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to journey along with us, virtue alone crosses over to the life there. Let us finally relax, and let us extinguish the desire for riches, that we may kindle the desire for the things there. These two loves cannot possess one soul; For either he will love the one, he says, and hate the other, or 62.557 he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Do you see, tell me, a man who has many attendants, strutting through the marketplace, dressed in silk garments, riding on a horse, stretching out his neck? do not be amazed, but laugh; just as when you see children playing at being rulers, you laugh, so also at this man. This is in no way different from that, but rather that is even more pleasant, since it is done by those of a childish age with great simplicity. There is both laughter and pleasure; here this man is ridiculous, and full of indecency. Glorify God, that He has delivered you from this stage-play and this puffing up. For if you, who walk on the ground, are willing, you will be higher than the one sitting in the chariot. How? Because while he is raised a little from the earth in his body, he is fixed to it in his soul; For my strength, it says, has cleaved to my flesh; but you in your mind walk in heaven. But does he have many strutting attendants? And in what way is he honored more than his horse? What is worse than this absurdity, to drive people away so that the beast may pass by with plenty of room? But is it dignified to ride on a horse? But even slaves partake of this. But there are some who have such pride, that though needing nothing, they make others follow behind. What then is more irrational than these things? from horses, 62.558 and luxury of garments and of attendants they wish to appear great. What is more worthless than this glory, which consists of horses and servants? Are you virtuous? Use none of these things; have your own adornment, do not beautify yourself by the presence of another. These things evil and vile and boorish men and all who partake of wealth can have. Both mimes and dancers are carried on horses, and have a servant running before them; but nevertheless they are mimes and dancers, and have not become dignified from their horses and their attendants. For when nothing of the good things in the soul belongs to such a person, these things, if added from without, are random and in vain; and just as to a weak wall or a corrupted body, whatever one may put around it, it remains unpleasant and corrupted; so indeed here also, the soul receives no benefit from external things, but remains what it is, even if someone should place ten thousand pieces of gold upon it. Let us not then be fluttered by these things, let us remove ourselves from things temporary, let us hold fast to the greater things, the spiritual things, those which truly make us worthy of reverence, that we may also attain the good things to come, and so forth.
HOMILY XII. Now the Spirit expressly says, that in later times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and have come to know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving;
for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
1. Just as those who hold to the faith rest on a safe anchor, so those who have fallen away from it can stand nowhere, but after wandering through many errors up and down, are at last carried into the very pits of destruction. And
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συναποδημεῖν, ἀρετὴ μόνη διαβαίνει πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν τὴν ἐκεῖ. Ἐκλύσωμέν ποτε, καὶ σβέσωμεν τῶν χρημάτων τὸν πόθον, ἵνα ἀνάψωμεν τῶν ἐκεῖ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν. Οὐ δύνανται οὗτοι οἱ δύο ἔρωτες μίαν κατέχειν ψυχήν· Ἢ γὰρ τὸν ἕνα, φησὶ, φιλήσει, καὶ τὸν ἕτερον μισήσει, ἢ 62.557 ἑνὸς ἀνθέξεται, καὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου καταφρονήσει. Ὁρᾷς, εἰπέ μοι, ἄνδρα ἀκολούθους ἔχοντα πολλοὺς, σοβοῦντα διὰ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, σηρικὰ ἠμφιεσμένον ἱμάτια, ἵππῳ ὀχούμενον, τὸν αὐχένα τείνοντα; μὴ καταπλαγῇς, ἀλλὰ γέλασον· ὥσπερ, ὅταν τὰ παιδία ὁρᾷς ἄρχοντας παίζοντα, καταγελᾷς, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ. Οὐδὲν τοῦτο ἐκείνου διενήνοχε, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐκεῖνο καὶ τερπνότερον, ἅτε παρὰ παιδικῆς γινόμενον ἡλικίας μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀφελείας. Ἐκεῖ καὶ γέλως ἐστὶ καὶ ἡδονή· ἐνταῦθα καταγέλαστός ἐστιν οὗτος, καὶ ἀσχημοσύνης πλήρης. ∆όξασον τὸν Θεὸν, ὅτι σε τῆς σκηνῆς ταύτης καὶ τοῦ φυσήματος ἀπήλλαξεν. Ἂν γὰρ θέλῃς σὺ ὁ χαμαὶ ἐρχόμενος, ὑψηλότερος ἔσῃ τοῦ καθημένου τὸ ὄχημα. Πῶς; Ὅτι ἐκεῖνος μὲν μικρὸν ἀνέστηκεν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τῷ σώματι, τῇ δὲ ψυχῇ προσπέπηγεν· Ἐκολλήθη γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ ἰσχύς μου τῇ σαρκί μου· σὺ δὲ τῷ φρονήματι ἐν οὐρανῷ περιπατεῖς. Ἀλλ' ἀκολούθους ἔχει πολλοὺς σοβοῦντας; Καὶ τί μᾶλλον αὐτὸς, ἢ ὁ ἵππος τιμᾶται; Τί ταύτης τῆς ἀλογίας χεῖρον, ἀνθρώπους διώκειν, ἵνα τὸ κτῆνος μετ' εὐρυχωρίας παρέλθῃ; Ἀλλὰ τὸ ἵππῳ ὀχεῖσθαι σεμνόν; Ἀλλὰ καὶ δοῦλοι τούτου μετέχουσιν. Εἰσὶ δέ τινες, οἳ τοσοῦτον ἔχουσι τύφου, ὡς μηδὲν δεόμενοι, ὄπισθεν ποιεῖν ἀκολουθεῖν. Ἆρα τί τούτων ἐστὶν ἀλογώτερον; ἀπὸ ἵππων, 62.558 καὶ πολυτελείας ἱματίων καὶ ἀκολούθων βούλονται φαίνεσθαι. Τί ταύτης τῆς δόξης οὐδαμινέστερον, τῆς ἀπὸ ἵππων καὶ οἰκετῶν συνισταμένης; Ἐνάρετος εἶ; μηδενὶ τούτων κέχρησο· οἰκεῖον ἔχε τὸν κόσμον, μὴ τῇ ἑτέρου παρουσίᾳ καλλωπίζου. Ταῦτα καὶ πονηροὶ καὶ μιαροὶ καὶ ἄγροικοι καὶ πάντες ὅσοι πλούτου μετέχουσι, δύνανται ἔχειν. Καὶ μῖμοι καὶ ὀρχησταὶ ἐφ' ἵππων φέρονται, καὶ οἰκέτην προτρέχοντα ἔχουσιν· ἀλλ' ὅμως μῖμοί εἰσι καὶ ὀρχησταὶ, καὶ οὐ γεγόνασι σεμνοὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἵππων καὶ τῶν ἀκολούθων. Ὅταν γὰρ μηδὲν τῶν ἐν ψυχῇ καλῶν προσῇ τῷ τοιούτῳ, ταῦτα, ἂν ἔξωθεν προστεθῇ, εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην· καὶ καθάπερ ἀσθενεῖ τοίχῳ ἢ διεφθορότι σώματι, ὅσα ἄν τις περιθῇ, μένει ἀηδὲς ὂν καὶ διεφθορός· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα, οὐδεμίαν ἡ ψυχὴ ὄνησιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκτὸς προσλαμβάνει, ἀλλὰ μένει τοῦτο οὖσα, κἂν μυρία τις αὐτῇ περιθῇ χρυσία. Μὴ δὴ πρὸς ταῦτα ἐπτοημένοι ὦμεν, ἀποστήσωμεν ἑαυτοὺς τῶν προσκαίρων, τῶν μειζόνων ἐχώμεθα, τῶν πνευματικῶν, τῶν ὄντως αἰδεσίμους ποιούντων ἡμᾶς, ἵνα καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἐπιτύχωμεν ἀγαθῶν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.
ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΙΒʹ. Τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ῥητῶς λέγει, ὅτι ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς ἀποστήσονταί τινες τῆς πίστεως, προσέχοντες πνεύμασι πλάνοις καὶ διδασκαλίαις δαιμόνων, ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων, κεκαυτηριασμένων τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν, κωλυόν των γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων, ἃ ὁ Θεὸς ἔκτισεν εἰς μετάληψιν μετὰ εὐχαριστίας τοῖς πιστοῖς καὶ ἐπεγνωκόσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Ὅτι πᾶν κτίσμα Θεοῦ καλὸν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπόβλητον μετὰ εὐχαριστίας λαμβανόμενον·
ἁγιάζεται γὰρ διὰ λόγου Θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως.
αʹ. Ὥσπερ οἱ τῆς πίστεως ἐχόμενοι ἐπ' ἀσφαλοῦς τῆς ἀγκύρας ἐρείδονται, οὕτως οἱ ταύτης ἐκπεσόντες οὐδαμοῦ στῆναι δύνανται, ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς ἄνω καὶ κάτω πλανηθέντες πλάνους, τὸ τελευταῖον εἰς αὐτὰ τῆς ἀπωλείας φέρονται τὰ βάραθρα. Καὶ