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Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many. And we will hear this voice, if we show the same diligence as he did; and we will show the same diligence, if we do this that I say. While the hearing is still fresh in you, as you go out, exhort one another, and just as each of you departs with a greeting, so let each one return home with an instruction, and let him say to his neighbor: Take heed and remember that you keep the commandment, and we shall certainly prevail. For when friends send one another off with such counsel, and when at home the wife again reminds him of the same things, and our discourse possesses us when we are alone, we will quickly repel this wicked habit. I know indeed that you marvel for what reason I make such great effort for this commandment; but accomplish what was commanded, and then I will tell you. For now, I say this, that this command is a divine law, and to transgress it is not safe; but if I see it accomplished, I will tell you another reason no less than this, so that you may learn that it is with good reason that I make such great effort for this law; but it is time now to close the discourse with a prayer. Let us all therefore say in common: O God, who desires not the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live, deem us worthy to have fulfilled both this and all the other laws, and so to stand before the judgment seat of your Christ, so that having enjoyed much confidence, we may attain the kingdom to your glory, for to you belongs glory, together with your only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

49.135 Further thanksgiving to God concerning the change from gloomy circumstances; and a recollection of those dragged away and punished on account of the sedition; and likewise again an exposition concerning the creation of man, and that he received a natural law; and concerning the perfect accomplishment of not swearing. Homily 13.

1. From the same beginning and the same prefaces with which I began yesterday and the day before, I will also begin today; I will say even now: Blessed be God. What a Wednesday we saw in the past, and what a one we see now in the present? how much gloom was there then? how much calm is there now in the present? On that day that dreadful tribunal was set up in the city, and it shook the hearts of all, and made the day to be in no better state than the night, not because the sunbeam was extinguished, but because dejection and fear blinded your eyes. Therefore, that we too may reap greater pleasure, I wish to recount a few of the things that happened then. For I see that the narration of these things is useful both for you and for all who will come after; since for those 49.136 saved from a shipwreck it is sweet to remember the waves and the squall and the winds, when they have sailed into harbor; and for those who have fallen into sickness it is desirable after the illness to recount to others the fevers, because of which they came near to dying. For when the terrible things have passed, the narration of the terrible things has pleasure, as the soul no longer fears, but also reaps greater gladness. For the memory of past evils always makes the present prosperity to be seen more clearly. For since the greater part of the city, from that fear and threat, had moved to the deserts and the ravines and the hiding places, with fear driving them from all sides, and the houses were empty of women, and the marketplace empty of men, and scarcely two or three walking in the midst with one another were to be seen, and these themselves like living cor 49.137 pses going about; we went to the tribunal

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Εὖ, δοῦλε ἀγαθὲ καὶ πιστὲ, ἐπὶ ὀλίγα ἦς πιστὸς, ἐπὶ πολλῶν σε καταστήσω. Ταύτης δὲ ἀκουσόμεθα τῆς φωνῆς, ἂν τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνῳ σπουδὴν ἐπιδειξώμεθα· τὴν αὐτὴν δὲ ἐπιδειξόμεθα σπουδὴν, ἐὰν τοῦτο ὃ λέγω ποιήσωμεν. Ἔτι θερμῆς οὔσης τῆς ἀκροάσεως ἐν ὑμῖν, ἐξελθόντες παρακελεύεσθε ἀλλήλοις, καὶ καθάπερ ἕκαστος μετὰ προσηγορίας διαλύεσθε, οὕτω μετὰ παραγγελίας ἕκαστος οἴκαδε ἀναχωρείτω, καὶ τῷ πλησίον λεγέτω· Σκόπει καὶ μέμνησο ὅπως φυλάξῃς τὴν ἐντολὴν, καὶ πάντως περιεσόμεθα. Ὅταν γὰρ φίλοι παραπέμπωσι μετὰ τοιαύτης συμβουλῆς, καὶ οἴκοι γενόμενον ἡ γυνὴ πάλιν τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναμιμνήσκῃ, καὶ μόνους ὄντας ὁ λόγος ὁ ἡμέτερος κατέχῃ, ταχέως ἀποκρουσόμεθα τὴν πονηρὰν συνήθειαν ταύτην. Οἶδα μὲν ὅτι θαυμάζετε τίνος ἕνεκεν τοσαύτην ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐντολῆς ταύτης ποιοῦμαι σπουδήν· κατορθώσατε δὲ τὸ ἐπιταχθὲν, καὶ τότε ἐρῶ. Τέως μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖνο λέγω, ὅτι νόμος ἐστὶ θεῖος τὸ ἐπίταγμα τοῦτο, καὶ παραβῆναι αὐτὸν οὐκ ἀσφαλές· ἐὰν δὲ ἴδω κατορθωθὲν, καὶ ἑτέραν ὑμῖν αἰτίαν ἐρῶ οὐκ ἐλάττονα ταύτης, ἵνα μάθητε ὅτι δικαίως τοσαύτην ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου τούτου ποιοῦμαι σπουδήν· ὥρα δὲ λοιπὸν εἰς εὐχὴν καταλῦσαι τὸν λόγον. Κοινῇ τοίνυν πάντες εἴπωμεν· Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ μὴ θέλων τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι αὐτὸν καὶ ζῇν, καὶ τοῦτον καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς νόμους ἅπαντας καταξίωσον ἡμᾶς ἐξανύσαντας, οὕτω παραστῆναι τῷ βήματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ σου, ἵνα παῤῥησίας πολλῆς ἀπολαύσαντες, τῆς βασιλείας ἐπιτύχωμεν εἰς δόξαν σὴν, ὅτι σοὶ πρέπει δόξα, ἅμα τῷ μονογενεῖ σου Παιδὶ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

49.135 Εὐχαριστία ἔτι πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν περὶ τῆς μεταβολῆς τῶν

σκυθρωπῶν· καὶ ἀνάμνησις τῶν διὰ τὴν στάσιν διασυρέντων καὶ τιμωρηθέντων· ὁμοίως δὲ πάλιν ἐξήγησις περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δημιουργίας, καὶ ὅτι φυσικὸν νόμον ἐδέξατο· καὶ περὶ τοῦ τελείως

κατορθῶσαι τὸ μὴ ὀμνύειν. Ὁμιλία ιγʹ.

αʹ. Ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τῶν αὐτῶν προοιμίων, ὧν χθὲς καὶ πρὸ ἐκείνης ἠρξάμην, καὶ σήμερον ἄρξομαι· ἐρῶ καὶ νῦν· Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεός. Οἵαν τὴν παρελθοῦσαν εἴδομεν τετράδα, καὶ οἵαν τὴν παροῦσαν ὁρῶμεν νῦν; πόσος ἐν ἐκείνῃ ζόφος τότε ἦν; πόση κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν γαλήνη νῦν; Κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην τὸ φοβερὸν ἐκεῖνο γέγονεν ἐν τῇ πόλει δικαστήριον, καὶ τὰς καρδίας ἁπάντων διέσεισε, καὶ νυκτὸς οὐδὲν ἅμεινον διακεῖσθαι ἐποίησε τὴν ἡμέραν, οὐ τῆς ἀκτῖνος σβεσθείσης, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀθυμίας καὶ τοῦ φόβου πηρωσάντων ὑμῶν τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς. Ἵν' οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς πλείονα καρπωσώμεθα τὴν ἡδονὴν, μικρὰ τῶν τότε συμβάντων διηγήσασθαι βούλομαι. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ὑμῖν καὶ τοῖς γενησομένοις ἅπασι χρησίμην ὀρῶ τὴν τούτων διήγησιν οὖσαν· ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῖς 49.136 ἐκ ναυαγίου διασωθεῖσιν ἡδὺ τῶν κυμάτων μεμνῆσθαι καὶ τῆς ζάλης καὶ τῶν ἀνέμων, ἐπειδὰν εἰς λιμένα καταπλεύσωσι· καὶ τοῖς ἀῤῥωστίᾳ περιπεσοῦσι ποθεινὸν μετὰ τὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν τοὺς πυρετοὺς, δι' οὓς παρὰ μικρὸν ἦλθον ἀποθανεῖν, διηγεῖσθαι πρὸς ἑτέρους. Ὅταν γὰρ παρέλθῃ τὰ δεινὰ, ἡδονὴν ἔχει τῶν δεινῶν ἡ διήγησις, τῆς ψυχῆς οὐκ ἔτι δεδοικυίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ μείζονα καρπουμένης τὴν εὐφροσύνην. Ἡ γὰρ τῶν παρελθόντων κακῶν μνήμη ἀεὶ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν εὐημερίαν ἀκριβέστερον ὁρᾶσθαι ποιεῖ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ μὲν πλέον τῆς πόλεως ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου καὶ τῆς ἀπειλῆς ἐκείνης πρὸς τὰς ἐρήμους καὶ τὰς φάραγγας καὶ τοὺς λανθάνοντας μετῴκιστο τόπους, τοῦ φόβου πάντοθεν αὐτοὺς συνελαύνοντος, καὶ κεναὶ μὲν ἦσαν γυναικῶν αἱ οἰκίαι, κενὴ δὲ ἀνδρῶν ἡ ἀγορὰ, μόλις δὲ δύο ἢ τρεῖς βαδίζοντες ἐν τῷ μέσῳ μετ' ἀλλήλων ἐφαίνοντο, καὶ αὐτοὶ οὗτοι καθάπερ ἔμψυχοι νε 49.137 κροὶ περιιόντες· ἀπῄειμεν εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον τὸ