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And such women do not keep their feet quiet in one place because they are not widows, but bags, ready to receive, gossips, slanderers, quarrelsome counselors, shameless, impudent; who, being such, are not worthy of the one who called them. For they do not come to the common repose of the assembly on the Lord's day like those who are watchful, but either they doze or they gossip or they beg or they take others captive, bringing them to the evil one, not allowing them to be sober in the Lord, but preparing them to go out just as they came in, empty because of not hearing those who teach or those who read the word of the Lord; for concerning such people Isaiah the prophet also says: "Hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand, and seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive; for the heart of this people has grown dull." In the same way, therefore, the ears of the heart of such widows have also been closed so that they do not, sitting inside their houses, speak to the Lord, but running about with a mind for gain, through their gossip they do the desires of the adversary. Such widows, therefore, are not attached to the altar of Christ. For there are some widows who consider the matter a business, and from what they shamelessly ask for and insatiably receive, they have already made many more hesitant to give; for while they ought to be content with the church's provisions because of moderation of mind, on the contrary, running about, they importune the houses of the rich, they heap up for themselves an abundance of money and lend it out at bitter interest and care only for mammon, whose God is their purse, who prefer eating and drinking to all virtue, saying: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Who considered these things as permanent and not as fleeting. For she who is practiced in money-gathering worships mammon instead of God, that is, she serves profit, and she cannot be pleasing to God nor obedient to His services, being continually unable to pray to Him, having her mind and disposition set on collecting money, since where her treasure is, there her heart is also. For in her mind she considers where she might go for the sake of gain, or that a certain friend of hers has been forgotten and she ought to bring some word to her; and she who considers such things will no longer pay attention to prayer, but to the thought that comes to mind. Therefore, if ever she wishes to pray for someone, she will not be heard;

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καὶ αἱ τοιαῦται οὐχ ἡσυχάζουσιν τοὺς πόδας ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ διὰ τὸ μὴ χήρας, ἀλλὰ πήρας αὐτὰς ὑπάρχειν, ἑτοίμους εἰς τὸ λαμβάνειν, φλυάρους, καταλάλους, μαχοσυμβούλους, ἀναι δεῖς, ἀναισχύντους· αἵτινες τοιαῦται ὑπάρχουσαι οὐκ ἄξιαι τοῦ καλέσαντος τυγχάνουσιν. Oὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῆς συναγωγῆς ἀνάπαυμα ἐν τῇ κυριακῇ καταντῶσιν ὡς οἱ ἐγρηγορότες, ἀλλ' ἢ νυστάζουσιν ἢ φλυαροῦσιν ἢ αἰτοῦσιν ἢ ἑτέρους αἰχμαλωτίζουσιν προσάγοντες τῷ πονηρῷ, οὐκ ἐῶντες νήφειν αὐτοὺς ἐν Κυρίῳ, ἀλλὰ παρασκευάζοντες αὐτοὺς τοιούτους ἐξιέναι, οἷοι καὶ εἰσίασιν, διάκενοι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀκούειν τῶν διδασκόντων ἢ τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντων τὸν τοῦ Κυρίου λόγον· περὶ γὰρ τῶν τοιούτων καὶ Ἡσαΐας ὁ προφήτης λέγει· «Ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε· ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου.» Τὸν αὐτὸν οὖν τρόπον καὶ τῶν τοιούτων χηρῶν ἐκλείσθη τὰ ὦτα τῆς καρδίας εἰς τὸ μὴ καθεζομένας ἔνδον ἐν ταῖς στέγαις αὐτῶν προσλαλεῖν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ἀλλὰ περι τρεχούσας ἐν ἐπινοίᾳ πορισμοῦ διὰ τῶν φλυαριῶν τὰ τοῦ ἀντικειμένου ἐπιθυμήματα πράσσειν. Aἱ τοιαῦται οὖν χῆραι οὐ προσήρτηνται τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Eἰσὶ γὰρ ἔνιαι χῆραι ἐργασίαν ἡγούμεναι τὸ πρᾶγμα, καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἀναισχύντως αἰτοῦσιν καὶ ἀπλήστως λαμβάνουσιν, ἤδη καὶ ὀκνηροτέρους τοὺς πολλοὺς πρὸς τὸ διδόναι κατέ στησαν· δέον γὰρ ἀρκεῖσθαι αὐτὰς τοῖς ἐκκλησιαστικοῖς διὰ μετριότητα γνώμης, ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐμπεριτρέχουσαι τοὺς τῶν πλουσίων οἴκους διασείουσιν, εὐπορίαν χρημάτων ἑαυταῖς ἐπισωρεύουσιν καὶ ἐπὶ πικροῖς τόκοις δανείζουσιν καὶ μόνου τοῦ μαμωνᾶ φροντίζουσιν, ὧν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ βαλλάν τιον, αἳ τὸ φαγεῖν καὶ τὸ πιεῖν προκρίνουσιν πάσης ἀρετῆς λέγουσαι· «Φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνήσκο μεν.» Aἳ ὡς ἑστῶτα ταῦτα ἐλογίσαντο καὶ οὐχ ὡς φεύγοντα. Ἡ γὰρ ἠσκηκυῖα περὶ τὸ χρηματολογεῖν ἀντὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ λατρεύει τῷ μαμωνᾷ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν δουλεύει τῷ κέρδει, τῷ δὲ Θεῷ εὐάρεστος εἶναι οὐ δύναται οὐδὲ ταῖς λατρείαις αὐτοῦ ὑπήκοος, συνεχῶς οὐ δυναμένη ἐντυγχάνειν αὐτῷ, ἐπὶ τὸ ἀργυρολογεῖν τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὴν διάθεσιν ἔχουσα, ἐπείπερ ὅπου ὁ θησαυρός, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτῆς. Ἐν νῷ γὰρ διαλαμβάνει, ποῦ πορευθῇ λήμματος χάριν, ἢ ὅτι ἡ δεῖνα ἡ φίλη αὐτῆς ἐπιλέλησται καὶ λόγον τινὰ ταύτῃ προσενεγκεῖν ὀφείλει· ἡ δὲ τοιαῦτα λογιζομένη οὐκέτι τῇ προσευχῇ προσέξει, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐμπιπτούσῃ ἐννοίᾳ. ∆ιὸ κἄν ποτε θελήσῃ προσεύξασθαι ὑπέρ τινος, οὐκ εἰσακουσθήσεται·