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plunges him down to secret eating, and eating of the evil one himself, he becomes, as it seems, his food; for it is a divine law, and the devil, like an executioner, takes and scourges those who dare to transgress it, even if not immediately, nor at once, since God is long-suffering towards us and awaits our repentance, yet we will by no means escape his hands either (195) here or in the age to come, if we persist unrepentantly in sin, because, being in such a state, we will receive condemnation with him, and by the just judgment of God we will be condemned to be punished eternally by him and with him. For even if we escape the notice of our superiors, we are certainly not able to escape the notice of the Master and God of our superiors.

Let us therefore be on our guard, brothers, not only from secret eating, but also from satiety with the foods set before us on the table. Yes, I entreat you and will not cease entreating, remember the past holy week. Consider the benefit from fasting and vigil, prayer and psalmody, as I said, but the somberness, but the reverence, but the silence. For the monastery seemed to me then to be uninhabited by men, inhabited only by angels, because I did not hear any other worldly word at all, but only the doxology sent up by you to God, which is also the work of angels. And I believe that, just as you perform the work of angels, so also the angels invisibly spent time with you and sang psalms with you. Do not then wish to be separated from the concert with them through much talking and idle talk, nor, by disorderly voices or excessive shouts, cause them to depart from you and the demons to approach you, as before, but let each one pay attention to himself and his handiwork and his service, and carry it out diligently, as serving God and not men. For it is written: "Cursed (196) is every man who does the works of the Lord negligently."

During the divine readings of the synaxes, O brothers, do not fail to stir one another up to listen. For just as at the physical table we both urge and encourage our neighbors to eat, and those whom we love more than others, we compel to eat, so also at this soul-nourishing table we are obliged to pay attention and to urge our neighbors, so that we may not be condemned as not loving one another and lose the distinction of being disciples of Christ. For He says: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." The one, therefore, who at the physical table does not compel his friend to feast has often benefited him very greatly; but the one who does this at the spiritual table, I mean, of the hearing of the divine oracles, causes no ordinary loss for those near him. Because the surfeit of those foods is often accustomed to corrupt and harm both the soul and the body, but the things spoken here by the saints both illumine the mind and sanctify the soul, and through it certainly impart sanctification to the body itself and render it healthier and stronger.

Let each one therefore pay attention to the reading. For the words of the saints are the words of God and not of men. Let him cast them into his heart and keep them securely, because the words of God are words of life, and the one who has them in himself and guards them, has eternal life. (197) For while often seated at a sumptuous table, I do not think that any of you has ever been so careless as to doze off at all and not only to take what is sufficient, but also to depart having eagerly taken away things for the morrow and being eager to share them either with some friends or with the poor. But where words of life are set forth and make immortal those who are fed by them, to sleep, tell me, and to be careless or to doze and to snore

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πρός καθροφαγίαν κατακρημνίζει, καί βιβρώσκων αὐτός τοῦ πονηροῦ, ὡς δοκεῖ, κατάβρωμα γίνεται· νόμος γάρ θεῖός ἐστι καί τούς παραβαίνειν τολμῶντας ὥσπερ δήμιος ὁ διάβολος παραλαμβάνων μαστίζει, εἰ καί μή εὐθύς, μηδέ παραχρῆμα, τοῦ Θεοῦ μακροθυμοῦντος ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς καί τήν μετάνοιαν ἡμῶν ἀπεκδεχομένου, ἀλλ᾿ ὅμως οὐκ ἐκφευξόμεθα τάς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ πάντως ἤ (195) ἐνταῦθα ἤ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι, ἀμετανοήτως ἐπιμένοντες τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἐπειδή τήν μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ καταδίκην οὕτως ἔχοντες ἀποληψόμεθα καί ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ καί σύν αὐτῷ ἀθάνατα κολασθῆναι κρίσει δικαίᾳ Θεοῦ κατακριθῶμεν. Εἰ γάρ καί τούς προεστῶτας ἡμῶν λανθάνομεν, ἀλλά γε τόν τῶν προεστώτων ∆εσπότην ὁμοῦ καί Θεόν λαθεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα.

Φυλαξώμεθα τοιγαροῦν, ἀδελφοί, μή ἀπό λαθροφαγίας μόνον, ἀλλά καί ἀπό κόρου τῶν ἐπί τῆς τραπέζης παρατιθεμένων βρωμάτων ἡμῖν. Ναί, παρακαλῶ καί παρακαλῶν οὐ παύσομαι, μνήσθητε τῆς παρελθούσης ἁγίας ἑβδομάδος. Ἀναλογίσασθε τήν ἐκ τῆς νηστείας καί ἀγρυπνίας, εὐχῆς τε καί ψαλμῳδίας, ὡς ἔφην, ὠφέλειαν, ἀλλά τήν κατήφειαν, ἀλλά τήν εὐλάβειαν, ἀλλά τήν σιωπήν. Ὥσπερ γάρ ἀοίκητόν μοι ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐδόκει τότε εἶναι τό μοναστήριον, ὑπό ἀγγέλων μόνων ἐγκατοικούμενον, διά τό μή ὅλως ἕτερόν με ἀκοῦσαί τι ῥῆμα βιωτικόν, ἀλλ᾿ ἤ μόνην τήν ὑφ᾿ ὑμῶν πρός Θεόν ἀναπεμπομένην δοξολογίαν, ἤ καί ἀγγέλων ἔργον ἐστί. Πιστεύω δέ ὅτι, ὥσπερ ὑμεῖς ἐπιτελεῖτε τό τῶν ἀγγέλων ἔργον, οὕτω καί οἱ ἄγγελοι ἀοράτως συνδιῆγον ὑμῖν καί συνέψαλλον. Μή οὖν χωρισθῆναι τῆς μετ᾿ ἐκείνων συναυλίας διά τῆς πολυλογίας καί ἀργολογίας θελήσητε, μηδέ φωναῖς ἀτάκτοις ἤ κραυγαῖς ἀμέτροις αὐτούς μέν ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν, τούς δέ δαίμονας πλησιάσαι ὑμῖν, ὡς τό πρίν, ποιήσητε, ἀλλά προσεχέτω ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ καί τό ἐργόχειρον αὐτοῦ καί τήν διακονίαν αὐτοῦ, ὡς τῷ Θεῷ δουλεύων καί οὐκ ἀνθρώποις, ἐπιμελῶς ἐκτελείτω. Γέγραπται γάρ· "Ἐπικατάρατος (196) πᾶς ἄνθρωπος, ὁ ποιῶν τά ἔργα Κυρίου ἀμελῶς".

Ἐν ταῖς θείαις τῶν συνάξεων ἀναγνώσεσιν ἀλλήλους πρός ἀκρόασιν διεγείρειν, ὦ ἀδελφοί, μή ἐλίπητε. Καί γάρ ὥσπερ ἐπί τῆς αἰσθητῆς τραπέζης ἐσθίειν προτρεπόμεθά τε καί παρακελευόμεθα τοῖς πλησίον, καί οὕς ἄν τῶν ἄλλων πλεῖον ἀγαπῶμεν, παραβιαζόμεθα ἐπί τό φαγεῖν, οὕτω δή καί ἐπί τῆς ψυχοτρόφου ταύτης τραπέζης προσέχειν καί προτρέπεσθαι τοῖς πλησίον χρεωστοῦμεν, ἵνα μή ὡς μή ἀγαπῶντες ἀλλήλους κατακριθῶμεν καί τό μαθηταί εἶναι Χριστοῦ ἀπολέσωμεν. Λέγει γάρ· "Ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες, ὅτι ἐμοί μαθηταί ἐστε, ἐάν ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους". Ὁ οὖν ἐπί τῆς αἰσθητῆς τραπέζης τόν ἑαυτοῦ φίλον μή παραβιασάμενος εἰς ἑστίασιν τά μέγιστα αὐτόν πολλάκις ὠφέλησεν· ὁ δέ ἐπί τῆς πνευματικῆς τραπέζης, τῆς ἀκροάσεως τῶν θείων λέγω λογίων, τοῦτο ποιῶν, οὐ τήν τυχοῦσαν ζημίαν τοῖς αὐτῷ πλησιάζουσι προξενεῖ. Ἐπειδή τῶν βρωμάτων μέν ἐκείνων ἡ πλησμονή καί τήν ψυχήν καί τό σῶμα διαφθείρειν εἴωθε πολλάκις καί βλάπτειν, τά δέ ἐνταῦθα ὑπό τῶν ἁγίων λεγόμενα καί νοῦν φωτίζει καί ψυχήν ἁγιάζει καί τῷ σώματι αὐτῷ δι᾿ αὐτῆς πάντως τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ μεταδίδωσι καί ὑγιεινότερον καί ῥωμαλεώτερον καθιστᾷ.

Προσεχέτω τοιγαροῦν ἕκαστος τῇ ἀναγνώσει. Οἱ γάρ λόγοι τῶν ἁγίων Θεοῦ λόγοι καί οὐκ ἀνθρώπων εἰσίν. Ἐμβαλέτω τούτους ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ καί τηρείτω αὐτούς ἀσφαλῶς, ἐπειδή οἱ λόγοι τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγοις ζωῆς εἰσι καί ὁ ἔχων αὐτούς ἐν ἑαυτῷ καί φυλάσσων αὐτούς, ἔχει ζωήν αἰώνιον. (197) Ἐπί μέν γάρ πολυτελοῦς πολλάκις καθεσθέντες τραπέζης, οὐκ οἶμαί ποτε ῥᾳθυμήσαντά τινα ἐξ ὐμῶν ὅλως ἀπονυστάξαι καί μή μόνον τά ἀρκοῦντα λαβεῖν, ἀλλά καί τά εἰς τήν αὔριον μετά σπουδῆς ἄραντα ἀπελθεῖν καί ἤ φίλοις τισίν ἤ πτωχοῖς αὐτά μεταδοῦναι προθυμηθέντα. Ἔνθα δέ λόγοι ζωῆς πρόκεινται καί τούς ἐξ αὐτῶν τρεφομένους ἀθανάτους ἀποτελοῦσι, καθεύδειν, εἰπέ μοι, καί ῥᾳθυμεῖν ἤ νυστάζειν καί ῥέγχειν