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the widow put in her obols, but that having only these, she did not spare them, but brought in her entire substance. Therefore we need not abundance, but eagerness. For just as when this is present, no harm would come from poverty; so when it is absent, no benefit would come from wealth. For on this account the rich, being wicked, will be punished more than the poor, because even in prosperity they have not become gentle. For do not tell me that they gave alms; for if they did not give in proportion to their substance, not even so will they escape punishment. For almsgiving is not judged by the measure of what is given, but by the generosity of the will. And is it possi 63.717 ble, he says, for a rich man to be saved? Entirely. Abraham was rich. You have seen his wealth? Look at his hospitality also; And about noonday the Lord appeared to him by the oak of Mamre as he was sitting, and three men. And rising up (for he did not suppose that God was present; for how could he?) he worshipped and says, If you have judged me worthy, that you might enter into my tent. Have you seen what the old man was doing at midday? not sitting under a roof, but as a stranger and a wayfarer, the rich and noble man, leaving house, wife, children, servants, went out to fish, spreading a net of hospitality, lest some stranger, lest some wayfarer, should pass by the house. And see what he does. He does not entrust it to a servant, although he had three hundred and eighteen (for he knew that the race of servants is lazy), lest the servant might doze off, and the stranger pass by, and we should lose the catch; but he himself sat, receiving the hot ray like dew in the heat; and his desire for hospitality was a shade for him. Behold Abraham; behold the rich man. Do you deign to even see a poor man at all? or to answer him? or to speak with him? Do you wish to imitate Abraham? I do not forbid it, but even desire it; and yet greater things are required of us than of Abraham. And what, he says, did Abraham have? He was hospitable. And Abraham arose, it says, and worshipped, not even knowing who they were who were present. For if he had known, he would have done nothing wonderful, in that he was serving God; but his ignorance of those who had arrived shows his eagerness for hospitality to be greater. And he also calls Sarah, making her a sharer in his hospitality; Let the things of marriage, he says, be in common, and also the things of virtue; make haste and knead three measures of fine flour. And she did not say anything like this: For these hopes was I chosen, that you should make me a miller-woman and a baker, I who have so much wealth? You have three hundred and eighteen slaves, and you did not go to command them, but you cast me into this service? but she hears, Make haste, and seizes the command. Where are the women of today? Do they receive such commands? Show me her hand, and you see it gilded on the outside, but possessing a siege within. The plunder of how many poor does your hand bear? Show me your hand, show me what it is clothed in: avarice. Show the hand of Sarah, what is it clothed in? Hospitality, almsgiving, love, love for the poor. Make haste and knead three measures of fine flour. And he himself ran to the herd of cattle. They divide the labor, so that they might divide the crown. Then he sacrificed the calf. At once the old man became a runner; for the tone of his flesh was not relaxed, but the mind of his philosophy was strengthened; his eagerness conquered nature. The master of three hundred and eighteen servants, carrying a calf, was not weighed down by the burden, but was lightened by his mind and his eagerness. The race lay before the old man. How great the labor? But he did not feel the labor, because of the hope of gain. What then did the one who had come say? At this time I will return, and Sarah shall have a son. Have you seen what sort of fruit the table produced? how beautiful? how swift? how ripe? how the cluster of grapes is ripening and perfected? Such are the fruits of hospitality. 63.718 Let us not therefore think that our substance is diminished for us when we give alms; for it is not diminished, but it increases; it is not spent, but it abounds, and what is done is a kind of business and seed; but rather it is more profitable than both of these and

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κατέβαλεν ὀβολοὺς ἡ χήρα, ἀλλ' ὅτι μόνους ἔχουσα τούτους οὐκ ἐφείσατο, ἀλλ' ὁλόκληρον τὴν οὐσίαν εἰσήνεγκεν. Οὐ τοίνυν περιουσίας, ἀλλὰ προθυμίας ἡμῖν δεῖ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ταύτης παρούσης, οὐδὲν βλάβος γένοιτ' ἂν ἀπὸ πενίας· οὕτως ἀπούσης οὐδὲν ὄφελος γένοιτ' ἂν ἐξ εὐπορίας. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο οἱ πλουτοῦντες τῶν πενήτων μᾶλλον κολασθήσονται κακοὶ ὄντες, ὅτι μηδὲ ἐν εὐθηνίᾳ γεγόνασιν ἥμεροι. Μὴ γάρ μοι λέγε, ὅτι ἔδωκαν ἐλεημοσύνην· εἰ γὰρ μὴ κατ' ἀξίαν ἔδωκαν τῆς οὐσίας, οὐδ' οὕτω τὴν κόλασιν διαφεύξονται. Οὐ γὰρ τῷ μέτρῳ τῶν διδομένων ἡ ἐλεημοσύνη κρίνεται, ἀλλὰ τῇ δαψιλείᾳ τῆς γνώμης. Καὶ ἔστι δυνα 63.717 τὸν, φησὶ, πλούσιον σωθῆναι; Καὶ πάνυ. Ὁ Ἀβραὰμ πλούσιος ἦν. Εἶδες αὐτοῦ τὸν πλοῦτον; βλέπε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν φιλοξενίαν· Κατὰ δὲ τὸ μεσημβρινὸν ὤφθη αὐτῷ Κύριος πρὸς τῇ δρυῒ τῇ Μαμβρῇ καθημένῳ, καὶ τρεῖς ἄνδρες. Καὶ ἀναστάς (οὐ γὰρ ἐνόμιζεν ὅτι Θεὸς ἦν ὁ παρών· πῶς γάρ;) προσεκύνησε καὶ λέγει, Εἰ κεκρίκατέ με ἄξιον, ἵνα εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τῶν δοκῶν μου. Εἶδες τί ἐποίει ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ ὁ γέρων; οὐχ ὑπὸ στέγην καθήμενος, ἀλλ' ὡς ξένος καὶ ὁδοιπόρος, ὁ πλούσιος καὶ εὐγενὴς, καταλιπὼν οἰκίαν, γυναῖκα, παῖδας, οἰκέτας, ἐξῆλθεν ἁλιεῦσαι, σαγήνην ἁπλώσας φιλοξενίας, μήπου ξένος, μήπου ὁδοιπόρος, καὶ παραδράμῃ τὴν οἰκίαν. Καὶ βλέπε τί ποιεῖ. Οὐκ ἐπιτρέπει οἰκέτῃ, καίτοι τριακοσίους δέκα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔχων (ᾔδει γὰρ ὅτι ῥᾴθυμόν ἐστι τὸ γένος τῶν οἰκετῶν), μήπου ἀπονυστάξῃ ὁ οἰκέτης, καὶ παραδράμῃ ὁ ξένος, καὶ ἀπολέσωμεν τὴν ἄγραν· ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἐκάθητο, τὴν θερμὴν ἀκτῖνα ὡς δρόσον ἐν καύματι δεχόμενος· καὶ σκιὰ ἦν αὐτῷ ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς φιλοξενίας. Ἴδε ὁ Ἀβραάμ· ἴδε ὁ πλούσιος. Καταξιοῖς σὺ ὅλως κἂν ἰδεῖν πένητα; κἂν ἀποκριθῆναι; κἂν διαλεχθῆναι; Θέλεις μιμεῖσθαι τὸν Ἀβραάμ; οὐ κωλύω, ἀλλὰ καὶ βούλομαι· καίτοι μείζονα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἀπαιτούμεθα. Καὶ τί, φησὶν, εἶχεν ὁ Ἀβραάμ; Φιλόξενος ἦν. Καὶ ἀνέστη, φησὶν, Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ προσεκύνησεν, οὐδὲ εἰδὼς τίνες ἦσαν οἱ παρόντες. Εἰ γὰρ ᾔδει, οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν ἐποίει, ὅτι Θεὸν ἐθεράπευεν· ἀλλ' ἡ ἄγνοια τῶν παραγενομένων μείζονα αὐτοῦ δείκνυσι τῆς φιλοξενίας τὴν προθυμίαν. Καὶ καλεῖ καὶ τὴν Σάῤῥαν, κοινωνὸν ποιῶν τῆς φιλοξενίας· Κοινὰ, φησὶ, τὰ τοῦ γάμου ἔστω, καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς· σπεῦσον καὶ φύρασον τρία μέτρα σεμιδάλεως. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπέ τι τοιοῦτο· Ἐπὶ ταύταις ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἔλαχον, ἵνα με μυλωθρίδα καὶ ἀρτοποιὸν ποιήσῃς, τὴν πλοῦτον ἔχουσαν τοσοῦτον; τριακοσίους δέκα καὶ ὀκτὼ δούλους ἔχεις, καὶ οὐκ ἦλθες ἐκείνοις ἐπιτάξαι, ἀλλ' ἐμὲ εἰς διακονίαν ταύτην ἐμβάλλεις; ἀλλ' ἀκούει, Σπεῦσον, καὶ ἁρπάζει τὸ ἐπίταγμα. Ποῦ αἱ νῦν γυναῖκες; ἆρα τοιαῦτα ἐπιτάγματα δέχονται; Ἔκβαλέ μοι αὐτῆς τὴν χεῖρα, καὶ ὁρᾷς αὐτὴν κατακεχρυσωμένην ἔξωθεν, ἔσωθεν δὲ πολιορκίαν κεκτημένην. Πόσων πενήτων πλεονεξίαν ἡ χείρ σου βαστάζει; ἔκβαλέ μοι τὴν χεῖρά σου, δεῖξον αὐτὴν τί ἐνδέδυται· πλεονεξίαν. Ἔκβαλε τὴν χεῖρα τῆς Σάῤῥας, τί ἐνδέδυται; φιλοξενίαν, ἐλεημοσύνην, ἀγάπην, φιλοπτωχίαν. Σπεῦσον καὶ φύρασον τρία μέτρα σεμιδάλεως. Καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδραμεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀγέλην τῶν βοῶν. Μερίζονται τὸν πόνον, ἵνα μερίσωνται τὸν στέφανον. Εἶτα ἔθυσε τὸν μόσχον. Ὁμοῦ δρομεὺς ἐγένετο ὁ γέρων· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐχαυνοῦτο αὐτῷ τῆς σαρκὸς ὁ τόνος, ἀλλ' ἐπενεύρωτο τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἡ διάνοια· ἐνίκησε τὴν φύσιν ἡ προθυμία. Ὁ δεσπότης τριακοσίων δέκα καὶ ὀκτὼ οἰκετῶν, μόσχον βαστάζων οὐκ ἐβαρύνετο τῷ ἄχθει, ἀλλ' ἐκουφίζετο τῇ διανοίᾳ καὶ τῇ προθυμίᾳ. Ὁ δρόμος τῷ γέροντι προὔκειτο. Πόσος ὁ πόνος; ἀλλ' οὐκ ᾐσθάνετο τοῦ πόνου, διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῦ κέρδους. Τί οὖν ὁ παραγενόμενος; Κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἐλεύσομαι, καὶ ἔσται τῇ Σάῤῥᾳ υἱός. Εἶδες οἷον καρπὸν ἐβλάστησεν ἡ τράπεζα; πῶς καλόν; πῶς ταχύν; πῶς ὥριμον; πῶς ὁ βότρυς περκάζων καὶ ἀπηρτισμένος; Τοιοῦτοι τῆς φιλοξενίας οἱ καρ 63.718 ποί. Μὴ τοίνυν νομίζωμεν ἡμῖν ἐλαττοῦσθαι τὴν οὐσίαν, ὅταν ἐλεημοσύνην παρέχωμεν· οὐ γὰρ ἐλαττοῦται, ἀλλ' αὔξεται· οὐ δαπανᾶται, ἀλλὰ πλεονάζει, καὶ πραγματεία τίς ἐστι καὶ σπόρος τὸ γινόμενον· μᾶλλον δὲ ἀμφοτέρων τούτων κερδαλεώτερον καὶ