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words. For this reason Paul, speaking to the contrary, advises them: You are not your own, you were bought with a price; and he commands them not to live for themselves. Your lips are not your own, he says, but the Master's. For he made them, he fashioned them, he breathed life into them. But you possess them? But not all that we possess is ours; since we also possess money, deposited by others; and we lease land, given to us by others. So also God has leased these to you, not that you should bear thorns, but that you might change seeds into something useful; not for arrogance, not for deceit, but that you might make humility, and good report, and love sprout through them. And he gave you eyes, not that you should look licentiously, but that you might adorn them with self-control; and hands, not that you should strike, but that you should show mercy. And how can you say, 'Our lips are our own,' when you make them slaves to sin, to fornication, to impurity? Who is lord over us? O diabolical saying! O demonic soul! Do you see, O man, all of nature proclaiming your Master's strength, wisdom, care, and providence; your body, your soul, your life, things seen, things unseen, almost everything, so to speak, sending forth a voice and proclaiming the power of the Creator, and you say, 'Who is lord over us?' This is madness, this is frenzy, this is of a corrupt soul. For this reason, countless evils. But while these say, 'Who is lord over us?,' others confess the Master, but do away with the doctrine of judgment and punishment, purchasing a great punishment for a brief pleasure, and wishing to comfort themselves by not remembering Gehenna, they are unaware that through this fearlessness they are casting themselves into the abyss of destruction. Therefore I exhort you both to remember Gehenna, and to discourse about Gehenna; thus shape your soul with beauty. For the usefulness of these words is great. For God did not simply threaten it, and from there already make it plain, but so that by fear he might make us better. For this reason also the devil does and contrives everything, wishing to remove the memory of it. Therefore, do not cast out the memory, nor say, 'Why do I grieve myself out of season?' Do you grieve out of season? That is to be in pain out of season, when you are in pain in Gehenna. This is the time to be grieved, not that. And the rich man in the story of Lazarus shows this, who, though grieved a thousand times, gained no benefit. But if he had been in pain in season, he would not have suffered what he suffered. For the sake of the affliction of the poor, and for the groaning of the needy, now I will arise, says the Lord. I will set him in sa 55.147 fety; I will speak boldly in it. Another, I will set salvation openly. Learn how great is the strength of humility. The power of the poor—I mean the poor who are contrite in spirit—is the help that comes from suffering evil. For he does not speak here of a way of life, nor of virtue, but of suffering evil, he says; this rouses God, and calls him to punishment and defense. So great a thing it is to bear injustice nobly, so great is the providence of God for those who are mistreated, calamity becoming a most powerful advocacy through suffering evil. Great is the strength of a groan, calling down the impulse from above. Be afraid, all you who wrong the poor. You have power, and wealth, and money, and the favor of judges; but they have a weapon stronger than all, groans and lamentations, and the very fact of being wronged, which draw down alliance from heaven. This is the weapon that digs up houses, this has torn down foundations, this has destroyed cities, this has drowned whole nations; I speak of the groans of wronged men. God respects their right-mindedness, when, suffering evil, they utter no wicked word, but only groan, and lament their own evils. And what does it mean, 'I will set him in safety; I will speak boldly in it'? With boldness, he says,

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ῥήματα. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο ὁ Παῦλος ἀπεναντίας αὐτοῖς φθεγγόμενος παραινεῖ· Οὐκ ἐστὲ ἑαυτῶν, τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε· καὶ κελεύει μηδὲ ἑαυτοῖς ζῇν. Οὐ σά ἐστι τὰ χείλη, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου. Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐποίησεν αὐτὰ, αὐτὸς κατεσκεύασεν, αὐτὸς ζωὴν ἐνέπνευσεν. Ἀλλὰ σὺ ἔχεις; Ἀλλ' οὐ πάνθ' ὅσα ἔχομεν, ταῦτα ἡμέτερα· ἐπεὶ καὶ χρήματα ἔχομεν, ἑτέρων παρακαταθεμένων· καὶ γῆν μισθούμεθα, ἑτέρων ἡμῖν δεδωκότων. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ σοὶ ταῦτα ἐμίσθωσεν ὁ Θεὸς, οὐχ ἵνα ἀκάνθας φέρῃς, ἀλλ' ἵνα σπέρματα εἰς τὸ χρήσιμον μεταβάλῃς· οὐχ ἵνα ἀπόνοιαν, οὐχ ἵνα δόλον, ἀλλ' ἵνα ταπεινοφροσύνην, ἀλλ' ἵνα εὐφημίαν, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἀγάπην ποιήσῃς δι' αὐτῶν βλαστάνειν. Καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔδωκεν, οὐχ ἵνα ἀκόλαστα βλέπῃς, ἀλλ' ἵνα σωφροσύνῃ αὐτοὺς καλλωπίζῃς· καὶ χεῖρας, οὐχ ἵνα πλήττῃς, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἐλεῇς. Πῶς δὲ καὶ λέγεις, ὅτι Τὰ χείλη ἡμῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἐστιν, ὅταν τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτὰ ποιῇς δοῦλα, ὅταν τῆς πορνείας, ὅταν τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας; Τίς ἡμῶν κύριός ἐστιν; Ὢ διαβολικοῦ ῥήματος! ὢ ψυχῆς δαιμονώδους! Ὁρᾷς, ἄνθρωπε, τὴν φύσιν ἅπασαν ἀνακηρύττουσαν τοῦ ∆εσπότου σου τὴν ἰσχὺν, τὴν σοφίαν, τὴν κηδεμονίαν, τὴν πρόνοιαν· τὸ σῶμά σου, τὴν ψυχὴν, τὴν ζωὴν, τὰ ὁρώμενα, τὰ ἀόρατα, ἅπαντα σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν, φωνὴν ἀφιέντα καὶ ἀνακηρύττοντα τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ λέγεις· Τίς ἡμῶν κύριός ἐστι; Τοῦτο μανίας, τοῦτο παραπληξίας, τοῦτο διεφθαρμένης ψυχῆς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὰ μυρία κακά. Ἀλλ' οὗτοι μὲν λέγουσι· Τίς ἡμῶν κύριός ἐστιν, Ἄλλοι δὲ τὸν μὲν ∆εσπότην ὁμολογοῦσι, τὸν δὲ περὶ τῆς κρίσεως ἀναιροῦσι λόγον καὶ τῆς κολάσεως, βραχείας χάριτος μεγάλην ὠνούμενοι κόλασιν, καὶ βουλόμενοι τῷ μὴ μεμνῆσθαι γεέννης παραμυθεῖσθαι ἑαυτοὺς, λανθάνουσι διὰ τῆς ἀφοβίας ταύτης εἰς τὸ βάραθρον ἑαυτοὺς τῆς ἀπωλείας ἐμβάλλοντες. ∆ιὸ παρακαλῶ καὶ μεμνῆσθαι γεέννης, καὶ διαλέγεσθαι περὶ γεέννης· οὕτω διάπλαττε εὐμορφίᾳ τὴν ψυχήν. Πολὺ γὰρ τὸ χρήσιμον τῶν λόγων τούτων. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἁπλῶς ἠπείλησεν αὐτὴν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη δήλην ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα τῷ φόβῳ ποιήσῃ βελτίους. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ διάβολος πάντα ποιεῖ καὶ πραγματεύεται, ἐξαιρεῖν αὐτῆς τὴν μνήμην βουλόμενος. Μὴ τοίνυν ἔκβαλλε τὴν μνήμην, μηδὲ λέγε· Τί λυπῶ ἐμαυτὸν παρὰ καιρόν; Παρὰ καιρὸν λυπῇ; Ἐκεῖνό ἐστι παρὰ καιρὸν ἀλγεῖν, ὅταν ἐν τῇ γεέννῃ ἀλγῇς. Τοῦ λυπεῖσθαι καιρὸς οὗτος, οὐκ ἐκεῖνος. Καὶ τοῦτο δείκνυσιν ὁ πλούσιος ὁ ἐπὶ Λαζάρου, ὃς μυρία λυπηθεὶς οὐδὲν ὤνησεν. Εἰ δὲ εὐκαίρως ἤλγησεν, οὐκ ἂν ἔπαθεν ἅπερ ἔπαθεν. Ἕνεκεν τῆς ταλαιπωρίας τῶν πτωχῶν, καὶ τοῦ στεναγμοῦ τῶν πενήτων, νῦν ἀναστήσομαι, λέγει Κύριος. Θήσομαι ἐν σω 55.147 τηρίῳ, παῤῥησιάσομαι ἐν αὐτῷ. Ἄλλος, Τάξω σωτήριον ἐμφανές. Μάθε πόση τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης ἡ ἰσχύς. Τῶν πενήτων ἡ δύναμις πενήτων λέγω, τῶν τὴν διάνοιαν συντετριμμένων, τοῦ κακῶς πάσχειν ἐστὶν ἡ ἀντίληψις. Οὐδὲ γὰρ βίον ἐνταῦθά φησιν, οὐδὲ ἀρετὴν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πάσχειν κακῶς, φησὶ, τοῦτο ἀνίστησι τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἐκκαλεῖται πρὸς τιμωρίαν καὶ ἄμυναν. Τοσοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ ἀδικούμενον φέρειν γενναίως, τοσαύτη τῶν ἐπηρεαζομένων παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ πρόνοια, ἀντὶ μεγίστης συνηγορίας ἡ συμφορὰ καὶ τῷ πάσχειν κακῶς γινομένη. Μεγάλη τοῦ στεναγμοῦ ἡ ἰσχὺς, τὴν ἄνωθεν καλοῦσα ῥοπήν. Φοβήθητε ὅσοι τοὺς πένητας ἀδικεῖτε. Ἔχετε δύναμιν ὑμεῖς, καὶ πλοῦτον, καὶ χρήματα, καὶ δικαστῶν εὔνοιαν· ἀλλ' ἔχουσιν ἐκεῖνοι πάντων ἰσχυρότερον ὅπλον, τοὺς στεναγμοὺς καὶ τοὺς θρήνους, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἀδικεῖσθαι, ἅπερ τὴν ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐπισπᾶται συμμαχίαν. Τοῦτο τὸ ὅπλον οἰκίας ἀνορύττει, τοῦτο θεμελίους κατέσκαψε, τοῦτο πόλεις ἀνεῖλε, τοῦτο ὁλόκληρα ἔθνη κατεπόντισε· στεναγμοὺς ἀδικουμένων ἀνθρώπων λέγω. Αἰδεῖται τὴν εὐγνωμοσύνην αὐτῶν ὁ Θεὸς, ὅταν κακῶς πάσχοντες μηδὲν πονηρὸν ἐκφέρωσι ῥῆμα, στενάζωσι δὲ μόνον, καὶ ἀποδύρωνται τὰ οἰκεῖα κακά. Τί δέ ἐστι, Θήσομαι ἐν σωτηρίῳ, παῤῥησιάσομαι ἐν αὐτῷ; Μετὰ παῤῥησίας, φησὶν,