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As much as the soul is more honorable than the body, so much also has spiritual food become more necessary than bodily food, and I think that it is more about this that the Lord speaks: "I was hungry and you did not give me to eat, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink," rather than about bodily and perishable food. For He truly thirsts and hungers for the salvation of each one of us, and our salvation is the abstention from all sin; (170) but abstention from all sin is impossible to achieve without the working of virtues and the fulfillment of all the commandments. For through the fulfillment of the commandments our Master and God and Lord of all is accustomed to be fed by us. For our holy fathers say that just as demons are fed by our wicked deeds and grow strong against us, and when we abstain from evil things, they are starved and weakened, so I reckon also that the one who became poor for our salvation is fed by us and again is overlooked, starving. And it is possible for us to know and be fully assured of this from the very lives of the saints, and, so that I may pass over the others, who are many and more than the number of the sand, I will fully assure your love from one holy man or woman.

I know that you hear the life of Mary of Egypt, not narrated by anyone else, but by that very equal-to-the-angels woman, who in the manner of a confession declared her poverty in saying that: "Not even when some often gave me the wages of sin did I accept them. This I did," she says, "not as though I had plenty of necessities - for I was fed by spinning tow - but so that I might have many lovers ready for my passion." And when she was about to board the ship and depart for Alexandria, she was so poor that she possessed neither fare nor expense. But when, having taken leave of the all-pure Theotokos, she set out for the desert, having received two *folles* from someone, she bought loaves of bread, and thus, having crossed the Jordan, she persevered in the desert until her end, having seen not even the face of a person, (171) except only that of Zosimas, nor indeed having fed a hungry poor man or given drink to a thirsty one or clothed a naked one or visited those in prison or gathered in strangers; on the contrary, rather, she even drove many together into the pit of destruction, receiving them in the inn of sin. How then, tell me, will she be saved and enter into the kingdom of heaven with the merciful, she who neither left behind wealth, nor gave her possessions to the poor, nor ever performed any almsgiving at all, but rather proved to be for countless others a procurer of destruction? Do you see how, if we say that almsgiving happens only through money and bodily food, and that through this the Lord is fed by us, and that only those who thus feed Him and give Him drink and simply care for Him are saved, but that those who do not do this perish, this will seem absurd, as many of the saints would be cast out of the kingdom. But this is not so, it is not so!

For the things and money in the world are common to all, just as the light and this air which we breathe, and the very pasture for the irrational animals both in the plains and in the mountains. Therefore, all things are common to all in the use of enjoyment alone, but in ownership, to none; but greed, having entered into life like a tyrant, the things given in common to all by the Master, has divided up in various ways from various sources through its slaves and servants, having enclosed them with fences and secured them with towers and bolts and doors, it has deprived all other people of the enjoyment of the Master's goods, the (172) shameless one saying that it is the master of these things and contending that it wrongs no one at all. The

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ψυχή τιμιωτέρα ὑπάρχει τοῦ σώματος, τοσοῦτον καί ἡ πνευματική τροφή τῆς σωματικῆς ἀναγκαιοτέρα καθέστηκεν, οἶμαι δέ ὅτι καί περί ταύτης μᾶλλον λέγειν τόν Κύριον· "Ἐπείνασα καί οὐκ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν, ἐδίψησα καί οὐκ ἐποτίσατέ με", ἤ περί τῆς σωματικῆς καί φθειρομένης τροφῆς. ∆ιψᾷ γάρ ἀληθῶς τήν σωτηρίαν ἑνός ἑκάστου ἡμῶν καί πεινᾷ, ἡ δέ σωτηρία ἡμῶν ἡ ἀποχή πάσης ἁμαρτίας ἐστίν· (170) ἀποχήν δέ πάσης ἁμαρτίας δίχα τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐργασίας καί τῆς ἐκπληρώσεως πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν κατορθωθῆναι ἀδύνατον. ∆ιά γάρ τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐκπληρώσεως τρέφεσθαι εἴωθε παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁ ∆εσπότης ἡμῶν καί Θεός καί Κύριος τοῦ παντός. Λέγουσι γάρ οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν οἱ ἅγιοι ὅτι καθάπερ ἐκ τῶν πονηρῶν ἡμῶν πράξεων οἱ δαίμονες τρέφονται καί ἰσχύουσι καθ᾿ ἡμῶν, ἐπάν δέ ἡμεῖς τῶν κακῶν ἀφιστάμεθα, λιμοκτονοῦνται ἐκεῖνοι καί ἐκνευρίζονται, οὕτω λογίζομαι καί τόν διά τήν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν πτωχεύσαντα τρέφεσθαι παρ᾿ ἡμῶν καί παρορᾶσθαι πάλιν λιμώττοντα. Καί τοῦτο ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ βίου τῶν ἁγίων ἔστι γνῶναι καί πληροφορηθῆναι ἡμᾶς καί, ἵνα τούς ἄλλους παρήσω πολλούς ὄντας καί ὑπέρ ἀριθμόν ψάμμου πέλοντας, ἐξ ἑνός ἤ μιᾶς ἁγίας πληροφορήσω τήν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην.

Οἶδα ὅτι Μαρίας τῆς Αἰγυπτίας τόν βίον ἀκούετε, οὐκ ἄλλου τινός διηγουμένου αὐτόν, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτῆς ἐκείνης τῆς ἰσαγγέλου ὡς ἐν τάξει ἐξαγορεύσεως τήν πτωχείαν αὐτῆς δηλούσης ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν ὅτι· "Οὐδέ διδόντων μοι πολλάκις τινῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας μισθόν ἐλάμβανον. Τοῦτο δέ, φησίν, ἐποίουν οὐχ ὡς εὐποροῦσα τῶν ἀναγκαίων - στυππεῖον γάρ νήθουσα ἐτρεφόμην , ἀλλ᾿ ὅπως πολλούς ἐραστάς σχῶ ἐν ἑτοίμῳ τοῦ πάθους μου". Καί ὅτε ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ εἰσελθεῖν ἔμελλε καί εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἀπελθεῖν, ἐπί τοσοῦτον ὑπῆρχε πτωχή, ὡς μηδέ ναῦλον, μηδέ δαπάνην κεκτῆσθαι αὐτήν. Ὅτε δέ τῇ παναμώμῳ Θεοτόκῳ συνταξαμένη ἐπί τήν ἔρημον ὥρμησε, δύο παρά τινος φόλλεις λαβοῦσα ἄρτους ὠνήσατο, καί οὕτω τόν Ἰορδάνην διαπεράσασα μέχρι τέλους αὐτῆς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἐνεκαρτέρησε, μηδέ ἀνθρώπου πρόσωπον ἰδοῦσα, (171) εἰ μή μόνον τοῦ Ζωσιμᾶ, μή τοί γε πεινῶντα πτωχόν θρέψασα ἤ διψῶντα ποτίσασα ἤ γυμνόν ἐπενδύσασα ἤ τούς ἐν φυλακῇ ἐπισκεψαμένη ἤ ξένους συναγαγοῦσα· τοὐναντίον μᾶλλον μέν οὖν καί πρός ἀπωλείας βάραθρον πολλούς συνελάσασα, ἐν τῷ καταγωγίῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτούς ὑπεδέχετο. Πῶς οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, σωθήσεται αὕτη καί μετά τῶν ἐλεημόνων εἰς τήν τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν συνεισελεύσεται, ἡ μήτε πλοῦτον καταλιποῦσα, μήτε ὑπάρχοντα δοῦσα πένησι, μήτε ἐλεημοσύνην ποτέ ὅλως ποιήσασα, χρηματίσασα δέ μᾶλλον ἄλλοις μυρίοις πρόξενος ἀπωλείας; Ὁρᾷς πῶς ἐάν διά χρημάτων καί σωματικῆς τροφῆς μόνης τήν ἐλεημοσύνην εἴπωμεν γίνεσθαι καί διά ταύτης παρ᾿ ἡμῶν τόν Κύριον τρέφεσθαι καί μόνους τούς οὕτω τρέφοντας αὐτόν καί ποτίζοντας καί ἁπλῶς θεραπεύοντας σῴζεσθαι, τούς δέ μή τοῦτο ποιοῦντας ἀπόλλυσθαι, ἄτοπον εἶναι δόξει τοῦτο, ὡς καί πολλούς τῶν ἁγίων τῆς βασιλείας ἐκβάλλεσθαι. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο, οὐκ ἔστι!

Τά γάρ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πράγματά τε καί χρήματα κοινά τῶν πάντων ἐστίν, ὥσπερ τό φῶς καί ὁ ἀήρ οὗτος ὅν ἀναπνεύομεν, καί αὐτή ἡ βοσκή τοῖς ἀλόγοις ζῴοις ἔν τε τοῖς πεδίοις ἔν τε τοῖς ὄρεσι. Πᾶσι μέν οὖν τά πάντα κοινά τῇ χρήσει μόνῃ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως καθεστήκασι, κατά δεσποτείαν δέ οὐδενός· ἡ δέ πλεονεξία, ὥσπερ τύραννος εἰσελθοῦσα τῷ βίῳ, τά κοινῶς τοῖς πᾶσιν ὑπό τοῦ ∆εσπότου δοθέντα ἄλλοθεν ἄλλως ὑπό τῶν αὐτῆς δούλων καί ὑπηρετῶν κατεμερίσατο, φραγμοῖς περικλείσασα καί πύργοις καί μοχλοῖς καί θύραις κατασφαλισαμένη, πάντας ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους τῆς ἀπολαύσεως τῶν τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἀγαθῶν ἀπεστέρησε, δεσπότης εἶναι τούτων ἡ (172) ἀναιδής λέγουσα καί μηδένα ἀδικεῖν τῶν ἁπάντων φιλονεικοῦσα. Οἱ