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that day come upon you. As a snare it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. You have fattened your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. The enemies of the cross, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. When your blood is healthy and boiling over, obesity becomes an occasion for sin. Do not flatter your body with sleep, and baths, and soft beds, always saying this word: What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to corruption? Why do you care for that which a little later 95.1336 will be destroyed? why do you fatten yourself, and become fleshy? or do you not know, that the fatter you make your own flesh, the heavier a prison you build for the soul? For how will the earthy and carnal man confess to God and declare His truth, he who has given no time to learning, and whose mind is confounded in so great a weight of flesh? Adam was once above, not in place, but in choice. But quickly, being filled with every enjoyment, he grew wanton in his satiety, preferring what appeared pleasant to the carnal eyes over the intelligible beauty, and considering the fullness of the flesh more valuable than spiritual enjoyments. Immediately outside of paradise, and outside of that blessed way of life, having become evil not by necessity, but by poor judgment. A weighed-down stomach is suited not only not for running, but not even for sleeping. For, being oppressed by its fullness, it is not allowed even to rest, but is forced to make many turns on either side. The stomach is a most unfaithful contractor, an unguarded treasury; with many things deposited, it retains the harm, but does not preserve the things handed over. Do not imitate the disobedience of Eve; do not again accept the serpent as a counselor, who suggests food out of concern for the flesh. The bodies of men, when weighed down by constant satiety, are easily submerged; but when treated with moderation and lightness, they have escaped the expected evil from disease like the onset of a winter storm, and have repelled the present trouble like the assault of some reef. The forty-day session of the servant Moses, fasting and praying, one act of drunkenness rendered useless. For the tablets which fasting received, written with the finger of God, drunkenness shattered, as the prophet judged a drunken people unworthy to receive laws from God. In a single moment of time, through gluttony, that people, which had been taught God through the greatest wonders, rolled down into Egyptian idolatry, setting both things side by side: how fasting brings one to God, and how luxury betrays salvation. A gluttonous stomach is always demanding, and never ceasing, which receives today, and forgets tomorrow; when it is filled, it philosophizes about self-control, but when it has let off steam, it forgets its doctrines. Fear the example of the rich man. A life of luxury delivered him to the fire. For not having been accused of injustice, but of delicate living, he was fried in the flame of the furnace. 95.1337 Faultiness in digestion necessarily follows those who live luxuriously. For this also works severe diseases in bodies. For from rich food, as sooty exhalations are sent up, like a dense cloud, they interrupt the illuminations which arise in the mind from the Holy Spirit. Satiety is the beginning of insolence. Those who devise certain table-preparations, and search out all land and sea, and who pay tribute to the belly as to some harsh master, are pitiful for their business; and they suffer nothing more tolerable than those who are punished in Hades, literally carding wool into the fire, and carrying water in a sieve, and drawing it into a leaky jar, having no end to their labors. When the body is indulging, and weighed down by obesity, the mind must necessarily be sluggish and feeble for its own activities. But of the soul

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ὑμῖν ἐπιστῇ ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη. Ὡς παγὶς ἐλεύσεται ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς καθημένους ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς. Ἐθρέψατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν, ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς. Τοὺς ἐχθροὺς τοῦ σταυροῦ, ὧν τὸ τέλος ἀπώλεια, ὧν ὁ Θεὸς ἡ κοιλία, καὶ ἡ δόξα ἐν τῇ αἰσχύνῃ αὐτῶν. Μή τις πόρνος, ἢ βέβηλος ὡς Ἡσαῦ, ὃς ἀντὶ βρώσεως μιᾶς ἀπέδοτο τὰ πρωτοτόκια αὐτοῦ. Εὐεκτοῦντος καὶ ὑπερζέοντός σου τοῦ αἵματος, ἀφορμὴ πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν ἡ πολυσαρκία γίνεται. Μὴ κολάκευέ σου τὸ σῶμα ὕπνοις, καὶ λουτροῖς, καὶ μαλακοῖς στρώμασι, ἀεὶ ἐπιλέγων τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο· Τίς ὠφέλεια ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου, ἐν τῷ καταβαίνειν με εἰς διαφθοράν; Τί περιέπεις τὸ μικρὸν ὕστερον 95.1336 καταφθαρησόμενον; τί καταπιαίνεις σεαυτὸν, καὶ περισαρκοῖς; ἢ [οὐκ] ἀγνοεῖς, ὅτι ὅσον παχυτέραν τὴν σάρκα ἑαυτοῦ ποιεῖς, τοσούτῳ βαρύτερον τῇ ψυχῇ κατασκευάζεις δεσμωτήριον; Πῶς γὰρ ὁ χοϊκὸς ἄνθρωπος καὶ σάρκινος ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ τὴν ἀλήθειαν αὐτοῦ, ὁ μήτε μαθήμασι δοὺς καιρὸν, καὶ ἐν τοσούτῳ βάρει τῆς σαρκὸς τὸν νοῦν συγκεχυμένον ἔχων; Ἦν ποτε Ἀδὰμ ἄνω, οὐ τόπῳ, ἀλλὰ τῇ προαιρέσει. Ταχὺ δὲ πάσης ἀπολαύσεως ἐμπλησθεὶς, ἐξύβρισε τῷ κόρῳ, τὸ φανὲν τερπνὸν τοῖς σαρκίνοις ὀφθαλμοῖς τοῦ νοητοῦ προτιμήσας κάλλους, καὶ τὴν πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκὸς τῶν πνευματικῶν ἀπολαύσεων τιμιωτέραν θέμενος. Ἔξω μὲν εὐθὺς τοῦ παραδείσου, ἔξω δὲ τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης διαγωγῆς, οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάγκης κακὸς, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀβουλίας γενόμενος. Βαρυνομένη γαστὴρ, οὐχ ὅπως πρὸς δρόμον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πρὸς ὕπνον ἐπιτηδεία. ∆ιότι καταθλιβομένη τῷ πλήθει, οὐδὲ ἠρεμεῖν συγχωρεῖται, ἀλλὰ ἀναγκάζεται πολλὰς ποιεῖσθαι τὰς περιστροφὰς ἐφ' ἑκάτερα. Γαστὴρ συναλλάκτης ἐστὶν ἀπιστότατος, ταμεῖον ἀφύλακτον· πολλῶν ἀποτεθέντων, τὴν μὲν βλάβην παρακατέχουσα, τὰ μέντοι παραδοθέντα οὐ διασώζουσα. Μὴ μιμήσῃ τῆς Εὔας τὴν παρακοήν· μὴ πάλιν σύμβουλον παραδέξῃ τὸν ὄφιν, φειδοῖ τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν βρῶσιν ὑποτιθέμενος. Τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σώματα, συνεχεῖ μὲν τῷ κόρῳ καταβαρούμενα, εὐκόλως ὑποβρύχια γίνεται· εὐσταλεῖ δὲ καὶ κουφῇ κεχρημένα, καὶ τὸ προσδοκώμενον ἐκ νόσου κακὸν, ὥσπερ χειμῶνος ἐπανάστασιν ὑπεξέφυγεν, καὶ τὸ ἤδη παρὸν ὀχληρὸν ὥσπερ τινὸς σπιλάδος ἐπιδρομὴν διεκρούσατο. Τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν προσεδρίαν νηστεύοντος καὶ δεομένου τοῦ θεράποντος Μωϋσέως, ἄχρηστον ἐποίησεν οἰνοφλυγία μία. Ἃς γὰρ νηστεία ἔλαβε πλάκας, δακτύλῳ Θεοῦ γεγραμμένας, ταύτας ἡ μέθη συνέτριψεν, ἀνάξιον κρίναντος τοῦ προφήτου μεθύοντα λαὸν νομοθετεῖσθαι παρὰ Θεοῦ. Ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ, διὰ γαστριμαργίαν ὁ λαὸς ἐκεῖνος, ὁ τὸν Θεὸν διὰ τῶν μεγίστων τεράτων δεδιδαγμένος εἰς τὴν Αἰγυπτίαν εἰδωλομανίαν ἐξεκυλίσθη, παράλληλα θεὶς ἀμφότερα, πῶς ἡ νηστεία Θεῷ προσάγει, καὶ πῶς τρυφὴ τὴν σωτηρίαν προδίδωσι. Λίχνη γαστὴρ ἀεὶ ἀπαιτοῦσα, καὶ μηδέποτε λήγουσα, ἡ λαμβάνουσα σήμερον, καὶ αὔριον ἐπιλανθανομένη, ὅταν ἐμπλησθῇ, περὶ ἐγκρατείας φιλοσοφεῖ, ὅταν δὲ διεπνεύσθη, ἐπιλανθάνεται τῶν δογμάτων. Φοβήθητι τὸ ὑπόδειγμα τοῦ πλουσίου. Ἐκεῖνον παρέδωκεν τῷ πυρὶ ἡ διὰ βίου τρυφή. Οὐ γὰρ ἀδικίαν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἁβροδίαιτον ἐγκληθεὶς ἀπετηγανίζετο ἐν τῇ φλογὶ τῆς καμίνου. 95.1337 Τὸ περὶ τὴν πέψιν πλημμελὲς, τοῖς τρυφῶσιν ἀναγκαίως ἀκολουθεῖ. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ τὰ σφοδρὰ νοσήματα τοῖς σώμασιν ἀπεργάζεται. Ἐκ γὰρ τῆς παχείας τροφῆς, οἷον αἰθαλώδεις ἀναθυμιάσεις ἀναπεμπόμεναι, νεφέλης δίκην πυκνῆς, τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐγγινομένας ἐλλάμψεις ἐπὶ τὸν νοῦν, διακόπτουσι. Κόρος ὕβρεως ἀρχή. Οἱ τραπεζοποιούς τινας ἐπινοοῦντες, καὶ πᾶσαν διερευνώμενοι γῆν τε καὶ θάλασσαν, καὶ οἷόν τινι χαλεπῷ δεσπότῃ, τῇ γαστρὶ φόρους ἀπάγοντες, ἐλεεινοὶ τῆς ἀσχολίας εἰσί· καὶ τῶν ἐν ᾅδου κολαζομένων οὐδὲν πάσχοντες ἀνεκτότερον, ἀτεχνῶς εἰς πῦρ ξαίνοντες, καὶ κοσκίνῳ φέροντες ὕδωρ, καὶ εἰς τετριμμένον ἀντλοῦντες πίθον, οὐδὲ πέρας τῶν πόνων ἔχοντες Σώματος εὐπαθοῦντος, καὶ πολυσαρκίᾳ βαρυνομένου, ἀνάγκη ἀδρανῆ καὶ ἄτονον εἶναι πρὸς τὰς οἰκείας ἐνεργείας τὸν νοῦν. Ψυχῆς δὲ