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of the kingdom of heaven to his glory, because to him belongs the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

48.927 AGAINST THE JEWS. Eighth Homily.

1. The fast of the Jews has passed, or rather, the drunkenness of the Jews.

For it is possible to be drunk without wine, it is possible even while sober to be drunk with insolence and to revel in debauchery. If it were not possible to be drunk without wine, the prophet would not have said, Woe to those who are drunk, but not with wine. If it were not possible to be drunk without wine, Paul would not have said, Do not get drunk with wine. For, as it is possible to be drunk in other ways, he said: Do not get drunk with wine. For it is possible, yes, possible to be drunk with anger, and with wicked desire, and with avarice, and with vainglory, and with countless other passions. For drunkenness is nothing other than an ecstasy of right reason, and a madness, and a destruction of the soul's health. Therefore, not only he who pours out much unmixed wine, but also he who nourishes another passion in his soul, might be said to be very drunk. For he who loves another man's wife, and has devoted himself to prostitutes, is drunk. And just as that man, who has drunk much unmixed wine and has been carried away, utters servile words, and sees one thing in place of another; so too this man, being filled as if with some unmixed wine by this licentious desire, utters no sound word, but everything shameful and corrupt and servile and full of laughter, and sees one thing in place of another, being blind to what is seen; but her whom he desires to outrage, he imagines everywhere, and like someone out of his mind and raving, both in assemblies and in banquets, and at every time, and in every place, while countless people say countless things to him, he does not seem to hear, but is intent on her, and dreams of his sin; and he suspects all things and is afraid, being in no better state than some animal caught in a net. And he who is possessed by anger is drunk again; thus indeed his face swells, and his voice becomes harsh, and his eyes become bloodshot, and his mind is darkened, and his intellect is overwhelmed, and his tongue trembles, and his eyes are distraught, and his ears hear one thing for another, as his anger, more terrible than any unmixed wine, strikes his mind, and creates a storm, and causes an inconsolable dizziness. But if someone possessed by desire and anger is drunk, much more so is an impious man, and one who blasphemes God, 48.928 and opposes His laws, and never wishes to relent from this untimely contentiousness, drunk and mad, and is in a more wretched state than those who revel and are out of their minds, even if he himself does not seem to perceive it. For this is most characteristic of drunkenness, to have no perception of the things in which one acts disgracefully; just as this is the most terrible thing about paralysis, that those who are sick do not even know this very thing, that they are sick; just as the Jews now, being drunk, do not perceive it. So their fast has passed, more shameful than all drunkenness; but let us not abandon our providence for our brothers, nor think that our care for them is henceforth untimely; but just as soldiers do, when after an engagement they have routed the enemy, returning from the pursuit, they do not run immediately to their tents, but first going to the place of the engagement, they pick up those of their own who have fallen, and those who have died they bury in the earth, but if they see any among the dead still breathing, and not having a mortal wound, they take them up into the tents and lead them away with much therapy, and pulling out the arrow, and calling doctors, and washing away the blood, and applying medicines, and taking care of all other things, they restore them to health; so then let us too, since by the

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τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰς δόξαν αὐτοῦ, ὅτι αὐτῷ πρέπει ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

48.927 ΚΑΤΑ ΙΟΥ∆ΑΙΩΝ. Λόγος ὄγδοος.

αʹ. Παρῆλθεν ἡ νηστεία τῶν Ἰουδαίων, μᾶλλον δὲ ἡ μέθη τῶν Ἰουδαίων.

Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ χωρὶς οἴνου μεθύειν, ἔστι καὶ νήφοντα παροινεῖν καὶ ἐν ἀσωτίᾳ κωμάζειν. Εἰ μὴ ἦν χωρὶς οἴνου μεθύειν, οὐκ ἂν εἶπεν ὁ προφήτης, Οὐαὶ οἱ μεθύοντες οὐκ ἀπὸ οἴνου· εἰ μὴ ἦν χωρὶς οἴνου μεθύειν, οὐκ ἂν εἶπεν ὁ Παῦλος, Μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ. Ὡς γὰρ ἐνὸν καὶ ἄλλως μεθύειν, εἶπε· Μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ. Ἔστι γὰρ, ἔστι καὶ ὀργῇ μεθύειν, καὶ ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἀτόπῳ, καὶ φιλαργυρίᾳ, καὶ κενοδοξίᾳ, καὶ μυρίοις ἑτέροις πάθεσι. Μέθη γὰρ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ἢ ἔκστασις τῶν ὀρθῶν λογισμῶν, καὶ παραφροσύνη, καὶ τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν ὑγιείας ἀναίρεσις. Οὐ τοίνυν μόνον ὁ ἄκρατον ἐκχεόμενος πολὺν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ πάθος ἕτερον ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τρέφων, μεθύειν λέγοιτο ἂν ἰσχυρῶς. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ γυναικὸς ἐρῶν τῆς οὐκ ἰδίας, καὶ πόρναις ἐσχολακὼς, μεθύει. Καὶ καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος, ὁ πολὺν ἄκρατον πιὼν καὶ παρενεχθεὶς ἀνελεύθερα φθέγγεται ῥήματα, καὶ ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων ὁρᾷ· οὕτω καὶ οὗτος, καθάπερ τινὸς ἀκράτου, τῆς ἀκολάστου ταύτης ἐπιθυμίας πληρούμενος, οὐδὲν ὑγιὲς ἐκφέρει ῥῆμα, ἀλλ' αἰσχρὰ πάντα καὶ διεφθαρμένα καὶ ἀνελεύθερα καὶ γέλωτος γέμοντα, καὶ ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων βλέπει, πρὸς μὲν τὰ ὁρώμενα τυφλώττων· ἣν δὲ ἐπιθυμεῖ καθυβρίσαι, ταύτην πανταχοῦ φανταζόμενος, καὶ καθάπερ ἐξεστηκώς τις καὶ παραπαίων, καὶ ἐν συλλόγοις, καὶ ἐν συμποσίοις, καὶ ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ, καὶ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, μυρίων μυρία πρὸς αὐτὸν διαλεγομένων, οὔτε ἀκούειν δοκεῖ, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἐκείνην τέταται, καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ὀνειροπολεῖ· καὶ πάντα ὑφορᾶται καὶ δέδοικε, λινοπλῆγός τινος ζώου οὐδὲν ἄμεινον διακείμενος. Καὶ ὁ ὀργῇ κατεχόμενος μεθύει πάλιν· οὕτω γοῦν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ ὄψις οἰδεῖ, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ τραχύνεται, καὶ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ γίνονται ὕφαιμοι, καὶ ὁ νοῦς σκοτοῦται, καὶ ἡ διάνοια καταποντίζεται, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα τρέμει, καὶ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ παραφέρονται, καὶ αἱ ἀκοαὶ ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων ἀκούουσιν, ἀκράτου παντὸς χαλεπώτερον τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ πληττούσης τὴν μήνιγγα, καὶ χειμῶνα ἐργαζομένης, καὶ ζάλην ποιούσης ἀπαραμύθητον. Εἰ δὲ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τις καὶ ὀργῇ κατεχόμενος μεθύει, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἀσεβῶν ἄνθρωπος, καὶ εἰς Θεὸν βλασφημῶν, 48.928 καὶ ἐναντιούμενος αὐτοῦ τοῖς νόμοις, καὶ τῆς ἀκαίρου φιλονεικίας μηδέποτε ταύτης καθυφεῖναι βουλόμενος, μεθύει καὶ μέμηνε, καὶ κωμαζόντων καὶ ἐξεστηκότων ἀθλιώτερον διάκειται, κἂν αὐτὸς αἰσθάνεσθαι μὴ δοκῇ. Τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα μέθης ἐστὶν ἄξιον, τὸ μηδὲ ἐν οἷς τις ἀσχημονεῖ αἴσθησίν τινα ἔχειν· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ παραπληξίας τοῦτο μάλιστά ἐστι τὸ δεινὸν, ὅτι νοσοῦντες οὐδὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἴσασιν, ὅτι νοσοῦσιν· ὡσπεροῦν καὶ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι νῦν μεθύοντες οὐκ αἰσθάνονται. Ἡ μὲν οὖν νηστεία αὐτῶν παρῆλθεν, ἡ μέθης ἁπάσης αἰσχροτέρα· ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν περὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τοὺς ἡμετέρους μὴ καταλύσωμεν πρόνοιαν, μηδὲ ἄκαιρόν τινα νομίσωμεν αὐτῶν εἶναι λοιπὸν τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν· ἀλλ' ὅπερ οἱ στρατιῶται ποιοῦσιν, ἐπειδὰν συμβολῆς γενομένης τρέψωνται τοὺς ἐναντίους, ἀπὸ τῆς διώξεως ἐπανιόντες, οὐκ εὐθέως ἐπὶ τὰς σκηνὰς τρέχουσιν, ἀλλὰ πρότερον ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τῆς συμβολῆς ἐλθόντες, τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῶν καταπεσόντας ἐξαιροῦνται, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀποθανόντας τῇ γῇ κρύπτουσιν, εἰ δέ τινας ἴδοιεν μεταξὺ τῶν νεκρῶν πνέοντας ἔτι, καὶ μὴ καιρίαν ἔχοντας πληγὴν, εἰς τὰς σκηνὰς ἀνελόμενοι μετὰ πολλῆς ἀπάγουσι τῆς θεραπείας, καὶ τὸ βέλος ἐξελκύσαντες, καὶ ἰατροὺς καλέσαντες, καὶ τὸ αἷμα περιπλύναντες, καὶ φάρμακα ἐπιθέντες, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ἐπιμελησάμενοι, πρὸς ὑγίειαν ἐπανάγουσιν· οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς τοίνυν, ἐπειδὴ τῇ τοῦ