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to lament publicly with his naked wife and children? How is this not worse than any poverty? And not only are they not pitied, but they are also accused by us as being shameless. And you, who seize things, are not shameless, but he who begs for bread is shameless? Give to everyone who asks you, and from one who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. For how is it not absurd, that you spend your life gorging and fattening yourself, and dragging out your drinking into the late evening, and burying yourself in soft mattresses; while you overlook the poor man who is naked and trembling and starving? And why do I speak of nakedness and trembling, when some have even been forced to maim children of a tender age, in order to appeal to our insensibility? For since, going about able to see and naked, they drew no pity from the merciless, neither on account of their age nor on account of their misfortune, they added to so many evils another more grievous tragedy, in order to relieve their hunger; thinking it a lighter thing to be deprived of this common light and the ray given to all, than to struggle with continual hunger and to endure the most pitiable death. Truly a great thing is man, and a precious thing is a merciful man. For it is almsgiving when it is done with readiness, when with liberality, when you do not think you are giving but receiving, when it is as one receiving a benefit, when it is as one gaining and not losing, since otherwise this is not even a favor; for one who pities another ought to rejoice, not be displeased. For how is it not absurd, if in relieving another's despondency, you yourself are despondent? For if you are despondent because you have delivered another from despondency, you display a sign of the utmost cruelty and inhumanity; for it is better not to deliver, than to deliver in this way. But why are you despondent at all, O man? Is your gold becoming less? In short, if you have such a disposition, do not give at all; if you are not confident that it is multiplied for you many times over in the heavens, do not provide it. But do you seek the return here? Why? let almsgiving be almsgiving, and not a trade. Many, then, have received their reward here too, but they have not received it in such a way as to have more by this than those who have not received it; but those who seek and receive it here, diminish their reward there. Let us not say, therefore, that "So-and-so is wicked and not worthy to be well-treated," "so-and-so is lowly," "so-and-so is an outcast." Do not look to the worthiness 63.728 of the one needing the remedy, but only to the need; for even if he is lowly and an outcast, even if he is contemptible, Christ so reckons the reward to you, as though He himself had been well-treated through that man. Peter and John were once going up into the temple to pray, and behold, a man lame from his mother's womb was being carried, and was laid at the door of the temple; and seeing them entering, he paid attention to them, seeking to receive alms from them. What then did Peter say? "Look at us," he says. The proof of his having no possessions was sufficient from his appearance; there was no need of words nor of a response; his clothing shows you the man without possessions. What then? Is this the whole success of the apostleship toward the poor man, that you should not correct his poverty, that you should say to him, "I have no gold and silver"? Wait a little, and you will see greater wealth; "Silver and gold," he says, "I do not have; but what I do have, this I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk." Did you see the poverty of money, and the wealth of spiritual gifts? See then also his gentleness: "Look at us," he says. He did not insult him, he did not revile him, he did not repulse him, which we often do to those who entreat us, demanding an account from them, sending them off to work, accusing them because they are idle. For were you not taught this, O man? you were not commanded to bring charges of idleness, nor to accuse of wickedness, nor to reproach for sloth, but to correct poverty, and to heal misfortune, and to extend a hand to those who have fallen. Therefore do not be a busybody about lives and actions when you are about to give alms; for this is a mark of the utmost bad taste, to scrutinize an entire life for the sake of a single loaf of bread. For if the one begging is a murderer, if he is a robber, if he is anything whatever, does it not seem to you that for bread and a few coins

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ἀποδύρεσθαι δημοσίᾳ μετὰ τῆς γυναικὸς γεγυμνωμένης καὶ τῶν παίδων; πόσης ταῦτα πενίας οὐ χείρονα; Καὶ οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐλεοῦνται, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατηγοροῦνται παρ' ἡμῶν ὡς ἀναίσχυντοι. Καὶ σὺ μὲν ἁρπάζων οὐκ ἀναίσχυντος, ἐκεῖνος δὲ ὑπὲρ ἄρτου δεόμενος ἀναίσχυντος; Παντὶ τῷ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου, καὶ τὸν θέλοντα ἀπὸ σοῦ δανείσασθαι μὴ ἀποστραφῇς. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον, ὅτι σὺ μὲν γαστριζόμενος καὶ πιαινόμενος, καὶ εἰς ἑσπέραν βαθεῖαν τὸν πότον παρασύρων, καὶ μαλακοῖς ἐνθαπτόμενος στρώμασι τὸν βίον διατελεῖς· τὸν δὲ πένητα γυμνὸν καὶ τρέμοντα καὶ λιμώττοντα περιορᾷς; Καὶ τί λέγω γύμνωσιν καὶ τρόμον, ὅπου γε καὶ παῖδας ἠναγκάσθησαν πηρῶσαί τινες ἄωρον ἄγοντας ἡλικίαν, ἵνα τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀναισθησίας καθίκωνται; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ βλέποντες καὶ γυμνοὶ περιιόντες, οὔτε ἀπὸ τῆς ἡλικίας, οὔτε ἀπὸ τῆς συμφορᾶς τοὺς ἀνηλεεῖς ἐπεσπάσαντο, προσέθηκαν τοῖς τοσούτοις κακοῖς ἑτέραν χαλεπωτέραν τραγῳδίαν, ἵνα λύσωσι τὸν λιμόν· κουφότερον εἶναι νομίζοντες ἀποστερεῖσθαι τοῦ κοινοῦ τούτου φωτὸς καὶ τῆς πᾶσι δεδομένης ἀκτῖνος, ἢ λιμῷ παλαίειν διηνεκεῖ, καὶ τὸν οἴκτιστον ὑπομένειν θάνατον. Ὄντως μέγα ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τίμιον ἀνὴρ ἐλεήμων. Ἐλεημοσύνη γάρ ἐστιν, ὅταν μετὰ προθυμίας γίνηται, ὅταν μετὰ δαψιλείας, ὅταν μὴ νομίσῃς διδόναι, ἀλλὰ λαμβάνειν, ὅταν ὡς εὐεργετούμενος, ὅταν ὡς κερδαίνων καὶ μὴ ἀπολλὺς, ἐπεὶ τοῦτο οὐδὲ χάρις· τὸν γὰρ ἕτερον ἐλεοῦντα χαίρειν, οὐ δυσχεραίνειν χρή. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον, εἰ τὴν ἑτέρου λύων ἀθυμίαν αὐτὸς ἀθυμεῖς; Εἰ γὰρ ἀθυμεῖς, ὅτι ἕτερον ἀπήλλαξας ἀθυμίας, ἐσχάτης ὠμότητος καὶ ἀπανθρωπίας δεῖγμα ἐκφέρεις· βέλτιον γὰρ μὴ ἀπαλλάττειν, ἢ οὕτως ἀπαλλάττειν. Τί δὲ καὶ ὅλως ἀθυμεῖς, ἄνθρωπε; μὴ ἔλαττόν σοι γίνηται τὸ χρυσίον; Ὅλως, εἰ τοιαύτην ἔχεις προαίρεσιν, μηδὲ δῷς· εἰ μὴ θαῤῥεῖς, ὅτι πολυπλασιάζεταί σοι ἐν οὐρανοῖς, μὴ παράσχῃς. Ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα ζητεῖς τὴν ἀντίδοσιν; ∆ιὰ τί; ἄφες τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην ἐλεημοσύνην εἶναι, καὶ μὴ ἐμπορίαν. Πολλοὶ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἀπέλαβον, ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ἔλαβον, ὡς ταύτῃ πλέον ἕξοντες τῶν οὐ λαβόντων· οἱ δὲ ἐνταῦθα ἐπιζητοῦντες καὶ λαμβάνοντες, τὸν μισθὸν ἐλαττοῦσι τὸν ἐκεῖ. Μὴ τοίνυν λέγωμεν ὅτι Ὁ δεῖνα πονηρὸς καὶ οὐκ ἄξιος εὖ παθεῖν, ὁ δεῖνα εὐτελὴς, ὁ δεῖνα ἀπεῤῥιμμένος. Μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀξίαν ἴδῃς 63.728 τοῦ δεομένου τῆς θεραπείας, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν μόνον· κἂν γὰρ εὐτελὴς ᾖ καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένος, κἂν εὐκαταφρόνητος, οὕτω σοι ὁ Χριστὸς λογίζεται τὸν μισθὸν, ὡς αὐτὸς εὖ παθὼν δι' ἐκείνου. Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἀνέβαινόν ποτε εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν προσεύξασθαι, καὶ ἰδοὺ χωλὸς ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ βασταζόμενος, ἔκειτο πρὸς τὴν θύραν τοῦ ἱεροῦ· καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτοὺς εἰσιόντας προσεῖχεν αὐτοῖς, ζητῶν ἐλεημοσύνην λαβεῖν παρ' αὐτῶν. Τί οὖν ὁ Πέτρος; Βλέψον εἰς ἡμᾶς, φησὶν, ἱκανὴ ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως ἡ ἀπόδειξις τῆς ἀκτημοσύνης· οὐ χρεία λόγων οὐδὲ ἀποκρίσεως· ὁ στολισμὸς δείκνυσί σοι τὸν ἀκτήμονα. Τί οὖν; τοῦτο ὅλον τὸ κατόρθωμα τῆς ἀποστολῆς πρὸς τὸν πένητα ἵνα μὴ διορθώσῃ τὴν πενίαν, ἵνα εἴπῃς αὐτῷ, Οὐκ ἔχω χρυσίον καὶ ἀργύριον; Ἀνάμεινον μικρὸν, καὶ ὄψει μείζονα πλοῦτον· Ἀργύριον, φησὶ, καὶ χρυσίον οὐχ ὑπάρχει μοι· ὃ δὲ ἔχω, τοῦτό σοι δίδωμι· ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔγειραι καὶ περιπάτει. Εἶδες πενίαν χρημάτων, καὶ πλοῦτον χαρισμάτων; Ὅρα λοιπὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἐπιείκειαν· Βλέψον εἰς ἡμᾶς, φησίν. Οὐχ ὕβρισεν, οὐκ ἐλοιδόρησεν, οὐκ ἀπεκρούσατο, ὃ πολλάκις ποιοῦμεν ἡμεῖς πρὸς τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας ἡμῖν, εὐθύνας αὐτοὺς ἀπαιτοῦντες, πρὸς ἐργασίαν αὐτοὺς παραπέμποντες, ἐγκαλοῦντες αὐτοῖς ὅτι καθεύδουσι. Μὴ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐπαιδεύθης, ἄνθρωπε; οὐκ ἐκελεύσθης ἀργίαν ἐγκαλεῖν, οὐδὲ κακίαν κατηγορεῖν, οὐδὲ νωθρείαν ὀνειδίζειν, ἀλλὰ πενίαν διορθοῦσθαι, καὶ συμφορὰν ἰᾶσθαι, καὶ χεῖρα τοῖς κειμένοις ὀρέγειν. Μὴ τοίνυν βίους καὶ πράξεις πολυπραγμόνει, μέλλων ἐλεημοσύνην ποιεῖν· καὶ γὰρ ἐσχάτης τοῦτο ἀπειροκαλίας ἐστὶν, ὑπὲρ ἑνὸς ἄρτου ζωὴν ὁλόκληρον περιεργάζεσθαι. Εἰ γὰρ ἀνδροφόνος, εἰ γὰρ λῃστὴς, εἰ γὰρ ὁτιοῦν ὁ προσαιτῶν ἐστιν, ἄρτου καὶ ἀργυρίων ὀλίγων οὐ δοκεῖ σοι