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unseemly; call Christ before all others. Do you know through whom you will call him? Whoever has done it, he says, to one of these least, has done it to me. Do not think the matter is unpleasant, to call the poor for Christ's sake; it is unpleasant to call prostitutes. For to call the poor, this is an occasion of wealth, but that of ruin. Adorn the bride not with these adornments of gold, but with gentleness and modesty and her customary clothes, instead of every ornament of gold and braided hair, clothing her with blushing, with being ashamed, and with not seeking those things. Let there be no clamor, no disturbance; let the bridegroom be called, let him receive the virgin. Let the breakfasts and the dinners not be full of drunkenness, but of spiritual pleasure. For from such a marriage there will be countless good things, and the affairs of life will be in security; but from the marriages that happen now (if indeed one should call them marriages, and not processions), see how many are the evils. The bridal chambers are dismantled, and immediately there is care and fear, lest something of the things borrowed be lost, and unbearable despondency succeeds the pleasure. But this is the anxiety of the mother-in-law; or rather, not even the bride herself is 62.391 freed; at least the things that come after this are all the bride's. For to see all things being dismantled is a cause for despondency, to see the house empty, an occasion for dejection. There Christ, here Satan; there gladness, here care; there pleasure, here grief; there expense, here nothing of the sort, there unseemliness, here good order; there envy, here abundance; there drunkenness, here sobriety, here 62.392 salvation, here self-control. Considering all these things, let us stop the evil at this point, so that we may please God, and be deemed worthy to obtain the good things promised to those who love him, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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ἄσχημος· κάλεσον τὸν Χριστὸν πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων. Οἶδας διὰ τίνος αὐτὸν καλέσεις; Ὃς ἂν ποιήσῃ, φησὶν, ἑνὶ τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοὶ ἐποίησε. Μὴ νομίσῃς τὸ πρᾶγμα δυσάρεστον εἶναι, τὸ πένητας καλεῖν διὰ τὸν Χριστόν· δυσάρεστον τὸ πόρνας καλεῖν. Τὸ γὰρ πένητας καλεῖν, τοῦτο ἀφορμὴ πλούτου, ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἀνατροπῆς. Κόσμει τὴν νύμφην μὴ τούτοις τοῖς κοσμίοις τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ χρυσοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐπιεικείᾳ καὶ αἰδοῖ καὶ τοῖς συνήθεσιν ἱματίοις, ἀντὶ παντὸς κόσμου χρυσοῦ καὶ ἐμπλεγμάτων, τὸ ἐρυθριᾷν, τὸ αἰσχύνεσθαι περιθεῖσα, καὶ τὸ μὴ ζητεῖν ἐκεῖνα. Μηδεὶς ἔστω θόρυβος, μηδεμία ταραχή· καλείσθω ὁ νυμφίος, δεχέσθω τὴν παρθένον. Τὰ ἄριστα καὶ τὰ δεῖπνα μὴ μέθης ἔστω πλήρη, ἀλλὰ πνευματικῆς ἡδονῆς. Μυρία γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου γάμου ἔσται τὰ καλὰ, καὶ τὰ τοῦ βίου ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ· ἐκ δὲ τῶν νῦν γινομένων γάμων (εἴ γε γάμους, ἀλλὰ μὴ πομπὰς αὐτὰ δεῖ καλεῖν), ὅρα ὅσα τὰ κακά. ∆ιελύθησαν αἱ παστάδες, καὶ εὐθέως μέριμνα καὶ φόβος, μή τι παραπέσῃ τῶν κεχρημένων, καὶ διαδέχεται τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀθυμία ἀφόρητος. Ἀλλ' αὕτη μὲν τῆς κηδεστρίας ἡ ἀγωνία· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ αὐτὴ ἀπήλ 62.391 λακται ἡ νύμφη· τὰ γοῦν μετὰ ταῦτα αὐτῆς τῆς νύμφης ἐστὶν ἅπαντα. Τὸ γὰρ ὁρᾷν καταλυόμενα ἅπαντα, ἀθυμίας ὑπόθεσις, τὸ ὁρᾷν ἔρημον τὴν οἰκίαν, κατηφείας ἀφορμή. Ἐκεῖ ὁ Χριστὸς, ἐνταῦθα ὁ Σατανᾶς· ἐκεῖ θυμηδία, ἐνταῦθα φροντίς· ἐκεῖ ἡδονὴ, ἐνταῦθα λύπη· ἐκεῖ δαπάνη, ἐνταῦθα οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον, ἐκεῖ ἀσχημοσύνη, ἐνταῦθα εὐκοσμία· ἐκεῖ φθόνος, ἐνταῦθα ἀφθονία· ἐκεῖ μέθη, ἐνταῦθα νῆψις, ἐν 62.392 ταῦθα σωτηρία, ἐνταῦθα σωφροσύνη. Ταῦτα δὴ πάντα ἐννοοῦντες, στήσωμεν τὸ κακὸν μέχρι τούτου, ἵνα ἀρέσωμεν τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀγαθῶν τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτὸν ἐπιτυχεῖν καταξιωθῶμεν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δόξα, κράτος, τιμὴ, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.