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of the Holy Spirit. And He has not simply adorned her, but has made her glorious, Not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Let us for our part seek this beauty, and we shall be able to become creators of it. Do not you seek from your wife, what is not hers. You see that the Church had all things from the Lord; from Him she has become glorious, from Him without blemish. Do not turn away from your wife for her lack of beauty. Hear the Scripture saying; The bee is little among 62.138 flying things, but her fruit is the beginning of sweet things. She is God's creation; you insult not her, but Him that made her. What can the wife do? Do not praise her for her beauty; of licentious souls is both that praise, and that hatred, and that love itself. Seek beauty of soul; imitate the Bridegroom of the Church. Outward beauty is full of much pride and madness, and it throws one into jealousy, and often makes you suspect strange things. But does it have pleasure? Up to the first month and the second, or at the most, for a year, but then no longer, but by habit the marvel withers; the evils, however, which arise because of the beauty remain, pride, madness, and contempt. But in the case of one who is not such, there is nothing of the sort; but the love, which begins reasonably, remains strong, since it is of the soul's beauty, and not the body's. 3. What is better than the heaven, tell me, what is better than the stars? Whatever body you might name, is not so white; whatever eyes you might name, are not so bright. When these things came to be, even the angels marveled, and we now marvel, but not in the same way as in the beginning. For such is habit; it does not strike with the same force; how much more in the case of a wife? And if a sickness should also come on, immediately the whole thing has flown away. Let us seek good will from a wife, modesty, gentleness; these are the characteristics of beauty; but let us not seek beauty of body, nor find fault with her about these things of which she has no control, or rather let us not find fault at all (for it is audacious), nor be discontent, nor be displeased. Or do you not see how many men who have married beautiful women, have miserably wrecked their lives? and how many who married women not very comely, have with much pleasure reached extreme old age? Let us wipe off the spot that is within, let us pluck out the wrinkles that are within, let us take away the blemishes upon the soul. Such is the beauty God seeks; let us make her beautiful for God, not for ourselves. Let us not seek for money, nor for outward nobility, but for nobility in soul. Let no one expect to get rich from a wife; for shameful and disgraceful is this wealth; nor let anyone seek to get rich from this source at all. For they that desire to be rich, he says, fall into temptation, and foolish and hurtful lusts, and into snares and perdition and destruction. Do not, therefore, seek an abundance of money from a wife, and you will find all other things easily. Who, tell me, having left the more important things, will take care of the lesser? But, alas! everywhere we suffer this; even if we get a son, we are not zealous that he become good, but that we may get a rich wife for him; not that she be well-mannered, but that she be well-off; and if we pursue a profession, not that it may be free from sins, but that it may bring us great profit; and everything has become money. For this reason all things are corrupted, because that love possesses us. So, he says, ought men to love their own wives, as their own bodies. What is this then? He has come to a greater image, and a stronger example; and not this only, but also as nearer, and clear 62.139 er, and another just claim. For that was not of great necessity; for lest anyone should say, He was Christ, and He was God, and He gave Himself up, he works it out now from another side, saying; So they ought; for the matter is not of grace, but of debt. Having said, as their own bodies, he added, For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. That is, he takes care of it with much diligence. And how is she his flesh? Hear; This is now bone of my bones, he says, and flesh of my flesh. And not this

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ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς αὐτὴν ἐκόσμησεν, ἀλλ' ἔνδοξον ἐποίησε, Μὴ ἔχουσαν σπῖλον, ἢ ῥυτίδα, ἤ τι τῶν τοιούτων. Καὶ ἡμεῖς τοίνυν τοῦτο ἐπιζητῶμεν τὸ κάλλος, καὶ δυνησόμεθα αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι δημιουργοί. Μὴ ζήτει σὺ παρὰ τῆς γυναικὸς, ἃ μή ἐστιν αὐτῆς. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι πάντα παρὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου εἶχεν ἡ Ἐκκλησία· παρ' αὐτοῦ γέγονεν ἔνδοξος, παρ' αὐτοῦ ἄμωμος. Μὴ ἀποστραφῇς δι' ἀμορφίαν τὴν γυναῖκα. Ἄκουε τῆς Γραφῆς λεγούσης· Μικρὰ ἐν 62.138 πετεινοῖς ἡ μέλισσα, καὶ ἀρχὴ γλυκασμάτων ὁ καρπὸς αὐτῆς. Θεοῦ πλάσμα ἐστίν· οὐκ ἐκείνην ὑβρίζεις, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐργασάμενον. Τί πάθῃ ἡ γυνή; Μὴ ἐπαινέσῃς αὐτὴν δι' εὐμορφίαν· ἀκολάστων ψυχῶν καὶ ὁ ἔπαινος, καὶ τὸ μῖσος ἐκεῖνο, καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ἀγάπη. Ψυχῆς ἐπιζήτει κάλλος· τὸν νυμφίον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας μιμοῦ. Τὸ ἔξωθεν κάλλος ἀλαζονείας καὶ ἀπονοίας γέμει πολλῆς, καὶ εἰς ζηλοτυπίαν ἐμβάλλει, καὶ ὑποπτεύειν σε πολλάκις ποιεῖ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἄτοπα. Ἀλλὰ ἡδονὴν ἔχει; Μέχρι τοῦ πρώτου μηνὸς καὶ τοῦ δευτέρου, ἢ τὸ πολὺ, τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, λοιπὸν δὲ οὐκέτι, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς συνηθείας τὸ θαῦμα μαραίνεται· τὰ μέντοι διὰ τὸ κάλλος προσγενόμενα κακὰ ἐναπομένει, ὁ τῦφος, ἡ ἀπόνοια καὶ ἡ ὑπεροψία. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς μὴ τοιαύτης, οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον· ἀλλ' εἰκότως ἀρχόμενος ὁ ἔρως παραμένει σφοδρὸς, ἐπειδὴ κάλλους ἐστὶ ψυχῆς, καὶ οὐ σώματος. γʹ. Τί βέλτιον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, εἰπέ μοι, τί βέλτιον τῶν ἄστρων; Οἷον ἂν εἴποις σῶμα, οὐκ ἔστιν οὕτω λευκόν· οἵους ἂν εἴποις ὀφθαλμοὺς, οὐκ εἰσὶν οὕτω φαιδροί. Τούτων δὲ γενομένων καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐθαύμασαν, καὶ ἡμεῖς νῦν θαυμάζομεν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁμοίως, ὡς παρὰ τὴν ἀρχήν. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ συνήθεια· οὐχ ὁμοίως ἐκπλήττει· πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ γυναικός; Ἂν δὲ καὶ νόσος ἐπιγένηται, εὐθέως ἀπέπτη τὸ πᾶν. Εὔνοιαν ζητῶμεν παρὰ γυναικὸς, μετριοφροσύνην, ἐπιείκειαν· ταῦτα τοῦ κάλλους τὰ γνωρίσματα· σώματος μέντοι ὥραν μὴ ζητῶμεν, μηδὲ ἐγκαλῶμεν αὐτῇ περὶ τούτων, ὧν οὐκ ἔστι κυρία, μᾶλλον δὲ μηδὲ ὅλως ἐγκαλῶμεν (τολμηρῶν γὰρ), μηδὲ ἀποδυσπετῶμεν, μηδὲ δυσχεραίνωμεν. Ἢ οὐχ ὁρᾶτε πόσοι γυναιξὶν ὡραίαις συνοικήσαντες, ἐλεεινῶς τὸν βίον κατέστρεψαν; πόσοι δὲ οὐ σφόδρα εὐμόρφοις, μετὰ πολλῆς ἡδονῆς εἰς ἔσχατον γῆρας ἤλασαν; Τὸν σπῖλον τὸν ἔσωθεν ἀποσμήχωμεν, τὰς ῥυτίδας τὰς ἔνδον ἐκτίλλωμεν, τοὺς μώμους τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνέλωμεν. Τοιοῦτον ὁ Θεὸς ἐπιζητεῖ κάλλος· τῷ Θεῷ, μὴ ἡμῖν, καλὴν αὐτὴν κατασκευάζωμεν. Μὴ χρήματα ζητῶμεν, μηδὲ εὐγένειαν τὴν ἔξωθεν, ἀλλ' εὐγένειαν τὴν ἐν ψυχῇ. Μηδεὶς ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἀναμενέτω πλουτεῖν· αἰσχρὸς γὰρ καὶ ἐπονείδιστος οὗτος ὁ πλοῦτος· μηδὲ ὅλως ζητείτω τις ἐντεῦθεν πλουτεῖν. Οἱ γὰρ βουλόμενοι πλουτεῖν, φησὶν, ἐμπίπτουσιν εἰς πειρασμὸν, καὶ ἐπιθυμίας ἀνοήτους καὶ βλαβερὰς, καὶ εἰς παγίδας καὶ ὄλεθρον καὶ ἀπώλειαν. Ἀπὸ γυναικὸς τοίνυν μὴ ζήτει χρημάτων περιουσίαν, καὶ πάντα εὑρήσεις τὰ ἄλλα εὐκόλως. Τίς, εἰπέ μοι, τὰ κυριώτερα ἀφεὶς, τῶν ἐλαττόνων ἐπιμελήσεται; Ἀλλ', οἴμοι! πανταχοῦ τοῦτο πάσχομεν· κἂν παῖδα κτησώμεθα, οὐ σπουδάζομεν ὅπως γένηται ἀγαθὸς, ἀλλ' ὅπως πλουσίαν αὐτῷ γυναῖκα λάβωμεν· οὐχ ὅπως εὔτροπος, ἀλλ' ὅπως εὔπορος· κἂν ἐπιτήδευμα μετίωμεν, οὐχ ὅπως ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπηλλαγμένον ᾖ, ἀλλ' ὅπως ἡμῖν κέρδος προσοίσῃ μέγα· καὶ πάντα γέγονε χρήματα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πάντα διέφθαρται, ὅτι ἐκεῖνος ἡμᾶς κατέχει ὁ ἔρως. Οὕτως ὀφείλουσι, φησὶν, οἱ ἄνδρες ἀγαπᾷν τὰς ἑαυτῶν γυναῖκας, ὡς τὰ ἑαυτῶν σώματα. Τί δὴ τοῦτό ἐστιν; Ὡς εἰς μείζονα εἰκόνα, καὶ σφοδρότερον ἦλθεν ὑπόδειγμα· οὐ τοῦτο δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ἐγγύτερον, καὶ σαφέ 62.139 στερον, καὶ δικαίωμα ἕτερον. Ἐκεῖνο μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἦν πολλῆς ἀνάγκης· ἵνα γὰρ μή τις εἴπῃ, Ἐκεῖνος Χριστὸς ἦν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν, καὶ ἑαυτὸν παρέδωκεν, ἑτέρωθεν αὐτὸ μεθοδεύει λοιπὸν, λέγων· Οὕτως ὀφείλουσιν· οὐ γὰρ χάρις ἐστὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἀλλ' ὀφειλή. Εἰπὼν, ὡς τὰ ἑαυτῶν σώματα, ἐπήγαγεν, Οὐδεὶς γάρ ποτε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σάρκα ἐμίσησεν, ἀλλ' ἐκτρέφει καὶ θάλπει αὐτήν. Τουτέστι, θεραπεύει μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἐπιμελείας. Καὶ πῶς αὐτοῦ ἐστι σάρξ; Ἄκουε· Τοῦτο νῦν ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστῶν μου, φησὶ, καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός μου. Καὶ οὐ τοῦτο