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to a just and unerring judge. Give me this boast, that I alone, having been brought down to the abyss of Hades through my neglect, snatched you from the snare by crying out loudly, and if I owe many tears for my laziness, yet I am content just seeing you flying high and above the snares of the devil. Therefore keep all the commandments of God without fail, beloved, that you may be saved like a gazelle from the snares and like a sparrow from the trap.

The first commandment is to love God and one another with all your soul, as God himself loved the world. True love is known and characterized by these things: in not being puffed up, in not being arrogant, nor being jealous of a brother, but zealous for the good, in not boasting, not grumbling, not jesting, nor laughing, nor disputing about any matter, small or great, (201) at all, in not being sated not only with food and delicacies, but if possible not even with water, and especially in these present days of the fasts, in which he who repents earnestly and diligently receives from on high the forgiveness of all his sins for all time, according to the divine Scripture. For you know that the warmth of repentance and the fervor of tears sent up from the depth of the heart, like a fire, smelts and burns away the filth of sin and makes the defiled soul pure; and not only this, but it also generously and lavishly bestows upon it an outpouring of light through the visitation of the Spirit, so that from this it becomes full of mercy and good fruits. Therefore let us use this, I pray, both in this third week of the fasts, fathers and brothers, and in those after it, adding warmth to warmth and diligence to diligence day by day, until we reach the Sunday of Pascha, with our souls and bodies illumined together.

For behold, as you see, by the help of God we have passed through this stage of the second week of the fasts courageously and with fervent eagerness. For I bear witness that you have lacked none of the good things of the fast, but you have also performed the all-night psalmodies with all attention and you have kept and are keeping your self-control strong, being content with the vegetables and legumes set before you. And I know some of you who, with a contrite spirit and humble mind, sitting at table in your midst, abstain even from these simple foods, considering yourselves unworthy (202) of partaking of them. In addition to this, attending to yourselves and to your handiwork, you have remained without boldness in silence, your whole soul filled with the compunction of tears, prayers, supplication, spiritual toil from the constant genuflections, and you have been changed by a good change, having acquired a most ascetic and beautiful countenance.

Now therefore, since we are about to strip for the next contest of the fast, let us strive, I beseech you, to keep the law of the most excellent fast in this sacred week also, and to set forth a contest equal to the preceding ones, since we have need of much watchfulness, much diligence, so that we may not spend our days like worldly people. For you know that, when the first week has passed, they think they have gone through the entire holy forty days; and not only do they suppose this, but they also say it explicitly to one another and to everyone. But for us, my brothers, there is a fear, and the greatest of fears, lest we too should suppose as they do and converse with one another and appear as deniers of our profession. For not only to us who flee the world and have been crucified to it and have been wholly dedicated to God was the present season given as a law of self-control, but also the whole life of our present existence, for which we are also indispensably obliged to practice self-control.

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δικαίῳ καί ἀπαραλογίστῳ κριτῇ. ∆ότε μοι ταύτην τήν καύχησιν, ὅτι μόνος ἐγώ εἰς ᾅδου κατενεχθείς διά τῆς ἀμελείας μου βάραθρον, ὑμᾶς μέγα βοήσας τῆς παγίδος ἐξήρπασα, καί εἰ πολά χρεωστῶ θρηνῆσαι τήν ῥᾳθυμίαν μου, ἀλλ᾿ ἀρκοῦμαι καί μόνον βλέπων ὑμᾶς ὑψουπετομένους καί ὑπεράνω τῶν βρόχων τοῦ διαβόλου. Φυλάξατε τοιγαροῦν πάσας ἀπαραλείπτως τάς ἐντολάς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀγαπητοί, ἵνα σῴζησθε ὥσπερ δορκάς ἐκ βρόχων καί ὡς στρουθίον ἐκ παγίδος.

Πρώτη δέ ἐντολή ἐστι τό ἀγαπᾶν ἐξ ὅλης ψυχῆς τόν Θεόν καί ἀλλήλους, ὡς αὐτός ὁ Θεός τόν κόσμον ἠγάπησεν. Ἡ δέ ἀληθής ἀγάπη ἐν τούτοις γνωριζομένη χαρακτηρίζεται· ἐν τῷ μή φυσιοῦσθαι, ἐν τῷ μή κατεπαίρεσθαι, μηδέ ζηλοῦν τόν ἀδελφόν, ἀλλά ζηλοῦν τό καλόν, ἐν τῷ μή περπερεύεσθαι, μή γογγύζειν, μή παίζειν, μηδέ γελᾶν, μηδέ δικάζεσθαι περί μικροῦ ἤ μεγάλου, (201) τό σύνολον, πράγματος, ἐν τῷ μή κορέννυσθαι μή μόνον βρωμάτων καί ἐδεσμάτων, ἀλλ᾿ εἰ δυνατόν μήτε ὕδατος, καί μᾶλλον ἐν ταῖς παρούσαις ἡμέραις τῶν νηστειῶν, ἐν αἷς ὁ σπουδαίως καί ἐμπόνως μετανοῶν, τοῦ χρόνου παντός τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων αὐτοῦ λαμβάνει τήν ἄφεσιν ἄνωθεν κατά τήν θείαν Γραφήν. Οἴδατε γάρ ὅτι ἡ θέρμη τῆς μετανοίας καί ἐκ βάθους καρδίας ἀναπεμπομένων δακρύων ἡ ζέσις δίκην πυρός ἀναχωνεύει καί καταφλέγει τόν ῥύπον τῆς ἁμαρτίας καί τήν μολυνθεῖσαν ψυχήν καθαράν ἐπεργάζεται· οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί φωτός χύσιν διά τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπιδημίας δαψιλῶς αὐτῇ καί φιλοτίμως χαρίζεται, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν γίνεσθαι αὐτήν μεστήν ἐλέους καί καρπῶν ἀγαθῶν. Ταύτῃ τοιγαροῦν χρησώμεθα, δέομαι, καί ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ τρίτῃ τῶν νηστειῶν ἑβδομάδι, πατέρες καί ἀδελφοί, καί ἐν ταῖς μετ᾿ αὐτήν, θέρμην ἐπί θέρμῃ καί σπουδήν ἐπί σπουδῇ προστιθέντες τό καθ᾿ ἡμέραν, ἕως οὗ φθάσωμεν εἰς τήν Κυρίαν τοῦ Πάσχα, λελαμπρυσμένοι τάς ψυχάς ὁμοῦ καί τά σώματα.

Ἰδού γάρ, ὡς ὁρᾶτε, ὅτι Θεοῦ βοηθείᾳ καί τοῦτο τό στάδιον τῆς δευτέρας τῶν νηστειῶν ἑβδομάδος εὐψύχως καί μετά ζεούσης τῆς προθυμίας διήλθομεν. Μαρτυρῶ γάρ ὐμᾶς μηδέν ὑστερηκέναι τῶν τῆς νηστείας καλῶν, ἀλλά καί παννύχους τάς ψαλμῳδίας μετά πάσης προσοχῆς πεποιήκατε καί τήν ἐγκράτειαν εὔτονον τετηρήκατε καί τηρεῖτε, τοῖς παρατιθεμένοις λαχάνοις καί ὀσπρίοις ἀρκούμενοι. Ἐγώ δέ τινας ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐπίσταμαι, καί αὐτῶν τῶν εὐτελῶν τῆς τραπέζης βρωμάτων, συντετριμμένῳ τῷ πνεύματι καί ταπεινῷ τῷ φρονήματι καθεζομένους ἐν ταύτῃ μέσον ὑμῶν, ἀπεχομένους ἀναξίους ἑαυτούς ἡγουμένους (202) τῆς αὐτῶν μεταλήψεως. Πρός τούτοις, ἑαυτοῖς καί τοῖς ἐργοχείροις ὑμῶν προσέχοντες, ἀπαρρησίαστοι μετά σιωπῆς μεμενήκατε, ὅλοι κατανύξεως τήν ψυχήν δακρύων πεπληρωμένοι, εὐχῶν, δεήσεως, κόπου πνευματικοῦ ἐκ τῶν συνεχῶς γινομένων γονυκλισιῶν καί τήν καλήν ἀλλοίωσιν ἠλλοιώθητε, ἀσκητικωτάτην καί ὡραίαν τήν ὄψιν κτησάμενοι.

Νῦν οὖν ἐπεί πρός τό ἑξῆς ἀποδύσασθαι μέλλομεν τῆς νηστείας, ἀγωνισώμεθα, παρακαλῶ, τηρῆσαι καί ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἱερᾷ ἑβδομάδι τῆς καλλίστης νηστείας τόν νόμον καί τόν ἴδον θέσθαι ταῖς προλαβούσαις ἀγῶνα, ἐπειδή πολλῆς ἡμῖν χρεία τῆς νήψεως, πολλῆς τῆς σπουδῆς, ἵνα μή ὡς οἱ βιωτικοί καί ἡμεῖς τάς ἡμέρας ἡμῶν διανύσωμεν. Οἴδατε γάρ ὅτι, τῆς πρώτης παρελθούσης ἑβδομάδος, τήν ἁγίαν ἐκεῖνοι τεσσαρακοστήν διελθεῖν οἴονται ἅπασαν· καί οὐ μόνον τοῦτο ὑπολαμβάνουσιν, ἀλλά καί διαρρήδην πρός ἀλλήλους καί πρός ἅπαντας λέγουσιν. Ἡμῖν δέ, ἀδελφοί μου, φόβος καί φόβων ὁ μέγιστος, μήπως ὡς οὗτοι καί ἡμεῖς ὑπολάβωμεν καί πρός ἀλλήλους διαλεξώμεθα καί ἀρνηταί φανῶμεν τοῦ ἐπαγγέλματος. Οὐ μόνον γάρ ἡμῖν τοῖς φεύγουσι τόν κόσμον καί σταυρωθεῖσιν αὐτῷ καί ἀνατεθεῖσιν ὁλικῶς Θεῷ ὁ παρών καιρός εἰς ἐγκρατείας νόμον ἐδόθη, ἀλλά καί ὅλος ὁ βίος τῆς παρούσης ἡμῶν ζωῆς, ἐφ᾿ ᾧ καί ἀπαραιτήτως χρεωστοῦμεν ἐγκρατεύσθαι.