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hour examining our thoughts and not allowing the soul to receive any filth or stain from evil imaginings. 7.33 For if we so cleanse our mind and have all diligence concerning its care, we will more easily overcome the other passions as well, and so little by little we will arrive at the very summit of virtue and, having already from this stored up for ourselves many spiritual provisions, we will be able to be counted worthy of those ineffable good things that are stored up for those who love him; of which may it be that we all attain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, dominion, honor; now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

8.t HOMILY 8. By the same, a reception and praise for those from the

surrounding region who are present, and that whereas all the righteous, having received perceptible promises and instead of the perceptible things imagining the intelligible ones, we, on the contrary, having received the promise of intelligible things, have gaped after perceptible things; and that it is fitting, both at dawn and in the evening, hastening to the church, to make prayers and confessions;

and for the newly illumined. 8.1 The good teachers feasted you sufficiently in the past days

and you enjoyed their continuous spiritual exhortation, partaking of an abundant blessing from the relics of the holy martyrs. Come then, today, since those who have flocked to us from the countryside have made our theater more splendid, let us too set before them a more abundant spiritual table, full of the great love which they have shown towards us. Having offered them this recompense, therefore, and having accepted their disposition towards us, let us be eager to show them great hospitality. For if they themselves did not hesitate to travel such a great length of road so as to provide us great joy through their presence, it is much more right for us to set before them today a more abundant spiritual food, so that, having received sufficient provisions, they may thus return home from here. 8.2 For they are our brothers and happen to be members of the body of the church. Therefore, having embraced them as our members, let us thus show genuine love for them, and let us not see this, that they have a different dialect, but let us understand with precision the philosophy of their soul, nor that they have a barbarian tongue, but let us learn their inner mindset, and that what we are eager to teach by philosophizing in words, these men demonstrate through their deeds, fulfilling the apostolic law through their works, the one that commands to procure daily food from the work of one's hands. 8.3 For they heard the blessed Paul saying: “We toil, working with our own hands.” And again: “For these hands have ministered to my needs and to those who were with me.” And being eager to fulfill these things through their works themselves, they send forth a voice more brilliant than words, showing themselves worthy through their actions also of the beatitude from Christ: “For blessed,” he says, “is the one who has done and taught.” For when the teaching through works comes first, there is no longer a need for instruction through words. And you might see each of these men, now standing beside the holy bema and reading the divine laws and instructing the obedient, and now laboring in the care of the land, and at one time pulling a plow and cutting the furrows of the earth and casting the seeds and into its bosom

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ὥραν τοὺς λογισμοὺς ἡμῶν διερευνώμενοι καὶ μὴ ἀφέντες ῥύπον τινὰ ἢ κηλῖδα τὴν ψυχὴν δέξασθαι ἐκ τῶν πονηρῶν ἐνθυμήσεων. 7.33 Ἐὰν γὰρ οὕτω διακαθαίρωμεν ἡμῶν τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ πᾶσαν σπουδὴν περὶ τὴν ταύτης ἔχωμεν ἐπιμέλειαν, εὐκολώτερον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων περιεσόμεθα παθῶν καὶ οὕτω κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν κορυφὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἥξομεν καὶ πολλὰ ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη ἑαυτοῖς προαποθέμενοι τὰ ἐφόδια τὰ πνευματικά, δυνησόμεθα καὶ τῶν ἀπορρήτων ἐκείνων ἀγαθῶν ἀξιωθῆναι τῶν τεταμιευμένων τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν· ὧν γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δόξα, κράτος, τιμή· νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

8.t ΛΟΓΟΣ Ηʹ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀποδοχὴ καὶ ἔπαινος εἰς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς

περιοικίδος παραγινομένους καὶ ὅτι τῶν δικαίων ἁπάντων ἐπαγγελίας αἰσθητὰς δεξαμένων καὶ ἀντὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν τὰ νοητὰ φανταζομένων, ἡμεῖς ἀπεναντίας τῶν νοητῶν ἐπαγγελίαν δεξάμενοι περὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ κεχήναμεν· καὶ ὅτι προσήκει καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἑσπέραν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν σπεύδοντας τὰς εὐχὰς ποιεῖσθαι καὶ τὰς ἐξομολογήσεις·

καὶ εἰς τοὺς νεοφωτίστους. 8.1 Ἱκανῶς ὑμᾶς εἱστίασαν ἐν ταῖς παρελθούσαις ἡμέραις οἱ καλοὶ

διδάσκαλοι καὶ συνεχοῦς ἀπελαύσατε τῆς πνευματικῆς αὐτῶν παραινέσεως, δαψιλοῦς τῆς εὐλογίας μετασχόντες ἀπὸ τῶν λειψάνων τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων. Φέρε δὴ σήμερον λοιπὸν ἐπειδὴ λαμπρότερον ἡμῖν τὸ θέατρον ἀπειργάσαντο οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας πρὸς ἡμᾶς συρρεύσαντες, καὶ ἡμεῖς δαψιλεστέραν αὐτοῖς τράπεζαν παραθῶμεν τὴν πνευματικὴν τὴν πολλῆς ἀγάπης γέμουσαν ἣν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐπεδείξαντο. Ταύτην τοίνυν αὐτοῖς παρασχόντες τὴν ἀμοιβὴν καὶ ἀποδεξάμενοι τῆς περὶ ἡμᾶς διαθέσεως, πολλὴν περὶ αὐτοὺς τὴν φιλοξενίαν ἐπιδείξασθαι σπουδάσωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ αὐτοὶ τοσοῦτον ὁδοῦ μῆκος διανύσαι οὐκ ὤκνησαν ὥστε διὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν παρουσίας πολλὴν ἡμῖν παρασχεῖν τὴν εὐφροσύνην, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς δίκαιον δαψιλεστέραν αὐτοῖς σήμερον παραθεῖναι τὴν πνευματικὴν ταύτην τροφήν, ἵν' ἐφόδια λαβόντες ἱκανὰ οὕτως ἐντεῦθεν οἴκαδε ἐπανέλθωσιν. 8.2 Ἀδελφοὶ γάρ εἰσιν ἡμέτεροι καὶ μέλη τυγχάνουσι τοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας σώματος. Ὡς μέλη τοίνυν ἡμέτερα περιπτυξάμενοι οὕτω γνησίαν τὴν περὶ αὐτοὺς ἀγάπην ἐπιδειξώμεθα καὶ μὴ τοῦτο ἴδωμεν ὅτι ἐνηλλαγμένην ἔχουσι τὴν διάλεξιν, ἀλλὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτῶν τὴν φιλοσοφίαν μετὰ ἀκριβείας κατανοήσωμεν, μηδὲ ὅτι βάρβαρον ἔχουσι τὴν γλῶτταν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἔνδον φρόνημα καταμάθωμεν καὶ ὅτι ἅπερ ἡμεῖς ἐν λόγοις φιλοσοφοῦντες διδάσκειν σπουδάζομεν, ταῦτα οὗτοι διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐπιδείκνυνται, τὸν ἀποστολικὸν νόμον διὰ τῶν ἔργων πληροῦντες τὸν κελεύοντα ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν χειρῶν ἐργασίας τὴν καθημερινὴν πορίζεσθαι τροφήν. 8.3 Ἤκουσαν γὰρ τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου λέγοντος· «Κοπιῶμεν ἐργαζόμενοι ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσί.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ὅτι ταῖς χρείαις μου καὶ τοῖς οὖσι μετ' ἐμοῦ ὑπηρέτησαν αἱ χεῖρες αὖται.» Καὶ ταῦτα δι' αὐτῶν τῶν ἔργων πληροῦν σπουδάζοντες λαμπροτέραν τῶν λόγων ἀφιᾶσι φωνήν, διὰ τῶν πράξεων ἀξίους ἑαυτοὺς ἀποφαίνοντες καὶ τοῦ μακαρισμοῦ τοῦ παρὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ· «Μακάριος γάρ, φησίν, ὁ ποιήσας καὶ διδάξας.» Ὅταν γὰρ ἡ διὰ τῶν ἔργων προηγῆται διδασκαλία οὐκέτι χρεία τῆς διὰ τῶν λόγων παιδεύσεως. Καὶ ἴδοις ἂν τούτων ἕκαστον νῦν μὲν παρὰ τὸ βῆμα ἑστῶτα τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ τοὺς θείους νόμους ἀναγινώσκοντα καὶ τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἐκπαιδεύοντα, νῦν δὲ περὶ τὴν τῆς γῆς ἐπιμέλειαν πονούμενον καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ἄροτρον ἕλκοντα καὶ τὰς αὔλακας τῆς γῆς ἀνατέμνοντα καὶ τὰ σπέρματα καταβάλλοντα καὶ τοῖς κόλποις αὐτῆς