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it happens, when, in addition to not teaching what is necessary, we also receive into the vineyard the conflagration from impiety, like a flame creeping everywhere and always seizing what is next. Those who show the branches that were formerly flourishing and thriving as dry and unseemly and fruitless, and those who do not extinguish the passions that arise from the fiery darts of the devil, but through the dissoluteness of their own life allow many things to happen, set the vineyard on fire. But also he who, through pleasant covetousness, provokes many to desire what belongs to others, sets the vineyard on fire. At any rate, he adds, And the plunder of the poor is in your houses. So that also those who collect unjust possessions from plunder and violence provide a cause for the conflagration of the vineyard, from the evil example of the rulers and of the whole people being trained in covetousness against one another. Therefore, we elders and rulers, who do not cultivate the vineyard through sound doctrine and the good examples from our own life, will be accused of these things. And we will rightly hear, And the plunder of the poor is in your houses; if we keep in our houses the things given for the relief of the poor, defrauding the needy. 3.122 Why do you wrong my people and shame the face of the poor? It is a custom for those who do wrong and defraud, when they are accused by those they have wronged, to shame them with insults and reproaches, despising them and threatening blows and slandering them as meddlers. Not only then (he says) do you wrong the poor man (who is easily plundered, and easily plotted against because of his destitution) but you also shame the faces of the poor. The shame belonging to you from the injustice, this you turn upon the poor through your tyranny, persuading witnesses, hiring advocates, winning over the judges, until in addition to the other injustice you also surround the poor with the shame from false accusation. The accusation also becomes ours in another way, when in similar failings we attack the poor severely, publicizing their failings and sparing no reproach, and making a show of God's zeal to the poor and thereby shaming their faces. But since there are some poor who are called blessed, who for the sake of piety have despised all things and (in hope of the riches that are according to God) have disdained worldly substance, those who preside badly over the people, instead of calling blessed those who are thus poor, by slandering and despising and disparaging their praiseworthy humility, are rightly accused, especially if they are elders or rulers, as those who shame the faces of the holy poor. Such a poor man was John, having no house, no servant, no ploughing ox, no piece of land, no couch, no table, no bread. Such was Elijah. Such was each of the Saints, who went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated. 3.123 Thus says the Lord: Because the daughters of Zion have become haughty and have walked with outstretched neck and with winking of the eyes and in the walking of their feet at the same time dragging their tunics and at the same time playing with their feet, God will also humble the ruling daughters of Zion. Although the word primarily indicates something greater, nevertheless the things being said also have something intrinsically useful and converting for the multitudes. For it restrains the life of dissolute women, who show by their posture and glance and gait and dress a readiness for fornication. For when, being proud of the beauty of their body, they exalt themselves above others, using vain arrogance and being lifted up by a thing that quickly fades and flows away, then they carry their neck high, so that their faces may be visible to all. For the modest woman indeed

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γίνεται, ὅταν πρὸς τῷ μὴ διδάσκειν τὰ δέοντα, ἔτι καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῆς δυσσεβείας ἐμπρησ μὸν, οἷόν τινα φλόγα ἕρπουσαν πανταχοῦ καὶ ἀεὶ τὰ συνεχῆ ἐπιλαμβανομένην καὶ εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα παραδεξώμεθα. Οἱ τὰ τέως θάλλοντα καὶ εὐθηνοῦντα τὰ κλήματα ξηρὰ καὶ ἀπρεπῆ καὶ ἄκαρπα ἐπιδεικνύοντες, καὶ οἱ τὰ ἐκ τῶν πεπυρωμένων βελῶν τοῦ διαβόλου ἐγγινόμενα πάθη μὴ σβεννύντες, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐκλύσει τοῦ βίου τοῦ καθ' ἑαυ τοὺς πολλὰ γίνεσθαι συγχωροῦντες, ἐμπυρίζουσι τὸν ἀμ πελῶνα. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ, διὰ τῆς ἡδείας πλεονεξίας, πολλοὺς εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμίαν προκαλούμενος, ἐμπυρίζει τὸν ἀμπελῶνα. Ἐπισυνάπτει γοῦν τὸ Καὶ ἡ ἁρπαγὴ τοῦ πτωχοῦ ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις ὑμῶν. Ὥστε καὶ οἱ ἄδικον κτῆσιν ἀπὸ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ βίας συλλέγοντες, αἰτίαν τοῦ ἐμπρησμοῦ τῷ ἀμπελῶνι παρέχουσιν, ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ ὑποδείγματος τοῦ κατὰ τοὺς προεστῶτας καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ παντὸς εἰς τὴν κατ' ἀλλήλων πλεονεξίαν παιδοτριβουμένου. Πρεσβύτεροι οὖν καὶ ἄρχοντες, οἱ μὴ διὰ τῆς ὑγιαινούσης διδασκαλίας καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον βίον ἀγαθῶν ὑποδειγμάτων τὸν ἀμπελῶνα γεωργοῦντες, ταῦτα ἐγκληθησόμεθα. Εὐλόγως δὲ καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα τὸ Καὶ ἡ ἁρπαγὴ τοῦ πτωχοῦ ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις ὑμῶν· ἐὰν τὰ εἰς λόγον τῆς ἀναπαύσεως τῶν πενήτων διδόμενα, ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις ἔχωμεν, ἀποστεροῦντες τοὺς ἐνδεεῖς. 3.122 Τί ὑμεῖς ἀδικεῖτε τὸν λαόν μου καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον τῶν πτωχῶν καταισχύνετε; Ἔθος τοῖς ἀδικοῦσι καὶ ἀποστεροῦσιν, ἐπειδὰν ἐγκαλῶνται παρὰ τῶν ἠδικημένων, ὕβρεσι καὶ λοιδορίαις καταισχύνειν αὐτοὺς ἐξευτελίζοντες καὶ πληγὰς ἀπειλοῦντες καὶ ὡς φιλο πράγμονας διαβάλλοντες. Οὐ μόνον οὖν (φησὶν) ἀδικεῖτε τὸν πένητα (εὐδιάρπαστον ὄντα, καὶ εὐεπιβούλευτον διὰ τὴν ἐρη μίαν) ἀλλὰ καὶ καταισχύνετε τὰ πρόσωπα τῶν πτωχῶν. Τὴν ὑμῖν προσήκουσαν ἐκ τῆς ἀδικίας αἰσχύνην, ταύτην ἐκ τῆς τυραννίδος ὑμῶν τοῖς πτωχοῖς περιτρέπετε, μάρτυρας ἀνα πείθοντες, συνηγόρους μισθούμενοι, τοὺς δικάζοντας παρα πείθοντες, ἕως ἂν πρὸς τῇ λοιπῇ ἀδικίᾳ καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς συ κοφαντίας αἰσχύνην τοῖς πένησι περιστήσητε. Γίνεται δὲ καὶ ἄλλως ἡμέτερον τὸ ἔγκλημα, ὅταν ἐν τοῖς ὁμοίοις πταίσμασι τῶν μὲν πενήτων σφοδρῶς καθαπτώμεθα, δημοσιεύοντες μὲν αὐτῶν τὰ πταίσματα καὶ μηδενὸς ὀνείδους φειδόμενοι, ἐνεπιδεικνύμενοι δὲ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ζῆλον τοῖς πέ νησι καὶ ἐκ τούτου τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν καταισχύνοντες. Ἐπεὶ δέ εἰσί τινες πτωχοὶ μακαριζόμενοι, οἱ διὰ τὴν θεοσέ βειαν πάντων καταφρονήσαντες καὶ (ἐπ' ἐλπίδι τοῦ κατὰ Θεὸν πλούτου) τῆς κοσμικῆς περιουσίας ὑπεριδόντες, οἱ κακῶς προεστῶτες τοῦ λαοῦ, ἀντὶ τοῦ μακαρίζειν τοὺς οὕ τω πτωχεύοντας, διαβάλλοντες καὶ ἐξουθενοῦντες καὶ τὴν ἐπαινετὴν αὐτῶν ταπεινοφροσύνην ἐξευτελίζοντες, εἰκότως ἐγκαλοῦνται, μάλιστα ἐὰν πρεσβύτεροι ὦσιν, ἢ ἄρχοντες, ὡς τὰ πρόσωπα τῶν ἁγίων πτωχῶν καταισχύνοντες. Ὁποῖ ος ἦν πτωχὸς Ἰωάννης, μὴ οἶκον ἔχων, μὴ οἰκέτην, μὴ βοῦν ἀροτῆρα, μὴ γήδιον, μὴ κλίνην, μὴ τράπεζαν, μὴ ἄρτον. Ὁποῖος Ἡλίας. Ὁποῖος τῶν Ἁγίων ἕκαστος, οἳπεριῆλθον ἐν μηλωταῖς, ἐν αἰγείοις δέρμασιν, ὑστερούμενοι, θλιβόμενοι, κακουχούμενοι. 3.123 Τάδε λέγει Κύριος· ἀνθ' ὧν ὑψώθησαν αἱ θυγα τέρες Σιὼν καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν ὑψηλῷ τραχήλῳ καὶ ἐν νεύ μασιν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ τῇ πορείᾳ τῶν ποδῶν ἅμα σύρουσαι τοὺς χιτῶνας καὶ τοῖς ποσὶν ἅμα παίζουσαι, καὶ ταπει νώσει ὁ Θεὸς ἀρχούσας θυγατέρας Σιών. Εἰ καὶ μείζονά τινα προηγουμένως ἐμφαίνει ὁ λόγος, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἔχει τι καὶ αὐτόθεν τοῖς πλήθεσι χρήσιμον καὶ ἐπι στρεπτικὸν τὰ λεγόμενα. Συστέλλει γὰρ ἀκολάστων γυναικῶν τὴν ζωὴν, καὶ σχήματι καὶ βλέμματι καὶ βαδίσματι καὶ στολῇ τὴν πρὸς πορνείαν εὐκολίαν ἐπιδεικνυμένων. Ὅταν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ κάλλει τοῦ σώματος μεγαλοφρονοῦσαι ὑπεραίρωσιν ἑαυ τὰς τῶν λοιπῶν, ματαίῳ φρυάγματι κεχρημέναι καὶ ἐπαιρό μεναι πράγματι ταχὺ ἀπανθοῦντι καὶ ἀποῤῥέοντι, εἶτα ὑψη λὸν μὲν τὸν τράχηλον φέρουσιν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ πᾶσιν αὐτῶν τὰ πρόσωπα εἶναι καταφανῆ. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ σεμνὴ