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to her: "Go, neither do I condemn you." This savior, king and Lord and our God, Jesus, O bishops, you ought to have as your aim, to be imitators of him, gentle, quiet, compassionate, merciful, peaceable, not wrathful, apt to teach, apt to convert, receptive, encouraging, not strikers, not wrathful, not insolent, not boasters, not arrogant, not given to much wine, not drunkards, not spending for no reason, not living in luxury, not spending much, not using the gifts of God as if they belonged to others, but as their own, as being constituted good stewards, as those who are about to be required by God to give an account. Let the bishop have sufficient food and clothing, that which is suitable for his need and dignity; let him not use the Lord's things as if they were another's, but moderately; "For the laborer is worthy of his wages." Not a squanderer nor a braggart, but aspiring only to those things that contribute to his subsistence, let him, as a man of God, spend the tithes and firstfruits given according to God's command; the voluntary offerings brought in for the poor, let him manage well for orphans and widows and the afflicted and strangers in want, as having God as the accountant of these things, who entrusted this stewardship to him. Distributing to all the needy with righteousness, and you yourselves using the Lord's things, but not misusing them, eating from them, but not consuming them alone, but sharing with those in need, become blameless before God; for if you spend them alone, you will be reproached by God, who says as to the insatiable and those who eat alone: "You eat the milk and clothe yourselves with the wool," and in another place: "Will you dwell alone upon the earth?" Therefore it is also commanded to you in the Law: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And we say these things, not so that you should not partake of the fruits of your labors, for it is written: "You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain," but that you should do so moderately and with righteousness. In the same way, then, as the ox, working unwearied at the threshing floor, eats, but does not eat it all up, so also you, working in the threshing floor, that is, in the Church of God, should eat from the Church, in the same way as the Levites who ministered at the tabernacle of testimony, which was in all respects a type of the Church, and furthermore, even by its name the tabernacle was preordained a testimony of the Church. Here, at any rate, the Levites attending at the tabernacle from the gifts given by all the people into the offering of God

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αὐτήν· «"Υπαγε, οὐδὲ ἐγώ σε κατακρίνω.» Τοῦτον τὸν σωτῆρα, βασιλέα καὶ Κύριον καὶ Θεὸν ἡμῶν, Ἰησοῦν, ὦ ἐπίσκοποι, σκοπὸν ὑμᾶς ἔχειν δεῖ, τούτου μιμητὰς εἶναι, πραεῖς, ἡσυχίους, εὐσπλάγχνους, ἐλεήμονας, εἰρηνικούς, ἀοργήτους, διδακτικούς, ἐπιστρεπτικούς, εἰσδε κτικούς, παρακλητικούς, μὴ πλήκτας, μὴ ὀργίλους μὴ ὑβριστάς, μὴ ἀλαζόνας, μὴ ὑπεροπτικούς, μὴ οἰνόφλυγας, μὴ μεθύσους, μὴ εἰκαιοδαπάνους, μὴ τρυφητάς, μὴ πολυ δαπάνους, μὴ ὡς ἀλλοτρίοις, ἀλλ' ὡς ἰδίοις τοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ δόμασιν χρωμένους ὡς καθεστῶτας ἀγαθοὺς οἰκονόμους, ὡς μέλλοντας ἀπαιτεῖσθαι παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν λόγον. Aὐτάρκη ἐχέτω τροφὴν καὶ ἀμφιασμὸν ὁ ἐπίσκοπος τὸν τῇ χρείᾳ καὶ τῇ σεμνότητι προσήκοντα· μὴ τοῖς κυρια κοῖς ὡς ἀλλοτρίοις κεχρήσθω, ἀλλὰ μεμετρημένως· «Ἄξιος γὰρ ὁ ἐργάτης τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν.» Μὴ σπαταλὸς μηδὲ πέρπερος, ἀλλὰ μόνων τῶν πρὸς σύστασιν ἐφιέμενος, τὰ διδόμενα κατ' ἐντολὴν Θεοῦ τῶν δεκατῶν καὶ τῶν ἀπαρχῶν ὡς Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος ἀναλισκέτω· τὰ εἰσφερόμενα ἐπὶ προφάσει πενήτων ἑκούσια καλῶς οἰκονομείτω ὀρφανοῖς καὶ χήραις καὶ θλιβομένοις καὶ ξένοις ἀπορουμένοις, ὡς ἔχων Θεὸν λογιστευτὴν τούτων τὸν ἐγχειρίσαντα αὐτῷ ταύτην τὴν οἰκονομίαν. Πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς δεομένοις μετὰ δικαιοσύνης ἐπιμερίζοντες, καὶ ὑμεῖς αὐτοὶ χρώμενοι ἐκ τῶν κυριακῶν, ἀλλὰ μὴ παραχρώμενοι, ἐσθίοντες ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ μὴ κατεσθίοντες αὐτὰ μόνοι, κοινωνοῦντες δὲ τοῖς χρῄζουσιν, ἀπρόσκοποι Θεῷ γίνεσθε· ἐὰν γὰρ μόνοι αὐτὰ ἀναλώσητε, ὀνειδισθήσεσθε παρὰ Θεοῦ λέγοντος ὡς πρὸς ἀπλήστους καὶ μονοφάγους· «Τὸ γάλα κατεσθίετε καὶ τὰ ἔρια περιβάλλεσθε», καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις· «Μὴ οἰκήσητε μόνοι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς;» ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐν τῷ Νόμῳ προστέτακται ὑμῖν· «Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν.» Καὶ ταῦτα λέγομεν, οὐχ ἵνα μὴ μεταλαμβάνητε ὑμῶν τῶν πόνων, γέγραπται γάρ· «Oὐ φιμώσεις βοῦν ἀλοῶντα», ἀλλ' ἵνα μεμετρημένως μετὰ δικαιοσύνης. Ὃν τρόπον οὖν ὁ βοῦς, ἐργαζόμενος ἐν τῇ ἅλῳ ἀκήμωτος, ἐσθίει μέν, ἀλλ' οὐ τὸ πᾶν κατεσθίει, οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἐργαζόμενοι εἰς τὴν ἅλω, τοῦτ' ἔστιν εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐκ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐσθίετε, ὃν τρόπον καὶ οἱ λευῖται οἱ λει τουργοῦντες τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ἥτις ἦν τύπος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας κατὰ πάντα, προσέτι δὲ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ὀνόματος μαρτύριον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἡ σκηνὴ προωρίζετο. Ἐνταῦθα γοῦν οἱ λευῖται τῇ σκηνῇ προσεδρεύοντες ἐκ τῶν εἰς τὴν προσφορὰν τοῦ Θεοῦ διδομένων ὑπὸ παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ δώρων