the things that happen; which then is the worst thing, when someone who is sick does not even know this very thing, that he is sick, and while being burned miserably and wretchedly, is not aware of the conflagrations. What is the benefit of the fast, when you deny the body its customary food, but offer the soul unlawful food? when you spend the day sitting there, watching our common nature behaving indecently and being made a public example, women committing fornication, men acting out adulteries there who gather up the evils of every house? For it is possible to see both fornications and adulteries, and to hear blasphemies, so that through the eyes and through the ears the disease may enter the soul; they imitate the misfortunes of others, whence also the name of shame is attached to them. What then is the profit of the fast, when the soul is fed on such things? with what eyes will you look at your wife after those spectacles? with what eyes will you look at your son, with what at your servant, with what at your friend? For it is necessary either to behave indecently while telling what happens there, or to be silent and sink down blushing. But you do not depart from here in this way, but you will be able to recount in your house with great confidence all the things that are said, prophetic voices, apostolic doctrines, the Lord's laws, to set out the whole table of virtue, and you make your wife more modest with the narratives from here, and you make your son more prudent, and your servant more loyal, and your friend more friendly, and you even persuade your enemy himself to put an end to his enmity. 2. You see how these doctrines are everywhere salutary, but those are useless

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σκάφος. ∆έομαι πάντων ὑμῶν καὶ ἀντιβολῶ, εἰς τὸ συνειδὸς ἕκαστος αὐτοῦ ἀναλογιζέσθω τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς νηστείας πραγματείαν, κἂν μὲν εὕρῃ κέρδος πολὺ γεγενημένον, προστιθέτω τῇ πραγματείᾳ· ἂν δὲ μηδὲν ᾖ συνειλεγμένον, τῷ λειπομένῳ τοῦ χρόνου κεχρήσθω πρὸς τὴν ἐμπορίαν. Ἕως ἕστηκεν ἡ πανήγυρις, μέγα πραγματευσάμενοι κέρδος ἀναχωρήσωμεν, ἵνα μὴ κεναῖς ἀναχωρήσωμεν χερσὶν, ἵνα μὴ πόνον ὑπομείναντες νηστείας, μισθὸν νηστείας ἀπολέσωμεν. Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ πόνον ὑπομεῖναι νηστείας, καὶ μισθὸν νηστείας μὴ λαβεῖν· πῶς; Ὅταν βρωμάτων μὲν ἀπεχώμεθα, ἁμαρτημάτων δὲ μὴ ἀπεχώμεθα· ὅταν κρέα μὲν μὴ ἐσθίωμεν, κατεσθίωμεν δὲ τὰς τῶν πενήτων οἰκίας· ὅταν οἴνῳ μὲν μὴ μεθύωμεν, μεθύωμεν δὲ ἐπιθυμίᾳ πονηρᾷ· ὅταν πᾶσαν τὴν ἡμέραν ἄσιτοι διατελῶμεν, πᾶσαν δὲ διημερεύωμεν ἐν ἀκολάστοις θεάμασιν. Ἰδοὺ καὶ πόνος νηστείας, καὶ μισθὸς νηστείας οὐδαμοῦ, ὅταν εἰς τὰ θέατρα τῆς παρανομίας ἀναβαίνωμεν. Οὐ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὁ λόγος· οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι καθαροὶ τῆς κατηγορίας ἐστὲ, ἀλλ' ἔθος τοῖς ὀδυνωμένοις, ὅταν τοὺς αἰτίους μὴ λάβωσιν, εἰς τοὺς παρόντας ἀφιέναι τὴν ὀργήν. Ποῖον κέρδος νηστεύοντας εἰς τὰ θέατρα παρανομίας ἀναβαίνειν, εἰς τὸ κοινὸν τῆς ἀσελγείας διδασκαλεῖον εἰσιέναι, εἰς τὸ δημόσιον τῆς ἀκολασίας γυμνάσιον, ἐπὶ τὴν καθέδραν καθέζεσθαι τῶν λοιμῶν; Καὶ γὰρ καὶ καθέδραν λοιμοῦ, καὶ ἀκολασίας γυμνάσιον, καὶ διδασκαλεῖον ἀσελγείας, καὶ πάντα τὰ αἴσχιστα τὴν ὀρχήστραν τις προσειπὼν οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι, τὸ πονηρό49.315 τατον ἐκεῖνο χωρίον καὶ νοσημάτων γέμον παντοδαπῶν, τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν κάμινον. Καθάπερ γὰρ εἰς κάμινόν τινα εἰς τὸ θέατρον τὴν πόλιν ἐμβαλὼν ὁ διάβολος, οὕτω κάτωθεν ὑποκαίει, οὐ κληματίδας ὑποτιθεὶς, καθάπερ ὁ βάρβαρος τότε ἐκεῖνος, οὐδὲ νάφθαν, οὐδὲ στυππεῖον, οὐδὲ πίσσαν, ἀλλὰ τὰ πολλῷ τούτων χαλεπώτερα, πορνικὰς ὄψεις, αἰσχρὰ ῥήματα, διακεκλασμένα μέλη, πάσης γέμοντα πονηρίας ᾄσματα. Ἐκείνην μὲν οὖν βαρβαρικαὶ τὴν κάμινον χεῖρες ἀνῆψαν, ταύτην δὲ τὴν κάμινον ἀνοητότεροι τῶν βαρβάρων ἅπτουσι λογισμοί· χαλεπωτέρα αὕτη ἐκείνης, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὸ πῦρ χαλεπώτερον· οὐ γὰρ σωμάτων καίει φύσιν, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς εὐεξίαν λυμαίνεται· καὶ τὸ χαλεπώτερον, ὅτι οὐδὲ αἰσθάνονται οἱ καιόμενοι· εἰ γὰρ ᾐσθάνοντο, οὐκ ἂν πλατὺν γέλωτα ἐπὶ τοῖς γενομένοις ἠφίεσαν· ὅπερ οὖν ἐστι χαλεπώτατον, ὅταν τις νοσῶν μηδὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο οἶδεν ὅτι νοσεῖ, καὶ καιόμενος ἀθλίως καὶ ταλαιπώρως, οὐκ αἰσθάνεται τῶν ἐμπρησμῶν. Τί τὸ ὄφελος τῆς νηστείας, ὅταν τὸ μὲν σῶμα κωλύσῃς τῆς νενομισμένης τροφῆς, τῇ δὲ ψυχῇ προσάγῃς τὴν παράνομον τροφήν; ὅταν διημερεύσῃς ἐκεῖ καθήμενος, βλέπων τὴν κοινὴν φύσιν ἀσχημονοῦσαν καὶ παραδειγματιζομένην, γυναῖκας πορνευομένας, μοιχείας ὑποκρινομένους ἐκεῖ τοὺς τὰ ἑκάστης οἰκίας κακὰ συλλέγοντας; Καὶ γὰρ καὶ πορνείας καὶ μοιχείας ἔστιν ἰδεῖν, καὶ βλασφημίας ἀκοῦσαι, ἵνα καὶ δι' ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ δι' ἀκοῆς ἡ νόσος ἐπεισίῃ τῇ ψυχῇ· μιμοῦνται τὰς ἀλλοτρίας συμφορὰς, ὅθεν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς αἰσχύνης ἐπίκειται. Τί οὖν τὸ κέρδος τῆς νηστείας, τοιαῦτα τῆς ψυχῆς σιτουμένης; ποίοις ὀφθαλμοῖς ὄψει τὴν γυναῖκα ἀπὸ τῶν θεαμάτων ἐκείνων; ποίοις ὄμμασιν ὄψει τὸν υἱὸν, ποίοις τὸν οἰκέτην, ποίοις τὸν φίλον; Ἀνάγκη γὰρ λέγοντα τὰ ἐκεῖ γινόμενα ἀσχημονεῖν, ἢ σιγᾷν καὶ καταδύεσθαι ἐρυθριῶντα. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν οὕτως ἀναχωρεῖς, ἀλλ' ἕξεις ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς παῤῥησίας πάντα τὰ λεγόμενα διηγεῖσθαι, προφητικὰς φωνὰς, ἀποστολικὰ δόγματα, νόμους δεσποτικοὺς, ἅπασαν τῆς ἀρετῆς παρατιθέναι τὴν τράπεζαν, καὶ γυναῖκα σωφρονεστέραν ποιεῖς τοῖς ἐντεῦθεν διηγήμασιν, καὶ υἱὸν συνετώτερον ἐργάζῃ, καὶ οἰκέτην εὐνούστερον, καὶ φίλον φιλικώτερον, καὶ τὸν ἐχθρὸν δὲ αὐτὸν πείθεις καταλῦσαι τὴν ἔχθραν. βʹ. Ὁρᾷς ὡς ταῦτα μὲν πανταχοῦ σωτήρια τὰ δόγματα, ἐκεῖνα δὲ ἄχρηστα