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the proclamation; and the experience of the events testifies also to this prophecy. And yet he was very unpersuasive when he said these things then. Why? Because they were all words, and he had not yet provided proof of the things said. So that they have become much more believable now. He said that when the Gospel is preached among all the nations, then the end will come; and behold, we have at last arrived at the end. For the greater part of the inhabited world has been evangelized; therefore the end is at hand. Let us shudder, beloved. But what, tell me? Are you anxious about the consummation? For this indeed is near, but the life of each one and his death is much nearer. For the days of our years, he says, in them are seventy years; and if in strength, eighty years. The day of judgment is near; let us fear even so. A brother does not redeem, shall a man redeem? We will repent of many things there; but in death no one will confess to him. For this reason he says. Let us come before his face with confession; that is, his coming. For whatever we do here has force, but there no longer. If someone, tell me, were to place us in a burning furnace for a short time, would we not endure all things for the sake of release, even if it were necessary to give up money, even to endure slavery? How many have fallen into grievous diseases, and would have readily chosen to give everything, so as to be delivered, if indeed the choice were set before them? If therefore a short-lived sickness here so distresses us, what shall we do there, when there is no benefit from repentance? Of how many evils are we now full, and we do not perceive it? we bite one another, we devour one another, wronging, accusing, slandering, being bitten by the reputations of our neighbors. And see the grievous thing; when someone wishes to undermine the reputation of his neighbor, he says: "So-and-so said this about him, God forgive me, do not examine me, I am only reporting hearsay." Why then do you say it at all, if you do not believe it? why do you say it? Why do you make it credible by much repetition? Why do you ferry across the account when it is not true? you disbelieve, and you beseech God not to examine you? Therefore do not speak, but be silent, and you will be delivered from all fear. 4. But I do not know from where this disease has fallen upon men; we have become babblers, nothing of ours remains in the soul. Hear a certain wise man exhorting and saying, "Have you heard a word? let it die in you; take courage, it will not burst you;" and again, "A fool hears a word, and is in travail, as a woman in labor from the presence of a child." We are ready for accusations, prepared for condemnations. Even if no other evil had been done by us, this was enough to destroy us, and to lead us away into hell, this, to surround us with ten thousand evils. And that you may learn precisely, hear the Prophet saying, "Sitting, you spoke against your brother." "But not I," he says, "but that other man." You then indeed; for if you had not said it, anoth 63.153 er would not have heard it; but even if he was going to hear, yet you would not have been the cause of the sin. When it is necessary to overshadow and conceal the faults of our neighbors, do you instead parade them about under the pretext of love of good? You do not become an accuser, but a trifler, but a babbler, but a fool. O the horror! You disgrace yourself along with him, and you do not perceive it? But see how many evils come from this; you provoke God, you grieve your neighbor, you make yourself liable to punishment. Do you not hear Paul saying about widows? "Not only do they learn to be idle," he says, "but also gossips and busybodies, going about from house to house, and saying what they should not?" So that even when you believe the things said against your brother, you should not say them even so, much less when you disbelieve them. But do you everywhere look out for your own interests, fearing to be examined by God? Fear then, lest you also be examined for your idle talk. For here you cannot say, "May God not examine me for the idle talk;" for the matter is idle talk. Why did you parade it? Why did you magnify the terrible thing? This is able to destroy us. For this reason Christ said; "Judge not, that you be not judged." But we take no account of this, nor does the story of the Pharisee make us sober-minded. That man said a true thing, that "I am not like this tax-collector," and

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τὸ κήρυγμα· καὶ μαρτυρεῖ καὶ ταύτῃ τῇ προῤῥήσει ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων πεῖρα. Καίτοι σφόδρα ἀπίθανος ἦν ταῦτα λέγων τότε. ∆ιὰ τί; Ὅτι πάντα λόγοι ἦσαν, καὶ οὐδέπω ἀπόδειξιν παρείχετο τῶν λεχθέντων. Ὥστε πολλῷ μᾶλλον πιστότερα γέγονε νῦν. Εἶπεν ὅτι ὅταν κηρυχθῇ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι, τότε ἥξει τὸ τέλος· καὶ ἰδοὺ πρὸς τὸ τέλος λοιπὸν ἐφθάσαμεν. Τὸ γὰρ πλέον τῆς οἰκουμένης κατηγγέλη· λοιπὸν οὖν τὸ τέλος ἐνέστηκε. Φρίξωμεν, ἀγαπητοί. Τί δὲ, εἰπέ μοι; περὶ συντελείας σὺ μεριμνᾷς; Καὶ αὕτη μὲν γὰρ ἐγγὺς πάρεστιν, ἡ δὲ ἑκάστου ζωὴ ἐγγυτέρα πολλῷ καὶ ἡ τελευτή. Αἱ ἡμέραι γὰρ τῶν ἐτῶν ἡμῶν, φησὶν, ἐν αὐτοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη· ἐὰν δὲ ἐν δυναστείαις, ὀγδοήκοντα ἔτη. Ἐγγὺς ἡ ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως· κἂν οὕτω φοβηθῶμεν. Ἀδελφὸς οὐ λυτροῦται, λυτρώσεται ἄνθρωπος; Πολλὰ μετανοήσομεν ἐκεῖ· ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ οὐδεὶς ἐξομολογήσεται αὐτῷ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο λέγει. Προφθάσωμεν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐξομολογήσει· τουτέστι, τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ. Ἐνταῦθα μὲν γὰρ ὅπερ ἐὰν ποιήσωμεν, ἔχει ἰσχὺν, ἐκεῖ δὲ οὐκέτι. Εἴ τις ἡμᾶς, εἰπέ μοι, ἐν καμίνῳ φλεγομένῃ μικρὸν στήσειε χρόνον, οὐχὶ πάντα ὑποστησόμεθα ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀπαλλαγῆς, κἂν χρήματα δέῃ προέσθαι, κἂν δουλείαν ὑποστῆναι; Πόσοι νόσοις περιέπεσον χαλεπαῖς, καὶ πάντα ἑτοίμως εἵλοντο δοῦναι ἂν, ὥστε ἀπαλλαγῆναι, εἴ γε αἵρεσις προὔκειτο; Εἰ τοίνυν ἐνταῦθα νόσος ὀλιγοχρόνιος οὕτως ἡμᾶς ἀνιᾷ, τί ποιήσομεν ἐκεῖ, ὅταν μηδὲν ὄφελος ᾖ τῆς μετανοίας; Πόσων νῦν γέμομεν κακῶν, καὶ οὐκ αἰσθανόμεθα; ἀλλήλους δάκνομεν, ἀλλήλους κατεσθίομεν ἀδικοῦντες, κατηγοροῦντες, διαβάλλοντες ταῖς τῶν πλησίον δόξαις δακνόμενοι. Καὶ ὅρα τὸ χαλεπόν· ὅταν βουληθῇ τις διορύξαι τοῦ πλησίον τὴν ὑπόληψιν, φησί· Τόδε εἶπεν ὁ δεῖνα περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὁ Θεὸς συγχώρησόν μοι, μή με ἐξετάσῃς, ἀκοῆς λόγον ὀφείλω. Τί οὖν λέγεις ὅλως, εἰ οὐ πιστεύεις; τί λέγεις; τί πιστὸν αὐτὸ ἐργάζῃ τῇ πολλῇ φήμῃ; τί διαπορθμεύεις τὸν λόγον οὐκ ἀληθῆ ὄντα; σὺ ἀπιστεῖς, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν παρακαλεῖς ὥστε σε μὴ ἐξετάσαι; Μὴ λέγε τοίνυν, ἀλλὰ σιώπα, καὶ παντὸς δέους ἀπήλλαξαι. δʹ. Ἀλλ' οὐκ οἶδα πόθεν ἡ νόσος αὕτη ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐμπέπτωκε· φλύαροι γεγόναμεν, οὐδὲν ἡμῶν ἐναπομένει τῇ ψυχῇ. Ἄκουε σοφοῦ τινος παραινοῦντος καὶ λέγοντος, Ἤκουσας λόγον; ἐναποθανέτω σοι· θάρσει, οὐ μή σε ῥήξῃ· καὶ πάλιν, Ἤκουσε λόγον ὁ μωρὸς, καὶ ὠδίνησεν, ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου βρέφους ἡ τίκτουσα. Πρὸς κατηγορίας ἐσμὲν ἕτοιμοι, πρὸς κατακρίσεις παρεσκευασμένοι. Κἂν μηδὲν ἡμῖν ἕτερον εἰργασμένον εἴη κακὸν, τοῦτο ἱκανὸν ἦν ἡμᾶς ἀπολέσαι, καὶ εἰς γέενναν ἀπαγαγεῖν, τοῦτο μυρίοις περιβαλεῖν κακοῖς. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ἀκριβῶς, ἄκουε τοῦ Προφήτου λέγοντος, Καθήμενος κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου κατελάλεις. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐγὼ, φησὶν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος. Σὺ μὲν οὖν· εἰ γὰρ μὴ σὺ εἶπες, ἕτε 63.153 ρος οὐκ ἂν ἤκουσεν· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔμελλεν ἀκούειν, ἀλλὰ σὺ τῆς ἁμαρτίας οὐκ ἦς αἴτιος. ∆έον συσκιάζειν καὶ συγκρύπτειν τὰ ἐλαττώματα τῶν πλησίον, σὺ δὲ ἐκπομπεύεις προσχήματι φιλαγαθίας; Οὐ γίνῃ κατήγορος, ἀλλὰ φλύαρος, ἀλλὰ λῆρος, ἀλλὰ μωρός. Ὢ δεινότης! σαυτὸν αἰσχύνεις μετ' ἐκείνου, καὶ οὐκ αἰσθάνῃ; Ὅρα δὲ ὅσα τὰ κακὰ ἐντεῦθεν γίνεται· παροργίζεις τὸν Θεὸν, λυπεῖς τὸν πλησίον, ὑπεύθυνον σεαυτὸν τῇ κολάσει ποιεῖς. Οὐκ ἀκούεις Παύλου λέγοντος περὶ χηρῶν γυναικῶν; Οὐ μόνον δὲ ἀργαὶ, φησὶ, μανθάνουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ φλύαροι καὶ περίεργοι, περιερχόμεναι τὰς οἰκίας, καὶ λαλοῦσαι τὰ μὴ δέοντα; Ὥστε καὶ ὅταν πιστεύσῃς τοῖς λεγομένοις κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, οὐδὲ οὕτω λέγειν χρὴ, μήτιγε ἀπιστοῦντα. Ἀλλὰ τὸ σαυτοῦ πανταχοῦ σκοπεῖς, δεδοικὼς ἐξετασθῆναι παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ; ∆εῖσον οὖν μὴ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς φλυαρίας ἐξετασθῆς. Ἐνταῦθα γὰρ οὐκ ἔχεις εἰπεῖν, ὅτι Μή με ἐξετάσῃ ὁ Θεὸς ὑπὲρ τῆς φλυαρίας· τὸ γὰρ πρᾶγμα φλυαρία ἐστί. Τί ἐξεπόμπευσας; τί ηὔξησας τὸ δεινόν; Τοῦτο ἡμᾶς ἀπολέσαι ἔχει. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγεν ὁ Χριστός· Μὴ κρίνετε, ἵνα μὴ κριθῆτε. Ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς ἡμῖν τούτου λόγος, οὐδὲ τὰ κατὰ τὸν Φαρισαῖον, ἡμᾶς σωφρονίζει. Ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν ἀληθὲς πρᾶγμα, ὅτι Οὐκ εἰμὶ ὡς ὁ τελώνης οὗτος, καὶ