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when death comes and snatches them both away, and on that fearful day that evil man, I say, standing naked and ashamed on the left, looking up, should see on the right the one who was once tonsured with him and ate and drank with him, his peer, his fellow craftsman, being wholly like Christ himself in great glory, what then will he be able to say or utter at all? Truly, my brothers, nothing! But groaning and trembling and gnashing his teeth, he will depart into the eternal fire. Thus, then, each one of us sinners will be condemned by each one of the saints, just as the unbelievers by the believers, and those who have sinned but have not repented will be condemned by those who perhaps sinned more but repented fervently.

For this reason I exhort and beseech you all, that if you know yourselves to be doing something evil and sinning and wounding and destroying your own souls, you might at least from now on correct yourselves and each one of you show repentance worthy of his sins and strive in every way to stand at the right hand of our Savior and God. But as many of you (122) as are conscious of erring in certain small matters, cast these things from yourselves with intense speed, lest on account of these small things you too stand on the left, as all Scripture testifying says, and do not consider and reckon these things as insignificant and small, but as great. For he who willingly errs in small things, while abstaining from great sins, will be condemned all the more, because having conquered the greater, he was overcome by the lesser. For even one passion alone is sufficient for our destruction, as I said above and brought forward to you the holy apostles themselves, I mean John and James, as a testimony. But in order that I may show you the truth of the argument by an example, I will ask you this.

He who has a battle against ten men or even twelve, brothers, upon engaging in war with them, if he should rout all their champions and bravest men at once from the first attack and strike them down wounded, but then, seeing one or two of the more wretched or weaker ones left behind, and approaching him from afar with fear and flattery, if he does not hasten to seize and bind them by the elbow or even slaughter them, will he not be terribly destroyed by them? For if, out of arrogance and pride, throwing down his weapons, he reclines and falls asleep, despising them, has he not willingly given himself over to the slavery of those wretched men? Will not the two, or even one of them, coming upon him and binding him, hold him as his tributary and carry him off as a slave, or even slaying him with a sword, cause him to become a laughingstock to all men? And will not all say that the slaughter of that negligent and arrogant, (123) or rather foolish and senseless man, was just? For he will not be so praised for his struggle and victory against the stronger ones, as he will be blameworthy and detestable and an outcast, so to speak, and a slave or a corpse, on account of the defeat that came to him from that one.

So then, my beloved brothers, it will not profit us at all to have conquered the great passions, if we are overcome by the lesser ones. What sort of thing do I mean? For I will say the same things again and I will not cease saying them. If we guard against the defilement of the flesh, if we abstain from envy and great anger and theft, if we master sodomy, pederasty, effeminacy, and all licentiousness, but by gluttony or much wine or sleep or sloth or carelessness, by contradiction and disobedience and grumbling, we are enslaved like slaves and scoundrels, what will be for us the

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ἐλθών ὁ θάνατος ἁρπάσῃ ἀμφοτέρους αὐτούς, καί ἐν τῇ φοβερᾷ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ γυμνός καί κατῃσχυμένος ἐξ ἀριστερῶν ἱστάμενος ὁ πονηρός ἐκεῖνος λέγω , ἀποβλεψάμενος ἴδῃ ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς τόν ποτε μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ συναποκαρέντα καί συνεσθίοντα καί συμπίνοντα, τόν ὁμοήλικα, τόν ὁμότεχνον, ὅλον ὡς ἐκεῖνον αὐτόν τόν Χριστόν ἐν μεγάλῃ δόξᾳ ὑπάρχοντα, τί τότε ὅλως ἰσχύσει εἰπεῖν ἤ φθέγξασθαι; Ὄντως, ἀδελφοί μου, οὐδέν! Ἀλλἀ στένων καί τρέμων καί τούς ὀδόντας βρύχων ἀπελεύσεται εἰς τό αἰώνιον πῦρ. Οὕτως οὖν ἕκαστος ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ὑπό ἑκάστου τῶν ἁγίων κατακριθήσεται, ὥσπερ οἱ ἄπιστοι ὑπό τῶν πιστῶν καί οἱ ἁμαρτήσαντες μέν, μή μετανοήσαντες δέ, ὑπό τῶν πλείονα ἴσως ἁμαρτησάντων καί θερμῶς μετανοησάντων κατακριθήσονται.

∆ιά τοῦτο παρακαλῶ καί δέομαι ὑμῶν πάντων, ἵνα εἰ ἐπίστασθε ἑαυτούς πονηρόν τι ποιεῖν και ἐξαμαρτάνειν καί τάς ἰδίας ὑμῶν τιτρώσκειν καί ἀπολύειν ψυχάς, κἄν ἀπό τοῦ νῦν διορθώσησθε καί μετάνοιαν ἀξίαν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων αὐτοῦ ἕκαστος ὑμῶν ἐπιδείξησθε καί παντί τρόπῳ σπουδάσητε ἐκ δεξιῶν στῆναι τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν καί Θεοῦ. Ὅσοι δέ (122) μικρά τινα σφάλλεσθαι ἑαυτούς συγγινώσκετε, μετά σφοδρᾶς καί ταῦτα τῆς ταχύτητος ἀπορρίψατε ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτῶν, ἵνα μή διά τά μικρά ταῦτα ἐξ ἀριστερῶν καί ὑμεῖς, ὡς πᾶσα Γραφή διαμαρτυρουμένη λέγει, σταθήσησθε, καί μή ὡς μηδαμινά καί μικρά, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς μεγάλα ταῦτα καί ἔχετε καί λογίζεσθε. Ὁ γάρ εἰς τά μικρά σφάλλων ἑκουσίως, τῶν δέ μεγάλων ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπεχόμενος, περισσοτέρως κατακριθήσεται, ὅτι τῶν μειζόνων κρατήσας ὑπό τῶν ἐλαττόνων ἐκυριεύθη. Ἀρκεῖ γάρ εἰς ἀπώλειαν καί ἕν μόνον ἡμῖν πάθος, καθώς ἀνωτέρω εἶπον καί αὐτούς ὑμῖν τούς ἁγίους ἀποστόλους, Ἰωάννην φημί καί Ἰάκωβον, εἰς μαρτυρίαν παρήγαγον. Ἵνα δέ καί διά παραδείγματος ὑμῖν δείξω τό τοῦ λόγου πιστόν, τοῦτο ὑμᾶς ἐρωτήσω.

Ὁ πρός δέκα ἄνδρας ἔχων τήν μάχην ἤ καί πρός δώδεκα, ἀδελφοί, ἐν τῷ συμβαλεῖν πόλεμον μετ᾿ αὐτῶν, ἐάν τούς προμάχους μέν καί ἀνδρειοτέρους αὐτῶν ἀθρόως ἐκ πρώτης προσβολῆς ἅπαντας τρέψῃ καί τρώσας καταβάλῃ, ἕνα δέ ἤ καί δύο ἐκ τούτων ταλαιπωροτέρους ἤ καί ἀσθενεστέρους ὕστερον καταλειφθέντας ἰδών καί μετά φόβου καί κολακείας ἐπερχομένους αὐτῷ ἀπό μακρόθεν, οὐ σπεύσας κρατήσει καί ἐξαγκωνίσας δεσμεύσει ἤ καί κατασφάξει αὐτούς, οὐ δεινῶς ἀναιρεθήσεται ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν; Εἰ γάρ ἐξ ὑπερηφανίας καί ἀλαζονείας ῥίψας τά ὅπλα, ἀνακλιθείς καί ἀναπεσών ὑπνώσει καταφρονήσας αὐτῶν, οὐχί ἑκουσίως ἑαυτόν εἰς δουλείαν τῶν ταλαιπώρων ἐκείνων ἐξέδωκεν; Οὐχί ἐπελθόντες οἱ δύο ἤ καί εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν δεσμήσας αὐτόν, ὑπόσπονδον ἑαυτοῦ τοῦτον ἕξει καί δοῦλον ἄρας οἰχήσεται ἤ καί ἀνελών αὐτόν μαχαίρᾳ, ποιήσει πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις γενέσθαι τοῦτον εἰς καταγέλωτα; Οὐχί δέ πάντες ἐροῦσι δικαίαν γενέσθαι τοῦ ἀμελοῦς ἐκείνου καί ἀλαζόνος, (123) μᾶλλον δέ ἄφρονος καί ἀναισθήτου σφαγήν; Οὐ γάρ τοσοῦτον πάντως ἐπαινετός ἔσται τῆς πρός τούς ἰσχυροτέρους πάλης καί νίκης ἕνεκα, ὅσον ψεκτός καί βδελυκτός καί ἀπόβλητος, ἵν᾿ εἴπω, καί δοῦλος ἤ νεκρός, διά τήν ἐκ τοῦ ἑνός ἐκείνυ γενομένην ἦτταν αὐτῷ.

Οὕτως οὖν, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί, οὐδέν ἡμᾶς οὐ μή ὠφελήσῃ τῶν μεγάλων παθῶν κρατήσαντας, ἐάν ὑπό τῶν ἐλασσόνων κυριευώμεθα. Οἷόν τι λέγω; Τά γάρ αὐτά καί πάλιν ἐρῶ καί λέγων οὐ παύσομαι. Ἐάν τόν τῆς σαρκός μολυσμόν φυλαξώμεθα, ἐάν ἀπό φθόνου καί μεγάλης ὀργῆς καί κλοπῆς ἀποσχώμεθα, ἐάν ἀρσενοκοιτίας, παιδοφθορίας, μαλακίας καί πάσης ἀσελγείας κρατήσωμεν, γαστριμαργίᾳ δέ ἤ πολλῷ οἴνῳ ἤ ὕπνῳ ἤ ὀκνηρίᾳ ἤ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ, ἀντιλογίᾳ τε καί ἀνηκοῒᾳ καί γογγυσμῷ, οἷα δή δοῦλοι καί μαστιγίαι δουλούμεθα, τί ἡμῖν ἔσται τό