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But the first commandment is to love God with all one's soul and one another, as God himself loved the world. And true love, recognized in these things, is characterized: in not being puffed up, in not being arrogant, nor being jealous of a brother, but zealous for what is good, in not boasting, not murmuring, not playing, nor laughing, nor litigating about a small or great, (201) in sum, matter, in not being sated not only with food and meals, but if possible not even with water, and especially in these present days of the fasts, in which he who repents earnestly and with toil receives from above the remission of all his sins for all time, according to the divine Scripture. For you know that the fervor of repentance and the heat of tears sent up from the depths of the heart, like a fire, refines and burns away the filth of sin and makes the defiled soul pure; and not only this, but also lavishly and generously grants to it an outpouring of light through the visitation of the Spirit, so that from this it becomes full of mercy and good fruits. Let us therefore make use of this, I beseech you, both in this third week of the fasts, fathers and brothers, and in those after it, adding fervor to fervor and zeal to zeal day by day, until we arrive at the Sunday of Pascha, with our souls and bodies radiant.

For behold, as you see, that with God's help we have passed through this course of the second week of the fasts with courage and with boiling 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 vigorous continence, being content with the vegetables and legumes set before you. But I know some of you who, with a contrite spirit and a humble mind, sitting in your midst at this table, abstain even from its simple foods, considering themselves unworthy (202) of partaking of them. In addition to these things, attending to yourselves and to your handiwork, you have remained without boldness, in silence, your whole soul filled with the compunction of tears, of prayers, of supplication, of spiritual labor from the continual prostrations, and you have undergone the good alteration, having acquired a most ascetic and beautiful appearance.

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 beautiful fast in this holy week also, and to set the same contest as the preceding ones, since we have need of much vigilance, much zeal, so that we may not spend our days as worldly people do. For you know that, when the first week has passed, they think they have passed through the entire holy forty days; and not only do they suppose this, but they also say it explicitly to one another and to all. But for us, my brothers, there is a fear, and the greatest of fears, lest we too, like them, should suppose this and say it to one another and appear as deniers of our profession. For not only to us who flee the world and are crucified to it and are wholly dedicated to God was the present season given as a law of continence, but also the whole life of our present existence, for which we are also indispensably obliged to be continent.

And how are we not obliged to do this at all times, we who have pledged to hunger and to thirst and to be naked and to suffer all things and to endure them with joy, and especially now in the time of the contests of the forty days? (203) But if we do not wish to do so in all the days of our life, but want to laugh and to speak idly and to play and to contradict, how do we differ from the unbelievers and

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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.

Πῶς δέ οὐ χρεωστοῦμεν τοῦτο ποιεῖν ἐν παντί τῷ χρόνῳ, οἱ πεινᾶσαι καί διψῆσαι καί γυμνητεῦσαι καί πάντα παθεῖν καί ἐν χαρᾷ ὑπενεγκεῖν συνταξάμενοι, καί μᾶλλον ἄρτι ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῶν ἀγώνων τῆς τεσσαρακοστῆς; (203) Εἰ δέ οὐχ οὕτω ποιεῖν βουλόμεθα ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἡμέραις ἡμῶν τῆς ζωῆς, ἀλλά γελᾶν καί ἀργολογεῖν καί παίζειν καί ἀντιλέγειν θέλομεν, τί διαφέρομεν τῶν ἀπίστων καί