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but to those on the left, "You did not do it for me." For he does not see only those who received mercy from us, nor those who were wronged or exploited and suffered countless other terrible things, but also those who were overlooked, as this is sufficient for our condemnation; for we overlook not them but him, Jesus Christ, who makes all their things his own.

96. In this he deigned to take on the person of every poor man and likened himself to every poor man, so that no one who believes in him may boast against his brother, but that each one, seeing his brother and his neighbor as his God, might consider himself the least (452) not of his brother but of him who made him, and might receive and honor him as himself, just as Christ and God poured out his own blood for our salvation.

97. The one commanded to have his neighbor as himself is obliged to have him thus not for just one day but throughout his whole life; and the one ordered to give to everyone who asks, is ordered to do this throughout his whole life, and the one who wishes that others do for him the good things he wants, will be required to do these things himself for others.

98. Just as, then, the one who has his neighbor as himself does not endure having anything more than his neighbor, and if he has and does not share generously, until he himself becomes poor and is made like his neighbors, he is not found to be a fulfiller of the Lord's commandment; nor the one who wishes to give to all who ask, if, possessing even an obol or a fragment of bread, he turns away any of those who ask him; nor the one who does not do for his neighbor what he wishes another to do for him; so also the one who has indeed fed, given drink to, and clothed every poor and least one, and has done all other things for them, but has despised just one and overlooked him, he too will be considered as having overlooked Christ the God when he was hungry and thirsty.

99. These things will perhaps seem burdensome to all, for which reason they will seem to speak reasonably to themselves: "Who then is able to do all these things, so as to care for all and feed them and overlook none of them?". But let them hear Paul crying out explicitly: "For the love of Christ compels us, having judged this, that if one died for all, then all have died."

100. Just as the comprehensive commandments contain within themselves all the particular commandments, so also the comprehensive virtues include within themselves the particular virtues. For the one who sells his possessions or even scatters them to the poor and becomes poor once for all has fulfilled all the particular commandments in one act; for he no longer has need to give to the one who asks or not to turn away the one who wants to borrow from him. So also the one who prays without ceasing has in this enclosed everything and is no longer under necessity to praise the Lord seven times a day or in the evening and morning and at midday, as he has already fulfilled all that we pray and chant according to the canon and at set times and hours. So also the one who has acquired within himself knowably God who gives knowledge to men, has gone through all Holy Scripture and has reaped all the benefit from reading and will no longer need to read books. For how could he, who possesses as a companion the one who inspired those who wrote the divine Scriptures and is initiated by him into the ineffable things of the hidden mysteries? Rather, this man will be a divinely inspired book to others, bringing forth new and old mysteries written by the finger of God in him, as one who has completed all things and has rested in God, the original perfection, from all his works?

End of the 225 chapters.

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δέ τούς ἐξ ἀριστερῶν˙ «Ἐμοί οὐκ ἐποιήσατε». Οὐ γάρ τούς ἐλεηθέντας μόνον παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁρᾷ οὐδέ τούς ἀδικηθέντας ἤ πλεονεκτηθέντας καί μυρία ἕτερα παθόντας δεινά, ἀλλά καί τούς παροφθέντας, ὡς ἀρκοῦν τοῦτο εἰς καταδίκην ἡμῶν˙ οὐ γάρ ἐκείνους ἀλλ᾿ αὐτόν παρορῶμεν τόν τά ἐκείνων ἅπαντα ἰδιοποιούμενον Ἰησοῦν τόν Χριστόν.

96. Ἐν τούτῳ ἑκάστου πένητος πρόσωπον ἀναλαβεῖν κατεδέξατο καί παντί πένητι ἑαυτόν ἐξωμοίωσεν ἵνα μηδείς τῶν εἰς αὐτόν πιστευόντων τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ κατεπαίρηται, ἀλλ᾿ ἕκαστος, βλέπων τόν ἀδελφόν αὐτοῦ καί τόν πλησίον ὡς τόν Θεόν αὐτοῦ, ἐλάχιστον ἑαυτόν (452) οὐχί τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἀλλά τοῦ πεποιηκότος αὐτόν λογίζοιτο καί ὡς αὐτόν ὑποδέχοιτο καί τιμᾷ, ὡς ὁ Χριστός καί Θεός ἐκένωσε τό ἴδιον αἷμα διά τήν σωτηρίαν ἡμῶν.

97. Ὁ τόν πλησίον ἔχειν ὡς ἑαυτόν κελευσθείς οὐ μίαν πάντως ἡμέραν ἀλλά διά βίου παντός τοῦτον ἔχειν οὕτως ὀφείλει˙ καί ὁ παντί τῷ αἰτοῦντι διδόναι προσταττόμενος, τοῦτο ποιεῖν προστάσσεται ἐν πάσῃ τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ, καί ὁ θέλων ἵνα ποιῶσιν εἰς αὐτόν ἄλλοι ἅ βούλεται ἀγαθά, ταῦτα καί αὐτός ποιεῖν ἄλλοις ἀπαιτηθήσεται.

98. Ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ ἔχων τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν οὐδέν πλέον ἔχειν τοῦ πλησίον ἀνέχεται, ἐάν δέ ἔχῃ καί μή μεταδίδωσιν ἀφθόνως, ἕως ἄν καί αὐτός πτωχός γένηται καί τοῖς πλησίον αὐτοῦ ἐξομοιωθῇ, τῆς ἐντολῆς τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἐκπληρωτής οὐκ εὑρίσκεται, οὐδέ ὁ τοῖς αἰτοῦσι πᾶσι διδόναι θέλων, ἐάν μέχρις ὀβολοῦ ἤ κλάσματος ἄρτου κεκτημένος, ἀποστρέψῃ τινά τῶν αἰτούντων αὐτόν, οὐδέ ὁ μή ποιῶν τῷ πλησίον ὅσα θέλει ἵνα ἕτερος ποιῇ πρός αὐτόν, οὕτω καί ὁ πάντα μέν πένητα καί ἐλάχιστον θρέψας, ποτίσας, ἐνδύσας καί τά ἄλλα πάντα εἰς αὐτούς ἐργασάμενος, ἑνός δέ μόνου καταφρονήσας καί αὐτόν παριδών, ὡς Χριστόν τόν Θεόν πεινῶντα καίδιψῶντα παριδών καί αὐτός λογισθήσεται.

99. Φορτικά ταῦτα τοῖς πᾶσιν ἴσως φανήσεται, διό καί δόξουσιν εὔλογα λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς˙ «Τίς ἆρα ταῦτα πάντα ποιῆσαι δύναται, ὥστε πάντας θεραπεῦσαι καί θρέψαι καί μηδόλως τούτων τινά παριδεῖν;». Ἀλλ᾿ ἀκουέτωσαν Παύλου διαρρήδην βοῶντος˙ «Ἡ γάρ ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ συνέχει ἡμᾶς, κρίναντας τοῦτο, ὅτι εἰ εἷς ὑπέρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν, ἄρα οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον».

ρ'. Καθάπερ αἱ περιεκτικαί ἐντολαί συμπεριέχουσι πάσας ἐν ἑαυταῖς τάς μερικάς ἐντολάς, οὕτω καί αἱ περιεκτικαί ἀρεταί τάς μερικάς ἐν ἑαυταῖς συμπεριλαμβάνουσιν ἀρετάς. Ὁ γάρ πωλῶν τά ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ ἤ καί διασκορπίζων αὐτά τοῖς πτωχοῖς καί πένης ἐφ᾿ ἅπαξ γενόμενος πάντα ὑφ᾿ ἕν τά τῶν μερικῶν ἐντολῶν ἐξεπλήρωσεν˙ οὐκέτι γάρ χρείαν ἔχει τῷ αἰτοῦντι διδόναι ἤ μή ἀποστραφῆναι τόν θέλοντα δανείσασθαι ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ. Οὕτω καί ὁ ἀδιαλείπτως εὐχόμενος ἐν τούτῳ πάντα συνέκλεισε καί οὐκέτι ἑπτάκις αἰνεῖν τῆς ἡμέρας τόν Κύριον ἤ ἑσπέρας καί πρωΐ καί μεσημβρίας ὑπ᾿ ἀνάγκην ἐστίν, ὡς ἤδη πάντα πεπληρωκώς ὅσα ἄν κανονικῶς καί ἐν ἀφωρισμένοις καιροῖς καί ὥραις εὐχόμεθά τε καί ψάλλομεν. Οὕτω καί ὁ τόν διδόντα ἀνθρώποις γνῶσιν Θεόν γνωστῶς ἐν ἑαυτῷ κτησάμενος, πᾶσαν ἁγίαν διῆλθε Γραφήν καί πᾶσαν τήν ἐκ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως ὠφέλειαν ἐκαρπώσατο καί οὐκέτι βιβλίων ἀναγνώσεως δεηθήσεται. Πῶς γάρ, ὁ τόν ἐμπνεύσαντα τοῖς τάς θείας γεγραφόσι Γραφάς συνόμιλον κεκτημένος καί παρ᾿ ἐκείνου μυούμενος τά τῶν ἀποκεκρυμμένων μυστηρίων ἀπόρρητα, ἀλλά βίβλος οὗτος τοῖς ἄλλοις θεόπνευστος ἔσται, καινά τε καί παλαιά φέρουσα μυστήρια γεγραμμένα δακτύλῳ Θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ, ὡς πάντα τελέσας καί καταπαύσας ἐν Θεῷ τῇ ἀρχικῇ τελειότητι ἀπό πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ;

Τέλος τῶν κεφαλαίων σκε'.