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to bear false witness [and to kill]. Do not, therefore, see that it is a mere word; but examine this, whether it does not have great danger. Or are you ignorant that in a time of enmity, when anger is kindled and the soul is inflamed, even the smallest thing appears great, and what is not very insulting seems to be grievous? And often these small things have both begotten murder and overthrown entire cities. For just as, when friendship exists, even burdensome things are light; so, when enmity is underlying, even small things appear unbearable; and even if it is said simply, it is considered to have been said with evil suspicion. And just as with a fire, if there is a small spark, even if ten thousand pieces of wood lie nearby, it does not easily take hold of them; but if the flame becomes vehement and high, it easily withstands not only wood, but also stones and all matter that falls into it, and is kindled more greatly by those things by which it is accustomed to be extinguished; (for some say that at that time not only wood and tow and other combustibles, but also water thrown on it rather fans its power); so it is also with anger; whatever anyone utters, has immediately become fuel for this wicked fire. To forestall all these things, Christ condemned the one who is angry without cause to the judgment (for this reason He also said, *He who is angry will be liable to the judgment*), but the one who says, *Raca*, to the council. But these are not yet great things; for here are the punishments. For this reason He added the fire of Gehenna to the one who calls another a fool, now mentioning the name of Gehenna for the first time. For having previously discoursed much about the kingdom, He then mentioned this; showing that the one is from His own love for humanity and purpose, but this is from our indolence. And see how He proceeds little by little in the punishments, almost making a defense to you, and showing that He Himself wishes to threaten nothing of the sort, but we draw Him to such decisions. For consider: I said, He says, 'Do not be angry in vain, since you are liable to the judgment.' You have despised the first. See what anger has brought forth; it immediately led you to insult; for you called your brother 'Raca'. Again I set another punishment, the council. If, overlooking this too, you should proceed to what is more severe, I no longer punish you with these moderate punishments, but with the immortal torment of Gehenna, so that you may not henceforth leap to murder. For there is, there is nothing more unbearable than insult, and that which is most able to sting a man's soul. And when the very word of insult is more striking, the pyre becomes double. Do not, therefore, consider it a trivial thing to call someone a fool. For when you take this away from your brother, by which we are distinguished from irrational animals, and by which we are especially human, namely the mind and understanding, you have deprived him of all his nobility. Let us not then pay attention simply to the words, but placing ourselves in the reality of the situation and the passion, let us consider how great a wound this word inflicts, and to what great evil it proceeds. For this reason Paul also excluded from the kingdom not only adulterers and the effeminate, but also revilers; and very reasonably so. For the insulting person mars the beauty of love, and surrounds his neighbor with countless evils, and works perpetual 57.250 enmities, and tears apart the members of Christ, and drives away each day the peace that is desired by God, giving much room to the devil through insults, and making him stronger. For this reason Christ also, cutting the sinews of that one's power, introduced this law. For His concern for love is great. For she is the mother of all good things, and the distinguishing mark of the disciples, and that which holds together all our affairs, she is this most of all. Reasonably, therefore, He destroys the roots and the sources of the enmity that mars it with great vehemence. Do not, therefore, consider what is said to be some kind of hyperbole, but considering the right actions that come from them, marvel at the gentleness of these laws. For nothing is so earnestly desired by God as for us to be united and bound together with one another. For this reason both through Himself and through His disciples, both those in the New and those in the

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τὸ ψευδομαρτυρεῖν [καὶ ἀναιρεῖν]. Μὴ τοίνυν ὅτι ῥῆμά ἐστι ψιλὸν ἴδῃς· ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ πολὺν ἔχει τὸν κίνδυνον, τοῦτο ἐξέταζε. Ἢ ἀγνοεῖς, ὅτι ἐν τῷ τῆς ἔχθρας καιρῷ, τῆς ὀργῆς ἐκκαιομένης, καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐμπιπραμένης, καὶ τὸ μικρότατον μέγα φαίνεται, καὶ τὸ μὴ λίαν ὑβριστικὸν φορτικὸν εἶναι δοκεῖ; Καὶ πολλάκις τὰ μικρὰ ταῦτα καὶ φόνον ἔτεκε, καὶ πόλεις ὁλοκλήρους ἀνέτρεψεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ, φιλίας οὔσης, καὶ τὰ ἐπαχθῆ κοῦφα· οὕτως, ἔχθρας ὑποκειμένης, καὶ τὰ μικρὰ ἀφόρητα φαίνεται· κἂν ἁπλῶς λεχθῇ, μετὰ πονηρᾶς ὑπονοίας εἰρῆσθαι νομίζεται. Καὶ καθάπερ ἐπὶ πυρὸς, ἂν μὲν μικρὸς σπινθὴρ ᾖ, κἂν μυρία παρακέηται ξύλα, οὐ ῥᾳδίως αὐτῶν ἐπιλαμβάνεται· ἂν δὲ σφοδρὰ καὶ ὑψηλὴ γένηται ἡ φλὸξ, οὐ ξύλων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίθων καὶ πάσης εὐκόλως τῆς ἐμπεσούσης ὕλης ἀντέχεται, καὶ δι' ὧν εἴωθε σβέννυσθαι, διὰ τούτων ἀνάπτεται μειζόνως· (τινὲς γάρ φασιν, ὅτι τὸ τηνικαῦτα οὐχὶ ξύλα μόνον καὶ στυππεῖον καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ καυστικὰ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὕδωρ ἐξακοντιζόμενον μᾶλλον αὐτῆς ἀναῤῥιπίζει τὴν δύναμιν)· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ὀργῆς· ὅπερ ἂν φθέγξηταί τις, τροφὴ γέγονεν εὐθέως τῇ πονηρᾷ ταύτῃ πυρᾷ. Ἅπερ ἅπαντα προαναστέλλων ὁ Χριστὸς, τὸν μὲν ὀργιζόμενον εἰκῆ κατεδίκασε τῇ κρίσει (διὰ τοῦτο καὶ εἴρηκεν, Ὁ ὀργιζόμενος ἔνοχος ἔσται τῇ κρίσει), τὸν δὲ λέγοντα, Ῥακὰ, τῷ συνεδρίῳ. Ἀλλ' οὔπω ταῦτα μεγάλα· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ αἱ τιμωρίαι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τῷ μωρὸν ὀνομάζοντι τὸ τῆς γεέννης προσέθηκε πῦρ, νῦν πρῶτον γεέννης ὄνομα εἰπών. Πρότερον γὰρ περὶ βασιλείας πολλὰ διαλεχθεὶς, τότε ταύτης ἐμνήσθη· δεικνὺς ὅτι ἐκείνη μὲν τῆς αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίας καὶ γνώμης ἐστὶν, αὕτη δὲ τῆς ἡμετέρας ῥᾳθυμίας. Καὶ ὅρα πῶς κατὰ μικρὸν πρόεισιν ἐν ταῖς τιμωρίαις, μονονουχὶ ἀπολογούμενός σοι, καὶ δεικνὺς ὅτι αὐτὸς μὲν οὐδὲν βούλεται τοιοῦτον ἀπειλεῖν, ἡμεῖς δὲ αὐτὸν εἰς τὰς τοιαύτας ἕλκομεν ἀποφάσεις. Σκόπει γάρ· Εἶπον, φησί· Μὴ ὀργισθῇς μάτην, ἐπεὶ ἔνοχος εἶ τῇ κρίσει. Κατεφρόνησας τοῦ προτέρου. Ὅρα τί ἔτεκεν ἡ ὀργή· εἰς ὕβριν σε εὐθέως ἐξήγαγε· Ῥακὰ γὰρ ἐκάλεσας τὸν ἀδελφόν. Πάλιν ἔθηκα ἑτέραν τιμωρίαν, τὸ συνέδριον. Ἂν καὶ ταύτην παριδὼν ἐπὶ τὸ χαλεπώτερον προέλθῃς, οὐκέτι σε τοῖς συμμέτροις τούτοις τιμωροῦμαι, ἀλλὰ τῇ τῆς γεέννης ἀθανάτῳ κολάσει, ἵνα μὴ λοιπὸν καὶ πρὸς φόνον ἀποπηδήσῃς. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν ὕβρεως ἀφορητότερον, καὶ ὃ μάλιστα δύναται δάκνειν ἀνθρώπου ψυχήν. Ὅταν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ῥῆμα τῆς ὕβρεως πληκτικώτερον ᾖ, διπλῆ γίνεται ἡ πυρά. Μὴ τοίνυν τὸ τυχὸν νομίσῃς εἶναι τὸ καλέσαι μωρόν. Ὅταν γὰρ ᾧ τῶν ἀλόγων διεστήκαμεν, καὶ ᾧ μάλιστά ἐσμεν ἄνθρωποι, τῷ νῷ καὶ τῇ συνέσει, τοῦτο ἀφέλῃ τὸν ἀδελφὸν, πάσης αὐτὸν ἀπεστέρησας τῆς εὐγενείας. Μὴ δὴ τοῖς ῥήμασιν ἁπλῶς προσέχωμεν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν γενόμενοι καὶ τοῦ πάθους, λογισώμεθα ὅσην ἐργάζεται τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο πληγὴν, καὶ εἰς ὅσον πρόεισι κακόν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος οὐ τοὺς μοιχοὺς μόνον καὶ τοὺς μαλακοὺς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς λοιδόρους τῆς βασιλείας ἐξέβαλε· καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Ὁ γὰρ ὑβριστὴς τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης καλὸν λυμαίνεται, καὶ μυρίοις τὸν πλησίον περιβάλλει δεινοῖς, καὶ διηνεκεῖς 57.250 ἀπεχθείας ἐργάζεται, καὶ τὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ διασπᾷ μέλη, καὶ τὴν τῷ Θεῷ ποθεινὴν εἰρήνην καθ' ἑκάστην ἀπελαύνει τὴν ἡμέραν, πολλὴν τῷ διαβόλῳ διὰ τῶν ὕβρεων διδοὺς τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν, καὶ ἰσχυρότερον ἐκεῖνον ποιῶν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς τὰ νεῦρα τῆς ἐκείνου δυνάμεως ἐκκόπτων, τοῦτον τὸν νόμον εἰσήγαγε. Καὶ γὰρ πολὺς αὐτῷ τῆς ἀγάπης ὁ λόγος. Ἡ γὰρ τῶν ἀγαθῶν μήτηρ ἁπάντων, καὶ τὸ τῶν μαθητῶν γνώρισμα, καὶ ἡ πάντα συνέχουσα τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς, αὕτη μάλιστα πάντων ἐστίν. Εἰκότως οὖν τὰς ῥίζας τῆς λυμαινομένης αὐτὴν ἀπεχθείας καὶ τὰς πηγὰς μετὰ πολλῆς ἀναιρεῖ τῆς σφοδρότητος. Μὴ τοίνυν ὑπερβολῆς τινος εἶναι νόμιζε τὰ λεγόμενα, ἀλλ' ἐννοήσας τὰ ἐξ αὐτῶν κατορθούμενα, θαύμασον τῶν νόμων τούτων τὴν ἡμερότητα. Οὐδὲν γὰρ τῷ Θεῷ περισπούδαστον, ὡς τὸ ἡνῶσθαι καὶ συνδεδέσθαι ἡμᾶς ἀλλήλοις. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ διὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ Καινῇ καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ