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I may cleanse the defilement of my sins, but if I depart from life defiled, I will be justly ridiculed both by God and by His angels and with the demons I will be cast into the eternal fire. Yes, it is truly so, brethren! For we brought nothing into the world, that having sinned we might give it as a ransom for our sins to God. "For what," says the apostle, "will a man give to God, that it may be repaid to him?" This is a right judgment, this is a just and true humility. For the Lord also says: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish but to fulfill." But this is the fulfillment of the law: that one not justify oneself in anything, nor avenge oneself, but lie exposed in all things to all men as if dead, so that whatever they might do to him, he is not moved at all nor, being troubled, does he contradict them, but to be only in the commandments of God and in keeping His precepts, like a lion or another gigantic Samson or some other who either has been or is, and is braver than him.

It is possible, therefore, brethren, for all, not only for monks but also for laypeople, to repent and weep and pray to God always and continuously, and through such practices to acquire all the other virtues as well. And that this is true, John Chrysostom also testifies with me, the great pillar and teacher of the church, (91) when explaining the fiftieth psalm in his sermons about David, saying that it is possible for one who has a wife and sons and daughters and a multitude of servants and much property and is engaged in worldly affairs, not only to be able to do this, to weep daily and pray and repent, but also for one who wishes it to reach the perfection of virtue and receive the Holy Spirit and become a friend of God and enjoy the vision of Him, such as, even before the coming of Christ, were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Lot in Sodom, and, to pass over the others who are many, Moses and David, and in the new grace and epiphany of our God and Savior, Peter, the fisherman and unlettered man, with his mother-in-law and the others, preaching the manifested God. And who could number the others, being more than the drops of rain and more than the stars of heaven, kings, rulers, and potentates—not to mention the poor and those who lived in self-sufficiency—whose cities and houses and the temples of the churches, which they generously erected, whose homes for the aged and hostels are preserved and exist to this day, which they possessed while still living and used piously, not as their own, but as slaves of the master using what was given to them by the master and managing them as seemed good to him, making use of the world, according to the voice of Paul, but not abusing it. For this reason they have become glorious and illustrious in the present life, and now and for the unending ages in the kingdom of God they will become more glorious and more illustrious people. (92) And if we were not slothful and indolent and despisers of the commandments of God, but zealous and roused and sober, we would have no need of renunciation or tonsure or flight from the world. And that I may confirm this, listen!

God made man king from the beginning over all things on the earth, and indeed also over those things under the vault of heaven; for sun and moon and stars were certainly produced for man. What then? Being king of all these visible things, was he harmed by them with respect to virtue? By no means at all, but rather, if he had remained giving thanks to God who made and gave all things to him, he would have flourished even more. For if he had not transgressed the commandment of the Master, he would not have the

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μολυσμοῦ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων μου ἐκκαθάρω, ἀλλά μεμολυσμένος τοῦ βίου ἐξέλθω, δικαίως καί παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ καί παρά τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ καταγελασθήσομαι καί σύν τοῖς δαίμοσιν εἰς τό πῦρ τό αἰώνιον ἐκβληθήσομαι. Ναί, ὄντως οὕτως ἐστίν, ἀδελφοί! Οὐδέν γάρ εἰσηνέγκαμεν εἰς τόν κόσμον, ἵνα ἁμαρτήσαντες δῶμεν αὐτό ἀντίλυτρον τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν τῷ Θεῷ."Τί γάρ, φησίν ὁ ἀπόστολος, δώσει ἄνθρωπος τῷ Θεῷ, ἵνα ἀνταποδοθῇ αὐτῷ;" Αὕτη κρίσις ὀρθή, αὕτη ταπείνωσις δικαία καί ἀληθής. Φησί γάρ καί ὁ Κύριος· "Μή νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τόν νόμον ἤ τούς προφήτας· οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι ἀλλά πληρῶσαι". Τοῦτο δέ ἐστι πλήρωμα νόμου τό μή δικαιολογεῖσθαί τινα ἔν τινι, μηδέ ἑαυτόν ἐκδικεῖν, ἀλλά προκεῖσθαι τοῖς πᾶσι τά πάντα ὡσεί νεκρόν, ἵνα εἴτι δ᾿ ἄν ποιῶσιν εἰς αὐτόν μή κινῆται ὅλως μηδέ ταρασσόμενος ἀντιλέγῃ αὐτοῖς, ἀλλ᾿ εἶναι ἐν μόναις ταῖς ἐντολαῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ καί εἰς τό τηρεῖν τά ἐκείνου προστάγματα, ὡς λέοντα ἤ γιγαντιαῖον ἄλλον Σαμψών ἤ εἴ τινα ἕτερον ἤ προγεγονότα ἤ ὄντα καί αὐτοῦ ἀνδρειότερον.

∆υνατόν οὖν ἐστιν, ἀδελφοί, τοῖς πᾶσιν οὐ μόνον τοῖς μοναχοῖς ἀλλά καί τοῖς λαϊκοῖς τό ἀεί καί διηνεκῶς μετανοεῖν καί κλαίειν καί δέεσθαι τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί διά τῶν τοιούτων πράξεων καί τάς λοιπάς πάσας ἀρετάς κτήσασθαι. Καί ὅτι τοῦτο ἀληθές ἐστι συμμαρτυρεῖ μοι καί ὁ χρυσορρήμων Ἰωάννης, ὁ μέγας στῦλος καί διδάσκαλος τῆς ἐκκλησίας, (91) περί τοῦ ∆αυίδ λόγοις τόν πεντηκοστόν ψαλμόν ἐξηγούμενος, λέγων δυνατόν εἶναι γυναῖκα ἔχοντα καί παῖδας καί παιδίσκας καί πλῆθος οἰκετῶν καί περιουσίαν πολλήν καί βιωτικοῖς ἐμπρέποντα πράγμασι, μή τοῦτο μόνον δύνασθαι, τό κλαίειν καθ᾿ ἑκάστην καί εὔχεσθαι καί μετανοεῖν, ἀλλά καί εἰς τό τέλειον φθάσαι τῆς ἀρετῆς τόν βουλόμενον καί Πνεῦμα λαβεῖν Ἅγιον καί φίλον γενέσθαι Θεοῦ καί ἐπαπολαύειν τῆς θέας αὐτοῦ, οἷοι καί πρό τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας ἐγένοντο Ἀβραάμ, Ἰσαάκ, Ἰακώβ καί ὁ ἐν Σοδόμοις Λώτ καί ἵνα τούς ἄλλους παρήσω πολλούς ὄντας Μωσῆς καί ∆αυίδ, ἐν τῇ νέᾳ δέ χάριτι καί ἐπιφανείᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Πέτρος, ὁ ἁλιεύς καί ἀγράμματος, μετά τῆς πενθερᾶς καί τῶν ἄλλων κηρύσσων τόν ἐπιφανέντα Θεόν. Τούς δ᾿ ἄλλους τίς ἀριθμήσειεν, ὑπέρ σταγόνας ὄντας τῶν ὑετῶν καί ὑπέρ τούς ἀστέρας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, βασιλεῖς, ἄρχοντας καί δυνάστας - μή εἴπω πένητας καί τούς τῇ αὐταρκείᾳ συζήσαντας ὧν αἱ πόλεις καί αἱ οἰκίαι καί τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν οἱ ναοί, οὕς ἐκεῖνοι φιλοτίμως ἀνήγειραν, ὧν τά γηροκομεῖα καί τά ξενοδοχεῖα σῴζονται καί εἰσι μέχρι τοῦ νῦν, ἅπερ καί περιόντες ἐκεῖνοι ἐκέκτηντο καί ἐχρῶντο αὐτοῖς εὐσεβῶς, οὐχ ὡς οἰκείοις, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς δοῦλοι τοῦ δεσπότου τά παρά τοῦ δεσπότου δοθέντα αὐτοῖς καί ὡς ἐκείνῳ ἐδόκει διέποντες, χρώμενοι μέν τῷ κόσμῳ κατά τήν τοῦ Παύλου φωνήν, οὐ καταχρώμενοι δέ. ∆ιά γάρ τοῦτο καί ἐν τῷ βίῳ τῷ παρόντι περίδοξοι γεγόνασι καί λαμπροί καί νῦν καί εἰς τούς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ περιδοξότεροι καί λαμπρότεροι ἄνθρωποι γενήσονται. (92) Καί εἰ μή ὀκνηροί ἦμεν καί ῥᾴθυμοι καί καταφρονηταί τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλά σπουδαῖοι καί διεγηγερμένοι καί νήφοντας, οὐδεμίαν εἴχομεν χρείαν ἀποταγῆς ἤ κουρᾶς ἤ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου φυγῆς. Καί ἵνα τοῦτο πιστώσωμαι, ἄκουσον!

Ὁ Θεός τόν ἄνθρωπον βασιλέα ἐποίησεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πάντων τῶν ἐπί γῆς, ἀλλά μήν καί αὐτῶν τῶν ὑπό τόν ὄροφον ὄντων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· ἥλιος γάρ καί σελήνη καί ἄστρα διά τόν ἄνθρωπον πάντως παρήχθησαν. Τί οὖν; Βασιλεύες ὤν τούτων ἁπάντων τῶν ὁρωμένων, ἐβλάπτετο ἆρα ἐκ τούτων πρός ἀρετήν; Οὐμενοῦν οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλά καί μειζόνως, εἰ ἔμεινεν εὐχαριστῶν τῷ ποιήσαντι καί δεδωκότι αὐτῷ τά πάντα Θεῷ, ἔμελλεν εὐδοκιμεῖν. Εἰ μή γάρ παρέβη τήν ἐντολήν τοῦ ∆εσπότου, οὐκ ἄν τήν