105

Hear what he says to David: Did I not give you all things of your master? When, therefore, you see a young man who has received his paternal inheritance without labors, and has remained wicked, know well that his punishment is increased, and the things of his vengeance are intensified. Let us not then envy these, but if anyone has inherited virtue, if anyone has acquired spiritual wealth. For woe, he says, to those who trust in their wealth; and again, Blessed are those who fear the Lord. To which do you want to belong, tell me? Surely to those who are called blessed. Emulate these, therefore, not those, that you may also obtain the good things laid up for them; may it be that we all attain them, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, dominion, honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 21. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, a great

contest of sufferings you endured; partly, being made a spectacle both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on the prisoners, and took joyfully the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and an enduring substance in heaven. 1. The best of physicians, when they have made a deep incision, and intensify the pains through the wound, comforting the one in pain, and giving rest to and recovering the troubled soul, they do not apply another incision, but they also soothe the one given with gentle medicines sufficient to make most of the pain disappear. This Paul 63.148 also did, having shaken their souls, and pierced them with the remembrance of hell, and having assured them, that he who has done despite unto the grace of God must entirely perish, and showing this from the laws of Moses, that they will both perish and be punished more severely, and having sealed what was said with other testimonies, and having said, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; so that the soul, despairing from great fear, might not be swallowed up by sorrow, he comforts them through praises and exhortation; and he brings forth their zeal from their own deeds. For call to remembrance, he says, the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great contest of sufferings. Great is the comfort from their deeds; for he who begins a thing ought to advance as he proceeds. As if he had said: When you were being initiated, when you were in the rank of disciples, you showed such great readiness 63.149, such great nobility; but now no longer. And he who exhorts, thus especially exhorts from their own examples. And see, he did not simply say: You endured a contest, but with the addition of, A great. And he did not say temptations, but a contest, which is a name of praise and of the greatest commendations. Then he also recounts in detail, expanding the argument, and making the praises many. How? Partly by reproaches, he says, and by being made a spectacle of in afflictions. For a reproach is a great thing to reach the heart, and sufficient to pervert a soul, and to darken reason; for hear what the Prophet says: My tears have been my bread day and night, while they say to me daily: Where is your God? and again: If an enemy had reproached me, I would have borne it. For since the human race is exceedingly vainglorious, for this reason it is also easily captured by this. And he did not simply say, By reproaches, but even this with great emphasis, Being made a spectacle, he says. For when one is reproached by oneself, it is painful, but much more so, when it is before all. For consider, I pray you, how great an evil it was, having departed from the Jewish humility, and having turned to what was supposed to be a better life, and having despised their ancestral ways, to suffer evil from their own people, and no

105

ἄκουσον τί φησιν τῷ ∆αυΐδ· Οὐχὶ ἔδωκά σοι πάντα τὰ τοῦ κυρίου σου; Ὅταν οὖν ἴδῃς νέον χωρὶς πόνων κλῆρον παραλαβόντα πατρῷον, καὶ μείναντα κακὸν, εὖ ἴσθι ὅτι ἡ κόλασις αὐτῷ αὔξεται, καὶ τὰ τῆς τιμωρίας ἐπιτείνεται. Μὴ δὴ τούτους ζηλῶμεν, ἀλλ' εἴ τις ἀρετὴν διεδέξατο, εἴ τις πλοῦτον πνευματικὸν ἐκτήσατο. Οὐαὶ γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ τῷ πλούτῳ αὐτῶν· καὶ πάλιν· Μακάριοι οἱ φοβούμενοι τὸν Κύριον. Τίνων βούλει εἶναι, εἰπέ μοι; Πάντως τῶν μακαριζομένων. Τούτους οὖν ζήλου, μὴ ἐκείνους, ἵνα καὶ τῶν ἀποκειμένων αὐτοῖς τύχῃς ἀγαθῶν· ὧν γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δόξα, κράτος, τιμὴ, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΚΑʹ. Ἀναμιμνήσκεσθε δὲ τὰς πρότερον ἡμέρας, ἐν αἷς φωτισθέντες, πολλὴν

ἄθλησιν ὑπεμείνατε παθημάτων· τοῦτο μὲν, ὀνειδισμοῖς τε καὶ θλίψεσι θεατριζόμενοι· τοῦτο δὲ, κοινωνοὶ τῶν οὕτως ἀναστρεφομένων γενηθέντες. Καὶ γὰρ τοῖς δεσμίοις συνεπαθήσατε, καὶ τὴν ἁρπα γὴν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ὑμῶν μετὰ χαρᾶς προσ εδέξασθε, γινώσκοντες ἔχειν κρείσσονα ὕπαρ ξιν ἑαυτοῖς ἐν οὐρανοῖς, καὶ μένουσαν. αʹ. Οἱ τῶν ἰατρῶν ἄριστοι, ἐπειδὰν βαθεῖαν δῶσι τομὴν, καὶ τὰς ἀλγηδόνας ἐπιτείνωσι διὰ τῆς πληγῆς, παραμυθούμενοι τὸ πονοῦν, καὶ τεθορυβημένην ἀναπαύοντες καὶ ἀνακτώμενοι τὴν ψυχὴν, ἑτέραν οὐκέτι προσάγουσι τομὴν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν δοθεῖσαν φαρμάκοις προσηνέσι καὶ τὸ πολὺ τῆς ὀδύνης ἱκανοῖς ἀφανίσαι παραμυθοῦνται. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος 63.148 ἐποίησε, κατασείσας αὐτῶν τὰς ψυχὰς, καὶ κατανύξας τῇ μνήμῃ τῆς γεέννης, καὶ πιστωσάμενος αὐτοὺς, ὅτι πάντως δεῖ ἀπολέσθαι τὸν ἐνυβρίσαντα εἰς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν, καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῶν Μωϋσέως δείξας νόμων, ὅτι καὶ ἀπολοῦνται, καὶ μειζόνως τιμωρηθήσονται, καὶ μαρτυρίαις ἑτέραις ἐπισφραγίσας τὰ εἰρημένα, καὶ εἰπὼν, Φοβερὸν τὸ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς χεῖρας Θεοῦ ζῶντος· ὥστε μὴ τῷ πολλῷ φόβῳ ἀπαγορεύσασαν τὴν ψυχὴν καταποθῆναι τῇ λύπῃ, παραμυθεῖται αὐτοὺς διὰ τῶν ἐγκωμίων καὶ τῆς παρακλήσεως· καὶ τὸν ζῆλον οἴκοθεν αὐτοῖς προσφέρει. Ἀναμιμνήσκεσθε γὰρ, φησὶ, τὰς πρότερον ἡμέρας, ἐν αἷς φωτισθέντες, πολλὴν ἄθλησιν ὑπεμείνατε παθημάτων. Πολλὴ ἡ διὰ τῶν ἔργων παράκλησις· τὸν γὰρ ἀρχόμενον πράγματος, προϊόντα ἐπιδιδόναι χρή. Ὡς ἂν εἰ ἔλεγεν· Ὅτε ἐνήγεσθε, ὅτε ἐν τάξει μαθητῶν ἦτε, τοσαύτην προθυ 63.149 μίαν ἐπεδείξασθε, τοσαύτην γενναιότητα· νῦν δὲ οὐκέτι. Καὶ ὁ παρακαλῶν, οὕτω μάλιστα παρακαλεῖ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων. Καὶ ὅρα, οὐχ ἁπλῶς εἶπεν· Ἄθλησιν ὑπεμείνατε, ἀλλὰ μετὰ προσθήκης τοῦ, Πολλήν. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε πειρασμοὺς, ἀλλὰ ἄθλησιν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐγκωμίου ὄνομα καὶ ἐπαίνων μεγίστων. Εἶτα καὶ καταλέγει κατὰ μέρος, πλατύνων τὸν λόγον, καὶ τοὺς ἐπαίνους πολλοὺς ποιῶν. Πῶς; Τοῦτο μὲν ὀνειδισμοῖς, φησὶ, καὶ θλίψεσι θεατριζόμενοι. Μέγα γὰρ ὀνειδισμὸς καθικέσθαι καρδίας, καὶ ἱκανὸν διαστρέψαι ψυχὴν, καὶ σκοτῶσαι λογισμόν· ἄκουε γὰρ τί φησιν ὁ Προφήτης· Ἐγενήθη τὰ δάκρυά μου ἐμοὶ ἄρτος ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαί μοι καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν· Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός σου; καὶ πάλιν· Εἰ ὁ ἐχθρὸς ὠνείδισέ με, ὑπήνεγκα ἄν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ σφόδρα κενόδοξόν ἐστι τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γένος, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὑπὸ τούτου ῥᾳδίως ἁλίσκεται. Καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς εἶπεν, Ὀνειδισμοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸ μετ' ἐπιτάσεως πολλῆς, Θεατριζόμενοι, φησίν. Ὅταν μὲν γάρ τις ὀνειδίζηται καθ' ἑαυτὸν, λυπηρὸν μὲν, πολλῷ δὲ πλέον, ὅταν ἐπὶ πάντων. Ἐννόησον γάρ μοι ὅσον ἦν κακὸν, ἀποστάντας τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς ταπεινότητος, καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ ἄριστον βίον μετελθόντας, καὶ τῶν πατρῴων καταφρονήσαντας, ὑπ' αὐτῶν τῶν οἰκείων πάσχειν κακῶς, καὶ μηδεμίαν