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Therefore, as many of you as have the word of life in yourselves, as many of you as have been nourished by this bread of the word, as many of you who have become not dead but living from the dead and have tasted the true life and having received from the merciful God bowels of compassion for your neighbors, (198) you have acquired them, do not cease to stir up and to exhort and to admonish your neighbors and all, if possible, but as your own members, or rather as members of Christ and sons of God, be zealous to instruct, rebuke, and reprove them, not that you might grieve them, but that you might free them from fatherly wrath and indignation, nor that you might harm them, but that you might benefit them in the greatest things, preparing them to fulfill the will of their God and Father. If you do so and each of you thus stirs up his brother to a provocation of love and good works, we will all soon be raised to the height of virtues and appear as fulfillers of the commandments of God and with one accord attain the kingdom of heaven in Christ our God himself, to whom is due all glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Concerning self-control and patience in the practice of the virtues during the time of the fast. And concerning silence. And how it is necessary during the whole fast

for those who strive in truth to live.

Discourse 12. Brothers and fathers, I, for my part, being always weak both in soul and in body from a sinful and

indolent purpose and disposition, wished to be silent and to consider only my own affairs, until the worse part in me should be defeated and subjected to the better reasoning and I had fully enjoyed the peace of the spirit, having been freed from the disturbance of a dusty and earthly mind and having entered into the harbor of our blessed rest. But since I have been chosen by you to be the head of your holy body, it is necessary for me to exhort your love, because the salvation of your brotherhood concerns me, so that even when I am weak in soul, you may be saved by the prayers of my father and your father. Therefore, being unable even to open my mouth, I was hardly able to even write the discourse and to remind your brotherhood in advance, beseeching your love with much (200) exhortation, that as true servants of Christ and lovers of the brethren, you pray for my wretchedness, so that I myself may also be saved with you and walking the way of the commandments of God, may dwell together with you, my beloved brothers.

Therefore I exhort you and beseech you in Christ Jesus to pay attention to yourselves and for each to think so as to be sober-minded and not to think more highly than he ought to think, nor to look at my negligent and unsteady life, but to follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom we owe to give an account as to a just and infallible judge. Give me this boast, that I alone, having been brought down into the pit of Hades through my negligence, snatched you from the snare by crying out loudly, and if I have many things to bewail because of my indolence, yet I am content just seeing you flying high and above the snares of the devil. Keep therefore all the commandments of God without omission, beloved, that you may be saved like a gazelle from snares and like a sparrow from a trap.

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Ὅσοι τοίνυν λόγον ζωῆς ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἔχετε, ὅσοι τραφῆναι τόν ἄρτον τοῦτον τοῦ λόγου ἐφθάσατε, ὄσοι μή νεκροί ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ νεκρῶν ζῶντες γεγόνατε καί τῆς ἀληθινῆς ζωῆς ἀπεγεύσασθε καί σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμῶν πρός τούς πλησίον παρά τοῦ εὐσπλάγχνου Θεοῦ λαβόντες (198) ἐκτήσασθε, διεγείρειν καί παρακαλεῖν καί νουθετεῖν τούς πλησίον καί πάντας, εἰ οἷόν τε, μή παύσησθε, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς οἰκεῖα μέλη, μᾶλλον δέ ὡς μέλη Χριστοῦ καί υἱούς ὄντας Θεοῦ, παιδαγωγεῖν, ἐπιτιμᾶν καί ἐλέγχειν αὐτούς προθυμήθητε, οὐχ ἵνα τούτους λυπήσητε, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα πατρικῆς ὀργῆς καί ἀγανακτήσεως ἐλευθερώσητε, οὐδ᾿ ἵνα βλάψητε, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα τά μέγιστα αὐτούς ὠφελήσητε, τά τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός αὐτῶν θελήματα παρασκεύζοντες αὐτούς ἐκπληροῦν. Ἐάν οὕτω ποιῆτε καί οὕτω τόν ἑαυτοῦ ἀδελφόν ἕκαστος ὑμῶν διεγείρῃ πρός παροξυσμόν ἀγάπης καί καλῶν ἔργων, συντόμως ἅπαντες πρός ὕψος ἀρθῶμεν τῶν ἀρετῶν καί ἐκπληρωταί τῶν ἐντολῶν ἀναφανῶμεν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ὁμοθυμαδόν ἐπιτύχωμεν ἐν αὐτῷ Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν, ᾧ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Περί ἐγκρατείας καί ὑπομονῆς εἰς τήν ἐργασίαν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς νηστείας. Καί περί σιωπῆς. Καί ὅπως δεῖ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ νηστείᾳ

διάγειν τούς ἀγωνιζομένους ἐν ἀληθείᾳ.

Λόγος ΙΒ΄. Ἀδελφοί καί πατέρες, ἐγώ μέν καί τῇ ψυχῇ καί τῷ σώματι ἐκ πλημμελοῦς καί

ῥᾳθύμου προαιρέσεώς τε καί διαθέσεως ἀεί ἀσθενῶν, σιωπᾶν ἐβουλόμην καί μόνα τά κατ᾿ ἑμαυτόν ἐπισκέπτεσθαι, ἕως ἄν μοι τά τοῦ χείρονος ἡττήθη καί τῷ κρείττονι λογισμῷ καθυπετάγη καί ὅλως ἀπήλαυσα τῆς εἰρήνης τοῦ πνεύματος, ἐλευθερωθείς τῆς ὀχλήσεως τοῦ χοϊκοῦ καί γεώδους φρονήματος καί εἰσελθών εἰς τόν λιμένα τῆς μακαρίας ἡμῶν ἀναπαύσεως. Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεί εἰς κεφαλήν τοῦ σώματος ὑμῶν τοῦ ἁγίου παρ᾿ ὑμῶν ἐξελέγην, ἀνάγκη μοί ἐστι τοῦ παρακαλεῖν τήν ἀγάπην ὑμῶν, ἐπειδή ἡ σωτηρία τῆς ὑμῶν ἀδελφότητος παραμηθεῖταί με, ὅτι καί ἐμοῦ ἀσθενοῦντος κατά ψυχήν, ὑμεῖς ταῖς εὐχαῖς τοῦ πατρός μου καί πατρός ὑμῶν διασῴζεσθε. Τοίνυν καί μή διᾶραι στόμα οἷός τε ὤν, μόλις κἄν γράψαι τόν λόγον ἴσχυσα καί προϋπομνῆσαι τήν ὑμῶν ἀδελφότητα, ἐν παρακλήσει (200) πολλῇ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀγάπης δεόμενος, ἵνα ὡς ἀληθινοί δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ καί φιλάδελφοι, εὔχησθε ὑπέρ τῆς ἐμῆς ἀθλιότητος, ὡς ἄν καί αὐτός ἐγώ μεθ᾿ ὑμῶν σῴζωμαι καί τήν ὁδόν ὁδεύων τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί ὑμῖν τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς μου ἀδελφοῖς συναυλίζωμαι.

Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς καί δέομαι ὑμῶν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ προσέχειν ἑαυτοῖς καί ἕκαστον φρονεῖν εἰς τό σωφρονεῖν καί μή φρονεῖν παρ᾿ ὅ δεῖ φρονεῖν, μηδέ τόν ἀμελῆ μου καί μετέωρον βίον ὁρᾶν, ἀλλά τοῖς ἴχνεσιν ἐξακολουθεῖν τοῦ Κυρίου καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ καί ἀποδοῦναι χρεωστοῦμεν τήν ἀπολογίαν ὡς 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.