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being supplied to them, and to give thanks to God who gives food to the hungry and to look to him. "For who, it says, will eat, or who will drink, apart from him? For He opens His hand and fills every living thing with good pleasure, grain for young men and wine for maidens and oil for the gladness of the living, grass for the cattle and green herb for the service of men, flesh for the wild beasts, seeds for the birds and for all, suitable food." Therefore the Lord also says: "Consider the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' For your Father knows that you need all these things." Therefore, enjoying such providence from Him and partaking of the good things from Him, you ought to send up praise to the almighty God who takes up the orphan and widow, through His beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom be glory to God in Spirit and in truth for ever; amen. But the bishop must know from whom he ought to receive offerings and from whom he ought not. For he must guard against receiving gifts from hucksters; "For a huckster will not be justified from sin." For concerning them Isaiah also somewhere, reproaching Israel, said: "Your hucksters mix the wine with water." And fornicators must be avoided by him. "For you shall not bring the hire of a harlot to the Lord." And robbers and those who covet others' goods and adulterers, for their sacrifices are an abomination to God. But also those who oppress the widow and tyrannize over the orphan, and who fill the prisons with the innocent, or even treat their own servants wickedly, with beatings, I say, and with famine and with hard bondage, or even those who ruin whole cities, let them be avoided by you, O bishop, and their offerings are abominable. And you shall also refuse ·villains, and ·orators who contend for injustice, and idol-makers, and thieves, and unjust tax-collectors, and cheaters with weights, and fraudulent measurers, and a slandering soldier, not content with his wages but extorting from the poor, and a murderer and an executioner, and a lawless judge, a subverter of affairs, a plotter against men, a worker of abominations, a drunkard, a blasphemer, a sodomite, a usurer, and any other wicked person and one who fights against the will of God, for the scripture says they are abominable to

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αὐτοῖς χορηγουμένων, καὶ εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ Θεῷ τῷ διδόντι τοῖς πεινῶσι τροφὴν καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῷ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐκτείνειν. «Τίς γάρ, φησίν, ὑμῶν φάγεται ἢ τίς πίεται παρὲξ αὐτοῦ; Aὐτὸς γὰρ ἀνοίγει τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐμπιπλᾷ πᾶν ζῷον εὐδοκίας, σῖτον νεανίσκοις καὶ οἶνον παρθένοις καὶ ἔλαιον εἰς εὐφροσύνην τῶν ζώντων, χόρτον τοῖς κτήνεσιν καὶ χλόην τῇ δουλείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, κρέα τοῖς θηρίοις, σπέρματα τοῖς ὀρνέοις καὶ πᾶσι τὴν πρόσφορον τροφήν.» ∆ιό φησιν καὶ ὁ Κύριος· «Καταμάθετε τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὅτι οὐ σπείρουσιν οὐδὲ θερίζουσιν οὐδὲ συνάγουσιν εἰς ἀποθήκας, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν τρέφει αὐτά· οὐχ ὑμεῖς μᾶλλον διαφέρετε αὐτῶν; Μὴ οὖν μεριμνήσητε λέγοντες· τί φάγομεν ἢ τί πίομεν; Oἶδεν γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν, ὅτι χρῄζετε τούτων ἁπάντων.» Τοσαύτης οὖν τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ προνοίας ἀπολαύοντες καὶ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ μεταλαμβάνοντες ἀγαθῶν, αἶνον ἀναπέμπειν ὀφείλετε τῷ ὀρφανὸν καὶ χήραν ἀναλαμβάνοντι παντοκράτορι Θεῷ διὰ τοῦ ἠγαπημένου Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν, δι' οὗ ἡ δόξα τῷ Θεῷ ἐν Πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν. Χρὴ δὲ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον εἰδέναι, τίνων ὀφείλει δέχεσθαι καρποφορίας καὶ τίνων οὐκ ὀφείλει. Φυλακτέοι γὰρ αὐτῷ πρὸς δόσιν κάπηλοι· «Oὐ δικαιωθήσεται γὰρ κάπηλος ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας.» Περὶ αὐτῶν γάρ που καὶ Ἡσαΐας ὀνειδίζων τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἔλεγεν· «Oἱ κάπηλοί σου μίσγουσιν τὸν οἶνον ὕδατι.» Φευκτέοι δ' αὐτῷ καὶ πόρνοι. «Oὐ προσοίσεις γὰρ τῷ κυρίῳ μίσθωμα πόρνης.» Καὶ ἅρπαγες καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμηταὶ καὶ μοιχοί, βδελυκταὶ γὰρ αἱ τούτων θυσίαι τῷ Θεῷ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἐκθλίβοντες χήραν καὶ ὀρφανὸν καταδυ ναστεύοντες καὶ τὰς φυλακὰς πληροῦντες ἀναιτίων ἢ καὶ τοῖς ἑαυτῶν οἰκέταις πονηρῶς χρώμενοι, πληγαῖς φημι καὶ λιμῷ καὶ κακοδουλίᾳ, ἢ καὶ πόλεις ὅλας λυμαινόμενοι φευκτέοι ἔστωσάν σοι, ὦ ἐπίσκοπε, καὶ αἱ τούτων προσφοραὶ μυσαραί. Παραιτήσῃ δὲ καὶ ·ᾳδιουργοὺς καὶ ·ήτορας ἀδικίᾳ συναγωνιζομένους καὶ εἰδωλοποιοὺς καὶ κλέπτας καὶ τελώνας ἀδίκους καὶ ζυγοκρούστας καὶ δολομέτρας, καὶ στρατιώτην συκοφάντην, μὴ ἀρκούμενον τοῖς ὀψωνίοις, ἀλλὰ τοὺς πένητας διασείοντα, φονέα τε καὶ δήμιον καὶ δικαστὴν παράνομον, πραγμάτων ἀνατροπέα, ἀνθρώπων ἐπίβουλον, μιαρῶν ἐργάτην, μέθυσον, βλάσφημον, κίναιδον, τοκογλύ φον, καὶ παντὸς ἑτέρου πονηροῦ καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ διαμαχομένου, ὅτι λέγει ἡ γραφὴ βδελυκτοὺς εἶναι παρὰ