152

lameness, but to be changed to its former state; for he who runs with a limp aggravates the evil. Do you see that it is in 63.210 us to be completely healed? Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. This is what he said above, Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, this he also hints at here. For nothing so especially makes us easy to be overcome and subdued in temptations, as being scattered. And see how: Break up a phalanx in war, and the enemy will not even need any effort, but will take them bound, finding them individually, and thus being weaker. Follow peace with all men, he says. Even with those who do evil. This he also says elsewhere: If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. For your part, he says, be at peace, in no way harming piety, but in what evils you suffer, bear them nobly; for forbearance is a great weapon in temptations. Thus also Christ made His disciples strong, saying: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. What are you saying? We are among wolves, and you command us to be as sheep and as doves? Yes, he says; for nothing so shames the one who does evil, as your bearing nobly the things inflicted, and defending yourselves neither in word nor in deed. This both makes us more philosophic, and procures a greater reward, and benefits them. But so-and-so insulted you? You bless him. See how much you gain from this: you have extinguished the evil, procured a reward for yourself, shamed him, and you have suffered nothing terrible. Follow peace with all men, and holiness. —Holiness, what does he mean? Sobriety and modesty in marriage. If anyone is without marriage, he says, let him remain chaste, or let him marry; if in marriage, let him not commit fornication, but use his own wife; for this too is holiness. How? Marriage is not holiness, but marriage preserves the holiness that comes from faith, by not allowing one to consort with a harlot. For marriage is honorable, not holy; marriage is pure, but it does not provide sanctification, except in preventing the defilement of what was given by faith. Without which, he says, no one will see the Lord. Which he also says in the letter to the Corinthians: Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor idolaters, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor covetous, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. For how will he who has become the body of a harlot be able to be the body of Christ? Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person. Do you see how everywhere he entrusts the common salvation to each one? Exhorting, he says, one another daily, while it is called To day. 2. Do not therefore cast everything upon the teachers, do not cast everything upon the leaders; you also are able, he says, to build one another up. This he also said when writing to the Thessalonians: Build up one another, even as also you do; and again, Comfort one another 63.211 with these words. This we also now exhort you. For you will accomplish more for one another than we can, if you are willing; for you are together with one another for more time, and you know one another's affairs better than we do, and you are not ignorant of one another's failings, and you have more both of boldness and of love and of intimacy; and these are not small things for teaching, but great openings and opportunities; and you will be able to rebuke and to exhort more than we can. And not this only, but that I am one, while you are many, and you will all, as many as you are, be able to be teachers. Therefore, I beseech you, do not neglect this gift; each one has a wife, has a friend, has a servant, has a neighbor; let him rebuke this one, let him exhort that one. For how is it not absurd, for the sake of food to have common meals and banquets, and to have a set day to assemble with one another, and for what is lacking to each one when he is by himself to be filled up through fellowship, as, for example, whether one must go to a funeral, or to

152

χωλείαν, ἀλλὰ μεταβληθῆναι ἐπὶ τὰ πρότερα· ὁ γὰρ μετὰ χωλείας τρέχων, ἐπιτρίβει τὸ κακόν. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι ἐν 63.210 ἡμῖν ἐστι τὸ πάντως ἰατρευθῆναι; Εἰρήνην διώκετε μετὰ πάντων καὶ τὸν ἁγιασμὸν, οὗ χωρὶς οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸν Κύριον. Ὅπερ καὶ ἀνωτέρω ἔλεγε, Μὴ ἐγκαταλιπόντες τὴν ἐπισυναγωγὴν ἑαυτῶν, τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεται. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω μάλιστα ἐν πειρασμοῖς εὐκαταγωνίστους ποιεῖ καὶ εὐχειρώτους, ὡς τὸ διεσπάσθαι. Καὶ ὅρα πῶς· ∆ιάσπασον φάλαγγα ἐν πολέμῳ, καὶ οὐδὲ πόνου δεηθήσονται οἱ πολέμιοι, ἀλλὰ δεδεμένους αὐτοὺς λήψονται, κατ' ἰδίαν εὑρόντες, καὶ ταύτῃ ὄντας ἀσθενεστέρους. Εἰρήνην διώκετε μετὰ πάντων, φησίν. Ἄρα καὶ τῶν κακῶς ποιούντων. Τοῦτο καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησιν· Εἰ δυνατὸν, τὸ ἐξ ὑμῶν, μετὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων εἰρηνεύοντες. Τὸ σὸν μέρος, φησὶν, εἰρήνευε, μηδὲν τὴν εὐσέβειαν παραβλάπτων, ἀλλ' ἐν οἷς πάσχεις κακῶς, φέρε γενναίως· μέγα γὰρ ὅπλον ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς ἀνεξικακία. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς τοὺς μαθητὰς ἰσχυροὺς ἐποίει λέγων· Ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς ὡς πρόβατα ἐν μέσῳ λύκων· γίνεσθε οὖν φρόνιμοι ὡς οἱ ὄφεις, καὶ ἀκέραιοι ὡς αἱ περιστεραί. Τί λέγεις; μεταξὺ λύκων ἐσμὲν, καὶ ὡς πρόβατα κελεύεις εἶναι καὶ ὡς περιστεράς; Ναὶ, φησίν· οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἐντρέπει τὸν ποιοῦντα κακῶς, ὡς τὸ φέρειν ὑμᾶς γενναίως τὰ ἐπαγόμενα, καὶ μήτε λόγῳ, μήτε ἔργῳ ἀμύνεσθαι. Τοῦτο καὶ ἡμᾶς φιλοσοφωτέρους ποιεῖ, καὶ μείζονα προξενεῖ τὸν μισθὸν, κἀκείνους ὠφελεῖ. Ἀλλ' ὁ δεῖνά σε ὕβρισε; σὺ εὐλόγησον. Ὅρα πόσα ἀπὸ τούτου κερδαίνεις· τὸ κακὸν ἔσβεσας, μισθὸν σεαυτῷ προὐξένησας, κἀκεῖνον ἐνέτρεψας, καὶ σὺ δεινὸν πέπονθας οὐδέν. Εἰρήνην διώκετε μετὰ πάντων καὶ τὸν ἁγιασμόν. -Τὸν ἁγιασμὸν, τί φησι; Τὴν σωφροσύνην καὶ τὴν κοσμιότητα τὴν ἐν γάμῳ. Εἴτε τις χωρὶς γάμου ἐστὶ, φησὶν, ἁγνὸς μενέτω, γαμείτω· εἴτε ἐν γάμῳ, μὴ πορνευέτω, ἀλλὰ κεχρήσθω τῇ ἰδίᾳ γυναικί· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο ἁγιασμός. Πῶς; Οὐχ ὁ γάμος ἁγιασμὸς, ἀλλ' ὁ γάμος τηρεῖ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως ἁγιασμὸν, οὐκ ἀφιεὶς πόρνῃ προσέχειν. Ὁ γὰρ γάμος τίμιος, οὐχ ἅγιος· καθαρὸς ὁ γάμος, οὐ μέντοι καὶ ἁγιωσύνην παρέχει, ἢ τὸ κωλύειν τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως δοθεῖσαν μὴ μολύνειν. Οὗ χωρὶς, φησὶν, οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸν Κύριον. Ὅπερ καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους λέγει· Μὴ πλανᾶσθε· οὔτε πόρνοι, οὔτε μοιχοὶ, οὔτε εἰδωλολάτραι, οὔτε μαλακοὶ, οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται, οὔτε πλεονέκται, οὔτε κλέπται, οὔτε μέθυσοι, οὐ λοίδοροι, οὐχ ἅρπαγες βασιλείαν Θεοῦ οὐ κληρονομήσουσι. Πῶς γὰρ ὁ γενόμενος πόρνης σῶμα δυνήσεται εἶναι σῶμα Χριστοῦ; Ἐπισκοποῦντες μή τις ὑστερῶν ἀπὸ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ· μή τις ῥίζα πικρίας ἄνω φύουσα ἐνοχλῇ, καὶ διὰ ταύτης μιανθῶσι πολλοί· μή τις πόρνος ἢ βέβηλος. Ὁρᾷς πῶς πανταχοῦ ἑκάστῳ τὴν κοινὴν ἐγχειρίζει σωτηρίαν; Παρακαλοῦντες, φησὶν, ἀλλήλους καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, ἄχρις οὗ τὸ σήμερον καλεῖται. βʹ. Μὴ τοίνυν πάντα ἐπὶ τοὺς διδασκάλους ἐπιῤῥίπτετε, μὴ πάντα ἐπὶ τοὺς ἡγουμένους· δύνασθε καὶ ὑμεῖς, φησὶν, ἀλλήλους οἰκοδομεῖν. Ὃ καὶ Θεσσαλονικεῦσι γράφων ἔλεγεν· Εἷς τὸν ἕνα οἰκοδομεῖτε, καθὼς καὶ ποιεῖτε· καὶ πάλιν, Παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλή 63.211 λους ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις. Τοῦτο καὶ ὑμῖν παραινοῦμεν νῦν ἡμεῖς. Πλείονα γὰρ ἡμῶν, ἐὰν βούλησθε, εἰς ἀλλήλους, κατορθώσετε· καὶ γὰρ πλείονα σύνεστε χρόνον ἀλλήλοις, καὶ τὰ ἀλλήλων μᾶλλον ἡμῶν ἵστε, καὶ τὰ ἀλλήλων ἐλαττώματα οὐκ ἀγνοεῖτε, καὶ πλείονα καὶ παῤῥησίαν καὶ ἀγάπην ἔχετε καὶ συνήθειαν· οὐ μικρὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἰς διδασκαλίαν, ἀλλ' εἴσοδοι μεγάλαι καὶ εὐκαιρίαι· καὶ μᾶλλον ἡμῶν ἐπιπλῆξαι καὶ παρακαλέσαι δυνήσεσθε. Καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἐγὼ μὲν εἷς εἰμι, ὑμεῖς δὲ πολλοὶ, καὶ δυνήσεσθε πάντες ὅσοι ἐστὲ, εἶναι διδάσκαλοι. ∆ιὸ, παρακαλῶ, μὴ ἀμελεῖτε τοῦ χαρίσματος τούτου· ἕκαστος γυναῖκα ἔχει, φίλον ἔχει, οἰκέτην ἔχει, γείτονα ἔχει· τούτῳ ἐπιπληττέτω, τούτῳ παραινείτω. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον, ὑπὲρ μὲν τροφῆς συσσίτια ποιεῖν καὶ συμπόσια, καὶ ἡμέραν ἔχειν τακτὴν ὥστε συγκροτεῖσθαι ἀλλήλους, καὶ τὸ ἑκάστῳ λεῖπον καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὄντι ἀναπληροῦσθαι διὰ τῆς κοινωνίας, οἷον, εἴτε εἰς ἐκφορὰν ἀπιέναι δέοι, εἴτε εἰς