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then you have shown this to be greater. For if, when we are sinners, we think ourselves to be what we are, we become righteous, 63.621 just as the publican; when, being righteous, we think ourselves to be sinners, how much more so? For if you call yourself approved, you have become useless, even if you are approved; but if you name yourself useless, you have become 63.622 useful, even if you are unapproved. For as God knows how to oppose the proud, so He knows how to give grace to the humble; because to Him belongs glory and power, for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY VIII. Concerning the soul.

Those who pride themselves on good works, and are ignorant of faith in God, are like the remains of the dead, clothed in fine things, but having no perception of the fine things. For what is the benefit to a man to have a dead soul, but to be clothed in good works? Works are done in the hope of reward and crowns; but if you do not know the one who presides over the contest, for what do you strive? For just as for humans, living comes first, and then being nourished; so must hope in Christ precede our life, and be nourished also by good works. For it is often possible for one who is not nourished to live; but it is not possible for one who is not living to be nourished. And without faith, you will not be able to present one who does works of righteousness as having lived; but without works, I can show a faithful person both as having lived and as having been deemed worthy of the kingdom. No one has lived without faith; but the thief, by only believing, was justified. For do not say to me, "He did not have time to live a righteous life"; for if he had lived on in the faith and neglected works, he would have fallen from salvation. Cornelius also was testified to for his alms and prayers, but he did not know Christ; and since the eye of truth, the great judge, saw that his works were good, but they were dead, not having faith, He sends an angel to award the works, so as to crown with faith the one who strives well, who says to him: Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. If, then, the prayer was heard, and the alms were accepted, what do I lack for righteousness? But send, he says, to Joppa, and call for Simon who is called Peter, who, when he has come, will speak to you the words by which you will be saved, you and all your household. If, therefore, from what Peter says, he and his household are saved, he did not yet have salvation from his works, until faith awarded it to his works. It is said that one of the pagan philosophers, having entered a splendid house, gleaming with much gold, and shining with the beauty of its marbles and columns; when he saw the floor everywhere had carpets spread upon it, spat in the face of the master of the house; then, being accused, said that because it was not permitted to do this anywhere else in the house, he was compelled to insult his face. Do you see how ridiculous he who beautifies the outside is, and easily despised by all who have sense? And very rightly so. For when you beautify the walls and the floor and all the other things, but neglect the soul, wearing rags, filthy, hungry, full of wounds, torn by ten thousand dogs, what punishment, tell me, will you not undergo? For if you lose money, you will be able to give 63.622 money, or a house, or slaves, or anything else of your possessions; but if you lose a soul, you will not be able to give another soul, but even if you possess the whole world, even if you are king of the inhabited world, you will not be able, by paying down all the things of the inhabited world along with the inhabited world itself, to purchase one soul. For if, regarding the body, even if you wear ten thousand diadems, but have a body that is diseased by nature and incurably ill, you will not be able, even if you give up the entire kingdom, to correct this body, even if you add ten thousand bodies and cities and

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τότε τοῦτο μεῖζον ἀπέφηνας. Εἰ γὰρ, ὅταν ἁμαρτωλοὶ ὦμεν, ἂν νομίσωμεν, τοῦτο εἶναι ὅπερ ἐσμὲν, δίκαιοι γινόμεθα, 63.621 ὡσπεροῦν καὶ ὁ τελώνης· ὅταν δίκαιοι ὄντες ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι νομίζωμεν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον; Ἂν μὲν γὰρ εἴπῃς σαυτὸν εὐδόκιμον, γέγονας ἄχρηστος, κἂν εὐδόκιμος ᾖς· ἂν δὲ ἀχρεῖον ὀνομάσῃς, γέγονας 63.622 εὔχρηστος, κἂν ἀδόκιμος ᾖς. Ὡς γὰρ ὑπερηφάνοις οἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀντιτάσσεσθαι, οὕτω διδόναι χάριν τοῖς ταπεινοῖς· ὅτι αὐτῷ πρέπει δόξα καὶ κράτος, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ Ηʹ. Περὶ ψυχῆς.

Ἐοίκασιν οἱ ἔργοις κομῶντες ἀγαθοῖς, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν πίστιν

ἀγνοήσαντες, λειψάνοις νεκρῶν, καλὰ μὲν ἐνδεδυμένοις, αἴσθησιν δὲ τῶν καλῶν οὐκ ἔχουσι. Τί γὰρ ὄφελος ἀνθρώπῳ ψυχὴν μὲν ἔχειν νεκρὰν, τοῖς δὲ ἀγαθοῖς ἔργοις περιβεβλημένην; Τὰ ἔργα ἐπ' ἐλπίδι γίνεται ἀμοιβῆς καὶ στεφάνων· εἰ δὲ τὸν ἀγωνοθέτην ἀγνοεῖς, ὑπὲρ τίνος ἀθλεῖς; Ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προηγεῖται τὸ ζῇν, καὶ οὕτω τὸ τρέφεσθαι· οὕτω δεῖ προηγεῖσθαι ἡμῶν τῆς ζωῆς τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ἐλπίδα, τρέφεσθαι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς. Τὸν γὰρ μὴ τρεφόμενον ἐγχωρεῖ ζῇν πολλάκις· τὸν δὲ μὴ ζῶντα οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ τρέφεσθαι. Καὶ ἄνευ μὲν πίστεως τὸν ἐργαζόμενον ἔργα δικαιοσύνης, οὐ δυνήσῃ παραστῆσαι ζήσαντα· ἄνευ δὲ ἔργων τὸν πιστὸν δύναμαι δεῖξαι καὶ ζήσαντα καὶ βασιλείας ἀξιωθέντα. Οὐδεὶς ἄνευ πίστεως ἔζησεν· ὁ δὲ λῃστὴς πιστεύσας μόνον ἐδικαιώθη. Μὴ γάρ μοι λέγε, Οὐκ ἔσχε καιρὸν πολιτεύσασθαι· εἰ γὰρ ἐπέζησε τῇ πίστει καὶ ἔργων ἠμέλησεν, ἐξέπιπτε τῆς σωτηρίας. Μεμαρτύρητο καὶ Κορνήλιος ἐπὶ ἐλεημοσύναις καὶ προσευχαῖς, ἀλλὰ Χριστὸν ἠγνόει· καὶ ἐπεὶ εἶδεν ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας ὀφθαλμὸς, ὁ μέγας κριτὴς, ὅτι καλὰ μὲν τὰ ἔργα, νεκρὰ δέ ἐστιν οὐκ ἔχοντα πίστιν, ἀποστέλλει βραβεύοντα τοῖς ἔργοις ἄγγελον, ὥστε τὸν καλῶς ἀθλοῦντα στεφανῶσαι τῇ πίστει, ὅς φησι πρὸς αὐτόν· Κορνήλιε, αἱ προσευχαί σου καὶ αἱ ἐλεημοσύναι σου ἀνέβησαν εἰς μνημοσύνην ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἰ τοίνυν εἰσηκούσθη ἡ δέησις, καὶ αἱ ἐλεημοσύναι ἐδέχθησαν, τί μοι τὸ λεῖπον εἰς δικαιοσύνην; Ἀλλὰ πέμψον, φησὶ, εἰς Ἰόππην, καὶ μετακάλεσαι Σίμωνα τὸν ἐπικαλούμενον Πέτρον, ὃς ἐλθὼν λαλήσει σοι τὰ ῥήματα, ἐν οἷς σωθήσῃ σὺ καὶ ὅλος ὁ οἶκός σου. Εἰ οὖν ἐξ ὧν λέγει Πέτρος, σώζεται καὶ ὁ οἶκος αὐτοῦ, οὐκ εἶχεν οὐδέπω ἐκ τῶν ἔργων τὴν σωτηρίαν, ἕως αὐτὴν τοῖς ἔργοις ἐβράβευσεν ἡ πίστις. Λέγεταί τις καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν φιλοσόφων εἰς οἰκίαν λαμπρὰν εἰσελθὼν, πολλῷ μὲν καταλαμπομένην χρυσίῳ, πολλῷ δὲ ἀστράπτουσαν τῷ τῶν μαρμάρων καὶ τῶν κιόνων κάλλει· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὸ ἔδαφος εἶδε πανταχοῦ τάπητας ἔχον ἐστρωμένους, εἰς τὴν ὄψιν ἐμπτύσαι τοῦ τῆς οἰκίας δεσπότου· εἶτα ἐγκαλούμενος εἰπεῖν, διὰ τὸ μηδαμοῦ τῆς οἰκίας ἑτέρωθι τοῦτο ἐξεῖναι ποιῆσαι, εἰς τὴν ὄψιν ἀναγκασθῆναι ὑβρίσαι τὴν ἐκείνου. Ὁρᾷς ὡς καταγέλαστος ὁ τὰ ἔξωθεν καλλωπίζων ἐστὶ, καὶ παρὰ πᾶσιν εὐκαταφρόνητος τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσι; καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Ὅταν γὰρ τοὺς μὲν τοίχους καὶ τὸ ἔδαφος καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα καλλωπίζῃς, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν περιορᾷς ῥακοδυτοῦσαν, αὐχμῶσαν, πεινῶσαν, τραυμάτων γέμουσαν, ὑπὸ μυρίων σπασσομένην κυνῶν, ποίαν οὐκ ἂν, εἰπέ μοι, ὑποστήσῃ τιμωρίαν; Χρήματα μὲν γὰρ ἂν ἀπολέσῃς, δυνήσῃ δοῦναι 63.622 χρήματα, κἂν οἰκίαν, κἂν ἀνδράποδα, κἂν ὁτιοῦν ἕτερον τῶν κτημάτων· ψυχὴν δὲ ἂν ἀπολέσῃς, ἑτέραν ἐπιδοῦναι ψυχὴν οὐ δυνήσῃ, ἀλλὰ κἂν τὸν κόσμον ἔχῃς ἅπαντα, κἂν βασιλεὺς τῆς οἰκουμένης ᾖς, οὐχ οἷός τε ἔσῃ τὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἅπαντα καταβαλὼν μετὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης αὐτῆς ψυχὴν ἀγοράσαι μίαν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπὶ σώματος, κἂν μυρία διαδήματα περικείμενος ᾖς, σῶμα δὲ ἔχῃς ἐπίνοσον φύσει καὶ ἀνιάτως ἔχον, οὐ δυνήσῃ κἂν τὴν βασιλείαν ἅπασαν ἐπιδῷς, τὸ σῶμα διορθῶσαι τοῦτο, κἂν μυρία σώματα προσθῇς καὶ πόλεις καὶ