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There is no one, not a father, not a mother, not a friend, not anyone at all, who has loved us as God who made us. And this is especially clear both from the good things He does each day, and from what He commands. But if you speak to me of sorrows, and pains, and the evils of life, consider how many things you do to offend Him each day, and you will no longer wonder, even if more evils than these should come upon you; but if you should enjoy any good thing, then you will wonder and be astonished. But now we look at the misfortunes that come upon us, but the offenses, which we commit each day, we do not consider; for this reason we are distressed. For if we were to reckon our sins for just one day with exactness, then we would know well for how many evils we would be responsible. And so that, leaving aside the other things that each has done wrong privately, I might speak of the things happening today; and yet I do not know what each of us has sinned; but nevertheless the abundance of transgressions is so great, that not even one who knows all things accurately would be able to choose from them. For who of us has not been slothful in praying? who has not been despondent? who has not been vainglorious? who has not spoken evil of his brother, nor received a wicked desire? has not looked with licentious eyes? has not remembered an enemy with passion, and caused his heart to swell? And if, while in church, and in a short time, we have become responsible for so many evils, what shall we be when we have gone out from here? if in the harbor the waves are so great, when we go out into the channel of evils, I mean the marketplace, and public affairs, and the cares of the household, will we even be able to recognize ourselves? But yet for deliverance from so many and so great sins 57.284 God has given us a short and easy way, and one freed from all labor. For what labor is it to forgive the one who has grieved you? It is labor, then, not to forgive, but to hold on to enmity; whereas to be delivered from anger both produces great relief, and is very easy for one who is willing. 8. For one does not need to cross a sea, nor travel a long road, nor go over mountain peaks, nor spend money, nor exhaust the body, but it is enough only to be willing, and all sins are loosed. But if you not only do not forgive yourself, but also petition God against him, what hope of salvation will you have left, when at the very time you are propitiating Him and praying, you then provoke Him, being clothed in the guise of a suppliant, but uttering the cries of a beast, and sharpening those arrows of the Evil One against yourself? For this reason Paul also, when mentioning prayer, sought nothing so much as the keeping of this commandment; For lifting up holy hands, he says, without anger and quarreling. For if when you have need of mercy, you do not even then put away your anger, but are very mindful of it, and this knowing that you are thrusting the sword against yourself, when will you be able to become philanthropic, and to blunt the poison of this wickedness? And if you have not yet seen the greatness of this absurdity, consider it happening among men, and then you will see the excess of the insolence. For if someone came to you, a mere man, asking to be pitied, then while lying on the ground saw an enemy, and leaving off supplicating you, began to strike him, would you not have become more angry? Consider that this also happens in the case of God. For you too, while supplicating God, in the midst of your supplication leave off, strike your enemy with your words, and insult the laws of God, calling upon the Lawgiver who decreed that all anger be put away against the good who have grieved us, and asking Him to do things contrary to His own commands. Is it not sufficient grounds for your punishment that you transgress the law of God, but you also call upon Him to do this? For has He forgotten what He commanded? For is the one who said these things a man? He is God, who knows all things, and who wishes his own laws to be kept with all exactness, and is so far from doing these things that you ask, that He both turns away from and hates you who say these things for merely saying them, and demands the ultimate penalty. How then do you ask to receive from him, from which things he himself with great ... you should abstain

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ἔστιν οὐδεὶς, κἂν πατὴρ, κἂν μήτηρ, κἂν φίλος, κἂν ὁστισοῦν, ὃς οὕτως ἡμᾶς ἠγάπησεν, ὡς ὁ ποιήσας ἡμᾶς Θεός. Καὶ τοῦτο μάλιστα καὶ ἐξ ὧν εὐεργετεῖ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἐπιτάττει δῆλον. Εἰ δὲ τὰς λύπας μοι λέγεις, καὶ τὰς ὀδύνας, καὶ τὰ τοῦ βίου κακὰ, ἐννόησον ὅσα αὐτῷ προσκρούεις καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, καὶ οὐκέτι θαυμάσῃ, κἂν πλείονα τούτων ἐπέλθῃ κακά· ἀλλ' ἂν ἀγαθοῦ τινος ἀπολαύσῃς, τότε καὶ θαυμάσῃ καὶ ἐκπλαγήσῃ. Νῦν δὲ εἰς μὲν τὰς συμφορὰς ὁρῶμεν τὰς ἐπιούσας, τὰ δὲ προσκρούσματα, ἃ καθ' ἑκάστην προσκρούομεν τὴν ἡμέραν, οὐκ ἐννοοῦμεν· διὰ τοῦτο ἀλύομεν. Ὡς εἴγε μιᾶς ἡμέρας μόνον μετὰ ἀκριβείας τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἡμῶν ἐλογισάμεθα, τότε ἂν ἔγνωμεν καλῶς, πόσων ἂν εἴημεν ὑπεύθυνοι κακῶν. Καὶ ἵνα τὰ ἄλλα ἀφεὶς τὰ ἰδίᾳ πεπλημμελημένα ἑκάστῳ, τὰ σήμερον εἴπω γινόμενα· καίτοιγε οὐκ οἶδα τί ποτε ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ἥμαρτεν· ἀλλ' ὅμως τοσαύτη ἡ περιουσία τῶν πλημμελημάτων, ὡς μηδὲ τὸν ἀκριβῶς ἅπαντα εἰδότα δύνασθαι καὶ ἐκ τούτων ἑλεῖν. Τίς οὖν ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐῤῥᾳθύμησεν εὐχόμενος; τίς οὐκ ἀπενοήθη; τίς οὐκ ἐκενοδόξησε; τίς οὐ κακῶς εἶπε τὸν ἀδελφὸν, οὐδὲ ἐδέξατο πονηρὰν ἐπιθυμίαν; οὐκ εἶδεν ἀκολάστοις ὀφθαλμοῖς; οὐκ ἐμνήσθη μετὰ πάθους ἐχθροῦ, καὶ οἰδαίνειν τὴν καρδίαν ἐποίησεν; Εἰ δὲ ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ὄντες, καὶ ἐν καιρῷ βραχεῖ, τοσούτοις ὑπεύθυνοι γεγόναμεν κακοῖς, τίνες ἐσόμεθα ἐξελθόντες ἐντεῦθεν; εἰ ἐν τῷ λιμένι τοσαῦτα τὰ κύματα, ὅταν ἐξέλθωμεν εἰς τὸν εὔριπον τῶν κακῶν, τὴν ἀγορὰν λέγω, καὶ τὰ πολιτικὰ πράγματα, καὶ τὰς ἐν οἰκίᾳ φροντίδας, ἆρα ἑαυτοὺς γοῦν ἐπιγνῶναι δυνησόμεθα; Ἀλλ' ὅμως τῆς τῶν τοσούτων καὶ τηλικούτων ἁμαρ 57.284 τημάτων ἀπαλλαγῆς ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν σύντομον καὶ ῥᾳδίαν ὁδὸν καὶ παντὸς ἀπηλλαγμένην πόνου ὁ Θεός. Ποῖος γὰρ πόνος ἀφεῖναι τῷ λελυπηκότι; Πόνος μὲν οὖν τὸ μὴ ἀφεῖναι, ἀλλὰ κατέχειν τὴν ἔχθραν· ὡς τό γε ἀπαλλαγῆναι τοῦ θυμοῦ, καὶ ἄνεσιν πολλὴν ἐμποιεῖ, καὶ σφόδρα εὔκολον τῷ βουλομένῳ. ηʹ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ πέλαγος διαβῆναι δεῖ, οὐδὲ ὁδὸν ἀποδημῆσαι μακρὰν, οὐδὲ ὁρῶν ὑπερβῆναι κορυφὰς, οὐδὲ χρήματα δαπανῆσαι, οὐδὲ κατατεῖναι τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλ' ἀρκεῖ θελῆσαι μόνον, καὶ πάντα λέλυται τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. Ἂν δὲ μὴ μόνον αὐτὸς μὴ ἀφῇς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ Θεῷ κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐντυγχάνῃς, τίνα λοιπὸν ἕξεις σωτηρίας ἐλπίδα, ὅταν ἡνίκα ἐξιλεοῦσαι αὐτὸν καὶ δέῃ, καὶ τότε αὐτὸν παροξύνῃς, ἱκέτου μὲν σχῆμα περικείμενος, θηρίου δὲ φωνὰς ἀφιεὶς, καὶ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὰ βέλη τοῦ Πονηροῦ ἐξακοντίζων ἐκεῖνα; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος εὐχῆς μεμνημένος, οὐδὲν οὕτως ἐξεζήτησεν ὡς τῆς ἐντολῆς ταύτης τὴν φυλακήν· Ἐπαίροντας γὰρ ὁσίους χεῖρας, φησὶ, χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ ὅτε ἐλέους χρείαν ἔχεις, οὐδὲ τότε ἀφίης τὴν ὀργὴν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα αὐτῆς μέμνησαι, καὶ ταῦτα εἰδὼς ὅτι κατὰ σεαυτοῦ τὸ ξίφος ὠθεῖς, πότε δυνήσῃ γενέσθαι φιλάνθρωπος, καὶ τὸν πονηρὸν ἀποβλῦσαι τῆς πονηρίας ταύτης ἰόν; Εἰ δὲ οὐδέπω τῆς ἀτοπίας ταύτης εἶδες τὸ μέγεθος, ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων αὐτὸ λογίζου γινόμενον, καὶ τότε ὄψει τῆς ὕβρεως τὴν ὑπερβολήν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀνθρώπῳ σοι ὄντι προσῆλθέ τις ἀξιῶν ἐλεηθῆναι, εἶτα μεταξὺ κείμενος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς εἶδεν ἐχθρὸν, καὶ ἀφείς σε ἱκετεῦσαι ἐκεῖνον ἔτυπτεν, ἆρα οὐκ ἂν μείζονα ἐποιήσω τὴν ὀργήν; Τοῦτο λογίζου καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ συμβαίνειν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ σὺ τὸν Θεὸν ἱκετεύων, μεταξὺ τὴν ἱκετηρίαν ἀφεὶς, τὸν ἐχθρὸν τοῖς ῥήμασι τύπτεις, καὶ τοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμους ὑβρίζεις, τὸν νομοθετήσαντα πᾶσαν ὀργὴν ἀφιέναι κατὰ τῶν λελυπηκότων καλῶν, καὶ ἀξιῶν ἐναντία τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ προστάγμασι ποιεῖν. Οὐκ ἀρκεῖ εἰς τιμωρίας σοι λόγον, ὅτι σὺ παραβαίνεις τὸν νόμον τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν τοῦτο παρακαλεῖς ποιεῖν; Μὴ γὰρ ἐπελάθετο ὧν ἐπέταξε, μὴ γὰρ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ὁ ταῦτα εἰπών; Θεός ἐστιν, ὁ τὰ πάντα εἰδὼς, καὶ μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἁπάσης τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ φυλάττεσθαι βουλόμενος νόμους, καὶ τοσοῦτον ἀπέχων τοῦ ποιῆσαι ταῦτα ἅπερ ἀξιοῖς, ὅτι καὶ σὲ τὸν ταῦτα λέγοντα καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ λέγειν μόνον ἀποστρέφεται καὶ μισεῖ, καὶ δίκην ἀπαιτεῖ τὴν ἐσχάτην. Πῶς οὖν ἀξιοῖς παρ' αὐτοῦ τυχεῖν, ὧν αὐτὸς μετὰ πολλῆς ἀπέχεσθαί σε