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stood by, yields to no one, nor does he acknowledge the master's law in the harm of the master. Let us gather ourselves together, I beseech you. 63.861 Daily wars, shipwrecks, countless destructions all around, and from all sides the wrath of God surrounds us; but we, as if we were pleasing Him, are thus at ease; all of us make our hands ready for covetousness, no one for helping; all for plunder, no one for protection. Each one has been eager how to increase his possessions, no one how to help the one in need; each one has great care for how to add to his money, no one how to save his own soul. One fear possesses all, lest, he says, we become poor; lest we fall into Gehenna, no one is anxious and trembles. These things are worthy of lamentations, these of accusations, these of slander. But I did not wish to say these things, but I am forced by pain. Forgive me, I am compelled by grief; I utter many things even which I do not wish. I see the wound is harsh, the calamity inconsolable, the terrible things that have befallen us are greater than consolation; we are lost. Who will give water to my head, and to my eyes fountains of tears, that I may mourn? Let us weep, beloved, let us weep. let us groan. Perhaps there are some here saying, He tells us all lamentations, all tears. I did not wish, believe me, I did not wish, but to go through encomiums and praises; but now is not the time for these things. It is not mourning, beloved, that is hard, but doing things worthy of mourning; not lamenting that is dreadful, but doing things worthy of lamentations. Do not be punished, and I do not grieve; do not die, and I do not weep. But if the body lies dead, you call everyone to grieve with you, and you consider those who do not grieve unsympathetic; but when the soul is perishing, do you say not to grieve? But I cannot; I am a father, and I weep; I am a loving father. Hear what Paul cries out: My little children, of whom I travail in birth again. What mother in labor utters such bitter cries as he did? If only it were possible to see the very fire of his mind, you would have seen that I burn more than any woman or maiden who has suffered untimely widowhood; she does not so grieve for her own husband, nor a father for a son, as I do for this multitude among us. I see no progress; everything is for slander and accusations; no one makes it his work to please God; But let us speak ill, he says, of so-and-so and so-and-so; so-and-so is unworthy of the clergy, so-and-so lives indecently. When we ought to be mourning our own evils, do we judge others? Not even when we are clean of sins, ought we to do this. For who makes you differ, he says, and what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it? But why do you judge your brother, when you yourself are full of countless evils? When you say, "So-and-so is wicked and a pest, and depraved," consider yourself, and examine your own affairs accurately, and you will regret what was said. If then anyone in the church, as if on just scales, should attempt to weigh our words, among ten thousand talents of worldly words he will scarcely find a hundred denarii of spiritual sayings, or rather not even ten obols. If then God should mark these things, who shall stand? Considering these things, let us be merciful, forgiving toward those who sin against us. Here it is a hundred denarii, the sins against us; but those by us against God, are ten thousand talents. For you know that sins are also judged by the quality of the persons; I mean something like this: he who has insulted a private citizen has sinned, but not in the same way as he who has insulted a ruler; and more seriously than this one is he who has insulted a greater ruler, but not in the same way as one who insulted a lesser one; but he who has insulted the king, much more so; 63.862 and the insult is the same; but by the eminence of the person it becomes greater. But if he who insults the king has an unbearable punishment on account of the dignity of the person; for how many talents will he who insults God be liable? So that even if we should sin the same things against God, which we sin against men, not even so is it equal; but as great as the distance is between God and men, so great is the distance between those sins and these. But now I find the sins to be even more, not by the eminence of the person

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παρεστήκει, οὐδενὶ εἴκει, οὐδὲ ἐπιγινώσκει τὸν νόμον τὸν δεσποτικὸν ἐν τῇ βλάβῃ τοῦ δεσπότου. Συστρέψωμεν ἑαυτοὺς, παρακαλῶ. 63.861 Πόλεμοι καθημερινοὶ, καταποντισμοὶ, ἀπώλειαι μυρίαι κύκλῳ, καὶ πάντοθεν ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ περιστοιχίζεται· ἡμεῖς δὲ, ὡς εὐαρεστοῦντες, οὕτως ἐσμὲν ἐν ἀδείᾳ· πάντες τὰς χεῖρας εἰς πλεονεξίαν εὐτρεπίζομεν, οὐδεὶς εἰς βοήθειαν· πάντες εἰς ἁρπαγὴν, οὐδεὶς εἰς προστασίαν. Ἕκαστος ὅπως πλείονα ποιήσῃ τὰ ὄντα ἐσπούδακεν, οὐδεὶς ὅπως βοηθήσῃ τῷ δεομένῳ· ἕκαστος πῶς προσθῇ τοῖς χρήμασι πολλὴν ἔχει τὴν μέριμναν, οὐδεὶς ὅπως τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ διασώσῃ. Φόβος εἷς ἔχει πάντας, μὴ πενιχροὶ, φησὶ, γενώμεθα· μὴ εἰς γέενναν ἐμπέσωμεν, οὐδεὶς ἀγωνιᾷ καὶ τρέμει. Ταῦτα θρήνων, ταῦτα κατηγορίας, ταῦτα διαβολῆς ἄξια. Ἀλλ' οὐ ταῦτα ἐβουλόμην· λέγειν, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς ὀδύνης βιάζομαι. Σύγγνωτε, ὑπὸ πένθους ἀναγκάζομαι· πολλὰ καὶ ὧν οὐ βούλομαι φθέγγομαι. Χαλεπὴν ὁρῶ τὴν πληγὴν, ἀπαραμύθητον τὴν συμφορὰν, παρακλήσεως μείζονα τὰ καταλαβόντα ἡμᾶς δεινά· ἀπολώλαμεν. Τίς δώσει τῇ κεφαλῇ μου ὕδωρ, καὶ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου πηγὰς δακρύων, ἵνα θρηνήσω; Κλαύσωμεν, ἀγαπητοὶ, κλαύσωμεν. στενάξωμεν. Τάχα τινές εἰσιν ἐνταῦθα λέγοντες, Πάντα θρήνους ἡμῖν λέγει, πάντα δάκρυα. Οὐκ ἐβουλόμην, πιστεύσατε, οὐκ ἐβουλόμην, ἀλλ' ἐγκώμια καὶ ἐπαίνους διεξιέναι· νυνὶ δὲ οὐ τούτων καιρός. Οὐ τὸ θρηνεῖν, ἀγαπητοὶ, χαλεπὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ θρήνων ἄξια ποιεῖν· οὐ τὸ ὀδύρεσθαι ἀποτρόπαιον, ἀλλὰ τὸ τὰ ὀδυρμῶν ἄξια πράττειν. Μὴ κολασθῇς, καὶ οὐ πενθῶ· μὴ ἀποθάνῃς, καὶ οὐ κλαίω. Ἀλλ' ἐὰν μὲν τὸ σῶμα κέηται νεκρὸν, πάντας παρακαλεῖς συναλγεῖν, καὶ ἀσυμπαθεῖς ἡγῇ τοὺς μὴ πενθοῦντας· τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς ἀπολλυμένης, λέγεις μὴ πενθεῖν; Ἀλλ' οὐ δύναμαι· πατήρ εἰμι, καὶ δακρύω· πατήρ εἰμι φιλόστοργος. Ἀκούετε οἷα βοᾷ ὁ Παῦλος· Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω. Ποία μήτηρ κύουσα οὕτω πικρὰς ἀφίησι φωνὰς, ὡς ἐκεῖνος; Εἴθε ἐνῆν αὐτὴν τῆς διανοίας τὴν πυρὰν ἰδεῖν, καὶ εἶδες ἂν, ὅτι πάσης γυναικὸς καὶ κόρης χηρείαν ἄωρον ὑποστάσης πλέον καίομαι· οὐχ οὕτως ἐκείνη τὸν ἄνδρα πενθεῖ τὸν ἑαυτῆς, οὐδὲ πατὴρ υἱὸν, ὡς ἐγὼ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦτο τὸ παρ' ἡμῖν. Οὐδεμίαν ὁρῶ προκοπήν· πάντα εἰς διαβολὰς καὶ κατηγορίας· οὐδεὶς ἔργον τίθεται ἀρέσκειν Θεῷ· Ἀλλὰ τὸν δεῖνα, φησὶν, εἴπωμεν κακῶς καὶ τὸν δεῖνα· ὁ δεῖνα ἀνάξιος τοῦ κλήρου, ὁ δεῖνα ἀσέμνως βιοῖ. Ὀφείλοντες τὰ ἡμέτερα πενθεῖν, κακὰ κρίνομεν ἑτέρους; Οὐδὲ ὅτε καθαροί ἐσμεν ἁμαρτημάτων, ὀφείλομεν τοῦτο ποιεῖν. Τίς γάρ σε διακρίνει, φησί, τί δὲ ἔχεις, ὃ οὐκ ἔλαβες; εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔλαβες, τί καυχᾶσαι ὡς μὴ λαβών; Σὺ δὲ τί κρίνεις τὸν ἀδελφόν σου, μυρίων αὐτὸς γέμων κακῶν; Ὅταν εἴπῃς, Ὁδεῖνα πονηρός ἐστι καὶ λυμεὼν, καὶ μοχθηρὸς, ἐννόησον σαυτὸν, καὶ ἐξέτασον ἀκριβῶς τὰ σαυτοῦ, καὶ μεταμελετήσῃ ἐπὶ τοῖς λεχθεῖσιν. Εἴ τι οὖν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, ὥσπερ ἐν δικαίοις σταθμοῖς, τοὺς λόγους ἡμῶν στῆσαι ἐπιχειρήσει, ἐν μυρίοις ταλάντοις λόγων βιωτικῶν μόλις εὑρήσει δηνάρια ἑκατὸν ῥημάτων πνευματικῶν, ἢ μᾶλλον οὐδὲ ὀβολοὺς δέκα. Εἰ οὖν ὁ Θεὸς ταῦτα παρατηρήσει, τίς ὑποστήσεται; Ταῦτα ἐννοοῦντες, οἰκτίρμονες ὦμεν, συγγνωμονικοὶ περὶ τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας εἰς ἡμᾶς. Ἑκατὸν δηνάριά ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα, τὰ εἰς ἡμᾶς ἁμαρτήματα· τὰ δὲ εἰς τὸν Θεὸν παρ' ἡμῶν, μυρία τάλαντα. Ἴστε γὰρ ὅτι καὶ τῇ ποιότητι τῶν προσώπων τὰ ἁμαρτήματα κρίνονται· οἷόν τι λέγω· ὁ τὸν ἰδιώτην ὑβρίσας ἥμαρτεν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁμοίως, ὡς ὁ τὸν ἄρχοντα, καὶ μειζόνως τούτου ὁ τὸν μείζονα ἄρχοντα, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁμοίως ὡς ὁ τὸν ἐλάττονα· ὁ δὲ τὸν βασιλέα, πολλῷ πλέον· 63.862 καὶ ἡ μὲν ὕβρις ἐστὶν ἡ αὐτή· τῇ δὲ ὑπεροχῇ τοῦ προσώπου μείζων γίνεται. Εἰ δὲ ὁ βασιλέα ὑβρίζων, ἀφόρητον ἔχει τὴν τιμωρίαν διὰ τὴν τοῦ προσώπου ἀξιοπιστίαν· ὁ τὸν Θεὸν ὑβρίζων πόσων ἔσται ὑπεύθυνος ταλάντων; Ὥστε κἂν τὰ αὐτὰ εἰς τὸν Θεὸν ἁμαρτάνωμεν, ἅπερ εἰς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, οὐδὲ οὕτω τὸ ἴσον ἐστίν· ἀλλ' ὅσον μέσον Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, τοσοῦτον τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκείνων καὶ τούτων. Νῦν δὲ καὶ πλείονα εὑρίσκω τὰ ἁμαρτήματα οὐ τῇ ὑπεροχῇ τοῦ προσώπου