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of iniquity! For I do not know where you are from ", and not only these but with them also many others, who were baptized by the holy apostles and by the saints after them, but were not deemed worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit because of an excess of wickedness, neither did they display a life worthy of the calling to which they were called, nor were they named children of God, but they remained being flesh and blood, not even believing that the Spirit exists, or seeking, or expecting to receive Him. Wherefore, such people will never be able to become masters of the desires of the flesh or of the passions of the soul, nor will they display anything noble in virtues, for the Lord says: "Without me you can do nothing". But I beseech you, fathers and brothers, let us strive with all our might, so that we may be deemed worthy to become partakers (167) even now of the gift of the Holy Spirit, that we may obtain the good things both of the present and of the future, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Concerning almsgiving. And who is the one who feeds God when He is hungry and gives Him drink when He is thirsty, and so on. And how this will be accomplished by anyone. And that if someone does not also do all these things in himself and feed and give drink to Christ, he will not be benefited at all from doing these things only for the poor, while overlooking himself as unfed and naked of the righteousness of God.

Discourse IX. (168) Brothers and fathers, I ought not to dare to speak to you at all, nor to hold the position of a teacher before your love; but since you know that, just as an instrument crafted by a craftsman does not sound when it wishes, but when its pipes are filled by the breath, and it is struck rhythmically by the craftsman’s fingers, then it produces its sound and fills the ears of all with a most sweet melody, so also you should understand it happens with me and not, by looking at the lowliness of the instrument, be ill-disposed toward what is about to be said. But looking to the grace of the Spirit, which inspires from above and fills the souls of the faithful, and to the very finger of God, (169) which strikes the strings of the mind and rouses us to speak, as of a master's trumpet sounding or, to speak more truly, of the King of all speaking to us as through an instrument, listen with fear and trembling, with understanding and much stillness.

We all, men, ought to examine and pay heed to ourselves, both faithful and unfaithful, small and great, so that the unfaithful may come to the knowledge and faith of the God who made us, and the faithful, so that by living well we may be shown to be well-pleasing to him in every good work; and the small, so that we may be subject to the great for the Lord's sake, and the great, so that we may be disposed toward the small as to true children because of the commandment of the Lord which says: "As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me." For the Lord said this not only concerning the poor, as some think, and those lacking bodily food, but also concerning all our other brothers, who are wasted not by a famine of bread and water, but by a famine of inactivity and of obedience to the Lord's commandments for inasmuch as the

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τῆς ἀνομίας! Οὐ γάρ οἶδα ὑμᾶς πόθεν ἐστέ ", καί οὐ μόνον οὗτοι ἀλλά μετά τούτων καί πολλοί ἕτεροι, οἵτινες παρά μέν τῶν ἁγίων ἐβαπτίσθησαν ἀποστόλων καί τῶν μετά ταῦτα ἁγίων, τῆς δέ χάριτος τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος μή καταξιωθέντες διά πονηρίας ὑπερβολήν, οὔτε βίον ἄξιον τῆς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθησαν ἐπεδείξαντο, οὔτε τέκνα Θεοῦ ἐχρημάτισαν, ἀλλ᾿ ἔμειναν σάρκες ὄντες καί αἵματα, μηδέ ὅτι ἐστι Πνεῦμα πιστεύσαντες ἤ ζητήσαντες ἤ λαβεῖν προσδοκήσαντες.Ὅθεν οἱ τοιοῦτοι οὐδέ τῶν τῆς σαρκός ἐπιθυμιῶν οὐδέ τῶν ψυχικῶν παθῶν δεσπόται ποτέ γενέσθαι ἰσχύσουσιν, οὔτε τι γενναῖον ἐν ἀρεταῖς ἐπιδείξονται, φησί γάρ ὁ Κύριος· "Οὐ δύνασθε χωρίς ἐμοῦ ποιεῖν οὐδεν". Ἀλλά παρακαλῶ, πατέρες καί ἀδελφοί, σπουδάσωμεν ἡμεῖς ὅση δύναμις, ἵνα μέτοχοι (167) ἔνθεν ἤδη τῆς τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος δωρεᾶς καταξιωθῶμεν γενέσθαι, ὅπως καί τῶν παρόντων καί τῶν μελλόντων ἐπιτύχωμεν ἀγαθῶν, χάριτι καί φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τούς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.

Περί ἐλεημοσύνης. Καί τίς ἐστιν ὁ πεινῶντα τόν Θεόν τρέφων καί διψῶντα ποτίζων καί καθεξῆς. Καί πῶς τοῦτό τινι κατορθωθήσεται. Καί ὅτι εἰ μή τις καί ἐν ἑαυτῷ ταῦτα πάντα ποιήσει καί θρέψει καί ποτίσει Χριστόν, οὐδέν ὠφεληθήσεται ἐκ τοῦ ταῦτα μόνον ποιεῖν εἰς τούς

πένητας, ἑαυτόν δέ ἄτροφον παρορᾶν καί γυμνόν τῆς δικαιοσύνης τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Λόγος Θ΄. (168) Ἀδελφοί καί πατέρες, ἔδει μέν μή τολμᾶν με πρός ὑμᾶς ὅλως φθέγγεσθαι, μηδέ

διδασκάλου τάξιν ἐπέχειν ἐνώπιον τῆς ἀγάπης ὑμῶν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεί περ ἐπίστασθε ὅτι, ὥσπερ τό ὑπό τοῦ τεχνίτου κατασκευασθέν ὄργανον οὐχ ὅταν ἐκεῖνο βούληται, ἀλλ᾿ ὅταν ὑπό τοῦ πνεύματος οἱ αὐλοί μέν πληρωθῶσιν, ὑπό δέ τῶν δακτύλων τοῦ τεχνίτου εὐρύθμως κρούηται, τότε καί τόν ἦχον ἀποτελεῖ καί τάς ἀκοάς τῶν πάντων ἡδυτάτου μέλους ἀποπληροῖ, οὕτω δέ καί ἐπ᾿ ἐμοί συμβαίνειν ἐννοεῖν ὑμᾶς χρή καί μή, τῇ ὀργάνου εὐτελείᾳ ἀποβλέποντας, ἀηδῶς πρός τά ῥηθήσεσθαι μέλλοντα διατεθῆναι. Ἀλλά πρός τήν τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριν, τήν ἄνωθεν ἐμπνεύουσαν καί πληροῦσαν τῶν πιστῶν τάς ψυχάς, καί πρός αὐτόν τόν δάκτυλον τοῦ Θεοῦ, (169) τόν τάς νευράς τοῦ νοός κρούοντα καί πρός τό λαλεῖν ἡμᾶς διεγείροντα ἀφορῶντες, ὡς σάλπιγγος ἠχούσης δεσποτικῆς ἤ, ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, τοῦ Βασιλέως τῶν ὅλων ὡς δι᾿ ὀργάνου λαλοῦντος ἡμῖν, μετά φόβου καί τρόμου ἐν συνέσει καί ἡσυχίᾳ πολλῇ ἀκούσατε.

Πάντες μέν ἄνθρωποι σκοπεῖν καί ἑαυτοῖς προσέχειν ὀφείλομεν, πιστοί τε καί ἄπιστοι, μικροί τε καί μεγάλοι, ἵνα οἱ μέν ἄπιστοι πρός ἐπίγνωσιν καί πίστιν τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἡμᾶς Θεοῦ γενώμεθα, οἱ δέ πιστοί ἵνα καλῶς πολιτευσάμενοι εὐάρεστοι αὐτῷ ἐν παντί ἔργῳ ἀγαθῷ ἀναφανῶμεν· οἱ δέ μικροί ὅπως τοῖς μεγάλοις ὑποταγῶμεν διά τόν Κύριον, οἱ μεγάλοι δέ ὡς πρός τέκνα γνήσια τούς μικρούς διατεθῶμεν διά τήν λέγουσαν ἐντολήν τοῦ Κυρίου· "Ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἐποιήσατε ἑνί ἑκάστῳ τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοί ἐποιήσατε". Οὐ γάρ περί τῶν πενομένων μόνον, ὥς τινες οἴονται, καί τῶν τῆς σωματικῆς τροφῆς ἀπορούτων τοῦτο ὁ Κύριος εἴρηκεν, ἀλλά καί περί πάντων τῶν ἄλλων ἡμῶν ἀδελφῶν, τῶν οὐ λιμῷ τηκομένων ἄρτου καί ὕδατος, ἀλλά λιμῷ ἀργίας καί ὑπακοῆς τῶν ἔντολῶν τοῦ Κυρίου ὅσῳ γάρ ἡ