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we contribute from ourselves to be profited. May he sanctify you, he says, completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does he mean here by spirit? The spiritual gift. For if we depart having our lamps bright, we will enter into the bridal chamber; but if they are extinguished, we will not. For this reason he says, Your whole spirit; for if that remains intact, this also remains. And the soul, he says, and the body. For neither does the one receive anything evil, nor the other. Faithful is he who calls you, who also will do it. See the humility; for after he prayed, do not think, he says, that this happens from my prayers, but from the purpose with which he called you. For if he called you to salvation, and he is true, he will surely save you, because he wills it. Brethren, pray also for us. Alas, what great humility! But he said this for the sake of humility, while we say, Pray also for us, not for the sake of humility, but for great benefit, and wishing to gain something great from you. For even if you are not benefited by us in any great or wonderful way, yet still for the honor itself, for the title itself. Someone once had children, and yet even if they have been benefited in nothing by him, still because he has become a father, he perhaps puts this forward, saying, For one of your days I was not called father. For this reason we also say, Pray also for us; not 62.464 saying this simply, but greatly desiring your prayers. For if I became responsible for the care of you all, and am about to give an account, much more ought I to enjoy prayer from you. My responsibilities became greater because of you; therefore also the help from you should be greater. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. O, the warmth! O, the mind! Since being absent he was not able to greet them with a kiss, he greets them through others; so we also do, as when we say, Kiss him for me. So you also keep the fire of love; for it does not tolerate distances, but extends itself even through intervening ways, and is present everywhere. I adjure you by the Lord, that the epistle be read to all the holy brethren. And this is especially of longing, not so much of teaching; that I may be conversing with them also, he says; The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. And he does not simply command, but adjures, doing this also from a fervent mind, so that even if they should disregard him, they would do what was commanded on account of the oath. For they then had a great fear of the thing; but now even this has been trampled on. And often there is a slave being flogged, and adjuring by God and his Christ, and, 'may you die a Christian thus', and no one pays attention, no one turns back; but if he adjures him by his own son, immediately even against his will, and grinding his teeth, he lets go of his anger. Another again being dragged, led away in the middle of the marketplace, with both Greeks and Jews present, adjures the one leading him away with the most terrible oaths, and no one pays attention. What will the Greeks not say, when a believer adjures a believer and a Christian, and no account is made of it, but we even despise it? 3. Do you wish me to relate a matter to you, which I myself have heard? For I do not speak by inventing, but having heard it from a trustworthy person. A certain maidservant was joined to a wicked man, a defiled one, a runaway, this woman, when her husband had sinned greatly, and was about to be sold by his mistress; for his sins were too great for pardon, and the woman was a widow, and she did not have the power to punish him for ruining her house, but decided to sell him; then the mistress, thinking it an unholy thing to separate the husband from his wife, consented, though the girl was useful, for the sake of getting rid of him to sell the wife along with him. The girl therefore, seeing that she was in desperate straits,

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ὠφελεῖσθαι τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσφέρομεν. Ἁγιάσαι ὑμᾶς, φησὶν, ὁλοτελεῖς, καὶ ὁλόκληρον ὑμῶν τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀμέμπτως ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τηρηθείη. Τὸ πνεῦμα τί φησιν ἐνταῦθα; Τὸ χάρισμα. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ ἔχοντες λαμπρὰς τὰς λαμπάδας ἀπέλθωμεν, εἰσελευσόμεθα εἰς τὸν νυμφῶνα· ἂν δὲ ἐσβεσμένας, οὐκέτι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν, Ὁλόκληρον ὑμῶν τὸ πνεῦμα· ἐκείνου γὰρ μένοντος ἀκεραίου, καὶ τοῦτο μένει. Καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ, φησὶ, καὶ τὸ σῶμα. Οὔτε γὰρ αὐτή τι πονηρὸν δέχεται, οὔτ' ἐκεῖνο. Πιστὸς ὁ καλῶν ὑμᾶς, ὃς καὶ ποιήσει. Ὅρα τὴν ταπεινοφροσύνην· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ηὔξατο, μὴ νομίσητε, φησὶν, ὅτι ἀπὸ τῶν ἐμῶν εὐχῶν τοῦτο γίνεται, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς προθέσεως, ἧς ὑμᾶς ἐκάλεσεν. Εἰ γὰρ εἰς σωτηρίαν ἐκάλεσεν, ἀληθὴς δέ ἐστι, πάντως σώσει βουλόμενος. Ἀδελφοὶ, προσεύχεσθε καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν. Βαβαὶ, πόση ταπεινοφροσύνη! Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν ταπεινοφροσύνης ἕνεκεν, τοῦτο ἔλεγεν, ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐ ταπεινοφροσύνης ἕνεκεν, ἀλλ' ὠφελείας πολλῆς, καὶ μέγα τι παρ' ὑμῶν κερδᾶναι βουλόμενοι, λέγομεν, Προσεύχεσθε καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μηδὲν ὠφελῆσθε παρ' ἡμῶν μέγα μηδὲ θαυμαστὸν, ἀλλ' ὅμως δι' αὐτὴν τὴν τιμὴν, δι' αὐτὴν τὴν προσηγορίαν. Ἔσχε τις παῖδάς ποτε, καὶ ὅμως εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ὠφέληνται παρ' αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ πατὴρ γέγονε, τοῦτο ἴσως προβάλλεται λέγων, Μίαν ὑμῶν ἡμέραν οὐκ ἐκλήθην πατήρ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς λέγομεν, Προσεύχεσθε καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν· οὐχ 62.464 ἁπλῶς τοῦτο λέγων, ἀλλὰ πάνυ ἐφιέμενος τῶν ὑμετέρων εὐχῶν. Εἰ γὰρ ὑπεύθυνος ἐγενόμην τῆς πάντων ὑμῶν προστασίας, καὶ λόγους ὑπέχειν μέλλω, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὀφείλω τῆς παρ' ὑμῶν ἀπολαύειν εὐχῆς. Αἱ εὐθῦναί μοι μείζους ἐγένοντο δι' ὑμᾶς· οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡ βοήθεια πλείων παρ' ὑμῶν. Ἀσπάσασθε τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς πάντας ἐν ἁγίῳ φιλήματι. Βαβαὶ τῆς θερμότητος! βαβαὶ τῆς διανοίας! Ἐπειδὴ φιλήματι αὐτοὺς ἀσπάσασθαι οὐκ ἠδύνατο ἀπὼν, δι' ἑτέρων αὐτοὺς ἀσπάζεται· οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς ποιοῦμεν, ὡς ὅταν λέγωμεν, Φίλησον αὐτὸν ἀντ' ἐμοῦ. Οὕτω καὶ αὐτοὶ κατέχετε τὸ πῦρ τῆς ἀγάπης· οὐ γὰρ ἀνέχεται διαστημάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ μέσων τῶν ὁδῶν ἑαυτὴν ἐκτείνει, καὶ πανταχοῦ πάρεστιν. Ὁρκίζω ὑμᾶς τὸν Κύριον, ἀναγνωσθῆναι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν πᾶσι τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀδελφοῖς. Καὶ τοῦτο πόθου μάλιστα, οὐ διδασκαλίας τοσοῦτον· ἵνα κἀκείνοις ὦ προσδιαλεγόμενος, φησίν· Ἡ χάρις τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μεθ' ὑμῶν. Ἀμήν. Καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐπιτάττει, ἀλλ' ὁρκίζων, ἀπὸ θερμῆς διανοίας καὶ τοῦτο ποιῶν, ἵνα κἂν αὐτοῦ καταφρονήσωσι, διὰ τὸν ὁρκισμὸν πράξωσι τὸ ἐπιταχθέν. Μέγαν γὰρ εἶχον τότε φόβον τοῦ πράγματος· νυνὶ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πεπάτηται. Καὶ ἔστι πολλάκις παῖς μαστιζόμενος, καὶ ὁρκίζων τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ, οὕτω Χριστιανὸς ἀποθάνοις, καὶ οὐδεὶς προσέχει, οὐδεὶς ἐπιστρέφεται· ἂν δὲ τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἴδιον ὁρκίσῃ, εὐθέως καὶ ἄκων, καὶ τρίζων τοὺς ὀδόντας, ὑφίησι τοῦ θυμοῦ. Ἄλλος πάλιν ἑλκόμενος, ἀπαγόμενος ἐπὶ μέσης τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ Ἑλλήνων καὶ Ἰουδαίων παρόντων, ὁρκοῖ τὸν ἀπάγοντα ὅρκους φρικωδεστάτους, καὶ οὐδεὶς προσέχει. Τί οὐκ ἐροῦσιν οἱ Ἕλληνες, ὅταν πιστὸς τὸν πιστὸν καὶ Χριστιανὸν ὁρκοῖ, καὶ μηδεὶς γίνηται λόγος, ἀλλὰ καὶ καταφρονῶμεν; γʹ. Βούλεσθε ὑμῖν διηγήσωμαί τι πρᾶγμα, ὅπερ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀκήκοα; οὐδὲ γὰρ πλάττων λέγω, ἀλλὰ παρὰ προσώπου ἀξιοπίστου ἀκηκοώς. Παιδίσκη τις ἀνδρὶ πονηρῷ συνεζευγμένη, μιαρῷ, δραπέτῃ, αὕτη, πολλὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἡμαρτηκότος, καὶ μέλλοντος ἀπεμπολεῖσθαι παρὰ τῆς δεσποίνης· καὶ γὰρ μείζονα συγγνώμης ἦν τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, καὶ χήρα ἦν ἡ γυνὴ, καὶ κολάζειν αὐτὸν λυμαινόμενον αὐτῆς τὴν οἰκίαν οὐκ ἴσχυεν, ἀλλ' ἔγνω ἀποδόσθαι· εἶτα ἀνόσιον εἶναι νομίζουσα ἡ δέσποινα διασπάσαι τῆς γυναικὸς τὸν ἄνδρα, κατεδέξατο καὶ χρησίμην οὖσαν τὴν κόρην, ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀπαλλαγῆς τῆς ἐκείνου συναπεμπολῆσαι καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα. Ὁρῶσα τοίνυν ἡ κόρη ἑαυτὴν ἐν τοῖς ἀπόροις οὖσαν,