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it has a teaching of philosophy. He who is in pain and affliction has sufficient comfort; he who is in luxury and extravagance, a great lesson in moderation. For when, reclining at table, you remember this saying, you will quickly leap away from drunkenness and gluttony, having learned through this word that we must be in a state of contest; and you will say to yourself: Paul in bonds and prisons, and I in drunkenness and at a luxurious table; and what excuse will I find? This saying is also suitable for women; for those who love adornment and luxury, and bind themselves all over with gold, when they remember this chain, they will hate, I know well, and abhor that adornment, and will run to these bonds. For those things have often become the cause of many evils, and have brought countless wars into the household, and have given birth to envy and malice and hatred; but these things have loosed the sins of the world, and have frightened demons, and have driven away the devil. With these, while dwelling in prison he persuaded the jailer, with these he won over Agrippa, with these Paul made many disciples. For this reason he also said: In which I suffer hardship, even to the point of chains, as a criminal; but the word of God is not bound. For just as it is not possible to bind a sunbeam or shut it up in a house, so neither is it possible to bind the word of the preaching. And the more the teacher was bound, the more the word flew; he inhabited the prison, and his teaching, taking flight, ran to every part of the world. 6. Knowing these things, then, let us not be cast down by troubles, but rather let us then become more powerful, then stronger; for affliction produces endurance. Let us not grieve over the calamities that befall us, but in all things give thanks to God. We have passed the second week of the fast, but let us not consider this; for it is not to have completed a fast, if we have completed the time. Let us consider this, whether we have become more earnest, whether we have corrected any of our faults, whether we have washed away our sins. It is a custom for everyone during Lent to ask how many weeks each person has fasted; and it is possible to hear some saying that they fasted two, others three, and others all the weeks. And what is the profit, if we pass through the fast devoid of good works? If another says, "I have fasted all of Lent," you say, "I had an enemy, and I was reconciled; I had a habit of speaking evil, and I stopped; I had a habit of swearing, and I broke the wicked habit." There is no benefit to merchants if they traverse a great length of the sea, unless they sail with cargo and much merchandise; there is no benefit of the fast for us, if we go through it simply and idly and in vain. If we keep the fast from foods, when the forty days are past, the fast is also past; if 49.170 we abstain from sins, even when this fast is past, that one remains again, and our benefit from it will be continuous, and before the kingdom of heaven it will give us no small rewards here; for just as he who lives in wickedness is punished even before Gehenna, being pricked by his conscience, so he who is rich in good works, even before the kingdom, will enjoy the greatest joy, being nourished by good hopes. For this reason Christ says: I will see you again, and you will rejoice, and no one takes your joy from you. The saying is short, but it has much consolation. What then is the meaning of, No one takes your joy from you? If you have money, many can take from you the joy that comes from wealth: a thief digging through a wall, and a servant taking away what was entrusted to him, and a king confiscating it, and an envious man behaving spitefully. If you have power, many can take from you the joy that comes from it; for when the things of authority are taken away, the things of pleasure will also be taken away; and even in authority itself many concurrent matters, having difficulty and cares, cut away your cheerfulness. If you have strength of body, a sickness coming upon it destroyed that which is from it

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ἔχει φιλοσοφίας διδασκαλίαν. Ὁ ἐν ὀδύνῃ καὶ θλίψει, ἀρκοῦσαν ἔχει παράκλησιν· ὁ ἐν τρυφῇ καὶ πολυτελείᾳ, μέγαν σωφρονισμόν. Ὅταν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης κατακείμενος ἀναμνησθῇς τῆς ῥήσεως ταύτης, ἀποπηδήσεις ταχέως τῆς μέθης καὶ τῆς ἀδηφαγίας, μαθὼν διὰ τῆς λέξεως ταύτης, ὅτι ἐναγωνίους ἡμᾶς εἶναι χρή· καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐρεῖς· Παῦλος ἐν δεσμοῖς καὶ δεσμωτηρίοις, ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν μέθῃ καὶ πολυτελεῖ τραπέζῃ· καὶ ποίας τεύξομαι συγγνώμης; Τοῦτο καὶ γυναιξὶν ἐπιτήδειον τὸ ῥῆμα· αἱ γὰρ φιλόκοσμοι καὶ πολυτελεῖς, καὶ χρυσῷ πάντοθεν ἑαυτὰς καταδεσμοῦσαι, τῆς ἁλύσεως ταύτης ἀναμνησθεῖσαι, μισήσουσιν, εὖ οἶδ' ὅτι, καὶ βδελύξονται τὸν κόσμον ἐκεῖνον, καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα δραμοῦνται τὰ δεσμά. Ἐκεῖνα μὲν γὰρ πολλῶν κακῶν αἴτια γέγονε πολλάκις, καὶ μυρίους πολέμους εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν συνήγαγε, καὶ φθόνους καὶ βασκανίας καὶ μῖσος ἔτεκε· ταῦτα δὲ τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἔλυσε, καὶ δαίμονας ἐφόβησε, καὶ διάβολον ἐφυγάδευσε. Μετὰ τούτων ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ διατρίβων τὸν δεσμοφύλακα ἔπεισε, μετὰ τούτων τὸν Ἀγρίππαν ἐπεσπάσατο, μετὰ τούτων πολλοὺς μαθητὰς κατεσκεύασεν ὁ Παῦλος, ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἔλεγεν· Ἐν ᾧ κακοπαθῶ μέχρι δεσμῶν, ὡς κακοῦργος, ἀλλ' ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐ δέδεται. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἀκτῖνα δῆσαι οὐ δυνατὸν οὐδὲ συγκλεῖσαι ἐν οἰκίᾳ, οὕτως οὐδὲ τοῦ κηρύγματος τὸν λόγον. Καὶ πολλῷ πλέον ὁ διδάσκαλος ἐδέδετο, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐπέτετο· ἐκεῖνος τὸ δεσμωτήριον ᾤκει, καὶ ἡ διδασκαλία πτερωθεῖσα πανταχόσε τῆς οἰκουμένης ἔτρεχε. ςʹ. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδότες μὴ προκαταπίπτωμεν ἐπὶ τοῖς δεινοῖς, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τότε δυνατώτεροι γινώμεθα, τότε ἰσχυρότεροι· Ἡ γὰρ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται. Μὴ ἀλγῶμεν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐπαγομέναις συμφοραῖς, ἀλλ' ἐν ἅπασιν εὐχαριστῶμεν τῷ Θεῷ. ∆ευτέραν ἑβδομάδα τῆς νηστείας παρήλθομεν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῦτο σκοπῶμεν· οὐ γὰρ τοῦτό ἐστι παρελθεῖν νηστείαν, ἐὰν τὸν χρόνον παρέλθωμεν. Τοῦτο λογισώμεθα, εἰ σπουδαιότεροι γεγόναμεν, εἰ διωρθώσαμέν τι τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐλαττωμάτων, εἰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἀπενιψάμεθα. Ἔθος ἅπασιν ἐρωτᾷν κατὰ τὴν Τεσσαρακοστὴν, πόσας ἕκαστος ἑβδομάδας ἐνήστευσε· καὶ ἔστιν ἀκοῦσαι λεγόντων τῶν μὲν, ὅτι δύο, τῶν δὲ, ὅτι τρεῖς, τῶν δὲ, ὅτι πάσας ἐνήστευσαν τὰς ἑβδομάδας. Καὶ τί τὸ κέρδος, ἐὰν ἔρημοι κατορθωμάτων παρέλθωμεν τὴν νηστείαν; Ἐὰν ἕτερος λέγῃ, ὅτι Πᾶσαν ἐνήστευσα τὴν τεσσαρακοστὴν, σὺ εἰπὲ, ὅτι Ἐχθρὸν εἶχον, καὶ κατηλλάγην· ἔθος εἶχον κακηγορεῖν, καὶ ἐπαυσάμην· ἔθος εἶχον ὀμνύναι, καὶ ἔλυσα τὸ πονηρὸν ἔθος. Οὐδὲν ὄφελος τοῖς ἐμπόροις, ἂν πολὺ μῆκος πελάγους παραδράμωσιν, ἀλλ' ἐὰν μετὰ φορτίων πλέωσι καὶ πολλῆς τῆς ἐμπορίας· οὐδὲν ὄφελος τῆς νηστείας ἡμῖν, ἂν παρέλθωμεν αὐτὴν ἁπλῶς καὶ εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην. Ἂν τὴν τῶν βρωμάτων νηστεύωμεν νηστείαν, παρελθουσῶν τῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν παρέρχεται καὶ ἡ νηστεία· ἐὰν 49.170 δὲ ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπεχώμεθα, καὶ τῆς νηστείας παρελθούσης ταύτης, ἐκείνη πάλιν μένει, καὶ διηνεκὴς ἔσται ἐντεῦθεν ἡμῖν ἡ ὠφέλεια, καὶ πρὸ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν οὐ μικρὰς ἡμῖν ἐνταῦθα ἀποδώσει τὰς ἀμοιβάς· ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ ζῶν ἐν πονηρίᾳ, καὶ πρὸ τῆς γεέννης κολάζεται τῷ συνειδότι κεντούμενος· οὕτως ὁ πλουτῶν ἐν κατορθώμασι, καὶ πρὸ τῆς βασιλείας χαρᾶς μεγίστης ἀπολαύσεται, χρησταῖς ἐντρεφόμενος ἐλπίσι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ Χριστός φησι· Πάλιν ὄψομαι ὑμᾶς, καὶ χαρήσεσθε, καὶ τὴν χαρὰν ὑμῶν οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει. Βραχὺ τὸ ῥῆμα, ἀλλὰ πολλὴν ἔχει παραμυθίαν. Τί ποτ' οὖν ἐστι, Τὴν χαρὰν ὑμῶν οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει; Χρήματα ἂν ἔχῃς, πολλοὶ δύνανταί σου τὴν χαρὰν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ πλούτου λαβεῖν, καὶ κλέπτης διορύττων τοῖχον, καὶ οἰκέτης ἀφαιρούμενος τὰ ἐμπιστευθέντα, καὶ βασιλεὺς δημεύων, καὶ βάσκανος ἄνθρωπος ἐπηρεάζων. ∆υναστείαν ἂν ἔχῃς, πολλοὶ δύνανταί σου λαβεῖν τὴν ἀπὸ ταύτης χαράν· ὅταν γὰρ παραλυθῇ τὰ τῆς ἀρχῆς, παραλυθήσεται καὶ τὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς· καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ ἀρχῇ πολλὰ συμπίπτοντα πράγματα, δυσκολίαν ἔχοντα καὶ φροντίδας, ὑποτέμνεταί σου τὴν εὐθυμίαν. Ἰσχὺν σώματος ἐὰν ἔχῃς, νόσος ἐπελθοῦσα κατέλυσε τὴν ἀπὸ ταύτης