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we wish, allowing us to depart without hindrance, but not allowing us to go to the houses of the covetous even if we wish? For if any man that is called a brother, he says, be a fornicator; here calling 'brother' every believer simply, not the monk. For what is it that makes the brotherhood? The laver of regeneration, the being able to call God Father. So that he who is a monk, if he be a catechumen, is not a brother; but the believer, even if he be a layman, is a broth 63.876 er. If any man, he says, that is called a brother. For there was not then even a trace of a monk, but this blessed man addressed everything to lay people. If any man, he says, that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or a drunkard, with such a one not even to eat. But not so in the case of the Greeks, but, 'If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast,' meaning the Greeks, 'and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat.' But if any man that is called a brother, he says, be a drunkard. Alas, how great the strictness! But we not only do not avoid drunkards, but we even go to them, to partake of their things. Because of this, everything has been turned upside down, everything is confounded and overturned and has perished. For tell me, if one of these men should invite you to a feast, you who are considered poor and of no account, and then should hear from you that, since what is set before you comes from covetousness, 'I will not endure to defile my own soul,' would he not feel reverence? would he not be turned? would he not be ashamed? This alone was sufficient to correct him, and to make him count himself wretched for his wealth, but admire you for your poverty, if indeed he saw himself despised by you with such earnestness. But we have become slaves of men, I know not how, though Paul cries aloud, 'Be not ye the servants of men.' How then have we become slaves, tell me? Because we first became slaves to the belly and to money and to glory and to all other things; we have betrayed the freedom which Christ bestowed on us. What then awaits him who has become a slave, tell me? Hear what Christ says: 'The slave does not abide in the house forever.' You have a final sentence, that he never enters into the kingdom. For the house is this. 'In my Father's house,' He says, 'are many mansions.' Therefore the slave does not abide in the house forever; He means that one, the slave of sin. But he who does not abide in the house forever, abides in Gehenna forever, having comfort from nowhere. But indeed matters have come to such a state of wickedness, that they even give alms from these things, and many accept them. For this reason our boldness is cut off and we are not even able to rebuke anyone. But nevertheless, let us from now on flee the harm that comes from this; and you who stir up this mire, cease from such corruption. And just as a dead body is useful for no sensation, but also distresses those who come near; so also sin immediately strikes the reasoning faculty, and does not permit even the mind itself to be at rest, but disturbs and troubles it. And it is said that pestilence, being engendered, corrupts bodies. Such also is sin; it differs in no way from a plague, not by corrupting the air first, then the bodies, but by leaping straight into the soul. Do you not see those suffering from plague, how they are inflamed, how they writhe, how they are filled with foul smells, how shameful their appearance is, how they are completely unclean? Such also are sinners, even if they do not see it. For tell me: is not he who is seized by the desire for money, or for bodies, worse than any man with a fever? is he not more unclean than all these, both doing and suffering all shameless things? For what is more shameful than a man who loves money? Whatever harlots, whatever actresses do not refuse to do, he does not refuse these things either; or rather, it is likely that they would refuse, but not he; and he endures servile things, flat 63.877 tering those whom he ought not, everywhere inconsistent; wicked men and old men often corrupt, much poorer and humbler than himself, he sits beside

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βουλοίμεθα, ἀκωλύτως συγχωροῦντα ἀπελθεῖν, εἰς δὲ τὰς τῶν πλεονεκτῶν οὐδὲ βουλομένους ἐῶντα; Ἐὰν γάρ τις ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζόμενος ᾖ, φησὶ, πόρνος· ἀδελφὸν ἐνταῦθα λέγων πάντα τὸν πιστὸν ἁπλῶς, οὐ τὸν μονάζοντα. Τί γάρ ἐστι τὸ ποιοῦν τὴν ἀδελφότητα; τὸ λουτρὸν τῆς παλιγγενεσίας, τὸ δυνηθῆναι καλέσαι πατέρα τὸν Θεόν. Ὥστε ὁ μὲν μοναχὸς ὢν, ἂν κατηχούμενος ᾖ, οὐκ ἀδελφός· ὁ δὲ πιστὸς, κἂν κοσμικὸς εἴη, ἀδελ 63.876 φός ἐστιν. Εἴ τις, φησὶν, ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζόμενος. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἴχνος μονάζοντος τότε ἦν, ἀλλὰ πάντα πρὸς κοσμικοὺς διελέγετο ὁ μακάριος οὗτος. Ἐάν τις, φησὶν, ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζόμενος ᾖ πόρνος, ἢ πλεονέκτης, ἢ μέθυσος, τῷ τοιούτῳ μηδὲ συνεσθίειν. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων οὕτως, ἀλλ', Ἐάν τιςὑμᾶς καλέσῃ τῶν ἀπίστων, τοὺς Ἕλληνας λέγων, καὶ θέλετε πορεύεσθαι, πᾶν τὸ παρατιθέμενον ὑμῖν ἐσθίετε. Ἐὰν δέ τις ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζόμενος, φησὶ, μέθυσος. Βαβαὶ, πόση ἡ ἀκρίβεια! Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐ μόνον οὐ φεύγομεν τοὺς μεθύσους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπερχόμεθα πρὸς αὐτοὺς, μεθέξοντες τῶν παρ' αὐτῶν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πάντα ἄνω καὶ κάτω γεγένηται, πάντα συγκέχυται καὶ ἀνατέτραπται καὶ ἀπόλωλεν. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, εἰ καλέσει σέ τις τῶν τοιούτων ἐπὶ ἑστίασιν, σὲ τὸν πένητα καὶ εὐτελῆ νομιζόμενον, εἶτα ἀκούσειε παρὰ σοῦ, ὅτι, ἐπειδὴ ἀπὸ πλεονεξίας ἐστὶ τὰ παρατιθέμενα, οὐκ ἀνέξομαι μολύνειν τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ψυχὴν, οὐκ ἂν ᾐδέσθη; οὐκ ἂν ἐνετράπη; οὐκ ἂν κατῃσχύνθη; Τοῦτο μόνον ἱκανὸν ἦν διορθῶσαι, καὶ ποιῆσαι ταλανίσαι μὲν ἐπὶ τῷ πλούτῳ ἑαυτὸν, θαυμάσαι δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ πενίᾳ σε, εἴ γε ἑώρα ἑαυτὸν μετὰ τοσαύτης σπουδῆς καταφρονούμενον παρὰ σοῦ. Ἀλλὰ γεγόναμεν δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων, οὐκ οἶδα πόθεν, τοῦ Παύλου ἄνω καὶ κάτω βοῶντος, Μὴ γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων. Πόθεν οὖν γεγόναμεν δοῦλοι, εἰπέ μοι; Ἐπειδὴ πρότερον γαστρὸς γεγόναμεν δοῦλοι καὶ χρημάτων καὶ δόξης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων· προεδώκαμεν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ἣν ἐχαρίσατο ἡμῖν ὁ Χριστός. Τί οὖν μένει τὸν γενόμενον δοῦλον, εἰπέ μοι; Ἄκουε τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος· Ὁ δοῦλος οὐ μένει ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ἔχεις ἀπόφασιν αὐτοτελῆ, ὅτι οὐδέποτε εἰς βασιλείαν εἰσέρχεται. Ἡ γὰρ οἰκία τοῦτό ἐστιν. Ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρός μου, φησὶ, μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν. Ὁ τοίνυν δοῦλος οὐ μένει ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· δοῦλον ἐκεῖνον λέγει, τὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας δοῦλον. Ὁ δὲ μὴ μένων ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἐν τῇ γεέννῃ μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, οὐδαμόθεν ἔχων παραμυθίαν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ εἰς τοσοῦτον κακίας τὰ πράγματα ἦλθεν, ὡς καὶ ἐλεημοσύνας αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τούτων ποιεῖν, καὶ πολλοὺς δέχεσθαι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡ παῤῥησία ἡμῶν ἐκκέκοπται καὶ οὐδὲ ἐπιτιμῆσαί τινι δυνάμεθα. Ἀλλ' ὅμως κἂν ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν φεύγωμεν τὴν ἐντεῦθεν βλάβην, ὑμεῖς τε οἱ τὸν βόρβορον τοῦτον ἀνελίττοντες, παύσασθε τῆς τοιαύτης λύμης. Ὥσπερ δὲ τὸ νεκρὸν σῶμα πρὸς οὐδεμίαν αἴσθησίν ἐστι χρήσιμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ λυπεῖ τοὺς πλησιάζοντας· οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία εὐθέως τὸ λογιστικὸν πλήττει, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίησιν οὐδὲ αὐτὴν τὴν διάνοιαν ἠρεμεῖν, ἀλλὰ θορυβεῖ καὶ ταράττει. Λέγεται δὲ καὶ λοιμὸς τικτόμενος διαφθείρειν τὰ σώματα. Τοιαύτη ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία· λοιμοῦ οὐδὲν διενήνοχεν, οὐ τὸν ἀέρα διαφθείρουσα πρῶτον, εἶτα τὰ σώματα, ἀλλ' εὐθέως εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν εἰσπηδῶσα. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς τοὺς λοιμώττοντας, πῶς φλεγμαίνουσι, πῶς περιστρέφονται, πῶς δυσωδίας εἰσὶν ἐμπεπλησμένοι, πῶς αὐτῶν αἰσχρὰ ἡ ὄψις, πῶς ὅλοι ἀκάθαρτοι; Τοιοῦτοί εἰσι καὶ οἱ ἁμαρτάνοντες, κἂν μὴ βλέπωσιν. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι· παντὸς πυρέττοντος οὐκ ἔστι χείρων ὁ τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῶν χρημάτων, ἢ τῶν σωμάτων ἀλούς; οὐχὶ ἀκαθαρτότερος τούτων πάντων ἐστὶ, πάντα τὰ ἀναίσχυντα καὶ ποιῶν καὶ πάσχων; Τί γὰρ αἰσχρότερον ἀνδρὸς χρημάτων ἐρῶντος; ὅσα αἱ ἑταιριζόμεναι γυναῖκες, ὅσα αἱ ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς οὐ παραιτοῦνται ποιεῖν, τοσαῦτα οὐδὲ οὗτος· μᾶλλον δὲ ἐκείνας εἰκός ἐστι παραιτήσασθαι, ἢ τοῦτον· καὶ δουλοπρεπῆ πράγματα ὑπομένει κολα 63.877 κεύων οὓς οὐ δεῖ, πανταχοῦ ἀνώμαλος· πονηροὺς ἄνδρας καὶ γέροντας πολλάκις διεφθαρμένους, πολλῷ καὶ πενεστέρους αὐτοῦ καὶ εὐτελεστέρους, παρακάθηται