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there the king and who is the commoner, who is the noble and who is the slave, who is the wise and who is the unwise. Where is the beauty there of youth? where the joyous face? where the beautiful eyes? where the well-formed nose? where the fiery lips? where the beauties of the cheeks? where the gleaming forehead? Is not all dust? Is not all ash? Is not cinder? Is not all worm and stench? Is not all filth? Considering these things, brothers, and remembering our last day, while we have time, let us turn back from our straying path. We were bought with precious blood. For this reason God appeared on earth; for you, O man, God appeared on earth, having nowhere to lay His head. O, the wonder! the judge comes to judgment for the sake of the condemned; life tastes of death; the creator is struck by the creature; He who is unseen by the Sera49.349350 phim, is spat upon by a slave, tastes vinegar and gall, is pierced by a lance, is laid in a tomb; and you are negligent, tell me, and you sleep, and you are contemptuous, O man? Do you not know that even if you shed your own blood for Him, not even so have you fulfilled your obligation? for the master's blood is one thing, and a slave's blood is another. Anticipate the departure of the soul with repentance and conversion, lest with the coming of death, all the healing of repentance be rendered useless; for on earth repentance is strong, and only in Hades this is not so. Let us seek the Lord, while we have time; let us do good, so that we may be delivered from the future endless Gehenna, and be deemed worthy of the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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ἐκεῖ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ τίς ὁ ἰδιώτης, τίς ὁ εὐγενὴς καὶ τίς ὁ δοῦλος, τίς ὁ σοφὸς καὶ τίς ὁ ἄσοφος. Ποῦ τὸ κάλλος ἐκεῖ τὸ τῆς νεότητος; ποῦ ἡ περιχαρὴς ὄψις; ποῦ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ οἱ εὐειδεῖς; ποῦ ἡ εὔθετος ῥίς; ποῦ τὰ πυρίζοντα χείλη; ποῦ τὰ κάλλη τῶν παρειῶν; ποῦ τὸ ἀποστίλβον μέτωπον; οὐ πάντα κόνις; οὐ πάντα τέφρα; οὐ σποδός; οὐ πάντα σκώληξ καὶ δυσωδία; οὐ πάντα βρῶμος; Ταῦτα ἐννοοῦντες, ἀδελφοὶ, καὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἡμῶν ἡμέρας ἐνθυμηθέντες, ὡς καιρὸν ἔχομεν, ἐπιστρέψωμεν ἐκ τῆς πεπλανημένης ὁδοῦ ἡμῶν. Αἵματι τιμίῳ ἠγοράσθημεν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ γῆς ὤφθη· διὰ σὲ, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, Θεὸς ἐπὶ γῆς ὤφθη, μὴ ἔχων ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίναι. Βαβαὶ τοῦ θαύματος! ὁ κριτὴς διὰ τοὺς κατακρίτους εἰς κριτήριον ἔρχεται· ἡ ζωὴ θανάτου γεύεται· ὁ πλάστης ὑπὸ τοῦ πλάσματος ῥαπίζεται· ὁ τοῖς Σερα49.349350 φεὶμ ἀθεώρητος, ὑπὸ τοῦ δούλου ἐμπτύεται, ὄξους καὶ χολῆς γεύεται, λόγχῃ κεντᾶται, τάφῳ κατατίθεται· καὶ σὺ ἀμελεῖς, εἰπέ μοι, καὶ καθεύδεις, καὶ καταφρονεῖς, ἄνθρωπε; Οὐκ οἶδας, ὅτι καὶ τὸ ἴδιον αἷμα ἐὰν ἐκχέης ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ οὕτω τὸ δέον ἐπλήρωσας; ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἄλλο αἷμα δεσποτικὸν, καὶ ἄλλο αἷμα δουλικόν. Πρόλαβε τῇ μετανοίᾳ καὶ τῇ ἐπιστροφῇ τὴν ἔξοδον τῆς ψυχῆς, μήποτε θανάτου ἐπελθόντος, ἀργήσῃ πᾶσα τῆς μετανοίας ἡ θεραπεία· ὅτι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἡ μετάνοια ἰσχύει, καὶ μόνον ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστι. Ζητήσωμεν τὸν Κύριον, ὡς καιρὸν ἔχομεν· ἐργασώμεθα τὸ ἀγαθὸν, ἵνα καὶ τῆς μελλούσης ἀτελευτήτου γεέννης ἀπαλλαγῶμεν, καὶ τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας ἀξιωθῶμεν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.