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of him who speaks with sufficient power; for to our God be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

13.t.1 An exhortation concerning repentance by Asterius, bishop of Amaseia 13.1.1 A Pharisee, as we have just heard from Luke's account, invites the Lord to a feast and leads him under his roof and sets a common table. But He neither refuses the invitation nor flees the man, who was neither a disciple nor a believer, but was bound to the letter of the law and had not yet opened his eyes to the knowledge of the truth, and was shortsighted toward the promises of the prophets. 13.1.2 Why then did Luke write this chapter for us? Was it so that we might have knowledge of what Jesus accomplished while living in the body, and receive knowledge of a beneficial history? Or are the writings full of some beneficial and instructive meaning, regulating our life toward what is right and unperverted? I for my part think it is so, and it is fitting that you too be persuaded. 13.1.3 For there are many self-righteous people, selfish and self-satisfied in their opinion, puffed up through empty-mindedness, calling those who approach sinners and, before the true judgment comes, separating themselves like lambs from the goats and looking at the gate of the kingdom as if it were thrown open for them, not deigning to share shelter or food with the many, but abominating all those who do not travel the extreme, but the middle, road of life. 13.2.1 Therefore Luke, a physician more of souls than of bodies, wrote the narrative at hand not simply as an account, but as a medicine for those who are sick with arrogance, showing our God and Savior Himself, the incomparably pure and only righteous one, associating very forgivingly with the condemned and living with those not yet cleansed, not that He might take on any of their wickedness, but that He might impart His own righteousness according to this visible solar energy, so as to represent the providence of the creator from the creation. 13.2.2 For we know that the sun too shines not only upon the flat lands, but also upon as many as are hollower and have been allotted a cave-like position. Let us cease then, if any of us think in the way the account says; let us imitate the Master's mercy and love for humankind, condescending to the lowly for this reason, not that we might humble ourselves along with those who are fallen, but that we might lift them up, like some skilled swimmers pulling the drowning up to this life-giving air. 13.3.1 But since the evangelic scripture guides us to the best understanding, come, let us apply ourselves to the subject at hand. I marvel greatly at those who are clothed in this passionate and pleasure-loving flesh, who are conquered daily by sleep and gluttony, and are indeed not without experience of the other provocations, as many as are familiar to all of us who share in one and the same nature, how they are harsh judges of sinners and forgiving of themselves; 13.3.2 weak contestants and inexorable lawgivers, so as to both destroy the hope of God's love for humankind and to block, as they suppose, the abundant fount of mercy, and with much authority to shut the entrance of the kingdom to those who have gone astray. This is in no way [otherwise] beneficial, to produce despair in souls seeking a cure. For he who despairs of the treatment becomes a slave to the disease once and for all and is estranged from every promise of our Scriptures, for not even there for the one who examines prudently

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τοῦ λέγοντος δύναμιν αὐτάρκως· ὅτι τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

13.t.1 Ἀστερίου ἐπισκόπου Ἀμασείας προτρεπτικὸς περὶ μετανοίας 13.1.1 Ἀνὴρ Φαρισαῖος, ὡς ἀρτίως ἠκούσαμεν τοῦ Λουκᾶ λέγοντος, προτρέπει τὸν Κύριον εἰς ἑστίασιν καὶ ὑπωρόφιον ἄγει καὶ κοινὴν παρα τίθεται τράπεζαν. Ὁ δὲ οὔτε τὴν κλῆσιν ἀπαναίνεται οὔτε φεύγει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, μήτε μαθητὴν ὄντα μήτε πιστεύσαντα, τῷ γράμματι δὲ προσδεδεμένον τοῦ νόμου καὶ οὐδέπω πρὸς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀνοίξαντα, χαλεπῶς δὲ πρὸς τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ἀμβλυω ποῦντα τῶν προφητῶν. 13.1.2 Τί οὖν ἡμῖν τοῦτο τὸ κεφάλαιον ἀνέγραψεν ὁ Λουκᾶς; Πότερον ἵνα τὴν γνῶσιν ἔχωμεν ὧν ὁ Ἰησοῦς κατειργάσατο πολιτευόμενος ἐν τῷ σώματι, καὶ γνῶσιν ἱστορίας ἐπωφελοῦς παραλάβωμεν; ἢ νοῦ τινος ἐπωφελοῦς καὶ παιδευτικοῦ γέμει τὰ γράμματα τὸν ἡμέτερον βίον πρὸς τὸ ὀρθὸν καὶ ἀδιάστροφον κανονίζοντα; Οὕτως δὲ ἔχειν ἔγωγε ἡγοῦμαι καὶ ὑμᾶς προσῆκον πείθεσθαι. 13.1.3 Πολλοὶ γάρ εἰσι τῶν ἑαυτοὺς δικαιούντων φίλαυτοι καὶ αὐτάρεσκοι ἐν ὑπολήψει διὰ κενοῦ φρονήματος ὠγκωμένοι, ἁμαρτωλοὺς καλοῦντες τοὺς ἐγγίζοντας καὶ πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὸ ἀληθινὸν κριτήριον ἑαυτοὺς ὡς ἄρνας ἀπὸ τῶν ἐρίφων χωρίζοντες καὶ πρὸς τὴν θύραν τῆς βασιλείας βλέποντες ὡς ἀναπε πταμένην αὐτοῖς, οὐ στέγης, οὐκ ἐδεσμάτων ἀξιοῦντες τοῖς πολλοῖς κοινωνεῖν, βδελυσσόμενοι δὲ πάντας τοὺς μὴ τὴν ἄκραν, ἀλλὰ τὴν μέσην ἐπὶ τοῦ βίου πορευομένους ὁδόν. 13.2.1 Ὁ τοίνυν Λουκᾶς, ὁ πλέον τῶν ψυχῶν ἢ τῶν σωμάτων ἰατρός, ἔγραψε τὸ ἐν χερσὶ διήγημα οὐ λόγον ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ φάρμακον τῶν νοσούντων αὐθάδειαν, αὐτὸν ἡμῶν τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Σωτῆρα δεικνύς, τὸν ἀσυγκρίτως καθαρὸν καὶ μόνον δίκαιον, συγγνωμονικῶς λίαν τοῖς κατεγνωσμένοις συναναστρεφόμενον καὶ τοῖς οὐδέπω κεκαθαρμένοις συνδιαιτώμενον, οὐχ ἵνα τι προσλάβῃ τῆς ἐκείνων κακίας, ἀλλ' ἵνα μεταδῷ τῆς οἰκείας δικαιοσύνης κατὰ τὴν ἡλιακὴν ταύτην τὴν φαινομένην ἐνέργειαν ὅσον ἀπὸ τοῦ κτίσματος παραστῆσαι τοῦ κτίστου τὴν πρόνοιαν. 13.2.2 Ἴσμεν μὲν γὰρ ὅτι καὶ ὁ ἥλιος οὐ τὰς ἡπλωμένας μόνον ἐπιλάμπει χώρας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσαι κοιλότεραι καὶ τῆς ἀντρώδους ἔλαχον θέσεως. Παυσώμεθα τοίνυν, εἴ τινες οὕτως φρονοῦμεν ὡς ὁ λόγος φησίν· μιμησώμεθα δὲ τοῦ ∆εσπότου τὸ ἵλεων καὶ φιλάνθρωπον τοῖς ταπεινοῖς διὰ τοῦτο συγκαταβαίνοντες, οὐχ ἵνα ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς κειμένοις συνταπεινώσωμεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα κἀκείνους ὑψώσωμεν, οἷον κολυμβηταί τινες ἔφυδροι τοὺς πνιγομένους πρὸς τὸν ζωτικὸν ἀέρα τοῦτον ἀνέλκοντες. 13.3.1 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πρὸς ἀρίστην νόησιν τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν γράμμα χειραγωγεῖ, φέρε πρὸς τὸν ἐμπεσόντα σκοπὸν ἑαυτοὺς ἀποτείνωμεν. Θαυμάζω σφόδρα τοὺς τὴν ἐμπαθῆ ταύτην καὶ φιλήδονον περικειμένους σάρκα, ἡττωμένους δὲ καθ' ἡμέραν ὕπνου καὶ γαστρός, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἐρεθισμῶν ἀπείρως ἔχοντας τῶν ὅσοι γνώριμοι πᾶσιν ἡμῖν τοῖς τῆς μίας καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς κοινωνοῦσι φύσεως, ὅπως εἰσὶ σκληροὶ δικασταὶ τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων καὶ ἑαυτῶν συγγνώμονες· 13.3.2 ἀσθενεῖς ἀγωνισταὶ καὶ ἀπαραίτητοι νομοθέται, ὡς καὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας ἀναιρεῖν τὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ ἀποφράττειν, ὡς νομίζουσι, τὴν ἄφθονον τοῦ ἐλέους πηγὴν καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς δὲ τῆς αὐθεντίας ἀποκλείειν τοῖς πλανηθεῖσιν τῆς βασιλείας τὴν εἴσοδον. Τοῦτο δὲ οὐδὲν [ἄλλως] οἰκονομικόν, ἀπόγνωσιν ἐμποιεῖν ψυχαῖς ἰατρείαν ζητούσαις. Ὁ γὰρ τῆς θεραπείας ἀπελπίσας δοῦλος γίνεται καθάπαξ τῆς νόσου καὶ πρός γε πάσης τῆς τῶν ἡμετέρων Γραφῶν ἐπαγγελίας ἀλλότριος, οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τῷ συνετῶς ἐξετάζοντι