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to be buried in bonds; and now the fetters lie with the ashes. So great was his longing for the bonds for Christ's sake. His soul passed through iron, the Prophet says concerning Joseph. And indeed, women too have had experience of these bonds; but we are not bound. Nor do I exhort this, as now is not the time; but you, do not bind your hands, but bind your mind. There are also other bonds; those who do not bear these, will bear those. Hear Christ saying: Bind his hands and feet. But may we not have experience of those, but may we be filled with these bonds. For this reason he said: I, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called; and again, We have Christ as our head. For He raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places, when we were enemies and had done countless evil things. Great is the calling, and for great things, not only because it is from those things, but also because it is for such things, and in such a way. And how is it to walk worthy? With all humility. Such a one walks worthy; this is the foundation of all virtue. If you are humble, and consider who you are and how you were saved, you take the memory as a starting-point for virtue, you are neither lifted up by bonds, 62.72 nor by those very things I have mentioned, but knowing that the whole is of grace, you restrain yourself. The humble and grateful man can also be a thankful servant. For what do you have, he says, that you did not receive? But hear him again saying: I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. With all, he says, humility, not that in words, nor in deeds only, but also in posture and in speech; not humble towards this man, but insolent towards that one; be humble towards all, whether friend or enemy, whether great or small; this is humility. And in your achievements, be humble. For hear Christ saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, and putting this first. For this reason he also says: With all humility and gentleness and long-suffering. For it is possible to be humble, but sharp and wrathful; but it is of no benefit; for often, being overcome by anger, he has lost everything. Bearing with, he says, one another in love. How is it possible to bear with, if one is wrathful, if an accuser? He also said the way: In love, he says. If, he says, you do not bear with your neighbor, how will God bear with you? if you do not bear your fellow servant, how will the Master bear you? Where there is love, all things are bearable. Endeavoring, he says, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Bind therefore your hands with gentleness. Again the good name has flourished, the bond; we had left it, and it has run back to us again. Good is that bond, and good is this one; and that one is born from this one. Bind yourself to your brother; such people, bound together by love, bear all things lightly. Bind yourself to him, and him to you; you are master of both; for whomever I wish to make a friend, I will be able. Endeavoring with ease. He shows that the matter is not simple, nor for just anyone. Endeavoring, he says, to keep the unity of the Spirit. 3. What is unity of spirit? Just as in a body there is a spirit that holds everything together, and makes one thing that which is in different members; so indeed also here. For to this end was the Spirit given, that it might unite those who were separated by birth and by different ways of life. For the old man and the young, the poor and the rich, the child and the youth, the woman and the man, and every soul becomes one thing, and more so than if it were one body. For that kinship is much greater than this one, and the precision of the union is greater. For the conjunction of the soul is more precise, inasmuch as it is also simple and of one form. And how is this preserved? In the bond of peace. It is not possible for this to exist in enmity and division. For where there are strifes among you, he says, and jealousies and divisions, are you not carnal, and walking as men? For just as fire, when it finds dry wood, makes everything one blaze, but when it finds wet wood, it neither acts nor binds it together; so also here; none of the

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δεδεμένον ταφῆναι· καὶ νῦν αἱ πέδαι κεῖνται μετὰ τῆς τέφρας. Τοσοῦτος ἦν αὐτῷ πόθος τῶν διὰ Χριστὸν δεσμῶν. Σίδηρον διῆλθεν ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ, ὁ Προφήτης φησὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἰωσήφ. Ἤδη δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες τούτων ἔλαβον πεῖραν τῶν δεσμῶν· ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς οὐ δεσμούμεθα. Οὐδὲ τοῦτο παραινῶ, καιροῦ νῦν οὐκ ὄντος· ἀλλὰ σὺ μὴ δήσῃς τὰς χεῖρας, ἀλλὰ δῆσον τὴν διάνοιαν. Ἔστι καὶ ἄλλα δεσμά· οἱ ταῦτα μὴ φέροντες, ἐκεῖνα οἴσουσιν. Ἄκουε τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος· ∆ήσατε αὐτοῦ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας. Ἀλλὰ μὴ γένοιτο πεῖραν ἐκείνων λαβεῖν, τούτων δὲ τῶν δεσμῶν καὶ ἐμπλησθῆναι γένοιτο. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα ἔλεγεν· Ἐγὼ ὁ δέσμιος ἐν Κυρίῳ παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς, ἀξίως περιπατῆσαι τῆς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθητε· καὶ πάλιν, Κεφαλὴν ἔχομεν τὸν Χριστόν. Συνήγειρε γὰρ καὶ συνεκάθισεν ἡμᾶς ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐχθροὺς ὄντας, καὶ μυρία ἐργασαμένους κακά. Μεγάλη ἡ κλῆσις, καὶ ἐπὶ μεγάλοις, οὐχ ὅτι ἀπ' ἐκείνων μόνον, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ἐπὶ τοιαῦτα, καὶ τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ. Πῶς δὲ ἔστιν ἀξίως περιπατῆσαι; Μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης. Ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀξίως περιπατεῖ· τοῦτο ἀρετῆς πάσης ὑπόθεσις. Ἂν ταπεινὸς ᾖς, καὶ ἐννοήσῃς τίς ὢν πῶς ἐσώθης, ἀφορμὴν πρὸς ἀρετὴν λαμβάνεις τὴν μνήμην, οὔτε τοῖς δεσμοῖς 62.72 ἐπαίρῃ, οὔτε αὐτοῖς τούτοις οἷς εἶπον, ἀλλ' εἰδὼς ὅτι τὸ πᾶν τῆς χάριτός ἐστι, συστέλλεις σαυτόν. Ὁ ταπεινόφρων καὶ εὐγνώμων δύναται εἶναι καὶ εὐχάριστος οἰκέτης. Τί γὰρ ἔχεις, φησὶν, ὃ οὐκ ἔλαβες; Ἄκουε δὲ πάλιν αὐτοῦ λέγοντος· Περισσότερον αὐτῶν πάντων ἐκοπίασα, οὐκ ἐγὼ δὲ, ἀλλ' ἡ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ σὺν ἐμοί. Μετὰ πάσης, φησὶ, ταπεινοφροσύνης, μὴ τῆς ἐν ῥήμασι, μηδὲ ἐν πράγμασι μόνοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν σχήματι καὶ ἐν φθέγματι· μὴ πρὸς τοῦτον μὲν ταπεινὸς, πρὸς δὲ ἐκεῖνον θρασύς· πρὸς πάντας ἔσο ταπεινὸς, κἂν φίλος ᾖ κἂν ἐχθρὸς, κἂν μέγας κἂν μικρός· τοῦτο ταπεινοφροσύνη. Καὶ ἐν τοῖς κατορθώμασιν ἔσο ταπεινός. Ἄκουε γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος, Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι, καὶ τοῦτο πρῶτον τιθέντος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτός φησι· Μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πραότητος καὶ μακροθυμίας. Ἔστι γὰρ ταπεινὸν μὲν εἶναι, ὀξὺν δὲ καὶ ὀργίλον· ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ὄφελος· πολλάκις γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς κατεχόμενος, πάντα ἀπώλεσεν. Ἀνεχόμενοι, φησὶν, ἀλλήλων ἐν ἀγάπῃ. Πῶς ἀνέχεσθαι δυνατὸν, ἂν ὀργίλος ᾖ, ἂν κατήγορος; Εἶπε καὶ τὸν τρόπον· Ἐν ἀγάπῃ, φησίν. Εἰ τοῦ πλησίον, φησὶν, οὐκ ἀνέχῃ, πῶς σοῦ ἀνέξεται ὁ Θεός; εἰ αὐτὸς τὸν ὁμόδουλον οὐ φέρεις, πῶς σὲ οἴσει ὁ ∆εσπότης; Ἔνθα ἂν ᾖ ἀγάπη, πάντα οἰστά ἐστι. Σπουδάζοντες, φησὶ, τηρεῖν τὴν ἑνότητα τοῦ πνεύματος ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης. ∆ῆσον οὖν τὰς χεῖρας τῇ ἐπιεικείᾳ. Πάλιν τὸ καλὸν ὄνομα ἤνθησεν, ὁ δεσμός· ἀφήκαμεν αὐτὸν, καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμῖν πάλιν ἐπέδραμε. Καλὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ δεσμὸς, καλὸς καὶ οὗτος· καὶ ἐκεῖνος ἀπὸ τούτου τίκτεται. Σύνδησον σαυτὸν τῷ ἀδελφῷ· οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἅπαντα κούφως φέρουσιν οἱ συνδεδεμένοι τῇ ἀγάπῃ. Σαυτὸν ἐκείνῳ πρόσδησον, κἀκεῖνόν σοι· ἀμφοτέρων σὺ κύριος· ὃν γὰρ ἂν βουλήσωμαι ποιῆσαι φίλον, δυνήσομαι. Μετ' εὐκολίας σπουδάζοντες. ∆είκνυσιν οὐχ ἁπλῶς, οὐδὲ τοῦ τυχόντος τὸ πρᾶγμα εἶναι. Σπουδάζοντες, φησὶ, τηρεῖν τὴν ἑνότητα τοῦ πνεύματος. γʹ. Τί ἐστιν ἑνότης πνεύματος; Καθάπερ ἐν σώματι πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ πάντα συνέχον, καὶ ἕν τι ποιοῦν τὸ ἐν διαφόροις ὂν μέλεσιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο τὸ πνεῦμα ἐδόθη, ἵνα τοὺς γένει καὶ τρόποις διαφόροις διεστηκότας ἑνώσῃ. Ὁ γὰρ γέρων καὶ ὁ νέος, ὁ πένης καὶ ὁ πλούσιος, ὁ παῖς καὶ ὁ ἔφηβος, ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ, καὶ πᾶσα ψυχὴ ἕν τι γίνεται, καὶ μᾶλλον ἢ εἰ σῶμα ἓν ἦν. Ταύτης γὰρ τῆς συγγενείας πολλῷ μείζων ἐκείνη, καὶ πλείων ἡ ἀκρίβεια τῆς ἑνώσεως. Ἡ γὰρ τῆς ψυχῆς συνάφεια ἀκριβεστέρα ἐστὶν, ὅσῳ καὶ ἁπλῆ καὶ μονοειδής ἐστι. Πῶς δὲ αὕτη φυλάττεται; Ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἔχθρᾳ καὶ διαστάσει ταύτην εἶναι. Ὅπου γὰρ ἔριδες ἐν ἡμῖν, φησὶ, καὶ ζῆλοι καὶ διχοστασίαι, οὐχὶ σαρκικοί ἐστε, καὶ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον περιπατεῖτε; Καθάπερ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ, ὅταν μὲν ξηρὰ εὕρῃ ξύλα, μίαν τὰ πάντα ἐργάζεται πυρὰν, ὅταν δὲ ὑγρὰ, οὐδὲ ἐνεργεῖ οὐδὲ συγκολλᾶται· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα· οὐδὲν τῶν