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he has contained heaven. Therefore, today a marketplace of almsgiving has been opened; for we see the captives and the poor; we see those wandering in the marketplace, we see those who are crying out, we see those who are weeping, we see those who are groaning; a marvelous festival is set before us, and of a festival there is no other business, and for the merchant there is no other mindset, than to buy the wares for a little, and to sell them for much. Is this not the goal of each of the merchants? Does anyone take up commerce for any other reason, than that he might sell what was bought for a little for a great price, and take away for himself a trade multiplied many times over? Therefore, God has set before us such a festival; buy righteousness for a little, so that you may sell it again for much in the time to come; if indeed one must call the recompense a resale.49.333 Here righteousness is bought for little, for a cheap piece of bread, for a cheap garment, for a cup of cold water; Whoever gives a cup of cold water, amen I say to you, says the teacher of spiritual commerce, he shall by no means lose his reward. A cup of cold water has a reward, are not garments and money given for beneficence rewarded? On the contrary, indeed, and they have a great reward. Why then did he mention a cup of cold water? He spoke of almsgiving that costs nothing; for with cold water you do not use up wood, nor do you spend anything else besides. If where the gift is without cost, such is the grace of the benefaction, where there is an abundance of garments, a supply of money, a surplus of other goods, how great a reward must one expect from the just judge? Therefore, while the virtues are set forth for sale for a little, let us receive from the great giver, let us seize, let us buy. You who are thirsty, he says, go to the water, and as many of you as have no silver, go and buy. While the festival is set forth, let us buy alms, or rather through almsgiving let us buy salvation. You clothe Christ, when you clothe a poor man. These things, he says, I know well and exactly; I have learned these things beforehand, you were not the first to teach them; we have not heard this from you first; you do not preach strange things, but what many of those present have often taught us. I myself also know, I know, that you have often learned these and such things, but would that having learned them often, we might do even a little of what is good. He who has mercy on the poor lends to God. Let us lend alms to God, so that from him we might receive a repayment of philanthropy. But O the most wise saying! He who has mercy on the poor lends to God. Why then did it not say, "He who has mercy on the poor gives to God," but, "lends"? The Scripture knows our greed; it has taken heed that our insatiability, looking toward greed, seeks a surplus. And for this reason it did not say simply: "He who has mercy on the poor gives to God," so that you might not think the reward is simple; but "He who has mercy on the poor lends to God." If God borrows from us, then he is our debtor. What then do you want to have him as, a judge or a debtor? The debtor respects the one who lent; the judge is not abashed by the one who borrows. 7. But it is necessary to see in another way, for what reason God said, that "He who gives to the poor lends to Me." Since he saw our greed tending toward a surplus, as I have already said, and that one having money is nowhere willing to lend without security; for he who lends demands either a mortgage, or pledges, or a guarantor, and through these three securities he entrusts his own money, either accepting sureties, as I have already said, or a mortgage of property, or pledges; since therefore God saw that apart from these things no one lends, nor looks to philanthropy, but sees only to profit, and the poor man is destitute of all these things, having no mortgage; for he possesses nothing; bearing no pledges; for he has been stripped bare; providing no guarantor; for he is distrusted because of his poverty; so when he saw him in danger through his poverty, and the

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οὐρανὸν ἐχώρησεν. Ἀνέῳκται οὖν σήμερον ἐμπορεῖον ἐλεημοσύνης· ὁρῶμεν γὰρ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους καὶ τοὺς πένητας· ὁρῶμεν τοὺς ἐν ἀγορᾷ περιφερομένους, ὁρῶμεν τοὺς βοῶντας, ὁρῶμεν τοὺς δακρύοντας, ὁρῶμεν τοὺς στένοντας· πανήγυρις ἡμῖν πρόκειται θαυμαστὴ, πανηγύρεως δὲ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν ἐπάγγελμα, καὶ τῷ ἐμπόρῳ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστι φρόνημα, ἢ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ὠνίοις ὀλίγου μὲν ἀγοράσαι, πολλοῦ δὲ πωλῆσαι. Οὐχ οὗτος τῶν ἐμπόρων ἑκάστου ὁ σκοπός; μὴ δι' ἕτερόν τι ἐπιβάλλεταί τις τῇ ἐμπορίᾳ, ἢ ἵνα τὰ μικροῦ ἐωνημένα μεγάλου διαπωλήσῃ, καὶ ἄρῃ πολυπλασιαζομένην αὐτῷ τὴν ἐμπορίαν; Τοιαύτην οὖν πανήγυριν προέθηκεν ἡμῖν ὁ Θεός· ὀλίγου τὰς δικαιοσύνας ἀγόρασον, ἵνα πολλοῦ μεταπωλήσῃς ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι· εἴ γε δεῖ μετάπρασιν εἰ49.333 πεῖν τὴν ἀνταπόδοσιν. Ἐνταῦθα δι' ὀλίγων ἀγοράζεται δικαιοσύνη, δι' εὐτελοῦς κλάσματος ἄρτου, δι' εὐτελοῦς ἱματίου, διὰ ποτηρίου ψυχροῦ· Ὃς ποτίσῃ ποτήριον ψυχροῦ, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, φησὶν ὁ τῆς πνευματικῆς ἐμπορίας διδάσκαλος, οὐ μὴ ἀπολέσῃ τὸν μισθὸν αὐτοῦ. Ποτήριον ψυχροῦ ἔμμισθον, ἱμάτια καὶ χρήματα διδόμενα δι' εὐεργεσίαν οὐκ ἔμμισθα; Τοὐναντίον μὲν οὖν καὶ πολύμισθα. ∆ιὰ τί οὖν ποτήριον ἐμνημόνευσε ψυχροῦ; Ἀδάπανον εἶπεν ἐλεημοσύνην· τῷ γὰρ ψυχρῷ οὔτε ξύλον ἀναλίσκεις, οὔτε ἕτερόν τι προσδαπανᾷς. Εἰ δ' ὅπου ἀδάπανος ἡ δόσις, τοσαύτη τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἡ χάρις, ἔνθα ἱματίων ἀφθονία, χρημάτων χορηγία, τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν ἡ περιουσία, πόσον ἀπεκδέχεσθαι χρὴ μισθὸν παρὰ τοῦ δικαίου κριτοῦ; Ἐν ὅσῳ οὖν πρόκεινται αἱ ἀρεταὶ ὀλίγου πωλούμεναι, παρὰ τοῦ μεγαλοδώρου λάβωμεν, ἁρπάσωμεν, ἀγοράσωμεν. Οἱ διψῶντες, φησὶ, πορεύεσθε ἐφ' ὕδωρ, καὶ ὅσοι μὴ ἔχετε ἀργύριον, βαδίσαντες ἀγοράσατε. Ἐν ὅσῳ πρόκειται ἡ πανήγυρις, ἀγοράσωμεν ἐλεημοσύνας, μᾶλλον δὲ διὰ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης ἀγοράσωμεν τὴν σωτηρίαν. Χριστὸν ἐνδύεις, πτωχὸν ἐνδύων. Ταῦτα, φησὶν, οἶδα καλῶς καὶ ἀκριβῶς· ταῦτα προμεμάθηκα, οὐ σὺ πρῶτος ἐδίδαξας· οὐ παρὰ σοῦ τοῦτο πρῶτον ἀκηκόαμεν· οὐ ξένα κηρύττεις, ἀλλ' ἃ πολλάκις ἡμᾶς πολλοὶ τῶν παρόντων ἐδίδαξαν. Οἶδα καὶ αὐτὸς, οἶδα, ὅτι ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πολλάκις μεμαθήκατε, ἀλλ' εἴθε πολλάκις μαθόντες, κἂν ὀλίγον τὸ καλὸν εἰργαζώμεθα. Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν δανείζει Θεῷ. Θεῷ δανείσωμεν τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην, ἵνα παρ' αὐτοῦ λάβωμεν φιλανθρωπίας ἀντίδοσιν. Ἀλλ' ὢ τοῦ σοφωτάτου ῥήματος.! Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν δανείζει Θεῷ. ∆ιὰ τί οὖν οὐκ εἶπεν, Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν δίδωσι Θεῷ, ἀλλὰ, ∆ανείζει; Οἶδεν ἡ Γραφὴ τὴν ἡμετέραν πλεονεξίαν· προσέσχεν ὅτι ἡ ἀπληστία ἡμῶν πρὸς πλεονεξίαν βλέπουσα τὸν πλεονασμὸν ζητεῖ. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εἶπεν ἁπλῶς· Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν δίδωσι Θεῷ, ἵνα μὴ ἁπλῆν τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν νομίσῃς· ἀλλ' Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν δανείζει Θεῷ. Εἰ δανείζεται Θεὸς παρ' ἡμῶν, ἄρα χρεώστης ἡμῶν ἐστι. Τί οὖν θέλεις αὐτὸν ἔχειν, κριτὴν ἢ χρεώστην; Ὁ χρεώστης αἰδεῖται τὸν δανείσαντα· ὁ κριτὴς οὐ δυσωπεῖται τὸν δανειζόμενον. ζʹ. Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ καὶ καθ' ἕτερον τρόπον ἰδεῖν, τίνος ἕνεκεν ὁ Θεὸς εἶπεν, ὅτι Ἐμοὶ δανείζει ὁ διδοὺς πτωχῷ. Ἐπειδὴ εἶδεν ἡμῶν τὴν πλεονεξίαν ῥέπουσαν εἰς πλεονασμὸν, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπὼν, καὶ μηδαμοῦ τὸν χρήματα ἔχοντα δανείζειν θέλοντα ἄνευ ἀσφαλείας· ἀπαιτεῖ γὰρ ὁ δανείζων ἢ ὑποθήκην, ἢ ἐνέχυρα, ἢ τὸν ἀντιφωνοῦντα, καὶ διὰ τῶν τριῶν τούτων ἀσφαλειῶν ἐμπιστεύει τὰ ἑαυτοῦ χρήματα, ἢ ἐγγύας δεχόμενος, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπὼν, ἢ ὑποθήκην πραγμάτων, ἢ ἐνέχυρα· ἐπειδὴ οὖν εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι ἐκτὸς τούτων οὐδεὶς δανείζει, οὐδὲ εἰς φιλανθρωπίαν βλέπει, ἀλλ' εἰς μόνον τὸ κέρδος ὁρᾷ, πάντων δὲ τούτων ἔρημος ὁ πτωχὸς, οὐχ ὑποθήκην ἔχων· οὐ κέκτηται γὰρ οὐδέν· οὐκ ἐνέχυρα φέρων· γεγύμνωται γάρ· οὐ τὸν ἀντιφωνοῦντα παρέχων· ἀπιστεῖται γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἀπορίαν· ὡς οὖν εἶδεν αὐτὸν διακινδυνεύοντα τῇ ἀπορίᾳ, καὶ τὸν