[That We Must Not Prefer the Affairs of This Life to Those Which Concern the Worship of God.]

LXI. But if any one allege the pretence of his own work, and so is a despiser, “offering pretences for his sins,” let such a one know that the trades of the faithful are works by the by, but the worship of God is their great work. Follow therefore your trades as by the by, for your maintenance, but make the worship of God your main business; as also our Lord said: “Labour not for the meat which perishes, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life.”  265  John vi. 27. And again: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.”  266  John vi. 29. Endeavour therefore never to leave the Church of God; but if any one overlooks it, and goes either into a polluted temple of the heathens, or into a synagogue of the Jews or heretics, what apology will such a one make to God in the day of judgment, who has forsaken the oracles of the living God, and the living and quickening oracles, such as are able to deliver from eternal punishment, and has gone into an house of demons, or into a synagogue of the murderers of Christ, or the congregation of the wicked?—not hearkening unto him that says: “I have hated the congregation of the wicked, and I will not enter with the ungodly. I have not sat with the assembly of vanity, neither will I sit with the ungodly.”  267  Ps. xxvi. 5, 4. And again: “Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate day and night.”  268  Ps. i. 1, 2. But thou, forsaking the gathering together of the faithful, the Church of God, and His laws, hast respect to those “dens of thieves,” calling those things holy which He has called profane, and making such things unclean which He has sanctified. And not only so, but thou already runnest after the pomps of the Gentiles, and hastenest to their theatres, being desirous to be reckoned one of those that enter into them, and to partake of unseemly, not to say abominable words; not hearkening to Jeremiah, who says, “O Lord, I have not sat in their assemblies, for they are scorners; but I was afraid because of Thy hand;”  269  Jer. xv. 17. nor to Job, who speaks in like manner, “If I have gone at any time with the scornful; for I shall be weighed in a just balance.”  270  Job xxxi. 5, 6. But why wilt thou be a partaker of the heathen oracles, which are nothing but dead men declaring by the inspiration of the devil deadly things, and such as tend to subvert the faith, and to draw those that attend to them to polytheism? Do you therefore, who attend to the laws. of God, esteem those laws more honourable than the necessities of this life, and pay a greater respect to them, and run together to the Church of the Lord, “which He has purchased with the blood of Christ, the beloved, the first-born of every creature.”  271  Vid. Acts xx. 28; Col. i. 15. For this Church is the daughter of the Highest, which has been in travail of you by the word of grace, and has “formed Christ in you,” of whom you are made partakers, and thereby become His holy and chosen members, “not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but as being holy and unspotted in the faith, ye are complete in Him, after the image of God that created you.”  272  Eph. v. 27.

[61] Σπουδάζετε οὖν μηδέποτε τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταλιμπάνειν: εἰ δέ τις ταύτην ὑπερίδη, εἰς μιαρὸν δὲ ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθοι ἢ εἰς συναγωγὴν Ἰουδαίων ἢ αἱρετικῶν, ὁ τοιοῦτος τί ἀπολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως; Λόγια Θεοῦ ζῶντος καταλιπὼν ζῶντα καὶ ζωοποιοῦντα καὶ δυνάμενα ῥύσασθαι κολάσεως αἰωνίου, καὶ πορευθεὶς εἰς οἶκον δαιμόνων ἢ εἰς συναγωγὴν χριστοκτόνων ἢ εἰς ἐκκλησίαν πονηρευομένων, οὐκ ἀκούσας τοῦ εἰπόντος: »Ἐμίσησα ἐκκλησίαν πονηρευομένων, καὶ μετὰ παρανομούντων οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθω: οὐκ ἐκάθισα μετὰ συνεδρίου ματαιότητος, καὶ μετὰ ἀσεβῶν οὐ μὴ καθίσω.« Καὶ πάλιν: »Μακάριος ἀνήρ, ὃς οὐκ ἐπορεύθη ἐν βουλῇ ἀσεβῶν καὶ ἐν ὁδῷ ἁμαρτωλῶν οὐκ ἔστη καὶ ἐπὶ καθέδρᾳ λοιμῶν οὐκ ἐκάθισεν, ἀλλ' ἢ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ Κυρίου τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ μελετήσει ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός.« Σὺ δέ, καταλιπὼν τῶν πιστῶν τὸ συνάθροισμα, τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, τοὺς ἐκείνου νόμους, ἐπιβλέπεις ἐπὶ τὰ σπήλαια τῶν λῃστῶν, ἅγια ἡγούμενος, ἃ ἐκεῖνος βέβηλα ἀπεκάλεσεν, καὶ κοινοποιῶν, ἃ ἐκεῖνος ἐχώρισεν: καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ πομπαῖς Ἑλλήνων συντρέχεις καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ θέατρα ἐπείγῃ, ἐπιθυμήσας εἷς τῶν εἰσπορευομένων ἐκεῖ λογισθῆναι καὶ μετασχεῖν ἀκροαμάτων ἀπρεπῶν, ἵνα μὴ λέγωμεν μυσαρῶν, μὴ ἀκούσας τοῦ Ἱερεμίου λέγοντος: »Κύριε, οὐκ ἐκάθισα ἐν συνεδρίῳ αὐτῶν παιζόντων, ἀλλ' εὐλαβούμην ἀπὸ προσώπου χειρός σου«, καὶ τοῦ Ἰὼβ φάσκοντος τὰ ὅμοια: »Εἰ δὲ καὶ μετὰ γελοιαστῶν ἐπορεύθην ποτέ: ἵσταμαι γὰρ ἐν ζυγῷ δικαίῳ.« Τί δὲ βούλει μετασχεῖν τῶν ἑλληνικῶν λογίων, ὄντων νεκρῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐξ ἐπιπνοίας διαβόλου ἀποφανθέντων νεκροποιὰ καὶ πίστεως ἀνατρεπτικὰ καὶ πρὸς πολυθεΐαν ἀπάγοντα τοὺς προσανέχοντας αὐτοῖς; Ὑμεῖς οὖν, σχολάζοντες τοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμοις, καὶ τῶν βιωτικῶν χρειῶν τούτους ἡμεῖσθε τιμιωτέρους, καὶ πλείονα τιμὴν ἀπονέμοντες αὐτοῖς συντρέχετε εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἣν περιεποιήσατο τῷ αἵματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ ἠγαπημένου, τοῦ πρωτοτόκου πάσης κτίσεως. Αὕτη γὰρ θυγάτηρ ἐστὶν τοῦ Ὑψίστου ἡ ὠδινήσασα ὑμᾶς διὰ τοῦ λόγου τῆς χάριτος καὶ μορφώσασα ἐν ὑμῖν τὸν Χριστόν, οὗ μέτοχοι γενόμενοι ἱερὰ μέλη ἐστὲ καὶ ἐκλεκτά, μὴ ἔχοντα σπῖλον ἢ ῥυτίδα ἤ τι τῶν τοιούτων, ἀλλ' ὡς ἄμωμοι καὶ ἅγιοι ἐν πίστει τετελειωμένοι ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος ὑμᾶς.