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and its weight has the power to overcome even the lightest righteousness and to drag it down easily. And that this yoke is swifter than that one, remember the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee yoked righteousness and arrogance, saying thus: "I thank you, O God, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, greedy, nor even as this tax collector." O, the madness! The whole nature of men did not satisfy his arrogance, but he even leaped upon the tax collector standing near with great arrogance. What then did he do? He did not refute the reproaches, he was not pained by the accusation, but he accepted what was said with gratitude; and the enemy's arrow became for him medicine and healing, and the reproach a commendation, and the accusation a crown. So great a good is humility, so great a gain, not to be stung by the revilings of others, nor to be made savage by the insults of one's neighbors. For it is possible to reap from them a great and noble good, which is indeed what happened in the case of the tax collector. For having accepted the reproaches, he put away his sins, and having said, "Be merciful to me, a sinner," he went down justified rather than that one. And words prevailed over works and utterances conquered actions. For the one put forward righteousness and fasting and tithes; but this one spoke mere words and put away all his sins. For God did not hear the words alone, but also saw the mind with which he put these forward, and finding it humbled and contrite, he had mercy and showed loving-kindness. But I say these things not that we should sin, but that we should be humble-minded. For if a tax collector, a man of the last degree of wickedness, not by being humble-minded, but simply by acknowledging the truth, by stating his sins and confessing what he was, drew such good will from God, how much help will they draw to themselves who have accomplished great goods, yet think nothing great of themselves? For this reason I exhort and I beseech and I entreat you to confess to God continually. For I do not lead you into a theater of your fellow servants, nor do I compel you to reveal your sins to men; unfold your conscience before God and show him your wounds and ask of him the remedies; show them to the one who does not reproach, but heals; for even if you are silent, he knows all things. Speak, therefore, that you may gain; speak, that having put away all your sins here, you may depart there pure and free from your offenses and be delivered from that unbearable public exposure. The three youths were in the furnace and they gave their lives for their confession to the Lord; but nevertheless, after so many and such great achievements, they say: "It is not for us to open our mouth; we have become a shame and a reproach to your servants and to those who worship you." Why then do you open your mouth? "That we might say this very thing," he says, "that it is not for us to open our mouth, and by this very thing draw the Lord to us." The power of prayer quenched the power of fire, it bridled the fury of lions, it ended wars, it stopped battles, it removed winters, it drove out demons, it opened the gates of heaven, it broke the bonds of death, it banished sicknesses, it repelled insults, it steadied shaken cities, and prayer simply removed the plagues sent from above and the plots of men and all terrible things. But again, I speak of prayer, not that which lies simply on the mouth, but that which rises from the depth of the mind. For just as those trees which send their roots into the depth, even if they receive countless assaults of the winds, are not broken or uprooted, their roots being firmly bound in the depth of the earth, so also prayers sent up from below, from the depth of the mind, being rooted with security, stretch up to the height and are not diverted by any assault of reasoning. For this reason the prophet also says: "Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord." I say these things not that you should only praise, but that you should also demonstrate them in your works. For if to tell one's own misfortunes and the

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καὶ τὸν ὄγκον ἰσχύει καὶ τῆς κουφοτάτης δικαιοσύνης περιγενέσθαι καὶ καθελκύσαι κάτω ῥᾳδίως αὐτήν. Καὶ ὅτι τοῦτο ἐκείνου τὸ ζεῦγος ταχύτερον, ἀναμνήσθητι τοῦ φαρισαίου καὶ τοῦ τελώνου. Ἔζευξεν ὁ φαρισαῖος δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἀπόνοιαν, οὕτω λέγων· «Εὐχαριστῶ σοι, ὦ Θεός, ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ ὡς οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἅρπαγες, πλεονέκται, οὐδὲ ὡς οὗτος ὁ τελώνης.» Ὢ τῆς μανίας. Οὐκ ἐκόρεσεν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀπόνοιαν πᾶσα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ τελώνῃ πλησίον ἑστῶτι μετὰ πολλῆς ἐπεπήδησε τῆς ἀπονοίας. Τί οὖν ἐκεῖνος; Οὐ διεκρούσατο τὰ ὀνείδη, οὐκ ἤλγησεν ἐπὶ τῇ κατηγορίᾳ, ἀλλὰ κατεδέξατο τὸ εἰρημένον μετ' εὐγνωμοσύνης· καὶ γέγονε τὸ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ βέλος αὐτῷ φάρμακον καὶ ἴασις, καὶ τὸ ὄνειδος ἐγκώμιον, καὶ ἡ κατηγορία στέφανος. Τοσοῦτόν ἐστι ταπεινοφροσύνη καλόν, τοσοῦτόν ἐστι κέρδος, μὴ δάκνεσθαι ταῖς παρ' ἑτέρων λοιδορίαις, μηδὲ ἐκθηριοῦσθαι πρὸς τὰς τῶν πλησίον ὕβρεις. Ἔστι γάρ τι καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῶν καρπώσασθαι μέγα καὶ γενναῖον ἀγαθόν, ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ τελώνου γέγονε. ∆εξάμενος γὰρ τὰ ὀνείδη, ἀπέθετο τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, καὶ εἰπών· «Ἱλάσθητί μοι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ», κατῆλθε δεδικαιωμένος ὑπὲρ ἐκεῖνον. Καὶ λόγοι περιεγένοντο ἔργων καὶ ῥήματα πράξεις ἐνίκησαν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ δικαιοσύνην προεβάλλετο καὶ νηστείαν καὶ δεκάτας· οὗτος δὲ ῥήματα εἶπε ψιλὰ καὶ πάντα ἀπέθετο τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. Οὐ γὰρ τῶν ῥημάτων ἤκουσεν ὁ Θεὸς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν, μεθ' ἧς ταῦτα προεβάλετο, εἶδε, καὶ τεταπεινωμένην εὑρὼν καὶ συντετριμμένην, ἠλέησε καὶ ἐφιλανθρωπεύσατο. Ταῦτα δὲ λέγω οὐχ ἵνα ἁμαρτάνωμεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα ταπεινοφρονῶμεν. Εἰ γὰρ τελώνης ἄνθρωπος, τὸ ἔσχατον τῆς κακίας εἶδος, οὐχὶ ταπεινοφρονήσας, ἀλλ' εὐγνωμονήσας μόνον, τὰ ἁμαρτήματα εἰπὼν καὶ ὅπερ ἦν ὁμολογήσας, τοσαύτην εὔνοιαν ἐπεσπάσατο παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, πόσην οἱ μεγάλα μὲν κατωρθωκότες ἀγαθά, μηδὲν δὲ μέγα περὶ ἑαυτῶν νομίζοντες, ἐπισπάσονται τὴν βοήθειαν; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο παρακαλῶ καὶ δέομαι καὶ ἀντιβολῶ ἐξομολογεῖσθαι τῷ Θεῷ συνεχῶς. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰς θέατρόν σε ἄγω τῶν συνδούλων τῶν σῶν, οὐδὲ ἐκκαλύψαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀναγκάζω τὰ ἁμαρτήματα· τὸ συνειδὸς ἀνάπτυξον ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ αὐτῷ δεῖξον τὰ τραύματα καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ τὰ φάρμακα αἴτησον· δεῖξον τῷ μὴ ὀνειδίζοντι, ἀλλὰ θεραπεύοντι· κἂν γὰρ σὺ σιγήσῃς, οἶδεν ἐκεῖνος ἅπαντα. Εἰπὲ τοίνυν, ἵνα κερδάνῃς· εἰπέ, ἵνα ἐνταῦθα ἀποθέμενος πάντα τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἀπέλθῃς ἐκεῖ καθαρὸς καὶ ἔξω τῶν πλημμελημάτων καὶ τῆς ἀφορήτου δημοσιεύσεως ἐκείνης ἀπαλλαγῇς. Οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες ἐν καμίνῳ διῆγον καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπέδωκαν ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς τὸν ∆εσπότην ὁμολογίας· ἀλλ' ὅμως μετὰ τοσαῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα κατορθώματα λέγουσιν· «Οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἀνοῖξαι τὸ στόμα· αἰσχύνη καὶ ὄνειδος ἐγενήθημεν τοῖς δούλοις σου καὶ τοῖς σεβομένοις σε.» Τί οὖν ἀνοίγετε στόμα; Ἵνα αὐτὸ τοῦτο εἴπωμεν, φησίν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἀνοῖξαι τὸ στόμα καὶ αὐτῷ τούτῳ τὸν ∆εσπότην ἐπισπασώμεθα. Εὐχῆς δύναμις δύναμιν πυρὸς ἔσβεσε, λεόντων θυμὸν ἐχαλίνωσε, πολέμους ἔλυσε, μάχας ἔπαυσε, χειμῶνας ἀνεῖλε, δαίμονας ἤλασεν, οὐρανοῦ πύλας ἀνέῳξε, δεσμὰ θανάτου διέκοψεν, ἀρρωστίας ἐφυγάδευσεν, ἐπηρείας ἀπεκρούσατο, πόλεις σειομένας ἔστησε, καὶ τὰς ἄνωθεν φερομένας πληγὰς καὶ τὰς παρὰ ἀνθρώπων ἐπιβουλὰς καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς ἀνεῖλεν εὐχὴ τὰ δεινά. Εὐχὴν δὲ λέγω πάλιν, οὐ τὴν ἁπλῶς ἐπὶ τοῦ στόματος κειμένην, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ βάθους τῆς διανοίας ἀνιοῦσαν. Καθάπερ γὰρ τῶν δένδρων ὅσαπερ ἂν πρὸς τὸ βάθος παραπέμψῃ τὰς ῥίζας, κἂν μυρίας ἀνέμων δέξηται προσβολάς, οὐ διακλᾶται οὐδὲ ἀνασπᾶται, τῶν ῥιζῶν μετὰ ἀκριβείας τῷ βάθει τῆς γῆς περισφιγγομένων, οὕτω δὴ καὶ εὐχαὶ αἱ κάτωθεν ἐκ τοῦ βάθους τῆς διανοίας ἀναπεμπόμεναι, ἐρριζωμέναι μετὰ ἀσφαλείας πρὸς ὕψος ἀνατείνονται καὶ οὐδεμιᾷ λογισμοῦ προσβολῇ παρατρέπονται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ προφήτης φησίν· «Ἐκ βαθέων ἐκέκραξά σοι, Κύριε.» Ταῦτα λέγω οὐχ ἵνα ἐπαινῆτε μόνον, ἀλλ' ἵνα καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ἐπιδείκνυσθε. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐξειπεῖν τὰς οἰκείας συμφορὰς καὶ τὰ