155

I aroused her as she was shrinking and hesitating, blushing and ashamed, constantly chanting these incantations to her: Why do you delay, why do you shrink and hesitate? Our concern is not for money, nor for any other perishable thing, but for salvation. God commanded these things to be done, and let all things be secondary to his commandments. The matter is a kind of spiritual commerce; let us not be negligent, nor slothful; let the enemy learn that we have made great haste, because of what is pleasing to God; even if he insults us again, even if he strikes us, even if he does anything else more grievous, let us bear all things nobly, as we are not gratifying him so much as we are ourselves; of all our good deeds this will stand out for us more greatly on that day. We have sinned many and great sins, and have offended, and have provoked our Master; through His love for mankind He has given this way of reconciliation; let us not therefore betray this good treasure. For was He not able to command only that we be reconciled, and there be no reward for us? For does He have anyone who contradicts and corrects His commandments? But nevertheless, through His great love for mankind, He also promised us a great and ineffable reward, and that which we most desire to obtain, the forgiveness of our sins, making this obedience easier for us. What pardon then shall we have, when, though we are about to receive so great a reward, we do not even so obey the lawgiver, but remain contemptuous? For that this is contempt, is clear from this: If a king made a law that all enemies should be recon 49.206 ciled to one another, or have their heads cut off, would we not all have hastened to reconciliations with our neighbors? I for my part think so. What pardon then shall we have, when we do not even render so much honor to the Master as to our own fellow-servants? For this reason we were commanded to say, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. What is gentler than this? What is milder than this commandment? He has made you the judge of the forgiveness of your own sins; if you forgive a little, a little is forgiven; if you forgive much, much is forgiven; if you forgive from the heart and purely, so also God forgives you; if after forgiving you also have him as a friend, so also will God be disposed toward you. So that the more he has sinned, the more we ought to hasten to reconciliations, since he becomes for us the cause of the forgiveness of greater sins. Do you wish to learn that there is no pardon for us who bear a grudge, and that there is no one who can deliver us? I will make what I say clear by an example. What wrong did your neighbor do to you? Did he seize your money, confiscate it, take advantage of you? I do not say this only, but I also add other things greater than these, and whatever you might wish: he desired to kill you, he put you in countless dangers, he showed you every kind of defilement, and left nothing undone of human wickedness; for so that we do not go through everything in detail, suppose that he has wronged you with as great an injustice as no one has ever wronged anyone; for not even so, by bearing a grudge, will you be worthy of pardon. And how I say this. If a certain servant of yours owed you one hundred pieces of gold, then another owed him a few pieces of silver, and the slave's debtor, approaching you, beseeched and supplicated you, asking to receive pardon, and you, having called your servant, commanded him, saying to forgive this man the debt, and "I will count this debt against what you owe me;" then that one, being shameless and wicked, was choking the debtor again; would anyone have delivered him from your hands? Would you not have inflicted countless blows upon him, as having been insulted with the ultimate insult? And very rightly. God will do this too; for He will say to you on that day, O wicked and utterly defiled servant, did you forgive him out of your own resources? You were commanded to reckon to him from what you owed Me; For, He says, "Forgive, and I forgive you." Even if, and even if I had not added this, it was still necessary for you, obeying a master, to forgive; but now I did not command as a master, but

155

ἀναδυομένην καὶ ὀκνοῦσαν, καὶ ἐρυθριῶσαν, καὶ αἰσχυνομένην διέγειρον, ταύτας αὐτῇ συνεχῶς ἐπᾴδων τὰς ἐπῳδάς· Τί μέλλεις, τί δὲ ἀναδύῃ καὶ ὀκνεῖς; οὐχ ὑπὲρ χρημάτων, οὐδ' ὑπὲρ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν ἐπικήρων, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος. Ὁ Θεὸς ταῦτα ποιεῖν ἐκέλευσε, καὶ πάντα δεύτερα ἔστω τῶν ἐκείνου προσταγμάτων. Ἐμπορία τίς ἐστι πνευματικὴ τὸ πρᾶγμα· μὴ ἀμελῶμεν, μήτε ῥᾳθυμῶμεν· μανθανέτω ὁ ἐχθρὸς, ὅτι πολλὴν ἐποιησάμεθα σπουδὴν, διὰ τὸ τῷ Θεῷ δοκοῦν· κἂν ὑβρίζῃ πάλιν, κἂν τύπτῃ, κἂν ὁτιοῦν ἕτερον χαλεπώτερον ποιῇ, φέρωμεν ἅπαντα γενναίως, ὡς οὐδὲν ἐκείνῳ τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς χαριζόμεθα· πάντων τῶν κατορθωμάτων τοῦτο μειζόνως ἡμῶν κατ' ἐκείνην προστήσεται τὴν ἡμέραν. Ἡμάρτομεν πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα, καὶ προσεκρούσαμεν, καὶ τὸν ∆εσπότην ἡμῶν παρωξύναμεν· ἔδωκε διὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν ταύτην ὁδὸν καταλλαγῆς· μὴ τοίνυν προδῶμεν τὸν καλὸν τοῦτον θησαυρόν. Μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἦν κύριος κελεῦσαι μόνον καταλλάττεσθαι, καὶ μηδένα ἡμῖν εἶναι μισθόν; μὴ γὰρ ἔχει τινὰ τὸν ἀντιλέγοντα καὶ διορθούμενον αὐτοῦ τὰ προστάγματα; Ἀλλ' ὅμως διὰ τὴν πολλὴν αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ μισθὸν ἡμῖν ὑπέσχετο μέγαν καὶ ἄφατον, καὶ οὗ μάλιστα ἐπιθυμοῦμεν τυχεῖν, τὴν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν συγχώρησιν, καὶ ταύτην τὴν ὑπακοὴν ἡμῖν εὐκολωτέραν ποιῶν. Τίνα οὖν ἕξομεν συγγνώμην, ὅταν καὶ μισθὸν τοσοῦτον μέλλοντες λαμβάνειν, μηδὲ οὕτως ὑπακούωμεν τῷ νομοθέτῃ, ἀλλὰ μένωμεν καταφρονοῦντες; Ὅτι γὰρ καταφρόνησις τοῦτό ἐστι, δῆλον ἐκεῖθεν· Εἰ νόμον ἔθηκεν ὁ βασιλεὺς, τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἅπαντας ἀλλήλοις καταλ 49.206 λάττεσθαι, ἢ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀποτέμνεσθαι, ἆρα οὐκ ἂν πάντες ἐσπεύσαμεν ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν πλησίον καταλλαγάς; Ἔγωγε οἶμαι. Τίνα οὖν ἕξομεν συγγνώμην, μηδὲ τοσαύτην ἀπονέμοντες τῷ ∆εσπότῃ τιμὴν, ὅσην τοῖς ὁμοδούλοις τοῖς ἡμετέροις; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐκελεύσθημεν λέγειν, Ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν. Τί τούτου πραότερον; τί δὲ ἡμερώτερον τοῦ προστάγματος; Σὲ κριτὴν ἐποίησε τῆς συγχωρήσεως τῶν σῶν ἁμαρτημάτων· ἂν ὀλίγα ἀφῇς, ὀλίγα ἀφίεται· ἂν πολλὰ ἀφῇς, πολλὰ ἀφίεται· ἂν ἀπὸ καρδίας ἀφῇς καὶ καθαρῶς, οὕτω σοι καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἀφίησιν· ἂν μετὰ τοῦ συγχωρῆσαι καὶ φίλον αὐτὸν ἔχῃς, οὕτω καὶ ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς σὲ διακείσεται. Ὥστε ὅσῳ μείζονα ἥμαρτε, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς σπεύδειν ἐπὶ τὰς καταλλαγὰς χρὴ, ἐπειδὴ καὶ μειζόνων ἁμαρτημάτων συγχωρήσεως ἡμῖν αἴτιος γίνεται. Βούλει μαθεῖν, ὡς οὐδεμία συγγνώμη μνησικακοῦσιν ἡμῖν, οὐδέ ἐστί τις ἡμᾶς ὁ ἐξαιρούμενος; Ἐπὶ παραδείγματος, ὃ λέγω, ποιήσω φανερόν· Τί σε ἠδίκησεν ὁ πλησίον; τὰ χρήματα ἥρπασεν, ἐδήμευσεν, ἐπλεονέκτησεν; οὐ λέγω τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερα προστίθημι πλείονα τούτων, καὶ ὅσαπερ ἂν ἐθέλῃς· ἀνελεῖν σε ἐπεθύμησε, μυρίους σοι παρέστησε κινδύνους, πᾶσάν σοι ἐπεδείξατο μιαρίαν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπέλιπεν ὅλως τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης πονηρίας· ἵνα γὰρ μὴ πάντα καθ' ἕκαστον ἐπεξίωμεν, θὲς τοσαύτην αὐτὸν ἠδικηκέναι σε ἀδικίαν, ὅσην οὐδεὶς οὐδέποτέ τινα ἠδίκησεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὕτω μνησικακῶν ἄξιος ἔσῃ συγγνώμης. Καὶ πῶς ἐγὼ λέγω. Εἴ τις οἰκέτης σὸς ὤφειλέ σοι χρυσίνους ἑκατὸν, εἶτα ἐκείνῳ ἕτερός τις ὤφειλε ἀργύρια ὀλίγα, καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ τοῦ δούλου χρεώστης παρεκάλεσέ σε καὶ ἱκέτευσεν ἀξιῶν συγγνώμης τυχεῖν, καὶ σὺ τὸν οἰκέτην καλέσας τὸν σαυτοῦ προσέταξας εἰπὼν ἀφεῖναι τὸ ὀφείλημα τούτῳ, καὶ Ἀπὸ τοῦ λόγου οὗ ὀφείλεις μοι, λογίζομαί σοι τὸ ὀφείλημα· εἶτα ἐκεῖνος ἀναισχυντῶν καὶ πονηρευόμενος πάλιν ἦγχε τὸν ὀφείλοντα· ἆρα ἂν ἐξείλετό τις αὐτὸν τῶν σῶν χειρῶν; ἆρα οὐκ ἂν αὐτῷ μυρίας ἐπέθηκας πληγὰς, ὡς ὑβρισθεὶς τὴν ἐσχάτην ὕβριν; καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ποιήσει· ἐρεῖ γάρ σοι κατ' ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν, Ὦ πονηρὲ δοῦλε καὶ παμμίαρε, μὴ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν σῶν αὐτῷ συνεχώρησας; ἐξ ὧν ἐμοὶ ὤφειλες, ἐκελεύσθης αὐτῷ λογίσασθαι· Ἄφες γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ἀφίημί σοι. Εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα, καὶ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο προσέθηκα, καὶ οὕτως ἀφιέναι ἐχρῆν δεσπότῃ πειθόμενον· νυνὶ δὲ οὐχ ὡς δεσπότης ἐπέταξα, ἀλλ'